OK, everyone, it's time for the audience participation part of the blog! The 2011 NFL season is coming up soon - and yes, I am cautiously optimistic (as usual) about the Browns this year. I just watch the Direct TV "Short Cuts" of the 34-14 win over the Pats from last year - and I'm ready for the season to start.
A few notes:
1. I am planning to re-start the weekly NFL previews with my picks. I just need a topic to center the previews around. To recap, I started this preview theme in 2006 by listing one of my favorite "Price is Right" games each week. In 2007, it was Seinfeld characters; in 2008, it was summarizing the NFL Head referees, and in 2009, it was the 18 holes of Augusta. We didn't do the weekly previews last year for obvious reasons.
So - looking for input from the readers on possible topics for 2011. It would have to be a "top 17" list for each week of the season.
We could focus on pop culture (like: 17 top sitcoms of the 80s; the 17 shows I watched the most in college, 17 one-hit wonders)
It could focus on football (top 17 Browns victories since the return, top 17 Browns quarterbacks, etc.)
(Do the Browns actually have 17 victories since 1999? -ed) Ha ha
Or it could be completely arrogant and focus on me (top 17 golf rounds in my career, top 17 putts that put the dagger in my friends, etc.)
Any input is welcome.
2. I went back and actually looked at my record in doing these picks. Here is the recap; these picks and records are all on the blog for public review, with the exception of 2010. I put this statement here for complete disclosure, unlike a certain friend of Wiz's whose initials are D.M.
2006: 140-124-8 (53%)
2007: partial year: 84-101-10 (45%)
2008: 143-105-8 (58%)
2009: 104-120-4 (46%)
2010: 119-102-4 (54%)
For a grand total of: 590-552-34, or 51.7%. Hmmmmm...seems like 590-552 should sound better than 52%.
The pattern I am falling into - even numbered years are good, odd numbered years are bad - is not a good sign as we move into..........
3. Stepping it up: Layup and I have an announcement to make. We have decided to make fools of ourselves this year and see how we fare vs. real competition in the Las Vegas Hilton Supercontest. Basically, we pick 5 games against the spread each week - and after 17, the entries with the best records win. Simple as that. We are still working out all the details - I'm sure we will have a link so people can see the standings.
4. Am I a degenerate, or merely a fan? Do you really want an answer? -ed One of the ex-pats here in Guangzhou is also a Browns fan. This is his first NFL season here - and he bought the "NFL Rewind" package from NFL.com that plays the shortened versions of each game over the internet, on demand. The games will be available for download at midnight each night Eastern time.
He invited a bunch of us - including me - to come over every Monday night to his place and watch 1) the Browns game and 2) other games after that. It's clear that the Browns are the main attraction....
....but I told him I probably would decline. You see, he requested that no one log into the internet or check scores all day Monday - so that we see the games for the first time on Monday night. That makes sense - and many people can do that - but I can't. There's just no way that:
1) I can sleep when the NFL is on and I have a slingbox, and
2) I can go a whole day without checking the scores on the internet/iPhone.
There's just no way I can see myself having that self-discipline. None. Am I weak, or just normal?
5. Home vs. Cincinnati....at Indy, maybe without Peyton.....home vs. Miami.....home vs. Tennessee....at Oakland...home vs. Seattle....at San Fran....at Houston....home vs. St Louis....home vs. Jacksonville....at Cincinnati.....
Yep, that's our first 11 games....and that just sounds like 8-3, no?
Aug 31, 2011
Aug 27, 2011
Ah, the ex-pat life
Today, Janice took the boys to a real Chinese hair salon to get their hair cut. Last year, we went to the ex-pat compound where most of the Americans live - there is a hair salon in that complex. The boys got their hair cut for 38 RMB each.....and each cut was done in record time (under 6 minutes each). So it wasn't the highest quality.
Janice took the boys out on our street to one of the local hair salons - there are at least 10 of them between our apartment and the main bridge, a span of 2 km.
What occurred was pretty much what you would expect. The boys were pampered. Martin, especially, loved the attention - as you can see in the picture.
All for a price of 30 RMB ($4.75) each.
Two random pictures
1. I found my soulmate in Hong Kong! Here is a picture of the dashboard of our taxi in HK before we left. So - for all of you who made fun of me for my phone & pager obsessions, I have nothing on this guy.
(I wonder what each phone is for....)
2. There is a popular book out about Chinese society, called "Sleeping Chinese". It is a photo book filled with pictures of Chinese citizens sleeping in odd, public places. Here is the website.
Let me just say that it is 100% complete reality. I was walking on the sidewalk from our P&G office to our travel agent in another building....at 12:30 in the afternoon.
This is just one random picture during my walk that was repeated 15, 20 times. Everywhere you looked - people napping in public.
Aug 21, 2011
Civilized Dining in Guangzhou
1. A sign of civilization here in Guangzhou! The first Burger King in the city opened in May - and we finally got around to going to it yesterday. (It's located in a mall). 
The whoppers were very similar to the ones in the US; the onion rings were a bit underdone and dry. But still - can't complain!
2. Here is part of a drink menu from a restuarant we went to Friday night. Has anyone every heard of this drink? Somehow, I don't think Sprite has entered Kermit's body since 1994.
The whoppers were very similar to the ones in the US; the onion rings were a bit underdone and dry. But still - can't complain!
2. Here is part of a drink menu from a restuarant we went to Friday night. Has anyone every heard of this drink? Somehow, I don't think Sprite has entered Kermit's body since 1994.
Don't get to work late
I got into the office late one day - about 8:45, 8:50 or so. After getting my 600mL bottle of Pepsi at the Circle K (cost: 3.50 yuan, or about 60 cents) I headed to the elevators.
Apparently, the subway just arrived and there were a horde of people at the elevators. Here is a picture of the line I was in - the elevator I wanted was directly to the right.
The line of people in back is for the far elevators - the elevators are by the blurry TV screen. There were at least 50 people in line.
As you can see, they set up the airplane-gate ropes by the elevator to maintain a constant queue going to the separate elevators.
The lesson, of course - everyone in the 40 story office building arrives between 8:45 and 9:30. Don't arrive at those times.
Apparently, the subway just arrived and there were a horde of people at the elevators. Here is a picture of the line I was in - the elevator I wanted was directly to the right.
The line of people in back is for the far elevators - the elevators are by the blurry TV screen. There were at least 50 people in line.
As you can see, they set up the airplane-gate ropes by the elevator to maintain a constant queue going to the separate elevators.
The lesson, of course - everyone in the 40 story office building arrives between 8:45 and 9:30. Don't arrive at those times.
A picture to make an Irishman cry
Had to put this picture up for Craig. This is a picture from a supermarket that features many foreign foods. For import foods, the flag of the nation is there to show where it was imported from.
Here's a picture of the beer aisle. You can see - Beck's imported from Germany, Heineken from Holland, and a mystery beer in the top left, imported from Malaysia....
Aug 16, 2011
A glowing review
There is a small waterpark nearby our apartment. A friend of ours went on Sunday with his kids - I asked for a review, and whether we should take our boys sometime.
His response, verbatim:
Fun, but go early, as the filters have a hard time keeping up with population. Water very clean at beginning, by noon a little cloudy. Plus, more public urination than I prefer at my water parks.
Otherwise, lovely!
His response, verbatim:
Fun, but go early, as the filters have a hard time keeping up with population. Water very clean at beginning, by noon a little cloudy. Plus, more public urination than I prefer at my water parks.
Otherwise, lovely!
Aug 15, 2011
The definition of demotivation
Yesterday, the gym at our complex was closed - no reason given, just a notice that "on August 14th, the facitilies will be temporarily closed". I really needed to get some exercise, as I have skipped a couple of sessions last week - so I decided to run outside yesterday afternoon.
It wasn't deathly hot - even though it was 90-95 degrees and 90% humidity - the run was on the river and there was some shade, at least. I completed 5K in about 30 minutes (29:45!!!) and walked back into the apartment complex.
I was dripping with sweat and still trying to catch my breath fully when I went into the elevator with a middle-aged Chinese woman. After saying "Ni Hao", she responded with something like:
"Pao Lao Ti"
I had no idea what she was saying, so she tried again, a bit slower:
"Pao Lao Tai" - different word on the end.
"Pao Lao Tai", she tried one more time.
I shrugged - again - and got to my floor and exited.
5 seconds later - it hit me. Hey- maybe I know some of those words! "Tai", I remember, is "too" - like too hot, too much, too cold, etc.
"Lao" - where I have heard that before? "Lao Shi" is the word for teacher....literally meaning "old leader". So "Lao" must be old, or elderly....
Hey, wait a minute...I don't like where this is going.
I looked up "Pao" on my IPhone Chinese dictionary - yup, one of the definitions for Pao means "to run"
So - she literally told me "run old too", or, with some simple rearranging, "too old to run" - I'm too old to run.
I'm going to have to learn Chinese in order to respond to insults within an hour.....
(* "Lao Ti" I think is worse; it means "old and weak". So she could be saying "I run like an old, weak man".)
Aug 14, 2011
Only the best
Here is a picture of our engineering department shirts that were ordered for an offsite.
I think the owner of the company who makes the shirt needs to take the advanced
English lessons.....
I think the owner of the company who makes the shirt needs to take the advanced
English lessons.....
Aug 7, 2011
Chinese Logic
We have been doing a lot of miscellaneous stuff around the apartment here to get ready for another year here in China. It's very hard to believe that the 1 year anniversary for our assignment was on Saturday; it's even harder to believe that the boys go back to school on Wednesday!
The feeling around here reminds me of the first hours of a Vegas trip on Wednesday. Our friends are arriving bit by bit - we all know that they have to be here by Wednesday, but I'm not sure of their exact arrival dates. One friendof ours came back last Thursday; another arrived this weekend; twomore are coming tomorrow (I think).....it's very much like a Wednesday night in Vegas, when the whole group starts arriving in stages.
The big addition to the apartment this year is a new router we bought in California; it workslike a charm and I can access the signal all the way in the kitchen. Slingbox now works on the main TV - so I may be camped out on our couch for the NFL games on Monday morning from 1-4 am.
We also went to the sporting goods store to buy a bike for Martin. As you can see in the first picture - you will be satisfied or....you will be satisfied! There is no other choice!
The mindset of customers in stores here is much different. The second picture is a picture of the ping-pong table displays in the store. As you can see, customers have no problem in helping themselves in trying the equipment/table out. The bike area in this store is filled with customers actually riding sample bikes up and down the aisle.
And it's like this in every store. You should see the IKEA on a Saturday ( I did yesterday). It's like a hospital waiting room. 90% of the seats of the sofas/chairs on display are occupied. At least half of the beds on display has someone laying on it. Hey, it's there to be used, right?
The landlord's assistant came over on Saturday as we shared a list of things we wanted done around the place to renew our lease. One of the items was the swimming pool at the apartment. The pool is open from 8:30 - 11, and then from 3:30 - 9. It is closed from 11-3:30.
Those hours are fine during the week, but during the weekend, with 3 kids? I mean, early afternoon hours are prime hours to be at the pool!!! So I brought this up with the manager.
"Yes, it is closed from 11 - 3:30."
Well, can it be open during those hours on a weekend?
"Oh....hmmmm...well, those are the hours when the sun shines on the pool."
And?
"It gets hot on the pool deck - with the sun there. It's too hot to work. So we close it down until it gets colder at 3:30."
So - you actaully close the pool because it is too hot to swim?
"Yes, that's right."
Let me get you the number of a pool manager in Las Vegas and you can talk to them on how to keep a pool open during the summer.....
The feeling around here reminds me of the first hours of a Vegas trip on Wednesday. Our friends are arriving bit by bit - we all know that they have to be here by Wednesday, but I'm not sure of their exact arrival dates. One friendof ours came back last Thursday; another arrived this weekend; twomore are coming tomorrow (I think).....it's very much like a Wednesday night in Vegas, when the whole group starts arriving in stages.
The big addition to the apartment this year is a new router we bought in California; it workslike a charm and I can access the signal all the way in the kitchen. Slingbox now works on the main TV - so I may be camped out on our couch for the NFL games on Monday morning from 1-4 am.
We also went to the sporting goods store to buy a bike for Martin. As you can see in the first picture - you will be satisfied or....you will be satisfied! There is no other choice!
The mindset of customers in stores here is much different. The second picture is a picture of the ping-pong table displays in the store. As you can see, customers have no problem in helping themselves in trying the equipment/table out. The bike area in this store is filled with customers actually riding sample bikes up and down the aisle.
And it's like this in every store. You should see the IKEA on a Saturday ( I did yesterday). It's like a hospital waiting room. 90% of the seats of the sofas/chairs on display are occupied. At least half of the beds on display has someone laying on it. Hey, it's there to be used, right?
The landlord's assistant came over on Saturday as we shared a list of things we wanted done around the place to renew our lease. One of the items was the swimming pool at the apartment. The pool is open from 8:30 - 11, and then from 3:30 - 9. It is closed from 11-3:30.
Those hours are fine during the week, but during the weekend, with 3 kids? I mean, early afternoon hours are prime hours to be at the pool!!! So I brought this up with the manager.
"Yes, it is closed from 11 - 3:30."
Well, can it be open during those hours on a weekend?
"Oh....hmmmm...well, those are the hours when the sun shines on the pool."
And?
"It gets hot on the pool deck - with the sun there. It's too hot to work. So we close it down until it gets colder at 3:30."
So - you actaully close the pool because it is too hot to swim?
"Yes, that's right."
Let me get you the number of a pool manager in Las Vegas and you can talk to them on how to keep a pool open during the summer.....
Aug 4, 2011
Am I getting soft?
Layup and I made a trip to the Pala Casino in Southern California the night before I left. We ended up spending 4 1/2 hours out there - we thought we would play some UTH, some Pai Gow, blackjack - you know, some variety.
As you probably guessed, 100% of the time was spent on UTH.
And not just normal UTH - this was Progressive! For an extra $1 (or more, I guess) on top of the trips, you have a side bet on the hand you form with your two hole cards and the three flop cards. A royal wins $75,000!
(Of course, no one came close).
Anyway, Layup and I settled in nicely - to his left, Layup made friends with a 60 year old Asian woman who knew no English but would engage Layup in a high-ten (two hands) when they both hit a winning hand. Stevie Williams and Tiger had better coordination.
Next to me was a 50-something woman who seemed to be Mexican by birth but was Americanized. Her and I would chat a bit about the hands - very friendly. Every once in a while, this strange male, about 25-30, who had some sort of mental defect would come over and hover; the lady would quickly scold him in Spanish, telling him to sit down over there and shut up. (Sientese alli! See, I still know some spanish.
After the third visit by this man, I gave my neighbor a quizzical look.
"That's my son. He fell into a pool when he was young, drowned and had some brain damage because of it."
Oh - sorry to hear that.
"Yes, he likes to come with me and hang out while I play. He's going in for surgery tomorrow - he's getting a skin graft - and he can't have anything to eat after midnight. So I have to keep an eye on him."
Um - ok. I will file that away in my brain - if any of you think I have a gambling problem (you know, taking my 7 month pregnant wife to play craps in a smoky Argosy casino, betting halftime lines for WNBA, driving 10 hours in one day to gamble)- I'll just throw this lady out as the counter example. I'm not as bad as her!
Anyway, about 2 hours in, I was winning some and Layup was up some too. Two ladies came over and occupied the seats at the far end of the table. One was a 60-year old country girl, dressed in a cowboy shirt that was adorned with rhinestones. I immediately thought "Ann Richards", but Layup beat me to it and whispered "Rhinestone Cowboy is here".
Two hands in - two hands! - she noticed that Layup and I were not playing the trips. Here we go again.
"You're not playing the trips? That's stupid. That's how you make money in this game! You have to play the trips!"
Before I could say anything, Layup pulls the "Shufflemaster" card out and says he works for Shufflemaster and said the Trips bet "is for suckers only". That shut everyone up for a while.
The mood of the table turned icy - but a strange thing happened. I started winning. And - oddly - I was the only one winning. Layup went on a losing streak; our friends started losing, and Rhinestone kept losing too. But I kept winning. I would guess that 40-50% of my hands were A-x, K-6 or higher or Q-J - --- all hands to go in 4x before the flop. I didn't win all of them, but I did win about 75% of them - that helps the bankroll.
Rhinestone started paying attention, and then was interested in our methods.
"You go 4x on any ace?"
Oh dear, I can see this coming a mile away. Yes, I replied.
"Hmmmmph...."
The next hand - the next one, I swear! - she got dealt an ace. She went 4x. She lost.
Three hands later, she got A-x again. She did not go 4x, she waited until the last round, went 1x - and won.
By then, the mood of the table was in the pits. No one was winning. Layup, who was up a few hundred, was now down to his last few bets. Our friends left.
But I kept on winning.
I felt sympathtic to the table - and even toward Rhinestone. Five years ago - one year ago? - I would have muttered "f*** her" to Layup. But no - she's just a mistaken woman who can't be bothered to understand the odds. I felt some pity for her.
And it depressed me that no one else was winning. The best times at a casino are when everyone wins. This was an odd feeling - I'm winning but no one else can buy a hand.
We played another hour - the mood did not improve, and Layup fought back to even - but I never felt vengeful, or overjoyed at the table. I won 4 digits of profit - and yet I just wish Rhinestone would have shut her mouth and hept her head down when she sat at the table.
What's wrong with me? I am getting soft and emotional as I get older, aren't I?
As you probably guessed, 100% of the time was spent on UTH.
And not just normal UTH - this was Progressive! For an extra $1 (or more, I guess) on top of the trips, you have a side bet on the hand you form with your two hole cards and the three flop cards. A royal wins $75,000!
(Of course, no one came close).
Anyway, Layup and I settled in nicely - to his left, Layup made friends with a 60 year old Asian woman who knew no English but would engage Layup in a high-ten (two hands) when they both hit a winning hand. Stevie Williams and Tiger had better coordination.
Next to me was a 50-something woman who seemed to be Mexican by birth but was Americanized. Her and I would chat a bit about the hands - very friendly. Every once in a while, this strange male, about 25-30, who had some sort of mental defect would come over and hover; the lady would quickly scold him in Spanish, telling him to sit down over there and shut up. (Sientese alli! See, I still know some spanish.
After the third visit by this man, I gave my neighbor a quizzical look.
"That's my son. He fell into a pool when he was young, drowned and had some brain damage because of it."
Oh - sorry to hear that.
"Yes, he likes to come with me and hang out while I play. He's going in for surgery tomorrow - he's getting a skin graft - and he can't have anything to eat after midnight. So I have to keep an eye on him."
Um - ok. I will file that away in my brain - if any of you think I have a gambling problem (you know, taking my 7 month pregnant wife to play craps in a smoky Argosy casino, betting halftime lines for WNBA, driving 10 hours in one day to gamble)- I'll just throw this lady out as the counter example. I'm not as bad as her!
Anyway, about 2 hours in, I was winning some and Layup was up some too. Two ladies came over and occupied the seats at the far end of the table. One was a 60-year old country girl, dressed in a cowboy shirt that was adorned with rhinestones. I immediately thought "Ann Richards", but Layup beat me to it and whispered "Rhinestone Cowboy is here".
Two hands in - two hands! - she noticed that Layup and I were not playing the trips. Here we go again.
"You're not playing the trips? That's stupid. That's how you make money in this game! You have to play the trips!"
Before I could say anything, Layup pulls the "Shufflemaster" card out and says he works for Shufflemaster and said the Trips bet "is for suckers only". That shut everyone up for a while.
The mood of the table turned icy - but a strange thing happened. I started winning. And - oddly - I was the only one winning. Layup went on a losing streak; our friends started losing, and Rhinestone kept losing too. But I kept winning. I would guess that 40-50% of my hands were A-x, K-6 or higher or Q-J - --- all hands to go in 4x before the flop. I didn't win all of them, but I did win about 75% of them - that helps the bankroll.
Rhinestone started paying attention, and then was interested in our methods.
"You go 4x on any ace?"
Oh dear, I can see this coming a mile away. Yes, I replied.
"Hmmmmph...."
The next hand - the next one, I swear! - she got dealt an ace. She went 4x. She lost.
Three hands later, she got A-x again. She did not go 4x, she waited until the last round, went 1x - and won.
By then, the mood of the table was in the pits. No one was winning. Layup, who was up a few hundred, was now down to his last few bets. Our friends left.
But I kept on winning.
I felt sympathtic to the table - and even toward Rhinestone. Five years ago - one year ago? - I would have muttered "f*** her" to Layup. But no - she's just a mistaken woman who can't be bothered to understand the odds. I felt some pity for her.
And it depressed me that no one else was winning. The best times at a casino are when everyone wins. This was an odd feeling - I'm winning but no one else can buy a hand.
We played another hour - the mood did not improve, and Layup fought back to even - but I never felt vengeful, or overjoyed at the table. I won 4 digits of profit - and yet I just wish Rhinestone would have shut her mouth and hept her head down when she sat at the table.
What's wrong with me? I am getting soft and emotional as I get older, aren't I?
Aug 2, 2011
Chinese Young Love
In the Starbucks near work (actaully, on the 1st floor of our building), there is a notebook where aspiring young artists/poets/party memebers can write down their deepest thoughts & notes. I was flipping through it yesterday while waiting for my drink....and came across this.
Is this sarcastic? Quixote-ish? Encouraging? Who knows.....I will have to find Jason somehow....
Is this sarcastic? Quixote-ish? Encouraging? Who knows.....I will have to find Jason somehow....
Jet Lag
It's been a week now since we've been in China - and I think it's safe to say now that we are over the jet lag. It only took us 7 days!
(there is some sort of scientific study that it takes you one day to recover from jet lag for each time zone you travel. That may be true for 80-year olds, but cmon....3 days to recover from a visit to/from CA?)
We landed early Wednesday morning last week - after a 14 hour flight. Everyone took some sort of nap that day. At 6:30 pm, the boys were crying that they wanted to go to bed. They went to bed at 7 pm.
The whole house was up Thursday morning at 2:30 am.
On Friday, everyone was up at 4; on Saturday, it was 5. For 5 days, everyone was in bed sleeping at 10 pm - including us.
On Sunday, I tried to stay up to 10:30 pm at night, only to wake up at 4:30. On the bright side, I was able to watch the end of the golf and see my golfer, Gary Woodland, woefully underclub on 18 when he needed a birdie.
Only today are the boys finally waking up at the regular hour (7 am).
It's much, much tougher coming here than going from here to the US.
(there is some sort of scientific study that it takes you one day to recover from jet lag for each time zone you travel. That may be true for 80-year olds, but cmon....3 days to recover from a visit to/from CA?)
We landed early Wednesday morning last week - after a 14 hour flight. Everyone took some sort of nap that day. At 6:30 pm, the boys were crying that they wanted to go to bed. They went to bed at 7 pm.
The whole house was up Thursday morning at 2:30 am.
On Friday, everyone was up at 4; on Saturday, it was 5. For 5 days, everyone was in bed sleeping at 10 pm - including us.
On Sunday, I tried to stay up to 10:30 pm at night, only to wake up at 4:30. On the bright side, I was able to watch the end of the golf and see my golfer, Gary Woodland, woefully underclub on 18 when he needed a birdie.
Only today are the boys finally waking up at the regular hour (7 am).
It's much, much tougher coming here than going from here to the US.
Jul 31, 2011
Golf Notes for the future
Had a chance to play 6 rounds of golf while in the US. As most of you know, I have been struggling off the tee with the driver; the solid slight draw that I learned in 2003 and played until about 2007 is now gone, replaced by a hard pull-hook (lovingly called a spatula by Steve). Over the last 3 years, I really have had no good idea where the ball is going off the tee; I have been trying to hit a hard fade as the go-to shot.
That worked for a while. I hit it for the first round at Yankee, when I shot 79 (44-35, including a 40 yard chip in on the last). However, that fade went away the next day with Don and Mike in a disastorous round.
The next week I played with Steve and Kermit, and the power fade was working for about 7 holes; I was +2 and really should have been even. Then I hit an awful block-slice on 8, and that was it for me off the tee. The afternoon round at Granville was horrid - I can't recall any drive that hit the fairway in that round.
The next day I played with Janice's cousin at NorthStar, a new semi-private John Cook design just north of Columbus. Same thing - power fade works for 6-8 holes, then disappears. On the back side, after missing a 40-yard-wide fairway for the 4th hole in a row, I said "f it" and tried to hit the draw again.
It worked. Two tight draws to end the round, and they were the longest drives I've hit in 6 months. Right before i left, I snuck out to play Crooked Tree at 6 in the morning; I tried the same swing off the tee and put it out of play just once. That, unfortunately, is a vast improvement.
But something clicked. It felt right. Yes, this is the swing that worked in the mid-2000s. This is it. So, even though no one cares, here are the keys to the "magic" swing I found for the last 20 holes. I need to read this before each infrequent round of golf....
1. Line up square! Don't overcompensate by closing or opening the stance.
2. Line up to the right edge of the fairway
3. Normal backswing - don't exaggerate by taking it too far in or out.
4. Compact backswing - the complete opposite of Kermit's backswing.
5. On the downswing, pivot around left leg.
6. Swing out! Don't steer by "pulling" the clubhead. Swing out and trust it!
In fact, this song played in my head all through Iowa in 2004-05 to remind me of the in-to-out swing path. I regret I never had a chance to sing it to anyone this summer.
I'm the one you hurt
And I'm the one you need
I'm the one who cried
the one you used to meet
But you are pretendng you don't care
But the fire is still there!
Now we are much too young to love each other this way
I'll leave it to the commenters to name the title of this tune.
Jul 30, 2011
Back up and running
Hello again! We are back in China after a 4-week trip to the US. I first want to thank everyone for a great time during the last four weeks. Thanks to all for making the time to see us during the compressed schedule!
Once I got back, a lot of people here asked how my "vacation" was. Well, to be honest, only the last 4 days in California actually felt like a vacation! The three weeks in Cincinnati were a whirlwind - both Janice and Itried to work half the time and then take off the other half.....and that plan was a mixed success. It seems like we didn't have enough time for either. There may be some changes for next year's visit.
(Also, so many people told me when I got back here... "you look relaxed!" What do I normally look like? As uptight as Brad Childress?
What did I miss the most about the US? I think the freedom.....the freedom to go anywhere, drive anywhere. If I got up at 6:30 and wanted an Almond Joy Latte from the local coffee shop, I can get in the car and do that. Martin got a fever one night - so I hopped in the car at 11 pm and went to Kroger's. That just can't happen here, due to the fact that I can't drive and most stores aren't open at those hours.
The boys didn't miss a beat - we landed at 10 am on a Monday and asked if thye could play with their friends in the neighborhood that afternoon. And it truly felt- for them - like nothing had changed; they went right to their Wii games or legos, just like they did in summer of 2010.
However, China truly feels like home now. By the 4th week, we were looking forward to coming "home" to China. Even Freddie made that comment. That was unexpected.
Once we arrvied here, we were quickly reminded of the life in China in the summer; the smells and odors are very pungent in July. Just imagine a trash can sitting full on a city street in 95 degree heat 24 hours day - by day 3, it's fairly "ripe". Those are the smells we are greeted with as we walked to the store yesterday.
Oh - that and the cockroach found in our baby wipes drawer in the laundry room.
Many of you mentioned that you'd love to see more blogging - so I will try to create most posts for this coming year. We bought a laptop, so that should help a lot - I am currently blogging while eating Trix and ddrinking coffee at our dining room table. I'll make an effort to post more photos/comments in the future.
Once I got back, a lot of people here asked how my "vacation" was. Well, to be honest, only the last 4 days in California actually felt like a vacation! The three weeks in Cincinnati were a whirlwind - both Janice and Itried to work half the time and then take off the other half.....and that plan was a mixed success. It seems like we didn't have enough time for either. There may be some changes for next year's visit.
(Also, so many people told me when I got back here... "you look relaxed!" What do I normally look like? As uptight as Brad Childress?
What did I miss the most about the US? I think the freedom.....the freedom to go anywhere, drive anywhere. If I got up at 6:30 and wanted an Almond Joy Latte from the local coffee shop, I can get in the car and do that. Martin got a fever one night - so I hopped in the car at 11 pm and went to Kroger's. That just can't happen here, due to the fact that I can't drive and most stores aren't open at those hours.
The boys didn't miss a beat - we landed at 10 am on a Monday and asked if thye could play with their friends in the neighborhood that afternoon. And it truly felt- for them - like nothing had changed; they went right to their Wii games or legos, just like they did in summer of 2010.
However, China truly feels like home now. By the 4th week, we were looking forward to coming "home" to China. Even Freddie made that comment. That was unexpected.
Once we arrvied here, we were quickly reminded of the life in China in the summer; the smells and odors are very pungent in July. Just imagine a trash can sitting full on a city street in 95 degree heat 24 hours day - by day 3, it's fairly "ripe". Those are the smells we are greeted with as we walked to the store yesterday.
Oh - that and the cockroach found in our baby wipes drawer in the laundry room.
Many of you mentioned that you'd love to see more blogging - so I will try to create most posts for this coming year. We bought a laptop, so that should help a lot - I am currently blogging while eating Trix and ddrinking coffee at our dining room table. I'll make an effort to post more photos/comments in the future.
Jul 1, 2011
Welcome Home!
Well - we are back! We are here in the US for about 4 weeks for our annual return home. For me, it's about 50% work and 50% vacation - which means running around for doctor's appointments, clothes shopping, and to see everyone.
Some initial impressions about being back:
- it's cool in the morning! I never appreciated summer mornings when you wake up and it is 65 degrees. In Guangzhou, we haven't seen that temperature since April. It's amazing how refreshing that feels.
- the sun! Ow! My eyes! Constant sunlight! It's so bright!
- You can see the horizon - the sunsets - the morning sky. It's been clear here for the few days we've been back - and I never realized how much I've taken the "clear" sky for granted. You can see for miles! That's just not the case in Guangzhou. And Cincinnati isn't exactly what you call a "clean" sky - Iowa is 10x better - but the difference is remarkable.
- Martin has some eczema on his skin - that magically is clearing up nicely after just four days here in the US! Hmmmmmmm...
- My stomach is on overload. We got breakfast on Monday in the Detroit airport; I quickly ordered the "Sausage and Cheese sandwich on a Maple Biscuit". What genius invented this sandwich? Wow - heavenly. It's been nothing but bad food since then. And my stomach isn't processing it too well.....
Some initial impressions about being back:
- it's cool in the morning! I never appreciated summer mornings when you wake up and it is 65 degrees. In Guangzhou, we haven't seen that temperature since April. It's amazing how refreshing that feels.
- the sun! Ow! My eyes! Constant sunlight! It's so bright!
- You can see the horizon - the sunsets - the morning sky. It's been clear here for the few days we've been back - and I never realized how much I've taken the "clear" sky for granted. You can see for miles! That's just not the case in Guangzhou. And Cincinnati isn't exactly what you call a "clean" sky - Iowa is 10x better - but the difference is remarkable.
- Martin has some eczema on his skin - that magically is clearing up nicely after just four days here in the US! Hmmmmmmm...
- My stomach is on overload. We got breakfast on Monday in the Detroit airport; I quickly ordered the "Sausage and Cheese sandwich on a Maple Biscuit". What genius invented this sandwich? Wow - heavenly. It's been nothing but bad food since then. And my stomach isn't processing it too well.....
Jun 18, 2011
T-shirts
Something random for a Saturday: T-shirts.
Most of the T-Shirts that native Chinese are wearing have words in English.As you can imagine, the English on the shirts are mangled...
...but even on those where the English is not mangled, the T-shirts makes no sense.
I should keep a running list of confusing/hilarious/odd shirts that I have seen; the three that I saw over the past week:
"World Wide Wet" (with drops of water coming from the words)
"My Green in Greener than your Life" (the T-shirt had a camoflauge design)
and:
"Who the F*** is Mick Jagger? (yes, the word was spelled correctly on the shirt)
I just wonder who makes these shirt designs. Fascinating.
Most of the T-Shirts that native Chinese are wearing have words in English.As you can imagine, the English on the shirts are mangled...
...but even on those where the English is not mangled, the T-shirts makes no sense.
I should keep a running list of confusing/hilarious/odd shirts that I have seen; the three that I saw over the past week:
"World Wide Wet" (with drops of water coming from the words)
"My Green in Greener than your Life" (the T-shirt had a camoflauge design)
and:
"Who the F*** is Mick Jagger? (yes, the word was spelled correctly on the shirt)
I just wonder who makes these shirt designs. Fascinating.
Jun 15, 2011
US Open thoughts
Hi all....I know it's been a while since there's been a posting here - we've had computer problems (a week of the blue screen on startup), and life has been extremely busy.
But it is Open week! It's going to be weird to get home from work tomorrow, eat dinner, play with the kids, put them in bed.....and then go to the Slingbox and turn on ESPN to start watching the Open.
I'm truly excited for the tournament. It's wide open - and that's good. It should set up for a crowded finish, with 8-10 people within 2 shots of the lead. Everyone in the top 10 right now has flaws.....
(which means Ben Curtis will be your winner? Hey,he's got a good track record at Avenel.....)
Some quick takes on the tournament matchups on VIP: here's who I like (ok, here's who I love:)
Westwood -105 over Donald
Kaymer -115 over D Johnson
F Molinari -115 over Quiros
Glover -125 over Els
Poulter -105 over Snedeker
Vegas -115 over Fisher
Manassero -110 over Casey
Day +105 over Toms
8-way Parlay action!
But it is Open week! It's going to be weird to get home from work tomorrow, eat dinner, play with the kids, put them in bed.....and then go to the Slingbox and turn on ESPN to start watching the Open.
I'm truly excited for the tournament. It's wide open - and that's good. It should set up for a crowded finish, with 8-10 people within 2 shots of the lead. Everyone in the top 10 right now has flaws.....
(which means Ben Curtis will be your winner? Hey,he's got a good track record at Avenel.....)
Some quick takes on the tournament matchups on VIP: here's who I like (ok, here's who I love:)
Westwood -105 over Donald
Kaymer -115 over D Johnson
F Molinari -115 over Quiros
Glover -125 over Els
Poulter -105 over Snedeker
Vegas -115 over Fisher
Manassero -110 over Casey
Day +105 over Toms
8-way Parlay action!
May 25, 2011
Why?
Why have I heard "Auld Lang Syne" on the elevator twice in the past week? And why did I hear "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives at Starbucks on Saturday?
Why is there a small trash can in every public restroom stall? *
Why - since everyone here lives in an apartment building with elevators - does no one here have any common courtesy? Why are these sort of things commonplace:
- anytime the door opens, people think it is their turn to get on - or off- the elevator. It's a mass traffic jam at the ground floor when all the people are trying to get off when the doors open - and the people coming in don't wait and try to get on at the same instant.
- at least once per day I get on the elevator and go up; the elevator stops at a few floors and then some lady giggles; she pushes the button of a floor we already past. It never fails. People don't realize they past their floor. Why?
- at least one per week, I get to the elevator, and I see a person standing next to the elevators, apparently waiting......but the "up" or "down" button is not pushed. I push "up"; it comes, and the person gets in with me and we go up.
Um - do you think it magically knows you are there? You do have to push the button, you know....
And speaking of elevators,
Why is this KFC commercial constantly playing in our office elevator? Do people actually buy this?
(No, I have not tried it - yes, I want to. I will file a full report once I order it).
(thanks to Keith for the link to the commercial)
* - I actually know this answer....I just would like some of you to guess why.
Why is there a small trash can in every public restroom stall? *
Why - since everyone here lives in an apartment building with elevators - does no one here have any common courtesy? Why are these sort of things commonplace:
- anytime the door opens, people think it is their turn to get on - or off- the elevator. It's a mass traffic jam at the ground floor when all the people are trying to get off when the doors open - and the people coming in don't wait and try to get on at the same instant.
- at least once per day I get on the elevator and go up; the elevator stops at a few floors and then some lady giggles; she pushes the button of a floor we already past. It never fails. People don't realize they past their floor. Why?
- at least one per week, I get to the elevator, and I see a person standing next to the elevators, apparently waiting......but the "up" or "down" button is not pushed. I push "up"; it comes, and the person gets in with me and we go up.
Um - do you think it magically knows you are there? You do have to push the button, you know....
And speaking of elevators,
Why is this KFC commercial constantly playing in our office elevator? Do people actually buy this?
(No, I have not tried it - yes, I want to. I will file a full report once I order it).
(thanks to Keith for the link to the commercial)
* - I actually know this answer....I just would like some of you to guess why.
May 21, 2011
Sports Blogging, part 2
Time for a bowling outing!
A few weeks ago, 5 families got together for a bowling outing at the local lanes - new lanes at the Asia Games sports center.
(Do you sense a theme here? A lot of the "infrastructure" improvements in the city were all sprruedon by the city hosting the Asia games last fall. That's why many veteran ex-pats here just shake their heads at all the changes they have seen in this city in the past 5 years. It really has become a modern city.)
It's a very modern facility a 32-lane center with (of course) automated scoring and bumpers, if needed. They had shoes my size (size 11!) and the lanes were extremely well lit. The flags of the participating countries were still hanging from the ceiling.
The ball racks were all labeled; you would see a "9" on a rack, and that means that's where the 9 lb balls go there. I thought that was ingenious. No more wasting 10 minutes at the beginning trying to find a proper ball.
However, the downside: there were racks and racks of 8, 10, 11, 12 lb balls; in the whole 32 lane facility, there were 6 15-lb balls and 3 16-lb balls. That's it. It's like the complete opposite of the US, where there is one 8 lb ball for the kids and 3,562 16 lb balls for Vito and his pals.
(The adults did get to bowl one game; my 138 was not that awful, considering it's been 18 months since I bowled and the presence of 2 Chinese kids crawling all over the ball return system while I bowled. It's not a jungle gym.....)
Sports blogging, part 1
So if I told you that the boys are in Little League here in China, what would you think? How do you picture a little league field? When I heard that ex-pats were trying to put together a Little League this spring, I thought we would be playing on a converted soccer field, on a lot of dirt/hardpan, with possibly some rebar/nails sticking out of the ground.
I couldn't be more wrong.
Here is a video of the field that the boys play at. The league has rented out the Asia Games baseball stadium every Saturday in the spring (for a fee of 500 RMB/$90 weekly).
I am standing in centerfield; you can see games going on in the left field corner and the right field corner. (Freddie's team is practicing in cetner field; and yes, I throw up a little when I have to wear a red jersey with the words "SOX" on it.)
The fields are immaculate. The grass is always cut, it is perfectly flat (no bad bounces), and we get the use of the locker room (and even the stands, to keep toddlers occupied).
The field is located in the heart of the city- the surroundings are spectacular. The large building right behind us in center field is the Citic building, the 15th largest building in the world. You can also see the Soccer stadium behind the right field line.
These kids have no idea how good they have it. It is 10,000% better than the field I grew up on - the field down the hill behind Sparks elementary that flooded every time we got 1/4" of rain, or the field for Freddie's 1st grade league that was hidden behind the Lakota school bus depot......
(as an aside, I never really knew how hard it is to "teach" baseball until now. Let's say you have a bunch of kids that know nothing about sports. Nothing. They are a blank slate. What's easiest to teach?
1. Soccer - kick the ball in the net, don't use your hands.
2. Basketball - put the ball in the hoop, try to dribble every once in a while, don't hold on defense.
3. Baseball. I don't think we Americans realize how many basic rules there are that has to be taught before even having a semi-competitive game. The rules on force plays alone confuse the non-American kids (and the adults). Why can I overrun first base but not 2nd? What happens on a fly ball that's caught?
I couldn't be more wrong.
Here is a video of the field that the boys play at. The league has rented out the Asia Games baseball stadium every Saturday in the spring (for a fee of 500 RMB/$90 weekly).
I am standing in centerfield; you can see games going on in the left field corner and the right field corner. (Freddie's team is practicing in cetner field; and yes, I throw up a little when I have to wear a red jersey with the words "SOX" on it.)
The fields are immaculate. The grass is always cut, it is perfectly flat (no bad bounces), and we get the use of the locker room (and even the stands, to keep toddlers occupied).
The field is located in the heart of the city- the surroundings are spectacular. The large building right behind us in center field is the Citic building, the 15th largest building in the world. You can also see the Soccer stadium behind the right field line.
These kids have no idea how good they have it. It is 10,000% better than the field I grew up on - the field down the hill behind Sparks elementary that flooded every time we got 1/4" of rain, or the field for Freddie's 1st grade league that was hidden behind the Lakota school bus depot......
(as an aside, I never really knew how hard it is to "teach" baseball until now. Let's say you have a bunch of kids that know nothing about sports. Nothing. They are a blank slate. What's easiest to teach?
1. Soccer - kick the ball in the net, don't use your hands.
2. Basketball - put the ball in the hoop, try to dribble every once in a while, don't hold on defense.
3. Baseball. I don't think we Americans realize how many basic rules there are that has to be taught before even having a semi-competitive game. The rules on force plays alone confuse the non-American kids (and the adults). Why can I overrun first base but not 2nd? What happens on a fly ball that's caught?
May 15, 2011
Heading Back to Vegas
So in two weeks Carol and I will be heading out to Vegas for her birthday. Her friend, Lauren, will be watching Morgan leaving us 3 days to ourselves. This will be very interesting since my gambling habits have changed dramatically since the last time we gambled together. Let's see what has changed since my last trip:
1. Craps- I can't half ass it anymore. There is a saying in poker, if you get nervous making a bet, then you are playing beyond your means. Well a $25 table doesn't scare me anymore and a $12 wager is boring. There's good and bad things about that. One thing I liked about our trip in March was how easy it was to saddle up to one of those tables and cash in for the correct amount and not just a couple of hundred, hoping the table doesn't go cold. Back in March, craps really went well for me. I played the most I've ever played and did very well. When our group either broke even or was down, I seemed to be up. So I'm set on playing the come from now on. The only problem is can I control the hard ways.
2. UTH- Carol loves this game and when we both played it in Nov 2009, the swings were almost too much for me. Having to bankroll two hands at a $15 table, it can get ugly so quickly.
3. I will take Carol into the Lounge and we will see what her reaction will be. Once again, if she wants to play, then the budget is going to get crazy. Now Carol loves blackjack and I'm not too sure if I can stomach playing at a $10 table with all the riff raff anymore. I've become so pretentious haven't I?
4. Roulette- I only played for 15 minutes back in March waiting for Wiz to cash in his chips and I ended up walking away from the table because the dealer was a jackass. I love the tables at the Mirage and will hopefully be able to spend some time there this trip.
So I never posted anything about this last trip, which now I'm sad that I didn't. Too much work and too much baby time. I rate this trip very high in my book. Its up there with the time we first were introduced to Don and Mike. The UTH dealers were great, the dinners were very good, played golf on an amazing course, and almost came back as a winner. Below are some additional highlights:
1. I was all but done come Saturday. I was down to my last $500 and put all of it on games that day. My friend Brian came out from San Diego and we ended up going to the Mirage wine bar to watch some of the games. I had to pay for dinner that night so I had some funds for gambling. Then I went on an amazing run. Kicked ass at the Palazzo craps table, another great run at the Mirage craps table, and finally did very well at the UTH table. Ventured into the Lounge and did OK at the BJ table. Oh, and I went undefeated on my sports wagering. I was able to get back within $1000 of my original budget.
2. Got a text from Jay on Thursday morning asking how everything was going, and I responded that I "had to pump sea water into reactor one last night. reactor two is showing signs of overheating. Not a good start." That was my worst Wed/Thurs/Fri combo ever. It was horrific.
3. I know that its not fair, but I hold Eric to a different standard than others. When I found out that he bet the don't, I was devastated. When I saw him not being honest and take money from a dealer, I was appalled. And when he told me that he had a previous wager on FSU and he picked the other way in our parlay, I was shocked. SHOCKED!!!!! This is the crap I expect out of Wiz and Lee, not Eric. I'm writing my gamblers manifesto to give to Morgan and my nephews, and all three of these offenses will be in there on what not to do in a casino.
4. Speaking of the book, I have 6 chapters so far; Group Selection, Casino and Restaurant Selection, Room Behavior, Money Management, Gooching, and How to build positive Karma.
1. Craps- I can't half ass it anymore. There is a saying in poker, if you get nervous making a bet, then you are playing beyond your means. Well a $25 table doesn't scare me anymore and a $12 wager is boring. There's good and bad things about that. One thing I liked about our trip in March was how easy it was to saddle up to one of those tables and cash in for the correct amount and not just a couple of hundred, hoping the table doesn't go cold. Back in March, craps really went well for me. I played the most I've ever played and did very well. When our group either broke even or was down, I seemed to be up. So I'm set on playing the come from now on. The only problem is can I control the hard ways.
2. UTH- Carol loves this game and when we both played it in Nov 2009, the swings were almost too much for me. Having to bankroll two hands at a $15 table, it can get ugly so quickly.
3. I will take Carol into the Lounge and we will see what her reaction will be. Once again, if she wants to play, then the budget is going to get crazy. Now Carol loves blackjack and I'm not too sure if I can stomach playing at a $10 table with all the riff raff anymore. I've become so pretentious haven't I?
4. Roulette- I only played for 15 minutes back in March waiting for Wiz to cash in his chips and I ended up walking away from the table because the dealer was a jackass. I love the tables at the Mirage and will hopefully be able to spend some time there this trip.
So I never posted anything about this last trip, which now I'm sad that I didn't. Too much work and too much baby time. I rate this trip very high in my book. Its up there with the time we first were introduced to Don and Mike. The UTH dealers were great, the dinners were very good, played golf on an amazing course, and almost came back as a winner. Below are some additional highlights:
1. I was all but done come Saturday. I was down to my last $500 and put all of it on games that day. My friend Brian came out from San Diego and we ended up going to the Mirage wine bar to watch some of the games. I had to pay for dinner that night so I had some funds for gambling. Then I went on an amazing run. Kicked ass at the Palazzo craps table, another great run at the Mirage craps table, and finally did very well at the UTH table. Ventured into the Lounge and did OK at the BJ table. Oh, and I went undefeated on my sports wagering. I was able to get back within $1000 of my original budget.
2. Got a text from Jay on Thursday morning asking how everything was going, and I responded that I "had to pump sea water into reactor one last night. reactor two is showing signs of overheating. Not a good start." That was my worst Wed/Thurs/Fri combo ever. It was horrific.
3. I know that its not fair, but I hold Eric to a different standard than others. When I found out that he bet the don't, I was devastated. When I saw him not being honest and take money from a dealer, I was appalled. And when he told me that he had a previous wager on FSU and he picked the other way in our parlay, I was shocked. SHOCKED!!!!! This is the crap I expect out of Wiz and Lee, not Eric. I'm writing my gamblers manifesto to give to Morgan and my nephews, and all three of these offenses will be in there on what not to do in a casino.
4. Speaking of the book, I have 6 chapters so far; Group Selection, Casino and Restaurant Selection, Room Behavior, Money Management, Gooching, and How to build positive Karma.
May 14, 2011
The news story that will never end
I suppose that many of us have things in the back of our brains that are there for unknown reasons. I seem to have vivid memories of certain events that occur around personal life-changing moments - for instance, I can tell you that OutKast's "Hey Ya!" was played 24 times on Sirius Channel 1 when we drove from Cincinnati to Iowa in January 2004 during our move.
One of these odd memories involved news reports in August, 1989, when my parents, Layup and I went to Cleveland as I started my freshamn year at Case. We stayed in a hotel for the first few days before I moved into the dorm; I distinctly remember reports of a "John Demjanjuk" taking over the lead story of the Channel 8 newscast.
(Ah, Wilma Smith....)
I still can't figure out why, but Demjanjuk was all over the news during that week. As most of you know, he lived in Cleveland then - in the neighborhood of Seven Hills, southeast of the city. It was fascinating to realize that an alleged Nazi war criminal was living literally down the street from the hotel you were staying at! *
Now, fast forward 22 years later to May, 2011....and he is still in the news. How is this still going on? Can't the wheels of international justice turn any faster? The latest update is that he has been convicted, but is released to a nursing home because of his health. Appeals are pending.
Can't we just end this chapter of history? I have no idea whether he is guiilty of war crimes or not - but you would hope that after 22 years (or even more!), a decision would be made on his guilt or innocence.
What is wrong with our system(s) to have the prosecution of Demjanjuk still going on? It's 2011......
* - for those of you familiar with Cleveland geography, you may wonder why our family would be staying at a hotel in Independence/Seven Hills when Case is in downtown Cleveland, 20 miles away. I think it has to do with "Marriott" points - some questions are best left unanswered.
Summer has started
A weather update: the weather has certainly turned over the past 3 weeks here, and now it is starting to feel like summer. Since the end of April, the temperatures have been in the mid to high 80s for a high with humidity always near 80%. And in most days, the sun is never our. If the sun pops out - that's when it feels really bad.
The worst part about it is the humidity. Once you start sweating, you can't stop - and there's nothing you can do about it. This is my t-shirt after a 20 minute jog on the treadmill. And no, this amount of sweat is not because I am out of shape. You just can't stop sweating because of the humidity.
As you probably would guess, this is certainly not the hottest it will be; the true summers in July and August will be the same humidity, but 10-15 degress warmer. Just great.
We've already had some mornings that felt like a unbearable muggy day in Cincinnati.
But it doesn't affect the natives, however. Our pool here opened up on May 1 - a cloudy day of about 82 degrees and 70-80% humidity (it would storm that night). We went down to the pool on opening day; and we were the only ones. A crowd of 4-5 workers came out at various times to watch the white family play in the "cold" (for them) pool. I seriously think they need it to be much warmer before they will take a dip in the outdoor pool.
May 9, 2011
Hong Kong trip report
So I am very late to post some random comments about our April trip to Hong Kong. Here is a picture from the Ocean Park amusement park/aquarium; the park is split into two sections, separated by a large hill. You have to take a sky cable car to go from one side to the other. The views are spectacular.
1. It is very disorienting and difficult to walk in the city. The sidewalks are fine; the problem is crossing the street. I have 39 years of experience in crossing street, so it is obviously second nature to look a certain way when crossing an intersection.
But, of course, in Hong Kong, drivers drive on the left hand side.
You really have to stop yourself and think - where are the cars coming from? For example - if you are on the southwest corner of an intersection and want to walk to the northwest corner, you automatically look to your left for oncoming cars. It's empty - you start walking - and a car comes zooming by you on your right, making a left hand turn in front of you. It's hard to override all your instincts.
2. We went to a beach one afternoon on the ocean. While we were there, a few Caucasian families with children were there. One of them starting playing ball with Freddie.
I asked him where he lived. As soon as I asked, I realized that was a dumb question - he could have said anything - a road, a city, a country. He responded by saying the name of some apartment complex near by.
The next automatic question to any Caucasian over here is "how long have you lived here?" I was about to ask the boy that, but then stopped. It is certainly possible - probable? - that this is not a temporary stop, but his permanent home. He could be a "citizen".... For whatever reason, that boggled my mind. For the past 9 months, any "white" person I see is automatically a foreigner and could live anywhere in the world...here I am in "China" and I see a white person - it does not even dawn on me that this person could be a native - and that his parents could have been living here for their whole life.
3. Hong Kong is full of culinary delights! We had dinner by the pool one night - I got a club sandwich with fries. Out came my order - the fries were perfectly done - with a side of Grey Poupon.
Now that's something I have missed. My mouth is still watering thinking about Grey Poupon and how great it went with those fries......
bin Laden notes
Thanks to Layup for alerting me last Monday of the breaking news that OBL was captured and killed. I really don't know when I would have found out about it if he did not text me at 11 in the morning. It's about damn time - congrats to the SEALs, all in the military, and Obama and his staff for making this happen.
Now, some whimiscal thoughts on the operation:
1. They had to have put a GPS tracker on the body bag, right? So someone has got to know the exact location of the body in the Indian (?) Ocean....
2. It's weird what your mind forms from words and reports. As the details started to filter in about how operation took place, the location that OBL was in was described as a "mansion", "fortress", "a house with impenetrable walls". I was detecting some huge structure, maybe a moat involved....
....and then you see the pictures of the compound. It was not at all what I pictured.
3. By now, everyone has seen the famous picture of Obama and his staff gathered around the TV that Sunday evening to watch the operation. My quick thoughts:
a. Obama - intense and focused, as you would expect (like his job depended on it??). However - I read a comment somewhere that I 100% agree with. Who gave him the lawn chair and made him sit in the corner? Why didn't he kick the general out of the command chair that was right next to him?
b. Hillary - I know that look. She's got the same look on her face that I do when the Browns are winning a close one in the 4th quarter. "Can they hang on? Can they do this? I know they are going to blow this. I can't watch."
c. Biden - Doesn't it just look like they had to pull him away from "Angry Birds" on his laptop to pay attention?
"Joe - the SEALs have now landed in the compound!"
"Fine, fine, fine..let me save the game......"
d. Who is the Roberto de Vincenzo look alike that is still wearing the coat and tie, without a button undone, during this high-stress situation? That's a person who clearly voted "no" on casual Fridays at the White House.
The Tribe!
OK, time to start blogging again. Life has been pretty crazy over the last few weeks - and the backlog of blog topics keep piling up.
How about the Tribe! With their good start, I saw this stat from ESPN. If this doesn't give you a nostaglic smile, then.....well, you must be a Red Sox fan....
With Tomlin at 4-0 and Justin Masterson at 5-0, the Indians have two pitchers with at least 4-0 records since Greg Swindell and Tom Candiotti did it in 1988.
Candiotti and Swindell....ah, the good old days.
(It is pretty amazing - every once in a while, I see a Chinese citizen wearing a Tribe hat. This photo was snapped in Beijing (he has this look on his face like "why are you taking my picture?)
This weekend, while walking to the store, I passed a woman in a tan and black striped dress......with a Chief Wahoo logo on it. I didn't get to my iPhone camera in time. They say China is now more technologically advanced than the US...maybe they know that the Tribe will be very popular in October and November this year.....
Apr 23, 2011
Posted without comment
Coming back from our trip to Beijing, we got a nice jolt back to Chinese culture and politics. We got a call that evening from the "boss" of our nannies...she said that the nanny will not be there in the morning; she is requiring surgery and will be out for a while.
Oh no, I said! I hope everything is ok!
She said she will be fine, and she will come back in 5 days.
OK.....wow. Surgery. Sounds serious. I hope nothing really awful happened.
The next day, her sister came and filled in for her shift. I asked if she is ok, is she hurt, is everything ok?
"No, everything fine. She be back on Monday."
What happened?
"Just operation to take baby away"
Ah....I see......
Oh no, I said! I hope everything is ok!
She said she will be fine, and she will come back in 5 days.
OK.....wow. Surgery. Sounds serious. I hope nothing really awful happened.
The next day, her sister came and filled in for her shift. I asked if she is ok, is she hurt, is everything ok?
"No, everything fine. She be back on Monday."
What happened?
"Just operation to take baby away"
Ah....I see......
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter to all! It's hard to set up an Easter Egg hunt in an apartment complex, so we went downstairs to one of the common areas to hide eggs. In this pciture, there are 40 eggs.... boy, did I get some strange looks from the Chinese residents when I was hiding the eggs....
Just off the screen to the left, there is a door to the Children's playroom; I put two eggs right at the base of the door for Martin to find. Just as we started the Easter Egg Hunt, a cleaning lady arrive to clean that room.
After 10 seconds of the Easter Egg Hunt, the egg tally was:
Freddie 0
Warren 0
Martin 0
Cleaning Lady 2
The hunt was suspended for 30 seconds as I tried to convince the lady that the eggs were not trash and she needs to put them down.
Today we are having an Easter BBQ over another ex-pat's place; they were planning it last weekend at a dinner, and one of the quotes from the host was:
"What goes better with Easter than shots of Malibu?"
I think I will like this party tonight!
Beijing Zoo
Wehn someone goes to Beijing, there are two types of pcitures that the tourists are expected to share with their friends:
1. A picture of the Great wall; and
2. A picture of a Panda.
The Great Wall pictures turned out well; I don't think this pictures does justice to the elevation changes in the walkway. It truly is an amazing engineering feat.
(and to think that our tour guide said that "it is estimated that 1,000 people died for every mile of construction of the Great Wall". Now, the wall is 4000 miles long.......)
And our picture of the panda? Well, this is what greeted us at the Zoo on a Sunday morning.
Apr 21, 2011
"74" is now a true adult
Yesterday was the 21st anniversary of "74" day....
(here is the blog post defining the significance of that day)
It's hard to believe this was 21 years ago. I celebrated with cream soda and.....we had no rum, so I had to mix it with Southern Comfort. Cream Soda and Southern Comfort tastes surprisingly good together.
I wonder if the Poison Ivy scars have finally disappeared from Steve's hands from that round.......
(here is the blog post defining the significance of that day)
It's hard to believe this was 21 years ago. I celebrated with cream soda and.....we had no rum, so I had to mix it with Southern Comfort. Cream Soda and Southern Comfort tastes surprisingly good together.
I wonder if the Poison Ivy scars have finally disappeared from Steve's hands from that round.......
Apr 19, 2011
Paparazzi
Now here is the China that we have been warned about.
So this is our first day in Beijing - it's been a long day, as we have visited Tianemen Square and the Forbidden Palace. After lunch, we went to the Summer Garden, a huge plot of land about 3 km south of the Square where the emporers prayed and relaxed.
(There was an "abstinence garden", where the Emporer was required to spend 7 days in before going to the temples. No comment necessary.)
So, around 3 pm, we stopped to take a break. Janice gave Martin a sucker and he sat down in one area of the garden.
Immediately, 4 middle aged Chinese women came over and started taking pictures. 4 turned into 5...then 6...then 8 women surrounding Martin.
The picture here best captures it. You can see Martin on the left with his lollipop (right under Freddie's head) - and on the right is all the Paparazzi that surrounded him.
It was interesting ....for the first 2 minutes. It never stopped. We had to shoo them away after about 10 minutes. Forcibly.
Why Layup would not make it in Hong Kong
It is a well known secret that the Zahn brothers love McDonald's breakfast....specifically, the Sausage McMuffin with egg. Oh, those good old days at the Monte Carlo when they were $1 each...we would down 3 each in the morning on the way to the sports book...
Well, here we are in the Hong Kong train station, and there is a McDonald's there. Time for lunch. Here are some of the choices for the Extra Value meal:
8. Double Cheeseburger meal
9. Quarter Pounder meal
10. Sausage McMuffin with Egg meal
That's right - you can get a Sausage McMuffin all day at McDonald's in Hong Kong. If Layup moved there, I would say his weight would be +50 pounds after 6 months. He would not be able to resist....
Snack for the boys
Continuing the food theme, here is the latest snack to arrive at our conveinence store downstairs.....
Apr 11, 2011
Beijing Cuisine
So the first night we were in Beijing, we found ourselves at the silk market at dinner time. We had to find something soon for the kids. We wanted something comfortable but yet a bit exotic....a place where you could be adventorous if you wanted, but if not - there were plenty of familiar choices to choose from.
Something like...a Sizzler.
What's that in the distance?
(No, we did not go there. But all of you probably expected me to eat there, right? )
The next day we were between tourist locales at lunchtime, and our tour guide recommended a buffet. It had some Chinese dishes, but it had Pizza and hot dogs too. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good.
And the translation for the names of the dishes were not very good. I did not try the upper dish in this picture. I don't know who made this translation, but they need some help.
(and the translation on the bottom dish isn't very descriptive, either)
Apr 10, 2011
NCAA Picks - post mortem
Here are my official picks for single games from my notebook for each day. Recorded just for historical reference.
Thursday's games:
"A" games:
Old Dominion -2 Butler (L)
Temple -2.5 Penn St (L)
Pitt -17 NC-Asheville (W)
SD St/N Col over 129.5 (L)
UC Santa Barbara +12.5 (L)
Wofford +8 BYU (W)
Mich St -1.5 UCLA (L)
Cincinnati pick em Mizzou (W)
Utah St +2 Kansas St (L)
"B" games:
Morehead +10 Louisville (W)
Richmond +2.5 Vandy (W)
Richmond/Vandy under 135.5 (W)
Gonzaga +1 St John's (W)
Bucknell/UConn under 132.5 (L)
"C" games:
Clemson +1.5 West Va (L)
Pitt/NC-A under 135.5 (W)
Fri Mar 18:
"A" games:
Michigan +1.5 Tennessee (W)
George Mason +1 Villanova (W)
Arizona -5.5 Memphis (L)
Marquette/Xavier over 140 (L)
UNLV -2 Illinois (LLLLLLLLLLLL)
Georgia +5 Washington (W, thanks, Wiz!)
"B" games:
Oakland +10 Texas (W)
Michigan/Tenn over 127.5 (L; I still don't beleive this did not win)
Kansas -23 Boston (L)
Purdue -14.5 St Peter's (W)
Marquette +1 Xavier (W)
Ill/UNLV under 132.5 (L)
Ind St +12 Syracuse (L)
Fla St/Tx A&M under 122.5 (W)
Georgetown/VCU under 133.5 (W)
Sat Mar 19
"A" games:
Temple +6 San Diego St (L, in 2 OT!!)
Florida -6 UCLA (W)
Richmond -4.5 Morehead St (W)
BYU -1 Gonzaga (W)
Wisconsin -3 Kansas St (W)
"B" games:
Richmond/Morehead St under 126.5 (W)
Florida/UCLA over 133.5 (W)
Pitt/Butler under 126.5 (L)
Sun Mar 20
"A" games:
Duke -12 Michigan (L)
NC -4.5 Washington (L)
Ohio St -11.5 George Mason (W)
Marq/Syracuse over 140.5 (L)
Arizona +6 Texas (W)
Az/Texas over 139 (T)
"B" games:
Syracuse -5 Marquette (L)
Fla St/Notre Dame under 133 (W)
Illinois +8.5 (L)
25-22-1, if I counted correctly.
Thursday's games:
"A" games:
Old Dominion -2 Butler (L)
Temple -2.5 Penn St (L)
Pitt -17 NC-Asheville (W)
SD St/N Col over 129.5 (L)
UC Santa Barbara +12.5 (L)
Wofford +8 BYU (W)
Mich St -1.5 UCLA (L)
Cincinnati pick em Mizzou (W)
Utah St +2 Kansas St (L)
"B" games:
Morehead +10 Louisville (W)
Richmond +2.5 Vandy (W)
Richmond/Vandy under 135.5 (W)
Gonzaga +1 St John's (W)
Bucknell/UConn under 132.5 (L)
"C" games:
Clemson +1.5 West Va (L)
Pitt/NC-A under 135.5 (W)
Fri Mar 18:
"A" games:
Michigan +1.5 Tennessee (W)
George Mason +1 Villanova (W)
Arizona -5.5 Memphis (L)
Marquette/Xavier over 140 (L)
UNLV -2 Illinois (LLLLLLLLLLLL)
Georgia +5 Washington (W, thanks, Wiz!)
"B" games:
Oakland +10 Texas (W)
Michigan/Tenn over 127.5 (L; I still don't beleive this did not win)
Kansas -23 Boston (L)
Purdue -14.5 St Peter's (W)
Marquette +1 Xavier (W)
Ill/UNLV under 132.5 (L)
Ind St +12 Syracuse (L)
Fla St/Tx A&M under 122.5 (W)
Georgetown/VCU under 133.5 (W)
Sat Mar 19
"A" games:
Temple +6 San Diego St (L, in 2 OT!!)
Florida -6 UCLA (W)
Richmond -4.5 Morehead St (W)
BYU -1 Gonzaga (W)
Wisconsin -3 Kansas St (W)
"B" games:
Richmond/Morehead St under 126.5 (W)
Florida/UCLA over 133.5 (W)
Pitt/Butler under 126.5 (L)
Sun Mar 20
"A" games:
Duke -12 Michigan (L)
NC -4.5 Washington (L)
Ohio St -11.5 George Mason (W)
Marq/Syracuse over 140.5 (L)
Arizona +6 Texas (W)
Az/Texas over 139 (T)
"B" games:
Syracuse -5 Marquette (L)
Fla St/Notre Dame under 133 (W)
Illinois +8.5 (L)
25-22-1, if I counted correctly.
Apr 9, 2011
2011 Vegas Diary - Part 3
And finally, the rest of the story....
Sat Mar 19 (continued)
So we took a full timeout after the Salon mishap. Um, you want to call a four-digit loss a "mishap"? -ed. After a break of about an hour, the six of us found ourselves back at the craps table. All of us had one side of the table; on the other side was a man and his date/wife, a 6'1" blonde who was probably a swimmer, and about 3 kids just out of college.
It was one of those times when the atmosphere was just right. No one was obnoxious, everybody was in a good mood and there were plenty of good - not hot, but good - rolls. The hard ways auctions between Layup and Wiz started again. I bet my usual $5 hard 4 - and it hit! - and then had the courage to parlay it.
It hit again. Finally, a parlay'd hard way. That was nice.
In the middle of one of the good rolls, a middle-aged man in a yellow sportcoat came up to our side and tried to squeeze his way in. I have to say, there was a lot of excellent boxing out (and words being exchanged) to prevent him from getting in and ruining the atmosphere. He finally found a spot on the other side of the table and made his way in between the swimmer and the kids. He was an ass the whole night.
He was there for 2-3 rolls before....
"Cocktails? Cocktails?"
Alcohol time! I turn around....and see a 70 year old woman's cleavage right in front of me. For whatever reason, the Mirage has a 70 year old drink waitress working Saturday nights. It's depressing, really. That's not exactly what you want to see at that time of day......Sunday morning at 11 am, well, that's acceptable. Not at Saturday night at 10 pm.
As soon as she arrives at the table, a 7 comes up on the dice. Out!
15 minutes later, she arrives again...."Seven out! Line away!"
The third time she came back, Layup and Wiz yelled for security. She never came back to serve us.
The rest of the night consisted a Pai Gow Poker session with John - who killed me again - and then back to the Ultimate Hold Em table. I think it was just Layup, Wiz and I. It was about 1 am, when all the drunks make their way out of the bar and stumble...where, exactly?
Behind us, about 30 feet, there was a group of about 4 20-something guys, one who was in bad shape with his head down on a slot machine. His face seemed to be in the coin collection area...he couldn't, could he?
No - he moved his head away from the slot machine and vomited all over the floor.
One minute goes by...two of his friends had fled the scene. Another round of vomiting. Part of this one goes on the slot machine itself.
Another minute...another round on the floor.
Wiz is screaming at the pit boss.... "Can't you do something? Call someone over!"
Ten minutes later, the cleaning ladies were there attending to the mess. A good time to call it a night.
Sun Mar 20
Sunday morning was golf at Rio Secco, with Layup and Wiz backing out. And, well, they probably made the right choice. The weather was 60-65 degrees, with constant winds at 25 gusting to 40-50. It was an interesting round. I played the best I have played in a year, going +3 for the first 6 holes in that weather (and it could have been even, if not for a missed 3 footer on 1 and a misclub on 4.)
Then the real adventures began. #7 was a 190 yard par 3 all over water which just happened to play into the wind. I foolishly picked a 5 wood, swung hard, and ducked it in to the lake. Don had the club selection of the day, hitting a 3/4 driver to pin high.
Leland hit a good shot to the right, chipped on to about 20 feet below the hole. It was downhill from the hole to the front of the green, where the front of the green was shaved down to the lake.
After marking, Leland replaced his ball, stepped away to look at the putt....and the wind caused Leland's ball to move. And roll. And roll away from the hole, down the front of the green, and down to within 2 feet of the lake before he stopped it.
We were all laughing - and Leland casually chipped the ball back up to the hole, and it sped past the hole to about 20 feet above the hole.
Then it stopped, and came back.....slowly....slowly....gaining speed.....and dove right into the hole.
After that turn of events, we knew this round was over. There was no way we were playing all 18. On #8, we played "Surivivor" - we all picked up except Leland, the only one to record a score. We called it quite after #9 and had lunch in the clubhouse, where we listened to the speakers for some person's 75th birthday.....
Back to the casino, where it was a good run at craps (I don't remember this; I think it was just the 4 of us as Don and Mike were watching the Purdue-VCU game), another good UTH run, and the 6 of us at the blackjack switch table where it was proven that none of us can play that awful game.
Before the craps run, I placed my bets for the late afternoon games. I was doing well, and - for whatever reason - put in a few wacko bets for the afternoon. I don't like the Big East at all, so for no reason I took Florida State. I wanted to play a parlay as well, so I said "what the hell" and put in a $50 money-line parlay on VCU and Florida St. That means both of those underdogs have to win for me to get a nice 13-to-1 payout.
Anyway, before the Kansas game, the four of us got together to put in a group parlay for the two late games, Kansas-Illinois and Fla St-Notre Dame. We each would pick a side or total for a 4-way parlay.
Wiz took the Fla St under.
Layup took Kansas -8.
It was my turn. I had no feeling whatsoever on the Kansas over/under, so it was up to the Notre Dame/Fla St game, with ND giving 5.
I really didn't want to drag everyone down with me on the Floridat State flyer. And it was a flyer! There was no reasoning at all for me to pick them earlier in the day - it was just because I hated the Big East!
So I chose Notre Dame -5. Leland took the Kansas under. We put $25 down each to win a total of $1100 if all 4 came through.
Well, the Kansas game ended up 73-55 or so, so we were 2-0 for that game. It was down to the final game of the night, Fla St-ND.
Now, VCU was the upset of the day, and they beat Purdue, so now my underdog parlay to win $650 is live. And Florida State got out to a big early lead, shutting down Notre Dame....and the under was looking good....
Layup asked me what I have left for my betting slips. I showed him the Fla St bet and the live parlay.
He was a bit confused. "What did you do?"
Well, I don't really like the Florida State bet, I stammered.
"You hedged against us!"
No! That's not it at all!
I was really waiting for Sean Connery to show up.....in that scene from Entrapment, when he realizes that Catherine Zeta-Jones is a double agent...
"YOU'RE PLAYING BOTH SIDES!!!!!"
No! I protested. I just didn't want to take you down on a losing Florida State bet.......
Florida State, of course, won by 19 in another big upset; the under covered as well. I collected my Fla St straight bet, my VCU-Fla St parlay, and we lost the group parlay because of my pick........
Dinner that night was a bit cold as we watched the end of the game.
After dinner, Wiz and I had another High-limit blackjack run, which ended a little better than the first time (it was actually positive). The trip ended with Leland and I running from one craps table to another trying to find one last hot roll - and we were unsuccessful.
The alarm came too soon at Monday at 5 am to pack up and leave.
Sat Mar 19 (continued)
So we took a full timeout after the Salon mishap. Um, you want to call a four-digit loss a "mishap"? -ed. After a break of about an hour, the six of us found ourselves back at the craps table. All of us had one side of the table; on the other side was a man and his date/wife, a 6'1" blonde who was probably a swimmer, and about 3 kids just out of college.
It was one of those times when the atmosphere was just right. No one was obnoxious, everybody was in a good mood and there were plenty of good - not hot, but good - rolls. The hard ways auctions between Layup and Wiz started again. I bet my usual $5 hard 4 - and it hit! - and then had the courage to parlay it.
It hit again. Finally, a parlay'd hard way. That was nice.
In the middle of one of the good rolls, a middle-aged man in a yellow sportcoat came up to our side and tried to squeeze his way in. I have to say, there was a lot of excellent boxing out (and words being exchanged) to prevent him from getting in and ruining the atmosphere. He finally found a spot on the other side of the table and made his way in between the swimmer and the kids. He was an ass the whole night.
He was there for 2-3 rolls before....
"Cocktails? Cocktails?"
Alcohol time! I turn around....and see a 70 year old woman's cleavage right in front of me. For whatever reason, the Mirage has a 70 year old drink waitress working Saturday nights. It's depressing, really. That's not exactly what you want to see at that time of day......Sunday morning at 11 am, well, that's acceptable. Not at Saturday night at 10 pm.
As soon as she arrives at the table, a 7 comes up on the dice. Out!
15 minutes later, she arrives again...."Seven out! Line away!"
The third time she came back, Layup and Wiz yelled for security. She never came back to serve us.
The rest of the night consisted a Pai Gow Poker session with John - who killed me again - and then back to the Ultimate Hold Em table. I think it was just Layup, Wiz and I. It was about 1 am, when all the drunks make their way out of the bar and stumble...where, exactly?
Behind us, about 30 feet, there was a group of about 4 20-something guys, one who was in bad shape with his head down on a slot machine. His face seemed to be in the coin collection area...he couldn't, could he?
No - he moved his head away from the slot machine and vomited all over the floor.
One minute goes by...two of his friends had fled the scene. Another round of vomiting. Part of this one goes on the slot machine itself.
Another minute...another round on the floor.
Wiz is screaming at the pit boss.... "Can't you do something? Call someone over!"
Ten minutes later, the cleaning ladies were there attending to the mess. A good time to call it a night.
Sun Mar 20
Sunday morning was golf at Rio Secco, with Layup and Wiz backing out. And, well, they probably made the right choice. The weather was 60-65 degrees, with constant winds at 25 gusting to 40-50. It was an interesting round. I played the best I have played in a year, going +3 for the first 6 holes in that weather (and it could have been even, if not for a missed 3 footer on 1 and a misclub on 4.)
Then the real adventures began. #7 was a 190 yard par 3 all over water which just happened to play into the wind. I foolishly picked a 5 wood, swung hard, and ducked it in to the lake. Don had the club selection of the day, hitting a 3/4 driver to pin high.
Leland hit a good shot to the right, chipped on to about 20 feet below the hole. It was downhill from the hole to the front of the green, where the front of the green was shaved down to the lake.
After marking, Leland replaced his ball, stepped away to look at the putt....and the wind caused Leland's ball to move. And roll. And roll away from the hole, down the front of the green, and down to within 2 feet of the lake before he stopped it.
We were all laughing - and Leland casually chipped the ball back up to the hole, and it sped past the hole to about 20 feet above the hole.
Then it stopped, and came back.....slowly....slowly....gaining speed.....and dove right into the hole.
After that turn of events, we knew this round was over. There was no way we were playing all 18. On #8, we played "Surivivor" - we all picked up except Leland, the only one to record a score. We called it quite after #9 and had lunch in the clubhouse, where we listened to the speakers for some person's 75th birthday.....
Back to the casino, where it was a good run at craps (I don't remember this; I think it was just the 4 of us as Don and Mike were watching the Purdue-VCU game), another good UTH run, and the 6 of us at the blackjack switch table where it was proven that none of us can play that awful game.
Before the craps run, I placed my bets for the late afternoon games. I was doing well, and - for whatever reason - put in a few wacko bets for the afternoon. I don't like the Big East at all, so for no reason I took Florida State. I wanted to play a parlay as well, so I said "what the hell" and put in a $50 money-line parlay on VCU and Florida St. That means both of those underdogs have to win for me to get a nice 13-to-1 payout.
Anyway, before the Kansas game, the four of us got together to put in a group parlay for the two late games, Kansas-Illinois and Fla St-Notre Dame. We each would pick a side or total for a 4-way parlay.
Wiz took the Fla St under.
Layup took Kansas -8.
It was my turn. I had no feeling whatsoever on the Kansas over/under, so it was up to the Notre Dame/Fla St game, with ND giving 5.
I really didn't want to drag everyone down with me on the Floridat State flyer. And it was a flyer! There was no reasoning at all for me to pick them earlier in the day - it was just because I hated the Big East!
So I chose Notre Dame -5. Leland took the Kansas under. We put $25 down each to win a total of $1100 if all 4 came through.
Well, the Kansas game ended up 73-55 or so, so we were 2-0 for that game. It was down to the final game of the night, Fla St-ND.
Now, VCU was the upset of the day, and they beat Purdue, so now my underdog parlay to win $650 is live. And Florida State got out to a big early lead, shutting down Notre Dame....and the under was looking good....
Layup asked me what I have left for my betting slips. I showed him the Fla St bet and the live parlay.
He was a bit confused. "What did you do?"
Well, I don't really like the Florida State bet, I stammered.
"You hedged against us!"
No! That's not it at all!
I was really waiting for Sean Connery to show up.....in that scene from Entrapment, when he realizes that Catherine Zeta-Jones is a double agent...
"YOU'RE PLAYING BOTH SIDES!!!!!"
No! I protested. I just didn't want to take you down on a losing Florida State bet.......
Florida State, of course, won by 19 in another big upset; the under covered as well. I collected my Fla St straight bet, my VCU-Fla St parlay, and we lost the group parlay because of my pick........
Dinner that night was a bit cold as we watched the end of the game.
After dinner, Wiz and I had another High-limit blackjack run, which ended a little better than the first time (it was actually positive). The trip ended with Leland and I running from one craps table to another trying to find one last hot roll - and we were unsuccessful.
The alarm came too soon at Monday at 5 am to pack up and leave.
Apr 5, 2011
2011 Vegas Diary, part 2
Back from a mini-vacation to Beijing. The past 2 days were a holiday in China for "tomb-sweeping" days, where the living honors the dead by.....burning (fake?) paper money in public. Will have lots of photos at a later date.
But let's continue (and even finish?) the Vegas diary, since it has only been 3 weeks now since the trip began. By the way, I would never be able to do this without my little record book that I keep. If I didn't have this, I would mix up the days so bad and forget 75% of the ancedotes.
Fri Mar 18 (continued)
After the magical UTH run, where better to parlay the winnings than the craps table? If I recall correctly, Leland and I found a table and started playing; Wiz and Layup came over later but there was no room, so they went to another table. It was a busy Friday night, and 6 tables were open.
Our table did not get hot. I got beat pretty bad.
The table where Wiz and Layup were at did not get hot.
There were loud, Augusta like cheers from at least two other tables. I felt like Feherty, being confined to the 14th green at Augusta when all the excitement is occuring around him at 13 and 15.
We decided then to have our first serious go at Blackjack - the four of us. (Don and Mike were still at the UTH table; Don was sending me text messages about the Danish pirate - "he went 4x on a $300 hand - and won!", 2 separate times. The four of us found an empty table, and off we started. However, we got one hand into the shoe when two other guys came over and asked to join.
The best way to describe the lead guy of the two (the other one seemed to be a deaf mute) would be a 40 year old Jersey guy who worked too many years at an Applebee's. He was trying way too hard to be our friend....and to show he was COOL.
"Let's make some MONEY tonight, boys!"
and, after he sensed that he wasn't entering friendly waters...
"Oh don't worry, O know how to PLAY this game!"
He gave Leland about 15 fist bumps whenever he won. He never crossed the line into being obnoxious, but he was always annoying. There was just something - fake? Over-the-top MTVish? - that was just too much for me, and I packed it up after 30 minutes.
(To show you how naive I am, Leland and Wiz talked about him the next day. "He was so high, you could see the coke on his nose." I'm sure you could see it - I just never made that connection. I just thought he was an arrogant asshole).
Sat Mar 19
A first in Vegas! Layup actually got up before me and asked if I wanted to place a bet! Unfortunately, the Excedrin PM was still kicking in and I probably said something to him like "Rick Pitino and Katie Couric"....it was unintelligible. I actually told Layup to put $1000 on Kentucky....oh well....
(The Excedrin PM helped me to my best day in the book, with winners like Richmond -4, Florida -6, BYU, Wisconsin, Richmond under.....the only one I had wrong was Temple +6, which lost in Double OT).
Today was the day I had planned to go shopping. Janice sent me to the US with a shopping list for items that we needed. We got most of the medicine on Wednesday, but there were odds and ends that one trip to the mall would take care of.
** wife complaining alert***
I don't normally air any complaints about Janice on here, but I have to now. This "list" grew and grew on the days before the trip. It started with a trip to Wal Mart, and then a few clothes for the boys. "You can pick that up at Target", she said. Um, but there is no Target on the strip.
Then, three days before Vegas, she drops this bombshell.
"And we need document boxes, too. Can you pick those up?"
What? Document boxes?
"Yes, Decorative boxes to hold office papers."
Um...um....didn't we just buy those at the Guangzhou IKEA last weekend? (Yes, there is such a thing)
"Yes, but they are the wrong size."
Excuse me?
"The boxes we bought were for A4 paper, and we have the US 8.5x11 paper. So we need boxes sold in the US"
Um....ok....where does one get these boxes?
"You may have to look for them...They should be at Staples or Office Depot"
She doesn't really think that Don, Leland and I take off Sunday morning for an 8 hours shopping trip around Vegas, does she?
(Don't answer that).
Anyway, 3 hours on Saturday afternoon was spent going over to the Fashion Square mall to buy DS games for the boys, Apple power cords - and then a taxi to Target for a shopping trip that resembled "SuperMarket sweep", where I run up and down the aisles and get to the cash register in 15 minutes while the taxi meter kept running outside.
Yes, they did have document boxes - but no, they did not fit in the suitcase. Consuela the maid for the week should have those lovely boxes by now.
Craps with Mike after that; we got to the table, and the first point was 10. If I play the hard ways, it's only the 4 and 10 - I don't know why. Everyone loves the hard 6 and 8; someone has got to show the love for the other two numbers. So I threw a few bucks on the hard 4 and 10....did not hit.
The next point was 4; same thing - a few bucks on the 4 and 10 again, but nope.
The next point was 6. I put my odds down on the point, and a place bet on the 8, and waited for the next roll. However, the dice were still in the middle of the table.
The dealer held out his hand in my direction. I looked at him.
"I'm waiting for your hard 6", he said.
I corrected him. "No, I only play the hard 4 and 10" I said proudly.
It doesn't take an idiot to guess what was rolled on the very next roll. I am still surprised that Mike didn't immediately hop the 3-3 for $10.
Dinner that night was at Table 10 at the Palazzo at 6:30; the ending for the Butler-Pittsburgh game occurred as we were walking over there. We couldn't figure out what happened, because 3 different phones had three different scores. In a 10 second span, three phones showed:
Pitt 71, Butler 70 (F)
Pitt 70, Butler 70 (End Reg)
Butler 70, Pitt 69 (0:01 left)
We had no idea what was going on until 20 minutes later.
Dinner that night was nice, but I don't think it was great. And what's with the Pear Vodka fad? Jesus, I accidentally was served one of those, and I hated it. When did this become cool? I know I sound like a hypocrite here - but there is a line in the sand for alcoholic drinks. When you want to have fun, hey, have your strawberry daiquiris and your Tom Collins. I love those! But when it is serious drinking time, don't fool around. There is nothing more comforting than a good Vodka Tonic with lime.
When you are expecting that drink, and instead sip something like a Vodka Fresca with a flower in it, you should have the right to spit it out on your neighbor.
Saturday continued with the annual $25 craps run at the Palazzo (and yes, every year it is amazing to compare the craps dealers at the Palazzo to the Mirage). We returned to the Mirage later that evening, played some more UTH (which was another nice winning session for me).
At this point, it is Saturday night, and I am almost break even for the trip. Wiz then was looking for takers for the high-limit salon. I decided to try my luck.
So - for those of you that care - this was my first dive into black-chip only play. And I'm not drunk (yet) (probably because of that Pear vodka) - so I am a little nervous. This could get out of hand quickly......
The fourth or fifth hand I was dealt was the hand you don't really want to see when betting a lot. (Well, most of you would not want to see a pair of 8's - and you would be right. This is the second-worst hand to have).
I was dealt 11 vs a 10. Now, I am about 70/30 with that; 70% of the time, I would double, but if things aren't going well, then I would just hit.
I lost the first 3 hands at the table, so I sensed this would be a struggle. I elected to just hit. I got a 4, then busted; Wiz and Layup immediately started to yell at me.
Was that a sign? I lost 12 out of 15 hands, and after 20 minutes, I picked up what was left of my chips and ran out of there. I needed a full time-out after that trashing.
But let's continue (and even finish?) the Vegas diary, since it has only been 3 weeks now since the trip began. By the way, I would never be able to do this without my little record book that I keep. If I didn't have this, I would mix up the days so bad and forget 75% of the ancedotes.
Fri Mar 18 (continued)
After the magical UTH run, where better to parlay the winnings than the craps table? If I recall correctly, Leland and I found a table and started playing; Wiz and Layup came over later but there was no room, so they went to another table. It was a busy Friday night, and 6 tables were open.
Our table did not get hot. I got beat pretty bad.
The table where Wiz and Layup were at did not get hot.
There were loud, Augusta like cheers from at least two other tables. I felt like Feherty, being confined to the 14th green at Augusta when all the excitement is occuring around him at 13 and 15.
We decided then to have our first serious go at Blackjack - the four of us. (Don and Mike were still at the UTH table; Don was sending me text messages about the Danish pirate - "he went 4x on a $300 hand - and won!", 2 separate times. The four of us found an empty table, and off we started. However, we got one hand into the shoe when two other guys came over and asked to join.
The best way to describe the lead guy of the two (the other one seemed to be a deaf mute) would be a 40 year old Jersey guy who worked too many years at an Applebee's. He was trying way too hard to be our friend....and to show he was COOL.
"Let's make some MONEY tonight, boys!"
and, after he sensed that he wasn't entering friendly waters...
"Oh don't worry, O know how to PLAY this game!"
He gave Leland about 15 fist bumps whenever he won. He never crossed the line into being obnoxious, but he was always annoying. There was just something - fake? Over-the-top MTVish? - that was just too much for me, and I packed it up after 30 minutes.
(To show you how naive I am, Leland and Wiz talked about him the next day. "He was so high, you could see the coke on his nose." I'm sure you could see it - I just never made that connection. I just thought he was an arrogant asshole).
Sat Mar 19
A first in Vegas! Layup actually got up before me and asked if I wanted to place a bet! Unfortunately, the Excedrin PM was still kicking in and I probably said something to him like "Rick Pitino and Katie Couric"....it was unintelligible. I actually told Layup to put $1000 on Kentucky....oh well....
(The Excedrin PM helped me to my best day in the book, with winners like Richmond -4, Florida -6, BYU, Wisconsin, Richmond under.....the only one I had wrong was Temple +6, which lost in Double OT).
Today was the day I had planned to go shopping. Janice sent me to the US with a shopping list for items that we needed. We got most of the medicine on Wednesday, but there were odds and ends that one trip to the mall would take care of.
** wife complaining alert***
I don't normally air any complaints about Janice on here, but I have to now. This "list" grew and grew on the days before the trip. It started with a trip to Wal Mart, and then a few clothes for the boys. "You can pick that up at Target", she said. Um, but there is no Target on the strip.
Then, three days before Vegas, she drops this bombshell.
"And we need document boxes, too. Can you pick those up?"
What? Document boxes?
"Yes, Decorative boxes to hold office papers."
Um...um....didn't we just buy those at the Guangzhou IKEA last weekend? (Yes, there is such a thing)
"Yes, but they are the wrong size."
Excuse me?
"The boxes we bought were for A4 paper, and we have the US 8.5x11 paper. So we need boxes sold in the US"
Um....ok....where does one get these boxes?
"You may have to look for them...They should be at Staples or Office Depot"
She doesn't really think that Don, Leland and I take off Sunday morning for an 8 hours shopping trip around Vegas, does she?
(Don't answer that).
Anyway, 3 hours on Saturday afternoon was spent going over to the Fashion Square mall to buy DS games for the boys, Apple power cords - and then a taxi to Target for a shopping trip that resembled "SuperMarket sweep", where I run up and down the aisles and get to the cash register in 15 minutes while the taxi meter kept running outside.
Yes, they did have document boxes - but no, they did not fit in the suitcase. Consuela the maid for the week should have those lovely boxes by now.
Craps with Mike after that; we got to the table, and the first point was 10. If I play the hard ways, it's only the 4 and 10 - I don't know why. Everyone loves the hard 6 and 8; someone has got to show the love for the other two numbers. So I threw a few bucks on the hard 4 and 10....did not hit.
The next point was 4; same thing - a few bucks on the 4 and 10 again, but nope.
The next point was 6. I put my odds down on the point, and a place bet on the 8, and waited for the next roll. However, the dice were still in the middle of the table.
The dealer held out his hand in my direction. I looked at him.
"I'm waiting for your hard 6", he said.
I corrected him. "No, I only play the hard 4 and 10" I said proudly.
It doesn't take an idiot to guess what was rolled on the very next roll. I am still surprised that Mike didn't immediately hop the 3-3 for $10.
Dinner that night was at Table 10 at the Palazzo at 6:30; the ending for the Butler-Pittsburgh game occurred as we were walking over there. We couldn't figure out what happened, because 3 different phones had three different scores. In a 10 second span, three phones showed:
Pitt 71, Butler 70 (F)
Pitt 70, Butler 70 (End Reg)
Butler 70, Pitt 69 (0:01 left)
We had no idea what was going on until 20 minutes later.
Dinner that night was nice, but I don't think it was great. And what's with the Pear Vodka fad? Jesus, I accidentally was served one of those, and I hated it. When did this become cool? I know I sound like a hypocrite here - but there is a line in the sand for alcoholic drinks. When you want to have fun, hey, have your strawberry daiquiris and your Tom Collins. I love those! But when it is serious drinking time, don't fool around. There is nothing more comforting than a good Vodka Tonic with lime.
When you are expecting that drink, and instead sip something like a Vodka Fresca with a flower in it, you should have the right to spit it out on your neighbor.
Saturday continued with the annual $25 craps run at the Palazzo (and yes, every year it is amazing to compare the craps dealers at the Palazzo to the Mirage). We returned to the Mirage later that evening, played some more UTH (which was another nice winning session for me).
At this point, it is Saturday night, and I am almost break even for the trip. Wiz then was looking for takers for the high-limit salon. I decided to try my luck.
So - for those of you that care - this was my first dive into black-chip only play. And I'm not drunk (yet) (probably because of that Pear vodka) - so I am a little nervous. This could get out of hand quickly......
The fourth or fifth hand I was dealt was the hand you don't really want to see when betting a lot. (Well, most of you would not want to see a pair of 8's - and you would be right. This is the second-worst hand to have).
I was dealt 11 vs a 10. Now, I am about 70/30 with that; 70% of the time, I would double, but if things aren't going well, then I would just hit.
I lost the first 3 hands at the table, so I sensed this would be a struggle. I elected to just hit. I got a 4, then busted; Wiz and Layup immediately started to yell at me.
Was that a sign? I lost 12 out of 15 hands, and after 20 minutes, I picked up what was left of my chips and ran out of there. I needed a full time-out after that trashing.
Finally got one
In Part 1 of the diary, I talked about winning money off of Wiz (a first?) on the Washington-Georgia game. I was the only one in the casino, it seemed, who had Georgia plus the points.
If we go three weeks back, we find this post:
3 weeks away!
I should have named that "the 7-10 game that only Wiz and I care about"...
If we go three weeks back, we find this post:
3 weeks away!
I should have named that "the 7-10 game that only Wiz and I care about"...
Apr 1, 2011
Vegas Diary - 2011 - Part 1
Well, I better get going here and put my thoughts, memories, and summaries on to paper before they all get lost in the haze of my mind. Let me get some text down on the blog first - then maybe later I can embellish with pictures and other decorations.
Tue Mar 15
You know it's a weird Vegas trip when it starts on a Tuesday - actually, I left work in Guangzhou around 1 pm - so my trip actually started 10 pm Monday, Vegas time. Caught a train to Hong Kong, where I actually worked for about 4 hours in the hotel room before the early morning flight.
Besides working, the other main activity in the hotel room was to create my own tournament guide. For some reason, the publishers of the Blue Ribbon tournament guide decided not to write one this year. Now what will I do? Well, I signed up for the ESPN Insider account, found a preview page for each of the teams, copied those into a Word document, cut out the 68 pictures of Joe Lunardi contained in each preview, shrunk it down to 6 pt font - and voila! An 80 page tournament guide.
Now, printing it out at the hotel cost HK $10 a page, so I have started my trip about US $100 in the hole before even boarding an airplane.
Wed Mar 16
Flight leaves at 8, it's an international flight - so be there 2 hours early, 40 min taxi to the hotel: Gees, that's a 4:30 wake up call. What jolted me awake? I was in the shower and realized: "the next shower I will take will be in Vegas". That always brings a smile....
First leg: Hong Kong-Tokyo. March 16, 5 days after the earthquake. There was NO ONE on that plane. Each row was 3-4-3, and there was literally 1-2 people per row. A bit scary. However, when I landed in Tokyo, it seemed to be business as usual. Nothing seemed out of place.
Boarded the plane for LA at 4 pm local; I brought my NyQuil so I can sleep! Smart! I got 4 hours of sleep before my 4;30 wakeup call, I'll be dead tired on the plane and I can crash.
Dinner comes, darkness on the plane, and I comfortably fall asleep.....
....and then I wake up. Hmmmm, I wonder what time it is.....it's still dark out....
I was asleep for 90 minutes.
I took another nap on the plane for 30-40 minutes, and that was it.
Land in LA - gees, the lines at US Immigration are at least 3x as long as other airports - and Layup picks me up - and off we go to Vegas!
The ride was not as long as I thought; after the first two hours, I tried to get in a quick nap - and I got three naps in. Each was about 4 minutes long.
But before we get to the Mirage, we needed to do twoside trips: one to a Wal Mart to go medicine shopping, and to a US Bank to get loaded for the trip. The Wal Mart trip was uneventful, except for the occasional stares as two men were circling the pharmacy with a shopping cart half-full of Children's Motrin, NyQuil, and Benadryl.
The bank was an adventure, as the "bank" was not a stand-alone branch but one of those mini branches inside a grocery store. There was just one teller, with another lady who was in and out of the back room hanging up decroations out front. She seemeed to be a janitor of some kind.
It's my turn, I give her the check and withdrawal slip - and the teller makes this smirk. That's not good. Then she calls over the janitor - who apparently is the branch manager, in between her St Patrick Day deocration duties - who looks at my account on the screen, chuckles, and approves it. I am still baffled by that turn of events.
I don't remember much of gambling that night - I think the opening game was Pai Gow Poker with Don and Mike and their golf bage along side. I remember being half asleep as I tried to eat a 3 lb roast beef sandwich at the deli; I lost $500 at UTH waiting for Wiz and Leland to arrive. Not the greatest of starts.
Thu Mar 17
Started the day - after placing sports bets; the first "big bet" of the day was Old Dominion -2 vs Butler. Butler can't handle the physicality! - with Craps. I think I played more craps with Leland on this trip than the rest of the trips combined.
As we played, I got 4 texts and 2 phone calls from Wiz, who was in hiding watching Clemson.
It was 1:10 pm Eastern; I knew exactly what he was calling for.
"Is anyone near the book?"
I'm here now. What do you want?
"What's the Clemson halftime line?"
WV by 1 1/2.
"How much do you have?"
Um....it's all at the table.....
"Do you have $1000????"
No, sorry. I got $250 for you.....
Of course, I didn't place any money for me on West Virginia's 2nd half bet, which was an easy winner.....
First real winning session was that afternoon at UTH...nothing stands out there. However, we all had our first experience with the power of the Gold Card - the players club card. Layup was at the Gold level (the third level out of four), and we all went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. There was a significant line - 10? 15 people?
Layup flashes his card - "um, can I get a table for 6??"
We were seated in 60 seconds. It was amazing.
An afternoon jog (yes, first time that has happened for me in Vegas) amid watching another Big Bet game go down in flames ("Yes! Santa Barbara has the experience to stay close to Florida") and then it was off to dinner.
I don't know if it was the food, or the fact that I haven't had a filet in 9 months - but the filet that night at Mesa was memorable. Just wonderful.
(And the fact that no one in Vegas thought that Cincinnati would beat Missouri except for me .....that helped too.....)
Ended the day with (apparently) a craps loss and the annual tradition of losing at Pai Gow to John the Dealer......
Fri Mar 18
A strong 6 hours of sleep, which could be a record for me in Vegas. Layup recommended Excedrin PM, which was extremely helpful all week.
Golf in the morning at Southern Highlands - and that was wonderful. I keep thinking about that course. It is the perfect definition of a "fair, but difficult" course. There are no tricks. The greens are not unfair; I thought (and still think) that I can 2 putt from anywhere out there (and I did, on some holes!) You get rewarded for good shots and punished for bad shots. The course is right there in front of you - there's not a lot of hidden hazards lurking.
I would gladly go back there again in a future year. I just hope I am not blackballed after yelling at the TV in the men's locker room during the end of the Arizona-Memphis game. The members sitting 3 tables away shot several dirty looks in our (my?) direction......and then quickly left the room 5 minutes later. Well, the ends justify the means, correct?
Friday, after golf, was a wild day gambling. Another losing session at craps (I think this time was with Mike) - I put my chips in my pocket and headed over to the UTH table where everyone was located. We talked about the games, and the fact that I just put in a second half bet on VCU vs Georgetown. Layup wanted some of that action, so he gave me some money to place the bet.
As I walked over there, I cashed in my two black chips from craps and put that money in my pocket and headed over to the book. I took out Layup's money and my wallet - placed his bet - and then took out my green book to look at other games.
It was when I was ready to place another bet for myself when I realized - I didn't have the $200 from my two chips I cashed at the cage.
I checked each pocket 5 times - no luck.
I felt like an extreme idiot as I went back to the same counter in the sportsbook.
"Can I help you, honey?" she said.
Um, yeah....um......did anyone, um, turn in $200?
"What? You mean turn in found money?"
Yeah....I just dropped it here 5 minutes ago.....
She checked around and - no, no one turned it in. Of course not - but I had to ask.
As I left the counter, I saw some middle aged, 5'6" man look at me and smirk to himself. I am 90% positive that he found the money on the floor of the book (while I was fumbling around) and pocketed it. But what in the hell am I supposed to do? It is my fault - that's why I always put the money in my wallet after cashing at the cage.
Anyway, the day got a little better when I won a big bet when - again - I seemed to be the only one at the casino who liked Georgia and the points (+5- which moved to +6 by tip) vs. Washington. A late 3 by the Bulldogs gave me the cover. And I didn't collect from the casino - I collected from Wiz! Even better.
Then I sat down at UTH as we had a long session. It was 5 of us - Leland was off playng his marathon of craps. From left to right, we had
Layup
Wiz
Me
Mike
Don
and....the Danish Pirate
This guy at the end of the table was 50 or so, glasses, beard, and he grunted with every bet. He said he was in Vegas for 2 weeks and was losing money, but he loved the UTH game.
All of a sudden (his hot streak probably started when Wiz and I got into a spitting fight and I was banished to the Phat Cats cafe), this guy was on fire. He started playing a $50 ante. Then $75. Then $100 every once in a while. Then $100 every hand.
And he kept winning.
He started with, oh, $500. By the end of the 3rd hour at the table, he had $3,000 on the table and AT LEAST - AT LEAST - $5,000 in his pocket. He spit out a tooth at one point into the cards - no matter, that didn't break the string. Everything he touched was gold.
(And how did I do? Well, it was the classic case of someone shooting a 59 at a golf tournament. When someone shoots a 59 on the PGA Tour, all the attention focuses to that golfer. Every move they make is magnified and lauded.
They don't see the golfer in the group behind shooting a 62.
I tripled my money at that table, by far my best outing at UTH. And this was a $15 minimum, so we are not talkig tripling $50 into $150.
I got up to the cage, cashed in my chips - and before they took the money out of the drawer, they asked:
"Do you have any markers you want to settle?"
I don't know why, but I was offended. Hell NO! I didn't take any loans out to win this money! This is from my own sweat and blood!
Well, I'm out of steam for tonight, but Friday's diary is not complete.
Here's what you can look forward to in the next installment:
"Let's make some money!"
I only play the hard 4 and 10
Afternoons in Vegas: a Taxi to Target
Brandt Snedeker costing me $25
"Security!" and the 70 year old waitress on Saturday night
My first foray into the Salon
Cleanup on aisle 9
Sean Connery will star in "Entrapment"
Tue Mar 15
You know it's a weird Vegas trip when it starts on a Tuesday - actually, I left work in Guangzhou around 1 pm - so my trip actually started 10 pm Monday, Vegas time. Caught a train to Hong Kong, where I actually worked for about 4 hours in the hotel room before the early morning flight.
Besides working, the other main activity in the hotel room was to create my own tournament guide. For some reason, the publishers of the Blue Ribbon tournament guide decided not to write one this year. Now what will I do? Well, I signed up for the ESPN Insider account, found a preview page for each of the teams, copied those into a Word document, cut out the 68 pictures of Joe Lunardi contained in each preview, shrunk it down to 6 pt font - and voila! An 80 page tournament guide.
Now, printing it out at the hotel cost HK $10 a page, so I have started my trip about US $100 in the hole before even boarding an airplane.
Wed Mar 16
Flight leaves at 8, it's an international flight - so be there 2 hours early, 40 min taxi to the hotel: Gees, that's a 4:30 wake up call. What jolted me awake? I was in the shower and realized: "the next shower I will take will be in Vegas". That always brings a smile....
First leg: Hong Kong-Tokyo. March 16, 5 days after the earthquake. There was NO ONE on that plane. Each row was 3-4-3, and there was literally 1-2 people per row. A bit scary. However, when I landed in Tokyo, it seemed to be business as usual. Nothing seemed out of place.
Boarded the plane for LA at 4 pm local; I brought my NyQuil so I can sleep! Smart! I got 4 hours of sleep before my 4;30 wakeup call, I'll be dead tired on the plane and I can crash.
Dinner comes, darkness on the plane, and I comfortably fall asleep.....
....and then I wake up. Hmmmm, I wonder what time it is.....it's still dark out....
I was asleep for 90 minutes.
I took another nap on the plane for 30-40 minutes, and that was it.
Land in LA - gees, the lines at US Immigration are at least 3x as long as other airports - and Layup picks me up - and off we go to Vegas!
The ride was not as long as I thought; after the first two hours, I tried to get in a quick nap - and I got three naps in. Each was about 4 minutes long.
But before we get to the Mirage, we needed to do twoside trips: one to a Wal Mart to go medicine shopping, and to a US Bank to get loaded for the trip. The Wal Mart trip was uneventful, except for the occasional stares as two men were circling the pharmacy with a shopping cart half-full of Children's Motrin, NyQuil, and Benadryl.
The bank was an adventure, as the "bank" was not a stand-alone branch but one of those mini branches inside a grocery store. There was just one teller, with another lady who was in and out of the back room hanging up decroations out front. She seemeed to be a janitor of some kind.
It's my turn, I give her the check and withdrawal slip - and the teller makes this smirk. That's not good. Then she calls over the janitor - who apparently is the branch manager, in between her St Patrick Day deocration duties - who looks at my account on the screen, chuckles, and approves it. I am still baffled by that turn of events.
I don't remember much of gambling that night - I think the opening game was Pai Gow Poker with Don and Mike and their golf bage along side. I remember being half asleep as I tried to eat a 3 lb roast beef sandwich at the deli; I lost $500 at UTH waiting for Wiz and Leland to arrive. Not the greatest of starts.
Thu Mar 17
Started the day - after placing sports bets; the first "big bet" of the day was Old Dominion -2 vs Butler. Butler can't handle the physicality! - with Craps. I think I played more craps with Leland on this trip than the rest of the trips combined.
As we played, I got 4 texts and 2 phone calls from Wiz, who was in hiding watching Clemson.
It was 1:10 pm Eastern; I knew exactly what he was calling for.
"Is anyone near the book?"
I'm here now. What do you want?
"What's the Clemson halftime line?"
WV by 1 1/2.
"How much do you have?"
Um....it's all at the table.....
"Do you have $1000????"
No, sorry. I got $250 for you.....
Of course, I didn't place any money for me on West Virginia's 2nd half bet, which was an easy winner.....
First real winning session was that afternoon at UTH...nothing stands out there. However, we all had our first experience with the power of the Gold Card - the players club card. Layup was at the Gold level (the third level out of four), and we all went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. There was a significant line - 10? 15 people?
Layup flashes his card - "um, can I get a table for 6??"
We were seated in 60 seconds. It was amazing.
An afternoon jog (yes, first time that has happened for me in Vegas) amid watching another Big Bet game go down in flames ("Yes! Santa Barbara has the experience to stay close to Florida") and then it was off to dinner.
I don't know if it was the food, or the fact that I haven't had a filet in 9 months - but the filet that night at Mesa was memorable. Just wonderful.
(And the fact that no one in Vegas thought that Cincinnati would beat Missouri except for me .....that helped too.....)
Ended the day with (apparently) a craps loss and the annual tradition of losing at Pai Gow to John the Dealer......
Fri Mar 18
A strong 6 hours of sleep, which could be a record for me in Vegas. Layup recommended Excedrin PM, which was extremely helpful all week.
Golf in the morning at Southern Highlands - and that was wonderful. I keep thinking about that course. It is the perfect definition of a "fair, but difficult" course. There are no tricks. The greens are not unfair; I thought (and still think) that I can 2 putt from anywhere out there (and I did, on some holes!) You get rewarded for good shots and punished for bad shots. The course is right there in front of you - there's not a lot of hidden hazards lurking.
I would gladly go back there again in a future year. I just hope I am not blackballed after yelling at the TV in the men's locker room during the end of the Arizona-Memphis game. The members sitting 3 tables away shot several dirty looks in our (my?) direction......and then quickly left the room 5 minutes later. Well, the ends justify the means, correct?
Friday, after golf, was a wild day gambling. Another losing session at craps (I think this time was with Mike) - I put my chips in my pocket and headed over to the UTH table where everyone was located. We talked about the games, and the fact that I just put in a second half bet on VCU vs Georgetown. Layup wanted some of that action, so he gave me some money to place the bet.
As I walked over there, I cashed in my two black chips from craps and put that money in my pocket and headed over to the book. I took out Layup's money and my wallet - placed his bet - and then took out my green book to look at other games.
It was when I was ready to place another bet for myself when I realized - I didn't have the $200 from my two chips I cashed at the cage.
I checked each pocket 5 times - no luck.
I felt like an extreme idiot as I went back to the same counter in the sportsbook.
"Can I help you, honey?" she said.
Um, yeah....um......did anyone, um, turn in $200?
"What? You mean turn in found money?"
Yeah....I just dropped it here 5 minutes ago.....
She checked around and - no, no one turned it in. Of course not - but I had to ask.
As I left the counter, I saw some middle aged, 5'6" man look at me and smirk to himself. I am 90% positive that he found the money on the floor of the book (while I was fumbling around) and pocketed it. But what in the hell am I supposed to do? It is my fault - that's why I always put the money in my wallet after cashing at the cage.
Anyway, the day got a little better when I won a big bet when - again - I seemed to be the only one at the casino who liked Georgia and the points (+5- which moved to +6 by tip) vs. Washington. A late 3 by the Bulldogs gave me the cover. And I didn't collect from the casino - I collected from Wiz! Even better.
Then I sat down at UTH as we had a long session. It was 5 of us - Leland was off playng his marathon of craps. From left to right, we had
Layup
Wiz
Me
Mike
Don
and....the Danish Pirate
This guy at the end of the table was 50 or so, glasses, beard, and he grunted with every bet. He said he was in Vegas for 2 weeks and was losing money, but he loved the UTH game.
All of a sudden (his hot streak probably started when Wiz and I got into a spitting fight and I was banished to the Phat Cats cafe), this guy was on fire. He started playing a $50 ante. Then $75. Then $100 every once in a while. Then $100 every hand.
And he kept winning.
He started with, oh, $500. By the end of the 3rd hour at the table, he had $3,000 on the table and AT LEAST - AT LEAST - $5,000 in his pocket. He spit out a tooth at one point into the cards - no matter, that didn't break the string. Everything he touched was gold.
(And how did I do? Well, it was the classic case of someone shooting a 59 at a golf tournament. When someone shoots a 59 on the PGA Tour, all the attention focuses to that golfer. Every move they make is magnified and lauded.
They don't see the golfer in the group behind shooting a 62.
I tripled my money at that table, by far my best outing at UTH. And this was a $15 minimum, so we are not talkig tripling $50 into $150.
I got up to the cage, cashed in my chips - and before they took the money out of the drawer, they asked:
"Do you have any markers you want to settle?"
I don't know why, but I was offended. Hell NO! I didn't take any loans out to win this money! This is from my own sweat and blood!
Well, I'm out of steam for tonight, but Friday's diary is not complete.
Here's what you can look forward to in the next installment:
"Let's make some money!"
I only play the hard 4 and 10
Afternoons in Vegas: a Taxi to Target
Brandt Snedeker costing me $25
"Security!" and the 70 year old waitress on Saturday night
My first foray into the Salon
Cleanup on aisle 9
Sean Connery will star in "Entrapment"
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