CARDRUNNERS

Yesterday was a day I'll remember for the rest of my life, or least until I am old and senile.  It started off on November 4th with the election of our new President Elect Obama.  I have to be honest in that I was rooting for Obama but I think I'm a bit of a realist in that I don't think simply "change" in our President's office is going to fix our nation's problems like a lot of people seem to think.  However, I think it's a step in the right direction and there is something to be said about Obama's charisma and has ability to inspire a lot of Americans.  I hope I'm wrong but I think even if God himself was elected President our country is going to be in for some tough times for at least the next year or two, if not longer.  I've read a little bit lately about Japan's "lost decade" and I wonder if there isn't a chance we face something similar over here, although that's probably a little unlikely.

Anyway, I'm happy Obama won and cautiously optimistic about the USA's future.  I thought McCain gave a very thoughtful concession speech and even though it is just rhetoric it really did make me feel like he could have done a great job as President.

Ezra and Melissa came over at 8 oclock or so and we had a couple beers before grabbing a taxi over to Grant Park to check out the Obama rally.  We didn't have tickets so basically we had to head to the north end of the park where thousands of people congregated to hang out and watch the huge monitors they had setup.  I'd estimate we were at least a few football fields away from the main place where Obama was standing, but it was still a pretty awesome feeling to be that close to everything.  I've never seen Chicago so crowded, there were literally like 200,000+ people packed in shoulder to shoulder.

After listening to McCain and Obama's speeches, we trudged back to the train station and rode probably the most uncomfortable train ride I've ever had back to Lincoln Park.  It only took about 45 minutes from the end of the speech to get back home, so that was a relief (even though typically it would take 20 minutes).

Not too much of note happened until the midday on Nov 5th when I got an IM from Stinger saying UB refunds were out.  Much to my delight I had $191,000 deposited into my account that had been stolen from me from cheaters over the past few years.  Even though the money was rightfully mine, it's a pretty indescribeable feeling to be handed that much money when you aren't expecting it.  I've made similar amounts of money numerous times at the tables but it's never really felt like this.

I don't really have any plans for the money yet but I definitely owe Gaucho and Trambopoline a nice dinner.  I'll never forget when Gaucho first IM'd me almost a year ago saying he suspected there was a cheater on UB.  It's sort of an eye-opening feeling for me because I remember being overly skeptical to his claims, thinking that there's no way someone could have cheated me without me figuring out that something was up.  I guess the older I get the more I realize how much I really don't know about life.  Maybe that's something to take away from this, in fact.  It's almost as important to know what you don't know than it is to know a lot yourself.  That's something I've learned while working at CardRunners; you can't expect to be the expert on everything, sometimes your opinion just really doesn't matter.  You hire the best people you can and you trust them to make their own decisions within the framework that you have set for the company.  I could talk a lot about this but that's not really the point about this blog.

Anyway, I don't really know where to go from here.  I know I'll always remember November 4th/5th, 2008.

Taylor