Happy Freakin' New Year!

Hey Everyone! Happy New Year!

It's been a pretty interesting weekend for me. At this point, I've finished day 4 of my 6-day marathon at the casino. I was only scheduled for 3 days per week this week and last, but the 3 days just happened to be Fri,Sat,Sun last week and Mon,Tues,Wed this week. Add in the fact that I was actually called into work last Wednesday means that I'll be working 7 out of 8 days come this Wednesday!

Yesterday was one of the stranger days I've had at work lately. About midway through the shift, my shift manager talked to me and told me that I'd probably be moving to swing shift beginning next Monday the 7th. If you've followed this blog for a while you know that I can hurt for hours at work at times. So even though I like graveyard hours and the people I work with, moving to swing will most likely allow me to work more days per week, which will be nice! The downside, of course, is that the 7th just happens to be the championship game that Ohio State is playing in, so that will suck BIG TIME if I'm scheduled that night (which is likely).

While talking to my shift supervisor later that shift in the break room, he basically offered to "juice" me into that place on the Strip that I've been trying to get into for a 2nd part-time job. It's ironic because I would have accepted his help 2 months ago when I was getting 2 days a week, but will probably not follow up on it now. I guess we'll see exactly how much they want me to work on swing.

The day wasn't over though. An hour before I was to punch out at 11am, I tapped into a double-deck pitch blackjack game at 10am. When I first approached the table I didn't think anything was out of the ordinary since the bet minimum bet sign was lit up as blue, which is almost always a $10 table. However, I quickly realized it was a $50 table (which is also blue) and that there was a guy betting a BUNCH of black and pink (black being $100 chips and pink being $500). And so the train wreck began. He basically played about $1200 on each hand because he was betting multiple black chips with TWO separate hands. The black was gone in about 10 minutes. Next came his pink stacks. When he ran out of black, he began betting 2 pinks ($1000) on each hand, with two hands at a time! That's $2000 in play everytime the cards are dealt! The soul crushing continued. I could not lose!! Every once in a while I'd deal him a blackjack or a successful double-down, which kind of kept him around for a little bit. But the way I'd been rolling the last couple of days, just killing everything that was unfortunate to sit down in front of me, he didn't last very long.

All-in-all, I took this poor guy for a little over 10 grand in about 30 minutes. He seemed cool and I know he'd been tipping the dealer before me, so it sucked I drained him so quickly. But there was nothing I could do.

So what are my plans tonight for New Year's Eve? Well, I guess I'll be asleep when the bell tolls 12 for the first time that I can ever remember! My shift starts at 3am tomorrow morning and I'll be dealing to all of the leftover die-hards from the NYE festivities. I really don't mind at all though. In addition to working all of these days in a row, the tokes have been pretty awesome! $180 on Friday, $167 Saturday, $155 on Sunday, and I expect another very good day today (being the 31st).

So I hope everyone has fun tonight! I wouldn't really expect another update from me until later in the week when I actually have a day off and am able to catch my breath.

Animal Cracker Antics

My friend Tony forwarded me this picture today. This is what his son actually found in a box of animal crackers!!!

Norm!!

This is one of the greatest lines ever from Norm Macdonald when he did 'Weekend Update' on Saturday Night Live. It's also appropriate for the Holiday Season!



Sorry for the audio and video quality. This clip is NOWHERE to be found on the internet, so I had to use my camera phone with a 12" screen TV and VCR.

Santa Visits the Man-Cave!

It's been a pretty good day! I hope everyone had a great Christmas today and was rewarded with some goodies from Santa! It was a pretty good time at Steve's yesterday. I avoided a severe tragedy while driving over there though. Some idiot pulled right out in front of me and I was able to slam the breaks to avoid him. However, my balls did a somersault and landed upside down! Before I could tend to my balls, I needed to make sure that doing so would not cause an accident, so the crock pot was upside down for probably 15 seconds or so. Fortunately I had the heating cover on it as well as the little bungee string keeping the lid on, so there were no ball casualties. However, about half of the sauce leaked out and into the cover with some getting onto the floor cover. Needless to say I had some cleaning up to do once I finally got to Steve's.

Speaking of the balls, I had probably the PERFECT mixture for the sauce this time. The recipe is brutally simple. Just put some pre-made meatballs in the crock and cover them with the sauce. Cook on low for a few hours to infuse the sauce into the balls and that's it. The sauce is made up of 1/4 cocktail sauce (what you dip shrimp in), 1/4 chili sauce, and 1/2 two different kinds of jellies. You pick what flavors, but my "perfect" mixture yesterday was strawberry preserve and apple jelly. Be careful with the cocktail sauce though. If there is one ingredient that can overpower the rest, it's that one.

We all had a grand old time on Christmas Eve playing poker, watching a couple of movies and eating way more than we should have. Eva, Steve's girlfriend, makes the absolute most delicious cheesecake I have EVER tasted! Everyone crashed around midnight and I woke up at 5:30am trying to figure out where I was. Since I couldn't get back to sleep I headed back to the apartment.

Around 8am, Mikey and I decided to tear into our presents which had been tempting us under the tree for the past couple of weeks. Santa sent them from Ohio for some reason. My goodies included some nuts (to go with my balls I guess), thin mints, a log of summer sausage, an Ohio State t-shirt from my sister, an OSU alarm clock and a buckeye welcome mat. The mat is extremely welcome since dirt and leaves seem to be getting into the apartment more often since the weather turned cool.


The rest of the day was spent cleaning like crazy. I hadn't cleaned the place in a couple of months, so the place was pretty filthy! Sweeping, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, bathtub scrubbing, laundry.....the whole nine yards. I was called into work for tomorrow morning and will be working 6 straight days beginning Friday, so I really needed to get these chores done pronto!

Once again, happy holidays everyone!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas!! In a couple of hours, I'll be heading on over to my friend's house to celebrate the holiday! It'll be the first time away from home during this time of the season in, oh, forever I guess. If you remember Steve from a couple previous posts, that's where I'll be. He and his girlfriend will be cooking up some awesome holiday treats. I doubt if I'll be making it back to the apartment tonight since the combination of food, spirits and their hot tub will make driving impossible later on!

I was trying to think of what to bring, so I did get a nice bottle of Robert Mandovi merlot, so we got that going for us, which is nice. However, when I spent Thanksgiving with them, I basically freeloaded since all I brought was some homemade guacamole that I threw together in five minutes. So I tried to think of something else besides the wine that I could bring this time. Of course there are plenty of holiday treats to choose from. Lemon cookies, spiced cider, candy canes, etc.

However, what I really like to bring out this time of the year are my balls!

A couple of movie favorites.....

...that you've never heard of. Well actually, I better not underestimate the people reading this blog. I guess a better subject title would be "movies that have flown under the radar."

While living in Bowling Green, my apartment complex was literally right next door to an independent local movie rental store. I believe their little tag line read "a movie buff's paradise." Unfortunately, it took me all of four years to actually go in there and take a look. Their tag line was correct. So during my last year in Bowling Green, when I knew my days there were numbered, I made it a point to go into the store at least once a week and sift through the incredible amount of really good movies on hand, many that would never be found at your local blockbuster. My favorite section did not organize the movies by genre or alphabetical order, but by director. So for a while, over the course of a couple weeks, I would watch a particular director's entire library from beginning to end. I did this with Scorsese (which introduced me to such films as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), the Coen Brothers, Speilberg, Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith, M. Night Shyamalan, etc., etc.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been pretty hard pressed to come up with good blog topics lately. Maybe it's all of this sitting around I've been doing since my casino has not needed me much. It's turning my brain to mush. So I got to thinking that perhaps I could just list some of my favorite movies, like pretty much EVERY blogger on the face of the planet has done. However, my little twist is that the movies below not only comprise my list of favorites, but also seem to have really been ignored for the most part by mainstream America, especially when compared to the creator's other works. Another theme that these movies seem to have is that the viewer probably loves them or just doesn't get them. There isn't much middle ground with these selections.

So if you're looking to rent a movie or two tonight and you're tired of seeing the same old crap shoved down your throat, consider seeking these out.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Life Aquatic is probably in my top 5 ALL-TIME favorite movie list. The director of this movie, Wes Anderson, is probably most known for his hit The Royal Tenenbaums. Like Royal, and his previous work Rushmore, Life Aquatic is a dark comedy. I loved Bill Murray in this movie!

The Kentucky Fried Movie

The Kentucky Fried Movie is one that I NEVER hear anyone ever talk about, except for all of my weird friends who obviously love it as much as I do. This was the very first movie that the Zucker Brothers/Abrahams produced way back in 1977. Of course their more popular works include the Airplane movies and the Police Squad/Naked Gun series. Basically, if you like Airplane, you'll like KFM. It's definitely NOT a family flick, so keeps the kids well away. There's no real plot to this movie, just a bunch of random sketches centered around a parody within the parody, "A Fistful of Yen."

Barton Fink

The last two are films by the Coen Brothers. So what do you think of when I mention the Coen Brothers? Most people that I ask that immediately start talking about either Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, the cult favorite The Big Lebowski, or their first hit, Raising Arizona. Those are all FANTASTIC films! However, Barton Fink deserves to be somewhere in that conversation as well. John Turturro and John Goodman are brilliant in this movie. Once again, there's going to be a certain segment of people who watch this movie and just throw up their arms saying, "what the f**k!", especially after a rather confusing scene at the end. But at least give this one a try.

The Man Who Wasn't There

I'm not sure The Man Who Wasn't There ever really had a chance to become a great hit. It didn't help that it appeared shortly after 9/11, but it also doesn't really lend itself to movie stardom. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Billy Bob Thornton. But he did do a super job in this movie! The movie is shown entirely in black and white, and also stars Scarlett Johanson and that guy who is in the Sopranos (the main guy, I can't remember his name). If you're looking for a lot of action, do NOT rent this movie. I looked up some reviews of this movie online and a couple themes of those who were not fans mentioned that its a 90 minute movie shown over 2 hours. Although I'd admit the pacing is pretty slow, it's actually one reason why I like it. Nobody complained about the length Shindler's List or Saving Private Ryan, so when it's appropriate, there's certainly nothing wrong with a movie running a little long.

Oh, and if these are already rented out or unavailable, a couple alternate Coen movies would be Miller's Crossing and The Hudsucker Proxy.

I could've used a little more......

Youtube has been a major league scrooge within the past few months, basically taking away all of the nice copyrighted stuff I loved. Stuff like Simpson's clips, Family Guy, and especially the old Saturday Night Live skits. This clip is one of my all-time favorites, and it seems to have survived so far since its December 10th posting. Enjoy while you can!

A little update

I've had a couple friends email me lately asking how I'm doing at work and what my status is out here in Vegas, so I thought I'd just give an update on the blog.

Unfortunately, I've seen better days since moving to Vegas. If you've followed from the beginning, you know that Chris and I (Chris being the guy I moved out here with) both broke into our dealing careers at Nevada Palace, a complete piece of s**t casino out on Boulder Highway that offered $1 craps and $1 blackjack. Not to get off the subject, but if you're looking for some cheap gaming, Nevada Palace has completely eliminated its table games in preparation for its much deserved demolition within the upcoming year.

I can give you a list of a hundred reasons why working at the NP sucked complete arse! However, there were a couple positives. First, with the exception of one asshat over there, all of the supervisors were really cool to work for! They realized we were making next to nothing and interacted with us with that in mind. Secondly, I was working a full 40 hours per week. So even though our tokes there were horrible (only about $34/day plus our minimum wage base pay), I was still able to save a little money up every month and the bank account was not taking any hits.

After only two months at Nevada Palace, I was "fortunate" enough to get an audition at my current casino and started there shortly thereafter. I have intentionally refrained from posting any info on my blog about my exact employment whereabouts in Vegas (due to some very negative experiences my roommate has seen through his blog), but you're obviously supposed to know if indeed you do. I will tell you that the average toke day at my current place is somewhere in the $110-$120 range. Pretty good, right???

Not really. One aspect of being a casino dealer in Vegas is that once you get your foot in the door of a good casino, you have to spend time as an "extra board" dealer, which means you're part-time while waiting for a full-time position to open. While extra-board like me, you can be scheduled for ANY amount of hours during the week, you can be sent home at ANY time during a shift, and you have NO IDEA when a full-time position will open up for you. At this point, I've been at my current place for 8 months, but for all I know, it could be another 8 months before becoming full-time.

The reason I bring this up is these past couple of weeks have seen my scheduled hours plummet! Yep, for some reason, the powers-that-be have decided that the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas is a good time to give me exactly 2 days and 1 day per week respectively. This is my "one day" week, so I'm sitting here kind of depressed feeling like I'm unemployed.

It's kind of a like the straw that broke the camel's back, because I just decided to apply to the place that Chris now works at on the Strip. For reasons already stated, I won't tell you where that is, but I will say the toke days are about $30-$40 less per day than at my casino. However, Chris has never received less than 4 days per week (usually 5), he is NEVER sent home early, and he describes his casino as a "blast to work in", with fun players and a severe lack of fleas!! So I'm kind of excited about this possible avenue.

I'll keep ya posted. If I happen to get the job over there, I could:
- try to work both places hoping that my hours stay down at my current place
- have a change of heart and turn down the new job
- quit my current place and work at the new one only

Whatever happens, wish me luck. Despite the setbacks, I have enjoyed this Vegas adventure so far and want to see it through!

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Flyingwinnebago.blogspot.com now has an open-door policy! Anyone can now comment, not just those few souls who have taken the time to register with google! Yes, it took me this long to figure out how to open up the comments section! Maybe now I'll go read the instructional manual for my electric shaver to see what kinds of fascinating options that thing has!

Oh, and I still have the "moderate comments" option on, so I still get to read them all before they get posted. It's good to be the king!

In the spirit of the season.

Okay, I promise this is the last Mystery Science Theater clip that I'll ever post on the blog, especially since I'm convinced that exactly ONE reader out there truly appreciates MST3K like I do. I just thought I'd spread some appropriate Christmas cheer!

Sodium Video

The shocking lack of amount of sodium education in America's classrooms is shocking! I think this educational video should clear up any questions the American public may have about sodium.

MST3K

I've just figured out the treasure trove of MST3K episodes circulating youtube! God help me!!

Words to Live By

Just think, nearly ALL accidental deaths in the United States could be avoided by attaching this very simple message to most vehicles and appliances!

Craps 101

One of the most common reasons that I hear when I ask people why they choose not to play craps in a casino is that the game seems too "intimidating" to them. Unfortunately, that means that I am usually exposed to the exact same players on a day-to-day basis (who are almost exclusively locals) instead of the fun tourist crowd who tend to gravitate over at the roulette or blackjack tables.

So I thought I'd give this very brief explanation of how to play craps so that anyone who hasn't given it a try (including my friends who may be in town in March) might mosey up to the dice table without fear.

While it's true that you'll get swamped if you tried to understand EVERY bet that can be made at the table, you only really need to understand ONE very basic bet to play competently. A bonus is that this one bet, along with an "odds" bet, is the best way to play as it has the very lowest house edge of any bet in the entire casino.

This one bet is called the pass-line bet. When you step up to the table, just throw down your money on the felt like you never want to see it again, and the dealer will give you chips. See that round "puck" in the picture that is white, or "on"? Well, the other side is black, or "off". Just wait until the puck goes to black, put a $5 chip on the pass-line, and your ready to play!

If the puck is black, then 7 and 11 are the numbers you want to see since they are winners. 2,3 and 12 are the bad numbers when it is black, since these are the "crap" numbers and you lose. ANY other number is neutral (4,5,6,8,9,10). If one of these neutral numbers are thrown, then it becomes the "point" and the dealer will turn the puck over to white and set it on that number (as has happened in the picture with the #4). So if the #4 is rolled BEFORE a 7, you win. If a 7 is rolled before the 4, you lose. It's that simple!

The one addition that you will want to make though is the "odds" bet. When the dealer turns the puck white and sets it on the number, which is the point, you'll want to put an odds bet directly behind your pass line bet. I won't go into detail why, but I will tell you that this bet is paid "true odds" and thus, is the ONLY bet in the entire casino that has NO HOUSE EDGE associated with it. It kind of depends on what number is the point to decide exactly what your odds bet is. However, $10 will work for ANY point number, no thinking involved.

So to recap,
1. Wait until the puck is "off", or black.
2. Put $5 on the pass line (7,11 are good....2,3 and 12 are bad....the rest are neutral)
3. Wait until a point is established (the puck turns white and is placed on a number)
4. Put $10 in "odds" right behind your pass line bet.

Oh, and most importantly, don't think about ANYTHING else. Forget all of those confusing bets in the middle of the layout. Forget the "field". Forget the Big Red 6 and 8. AND DON'T LISTEN TO ANYONE ELSE AT THE TABLE when they try to "teach" you how to play. Most likely, they are pathetic local fleas who have nothing better to do than to prey upon the unsuspecting ear of a happy-go-lucky tourist.

Good luck!

Humunga-Chunga

I guess in keeping with the great food/big portion theme lately, I just wanted to put in a good word for the place Mikey and I ate at last night. It's called the Guadalajara and it's located within the Sunset Station casino in Henderson, about 12 minutes from our apartment. I had a $25 comp ticket for ANY place at Sunset to use, but it wouldn't have gone very far at the higher end places like Sonoma Steakhouse, etc. So I decided to get Mikey in the mix and we both ate like kings for about $29, including the ticket!

We both opted for the enormous chimi-chunga, which had an awesome sauce and plenty of cheesy goodness. I can't remember the name of the side that I got (its in the bowl), but I liken it to a cross between chili and navy bean soup. It was also very tasty.

Guadalajara also had a really good salsa bar, which was free with any entree. If you got it separately, it would cost $5, so probably not worth it. But it was a great addition to the meal. The service was pretty good, especially Charlotte, who brought our chips and drinks.

If you're ever on the east side of town and looking for a decent Mexican place, you might want to check it out!

071027 Trinity University 28 - Millsaps 24 End Zone Angle

This final play makes the Stanford/Cal game look simple....except with no rogue trombonists!

Road Trip.......Burger Time!

Before you comment or say anything, YES, I do realize that a large proportion of my blog entries seem to be food-related! It hasn't really been planned, but with the nacho pictures at the outset of this blog, the multi-pizza themed entries and now this entry, it would seem that I have a one-track mind at times! They say you should never go grocery shopping while hungry. I guess the same can be said about blogging!

This entry starts way back in December of 2002. I was still living in my small one-bedroom apartment in Bowling Green, Ohio and had come home one night from a night out at a local drinking establishment (have no idea which one). As one would do after a long night, I just collapsed on the couch in front of the TV and passed into drunk slumber land. Around 3 to 4 in the morning, I awoke very groggy and still half-drunk and just kind of stared blankly at the TV for a minute. What I saw in this 2 minutes of half-asleep television viewing (before passing out again) was the BIGGEST FREAKING CHEESEBURGER I HAD EVER SEEN! Apparently, in my drunken state, I had started to watch Iron Chef on the food network and awoke to an episode entitled "Delicious Dives". This is all pure chance, but in the 2 minutes of being awake, I witnessed their coverage of a small "dive" in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania called Denny's Beer Barrel Pub. It's actually located in Clearfield, Pennsylvania and features some of the biggest burgers in the world. Before my head re-hit the pillow, I somehow managed to write down the name of the place and the location.

http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/

Fast forward a little to the beginning of January, 2003 (just one month ahead). The weekend of 1/3/03 to 1/5/03 would turn out to be an AWESOME weekend! On Friday, I picked up my good friend Kerry in Bowling Green and drove to my hometown of Sandusky, Ohio. That night, as Kerry and I gathered with my other good friend Tony (and several others), we watched Ohio State (who was a double-digit underdog) upset Miami of Florida in the epic national championship game played at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl! Pretty good weekend so far, eh?

Hold on! The main reason Kerry traveled with me back to Sandusky was the fact that we had tickets to the Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cleveland Browns wildcard playoff game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. As you probably know, I am a huge Steeler fan while Kerry was a Brown's fan. So unfortunately I was guilty of transporting the enemy for the rest of the weekend. However, thinking back to the previous month's chance viewing of the Food Network, I got the crazy idea in my head that perhaps Kerry and I should take a modest detour on our way to Pittsburgh on Saturday to check out the now world-infamous Denny's Beer Barrel Pub! It did not take much arm-twisting at all to sell Kerry on the idea! Although honestly, if you mapquest the trip from Sandusky, Ohio to Clearfield, Pa and back to Pittsburgh.....it's MORE than a modest side trip!

So we got up bright and early on Saturday morning, still an excellent mood and basking in the Buckeye victory, and set out on the approximately 5 hour trip to Clearfield. The weather was grey and snow was on the ground, but we had an uneventful drive and finally pulled into Denny's......extremely hungry! So here's the deal. At that time in 2003, Denny's offered 3 sizes of mega-burgers: 2 pounds, 3 pounds and SIX (6) POUNDS! These weights do NOT include the fixings and the weight is measured AFTER cooking, so those freakin' things are even bigger before they're cooked! Each burger comes with enormous amounts of bun, cheese, pickles, mayo, ketsup, tomatoes, lettuce, mustard, onion and bell peppers, and each size has a different "challenge" you can take to try to get your name permanently etched into their 'Wall of Fame'.

So here are the challenge rules. First, you must finish the burger in the time allotted to win a shirt, get your name on the wall and get your meal paid for. You must finish the 2 pounder in one hour, the 3 pounder in an hour and a half, and the 6 pounder is three hours. Other rules include not being able to leave ANY of the fixins off the burger and oh, you CAN NOT use any utensil at all. No fork, no knife,.......nothing!

After discussing it for a few minutes, we told the waitress that even though we were damn hungry, we were there more for the novelty of it all and we'd like to split a 3 pounder between us WITHOUT taking any challenge, just to see what this thing looked like!

Well, now begins the picture portion of the entry. About an hour after we ordered it, the waitress lugged this huge monstrosity out to us, but took the loooooong way around the bar so that everyone could gawk at it! More than a few little kids were awestruck at it, including the 2 big kid jackasses where it finally landed!

This first picture shows me posing with it. Pay close attention to the fact that it basically dwarfs the pitcher of Pepsi sitting next to it!

Here's a close-up of it!

As I began to dive into it, I would occasionally look over Kerry's shoulder to the wall where all of the people were listed who actually defeated these things! However, I did notice that the plaque containing the 6 pound challenge was completely empty! Here's the burger about half-eaten.

Okay, here's the burger about 3/4 eaten. I must admit that Kerry was doing almost all of the work though. I began hitting the wall early on in the feast and this portion is probably a good indication of the total amount that I ate. I swear I don't know where Kerry was packing it away, but he must have ate around 3/4 of that damn thing!

And finally, here's the aftermath, complete with the white flag of surrender. The only stuff left was basically a vinegar pool of mustard with chopped onion and some portions of the bottom bun. Both of us wanted to try to finish off that mess, just to keep it from defeating us, but it just wasn't to be! I think the look on Kerry's face kind of sums up our physical and mental states!
After paying the bill and sitting around for a little while to try to let everything settle, we finally had to pull ourselves up under our own power and head out to the car. We still had around a 3 hour drive to Pittsburgh ahead of us (I told you it was a ridiculous detour). After getting checked into the hotel (and taking care of some business directly related to what we had done 3 hours earlier), we headed out on the town and waddled up to my favorite hangout while in Pittsburgh, Philthy McNasty's. Aside from the awesome name, there isn't really too much about this bar that stands out. I think its owners are Canadian though, because there is kind of an American/Canadian division down the middle of the room.

Here's Kerry mugging for the camera with his Molson Canadien bottle of beer!

The next day, we got up and headed over the bridge to Heinz Field. It was a very "festive" walk as I got hit by a snowball that was intended for Kerry, since he was decked out in his Tim Couch jersey and Cleveland gear. The game was AWESOME! Cleveland pulled ahead by a pretty large amount in the first half, only to see the Steelers charge back and score a go-ahead TD with less than a minute left in the game! Here I am after the game.

To avoid further ridicule on the way back to the car, Kerry asked if he could wear my coat. As he walked ahead, I yelled out to him and when he turned, I took this famous photo which I can now blackmail him with whenever I please!
So now we must fast-forward a few months. During the summer of 2003, Tony mentioned to me that it would be fun to take a road trip back to Pittsburgh to catch a ballgame at the new PNC Park. Tony had also made a couple Pennsylvania road trips with me in the past, but had never been to Denny's. Well, the fact that Kerry had basically eaten 3/4 of that 3 pound burger in January forced the thought into his head that he could actually beat the challenge! So when I mentioned that Tony and I were heading to Pittsburgh, he insisted that he tag along and that we make the same ridiculous detour back to Clearfield so that he could etch his name into inappropriate portion history!

Unfortunately I dropped the ball a little when it came to pictures during this particular trip. Tony and I decided that we were NOT going to test fate and take the challenge, so when we got to Denny's we just ordered their "hogie of the day" while Kerry ordered the 2 pounder, determined to finish that sucker under one hour! Here's a crappy Polaroid picture (the one and only pic with Kerry and his burger) with me looking on. I would have to describe that look on my face as "confused disgust" with a twinge of horror at to what I was about to witness. Remember, he had to get that thing down in one hour, using no utensils!

Well, let's just say that no extra name was going on Denny's wall that fine sunny summer afternoon in rural Pennsylvania. About half-way through, Kerry basically threw in the towel! He has a few "excuses" as to what happened, but I just think the pressure got to him! It was NOT a pretty site, so I'm kind of glad there was a lack of photo evidence. Here's a picture of Tony "trying" to enjoy his hogie, but being distracted by the train wreck that was occurring right in front of him!
In case anyone is wondering, there is now ONE name on that 6 pounder plaque! Believe it or not, a coed from New Jersey who weighed about 100 pounds finished off the 6 pound (11 pounds total with fixins) burger in less than 3 hours!!! Here's the article:

http://www.foodmarket.com/news/2005011701.html

Hoover Dam Bypass Project

This is a post I made over on the T2V message board, but thought I'd blog it as well. It's kind of interesting that I took two pictures more than five years apart from almost the exact same spot by pure coincidence.

If you'd like to learn more about the Hoover Dam Bypass Project, please visit this site:

http://www.hooverdambypass.org/default.htm

I was just looking through some old pictures today and came across some more pictures I took with a disposable camera back in March of 2002 during my very first trip to Las Vegas. The trip included a trip out to Hoover Dam. I had not made it back to Hoover Dam until this past August 2007 when my parents visited. Ironically, I took a picture in 2002 and a picture in August from almost the EXACT same spot and angle. The pics just show the canyon just down river from the Dam. But the 2007 pic now shows the Colorado River Bridge (part of the bypass project) beginning to be constructed. I think anyone who has been there lately will agree that the picture can't really convey the complexity of this project!

This is the disposable camera picture from 2002

Here's the picture from my camera phone just 3 months ago in August.

Pizza, Beer and Cigars

For those of you who routinely read my roommate's blog, you know very well how much more eloquently he can describe most situations and stories. If you've read it today, you're already privy to the simple, yet awesome night out we had last night. Instead of going into detail, I will simply state that........

....the night began with this.......

.....and ended with this. Good stuff!

Just a side note though, I must agree that Grimaldi's is the BEST TASTING pizza in town! I seriously could probably eat an entire 18 incher by myself, no joke! Don't even slice the thing! I'll just fold the entire pie in half and eat it down!! That's the problem though. It's pretty high-end pizza and not for the budget conscience. So that place will have to remain a guilty pleasure rarely visited. Tomorrow night I have plans to go to the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey game with a couple friends and we'll be enjoying some Amore's pizza beforehand. Yes, the prices and quality are comparable, but Amore's 10 incher provides me with about THREE full meals!

Cartman Introduces the Colorado Starting Lineup

I LOVE this player intro during the Colorado/Nebraska game. This was sent to me by my roommate, Mikey! Somehow, amongst the zillion games I was trying to keep track of on Saturday, I missed this gem of a clip!

Police dog bites Auburn player

Here we go. Leave it to youtube to put clarity into my blurry picture in the last post.

Even More College Football Craziness!!!

Okay, this picture is a little bit blurry, so maybe a better one will pop up on the internet at some point. However, it depicts an Auburn University defensive back running behing the endzone after he broke up a long pass play by Alabama. He was giving the "incomplete pass" signal by waving his arms back and forth when his left hand got a little too close to a security dog. CHOMP!!! When I looked at the replay, his hand was grasped in that dog's mouth for a good second or two, it wasn't just a harmless nip!

That kind of wrapped up yet another INSANE week in college football. Both #1 LSU and #2 Kansas bit the dust in a year when being ranked in the top two spots seems to be poison to all unsuspecting teams! Just look at LSU. They lost the #1 ranking TWICE by losing in triple overtime games! Brutal! Kansas has made it this far with NO losses, and now finds itself completely out of the national championship picture after losing by only 1 touchdown to the #4 Tigers. There was a TON of rivalry drama today with Clemson kicking a winning field goal with time expiring, Washington State capturing a win in the "Apple Bowl" with a TD with 30 seconds remaining, Auburn surviving dog attacks and a late comeback try by Alabama, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Florida/Florida St., Tennessee beating UK in FOUR overtimes, etc. etc. etc. Shew!

So now Buckeye Nation waits. I thought UConn might have had a chance against West Virginia today, but the Mountaineers dominated. We have to hope for a MONUMENTAL upset by Pitt next week over West Virginia, or more realistically, a win by Oklahoma over Missouri in the Big 12 championship game. Although I guess we shouldn't completely discount Pitt seeing as how it's a rivalry AND who would have picked Appalachian St., Arkansas over LSU, Illinois over OSU, etc. It's been a crazy year.

One thing I can say with complete confidence is that the Buckeyes could definitely play with ANYONE out there right now. Then again, so could Georgia, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Missouri, and let's say USC. I gave Mikey crap about his beloved Sun Devils getting blown out by "Stanford's bitches" Thursday night, but in all seriousness, USC might be playing the best ball at this point and time out of any of the teams listed above. Did you see how they systematically left very small digestable peices of the ASU quarterback strewn across the playing surface all night! Scary!!

If I counted all those teams I just listed, I think the number comes to eight. Wouldn't it be nice if you could somehow group those eight teams into some sort of, uh, some sort of bracket type of scenerio where teams would play in a single-elimination tournament to decide who is the best team in college football. It's a totally new concept I know, but it just could be crazy enough to work!!!

Oh post script, Appalachian State took another victim today in the 1AA playoffs (or whatever they call it now) when they beat my alma mater, James Madison, when the Dukes fumbled on Appy's 10 yard line with 12 seconds to go and only down by 1. OUCH! Oh well, it does look like Bowling Green will get to play in the post-season (most likely the Motor City Bowl) against the likes of an Indiana or Purdue. Good times.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Or as it's known in the casino industry, Happy Thursday!! Actually, I have the next couple of days off and don't need to go back into work until Saturday. Of course that's a good thing if I really had some BIG plans for the holiday, but I really don't. At least no travel plans or anything like that.

I'll be spending the entire day tomorrow as a third wheel over at my friend's house (Steve, from several posts back), watching football and eating way more than I should! Since the Lions game begins at 9:30am our time, I'll probably get up around 8am, get ready for the day, and then put together the guacamole that I'm taking over.

It kind of sucks in that I don't really have any family in the area to visit, but I have only two days on the work schedule this week. Accordingly, most of my co-workers would LOVE to have Thanksgiving off, and yet need to work. Don't try to figure out the gaming industry, your head will hurt!

I hope everyone has their fill of turkey and stuffing tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Oh, by the way, one good thing about Thanksgiving being here is that, according to Mikey, all of the coctail waitresses at work will begin wearing their naughty little Santa outfits beginning Friday! ;-)

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Idiot?

For a full and detailed explanation of this picture, please visit my roommate's blog at www.hurricanemikey.blogspot.com. It's under the November 19th post.

Questionable Fan Support!

While re-watching the Buckeyes great win versus the team up north this afternoon, I decided to have some more fun with the DVR. Once again, these two pics were taken with my camera phone of my TV while the DVR was paused.

Perhaps it wasn't Beanie Wells running crazy or the stifling Buckeye defense! Perhaps it is the fact that the support that the Wolverines get at home is very shaky at best!

Click on the pics for enlarged goodness!

Various reactions from the Michigan faithful following Wells' 60+ yard TD run.

"Hey, let's go to the game in nothing but yellow hula skirts carrying a bagpipe. Do you think they'll put us on national television??"

College Daze

Another result of rummaging through boxes while back home last month resulted in this find, a picture of myself and my two roommates in my freshman dorm room at Ohio State. This picture would be circa autumn of 1993. That's Corey in the background and Tony (who regularly posts here) in the foreground. If you click on the picture, it'll enlarge it which shows how grainy the picture actually is. These were the days when email was a brand new fancy tool for communication and picture phones with digital cameras were still a thing of the future. I've always wondered what it would have been like if picture phones did exist back then. It's kind of scary what would have been caught on digital film!!

Okay, let's see what we can gleam from the pic. First off, when you compare this with my profile pic, there's a rather large weight difference! I think my driver's liscense listed me at around 135lbs back then, soak 'n' wet! Secondly, WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE ENORMOUS GLASSES!!! Man, I forgot how lame those things were. Of course, Barry Foster was all the rage with Steeler fans, the Nintendo gaming system in the bottom right is a testament to the dorm floor's Techno Superbowl tournaments, and the poster right behind my head was of Ohio State's national championship team from 1968 featuring greats such as Jack Tatum, Rex Kern and Jim Stillwagon. Oh, and let's not overlook my stylish stonewash Levi's jeans!

The EXACT spot that I was sitting in this pic is right where I had my very first extemely negative reaction to a 6-pack of Keystone Dry and vodka/Hawaiin Punch, probably not long after this picture was taken. Actually, it was almost to the minute when Joe Carter hit that home run to win the World Series for Toronto that year!

Okay, I could fill a blog with stories from that first semester at OSU, but at this point I should take the fifth.

Rob Simpson

A big thank you goes out to Shock and Snert over at T2V for teaching me how to turn a PNG picture file into a JPEG picture file! Now all of you can see what I would look like as a character on the Simpsons. What I like is that being Simpsonized appears to take about 20lbs off! Cool.

Another 1 Bites the Dust!

I won't really go into much detail about how my weekend went. The main theme of it is captured in the picture above. Ohio State played like crap and Illinois stepped up! Barring a complete BCS implosion, the Bucks will have to wait another year to avenge their championship setback from a year ago. However, in a season that I had picked them to finish with about 3 losses, they are still overachieving compared to most preseason polls. And to further look for silver linings, they can still beat the team up north and make it to the Rose Bowl! So it's not all bad.

Clark Haggans

Just a cool pic taken with my camera phone and paused DVR on my HDTV. Clark Haggans of the Steelers got WAY up in the air going after Steve McNair here. When he landed, he just sat there next to the QB, apparently dazed. The running back who blocked him would later block him again, and get a concussion out of it!

Youtube Allstars

Over the past few months there have been a couple youtube videos that I can ALWAYS count on when I need a laugh or two. Fortunately, I just figured out how to post youtube videos directly into my blog tonight, so you can just hit the video and watch it without having to navigate away from the blog. However, I couldn't really figure out how to post multiple videos into one post, so all of them are posted separately below. I also had to post the "last" one first and work backwards, so that what you are reading now is the last thing I've written tonight! My brain hurts.

I really hope you enjoy these youtube favorites of mine!

Leroy Jenkins

This first one is a clip from a bunch of guys playing World of Warcraft, and how one rogue jackass can mess up the most well planned scenerios! You probably have to have nerdish tidings to really appreciate this. Chris, who is the guy I moved out here with and roomed with for six months, used to play World of Warcraft pretty heavily. So that probably added another level of enjoyment for me! Leroy Jenkins has worked his way into pop culture at this point and even had his own question on Jeopardy!

Dramatic Chipmunk

Okay, here's the deal. This clip was sent to me by my friend Tony while he was very hard at work in his office. I think the web address that he gave me was at collegehumor.com. I was still at the old apartment with Chris when I got this clip, and Chris and I replayed it about 20 times without it ever getting old. For some reason, Chris decided to see if it had been posted on youtube yet......and it WASN'T!! So the very first person to upload this onto youtube was Chris! His posting has almost FOUR MILLION hits at this point, and he's received communication from most of the major networks and shows like "Good Morning America", wanting to know how this thing originated. Very cool stuff!

Yatta!

This clip is of some sort of "Boy Band" in Japan. I was made aware of this clip by my current roommate, Mikey, who is the founding member of the Henderson, NV chapter Yatta fan club and who will be the lead in a Yatta tribute band starting a couple of weeks from now (they're currently in rehearsals). I will be their manager. Look for Mikey and the gang to be performing very shortly at the Railhead inside Boulder Station Hotel and Casino!

Party In My Tummy

This last one was just sent to me the other day from a guy that I deal dice with. I was over at Chris' last night, and we must have replayed this thing about 15 times! All's I got to say is that piece of chicken has got some moves!!

All In!

There's not a whole lot of time to write up a stellar entry today. I just got done eating, showering up, starting my day and it's already 3pm!! At 4:30pm, I'll be watching the Red Wings game on NHL center ice at Chris' place, but not if I don't get out of here soon. I-215 between here and there becomes a clusterf**k around this time of day, so I'm outa here.

Before I go though, I just thought I'd give you a glimpse at a poker hand during a home game at their place last night. Pretty sick! From this angle, the flop begins at the left and the river is far right.

Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich.......

.....while sitting at a nearly empty casino betting the minimum at a $10 shoe blackjack table. Up until 2 nights ago, the most "famous" person I had ever dealt to was golfer Phil Mickelson..............'s................uncle. So I tap into my game Friday night/Saturday morning and who is sitting there but none other than Jerry Dixon, bass guitarist for the rock band Warrant! Don't be too impressed though, I had to look up the band on the internet during my next break, figure out which one was him, and then try to figure out his name. But I knew he was in the band though, since he was basically dressed the same as in the picture above (guy in the middle) with a gigantic "WARRANT" tattoo on his upper right arm.

So I'm thinking that perhaps I'm climbing the celebrity ladder of sorts, with my next brush with greatness maybe being dealing craps to Super Dave Osborne or blackjack to that guy who made those crazy sound effects in the Police Academy movies.

The funniest thing about the scenerio was that I figured out, through my brilliant powers of deduction, that this guy was in Warrant without ever bringing it up. How did I figure it out? One of our bigger loser female degenerates was the only other player at the time, and she noticed his tattoo and started going on about how big a fan of Warrant she was and how she loved his tattoo! She told a story about seeing Warrant in tour in Oklahoma with Firehouse, etc. etc. Jerry exclaimed, "Oh, yea I remember that tour. We had a good time that tour." She freakin' never figured it out. She just thought he was some jackass that would dress in sleeveless leather on a Friday night showing off his enormous "WARRANT" tattoo, and I didn't reveal it to her until after he left! When it's 4am on a Friday night/Saturday morning, I welcome the chance for my players to become my own personal entertainment.

Oh, in case you're wondering, he had about $60 in chips when I tapped in, and unfortunately I busted him in about 20 minutes.

Sweet Home Chicago!

That picture pretty much says it all, doesn't it!?!? Last night I drove out to the west side of town in search of yet another great pizza place in Vegas, and I was NOT disappointed! A couple nights ago in the T2V chatroom, Ken was talking up this place that served authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza. He pretty much had everyone in the room drooling, including me. So since the seed was planted, I got myself cleaned up yesterday, hopped in the car to fight rush hour traffic on the 215, and finally pulled into Amore's Pizza and Pasta on Durango Drive (between Flamingo and Twain).

As with another great pizza place in town, New York Pizza and Pasta on Sahara/Jones, this place seems at first like any other non-descript joint in the obligatory strip mall. But upon entering, it seemed like a pretty special place, with a TON of Chicago related sports memorabilia on the walls and a friendly greeting from, what I think I can solidly guess, was a family member of the owners (or possibly the owner herself). There were only a few customers there at that time of the day, so I was quickly seated and got the low-down from the waitress. Like NY P&P, the menu is quite extensive, but of course I decided on a deep dish pie with homemade sausage.

As you can see from the picture above, the pizza is created a little differently in Chicago. First you have the crust, then you have the cheese and ingredients, then you get the sauce on top. I went an extra yard and ordered the "stuffed" pizza, which simply includes an extra thin layer of dough, somewhere between the ingredients and sauce. Since these masterpieces take a while to make (at least 45 minutes), I tided myself over with the breaded zuchini, which was very good.

I thought I did VERY good to finish half the pizza, leaving the other half for probably two more meals at home! The crust was very flaky, and I tasted somewhat of a sweetness that I did not expect to find. The sauce was also top notch, also with a lighter sweetness that you don't get from the corner Papa Johns! Finally, the homemade sausage was an EXCELLENT choice.

So now the question begs to be answered, which is my favorite pizza joint in Vegas? Well, for starters, I had not even heard of Amore's until just a couple nights ago, so I'm secretly hoping that there are even more excellent pizza places hidden somewhere in town to try out at some point. I know my roommate's new favorite is Grimaldi's, on Eastern Ave not far from my apartment. I will agree that the pizza there is out of this world, one of the best I've ever eaten! There are just two very small drawbacks to that place though. The first is that there are other Grimaldi's around the country. I really wouldn't put it in the "chain store" category, but the simple fact that it isn't a stand alone, single family operation takes the specialness away for me. The second drawback is that no matter how spectacular the pizza is (and trust me, it's awesome), I can put away an entire 16" pie and still have room left for dessert! The price of a 16" Grimaldi's is about equivalent to the large pizza at NY P&P and the smallest size, which is 10", at Amore's. However, at both NY and Amore's, you can fill yourself up on grade A pizza pie, and still bring home a couple more meals to boot!

So it comes down to Amore's and NY P&P, and guess what, I'm neutral. Don't be too hard on me. First, I'm from Ohio, which is located between New York and Illinois. So I'm allowed to ride the fence on this one. Secondly, comparing the two is basically comparing apples and oranges. The two stores are extemely similar is that they are both family owned and operated, they are both hidden gems amongst a sea of strip malls, and they both make an oustanding pie! But New York thin crust and Chicago deep dish are so different that I just choose to put them both up on the top pedestal, so DEAL WITH IT!

Here's a link to a few more pictures of Amore's. If you happen to be reading this before lunch at work, my apologies!

http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff24/recsports_rob/Amore/

On a side note, I work both Saturday and Sunday (unfortunately having to miss the OSU/Wisconsin game), so I may be MIA 'till early next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Cross Another off the List

Well, we can cross another hotel off the list of those I've never visited. This one would be Palace Station.

My friend Mike was in town for a small conference at the original Station casino, Palace Station, and I met up with him last night on the strip. Our first order of business was to get him downtown, since he'd just been roaming the strip and doing other touristy stuff (like the Hoover Dam) since he'd arrived in town. Oh, did I mention it was his first trip to Sin City!!

As usual, I parked in the Main Street Station parking lot across the street, headed in to get validated, and on to the 777 Brew Pub for some damn good beer. The brewmaster's special right now at the 777 is a pumpkin spice beer, that has a very tasty, yet extremely subtle, pumpkin aftertaste. Afterwards, we spent the next couple hours or so just hopping in and out of the Fremont Street casinos, taking in the sights and allowing Mike to see the "other" side of Vegas as opposed to all of the fountains and volcanoes he'd been getting used to. I also insisted that we grab a beer at the Elco, even though Mike was not a gamblin' man. I've probably said this a little too much, but I am definitely impressed with the El Cortez and the way it has cleaned itself up. It still has the occasional freaks and riff raff I've come to expect and enjoy, but that acrid smoky smell is now being masked by some scent coming out of the air handling system (similar, but not exactly like some nicer places on the strip like Monte Carlo). The new carpet still looks to be in good shape, and there is no longer a 1/3 inch layer of tar on the ceiling!

Unfortunately, a long few days for Mike were catching up, and the fact that he had to be up at 6am for his flight didn't help matters. So the rest of the night was pretty subdued. Back to Palace Station we went, where we picked up a 12 pack of Miller Lite at the corner 7-11, put it on ice in his room's sink, and just relaxed with some cold brews for the rest of the night. There was a scenario outside our window which defied the sense my brain was trying to make out of it. It was just a random sight that caused Mike to exclaim, "hey, security is out on the,.....WTF!!". I'm sure it's a "had to be there moment", but there were 3 security guards in a golf cart on top of the deserted parking garage gawking at 2 mini-coopers that just happened to be parked there. No rhyme, no reason.

By the way, Mike does keep up on this blog and posts comments as "MB". It wasn't the most insane night in Sin City, but I thought I better blog it anyway since "MB" makes up approximately 50% of my commenting readers, he he! :-)

It was good to see Mike, and I'm glad he had an extra bed for me to crash in. But it was up at 5:30am, and back to the apartment where I crashed 'till well after noon.

Here's just a few pictures of the night.

http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff24/recsports_rob/Mike/

Changes on the Strip

While I was home in Ohio a couple of weeks ago, I was going through a few old boxes (the same box that I found that Indians ticket in) and came across a couple piles of photos. One stack included the pictures I took on some disposable cameras during my very first trip to Las Vegas back in 2002. Like any new gawking tourist to this town, I spent an entire day with my friends just walking up and down the strip, taking pictures and ordering a beer in every casino! While looking through the pictures, I realized how much the strip has changed in these past five years, and wonder what it'll look like five years from today!

Whether old or new, the Frontier is no longer among the living.

The Stardust is now just dust.

Here's Treasure Island before all of that TI business.

I was actually a big fan of Alladin before the change-over. However, I must admit that I really like the design and atmosphere that Planet Hollywood brought in.

Here's the front facade of Monte Carlo. I haven't been to this part of the strip in months, but I'm aware that it doesn't look like this picture anymore.

Here's a picture I took (I think I was standing somewhere in front of the Bellagio) of the construction in front of Caesars Palace. You can see the Colosseum going up.

Here's a closer picture of Caesars. Is that front sign still there? Mikey believes it is, but it just doesn't look familiar to me. Maybe it's changed, I don't know.

The Pros of Consignment

So do you remember that Dole banana box that I was using as a night stand from that picture a while back next to my fancy air mattress? Well, it has officially been upgraded! My room finally looks like a nice living space, as opposed to a 19 year-old's off-campus college apartment room with egg crates and an old beer can collection. I drove down to Serene Ave the other day (right near I-215 just west of Eastern Ave) where the Sam's Club and Wal-Mart are located to buy a new night stand. I wasn't really happy with the selection, but kind of decided on one of the "nicer" stands (term used extremely loosely seeing as how I was in Wally World), which would have set me back $84. However, from about 2 months ago, I remembered that I had once walked past a consignment store in the same big shopping center (next to Home Depot). To be honest, I wasn't even familiar with that term before, but I thought I'd give it a try, since I didn't have much else to do that afternoon.

Well, I'm glad I did. In case you haven't been in a consignment place before, it's basically a giant store with articles such as jewelry, furniture, art work, etc. for sale, by the owner of the article, by way of the store itself. It's kind of a cross between a pawn shop, garage sale and flea market, except that almost all of the stuff in there is pretty high quality, thus keeping away the mullet-wearing white trash crowd. A lot of their stuff comes from well-off families in Henderson or the outskirts who just want to update their furniture, and some comes from model homes/apartments. So the stuff is pretty nice!

After basically getting lost in that place for about 30 minutes, I finally found a stand that caught my eye, which was not a small miracle considering where the thing was located. Honestly, look at the picture and tell me that they weren't trying to hide that thing! Can you see it? It's like finding Waldo! I found it almost impossible to find a good stand that was the right size for sitting next to my taller bed AND was not part of a bedroom set, which was the norm for the items in this store.

There's my stand, back beneath the lamp and behind that big, uh, whatever that is in the foreground.

One thing that I did NOT realize is that all the prices are negotiable, just like a flea market or garage sale. Once their employees fished the stand out from all the other stuff, I instantly knew it was mine. It's 100 times better quality that anything I'd get a wal-mart, it doesn't have a scratch on it, and my roommate doesn't have to hear me swear for a couple hours while trying to assemble it! The sticker said $99, so I figured for an extra $15 compared to wal-mart, it was worth it. Another plus is that when I was talking to the lady as she ran the credit card, she took another $10 off, I guess because she knew it was my first time in there and that I didn't know any better than to haggle. Score!

Here's the stand in its place next to the bed. The drawers are pretty high quality and are NOT removable.

So now I FINALLY have someplace to set my box of cereal, VHS copy of Strange Brew, beer coozy and bottle of Kahlua!!