Thirty Years

Good morning everyone. It seems like a good time to fire up the blog again. Well, yesterday seemed like a good time also, since it marked thirty years since I graduate from college. In the almost YEAR that I have taken off from blogging, it seems that Blogger has decided to transition to a new format. You can switch to the new format, or in the new future, Blogger will automatically switch your blog for you. At the current time, regardless of which format I try, I'm unable to upload photos (or at least unable to figure out how). When I tried yesterday, they uploaded as link text. I tried to figure out why, got frustrated, and gave up on writing. This text looks small as I type it, and I can't figure out how to adjust that either, but I'm going to publish this anyway, and see what it looks like. In the preview window it doesn't look horrible, but we'll see... Obviously a lot has happened in the last year, with the presence of Covid-19. The virus was a major factor in my decision to leave my sportsbook position in Biloxi, Mississippi. I just recently moved back to San Marcos, America. My reasoning was that I didn't see team sports (especially football, which I wrote the most bets on at work, and bet the most myself)having much success in the near future. If there's not going to be much football, it makes more sense for me to be in Texas than in Mississippi, or in Las Vegas, etc. I think that the NBA has the best opportunity for success, because they have the smallest number of players, or they're keeping them isolated ("The Bubble," if you will). I think that the NHL has the next best chance for success, as they have the next smallest number of athletes, and are also staying isolated. Major League Baseball, and then football are next in the pecking order, and they have more challenges because of their expanded rosters and the traveling that they are doing. The Big Ten and Pac-12 just postponed their fall sports seasons yesterday, so it appears that my decision wasn't completely without merit (for any haters out there)... Don't get me wrong, I'm whole-heartedly hoping that we find a vaccine as soon as possible, and I want to see EVERYTHING played, but it wasn't worth the gamble for me to sign a lease in Biloxi til the end of next July based on the information that I had available to me at the time. As for myself, I'm finally getting my sleep back on a normal schedule. Just this past week, I'm finally sleeping eight hours consecutively. It rained practically the whole week that I was preparing to leave Biloxi, and I wanted to leave the yard at my rental house as short as possible, so I was trying to find spots between the rain drops where I could cut my grass. Managing my yard came in addition to packing my stuff and cleaning the house of course. On the day that I did move from Mississippi to Texas, I woke up at 1:00 a.m., finished packing and cleaning until about 8:30 a.m., returned my cable box and internet modem, turned in my house keys, and then drove over nine hours to San Marcos, where I unloaded my stuff and ate my traditional "moving pizzas..." The pizza is about the most unhealthy thing that I've eaten recently, as I've lost about 20 pounds from my peak weight this summer, and plan on losing about another 20-25 more. Maybe by then I'll figure out this photo-posting riddle, and I'll be able to give you some comparison pictures. Other than eating smaller portions, while also eating more healthy food, I've also been spending a lot of time playing DraftKings fantasy golf, while I slowly unpack and get my sleep schedule right. Until this last week, I had won money three weeks in a row, scrambling up a bunch of different lineups of golfers, and having a few hit each time. I'm also starting to watch more NBA and NHL, as they may represent the majority of team sports that we'll have for a while. I've also continued to play a bunch of free poker on an app called 'Poker Legends' that I found early in the spring. I'm thankful to have found it, because I was watching way too much t.v. when our sportsbook closed on St. Patrick's Day. NOT that the t.v. hasn't been on while I chip away on the poker site, but at least I haven't been glued to it nonstop... : ) I'm hoping to get this apartment in order pretty soon, and then to have some job information for you. Which reminds me, I was finally able to buy the car that I had been saving up for this spring, which helps tremendously on the job front (and many other fronts). ; ) Well, I have a day full of unpacking and watching hockey games ahead of me (did you see that FIVE overtime game yesterday/last night?!). I have stated before, I LOVE playoff hockey games with multiple overtimes, where it just becomes a battle of attrition. Oh yeah, I'm also putting a few bucks each day on the fantasy hockey, just to have action. : P Have a great week, and I'll see you soon!

August 23rd

Well, well, well...  The last time that I saw you, it was the eve of the college football season (a pair of games on Saturday, August 24th, before the crush of games during the following week and Saturday).  At the time, the possibility that I wouldn't visit with y'all again until January 16th didn't cross my mind.  I apologize for the delay my friends.  I tend to keep myself pretty busy during football season.

So, now it's January 16th (HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!), and I'm sitting here at the keyboard playing Pearl Jam through my YouTube, with a muted tv showing the Nuggets at the Warriors sitting off to my right.  To my left, we have the pair of goldfish that I got just over a year ago (that's a pretty good lifespan for any fish of mine)...  Okay, it's time to catch up.  Again, I'm sorry about the delay in writing.  I'm quite sure that this is the longest time between posts since I started this blog a little over eight years ago (the blog turned eight on September 28th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!)

Alright.  So I'm still living in Biloxi, Mississippi.  I'm still working in the sportsbook, and I've now been with Caesar's Entertainment for over three years (you know, since my last blog post)...  I've yet to miss a day of work, or to even be late for a shift.  :D  When I last saw you, the football season was just starting.  Now we're down to just four teams in the NFL, and on February 3rd, I'll surely be crying, because we won't have any football again til almost September (and don't get me started on the XFL, or any other startup that you have an affinity for)...  ; )  So, during football season, I work 40 hours per week, from Saturday through Wednesday this season.  I work on the swing shift (which I prefer to work for several reasons - I'm a night owl, there are always games on during my shift, etc...), and after work, I normally go to another casino (I'm not allowed to bet on sports at my casino) with one of my friends/coworkers to either place bets on the next day's/week's games, or to cash winning bets that I have.  Long story short, my personal football betting is pretty much like a part-time job for me during the season.  I'm not trying to make excuses for why I haven't written for so long, but here I am making excuses for why I haven't written for so long...  I do feel bad when I haven't posted for a while, because I have so many friends who read this blog, that it's like I'm writing a personal letter to X number of people each time that I post an entry.  You know what I'm talking about.  I don't ever go into this much detail about my personal life on Facebook or Twitter, because that would just be weird (plus it would be difficult to do in 160 characters on Twitter).  However, I can get on here and let you know what's going on in my world (or just write about pretty much whatever I feel like talking about), and I can ramble on forever.  My one guilty pleasure if I haven't written for a long period of time is that my haters and stalkers have to wait to find out what's going on in my life (ex-girlfriends, personal relationships gone bad, people who are basically just internet peeping tom's).  I'm sure that you have a few in your world too...  Well, I'M BACK....  Ha ha....

Okay, when I last left y'all, I had just returned from a June visit to Las Vegas, which I summarized in a flurry of August posts, because I had already taken my next trip, which was to central Texas (San Antonio and San Marcos, America)...  Now I've been in Biloxi for about another five months, and I've been saving up money.  In the near future, I'll be looking into getting a car.  I haven't had a vehicle for several years now, and frankly, I haven't really needed one.  I've lived close to where I worked, I've had access to public transportation, and/or I've had friends willing to give me rides when I've needed them.  I do hate putting people out (although honestly, my friends have been great, and don't make me feel like I'm imposing on them at all), and plus, I'd like to have a vehicle so I'll be able to visit Texas more easily.  I take the lion's share of my paid time off (PTO) each year between the end of the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the start of football season, so I'll be seriously investigating getting a vehicle pretty soon.  Since we're talking about money and time off, another thing that I'm pondering is whether or not I want to make another visit to Las Vegas again this summer.  The obvious pitfalls are the money I'd have to spend, and the amount of PTO I'd have to use.  Oh, if I'm visiting Las Vegas, and already paying for the round-trip flight, I'm not going for just 2 or 3 days...  That's not my style.  In case you weren't following the blog last year, or you don't remember, I stayed in Las Vegas for ELEVEN nights last June.  :D  Anyway, so there's that, and if I do go, when do I go.  When is the World Series of Poker?  Will Blue October be touring through Las Vegas again this summer?  All important questions that have to be answered....

I left work at 11:30 last night, but I had to be up by 8:00 this morning (today is my Saturday) because I had an appointment for a haircut.  What I'm trying to tell you is that my sleep was really messed up today (I normally wake up at 1:30 p.m. to be at work for a 3:30 p.m. shift). In spite of the nap that I took after I returned home today, I'm "hitting the wall" all of a sudden, but I'm going to go ahead and publish what I've written so far, because I've made promises on Facebook...  : )  Barring any unforeseen circumstances (and excluding the Super Bowl and college basketball in March), you should be seeing posts from me more frequently.  So to all of my friends and long-time readers, and to all of you stalkers and haters, I'll see you soon....  ; )