Cart Rant

This could be an ode to a Seinfeld-type of blog; just a whole lot of nothing with a little bit of something.

Now that has a ring to it.

Anyway if it’s like Seinfeld I need to rant about something, right?

How about people that ogle over kids with their toy shopping carts. What is this about anyway?

So I’m taking my daughter Evelyn, 2-year 3-month-old barely 30-pound Evelyn to Costco and Winco today. In tow is her red, yellow, and blue toddler-sized shopping cart. Ya know because she’s got items to grab.

Mind you, she is nothing but business; head down, barreling full-speed ahead, stopping for a jalapeno or lime – whatever catches her fancy – all with zero-interest for the well-being of the fellow patrons in the store.

Think about it for a second.

What if you brought in your personal cart (what?!), rammed a stranger’s Achilles heals, abruptly stopped in each and every major thoroughfare to call “Mom! Dad!” and then stepped yourself right to the front of the line?

You know exactly what would happen – the cops would get called!

But what happens when messy, curly, red-headed, pinchable-cheeked Evelyn does it?

The seas part as if she were Moses himself; they gush smiles and wave at her, and pause with such patience and reverence you’d think the “Star-Spangled Banner” was playing over the intercom.

I don’t get it. On second thought, maybe I do.

Now, onto something else.

Where you sit relative to the dealer button is vital in poker. The dealer button is an actual disk with the word “dealer” written on it, and at the end of every hand, it moves clockwise one spot.

The cards you choose to play, how much you bet or raise, and I’m sure other factors I can’t think of right now are influenced by your position to the button.

If the button is in front of you (to your left), you are in the best position because you get to observe all the other players’ actions.

If the button is behind you, your position isn’t so great.

I haven’t been following this strategy when playing virtually lately. I think it’s because, with play money (ok, ok, I do this with real money too), I don’t care what my cards are; I just want to play them.

But remember, I’m competitive. Which means I don’t like to lose.

You might say, “But Jaclynn. Who cares? It’s just fake money. And don’t forget you can spin the wheel twice a day in the game and make more money on the Wheel of Fortune machine.”

And I’d say I know, I’ll make sure to spin the wheel, but it’s more than that. It’s an ego thing. And I have a few places left in my life where my ego gets to run wild like someone who hasn’t mastered the art of walking on hot coals. And the poker table is one of them.

The bottom line is; I need to play better.

But to be fair, I did meet the goal I set of improving my percentage of winning hands. So overall, I’m doing good, but I can do better. Kind of like in life, huh?

Catch ya tomorrow. And watch out for those dang kids with those carts, will ya?

Love,
Jaclynn