I'm starting to get goose bumps every time I watch a Badger basketball game these days. Are they really this good? Time and time again they just win. Bo Ryan seems to have this knack of knowing who will deliver each game and getting them in the right place to do just that. One game it's Kam Taylor, the next it's Brian Butch or Greg Steimsma. Always someone different on a team that consistently goes 8-9 deep.
Of course, there's always Alando Tucker, the pre-season Big 10 player of the year who's living up to every bit of that. I've never seen a guy that can take so many hits, hang in the air for longer than it takes most guys to jump twice and hit impossible shot after impossible shot.
And Bo, the man can just flat out coach, amazing he didn't get his shot till he was 53 years old. Rick Reilly at Sports Illustrated has a great article on Bo here.
21-1 and 17 straight wins with Indiana on deck Wednesday. Who knows where this crazy ride will take us but I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.
By the way, between football and basketball, Wisconsin is 32-2 so far. Anyone else come close to that? Florida is 30-3, no one else is close as far as I can tell. Add men's and women's NCAA hockey titles last year and you can see why Badger fans are as happy as a pig in shit around here.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Hardest thing ever!
Thursday I started getting a cold at work and felt pretty run down at bowling after work. I wasn't able to partake in any frosty cold ones and my bowling was mediocre at best. I stayed home from work Friday and rested.
Saturday was a little better but not wanting to make things worse I had to abstain from drinking at bowling again on Saturday. That took some tremendous will power on my part, if I do say so myself. I wasn't feeling bad and watching the others having some cold beer while I nursed a diet Mt Dew was excruciating. Then we went out for dinner and again I had to hold back and have water... painful, I tell ya, just painful. I did manage a 629 bowling, could have been a lot better if I'd carried anything at all. 10 pin after 10 pin the whole night. Grinder shot a 257 game his first game but couldn't follow it up and I ended up beating him... again.
Last night I felt good enough to play hockey and all the rest made a difference as I had way more energy than I'd been having and was able to rush the puck a few times and generated a couple good scoring chances. We won 6-2, which was a little disappointing in that we gave up 2 goals in the last 2 minutes to blow a shut out. In our last 3 games we've outscored our opponents 22-9 and improved to 9-3, still 2 games behind the first place team because we're the only ones who have beaten them. We're off next week for the Super Bowl and our next game is against a team that has not won a game all season, which is rare in our league. Hope we don't have a let down.
After the game I stopped to talk to a friend on another team and when I walked into the locker room, Bill was holding 2 bottles of beer in his hand, one of which was a Red Hook ESB, one of my favorites. He asked if I was drinking and I instantly replied "oh hell ya" and everyone laughed. He must have told them I was sick and didn't drink on Saturday. I ended up having 3, they went down nicely. :)
Our weather is taking a turn for the worse. It's now down in single digits overnight and in the teens for highs, but by Friday we're supposed to have lows below zero with -20 to -30 windchills. Brrrr... Guess I won't be golfing again any time soon.
Speaking of golf, we're planning another trip to Whistling Straits for Memorial Day weekend. They're running another 8 play for 5 special. This will be my 4th trip since last April. It's so much fun.
Well, back to figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing here at work.
Later
Saturday was a little better but not wanting to make things worse I had to abstain from drinking at bowling again on Saturday. That took some tremendous will power on my part, if I do say so myself. I wasn't feeling bad and watching the others having some cold beer while I nursed a diet Mt Dew was excruciating. Then we went out for dinner and again I had to hold back and have water... painful, I tell ya, just painful. I did manage a 629 bowling, could have been a lot better if I'd carried anything at all. 10 pin after 10 pin the whole night. Grinder shot a 257 game his first game but couldn't follow it up and I ended up beating him... again.
Last night I felt good enough to play hockey and all the rest made a difference as I had way more energy than I'd been having and was able to rush the puck a few times and generated a couple good scoring chances. We won 6-2, which was a little disappointing in that we gave up 2 goals in the last 2 minutes to blow a shut out. In our last 3 games we've outscored our opponents 22-9 and improved to 9-3, still 2 games behind the first place team because we're the only ones who have beaten them. We're off next week for the Super Bowl and our next game is against a team that has not won a game all season, which is rare in our league. Hope we don't have a let down.
After the game I stopped to talk to a friend on another team and when I walked into the locker room, Bill was holding 2 bottles of beer in his hand, one of which was a Red Hook ESB, one of my favorites. He asked if I was drinking and I instantly replied "oh hell ya" and everyone laughed. He must have told them I was sick and didn't drink on Saturday. I ended up having 3, they went down nicely. :)
Our weather is taking a turn for the worse. It's now down in single digits overnight and in the teens for highs, but by Friday we're supposed to have lows below zero with -20 to -30 windchills. Brrrr... Guess I won't be golfing again any time soon.
Speaking of golf, we're planning another trip to Whistling Straits for Memorial Day weekend. They're running another 8 play for 5 special. This will be my 4th trip since last April. It's so much fun.
Well, back to figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing here at work.
Later
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Bowling needs more Defense
Sometimes in bowling it doesn't really matter if your team bowls well. If the other team decides to bowl out of their heads you will lose. I think bowling needs new rules allowing defense. Let’s see you get a strike as I hip check you into the next lane. Yeah, that would be fun. You have to juke around the D to get to the lane. Maybe you can pass the ball to an open teammate for an easy shot.
I don't know, I guess that's probably not going to happen. You have to rely on psychological defenses, get in the other team's heads. We spend so much time giving each other grief that we sometimes forget to do that part of the game. Oh well, at least we got free beer for hanging the house again (2 weeks in a row, whoo hoo).
I ended up shooting 641 with 3 consistent games of 214, 212 and 215. Nothing flashy. Not enough to win though.
Another month and my AppleTV device will show up. In the meantime I'm busy trying to rip all my dvd’s to our iMac so that I'll be ready when it gets here. I've been doing all the tv shows we have first and man is it slow. The software I use is great though, couldn't be easier to use. It's only available on the Mac though and is called HandBrake. If you have a Mac, give it a try.
I'm still undecided about getting a new video game system. I was convinced I would get the PS3 as soon as one was available but now I'm having doubts. First, it's $600, pretty high I feel. Second, there aren't that many games out for it yet. And third, the whole blu-ray vs hd-dvd deal has me concerned about investing in one technology and the other winning out.
I've thought about an Xbox 360 too but I have a couple issues with that as well. First, it doesn't support 1080p for the high def dvd's so the games will never be in that format. Ok, I can live with that. Second, Xbox doesn't have some of the Playstation games I love and I can't play any of my old PS games on it. But third, and most important, is that I hate, I mean hate, Microsoft. It would really be a moral dilemma for me to purchase a Microsquish product. Just as I've rid myself of the cable company I am also trying to rid myself of everything related to Microsoft. How can I justify getting an Xbox then? I can't.
How about the Wii you ask? I've played it. The novelty is there but I wouldn't want to play all my games that way. It would bore me after awhile. I'm not a 10 year old that doesn't get outside to play enough. I'm an adult and I want to sit on my ass and play my video games the way god intended.
So, for now, I'll just play my PS2 and enjoy what I have. I still remember the huge leap that was made from the PS1 to the PS2. Maybe I'll get another PS2 for the living room (I moved mine to the pub room in the basement). They're cheap now and still tons of games I haven't played.
That's it for now. Oh, one more thing… Happy Birthday Grinder, you old fart.
I don't know, I guess that's probably not going to happen. You have to rely on psychological defenses, get in the other team's heads. We spend so much time giving each other grief that we sometimes forget to do that part of the game. Oh well, at least we got free beer for hanging the house again (2 weeks in a row, whoo hoo).
I ended up shooting 641 with 3 consistent games of 214, 212 and 215. Nothing flashy. Not enough to win though.
Another month and my AppleTV device will show up. In the meantime I'm busy trying to rip all my dvd’s to our iMac so that I'll be ready when it gets here. I've been doing all the tv shows we have first and man is it slow. The software I use is great though, couldn't be easier to use. It's only available on the Mac though and is called HandBrake. If you have a Mac, give it a try.
I'm still undecided about getting a new video game system. I was convinced I would get the PS3 as soon as one was available but now I'm having doubts. First, it's $600, pretty high I feel. Second, there aren't that many games out for it yet. And third, the whole blu-ray vs hd-dvd deal has me concerned about investing in one technology and the other winning out.
I've thought about an Xbox 360 too but I have a couple issues with that as well. First, it doesn't support 1080p for the high def dvd's so the games will never be in that format. Ok, I can live with that. Second, Xbox doesn't have some of the Playstation games I love and I can't play any of my old PS games on it. But third, and most important, is that I hate, I mean hate, Microsoft. It would really be a moral dilemma for me to purchase a Microsquish product. Just as I've rid myself of the cable company I am also trying to rid myself of everything related to Microsoft. How can I justify getting an Xbox then? I can't.
How about the Wii you ask? I've played it. The novelty is there but I wouldn't want to play all my games that way. It would bore me after awhile. I'm not a 10 year old that doesn't get outside to play enough. I'm an adult and I want to sit on my ass and play my video games the way god intended.
So, for now, I'll just play my PS2 and enjoy what I have. I still remember the huge leap that was made from the PS1 to the PS2. Maybe I'll get another PS2 for the living room (I moved mine to the pub room in the basement). They're cheap now and still tons of games I haven't played.
That's it for now. Oh, one more thing… Happy Birthday Grinder, you old fart.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Stupid Bears
Man, I hate the Bears. I really wanted the Saints to kick their butts but they just couldn't close the deal. Now I've got 2 weeks of putting up with the Bear fan transplants in our area, including 2 in my office. Hopefully Indy will beat them like a rented mule. Indy is a 7 point favorite already, which isn't really a surprise considering how the AFC has owned the NFC over the last 10 years.
I bought a new Elliptical trainer on Friday and got it set up Saturday morning. It's pretty sweet. You can read about it over at my sports equipment blog, Adubya Sports. After setting it up I was too exhausted to use it so I didn't get around to trying it out for real until Sunday morning. I managed about 11 minutes on it before I felt like I was going to pass out. This thing is definitely a workout. And that was at level 1 of 20!
In hockey we played the 3rd place team, whom we were 2 points ahead of in 2nd place. We went up 2-1 after our slowest guy managed to get his first 2 goals of the year, banging in rebounds. We entered the 3rd period tied 3-3 and once again exploded for 5 goals in the frame, just like last week, winning 8-3. It helped that they only had 7 players to our 12. We ran them pretty ragged.
I bought a new Elliptical trainer on Friday and got it set up Saturday morning. It's pretty sweet. You can read about it over at my sports equipment blog, Adubya Sports. After setting it up I was too exhausted to use it so I didn't get around to trying it out for real until Sunday morning. I managed about 11 minutes on it before I felt like I was going to pass out. This thing is definitely a workout. And that was at level 1 of 20!
In hockey we played the 3rd place team, whom we were 2 points ahead of in 2nd place. We went up 2-1 after our slowest guy managed to get his first 2 goals of the year, banging in rebounds. We entered the 3rd period tied 3-3 and once again exploded for 5 goals in the frame, just like last week, winning 8-3. It helped that they only had 7 players to our 12. We ran them pretty ragged.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Wow, it's Friday already
What a fast week it's been. We had a production deployment last weekend and the shit's been falling down around our knees faster than we can react to it. The whole week has been one long firefight.
In the mean time I did bowl Wednesday and Thursday with mixed results. Wednesday I bowled my average and we won 5 of 7 again to expand our first place lead a little more. Oops, I'm not supposed to talk about it... you know, the whole jinx thing.
Thursday, on the other hand, just plain sucked. A paltry 537 which lowered my average 3 pins, down to 216. Just a plain old shitty night. I got strikes when I hit my mark, it just wasn't often. No one in the league bowled well so I wasn't alone.
On a totally different subject, I've started a new blog. It will be related to sports equipment (reviews, trials, deals, etc). It's called "Adubya Sports" and it's linked on the right.
In the mean time I did bowl Wednesday and Thursday with mixed results. Wednesday I bowled my average and we won 5 of 7 again to expand our first place lead a little more. Oops, I'm not supposed to talk about it... you know, the whole jinx thing.
Thursday, on the other hand, just plain sucked. A paltry 537 which lowered my average 3 pins, down to 216. Just a plain old shitty night. I got strikes when I hit my mark, it just wasn't often. No one in the league bowled well so I wasn't alone.
On a totally different subject, I've started a new blog. It will be related to sports equipment (reviews, trials, deals, etc). It's called "Adubya Sports" and it's linked on the right.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Yeah, it was the weekend
I'm sitting here thinking that I should write something to recap the weekend and realized that nothing I did warrants writing about... I mean bowling? Yeah, I bowled. Hit my average, we lost all 3 games by a combined 28 pins. Whoop-de-f'ing-do.
Hocky was fun though. We did beat the undefeated first place team 8-4, under my leadership as I filled in for our vacationing team GM. I'm 2-0 in charge now, both times we scored 8 goals. Haven't done it in any other games. Coincidence? You be the judge.
As for the rest, 3 of the 4 teams I picked for the playoffs lost. The Badgers won again and are now ranked number 2 in the AP poll behind 2 LOSS Florida. Um, hello, the Badgers are 17-1 and are the only team in the country to beat not 1, but 2 top 5 schools and also beat Florida State that Florida lost to. You explain it.
That's about it, pretty slow around here, though we did finally get some snow, yay.
Hocky was fun though. We did beat the undefeated first place team 8-4, under my leadership as I filled in for our vacationing team GM. I'm 2-0 in charge now, both times we scored 8 goals. Haven't done it in any other games. Coincidence? You be the judge.
As for the rest, 3 of the 4 teams I picked for the playoffs lost. The Badgers won again and are now ranked number 2 in the AP poll behind 2 LOSS Florida. Um, hello, the Badgers are 17-1 and are the only team in the country to beat not 1, but 2 top 5 schools and also beat Florida State that Florida lost to. You explain it.
That's about it, pretty slow around here, though we did finally get some snow, yay.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Oh soooo close
I could see it already, $3,400 being handed to me, going into the bar and buying beer for the entire bowling league. It was a done deal... only the pins wouldn't cooperate.
They have this little deal at the bowling alley, called the High School Jackpot. Costs 50 cents to play, half the money goes to some high school or other, the other half builds into a pot until someone wins it. Only no one ever wins it.
The way it works is you pick up a slip based on your average and you have to get a strike in every frame that's marked. The higher your average, the more strikes. For me, that meant a grand total of 18 strikes in the marked frames. I play often and I've never made it through the first game still alive.
Until last night. Clean through the first game (222) and then clean through the 2nd game (242). 3rd game I need strikes in the 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th and 12th (have to strike out the tenth to finish, sheesh).
Got the first... got the one in the 4th. Up in the 6th, still feeling good. I let it fly, the ball heads down over the 2nd arrow, skids down a ways, the turns left and drives right into the pocket. I start my fist pump and blam!
7-10 split. Not even a wiggle. Just the 7 pin and the 10 pin. I am dumbfounded. It's over. 1 miss and you lose. I see the money waving at me as it flies away, giggling. There goes being the hero in the bar. There goes the PS3. There goes a trip to Vegas. All in a flash. I feel bad.
I ended up striking in the 7th, 10th and 11th before getting 8 on the last ball. In all I got 16 of the 18 strikes I needed which nets me exactly zero dollars.
Oh, and the 7-10 also cost me 700 as I finished with a 220 for 684. At least I'm starting to bowl well again. I guess I'll try it again Saturday night.
They have this little deal at the bowling alley, called the High School Jackpot. Costs 50 cents to play, half the money goes to some high school or other, the other half builds into a pot until someone wins it. Only no one ever wins it.
The way it works is you pick up a slip based on your average and you have to get a strike in every frame that's marked. The higher your average, the more strikes. For me, that meant a grand total of 18 strikes in the marked frames. I play often and I've never made it through the first game still alive.
Until last night. Clean through the first game (222) and then clean through the 2nd game (242). 3rd game I need strikes in the 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th and 12th (have to strike out the tenth to finish, sheesh).
Got the first... got the one in the 4th. Up in the 6th, still feeling good. I let it fly, the ball heads down over the 2nd arrow, skids down a ways, the turns left and drives right into the pocket. I start my fist pump and blam!
7-10 split. Not even a wiggle. Just the 7 pin and the 10 pin. I am dumbfounded. It's over. 1 miss and you lose. I see the money waving at me as it flies away, giggling. There goes being the hero in the bar. There goes the PS3. There goes a trip to Vegas. All in a flash. I feel bad.
I ended up striking in the 7th, 10th and 11th before getting 8 on the last ball. In all I got 16 of the 18 strikes I needed which nets me exactly zero dollars.
Oh, and the 7-10 also cost me 700 as I finished with a 220 for 684. At least I'm starting to bowl well again. I guess I'll try it again Saturday night.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Bowling battle with our arch nemesis
Last night we took on the axis of evil and the good guys prevailed once again, winning 2 of 3 games to take over sole possession of 1st place at 22-6.
After a first game that saw the Grinder, Soup and KS carry us with 200+ games to a 57 pin victory, we were poised to win the 2nd game holding a commanding 70 pin lead going into the 9th frame. Unfortunately we gagged down the stretch and it came down to me needing 2 strikes and 2 pins to win. Luck was not on our side as my first shot crushed the pins, except for the stupid 8 pin which just slid over 4 inches and wobbled like a drunken homeless guy looking for a cardboard box to sleep in. We ended up losing that game by 1 pin.
3rd game we came back, led by my 246 and won by 30 or so to take 5 of 7 points. I ended up with a 611 after my 168 start while the Grinder posted a team high 643.
My hip held up fairly well, though it is a little sore this morning. I have to bowl again tonight and Saturday night and then hockey Sunday night so Monday may be a tough walk in to work.
After a first game that saw the Grinder, Soup and KS carry us with 200+ games to a 57 pin victory, we were poised to win the 2nd game holding a commanding 70 pin lead going into the 9th frame. Unfortunately we gagged down the stretch and it came down to me needing 2 strikes and 2 pins to win. Luck was not on our side as my first shot crushed the pins, except for the stupid 8 pin which just slid over 4 inches and wobbled like a drunken homeless guy looking for a cardboard box to sleep in. We ended up losing that game by 1 pin.
3rd game we came back, led by my 246 and won by 30 or so to take 5 of 7 points. I ended up with a 611 after my 168 start while the Grinder posted a team high 643.
My hip held up fairly well, though it is a little sore this morning. I have to bowl again tonight and Saturday night and then hockey Sunday night so Monday may be a tough walk in to work.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Sucks to be a Buckeye
One night after getting throttled by Florida for the football national championship, the 5th ranked Buckeye hoopsters had to travel to the not-so-opposing-team-friendly confines of the Kohl Center in Madison to face the 3rd ranked Badgers of Wisconsin.I, fortunately, was one of the lucky ones to be in attendence as CB came through with a ticket for me (be sure to thank your boss for the tickets, CB). Tickets in our area were going for $175 each on the street before the game, that's what a hot ticket this was.
What a game, phew. Definitely the loudest I have ever heard that place, especially when the Badgers went up 16 in the 2nd half. Fortunately they just held on at the end as OSU's strategy of fouling and hitting 3's was cutting the lead quickly. Badgers couldn't make both their foul shots, keeping OSU in the game. It came down to their point guard just missing a 3 at the buzzer that would have forced overtime and the Badgers held on to win 72-69.
Speaking of hot tickets, Erin Andrews was in attendance doing her sideline reporting thing and looking hot as ever in her white pants and orange sweater. She easily stood out in a sea of red. The boys in the student section chanted her name over and over any time she came near them.Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me!
Ok, it's not really my birthday but after seeing what Steve Jobs had to offer today during his keynote speech at MacWorld I went to the Apple Store online and ordered a new AppleTV device (http://www.apple.com/appletv/ ) .
This bad boy will let me stream everything that I have in iTunes to my big screen tv. Want to watch a movie? Bring up the menu, select the movie and go. An old episode of Seinfeld? Same thing. Play a music playlist through my home theater, just pick it from the menu. This is the one item I have been waiting for.
Making all this possible is HandBrake software on Mac OS X which will allow me to rip my dvd's to their full resolution complete with dolby digital 5.1 audio. Now, I figure it will only take me about 4 months at 4 hours per day to rip all my dvd's....
AppleTV ships in February, making it my birthday present says Cdubya. Oh well, at least I know I'll like my present! ;)
Monday, January 08, 2007
Me and Romo
I sure did feel bad for Tony Romo Saturday night. Single handedly blowing the game for your team is sure to be one of the worst feeling ever. I'm guessing he's on a 24 hour suicide watch now. Maybe they can trade him for Cincinnati's holder. :)
I guess I was still feeling sorry for him last night when I went to my hockey game because I did my best to blow the game for my team, including handing the puck to an oncoming forward for a breakaway to give them a 5-3 lead with 3 minutes left, which ended up being the final score. I think I had 2 good plays to go with 20 bad plays the whole night. Sucks having 3 weeks off and not being able to do anything to stay in shape because of my hip.
On the bright side, my hip has fully recovered and I'm pain free. I'll be back bowling this week.
2 interesting sports events this week for Ohio State. First the BCS championship game against Florida tonight. Then on Tuesday they visit the Kohl Center in Madison to take on 4th ranked Bucky in men's hoops. Both UW and OSU crushed their opponents in their big 10 openers Saturday, setting the stage for a huge battle tomorrow. Should be a good indicator as to how the big 10 is going to play out.
Well, I better get back to work. Later!
I guess I was still feeling sorry for him last night when I went to my hockey game because I did my best to blow the game for my team, including handing the puck to an oncoming forward for a breakaway to give them a 5-3 lead with 3 minutes left, which ended up being the final score. I think I had 2 good plays to go with 20 bad plays the whole night. Sucks having 3 weeks off and not being able to do anything to stay in shape because of my hip.
On the bright side, my hip has fully recovered and I'm pain free. I'll be back bowling this week.
2 interesting sports events this week for Ohio State. First the BCS championship game against Florida tonight. Then on Tuesday they visit the Kohl Center in Madison to take on 4th ranked Bucky in men's hoops. Both UW and OSU crushed their opponents in their big 10 openers Saturday, setting the stage for a huge battle tomorrow. Should be a good indicator as to how the big 10 is going to play out.
Well, I better get back to work. Later!
Friday, January 05, 2007
Vacation plans
If you recall, after our Christmas "Casino Night" party, Cdubya got the bug to go back to Vegas. We love Vegas and have been 6 times. Always fun.
Well, something odd has happened to Vegas. They've now priced me out of the market. Room rates are extremely high and there's no longer a cheap flight that doesn't involve getting up at 3 in the morning. We had already stopped going on weekends because the room rates tripled and the table game minimums started at $20. But this is the last straw. Cheapest room I could get (we only stay at the major casino's, not the dumps) was about $159 a night. Even the Imperial Palace was $90/night and that was for Monday - Wednesday! Forget about Thursday - Saturday.
Here's a good example of what has happened. At the Wynn, we stayed for $149/night (5 star casino, awesome) last time. Now, $169/night Monday and Tuesday (not bad) and $599 for Wednesday! That's for the most basic room. It just goes way up from there. If I was to do something like that I would have no money to gamble with. What are they thinking? Catering only to the extremely wealthy? I'm no cheapskate but that's just sick.
I ended up finding a deal, 3 nights at MGM for $1,100 with air (not a great flight but acceptable, Madison to Denver to Vegas). But that's Monday - Wednesday. I don't feel great about it.
I started thinking maybe there was someplace else that we could go that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg and possibly a torso...
And I found it. Beau Rivage resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was wiped out by Katrina but they rebuilt it even better (pumped $551 million into it). It was originally designed by Steve Wynn right after he created the Bellagio in Vegas and modeled after it. MGM-Mirage, Inc ended up buying it and they were the ones who rebuilt it. It's huge (largest in the US outside of Nevada) and has everything. Shows, shopping, fine dining, brewpub and GAMBLING. And I can afford to go over a weekend.
Looks like I can afford to go for 4 nights instead of 3 and leave on Friday, returning on Tuesday. I can also get a cheap flight from Madison through Memphis to Gulfport and I stay in the same timezone (bonus). They are right on the ocean (hence being destroyed by Katrina) and we can watch the shrimp boats coming and going from our room.
They also just opened their own golf course, exclusive to resort guests, called Fallen Oak, designed by Tom Fazio. Of course, it's $200 to play but hey, I gotta check it out. Just opened in November. Looks really nice.
We're still finalizing our plans but it looks like we'll be down there for the Super Bowl and my birthday. Unfortunately, Mississippi does not allow sports gambling so I won't be able to place any bets on the game. But they do have like 17 plasma tv's in the brewpub so we'll have a good place to watch the game from.
Also, it's only 90 miles to New Orleans from there so we'll probably take a drive there to check it out.
On other news, my hip is progressing but still sore if I push it. I skipped my 2 nights of bowling this week and it looks like I'll have to miss hockey Sunday too. I want to wait till all the pain is gone before I resume physical activity. Which totally sucks because it's going to be 50 today and I'd really like to be out golfing instead of sitting in this crappy office!
Have a good weekend.
Well, something odd has happened to Vegas. They've now priced me out of the market. Room rates are extremely high and there's no longer a cheap flight that doesn't involve getting up at 3 in the morning. We had already stopped going on weekends because the room rates tripled and the table game minimums started at $20. But this is the last straw. Cheapest room I could get (we only stay at the major casino's, not the dumps) was about $159 a night. Even the Imperial Palace was $90/night and that was for Monday - Wednesday! Forget about Thursday - Saturday.
Here's a good example of what has happened. At the Wynn, we stayed for $149/night (5 star casino, awesome) last time. Now, $169/night Monday and Tuesday (not bad) and $599 for Wednesday! That's for the most basic room. It just goes way up from there. If I was to do something like that I would have no money to gamble with. What are they thinking? Catering only to the extremely wealthy? I'm no cheapskate but that's just sick.
I ended up finding a deal, 3 nights at MGM for $1,100 with air (not a great flight but acceptable, Madison to Denver to Vegas). But that's Monday - Wednesday. I don't feel great about it.
I started thinking maybe there was someplace else that we could go that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg and possibly a torso...
And I found it. Beau Rivage resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was wiped out by Katrina but they rebuilt it even better (pumped $551 million into it). It was originally designed by Steve Wynn right after he created the Bellagio in Vegas and modeled after it. MGM-Mirage, Inc ended up buying it and they were the ones who rebuilt it. It's huge (largest in the US outside of Nevada) and has everything. Shows, shopping, fine dining, brewpub and GAMBLING. And I can afford to go over a weekend.
Looks like I can afford to go for 4 nights instead of 3 and leave on Friday, returning on Tuesday. I can also get a cheap flight from Madison through Memphis to Gulfport and I stay in the same timezone (bonus). They are right on the ocean (hence being destroyed by Katrina) and we can watch the shrimp boats coming and going from our room.
They also just opened their own golf course, exclusive to resort guests, called Fallen Oak, designed by Tom Fazio. Of course, it's $200 to play but hey, I gotta check it out. Just opened in November. Looks really nice.
We're still finalizing our plans but it looks like we'll be down there for the Super Bowl and my birthday. Unfortunately, Mississippi does not allow sports gambling so I won't be able to place any bets on the game. But they do have like 17 plasma tv's in the brewpub so we'll have a good place to watch the game from.
Also, it's only 90 miles to New Orleans from there so we'll probably take a drive there to check it out.
On other news, my hip is progressing but still sore if I push it. I skipped my 2 nights of bowling this week and it looks like I'll have to miss hockey Sunday too. I want to wait till all the pain is gone before I resume physical activity. Which totally sucks because it's going to be 50 today and I'd really like to be out golfing instead of sitting in this crappy office!
Have a good weekend.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Back to the grind
With a sense of relief, the holidays are over and things are back to normal. There's something to be said for the boredom of normal day to day activities.
After a weekend of doing nothing my hip is back to about 90%. Still walking slowly with a slight limp but way better than Thursday and Friday. I started doing some stretching and strengthening exercises yesterday. Now that I know this is going to be a problem for me I'll try to be proactive in addressing it.
On to football... what a great ass kicking the Packers put on the Bears Sunday night. That was fun to watch. Now the wait and watch on Favre's retirement announcement begins. Unfortunately for the Pack they have fallen to the 16th pick in the upcoming draft. That really sucks as I was hoping they could get Troy Smith from Ohio State around 10. Oh well...
The Badgers/Arkansas game was about as ugly as you can get. After watching a 3rd quarter in which the Badgers had negative yards and no first downs I dozed off... Missed most of the end of the game except for the brief periods of conciousness. What a yawner.
I ended up watching the first half of the Rose Bowl (again, dozing in and out) before Cdubya suggested a movie instead of football. I'd had enough so we watched "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", which I really liked, pretty scary. After that we watched "Rebound" with Martin Lawrence. Pretty funny basketball movie.
Well, that's about it, back to work today, trying to remember what it is I do here...
Have a great week!
After a weekend of doing nothing my hip is back to about 90%. Still walking slowly with a slight limp but way better than Thursday and Friday. I started doing some stretching and strengthening exercises yesterday. Now that I know this is going to be a problem for me I'll try to be proactive in addressing it.
On to football... what a great ass kicking the Packers put on the Bears Sunday night. That was fun to watch. Now the wait and watch on Favre's retirement announcement begins. Unfortunately for the Pack they have fallen to the 16th pick in the upcoming draft. That really sucks as I was hoping they could get Troy Smith from Ohio State around 10. Oh well...
The Badgers/Arkansas game was about as ugly as you can get. After watching a 3rd quarter in which the Badgers had negative yards and no first downs I dozed off... Missed most of the end of the game except for the brief periods of conciousness. What a yawner.
I ended up watching the first half of the Rose Bowl (again, dozing in and out) before Cdubya suggested a movie instead of football. I'd had enough so we watched "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", which I really liked, pretty scary. After that we watched "Rebound" with Martin Lawrence. Pretty funny basketball movie.
Well, that's about it, back to work today, trying to remember what it is I do here...
Have a great week!
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