IIRC, I still owe you guys the rest of my "how to multitable" segment and "how to improve your red line" segment.  Since I had a few positive red line sessions recently, I'll start off with the latter.  BTW, remind me if there is is something I said "later post" to and forgot about it.  I *am* a senile old man after all.  Here are my suggestions for improving your red line, some obvious, some not so obvious:

1.  Have an aggressive 3/4/5 bet game.  Not only will this help you get paid off when you have monsters, but you can pick up a lot of non-showdown money along the way.

2. Play draws more aggressively.  This may seem obvious, but electing to play draws and moderate equity hands passively all time will generally result in lower ev.  You also need to balance your monster range with some of these hands if you expect to get paid off.

3. Barrel more.  In today's game, people will float you with all kinds of crap.  The multiple barrel is now what the cbet used to be just a few years ago.

4. Claim your share of unwanted pots.  Altho it's nice to flop, turn or river well, most boards will miss both players.  Claim your share of them.

5. Value bet rivers thinly.  Have you ever made a river bet, got called and later said "wtf?!? you called me with that?"  There is plenty of that money going around - just look for the right opportunities.  There will be plenty of folds along the way, so the non-showdown will be a pleasant beneficiary.

6.  Play more pots in position.  Most mediocre players I see at the tables don't play enough pots in position.  Waiting to see what the other guy does first is a massive advantage in poker.  Use it.

The worse your red line trajectory is, the easier it will be to implement some of the above, since regulars who have played with you will not expect you to do some of the above.

I suppose I could write a blog post for each item, with examples, etc.  But unless there is massive demand for this (like 10+ people), I think this would make the blog somewhat boring for the non-poker players and more experienced poker player out there.  Oh look!  Mrs. Fly is yawning.

Another week of frustration.  It's just so weird how I've had several stretches this month where everything goes wrong and I drop 10+ buy-ins in short amount of time, in a steady fashion.  But you might be saying, well, it also looks like you've had some positive steady stretches too.  True.  But the positive stretches where I make 10+ptbb is how it's *supposed* to be, and everything else is run bad.  Don't you get it?!?  If I didn't make ridiculous assumptions about running bad, then I wouldn't be a professional gambler!!!

In all seriousness tho, I think I'm waaay better at poker than I was a year ago, but I'm making less money.  Kind of depressing.  I only went back to 2/4+ this month, so I'm hoping it's some kind of short term run-bad, because I really do feel good about some of the things I'm doing.  The previous months, I had mostly been playing at 1/2, so the results, while meh, were not too bad.  Anyway, I think next month will be my month.  C'mon!  One time!

I got a refund for like $100+ a few days ago because apparently FT caught someone cheating (probably at 2/4 Rush), and reimbursed the affected players.  Probably just an isolated incident, but cheating is just something to keep an eye out for.

JOKE

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces his altitude and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon and shouts "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below says "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field".

"You must work in technical support," says the balloonist.

"I do," replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well" says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but completely useless."

The man below says: "You must be in management."

"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well", says the man, "You don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're still in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."

Mrs. Fly will not be able to write her usual weekly blog post today.  Apparently getting ready for the school Halloween parade and country club Halloween party Friday (the Ants invited us - later post), AND cleaning the house and preparing a feast for my family (20+ people) on Saturday, AND organizing the local houses so the local kids can go trick-or-treating and preparing activities for and cooking for several Halloween functions Sunday is "too much work" for her to write a blog post this week.  Well what about me?!?  I have to sit around with my beer, supervising her doing all that stuff, but you don't see me shirking my blog writing duties, do you?!?  That's not how blogs get written!  Work ethic is so hard to instill in some people.  Tsk tsk.

Oh, and she's had a cold the past few days.  C'mon!  1998.  Michael Jordan destroyed the Utah Jazz in the clinching Game 6 of the NBA finals with a flu.  Some people just rise to the occasion.  Others use "the sniffles" as an excuse for slacking.  Now where did I leave my beer?  Ugh.  Gotta ask Mrs. Fly to get me another one.
  

BTW, if any of you guys live in the NY/CT area and can give me a place to sleep after Mrs. Fly reads this blog post, that would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

So Mrs. Fly wants me to go as a vampire to the Halloween party.  DoubleFly + black suit + cape + vampire medallion + fake teeth + lots of hair gel = gay sumo wrestler wearing a suit.  The Ants were nice enough to invite us over to their country club for some dinner / dancing / martini Halloween party and we're really looking forward to it.  Atta is pregnant so she offered to be the designated driver for everyone.  Wheee!  Blog Posts of Debauchery may follow...  

Umm... maybe not - I'll probably just pass out after my 6th martini.

JOKE

Q: What do you call a woman who works as hard as a man?

A: Lazy.

Aw, I'm just kidding.  <3 Mrs. Fly.

We started a new family tradition in the Fly household...  Friday movie nights.  I think we may do this every few weeks.  Basically, we put D to sleep at his usual 7:30 time, and the rest of us come downstairs and watch a movie together.  I suppose we could include D, but even tho his attention span is pretty long for a 2.7 year old, asking him to sit there for 1/5-2 hours is pretty ambitious.  And this kind of makes it up to G for having to pay more attention to D during the day.

The inaugural movie was...  The Karate Kid (the old one).  It's a pretty good family movie and it covers a few topics that have come up lately, like bullying.  And now that he's taking tae kwon do, the "use karate for defense" message is pretty important too.  I must've seen that movie like 5 times, but not in the last 10 years or so.  I think I may be becoming a soft old man because there were a few parts in that movie where I started getting all choked up.  And I could still hear a faint echo of "don't cry, okay?" from Mrs. Fly.

I think this opened his eyes to the existence of karate tournaments, as I don't think he would have seen it before.  I just hope I don't get a phone call from the principal that he and his buddies started a tournament in the school playground.  But you never know - kids seem to know a lot more than you think.  During the "wax on wax off" scenes, I said something like "I can't believe Mr. Miyagi is making Daniel wash all those cars!"  And he says, "no - he's training."  Apparently, he saw the concept on an episode of Power Rangers.  So much for the ol' misdirection play - Way to Go!  Stupid Daddy.

He liked it so much, I think I'll get Karate Kid II for next time.  I remember thinking the woman was super cute when I saw it like 20 years ago.  It should be interesting to see how far I've crossed into "dirty old man" territory.   Ewwwww.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Taco night at the Fly house really kicks ass.  There's just something about American processed tacos out of a box that really hits the spot.  I think all Mrs. Fly did was add some onions to the meat.  Well, and put together all the other stuff, LDO.  The chopped thing in the weird-shaped container on top is some spicy salsa that was a little too spicy (even for this Korean). 

We had a pretty busy weekend.  We saw a whole bunch of "friends" and family.

We went to a Kalbi Club dinner party on Saturday.  Mrs. Fly made some awesome orange flavored wings for appetizers (later post).  We were supposed to dress up, but being unbelievably unmotivated to do so, I was the only one that didn't wear a costume.  Call me party pooper.  I actually felt pretty guilty about it, but obviously not enough to put on a costume that day.  Since I'm generally not a social turd, I'm going to give myself a pass and just say I had a bad day.  The problem was, I just never got on board for the Situation costume idea.  Mrs. Fly went as Snooki.  We got invited to a country club Halloween party this upcoming Friday, so it's not like I can shirk wearing a costume forever. Mrs. Fly wants me to go as Dracula.  Meh.

My aunt (the one who is a nun) came to NY to visit for a few weeks.  So we went to my cousin's house to have dinner with her and my other relatives.  My cousin has two specialties - linguine with clam sauce and ribeye.  He actually did something with the beef that I rarely seen anyone try at home.  He tried aging his own ribeye.  For those of you that don't know, most upscale steaks (usually at steakhouses) are aged for several weeks to tenderize and enhance the flavor of the meat.  For some reason the aged steaks tasted drier than the regular steaks.  But it was a pretty noble effort.  They're all invited over for to our house next Saturday, so that should be fun too.

Lastly, Whale stopped by the house and this time, he brought a posse.  Apparently, writing stuff like "nits gonna nit" in the table chats whenever I won a hand wasn't enough, so he decided he decided to bring a few friends to take care of Stumpy and our lawn.  The guys who mow our lawn moved stumpy to a poor location while they were cutting the grass, and the geese just walked right on by.  Mrs. Fly shooed them off once and I did as well.  Anyway, I moved Stumpy to a better location, so hopefully things will be better.  Altho from the looks of that massive brown patch on the lawn, some fertilizer probably would do it some good.

It's an interesting coincidence that the topic of coaching "anyone" came up, because I'm currently trying to help someone I know from 2+2 with his game.  He used to be a winner but recently he has had a tough time beating the games.  Some of the better mid and high stakes regulars may be saying, "isn't that the blind leading the blind?  Why would *anyone* want coaching from DoubleFly?!?"  Well, this isn't coaching per se.  I just told him I would look over his database and tell him what *I* think his leaks are.  This is one area of assistance where the person giving feedback doesn't necessarily have to be a world beater.  Because if a meh reg can spot a potential leak, then so may a ton of other players.

Why would I do such a thing?  Helping a potential competitor FOR FREE can't be considered a "plus ev" move.  I have a bunch of good reasons.  First, as long as I've played mid stakes, I've done *zero* deep research into the playing tendencies of some of my peers.  I see the same guys at my tables day in and day out and I haven't sifted thru any of *their* hand histories, reviewed their positional stats, etc.  I think I may need to start spending a little more research, and this gives me a chance to see what I can find.  Second, I think the experience may help me decide if I want to delve into coaching or some other poker-related ventures.  I doubt it, but you never know.  Third, it should make for an interesting blog post or two.  Hey - I got one already!  I guess this may spur on a series of "Database Analysis 101" type of posts, but I haven't decided.  And last, I'm just a good friend and all-around nice guy!  Just ask Mrs. Fly!  Um...  on second thought, don't do that.  as she would say...  Ewwwww.

Anyway, I looked thru some of the basics while I was waiting for Mrs. Fly the other day.  I've already spotted a few major things, and some areas that look fishy, so I think there will be some value added for him.  I'm basically just approaching looking at his database the way I would look at mine when I'm trying to review my play.  I tend to be more methodical and analytical than most other players, so I think I will be able to have a number of "concrete" suggestions, rather than saying generic stuff like "you're leaking from the blinds" or "cbet more."  But we'll see what we uncover.  The nice thing about taking someone with a zero to slightly negative win rate is that there are sure to be a *bunch* of things gone awry.

PS.  This is just a ONE-TIME test run, in case my inbox gets flooded with requests for a database review from a meh reg (moi).  There's a stats thread in the SSFR forum if you want to learn more about analyzing your database - it gets better later in the thread.  And Mpethybridge on 2+2 also offers coaching on database sifting - I've never used him (so this is not a recommendation - I'm just telling you what's out there in case you are interested), but he seems to have some interesting posts in the stats thread.

D's been doing well - I have to say, he is pretty smart.  And I'm not one of those parents who thinks their kids are perfect (obviously not - from some of the things I wrote in the blog).  Seems like just yesterday I was calling him Baby Hitler.  The resemblance is completely gone now btw.  If I thought one of my kids was a moron, I'd be the first to say so.  I'd still love them tho, but facts are the facts.  I think to "help" your kids, you really have to take an honest assessment. And not be one of those 'tard parents that always seem to show up on American Idol supporting their kids when they clearly can't sing.

Every week or two, D will say or do something that surprises me - like some observation he makes, or some activity that he is able to do by himself.  And there have been a few things where his teacher has said "In my ten plus years of teaching, I've never seen a kid _____ like D."  (BTW, the "___" is something positive - not "fart," "pick his nose and eat it," etc)

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but we send D to a pre-school a few days a week.  Mostly it's so he can get some social interaction with other kids his age, but the teachers seem to do some things we don't do much of at home, like art and music.  We think the more you can expose your kids to at an early age, the better.  At his age, learning how to socialize is super-important.  And to be honest, I think any parent needs a break from their kids one or two days a week.  I realize there are plenty of parents who can spend 24/7/52 with their kids.  TBH, Mrs. Fly and I are two people who are in love who decided to have kids, rather than two people who decided to be together to have kids they love.  Which is not to say we love our kids any less, but when we got married, our main focus wasn't to have kids (necessarily).  Anyway, I think the time off makes us a little more refreshed to spend time with our kids again.

It took D 1.5 days to be potty trained and he only had one major accident - and that was over at Maria and Luigi's house.  He just peed on their wood floor, which was kind of strange, since he had gone weeks without an accident.  I guess we forgot to ask if he needed to go, and he didn't know what he was supposed to do since we were in a new house.  Anyway, his nighttime diapers have been pretty dry, so the other day we went the next step and converted his crib (which basically looked like a jail pen), and put in the daybed attachment, so he can crawl out by himself.  Not sure if he's going to know to use the potty in the middle of the night, but we'll see.  I guess that's why they make child mattresses out of that plastic-like material.

We recently got his school photos, so I'm excited to finally put a photo of D in my wallet.  He seemed a little bummed out and confused when he saw a photo of Mrs. Fly and a bunch of photos of G in my wallet, but none of him.  Bad Daddy!  Bad!

An interesting topic came up in the poker forums the other day.  Are good poker players born or taught?  In particular, can you teach someone of average intelligence to be a "winning" online poker player?  The reason I find this interesting is that the same question would come up from time to time in trading.  That is...  are good traders born or taught?  I'm somewhat on the fence about traders (because they have to process more information and the game they play is not bound by rigid parameters).  However, I strongly believe you can teach pretty much *anyone* of "above average intelligence" to win at poker.  In today's poker environment, I'm talking about small stakes.  It's possible that as the games get harder, this may no longer be true.

When I say "above average intelligence," I mean not only intellectual aptitude but emotional aptitude.  I think the smarts is kind of an obvious requirement.  I suppose it's possible to be a complete retard and win at poker if they have some keen sense of when to bluff and when not to.  But if they are that keen, then you sort of have to go back to whether they truly are retarded.  One realistic example of how a retard could crush the games may be that he is a one-trick-pony.  Like the first guy who 3bet light and barrelled off probably could have won a ton of money without being too bright.  But it probably catches up with him eventually.  To be a well-rounded player, in a zero sum game, you probably need to be of above average intelligence.

The emotional discipline is something I've talked about a few times in previous posts.  Mostly it's been my rants about how the poster children for poker are the doofuses missing one of *the* essential qualities that successful poker demands - emotional discipline.  Emotional control is an essential part of tilt control, approaching the game correctly, and bankroll management.  Just being smart is not enough to be a good poker player.

I also think you need the right type of coach.  I have zero experience with coaches, as I've never used one.  I personally like the challenge of figuring things out for myself.  It's probably a little slower this way, but I have fun with it, and at the end of the day, that's important to me.  But going back to coaching, a good coach is someone who can understand how to make *you* understand how to fix your bad habits.  Unless someone is an exceptional moron, I do not think anyone of "above average intelligence" who is committed to learning is uncoachable.

Speaking of which, I decided to "help" someone with their poker game (later post).

Well, I guess it's nice to run good for a change, but it kinda feels like I'm treading water.  Can't tell if I'm not "creating" enough money-making opportunities, but I feel like I go thru some extended stretches where I get frustrated because I can't make any money.  I'm probably overanalyzing, but you have to keep on improving.

Since I ended last week on that sick downswing, I've been playing a lot of shorter sessions.  Even tho I played every day (well, since I play the graveyard shift (8PM - 4AM), I can technically take every other day off and still get credited for "playing every day"), I got in less than 20K hands last week.  What was kind of depressing is that last week's rakeback payment was only $400.  I'm definitely going to have to play "some" on Stars.  I haven't quite decided how much.  What was really surprising to me is that there are definitely times when when Stars is much better than FT for good games (later post).

CONVERSATIONS

A buddy of mine from work (who is in San Francisco) recently found my blog and we started emailing.

Buddy:  BTW, I have lost 57 Lbs. From 222 Lbs, now I am a slender 165 Lbs. I kid you not.

DFly:  No way!!! Teach me, pleaze!!! :-)  Congrats.

Buddy:   You won’t like it.
1)       Eat less. Somewhere between 1500 – 1650 calories a day.
2)       Exercise 6 times a week for 1 hour. Burn 600 – 700 calories at the gym per day.
3)       Very low carbs. Not a single beer, pizza slice, cake since May 10th.
See pic attached.

DFly:  WTF is this sh*t?!? How can you even suggest those horrible things? I thought you were my friend... ;-)
Ya. I guess there's no mystery to losing weight. You look good btw.

[Another Mrs. Fly post.  Not sure where all the recipes are...  It's like inviting Gordon Ramsay to the Tonight Show and all he wants to do is talk about his dog.]

Dear 20-something-bachelors AND middle aged married poker players AND creepy but still 'nice' poker players AND last but not least, ladies... whew... here's how a typical poker conversation might transpire btw moi and my hubbie, DF (that's Doublefly of course and not Dumbf---k):

DF: Can't believe the bad luck I'm having these days! I shoulda been up at least 7 grand this week!
Moi: (Exasperated and very condescendingly) Shoulda coulda woulda - hey you! This IS poker after all, oooh kaaay? This is why poker is considered, oh, I don't know, GAMBLING? (Hackling laughter as I absolutely love cracking myself up).
DF: No, you don't underst--- (gets cut off by moi).
Moi: Oh I do understand Mr. Shoulda coulda woulda! That's the nature of the game (rolls eyes). What's supposed to happen is supposed to happen oooh kaaay?
DF: No, no, no. Numbers-wise, there are hands that shoulda gone my way! There's math involved. Like statistics. And probability... (At this point I suppress a yawn).
DF: (Continues)... for instance, when I say I shoulda coulda woulda been up 7 grand this week, it means that there were numerous and countless times, that my chance of winning a hand was more than 80%!

This is when even I, a self proclaimed "the-only-Asian-I-know-who-can't-do-math," has a dawning understanding of what DF's trying to say. DF goes on to explain how there's a lot of math involved in poker and this is why he can actually make a living playing poker to support his family. Even the 7 grand he says he shoulda won isn't a random amount but is based on math computation on the number of hands he shoulda won by 70-80%. Usually, when DF uses a lot of poker terminology such as, flush, river, fold, straight, and all that jazz, I can't help but tune out. But whenever he talks about the probability and the logistical aspect of the game, this is when I actually tune in. Why you ask? I answer.

Because:

sqrt(-1) = "i," for the math illiterate

a) there's a tremendous sense of security? Relief? Knowing that there's a big aspect of the game where DF can control the outcome based on math vs randomly dealt cards. Guessing = Bad. Computation of probability = Good. Not knowing anything about poker before I met DF, I thought poker was all about luck. I really did. Now being a poker wife (and sometimes poker widow), ignorance is NOT bliss. I understand that DF's superior  knowledge of math (indulge me) is the reason why he's been up almost every month. This makes me think that poker might not be too far of a cry from what he did when he traded interest rates.

b) I also tune in because, it's actually amazing to think that DF can sit there literally for hours and hours trying to outwit, outplay, and out win other players. Call it cyber survival of the fittest... I totally admire him for being able to do this day in and day out. This also goes out to all of you as well! Unless you're the ones crushing DF... 

HANDS

Lately, there's been a trend towards barreling boards that hit one person's range more than another.  I guess tops on the list would be the Axy boards, because most cold callers would have 3bet AK or even AQ preflop.  So when I sat down at a 5/10 game and saw that villain's aggression stats were 2+x normal (on my admittedly limited sample), I knew what was coming.  FWIW, villain looked like a reg preflop.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($424.80)SB ($864)
Hero (BB) ($1000)
UTG ($1903.25)
UTG+1 ($1313)
MP1 ($1119)
MP2 ($1597.95)
MP3 ($2255)
CO ($677)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 7
3 folds, MP2 bets $25, 4 folds, Hero calls $15
[Ya.  Normally, set mining oop vs 1 person is bad.  Too bad he made such a tiny pre-flop raise.]

Flop: ($55) A, 5, 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $20, Hero calls $20
[I could raise, but what would be the point?  I'm 90% certain he's barreling.]

Turn: ($95) K (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $60, Hero calls $60
[Again, I could raise, but it looks fishier if I wait for him to barrel the river.]

River: ($215) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1492.95 (All-In), Hero calls $895 (All-In)
[So now, I'm wondering, "WTF?!?  Did I just let QJ or TT get there?"  AA and KK seemed unlikely because of the pre-flop raise size (altho I hadn't played enough with him to notice what his standard was).  And I think KK bets more on the flop.  Even if he had those hands, would he really shove river 4+x pot to get value?  Because my hand pretty much should look like a weak Ace that can't call.  Well, too bad for him and his monkey aggression - not enough realistic combos of AA, KK, TT or QJ for me to fold.]

Total pot: $2005 | Rake: $3
Main pot: $2005 between Hero and MP2, won by Hero

Results:
Hero had 7, 7 (three of a kind, sevens).
MP2 had 8, 5 (one pair, fives).
Outcome: Hero won $2002

And that is how you make money at poker with a zero Aggression Factor, Ricky and Ringer.  ;-)

To commemorate the end of DoubleFly Anniversary Week, I thought I would attempt to spread the loving bond between us to the other characters on Full Tilt.  Here are the top 5 characters I would like to see get together, so that they too may one day have as good a 10 years as we have had:

5.  Hottie and Spy.  The hottest woman and the hottest man.  What a surprise.  That's just how it is - get used to it.  No one's going to pay money to see Daniel Craig tap Rosie O'Donnell on the big screen.  No one.

4.  Asian and Plant.  TBH, I still can't figure out if the Asian is supposed to be a man or a woman.  But the gender-confused need love too.  And hey!  they're wearing matching outfits!

3. Ninjette and Boxer.  You all saw what happened to Robin Givens and Mike Tyson...  too much Mike.  The boxer "needs" someone who is going to put him in his place.  What guy is going to say "no" to a skin-tight-black-leather-outfit-weain' katana-blade-wieldin' woman?  And she kind of has that "freak in the sack" look in her eye that ol' Mike is sure to find attractive.

2.  Donkey and Cowboy.  Confused?  Obviously so am I, as I have spent way too much time on 2+2 and their incessant mentions of horse porn.  Didn't even know it was possible, until I started playing poker.

1.  Blonde and ATM.  C'mon!  We all know blondie is a gold digger, so why not put her with what's going to make her most happy in life?  And she doesn't look like she wants any deep conversation - just the whirring of Benjamins is enough to keep her happy.  "18 years, 18 years.  And on her 18th birthday, he found out it wasn't his?"  Hey.  My matchmaking was only based on a 10 year horizon!

As part of Anniversary Week, I guess I should talk about the kids, since once we're gone G and D will be our contribution to society - positive or negative.

I think the lying episodes are pretty much behind us, and G's been enjoying elementary school, his after-school activities (3 days a week - later post), and going to Korean school and Tae Kwon Do (altho the Master still scares him - LOL).  He seems to be doing pretty well at school.

Our local elementary school does an additional math program called Math Superstars, where kids get additional (more challenging) math problems to do at home.  It probably only takes 30-60 minutes a week, so it's really no big deal.  I usually review G's regular math homework, but the Math Superstars is basically an excuse for me and G to hang out in our office with our drinks (wine and Gatorade, respectively) and do math problems.  I usually will make up a few other problems that are similar, just for "fun."  Yes - I am just a barrel of laughs.  Actually, I do try and keep it light / fun.  So at the end of the year, the kids who complete a substantial portion of the weeks get an award.  What was funny was, as few Asians as there are in our school (and neighborhood), pretty much everyone getting an award was Asian.  I guess this is how the stereotype starts.  We live in a pretty affluent, well-educated neighborhood.  And overall, I would say parent involvement was *very* good.  But I was kind of surprised at how few parents actually spent time with their kids doing additional homework.  I realize not everyone can have both parents stay at home all day (professional poker player, baby!), but surely you can find an hour or two a week to make sure your kid is doing well at school?!?

Another example is they gave out a summer reading log, where they encouraged kids to read 20+ books over the summer.  Apparently, G was only a handful of second graders who actually did it.  So he got his name called in the auditorium and he was so proud to tell us.  And he gets some kind of prize from the library.  Really?!?  You couldn't read with your kid for 15 minutes a day?  I can only imagine what it must be like at a "less-educated," "less -affluent" school district.  Anyway, we only heard about this a few days ago, so we were pretty happy.

I guess I always assumed you reward good behavior and punish bad behavior, but Mrs. Fly's been talking me into not doing that.  Because you should be "good" regardless of whether you get rewarded for it.  So we've delayed a "reward" trip to the toy store for a few weeks.  I'm such a softie, I'll find any excuse to take G to the toy store (later post), but Mrs. Fly is the nut-buster in the family.  I guess you need one in every family.  <3 Mrs. Fly.

Well, that's only 1 of 2 kids, so thrilling D potty training stories in a future post!  I bet you can't wait!!!