Google Me - What's in a name?

May 7, 2008 | 11:56AM  | maudie dot b - gmail d c | |

More times than I want to admit, my workday mornings are spent not doing much work. What steals the time away? Usually Google Reader. I have far too many subscriptions to realistically keep up with on a daily basis.

This morning, it was a particular post over at Pokerati, or rather what was contained in the post, that had me glued to the computer screen for about an hour and a half, interrupted a couple of times by phone calls and, oh, my boss wanting me to hear some rare praise from the the grand poohbahs who were here from the state office. I smiled, said "thank you" then rushed back to my desk.

What had captured me was a You Tube film made by a poker player. A poker player who put his winnings and financial viability on the line to make a film about - himself. Or rather - his name.

The film is Google Me conceived and directed by a fella and poker player named Jim Killeen. Jim was inspired to do the film after Googling his name and wondered who were the other Jim Killeens who popped up on the computer screen. He managed to convince six other Jim Killeens to agree to meet with him and be filmed for the documentary.

What could have become a completely self indulgent ego stroke, instead blossoms into a uniquely introspective and relatable journey into self and exploration of identity.

The film has only a few rough spots, straying from it's purpose in some brief moments. At it's core, though, are the one on one's with each of the six Jim Killeens - from priest to trannie chasing swinger - each Jim Killeen's story is a fascinating portrait of diversity and individuality.

Several times I was moved to tears - a ballad in an Irish pub; a farewell on bridge with a son, mother and a father - as well as times that had me laughing out loud.

But, don't take my word for it - I've taken the liberty of embedding the film below. Watch for yourself - I'll darn near guarantee you'll enjoy it.

Stickin' to poker

April 28, 2008 | 03:07PM  | maudie dot b - gmail d c | |

I engaged in an activity yesterday in which I have not engaged in a very long time. Naw, it wasn't that, alas, but

bowling.

Yup, I bowled yesterday. I won't say I went bowling. That would imply I intended to bowl at the destination point. Indeed, I did not intend to bowl. I intended to arrive, stay for a length of time - not too long, not too short - then depart.

Needless to say, my intentions collided with social pressure and my intentions lost out.

The occasion was the 50th birthday of a long-time friend. She chose a trendy bowling lounge in the trendy downtown OKC party district known as Bricktown to have her party.

I vacillated between 'go' and 'not go' all of yesterday due to a wavefront of gravity. That's the only way I can explain how I felt - like there'd been a sudden increase in gravity that made moving difficult - especially up my spiral staircase to my bailiwick of an office.

At the last minute I decided to go, driving up with two other friends with the mutual plan of not bowling, staying until cake and then departing. What we didn't know was that our freedom to not bowl had been usurped by the lane computer into which our names had been entered prior to our arrival. They only lacked our shoe size which was demanded with the drink order.

The shoes - ah - that's what warmed me to heaving an eight pound round thing down a slick lane gutter in repeated futile attempts to knock down those pin things. The shoes were, well, cool.

By the eighth frame or so, I was in a heated contest for last place. It was between me and another loser inexperienced player. At the tenth frame, she thought she'd nailed last place for sure.

"What's your score?" I queried.

"Forty-five," she smugly answered.

"HA!!" I proclaimed, "my score's thirty-six! I'M the big loser, hardy-har-har-har!!"

She skulked off to the corner and sank into her cocktail. I was never prouder, strutting in my cool shoes and filling my cheeks with birthday cake.

I was glad I went, even though gravity won the day, preventing my ball from hitting its mark and landing me on my ass after one particular throw. But, I diddent care 'cause I was cool, way cool in my pair of size five red 'n black bowling shoes.

New to me poker blog

April 22, 2008 | 10:24AM  | maudie dot b - gmail d c | |

I have just added The Vegas Year to my "poker blog must reads" in Google Reader. It only took two posts for it to land in my top ten. I can forgive two donks, two donkeys and one donkish within a long list of interesting and entertaining posts.

I can almost forgive that this disaster of a blog isn't in his blogroll. I do, after all, have an ego somewhere. Probably amongst the laundry in the bathtub that nags me every. time. I walk by.... but it exists, none-the-less.

Carry on.