Getting settled….

Haven’t posted in a while, but getting settled after the move, our vacation, and the last week of unpacking and taking care of Shane.  Will summarize LA, the move, Disney, the cruise and life back in the southeast. 

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11 days left…

Lots to do i the next 11 days.  Packing, packing and more packing.  Coordinate with Cobb County for Shane’s pre-school and services; coordinate the work being done on my house, get read for our vacation, etc.

All in all, everything is going smoothly, but the coming three weeks will be great, but hectic.  Gonna try to make one or two last trips down to the local card rooms, but even that’s no guarantee.  I have work up the wazoo going on. 

On a fun side note, I played ball again on Sunday, my 2nd to last game here in town.  Out here you never know who you’re going to see, but one of the guys on my team pointed out that Christopher Atkins, the childhood kid that shacked up with Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon was playing for the opposing team.  Go figure.  Can’t say time has stood still for the guy, but you could also tell that part of his life is way way over.  He played a solid left field and had a couple of opposite field basehits.  Seemed like a nice guy.  Married and his kid by his side after the game.  Funny stuff.

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Any good April Fool’s day jokes?

Sid Finch, the fabled mid-western hurler was to pitch for the New York Mets organization.  He threw 168-miles per hour yet never played any organized ball before.  This was the subject of an early April Sports Illustrated article in the mid-80’s.  Obviously, or not so obviously, this was an April Fool’s Day joke.  Never got these, but again, with time on my hands, I seemingly got a few folks on the posting below.  My sister – bless her thoughful soul – actually called to cuss me out.  Sorry Jo, but ‘gotcha’.  And I know payback’s a byatch, but I did literally laugh out loud.

The truth is the move to Atlanta is still on for April 19th and everything else is fictitious.  A move to NY or Connecticut is still a possibility of at least 60-40 yes right now.  But Atlanta for now. 

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Orlando, here we come

Curveballs all around.  Negotiations in the Stockfield household have been rampant the last 96 hours as it now appears we’re Orlando bound.  An opening at the Orlando offices has come available (Friday/Monday) and they’ve made Mrs. S an offer including full relo, increase in comp, and closing costs for a house in Celebration, FL.  We’ll be moving to Atlanta April 19th, but moving again to Orlando, October 1st.  Part of the negotiations, was me being allowed to join the poker tournament circuit (4x/year playing in varied events, including a half dozen this summer during the WSOP).  I’ll be playing at Foxwoods, the Taj Majal in AC – World Poker Championships, and then back to the Bike for the Legends of Poker.  As of July 1st no more recruiting.  I’ll just be closing shop.  After the year is out, I’ll be a full-time stay at home Dad.

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Overheard…Paula Abdul…the next ‘Dancing’ star?

Just a rumor I heard…should you be ‘into’ that kind of thing.  Little birdie told me she was interested and has discussed with the powers that be.

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The Borgata…the room was nice, but funny thing happened after the Kansas-Villanova game…ain’t that right JP?

The Borgata is probably the nicest AC hotel, of which I liken it to The Monte Carlo in Las Vegas. Again, nice hotel, but not luxurious like The Wynn, The Bellagio, etc. But very nice, sophisticated place, the type you don’t go raving around like a teen-aged lunatic right? LOL. Did I mentioned my good buddy JP was in town for the weekend also for our draft?

He and two other buds Scott and Tony were also in town and so the four of us were crashing in one room. After an initial night of black-jack with Scott while JP watched the Villanova Massacre, the four of us ventured back up stairs and three of us went down, all but JP. He seemed a little out of it, so looked like he was going to crash. We ate a late dinner and then Tony went upstairs while Scott and I were headed to play at little more 21. I got a call from Tony – one of those ‘oh my’ type calls.

Let me tell you…..upon getting back up to the room….you wouldn’t believe the blitzkrieg of vomit that could inhabitate one hotel room. I’m surprised the kid didn’t throw up his pancreas. The bed, the carpet, the bathroom, the sink filled to the brim, pillows, blankets, towels. Poor cleaning crew,…45 minutes, $20 in tips, and a night on the floor for me. Ugh. Ah, boys will be boys, and JP will be JP!

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…in typical Syracuse fashion…

…they proceed to blow a 22-point lead in the NIT tournament.  They can’t even get to the Final Four of the NIT.  They lose to a solid UMass squad, but c’mon, they were up by 22!  Their youth, their lack of a bench showed why Donte’ Greene and Jonny Flynn will be back next year.  But the silver lining is that they’ll hopefully learn from it and should be a Top 20 or possibly a top 15 team for most of 2008-2009.  Still hate seeing them lose though.

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Do they make movies like they used to?

I’m watching Fight Club right now and recall what  great movie it was.  I don’t remember too many very good movie though over the last few years.  Maybe Wedding Crashers could belong in there or The Departed, but I don’t recall too many really awesome movies recently  Some of my older favs are movies like The Jerk, Stripes, Caddyshack, Rounders, Shawshank Redemption….  Looking forward to some good ones being made hopefully sooner than later.

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One month

March 19th…our move…April 19th.  So much to do, but in a sense it feels like hurry up and wait.  It’s tough to start packing since most of our stuff is in storage and there’s not much room in our condo to place a slew of boxes.  I’ll do some in the coming week or two, but have also decided to pack up our stuff myself since the movers were going to charge about $1,600 to do so.  I figure with about $150 in boxes and a little elbow grease, I can knock out most of the stuff within a day or two and enlist the nanny to pack up some stuff too.

We’re still uncertain as to what’s taking place with Mrs. S’ job status.  The Big Mouse is dangling opportunities in NYC and Bristol, CT (with a fairly well know entertainment sports network which I think will catch on), but nothing is even close to being set in stone…in fact, the next 2-3 weeks will tell what we’re doing this summer (or I should say what she is doing this summer) and where we will be later in 2008.

In the interim, I continue to work keeping in mind that I’ve only got one month left.  I look at the archived blog entries on the right side of my blog and see all the months I’ve been here.  Plenty.  Will I miss this place….yeah, a little, but will I have any regrets leaving?  No.  I have the best wife and amazing son and no matter where we end up, Atlanta, NY, CT,….I know that we’ll be better off.

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NL$335 Winnin’O’the Green – Baseball

Poker – not much to write home about there regarding Saturday afternoon’s NL335.  No cards in the first two rounds and I pick up 99 in mid position.  We’re just n the 25-50 round and I have 1,400 chips (out of 2K).  Raise UTG to 150, two callers then me.  I should have pushed but I didn’t, I called.  Two other callers, so ‘only’ six to the flop with about 900 in the pot.  Flop – 7,3,2 rainbow.  Three checks then a 400 bet by Mr. Tight on my right.  My gut’s telling me someone’s flopped a set, but c’mon…how often do we listen to our guts (just me when I’m hungry).  I shove my stack in and he calls and flips over 3,3.  Sooo….  Like a ball player in a slump 1-7 now for .143 batting average, I need to find a way to ‘right the ship’.  Another one of those tourneys I wasn’t into.

The good news is that I won back my tourney entry plus a bennie in the cash games thanks to a couple of donks.  I limp in with those same 9s.  Woman on my left (whom I’d knocked out of a tourey back in November and she opted to wait around giving me the evil eye awaiting my demise stating she couldn’t wait for me to bust – I finished 4th in that tourney) raises to $20.  Five callers!  $100 in the pot and a beauty of a flop of K,9,4 two hearts.  A couple of checks and I bet out $40, she raises to $100 (sweet).  Woman on my right goes in the tank and she is really thinking but eventually folds (later stating she had 4,4 – bullshit).  Anyway, I smooth call.  Turn a relativly innocent 10 (QJ would make the nuts).  I check, she bets $100 and I raise to $300.  She puts her remaining $300 in on just KQ!  River nada, yay for me!  Went card dead after than and blinded my way down to a $100 win on the night actually getting home by midnight!

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Sunday brought a windy day in So Cal but a baseball game and non- pitcher’s duel.  We rallied for six in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie 19-19 before the game was called.  I had a decent day 2-3, RBI, 3 runs and 2 BBs bringing my season stats to a robust .571 average and .700 OBA.  Ah, bless poor pitching (I wasn’t on the hill for those ready to chime in!).

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