Everything that has a beginning, must have an end.

No, I am not talking about the Sopranos. I will save that discussion for another post (maybe today) when I have a few minutes to really delve into it. No this is to chronicle the demise of the regular, fairly large poker tournament that I created a few years back.

The first tournament was held at my parent's house in South Orange, NJ. It had about 50-60 people and we used awful plastic chips. My father's best friend was the champion and pocketed a couple of hundred dollars. Great fun was had by all.

A few months later my buddy and I secured a larger venue at a local synagogue and we had another tournament. It had about 70 people and was a fairly rousing success.

Eventually my work situation changed and my buddy and I were unable to run the tourneys anymore. However, one of the players picked up the mantle and continued what we had created. For the next few years she ran the tournaments and while I have been living out of the state for the last 2 years I even managed to make the last one, because I was in town visiting friends.

I found out this morning, that the last tournament, was most likely the end to that particular series of poker tourneys. It makes me sad to know something I helped create will be no more.

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Does homeowner's insurance cover this???

When searching for a house in Georgia we had a lot of fexibility. We had a small bi-level in NJ and because we lived in a fairly deisrable neighborhood with good schools, when we sold the house we received a significant premium over what we paid for it.


This allowed us to get a house that would probably be worth close to 800K+ if we had purchased it in NJ and if it was in a more desirable locale than Sussex County where we resided (Mendham, Livingston, etc) it would be worth well over a million dollars. However, since we are living in Georgia we payed a good deal less than we sold our little house in NJ for.

One of the reasons I loved our house in NJ is because there was an actual river running through our backyard and I really enjoyed looking out the kitchen window and seeing the river or spending time on the deck and enjoying the view and the sound of the gently rushing water.

Here in Georgia, everything is broken down by subdivision and since we have children, living on a lake was pretty much out of the question. However, the house we decided on has a koi pond. We found this pretty appealing. The pond is located right outside the kitchen windows and when they are open you can hear the little waterfall that splashes into the pond. Also, when you look out the window you have a great view of the fish swimming around and I found myself routinely looking out at the fish. The first summer we were here there were frogs that had taken up residence in the pond as well and this was amazing.

There were two frogs and they would sleep in the waterfall, apparently enjoying the water rushing over them constantly. On very sunny days they would sun themselves on the rocks that the pond was built out of and routinely dive into the pond for a swim. I remember one day sitting at the kitchen window for over 30 minutes, just enjoying the little frogs playing in the water as the koi swam around them. They didn't return this summer and I really missed them.

Yesterday was Christmas here in Georgia and the weather was miserable. It was cold and dank and fairly depressing. No Dog of Consequence was kept inside as the weather was not conducive to his usual days of lazing around the backyard and sunning himself on our deck. I only bring up No Dog, because if he had been outside yesterday, the tragedy I am about to describe might never have happened.

No Family of Consequence was hanging around the living room as presents were opened and holiday merriment was enjoyed. However, No Baby, butt wiggling. as he crawled made a beeline for the kitchen. He was quickly scooped up by Mommy who let out a loud, "Oh my G-d!" followed by an equally loud, "Holy Crap!" I quickly got up from the couch to see what was happening and as I did I noticed a very large bird flying away. Apparently I missed the carnage.

It was a gigantic heron and it ate all of our koi. All of them. Gone. The waterfall continues to gently splash into the now empty pond and I feel like I was a bystander to a bad Discovery Channel documentary.

Mature koi cost between $30 and $100 apiece. So yesterday's birdy buffet cost me between $500 and $1500 worth of fish. My question remains, can I put in a homeowner's claim?



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John Corzine, friend of gay Americans

Today the governor of the great state of NJ signed a bill that effectively allows gays to marry. I applaud New Jersey for its progressiveness and hope the rest of the United States will get its collective head out of its ass and stop one of the last forms of legal discrimination.

Read some of my thoughts about New Jersey and Jim McGreevey's homosexuality here.

Read some of my thoughts about homosexuality in general here.

So busy... and then, not so busy

Work has been kicking my ass the last couple of weeks as we are ramping up for the fall and what will basically be the coming out party of my company on the national stage. My job is as exciting as ever and even though it has been frustrating for me the last couple of months I can still say with much delight that I have never awakened since taking this job with the thought that I didn't want to go to work. In this day in age, that is saying something. So, of course, when I came in this morning everything was so crashed I am going to have about 3 hours to kill. Maybe I should go to the DMV and get my license changed over from NJ to Georgia. I mean, it has only been a year.

No 1 of Consequence

No 1 Returns

Return of the product…..

I am back, yes, that’s right, little old addle brained me. It’s blogtacular. The Jersey Jew with the slightly interesting take on the world. It has been about a year since my words have graced this space. A year. A lot can happen in a year so I will give you the extremely short version. As you may, or may not, recall I was laid off from my old company last October. One night, in a fit of depression over another lost job I e-mailed my resume to every company that competes with my old one. Lo and behold my current CEO calls me up, we meet in NYC the following week, hit it off famously and before I know it I am once again employed. Not just employed mind you, but in what could almost be considered a dream job. I currently have a team of 7 employees and growing and we are the belles of the ball.

Belles you say?

Well, it’s interesting you mention that, because this new employment (not so new anymore) has taken me to the ATL. Atlanta, as in Georgia, as in, the south. Red state hell. Can we talk sports? Not so much, being a Yankees and Jets fan and having no real affinity for college football. Can we talk politics? I don’t think we can because I believe some markedly different stuff than most of the known universe to begin with. You magnify that with the southern conservative microscope and you end up with some heinously different ideas. Can we play poker? Eh, they still play things like guts and Chicago.

A majority of my time right now is spent diabolically planning the downfall of my old company. I already stole a significant member of their international team and am heavily courting their number one sales guy. He knows he needs to come over to the light side and get off the Titanic. He knows my company will crush his over the long term, but he is still trying to convince himself of the truth. Yesterday I presented my company’s services to one of the Titanic’s biggest clients. They loved it. I can’t wait until I sign them and we make our announcement.

I am coming back out of the ether, so for the uninitiated I write about a number of different things. I am interested in sports, politics, movies, TV, whatever odd thought causes me to have a deep introspective moment throughout the day. I try to write once a day, but I have a tremendous amount of responsibility in my current position so I am not sure if this is going to be possible anymore. That I am writing again at all makes me incredibly happy and I am very thankful to return to blogging.

Some quick hits:

Ø The Jets suck, being a jets fan is one of the most infuriating things in sports. I had to get satellite TV in order to watch the Jets every week. Now, of course, I want to send the Jets the bill for the NFL Sunday Ticket. I went to see them play in the Georgia Dome on Monday night in October. It was one of the odder experiences of my life. Giants Stadium, despite its age, is a great place to watch a game. Jets fans are rude and crass and loveable. They sit in their seats and when something happens they jump up and cheer like maniacs and then when the moment has passed they sit back down and go back to watching the game. Here in Georgia, the fans stand the entire time. I mean the whole game. 2 and 6 plenty of time in the game, run up the middle for a marginal game, they are standing. Are they cheering? Not really. Are they booing? No way. They are just standing. This makes watching a game at the Georgia Dome a pain in the ass. I never thought I would say this, especially growing up watching the Jets at Giants Stadium, but southern football fans are rude as hell. No fan etiquette whatsoever.

Ø I am a little disappointed in the Yankees off season. They haven’t really addressed some of their needs and some players that could have helped them have slipped by. I am very happy that Brian Cashman and Joe Torre are staying with the Yankees. The Yankees blew the Leo Mazzone negotiation. Allowing him to go to a team in their division was doubly stupid. They should have showered him with money. The guy is like Rain Man for pitchers. Everyone on the Yankees could have used him. The fantasy baseball value of every Orioles pitcher has skyrocketed in my mind. Mazzone is worth a run to a run and a half on the team ERA.

Ø The political climate of this country sickens me. I don’t really want to get into it right now.

Well, I think I have written quite enough for my first foray back into the blog world. Talk to you again soon.

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