Thursday Thirteen #23

Thirteen Things about Michael Thirteen Things About My Day At Six Flags Today 1…. Amy and I went with my father-in-law, Tom, my sister-in-law, Kelly, and our neice Janie and nephew Seth. 2... We indulged in the unlimited refills souvenier cups for $11.99. 3... We Started off by taking pictures with the characters just inside the entrance. I had my picture taken with Batman, Bugs Bunny, and Marvin the Martian. 4... The first ride we went on was the Georgia Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster which rides rough (needs shock absorbers) and is a lot longer than it looks. 5... We then rode the Dahlonega Mine Train (similar to Disney's Thunder Railroad but tamer). It was the first roller coaster built at Six Flags back when it opened in 1967. 6... As you can tell from the above item, Six Flags over Georgia is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. 7... I'm told that Six Flags has a fairly new CEO and he has done a LOT to make it a better place (cleaner public areas (especially the restrooms) and dress code and behavior enforcement). It made a real difference. 8... We spent time in Bugs Bunny Land where the kids rode just about every ride. 9... While Janie and Kelly went on one ride, I took Seth to the restroom and then we played one of the carnival games where you shoot water at a target to lift a meter to determine the winner. Seth is 4 years old and he beat me! I waited to make sure he knew what he needed to do and he took off ahead of me, so he won a large plush Bugs Bunny! 10... Amy rode a total of two rides, the carousel and the Six Flags Railroad which tours through the park. 11... This is the place to be if you like roller coasters. They have, The Georgia Cyclone, the Great American Scream Machine, Superman Flight, Batman the Ride, The Mindbender, The Ninja, The Dahlonega Mine Train, The Georgia Scorcher, Deja Vu, and Goliath. 12... We spent just 6 hours there, in over 90 degree heat, but we had a good time! 13... We've reunited with my mother-in-law, Barbara and nephew Owen and we're headed out to dinner and back to their hotel for a swim! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Randomness

Two thoughts to share....

1. The High School flashback today was inspired by reconnecting with an old friend because I read about him in the newspaper. Jim Issa was a high school pal who is currently directing a movie filming here in Atlanta starring Leann Rimes and Luke Perry (yes the 90210 guy). You can learn about it at Jim's website http://www.shadowlightpictures.com

2. Oreos - pan down to Sunday's post and let me know your opinion. Do you dunk, or twist and split your Oreos? More importantly, which way would Jesus do it? This was part of the sermon this week at church. Details below the post on poker and booze.

Wordless Wednesday #20 - Back to the 80's

There WAS a day and time that surf-oriented fashion was in (circa 1988).

A year later.

Poker and Booze

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, and I imagine a lot of folks don't know enough or don't care enough about poker to want to read stories about hands. There are only three hands described below, so please read on.

I have not played near as much in the past two weeks as I used to. Part of it was being sick or fatigued, and part was having a work schedule again! So, Friday I worked a day shift and had Saturday off so I went down to Wonston's for the game starting at 8pm.

They had 80 people sign up this week, and I came in 2nd place! I won $20 in house cash for my efforts over a five and a half hour period. I won because I played well, AND because I got lucky, very lucky twice. When we were down to the final 2 tables (about 16 players left) these two hands happened.....

I had pocket 5's. The flop came out 2, 4, 7. So my pocket pair was second to a 7 if anyone had one. I made a moderate bet and everyone but one player folded. The turn was another 2, giving me 2 pair. The poy was a decent size so I went all-in to try to claim it. The remaining player called and we showed our hands (with one more card coming). He had two ACES, so I was pretty much toast. Only a 5 could help me, and by some miracle, it hit.

A few hands later I had an ace and a 7 of the same suit. The flop was ace, seven, four all of clubs, so I had two pair. I made a strong bet, and again, everyone folded except one player who raised to all-in. I called, and he revealed a queen of clubs and a lower off-suited card. I had him dominated unless a fourth club hit, which it did on the turn, giving him a flush. At this point, one card coming and only an ace or seven could help me. The seven came, and I won the hand.

Those were two ery lucky hands.

So we eventually consolidated tables and I played on to make the final two. I worked hard to gain the chip lead and got my opponent to go all in on a hand that would win the tournament for me. I had pocket 7's (any pocket pair is a strong starter in head's-up play) and he had an ace and a 9. He got his ace on the river, leaving me very short-stacked and he quickly whittled away my chips for the win. I was satisfied and proud of my performance.

As for alcohol. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about my experience and typical minimal consumption of alcohol. I have never been drunk.

Last night was my brother's birthday and after dinner we went to Winston's because that is where his friend is the head bartender. Peter had been drinking in the afternoon and had two glasses of wine at dinner before we got there. He handles his alcohol pretty well (I'll mention now he had a driver lined up for last night).

When we walked in, Matt poured Pete a beer and me a Malibu and pineapple juice (my common drink I learned from the Parrotheads of Central Florida). He then made us Stoplights, a presentation of three shots (green, yellow, red) a melon ball, a tequilla shot, and a hollywood.

Pete then was given two Jager-bombs (Jagermeister and Red Bull) and a shot of Jack Daniels (the Jack girls were there).

I watched and we continued to play trivia. I eentually finished my Malibu and Matt made me another (without my asking) and we did a round of Irish Car Bombs (1/2 pint of Guiness with a shot dropped into it (containing Bailey's Irish Creme and Jamerson's Irish Whiskey)) which you then chug the whole thing. I won as far as chugging the fastest.

Shortly thereafter Pete had a Loch Ness Monster (some other shot involving Bailey's, Jager, and Midori) and I excused myself to go to the restroom and vomit. Yes, at age 36, well outpaced by my brother, for the first and hopefully only time in my life, I vomitted from having too much alcohol in too short a time. I had a full meal before we got there, so I feel okay about absorbing what alcohol as I did.

I had a pair of diet cokes to try to balance my system and I excused myself, leaving Pete to continue his celebration, and I shall not be returning to repeat such a performance. One drunk puke in my lifetime is enough.

Oreos and Jesus

What Would Jesus Do With an Oreo?

This was the leading question this morning at church. We are continuing to slog through the entirely downer-based rant of King Solomon called Ecclesiastes.

Today's section featured good 'ol Solie talking about what matters most is what is in the middle, the stuff as it is (an is officially called by Nabisco). So the message was, from the cradle to the grave, what you do in-between is what matters in the end, especially considering it doesn't go with you, but is what you are judged on.

So, it was a good lesson, but the opening bit, in which the speaker had some oreos on the stage, included the discussion of how do you eat an Oreo cookie? There are two schools of thought.... Number one, the dunker (milk being the ideal target), or the splitter who like Malkovich in Rounders makes it an art form).

I am and always have been a dunker and the speaker claims (as he is a splitter) that he believes that Jesus would be a splitter too.

Your votes and opinions are desired....
and, by the way, as we exited the auditorium, ushers were waiting and passing out 2-packs of Oreos!

Saturday Photo Hunt #14 - Creative

Can't get more creative than God. This is the sunset at the North Pole.

Friday Flashback #35 - Toto

Africa

Rosanna

Stranger in Town

The week in review

Monday - went to work. Yeah! First time in over a month. I spent an inordinate amount of time watching training videos and taking tests through a pretty nice online system Walgreen's has. It was VERY cold in the room I was in, and the chairs were very uncomfortable.

Tuesday - Back to work. After about a half an hour I left to go to another location because the machine I will have at my store is different than the local store. I got there and started, but was feeling nauseous and not well at all. I excused myself and went up the road to the hospital (less than a half mile from the Walgreen's). I got checked in at the ER and discovered my blood sugar level was 440. I spent 5 hours there getting IV fluids to rehydrate and insulin. Despite sleeping off and on in the ER, I crashed and was in bed by 8pm.

Wednesday - Feeling a LOT better, but not 100% I returned to the Canton store and got to spend some time in the lab where, on my first day, I saw my first "objectionable" pictures. Mixed in with a roll of family outing on the boat and the truck is a few of the Mrs. in a towel and less. I got home to find Amy still asleep, but she stayed up late after work. We made it to trivia where we nearly lost due to an incorrect bonus answer, but we pulled out a 4th place finish to win a pitcher of beer (which neither of us drinks).

Today - Again to work. I am getting the hang of things and having a TON of information thrown my way. I processed a lot of orders and made an extra $14.00 in premium credits. If you take an order for a toner cartridge refill or you up-sell an picture CD with an order, you get money (commission essentially). Back to home for a lovely dinner of chicken breast, pasta and peas and I watched this week's The Closer, the premiere of Mad Men, and about another 45 minutes of Spartacus. Now I'm off to bed.

Jobs...

So I started my new job today. It's nice to have the responsibility of being employed, but it could have been a bit more exciting. I spent the better part of six hours watching training videos and taking certification tests all in the customer service arena. I still have about the same amount to watch for the photo lab. I think I'll be at this store another 2-3 days and then they'll have me work at one with the Noritsu machine instead of Fuji.

Speaking of machines, I talked to my brother Peter a bit when he got home tonight. When he arrived he ascertained that he indeed had NOT seen me at Winston's tonight. I was not feeling well when I got home so I crashed for an hour from 6-7 and then got up looking for food.

He works for Ingenico, a company that makes credit card swipe terminals for retailers. You've used their equipment if you've been to Walmart, Sam's Club, or Home Depot and he told me they just got the Walgreen's account back from Verifone. That means 5 or more terminals for each of over 5000 stores. Nice order. Walgreen's had 5080 stores a year and a half ago and more since then. Also, they had annual sales in 2005 of over 60 billion dollars.

Peter drives past my old Chick-fil-a on his way to work and he informed me that they are now closed for the remodel. This was due back near March. Also, the McDonald's across the street from it finally closed for it's remodel (which also was due back in the spring) except theirs is a complete tear it down and rebuild it from scratch job.

So this Mike has a job, and it looks like Mike Vick may not, as the commissioner of the NFL today told him not to report to training camp. Time to call Duante Culpepper!

Saturday Photo HUnt #13 - Tiny

These kitties are Samson and Delilah when we adopted them as kittens about 6 years ago, below them are their current photos! In the top photo it's Delilah on the left and she is in the middle photo. Sammy, on the right at top is in the bottom picture. They are a blend of Siamese and Manx, so you'll note they have no tails, but they definitely darkened and got the tabby markings typical to the manx but have the cream-colored base of the Siamese.

Golf

Sitting around today watching the second round of the Open Championship (more commonly known, though not officially, as the British Open) on TNT today.

I commented last week on the Friday Feast that golf, like sex, is not something you have to be great at to enjoy. There is definitely a skillset involved in swing, judgement of distance, course, and strength applied, but some of these guys are flat out amazing.

But any one day can be so different. Tiger Woods is considered the best golfer in the world and he has had a hellacious day starting with his very first shot which went into the berm (that's a Scottish creek-like canal). He has made some very good recovery shots, but he is still struggling as he approaches the final few holes to play today.

In perspective. You have "par" which is the number of shots you SHOULD need to complete the course. Yesterday Tiger shot two strokes under par (meaning he did very well). Today he lost those two and has been a stroke OVER par for the two days combined, but currently is back to even par.

Further perspective. They make a cut to reduce the field of players for the final two days of the tournament, ideally to 72 players with people tied included. They are expecting that cut to be at 4 over par. So, if you have not shot within 4 strokes of the ideal, you go home. The guy in the lead, Spain's Sergio Garcia finished his second round at 6 under par. So Tiger currently needs to play the next two days at a minimum of 6 strokes better than Sergio in order to catch Sergio, and that's not saying no one else might move ahead of the -6 during that time too. All with an international television audience on a very difficult course with bad weather (wind/rain) expected tomorrow.

The good news is Tiger is a 3rd/4th day surge player, often coming back when others lose their momentum. Go Tiger!

A Question

What's your favorite movie you have seen in the theater this Summer?

My response.... Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End

We have a lot still to see, but this has been the best. I still want to see Live Free or Die Hard, Spiderman 3, and Transformers, plus I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry looks good.

Friday Feast #18

Appetizer - On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?
8 - certain sports for sure, college football, pro baseball, hockey (much better live)
Soup - If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?
Where is Joe Merchant by Jimmy Buffett.
Salad - What is your favorite breakfast food?
Omelets - usually ham, onions and mushrooms
Main Course - Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.
Play poker at a bar/pub - it's free so just the cost of a soda or tea if I don't eat.
Dessert - How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?
Just a few minutes.

Friday Flashback #34 - The Boss

This week it's a personal tribute to New Jersey's finest, no, not Sparky Duck, The Boss. Bruce Springsteen has been an icon of sorts as a songwriter and a talented guitar player for over thirty years now. I have selected some videos for some favorite songs in the mid-to-late 1980's.

Glory Days

Tunnel of Love

I'm On Fire

Dancing in the Dark

Idiocy

So I was reaidng the VENT column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for tomorrow and someone submitted this...

"Michael Vick will rue the day he was involved in dogfighting as opposed to outing a covert American CIA operative."

I say idiocy because this uneducated liberal appears to have no knowledge that in referencing the Scooter Libby trial and commutation of the jail time in his sentence he is implying that a crime was commited when the identity of the CIA employee was disclosed.

Scooter Libby broke no law in disclosing Valerie Plume as a CIA employee. He was charged with perjury in a Congressional hearing regarding the leak. The hearing was investigating something that was not a crime, they were just looking for some publicity in the case by holding hearings (something the Congress likes to do to justify their own existence and create bad publisity for each other's political party).

The appropriate VENT should be "Michael Vick will re the day he was involved in dogfighting as opposed to perjuring himself to a congressional hearing."

Sick Day

Absolute misery.

Headaches, vomiting, fatigue/sleep.

I woke up in time to see Amy leave and then I managed to get dressed and head out to play cards, still not feeling much like eating anything.

We Won!

Amy and I went to play trivia tonight at Winston's and for the first time in about 3 months we came in first place! Yeah! That means $40 i nhouse cash and bragging rights for the next 7 days.

We changed our team name (or rather I did) tonight from last week's "More than meets the eye" to "Fire Vick, Hire Duante." We were the only team perfect through round one, nailing all 4 correct answers on the bonus question, "What were the top 4 best-selling soft drinks in the USA last year?"

We fell off a bit in round 3, and only scored one correct response in round 4 on the question. "In Jimmy Buffett's song Pencil Thin Moustache, who does he say he wants an autographed picture from?"

The final bonus was Amy's shining moment. We were behind, in second place with 96 points. The team in first had 110, and the final bonus is a wager of 1-20 points, lose them if you get it wrong.

"Created in 1840 with a picture of Queen Victoria, the One Penny Black was the first of what item to ever be produced?" Amy immediately suggested a postage stamp, and we recently had a question as to where the first postage stamp was made/used in what country. The answer then was England, so the Queen Victoria reference made AMy's answer sound very good.

The team in first bet 10 points to guarantee a win with a correct answer, but they got it wrong and dropped to 100 and we jumped up the full 20 from 96 to 116 for the win!

Follow Up to the New Job

Yesterday was a slightly interesting one. I got my call from Walgreen's wanting me to confirm my acceptance of their offer and to have me come down to sign off on some paperwork and get the forms I needed to go take my drug test.

I left to find the place (which I did) and discovered they stopped taking samples about two weeks ago, so I called my hiring manager to find the other location.

On the way there I stopped at a blood mobile because I had planned to give blood since the Red Cross got off their butts and reinstated me as an authorized donor (I have O positive).

I had two difficulties there, first the Goodwill people hosting the bloodmobile wanted me to fill out some information-gathering form for them and their career center. I knew this was not necessary and brought it to the attention of the bloodmobile employees who had no idea they were trying to force people to give them personal information.

I made it onto the bloodmobile and got denied anyway because my iron level was too low. I guess it could be because of my using Alli (the new fat-burning OTC drug). I missed by one measurement, 38 was needed and I read 37.

So I went on down to the drug test, took it, and came home. I had about an hour to relax and change to head out to the mall for an interview there at Lids. Lids is a baseball cap store that sells about 90& ballcaps and the rest is other headwear and some accesories like cleaning supplies. I told them about the Walgreen's job and with my other experience, so I might have a good opportunity to add a second PT job on top of the Walgreen's job.

Amy went with me to the interview and she hung out in the mall while I was busy and we then went to see Knocked Up. Funny movie.

Ten on Tuesday #5

Ten favorite/memorable movies from my childhood.

1. The Muppet Movie
2. Savannah Smiles
3. They Went Thattaway and Thattaway (Tim Conway)
4. Smokey and the Bandit
5. The Aristocats (Disney)
6. Star Trek - The Motion Picture
7. Jumping Jacks (Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis)
8. The Great Muppet Caper
9. Take the Money and Run (Woody Allen)
10. The Jazz Singer (Neil Diamond)

Sports News

Big Day today..... here we go.

Item One - The Atlanta Thrashers! We re-signed Garnett Exelby, "X" to the fans! He was out for about 6 weeks last season with mononucleosis, but he's feeling much better now!

Item Two - Atlanta Falcons - Michael "I wanna be a bigger criminal punk than my brother" Vick was indicted on two federal charges for the dog-fighting operation happening at his property in Virginia. In the past year he has flipped off the Atlanta fans with BOTH middle fingers, been held in the Miami airport for suspicion of drugs when they found a secret compartment in his water bottle that had a suspicious residue and smelled kinda funky. He claimed it was for securing his jewelry. He apparently has been spreading the herpes virus, and now these indictments. It is time to tell him his services are no longer needed. He is overated as a QB anyway as he really can't throw better than a college QB.

Item Three - Miami Dolphins/Atlanta Falcons - The Miami Dolphins today released QB Duante Culpepper from his contract (which he asked them to do a month ago). He is now a free agent and could do well if he would HIRE an agent instead of trying to represent himself. Best case scenario, if his knee is healed, is to bring him to Atlanta. The Falcons already hired his Miami backup Joey Harington during this off season.

Item Four - World Series of Poker - They started the final table of the main event today with nine players who have never been there before. The last previous WSOP main event winner to go out finished 11th this year, Scottie Nguyen.

Item Five - Bar Poker - Playing Sunday at Winston's the Cobb County, GA Sheriff's Department showed and arrested one of the regulars from the smoking room. Apparently he had been involved in a domestic episode Friday night or Saturday morning after getting drunk at the bar Friday night. In fleeing the police, he looked back as he was running and did not see the tree. He was taken to the hospital with lacerations to his face, a concussion, and a partially collapsed lung. Word is he was supposed to be there 2-3 days butgot up and left on his own while in custody. The following day he comes back to the bar and there they find him. When asked his name, he lied, so they checked a photo and made the arrest, adding a charge of lying about his identity. I got a great laugh from the non-smoking room when I asked if I could play his chips (as I was out of the tourney already). The funny part is my brother told me the story about Sunday last night as he heard it from a bartender who was not even there on Sunday, and now it's a "buddy" of the arrested guy asked the question. I got the pleasure of announcing it was ME. (and I'm no buddy of the guy).