Just a bit outside...

So what a great way to start the weekend. I had a $5,000 guaranteed poker tournament at Sportsbook.com poker at noon...um...I mean, I would have played in a $5,000 poker tourney if poker were legal here in the states. I had to accompany my sister to our local Toyota dealership in the morning; her damn Camry broke down for the eleven billionth time a few nights ago. Her piece of junk was at the dealership, and we had to go to the lot, call AAA, and wait for a tow truck to lug the heap of scrap metal back to our place. Our journey started at 9:25 with breakfast, and we arrived at the dealership at 10:00. The freaking tow truck, which was supposed to meet us there at 10:30, didn't make it until 11:45, and I didn't get home until around 12:30.

Now, missing a tournament by 30 minutes isn't that big of a deal; I would have lost some chips to the blinds, but I would still have had a decent amount of chips to work with. Of course, that's when we discovered our next probem. Apparently the car was in such bad shape that the battery was dead. Not a big deal, since the car was toast anyway, right? Well, the mechanics had rolled the front driver's window down, and the doors were unlocked. And since the battery was dead, we couldn't roll the window back up! After a brief inspection under the hood, we felt that perhaps a jump would be all we needed--just enough juice to get the power windows working, we hoped. I found a set of jumper cables in my sister's loaner car--her friend left her a 4Runner to use...LONG story. The jump worked, and we spent the next few minutes cursing at the car.

I ran back into my house, logged on to the Sportsbook.com Poker software--that is, if I actually played online poker anymore--and found that I had already been eliminated from the tournament in 15th place! The worst thing is, only 30 people, out of an expected 250, actually showed up, and the top 10 spots earned prizes! I missed a 1-in-30 chance at $2,500!!!

Of course, since I don't play online poker, I'm not too ticked off. Now excuse me while I drown my sorrows in a cold drink. Bracketology talk later tonight.