myWhidbey because we don't live under the rock.

It's Sunday, the seventh day of our road trip, but this blog entry is about day six. Yesterday was the first day of our trip back to the island, and although today was a far more interesting day, it's worth writing a quick blurb about day 6.

Most of the day was spent at my parent's home; we finally left their house at 7 PM. After contemplating the various routes, we decided to head north on Highway 395 and spend the night at the Holiday Inn Express in the town of Bishop. This choice would open possibilities for the following day; we could go to Yosemite national park, we could go to Reno, Nevada, we could even head north to Bend, Oregon, if we were so inclined.

The ride was uneventful, and actually quite scenic; the clear skies and full moon bestowed on us a remarkable and serene glimpse of the contours of the land. Our daughter slept all the way, and our son asked an endless string of questions about everything under the sun (or moon, as was the case.) By the way, if you think you know how to answer any question a three and a half year old child can throw at you, try going on a road trip with him or her...

It was close to midnight when we finally arrived at the hotel. I had my hopes and expectations set very high after our stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Modesto; alas, the hotel in Bishop was quite the antipode of that experience. First, the clerk gave us a room on the second floor and left out the small but important fact that the hotel had no elevators. With two sleepy children, a cooler, and a mammoth luggage suitcase, taking the stairs was out of the question. The second room looked OK, except for the jeans, bra, and other undergarments that were neatly folded on top of one of the beds. It turns out that the manager was staying in that room... good thing she wasn't in the room when we walked in.

The third room was the charm... but not charming by any means. It was clean, sure, but the heater emitted a foul burning smell when turned on, the bathroom fan rattled when the light was turned on, and the mini-fridge gurgled so loudly that it had to be unplugged.

Needless to say though, after the late-night drive and fun but tiring questions from our son, we were all too happy to crash for the night.

p.s. I'm running out of battery power on my laptop, so I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to post the next entry.

It's Saturday, and the hoopla surrounding the holidays is now over. It's amazing how much food can be consumed during the holidays, especially when mom is doing all the cooking.

Yesterday I cleaned the minivan in preparation for our trip back to the island. I found a rotten apple among other delicious bits of stale food crumbs around the seats and floor of the car. The Mazda now looks somewhat acceptable and ready for the trip back to the island.

Overall, I think we did a good job at packing the necessities and nothing more for this trip. We did forget a couple of essential items, like my clip-on sunglasses and a pocket knife. The Boon portable toilet was a hit.

The plan is to leave tonight; although we're not sure where we'll spend the night yet. We were going to drive to Carmel and take the coastal route up north, but we're leaning now towards the inland route through Yosemite. I'm hoping we hit a snow storm so I can have an excuse to buy chains for the tires...

Here are some random photos taken over the last two days. If you're curious about the chickens, my mom is somewhat of a chicken collector; there must be over 100 chickens around her house, excluding the edible ones in the fridge and freezer.

My dad's FIVE cars... don't ask why.

My sister's CLK 320

Rotten apple

The generator next door

The view from my parent's backyard

Argentine-sized grill

This is a chicken

This is another chicken

Two more chickens

Three chickens

My name is Irma

This review by CNN convinced me.

It's Thursday evening; the children are asleep, and the rest of my family is watching "Forces of Nature". While Ben Affleck has been in some descent flicks, I would much rather write this blog entry...

After leaving the Holiday Inn Express Wednesday morning, we drove down to Fresno, California. We needed to fill up on additional provisions for the trip and enjoy a hearty lunch, so we stopped at the local Whole Foods. On the way there, we saw people lined up outside of a Honey Baked store. I've seen people line up for movies or iPhones, but never for baked ham. I can only fathom two possible explanations for this: either it's very good ham, or people are idiots. I opine it's the latter.

From Fresno, we drove to Bakersfield, then east on Highway 58 towards Edwards Air Force Base. At this point, both Ekaterina and Gabriel were getting restless from all the driving. They looked like they needed to burn some energy before dozing off, so we decided to get off the highway at Tehachapi and look for a park or a school with a playground. After driving around for a bit – we were using the iPhone to search for schools and parks – we found an elementary school that looked more like the correctional facility Tehachapi is better known for. We could see a play area behind a locked fence, but I was not about to pick the locks in this town. My son and daughter were content running around an access ramp by one of the school buildings, and it served the purpose; both of them crashed not too long after we left the town.

After passing the air force base, we took Highway 395 south towards Hesperia, and made it to my parent's home by 9 PM. A total of 344 miles, according to Google Maps.

Mmmm... Whole Foods lunch

Provisions

What's this world coming to...

Filling up in Tulare, California

Taking the "public" out of public schools

It's Wednesday morning, and I'm writing this entry from the room at a Holiday Inn Express in Modesto, California. We're about to head out for the last segment of the trip to Hesperia, California.

Yesterday's segment was the longest one of the entire trip. According to Google Maps, we drove 671 miles (1,080 Km), although with stops and detours, it was more like 700 miles.

We made two major stops during this segment. The first was the North Mountain Nature Center in Ashland, Oregon. The children enjoyed the park and the break from driving. It gave them enough stamina to make it to the second stop, In 'N' Out in Redding, California. After some grilled cheeses, fries, and shakes, we stopped at Target to buy some movies, at a gas station for another fill-up, and then continued our trip south.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn 30 minutes past midnight.

Filling up in Banks, Oregon

This is what my daughter thinks of Shell...

Having a portable toilet is a godsend.

These snacks are awesome!

Ashland's Nature Center; it's a great stop for the little ones.

In 'N' Out @ Redding, California

In 'N' Out milkshakes are sooooo good!

Filling up in Redding, CA

Wow! This is a Holiday Inn Express???

Fancy bathroom!

Nice touch! Fluorescent light bulbs.

Last night we set off on our second family road trip.

The passengers:

The destination: Hesperia, California

I went to work on Monday, so the trip really only started at 8 PM from Kirkland. My wife and children met me at work; we ate Google dinner, made some lattes, and headed on our way.

Our fist stop was Banks, Oregon, where we spent the night at a friend's house. Leaving Monday night was an awesome idea; both children slept all the way to Banks, and we avoided rush hour traffic around Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland.

It's now Tuesday, and we're about to take off for California. Our only scheduled stop is Redding, were we plan to pay homage to the In 'N' Out gods. The trip so far looks like this.

Our Mazda 5 is awesome!

...and In 'N' Out.

November 15 came and went, and in the end I fell short of the $1,000 goal for my poker bankroll; what's worse, I fell short by just $90. Only $90 more and I would have earned a free sushi dinner and a grilled cheese from In 'N' Out. I say earned because it was no cake walk winning all these tournaments over the past 30 days. Considering that I started playing tournaments just over a month ago, I should be happy with the result, even if it costs me a sushi dinner.

Before tonight, my bankroll stood at $840, having lost the $15 I made playing online. I should add that playing tournaments online is not as easy as I thought. I will definitely need more practice in this area, but I am still committed to building my online poker bankroll without making a single deposit... it's just going to take some time.

I played a tournament tonight in order to bring my bankroll to where it stands today. The game was a lot of fun; we had seven people and the buy-ins were $20. Including a $20 re-buy, I was committed for $40 total. After two and a half hours of play, the tournament ended with me in first place, taking $110, or $70 after expenses.

Anyway, here are the stats for my first month, ending November 15:

Tournaments played: 8
Tournaments won (placed in the money): 6 (75%)
Largest prize won: $340
Largest loss: $120

My average net winnings for the six tournaments I won is $178, after deducting expenses. I'm very confident I can increase my bankroll to $2,000 by the end of the year, even with all the holidays in between. I also found a new venue where to play; so hopefully I'll have plenty of opportunities to reach this goal.

Anyone care for another wager?

Finally! After trying a half dozen times, I finally placed in the money playing a freeroll tournament. This is a very important step, as it officially funds my online poker bankroll.

For the uninitiated, a freeroll tournament is nothing more than a regular poker tournament, sans the entry fee. In other words, you can play the tournament without investing any money, and the winner (or winners) receive a cash prize. It is a great way to circumvent the primitive and misguided online gambling laws of the freest country on earth.

If you're thinking there's a catch somewhere; there isn't. The money is real. I can withdraw it any time and use it as legal tender anywhere greenbacks are accepted. Of course, I'm not going to do that, and that's exactly what the online casinos are banking on. If I leave the money in my account, I'll play more games, and eventually even deposit more money to play higher stakes. That's what the casinos want. I have other plans; they include winning tournaments and taking money out of the account. My goal is to not deposit a penny into this account, and see how big I can grow it.

As for the freeroll tournament this weekend, it started at 1 AM and ended at 5 AM. I finished second, after a grueling four hours of play against 300 other players.

And how much does second place pay, you ask?

A whopping fifteen hundred cents! 1,500 cents!

That's right; I played four hours and went to bed at 5 AM, in order to win a piggy bank full of pennies. Sometimes I wonder about myself...

At least I got to cap my freeroll weekend with some awesome sushi rolls. On Sunday afternoon, Taichi from Chiso delivered the best (and only) sushi experience to South Whidbey. Taichi, you are the sushi god!

Update: It's now Monday, and my online bankroll is down to $11, after losing one tournament and winning another. My overall poker bankroll stands at $851. I have one more tournament at Cozy's before the Wednesday deadline. It's going to come down to the wire!