Ahhh, back after a brief hiatus. Hope my dozen or so readers didn’t lose my URL…

I haven’t blogged recently because I’ve spent the last two weeks looking for a job after being unceremoniously laid off at the end of the year. Since I received severance plus PTO equivalent to two months pay, I wasn’t in a huge hurry to get re-employed, but knew that I’d have to take the first good opportunity. After all, like Latrell Sprewell, I have a family to feed.

And guess what? I got one. I’ll be a Human Resources Training manager for a large database firm headquartered here in the East Bay. The positive side is that they’ll pay me about 7% more than my previous job, I won’t have to commute (about a mile from my house, no freeway involved), and they have better benefits across the board. The negative side is that I start on Thursday, cutting my relaxation and golf and poker time to virtually nil. I was kinda hoping for a couple of months off to take as a man of leisure, sleeping in, golfing, relaxing, etc. Now I’m diving right back into the Rat Race with only a two-week pit stop to recharge my batteries. Sigh.

As a consequence of this quick return, I have reloaded money at PokerStars and have continued to prowl the SnGs at FullTilt. Since I’m technically going to be DOUBLE-paid for the next six weeks, I’m might start throwing money around the tables like Gus Hansen on Quaaludes. Or I might just be judicious with this windfall and invest the money in some stock or t-bills. Or I might just plan a nice trip for the family. Or I could just pretend it never happened and squirrel the severance check away for a rainy day. Or I could just use it to buy a nice gift for myself as compensation for my industriousness in finding a new job. So many choices…

Oh, one quick poker tidbit… I hit my FIRST river one-outer the other day in a SnG (which I ended up winning). Down to five players, I re-raised against one of the short stacks with pocket sixes, knowing he’d have to call all-in. He flipped up A6s and immediately flopped his Ace. The turn was a brick and the one-outer case six on the river knocked him out and gave me the chip lead. I honestly can’t remember ever hitting a ONE-outer like that before. I’ve hit many two-outers and runner-runners (probably more than a good player would ever try for), but never hit a case card like that.

Football thoughts-

Props to Mike Vanderjagt for fucking up my Super Bowl prediction. I’m sticking with Carolina in the NFC and going with Denver in the AFC now.

Seattle looked really strong, but I can’t help but think that Shaun Alexander’s concussion will continue to bother him this week. The Skins had been gearing their defense all week to key on Alexander, and didn’t adjust when the focus of the offense shifted to Hasselback. This week, Carolina will expect the focus to be more pass-oriented and will be able to gameplan more effectively. This will be a very good game with the kicking advantage going to Kasay. Call it 23-20 Carolina.

Pittsburgh was very good for 58 minutes and very lucky for 2. Denver was solid and error-free against a seasoned, experienced team. I’d look for more of the same with the Broncos benefiting from the home field. Big Ben is a little banged-up and will throw some Jake Plummer-like (circa 2002) passes. He got away with a couple of shaky throws against a suspect Indy pass defense. Get ready for a LOT of cornball SB XL promos with “The Two Jakes”. Denver 27-17.