I've been avoiding posting things on MySpace  for a while now, because this is the blog where I post my deepest thoughts and most personal things.  Within the past 2 months month 5 very significant things have happened to me.

#1 I have been "passing out" and losing consciousness more than my fair share of times, and scaring the shit outta Peg and Rick.  I don't remember anything about these episodes except waking up, usually on a floor, but one time at the bottom of the stairwell.  That incident landed me in the E.R. to check and see if I had any broken bones or vertebrae.  

#2. I was told that my mental problems could have a physiological trigger, and the psychiatrist consulted with the neurologist and want to do an MRI of my brain to see if I have my most dreaded fear Multiple Sclerosis.  This is the disease that killed my father.  The biggest problem is that almost to a tee the symptoms are the SAME as symptoms from my diabetes.  That test will have to wait for now

#3 I was to have surgery on a fistular tract in my groin area.  The surgeons wanted to open me up and "explore" to find out where this tract actually starts, which is usually an organ.   Before they would do the surgery, they wanted to do a complete cardiac work-up since I'd been passing out.  So a cardiac echo and a stress test were done.  The day I was to go to the cardiologist office and receive the results of the test, I couldn't even get out of bed.  I had a gigantic (came up from pea-sized) cyst or boil, that had no head just redness, heat, and incredible size right directly below my scrotum. This part is gross, but everything between my anus and my scrotum was swollen to the size of a baseball.  I went to the E.R. at Centennial Hills hospital, where they did a test to see if I had a possibly deadly affliction called "Fornier's Gangrene".  Thank God they didn't find any gangrenous symptoms in the CT scan, so I was shipped to University Medical Center, because they are one of only two hospitals that have urology departments, and nobody at Centennial Hills would go into that area of the anatomy with a scalpel.  Luckily one of the surgeons working the E.R. at UMC that night was one of TWO Collorectal (sp?) surgeons in the entire Vegas Valley, and diagnosed it immediately as hidradenitis superlativa which is a severe skin infection with no known cause, but one and only one outcome if it's not taken care of... "Forniers Gangrene".  She immediately took a scalpel in the E.R. numbed me up and cut a humongous gash in it and found a lot of basically "dead blood" that was pooled there under pressure, and the pressure was relieved immediately after she did it.  I was told I'd be going into surgery the next morning to have ALL of that skin, and about 20% of my Ass skin removed and left open to regrow and heal on its own, at least an 8 week process.

The very next morning I was wheeled into the Cardiac Cath lab instead of the O.R. and I was NOT happy, I was prepared to get knocked out and wake up with about 4 lbs of skin missing from my body, but instead these guys are gonna poke a hole in the largest artery in my body and shove a camera and dye delivery system into my heart, yep, an angiogram.

#4  The angiogram blew me away, and changed my life forever.  I have 3 vessel disease, which means that I either have to have stents put in 3 of my arteries or have an open-heart surgery.  I had had "mini" heart attacks in the past, but thank God again, there is no permanent damage to my heart muscle (yet), however they consulted with the surgeons and decided that since the surgery to strip me of my ass and perennial skin was only going to last about an hour, they would clear me for that, so that surgery was done. They would have started the stenting process right then and there, had I not already been sliced open as a precursor to my surgery.  I'm two weeks out from that at this point, and I guess the massive amounts of blood coming from where the skin used to be is a GREAT sign that I won't need to have a skin graft or closure, they are just going to let the skin grow back on its own.  Peggy has been changing my dressings every day at least 2 times, sometimes more and is my primary caregiver at home, although they did have me go to UMC's Lions Club Burn and Wound Care center every day for the first week after the surgery, to train Peggy in caring for these wounds, and she has done a fantastic job.

#5 YESTERDAY. (Monday)
My wife is truly the love of my life, I could not do anything without her at this point in my life and I appreciate her so much, even after 24.5 years of marriage.  Peggy has one major flaw, she is the worlds GREATEST PROCRASTINATOR and has been known to be a bit of an AIRHEAD, which is usually the butt of many non mean-spirited jabs.  As you all know we've been basically flat broke for 3 years now, so when she got a ticket for not having registered our car in Nevada after living here for 2 years (duh) she finally got pulled over for it almost a year ago, and it happened to be (according to Peg and I believe her) the ONLY time she'd ever not had Charlie buckled into his car seat.  She was given a ticket for both, and then again within a week she was pulled over again for the registration.  She went to court and they gave her "community service" instead of fines, but Peg the procrastinator didn't do her service in time to go to the Judge, so she went in and instead set up a payment plan.  We're only talking about $50/month, that's right $50/month.  Over the past 8 months Peg had been late going in to pay the fine (when she had the money, but just "forgot" or "procrastinated") and all three times there was a bench warrant issued for her.  She would go into the Court, the warrant would be quashed but then another FINE for the warrant would be added to the total fine.

THIS TIME WAS THE LAST TIME

Peg's fine was due on a Saturday this month, so they expect you to go in on Friday or before.  I gave her a $100 bill and said "Make sure you take care of your fine".  The following Saturday she all of the sudden blurts out "OH SHIT, I FORGOT TO PAY MY FINE".  WHAT?!  Yep, sure enough, when the mail was checked that day, yet another bench warrant was in the stack of mail in the mailbox.  She decided she would go in on Monday, expected them to just quash another warrant and add the fine to the end again, but NO SUCH LUCK.  This time the Judge Threw the book at her

MRS BREUNINGER, I'M SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR HUSBAND AND HIS MEDICAL PROBLEMS BUT THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME YOU'VE NOT SHOWED UP IN MY COURTROOM ON TIME AND WE USUALLY ARREST PEOPLE AFTER THE THIRD WARRANT.  YOU ARE REMANDED TO CUSTODY AND HEREBY SENTENCED TO $3000 or 40 DAYS IN LAS VEGAS CITY JAIL"

We called a bondsman, as we don't have $3000 lying around anymore, and haven't for 3 years +.  The bond would be 15% ($450) plus $40 filing fee, $490.  Ok, this we could swing, even with the $54 cab ride Rick had to take to get the car out of the Four Hour lot near the courthouse.  Rick arrives downtown to get the car, and Peg had parked in the handicapped parking but forgot to hang the placard in the window...D'OH... I told you, AIRHEAD.  Thank God (again) because we actually HAVE the placard, the $250 fine is dropped down to $25 for "failure to display" the placard.

So Peg is about to spend her third night in jail and there is nothing I can do about it at this time. I have friends who know lawyers and Judges and they're working their networks, but so far to no avail. I want to get her out , God knows she doesn't deserve JAIL TIME for what she has (or hasn't) done, but I'm still about $2500 short. We just called in for her, which gives us until Sunday to have her out of the cage and back to work, before she has to apply for a leave of absence, which I'm not even sure they will grant for being in jail, although she had already spoken to her supervising manager and he offered to let her take a leave of absence and we actually have a PRESCRIPTION written by my surgeons to allow Peg to take off 6 weeks to be home and care for me while I'm "skinless".

After having at least 50 "Med Students, Nurses, Doctors, etc." looking at my cut off ass I have no shame left.  If anyone is able to help in any way, I need CASH, and need it fast.

Every time I've seen a light at the end of a tunnel for 5 years, it's been a train, this time Peg got run over, and it just sucks! If you can spare anything from $5 to $3000 and are able to help me get Peg out before she has to be at work on Sunday, please email me or send the money to my paypal account voiceofpoker@cox.net.  I would never openly beg if this wasn't a true emergency.

You can email me at my personal email address which is my real name charles.breuninger@cox.net

I want to apologize for my seeming "blow-offs" in the past 5 days. I've
been in the Hospital at UMC in Las Vegas again, and had to have
emergency surgery. I'm lying here in my bed with a BUNCH of skin
missing from a very sensitive part of my anatomy due to hidrakenritis,
a skin disease with no apparent ideology, meaning they don't know what
causes it. So they've skinned me alive, at least 4 spots which each are
around 14 X 9 cm and they are letting them "Open Heal" meaning no
grafting or skin flaps, they just hope the skin grows back on its own.



When getting cardiac clearance for the surgery, they ran an angiography
with contrast on me and (go ahead bitch at me about my smoking) found 3
major vessels 100%, 97%, and 83% blocked so they're waiting til I heal
from this "minor" surgery to do either angioplasty with stents or a
complete open-heart triple by-pass. They haven't decided yet.



Anyway, for those of you who wondered why I haven't written back in the
past week, or haven't replied to some personal and A.D.B. posts, that
is the reason.



If you are of the praying persuasion, My wife Peg, Kids Beth and Rick,
and grandchildren Charlie, Breanna, George, as well as my Mom Roxi, my
sisters Lani and Conni, and my entire family and I could really use
your prayers. If you're not of that persuasion, a good thought would be
appreciated.



The good news, I AM QUITTING SMOKING. The bad news, I waited too f'n long.



If I'm able to attend BARGE this year, it will be a miracle (of sorts)
and a blessing. I hope to at least be in good enough shape to get down
there and jump in a couple of the reindeer games, but it's total life
change time for RC.



Thanks for listening

While the new "possible diagnosis" scares the living shit out of me, it could possibly explain 90 % of my physical and mental ailments, although the symptom virtually match with the symptoms of advanced diabetes.

When speaking with a an MD and a Psychiatrist MD at the same time on Monday afternoon, when taking my thorough medical history both of them stopped me dead in my tracks when I mentioned that my father had died with/from Multiple Sclerosis. They both (almost simultaneously) if I'd had head MRI's since I turned 40, I replied that I hadn't and they said "Schedule one immediately. When I asked why, they told me that a lot of the physical symptoms I have are indicators of Multiple Sclerosis, and while it's not been proved that M.S. is or is not hereditary, they suggest now that anyone whose father or grandfather has/had M.S> you should have a head MRI every year in your 40's and then twice in your 50's. I replied that I was told my neuropathy, retinopathy and stumbling/falling were symptoms of advanced type II diabetes.

They went on to ask about my blood glucose control, and told them that I eat a healthy diet now, and had lost 89 lbs in the past 6 or 7 months, and that worried them even more, since I'm basically bed-ridden, but my Glucose is harder and harder to control.

Long story short, and bottom line, my physical manifestations that aren't pain management related can all be ascribed to BOTH advanced Diabetes, but also are all symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. This ALSO explains the sudden onset of the severe mental problems such as Agoraphobia, Severe Anxiety Disorder, Deep Clinical Depression, and super high blood pressure.

As much as I DETEST M.S. and as much money as I've raised and donated personally to the M.S. society, I would actually be relieved to know that there is a physiological cause to my mental illness, as I've racked my brain trying to figure out why so suddenly and why me?

I don't really want an M.S. diagnosis, although it would be nice to know what is causing the extremely severe and sudden onset mental problems. I've never been shy in my life, and never met someone I didn't speak to. I used to be in big crowds of people and have run nightclubs with up to 1500 people surrounding me in the DJ booth, and been on stage at "JUNE JAM" in Alabama which was about 200,000 people surrounding me, and was never afraid of people or crows, but now I can't be around a group without being HIGHLY medicated with xanax and still have panic attacks.

While I wouldn't wish M.S. on an enemy, It may give me some real answers to questions that plague me on a daily basis. I don't want to have it, but I'd like to know what's causing the non-diabetic symptoms, since so many of them are the same. At least then I could get some different treatments and if even *some* of the symptoms go away my quality of life would go way up.

I get that question a lot when I tell people that I "broadcast poker tourneys and interviews" on the web. Here are a couple of examples of what I *do* when I'm on location for poker tourneys.

Two video shows I did from Tunica World Poker Open

This one has interviews with TJ Cloutier (worlds greatest tournament poker player), Howard Lederer "the Poker Professor", and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion,

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1288444

The next one is from the same tournament the following day including interviews with Scotty "The Prince of Poker" Nguyen, Daniel " Kid Poker" Negreanu, David "Devilfish" Ulliot, and Men "The Master" Nguyen

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1290338

And finally on the Party Poker Million Cruise in 2005 Interviews on board the with Eric "E-Dog" Lindgren, Kathy Liebert (first woman to win a $1m top prize in a poker tourney , and a $9 qualifier who was the Day 1a chip leader.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1290517

I've also got HUNDREDS of hours of audio from my Talk show and hourly updates from 3 different years of the World Series of Poker Main Event, and the complete 9 hour final table webcast When Joe Hachem became the World Series Champion.

Since then I've been basically on hiatus due to medical Problems, but the Talk Show will be back on the Web before the end of February, date depending on my surgery schedule. But after doing commercial radio for over 20 years, this is the kind of thing I do now. So I hope that answers the questions you have all asked about "What is a poker Broadcaster"?.

This past weekend we were offered free tickets to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and actually had Budweiser Suite passes which we couldn't use, since Charlie could not be admitted, so we sat two rows down from the concourse about 20 yards south of the Start/Finish line. Great seats.

Charlie loved the "600 Series" races which was Legends cars, Thunder Roadsters, and Bandaleros that race on a tight quarter mile which includes part of the front straightaway and the pit road.  He really liked those cars.  Charlie has sensitive hearing so he didn't need his earplugs for those races and because it was "General Admission" seating for the Truck race, Rick and Peg were able to take Charlie right down to where the action was for those small races.

It was a long day.  We got there around 1pm and the Truck race didn't start til 6:30, but even the woman in the row directly in front of us started talking to Charlie and commented on how well behaved and how "into the racing" he was during the truck event.  It was a 144 lap race and Charlie made it til lap 125 when there was a LONG protracted caution for a wreck and clean up of the track and drying of some oil, then...Boom Boom, out go his lights, and he was sleeping on the blankets and pillows in our row.  He loved it.  I'll be adding a photo album as soon as I'm done typing this blog and you can check out Charlie at LVMS.

On other fronts, my medicaid is FINALLY pending so I can get back on track with my Doctor within a week or so and stop paying over $2500/month for my prescriptions.  Very good news.  I also have my final meeting with the Social Security Doctor on the 9th and should receive my final determination within a month of that date.  Believe me when I say, I'd much rather be a productive member of society and paying taxes, but when the body and mind give out, that's why I paid IN all of that money for Social Security, and now it's time to withdraw.

I'm cross posting this blog on Myspace and LiveJournal so those reading on LJ you can go to http://myspace.com/voiceofpoker to find the pictures of Charlie at the races, if you're reading this on Myspace, just click on PICS on my homepage and the album will be there.  I'll also be adding a couple of videos from Saturday as well.

That's it for now

Even though I haven't caught up on all of my sleep, I did catch up with some after taking a double dose of ambien at 6:30 this morning (after watching the entire first 8 episodes of WEEDS on Showtime, which I thought started NEXT month...d'oh) and wasn't awoken until I got a call from Eric Rosenberg asking who I knew in Tunica, since he and his family are looking for places to go when the "next" Katrina aka GUSTAV.  I was very tired and not very helpful, but did manage in my stupor to remember a few names of Poker Managers that may be able to get him rooms, and then it hit me...HEY MORON!!! YOUR SISTER RUNS A CAMP/RETREAT
 http://harvestcampandretreats.com//index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
A non-profit Camp, Lodge, and retreat with bunkhouses, cabins and a main lodge about 100 miles N. of the Coast, so I get the two of them hooked up and hopefully she'll have room for Eric, Melissa, Maddy, et al.

Beth and Michael were planning on moving this weekend BACK to the Ocean Springs area (about 10 miles N. of the water) but with it promising to be a Category 3 or higher, they can't move into that house til after the storm, and that's only if the house stays together, I'm hoping it does, since they've moved over half of their possessions there in anticipation of occupying it on Monday.  They will be going to the Choctaw Reservation in Philadelphia, Ms where "Silver Star" and "Golden Moon" casinos are located, as Michael's father and other family members live there.  He's half Choctaw and half Navajo.  So with Family safe, Eric and his family hopefully safe, I can go back to sleep now for another 12 hours...hopefully :)

Well, here it is.  It has arrived.  It only happens once each 4 years.  SPORTS OVERLOAD TIME! YEEEEE HAWWW .

With the start of the Olympics I'm glued to the TV and now FREE NBC internet coverage of every event that I can possibly watch for the next 16 or 18 days or whatever it is.  I don't ever watch the opening ceremonies, because I think they conflicted with pre-season football and a Padre game but this is my dream month.

I not only have the Olympics, but Pre-Season NFL, MLB, NASCAR (all 3 series),  The Knoxville Nationals Sprint races, Pro Boxing, MMA, WSOP broadcasts, and of course the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Built Ford Tough Series two live events, which is 4 broadcasts over 2 weeks.  I will be loving life for the next two to three weeks, then I'll take an Ambien every 12 hours for a week after to recover.

Oh, BTW  Here is a great new pic of my Grandson Charlie.  You can tell he was born in Mississippi.  He's wearing a suit, and NO SHOES

I have been to a total of 4 BARGEs.  BARGE stands for Big.August.Rec.Gambling.Excursion, which started as 8 people in a hotel room in Las Vegas.  This was back before online poker (in its present form existed) and a few people from the usenet newsgroup (nntp) rec.gambling (before the split to the various daughters, such as rec.gambling.poker, rec.gambling.blacjack, rec.gambling sports, et al were spawned). 

BARGE has now grown to well over 300 participants in some or many of the tournament events, and has had "babies". 

FARGO Foxwoods Annual Rec Gambling Outing (Foxwoods Casino) http://www.fargopoker.com
ESCARGOT Extrodinary Southern California Rec Gambling Outing and Tournament (L.A. County)  www.conjelco.com/escargot.html
ATLARGE Atlantic City Annual Rec Gambling Excursion www.atlargepoker.com
MARGE  Mississippi Annual Rec Gambling Excursion (Biloxi) www.conjelco.com/marge.html
SARGE  Southern Area Rec Gambling Excursion (unfortunately as of now defunct, but could be revived) (Tunica, MS near Memphis)
TARGET The Annual Rec Gambling Entry Tournament (Held in Vegas, winner/winners (if enough entrants) get the $10k buy-in for the WSOP

This is a group of people who I've grown very fond of and am sad to say I never made it to a SARGE, due to schedule conflicts with Costa Rica Tournaments, ATLARGE which I will attend within the next two years, and TARGET, which a delayed flight cost me an entry to.  And even though I'm from San Diego, have never experienced ESCARGOT yet.  I want to hit all of them before I'm not able to travel.

If you are Downtown Vegas  (Specifically Binions and the GN) this next weekend and see an extraordinary number of what seems to be a GROUP OF FISH WITH DRINKS playing wild games like Binglaha, Chowaha, and about 100+ people stumbling around together downtown to play $1 craps at every Casino that offers it, you will be seeing BARGE

The funny thing about living in Vegas now is that I've been here 3 years, and have only made it to ONE BARGE in those 3 years.  Maybe after we move back to Biloxi and my health is better, and finances can handle it, I'll make another one.  I will definitely be attending all MARGEs from here on out.

If you are a FUN person, who loves other fun people and wants to have a great time 6 times a year , check out any of the above websites for your regional *arg* event and come and get in on the fun.  As Peter Secor Says "There are no strangers at BARGE, Just friends you haven't met yet". I know many of you on my friends list are participants, or have been in the past, so I hope I haven't bored you, but I have many interests and many other friends that may not neccessarily know about these events and since I can't be there this year, I wanted to promote next years event and the "baby" events.  GOOD LUCK TO ALL MY CF'S at this years BARGE.

 Although it's too late to sign up for this years BARGE, here is the website http://barge.org

I was playing at Fleet Street Games today, which is one of the two FREE sites I play at that give real money away, making it completely legal to play in the U.S. without any gray area. (the other I play at is http://www.prizedome.com).  I play at those two because I know principles in both sites.

Fleet Street has a $50k guaranteed tournament for those who have helped beta test the site, coming up in August.  I have already qualified, but accidentally signed up and was playing in another qualifer when two people I knew were at the table and started razzing me about being "greedy", etc.  Of course, I didn't realize I had signed up for the wrong tourney, so I told "Grizz" and "Diputsur" that I would just post and fold, which I decided wasn't the right way to do it.   I then said "on my next button hand, I'm going all in no matter what cards I hold preflop".  Everyone at the table seemed to agree that was cool, so I did exactly that.

My question is an ethical one.  Was that the RIGHT way to do it, after all there were 89 people in the tourney and I was only giving 9 other people a shot at my stack (which was already double-sized since I had doubled up on the first or second hand).  Should I have just played it out, sat out, or was what I did cool?

Opinions wanted.

Rick "ADBDaVoice" Charles

Just decided to post because I've been so lax in doing so recently.

Peg and I got into what turned into a HUGE argument today over something so stupid it makes me embarrassed to even post about it.

We (as you know) are jumping through the Federal hoops of filing for my Social Security Disability.  The person who is in charge of my case wrote us a letter and said that he needed me to send  receipts or print-outs from the doctors offices and pharmacies that we had used over the past 12 months.  Sounds simple enough, right?   Well NO.  With HIPPA regulations the providers must have something in writing with my signature on it to allow Peg or Rick to pick up the documents, since I don't drive and can't just go get them myself.

I decided that I would go "business-like" and TYPE the request including all of the info they need, such as my SS , D.O.B., Address, Phone , etc.  Peg said she would just hand write it on a piece of paper and have me sign it.  I totally disagreed and muttered aloud about taking pride in one's work, and how no one seems to care about taking the time to do things correctly anymore.  This set her off like the fireworks we just watched over the strip and downtown  Vegas just a couple of weeks ago on the 4th.

To make a long story shorter, I used "notepad" (duh) instead of MS Word or Open Office. depending on the project I use both.   When I printed out the three pages (that had to go to the three places) the formatting was all screwed up and some of the "one pagers" turned into 3, 1/3 pagers, etc.  It was all screwed up. 

So I asked Peg to go get me some more printer paper... BAD NEWS.  We have ONE page left, it seems our Grandson Charlie had decided to take about 3/4 of a ream and draw on it.  So I decided that I'd put it in MS Word, print out one good copy on a SINGLE page that I know will fit and then Peg can make 2 copies on her way to the places she needed them.  She went ballistic, she grabbed the 9 semi-sheets, said it was good enough, that she was going to sign my name to them and distribute them.  I actually had to YANK them out of her hand and rip them so she wouldn't do that, as I thought it looked "schlocky".

I ended up printing out the ONE page on MS Word, but lo and behold, in my zeal to be "right", I forgot to reformat it from notepad to Word and it looked even worse with broken paragraphs, sentences that ended up having 4 spaces between them, etc.   So I do the only thing a self-respecting moron would do and reformat it and print it on the BACK of the most recent one.  I was happy, I was proud, I had "won".  Then Peg tells me there are no places to make copies on the way to the three establishments she needed them for  and was not spending $4.25/gallon to go miles out of the way to make two copies.  She gave in to ONE request,  and would drop off the ONE decent one (although printed on both sides) to Costco Pharmacy.

About 10 minutes later she left, and 5 minutes after that I found the paper sitting on the night table next to the bed, she hadn't taken it after all.  I cussed, screamed, slammed it into my side-table drawer, wanted to KILL SOMETHING, then the phone rang.

I answered the phone, it was my SS worker, I told him what had happened, he said, "Ah hell, that's ok... I just needed the providers names, numbers and if you can find them the fax numbers, I don't really want all of that crap on my desk".  D'OH!!!

I'm sorry Peg.  I guess I am the moron!