Heroes: I Am A Closet Fan

Yeah... I am a closet fan. I am coming out to my readers and saying hey, I freaking enjoy the show "Heroes". Monday's episode turned a great series into a classic series. Sure (and I won't spoil it) we watched how each episode darts back and forth between each character's storyline all leading up to this big event. And we've waited for what 10 weeks now for Hiro Nakamura to get that sword which he still does not have. That story line alone is turning me into a kid again. The kid I was when I saw Voltron or something the first time.

Nothing prepared me for what I saw in Episode 17, "The Company Man". We saw the origins of Claire, her father and the Haitian. But what the hell was Hiro's father(George Takai from Star Trek) doing in that flashback? Any speculators out there? Does he know Hiro's power? We know who Claire's real father is. And where will she go from here?

Uggh... I can't wait. It's like weekly crack, and I want it so bad. The suspense is killing me. If you haven't watched you can see all the episodes on nbc.com for free.

One Great Video...

Guys... watch this video. This guy has nailed it.

There are liberals in this world and there are conservatives in this world. It actually makes the world go around. I kind of enjoy the differences in the world. The debates and fun.

But flamboyant celebrities like Rosie O' Donnell aren't above it all. It really kind of bothers me when a celeb makes a mistake and calls it entertainment. I know this incident happened a few months ago, but it's rebuttal shouldn't be forgotten because she is famous.

Sucking Your Life Away!!

I recently purchased the Civilization IV computer game. Talk about a time waster, holy crap! I learned about Civilization back in college when the first one came out. We'd all play it for hours, coming up with strategies and ways to win the thing out right, even at the hardest levels. In it's basic form, it was fun to create civilizations that would take over the world from the beginning of time at 4000 BC to 2050 AD.

Then it was Civ II a few years later. This one had a multimedia aspect to it and it included cheats so when you were really bored or stuck, you could max it out and destroy the world. The game had more personality and it had a lot of bugs. You could create overwhelmingly strong armies that could not be challenged by any world power.

Later on came Civ III. I got this when I bought my first Apple computer a couple of years ago. Graphically it was fun, but this game proved to be the hardest of the four games for me. Many times I spent hours, thinking I was totally dominating only to find my score did not even register at the end. How could you take on the world and get nothing?

Civ IV though is much better. Even though it has been out for a few years, it's still new to me. You can play the game differently every time. I like the religious aspects too where you can use religion to take over the world, which makes the game for challenging to receive a cultural victory. But this game will suck your life away. It's nice having a laptop that is powerful enough to play it, so I can play it in bed. This game was built for my style because I typically play a strong economy the whole game so I can buy the shit I need to take over. I also like the "Great People" that you can create to expand your power and borders.

Good stuff....

Now I'm Tired...

Spent another week in Vegas. Suprise, suprise, I win $300 the first day playing, Black Jack and Casino Holdem in the evening. Then I lose my ass the next few days. Dropped $200 for the visit. What the hell, though? I need to lose once in a while to keep the balance with the Vegas God's of Luck.

Thou shall not believe in false idols,

...but what else is there? (Okay... enough of that! On with the show...)

I am tired. Another week and another trade show and I'll be back out again in a few to Vegas and then a Vacation in Vegas in late Spring.

What's up with that?

It's cool though. It warmed up to like 70 last weekend so I rolled the old Porsche out for a spin. It was amazing. It would not start. The battery was completely dead and it was not turning over at all. I hooked a charger up. Once charged, that car turned over, without me in the car, the first time. Not bad for a 33 year old car eh? I didn't even hit the pedal. I rolled it out down the street and washed it. The car looks great and ran real well without being run for the last 6 months. I need to figure out why the battery is dying all of the time though. I think it is the MSD Ignition on it, that caused the problem. I had it installed and ever since my battery has drained quickly. But it is hard to pin point especially after six months.

I gotta go to a big party tomorrow night. Maybe I'll take a camera and since I figured out how to use Youtube and photobucket, I'll post them Sunday morning. It'd be funny.

Have fun everyone!

Elijah's First Eats...

Well... second try because Youtube.com couldn't get it going all day.


(Apologies to Lawryde's wife for deleting her nice comment.)

And The Blog Goes On....

One of my all time favorite songs, performed by it's writer...

At one time, my story paralleled the tale in this song. Up until I was like 23. The words verbatim seem to fit my life at the time. Yeah... but then I grew up. I think. It was a good reason though to pick up a guitar and give it a go.

Life changes so much, it's extremely perplexing. I had a real big moment of clarity tonight when I was sitting with my sister in law and Elijah, all strapped into his swing. See, Elijah was sitting there smiling away and staring at us and I picked up my guitar and started playing. Nothing too complex, just some blues riffs and Elijah was totally into it. First looking at my strumming hand, then my chord hand, and then back, as he attempted to dance and jump around. He was totally wide-eyed, just sitting back and admiring. It felt... well good!! I have enjoyed an occasion like this before with him and my guitar but for some reason... He was just into it. It was different than just some smiles and giggles. It looked like pure admiration.

It's like: Wow... I have a fan. :)

50,000th Hit Extravaganza

Thanks to all my readers for making 50,000 possible. Elijah's here bustin' some rhymes out to my homies. Peace!!

Sin City Rules II: The Wrath of Steve

Someday when I am old, I am going to write a book about Vegas. It'll be an autobiographical experience with vignettes about the reasons behind what I chose to do here.

I come to Vegas like 3-4 times a year. Once or twice on pleasure and the other times for work. And work, when I am here, is exhausting. I won't even go into how bad my back feels.

It is Super Bowl Sunday and the convention let out right at kick off. I flew up the side streets back to the hotel. Traffic was way crazy at the convention center. I wanted to get back to see how my small bet was going to do at the sports book. I bet $20 on the Bears to cover and parlayed the under. The win would get me $72.

Let's go back to 24 hours before...

I went into the casino walking tall. I mean, I had cleaned up about $480 so why not splurge on some Casino Hold 'em. Wrong! First it was $100. Then another hundred. Then another... and somewhere back at the Blackjack table, it was another hundred. Then I lost $40 in some stupid slot machine and well... Here we were... $40 bucks and $20 of it was on the Bears.

Well... today, holding my ticket I was sure the Bears would cover and keep it under 7. So I headed to the casino... and right to a Casino Hold 'em, like a freaking idiot. I mean, I lost my winnings and usually I plan to lose a hundred when I go on these trips. So I took out a hundred from my wallet and laid it down at Hold em. What happens first hand? Pocket Aces. $150 right out the gate, and then I won 40 on the hand out right. The shit was on. I was back and pissed, and that score on the Bears game got higher and higher in the first quarter which made things not look so good on my parlay, even if the Bears covered.

I played for about two Red Label Scotches, half time and pocketed about $300. So I was back... at least respectable. But 30 points at halftime? 18 more points was all the two teams could score and keep the Bears close. I ran to the sports book to bet over the 22.5 they laid out for the 2nd half. Over I chose. So if I lost my twenty, I'd get it back that way.

I headed out for Caeser's Palace to see the rest of game out front they had in the tent. But then a 10 dollar blackjack table caught my eye. Feeling confident enough to lose a hundred of my new found glory, I sat. And cleaned house in one chute. I went up a hundred more. Now I went back to cash in and check out the game. Oops! I won $50 in a penny slot, after inserting $5. From here I lost track... While cashing in a vagrant started asking me questions about my winnings. "Where you from?" he goes... I tell him. While following me tight he asks all kinds of things for which I give him no straight answer, like I was staying at the Rio and I was heading to catch up to my 5 big friends. I then introduced him to a security guard. It was a great acting job on my part because I figured I had better lead him there at the second question. Then he ran like hell. Apparently they were watching him.

After roaming through Caesar's, checking out all the neatly dressed people, I headed to O'Sheas. It was crowded. I got pissed and argued with a dealer of another hold 'em table when he didn't pay my hand. I think when I left I picked up $200 more or so. I can't be sure. I had removed all the money from my wallet after I ditched the vagrant who followed me earlier. I then had a slice of pizza. It was good.

So I got back to the room, took a shower, and started writing. Way over where I was the other day. It made no difference on the Bears game. It sucks they lost because they represented the NFC and I cannot stand a team in the AFC, except for maybe the Patriots. Life's good again and I cannot be stupid with it this time. I got a second chance and then some. Should go buy my wife something for Valentines Day. I bet she would love me for that.

I can't wait to get home. Been here almost a week. Elijah is probably talking or walking or something real cool by now. Six months old next Sunday. Unbelievable!!

Sin City Rules

Working a double shift in Vegas for a week. I finally decided I had a couple hours of time to play some blackjack last night. Pulled down $480 in 2 hours.

At this point, I am going to declare that my gambling skills are officially, "The Shit". Post after post comes on this blog where I just flat out win. Last night's game was Double Deck 21 Super Fun. Liberal blackjack rules with "surrenders" and doubling your bet on the third or fourth card. Only catch was that blackjack played even money. The rules were made for suckers or for people like me that abused them when the dealer showed a 5 or 6. Not one blackjack all night for me.

Except for the liberal rules on 21 Super Fun, I stuck to my rules and my conservative play. They work... I gotta say... They flat out work!!!