brainstorming

Mapping Out My Life

Let's see if this works.

States I've been to:

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Kind of interesting. Maybe the next vacation should be Southeast, Northeast, or just south. (We've talked about visiting some of the caves in the south.) I also found I had to stretch my memory. Oh yeah! I was in El Paso to visit that customer!

And countries I've visited:

create your own visited country map

As you might expect, very heavy on Asia; China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore. (I didn't count Japan bacause I've never been outside the airport there.) Then there's one little spec in the Netherlands. (I stopped there for a day when I bought an around the world ticket.)

Link via Teresa at Technicalities

What About Sex?

Let's talk about sex baby
Let's talk about you and me

Maybe I should clarify that's not an invitation for weird e-mails. Of course, you'll probably catch onto that if you read the rest of this post.

Remember all the sex talk in the blogs? (OK so this was a while ago.)

Let's face it, a lot of the blogosphere is libertarian. I'm fine with that. But, I remember asking myself at the time, would the message be the same if they were talking to their teenagers?

I ran onto this post about abstinence today. I will encourage my kids to be abstinent until marriage.

Of course I understand I can't make that choice for them and I will love them no matter what choices they make.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about adults and I have no desire to censor or to judge your life decisions. I'm just a Mom looking out for what I think is best for my kids.

You might think I'm nuts. So is Lisa Kudrow, AC Green, Jonathon Jackson.

Kerry and Botox

Linking on the command of the High Commisioner of the Blogosphere:

Kerry on Botox

And the denial here.

Hugh Hewitt Patriot Forum

Last night we attended the Hugh Hewitt Patriot Forum at the St. Paul Hotel. As our guests, we invited my nephew and his girlfriend. (The nephew is working on Brainstorming's site design.) I think I can safely say neither of them would describe themselves as conservatives. When we asked them to join us I made it clear Hugh was a conservative talk show host and referred them to his site and show. It was a double treat to have the chance to see Hugh in person and to have them join us. I got the impression they found it interesting that during the discussion period there were questions critical of spending under the Bush administration. I hope they enjoyed themselves. We appreciated their willingness to attend though they knew in advance they might not agree with everything said. I know I was not focused on politics at that age, so they're ahead of the curve.

On to the forum.

We sat with a group of people wearing T-shirts for Liberate America. Their founder explained they would like to see America get out of the U.N. They arrange protests around the cities.

Since I knew a number of local bloggers planned to attend, but I had no way to recognize them, I approached Hugh near the end of dinner and asked if he could point out the guys from Fraterslibertas. Captain Ed had mentioned he planned to try to sit with them. Hugh was incredibly gracious, asked me if I had a blog, was I conservative, how many hits a day I got, if I would be applying for membership to the Northern Alliance? We also talked about poker since I told him that's what I'd blogged about yesterday. It was very nice of him to take the time and the interest. I agree with everyone who's mentioned his generosity.

We couldn't spot the Fraters guys right then, but he told me he'd be asking them to stand during his talk.

When he got up to speak he asked how many in the audience were aware of blogs. I would guess 50 or more of the approximately 400 or so people there raised their hands, a percentage way higher than the general public because Hugh, High Commissioner of the Blogosphere has made people aware of them through his show. He sees the medium as revolutionary, saying he knows all about Minnesota politics from reading Northern Alliance blogs, even though he doesn't subscribe to any local papers.

He asked the members of the Northern Alliance to stand up. The Powerline guys were at a table up front. Two of the Fraters guys, Atomizer and the Elder were at the table next to me. (I watched my P's and Q's lest the Atomizer label me as a heckler.) I didn't see Mitch Berg from Shot in the Dark. Too Bad. I would have liked to meet him. Hugh asked if Captain Ed was there, but it appeared he didn't make it, (more on that later.)

The focus of Hugh's speech was strategy for the presidential election, citing national security as the one critical issue Republicans need to keep front and center. In his opinion, the U.S. can survive a bad tax structure, or social change. The one thing we can't afford to get wrong is protecting the nation. Failure to continue to fight the war on terror would be too costly. For that reason, he argued, the central issue the Bush team needs to focus on is national security. Fogging that message with domestic issues, social issues, etc., would be a mistake. For that reason, he feels this is the most critical national election he's seen.

The Bush doctrine, of willingness to preemptively strike nations that potentially pose a threat by their willingness to deal with terrorists will not be legitimized until the American people confirm it by re-election.

He also discussed the potential for Republican gains in congress, noting the open Democrat seats and current Senators that are vulnerable, (Daschle and Boxer were mentioned). I know I have been frustrated since gaining the majority with the ability of the Democrats to block legislation and especially judicial appointments, (for which Hugh said he prefers the nuclear option of changing Senate rules so cloture would be a matter of a simple majority.) There has been some movement of the electorate to the right, (Minnesota being a stellar example.) This election presents the opportunity to gain enough seats in the Senate to truly enact the conservative agenda.

During the discussion period, one gentleman suggested Hugh invite Michael Savage on his show to discuss immigration. Hugh responded that Michael was wrong on the immigration issue and his message is divisive. His point was made by two audience members subsequentially getting up to defend their wives, both legal immigrants. When you talk immigration apparently, people don't hear the distinction between legal and illegal. For that reason Hugh defended Bush's proposal that congress discuss a way to deal with the immigration issue, with amnesty being taken off the table.

The spending under Bush was criticized by an audience member. In Hugh's opinion, he has not vetoed legislation because he wants to be re-elected. Hugh said he would be willing to pay for the 500 billion dollar deficit if it meant keeping a president who was strong on national security. Notice we keep returning to that theme?

Another audience member brought up the reluctance of christians to become involved in politics. I actually wanted to respond to this question, but time ran out. If by chance he reads this, I would refer him to Paul in the book of Acts 22: 25-29:

But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?" When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman." The commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes." The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen." Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.

Notice that Paul appeals to his rights as a citizen of Rome? I agree that pastors should not do politics from the pulpit. However, I do think the church can encourage their members to exercise their rights as citizens and vote.

At the end of the Forum I introduced myself to the Atomizer and the Elder. Atomizer said he'd been reading Brainstorming yesterday! How cool is that? He also checked to see if I went with the dress....which I had.....lol. (However the snowmobile boots, long coat, pants, and head wrap were in the van in case of winter emergency. Us northern girls have to be prepared for anything.) I asked if they had seen Captain Ed, but he was nowhere to be found.

When we got home I checked Captain's Quarters to see what had happened to Ed. It turns out it was a parking problem. I can attest downtown was nuts last night. In fact, my nephew arrived after they limited valet parking to overnite guests too. Then they were stopped in traffic forever, finally leaving his car in a precarious spot. He later went back and moved it to a lot a few blocks away. We'll catch Ed next time.

We really enjoyed the evening. Hugh is unique not only in his promotion of blogs, but in his show content. He has the best guests in politics, then there'll be a discussion on Dickens, or a guest like Ken Tamplin, (a show I really enjoyed.) The Hubby enjoyed it too, although he would have preferred it was a little less focused on the campaign, with more on conservative thought. It was nice that if you chatted with another audience member you didn't have to start at the beginning to fully explain the issue you were talking about. This was a politically active and informed crowd.

However I have to question the sanity of anyone who is going snowmobiling today??? (Someone did point out at least there are no trees on Minnetonka.) Hugh is also broadcasting live across the street from the ice castle at 5 tonight. I won't be able to make it due to work, but there's also a Young Life fundraiser at R.F. Moeller at 7 PM tonight if you're in the twin cities area. Apparently champagne will be $25 per glass and one glass will have a $1000 diamond in it. If anyone attends, I'd love to hear about it.

Update: The Elder posts his take on the evening. I had forgotten we were invited to chase them and beat them with sticks! Did I mention that both the Atomizer and the Elder were younger than I imagined? I spoke briefly with Tordas who encouraged me to come on the next Patriot Cruise.

News? What News? Let's Talk Poker!

Remember I shared with you my Poker Dreams? Can you say Vegas Reality Smackdown?

Let's start from the beginning. Do you know how to play Texas Hold Em?

Everyone is dealt two cards. Then you have a round of betting.
Three shared cards , (the Flop), are dealt face up on the table. Another round of betting.
One more shared card, (Third Street or the Turn), is dealt face up on the table. Another round of betting.
The last shared card, (Fourth Street or the River), is dealt face up on the table. Last round of betting.

The person who stays in to the end, and makes the best 5 card poker hand, (using 5 of the total 7 cards - the two in your hand plus the 5 shared cards dealt face up on the table), wins the pot.

To measure my insanity index, I confess that I really haven't played poker before. I like cards and have played a lot of cards. I'm sure we played around with poker and chips when I was younger, but it's been years and I've never seriously played the game.

Day 1 Vegas: Pretty sane here. I took the class at the Luxor to go through the mechanics of the game, after which they have a $1 - $2 Limit Hold Em game. So, you can bet or raise $1 the first round of betting, (when you have your two cards), and the second round, (after the Flop), then for the last two rounds of betting, (Fourth and Fifth street), the bet or raise is $2.

Rules were a maximum of three raises per round of betting.

I played for four hours and left up thirty some bucks. (At one point I had been up about $70.) Pretty good. Got my feet wet. Wasn't a disaster.

Next is the part where you will be totally justified in questioning my sanity.

The game that has intrigued me is NO LIMIT Hold Em. The reason is the difference in strategy. In a LOW LIMIT Hold Em game, people will easily call your raises of $2 - $6 per round to see your cards, keep you honest, and make sure you're not taking the pot by bluffing.

By introducing NO LIMIT, it's a whole 'nother ball game. You can bet all your chips at any time, whatever you have on the table, by going ALL IN. People will think twice about calling you with that much at stake.

So, I had read there was a NO LIMIT Hold Em game at the Monte Carlo. I called and they said Friday and Saturday nights, at about 10 PM, minimum buy in, $100. I must digress here. From what I'd read, I was under the impression that this was a tournament style game. You put in your $100 and players were eliminated, by running out of chips), with the winners getting cash prizes.

Au contraire. I get to the Monte Carlo and find out the game's delayed because they don't have a table yet. So I have them put my name on a list for a seat and wander off to get a snack and make phone calls. When I get back the game is already in progress and they tell me they have my seat. I sit down and they ask me how much I want in chips. It was then I realized this would not be a tournament, but straight NO LIMIT Hold Em. I'm not going to back out now, since this was the one thing I really wanted to try in Vegas. I ask for $200 in chips, look around, notice a lot of young guys at the table, a couple with headphones - not a good sign. Of course I'm the only woman at the table.

It turned out that probably 6 of the 9 people at the table were locals who regularly play this game. I am in way over my head. When you're still learning the game, you're bound to make mistakes. There were pots I should have played, but didn't, and pots I should have had the sense to stay out of, but didn't.

Generally, if one of the regulars bet at a pot, you could count on them having the cards to back it up.

The blinds were $2 and $5 meaning the minimum bet to see a Flop was $5. OK. I can deal with that. No problem. But are you willing to bet $25-$50 just to see the Flop?

One of the mistakes I made was in this situation. I was holding pocket 4's, (a pair of 4's in my hand), and decided I didn't want to pay $25 to see the Flop. Another 4 came up in the Flop, so I would have had three 4's. The pot was won with three 2's.

However, I did go ALL IN a number of times and won. I put out one of the locals doing it. I had a short stack, (50 some bucks), and was dealt A something and decided to make a last stand and go ALL IN. He called me with King something. I won the pot and he left the game.

I also won a decent pot when an out of towner folded on the river. I was holding the King that made a dime flush.

It was very interesting to watch the local guys play each other. One guy went ALL IN after the flop with about $500 in chips in front of him. After long consideration, the other local decided not to call. While we waited for him to call or fold, the table was very quiet. The out of towner next to me was practically wetting his pants.

I made it about 2 1/2 hours into the game before I really blew a hand, missing that I had made my flush on the River. At that point, one of the locals asked me why I hadn't raised, which of course I should have. I finally had to confess I was new to the game, giving up the woman of mystery personnae.

When I explained I was new to the game, he asked the question you should all be asking yourselves right now, "WHY NO LIMIT?"

My answer is that I like the strategy that NO LIMIT adds to the game.

I finally busted about 4 hours into playing, (a number of folks busted before I did and left the game.) When I left the table I thanked the guys for the education and told them I'd be back when I learned the game better.

I don't regret playing with the "big boys." But, I won't be doing it again anytime soon. I think I better pay my dues learning in low limit games first. (Did I mention they just opened poker tables at our local casinos?) It was worth it to me and I did learn a lot from the experience.

20 Below with a Bonus - No Power!

Oh what a beautiful morning!
Oh what a beautiful day!

It's a little chilly. Twenty below this morning, (actual temp. - not windchill). OK. I might have to actually button up my coat between home and the office.

To make things really pleasant, we woke up to discover it was 20 below and we had no electricity! Yowsa!

We do have a fireplace both at home and in the office, so as you can imagine, we fired both of them up. After making a few phone calls to those with juice, we discovered the Boy's school was delayed two hours. The Girl gets the whole day off because of the power outage, but she's bummed I won't let her go visit friends. (I am such a meanie. Just ask my kids!)

Living away from city services as we do, having no power means you also have no water, except what's already in your hot water heater and reserve tank. (No electricity to pump more.) Thankfully they got power back up after a couple hours. Lucky for the other attendees, I don't have to go to tonight's function stinky.

Tonight the Patriot Forum featuring Hugh Hewitt! I see a number of local bloggers will be attending. (Speaking of local bloggers, I'm sorry to note that Steve at Hellooo chapter two! decided to take a blogging hiatus. I totally understand his reasons though. I may consider doing the same. Do you try to keep it up when you don't have the time you'd like to put into it? Or is it better to take a break and come back to it fresh when you feel you can do a better job?)

Now the mystery! Will I remain incognito tonight or introduce myself as DC of Brainstorming? Will anyone care? (Highly Doubtful.) I'm still considering if I want to go with my original plan of wearing a dress. Twenty below and nylons? Can you say Glutton for Punishment?

If you won't be making the Patriot Forum, Lileks will be guest hosting for Hugh. AM 1280 at 5 PM.

Blog Madness - Go Vote!

Blog Madness is on and I missed the cut off.............Waaaaahhh!

But, it's not too late to click through and vote for the Captain.

In fact, a lot of our friends are participating:

You can vote for the Evangelical Outpost in this bracket.

King of Fools and Wizbang are in this bracket.

California Yankee can be found here.

Quick! You only have 5 hours and 20 minutes left for this round!

Teresa's New Blog: Technicalities

Frequent commentor Teresa has a new blog called Technicalities! Check it out and give her link love! (Great name, by the way.)

She's ranting a bit over the latest virus spam, (and now you get to deal with comment spam too! Gluttons for punishment, I tell ya'.) I'm very glad to hear that she thinks Typepad Rocks!

I'm adding to the sidebar under Cerebrum.

I'm also adding:

Army of One: I'm pretty much in agreement on his post The World According to Me. I can definitely releate to this post on blogging...lol! The more I read, the more I find we have in common.

Pamibe: I was going to tell you about Al Franken's assault of a Dean heckler yesterday, but Pam's got it covered. Amazing how Al has "freedom of speech" and "assault" confused. This guy gets stranger with every story I hear about him.

Go check out Triticale, whose son was an A1 brat, and who is rooting along with Boots and Sabers and me for Wisconsin Concealed Carry to pass. Updates from Owen, here and here. Also, check out this poll reporting support for concealed carry. Wisconsin residents please call Gary Sherman!

So much Bloggy Goodness! So little time! Speaking of which, the salt mine demands my attention today.

Auschwitz Liberated 1945

John of Argghhh!!! reminds us that Auschwitz was liberated Jan. 27, 1945 and has this to say to Holocaust deniers:

Any Holocaust Deniers, don't bother - I'll just delete the comment. I've seen the camps, the documents, the artifacts. I believe. And I don't believe the Allies were capable of creating a myth whole cloth like that. Just don't waste your time, move on. Any Holocaust Celebrators - leave any traceable data and I'll forward it to the Mossad. Of course, in my experience, most people like that don't have the courage of their convictions.

It's inconceivable that with the wealth of historical and physical evidence and living witnesses that anyone can deny or forget the Holocaust. Yet we know they do.

What will this encouragement of conspiracy theories cost us in the end? Even now the evidence is piling up that Europe chooses not to remember by not addressing the reports of growing anti-semitism, (which I'm sure has nothing to do with its growing Muslim population.........riggggghhhhhtttt.)

The person I am today, doesn't understand. It's just not logical. People can't just ignore history. We can't ignore death camps and mass murder. If we intend to prevent the same type evil from gripping the world, we have to face the evil that was, ever vigilant to stamp out any trace of it reappearing. Yet, it has not always been so close to my heart.

Let me be clear. I knew about Hitler, the war, the death camps, and would never have denied these things occurred. As I said, the evidence is overwhelming.

Yet anti-semitism really wasn't on my radar 12 years ago. Two things have changed my attitude:

My life was changed when I acknowledged God was real, that I had no choice but to believe. I know many of you may not agree, but He leaves me no room to doubt. I have seen His hand, felt His touch. He is more real than I am. One of the verses I ran across soon after was something God said to Abraham:

"And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Gen. 12:2)

I could really go on for pages here. Suffice it to say my change of heart, (in relation to God), and subsequent reading led me to a greater love and understanding of the Jewish people and Israel. It was like finally understanding how that piece fit into the puzzle, where the roots of the tree were buried.

Then we come to 09/11. Of course the terrorists were active before that day, but we failed as a nation to focus on them. As we do examine their actions and motives it's obvious they are united in their hatred of Israel. The hatred runs deep enough that the Iranian Mullahs would rather let their people die than accept help from Israel.

Does anyone else wonder how this tiny nation continues to stand, surrounded as it is by its enemies, assailed as they are by violence, with their children blown up on their way to school?

Do you have children? If so, do you ever talk with them about the Holocaust? As we lose the people who lived through the war, it's our responsibility to make sure future generations never forget.

Dennis Miller at the Paris, Las Vegas

We might have gone to see the Blueman Group, (in fact I almost bought tickets online before we left), but after we got to Vegas, we saw billboards advertising Dennis Miller was appearing at the Paris Las Vegas. It's been pretty interesting watching the change in his politics after 09/11. Nice to see at least someone in Hollywood, understands the reasons for the war on terror.

We bought tickets for the Friday might show. He was in his usual fine sarcastic form:

On his feelings regarding France,

"Calling the French scumbags is an insult to bags filled with scum"

After dropping that one, he explained that he'd checked beforehand and the Paris is really owned by Americans. I can see where you might want to know that in advance. (He had fun making fun of the hotel staff and their French accents. Like our waiter at dinner, Fernando. Sounds very French, No?)

He mentioned his previous engagments.....

"Branson is the Vegas for people without teeth."

Most of the political humor was in the last half of the show and got the strongest audience response. Even though we'd heard a lot of the material before, since we generally make it a point to catch him when we know he's going to be on, it was worth the price of admission.

If you're familiar with his style, you probably understand why I won't be posting some of his best stuff from the show. This blog is rated PG, and the ones that brought the audience to tears were somewhere around NR/AO. (Naturally you want to skip Dennis if you're at all offended by obscenity. He knows them all and wields them like a sharp edged sword.)

The only annoying thing was our nearby seatmates. Ladies and Gentlemen, on your right, we have the Hysterical Laugher! Yes! She will laugh continuously throughout the show......rising then decreasing....rising then decreasing..........throughout the entire program, pausing only long enough to gasp for breath!!! You will soon fear for her sanity! Appearing over your left shoulder!! We have the "Jesus" man. He will groan "Jesus" under his breath for every punch line uttered for the entire show! Pretty soon you will begin to imagine that every joke told is incomplete until he completes the punchline.......Jesus. Laughter....uncontrolled laughter.....Jesus.....uncontrolled laughter....Jesus......you get the idea.

It was like living a very very bad soundtrack.

I was surprised that Dennis didn't mention to the audience that his CNBC show started airing today. (OK, yesterday for you. I haven't been to bed yet.) Haven't seen it yet, We "taped" it on the PVR. The Fraters boys have the scoop and apparently there'll be a monkey wandering the set?