fixer

business takes me to LA next week. Fly in on Tuesday, back on Thursday. Jetlag on Tuesday and work related dining on Wednesday mean I should be available for drinking late both nights.

I have no idea about cell phone access or where I am staying or anything yet, so email me at rysmithjr@gmail.com to make plans.

I've moved to Dublin to start a new job with newbay Software. I'm their Online Services Manager, building a new presence for their FoneBlog software (cameraphone blogging).

I moved up last Sunday and started work on Monday. I'm living in Clonsilla, a suburb on the north side of Dublin. The house is owned by the brother of my friend Paul from Cork, shared with 3 guys. It's a bit divey, a bit like a college house again, but it's cheap and 5 minutes from the train. I'll probably keep looking for a place to call "home" but this is a good crash pad for now.

The job is cool, with a fairly open set of goals, so I am setting the direction we're taking. I won't be talking too much about it yet, I'll wait until we're ready to launch the new thing. The office is just alongside Merrion Square, 5 minutes from Pearse St Station, so my commute is simple.

After work, I've been going out to eat and walking around the city centre to get more familiar. So far, I've mostly stuck around Grafton St, Temple Bar, Dame St. I had a great meal at Nico's on Dame St, a small Italian restaurant. The filet was fantastic, a change from many Irish restaurants who can't seem to cook a steak medium rare if their life depended on it. A couple of drinks at the Dice Bar one night (one of the few bars here that have Maker's Mark) and a cigar & Johnny Black at Bruxelle's over the weekend. One decent cigar shop called The Decent Cigar Co, on Grafton St. 5am grocery shopping at the 24 hr Tesco near my house.

I've played a few nights of poker, mostly at the new Sporting Emporium. Some bigwig businessman named Dermot Desmond opened it, and it's the only casino in Ireland (that I know of) that has a bar. Casinos are illegal here, but by being Private (Member's Only) Clubs, they seem to skirt the law. They certainly don't hide anything, in fact the Sporting Emporium was recommended by a Gardai when giving me directions.

I'm going to track my wins & losses here, in an effort to keep my playing solid.

8/Nov Sporting Emporium €150+10 buy-in Texas freezeout. 43 runners, final 4 split €6k. €1200 Cash-out.
10/Nov Fitzwilliam Card Room, €50 Round of Each Cash Game, €300 buy-in, 2 hrs, €0 cash-out.
11/Nov Sporting Emporium €100+10 buy-in Hold-Em freezeout. Out in first hand, JJ vs big blind AA.
11/Nov Sporting Emporium €50 Texas Cash Game. €250 buy-in, 6 hrs, €1100 cash-out.
12/Nov Sporting Emporium €300+30 buy-in Texas freezeout. 40 runners. Split a satellite so entry was only €195. Out in about 20th, no hands of note.
12/Nov Sporting Emporium €100 Omaha Cash Game. €500 buy-in, 4 hrs, €1500 cash-out.

So, I am showing a profit of €2350 this week. Not a bad start to my Dublin life.