It is finally time for me to fly back home to my family. After 91 days away, I fly to Anchorage today and on to Sitka tomorrow. My trip here was better than expected. The family and I coped well, and we’re all looking forward to a couple of months of “down” time over the holiday season. We had a great supporting cast throughout. I want to say thank you so much to all of the friends and family that helped out with timely care-packages, phone calls, emails, and blog posts to keep our minds off the unfortunate parts of such a trip.

The crew here was great as well. Three months is a long time to spend every waking moment with people you work with. Each person’s year-long tour here is a testament to their mental and emotional toughness, and their willingness to look out for each other. I will miss each of them, and I look forward to seeing them again this winter if I am back up here for the opilio season.

An Accidental Look into My Life in St. Paul

I am ten weeks into a temporary duty trip to LORAN Station St. Paul, Alaska. In this booming metropolis I haven’t had any trouble finding things to do. I’ve kept myself busy with puzzles, books, video games, online poker, and television. I’ve taken loads of pictures and been to many parts of this small island. I’ve even designated myself the driver of the bar crowd a time or two. Recently a good friend of mine sent me a 500 piece PEZ candy puzzle. (I don’t know, she collects PEZ dispensers and likes to torture her friends I guess.) I took a picture of the completed puzzle yesterday and, looking at the photo, I realized how comfortable I’ve grown in this little room of mine over the last 70 days.

In the photo there’s a lovely painting behind the puzzle. It was painted by my daughter Audrey on an 8x8 cotton canvas. It’s of a lovely green house with red tulip-looking-things in the front yard. There’s a bright blue, sunny sky over head, but it looks like there is a dark storm on the horizon. It’s an original. I have many original artworks in the room. One of my other favorites (hanging right above this piece, and also from Audrey) is a coloring with a note that reads “Dear Dad dog that beagle Dachshund. I Miis You”.

To the left in the photo is my snack shelf. I’ve got miniature Heath candy bars (my most-favoritest), some goldfish (on which I’m practicing the art of delayed gratification), chocolates, and a box of fabulous homemade cookies (with bits of Heath in there of course) made by my wife and children. There’s also a shoebox there with some Doritos in it.

Below the snack shelf I have The History of Pirates, a coffee table book my wife got me for my birthday. The camera usually sits on top of it. I’ve used the camera a ton, and hopefully I get around to posting more of the photos to this blog when I get near a decent Internet connection.

To the left of the puzzle box is my desk lamp. On its pedestal are Billy’s Poker Glasses and my card protector. Once he bought these glasses, my uncle Billy wore them every time he played poker. The first time I ever saw them was when he and my dad picked me up from the Vegas airport in 2008. I was in town to watch the two of them compete in the $1,500 buy-in event #2 of the World Series of Poker. Billy was starting in the second field on day 1B of the tournament, and that’s when I learned how important the sunglasses were to him.

Las Vegas has some of the best food for your money that you can find. They definitely have their trap spots where they fleece their customers with $8 drinks and $30 entrees. However, they make enough money from suckers who gamble that they can spread a buffet or a specialty restaurant and a poker player (especially the non-sucker type) can get a great deal and be stuffed by a t-bone at 8am.

The three of us suckers –ER I mean poker players enjoyed just such a meal at the Rio on Billy’s day one. Actually it was our routine for the entire time we were in town. We all stayed in the same room that trip and, after my dad’s woman-like getting ready rituals, we’d eat together. Now this was more of a pact between us rather than just a meal by necessity. You see, a poker player in Vegas might as well not sleep if he gets up early to have breakfast. It’s tough to be functional at an early hour when you’ve rousted yourself up after a cash game until 5am. But we did it each and every morning because above all, we were there to spend time together.

After our meal we went to join the women-folk at their breakfast. My grandma, mom, and sister were all in town as well. They weren’t on the same schedule as us and, let’s be honest, weren’t in the biggest hurry to go watch Billy play for 9 hours on end. Hence the separate breakfasts.

As the dawn of Billy’s poker day closed in we excused ourselves from the table. Billy, sitting next to me, reaches down toward the bench and suddenly jerks his hand and head up like there was a rattlesnake sitting there. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed he looks at my dad. “I lost my poker glasses!” Pure panic was in his voice as he was moments (and a freaking half-mile walk) away from his shot at glory. His dream that was playing in a World Series of Poker event was upon us, and he was a solider without his weapon!

I consider myself a lucky man. Along with the other things that God has blessed me with I’ve done some things that not many other people have ever been able to do. Heck, I’m writing this on St. Paul Island, Alaska. How many people have been here? I’ve also played poker against my uncle when he wasn’t wearing his poker glasses. He whopped me something good, and I’ll never forget that whopping. I knew he didn’t need those glasses. But I also know he needed those glasses. I can safely say that my dad and I, and a select few customers of the Rio that day, are some of the lucky few to ever see my uncle sprint like he was running from a tornado.

I wear the sunglasses nearly every time I play live now. They don’t really fit me great, so I just throw them on my head or my ball cap. I don’t really enjoy playing with sunglasses on anyway. The social aspect of poker is what I enjoy the most, and I hate put barriers in front of that. I also still use the card protector he gave me on that trip. These two items make me smile as I remember that shocked look on my uncle’s face that day.

Uncle Billy

From My Poker Blog:

I started playing poker in 2003 after moving to Sitka, Alaska. Ever since that time I have always had poker buddies. Much like drinking buddies or fishing buddies, our conversations revolved around our hobby. Sure, every once in awhile we would wander into discussion about family or friends or work or sports or whatever. The basis for our friendship had started in poker, and therefore the dialogue would inevitably end up there.

Usually these poker buddies would become my best friends. I spent an inordinate amount of time with them over the years. Each poker tournament ran at least three to four hours. Our cash games would run through the night. Our phone calls would go on and on about this bad beat, or that great rake. At work we would pass the time talking over strategies or felt stories that amused us. We would dream together about one day sitting at a prestigious final table together and having EPSN do a feature about these two friends making it all the way.

This past week I saw the passing of one of my best friends – one of my favorite poker buddies. My Uncle Billy died while I was out on the boat. I found out on Thursday.

Billy was the most driven poker player I knew. He lived alone and spent much of his time away from work working over the fish at PokerStars. My first Christmas gift to Billy was a poker book, a poker DVD, and a set of cheeky card protectors. His first gift to me was Harrington’s second Hold’em book. Family made Billy my Uncle, but Poker made Billy my friend.

Billy and I grew closer than ever over the last seven months or so. I flew to Vegas to watch him and my dad play in the WSOP event #2. Along with the time I spent stalking his play for day 1, I spent a ton of time with him elsewhere. We watched movies up in the room. We went to nearly every meal together. We ran to the strip to play various cash games and tournaments. Probably the most important part of the trip – we swapped cell phone numbers.

Since that trip we’ve been in steady contact on the phone. Somewhere along the line he learned to use the text messaging feature on his phone. Along with the 380+ email conversations over the past year, we’ve also added phone conversations to our repertoire.

Billy has also staked me in multiple games above my bankroll. Most recently he bought me into the Sunday Warm Up. He also was planning on having me fly out to Vegas this spring to buy me into the WSOP circuit event that was coming to town. At every step it was apparent that Billy treasured our new friendship as much as I did.

Really all I can do now is treasure that friendship. I will cherish the time God brought Billy into my life. I will grasp at the memories that bring a smile to my face. It is one thing that helps when my brain is running and trying to logically explain why he is gone now. Or worse, when my brain tries to run through scenarios that have me miraculously calling or emailing him at the right time to derail him from the course of events that lead to his death.

My other help comes from the family and friends that I have on and off the felts. My daughters can’t help but make me smile all day long. My dad is like an anchor, in spite of losing one of his best friends in Billy. My friends at Railbirds are amazing in their support, proving to be a form of therapy for me. I look forward to playing games on Full Tilt with them soon.

This has been a busy month for my blog. I will be taking a needed break from publishing through the remainder of the month. In the meantime I will be appreciating more time with my family, and trying to smile more than usual.

Out of Order

I know I said that many pictures were coming, and that’s still the case. I am on leave through the New Year, and I am expecting to be much more motivated tomorrow. Actually, I feel like that every day. :) By the way, my kids are broken - the wind woke me up on Christmas morning when they should have. I didn’t even have to roll out of bed until 7:30. Even then, it was at my wife’s insistence at the first hint that the kids were awake. I'm pretty sure that she was excited.

My Internet was also broken on Christmas Day. That is also the wind's fault. It also serves as my official excuse for not blogging with a ton of photos today. However I did manage to upload one photo. Here’s a pic of all of us gathered around the tree. Enjoy!

Yay, Frickin' Freezin' Cold Wet Lovely Winter

Winter’s here and I’m determined to have more fun with this one than the last one. Actually, I already have. Here are some things that I’ve done this winter that I didn’t get around to last winter:

- Took the kids out for more than one hour at a time
- Built a snowman
- Drove to Augusta to Christmas shop during “The Season”
- Started tutoring in math locally
- Made a trip to SW Harbor in “potential snow” weather
- Saw Santa delivered in a helicopter


It’s been a great year for us. Enjoy the slideshow =)

Casa

I love having family in town. I love hosting people at my house. I remember in college my mother bought a hot plate so I could mix up hot chocolate in the dorms during the anticipated cold Indiana winter. I was so excited to be able to invite my good friends over to enjoy a cup with me. It was thrilling, anticipating their arrival.

Visits were always electrifying as a child too. My Grandma and Grandpa Watson used to travel into town in their oversized RV. In my earliest memories they would stay at the KOA campground. Swimming pool, recreation center, and playground – what an adventure! At the house we would enjoy rolled tacos from Lolita’s whenever my Grandpa “cooked”. Eventually we would all sit around and enjoy my Grandfather’s best anecdotes and road stories. Sometimes we would be privy to his sea stories from life on the submarine. He was always the best at telling jokes. His sense of humor was so refined. At times he would pause at the end of a joke, his hands frozen where he had delivered the punch line, waiting for the subtlety to sink in.

We lived on the corner of Montclair and Melrose in Chula Vista. Our main thoroughfare to either freeway and to downtown CV was L Street, straight down Melrose. One day Grandpa was giving me a ride to the movies. Perhaps it was the re-release of the original Star Wars, before that crappy prequel. We were driving on Melrose, coming up the hill from Inkopah. Grandpa asked for directions. I told him to go straight to L and take a left. It took me a full minute to realize why he was pretending to be so biblically offended.

The Coast Guard has shown me more of how much I love hosting people at my house. In Sitka it was poker games. Any time I have ever sat down to play a game of poker I have sat down with my stomach full of butterflies. The only evasion of this problem has come from preparation as a host. My favorite lonely pastime is brewing coffee and sorting poker chips. I truly enjoy having visitors comfortable in my home. Here in Rockport that translates into Super Bowl parties, cookouts, and Wii Bowling Tournaments. Well, not so much that last one… yet!

So as Mike leaves to head back to work, I realize how incredibly short this packed summer will be – how I need to treasure every moment of my time with family and my new friends. I am so excited to see how much fun the remainder will be, as I am having the time of my life.

The New England Experience

We had guests at the house recently. My brother Erick was in town. The kids loved him and called him Uncle Ick (well, the shorter ones did anyway). His visit was overlapped by my parents, Bill and Jane. We tried to give them as much New England as we could.

Here's Bill with a 3.5 lb Lobster and a Sam Adams.

We ran out to Kevin and Jodie’s to see Owl’s Head Light. Since we know the “keepers” we got to show them inside.

Then we showed them around the Mighty Warship Abbie Burgess.

Later we ran to Acadia on Mount Desert Island:

Wii pretty much did everything that New England has to offer… except Candlepin Bowling. Wii hate Candlepin Bowling. Instead Wii found a different form of bowling. One the kids could enjoy.