The Tornado

Multiply what you see in this photo by a few thousand. That's a fairly accurate description of what happened in Tuscaloosa on April 27.

The tornado and its aftermath have obviously kept me busy. I think I went through a period of survivor's guilt. It was as if our family won some sick lottery after the tornado turned slightly while headed through the heart of town and missed our home by about a quarter mile. I think it took about a week for me to get over the depression that set in after seeing the devastation the tornado wrought on my city. Fortunately, no one we know was among the 41 that were killed, or were even injured. Several people we know lost their homes, including a Sunday School member (the home depicted here.)

Due to some professional connections, I got to write two articles for Time's website, which you can view here and here.

I also was interviewed on FOX News a couple of days after the tornado thanks to the first Time piece. For those of you who are Facebook friends you can view it there (amazingly I don't sound TOO stupid.)

Hey, at least the poker room where I play in town was missed--by mere yards as it turns out.

Finally, two weeks after the disaster I've turned back to my bread and butter of poker and poker writing. I still play a few online poker games at the smaller sites, and was fortunate enough to get hired to do recaps for the 2011 edition of SCOOP on PokerStars. Thanks Otis!

Since PS is now focused more on the Eastern Hemisphere, the start times are more palatable for us who must stay up and watch the final tables for the blog recaps. Although I was up until 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning covering Badugi, I finished up before 11 p.m. the last couple of nights.