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Met my sisterfriends at the casino last weekend for a girlcation (good times).  We were chatting with one of the craps dealers and after finding common ground in poker he told me what had happened Friday — PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker and others have been forced to block access to US players.  Enlarge the image to see the big nasty message you’ll see if you visit any of these websites.

From what I understand, there’s been a federal law prohibiting banks from accepting funds from, or transferring funds to “known gambling sites”. A special code was supposed to be used by these companies in transactions identifying them as gambling sites so banks could deny accordingly.  Allegedly these sites used some creative workarounds. And addition to the federal law, states have their own online gambling laws. Washington, of course, taking the “no online gambling” stance. Due to a court battle lost by some brave gambling soul who was hoping to change all that last year (nice try), Full Tilt and some other sites denied access to Washington State players they had previously let in. I quoted an article below with some useful links for anyone who is in the position of being more than curious… (see original article at onlinepoker.net)

Notice: View Poker Sites Still Accepting USA Players

Following the culmination of a year long grand jury probe, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have now been forced to block access to their sites for all US players.

US Congress introduced the UIGEA in 2006 making it illegal for their citizens to gamble online but nevertheless many poker rooms still continued to target and operate in the US market against the law.

However, not only have three of the world’s biggest poker rooms now suspended their US operations but the sites’ creators are also facing a range of charges including illegal gambling, money laundering and bank fraud.

Thus far, the poker companies have had 76 bank accounts in 14 countries shut down, interrupting the flow of billions of dollars to their sites. According to authorities, the sites are accused of disguising gambling payments and deceiving banks into processing the money by creating fake corporations and web sites claiming to be selling unrelated merchandise, such as jewellery and golf balls. Apparently around a third of these payments would then show up on the poker companies’ books as revenue.

As U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara explains, the defendants “concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits.”

The US government has now determined to go after more than $3 billion in money laundering penalties, and have so far arrested 11 people who could each face at least 30 years in jail. These men include PokerStars’ Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate, Full Tilt Poker’s Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick, and Absolute Poker’s Scott Tom and Brent Beckley.

As the crack-down on online poker continues, US poker players have been waking up to the reality of not being able to play at their favourite sites. In the meantime, the defendants seem to be denying any wrong doings and assuring their customers their deposits would be kept safe.

For instance, a PokerStars statement read: “Please be assured player balances are safe. There is no cause for concern. For all customers outside the U.S. it is business as usual.”

In the meantime, US players can visit this page to find a list of poker sites still accepting usa players.

Here’s something my friend Tami emailed a couple of months ago, I saved it to share.  And for the record, my parents didn’t call me into the room to change the channel on the TV for them.

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning… uphill… barefoot… BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda.
 
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it.

But now that I’m over the ripe old age of 30 (ok maybe 40), I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy!  I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia.

And I hate to say it, but you kids today don’t know how good you’ve got it.

When I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet!! If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog. There was no email!!  You had to actually write somebody a letter – with a pen. Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there, and you had to pay money for a stamp to make it all happen.

Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass!  Nowhere was safe. 
 
There were no MP3′s or Napsters or iTunes. If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself; or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!  There were no CD players. We had tape decks in our car. We’d play our favorite tape and “eject” it when finished, and then the tape would usually come unwrapped rendering it useless. Cause hey, that’s how we rolled.

We didn’t have fancy crap like call waiting. If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that’s it! Beep-beep-beep, and you had no idea they had tried to call.
 
There weren’t any frickin’ cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn’t make or receive a call. You actually had to be out of touch with your “friends”.  OH MY GOD!!!  Think of the horror.  And then there’s TEXTING.  Yeah, right.  Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are. 

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was.  It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent…you just didn’t know!!!  You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister. (We had “party lines”. It’s one way to get to know your neighbors real well.)

We didn’t have PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3D graphics. We had the Atari 2600 with games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’.  Your screen guy was a little square!  You actually had to use your imagination.  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen… forever.  And you could never win.  The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died (just like real life)!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on television. You were screwed when it came to channel surfing, you had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!!  NO REMOTES!!!  I remember getting called into the parents bedroom just to change the cannel for them.
 
There was no Cartoon Network, you could only get cartoons on Saturday morning.  Do you hear what I’m saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little ratfinks!  (Yep Saturday mornings where great)

We didn’t have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that. I remember our first microwave…. baked potatoes for months.

And car seats – oh, please. Mom or dad threw you in the back seat and you hung on.  If you were lucky, you got the “safety arm” across the chest at the last moment if they had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for being a pig and calling “shotgun” in the first place.

See!!  That’s exactly what I’m talking about, you kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled rotten.

You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before.

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Across the street from Larrabee State Park on Chuckanut just south of Bellingham is the parking lot for this hike. This time I only went to the viewpoint which is 1.1 mi each way… short 1 hour hike (45 or so minutes spent going up, Mt. Young on steroids).  Incredible view.  Another .9 mi each way gets you to Fragrance Lake, a small lake in a beautiful, peaceful setting.

The full Fragrance Lake trip was the first hike I went on, because in an online hiking guide it said “easy” for level of difficulty.  Holy crap, what is “difficult”, your head explodes halfway up?  I’ll be honest, I was the fattest one I saw on that trail, but I see by the comments online many others concurred.  Anyhow it is a strenuous climb to the viewpoint at .9 mi but easier after that.  Worth it both times; I’ll go again to get some pics of Fragrance Lake.

Quick facts stolen from the web:

Fragrance Lake Trail
Larrabee State Park on Chuckanut south of Bellingham
Length:         4 total miles
Elevation Gain:     900 feet
Trail Type:         Out-and-back
Skill Level:         Moderate for children
Duration:         Day hike
Season:         Year round
Trailhead Elev:     130 feet
Top Elevation:      1,030 feet

This beautiful 2-mile trail through low-elevation old-growth cedars and firs leads upward to a serene woodland lake. The trail, recommended for older children, has a view of boats in Wildcat Cove. Downed nurse logs supporting young hemlocks are common, but children will laugh at the sight of a nurse rock at about 1 mile, with tree roots wrapping the oblong rock like cord around a package. Fragrance Lake is crescent-shaped, has trout and skipping water bugs, and can be circled on a…

Read more at Trails.com

This is a little bit of a drive to go for a walk from my place in Northeastern Bellingham, but worth it.  It has many many waterfalls, isn’t too challenging, and each .5 mile is marked.  Absolutely beautiful.  Ferns grow out of live, upright tree trunks, there’s a water fall every couple hundred feet and Lake Whatcom seems so big it feels like you’re at a Puget Sound beach.  Lush and humid, I imagine on a hot summer day this would be refreshing.  Will definitely check it out after a heavy snow for cross country skiing, if I trade in my Dakota for something that can actually drive in the snow.

Annabel gave it two paws up.

General Facts…

Highlights: Lake views, family friendly, wildflowers and lots of waterfalls
Distance: 6.2 miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 100 ft
Hike Time: 2.5 hours (walk/jog 1.5 hours)
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Condition: Well maintained trail
HikeType: Out and Back

Lots of large Douglas fir trees, cedar, maple and Madrone trees. The trail ends in 3 miles at a fenced private property. This is a good hike for birding. Lake Whatcom basin was carved by a glacier over a mile thick. It is filled by rain, mountain streams and water diverted from the middle fork of the Nooksack river which comes from the Deming glacier on Mt. Baker. This lake supplies water for over 60,000 people in the Bellingham area. Trailhead: From Bellingham, drive around the lake on North Shore Drive to Agate Bay. Stay to the right and then go left in 2.5 miles to the trailhead. It is just past a bridge over Smith Creek. Take the path on the right down to the trail. (Lat:48.72757 Lon:-122.30776)

What’s this all about?

Well since I quit smoking  New Year’s Day I was in need of something contructive to do with my healthier self.  I have wanted to hike, and turns out this a great area to do it.  I’m floored at how many incredible trails there are around the Bellingham area, and after going on this hike as well as two others I realized there needed to be pictures taken and posted.  So I’m setting out to do these 3 hikes over again, this time with a camera.  Besides North Lake Whatcom Park I’ll soon do Teddy Bear Cove near the North Chuckanut Mountain Trailhead and (ouch but beautiful) Fragrance Lake Hike.

I don’t usually work this way but it was one of those phone meetings that didn’t have a lot to do with my part of the project, no reflection on the client!!!