Still haven't found any candies that work in the electronic dispensers. Maybe chocolate dutch mints? They're hard, round, and a little bigger, so maybe they won't get gummed up.
And jammed.
Neat huge poster of San Francisco from the air in the thrift store.
And only $3. I can't think of any good place to put it, though.
I had to go to jury duty on Monday.
Most of the day was spent sitting there, reading a book. I got called once, we went and waited outside the room, then they sent us back to the main jury pool. They held us all a bit later in the day because that one was still waiting to decide if they needed us, but in the end, they didn't.
My certificate.
Right after that, I headed to USC to be on a health professional panel.
There were six of us.
I got there a bit late, but there was still time to eat beforehand.
It was in King Stoops Hall.
Which was pretty nice looking.
Us at the table.
I went to Oak Glen to get some cider for Thanksgiving. Last year I did that I saw a deer on the road; this year I saw one again.
Fall colors around there.
The yummy cider.
Glass on the ground in this parking lot. I don't think I want to park here.
Only number 13 is open.
Neat clouds.
A dip in the road.
Pretty graffiti.
I want to turn, but this guy on his bike is in the way.
Thanks for the warning, Google, but that's pretty obviously spam.
Doing well at poker on Thursday night.
Ogii and I went to a surprise birthday party for Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez.
Pretty background.
Jimmy arrives.
There were some people hanging from the ceiling.
This one was especially cool.
The DJ was up in the air, too.
The hummingbirds have only been eating from the outside feeder, not the inside one.
So we let the outside one run out to see if they'd come to the inside one.
Some do, some don't.
This was an unforseen problem, though. They tend to poo and pee right after eating, and since the inside feeder is over our glass table, it gets all over that.
Seven kids. Mexican? 93.9 La Raza bumper sticker: Mexican.
This lady had way more than five items.
Playing an online poker tournament. I called a raise on the flop and then went all-in on the turn when I made my straight; he called.
I bet small on the flop, three people folded, one called. When I made three of a kind on the turn I bet half pot and he called, then I bet a quarter pot on the river in hopes that he would call with a worse hand and he did.
I called the flop bet and then went all in on the turn; the opponent folded. The final card would have been a five, so if he had a seven and folded, it was a good play by me.
Everyone has a full house, but mine is slightly bigger. Any over pair would have won and anyone with an 8 would have as well, but thankfully nobody had those.
I raised preflop, then bet all the way to the river to win it. Sometimes top pair isn't good.
I raised his bet and he folded. Again, the next card could have made lots of straights, so I'm glad I got him out of the pot.
I raised preflop, bet the flop, checked the turn just in case he had something better, and bet the river. The final A of hearts could have been bad for me, but it wasn't in this case.
I made top pair on the flop, with with a shove of 10x the pot, there's no way I'm calling here; top pair with a medium kicker is too often behind.
I shoved the river as a bluff with my missed flush, and he folded.
I'm in 52nd place out of 500. They pay to 150 players and first place has just about double my chips, so I'm doing OK.
This was tough until the Q on the river. Now my two pair is counterfeited, so even A, K, or J-high has me beat, so it's an easy fold.
I shoved on the turn with a weak pair and a flush draw; the opponent folded.
I shoved on the turn again and again the opponent folded. Good thing I did; the K of non-diamonds wasn't helping my hand at all.
I have no idea why this guy is still in this pot with A6.
I bet flop and shoved on turn; the opponent folded. With two pair I maybe should have just called, but if another straight card comes, I could be in trouble, so probably better to win it now.
That's a nice flop with an A. I called a flop bet, bet on turn and he called, and then he folded on the river when I bet.
I raised pre-flop, bet the flop as a continuation bet, bet the turn after I made a straight, and then checked the river. A single king beats me, but I guess he didn't have one.
Moving up a bit; now I'm in 8th place of 200 players left; still around half of the chip leader.
I folded to a raise and a shove. I'm glad a did; one player had two of the queens I needed to make my straight.
We were both all-in preflop, but my slightly-better hand held up.
This hand hurt a lot. I bluffed on the river and the opponent called. I would have had to represent a third king or the flush more strongly to get him off two pair. I guess I didn't bet on the flop and turn, which let him figure it out. I probably should have folded on the river.
We were all in and my pair held up.
Now we're right on the bubble of who gets paid, 154 players with 153 getting money.
The blinds and antes are so high the last few players will get knocked very quickly unless they win a hand.
A second big mistake. I called his all-in bet after I bet, and again, I should have never been in this hand. I'm not getting top pair with the nut flush draw to fold, ever, and I'm not getting a ton of other hands that beat me to fold, either.
Glad I'm not in this hand.
I'm getting such great pot odds here I have to call with almost any two cards.
And that's why.
Aw, everyone folded to my raise.
I raised, but when he shoved, I folded. I'm behind any A and any pair.
Again, pot odds had me calling his pre-flop shove, and again I got lucky.
Now I'm in 9th place of 78 remaining.
I almost called some pre-flop raises, but I folded instead. Good thing; when I would have hit top pair on the flop, I would have lost even more.
My 9s hold up against his 5s.
I should have won this pot, but with 444K on the board, we split it instead. This hand hurt a lot, too.
I got really lucky here. Top pair on the flop but he had me crushed until I hit a two-outer on the river.
I shoved, he called, and I was behind the entire way.
Lots a lot of chips here. I checked on the river and we won with a slightly higher flush. Maybe I could have been more on the turn with my two pair or bet a lot on the river, but even then, I'm not sure he'd fold. And 8 isn't that great for a flush.
Same here. He called my raise on the river. Which makes sense; what am I representing that I hit on the river? Very few hands. Should have just given this one up.
The very next hand a different guy had KK against the guy who just had it. The swings of poker.
Three-way all-in preflop; I didn't win but since the guy who did had less chips, I won the side pot.
Maybe if I would have bet I could have gotten them to both fold. But with them both having second pair, that might be difficult.
I called a shove on the river after I got lucky and hit it.
We were both all-in preflop and he hit a K.
I folded to a shove on the flop. Good decision at the time with bottom pair since they were both beating me, but I made two pair on the river. Good thing for JJ he didn't slow play it.
I went all-in on the flop and he called. With only an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush draw, I probably should have just folded or maybe called if he had bet. But when I get closer to the flush on the turn, it might have ended up the same way. Either way, I was probably too aggressive here.
24th out of 500 is good place-wise, but the money is pretty bad. You really have to get into the top few spots to make anything.
The cover we got for the chairs is getting really thin and ripping from the sun.
So we duct-taped the tears. It looks kind of ugly, though. I had no idea sunlight on its own would destroy fabric like this so quickly.
Maybe Mini Chewy SweetTarts will work in the candy dispensers? Nope, they get stuck, too.
We hiked Eaton Canyon on Sunday evening.
Don't want to touch either of those.
This is a "shortcut" I had taken a few months ago that wasn't a shortcut and was horrible to come down in the dark. I'm glad Ogii wasn't with me at the time; I don't think she would have made it and we would have had to get a helicopter or something to get her. Although she probably wouldn't have gotten up it in the first place.
Helpful sign.
It was pretty narrow with slippery rocks here.
Pretty fall trees.
A guy sunning himself.
Helpful signs again.
It was pretty windy up here.
The sun going down.
The sun over the west side of LA.
Farther out.
Downtown.
Us on a bench from behind.
And from the front.
Pretty clouds over the LA basin.
Ogii by a tree on the way down.
A little different angle.
A sliver of the moon.
And a frog hopping around at the bottom of the hill.
Google's first result, which is highlights, gives me the answer that I want. Well done, Google.
Watching Shark Cage, a TV show on poker. Four players have a pair, crazy.
Google Updated their calendar app, and it's horrible now. It only shows five days instead of seven and there's no way to zoom out to a week or a month to get an overview.
Google said it would be an 8-minute drive to go up and around, but we only need to go a block south. I guess it thought we were facing the other direction.
Beach cams, currently broadcasting.
And what it actually looks like. Uh, yeah, I doubt those cams have ever had animals that close and looking right at them. What a bunch of false advertising.
These are not good breakfast spots.
The new Android update, Lollipop. It just makes everything look more childish, rounder, and pastel.
A close game with each side having pawns, a knight, and two rooks.
Whoops, I'm now down a rook for a knight.
I'm trying to get one of his rooks for my knight...
...but he keeps getting out of it.
He got out of this one, too.
I'm sure he should have won this game since my knight is doing way too much right now and once I move my b-pawn it's pretty much gone. In fact, his next move here is a checkmate with his rook. But I got lucky and he ran out of time.
Another even game; I'm actually up a pawn.
But I got my knight stuck in the corner and let him eat all my pawns with his knight.
I thought maybe I'd be able to get a queen, but he got his knight there just in time.
A nice little trap he fell for. If he takes the knight with his knight...
... I get his rook.
And then I get his knight back.
My plan here was to get him to take my knight with his queen, then I move my rook over and pin his queen to his king, winning his queen.
Except he just checkmates.
I thought I should win this, four pawns versus a knight and two pawns, but I don't think so now. Even if I trade my c-pawn for his knight, he should be able to get his king over to the other side of the board first and eat my pawns, and I don't think there's any way I can get any of my pawns through and down to be a queen before he does.
But I pushed on. This looks like I should be able to win.
But I didn't.