Out in Vegas

Out in Vegas for the next two days and do you know how tough it is not to gamble? If I breakdown, this will eat into my March Madness trip. Ugh.

On the flight out, I sat next to the most annoying lady. She basically pointed out to me all of the casinos during the approach without getting a single one right. "Well that's the Mirage"....Um no, that's the Hilton. "Well then that's the Bellagio"....Um no, that's the Wynn. It was so bad it was comical.

While I'm out here and not gambling is there anything you want me to look into?

Vegas Props

With the market crashing, how about we brighten the mood with some wonderful prop bets for the Vegas trip:

Which will be higher:

Eric's highest 9-hole score at Royal Links on Friday, March 20

or

Stock price of P&G at the close on March 20

Which will be higher:

The highest single-hole score on the scorecard of Eric, Mike, Kermit, or Don on Friday, March 20

or

Stock price of GE at the close on March 20

Which will be higher:

The DJIA at the close on March 23

or

the total amount of dollars in the wallets of Leland, Wiz and Layup as they leave Vegas on Monday, March 23

Let's not get excited...

Nope, not trying to get excited at all....no way.....no gooching here.....

This will be a fun final 8 weeks to the season...........

(and Steve has already lined up Game 2 playoff tickets for us just in case the Stanley Cup playoffs come to Ohio in April........)

Loose ends

1. Thanks to all for the computer help about 2-3 weeks ago. The salvation of laptop was partly successful; I had to re-install Windows and re-format the hard drive; however, I was able to at least get in there and save my files on to a flash drive.
(and - having Windows installed twice on C:\WINDOWS and C:\WINDOWS2 kind of messes the competer's brain up a bit. I decided that wasn't the best long term plan.

2. Cyclobenzaprine - whoa momma, that's the real deal. I did something to my back 2 Sundays ago - couldn't stand up for about 3 hours and was in a lot of pain. This occurred after a jog and I stupidly laid down on the front porch for 20 minutes in 35 degree weather. The back got better by Tuesday, good enough for me to jog on Tuesday and Thursday - and then last Friday - wham! pain again. It was so bad that I finally relented and went to Urgent Care on Sunday.
They diagnosed me with a back muscle sprain and gave me a prescrption for cyclobenzaphine - a muscle relaxer. They said "take at bedtime, it may make you drowsy".

Yeah right, I've heard that before. I'll be fine.....

This pill is like 6 shots of NyQuil. You are OUT 1 hour after taking it and you can't get out of bed the next morning. Wow.

Actually, these pills may be good to have around come golf season to eliminate the yips.....hmmmm......


3. What have I done? I was playing computerized blackjack when Freddie walked in - we started playing together. This evening, I was feeding Martin and Freddie wanted to play.

"OK", I said to myself, "what's the harm in this?"

The on-line game loads him up with $1000 of chips......it's found at wizardofodds.com

Anyway, I took about 1-2 mintues to help him through the mouse clicks - how to "bet", how to start a new hand, etc. I then left him alone.

10 minutes later, I pop back in the computer. I was pretty surprised he hadn't busted yet.

"How's it going?"

"Great! I'm betting one of every color of chip!"

His balance was $2465 - a profit of $1465. He was splitting tens, hitting 14 against a 6 - he couldn't lose. I'm not sure whether to be overjoyed or very afraid.

Tiles and Ultimate

Are the times changing for the Vegas group? Is this year the tipping point where the majority of our time will be spent playing Ultimate Texas Holdem table game and this? What's the next game we will venture into? 3 Card Poker? Penny slots?

Thanks Wiz for the link.

I'm going crazy thinking about Vegas

So I was watching Friday Night Lights, the movie not the series, this afternoon and I thought how cool would it be to have someone give us pre-gambling speeches during our trip. We are going to need it as we have a full day of gambling on Thursday. This full day with no interuptions could be a blessing or a nightmare. Below outlines the first two days with some nice little sports clips to use as analogies. OK, I have officially lost it. Carol is just starring at me now as I giggle as I relate these clips to our Vegas trip.

I greet the gang at the airport with this little pick me up.


We are all gambling on Wednesday night and things are going great. We are all winning at a variety of games. We need Wiz and Lee to wrap up the evening in our room before going to bed.


So we wake up the next morning a little groggy and not too excited. We have a full day of gambling ahead of us. We need to get pumped up. We need something to jump-start the day. So Jay is there in the elevator to give us this speech.

And we are off. Ready to go. We all go to the craps table and immediately get crushed. Since we all turned the table cold, a couple of guys at the other end of the table start betting the don't pass. Don takes the lead and gives us this speech to rally the troops against the assholes at the other end of the table. We continue to loss and some of us are close to running out of money. We need more Jay to keep us all at the table.

Mid-Day and we break to lick our wounds from the craps run. We are a little shell shocked. Some of us want to take a walk on the strip, while others jut want to watch some games in the room. Laura breaks out this speech to get us all back down at the tables.

Well we get killed again at the BJ tables. I have to start to yell this to as Lee stays on a 16 against a dealer 10. Wiz pulls Kermit and Amanda aside as tells them this when the shoe turns south. Things are going way south. We are not focused. We are starting to complain and bitch about everything. Now its 7:30pm and Eric demands a meeting in his room and delivers this speech, not to get us motivated, but to humiliate us.

So we trek over to the Mirage to try and make a midnight comeback at Pai Gow. Lucky us, John the dealer is there to give us this gem. Mike wins a $1000 Pai Gow hand and jumps up from his chair and does this at the entrance of Revolutions.

So we are all up and are about to call it an evening and we head back to the Palazzo and right before we head up to the room, Wiz and I see that the there have been 10 straight reds at the roulette table. So we go over and place a wager on black. After another 10 straight reds, I lose it.

I will continue this for Friday-Sunday at a later date.

The Horrors of Office Life

On Friday, I was booked all morning with meetings, especially with the first meeting being a meeting that I am leading with directors. So my mind was pretty preoccupied yesterday morning.

I dropped off Warren at Day Care - and boy, did his breath stink. I reprimanded him for not brushing his teeth, but he insisted he did. Whatever.

I'm driving into work when I realize - crap! that was my breath! I didn't brush my teeth...and now I have a morning full of meetings where I can share my halitosis.....that's a nice thought to have in your brain all morning long.....

The pitfalls of 21st century cubicle life. Our ancestors never had to deal with theese workplace hardships.....

Good Day

Happy V Day to all the ladies in the house. Carol and I are not big fans of this holiday so we will celebrate it by eating chocolate cupcakes in bed, followed by watching the Pebble Beach Pro Am, then straight to the local wing place for a late lunch, and end with a movie.

Palladia: Just discovered this TV station. Love it. Great background station to have on when doing some work or making cupcakes.

Carrie Underwood: Hmmm.. Interesting little women. Love her "Last Name" song for some reason. I'll admit that I downloaded that song so Wiz and Lee, be prepared to listen to it in Vegas. Saw her perform at the Grammys and while being attractive so is very awkward. She can't dance to save her life.

Malaysian Open: Usually I love watching the European Tour in the mornings during the weekend, but this golf is terrible. I can't even watch it. And the big star at the tourney, Anthony Kim, is hacking it up and is currently in 48th place. I guess this is their Viking Classic so I will cut them a break.

Terps Basketball: Thanks SkeetSkeet for telling me about these articles. This is the first of three articles about Gary Williams and the recruiting struggles of the Terps. I'll let SkeetSkeet post his thoughts about the article later.

Michael Lewis: Good article about Shane Battier.

Some interesting events going on during our Vegas trip that falls outside of the normal womens and mens college basketball. Time to start thinking.
1. Nascar- The Food City 500 in Bristol. With Laura out in Vegas with us we should have someone good to wager on.
2. European Tour- Madeira Islands Open: They are playing somewhere in Portugal. Past winners are Jean Van De Valde, Daniel Vancsik, and Alastair Forsyth. Wow some big names. I have a feeling that Matthew Kaymar will breakout and win this one.
3. PGA Tour- Transitions Championship (formerly the PODS Championship): Solid field in my eyes, but its amazing to hear what the casual fans say when Tiger isn't in the field. Down in SD last night and I asked the guys I was out with if they ever been to the Buick Open. They all said yes, but the field sucks this year so they didn't go. Sucks? Yes I know that Tiger, Kim, and VJ aren't playing but you still have Phil, Paddie, and company playing. Interesting.
4. NBA- Early look shows that Memphis is a good bet against Boston as the Celtics will be playing 4 times in 5 nights. Also, Golden St. vs the Lakers usually hits the over. Other than that, nothing else looks appealing.
5. NHL: Well the Blue Jackets play twice while we are out there. Hmmm...
6. English Premier League- Big game on Sunday with Aston Villa vs. Liverpool.
7. LPGA- Mastercard Classic- Wiz, who do we got?
8. Tennis: BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA. I love Pat Cash in this one.
9. Boxing: Klitsichko is fighting some stiff. I have no clue.

54

That is the magic number that I came up with using Lee's magical spreadsheet. What does this represent? The number of hours I will be gambling come March. And I thought I didn't have enough gambling time.

So with my reduced budget, I need to find more downtime.

I can work out, but since I love to gamble and drink in the morning, that might not work.

I may play two rounds of golf. Eh....not a big fan of that.

I might go to Prize is Right. Yes, but it won't be that fun alone.

I might drink alone in the room. Ah, Billy Nogle style. Maybe.

I might go back to playing poker. There we go. That's what I got to do. That's the plan.

Here we go again - less than 5 weeks!

It's time for the annual Bracketology posts - where we take the latest ESPN Bracket projection and pick games to fit in these pre-determined categories. Send ideas on for new cateogries - or requests to stops these insane posts - along.

The Don H / Mike D game
(5) Purdue v (12) Siena

Layup's 5-12 Upset
(5) Washington v (12) Kansas St

The Eric Ohio Underdog Game
(7) Syracuse v (10) Dayton

The Wiz Heart Attack Game
(3) Clemson v (14) E Tenn St

Layup's $1000 on the Money Line Game
(4) UCLA v (13) Buffalo

The 7-10 game no one cares about
(7) Minnesota v (10) South Carolina

The Thursday 9:00 am First Upset of the Tournament
(5) Missouri v (12) BYU

The Wiz ACC Lock
(7) Texas vs (10) Miami-FL

RRD's Virginia Lock
(2) Wake Forest v (15) VMI
(I can't really put Va Tech here, can I?)

The game that only Eric cares about
(4) Xavier v (13) Northeastern

The Leland/John the Pai Gow dealer game that will be endlessly analyzed
(6) Florida v (11) UNLV

The Kermit "If Eric and Leland are going 1 way, I know which way I'm going" game
(8) Davidson v (9) Utah

The Laura Random over/under wager, just to have some action game:
(2) Louisville v (15) Sam Houston St

The Mike Dietrich Philly Cheesesteak Game
(4) Villanova v (13) Northern Iowa

The Micah Broken Bone Memorial Game
(6) Gonzaga v (11) Utah St

The Game Most Looked Forward to be watched in the Cabana game
(4) Villanova v (5) Purdue

and, by popular demand, Women's Bracketology:

The Allison Lacey Memorial Game
(5) Iowa St v (12) Virginia Commonwealth

The Saturday 9:00 Cabana/Gambling Degenerate Game
(4) Florida St vs (13) SMU

Quick question

A-Rod apologized today. So, are we over it and is he accepted in baseball again?



Of course not. There's going to be hatred for him for a long, long time. And, I think, rightfully so.



What's my point? It's to disprove once and for all the ludicrous argument that all will be well with Pete Rose if he only admitted gambling and apoogized. BS. If he admitted now, he wouldn't be greeted with open arms and sympathy (and the HoF) - but with disdain and even more scorn.



Remember that next time you hear the subject of Pete Rose discussed. His case and A-Rod's case are very similar.

Last night

Over the past several months, Carol and I have been involved in a casual poker game with a couple of friends. About 8 of us get together and play Texas Hold em and other games. I've been teaching them all the classics like Follow the Bitch, Baseball, Guts, and Omaha. Its actually been a lot of fun.

But since its so casual and its with new friends, I tend to take such a relax playing style with everyone. This results in me losing my $10 buy in by the end of the night. So Carol gets an email from one of the girls setting up the next poker night. In the email the girl ends up talking shit to Carol and I about us losing all the time. Hmmmm.

So when I got there last night, no more mister nice guy. If you are going to talk shit then that's it. Check raises, aggressive betting up front, and playing no hands other than the ones I really should. Well, it resulted in me cleaning up. Carol and I walked away with everything except for $7.50 at the table. So the guys were asking "We were wondering if you were just taking it easy or if you really sucked." Yeah, OK.

Why prop bets are so fun!

There was a prop bet for the Super Bowl:

# of total kickoffs in the game: over/under 9 1/2.

You have the over.

Do you win?

Let's recap:

3 touchdowns by Az, plus the opening kickoff: 4 kickoffs.
3 touchdowns by Pit - but one was at the end of the half, so no kickoff - and 2 fieldgoals, and the 2nd half kickoff - that's 5 kickoffs. A total of 9 so far.

What about the "kick" after the Arizona safety? Does that count?

The answer: it depends on the day, since the books - and the NFL - are changing their answers.

More here: http://wizardofodds.com/sports/kickoffs.html

Historical Revision-ism

Now that George W Bush has left office, many people regard him as one of the worst presidents in modern history - a truth held in many circles is that W is the worst president since Nixon. The evidence for this statement is his abysmally-low approval rating when he left office and the country's shape in January, 2009.

However, history has a way of changing the views on Presidents. Many people think that our opinion of W will become favorable over the next 10-20 years, given the results of Iraq/Afghanistan and the Middle East, and the state of our education system. There is a role model for this "historical revisionism" of our modern presidents; Harry Truman left office in 1952 with approval rating at or lower than Bush's - and he is now credited for making the tough decisions for WW II and the post-war world. The nation's view of Truman has changed over the past 30-50 years.

Will the same happen to George W Bush? Only time will tell. That's not the point of this post.

The point of this post is - can we, as sports fans, finally admit to ourselves that Jose Canseco was right? Should we re-read his books with the understanding that almost 100% of the material in there was actually, you know......true? The latest A-Rod allegations that came out only further cement Jose's credibility.

Canseco has consistently been the canary in the mine for years - and people continually ignore, ridicule, and slime him. It's finally time to turn the page and admit he was right. And let him speak his mind freely again. It's time to finally re-evaluate Canseco and admire him for having the balls to speak out at a time wheneveryone urged him to shut the hell up.

(Relating Harry Truman to Jose Canseco? Posts like that can only be found here at F&J!)

The biggest question over the next 6 weeks

So I need something to cheer me up. The barrage of bad news over the past couple of weeks has me in a terrible mood:

1. I have a huge scandal in my new offices that I'm having to clean house and start all over with new management.


2. Was depending on my tax return to fund some of my budget, but the state of California announced that they will be sending out IOUs instead of checks for the time being.


3. I accidentally hit 50% instead of 5% for my contribution out of each paycheck to my 401K. So one of my paychecks basically paid for one meal at McDonalds instead of stockpiling the cash for vegas.


4. The non review of the last play in the Superbowl cost me money since I took yes in the "Would the last play of the game be something other than a QB kneel." Terrible officiating in that game by the way. Ugh.


5. Was just informed that I will have to be out in Vegas about once a week, starting in mid Feb for business. This will definitely end in one of two things...bankruptcy or a divorce.

So to cheer me up, I've been thinking about where are we going to stay for our Vegas trip. Its down to two place, the Mirage or the Palazzo. There are no losers since both places are solid and will provide the setting for a great trip, but the indecision is killing me. So below outlines the positives and the negatives of each hotel.

Rooms (Advantage Palazzo): Might as well start off with the easiest one. Palazzo's rooms are very close to the nicest ones I've ever stayed in. The Four Season's in AZ is close, but its just so nice and the flat screen in the bathroom sends it over the top for me.

Price (Advantage Mirage): $285 for 5 nights can't be beat. And this allows two to a room that might work. This will make for interesting dinner conversation with the Zahn brothers rooming together again after a ten year hiatus. Eric, start learning how to sleep with the TV on now so you are prepared.

Craps Tables (Advantage Palazzo): Palazzo has great dealers, new tables, and great location to check out the entire casino floor. The Mirage has gremlins and trolls as their dealers and that funky blue felt.

Pai Gow (Push): John is at the Mirage and it has a good location to people watch. But the Palazzo has access to the high rollers bathrooms and a TV near by to watch the games.

BJ (Push): Both very strong with the Palazzo having more options of non shuffle machine tables, but the Mirage having lower limits. Both have great dealers and pit bosses.

Roulette (Advantage Mirage): I have yet to have a winning session at the Palazzo. The felt is tan and dirty for some reason and their dealers are terrible. At the Mirage, the only downside is that the tables are always packed. But if you and get in early, its a solid setting.

Ultimate TX Holdem (Advantage Mirage): I'm sure that this will be the focus of so many post trip blog posts. Excellent game, excellent dealers, and generally great people playing the game. Mirage gets the points here because the Palazzo offers a different version that is not fun.

Sportsbook (Advantage Mirage): Longer hours, easily accessible, and more gambling options. I hate going to the subway station (Palazzo's SB) to place my bet. Terrible oversight by the casino.

Poker (Push): Hate the Mirage poker room since their chairs are too tight and the players are assholes. Palazzo doesn't even have a room so I guess its a push.

Floor setup (Advantage Palazzo): While the Mirage is not bad, the Palazzo has an ideal setup. You can see almost the entire casino from any seat and you can easily jump from table to table if needed. If you are playing Pai Gow and you hear the craps tables heat up, then you can quickly jump over there. If you are deciding to leave craps, but wonder if there are any open tables for BJ, you can easily see that as well. The crap tables are the center and makes for an easy gathering place and an even easier place to get side tracked. The elevators, bathrooms, garage, and the cage are all a quick walk from anywhere in the casino. There are ample TVs throughout the floor that allows you to play and watch the games.

Atmosphere (Advantage Palazzo): As I told the group, my stay at the Belagio was very telling. The Palazzo has this great calming effect on you. Its not dead, just calming. You won't realize this unless you go to the Bellagio or some other loud casino first. With its wide walkways and high ceilings, you never feel crowded or stuffy. It plays OK music and is lit well, but not too much. And the people there are great. The dealers in general are very nice. The pit bosses are very talkative. The gamblers are also at a higher level. I don't think I had any issues at the BJ tables with idiots. I can't say the same thing at the Mirage.

Eye Candy (Advantage Mirage): Big difference in people watching at the two casinos. And the influx of foot traffic that Revolutions and the Beatles show gets makes for great entertainment while playing Pai Gow or Texas Holdem.

Food options (Advantage Palazzo): Its the big CPK vs Grand Lux Cafe battle. I'm a huge fan of the Grand Lux with their great breakfast and excellent twice baked potato egg rolls. You also have that kick ass Mexican place and a solid noodle house. And they have an ice cream stand outside in the mall area.

Pool (Advantage Palazzo): The cabana alone almost makes the Palazzo an easy choice. So much fun out there. What a relaxing time while watching the games. I have zero exposure to the Mirage's cabana.

So that puts us at a score of 6-5 in favor of the Palazzo. Now the question rests, how much does that one score difference equate to how much more are we willing to pay?

The gooch is alive and well!

You thought "the gooch" was only something that applied to sports??? Guess again!

Nice job, Vanity Fair....taking this picture and titling it "The Cabinet" before the confirmation hearings actually take place. I think Tom Daschle may be a little pissed at the magazine for this picture, now that he won't be joining the Cabinet anytime soon......

Doctor, give me the news.....

OK, I need help from all you PC experts out there.

I'm having trouble with my 2006 Dell Laptop - with Windows XP. It can't boot up. The message I get:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"

It says I can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD ROM....


....but I can't find it.

Question: how screwed am I? Can I get this Setup CD Rom at Best Buy?

You know you work for a software company when...

you produce things like this at work. Click this you must....

I expect this phone call in April...

*phone rings*

"Hello, this is Lakota Schools. This is Tuesday, April 22.

Our crews have been out and we found a pothole on Cincinnati-Dayton Road, 1 mile from one o four elementary schools. Therefore, out of caution, we will be closing schools today.

Thank you for your understanding! "


The boys are now out of school for the 4th straight day due to the snow/ice strom we had Monday night into Wednesday. It's a bit ridiculous they can't go to school today.

Vegas: Historical Recap #2

Now we get into trips 6-10, trips that have been talked about and summarized on the blog before. Quick highlights from each of those trips:

Trip 6: Mar 2006, Monte Carlo, NCAA Weekend: Credit Card Roulette....Card Sharks at the MGM!.....Golfing in two groups, with Layup/Leland/Wiz betting on Don/Kermit/me.......What do you do if you have a 16 vs a 10 showing? ......Black Friday (5-14 in Basketball).......predicting Women's lines at dinner at the Mirage....... a puzzling decision to play $5 craps at the Aladdin........"What, exactly, do you see in Layup?".....witnessing firsthand the lethal Layup/Wiz/Alcohol trifecta at the roulette table

Trip 7: Nov 2006, Mandalay Bay, Layup's Bachelor party: Dumbest move ever, sitting down at the restaurant upon arrival as Layup and the group are finishing up; I order a $7 Vodka tonic.....the Columbus Blue Jackets, the official NHL team of the Bachelor party.......12 hours at the sportsbook at one table.........Rutgers!........The Mensa card.......The Excalibur run (I still need a shower).....winning $500 in BJ at the Luxor and a $500 slot jackpot at McCarran

Trip 8: Mar 2007, Hooters, Conf Champ weekend: Another one of Steve's hockey trips, this time at the lovely Hooters. This trip was a complete, alcohol-induced blur. Friday: golf with Kermit, with vodka tonics on the 1st fairway. I was completely wasted at the end - and, of course, I 3 putted 17 and 18 to lose, 1 up.....then we stopped at the podunk casino (I wish I could remember the name) to gamble at a $2 craps tub - they had to open it up for us - and we started winning. I won $150, Kermit won about $600 or so.....Mer was the least drunk of us, so he drove back (I was texting his stripper girlfriend) and then we had the famous Smith & Wollensky's dinner. We won't link to the picture again. The next day, after sleeping on the floor of the hotel room (ugh), Steve and I played BJ at the Monte; the table was cold and I left after 2 shoes. That's when I learned that Steve and I have a different philosophy about gambling. He's in for the long haul; if it's cold, I get up and leave. Kermit hits another jackpot (royal flush) for $1500 and, I believe, loses it all back before Steve and I can get to him. And - I forgot - he missed the flight going home Sunday night.

Trip 9: Mar 2007, Mirage, NCAA Weekend: For those of you counting, that's 4 Vegas trips in 53 weeks. How did I manage that? The quick highlights: Watching the Maryland game at Caesar's while pounding my shoe on the bar.....Royal Links and the beginning of the Breakfast burrito tradition....the Red Rock casino run......Wiz talking me into a $100 Pai Gow bet (my hand, of course, was Q-10-9-7-5-3-2)......."Hello, Bee" is born........The unforgettable Golden Nugget Pai Gow run....."How much trouble can you get into at a $5 craps table??".........Gus Johnson's Ohio St/Xavier call............The Lady Boilers are a lock!......Micah's broken foot

Trip 10: Mar 2008, Palazzo, NCAA Weekend: Who can forget last year? Once again, I stand up from a table when things aren't going so well - and that decision costs Kermit $600......"Maybe.....YES SIR!".....Civil war breaks out among the group: what do you do with a 4-2 vs a dealer 6? ......."Occupied!"............Wiz betting the don't pass because he is a crappy roller, then ending up hitting nothing but numbers.....Dice in my coffee.......The Cabana.....Allison Lacey is our hero.......The meal at the MGM..........How the f do you lose a ring at the Pai Gow table??......first foray into $25 craps......Cliff Clavin and "The Whale" at the Mirage

By the way, when doing my research for this posts, I think the phrase "don't ever leave Wiz and Layup alone unsupervised in a casino" at least 9 different times over the years. Good to see that things never change.