Effingham, IL

From HQ Little Rock, all they could get me was a load delivering tuesday in Cleveland. The idea is that at least I could get home. But then, I'm not allowed to drop the trailer. I thought about parking it and calling Gman for a ride, but decided to just hit this hotel enroute...which is next to a lounge and has truck parking...and kill time here.

My family's not close. That's not to say we dislike eachother, or that we don't like getting together. But we're sort of independant, and don't need constant phone calls etc. I think that for most familes, this is sort of a ritual which half of them dread anyway. So, basicly, it's no bigee.

Anyway it's tough for me. I have to get a lot of work done on my truck--to repair the damage resulting from my rollover. (I blogged about it, so I'm sure that everybody knows. NOT.)

This will take me down for several days. And I got hammered by the evil spirit in my truck which kept trying to kill it (or me) and cost me a fortune until about three weeks ago. (I hired an exorcist.) (Actually I figured some of it out and told the mechanics how to fix it. Disgusting.)

I got semi-drunk last night. Talked football with another driver. It was ok.

I was going to get an my tractor ABS valve, which is leaking (another air leak from hell), fixed here at the Petro. The part is only six bucks. Of course, they'd have to hire a cab to go get it for eighty buck. Well, that's ok too. And it would only cost me about eight hundred bucks.

The guy explained that he figured about three hours labor. I'd thought they charged 70 bucks an hour. I asked him when it went up to 240 bucks an hour, and he went into some nebulous spiel. Needless to say, I'll live with the leak until I return to Little Rock for the other repairs.

Anyway, I stay another night here, then tomorrow will motor on up to Cleveland, where I deliver to Georgia Pacific in Brook Park Road in the morning. My window is til 3 pm, but I always park overnight whenever I can, and get empty early. While I'm there, I'll check with them in person to see about a place to park a trailer when I do get home.

As it is, I have to drop a trailer in Springfield, which is 189 miles away. Bobtail up, and then back to the yard. 376 miles. 45 gallons. Eight hours.

Well, right now I'll bring my logs back up to date, hit the bar, come back, play some internet poker (last 5 one-table tourneys: Hold 'Em: 1st and 3rd. Stud: 4th. Omaha: 1st and 2nd. And now that I've actually said that, the safe will no doubt fall on me again, like it does every time I mention doing well. Dammit.)

I'll tell you one thing: More, and not less, luck slips in when there are four, three, and two players left. That's because it becomes far less likely that, for instance, and A7 suited, or a pair of nines--will get beat, so you raise them, and sometimes you'll bet nothing but a king high. And you can't just keep folding everything, because the blinds are too high, and you'll get eaten up.

The big money flies into the pot--you calculate a pretty good chance to come out the winner, and you take your shot. Skill still matters, but not nearly as much. An idiot who got lucky to get there with you is almost as likely to win going all-in with his stupid pair of dueces as you are with your Ace-jack...and you have to call with that.

That goes for Hold 'Em. It's a little less so for limit stud or Omaha hi/low pot limit. You can play smart longer in those games.

I really want to play Omaha straight, without the "low" crap, but nobody else will play it. That's because you actually have to be good to win this game, and can't get lucky with your garbage turning up a low hand. Also, many morons will raise the hell out of their A249, because they only need three of the five cards to be below eight...without pairing the ace or duece...to win a whopping 25-50% of the pot they just made sure would be as small as possible.

This sort of idiocy randomizes the game. It's like Bingo, or playing a slot machine. But it's the nearest I can get to real Omaha, which is my favorite game.

Well, okbye.