Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Good morning everyone.  The title of this entry doesn't have me moving back to Las Vegas or canceling my upcoming trip, so don't get excited...  Late yesterday afternoon I decided to take the short hike to the Texas State campus library because they have magazines and I don't.  For most of the day I had been kicking around the idea of driving down to New Braunfels like I had exactly two weeks earlier for the same reason as before, to watch 'Alex Cross'.  I had already blown off the 4:50 p.m. showing, but the idea was still rumbling in my head for the next couple of hours at the library.  The library disappointed me, as the main reason that I had gone was to find the December issue of Texas Monthly.  "But Coach, it's only November" you're saying.  Yes, but my response is that I have seen that issue in stores at least as far back as last weekend, and I am looking forward to reading the second part of a two-part story where an innocent man was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife.  Well, let's just say that I walked back home and started up my car at exactly 6:55 p.m. to try making a 7:10 p.m. showing of 'Alex Cross' in New Braunfels.  First I had to get to I-35, access it at Exit 204, and then fly south to exit for the theater at Exit 188.  Well, somehow Coach was IN HIS SEAT at 'Alex Cross' by 7:19 p.m...  ;)  The 110-seat theater had FOUR TIMES AS MANY moviegoers than it did 2 weeks ago (yes, there were 4 of us this time).  'Alex Cross' isn't a comedy, but I thought that I'd share the funniest line of the movie with you (this is no way spoils the plot).  Alex is in a conversation with his partner when he says, "you know I love you from the bottom of my heart, I really do, but I'd rather take advice from a ham sandwich..."  ;)  Again, Matthew Fox was an outstanding bad guy, and is the motivated person that I need to transform myself back into...

I'm twenty days away from my "Las Vegas Christmas Vacation" now and I have done almost nothing tangible to prepare for the trip.  That would be nothing more than booking my reservations exactly twenty-two days ago.  Once this college football season ends and the bowl matchups are finalized, there will be A LOT of studying focused on those bowl games.  Just a little while ago I was skimming through 'Phil Steele's 2012 College Football Preview' magazine.  Now Phil (and others) consider Phil to be a pretty smart guy when it comes to forecasting college football.  For those of us who have not correctly predicted the outcome of every contest this season, we can take heart.  These are some of Phil's preseason college football projections for the 2012 season:  4. USC;  7. Texas;  21. Notre Dame;  30. Texas A&M...  This makes me feel better anyway...  :)

On the poker front, I was reading my friend Grrouchie's blog post earlier today, and it seems that some mysterious character (and blogger if I read this right) named @cokeboy99 (twitter handle) won a Treasure Island tournament on Monday and then finished the Aria Tournament with a five-way chop yesterday for $1,800.00...  Do we actually have to BE GOOD AT POKER to blog about it???  :)  An $1,800.00 cash almost accounts for any of my TWO BEST DAYS on the green felt...  Congratulations @cokeboy99 - I will be looking for your blog shortly after finishing this entry.

With only five full days (and two travel days) in my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, I have pretty much resigned myself to playing in only a couple of poker tournaments at the most because I plan on spending most of that Sunday (the day before I return to Texas) watching NFL games and begging for my parlay tickets to hit.  I also know that at least a few hours of one of my days in the desert will be spent filling out my college bowl season parlay tickets.  I am strongly leaning toward doing the same thing that I did for this blog last year regarding the bowl games, which was predicting the final score of EVERY SINGLE GAME, and in effect giving you my thoughts on how the spread and the over/under will come out for each contest, along with the outright winner of course.  According to the blog stats, that has been my most viewed post ever...  Yes, we were talking about poker tournaments.  I really do want to play at least one deep-stack tournament if I find the funds to do so (this being in the $100.00 to $150.00 range) while I'm in Las Vegas.  In my mind, you cannot fathom how short a time period only five full days in the desert is, although others will tell you that's WAY TOO LONG to visit...

I'm going to do some other fun things like starting my wash now (one very nice perk to this apartment Lindsey), but I hope that you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with another ramble.  Have a great day!