OK, maybe I will try the WSOP

I found more information regarding the upcoming World Series of Poker tournament at Caesar's Indiana casino. I still need to talk to someone to verify some more information, but it looks like there are several cheap games throughout the week that you can play in to qualify for the big game. I just need to work out the timing, reservations, and get permission from the wife. Not to mention making sure that we have someone to watch the kids while I am gone. It all makes me a bit nervous though. I've never really played in a high stakes poker game before. Sure I've won a few hundred here and there in basement games, but that is a different type of situation. Still, I am going to research this and see if I can make a go of it. It should be fun either way.

Go Bucks, Hoops Style

As you all know, I get a little crazy when it comes to Ohio State football. It is not a suprise. I went to Ohio State and was in the marching band, so I was pretty invested in how well the football team performed. If they did well, we went to a cool bowl game. What you may not know was that I was also in the basket ball pep band. I am not as big of a basket ball fan as I am a football fan, but I am behind all sports that the Buckeyes participate in. I even played in a pep band for the women's volley ball team (maybe more because of the tall, hot women in spandex than because I was a volley ball fan, but the matches were pretty exciting too). Anyway, in the past few years, the men's basket ball team has been pretty mediocre. Last year they won the Big Ten title, which was cool, but before that, they were just average. Well, right now, they are ranked # 1 in the country. It's not all that exciting, since one loss will bump them out of the # 1 spot, but it is pretty cool for right now. Today there is a big game here in Columbus. #1 Ohio State will be taking on #2 Wisconsin. The game has lost some of it's luster since Wisconsin lost earlier this week to Michigan State, but this is the first time in Big Ten history that there has been a #1 vs #2 match up. There is also the fact that the winner of this game will more than likely win the Big Ten title and become a #1 seed in the Big Dance (NCAA tourney). So, to make a long story a little less long, I am hyped amout the OSU basket ball team and the game this afternoon at 4:00 on CBS. GO BUCKS!

No WSOP for me

As you may or may not know, I was considering going to a World Series of Poker event this year. I did some research, and there is a circuit event in Indiana at the end of March. I was a bit confused though, because the WSOP web site indicated that the tournament was from March 25th to April 6th. Two weeks seemed pretty long for a tournament. So, I called the casino for more information. Apparently, there are several game during those weeks. If you win one of them, then you don't need to pay for the main event at the end of the tournament. Thereis a registration fee of $360 for the event that will get you into the first game. My guess is that, each additional even that you want to play in, will cost an additional fee. The main event, if you don't win one of the preliminary events, has a $5150 buy in. That is a bit much for me. What I was hoping for was a $500 buy in tournament. It would be great if I could pay the $360, win the prelim, and then play in the main event, but there is a two week gap between the initial preliminary and the main event. I don't know that I want to take that much time off. I think I need to call the casino again and get a game schedule. I also need to find out if you need to register on the first day of the event, or if you can show up for the last preliminary game and register then. If I could make this a three or four day ordeal, I could probably swing it. But then there is the matter of finding a place to stay. I guess I can stay in my car if I needed, but paying for several nights in a casino hotel could get costly. Especially if I am out day one of the event. Well, I think that my WSOP dreams will have to wait a few more years. I still may research this a bit more and see what I can figure out, but won't get too excited.

On a side note, I was able to win a bit of cash playing cards this past Thursday. I have been playing in a cash game lately on Thursdays. Lately, I have been getting my ass handed to me, but the cards were in my favor this past week. I was dealt pocket queens four times. That makes it pretty easy to win. Still, I played pretty well. I made some good reads and good calls, and also made good bets to get people to fold when I missed my hand. It doesn't always work that way though.

Is it me, or has BSG been a little weak lately?

So, the last few episodes of Battlestar Galactica, in my opinion, have been a little lacking in the excitement department. I guess they feel that they need to do some character development or throw in some filler episodes. Not too much going on in the whole Cylon/human race to find earth. I have been saving this season on my DVR because I like watching them over, but the last two shows haven't really been worth it. I guess it is good that they got away from the whole Apollo Stabuck love tension, but this last episode is dealing with the chief and Cally's love tension. It's not that I am against that kind of episode, but it seems like they are going to that well a bit often this season. We get it. Marriages can be stressful. Now blow up something. Honestly, I found myself not caring if the chief and Cally got sucked out of the airlock and died. I would have felt bad for the baby, but that's about it.

The episode before was pretty dull too. I can barely remember it. Oh yeah, there was a doctor (That magically appeared. Where was he when Adama was shot?) that was poisoning some patients that didn't believe in medicine. Seems to me that you wouldn't need to poison them. Natural selection would take care of them. How could there be a whole colony of people that forsake medicine and yet be OK with space travel and other technology? The gods say it is OK to fly in space and fight Cylons, but not OK to get a shot to fight disease? Come on. I know that not every episode can be space battles or chock full of violence, but there needs to be something that catched my attention. I guess if they just focused on the Cylons and Earth all the time itcould get old too, or they would have to wrap the show up because it would end more quicky. Wel, let's hope that the next episode is a bit more interesting.

Nice things

So, there has been an encentive program at my work lately. Basically, there are two parts: If you meet certain criteria (make few mistakes) every month, you 1. get some time off (like 2 hours) and 2. a ticket thrown into a drawing. The drawing was for two $500 gift cards to anywhere. Well, yesterday, I received a phone call from my manager stating that I had won one of the $500 prizes. Woo-Hoo! I was asked what store I wanted to have $500 from and was stumped. Where would I be able to spend $500? I started to juggle Besy Buy and Target as my top two choices and The Tuttle Mall was also on the list. Actually, the mall was a front runner because it has several stores I could shop in. Then it hit me: Giant Eagle. Giant Eagle is the grocery store where I do my food shopping. "A grocery store?" you ask. Well, Here's the thing: They sell gift cards to all sorts of places, such as Best Buy, Outback Steak House, Sears, and many other places. Plus, for every $50 you spend there, you receive $0.10 off per gallon of gas when you feul up at their pumps. If you can't do the math, $500 = $1.00 off per gallon of gas. I feel brilliant! I can split up my $500 at several stores AND get free gas! Some times I am so smart that I scare myself. Please note: I have already heard all of the "what are you going to buy me" jokes that are possibly out there, so, I will go ahead and say: 'Not a thing!' I may get something for the wife and kids though.

We also got a few new things for the kitchen. Our coffee maker died a few weeks ago, so we got a new one. It is pretty cool. It has a built in coffee grinder. Also, our knives were starting to break and we never really liked them too much (they were a gift) because they are surrated and not really sharp. They are Chicago Cutlery knivesa and are pretty nice. Both the knives and the coffee maker are stainless steel to match most of the other stuff in our kitchen. I get excited about little things sometimes.

Lost in Lost

So, I finally caved to the input of several of my friends and started watching Lost. I resisted the show at first for a few reasons. Mostly, when Lost premired, it ran the same time as another show that I was already in to. The other reason was that I thought the show looked too far fetched for me to get into. A group of people survive a plane crash and end up on a deserted island? Come on. Anyway, back to the point. I added season one of Lost to my NetFlix list, got the first disk, and then after watching it, bought the entire first season on DVD. It's not that I loved the show right away, I just got into it and HAD to find out what was going to happen next. Now, I'm on disck one of season two.

The thing that I enjoy the most about the series Lost is how all of the characters are connected in some way or other. It's like Kevin Bacon. For example, Jack's wife being in the same car accident that killed Shannon's father. I also enjoy how they are slowly revealing secrets of the characters. Like Sun speaking English, Hugo being rich, and Locke formerly being paralized before he got on the island (that was the biggie).

I have to admit, in some ways I find Lost very frustrating. The way they give you tiny bits of information, just enough to keep you wanting more, is driving me a little crazy. Like The Hatch. They find it, and then it takes half of season 1 for them to get it open. Then you still don't learn what is inside until season 2. I am also having a little trouble with some of the things that are happening to these people. Like the polar bears and the invisible monster that snatches people up. I guess there are supposed to be weird things happening to these people, but I don't know that I would be able to accept some of these things and remain sane.

I have heard a few theories about Lost. One is that everyone is really dean and the island is some sort of purgatory or hell. I kinda like that theory, but don't think it's correct. These people have too many connections to each other from the 'real world' for all of the happenings to be a coincidence. Personally, I think that a lot of the things that have happened are linked to Walt. Things seem to happen when he wants them to or is thinking of something. Like, when he is reading a comic book with a polar bear and then there is a polar bear attack, or when Michael said he'd go look for the dog when it stopped raining and it immediately stops raining. I'm sure that Walt is psychic to some extent and think that, somehow, the island is amplifying it. Well, I'm WAY behind in the show, so I'm sure that alot of my ideas are old news. I just wanted to share. If you have any insight, please try to keep it limited to season one. I don't want any of the secrets spoiled for me.

Best Game Ever....

First I just wanted to brag about my best game of bowling EVER. First, let me set the stage. I shoveled my drive way Tuesday and then again Wednesday, screwing up my right shoulder somehow. I can't move my arm up at the shoulder (like flapping a wing) without shooting pain, but I can swing it back and forth (like a bowling arm swing) with minimal pain. Since I could swing my arm back and forth, I made up my mind to 'cowboy up' and bowl through the pain. My first game SUCKED. A 154, which is 40 pins below my average. I think my arm injury made it so I couldn't through my ball the way I usually do, so it dodn't hook at all, and I wasn't hitting anything. Mid way though my first game, I switched my ball to my older ball, which seems to break a little bit more. I struggled with the adjustment at first and my second game was a 191, which is close to my average (192). Then, I started hitting everything. It didn't matter where I threw the ball, I got a strike. I hate how my brain works, because as soon as I have the first three or four strikes in a game, I start thinking about bowling a perfect game (12 strikes = 300). That is what happened last night. I got the first four and then missed the fifth. That was the last miss though. I finished out with all srtikes and ended up with a 279. I was psyched. I get prizes for that too! I get a towel for a clean game (all strikes and spares), a deck of cards for bowling over a 250, and a mug for bowling a 279. My only disappointment was the first game that sucked. It also sucked that I missed a perfect game by one ball, but I'd rather miss a strike in the 5th frame rather than missing a strike the last ball of the game.

Gabe's Party Pics

So, it was Gabriel's 5th birthday yesterday. We went to Chuck E Cheese's to celebrate. My parents, Jessica's dad and brother, and a couple of Gabe's friends joined in the fun. It was a pretty good time. It seemed like we were being rushed a bit though. We had reservations at 4:00 and had to have our food order in by 4:10. We had to eat and open presents and be gone from our 'party' table by 5:30. I guess an hour and a half is a pretty long time, but it seill seemed like we were rushed a bit. Thankfully, there was another table open in the non-reserved area that we could move to.

The picture shown here is, of course, Chuck E Cheese himself. I thought it a bit interesting that there was an animatronic Chuck E Cheese and the live action Chuck E side by side. You'd think that they'd have a curton or something to hide the 'fake' mouse so that the kids didn't get confused.

Let me tell you, ChuckE Cheese's is WAY crazy. Kids running all over the place with little or no supervision while their parents chill out at their tables......nuts. It's a good thing that they give you stamps on your hand that match stamps on your kids hands, or else alot of children could be taken away from there. Personally, I always try to keep an eye on my children regardless of how 'safe' the environment may be. One very little boy was running around trying to bogart on everyone else's games. Gabe was trying to play a basketball thing and the kid was taking the balls out of the bin and shoot them himself.

Well, it seemed like the kids all had fun. Gabriel mostly played on the rides and in the tubes You can see what I mean by 'tubes' when you check out the pictures I put on my Flickr site. Like a jungle gym thingy. There were so many kids in it, the slide exit looked like it was pooing kids. We ended up staying a Chuck E's until 7:00. I think Gabe had a really good time, so it was all worth it.

Online Gaming

So, you may know that I have been playing NCAA 07 Football on Xbox Live over the past few months, and I have been enjoying it. However, I haven't been doing too great. It seems like I have been playing people that commit hours to the game and now I have a prety bad record. Add up the Cleveland Browns' last four seasons and you pretty much have my record. Most of the games have been close and some of my losses are due to my Xbox Live disconnecting (it's an automatic loss if you drop out of the game), but there have been some games that I just got KILLED. Still, it's basically fun and I have met and played several cool people online. A few assholes too. I still am a bit frustrated with the game. There are some teams that have some plays that are un-defendable. Not fair if you ask me. Anyway, I have hung up my cleats for a while and moved on.

Now, I am playing WSOP Tournament of Champions. WSOP stands for World Series of Poker, if you didn't know. I started playing the carreer mode, where I create a player and go through tournaments. It's pretty fun and very realistic. In a plug and play poker game I have, you can win a tournament in about 45 minutes or so, but in this WSOP game, it takes a few hours to win a game. The online play is a bit of a different story. I have played, maybe, six or seven games so far. So far, of the good games I have played, (by good, I mean the players are nice and played well) I won two and came in second twice as well. Then there is the flip side to online playing. Frist, I was in a big game where one player went all in (bet it all) every hand. Sane poker players fold, but when there was a caller, the dumb ass going all in would luck out, win, and then tell us all how much we suck. Then, what do you get when you have 8 or more guys, some drunk, some stoned, and some are just assholes, in a group setting where no one can see each other and no one can asault anyone physically? You get a game where everyone is talking trash and trying to pick fights. It SUCKED. I just want a forum where I can play some cards for free, have some fun, and maybe meet some cool players online. These guys were so rude and ingnorant sounding that I started going all in ever hand so that I could knock them out or get knocked out myself. I was a terrible experience. Most of the time, it's not that bad and usually fun, but some people should just not be allowed to associate with others.

Goin' Back to Cali

It isn't going to be until July, but Jessica and I are taking the kids to California. I have been there once before, when I went to the Rose Bowl with the OSU Marching Band, but Jessica was actually born in California. That's right, I landed me a California girl. Anyway, Jessica has a lot of family in California still, so we are going for a visit. Her Grandma (whom she doesn't speak with) and some aunts, uncles and cousins all liveout west. On her dad's side, I believe. Well, we are going to try to pack in a whole lot of family fun and visiting of relatives. To kick things off, Jessica's cousin is getting married some time or other. That is going to be the major family commitment. Jessica's cousin, Christie, lives out there as well, and Jessica wants to spend some time with her family. I think the plan is to go to Lego Land with them, which should be fun. I'm a bit scared about going to an amusement park made completely out of Legos. It is a bit expensive, but we are probably only going to have the one chance to go. We are also planning on going to Walt Disney Land/World (whichever). We have our flight booked and hotel reservations (5 nights near cousin Christie) and one night at Disney. Basically, it is going to be out whole tax return and will probably also result in maxing out the Discover card. Seeing as how we've never had a real vacation as a family, I guess it will be worth it. I know Jessica is excited. I am just not looking forward to the whole family deal. There's nothing quite like being scrutinized by family members that you have never met before. Hopfully there will be an open bar. I'm really not one for family gatherings. Nervous about meeting new people I guess. Oh, and we are going to try to go to the beach for a day. It should be fun with the kids. I worry about driving over there too. We will have several hour-plus long drives to get to all of the places we are going. I know how to drive in Columbus, but I hear that LA traffic is CRAZY. I will be getting the insurance on the rental. The plane trips should be fun (not) with three kids in tow. I just hope that Gabe and Alydia will be able to sleep and won't freak out on the ride. They are both good in the car, so hopfully they will be OK in the air too.

The hotel that we are staying in for most of the week has two bed rooms and a pull out sofa. There's no way that I would want to sleep in the same room as all three kids. I'm sure it would result in little sleep and less sex. Say what you will, but if I am on vacation, there had better be sex. We bought a DVD camera so that we can take movies and lots of pictures of the kids. I hope that we run into some of the Disney characters so that we can get pictures of the kids with them. I will be sure to post them, of course. I know, it won't be until July, but I really didn't have anything else to post about.

Almost Five and a Question/Something Interesting

Can you believe that, in nine days, Gabriel is going to be five?!?!? I can't He's growing up so fast. We are going to go to Chuckey Cheese's to celebrate. It won't be too many people: my parents, a few friends for Gabe to run around with, us (of course), and probably Jessica's dad and brother. I think I want to get him the Cars game for the Xbox. Maybe a few Transformers too. It's so fun to shop for him because he likes a lot of the same toys that I like. Yes, I just admitted that I have the same interests as an almost five-year-old. It's how I roll.

Question for you: Which show can first? Firefly or StarTrek Enterprise? I ask this because, on Monday, the SciFi channel has been running several Enterprise episodes back to back and I have been saving them on DVR so that I have something to watch in my down time. One of the characters on Enterprise is Malcolm (no, not Reynolds) and he was having a delirious dream about T-Pol (the smoking hot Vulcan science officer on Enterprise) and she was seducing him. Well, while seducing him she said that, in the Vulcan language, Mal-colm means 'serenity'. COINCIDENCE???? Malcolm Reynolds is the capitan of Serenity in the show Firefly. Wow. It is amazing how the universe unfolds.