Good morning everyone. Today I am still going to give you my football picks for this weekend, but a timely basketball story arose that I must give some attention to. Shortly after arriving at work last night, I saw on a muted t.v. screen that David Stern is planning on giving the San Antonio Spurs sanctions as punishment for resting four of their players last night. Nevermind that the Spurs were playing their 4th road game in 5 nights, and disregard the fact that this was also their 6th road game in 9 days. The 10-day road trip that San Antonio just completed was also tacked onto a 6-day road trip that the team endured earlier in the month. Coincidentally, for this nationally televised Thursday night game in Miami, the Heat were only playing in their fifth game PERIOD over the last 2 weeks... The Spurs are resting their veterans to put their team in the best possible position to compete for a championship, and David Stern is upset with San Antonio because the NBA schedule makers (who happen to be working for, you guessed it..., DAVID STERN) put the team in this position with their brilliant scheduling... Oh, and NBA, I'm sorry that we weren't competitive last night, getting "blown out" by a score of 105-100, playing IN MIAMI, and under these circumstances. David Stern, please do us a favor and try to be a bigger joke...
Well, after going 6-4 on my football picks last weekend, I am once again at the .500 mark for the season with a record of 61-61-2. I would really like to start heating up now since I will be returning to Las Vegas in less than three weeks. And for all of you "haters" out there, USC did show up last weekend, didn't they, even without Matt Barkley?... I took the Trojans plus 7 points and they ended up losing the game by 9, and that was after getting stopped for no points on a first-and-goal situation late in the game. ANYWAY, here are my picks for this week:
Texas/Kansas State (Under 63 1/2) - Coach Diaz HAS TO stop the bleeding...
Boise State/Nevada (Under 59) - The Wolfpack usually play the Broncos tough...
Alabama/Georgia (Under 50 1/2) - VERY big game, should be tough and lower-scoring...
West Virginia (-19 1/2) vs. Kansas - Can Kansas score enough to keep up?
New Mexico State/Texas State (Over 57 1/2) - Just for us Joey, two STELLAR defenses...
New England (-7 1/2) @ Miami - The Patriots 'O' has been potent...
Houston/Tennessee (Over 47) - The Texans score and don't play much defense...
Tampa Bay/Denver (Under 51) - The weather is getting worse in Colorado...
Minnesota/Green Bay (Under 47) - The weather is also getting worse in Wisconsin... :)
Indianapolis/Detroit (Over 51) - The dome has no weather... :)
Have a great weekend and I'll see you again on Monday!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Backpedaling...
Good morning everyone. Evidently I should focus on photography instead of writing. Quite often I will choose what I think are inspirational or clever quotes or tweets to serve as my facebook status. A POPULAR status might earn in the neighborhood of seven 'likes'. Last night from work, I stood on the rooftop at The Veranda and used my Droid to take a photo of the nearby "Sights & Sounds of Christmas" celebration which is located nearby. This annual event in San Marcos, America includes over one million Christmas lights, among other things. Well, this very amateur photo received over 14 'likes' in less than 3 hours. Thank you Trisha, Jennifer, Allison, Alyssa (Merp), Rene, Connie, Alyssa, Mandy, Kathryn, Erika, Penny, Carly, Denise, and Floyd for pointing me in the right direction... :)
Well, I have some good news and some bad news about the viewership numbers for this little blog of mine and a prediction that I made about 11,000 views ago. Sometime later today or very early tomorrow, the total viewcount for 'Bikini Hill' is going to pass the 17,000 mark. This month will be the blog's biggest month in terms of total views, with that number finishing at right around the 2,000 mark. This might seem like good news for my prediction that 'Bikini Hill' would reach a total of 20,000 views by the end of this year, but do the math. The blog that has NEVER reached 2,000 views in a month now has to receive THREE THOUSAND total views in December to reach this mark. So much for my prediction (???), and where do I go to take up photography? :)
So I went to Walmart yesterday - yes, Walmart, and I'm getting THREE paragraphs out of this... The first item that I was searching for was those elusive windpants that our blogging friend Rob has never seen... My heart leapt for joy when I reached the clothing section and discovered that 'Starter' windpants were selling for $11.96 a pair. I currently own ZERO PAIRS of windpants after my Las Vegas break-in at the end of August. The 'Starter' windpants don't have the zipper pockets that I like, but they are much cheaper than the $30.00 Nike windpants that I looked at last week. After dropping three pairs of these windpants into my shopping cart, I started rolling along when I discovered..., THICK sweatpants, WITH a well-made velcro pocket located on each leg, all for the low, low price of $15.97. At this point I feel that I should give you a travel tip. I have flown several times, and you want to be COMFORTABLE on a travel day. These sweats have comfortable written ALL OVER them... Back to the rack went the 'Starter' windpants, and into the shopping cart went two pairs of 'And 1' sweats. Sorry that I won't be able to show you what a pair of windpants is Rob, but maybe I can dunk on someone for you at the poker table. For those of you unfamiliar with what the cool kids are wearing these days, 'And 1' markets itself as a basketball brand, as in, "he's fouled 'and' he gets '1' free throw - 'And 1'..."
So I walking down the aisle in search of black olives. These are one of the myriad of things that I have been putting into the 17,000 salads that I have eaten during the month of November. When I reached the cans of black olives..., well..., have you ever played..., "Vegetable Jenga"? This of course is the game where you try to pull out the awkwardly stacked cans while not making the whole pyramid CRASH DOWN onto the Walmart floor... Sorry my friends, but I WON, and the cans didn't go tumbling to the floor - look for your trainwreck somewhere else... ;)
Are you looking for a trainwreck by any chance? So the trilogy of this little Walmart story happens when I'm rolling my cart down the main walkway, past the 'endcaps' of the food aisles. To help you picture this at home, I'm headed in the direction of the front door, with the food aisles to my right, and those little..., 'merchandise islands' on my left (you know, where they sell the randomly grouped items - cases of Pepsi products, four-packs of Campbell's soups, etc...). Well, as I'm rolling my cart along, this... BACKPEDALING GUY (yes, he was literally backpedaling), comes RIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF ME, narrowly missing my shopping cart. I stop and give him a GOOD rolling of my eyes, but whatever item he is trying to size up as he looks skyward down the food aisle that LAUNCHED HIM still has his attention, as he ignores me, and KEEPS GOING, his back LANDING UP AGAINST one of those merchandise islands... As the SUDDEN STOP causes him to stumble, he starts mumbling something, probably wondering WHO would put a merchandise island THERE, but I kept my eyes GLUED straight ahead and kept pushing my cart, NOT wanting to be a witness to this trainwreck... Goodness gracious people!... :)
I hope that all of you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with my football predictions!
Well, I have some good news and some bad news about the viewership numbers for this little blog of mine and a prediction that I made about 11,000 views ago. Sometime later today or very early tomorrow, the total viewcount for 'Bikini Hill' is going to pass the 17,000 mark. This month will be the blog's biggest month in terms of total views, with that number finishing at right around the 2,000 mark. This might seem like good news for my prediction that 'Bikini Hill' would reach a total of 20,000 views by the end of this year, but do the math. The blog that has NEVER reached 2,000 views in a month now has to receive THREE THOUSAND total views in December to reach this mark. So much for my prediction (???), and where do I go to take up photography? :)
So I went to Walmart yesterday - yes, Walmart, and I'm getting THREE paragraphs out of this... The first item that I was searching for was those elusive windpants that our blogging friend Rob has never seen... My heart leapt for joy when I reached the clothing section and discovered that 'Starter' windpants were selling for $11.96 a pair. I currently own ZERO PAIRS of windpants after my Las Vegas break-in at the end of August. The 'Starter' windpants don't have the zipper pockets that I like, but they are much cheaper than the $30.00 Nike windpants that I looked at last week. After dropping three pairs of these windpants into my shopping cart, I started rolling along when I discovered..., THICK sweatpants, WITH a well-made velcro pocket located on each leg, all for the low, low price of $15.97. At this point I feel that I should give you a travel tip. I have flown several times, and you want to be COMFORTABLE on a travel day. These sweats have comfortable written ALL OVER them... Back to the rack went the 'Starter' windpants, and into the shopping cart went two pairs of 'And 1' sweats. Sorry that I won't be able to show you what a pair of windpants is Rob, but maybe I can dunk on someone for you at the poker table. For those of you unfamiliar with what the cool kids are wearing these days, 'And 1' markets itself as a basketball brand, as in, "he's fouled 'and' he gets '1' free throw - 'And 1'..."
So I walking down the aisle in search of black olives. These are one of the myriad of things that I have been putting into the 17,000 salads that I have eaten during the month of November. When I reached the cans of black olives..., well..., have you ever played..., "Vegetable Jenga"? This of course is the game where you try to pull out the awkwardly stacked cans while not making the whole pyramid CRASH DOWN onto the Walmart floor... Sorry my friends, but I WON, and the cans didn't go tumbling to the floor - look for your trainwreck somewhere else... ;)
Are you looking for a trainwreck by any chance? So the trilogy of this little Walmart story happens when I'm rolling my cart down the main walkway, past the 'endcaps' of the food aisles. To help you picture this at home, I'm headed in the direction of the front door, with the food aisles to my right, and those little..., 'merchandise islands' on my left (you know, where they sell the randomly grouped items - cases of Pepsi products, four-packs of Campbell's soups, etc...). Well, as I'm rolling my cart along, this... BACKPEDALING GUY (yes, he was literally backpedaling), comes RIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF ME, narrowly missing my shopping cart. I stop and give him a GOOD rolling of my eyes, but whatever item he is trying to size up as he looks skyward down the food aisle that LAUNCHED HIM still has his attention, as he ignores me, and KEEPS GOING, his back LANDING UP AGAINST one of those merchandise islands... As the SUDDEN STOP causes him to stumble, he starts mumbling something, probably wondering WHO would put a merchandise island THERE, but I kept my eyes GLUED straight ahead and kept pushing my cart, NOT wanting to be a witness to this trainwreck... Goodness gracious people!... :)
I hope that all of you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with my football predictions!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
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!
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!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Little Things
Good morning everyone. I just went to my mailbox about fifteen minutes ago (this sounds like the lead-in to the MOST EXCITING blog entry that you've ever read, right?)... Eight days ago (last Monday) I searched all over San Marcos, America (4 locations) for a new case for my Droid 2 Global phone. After coming up empty, I decided to look online for a case. I ended up at Amazon.com, and a company called Bastexwireless was selling a Body Glove case (yes, the same Body Glove that all of the cool kids like) for $4.10. Since this particular case retails for over $25.00 (as would any of the cases that I would have bought from Verizon if they had any in stock), I quickly set up an account at Amazon and put the total of $5.19 (w/tax & shipping) on my plastic. I am VERY HAPPY to say that my Droid 2 Global now has a new home... The little things... Neither here nor there, but I am STRONGLY endorsing Amazon.com as an online shopping option... ;) The funny thing about this (you knew there would be a funny thing) is that when I retrieved the yellow envelope from my mailbox, it turns out that Bastexwireless is located in Bastrop, Texas... For those of you who are unfamiliar with your central Texas geography, Bastrop is only about a forty minute drive from here. However, just the price of the gas to get me there would have run me about the same amount as the case did, let alone driving home and the time that I would have spent chasing it down. Neither here nor there, but I am STRONGLY endorsing Amazon.com as an online shopping option... ;)
So exactly three weeks from today I will be heading out to the desert for a week. As I've said numerous times before, the sports betting (football predominantly) and poker on tap are the only real draws to Vegas for me. As it turns out, I really haven't missed either nearly as much as I thought I would this fall, which is one of those life surprises that I briefly alluded to in a recent post. I do have that winning parlay ticket and some worn down clay poker chips that I can cash in though, so I might as well make the trip. It's not lost on me that December 21st, 2012 falls RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the dates that I will be in Las Vegas. In addition to not wanting to be wrong about my prediction that the world as we know it won't end three weeks from Friday, I REALLY DON'T want to die in Las Vegas. I honestly don't know where I do want to perish, but the desert can just be SO DEPRESSING...
Let's see, some more stuff from work... (Oh, my phone just feels so good in its new case)... :) Okay, twice last week at my post in the "hallway of mazes" (don't get me started)... well, I witnessed this: guys with sunglasses on their shirt collars at 1 a.m. walking up to The Veranda (our rooftop bar). OOO KAYY... And this, ugghhh... BEING IGNORED - This has happened on several occasions, although it is far from the norm, and it just bothers me to no end... In the most recent instance, I was at my post and a group of five people walked up the stairs and went past me to go to the Veranda. The people in the group were not actively engaged in a conversation at the time, and as each one passed, I greeted them, and in succession, ALL FIVE of the people in the group blew me off and continued walking... I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... In an ironic twist (you knew there would be an ironic twist), one girl that was in a group of 3 young ladies a few nights ago called me "the nicest guy on the Square..." Another member of the group was celebrating her 21st birthday, and I wished her a "happy birthday" as she went up the stairs. The girl who gave me the title of "The Nicest Guy On The Square" (each word SHOULD be capitalized, right?) said, "SEE?! And he's the ONLY ONE who wished me a "happy birthday" when it was my birthday too!" I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... ;)
In case any of you are interested in reading a good blog today, you might want to click on the link to Lucki Duck's blog listed on the right hand side of this page, specifically the recent entry where I am now in SECOND PLACE in the standings of the very elite "bloggers predicting football games contest"... DON'T EVER count Coach out! ;) The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently plagued by injuries and are tenuously clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC, but two Steelers fans are at the top of the leaderboard in this contest - go figure...
That is all that I have for you today, but I will return tomorrow with more about my rapidly approaching trip to Las Vegas and the poker world. Have a great day!
So exactly three weeks from today I will be heading out to the desert for a week. As I've said numerous times before, the sports betting (football predominantly) and poker on tap are the only real draws to Vegas for me. As it turns out, I really haven't missed either nearly as much as I thought I would this fall, which is one of those life surprises that I briefly alluded to in a recent post. I do have that winning parlay ticket and some worn down clay poker chips that I can cash in though, so I might as well make the trip. It's not lost on me that December 21st, 2012 falls RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the dates that I will be in Las Vegas. In addition to not wanting to be wrong about my prediction that the world as we know it won't end three weeks from Friday, I REALLY DON'T want to die in Las Vegas. I honestly don't know where I do want to perish, but the desert can just be SO DEPRESSING...
Let's see, some more stuff from work... (Oh, my phone just feels so good in its new case)... :) Okay, twice last week at my post in the "hallway of mazes" (don't get me started)... well, I witnessed this: guys with sunglasses on their shirt collars at 1 a.m. walking up to The Veranda (our rooftop bar). OOO KAYY... And this, ugghhh... BEING IGNORED - This has happened on several occasions, although it is far from the norm, and it just bothers me to no end... In the most recent instance, I was at my post and a group of five people walked up the stairs and went past me to go to the Veranda. The people in the group were not actively engaged in a conversation at the time, and as each one passed, I greeted them, and in succession, ALL FIVE of the people in the group blew me off and continued walking... I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... In an ironic twist (you knew there would be an ironic twist), one girl that was in a group of 3 young ladies a few nights ago called me "the nicest guy on the Square..." Another member of the group was celebrating her 21st birthday, and I wished her a "happy birthday" as she went up the stairs. The girl who gave me the title of "The Nicest Guy On The Square" (each word SHOULD be capitalized, right?) said, "SEE?! And he's the ONLY ONE who wished me a "happy birthday" when it was my birthday too!" I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... ;)
In case any of you are interested in reading a good blog today, you might want to click on the link to Lucki Duck's blog listed on the right hand side of this page, specifically the recent entry where I am now in SECOND PLACE in the standings of the very elite "bloggers predicting football games contest"... DON'T EVER count Coach out! ;) The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently plagued by injuries and are tenuously clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC, but two Steelers fans are at the top of the leaderboard in this contest - go figure...
That is all that I have for you today, but I will return tomorrow with more about my rapidly approaching trip to Las Vegas and the poker world. Have a great day!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Hootie & The Blowfish
Good morning everyone. I just peeked at the blog statistics a few seconds ago and it looks like this month is going to be the most viewed month in the almost 14-month history of 'Bikini Hill'. Now if only I had something interested to write about...
When I last saw you, I was about to attend a hockey game in San Antonio on Friday night. The contest was an American Hockey League (AHL) battle featuring the San Antonio Rampage and the Houston Aeros. The quality of the hockey was outstanding except for the players' lack of ability to control the puck, so I'm saying that... Yeah... At one point I turned to my brother and said, "do you realize that with the NHL Lockout, this is the BEST hockey being played in the United States right now?!..." Merp... The Aeros beat the Rampage 2-1 for those of you keeping score at home. It turns out that we went to the wrong game, as our contest featured ZERO fights, and the San Antonio fanbase was just CLAMORING for a fight. It turns out that on Saturday night, there were several fights, one of which included penalty minutes totaling three-quarters of a period (that's 15 minutes for those of you keeping score at home) for one player. I know this because I have friends who have season tickets to see the Rampage, and they were posting photos of the "teddy bear toss" at Saturday night's game. You guessed it - Friday night DID NOT have a teddy bear toss, so somehow I feel slighted... The Saturday night game also went to a "shootout" to determine the victor - Friday night, not so much...
The game being played in the car to and from the AT&T Center was my third-grade niece quizzing me on the names of the EIGHTEEN students in her class. The neat thing about this game is that my niece kept naming the eighteen students in order (including herself) because she was seeing them IN HER HEAD in the order that they line up for lunch. The sad thing about this is that my niece gets her lunch last EVERY DAY because the students are lined up alphabetically based on their last name. Shouldn't it occur to her teacher at some point that it isn't fair to make the SAME CHILD get her lunch last EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN DAY?! You can just imagine me sitting by her in the car as I was learning this, can't you? "Why do you get your lunch last every day?" Merp... The most names that I remembered at once was ten by the way, and I had made the deal before that round that if I got ten kids right, the game would end... :)
So jump back to Wednesday night, which is when my brother and I went to the bar that my dad manages to grab one beer after the family dinner at Rudy's Barbecue. The fact that we spent about three hours at the bar is neither here nor there... At one point we were 2 of the only 3 customers in the bar. The bar is configured in a square, much like the bar on 'Cheers'... Anyway, we are almost at the far right end of one side of the square, where going from left to right on your computer monitor, it's my brother, myself, then an empty seat. Going up the next side of the bar is an empty seat and then a stranger, so we have basically the corner of the bar and two empty seats separating the stranger and myself. I had played some music on the jukebox, and the song currently playing is the last song from a very popular album, which happened to be the highest-selling album of 1995 (I just looked it up). This song WAS NOT on the mainstream playlist, but it's a very good slow song, so I quizzed my brother - "which band do you think this is?" My brother is mulling over the answer to this question, and you can tell that he recognizes the voice of the lead singer, and that he just needs to listen to a little bit more of the... "HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH!!!"... BLURTS OUT the stranger sitting near us... "He has a very distinctive voice..." That was quite possibly the worst moment of my brother's family's visit for me... It's the bar that my dad manages, so I'm not going to say anything, and really, what could I say, but..., THIS ISN'T A FREAKIN GAME SHOW!!!... I was asking MY BROTHER who sings this, NOT YOU... Merp... Goodness gracious... :) Anyway, the album is "Cracked Rear View" by Hootie & the Blowfish if you're looking for some good music to listen to today...
Here's a story from work last night that the doorguys should enjoy... :) So I'm working the back entrance, which includes watching the back staircase which leads to our rooftop bar, The Veranda. A couple that I had met upstairs about an hour earlier was now descending the stairs, about to go home. I am assuming that they were a couple because I had met them together earlier and they were holding hands as they approached me. Well, after the girl hugged me for about the THIRD TIME, she hugs me AGAIN, while kissing me on the cheek and telling me that we should go out on a date, and this is while her other hand is holding the hand of the guy that she is with (you can't make this stuff up)... At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to respond to her while making sure that the guy isn't about to PUNCH ME, and of course the side of my face that she's kissing is in-between myself and her date... Merp... (The word 'Merp' means "Ugghhh" by the way, for those of you who are new to the blog)... Long story short, no one got punched, and off they went... :)
And in other news, my decimated, struggling, playing with the third-string quarterback Pittsburgh Steelers, who currently sit at 6-5, coming off of a loss to the CLEVELAND BROWNS yesterday, are STILL the sixth-seed in the AFC freakin playoff hunt... WOW... (and merp...). I bounced back on my football predictions with a 6-4 record this weekend and am now back to .500 (61-61-2) for the season. We'll talk more about that later this week...
Have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow!
When I last saw you, I was about to attend a hockey game in San Antonio on Friday night. The contest was an American Hockey League (AHL) battle featuring the San Antonio Rampage and the Houston Aeros. The quality of the hockey was outstanding except for the players' lack of ability to control the puck, so I'm saying that... Yeah... At one point I turned to my brother and said, "do you realize that with the NHL Lockout, this is the BEST hockey being played in the United States right now?!..." Merp... The Aeros beat the Rampage 2-1 for those of you keeping score at home. It turns out that we went to the wrong game, as our contest featured ZERO fights, and the San Antonio fanbase was just CLAMORING for a fight. It turns out that on Saturday night, there were several fights, one of which included penalty minutes totaling three-quarters of a period (that's 15 minutes for those of you keeping score at home) for one player. I know this because I have friends who have season tickets to see the Rampage, and they were posting photos of the "teddy bear toss" at Saturday night's game. You guessed it - Friday night DID NOT have a teddy bear toss, so somehow I feel slighted... The Saturday night game also went to a "shootout" to determine the victor - Friday night, not so much...
The game being played in the car to and from the AT&T Center was my third-grade niece quizzing me on the names of the EIGHTEEN students in her class. The neat thing about this game is that my niece kept naming the eighteen students in order (including herself) because she was seeing them IN HER HEAD in the order that they line up for lunch. The sad thing about this is that my niece gets her lunch last EVERY DAY because the students are lined up alphabetically based on their last name. Shouldn't it occur to her teacher at some point that it isn't fair to make the SAME CHILD get her lunch last EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN DAY?! You can just imagine me sitting by her in the car as I was learning this, can't you? "Why do you get your lunch last every day?" Merp... The most names that I remembered at once was ten by the way, and I had made the deal before that round that if I got ten kids right, the game would end... :)
So jump back to Wednesday night, which is when my brother and I went to the bar that my dad manages to grab one beer after the family dinner at Rudy's Barbecue. The fact that we spent about three hours at the bar is neither here nor there... At one point we were 2 of the only 3 customers in the bar. The bar is configured in a square, much like the bar on 'Cheers'... Anyway, we are almost at the far right end of one side of the square, where going from left to right on your computer monitor, it's my brother, myself, then an empty seat. Going up the next side of the bar is an empty seat and then a stranger, so we have basically the corner of the bar and two empty seats separating the stranger and myself. I had played some music on the jukebox, and the song currently playing is the last song from a very popular album, which happened to be the highest-selling album of 1995 (I just looked it up). This song WAS NOT on the mainstream playlist, but it's a very good slow song, so I quizzed my brother - "which band do you think this is?" My brother is mulling over the answer to this question, and you can tell that he recognizes the voice of the lead singer, and that he just needs to listen to a little bit more of the... "HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH!!!"... BLURTS OUT the stranger sitting near us... "He has a very distinctive voice..." That was quite possibly the worst moment of my brother's family's visit for me... It's the bar that my dad manages, so I'm not going to say anything, and really, what could I say, but..., THIS ISN'T A FREAKIN GAME SHOW!!!... I was asking MY BROTHER who sings this, NOT YOU... Merp... Goodness gracious... :) Anyway, the album is "Cracked Rear View" by Hootie & the Blowfish if you're looking for some good music to listen to today...
Here's a story from work last night that the doorguys should enjoy... :) So I'm working the back entrance, which includes watching the back staircase which leads to our rooftop bar, The Veranda. A couple that I had met upstairs about an hour earlier was now descending the stairs, about to go home. I am assuming that they were a couple because I had met them together earlier and they were holding hands as they approached me. Well, after the girl hugged me for about the THIRD TIME, she hugs me AGAIN, while kissing me on the cheek and telling me that we should go out on a date, and this is while her other hand is holding the hand of the guy that she is with (you can't make this stuff up)... At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to respond to her while making sure that the guy isn't about to PUNCH ME, and of course the side of my face that she's kissing is in-between myself and her date... Merp... (The word 'Merp' means "Ugghhh" by the way, for those of you who are new to the blog)... Long story short, no one got punched, and off they went... :)
And in other news, my decimated, struggling, playing with the third-string quarterback Pittsburgh Steelers, who currently sit at 6-5, coming off of a loss to the CLEVELAND BROWNS yesterday, are STILL the sixth-seed in the AFC freakin playoff hunt... WOW... (and merp...). I bounced back on my football predictions with a 6-4 record this weekend and am now back to .500 (61-61-2) for the season. We'll talk more about that later this week...
Have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Turkeys And Pucks
Good morning everyone. This would be your Friday ramble since my football predictions hijacked the post yesterday. I had a pretty good day of football yesterday as I managed to double my win total for all of last weekend. Thanksgiving football started off great as the Texans and Lions easily covered the 'Over 50' (65 total points). The ruling on the play where the officials messed up by not blowing their whistles, which resulted in the Texans ball carrier getting SEVENTY free yards and a touchdown, which WAS NOT REVIEWABLE after the Lions head coach wrongfully threw his challenge flag on a scoring play (which was to be reviewed anyway) was a total crock however... You also had to love the part where an extra fifteen penalty yards were tacked onto the kickoff - awesome... After the ruling I immediately went to facebook and posted, "NFL Rules Committee - SERIOUSLY???" This would be the appropriate time to apologize to grrouchie and Mateo (another friend of mine) who asked what had happened in response to my facebook post - there is no way that I was going to type all of that out... :) In the final Thanksgiving game, I took the Patriots (-6 1/2) over the Jets - final score: Patriots 49 Jets 19... The even better news is that I also took the Patriots in Lucki Duck's elite blogger contest this weekend, a contest in which I have not picked a losing team to this point... :) And then there was the middle game yesterday, Dallas vs. Washington... Dear Dallas Cowboys, thank you for not showing up for the first half of your Thanksgiving Day game (Redskins 28 Cowboys 3 - halftime)... Sincerely, Coach... So I went 2-1 yesterday (taking Dallas (-3), but that's already better than last weekend's 1-9)... My remaining picks for the weekend are in yesterday's post if you are interested in checking them out...
So, yesterday turned out SO MUCH BETTER than last Thanksgiving did... I drove down to San Antonio (okay, to Schertz if you want to be technical) and ate at my sister's house (stepsister if you want to be technical) with my twin niece and nephew, stepmom, and my brother's family, which included him and his wife, and another niece and nephew (there will be a quiz on this at the end of the post)... There was also one non-family member present for the meal if you want to answer the extra credit question... My meal consisted of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing (all of the above covered with gravy), green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese shells, deviled eggs, rolls, and banana split cake. All of this was on one plate (except for the dessert), and it had my youngest niece inquiring, "are you going to eat all of that Uncle Chris? that's a lot of food..." I am proud to say that I did indeed finish all of the very tasty meal... :) I hope that all of you had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving also. I would also like to thank my friends Nicole & Scott, Lindsey, and Debbie for inviting me to stop by their places for Thanksgiving. I ended up working at 10:00 last night, but it wasn't bad at all, and I had a very enjoyable day.
So tonight I am returning to San Antonio (all the way to San Antonio this time) to watch a hockey game with my brother's family. The San Antonio Rampage (who I have never seen before) are the city's minor league hockey team. The home ice for the Rampage is the AT&T Center, which is also the home of the San Antonio Spurs. I thought that the NHL Lockout had ended yesterday when my brother informed me that my ticket was going to cost over $30.00 - YIKES!!! Of course this ticket was purchased online yesterday and had an assortment of fees and taxes associated with it, but it is in the row right behind my brother's family, who purchased their tickets at a time when we didn't know what my work schedule was going to be for this week. I cannot complain though because both my brother and his wife have served our country in the military, and as a result have lived in several different places, so it's not often that we have been able to get together and do things...
I think that I am going to stop here for today so that I can get some more sleep and be rested up for the night with my brother's family (I got home from work at about 4:00 a.m. and then did my laundry, ate, etc...)... I hope that all of you have a safe Thanksgiving Weekend and I will see you again on Monday!
So, yesterday turned out SO MUCH BETTER than last Thanksgiving did... I drove down to San Antonio (okay, to Schertz if you want to be technical) and ate at my sister's house (stepsister if you want to be technical) with my twin niece and nephew, stepmom, and my brother's family, which included him and his wife, and another niece and nephew (there will be a quiz on this at the end of the post)... There was also one non-family member present for the meal if you want to answer the extra credit question... My meal consisted of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing (all of the above covered with gravy), green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese shells, deviled eggs, rolls, and banana split cake. All of this was on one plate (except for the dessert), and it had my youngest niece inquiring, "are you going to eat all of that Uncle Chris? that's a lot of food..." I am proud to say that I did indeed finish all of the very tasty meal... :) I hope that all of you had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving also. I would also like to thank my friends Nicole & Scott, Lindsey, and Debbie for inviting me to stop by their places for Thanksgiving. I ended up working at 10:00 last night, but it wasn't bad at all, and I had a very enjoyable day.
So tonight I am returning to San Antonio (all the way to San Antonio this time) to watch a hockey game with my brother's family. The San Antonio Rampage (who I have never seen before) are the city's minor league hockey team. The home ice for the Rampage is the AT&T Center, which is also the home of the San Antonio Spurs. I thought that the NHL Lockout had ended yesterday when my brother informed me that my ticket was going to cost over $30.00 - YIKES!!! Of course this ticket was purchased online yesterday and had an assortment of fees and taxes associated with it, but it is in the row right behind my brother's family, who purchased their tickets at a time when we didn't know what my work schedule was going to be for this week. I cannot complain though because both my brother and his wife have served our country in the military, and as a result have lived in several different places, so it's not often that we have been able to get together and do things...
I think that I am going to stop here for today so that I can get some more sleep and be rested up for the night with my brother's family (I got home from work at about 4:00 a.m. and then did my laundry, ate, etc...)... I hope that all of you have a safe Thanksgiving Weekend and I will see you again on Monday!
Thursday, November 22, 2012
I'm A Hazard To Myself
"I'm a hazard to myself..., don't let me get me, I'm my own worst enemy, it's bad when you annoy yourself..., so irritating, don't wanna be my friend no more, I wanna be somebody else..." -Pink- (Don't Let Me Get Me)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Last week the question here was, "five weeks in a row?" - the answer to that question was a big, "PFFFTTT!!!" After posting winning records on my football predictions for four straight weeks (6-4, 7-3, 6-4, and 8-2), last week I went a HORRIFIC 1-9 (yes, you read that right - ONE and NINE...). As I was sitting here formulating my picks last week, I found the slate of games to be pretty difficult, and the thought actually occurred to me - "what if I go 0-10 this week?"... Of course I laughed that off with a, "right, 0-10..." Well, I managed to come PRETTY CLOSE, and it seems appropriate that I'm making this week's predictions on Thanksgiving, because I was DEFINITELY a turkey last week... The only winner that I had was the Patriots (-9) against the Colts, and I will be taking New England again this week because they have a similar line against the Jets, who are not setting the world on fire. My overall record for the season now stands at 55-57-2. Here are all of my predictions for this week:
Texas State (-1 1/2) @ Texas-San Antonio - I like this one quite a bit actually...
USC (+ 7) vs. Notre Dame - Putting my "money" where my mouth is - I think the Trojans show up...
Oklahoma (-7) vs. Oklahoma State - Sooners at home for 'Bedlam'...
Louisiana Tech/San Jose State (Over 75 1/2) - Tech OFTEN in contests with video game scores...
BYU (-29) @ New Mexico State University - The Cougars show up this week if they have any pride...
Houston/Detroit (Over 50) - Ideal scoring conditions forecast for the dome today...
Dallas (- 3) vs. Washington - The Cowboys are at home and have been winning...
New England (-6 1/2) @ New York Jets - The Patriots score, and the Jets have trouble doing so...
Oakland/Cincinnati (Under 49) - Scoring 49 would be a big deal for these 2 squads...
Green Bay/New York Giants (Under 50 1/2) - Highly contested playoff rematch from last year...
And there you go... I will see you again tomorrow. I hope that all of you enjoy your football today and have a very Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Last week the question here was, "five weeks in a row?" - the answer to that question was a big, "PFFFTTT!!!" After posting winning records on my football predictions for four straight weeks (6-4, 7-3, 6-4, and 8-2), last week I went a HORRIFIC 1-9 (yes, you read that right - ONE and NINE...). As I was sitting here formulating my picks last week, I found the slate of games to be pretty difficult, and the thought actually occurred to me - "what if I go 0-10 this week?"... Of course I laughed that off with a, "right, 0-10..." Well, I managed to come PRETTY CLOSE, and it seems appropriate that I'm making this week's predictions on Thanksgiving, because I was DEFINITELY a turkey last week... The only winner that I had was the Patriots (-9) against the Colts, and I will be taking New England again this week because they have a similar line against the Jets, who are not setting the world on fire. My overall record for the season now stands at 55-57-2. Here are all of my predictions for this week:
Texas State (-1 1/2) @ Texas-San Antonio - I like this one quite a bit actually...
USC (+ 7) vs. Notre Dame - Putting my "money" where my mouth is - I think the Trojans show up...
Oklahoma (-7) vs. Oklahoma State - Sooners at home for 'Bedlam'...
Louisiana Tech/San Jose State (Over 75 1/2) - Tech OFTEN in contests with video game scores...
BYU (-29) @ New Mexico State University - The Cougars show up this week if they have any pride...
Houston/Detroit (Over 50) - Ideal scoring conditions forecast for the dome today...
Dallas (- 3) vs. Washington - The Cowboys are at home and have been winning...
New England (-6 1/2) @ New York Jets - The Patriots score, and the Jets have trouble doing so...
Oakland/Cincinnati (Under 49) - Scoring 49 would be a big deal for these 2 squads...
Green Bay/New York Giants (Under 50 1/2) - Highly contested playoff rematch from last year...
And there you go... I will see you again tomorrow. I hope that all of you enjoy your football today and have a very Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
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