Thirty-three years ago today, Rick and Debbie Wheaton became my parents, and as long as I can remember, I’ve stayed up until at least midnight on July 28th, so I could watch the calendar turn, and commemorate the happy occasion by running around my lawn in my boxers, hollering out “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!”
However, now that I am the distinguished age of 33, I felt a more appropriate way to mark the passage of time would be to play a Sit-n-Go at PokerStars. I sat into a game just about 11:30, hoping that I’d still be alive at midnight, and I could celebrate with a win.
Sadly, I didn’t catch too many good hands, and when I finally pushed I had QTc vs KTo . . . and I didn’t improve, so I finished in third place, which is still in the money, and at least I didn’t lose to K4o.
I was satisfied to cash, and happy with the way I played it, and I almost went to bed, but then I thought, “Hey! It’s my birthday, goddammit! If I want to play another SNG, then that’s what I’m going to do.” I may have put my little fist on my hip as I said it, but I can’t be sure.
I sat into another one, and . . . long story short: I played a great game, caught cards when I needed them, and after a long heads-up battle, I won!
I was so excited, I ran out the front door, and raced around my lawn in my boxers, hollering, “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! I WON AND IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! WOOO!”
Luckily for my neighbors, my birthday only comes once a year.

I haven’t formed an opinion about Digg yet. I think it’s got a ton of potential, but my jury is still out.
Anyway, this morning, I dugg a link to a short TNG blooper reel, from the first season. In this clip, several different cast members flub lines, with cusstacular results. Somehow, I’m not in this one, but I am on a later one where I cuss like a sailor for close to a minute, which I thought was hilarious, but earned me a lecture from Rick Berman about using language appropriate for my age. Thanks for getting me busted, season two editing crew.
I remember seeing this at one of our first Christmas party, and though it’s funny, it’s nothing compared to one from a later season that’s so “blue” an edict was issued from the powers that be which effectively ended creatively edited TNG blooper reels.

The kids wanted to watch House last night, so Anne and I (and both our dogs and our cat) retired to our bedroom, where we watched The Sopranos on DVD (we’re up to the third episode of season two, so don’t post any spoilers or I’ll break your freakin’ legs. /toughguy) Around 9:45, Nolan came into our room.
“Aren’t you watching House?” I said.
“Yeah, but I’m really tired and I’ve got a test tomorrow,” he said. “I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
Nolan turns fourteen in just over two weeks, and I’m constantly impressed by the level of responsibility he shows. When I was his age, I never would have gone to bed on my own, test or not.
“That’s very responsible,” Anne said.
Nolan smiled, and walked around to my side of the bed. I raised my arms to hug him, but he knelt down to the floor, where Ferris was sleeping. He kissed her head. “Goodnight, Ferris’ head,” he said. She grunted, and happily stretched herself out across the floor.
He walked back to the foot of the bed, where he leaned down and hugged my leg.
“Goodnight, Wil’s leg,” he said.
I looked at my wife. She smiled back at me.
My cat was curled up in a tight little ball between our feet. Nolan stroked his ear. “Goodnight, Biko’s ear,” he said. He stretched out one little white paw and purred.
Nolan looked down, knelt out of my field of vision and said, “Goodnight, Riley Monster’s nose.” Her tail thump thump thump thumped against the bed.
He stood up and walked over to Anne. He put his arms around her, hugged her, and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, Mom’s cheek,” he said.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” she said.
Nolan stood up and smiled. He as he walked down the hallway to his bedroom, he called out, “I love you guys!”
“I love you too,” Anne said.
“I love you too,” I said. “Goodnight, Nolan’s voice,”
I heard him giggle as he closed his bedroom door.

Every Sunday, 1983 World Series of Poker champion and respected author Tom McEvoy plays a heads up poker match with the weekly tournament leader at PokerStars.
From time to time, Tom isn’t able to play, so someone else from Team PokerStars is called up off the bench to play, and this week, it’s me!
So if you’ve ever wanted to “watch” me play poker, you’ll have a chance Sunday the 24th at 2pm EDT. Just login to PokerStars, and search for player “Wil Wheaton” to find the table.
I’m playing against the Dutch sensation Noah Boeken, who goes by “Exclusive” on PokerStars. He’s got impressive credentials, and the scouting reports all include the word notorious(!) . . . so it should be a great match (or a quick and bloody evisceration of yours truly. 😉
Update: Going into this match, all I wanted to do was play good poker, not make any huge donkey moves, represent Team PokerStars honorably, and feel proud of myself when I was done, win or lose. There were a couple of hands where I think I messed up, but luckily they didn’t cost me too much, and I’m very happy with the way I played. I didn’t feel like I was playing scared, I got lucky when I needed it — which was a nice change of pace.
We played for 190 hands . . . and somehow, I won the match. Holy. Shit. I was seriously on the ropes for a bit, and I managed to battle my way back against a very good, solid opponent who played a fantastic game.
Thank you to everyone who watched and cheered me on. That was really fun 🙂

Newsday:

LOS ANGELES — James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series and motion pictures who responded to the command “Beam me up, Scotty,” died early Wednesday. He was 85.
Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease, he said.

I’m too shocked for a thoughtful eulogy right now. Everyone who watched Star Trek liked Scotty, but everyone who met him loved Jimmy . . . I’m sure I’m not the only person today who feels like they lost a friend. My thoughts are with his family.