I found out that A hasn’t migrated the server yet, but he must be keeping it running somehow. I envision a lot of duct tape and some paper clips. All MacGuyver and stuff.

So, a brief catch-up: Sunday night D, Jax, and I went to see Ben Folds at The Hammerstein Ballroom. Corn Mo opened with .357 Lover. Totally totally rockin’ show, despite various jackasses in the audience. You know, the people who have to push directly in front of you when there’s not much room there to begin with, so instead of feeling slightly claustrophobic you feel COMPLETELY claustrophobic. Or the people who are so close they’re breathing on you. Or the people who yell stupid comments, thinking they’re clever. Wait, I’ve been one of those people. To add to the awesomeness, Improv Everywhere were working with Ben Folds - at the beginning of the show, a fake Ben Folds and band come out and start to play a song, but it starts “skipping” - as in, it’s a CD. Then Ben actually comes out, with security, and they haul off the fake band. It was very very funny. You can read about it on their site.

Last night the three of us and PSB and I went to see the revival of Company. It was directed by the same guy who directed Sweeney Todd, and although I didn’t see it, I was told that it was performed in similar fashion (all the actors play all the instruments as well, very little set). I have to say, I was amazed at how well it all worked. It’s a wonderful show. The performances are all amazing, the music sounds beautiful (albeit a little hollow, but after listening to the original cast recording about a thousand times [and I don’t think I’m exaggerating], it’s just not going to sound the same), and the staging is quite clever. I hope it does well.

On the way home we checked out David Blaine, who has chosen to hang himself five stories above 46th Street in some crazy gyroscopic thing, which he must escape from within the next two days or else 100 little kids will be horribly disappointed. Please, David, don’t disappoint the children.

Tomorrow - off to Poughkeepsie, where our house will be filled with adults and children and babies and NOISE. And dessert. And maybe some turkey.

New cheesy Microsoft keyboard has been purchased and installed. For a good ten minutes, my mouse (not a Microsoft product) was not working, but some tweeking seems to have fixed everything for now.

Oh, and sorry about kvetching twice in a row about the work computer nonsense. I try not to completely repeat the same kvetch two days in a row without any sort of difference. I wonder how often I’ve done that in the past?

This new keyboard has to lie flat right - when I put the little the little stands up in the back, I can’t close the drawer it’s on. But if it’s not standing up, I can feel the additional strain on my wrists. Stupid carpal tunnel syndrome. I’ll have to figure out how to make smaller feet for it.

Last night I managed to weasel my way into a home game - $1 - 4 limit hold ‘em, Omaha, and stud games, dealer’s choice. The only person I knew there was someone who’s on the board of the Moth - apparently, the Moth’s founder, George, has played at that table before, but he didn’t make it last night. Some of the rules at the table were a little wonky, and the play was erratic to say the least, but I somehow managed to walk out having doubled my money, from $60 to $120.

In the process of buying the keyboard this afternoon, I also managed to pick up Lumines II (sweet!), and two cheapo PS2 games - Space Channel 5 (by the maker of Rez and Lumines), and a pinball compilation that will probably blow, but I love pinball and it was cheapo.

Off to do some chores. . .

PSB was waering he plans las nigh, and was apparenl a lile overzealous. he plan on op of he compuer armoire wasn quie as hirs as she hough, and waer sared flowing down ono m keboard. I ried i off as bes I could, and le i air ou, hinking i migh be oka, bu as ou can ell, is no.

Ill be buing a new keboard omorrow.

A little shoutout to any of my MySpace friends who may stop by. What’s up?

Twin A wants to be a MySpace Playa, but without actually going on to MySpace. I’m impressed with his enthusiasm, but the followthrough is going to need a little help.

It’s dead quiet in the office, and I’m glad to do nothing but surf. DailyKos is unblocked, again. I don’t know what it all means. I do know that we’re all getting our drives re-imaged, which in a nutshell means that they’re going to know exactly what’s on them, and we’re not going to be able do download anything or use any unapproved programs. This will prove to be annoying for me, as Photoshop is not on their list of programs to automatically give to users, nor is a CD burning program. Both of these are programs that I use on a regular basis for work.

In the meantime, in a preemptive strike I’ve burned a CD of all the personal documents I have on this computer, and I’ve put up all the photos I care about (and even a few I don’t) on Flickr. I’m “twinc723″ on there if you want to see any of them.

Also on Flickr are some shots of me hanging out with Sydney last night. I returned to my old hood to have dinner with my friend Rick and then catch up with Syd, both of whom I haven’t seen in quite a while. Rick and I talked a lot of poker (my favorite), and he and I are going to get together, hopefully with my friend Eric, to watch each other play, go over strategy, etc. etc. Sydney and I laughed about her keeping a baseball bat by her couch and about her internet dating experiences, and I made her show me the last 30 seconds of XMen III, as I didn’t realize something happens after the credits. (No spoiler here, just make sure if you haven’t seen it yet to watch until after the credits.) (BTW, other than a little bit of the cheese factor, I LOVED XMen III - fantastically done.)

Tonight I may have a poker game with some of the Moth folks, but I haven’t heard anything yet so I don’t know if it’s on. I could also go hit the club, or just go play online and see if I can take down another $10 180 man. . . PSB and I also have some Netflix movies that we should watch - I think “Party Girl” has been here for two months. We’ve got “Brokeback Mountain” too, which we both want to see.

Tomorrow night we head to Astoria for another one of those amazing dinner parties that our friends Zora and Tamara throw. The meal will be Portuguese, which goes perfectly with the fact that we both love vinho verde, Portuguese sparkling wine.

What will YOU be doing?

DailyKos is blocked again. I can’t keep up.

We’ve also gotten e-mails about how our computers are getting “remapped”. Essentially, it means they’re going to delete all unnecessary files and programs from our computers. I have ITunes on here but don’t ever use it, but I’ve heard they’re removing Photoshop, which I DO use, for work, as well as CD burning programs, which I also use. . .

I can’t wait to leave.

I also can’t wait to get away from the woman across from me, who has been speaking non-stop for the last four hours on the phone. At one point, she put a financial manager on hold, so she could talk to her son. For ten minutes.

The Moth Ball was insanely fun last night. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 a.m. though, which may be why I especially have been eyeing my letter opener as the solution to all the babbling.

They’ve unblocked DailyKos! I wonder if it has anything to do with the Democratic wins from last week. . . Conspiracy theorists, start your engines now. . .

Tonight is the Moth Ball, the Moth’s huge gala fundraiser. The theme of the evening is “Casino Capitale” - Vegas in the time of the Rat Pack. There’s going to be blackjack and roulette to play for prizes, but I’m not sure if I’m going to bother playing. I’m also proud to say that I helped contribute this year, even more than just being PSB’s personal assistant and kvetch pillow - my friend Jay Greenspan wrote a poker book that got published this year called “Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America’s Worst Poker Players”. It’s a travelogue about how he toured the country playing poker trying to build up a bankroll to play a large stakes game in California. The book is great - really well written, very entertaining, and lots of poker action. (I also like the fact that I played at the same table as Jay years ago, and he mentions that table in the book, as well as a lot of guys I’ve played, including the man himself, Kid Dynamite.) So I got Jay to agree to offer two hours of Texas Hold ‘Em training as a silent auction item. I wanted to offer it myself, until PSB gently reminded me “But honey, you don’t really have any credentials. . .”

WHAT????? Being the Moth Mancessory isn’t good enough????

Anyway, the Ball should be lots of fun - Twin A and Kissyfur will be there, as well as various friends. In the meantime, however, I’ve got to get rid of this sinus headache I’ve had for the last twelve hours.

Here’s a collection of funny cat pictures with (usually) funny comments from a poker site I lurk on. They are HYSTERICAL. Make sure you scroll through the whole thing.

UPDATE: Egad, I’ve found the motherlode!

I think “Invisible Sandwich” is my all time favorite. “Do You Want Karate?” comes in as a very close second, and “Monorail Cat” and “Trash Cat” tie for the bronze.

The noisy woman across from me has been talking on the phone nonstop for the last hour. I am considering strangling her with her telephone cord.

Fortunately, I’m stepping out in a few minutes to go meet an old friend for lunch - someone who used to work here, but managed to escape. I look forward to my escape as well.

Last night we had our standard Sunday night poker game, and Twin D finally managed to not lose at a five man table - at one point he raked in a massive pot, but it got bled out, mostly through unfortunate circumstances/second best hands. I had a good night - kept out of trouble and played my good hands hard.

There’s no game next week, which works out because D and I are going to see Ben Folds at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Corn Mo is opening. I’m looking forward to it - I haven’t seen a concert in a while. Two days later, D and Jax and PSB and I are going to see the revival of Company on Broadway. I’m REALLY excited about that - back in my musical theater days (oh so long ago), Company was one of my favorite shows, and I missed the few revivals that have been put up before this one. It’s being advertised on 1010 WINS, and I’m wondering if it’s because it’s not a very well known show, or because it got bad reviews and no one wants to see it. . .

Just checked, and the show doesn’t officially open until the end of November - still in previews. No reviews yet.

We have amazing seats for it too - front row mezzanine, and they were discounted. . .

She’s still babbling!!!! Now in Spanish, for my listening pleasure!!!!

I gotta go.

Not huge, but I’m proud:

PokerStars Tournament #35647655, No Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $1800.00
Tournament started - 2006/11/11 - 13:58:01 (ET)

Dear Dr. Suckout,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $540.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 269.77 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Here’s a Lite Brite picture my friend Sydney made. It’s cute. And makes me hungry.