The fascination never ends

Sorry for the long delay in posting (and finishing up part 4 of the blog. I know all of you were on pins and needles waiting for it). Mom and Dad have been in town for a week and a half and I have been busy playing tour guide with them over the past 9 days. Some of the activities:
- Guangzhou markets, especially the leather market;
- Beijing, and (of course)
- Macau (the Venetian).

I took the boys up to Beijing with Mom and Dad to see Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall again (as they were off school). Going to Beijing during a holiday weekend means crowds - and that means tons of natives that have never seen a blond boy before......

......after this picture was taken, our female tour guide came back from buying tickets and shooed everyone away. One comment was overheard - in English - "Wow. I am surprised that the mother is Chinese......."

Back to reality

The weekend after Vegas, we met another family at a park in the city. It was a nice afternoon - throwing the baseball around, having the boys run around in the trees.....and then we sat down for a snack. We sat next to a trash can - mistake. Big mistake.

Soon a mother, carrying her 12-18 month old toddler, comes over to the trash can, and lowers her son's pants. I believe you can guess what is going on here.

At least Martin (in the picture) was oblivious to it.  I just can't get used to this part of life here.



Vegas Diary, part 4

Sat, Mar 17

After going to bed around 4, I woke up at.....11 am. That was a bit disorienting. I never do that in Vegas. Layup was still sleeping as well...After the buffet, it was time for the annual visit to the blackjack salon.

The four of us (Wiz and Ira) got there around 1 - and soon after, Leland comes in with his suitcases in tow. He's ready to move into the salon - I'm sure there are rooms in the back somewhere! Unfortunately, he was heading out - signaling the beginning of the end of the trip. Always a sad moment.
The salon experience was a good one this year, with a moderate profit. The highlight was our reenactment of a classic "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode, the one where a tornado strikes the station. In the episode, Andy Travis is injured when a window blows out; he lies motionless on one of the desks. The gang decides to get him away from the window and moves him to a desk across the room. Just as they get there and as they lay Andy down, Jennifer (Loni Anderson) cries out "You idiots, you're not supposed to move an injured person!". So the team then picks up Andy again back to the desk by the window where he originally was.

That was us in the solon. We sat down to a table that was double deck; we decided we wanted a shoe table, so we all picked up at the same time and moved to table across the room with the shoe. Drinks, chips, everything. Just as we sat down, we realized the limits were three times higher than the table we were at. Back we went, with our tails between our legs, to the original table. Some advanced scouting would have been helpful.

The gambling on the trip went downhill from there. I don't think I had a winning session after the salon. I blame Leland for the bad luck. Dinner that night was at CPK, and I finally handed out my gifts from China. I stopped at a gambling market and bought real, made-in-China, playing cards (everyone appreciated) and real,made-in-China poker chips. The chips brought a lot of "WTF" and "gee, thanks" comments from the crew.

After dinner, almost everyone left their chips on the table, so I took them upstairs back to the room. Poker chips weigh a lot, and I put them all in one plastic bag. I got to the lobby near the elevators when - pop! - the bag ripped and all the white chips came flying out of the bag onto the marble floor.

Of course, there was about 20 people around - and all of them started going after the chips. It took about a second for them to realize that these weren't Mirage chips - so they came up and return them to me. It was very embarrassing having stranger after stranger return these poker chips for a good 2 minutes in the lobby.

Oh, and the sound the chips made when they hit the floor! Wow, that was loud.

I lost a side bet to Wiz and Ira on the Murray St / Marquette game; they both took my action to aviod paying the Mirage the juice. In return for the payment, I made them sign my diary to verify the lost money to them for the wager.

After dinner, we tried our luck at craps again, as none of us could roll. Wiz even tried the reverse jinx and was opening rooting for the 7 as we rolled; no matter. None of us could make a point.

We went back to blackjack one last time that night; Ira took one last marker and almost had to demonstrate the new term he taught us; the "walk of shame". If you receive your funds but are yet to sign for them, and then run into some horrible luck and lose all those funds before the pit boss has had a chance to finish all the paperwork and get your signature, you are forced to hang around the table idle until all the papers are done and you sign for your money - the money that's already gone. Ithink he was down to his last chip before embarking on a mini-comeback to stay in the game.

But the session was not good for any of us, especially Layup. After a losing session, Layup got up to walk away with his few remaining chips when the dealer stopped him.

"Don't walk away", I think she said. I can't remember what she said after that, but it angered Layup.

Layup showed her his chips. "I'm leaving. I've had enough" he said.

The dealer was insistent that he stay and color up, or continue playing. Layup argued again that he is going to just leave.

The pit boss came over to see the mini-fuss (she was already close by); she quickly understood what was going on. Layup had his chips out to show the dealer.

The dealer said "I just want to color him up!"

Immediately, without missing a beat, the pit boss said "But he doesn't have enough chips to color!"

Wiz, Ira and I were rolling in laughter as Layup was even more infuriated.

We tried our hand at blackjack swtich one last time - and, of course, had the annual argument with the pit boss about the "soft 22" hand that the dealer has (Ace-Ace, of course). We were also properly instructed on how to signal "switch" and "split". The "switch" requires a turn of the wrist. Wiz was the first to be reprimanded.

It was about midnight at that point, and everyone headed to bed; I got up at 11 and was not at all tired, even though I was on a 5 session losing streak. I sat down and played UTH heads up vs. the dealer for about two hours. During that time, several novices sat down and tried to play. One college guy (and his buddy) sat down next to me - at a $15 UTH table - and said "I love table poker games!" and plopped a $50 down. He was confused when he had to put $30 on the table to start, not $15; he was dealt 7-2 and was gone in 30 seconds.

I still had "money" left in my advance deposit account so I withdrew the remaining amount for the last craps session. I got the funds, was in the middle of the roll when the pit boss - Olga, a 50 year old woman that reminded me of Ms. Fucile from Hereford Social Studies class - came over to my side.

This can't be good.

"Eric, I'm sorry sir, but you don't have that much in your account."

What? I take good notes ! I'm sure I have that much money left!

"No, I'm sorry, you have half of that".

Um...ok.......should I return the other half now?

"Yes, you can hand the half back in."

I tried to give her the chips.

"No, sir, put in on the table"

Um, yes, of course.

How in the hell am I supposed to roll after that ? I quickly picked up, confused, and walked over to the cage. At 2 in the morning, I asked to speak to someone in the credit office.
We went over each time I signed to withdraw and - of course - I missed one Pai Gow tiles session back on Thursday. Olga and the Mirage was right. I apologized profusely and slithered away.

I had to get a confirmation card for our goddaughter - so, at 2:30 in the morning, in 40 degree temperatures, I took the walk to Walgreens. The maintenance staff was waxing the floors and I was not allowed to enter the Hallmark aisle.

What a symbolic way to end the day.

Sun, Mar 18

Not much action on this day; I woke up and went back to the Walgreens where - believe it or not - they had "Congratulations on your Confirmation" cards. In the Las Vegas strip Walgreen's. God does exist in the center of the Sin City. I'm sure our 14 year old goddaughter got a kick out of the "Mirage, Las vegas NV" postmark on the card.

After breakfast, Layup and I had two more gambling sessions that continued the losing streak that started when Leland left. Got to the airport around 2:30; the flights were uneventful. I landed at 6:30 am on Tuesday - and 4 hours later I was sitting at the plant in a 3 day training workshop.

A hard jolt back to reality.

Vegas Trip Report, part 3

Fri, Mar 16 (continued)

(warning - post is long; maybe I should have broken it up into 8 chapters)

After the UTH session with Don and Mike, I gleefully watched the Lehigh Mountaineers defeat a small school from North Carolina. It was clear that the Lehigh players were more talented, so I couldn't understnad why people thought Lehigh's win was an upset.

(Side note - I really should just go to Vegas and check the lines against my gut. When I saw this line at only 12 - Duke -12 - I should have jumped on Lehigh. Every square within 100 miles of Vegas was going to put their money on Duke.....the casinos know things they don't. They were begging you to take the Dukies. )

I joined up with Wiz and Layup for some BLT burger - except that after the Fried Oreos the night before and the sliders/fried twinkie for lunch, I was in no mood for a 3/4 pound burger. So I got the 3/4 pound chicken sandwich!

Later that night, it was time for a craps run at the green chip tables - except they were all fairly full. I think I headed on my own to find a table, and found a nice spot in the straightaway position at a fairly crowded (but not packed) table. I will clearly remember these people for a while. Starting on my right next to the dealer, we had:
 - a fairly non descript guy from West Virginia
 - an older guy from Denver who all the dealers knew; he comes to Vegas about 12 times a year; he has a row of purples and is consistently betting $640 across the board every shooter;
- me;
- 2 late-20s something ladies in a short dress, pretty darn attractive; both were craps newbies
- a late-20s something guy who was with the ladies - boyfriend? friend? not sure
- and, next to the stick, Laura from San Francisco, who was early thirties and (I think) dressed in leather.

It was clear that this was the first time for one of the ladies next to me at a craps table; the other may have been gambling once before and tried to explain the game, but failed. Of course I helped them out by explaining the pass line and the numbers.

And then the table started to get hot.

Just before it got hot, Wiz, Layup and Don appeared at the table and found spots at the other end. They saw me chatting with the 2 ladies and immediately gave me the thumbs up; I was not subtle in returning the thumbs up sign.

Once the table got rolling, it was a loud party. We all knew where each other was from - I told everyone I was from Cincinnati, as I wasn't in the mood to explain a "China" answer. High-fives at every point made, and then at every 6 and 8. Hugs (no kisses, however). Emphatic yells. Green chips everywhere. It was a great party for a good hour and a half where I was up four digits at the table. It wasn't as hot as the infamous Sahara roll from 2010 - not even close - but it was a good roll. The Laura lady had the best roll of them all, lasting for about 30 minutes.

We started talking about jobs, background, etc. - and I learned that the ladies (and the guy, who was actually the boyfriend of one of them) were from Washington DC. In town for a long party weekend to have fun. What do they do in Washington? Well, they are on the politicial staff for Senators. The one immediately next to me was on the staff for Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN); before that, she worked for Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO), and the Denver guy started in on what a horrible personality Allard had.

Now, these Washingtonians were not interns - they were out of school for a while. So - I have to assume - they are pretty senior people on the staff. Taking it a step further, these are the people that are helping the Senator with policy decisions, writing bills, etc. Am I right?

If so, it made me depressed afterward thinking about it. I know I am making a lot of assumptions here - but it jives with what I read about the Washington insider's circle. Here are a bunch of late 20-something people - who I have to believe are very intelligent, of course! - that really control a lot of the power in Congress in this country. And I don't think this is good for us as a whole.

We have developed this whole class/major of people whose sole purpose in life - their career goal - is to go to college, graduate in Poli Sci or something similar, then go to work in Washington and then get elected somehow. That's not healthy. That's not the "real world" - and I have a bad taste in my mouth with this arrangement. It's unsettling. I would like my politicians - and staff ! - to have a well-rounded life, excelling in both academia and the private sector - before they start to make policies/laws that affect us all.

I don't want to get off on a partisan diatribe here - recall, these craps players worked for Republicans! - but a perfect example of this is Anthony Weiner. He went to school in political science, and his first job out of school was an aide for a NY congressman. He was "the next in line" and then got elected.....voila! No real world experience whatsoever.........and he became pretty powerful in Congress. There are absolutely examples of that on the Republican side as well. 

It just seems that we have a whole lot more of the full time political "class" in our Congress now than we ever did before. I don't think it is healthy, and I think it is a reason why we have less trust in our government now than in olden days (say, the 1990s!)

Anyway - if I was more sober and more pissed (and losing more), I may have turned to my good lady friends and asked them if they every worked a day in the private sector before. But we were winning, and none of these governmental manifestos came to my mind! Laissez les bon temp roulez!

Back to the action at the tables....as I said, the roll that Laura from San Francisco had was an excellent one - and when it was done, I saw that Don, Wiz and Layup all colored up at that point. I can't blame them - a nice profit was attained, why not cash it in? However, I was having fun with Denver, Laura and the government ladies, so I decided to stay.

As the table became hot before and during Laura's roll, a crowd started enveloping table. At one point, there were 10-15 people on my side just wathcing the action. Included in these spectators was an African American guy, about 25 or so, trying to understand and get invovled in the game. He was inching his way in between me and the government girls. He was hovering there, deciding whether or not to get in - and how exactly to get in - for a good 30 minutes.

He finally decided to take the plunge shortly after Laura's roll. He unfurled 2 twenties and a 10 for 2 green chips. I started to help him to explain what was going on and what wins on what roll; I told him he should bet the pass line; he did and the point was "5". (it would have been too cruel for the dice rolls to be 2 and 12, sending him on his way.

I asked if he wanted another number, and he shook his head; I don't blame him with his $50 bankroll. No odds either. Well, all of us continued to play our regular way - 6s, 8s, and Denver with all the numbers.

You know what happened - the numbers started hitting. 6, 10, 4, 9, 8, 8, 6, 11, 6, 4, 10, 8......maybe a hard 4 or 10 thrown in there for me.....and when those hit, our end started jumping up and down again. Woo hoo! High fives all around!

Except for the guy next to me, stuck on his five.

The dice were on the other side of the table, being rolle directly toward us. In a move of desperation, our hero - in need of a 5 - started invoking Michael Jordan's name. " I need a Twenty Three!" he stated. "Two Three!"
And then , right before the dice were thrown, he took off his shoe and raised it to the table.
"See? I got my Jordan's on! Air Jordans! 2-3! Twenty three!"

The roll was (another) 9.

Now I was getting discombobulated. As most of you know, I am extremely superstitous at the craps table. (only at the craps table? Have you shared your story of how you almost broke up with Janice during a 1992 Browns game when she came in the room when the Browns had a 14 point lead, and then 10 minutes later the game was tied - and you blamed it on her? -ed).
How superstitious am I? I do not give tips for the dealers as line bets, because back in 2002 or so I did this - and I lost 14 straight times on the pass line when I bet for the dealer (over multiple casino visits). So I never do that.
If things are going well at the table, I don't change things up. I don't change the position of my chips, most importantly. Why move things around on the rail when things are going well?

So my chips are on the rail during all this commotion, but as the people started moving around a bit and my "friend" entered the table, I somehow got moved a bit to the right. But hell, I'm not moving my chips!

In the end, this meant that the Air Jordan was directly over my black chips.

And I didn't really have a big problem with that, but it was a bit...awkward. He started leaning over the rail, touching my chips with hhis forearm - and I had to guard them with my hand. He seemed that he could have been a bit high - I am horrible at judging this in people; see last year's diary with the "Let's Make Some Money!!" guy - but there was no immediate threat.

Of course, the roller sevened out; everyone made money on the roll except our friend.

The next roller came up, he did not bet on the pass line but bet a $25 8; good for him, the 8 hit a couple of times (quick, what's the payoff for a $25 8-place bet? ) and he was in business. The roller hit a few points, which meant more shrieks of delight at our craps table.......

......that could be heard around the corner to the blackjack table where Layup, Wiz and Don were playing. I didn't know it at the time, but they could hear the celebrations at our table (me? no!) and were cursing me, Laura, the government girls and everyone else at that table.

I stayed for another hour, making some more money, and the government girls and Air Jordan were both up. One of the more memorable craps sessions in history.

Could we match that later in the night? Two hours later, walking around with Wiz, Ira, Leland and Layup, we found an empty craps table and started rolling. The four of them were on one end - and I, not wanting to be boxed in, went by myself to the other end. I was expecting one of them - just one! - to join me....but no, they left me alone.

The table we chose was the high traffice table at the Mirage. This is the table nearest to the atrium on the main walkway aisle. I was on the side of the table nearest the sportsbook, so my ass was in the busiest intersection of the casino on a Friday night of NCAA weekend.

We were there for maybe 45 minutes - and it was absolutely amazing to me to see all the degenerates stop by the craps table, peek in, place one $25, and was on their way. Numerous people stopped at my end - again, I was by myself at the end - pull out $50, place it on the field, lose, and walk away.

One couple stopped by - a typical midwestern couple in their 50s - joined by the mother of the man ( I think). She was at least 75, and could have been a stunt double for Estelle Getty. The man placed $50 on the pass line - when the point was already established as a 9 - and waited.

The grandmother went to the other side of me and peered into the tub. She was no more than 4'10", and can barely see what was going on. It struck me as odd that she seemed to want nothing to do with, and kept her distance.

After two rolls, Leland did not help them and threw a "7". The man and wife quietly walked away, while the mother stared at them with a look of "what in the hell was that bet you made?"

Went upstairs around 3:30, called Janice around 3:45 am - 6:45 pm in China - and they were just finishing up dinner and getting ready to start the bath.......on Saturday night..........that threw me for a loop.

Vegas Trip Report, part 2

Fri Mar 16
Again, a good deal of sleep as I got up at 9. That's 12 hours in the last 2 days - more than the total in some previous 4 day trips. Similar to yesterday, I thought it was one day later than it truly was. It was Friday, not Saturday - a full day of basketball and gambling with no activities.

After running and placing early bets before tip, I joined Don at the tiles table; good to see him playing tiles in the morning and having a least one white man presence at the tiles early every morning. Curt the tiles dealer was forcing me to call out the dealer's hand and have me figure out if I won or not - that's too hard with the Oreos still in my system from the night before.

At about 11 or so, the group decided to head downtown for the day. Everyone except Don and Brian joined in the trip. Ira was with us in one taxi with me and Mike; Layup, Wiz and Leland drove in the other car.

We meet at the Nugget, see our annual partner in Dick (who we never saw again after the first 20 minutes), and head to a completely empty downtown scene. It was weird to see the main area of the downtown casinos before noon in pure sunlight. It looked like a suburban shopping plaza on a tuesday mid-day.

Ira decides to jump start the fun in the group by getting us all a slushie - a  flavored frozen alcoholic drink in a yard-long test tube. There are reports that some of the drinks may have had extra Everclear in them. (Noooo!)

We are holding our yard tubes walking around the barren downtime trying to find an empty craps table - and we find one at the fabulous "Las Vegas Club" casino. We walk up to the empty half table - the six of us in order (Ira, me, Mike, Wiz, Leland and Layup) plop our money down. The dealer on our side was at least - at least!- 80 years old. He valiantly tried to stay with us as we threw our money on the table and starting making bets, but couldn't. Once we got our chips, it was taking him about 2 minutes between throws to take care of the place bets, come bets, and keeping the hardways straight. The boxman, of course, knew that this (we?) was a disaster to happen, so after the required 20 minutes, he was quickly told to work at the other craps table in the casino - and we never saw him again.

We played craps for a good 2 hours, storing our tubes below the table (how none of us spilled a drink, I'll never know), with a moderate loss for all of us (I'm estimating). Some memories:
- Layup and Wiz having a contest to see who could finish the drink first; Mike and I wanted no part of that, so we created our own "B" flight competition for finishing the drink;
- At random times, Ira was convinced that a 9 was going to be rolled; he suggested to me that we should hop the 9. He put $5 on the 4-5 hop. I asked him "What about the 3-6?"
He said "No one rolls the 3-6".
So that started a mini competition betweenus the whole trip; every time a 4-5 was rolled, I paid him $5; when a 3-6 came up, I received $5. I always got out to an early lead each craps session, but as the session wore on, the 3-6's disappeared and so did my red chips.
- Great adventures in line setting; the Price is Right was on the TV near the craps table - the annoucner told us that the "Showcase Showdown" was coming up!
So I offered the table the over/under on the winning score - 90.5 was the line.

All the suckers (Layup, Wiz, Ira) took the under.....and when the second spinner spun a 95, I was the richer one.

(Looking back, a better line would have been 87.5. I may have to write into Wizard of odds for this one).

- I had Norfolk State +21.5 over Missouri; the game was on another TV while we were rolling. We caught glances of the game in the 1st half, when it was close; as the game wore on, and Norfolk stayed close, we were more and more interested. A new chant was made in support of the Spartans:
"We don't drink.....We don't smoke....Norfolk!"
Yes, it was funny after 3/4 of the yard was gone.

After we were done with craps, it was time for lunch - and what better food than sliders and fried twinkies! I have to say, the fried twinkie was better than the Fried Oreos of the night before. The complete meal for $1.98!

The alcohol caught up to me, and I don't exactly remember how I got back to the Mirage; Mike, Ira and I took a taxi while Layup, Leland and Wiz split away from us. I asked Mike about the taxi trip and he said that I was asking about Ira's connection to Wiz. It may have come out as "So, Ira, how do you know Wiz? Did you hire that ass, or did he become an ass after working for a while?"

The afternoon/evening was spent playing UTH with Don and Mike; those sessions are a little foggy, but I do remember the Cheshire-cat like smile on Don's face at first base. Neither Mike nor I could catch many cards, but Don stayed there, smiling, with his cheerleading chant, racking up the green chips.

More to come on Friday later, including the craps session with our future leaders of the government, an Air Jordan resting on my chips, and Estelle Getty making an appearance......

Vegas Trip Report (part 1?)

Here we are again, time for the annual Vegas trip diary! A little different vibe to the trip this year, mainly (I think) due to the different arrival day (Tuesday!) and staggered arrival times for everyone. Here we go with the stream of consciousness diary, based on my notes and foggy recollections:

Tue, Mar 13
The trip over this year was much less of an adventure; a long flight from Guangzhou to LA where I slept about 6 hours on the plane, a nice total. Got about 75% of my game reviews done on the flight to LA; landed in LA at 6 pm local time and was exhausted. Slept the whole way on the puddle jumper to LV. but awoke in time to see the strip upon landing. Are all flights into McCarran required to come in from the east - so the strip is seen prominently off the right side of the aircraft? It was heart warming to see the strip at night from the air again.

After landing, meeting Layup and checking in among all the hotties in the lobby (Tuesday night is industry night, apparently, so Layup and I were checking in among 50-100 twenty something ladies from LV/Southern Cal), our first and only game that night was UTH, where we met Don and Mike. We disbanded around 1:00, 1:300 to sleep.....I took a sleeping pill to make sure I would get some sleep to adjust.....

Wed Mar 14
.....and I awake at 4:15 wide awake. I finally rouse myself out of the room at 5:00 or so and head downstairs. First game to play, solo, in the morning? Tiles! Of course! I had the white dealer (Curt) who is a health fanatic; we talked a while about living a healthy lifestyle without McDonalds (I agree), soda (of course! I have given that up since January and have felt much better), and Head & Shoulders......

uh, what?

He talked about all the chemicals in those processed shampoos and how the body ingests them just by their use and all those preservatives/toxins just build up in your body and cause all sorts of health issues. After about 10 minutes, I picked up......

...and met Layup at the craps table! I think this is before we left for Target - we played craps at 7 in the morning. A good session, with a key lesson I learned. Layup was rolling, I was betting my hard 4s and 10s.....and Layup hit a $5 hard 4 for me. I parlayed it - made it $40 hard 4 - and Layup hit it again! Woo hoo! $280!

In all the celebration, I forgot about the original bet. The dealer even asked if I wanted to press - I said no, half paying attention.

Three rolls later, Layup hit it again.......... the celebration for that hard 4 was much more muted, since I should have had even more out there after the first hit.

But still, can't complain about a winning session as Layup and I did our Target run that morning, searching in vain for Clairol Nice N Easy color 106G. We bought 6 bags of Easter candy that I am shocked stayed unopened through the whole trip.

It was very weird heading out to golf that afternoon without rushing to place any bets. The whole morning felt out of whack as I didn't have my stack of bets for the first day of action. Wednesday felt free!

Golf was uneventful - somehow, Layup, Jason and I won money even we all played badly. My highlight was a -60 yard chip; I drove into the weeds on the left on #6 at Rio Secco. I planned to chip out from a horrid lie, and I did! Clean chip out sideways, where it almost made the fairway, but rolled back down a hill to the cart path. The ball then settled on the cart path - and the path was sloped back toward the tee; I watched in shock as the ball rolled ever so solwly backward down the path - 10 yards back....20....30....slow enough where it never left the path but keeping momentum...40....50.....60.....

We got back from golf and had about 2 hours until dinner; I laid down for a bit and (I think fell asleep). I awoke to Layup getting out of the shower.

Wow, I said groggily. How long did I nap for? 
"You were asleep? You were awake when I went in the shower."
No, I fell asleep, dammit! How much shut eye did I get?
"Ok, maybe 5 minutes, top."

So on that rest, we went to dinner at Bouchon, where the dinner laster forever and we had to read the menus by the flashlights on our iPhones. Bouchon does breakfast well, but dinner? Eh - I'd say a B+. The best thing about that dinner is that a new tradition is born - the group parlay. Everyone threw in some money for a parlay the next day and picked one game - one game only - for the parlay. If we won, great! If the parlay had just one loser, the person who picked the losing game would pay for dinner the next night. (And, if the parlay had just one winner, then the person with the winner would eat for free the next night).

I decided to pick the first game of the tournament, Murray State -5. My fate would be decided early.

After dinner, I have in my notes that we played craps and UTH, although I remember none of it.

Thu, Mar 15

Got up around 8 - 6 hours of sleep, a record for the first day of the tournament. The whole day felt weird - it felt like Friday all day, probably because it was the start of the 2nd full day in Vegas. Didn't have time to do any gambling before we left for golf that morning; I got my wagers in, including a special lock for the Kansas St - Southern Miss under. Murray St. decided to do me a favor and pull away in the second half to cover for me; I held off our parlay with a solid single.

That pattern would keep up the rest of the trip, as we entered two more group parlays for Friday's morning and evening games; I chose Cincinnati -2 in the morning for Friday and St Louis +3 in the evening, starting each of our 3 parlays with a winner. Just call me Kenny Lofton.

Golf was a mixed bag, as usual. We played Southern Highlands for the 2nd straight year - and I can't rave enough about the course. Just a wonderfull layout and test, putting all of us in tough situations every few holes. Who can forget Mike's adventures on 12 - with the 45 degree downhill chip shot then leading to a 110 foot par putt?  The pressure on #17 was intense, when Wiz, Don and Mike all hit into the water on a 180 yd par 3 ---- how am I supposed to hit a long iron into the wind after that? Somehow, I made 4 to win the hole for Mike and I. With my game falling off a cliff, Mike and I tied Wiz and Don for the final 6 holes - even when Wiz/Don combined for 3 birdies in those last 6 holes.

My game is all mental - I have the yips. Most normal people have the yips on the putting green, where they can't take the putter back on a 2 foot putt. Me? I can't take the club back when I am on the tree. I swear, the most nervous I have been on a golf course in 2 years was the tee shot on #1 at Southern Highlands. I wanted to get it overwith as soon as possible - I popped up a 3 wood 195 yards down the middle.

I can drop a ball in the fairway and hit a 3 wood fairly straight, 230 yards. Put it on a tee? I quiver and pull the hell out of it, or top it, or pop it up. It's embarassing and frustrating.......and since I can't get to a range, I can't work my way out of it. So I think I have to suffer with the tee yips for at least another year. Nice.

(Oh, that Southern Miss game? I heard there  was a wild ending and the over covered by a half point. Nice. )

Dinner that night was at Lavo, the Italian restaurant at the Palazzo; two things I will remember about that dinner:
1. I ordered the seafood ravioli special when 3 others ordered the Chicken Parmigian. My mouth was watering when the Chicken Parm came to the table; their entree was the size of a blackjack table. My order consisted of 6 or 7 raviolis in a huge bowl. The appearance definitely underwhelmed.
2. Many people raved about the Fried Oreos for dessert, so of course I had to have it - served with a vanilla milkshake. Oh God, that was a mistake. It was 20% Oreo, 80% pure grease. It was wonderful to eat, but I should not have had 4.
(That being said, I want one NOW).

Light gambling that night, as I found Leland at a Pai Gow poker table. Shortly after I sat down, a new dealer came to the table; her name on her name tag was "Kyung". Well, I wanted to impress Leland with my multiculturalism, so I decided to try to talk to her in her native (?)language.

"Ni Hao!" I said proudly.
Without missing a beat, she said coldly "I'm not Chinese...."
Leland leans over and whispers "The Big K!"

Ah yes! Chinese don't have y's in their names. She's Korean, of course.

That little event may have been the cause of Leland banking against me later on at that table - where he actaully beat me and the dealer with his Q-10 on top vs. my Q-10 and the dealer's Q-10. Damn copy rules. I got him later, however.

Some more UTH and a late night black jack session with Mike, and it was time to call it a night. Little did I know what was in store for Friday.

By far, this is the worst day of the year. Exhausted and depressed. Will post some items tomorrow.

Less than 24 hours

By this time tomorrow evening I will be in Vegas....unsupervised....waiting....it will test my self- control. I will try and work out, wrap up some work, grab some food, finalize my research, and then go pick up Eric, Don, and Mike. More than likely, I will have a few drinks on the plane, change clothes at the Mirage, camp out at the UTH table, loss a shit ton, forget to pick up everyone and then pass out around 1:00am all depressed.

But I can't help myself. I'm so excited for this trip. On Sunday I had to get out of the house because I was just too amped up for the trip. So I tivo'd the selection show, took Morgan swimming, and then came back to have dinner with Carol. My dinner consisted of me just standing in front of the TV watching the selection. Something about the selection show on the Sunday prior to our trip that really just makes it all real. It's like Christmas eve. Once church is over on Christmas eve, it was then Christmas seemed real and right around the corner. That's the selection show for me and Vegas.

And I don't really like doing brackets anymore because I suck. I tend to flip flop every year between picking all the favorites or all the underdogs. I honestly get more excited looking at the NIT bracket than the NCAA bracket now. I will fill out one bracket for a pool I'm in with my Zurich buddies back in MD, but I'm forced too because that is how we decide the ranking order for our fantasy football league. I hate the NCAA bracket so much I have outlawed it my offices.

So after the selection show, I just can't get focused. I was getting into a heated argument with a lady in product management today, and in the middle of the argument, my mind wandered and started thinking about how to measure who is the best and worst craps roller in the group. Should we keep track of how many points and hard ways each of us hit to determine this or should it be measured by the length of time of all of our rolls. How great would that be that on Sunday Eric announces that Mike D is the best roller because he rolled for a total of 282 minutes during the entire trip while Derek rolled for measly 52 minutes. Should we pay someone to keep track of this for us? We probably could, but how much would that cost? Where is Bill James when you need him to make sure that we are using the right measurement. And let's just say Audrey, whom I was having the discussion with, told me to call her back because it was obvious I was distracted.

So just some last minute thoughts on objectives, stretch goals, and pitfalls for the trip:

1. What unchartered gambling aspect will we venture into during this trip. $50 craps? $300 BJ? Highroller Slots? I can say that I'm excited and nervous to find out.
2. I watched a lot of mid major basketball this year and I'm wondering if this is tainting my view on the games. Why do I look at every mid major and think they will cover or win. Davidson vs Louisville? Easy, Davidson. South Dakota St? Layup. Montana, Belmont, New Mexico St, Iona, and Ohio? Done. If I hadn't watched so much basketball, would I do better or worse? We will find out.
3. I need to see Dick this year. I hear from so many people at work that he just raves about our trips and looks up to us as gamblers. Every January he calls to make sure I'm still coming and asks personally about Lee, Eric, Wiz, and the "other couple" which is Don and Mike. I ignored him last trip because he was at the Hilton, but this year he is at the nugget and will find time to get with him to watch some games. He is a blast to drink with and was there for my greatest craps moment ever. I can't ignore him this trip.
4. I will try to share what Rock Chalk Jay Hawk means to the group without being called an idiot or asked to leave the table.
5. Since Don told me he was going to wipe his ass with the present I was going to buy everyone, I will need to look for a new present. Still thinking on what that could be....
6. Carol put the guilt trip on me finally. Looks like I'll be on the hook for a new Pottery Barn bedroom set for Morgan upon my return. She is 6 months pregnant and miserable, but still wants to go.
7. I think we need more pictures. Not of anything bad, but just of the group. I was going through some old photos from college and it was bringing back some great memories. I think the only picture we have is of the royal flush that the board was dealt in UTH.
8. I packed 6 pairs of shorts. I'm going to do my best on not wearing any long pants during the trip.
9. I just get so excited thinking about hitting the hard ways. And I really don't get all that excited with $5 or $10 on it anymore. I need at least $25 to let out a yell. That's not good at all is it.
10. I think that while we will lose out on the eye candy going in and out of Revolutions, I do think we will love the new setup for UTH. Its right next to the craps table and I think that it will create a lot of hard decisions on what we will play. Someone will try to play both and I can't wait to see what the pit bosses will do.

Can't wait to see everyone. I will try and post some updates this year.

Gambling Problem??

I found this article in a magazine I was reading about college kids and their gambling problems. The issue is, I think I answered "yes" to about eight of the questions. I know Layup probably has at least six I can think of...

The NCRG, Gamblers Anonymous, health professionals and gaming executives offer their assessment on when it’s time to realize the presence of problem gambling. These questions pertain to those viewpoints.
It’s time to obtain professional help if you answer yes to at least five of the following questions:
Did you ever lose work or school time from gambling?Did gambling make your home life unhappy?
Did you ever gamble to win money to pay debts?
Did losing make you want to return quickly to get it back?
Do you often gamble until your last dollar is spent?
Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
Do you gamble to escape problems?
Have you ever contemplated suicide in the aftermath of gambling?
Have you ever suffered a loss of self-control in the middle of gambling, e.g., throwing drinks or slamming a glass off the table?
Have you ever taken a cash advance in order to chase your losses? (Many carry an interest rate of more than 30 percent.)
Do you drink more than you normally would while playing?
Has more than one person ever told you that you cannot control your gambling?
Have you ever missed a rent or mortgage payment because of gambling?
Have you ever committed an illegal act to finance gambling?
Have you experienced high blood pressure for an extended time after playing?

Vegas Budget Planning

So now it gets serious. Vegas is right around the corner and I'm struggling with my bankroll. With the recent move, the savings account is a little low as we await the check for the loss of sale on our home and reimbursement for paying a duplicate mortgage. Carol's dividend check which is more than enough to support the trip to vegas, still hasn't come yet, and it is also holding up our taxes. And my yearly bonus doesn't get paid until 10 days from now. The timing is so far off this year, I should be super stressed out and wanting to cancel the trip. But I can honestly say I don't think I've been this excited in a very long time. I'm attributing it to a couple of things:

• Living in the midwest. Gone are the days of 80 degree weather and the 10 minute drive to the beach. Why would anyone want to live here? The wind is constantly blowing and its cold as shit. I'm tired of hearing people tell me how I will never want to leave KC after I get used to it. I think these people have given up on life. Why would you want to live here if you had a choice to move? Ugh.



• Renewed focus on College Basketball- Maybe its all the time I'm spending inside, but man I've watched a ton of college basketball. While I'm not killing it, I'm holding my own on the gambling front. I can't wait to watch some of these games and just relax.



• Quick trips to Holywood- What a jolt of energy it is to have a brand new casino 14 minutes away from my house. Door to Door. It seems like Carol and I are getting a babysitter every other day and making a quick trip up to the casino. Its gotten my juices flowing for craps especially and finialized my decision on UTH.



• Renewed focus on tracking play- Had an amazing trip last year. The highs and lows were impressive. I was tapped out and had to utilize the old "pay for dinner on the CC to get cash" trick to fund one last craps run that resulted in a run back up to even. My goal this year is to be even (+/10%) by the end of the trip, but to be able to articulate where the money went.

So I felt bad last year that we really didn't have any pre-Vegas posts and not that much chatter post trip. I won't let that happen again. So to get back to basics, below is my planned budget for each type of game/activity starting with the biggest dollar events:

Craps ($4,300): If you have an hour to waste, read some of the old posts on our craps play. Simply hilarious. To put it in perspective, if I was on my death bed and make a wish foundation came to me to grant me one wish, it would be to play craps with this group of guys coming on this trip (and Jay/Laura) one last time. We simply have the best group!!! Playing with Wiz a couple of weeks ago for 2 hours was simply fantastic and now we have a full couple of days? Man, I just can't wait. I agree 100% with Eric on the need to have all of us at one table a little more often. I plan on spending as much time at these tables as possible.

BJ ($2000): Salon play only. Ready to put in some good sessions here. I'm done playing BJ just to kill time like the old days. Oh there's a $10 table, lets just sit down and have some fun. Not this time. That's what I'll use UTH or Pai Gow for in this trip. I will only play when I'm ready to go for the kill. And unlike Eric, I have no problems referring to the card. I love doing this when I have 15 against a 10. Pisses Wiz off to no end.

UTH ($1000): OK, so I'm going to just set a loss limit here and be done with it. I plan on scaling back the $$$ amount of my play and just do this to waste time. No more $25 per hand play like before. I'll be ok with just going a little smaller and being ok with slowly losing my $800.

Sportsbook ($750): I don't need a lot of money on each game. Maybe just $25 to have a great time and keep me interested. So the budget allows me to lose roughly 30 games. That should be more than enough.

Roulette ($600): 2 sessions seems to do the trick. I don't need to play this all the time, but I love to just smoke a cigar and relax at an empty roulette table during the mid afternoon.

Pai Gow ($500): Played a couple of times recently and I'm really starting to like this game again. I've stayed away for too long since UTH swallowed up all my time. Now with the new strategy, I'll have more time to play here and relax. Too bad they don't have TVs up yet.

Wiz ($380): I owe Wiz some money for the golf pool and the UNC win. Will pay this off the second he gets off the plane.

Spa ($200): Hopefully will be able to fit one massage in.

BJ Switch ($100): Will sit down for one session, get yelled at by Eric and Wiz, will pick up shortly there after. Hopefully I will only lose $100 during that time.

Video Poker ($100): Video Poker with Dick. Yes Dick is back again. Missed him last trip. He will be at the Nugget and will try and get down to see him if possible.

Food ($70): Will get everything comp'd I guess.....

So that ends up being a pretty nice budget. Wow. That added up pretty quickly.

Pre Vegas thoughts

This time next week, I will be on the plane to LA for the annual Vegas trip. This will be the 10th straight March trip for me - either the tournament weekend or the weekend before. Some quick thoughts going through my head 7 days before the trip:

1. I think there will be a slightly different fell to this trip given the timing. Some of us will be out there on Tuesday evening, and all will be in Vegas by 11 am on Wednesday. This is a first. Just think, by Friday morning, the trip will be half over.
2. I'll try to have some self discipline and not go overboard on Wednesday with the NIT games.....lots of luck with that.....
My resolutions in the gambling arena:
3. Would love to play more tiles.
4. Craps - I have a feeling this group will set a record with the number of hours spent on the craps table. I am committed to playing more hardways, less horns, and pressing more of the 6s and 8s. And I would like to dip my toe in the buying the 4s and 10s too.
5. More group sessions at craps. All 6 (7? 8?) of us need to be at a table for at least 2 hours every day.
6. Could do with less BJ Switch.
7. I want to finally - FINALLY - have a winning Pai Gow Poker session with John the Dealer.
8. Can I try to become more self sufficient at the black jack table and not go running for the card every time I have a questionable hand? I'm getting worse at the "book" plays as I get older. A-7 vs an 8. 3-3 vs a 7. 3-3 vs a 3? I'm not 100% sure what to do.......
9. I'll be at the UTH table a lot, I fear.....
10. Sports betting - I know I say this every year, but bigger bets, less games. It's just that I can't help myself........
11. I could use more alcohol in my system this year.
12. Excedrin PM every night. That really did help last year to get consistent sleep. (Is that compatible with #11?)
13. Let's try to eat some breakfast every day, ok? The buffet is good to tie you all the way through dinner.
14. And exercise....at least twice.
15. And one spa session too.

The problem with #12-#15 is that those activities interfere with the gambling time. How many hours in a day are there?

1 week to the tournament

One week from today, the tournament tips off in Dayton! And Selection Sunday is just 5 days away. You know what that means - it's time to look at the latest Bracketology and view the projected games for the 2nd and 3rd round. Most of these categories are familiar ones, but some new ones have been created just for this year!

The Kampen Game
(8) St Mary's v (9) Purdue

Layup's 5-12 Lock
(5) UNLV v (12) South Florida

Eric's Ohio Underdog game
Layup's New Homeland game
(8) Kansas St v (9) Cincinnati

Layup's $1000 on the Money Line Game
(3) Marquette v (14) Belmont

The 7-10 Game No One Cares about
(7) San Diego St v (10) St Louis

The Jay Memorial 9 am Thursday 1st upset of the Tournament Game
(6) Vanderbilt v (11) Washington

Wiz's ACC Lock
The Game Most Likely to create Eric-Wiz Side Action
(8) Iowa St v (9) Virginia

One of these years it will happen for Don game
(3) Georgetown v (14) Akron

Mike's Philly Cheesesteak game
(4) Indiana v (13) Drexel

The Game only Eric cares about
(7) Creighton v (10) California

The Random over/under that Laura is passionate about game
(6) Gonzaga v (11) Harvard

Leland's Dino Gaudio Bad Coaching Memorial Game
(7) New Mexico v (10) West Virginia

Eric & Layup's Summer Sports Camp Game
(2) Michigan St. v (15) Loyola-MD

Catch of the Day

Today, after basketball, we had our weekly trip to the supermarket. The back of the store was the seafood section, an area of the store I usually do not go into - but today was different.

I noticed a small counter set up on the floor with about 10 people around it. I got closer and took a look.

The seafood department worker was cutting up these beautiful Norwegian salmons in front of all the customers. I joined in when he was just starting the first fish. The butcher (is that the right term?) started cutting up all the parts of the fish - head, skin, tail - and instead of throwing it away, he would put those parts in the blue trays that you see in the picture.

A mini skirmish then ensued as the customers all fought over who would have these parts of the fish.

At the end, the filet was left; more trays were brought out, and filet portions were placed in the trays....but no takers for that.

I'm horrible at guessing weights of these things; I'm guessing it was a 15, 20 pound salmon?

Then the next fish was brought out, and people started jostling to get in position. The lady in black at the top of the phot already had one head, and wanted another.

I went over to the seafood case, picked out a shrink wrapped package, and that was dinner for Janice and I tonight. I got .35 KG - about 3/4 of a pound - for 42 RMB , which is $7. Is that a good deal?

If it's 2:00 pm, it must be time to.....

Took Warren to the hair cut place (yes, the "salon") across the street. I took him in at about 1:50 pm. At 2:00 on the dot, music started playing on the loudspeakers.....and all the idle staff at the salon (yes, about 20 of them) went outside and started dancing.

(Yes, of course, another video clip of Chinese dancing!)

The guy closest to the window in the beret seemed to be the ringleader.

Does the CDC know about this?

It's spring in Guangzhou, where the weather is extremely humid 12 months out of the year. The days/weeks when it transitions from 50 degree highs to 65-70 degrees is dramatic. Whenever this occurs, massive amounts of condensation forms on the walls, glass, stone floor- anything with a hard, cold surface is coated with water. It can be dangerous!

In response to this hazard, the apartment staff has put up this helpful notice - well, I think it has to do with the weather.....maybe I am completely mistaken and we should move out now......

A restaurant for Layup

OK, I've got a backlog of posts ready to go - just no time to post them! It's almost at the point where I'm not sure where to start.

To get the juices flowing, here's an advertisement for a restaurant in Guangzhou that I will save for when Layup comes. I'm sure it's delicious!








Also - we are in the process of planning our next vacation. I went by a travel agent and saw this ad on their window - cruising! Take a cruise offered by the renowed Costa cruising fleet!

If you look hard enough, the name of the ship is seen in between the sets of windows in the middle-left of the ships. You can barely make it out.....the "Concordia".....

Tonight

Going to the new Hollywood casino tonight at the KC Speedway. Special guest flying in? Wiz. Oh boy. This could be a costly night. I'm bringing Carol along to be the adult watching over us. The last time Carol watched over Wiz and I, Wiz went on one of the craziest runs in BJ I've ever seen, only to walk away with a small gain because he didn't know how to press properly. After the dealer berated him for his play, I think we lost his winnings betting on black.

And my hiatus will be over on playing UTH. Lasted a little over three months. Not bad for an addict.

State of the art Airports

Well, you know the drill by now. 7-8 days of silence followed by one day of 3 or 4 posts crammed together. Today is your lucky day, dear reader!

As most of you know from past posts, we went to Thailand for Chinese New Year. We spent the first few days in Chiang Mai and then went to the southeastern island of Ko Chang.

In order to get to Ko Chang, you flew from BKK in a prop plane (Freddie and Warren both asked - is that a real plane???) for 45 minutes and landed at the small town/city of Trat. From there, you took a van and a ferry to the island.

The Trat airport was built in the late 1990's and should have a movie shot there in the near future. It is what you'd imagine an isolated, tropical airport to be. Where is Higgins --- or Tattoo?

The first picture is from the runway (we were on a golf cart heading to the plane on departure) looking back at the airport. The entire airport.

The second picture is the departure "lounge" - simply an open air hut (with a 2 foot fence around it, for security reasons!). The golf cart you see is the one that took us to the plane.

Calling all Butch Harmons out there

Well, this ought to get the comments flowing.

Over the Christmas holiday, we went to Sanya - the southernmost island in China- and I took Freddie (who is now 10, almost 11) golfing. He played about 12 or 13 complete holes, scoring legitimate 8's or 9's on most of them. it was a lot of fun - that's just about the age I was when I first went on a real course with my dad...... (ah, the fine Pine Ridge GC in East Lansing, MI....)

Anyway, for your pleasure, you can compare and contrast the swings here. Freddie's ball went about 120-130 yards down the middle. I was impressed.

My foot slipped on my swing, so we don't need to talk about where it landed.

Chinese Writing

So I'm trying to figure out a little bit about how you actually write Chinese characters. In general - on signs, in most books- you read left to right. (However, bus listings are different; the stops for a particular bus route are read from top to bottom).

This left-to-right direction is just a general guide, however. I guess it is more correct to say that you read from "front" to "back". For instance, the Chinese characters for "China Southern" - the big airline in Guangzhou - start at the front door of the plane. If you are looking at a plane, and the nose is on the left and the tail on the right, the China Southern name (in Chinese) would start on the left and be read from left to right.

However, on the other side of the plane - where the nose-to-tail direction is right to left - the characters are reversed. The first character is the right-most character, since it is near the "front",and the characters are read from right to left.

Got all that? It's the same way for buses, too. The name of the company is read in the door - to - back direction, whether it is left to right or right to left.

The next question, of couse, is how the English translation of the company name is written? Here is an actual picture of the bus used to transport us from the plant to the hotel up near Shanghai. Obviously, the door is on the right, so the Chinese characters are read right to left....why wouldn't the English characters be read in the same way?

This would make a good sobriety test in the states... "please read this text"......on second thought, maybe you have to be drunk to read this clearly......

Travel Note - Chinese New Year

Just one quick observation about the sights we see this time of year. Starting from about the 15th of the month, and continuing through the 10th of February, everyone travels. It's like Thanksgiving Sunday on steroids.

Our office is right next to the main Guangzhou train station, so the crowds outside on the street are at least 5x what they are on a normal day. The travelers coming in and out of the train station never ends.

And they all see to carry these gigantic plastic bags. It's not a plastic bag from a grocery store, but a large bag that zips made of material that you would cover your outdoor porch furniture with in the winter. It's plastic-like on the outside, but there is some cloth on the inside. I hope someone in the comments has a better way to describe this material.

When I say they are gigantic, I mean it. It is not a reusable bag from the store - it can easily fit a large suitcase inside of it. When packed, they can weigh up to 60-70 pounds.

Everyone has these bags - and they are brightly colored; red and yellow stripes; blue and green flowers; purple stripes with blue accents. All these people in grey clothing carrying this massive colorful bag.

What's in there? I can't help but think it is the majority of their life's belongings. This is the big holiday for the country, where people travel to their family for 2-3 weeks; why wouldn't they pack up everything in that bage for the trip?

It's oddly mesmerizing to watch these old women, weighing 90 pounds, carrying a 50 pound bag with their possessions around the train station area, looking in vain for their family members to show up and pick them up.

Let's Make a Deal!

Hello all, back from Thailand and the Chinese New Year holiday. Fireworks are still going off infrquently at night here, even though this is now Day 8 after the official start of the Lunar New Year.

We spent last week going to Chiang Mai for 3 days, a city in Northern Thailand, and then to an island in the southeast, Ko Chang. I will have pictures to post from those locations; hopefully it will all be up this weekend.

Chiang Mai has a night market that is a tourist destination - and it was right down the street from our hotel, so we frequented it several times during the trip. It's clear that I am not the best bargainer in the world.

But it's not all my fault! A lot has to do with leverage - who has the leverage in the negotiations?? And it is a FACT that if you have kids with you, you have no leverage.

We stopped at a sunglasses stall the first night - we all needed new ones - and immediately the boys saw the rows of multi-colored Oakley and started trying them on. Even Martin got into the act, and after 3 minutes he was in love with these yellow-framed Oakleys.

Well, it was finally time for the payment.

The vendor pulled out the calculator; "555 Baht for all of them."

The rate is about 30 Baht to 1 US Dollar.

I tried to be suave and negotiate. "How about 300 for all 5?"

She looked at the kids. Freddie and Warren already had theirs on; Martine was actually going up to strangers and saying, "See my new sunglasses? They're yellow!"

She replied: "I'm sorry, fixed price. 555 Baht".

I tried one more time. How about 400?

"No, sir, fixed price. 555 is the best".

500?

"550 is my final offer."

Done! I got her to come down 5 Baht!!!! That's......well, that's 16 cents.

But without kids, you have the leverage. I went into a clothing store to look at some T-shirts. "200 each" was the reply.

I said "I'm not interested", and walked out.

I got 3 steps away, when the man called back "100 each!". Done! I bought two.

I heard every line in the book out there from the vendors trying to guilt the white man into paying full price.

"It's Chinese New Year, this is the best I can do for you".
"Ooooh, you look like someone who appreciates good quality! Let me show you my other golf hats I have."
"I can't come down on price, I have children to feed."

And yes, all those lines worked on me.

T-shirt with a message?

Before we leave for vacation - Thailand, thanks for asking! - I have to share this picture of a T-shirt someone was wearing on the river walk next to our apartment.

It is incredibly difficult to get a picture of someone's shirt, trailing them, without them knowing.

However, I should have asked her how much she would take for that shirt. This would be a great gift for someone I know.....

The year of the dragon

And to prove it is the year of the dragon, the dragon made an appearance at the school program.....

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Guess what???

It's time for another holiday! It is Chinese New Year time here....the whole country closes up shop for one week as we celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Out with the old year (Rabbit), in with the new (Dragon). Apparently, being born under the Dragon year is a sign of good luck - so officials expect a big jump of births in 2012. They saw the same increase in births in 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964, ......

The school had the Chinese New Year program yesterday - here's one of the songs from the show.

The Bugs Bunny trick

Do you remember Bugs Bunny cartoons - when Bugs was running away from Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam? He would disappear into a rabbit hole; Elmer would point the gun down the hole and say: "I got you now, wabbit!"

All of a sudden, Bugs would somehow pop into the picture and get his revenge on Elmer. Elmer would have that look on his face, saying "But..how? How did you get out of there???"

Funny, right? Hilarious?

Had the same experience yesterday. One of the joys of being an ex-pat is that our supporting firm requires us to pay quarterly taxes. They give us some money and the 1040-ES forms, and the requires us to file the forms. Never mind that they are based in Cleveland and we are 12,000 miles away in China.

Anyway, our OND returns were due this month, and we still don't have a good way to mail anything back to the US. I found out that one of the managers was heading back to the US on the week of the 9th; great! I put the form and the check in the envelope, sealed it, addressed it to the IRS center in St Louis, and asked him to mail it in the US. I gave him $2 for the stamps, even!

Fast forward to yesterday. In the Guangzhou office, I get a note that I have pouch mail for me at the mail office. Now, we have a PO Box in Cincinnati that letter can be sent to and then it is automatically forwarded here to work.

I go downstairs to see what came - a card? A Bill? - and what is it?

It's the envelope that I sent to the IRS - addressed to the IRS in St Louis. Sealed and all - with the uncashed check and tax form inside.

How? How did this appear back to me in China? There are no stamps, no postmark, no markings whatsoever that it was handled by the US Post office. My PO Box was used as the return address.......but still, how is this back to me?

I feel like Wile E Coyote after lighting a stick of dynamite, closing his eyes and putting his fingers in his ears....and then , 5 seconds later, the stick returns to him just as the fuse is about to run out......

Hoosiers!

Two people care about this....

God I have to get acclimated to the Big 12 quickly. College sports is all they care about down here. Kansas vs Baylor is all anyone could talk about today.

I was asked in front of 150 people today, which local college I would follow. I wanted to say who cares about your fly over conference, but I couldn't. I said that I won some money this year on K St football so I'm partial to them, but I'm really curious about KU basketball. That did not go over well at all. Then someone asked "Well what about Missouri" which I responded "What about them?" Everyone looked angry. I then joked that I'll cheer for the only college that can win a championship....Pitt St. That got a laugh and I quickly asked for another question.

Found out today that one of my female managers played on the Purdue golf team from 2001-2004. She has a fathead of Drew Brees in a Purdue uniform in her office which just looks weird. Asked her if she wanted to come to vegas to play golf with some other purdue grads and she asked when did they graduate. I estimated that it was in 93, and she said, Wow, why are you hanging out with such old men and I said I ask myself that same question every year. HA! Loved it.

The Move to Kansas City

While I'm sure it won't be as exciting as Eric's updates on his experiences in China, I'm going to try to provide some interesting updates from Kansas City now that I'm almost settled in here. We can then compare which culture is more strange and interesting. Just a few notes since arriving here on Christmas:

• Upgraded our 1600 sq foot home for a cozy 3500 sq foot home. And its half the price of our home in California. That's going to be nice.


• Got a nice kick in the pants this past week as we got some snow. First snow that I've experienced in about 9 years. It was snowing sideways and the high that day was 11.


• Moved to a town called Olathe. Quiet little suburb southwest of KC. The local McDonalds advertises a 50 peice chicken mcnugget meal deal. Its number 15 on the value meal deals. McDonalds wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't a demand for it, so wow! Very impressive.


• Looks as if KC's values their Bass Pro Shops like most of us values Nordstrums. Bought Morgan's first piece of camo which was a pink camo stuffed animal. She loves it and won't put it down.


• Funny to see people's desk decorated with Royal's gear. I have seen countless Brett, Sabs, Wilson, and Quisenberry bobble head dolls.


• They are opening up a brand new casino (Hollywood Casino) about 10 minutes away at the KC Speedway. I'm praying that they don't have UTH there....please don't have it there.


• People are religious about college sports down here. Kansas, Kansas St, and Missouri dominate most of the conversation. Fun.

Me and Mike Gundy

Well, I guess today is officially the day I can imitate Mike Gundy and actually be telling the truth!

Short clip of Gundy
Here's the long version, the 3 minute press conference.

I'm always fascinated to see who shares my birthday. For the longest time, it seems that there were only a few celebrities that shared my birthday:

Rod Stewart
Pat Benatar (boy, those two names explain a lot, don't they? -ed)
George Foreman
Wille McCovey

Now I've finally found a few more names to add to that list:

Jake Delhomme (1975) - maybe this explains why I was so excited when he was named our starting QB in 2010.

Glenn Robinson (1973) - the Big Dog. Where is he now?

Doug E Doug (1969) - does he qualify as a star?
and finally

Chris H E Smith (1979).
Don't know who he is? Well, read this and it will make you want to jump.

Kansas City and Golf

Am I the only one super pumped about the start of the golf season? Its come to a point now where the start of the season for golf now rivals those of other sports. If I had to ranked the most anticipated start of certain sporting seasons I would have to go with:

1. The start of the NFL season. Fantasy Football, Gambling, and now the SuperContest, I really couldn't sleep. It felt like Christmas as a little kid. That Saturday was a wash as I was just trying to get prepared for Sunday. I think I was in bed by 9 the night before.
2. The start of March Madness. Yes, I count this as its own separate season. Vegas, the games, and being with friends at the tables the night before arguing who is the idiot and who has the true lock of the year is very entertaining.
3. The start of the golf season. The main pickem pool, the side pool, the fantasy league, and the gambling. I spent most of this afternoon dissecting a new pool I joined that uses last years earnings for golfers and sets a salary cap of $19 million. Pick your team. Extremely entertaining and challenging.
4. Everything else from Baseball, NBA, College Football, NHL, and WNBA.

The only downfall to this golf season is that I'm now living in Kansas City in the Central Time zone. Man I'm going to miss the Pacific Time Zone and having those early Thursday and Friday morning text messages coming in when I'm still in bed about my golfer.

A late Christmas gift for Layup

Just before Christmas, I took the boys to the mini street market a block from our house. One of the "booths" in that market is a DVD stand.....selections of many recent American movies, with the sound in English. They also had many DVD sets of American TV series, such as House, Glee (for Janice), Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, etc.

Then I saw this. I think this makes the perfect gift for Layup, at the low low price of 25 RMB!

Also from the China Daily...

I bet many of you NBA fans out there are asking yourself: "Geesh, I'm glad the NBA is back, but what I really miss is Stephon Marbury. The world is not the same without him".

Well, fear not! He has a weekly column in the China Daily. Here is one of them from a few weeks ago.

"The world has taken notice of our start..." Jay - isn't that correct? Aren't you noticing the 10-0 start of the Beijing Ducks and putting them in your daily 3-team parlay?

A friend

Posted without comment: Here is the front page of China Daily, the official English newspaper in China, on the day after Kim Jong-Il's death was announced.......

NFL Week 17: Marina Bay Sands

Happy New Year! Active blogging should begin soon, as the NFL season winds down and the photo backlog on my iPhone continues to grow. Let's see if I can put in 10 posts over the next 10 days.

With the kids out of school, we took a quick trip to Singapore this week. What a neat city/state. It's hard to get over the fact that the whole country is only 30 km x 40 km in size......but there's enough to do for a good 3 days. We went to the science museum, went snow tubing (there is a place called Snow City, a warehouse-size building that makes artifical snow and allows you to tube down a 60 foot hill), rode the big ferris wheel, and saw a movie! An actual movie! We haven't seen a movie in a real movie theater in .......2 years? 3? That was nice......

I have to include the famous pool picture..swimming on top of the world....

And oh yes, of course, gambling. We stayed at the Marina Bay Sands, one of only two hotel-casinos in Singapore. So of course I had to try out (every night...even had a good session with Janice!)

It's just a little different there - even different than Macau. First, you have to present your passport at the door - to at least 3 people. Foreigners can get in for free, but if you are a Singpore citizen, you have to pay a $100 entry fee just to get in. So there are multiple checks to make sure you are truly a foreigner.

The casino itself is amazing. It's two stories, with the main floor filled with tables. Filled. Blackjack, Roulette, Sic Bo, Baccarat - and two new ones, Pontoon and Three Pictures. I have no idea how to play those last two - Pontoon is sort of a blackjack variant. They also had the other Texas Hold em Table game, which I played a lot.

The whole feeling gambling there is just....a bit different. Dealers seem to change every hour or more, less frequent than most US casinos. There are a host of side bets on the blackjack table - there is a "lucky 8s" bets where you see if you can get a pair of 8's with your hand and the dealer's up card (or, if you are lucky, 3 of a kind). And the dealer does not deal himself two cards right away. He deals himself the up card - and that's it; normal play commences. Once all the players are done, then the dealer takes his second card. I don't like that.

About the side bets: it seems to be accepted that anyone can bet on anyone's cards. For instance, I was playing blackjack, and got a pair of Aces. Yes, split please! Play came to me, and the dealer split them - and then asked if I wanted to put a separate "any Pair" bet on the split aces.

Uh, no thank you. Just deal the card.
The dealer was about to pull the card out --when the guy 3 seats to my right leans over and puts a $25 chip next to my card. He wanted to play the any pair! The dealer pulled up a 7.
Then the next hand; the delaer paused again asking for the any pair bet; I didn't even get a chance to say no when another $25 chip came from the same guy. I got a 10, which was not a pair for him.

It is common to bet for other's hands. I can't get use to that.

In the end, it's still gambling, it's still fun, but it's just a bit different and you never know what unknown idiosyncracy you will bump up against.

It's kind of like week 17 in the NFL - it's still football, but the week is different; you don't know who is playing at full speed, who is mailing it in, who will sit the starters in the 3rd quarter and which 3-12 team will play full out to win.

Anyway, on to the games:

Chi 28, Min 20. I have to believe the Vikes will mail this in after the AP injury last week.

GB 20, Det 17. There will be a letdown factor for the Lions after the win last week; also, Flynn is not that bad as a backup.

Ten 16, Hou 13. Tennessee needs to win this game.

SF 24, StL 6. The Rams are already trying to figure out who will be their next coach; the 9ers still need to win to lock up the #2 seed.

Was 24, Phi 20. Why are the Eagles going to try hard in this game?

Jax 17, Ind 10. I can't believe the Colts will win this and lose the #1 pick.

NO 27, Car 24. The Niners will win, and that means the Saints will let up down the stretch.

NE 31, Buf 10. The Pats need this game and will try to gain some confidence - especially on D - after last week's Miami game.

NYJ 20, Mia 17, OT. Can't you just see theJets somehow sneaking in?

Atl 30, TB 10. Tampa has mailed it in since November.

Oak 23, SD 16. I just don't think the chargers have one more good game in them after they were eliminated last week.

Az 24, Sea 17. Who is the most unmotivated here?

Den 23, KC 13. Are we really going to deny Tebow a chance at the playoffs?

Bal 27, Cin 17. Baltimore needs a win to get the 2 seed and home field if they play pIttsburgh in the playoffs........I can't believe they will actually let this slip through their fingers.

NYG 27, Dal 20. Who will choke the most?

Best bets: we're ending with 20 of them! Last week: my worst week at 5-10; overall: 133-109-11

Chi +1.5
Chi/Min over 41.5
GB +4.5
Ten/Hou under 39
SF -10
Was +8
Jax -3
Ind/Jax under 37
Car +7
NE -10
Buf/NE under 49.5
NYJ +3
Atl -10
Oak -3
SD/Oak under 48.5
Az -3
Den -3
Bal -1.5
Bal/Cin over 38
NYG -3


And for the final supercontest picks:

GB +3.5
Was +8
Car +8.5
Bal -2.5
NYG -2.5

NFL Week 16: Imperial Palace

Merry Christmas to all out there! It's Christmas Eve morning here, where everyone is late to wake up in the house. This is probably a bad idea since Santa needs everyone to go to bed early tonight so he can prepare.....or Santa can get up at 3 in the morning to wrap presents tomorrow....while the NFL is on! Hey, what an idea!

This is another weird week, getting me out of my routine. It's Saturday, we are at home, with no soccer games, and there will be NFL games tomorrow morning (instead of Monday morning). It's a weird feeling to adjust the routine after 15 weeks. We are actually going into work on Monday morning - this means I can actually be productive at work on a Monday instead of being hal asleep on 4 hours of sleep?

When I talk about weird feelings in casinos, there's one casino that stands out as one that I am very uncomfortable at. Kermit could guess this answer right away without looking at the title - it's the Imperial Palace. Wow, I do not belong there. It starts with the extra long craps tables - I think they are designed to fit 10 on each side. It's very hard to throw the dice all the way down and hit the wall on this extra large table. It's like asking Greg Maddux to now throw a strike from the mound that is 75 feet away, not 60' 6". Usually, I am close to drunk when I gamble there, and there is heavy smoke fog in the casino - so when I roll, I can't see the dice. It's like gambling on the 1988 Fog Bowl playoff game. I'm relying on Verne Lundquist, the stick man, to tell me what the result of the roll is.

And then we get to the blackjack pit. It's not gambling as usual there. Somehow we end up there on a Fri or Sat night - which is when the performers come out and sing/dance in the middle of the pit. They usually are cover bands for famous artists; Madonna, Elvis, etc. The one still seared in my head is the Freddie Mercury look alike singing "Bicycle" while a stripper does a pole dance around an actual bicycle.

And I'm supposed to decide whether to split 3's vs a 4 with this going on?

And, finally, it's impossible to get to. There's no direct entrance to the casino off the strip. (Is there?)

It's not like I hate the place - there are others that I dislike a lot more than IP - but I just don't feel 100% there. I'm out of my comfort zone - like doing the picks on a Saturday morning.

But here they are, anyway:

Bal 23, Cle 9. Tell me how we will stop a very angry Ravens team with Ray Rice in the backfield. He rushed for 200 against us a few weeks ago -without really even trying.

Den 31, Buf 20. I just can't see the Broncos blowing this one.

Car 27, TB 17. I can't trust the Panthers just yet to win convincingly, even over bad teams like TB.

Was 27, Min 13. I think the Vikes have packed it in for the year; Washington, somehow, is playing well - they remind me of the 2009 Mangini-led Browns.

Ten 24, Jax 17. What to think of the Titans after last week's loss to the Colts? They had a playoff berth in their hand!

Pit 23, StL 7. Let's see how Batch can play in this one.

Cin 24, Az 23. Again, I will say it: I don't trust the Bengals. They may win, but it will be down to the wire.

NE 27, Mia 24. Mia will be able to score on the Pats, and have some defense, enough to stay in the game.

KC 23, Oak 13. I think last week's loss is it for Oakland. They will pack it in.

NYJ 24, NYG 21. Does anyone outside of New York care about this game? Wow, what a dud this turned out to be.

SD 28, Det 24. I've gone back and forth on this one. Maybe - just maybe? - the Chargers have turned the corner (albeit too late)???

Dal 28, Phi 24. Just a hunch. Rob Ryan will figure something out after being embarrassed the last time he faced the Eagles.

Sea 27, SF 20. Seattle is too hot right now.

GB 31, Chi 10. The Pack have something to prove.

NO 34, Atl 23. Speaking of "hot" - I lost in my semi-finals last week due to Brees and his FIVE touchdowns.

Best bets: 15 of them. Last week: 8-5-1; overall: 128-99-11.

Bal -12
Den -3
Den/Buf over 43
Was -7
Az +4.5
Az/Cin over 41
Mia +9
KC -2.5
Oak/KC under 42
SD +1.5
Dal -1
Sea +1
SF/Sea over 37.5
GB -11.5
NO -7

Supercontest picks:
Bal -13
Den -2.5
Az +4
Mia +9.5
SD +2.5