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!

Outer Space

Good morning everyone.  This is the tail end of my last day off from work before the football season begins, so I'm psyched to say the least.  My friend Joey, my brother Pete, and myself will once again be sharing our favorite weekly football bets in cyberspace on my blog Coach's Parlay Card.  This promises to be a big weekend in Las Vegas as the McGregor/Mayweather fight takes place here Saturday night.  The onset of fall will be bringing cooler temperatures in addition to the kickoff of football, and this pleases me to no end.  The older I get, the less thrilled I've become with triple-digit temperatures.  The forecast high of 108 degrees on Monday will probably be the hottest day that Las Vegas see for the rest of 2017.  The combo of the fight/football/cooler temperatures should also bring some more poker players back to town.  After the World Series of Poker ends each summer, the poker scene in the desert is a bit more quiet before football returns.  Last night after my "Friday" shift ended at work, I felt the urge to play (I hadn't played poker for about a month), and I was pleased to find that the Flamingo had several tables going.  There was enough action going on that I was able to get my feet wet again for five hours at a 2-4 limit table, and after being down somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 bucks at my lowest, I flopped a set of 6's in a multi-way pot (like 8 players saw the flop, with a preflop raise), and even after I raised to 8 on the turn, I still had two players around to call my river bet, and I scooped a pretty nice pot.  Long story short, I won 33 bucks for my five hours of blood, sweat, and tears, in addition for the 5 comp dollars of course.  Anyway, after my month-long poker hiatus (which afforded me more time to study for the upcoming football season), I should be making numerous appearances in local poker rooms in the near future.

Outer space.  Since we recently got to experience an eclipse firsthand (except for a nameless person that was taking a nap in cloudy Las Vegas during the festivities), I'll share some photos with you that my friends on Facebook shared with me.  Hang onto your hats though, because these photos are not the reason for the title of this blog entry.  My friends Michelle, Kristi, Sydney, Courtney, and Wes were busy sharing these photos from across the U.S.A. a few days ago...

Now I won't go to the trouble of buying special glasses (or even staying awake for the eclipse for that matter), but I'm more than happy to steal some pictures from my friends...  Thanks y'all, great work!  ;)

Outer space...  So my friend Kimberly traveled to Area 51 recently to compete in a run (I believe it was a 10K, but I won't promise you that). Anyway, Kimberly is posting Facebook statuses about the big event, and in the comments section to a status, Kimberly says (I'm paraphrasing) that the course runs along the perimeter of Area 51.  Something instantly clicks in my head, and I think that I'm about to win the internet for that day.  I immediately reply to Kimberly's comment:  "So you're saying that the course is in the outer space of Area 51?"  Think about it, think about it, think.......  BRILLIANT, right?  The "outer space" of Area 51?  Aliens..., OUTER SPACE..  I think that I'm going to get this HUGE 'LOL,' and win some award from Facebook for being clever (probably presented by Mark Zuckerberg himself).  I brace myself for Kimberly's sheer delight and gratitude, and the powerful response that I receive...  "Yes."  ***Crickets***  I was so crushed that I was telling the story at work, and now I'm sharing it here with you...  :)

On a more serious note, I'm hoping for the best for all of my friends in Texas as Hurricane Harvey makes its way toward the Lone Star State.  On a lighter note, you have to love that someone in Corpus Christi was thinking of Selena (and the statue dedicated to her) when news of the imminent storm came.  Thanks to my friend Valerie for sharing this gem...

Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon!

Fishing For Clouds

Good morning everyone.  Well it's been a little while since I've posted, and I just have excuses for you, and not good reasons, so let's get started...  :)  Although it's August in Las Vegas, the temperatures are finally starting to cool a little.  Okay, let me take back the word "cool."  We still have triple digits here, but earlier in the summer, the highs were around 115, and we don't have 110 degrees in the ten-day forecast...  :)  Today's forecast high is 96 degrees, and 106 is the highest expected temperature over the next ten days.  Tonight's low is supposed to dip down to 80, which is also the expected low ten days from now.  I think that you get my drift by now - it was warmer in the desert earlier this summer.  Thanks to Facebook, I recently realized that I've had the same mindset at this time of year for at least the better part of a decade.  I've lived in hot climates, and I've been counting down the minutes until the start of football season and the accompanying cooler weather.  Yesterday when I was "supposed" to be writing this blog entry, I was ordering some football jerseys from various online retailers because I'm allowed to wear them at work during football season.  My one-year anniversary at work is three weeks from tomorrow, which falls on the date of the Mayweather/McGregor fight, and the first four college football games of the year.  Seems fitting...

My poker didn't go as well as I would have liked this summer, but when things weren't going well, I showed discipline by reducing my number of sessions and saving my bankroll for the impending football season.  As far as gambling is concerned, I wager far more on sports during football season than I do the rest of the year combined, EASILY...  I haven't played much poker since the World Series ended, and have instead focused my time on studying for the upcoming football season.  If you've heard the rumor that I was released an hour early from work one day last week, and proceeded to head to a sportsbook and make my first bets of the football season (in addition to putting more money into my online betting account), there's only about 100% truth to that story...

My brother and I had a pleasant surprise last week as a family member visited us here in the desert without any advanced warning.  Our stepmom Brenda came to Las Vegas with her friends and surprised me at work, and I was able to keep the secret that she was in town until she saw my brother at work a few days later.  Talking with Brenda, I found out who one of my mystery blog readers is, as my blog stats tell me that I get several visitors from Facebook, but the amount of 'likes' that I get on my Facebook blog "ads" never seem to match the traffic that I receive from the social media site.  We all had a good visit, as Brenda treated Pete's family and myself to Johnny Rockets, which is a place that I had never dined at before.  How many times in the history of history has someone gone wrong with a cheeseburger and french fries?  :)

Although the calendar says that we're only halfway through with summer, the start of the NFL preseason, coupled with the lower temperatures here in the Valley, have me reminiscing back to my youth, when I spent the waning summer days dreaming about the future, and "fishing for clouds," if you will.  My friend Vicki has a great photographic eye, and her daughter is already living a life that most people can only dream about (that's a whole other blog entry in itself), so I thought that I'd leave you with a little photo of a young girl fishing for clouds...

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon...

Poker Season

Good morning everyone.  I had lofty ambitions regarding writing yesterday (making an entry in all four of my blogs), but I did finish my chores and catch up on some sleep, and since I'm still up when I shouldn't be, I thought I'd give you a post here.  I should be sleeping because the 2017 World Series of Poker begins in the morning (for me anyway).  Following an early buffet breakfast at the Rio with my friends Joey and Brian, I'll be watching this year's first bracelet event, the Casino Employee's Event.  I played this event back in 2006, only to watch my pocket aces get cracked by queens when a sinister lady arrived on the river.  Later this morning, I'll be watching Brian and hundreds of other players chase a coveted bracelet while I get my first look at this year's WSOP setup.  As I've said before, I can enjoy watching the action and learning as much as playing myself, and I'm sure that there will be a few (hundred) cash game tables available should I get the itch.  The best part of this time period that the WSOP is running (now through mid-July) is that there will be more games (cash and tournaments) all over town.  I like to refer to this time of the year in Las Vegas as 'Poker Season.'  #pokerseason  Here's a recent photo from the Flamingo, as the poker players started returning to the desert over Memorial Day Weekend...

Even if I don't play a single hand at the Rio this summer, I'll be playing poker after my most of my shifts at work, and I'll have a multitude of games to choose from.  My current plan is to watch and play as much poker as possible in the next 1 1/2 months, and then to use the following month and a half to get ready for betting the upcoming football season.  If you're ever looking for me this summer, I'll be the one wearing the Texas State gear.  Wearing my Bobcat gear at the poker tables over the last few months has already initiated several conversations.

Football...  I contacted Joey and my brother Pete today, and they confirmed that they'll be joining me once again in making weekly football predictions this fall at my 'Coach's Parlay Card' blog.  My smart-ass brother asked me if I needed his Week 1 picks soon...  :)  Pete predicted the exact score of the Super Bowl correctly, so I guess I'll let it slide...  Anyway, in case you're not already aware, I enjoy predicting the outcomes of football games and wagering a little money on them, so I'm looking forward to the games kicking off late this summer.

I'm going to stop for now since I'll be waking up in just over four hours, but I'll have plenty of words for you throughout the summer.  Thanks again to all of you who are regular visitors here.  This blog just surpassed 115,000 total pageviews (quite a trick when you almost never write)...  ;)  Have a great week and I'll see you soon!



  

Sentimental Street

"I've been kicked so many times, I don't know nothin' else..." -Night Ranger- (Sentimental Street)

"For when there's nothing left, I'll fight for every breath..." -The Outfield- (Taking My Chances)



Good evening everyone.  Today has been a trip down "Sentimental Street" as I've been running errands up and down Main Street, and have once again ended up at the Littleton Public Library to do another post for y'all.  Let's see, where to begin...  For starters, I'm starting to think that the local library may end up getting more press in my blog than from any other source.  :)  "Sentimental Street" - in case I haven't mentioned it before, after we "fall back" for the time change, it gets dark for the "evening" at about 4:15 p.m. here in Littleton, U.S.A.  Yes, that's a capital YUCK!!!  On the very bright side, we have had an EXTREMELY mild winter up to this point, with high's still in the 30's and negligible snow.  Back to the yuck and not very bright side (although money comes in handy), I worked the past six days in a row before today, and I will be working the next seven days in a row starting tomorrow.  On the next bright side, I found out that I won't work on Christmas Day.  After working on Thanksgiving, I just assumed that we were open for Christmas also.  On the next not-so-bright side, there are ZERO college bowl games on Christmas Day.  So back and forth, and up and down we go...  ;)

Since I won't be off again til next Thursday, that's likely about the time that you'll be seeing my next blog post here (next Thursday or Friday).  I plan on doing my next blog post with our weekend football picks at Coach's Parlay Card tomorrow night if Joey and my brother Pete cooperate.  Joey is evidently taking a short vacation in Cali...

Yeah, Joey's in a casino - I'm SHOCKED...  Meanwhile, Pete wreaked havoc on a 1/2 table in the Red Rock Poker Room yesterday, and he also won a few sports bets to boot...

Sorry, that's only a "stock photo" of the room at Red Rock.  Pete was too busy winning money to take pictures evidently...  Anyway, these two jokers are having fun, and I'm just hoping not to be buried in a blizzard...  ;)  Speaking of all these people doing all this fun stuff, I'm very proud to share that my sister recently completed the San Antonio Rock N Roll Half Marathon.  Here's Whitney showing off at the finish line...

And here she is sporting the hardware that she took home...

Whitney was PROBABLY already dating the guy, but wouldn't it be a great story if she found him on the course?  :)  Great stuff Whitney!  Like I said before, WOO HOO!!  Very proud of you...  :D  And now we've come to the portion of our program where we steal from our friends (as if I haven't already been doing that)...  My friend Keenan shared this, and PLEASE, for the love of everything that's holy, PLEASE rack your weights...

I'm going to steal from myself this time, and I think that this is a pretty good picture of the gym at my Alma Mater...

I spent a lot of time watching varsity basketball games with a great view from the bench during my senior year is this gymnasium.  And I think that your girl is somewhere in there Carlene... :)  I also took this photo recently, and BELIEVE ME when I say that this is just a small preview of things to come...

  
I guess that's why they're called the "White Mountains..."  Back to more cheerful views, this is a photo that my friend Leslie shared from the Santa Monica Pier, a place that I DEFINITELY must find someday...

After all, my throwback photo has me fitting right in out in Cali...

I also had my friend Karen popping in from my teaching and coaching days with this 'Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich...'

Goodness gracious...  Speaking of my former kiddos, Leanne's first competition is this weekend, and she posted these...

Believe me when I tell you that girl has worked hard.  Have fun this weekend Leanne!  :)  Jessica is another one of my many former student-athletes who has worked tirelessly, and I'm bringing this snapshot back from last year...

I hope that y'all are enjoying the holiday season to this point, and that you'll continue to do so until I see you next week!

Hopeless

"You know it's hot when the highlight of your day is someone bringing you a freeze pop..."
 -Destiny Perez-




Good afternoon everyone.  It appears that this is going to be my SIXTH post since my entry on March 31st.  I definitely have to start pacing myself...  Ironically, this will also be the post where my total pageviews go over the 90,000 mark, which is an incredible milestone considering the fact that I don't write.

As a potentially classic Men's Final at Wimbledon plays out of the t.v. beside me, I guess that I'll write a little.  I'll begin with work, which has been extremely busy since I took my new job at the start of March.  In my job with ITS, we see a huge number of projects during the summer as you might imagine, because that's when the students are gone and we can do more work without disturbing them.  We do work in preparation for their return to campus, in addition to everything that happens in and around the football stadium, for the return of Longhorn Football in early September.  We already had several ongoing projects this year before the summer rush hit, so I've been working quite a bit.  During the past week, I worked 3.5 hours of overtime on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 hours on Thursday, and 2.5 extra hours on Friday.  I also expect a lot more overtime before the students return to campus.  Don't get me wrong, UT has summer school, but there are over 50,000 students wandering around here during the long semesters...

In the world of sports, I still plan on doing football picks again.  These will be moved to one of my newer blogs (don't worry, you haven't missed anything - I don't write in my newer blogs either), Coach's Parlay Card.  I believe that Joey still plans on making picks with me.  I've barely cracked the covers on my college and pro football magazines, for what you'd expect from me anyway.  In baseball, the Red Sox and Yankees will be on TBS in about five minutes.  The Sox are 5 1/2 games back if I'm correct (the Yankees in first), so the whole division will be within 4 1/2 games of the lead at the All-Star Break should Boston win today.  The Sox were favored to win the division (and more) coming into the season, so the second half could be very interesting...  And of course, there's the Spurs offseason.  It's interesting to see where free agents want to sign, and the jerks on the teams that they're deciding not to play with...

Despite the moniker of this blog, I've spent nearly all of my free time at home recharging from work, so I don't have tons to report about San Marcos or Austin.  My friend Cindy from campus put her house up for sale recently, and has had people coming to look at it virtually IMMEDIATELY after it listed, so the housing/rental market here in Austin is still ridiculously strong, a fact that I curse every time that I write my monthly rent check.  Following along on facebook, it seems that people were incredibly generous in the wake of the late spring flooding in San Marcos and Wimberley, as I saw that all kinds of benefits were held for victims.  In some San Marcos and sports news, the Texas State Bobcats will be opening up their football season at Florida State University.  That should be interesting...  :)

Hopefully that's enough to tide you over for a week, or a month, or longer...  :)  Have a great week and I'll talk to again sometime...  ;)

    

The Memorial Day Weekend Flood Of 2015

"The trick is to not let people know how weird you really are until it's too late for them to back out..." -via Bianca Edwards-

"Why can't taco rhyme with Waco?" -HalleyAnna Finlay-



Good afternoon everyone.  I know, two posts in a month - somebody stop me...  ;)  The big news in this area today is the flooding that's taking place due to the recent rain that we've had.  Thanks to my friends, I have several photos to share with you today. We'll start down south, with my sister Whitney...

This comes to you from Schertz, which is just north of San Antonio.  Next we arrive in San Marcos, where all sorts of havoc has taken place.  We'll begin with the photos in and around Sewell Park, which is the home of 'Bikini Hill.'

My friend Courtney shared this one, and yes, that is a regulation basketball hoop...

My friend Katie shared this photo earlier in the morning...

This a different vantage point of the park from my friend Alma.  As we move around San Marcos, you'll see that there is no shortage of photos, and these are just a fraction of what I've seen on facebook today...

This shot comes to you from my friend Keith...

And this picture was taken by my friend Valerie in front of a strip mall that's just east of IH-35...

This photo from my friend Scott was one of the first that I saw this morning, and comes from a local apartment complex...

Cyndi's photo also shows another apartment complex in San Marcos...

J.J.'s picture shows us an access road submerged alongside the aforementioned IH-35...

Monica's shot comes to us from near Highway 80...

This picture was taken to the west of Austin and was shared last night by my friend Hunter.  The Austin-area had several tornado watches and warnings last night, and this restaurant obviously experienced some of the strong winds...

And this morning at my own apartment complex, I saw where the storms were successful in snapping off a big part of this tree last night (the tree on the right, behind the blue dumpster)...


So yeah, the flooding is a pretty big story down here in south Texas.  Before all of this happened last night and into this morning, the local graduations were the big story. My friend Lauren shared a pre-flood photo from Texas State (same Sewell Park) earlier in the week...

Several graduates celebrate by jumping into the river after the ceremony.  You'll notice that you don't see any of the steps in the background in the previous photos, as they're all underwater right now...  And this gem comes to you from Lubbock, where one of my former softball players received a bit of recognition from Texas Tech...

I may have gone to medical school if I would have known that I get could my name put up on the big screen after I finished.  Well..., probably not...  ;)  Congratulations Amanda!  I'll even spare y'all the story where I was pitching batting practice and as a freshman, Amanda NAILED MY THIGH with a line drive, giving me a bruise that I sported for well over a month.  I'm SURE that the guilt from that experience encouraged Amanda to complete medical school...  :D

To go along with that throwback story, I have a throwback photo of myself that I put on facebook earlier in the week...

This was taken just before the finish line at the site of my first marathon in San Antonio.  I was a pound or two lighter back then...  AND I've got a photo for you from Las Vegas...

A sneak preview from the upcoming World Series of Poker, as my brother is attending his new employee orientation today...  I know that I haven't posted much lately, but when I do post, I make them count...  ;)

I hope that all of you have a tremendous Memorial Day Weekend, and I'll see you soon (maybe)...

Segue Anyone?

"Everyone is on a timeout!  Shhh...don't talk to me!....that's all....carry on..." -Alma Medrano-

"13 days til graduation, 32 days til X Games, 48 days til Caribbean Cruise, 58 days til Vegas...  Summer hurry up!!!!" -Brittany Flores-

"Two years ago today my wife uttered the phrase, "Hurry up, my ring is waiting for me," because I wasn't walking fast enough to get to the jewelry store.  Less than 30 minutes later she was wearing the perfect ring and I was destined to never have money again..." -Grrouchie-

"She was unstoppable, not because she did not have failures or doubts, but because she continued on despite them..." -via Lorraine Lamb-

"I laugh..., I love..., I hope..., I try..., I hurt..., I need..., I fear..., I cry..., and I know you do the same things too, so we're really not that different, me and you..." -Collin Raye- (Not That Different)

"Am I that strong..., to carry on?..., I might change your life, I might save my world, could you save me?..., and all of your weight, all you dream, falls on me, it falls on me..." -Fuel- (Falls On Me)

"You've already won me over, in spite of me, and don't be alarmed if I fall, head over feet, don't be surprised if I love you, for all that you are, I couldn't help it, it's all your fault..." -Alanis Morrissette- (Head Over Feet)




Good evening everyone.  In the first of what will be several segues today, I'll take you back in time to when my friend Heather's first ever words to me were, "You better stop watching me..."  Yeah, that story is somewhere in the blog archives, as this photo was in Heather's recent archives...

"That one time I graduated college a year ago..."  Not a bad tag Heather...  :)  So yes, it's that time of year again, when the spring semester is about to end, and Bobcats and Longhorns will be receiving their diplomas in San Marcos and Austin (and Corpus too Brittany)...  ;)  Surprisingly, Heather wasn't my first friend to post a 'Flashback Friday' graduation photo from last year in San Marcos, as Maureen beat her to the punch...

Maureen's picture immediately caught my eye because she's soaked, which I thought was appropriate for a former lifeguard, and someone who I watched (helped? - okay, more watched) save a youngster's life in the very same San Marcos River that several Bobcats jump into after graduating.  That story is also in a previous blog post here.  I'm evidently very big on recurring roles in the blog, and water...

Tina was in the blog not too long ago, and was kind enough to break out a surfboard recently for her cover photo and remind me that I don't live near the water.  Tina can be a pain like that...  :)  I love the water, but have never lived near it (not counting the aforementioned river that runs by 'Bikini Hill,' but A LOT of water).

My friend Pete was more than willing to jump on board with the water theme, sharing this recent vacation snapshot.  Let me interject here that Austin has had more than its share of rain recently (and has a bunch more in the ten-day forecast), and that a substantial amount of it leaked into my apartment recently during a big storm.  You'd probably know more about these types of things if I'd ever blog...  :)  Back to the water though, it wouldn't be complete without...

SHARKS!  I rarely post photos with my friends' children in here, but I had already decided to be officially jealous of my friends and all of their water photos when I saw this gem yesterday. Leanne's poor little guy seems to be having an awful time in the jumpy house, doesn't he?  :) Speaking of friends, and their children's photos, and not writing much recently...

This is a great Easter shot of my friend Megan's boy that stood out in my mind because I saw it not long after seeing another photo where a friend's child looked ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED of posing with an overgrown bunny.  :)  So I missed Easter...  Oh, I also missed the Blue Bell ice cream recall.  My friend Jamie reminded me of this recently when she shared a status along with her sentiment, "Took 'em long enough.  I need some homemade vanilla like yesterday!!!"  I saw a great meme back at the time of the recall, but now I don't remember which of my friends posted it. Basically, the gist of it was that the rest of the country didn't understand:  Texans weren't more limited in their choice of ice cream without Blue Bell, but Texans were OUT OF ICE CREAM!  :)  I also missed sharing the news of Apple rolling out their new watches.  My friend Jason received one as a birthday present recently...

:)  We also missed the Mayweather/Pacquiao "fight."  I didn't see the "action," but I followed along on Twitter, and my friend Valerie shared this shortly after the "fight of the century..."

And I'll be honest with you, this is ALL that I read on Twitter about the "fight..."  We also missed the closing of the Riviera this week, so I'll give you this showgirl in its honor...

My friend Jessica is becoming more and more famous by the minute...  :)  Speaking of things that are Las Vegas related, I've also neglected to tell you that my brother Pete landed a job working at the World Series of Poker this summer ("Yay" as Josie would say)...  Maybe someday I'll write a little bit about poker again.  There are some great blog links over to the right, most of which are poker related, if you're interested in reading some good stories on the subject.  It's funny, I went from writing one blog to writing four, and then I pretty much stopped writing completely.  And that really doesn't bother me...  :)

Alright, I guess it's about time to publish this, but I did see a few more things on facebook this week that didn't fit nicely and neatly into my segue barrage, but I thought that they were worth sharing anyway...

My friend Carren shared this, and there is probably nothing that frustrates me as much as bad driving.  I mean, oblivious people can actually KILL YOU...  And my friend Sophie shared this...,

Have a great Mother's Day Weekend, and I'll see you soon (maybe)...

Spring Forward

"Thanks to everyone who posted on my birthday.  To the rest of you...  You are dead to me..."
-Pete P. Peters-

"I think my ponytail is on too tight..." -Yvonne Gonzales- (Yvonne's response to not getting a reference I made).

Grrouchie:  "Excuse me, where do you have the ears of corn?"
Smith's Employee:  "Umm, I don't even know what that is..." -Grrouchie-

"No matter how much times passes, great friends always pick up right where they left off..."
-Summer Rodriguez-

"This is what happens when it snows in Texas..." -Gisele Verissimo-


Good evening everyone.  Long time, no see...  With the weather that we've had recently (and that we're forecast to have this weekend), I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'll stay home this weekend.  It's not like there's nothing on t.v., or that I have nothing to do here, but I'm ready for our Texas winter to be over.  My friend Verissimo posted this photo with that quote above when nasty weather hit the Metroplex (Dallas-Fort Worth area) recently...

Click on that photo and you'll see a lot of bad news for drivers.  You can see from the top of the photo that this took place at about noon also.  Here in Austin (and at the University of Texas more specifically) we've had delayed starts to workdays because the biggest threat to drivers has been ice in the early morning while the temperatures are still below freezing.  It's not supposed to get quite that cold this weekend, but it will still be cool enough, and we have an 80% chance of rain on Sunday, followed by a 100% chance on Monday.

Like I said a minute ago, there's plenty to watch on t.v., and I have plenty to do.  The conference tournaments are starting up in men's college basketball, and I still have my NHL and NBA.  I'm noticing just now that my Bovada account is down only $2.24 from what it was on February 8th (with no deposits, and with microbet upon microbet).  I still haven't downloaded the Bovada poker again, but that's something that might happen pretty soon.  As always, I have plenty that I can do around the apartment.  This isn't even taking into account the blog reading that I've gotten behind on.  It seems that's almost all of my fellow bloggers (listed on the right) have made at least one post that I haven't read yet (while some have posted several times).  A vast majority of the time I will comment on my friends' entries after they have posted, just to let them know that I've stopped by at the least.  There hasn't been much commenting on my part this week...  :)  This just shows a bunch of laziness on my part, especially since I didn't have to report to work until 1:00 p.m. yesterday...  As a preferred night owl, my first move when discovering a delayed start at work the next day is too stay up later that night.

In addition to having reading to catch up on, I've also been neglecting all of my blogs.  I waited so long to rant about Gonzaga not deserving a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament that they went and lost a game before I did.  While I'm talking about college basketball (and this isn't a rant), I'll go on record right now with my belief that I don't think that Kentucky will go unbeaten this season.  The Wildcats have been tested a few times in a conference that isn't very tough.  If Kentucky played in the ACC, they'd probably have more than one loss already.

Since I mentioned it, I've been pondering downloading the Bovada poker (just for research for my poker blog, of course)...  :P

I think I'm gonna let y'all off the hook for now, but you may see me here again this weekend.  Have a good one until then, and remember to set your clocks ahead an hour before you go to bed on Saturday night!