.

Quarterbacking it...

I had skipped Basketball last Sunday because i wanted to attend TDH's (TheDonkeyHouse.net) dry run tournament. Sunday, as everyone knows is KPT night (KoolGreen Poker Tour) so you might say it was uncustomary playing there. The TDH tournament director had asked me to move my game there, perhaps to get the guys acclimated to his Poker place. I had no quibbles about it of course, in fact i had been an advocate of relocating my game to TDH conceptually speaking. Not that i am tired of hosting but TDH would seem to be a better more equipped venue all together, not to mention Bigger. Although this might suggest the beginning of the end for KPT, i have no qualms about the idea. The KPT philosophy has always been offering a weekly and organized Poker Tournament, i believe i have succeeded in that. As long as we have a regular game, then my work is done...

Read on this is not a Poker entry, i promise...

Having skipped Basketball and consumed an enormous amount of Beer that night, i felt a little guilty. And i haven't been biking lately either because of the wild fires (air is bad especially up in the mountains...). So to appease my guilt, i promised myself i would run a couple of miles on the treadmill during Monday Night Football. Green Bay was playing in Denver, a game i had been looking forward to for a couple of weeks... Before the end of the work day however, i had inadvertently made dinner plans with a friend and her little baby. I adore that kid so perhaps she is responsible for my absentmindedness? I didn't want to be a jerk and cancel though. And i haven't missed my a Green Bay Monday Night game in probably over 10 years...

But instead of breaking any of my plans, i decided to devise a way to make it all work... I was to Quarterback the situation, ala Brett Farve if you will. My version of the two-minute drill. First and foremost, since i was picking her up at 6:30 i had to leave work early (i left at 4pm). Basically the plan was to hopefully have enough time to do everything without appearing to be in a hurry and get home early enough to catch the 4th quarter of what i anticipated to be a good Football game. I needed at least 24 minutes to run a couple of miles on the treadmill (at 5 mph), plus a few minutes to shower (lets say a total of 36 minutes give or take a couple) and hopefully dinner took no longer than 40 minutes. If everything went according to plan, i should be fine... Ya this is what happens when you mix plans up. You gotta get Creative...

I went down field deep on the first play out of scrimmage (Evidently Brett did too), which is to say i called ahead of time to let her know i was leaving my house earlier than expected. The play resulted in an early Touch-Down-- she was waiting outside her house with the little one when i arrived (Yes!). I drove to the restaurant a few ticks quicker than usual and kept an open and interesting enough conversation so she wouldn't notice (And she didn't. Yes!). The Restaurant it seemed was on my side too because there was a parking spot right in the front a few steps from the entrance. When we entered we were seated almost immediately. For effect I pretended to peruse the menu although i already knew what to order beforehand. When the waitress came i immediately ordered for the both of us including the appetizers and an apple juice for the kid. Skipping the appetizers would have been a dead giveaway you see... Be smart fellas be smart...

The appetizers came in a matter of minutes followed shortly by our entrees. I was amazed! It was as if i had called ahead of time and explained my situation wow... There was one minor snag however. Apparently the baby had not taken her nap in the afternoon so she was very cranky and tired. As if on cue she conveniently began to cry uncontrollably once dinner was served. "Bye bye, bye bye" she kept crying. I guess she wanted to leave. I began to worry the crying would delay and ruin my plans... Okay relax, i took care of the baby too.

Here it goes... I audibled and changed the play at the line of scrimmage. "Okay i will eat real fast while you take care of her then we'll switch- Hike! Hike!" i suggested (No i did not really Hike it like a quarterback lol). It took me a mere 5 minutes to consume a half a chicken and some rice before switching up without risking revelation of my true intentions. Come on I still would have taken care of the baby under normal circumstances. I just i doubt 5 minutes would ordinarily be enough time to eat that much food lol. So anyway I got up and walked the baby outside and around the restaurant, albeit unsuccessfully. She just wanted to go home, poor kid (She couldn't wait go leave her house but she got tired aww). And to my delight, when i came back inside my friend had already finished her dinner... This quarterbacking thing, i must say, had worked like a charm, because overall dinner was completed in less than 30 minutes hahaha...

Best yet, the third quarter was just starting when i got home. Isn't it just lovely when everything goes better than planned?

How about that Brett Farve guy? Holy smokes!!! I'd been pissed off had i missed the entire Game. Mr. Farve, you'd been proud about the way i quarterbacked my Monday Night...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Tuesday, October 30, 2007