Good morning everyone. Today I am still going to give you my football picks for this weekend, but a timely basketball story arose that I must give some attention to. Shortly after arriving at work last night, I saw on a muted t.v. screen that David Stern is planning on giving the San Antonio Spurs sanctions as punishment for resting four of their players last night. Nevermind that the Spurs were playing their 4th road game in 5 nights, and disregard the fact that this was also their 6th road game in 9 days. The 10-day road trip that San Antonio just completed was also tacked onto a 6-day road trip that the team endured earlier in the month. Coincidentally, for this nationally televised Thursday night game in Miami, the Heat were only playing in their fifth game PERIOD over the last 2 weeks... The Spurs are resting their veterans to put their team in the best possible position to compete for a championship, and David Stern is upset with San Antonio because the NBA schedule makers (who happen to be working for, you guessed it..., DAVID STERN) put the team in this position with their brilliant scheduling... Oh, and NBA, I'm sorry that we weren't competitive last night, getting "blown out" by a score of 105-100, playing IN MIAMI, and under these circumstances. David Stern, please do us a favor and try to be a bigger joke...
Well, after going 6-4 on my football picks last weekend, I am once again at the .500 mark for the season with a record of 61-61-2. I would really like to start heating up now since I will be returning to Las Vegas in less than three weeks. And for all of you "haters" out there, USC did show up last weekend, didn't they, even without Matt Barkley?... I took the Trojans plus 7 points and they ended up losing the game by 9, and that was after getting stopped for no points on a first-and-goal situation late in the game. ANYWAY, here are my picks for this week:
Texas/Kansas State (Under 63 1/2) - Coach Diaz HAS TO stop the bleeding...
Boise State/Nevada (Under 59) - The Wolfpack usually play the Broncos tough...
Alabama/Georgia (Under 50 1/2) - VERY big game, should be tough and lower-scoring...
West Virginia (-19 1/2) vs. Kansas - Can Kansas score enough to keep up?
New Mexico State/Texas State (Over 57 1/2) - Just for us Joey, two STELLAR defenses...
New England (-7 1/2) @ Miami - The Patriots 'O' has been potent...
Houston/Tennessee (Over 47) - The Texans score and don't play much defense...
Tampa Bay/Denver (Under 51) - The weather is getting worse in Colorado...
Minnesota/Green Bay (Under 47) - The weather is also getting worse in Wisconsin... :)
Indianapolis/Detroit (Over 51) - The dome has no weather... :)
Have a great weekend and I'll see you again on Monday!
Jumat, 30 November 2012
Kamis, 29 November 2012
Backpedaling...
Good morning everyone. Evidently I should focus on photography instead of writing. Quite often I will choose what I think are inspirational or clever quotes or tweets to serve as my facebook status. A POPULAR status might earn in the neighborhood of seven 'likes'. Last night from work, I stood on the rooftop at The Veranda and used my Droid to take a photo of the nearby "Sights & Sounds of Christmas" celebration which is located nearby. This annual event in San Marcos, America includes over one million Christmas lights, among other things. Well, this very amateur photo received over 14 'likes' in less than 3 hours. Thank you Trisha, Jennifer, Allison, Alyssa (Merp), Rene, Connie, Alyssa, Mandy, Kathryn, Erika, Penny, Carly, Denise, and Floyd for pointing me in the right direction... :)
Well, I have some good news and some bad news about the viewership numbers for this little blog of mine and a prediction that I made about 11,000 views ago. Sometime later today or very early tomorrow, the total viewcount for 'Bikini Hill' is going to pass the 17,000 mark. This month will be the blog's biggest month in terms of total views, with that number finishing at right around the 2,000 mark. This might seem like good news for my prediction that 'Bikini Hill' would reach a total of 20,000 views by the end of this year, but do the math. The blog that has NEVER reached 2,000 views in a month now has to receive THREE THOUSAND total views in December to reach this mark. So much for my prediction (???), and where do I go to take up photography? :)
So I went to Walmart yesterday - yes, Walmart, and I'm getting THREE paragraphs out of this... The first item that I was searching for was those elusive windpants that our blogging friend Rob has never seen... My heart leapt for joy when I reached the clothing section and discovered that 'Starter' windpants were selling for $11.96 a pair. I currently own ZERO PAIRS of windpants after my Las Vegas break-in at the end of August. The 'Starter' windpants don't have the zipper pockets that I like, but they are much cheaper than the $30.00 Nike windpants that I looked at last week. After dropping three pairs of these windpants into my shopping cart, I started rolling along when I discovered..., THICK sweatpants, WITH a well-made velcro pocket located on each leg, all for the low, low price of $15.97. At this point I feel that I should give you a travel tip. I have flown several times, and you want to be COMFORTABLE on a travel day. These sweats have comfortable written ALL OVER them... Back to the rack went the 'Starter' windpants, and into the shopping cart went two pairs of 'And 1' sweats. Sorry that I won't be able to show you what a pair of windpants is Rob, but maybe I can dunk on someone for you at the poker table. For those of you unfamiliar with what the cool kids are wearing these days, 'And 1' markets itself as a basketball brand, as in, "he's fouled 'and' he gets '1' free throw - 'And 1'..."
So I walking down the aisle in search of black olives. These are one of the myriad of things that I have been putting into the 17,000 salads that I have eaten during the month of November. When I reached the cans of black olives..., well..., have you ever played..., "Vegetable Jenga"? This of course is the game where you try to pull out the awkwardly stacked cans while not making the whole pyramid CRASH DOWN onto the Walmart floor... Sorry my friends, but I WON, and the cans didn't go tumbling to the floor - look for your trainwreck somewhere else... ;)
Are you looking for a trainwreck by any chance? So the trilogy of this little Walmart story happens when I'm rolling my cart down the main walkway, past the 'endcaps' of the food aisles. To help you picture this at home, I'm headed in the direction of the front door, with the food aisles to my right, and those little..., 'merchandise islands' on my left (you know, where they sell the randomly grouped items - cases of Pepsi products, four-packs of Campbell's soups, etc...). Well, as I'm rolling my cart along, this... BACKPEDALING GUY (yes, he was literally backpedaling), comes RIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF ME, narrowly missing my shopping cart. I stop and give him a GOOD rolling of my eyes, but whatever item he is trying to size up as he looks skyward down the food aisle that LAUNCHED HIM still has his attention, as he ignores me, and KEEPS GOING, his back LANDING UP AGAINST one of those merchandise islands... As the SUDDEN STOP causes him to stumble, he starts mumbling something, probably wondering WHO would put a merchandise island THERE, but I kept my eyes GLUED straight ahead and kept pushing my cart, NOT wanting to be a witness to this trainwreck... Goodness gracious people!... :)
I hope that all of you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with my football predictions!
Well, I have some good news and some bad news about the viewership numbers for this little blog of mine and a prediction that I made about 11,000 views ago. Sometime later today or very early tomorrow, the total viewcount for 'Bikini Hill' is going to pass the 17,000 mark. This month will be the blog's biggest month in terms of total views, with that number finishing at right around the 2,000 mark. This might seem like good news for my prediction that 'Bikini Hill' would reach a total of 20,000 views by the end of this year, but do the math. The blog that has NEVER reached 2,000 views in a month now has to receive THREE THOUSAND total views in December to reach this mark. So much for my prediction (???), and where do I go to take up photography? :)
So I went to Walmart yesterday - yes, Walmart, and I'm getting THREE paragraphs out of this... The first item that I was searching for was those elusive windpants that our blogging friend Rob has never seen... My heart leapt for joy when I reached the clothing section and discovered that 'Starter' windpants were selling for $11.96 a pair. I currently own ZERO PAIRS of windpants after my Las Vegas break-in at the end of August. The 'Starter' windpants don't have the zipper pockets that I like, but they are much cheaper than the $30.00 Nike windpants that I looked at last week. After dropping three pairs of these windpants into my shopping cart, I started rolling along when I discovered..., THICK sweatpants, WITH a well-made velcro pocket located on each leg, all for the low, low price of $15.97. At this point I feel that I should give you a travel tip. I have flown several times, and you want to be COMFORTABLE on a travel day. These sweats have comfortable written ALL OVER them... Back to the rack went the 'Starter' windpants, and into the shopping cart went two pairs of 'And 1' sweats. Sorry that I won't be able to show you what a pair of windpants is Rob, but maybe I can dunk on someone for you at the poker table. For those of you unfamiliar with what the cool kids are wearing these days, 'And 1' markets itself as a basketball brand, as in, "he's fouled 'and' he gets '1' free throw - 'And 1'..."
So I walking down the aisle in search of black olives. These are one of the myriad of things that I have been putting into the 17,000 salads that I have eaten during the month of November. When I reached the cans of black olives..., well..., have you ever played..., "Vegetable Jenga"? This of course is the game where you try to pull out the awkwardly stacked cans while not making the whole pyramid CRASH DOWN onto the Walmart floor... Sorry my friends, but I WON, and the cans didn't go tumbling to the floor - look for your trainwreck somewhere else... ;)
Are you looking for a trainwreck by any chance? So the trilogy of this little Walmart story happens when I'm rolling my cart down the main walkway, past the 'endcaps' of the food aisles. To help you picture this at home, I'm headed in the direction of the front door, with the food aisles to my right, and those little..., 'merchandise islands' on my left (you know, where they sell the randomly grouped items - cases of Pepsi products, four-packs of Campbell's soups, etc...). Well, as I'm rolling my cart along, this... BACKPEDALING GUY (yes, he was literally backpedaling), comes RIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF ME, narrowly missing my shopping cart. I stop and give him a GOOD rolling of my eyes, but whatever item he is trying to size up as he looks skyward down the food aisle that LAUNCHED HIM still has his attention, as he ignores me, and KEEPS GOING, his back LANDING UP AGAINST one of those merchandise islands... As the SUDDEN STOP causes him to stumble, he starts mumbling something, probably wondering WHO would put a merchandise island THERE, but I kept my eyes GLUED straight ahead and kept pushing my cart, NOT wanting to be a witness to this trainwreck... Goodness gracious people!... :)
I hope that all of you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with my football predictions!
Rabu, 28 November 2012
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Good morning everyone. The title of this entry doesn't have me moving back to Las Vegas or canceling my upcoming trip, so don't get excited... Late yesterday afternoon I decided to take the short hike to the Texas State campus library because they have magazines and I don't. For most of the day I had been kicking around the idea of driving down to New Braunfels like I had exactly two weeks earlier for the same reason as before, to watch 'Alex Cross'. I had already blown off the 4:50 p.m. showing, but the idea was still rumbling in my head for the next couple of hours at the library. The library disappointed me, as the main reason that I had gone was to find the December issue of Texas Monthly. "But Coach, it's only November" you're saying. Yes, but my response is that I have seen that issue in stores at least as far back as last weekend, and I am looking forward to reading the second part of a two-part story where an innocent man was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife. Well, let's just say that I walked back home and started up my car at exactly 6:55 p.m. to try making a 7:10 p.m. showing of 'Alex Cross' in New Braunfels. First I had to get to I-35, access it at Exit 204, and then fly south to exit for the theater at Exit 188. Well, somehow Coach was IN HIS SEAT at 'Alex Cross' by 7:19 p.m... ;) The 110-seat theater had FOUR TIMES AS MANY moviegoers than it did 2 weeks ago (yes, there were 4 of us this time). 'Alex Cross' isn't a comedy, but I thought that I'd share the funniest line of the movie with you (this is no way spoils the plot). Alex is in a conversation with his partner when he says, "you know I love you from the bottom of my heart, I really do, but I'd rather take advice from a ham sandwich..." ;) Again, Matthew Fox was an outstanding bad guy, and is the motivated person that I need to transform myself back into...
I'm twenty days away from my "Las Vegas Christmas Vacation" now and I have done almost nothing tangible to prepare for the trip. That would be nothing more than booking my reservations exactly twenty-two days ago. Once this college football season ends and the bowl matchups are finalized, there will be A LOT of studying focused on those bowl games. Just a little while ago I was skimming through 'Phil Steele's 2012 College Football Preview' magazine. Now Phil (and others) consider Phil to be a pretty smart guy when it comes to forecasting college football. For those of us who have not correctly predicted the outcome of every contest this season, we can take heart. These are some of Phil's preseason college football projections for the 2012 season: 4. USC; 7. Texas; 21. Notre Dame; 30. Texas A&M... This makes me feel better anyway... :)
On the poker front, I was reading my friend Grrouchie's blog post earlier today, and it seems that some mysterious character (and blogger if I read this right) named @cokeboy99 (twitter handle) won a Treasure Island tournament on Monday and then finished the Aria Tournament with a five-way chop yesterday for $1,800.00... Do we actually have to BE GOOD AT POKER to blog about it??? :) An $1,800.00 cash almost accounts for any of my TWO BEST DAYS on the green felt... Congratulations @cokeboy99 - I will be looking for your blog shortly after finishing this entry.
With only five full days (and two travel days) in my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, I have pretty much resigned myself to playing in only a couple of poker tournaments at the most because I plan on spending most of that Sunday (the day before I return to Texas) watching NFL games and begging for my parlay tickets to hit. I also know that at least a few hours of one of my days in the desert will be spent filling out my college bowl season parlay tickets. I am strongly leaning toward doing the same thing that I did for this blog last year regarding the bowl games, which was predicting the final score of EVERY SINGLE GAME, and in effect giving you my thoughts on how the spread and the over/under will come out for each contest, along with the outright winner of course. According to the blog stats, that has been my most viewed post ever... Yes, we were talking about poker tournaments. I really do want to play at least one deep-stack tournament if I find the funds to do so (this being in the $100.00 to $150.00 range) while I'm in Las Vegas. In my mind, you cannot fathom how short a time period only five full days in the desert is, although others will tell you that's WAY TOO LONG to visit...
I'm going to do some other fun things like starting my wash now (one very nice perk to this apartment Lindsey), but I hope that you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with another ramble. Have a great day!
I'm twenty days away from my "Las Vegas Christmas Vacation" now and I have done almost nothing tangible to prepare for the trip. That would be nothing more than booking my reservations exactly twenty-two days ago. Once this college football season ends and the bowl matchups are finalized, there will be A LOT of studying focused on those bowl games. Just a little while ago I was skimming through 'Phil Steele's 2012 College Football Preview' magazine. Now Phil (and others) consider Phil to be a pretty smart guy when it comes to forecasting college football. For those of us who have not correctly predicted the outcome of every contest this season, we can take heart. These are some of Phil's preseason college football projections for the 2012 season: 4. USC; 7. Texas; 21. Notre Dame; 30. Texas A&M... This makes me feel better anyway... :)
On the poker front, I was reading my friend Grrouchie's blog post earlier today, and it seems that some mysterious character (and blogger if I read this right) named @cokeboy99 (twitter handle) won a Treasure Island tournament on Monday and then finished the Aria Tournament with a five-way chop yesterday for $1,800.00... Do we actually have to BE GOOD AT POKER to blog about it??? :) An $1,800.00 cash almost accounts for any of my TWO BEST DAYS on the green felt... Congratulations @cokeboy99 - I will be looking for your blog shortly after finishing this entry.
With only five full days (and two travel days) in my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, I have pretty much resigned myself to playing in only a couple of poker tournaments at the most because I plan on spending most of that Sunday (the day before I return to Texas) watching NFL games and begging for my parlay tickets to hit. I also know that at least a few hours of one of my days in the desert will be spent filling out my college bowl season parlay tickets. I am strongly leaning toward doing the same thing that I did for this blog last year regarding the bowl games, which was predicting the final score of EVERY SINGLE GAME, and in effect giving you my thoughts on how the spread and the over/under will come out for each contest, along with the outright winner of course. According to the blog stats, that has been my most viewed post ever... Yes, we were talking about poker tournaments. I really do want to play at least one deep-stack tournament if I find the funds to do so (this being in the $100.00 to $150.00 range) while I'm in Las Vegas. In my mind, you cannot fathom how short a time period only five full days in the desert is, although others will tell you that's WAY TOO LONG to visit...
I'm going to do some other fun things like starting my wash now (one very nice perk to this apartment Lindsey), but I hope that you have a great day and I'll see you again tomorrow with another ramble. Have a great day!
Selasa, 27 November 2012
The Little Things
Good morning everyone. I just went to my mailbox about fifteen minutes ago (this sounds like the lead-in to the MOST EXCITING blog entry that you've ever read, right?)... Eight days ago (last Monday) I searched all over San Marcos, America (4 locations) for a new case for my Droid 2 Global phone. After coming up empty, I decided to look online for a case. I ended up at Amazon.com, and a company called Bastexwireless was selling a Body Glove case (yes, the same Body Glove that all of the cool kids like) for $4.10. Since this particular case retails for over $25.00 (as would any of the cases that I would have bought from Verizon if they had any in stock), I quickly set up an account at Amazon and put the total of $5.19 (w/tax & shipping) on my plastic. I am VERY HAPPY to say that my Droid 2 Global now has a new home... The little things... Neither here nor there, but I am STRONGLY endorsing Amazon.com as an online shopping option... ;) The funny thing about this (you knew there would be a funny thing) is that when I retrieved the yellow envelope from my mailbox, it turns out that Bastexwireless is located in Bastrop, Texas... For those of you who are unfamiliar with your central Texas geography, Bastrop is only about a forty minute drive from here. However, just the price of the gas to get me there would have run me about the same amount as the case did, let alone driving home and the time that I would have spent chasing it down. Neither here nor there, but I am STRONGLY endorsing Amazon.com as an online shopping option... ;)
So exactly three weeks from today I will be heading out to the desert for a week. As I've said numerous times before, the sports betting (football predominantly) and poker on tap are the only real draws to Vegas for me. As it turns out, I really haven't missed either nearly as much as I thought I would this fall, which is one of those life surprises that I briefly alluded to in a recent post. I do have that winning parlay ticket and some worn down clay poker chips that I can cash in though, so I might as well make the trip. It's not lost on me that December 21st, 2012 falls RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the dates that I will be in Las Vegas. In addition to not wanting to be wrong about my prediction that the world as we know it won't end three weeks from Friday, I REALLY DON'T want to die in Las Vegas. I honestly don't know where I do want to perish, but the desert can just be SO DEPRESSING...
Let's see, some more stuff from work... (Oh, my phone just feels so good in its new case)... :) Okay, twice last week at my post in the "hallway of mazes" (don't get me started)... well, I witnessed this: guys with sunglasses on their shirt collars at 1 a.m. walking up to The Veranda (our rooftop bar). OOO KAYY... And this, ugghhh... BEING IGNORED - This has happened on several occasions, although it is far from the norm, and it just bothers me to no end... In the most recent instance, I was at my post and a group of five people walked up the stairs and went past me to go to the Veranda. The people in the group were not actively engaged in a conversation at the time, and as each one passed, I greeted them, and in succession, ALL FIVE of the people in the group blew me off and continued walking... I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... In an ironic twist (you knew there would be an ironic twist), one girl that was in a group of 3 young ladies a few nights ago called me "the nicest guy on the Square..." Another member of the group was celebrating her 21st birthday, and I wished her a "happy birthday" as she went up the stairs. The girl who gave me the title of "The Nicest Guy On The Square" (each word SHOULD be capitalized, right?) said, "SEE?! And he's the ONLY ONE who wished me a "happy birthday" when it was my birthday too!" I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... ;)
In case any of you are interested in reading a good blog today, you might want to click on the link to Lucki Duck's blog listed on the right hand side of this page, specifically the recent entry where I am now in SECOND PLACE in the standings of the very elite "bloggers predicting football games contest"... DON'T EVER count Coach out! ;) The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently plagued by injuries and are tenuously clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC, but two Steelers fans are at the top of the leaderboard in this contest - go figure...
That is all that I have for you today, but I will return tomorrow with more about my rapidly approaching trip to Las Vegas and the poker world. Have a great day!
So exactly three weeks from today I will be heading out to the desert for a week. As I've said numerous times before, the sports betting (football predominantly) and poker on tap are the only real draws to Vegas for me. As it turns out, I really haven't missed either nearly as much as I thought I would this fall, which is one of those life surprises that I briefly alluded to in a recent post. I do have that winning parlay ticket and some worn down clay poker chips that I can cash in though, so I might as well make the trip. It's not lost on me that December 21st, 2012 falls RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the dates that I will be in Las Vegas. In addition to not wanting to be wrong about my prediction that the world as we know it won't end three weeks from Friday, I REALLY DON'T want to die in Las Vegas. I honestly don't know where I do want to perish, but the desert can just be SO DEPRESSING...
Let's see, some more stuff from work... (Oh, my phone just feels so good in its new case)... :) Okay, twice last week at my post in the "hallway of mazes" (don't get me started)... well, I witnessed this: guys with sunglasses on their shirt collars at 1 a.m. walking up to The Veranda (our rooftop bar). OOO KAYY... And this, ugghhh... BEING IGNORED - This has happened on several occasions, although it is far from the norm, and it just bothers me to no end... In the most recent instance, I was at my post and a group of five people walked up the stairs and went past me to go to the Veranda. The people in the group were not actively engaged in a conversation at the time, and as each one passed, I greeted them, and in succession, ALL FIVE of the people in the group blew me off and continued walking... I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... In an ironic twist (you knew there would be an ironic twist), one girl that was in a group of 3 young ladies a few nights ago called me "the nicest guy on the Square..." Another member of the group was celebrating her 21st birthday, and I wished her a "happy birthday" as she went up the stairs. The girl who gave me the title of "The Nicest Guy On The Square" (each word SHOULD be capitalized, right?) said, "SEE?! And he's the ONLY ONE who wished me a "happy birthday" when it was my birthday too!" I have a decent memory as it is, and that's the type of thing that I will remember... ;)
In case any of you are interested in reading a good blog today, you might want to click on the link to Lucki Duck's blog listed on the right hand side of this page, specifically the recent entry where I am now in SECOND PLACE in the standings of the very elite "bloggers predicting football games contest"... DON'T EVER count Coach out! ;) The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently plagued by injuries and are tenuously clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC, but two Steelers fans are at the top of the leaderboard in this contest - go figure...
That is all that I have for you today, but I will return tomorrow with more about my rapidly approaching trip to Las Vegas and the poker world. Have a great day!
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