Author: Wil

Fifteen minutes before Katrina Relief tournament number three begins, here’s a quick look back at Katrina Relief tournament number two.
The final table included two friends of the blog:

1. darth_forte (Crofton, MD)
2. kkalin (Sterling Hts., MI)
3. 4_2_it (Huntingdon Valley, PA)
4. chico6y (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Saturn21 (Ottawa, ON, Canada)
6. FF07 (Bowie, MD)
7. spurgehogan (Arlington,MA)
8. GoodRev42 (Santa Ana, CA)
9. yestbay1 (Grapevine, TX)

yestbay1 is a longtime reader, fellow actor, and all-around supercool guy. Congratulations, DW! Also, GoodRev42, who is a fellow Metroblogger (he writes for The OC Metblog, but I won’t hold that against him) busted me out, follwing in the footsteps of stardawg, who busted me on Monday, and went on to finish second in the $5 tourney. The moral of this story is: if you bust me out of a Katrina Relief tournament, you will make the final table.
I’ll be live blogging the action in tonight’s $50 event over at CardSquad, for anyone who is interested.
And the whole reason we’re doing this is kicking ass. Our two events so far have raised $51,581.00 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. A whole bunch more will be added tonight.

Anne is /away with one of her friends for a couple of days, on a well-deserved mini-vacation, so I’m pulling Mr. Mom duty with the kids. (So far, we’re having a great time, and I’ve managed to avoid setting any of us on fire. I’m very proud.)
But! This means that I get the entire pot of coffee to myself.
The world seems . . . really . . . clearandsharpandinfocus . . . today, and all the stuff I’m writing will either be reallyreallycool or reallyreallylame.
Bzzzt.

Welcome to the shiny new Do You Want Kids With That? department,* where I’ll track and discuss progress on my next book, which is surprisingly close to completion.
A famous author, (I think it was Harlan Ellison or James Ellroy,) once said something like, “Don’t just write what you know. Write what you love, and wish there was more of in the world.” Well, I love short stories I can relate to, like the ones I hear on This American Life, and I wish there were stories about the little and not-so-little victories we stepparents have, that help to balance out the tough stuff that comes with the territory. As a bonus, this also happens to be what I know.
So Do You Want Kids With That? is a collection of stories about being a stepparent, with a focus on those moments (with the kids and with my wife) that make the whole thing worthwhile. It’s not an advice or HOWTO book (or a Star Trek book, or a celebrity bio), but other stepparents may find a kindred spirit between the covers, and all you WWdN readers who have wanted more family stories will probably like it, too. (There’s only one poker story in the whole thing 😉
It is similar to Dancing Barefoot in a couple regards: it’s about the same length, and it’s a collection of material that originally appeard on my website. I took the entries that I liked the most, cleared out the blogcruft, reflected upon and rewrote most of them, and divided them into different thematic sections (one of them is tentatively titled “My Stepgeeks,” which I just love). My wife, Anne, has agreed to write down her thoughts and reflections on the entries, and I may even be able to get some commentary from Ryan and Nolan, which would be way cool. Do You Want Kids With That? will be released by Monolith Press later this year (but much, much sooner than you think.)
*I know that the category links don’t work. It’s on my list of things to fix.

Last night’s season premiere of Family Guy was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen on television. The Spanish Quagmire, spitting milk on Meg, spitting milk on Meg (again), Brian walking in a little circle outside Lois and Peter’s bedroom, Brian and Peter doing the gameshow bit . . . uhm . . . what else . . . ?
Oh yeah, and seeing Wesley freaking Crusher!! I screamed so loud, it knocked out the power in Los Angeles today. (Sorry about that, Los Angeles. If it makes you feel any better, I had to sit at the intersection of Fletcher and Griffith Park — right by Astro Burger — for almost twenty minutes. And I had to pee.)
The thing that’s awesome, (and unintentional, I’m sure) is that the image here is exactly what it was like when I worked on TNG back in the day: we’re all laughing, having a great time, and Michael Dorn hates his Klingon forehead.
(Enormous thanks to WWdN Reader Aaron D. who sent me the screen cap. And yes, I know the ops and conn consoles are reversed. Don’t point that out, or everyone will know you’re a geek.)

Tonight, we have our very first Hurricane Katrina Relief tournament at PokerStars. It’s a $5.00 buy-in, with $4.99 going to the American Red Cross, and one cent going to the prize pool.
But you’re not really playing for the $1.70 or whatever is in there; you’re playing because PokerStars is matching all the entries, dollar-for-dollar, so your $5.00 is actually worth $10.00 (I’m pretty sure they’re rounding up.) You’re also playing for some awesome prizes: If you bust me, you’ll get an autographed book. If you make the final table, you’ll also get an autographed book. Other members of Team PokerStars, like Greg Raymer, Isabelle Mercier, Evlyn Ng, Chris Moneymaker, and Tom McEvoy are also giving up various prizes, and so is Lee Jones. I don’t have those details, but I’m sure Otis will.
Update! Here are the prizes for tonight:

• 1-3: autographed Chris Moneymaker biography
• 4-5: autographed Tom McEvoy books
• 6-9: autographed Evelyn Ng posters

So I don’t know about you guys, but I’m totally playing for 6th place. 😉
/Update!
If you’ve watched the news at all since Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, you’ve mostly seen images of horror coming out of New Orleans. We having seen very much from the other affected areas, but I know for a fact that they need our help just as much as anywhere else. I have permission to reprint the following e-mail, from WWdN reader David G.:

Subject: Katrina: When No One Can Hear You Scream
Wil-
South Mississippi needs help. We may not have floods and looters and dramatic helicopter footage of the dying and dead, but we still need help. I am fortunate enough to live in an area (Hattiesburg, MS) has is slowly getting to its feet through the unbelievably gracious assistance of total strangers from every state in the nation. Actually, the only place we haven’t gotten help from would be Washington, D.C. South Mississippi is a sparcely populated region, save for the gulf coast region. People are trapped in their homes, unable to leave because of the fallen trees. Some have no gas to drive fifteen miles to a “relief center”, which consists of a truck of water or ice or clothes (it’s never the same twice) in the back parking lot of a Baptist church. We don’t have the supplies or communication we need to get needed items to the people with the greatest need.
All night on the local television station, the anchors have built a living bulletin board; a phone call from someone who needs insulin, or a cancer patient running out of oxygen. Within minutes, another call comes in the word that help is on the way. But it’s not enough. We need coordination, we need expertise, we need proof that there is concern for our well-being in this, the poorest state in the nation. I don’t know why I’m writing you, but I know what we need. We in Mississippi need the WWdN army mobilized to create awareness that there exists a need for federal help, and that we will continue to cry for help until someone listens to us. I’m scared that until Brian Williams and Anderson Cooper and [shudder] Geraldo come to the Pine Belt, we will remain forgotten victims of Katrina. Please, spread the word that we need help in south Mississippi.
Thanks,
David G.

My friend Wendy is also down where Biloxi used to be, and she writes on her blog:

Let me also say two more quick things. A: if in anyway, you live close to a shelter or any place you can help-run do not walk, RUN to help–they need it. They still need it now, they will still need it in a month… and longer. If you can come, or donate anything–seriously nothing is too small. (a box of baby wipes marked Hurricane relief Biloxi, MS would be AWESOME.) and B. I am so so frightened and concerned for the people here-trying to live in unimaginable conditions-they will certainly get sick. There’s no way you can live in three feet of mud, without part of your roof, and no windows (obviously no power or water) and not get sick. When I upload pics of Helen, who hung from her house by her cable wire-and Wendy, 12, whose Aunt Niecey’s body is still missing- and the pool with the two bodies in it, at the historic birthplace of Barq’s root beer–I’m hoping you’ll get that if you’re still thinking, “I’d like to do something, but I feel so helpless… ” you’ll find a way to do anything to help.
That being said, A LOT *is* being done. Tears welled in my eyes today when I talked to Dane from Oregon who didn’t know a soul in Mississippi, but came here because like Garron from NC and Dennis from Texas, he “Got tired of watching it on TV and had to do something.” I told him, “I am so amazed you are here, this is my backyard… I had to come, but you came from so far…”
“There’s no place else I’d rather be,” he smiled at me.
When you hand someone ice and they act like you’ve handed them a million bucks.. the feeling is amazing. I am so glad I came, I don’t know how I will leave as scheduled tomorrow-but I know I will be back.

Late last night, I heard that there is over $100,000 going to the American Red Cross. It will help out people like David G., and support the efforts of Wendy and others.
I am extremely proud, and grateful to be part of this, and I just want to thank everyone who is playing, the whole crew at PokerStars for setting this up, and especially my awesome wife, Anne, who suggested that I ask PokerStars if they’d match whatever went into my “little charity tournament.” You guys are all rockstars.