I-P-A RIVER: August 2026

This is the month!!

I turn 59 and a half on the 20th and that means drawing out of my IRA with no penalties! Things are about to go from good to better, and the sign above will become even more relevant!

10/1 - My "Ante Up Online Magazine" column came out today with a glaring typo that I wasn't too happy about. I let them know about it, but not much you can do now, I guess, although with it being online, I would think it could be edited rather easily. We shall see. It also affected my blurb on the "Contents" page, so I didn't even include it on this blog entry.

Otherwise, I think the column itself turned out pretty good.

I did think it was important to separate the artist from the man based on some disturbing reports of Glen Hansard's behavior toward women during his life.

10/2 - The difference with an online magazine vs. print is that you can correct mistakes on the fly! And, yet it's still got a typo in it. Doh! They fixed it too after I told them about it. I should be getting paid for all this work!

I started a long weekend of Watertown pitbulls house/pet sitting today. Since it was a remote workday for me, I headed that way pretty early today to hang out with my favorite rum-heads.

10/3 - We took a pretty fun ghost walk/tour in downtown Gallatin tonight and while we didn't see any apparitions in the supposedly most active window in the Trousdale Place house (photo above), the swarming bats above the chimney were pretty cool to witness.
Beforehand, we had dinner at the excellent Prince St. Pizza and Pub also in downtown Gallatin and with the tasty AN-I-MAL all meat pizza that I shared with Ashlee I also had two new-to-me pints of craft brews from their always-impressive beer list. First up was the tasty Pacific Pale Ale from Yazoo Brewing over in Madison, and then the decent pilsner from Half Batch Brewing in Hendersonville called Lake Time.

10/4 - The owners of the Watertown pit bulls got back early enough for me to head out to Nashville this afternoon to catch the very last showing of Manhunter: The Final Cut at The Belcourt Theaters. This new 4K restoration was overseen by director, Michael Mann, himself, and it's become one of my favorite films from the 80's. There was a nice sized crowd for the film, and I even found a new-to-me beer to have with my popcorn: the Skydog Premium lager from Wiseacre Brewing out in Memphis.

Beforehand, I also had time to swing by the new location of Harding House Brewing in the L&L Market over in West Nashville. I've really missed these guys since they had to close up shop in their original W. Nashville location right after Covid hit a few years back. They are now in the part of L and L Market where Bold Patriot Brewing used to be. I always liked their beer at BPBC, but the place gave off a somewhat icky MAGA vibe. There were only two new-to-me brews on the small Harding House's nanobrewery menu, so I had them both. First up was the solid NEIPA called Jubilee in recognition of their new Jubilee Bar at the brewery. I finished with their very nice Honey House. I had some more time and also swung by the new nearby second location of Living Waters Brewing out here in The Nations. This is where Czann's Brewing moved to from downtown several years back and folded after Covid also. There is quite the merry-go-round of craft beer going out here in W. Nashville lately. It's a great location and I like what LVBC has done with it. Here I had their excellent collaboration IPA with Soul and Spirits BC out of Memphis called Conrad 3.
And even before all this, I swung by Vui's Vietnamese for lunch in Berry Hill.

10/7 - I had a good night on the virtual felt tonight with a 3rd place finish in a NLHE poker tournament on ClubGG vs. 113 other players that netted me over 1,200% ROI. I came to the final table (photo above) as the chip leader, but the blinds got crazy and a couple of bad beats didn't help. I also got second vs. 136 other players including rebuys for the second time in a current PLO poker tournament series on Global Poker, but since it's play money only now for me here in Tennessee, only a first-place finish for a trophy really counts. But at least I am doing better at this sometimes-annoying and frustrating type of poker.
With some of my real-money winnings I bought a handful of new shirts and shorts from Academy Sports during their summer clearance sale. I also got five new fun music-influenced super-soft custom T-shirts from Tee Public with more of the winnings to wear on our upcoming music cruise next month.

10/9 - More Watertown dog sitting this weekend but this time it's only one night and it's with the three goobers on Neal Road. They are such sweeties. Amy's house is nothing fancy, but it's quiet and comfortable. And I think her giant rock "fence" (photo above) is pretty cool too.

"Excuse me, would you like to maybe share your lunch?" LOL. Amy says this is best picture of sweet Ruby she's ever seen!

BOOM! Goes the dynamite!! I made another final table on ClubGG tonight in a NLHE bounty tournament but made most of my profit with 13 knockouts! I wound up getting 7th out of 94 players for an ROI of well over 800%! That's just under $800 in my bankroll on there now.
I quickly withdrew $500 and plan to buy something for Ashlee and I that I can always look at and say, "I bought that with other people's money!!"

10/12 - The good ol' pocket 3's magic hit again tonight as I "won" the local NLHE tournament on PokerStars against 5 other players tonight with a 3-way chop roughly per the ICM count of my more than double stack vs. the other two remaining players. They tried to get me to take less, but I said no. It's rude for smaller stacks to ask to make a deal anyway, but then to try and short-change me. Please. My still-modest payout was just over 333% (I like that number!) ROI.
I had three different games going on three different sites tonight and while I went fairly deep in the other two as well, but this was my only cash of the night.

10/14 - I start another pet-sitting gig back in Mt. Juliet at a repeat location. The little dog and elderly cat (JJ and Gracie) here are easy to deal with so it's easy money. And the house is located so close to The Mt. Juliet Beer Company that I just had to grab a variety pint can four-pack for the long weekend. Beer # 1 was the tasty Autumnal IPA from Fonta Flora Brewing (NC).

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10/15 - I had a remote day today which led to an unexpected last pool float since it was close to 90 degrees along with Sunny since our pool was actually not closing until the 23rd. I had two brews from my most recent BeerBox.com order. First up was the excellent Lager Town märzen from Half Acre Brewing (Chicago) and then the Best Brown (2026) ale from Bell's Brewing (MI).

10/16 - I met my buddy, Todd, today after work at the Hillside Hangout in Mt. Juliet today where he paid me for a couple of dog-walking favors I did for him in the last week or so with some dinner (a tasty chicken pesto grilled cheese sandwich and some excellent house-made chips) along with a couple brews. First up was the solid ESB from Mill Creek Brewing over in Nolensville. I followed that up with their even better MCBC Pumpkin Cream Ale (2026). Since I was "free-rolling" I tipped the excellent

I had my # 2 brew from the variety four-pack from the Mt. Juliet Beer Company later on tonight. It was a pint can of the excellent I Want My IPA from Mikerphone Brewing (IL) which I enjoyed while watching The Town: Extended Cut which I added to my digital movie library recently with some won poker money.

10/17 - I used some more won poker money today to order some Door Dash lunch at the house in Mt. Juliet. Pokeworks here in MJ wasn't my first choice, but the Huli Huli chicken and brown rice were good. The PLO tournament I was playing was not so good.
Beer # 3 from The Mt. Juliet Beer Company variety pack tonight was the Speckled Haze IPA which is an excellent NEIPA from Northwoods Brewing (NH) which I really, really enjoyed while watching UT put the beat down on Alabama in Knoxville!!

10/18 - This month's BeerBox.com order arrived yesterday evening and it looks like another good haul. Maybe a couple repeats. I've decided to keep on with my subscription this year despite the pool being closed. I'm kind of interested to see what winter beers come my way with them.

Beer # 4 from the variety four-pack from The Mt. Juliet Beer Company was the near-perfect DIPA from Fonta Flora Brewing (NC) called Life's Changed which I toasted to JJ (photo above) and Gracie as my pet/house-sitting gig drew to a close today. Love ya, my little moochies! It's also an appropriate beer title for today given the fact our friends, Adrianna and Christian got married today (I had three pony Coronas at the reception!) and the Titans effed around and actually won today...so much for that perfect 0-18 record!

Caption for photo above: "Is it too late to get a fish sammich??"
(that will only be funny to me...and Jay Mohr)

I came to the final table tonight in the ClubbGG NLHE Sunday night tournament as chip leader with 6 left, but the blinds got big and the coinflips didn't go my way, and I was out 6th of 123 - disappointing but still just over 600% in ROI to puff the bankroll back up.

10/19 - I headed east today in another nice VW Jetta rental from Enterprise for the first of a three more short fall road trips for work to close out the year. I stayed in Knoxville tonight at a nice Aloft Hotel.

I stopped in Cookeville on the way east to take a look at what will now be my new Mustang from Cookeville Ford!! We haggled to $42K even and I put down a $500 deposit to hold it. I should pick it up Thursday. I talked with David, my IRA financial advisor, today to start the process of withdrawing $75K from my IRA with no penalty.

Afterwards I had time to swing by Pickett State Park and get a peak at Arch Lake there. What a beautiful park! They have some great historic CCC-built cabins too. This is definitely a place to return for a weekend of kayaking, stargazing, etc.

In Knoxville tonight I had dinner at Abridged Beer Company - food on CU, beer on me. With my very tasty dry-rubbed grilled chicken club sandwich I had their very good copper lager called Desert Canary and finished with their interesting Belgian-style farmhouse ale called Waffler.

10/20 - My first lunchroom visit today was two hours east of Knoxville and then afterwards I had to head back down to Chattanooga for the night, so there was a lot of windshield time. But I had a great new audiobook to help me pass the miles that I bought recently with some poker winnings called Hue' 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam by Mark Bowden (he also wrote Black Hawk Down).

I didn't realize my school lunchroom visit was all the way in Bristol today, but I made it in and out and then found a great place for lunch and some libations afterwards. Tennessee Hills is a "brewstillery" in Bristol with a beautiful complex. I have been to their satellite tasting room in Johnson City, but here's where all the goodness is made. I started with their excellent Rugged IPA (that's a dead soldier of it and its pretty lacing in the pic above along with the great view I had for lunch). Next up was their solid Bird Dog Rye Pale Ale. My lunch of burnt-ends skewers was fantastic as well. I even grabbed some gifts for some folks also, so it was a great stop. Man, I gotta come back here!

I stayed overnight down in Chattanooga at my usual nice favorite TownePlace Suites Hotel in Hixson.

10/21 - I was in Chattanooga for work today and then headed back home afterwards but had time to stop up on Signal Mountain at the Rainbow Lake Wilderness which is part of the larger Cumberland Trail complex. I was looking for Rainbow Falls in the same area and I think I've figured out how to get to it (just not today) and also an overlook of Julia Falls - a wet-weather dazzler nearby as well. What I did find today was Rainbow Lake itself and its accompanying dam just upstream from Rainbow Falls on Middle Creek. I've heard about it for years and seen pictures, so I knew it was dam-controlled, but I had no idea how big the dam is. Long-abandoned after its construction back in 1916 as a recreation and swimming spot for the also now-defunct Signal Mountain Hotel.

Back at home tonight, I limped into another 8-handed final table in a freeze-out NLHE weekly tournament on Bluffers/ClubGG. I wound up winning the whole damn thing!!! My first MTT win on here!! That gave me a whopping ROI of well over 1,400% vs. 72 other players. I think I also win a Bluff recognition chip. More on that to come.

10/22 - THIS IS THE RED-LETTER DAY!!

No penalty to withdraw from my IRA from now on!!!

Holy fat wallet, Batman! That's definitely a never seen before amount in the old checking account! Let's start spending it!!

A. A brand new Mustang convertible! Thanks to my pals, Curtis and Kate, for taking me to Cookeville today after work to get it. Ain't she a beaut?!?! I paid them for their time and trouble with dinner at Drake's (their first time there). With my awesome grain bowl dinner I also had a pint of the classic 420 Extra Pale Ale from Sweetwater Brewing (Atlanta).

B. Pay off my credit cards. Payments will be going out immediately! This will free up a good amount of dough for me each month as well as getting rid of that awful interest.

C. Buy Ashlee some piece of jewelry (diamond stud earrings from Tiffany maybe?) in the $5K range for our 25th anniversary last year. I am hoping to enlist the help of Ashlee's sister, Paige, and our good friend, Mollie, to help me find something maybe while we are on our upcoming music cruise to the Caribbean and they good jewelry shopping like they always do on cruises.

I got a nice Bluffers/ClubGG poker tournament win recognition (Ashlee called it a "hype page" lol) on their Facebook group today. I got confirmation that I am going to receive a Bluff tournament win recognition chip also in the mail soon.

10/23 - Ashlee didn't like our pictures taken during our VIP Meet-n-Greet and Soundcheck with one of our favorite musical performers. Andrew McMahon, at the City Winery in Nashville today, but I didn't care. It was fun to meet him!

After the meet-n-greet and before the show in Nashville, I realized that the Fogg Street Lawn Club was close by and I finally got to visit there after wanting to for quite a while. It's a very nice place and while they were out of the first two craft beers I asked for, the very nice barkeep gave me my third request for free for my trouble! It was a can of the solid Daytrip IPA from Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta.

The best thing about FSLC is that it's a British-style pub, so I had a chance to enjoy a "half-n-half" - that's Guiness and Harp Lager (photo above) which I haven't in a very long time. And then I had a "blacksmith" - that's Guiness and Smithwick's Red Ale which the bartender and I both learned about at the same time! LOL.

10/24 - I started a new weekend dog-walking gig near the house down off Leeville Pike with this little, Nash, and his sweet big sister, Dolly. They were fun to meet.

Man, I love chicks in ballcaps! Ashlee and I had a fun time at Geodis Park in Nashville today watching the U.S. Men's and Women's National Rugby teams take on Italy and Australia. The women whipped the Italians pretty soundly, but the men got their butts handed to them by Australia. At the game I had a can of Pep Talk (2026) lager from Bearded Iris Brewing here in Nashville.

We took our newest member of the family to the rugby games. She looks good in the fancy parking area Ashlee got for us next to the stadium.

It was a tough weekend with UT losing on the road to unranked South Carolina and the Titans blowing a 14-point lead at home to lose to the Browns, but The NSC Boys in Gold got it done in Montreal with a 2-0 win that secured the 2026 Supporter's Shield for best regular-season record and the # 1 overall seed in the upcoming playoffs. This happened while we were at Geodis Park which is kind of cool! I toasted the new hardware back at home at a evening fire at some friends' house with a pint can from my most recent BeerBox.com order. It was the excellent Axe Man IPA from Surly Brewing (MN) in collaboration with Amager Brewery (Denmark). Salute!!

10/25 - Ashlee and I went to have brunch today at the hip and laid-back Inglewood Lounge in East Nashville. Along with our excellent food, I had a pint of the house Penny Pilsner which is named after the kinda famous patio cat here. It's basically just an Urquell Pilsner (Czech Rep.), but I decided to give it a designated spot and added it on to UNTAPPD.

I just can't stop taking pictures of her!

10/26 - I went for lunch (in the convertible! look in the background of the photo above) and my free flight for Mug Club members at Cedar City Brewing including two new brews - their very nice Pumpkin Ale and their excellent Dab City Black IPA. And the dry-rub wings were so choice as usual.

10/27 - It was back to Chattanooga today for an overnight for work. I got up very early to make it to Bradley County for a scheduled late morning visit and then had time for lunch at Community Pie - Hamilton Place before my next evening fair. I had their excellent $9 slice and a salad lunch deal on the CU dime, and then a pint of the delicious Mosaic Fresh Hop (2026) IPA from their counterpart here, Five Wits Brewing, on my dime.

After my evening fair, I finally got to see Whalefall at the AMC Northgate Theaters in Hixson near my always great Towneplace Suites Hotel. I had listened to the book and enjoyed most of it, so I was curious to see how the film adaptation was. The movie was pretty good and followed the book very closely. I noticed the author of the book helped with the screenplay, so that always makes a difference.

10/28 -I headed home from Chattanooga today with a doggie drop-in at Neal Road in Watertown on my way back. My "standard" rental car on this short trip to Chattanooga was a giant Chevy Silverado pickup that was a pleasure to drive although parking this beast could be a challenge.

Per some recommendations and overall popularity, I bought (with some poker winnings) and started the audiobook Dungeon Crawler Carl today on the drive back from Chattanooga. The overall concept and story seemed a little goofy to me, but so far, so good. We shall see.

I decided to go to the last regular season home game (before the playoffs) of Nashville SC tonight vs. Philadelphia that I would be able to attend this season. There are only two other regular season games left, and I can't go on Sunday for the last home game, and they finish on the road the weekend after that. Plus, it was $1 hot dog night!!
And then a funny thing happened...

After securing my solo $27 ticket since no one I asked could go with me, I hear from my long-time poker buddy, Zack, who just so happened to be given two tickets to CLUB LEVEL seats by a local radio station that his business advertises on. And he had no one to go with him. Well, I tossed my lowly ticket out the window and opted for the upgrade to the Goal Post Club. And it was sweet! All you eat and drink (we had some delicious pork loin and trimmings and then I had pizza and popcorn in the second half). The seats were two rows off the field just down from the seats my pal, Nate, has.
The game was a frustrating 0-0 tie unfortunately although we had our close chances and our stellar goalkeeper, Brian Schwanke, made at absolutely amazing save right in front of us. We both parked at Fait la Force Brewing for free per my suggestion. Before our walk to the game, I had their excellent Czech pilsner called Moonlit Terrace.

10/29 - Let's close out this blog entry in STYLE!! I scored another NLHE Progressive Bounty Tournament win on ClubGG/Bluffers tonight vs. 82 other players. The 14 bounties I got counted for 2/3 of the total prize which came in with a whopping ROI of 2,400%!! That's gonna be another $600 withdrawal which along with the other $500 earlier this month will completely pay for a cannonball music cruise for two that Ashlee and I want to take after the new year!!

And not for nothing (well, come to think of it, it kinda was for nothing) I also got second in the freebie Ante Up Patreon limit 7-card stud tournament on PokerStars tonight vs. 17 other players. Only first place gets you any loot, but I will get a lot of points to move me up the overall leaderboard for bragging rights, I guess.