Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

I know, a lame title that has been WAY over used, I'm sure. Anyway, since the kids were on spring break and we wanted them to enjoy themselves, they went to both the Circus and the Zoo. I didn't go to the circus because Jessica took them on the same night as my big poker game. I kinda wanted to go just to watch the kids have fun. I guess they were a little leary of the clowns. Still, they rode rides and watch circus-y stuff. Pictures are on my Flickr page. I did go to the zoo though. I am not really a huge zoo fan, but I again wanted to watch the kids have fun. Ally touched a snake, but Gabe was a little scared, I think. It seemed like animals were attracted to him though. One snake followed him (in it's cage) as he walked by and a stingray came right up to him (in it's tank) as he walked by. Again, pictures on my Flickr page. the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, so it was worth it.

The wait is almost over

I saw in the weekly television guide that Battlestar Galactica starts this Friday at 10:00. WOO HOO!!! This will be the last season of my favorite show. Last season got a little weird for me, what with all the major characters ending up being Cylons. I'm still not sure if I buy that. Anyway, it was really frustrating knowing that the season was ending and that we has over a year to wait for new shows. At least we got Razor to tide us over a bit. We know that they will find Earth, but not much more than that. I am excited to see where they go with this season. I can only assume that it will be chalk full of plot and excitement. If they are going to end the story there is alot of things that will need to happen. I only hope that there won't be a shitty spin off like there was after the original BSG. There was a group of kids stranded on Earth with two Viper pilots. Since the gravity on Earth was 'less than they were used to' the kids were able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The Vipers could also become invisible to be hidden on earth. It was a really bad show. Still, BSG in five days! WOO HOO!!!!

What a CRAZY Night

I went to play some cards last night. It was a damn long drive from my house, but all my friends told me it was worth the trip. The night started out with a big tournament and ended with some cash games. There were 64 people in the tournament and the payout for first place was over $1000. I was looking forward to the challenge. Things started well for me in the first round, as I more than doubled my chips. I hit three ace high flushes in the first hour. Then, we switched tables and things went south. My cards got cold and I started playing sloppy. I think I was getting cocky. Anyway, out of 64 people, I came in 13th. I didn't win any money, but I still did pretty well in my book.

There were a few things I didn't like about this game. First, you changed tables after every round. This is usually not done. Usually, when a table loses people, that table is mixed up within the other existing tables. You get to stay where you are (unless you are at the table that needs to move). It threw off my game a little. I got a feel for the table I was playing at and then we had to move. Second, there were no side pots. If one person had five chips and went all in, the maximum anyone else could bet was the five chips. If not for this rule, there were a few hands that I could have bet more to get weak hands out, giving me a better chance of winning the pot. Oh well. I won't complain much. I just probably won't play there again.

The cash games were poker, only in the loosest terms. Anyone in the hand would basically throw their money into the pot and then hope their cards hit. For example, I had pocket queens to start. I bet big and several people called me. The flop came up COMPLETE garbage, something like 9-4-6, all different suits. I bet big again, got another call. The turn was another 4, I bet, get called. The river card doesn't matter because the person calling me played with a 7-4. He called a five dollar bet with a 7-4. I guess it worked because he won the hand, but I was just amazed. Whatever. I probably won't play there again.

I Never Got This Much Crap

So, I a my parent's house for Easter. My cousins, Carrie and Jason, and my Aunt Carol and Uncle Terry are here as well. Jessica got suck working this weekend, so I am handling kid wrangling myself. Ok, not really. For those of you with kids, you know that, having relatives around is like having free day care. It is nice. My mom, aunt, and cousin Carrie are handling all of the kid stuff: baths, changing, dressing, teeth brushing, etc. It is like a little vacation. In my new found free time, I am going through all of my mom's digital pics and uploading them to my Flickr page. There are alot and it is taking em a while. My parents have broad band internet, but not my blazing fast business class Road Runner that Nationwide is paying for me to have at my house. What would take me a minute to down load is taking me five minutes here. Plus, there are ALOT of pictures. You know grandparents and taking pictures of their grand kids. I think my mom may actually have more than I do! Ok, maybe not. Still, if/when you check my Flickr page, there will be some pictures that are not in chronilogical order. Sorry.

So, the rest of the day is going to be filled with family time and then the traditional eating too much. We will have the usual ham, potatoes, and green bean caserole. My mom also request that Jessica make her sweet potatoe caserole. Yum. Not to mention, last night my mom get these bake-at home- pizzas from Papa Murphy's (I think). They were pretty good. She got three family sized pizzas for 10 people. These things were HUGE. Pretty good too. They had a stuffed pizza which was really good. I think that there are some in Columbus, but I don't know that I liked it ehough for me to want to get them myself. I prefer Donatoes.

I don't remember ever getting as much candy as my mom got for my kids. She bought all the candy so that I didn't have to hide it on the trip up to Monclova. There were SO many bags of candy that I only put about half of it in their baskets. Yikes. Anyway, I hope that all is well with everyone and that you are all eating way too much with your friends and family. Happy Easter!

Hoppy Easter

I hope everyone has a nice holiday. I will be taking the kids up to my parent's house. I am dreading the car ride since I will be taking the kids solo. Jessica has to work this weekend. Yikes. It shouldn't be too bad. We will probably pick up my cousin on the way, so she will hopfully be able to help out a bit. It should be OK. I will probably be bored all by myself (wife-free). Oh well.

Scroll down a bit for a cute picture of Ally in bunny ears.

Funny Stuff about Dookie and Pee

Sorry if this is a gross post, but I think poo and pee are funny. Especially when there are foods and drinks that alter poo and pee in funny ways.

Asparagus - I LOVE asparagus. It is SO good sauteed with butter, some salt, and pepper. YUM. However, I get 'asparagus pee' after I eat asparagus. It smells weird. Not necessarily bad, but weird. It certainly does not smell good. Anyone know why that is?

Heineman's wine - I ordered some more wine from the winery on Put-In-Bay island in Lake Erie. They only deliver to Ohio. It is GOOD stuff. If you order a case, you cost will break down to about 7 or 8 dollars per bottle, which is what you'd pay for a pretty good bottle in the stores. Anyway, I don't know why, but when I drink this wine, it makes my poo smell weird. Again, not bad, but weird. Certainly not good either. Maybe it is the sulfites in the wine.

Red white and blue sprinkles - When I used to work at Friendly's in my college days, we would screw around and eat rainbow sprinkles. They were there for Fourth of July sundaes. Anyway, large quantities of red white and blue sprinkles will make your poo blue.

Beets - Pickled beets will make your poo turn red. THAT is a shocker the first time you see it.

This used to be my favorite picture of Ally. It is still SO cute, but here are a few more that may challenge it as my favorite. Both have been taken within the last few months. It is pretty rough having the cutest girl ever as my daughter. For one thing, it is hard to get angry at her when she is rotten and shen she is bigger, I am going to have to beat the boys away with a stick. Oh yeah, plus she knows I am her bitch. I am in SO much trouble.

Yes, It Was a Schload

As Mona commented, we got a "schload" of snow a week or so ago. Some areas of Columbus received about 20 inches of snow, but we only got about a foot. Still, it sucked. I have a small driveway and it still took me a hour to shovel. Not much fun. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow though. The snow came while Jessica was at work and she got stranded there. She had to work the next day, so she stayed the night and came home the following day after the roads have been cleared a bit. Luckily, when our street was plowed, then snow was pushed to the other side of the street so I didn't have to shovel again. Our dog, Moose, had a hard time taking his pee breaks in the back. He is only about a foot tall, so he needed to bound through the snow. I think he liked it, except for when the snow was above his head. It was HILARIOUS to watch. There were circles in the snow from where he was leaping through the snow.

More pictures on my Flickr page.

Good Night Bad Morning

I played me some cards last night. I did pretty well, ending up with $120 more than I started with. :-) The night started out slow, with my losing $50, but I turned things around, started playing smarter, and began hitting hands. The hand of the night was a Royal Flush (A, K, Q, J, 10 of clubs) and unfortunately it was against me. Still, it only cost me $10. What sucked is that I started the hand with two pair (AA and 10 10). Oh well. A great hand like that is rare. The ride home was interesting, what with the pea soup fog and barely able to see five feet in front of my car.

This morning was rough, waking up after four hours of sleep. Coffee is good. It was bad because, apparently, we have vandals in the neighborhood. Several of the mail boxes in the area have been knocked down. Boo. I must say though, I am proud of my workmanship. I put up a new mail box post this summer and my mail box is NOT knocked down. It is at an angle, but not knocked down. Hoodlems SUCK.

Movies Update

I watched a bunch of movies this week. In case you care:

The Lookout - This starred the kid from Third Rock From the Sun. It is about a guy that gets into a car wreck, loses his short term memory, and then gets invilved with some bad guys that want to rob a bank. It sounds a little out there, but it was actually pretty good.

No Country for Old Men - I had high hopes for this one, but was a little disappointed. It was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be. It was totally against the normal movie line. The hero dies, the bad guy gets away, and Tommy Lee Jones just kind of fades away. I am glad I didn't buy it.

Dejavu - Should have been called DejaBOO. It had some good action sequences, but was REALLY dumb. Like Time Cops, only less likely. I won't go beyond that.

Scrubs really rocks still. LOVE this show.

NetFlix woes

I am running out of NetFlix ideas again. It's my fault, really. I had all six season of Scrubs lined up, but I decided that I liked it so much that I went out and bought them all. Best Buy had them for $20 each. I can't resist a good deal. Plus, Scrubs makes me laugh out loud and I knew Jessica wanted to see it too. I guess I have a few things in my queue still, 11 to be exact. Five movies and the first season of Prison Break. I never really wanted to watch Prison Break, the concept seemed dumb, but my friend Jesse said I should give it a shot. Really though, how much can you do with the story line of breaking out of a jail? Then, they get stuck in another jail. I will keep an open mind. The five movies I have lined up are:

Beowulf: I don't really like the whole "cartoon based off of real people's images" concept, but the movie looked OK.

American Ganster: I hear it is really good.

Michael Clayton: ditto above

Mad Max: an oldie but a goodie

Grindhouse: Planet Terror: Looked silly in the trailers, but I saw Deathproof and it was really entertaining. I figured I'd give the other 'Grindhouse' film a shot.

So, when I am done with these movies and Prison Break, I am out of movie ideas. I guess I watch too many for my own good. Another thing is that my DVD burner has pooped out on me. I guess I just have to buy them now if I want to keep the movie.

Good Bowling Night

I rocked out on the bowling lanes last night. Three 200+ games. I love it when I am on my game. It hasn't happened too much this year. My average is respectable in the 180's, but last year it was in the 190's. I'm not sure why I am off pace this year. The final tally for my night: 215, 220, and 243 = 678. I was hoping for a 700 series, but I had a few bad breaks. Still, it is my best night of bowling this year. Even better is that my team won all of our games. The first game, we were down going into the tenth frame and we rolled ten strikes in the tenth frame to win the game. It was sweet.

Scrubs is Fun

I have been watching the back episodes of Scrubs lately. It is HI-larious. Great characters, good story, oh and HI-larious!!! Plus, there are all sorts of hot girls in the show that often show up in skimpy outfits. I guess it is very realistic too. Jessica works with several doctors and they say that Scrubs is the most similar to real life hospital work. I am on season three now. Tara Reed is joining the show this episode. I don't get why everyone thinks she is so hot. She is OK, I guess, but is WAY to skinny.

To MySpace or Not to MySpace

I have a MySpace account. I never use it, have never really done anything with it, and was suprised when I already had friend requests. Granted, they were all friend requests from porn sites or dating services, not real people, but I was still suprised, considering I have really done nothing with the account. I am really on my fence a bit as to whether or not I want to do anything with the account. It has been open since September. I put all of my pictures on Flickr and all of my bloggin' here, so do I really need a MySpace page? I guess if I want to become a sexual preditor, it is the way to go (I am SO joking about that). Is there really anything that is better about MySpace, as opposed to Blogger?

I don't think I am a fan of MySpace. Not necessarily as a user, but as a parent. As you may or may not know, teens LOVE myspace. They get to act all big and important in the non-parental-supervised world of the internet. Noah has a MySpace page. It is a little funny how kids try to act all bad-ass. Still I digress. Although I do not think any perverts have contacted Noah, his biologocal father's family has. We are not thrilled about this. I guess it was inevitable, but MySpace gave these people an opening into our lives that is shady and cowardly. They owe us THOSDANDS of dollars in child support and have never been involved in Noah's life (no birthday presents, no Christmas presents, etc). I say it is shady and cowardly because they are bypassing us to get to him. We are not forbiding the contact, but we told Noah to watch out and not to give them any personal information. He is acting all excited about the whole 'new family' idea, but I don't think he is thinking about the fact that these people have never really tried to be in his life for 14 years. I don't think they should be able to visit even see him until they are paid up in child support. WOW!!! Did I get of the subject!

I guess I may play around with my MySpace page, but not too much. I will add a link to my blog if I ever set up the page.

General Postings

1. My card game Friday was fun. I had a really rough night though. I couldn't hit a hand to save my life and some of the people I play with play with garbage that they should fold. Then they hit their hand and win. It is a little rediculous, but it backfires on them when they don't hit their hand. I played with WAY more money than I wanted to. I wanted to play with no more than $100, but I lost that, then another $100, and finally, with my last $40, I won back most of it. All in all, I am down $50 for the night. The last hour saved my ass. I doubled up twice. I am glad I have a forgiving wife. She could get mad with my gambling, but she knows I usually win more than I lose. All of my card playing for the year, and I am only down $50. Not bad, in my opinion. Especially since, after I win the WSOP Main Event, I will be a millionaire.

2. You know it's a slow sports day then ESPN is carrying speed billiards. I didn't really watch much of it, but from what I saw, they had to make all the balls as fast as then could. I'm not sure if they had to go in a certain order. If they missed a shot, they were penalized and if they didn't call a shot (aka "slop") they were penalized.

3. My bank sucks right now. It is transitioning from a credit union to a bank. I don't know the differences, really, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Anyway, this week they were converting a lot of things to different systems and everything got all screwed up. My ATM card stopped working, I had to re-register for online banking, and apparently, several people were having their checks bounce. I didn't have that issue, but it has been a pain not being able to get cash out of the ATM. Anyway, I got a message this weekend stating that all of the issues are supposed to be fixed now. Let's hope so. I I have to go another week without being able to get cash, I will have to change banks.