Home Poker Game

I want to start up my own Home Poker Game.
Maybe not for quite the stakes that are being represented by the attached image, but instead something for fun where everyone can have a few brews and enjoy some bad food - kick back and relax.

I do have a few obstacles to hurdle before I get to the point where this can become a reality.



I guess, naturally, the first place to start would be the securing of a table.
My kitchen table really wouldn't cut it unless there were only 6 players at the most.  Ideally I'd like 10 players and as such I need to get myself a bigger table.
At one point I had the dillusion of actually making a table myself, but I've put that in my past.  At this point I'm more willing to purchase.
Also thinking about one of those plastic folding tables that you can find everywhere (Sam's, Costco, etc) until I upgrade to a real poker table with Felt and everything.

I found the cards that I want for this gathering
And if you scroll down far enough you'll see the chips that go with it.
Amazing.
In Love.

I'd also need people to play the game as well (but that's getting a bit ahead of myself).
So, there you have it.
My intentions (not with your daughter).

We'll see what becomes of this in a few months I suppose.

No Control

Even when I feel like I'm not posting very much I look at my monthly stats and it says that this will be number 22.  Maybe I just feel that way when I'm not writing something every single day of the week.

However, my children, I have not (nor can I) forget about all of y'all.

It comes back to something I said many moons ago, writing is therapy.  I just really enjoy doing it.
I'm the "hold it in until you fucking break" kind of person and this gives me an outlet even if I'm not exactly talking about what is on my mind.
While I'm typing all of the thoughts and bitches and moans are running through my head but what comes out is more productive and soothing and generally helps to put me into a relaxed state of being again.

Today my page count broke 80k - Milestones!
I'm getting dangerously close to 400 posts - Milestones.
I can't get no satisfaction - Rolling Stones

I silently (verbalized to one person) set myself a goal of getting down to 240 before the month of January ended and I can get close but there will be no cigar.  Today when I jumped on the scale I was at 242.something which puts me at a loss this month but just not quite as much as I was hoping for.
However, I do realize that I control that and the week of Del Taco didn't help.  The Ice Cream didn't help (speaking of which, thinking about some right now) and et cetera.  I control my own destiny.
Slow and steady wins the race.

My tax refund is so close I can smell it.  I filed early and my expected return is before Feb 20th - I'm hoping that it shows up before VD.

Speaking of VD (and I'm ending with this).
Anyone have some suggestions of a place to take the lady this year?
I've gotta start looking so I can make a reservation.  I'm hoping to pick some place we haven't gone before.

....and to all a good night.....

Cleaning out my Closet

Today I decided to make some more space in my closet.
Not actually make some space, but to make it appear less cluttered.
So, I took a bunch of totes that were cluttering up the place and moved them into my mostly empty spare room.
The same spare room which eventually I want to turn into a game room.
Eventually.

However, I briefly went through some of the totes I was moving and found my old comic book collection.
By old I mean back when I was in High School, 1993ish.
Funny thing is that as I was going through them (and there weren't really a ton, maybe 50 total) I smiled at some of the stuff I had.
I also know that I quit buying them back then because it was too expensive of a habit.

So, what I found was some Ren n Stimpy.  Almost the entire run of Beavis and Butt-Head.
Evil Ernie 1-4 with a special edition intro -1 book I think (it was a mini).
I found 3 different Rock n Roll comics, 1 Anthrax and 2 Guns n Roses.
I found 2 Mankind #1's.
Spiderman vs Powdered Toast Man!!!!
A couple random Superman issues from around the Death of Superman time period.
And 1 X-men issue where Wolverine ends up killing a robotic Hulk.

There might have been a few more, I haven't gone through them too thoroughly yet.
Memories.

Nobody wins in poker long term

Poker Grump knows how to cheer someone up when they're down.

You see, I had a twitch, an itch, a wild hair up my ass (call it what you may) and I decided the only cure was some poker.  Because I happened to randomly check Twitter (and it's very random that I do that) I saw that the Mirage now gives $2/hour comps (And I sure hope they stay on the card and don't need to be printed off via $5 coupons that expire after a week like before) and I thought that I should head there for the games.

Within 30 minutes of me sitting down and playing I had already dropped 3 annoying hands for more money than I cared to.
The table was tight and ready for someone to play aggressively and win some pots, it just so happened that I got the cards to do just that.  The problem was the rest of the table was not cooperating.

My first raise was called two ways and while I flopped a good hand I lost money to a guy who limp called my raise from early position with J6 offsuit and flopped two pair.  He played it passively and I didn't lose too terribly much.

Shortly later I had a guy call a raise preflop and then call my bet on the flop only to turn his set of 8's.
Then a bit later I had a guy call down to the river to hit another set of 8's only to be out done by the guy who just nabbed a 2 outer by hitting his gutshot for the straight.

This is when I received my "pick-me-up" message from the Grumpmiester himself.

1/2 NL is NOT Beatable.

A little while later I decided I needed to show a profit so out of the blind I called a small raise (as did half the table) with 44 and flopped a 4.  I bet into the raiser who called my bet as did one other person.
The turn brought a beautiful 4 and I led out again and was called.
The River did not bring a 5th 4 but I bet out again and was called.
I showed my Quadalicious and got to play on some sort of Video Poker Machine in order to try to win $45,000 which did not happen and as such I took my seat and waited to collect my lowly $100 instead.

A short while later I got Aces in the small-blind.  I made a bigger raise than normal and got called 6 ways.
On the flop I bet 2/3rds pot and got called by one player - the worst player at the table.
On the turn I led out a bit larger than my last bet and was called.
The river brought 100 different annoying cards and I check called $50 only to see that my opponent had turned his gut-shot to take a big pot off of me.

Here is a hand that was kind of fun.
I have no history on Villain.  He is an older white guy but I have no reads.
I have $200ish and cover Villain.
I am in a blind with QTs

There is a small raise to $8 and there are 2 callers back to me and I decide to gamble so I call.
4 players in - Pot is $32.

Flop comes out QT4 - with QT are hearts.
I check and Villain bets out $15.  It folds around to me and I make it $55.
Villain calls.
Turn (~$140)
Turn is an Ace of not hearts.
I bet $70 and Villain pushes.
The Push is for about $80 more so I feel this is a clear call.
For the life of me I cannot put Villain on calling my flop check/raise with KT unless it happened to be hearts giving him a Royal Draw to go with it.
There is the possibility of 44 for the flopped set.  I'm not sure he'd play TT so passively Pre but I guess we should include that in there as well (discounted because I also am holding a T).

After some debate I called with my top two and Villain immediately flipped over Triumphantly his.....
Q8 off-suit.
The only thing I can think of is that he put me only on a flush draw.

The river is meaningless and I rake in a nice sized pot which gives me profit for the evening.


Overall it was a good table with one guy who was making some large ($30-$45) Pre Flop Raises and getting lucky (Flopping two 2 with TJ and turning Trip 9's with Q9o) and raking in a ton of chips because of the luck.

When you have amazing hair like this guy it's not hard to see why the poker gods smiled upon him.

His hair is short - there are no braids.  That is actually a pattern shaved into his head that goes the whole way around, just not on the top.

Oh bless his awesome heart.
He also wore a huge gold watch and his glasses say DG on them, which I can only guess means Damned Good!

When I left he turned his $200 into well over $700 mainly by winning two large hands when he made huge raises pre and nailed the flop/turn.


The only other thing to report is that fellow blogger Yakshi recently posted a song by some rapper I have never heard of named A$AP Rocky.

On my way into and exiting the Mirage Poker Room this evening I happened to spot this....

Performing Super Bowl Sunday.
Oh, it's on.

Summary, in True TBC Style - my Live Bankroll now sits at $150 but I fear that this might not last too long.
You see, VD is coming (make all the VD jokes you want) up and I've got a present and a dinner to afford.  So, I fear that my bankroll might be going back down to ZERO unless I can find a way to run it up and make some more money quickly.
Damn women, always raiding my wallet.

Poker, Work, Comics, Babble Babble

I'm starting to itch and Jones for poker again.
I feel it in my blood, it's starting to excite me.
Time.  All in due time though.

I received an email a little while ago from someone in a good position at a Casino here in the states who wants to collaborate on a piece for this blog extolling why live poker is still important in this digital age.
Kinda seems weird that I'd get that email as I feel quite certain that this person doesn't follow my blog.

So, I'll chalk it up to random happenstance where I was one of many who got the email all because I happened to do a post just recently on poker which came up in a Google search of some kind.

Whatever, poker is poker and I invite more poker into my life.

My next trick will be to present all of this poker stuff to the new woman in a way which she will be comfortable with.  She has some reservations about gambling in general that are in no way related to me but you know how issues are - they stick with you no matter what.

So, I'll be developing a plan to help ease her into it and get her approval so that it will not be something that could later come between us.

On the more dorky side of life, Issue #3 of Witch Doctor: Malpractice came out and I'm happy to report that the letter (to the writers) that I sent end ended up being published.  That makes me feel all dorky and tingly inside.

I've also decided that I can't read nothing but Spiderman over the course of the year or my brain will explode so I know my goal won't be hit but I'm still going to put a large dent into it.
That being said I want to point out that I started reading this great new comic called Revival.
This comic is about a small town where a bunch of dead loved ones decide to start living again.  Not becoming Zombies or anything like that, but just coming back to life and really messing shit up for those around them who have already gone through the grieving (and possibly healing) process.
It deals a lot with the issues of dead people coming back to life and the strain it puts on their families and those around them.
I went through the 1st 5 issues (released as a collection) and really dig it so I'm going to have to start following it from here as it was quite enjoyable.

Dead chicks are hot :)

At work I had to fill out an end of the year self evaluation crap fest thing that sucked.  I got promoted for the last quarter and had to submit something.  My submission basically said "I don't know what you are looking for and need guidance" and never received that guidance.
4 months later I now have to evaluate myself based on the "goals" that I didn't set up and everything that went into my "plan" that really wasn't submitted.
No one ever looked over my submission and got back to me, sat down with me so that we could set anything up and as such this is going to make this first "review" pretty painful.
It's going to show a lack of effort on my part for not seeking out the information and a lack of care on the part of my supervisors for not bothering to even look at what was submitted so that we could form a course of action.  I'm fairly certain the blame will all be pointed at me because we know "shit rolls down hills" and I'm cool with that.  Leaves all my improvement over the course of 2013 to look that much more impressive I guess.

Poker - Where the Hell did it Go?

Yeah,
At one point in time I used to play and talk about this game that I love so much.  I live in one of the top 3 cities for games going on at all hours of the day and yet I haven't played once in probably two months.
What the hell happened?

Oh.  Those damned holidays took all of my extra money away.  Relieved me of that extra money would be a polite way to put it.

I do have a plan though and while semi talking about it with Coach I decided that I should tell all of you as well.
Yes, I really y'all probably don't really give a shit but the fact is I love to hear myself type and this is a good enough reason to type as any I'll find before passing out tonight.

March Madness

That is what I'm aiming for.
I don't have all the logistics worked out just yet as I came up with this date just while talking to Coach, but in my head with a brief going over it makes perfect sense to me.

Rough calculations in my head put my remaining debt somewhere around three grand.
I've got my income tax refund coming to me 1st week or so of February and combine that with a regular payment on my student loan that will knock out about half of the debt right there.

Now, here is where a little good fortune needs to come into play.  Based on all of the information that I currently have at my disposal I am on target to bonus at work for the 4th quarter of the 2012 fiscal year.  There is one piece of information that I do not have (just so happens to be the same piece of information which actually kept us from hitting bonus last quarter) but all signs are pointing to that being in our favor as well.  So, if things work out the way I want them to work out I'll be receiving a big fat bonus with my 1st check in March and that will allow me to finish paying off all of my debt.

The only issue that I'm seeing now is I need to find somewhere to pull a few buy-ins together so that I can actually put some hours in during March Madness and take advantage of the juicy games that go on during this time of year.

As it is I'm a bit sad that I'll be missing the Super Bowl weekend games but it is more important that I finish what I set out to do.  All in due time I guess.

In the meantime it's more work, more budgeting, more planning and more reading comics in my spare time.
I want to upgrade my Kindle Fire to a Kindle Fire HD - specifically the 8.9 inch screen, though I'd be willing to settle for the 7 inch screen if need be.  Scouring craigslist daily looking for a dope head to just wants to get rid of theirs (or someone else's) cheaply for a quick fix.

My Super Bowl Scenerio

Listen, fairy tales are not supposed to actually happen and thus fairy tale ending are not either.

Remember a few years back when Jerome Bettis was retiring and the Steelers had that amazing run and luck culminating in a Super Bowl Victory as his retirement game?
Yeah, that was awesome and that type of shit ONLY happens to the good guys.

The Baltimore Ravens are the BAD guys folks.  Evil and Stinky and no good fortune should smile upon them.
It was bad enough that the Baltimore Browns already claimed stake to one Super Bowl (at least not as the Cleveland Browns so that that franchise still can't claim one) and lets not make this two.

Ray Lewis needs to taste the most bitter amount of defeat that he can and this is my scenario.


15 seconds left on the 7 yard line, 49ers are down by 5.  Kaepernick fakes a hand-off to Frank Gore and the entire Defense is fooled except for one man, Ray Lewis.

Kaepernick keeps the ball and has an angle towards the end-zone.  Ray Lewis is stalking his prey and appears to be able to tackle him short of the score.  Kaepernick stops, breaks his ankles with a Barry Sanders like Juke/Spin and breaks free of the clutches of Ray Lewis and Jaunts into the end-zone for the go ahead score while the greatest Inside Linebacker to ever play the game misses the most important tackle of his entire life.

Cut to the 49ers celebration and a detested Ravens squad in disbelief and the final picture that we will have to see of Ray Lewis which will be shown 2 million more times over the next season and beyond.
This will be more famous than the "ALMOST" touchdown when the Titans were stopped 2 yards short against the rams.

Rat-Shit Crazy

No, not Bat.

Yesterday was one of those where I really just wish that I'd never have answered the phone.  

I received the phone call around 11 am informing me that plans had fallen through and changes needed to be made.  You see, at work we are going into our Inventory period.  With my departments being short staffed for multiple reasons my coverage is very very light this coming week.  I was informed that we would be borrowing someone from another store to help out over the course of this week which is great.

This weekend, that borrowed person was to be my only coverage at all in one of my two departments because they didn't like the schedule I originally laid out for them.  

So, the call I received informed me that the other store screwed up and for some reason "thought" that we needed the person starting NEXT week and not this one.  Looking back over emails and other communication everything explicitly said that the coverage was to start on Saturday the 19th, but whatever.

So, I answered the phone like an idiot and got the bad news and now they want me to re-arrange my schedule for the entire week so that I can be the only person covering the department during inventory.

I agree'd to go in yesterday since my love was also working late.

Around 7:30 I get a call from the closing manager asking me to head up to the men's bathroom because there were complaints about a guy in there talking loudly and vulgarly, seemed to be very irrational.  They wanted me to go in there and ask him to leave.

As I entered the bathroom I noticed a bunch of clothes everywhere.  There were two stalls that were littered with his clothes, a suitcase in one of the stalls - open and overflowing.  He was standing at the sink wearing just his gym shorts, no shoes or anything else - just the gym shorts.

He had a shirt balled up in the sink and would occasionally hit it while swearing.

I asked if there was anything wrong and he explained to me that, somehow, a rat had gotten into his clothes in his suitcase and pissed on everything and was scratching him up as well.

I asked about the shirt and he told me he trapped the rat in there and was trying to beat it to death.

There was no movement with the shirt, it was obvious that if there were a rat it was already dead as it would be struggling to get free and away from the half naked crazy white man.

So, in order to progress the situation I went out and got a bucket and a lid.  I scooped up the shirt into the bucket and showed him that there was no rat and then things took a turn.

The guy flew off the handle, ran into a stall and locked it and then proceeded to take the rest of his clothes off because obviously the rat had escaped and was now plotting revenge.

He started throwing clothes everywhere looking for it and at one point started screaming that he caught it and to get the bucket to him.  I did and he magically lost it again.

Shortly there after the police arrived.

All said we had 4 cop cars and 7 officers, an ambulance and another vehicle all that showed up to alleviate the store of this naked white rat fearing problem.

I assume the guy was either off his meds or his dope was laced with something he couldn't handle.

Either way it was an amusing situation and now the 2nd time I've seen a naked guy in the bathroom at my work place.

Weight Loss - 25 to go

25 pounds to go to get to my next goal!

It continues to astound me that I've actually lost the amount of weight I have so far and that I'm continuing to take some off little by little.  The thing that gets me is that I haven't given up on it and gone back to my old eating habits.  I've had a bad week here and there but I go right back into my routine after it's over and done to continue my journey.  1 Month ago I was at 249.8, so while I bitch and moan to myself that the weight really isn't coming off, it's the long term progress that shows I'm wrong and the reason I am keeping up with it.

About a week or so ago I went out shopping with my lady and ended up getting a new belt.  A week later I finally started wearing it because she brow beat me into it.

Lady: "you are wearing that same piece of shit old belt?"
grrouch: "yeah, why?"
Lady: "What about the new one we just bought?"
grrouch: "I thought that was for special occasions only"
Lady: "You thought we bought a belt to wear once a year?  Are you crazy?"

So, even though I thought we bought a size smaller than I should have (I did that for motivation) I put it on yesterday only to realize that it does, indeed, fit.
I'm going to chalk this up to fat-boy syndrome though, as I always want to order more food than I can eat (or, what I used to be able to eat) and I always want to buy stuff at my old sizes.
So, the fact that the belt fits is great and now I just have to start getting pants that fit as these old ones just fall right off me with no belt attached.  All in due time I guess.

Today I don't have a whole lot planned.  Getting a hair cut and possibly buying one pair of pants.
Reading and playing some video games.  Maybe make it through a couple more episodes of Dexter since I have been slacking there.

Hope everyone else is on the path to achieving at least one of their new years resolutions.

I Should Call Off Today

I had the last two days off.
I close tonight.
I have the weekend off.

I SHOULD call off today and give myself a 5 day weekend.
However, I just don't appear to be able to make that phone call as I've already showered and prepared for work.

This should be a shorter evening for me as I have extra hours I need to cut due to a lack of coverage in general.  We are missing key players around my departments and in my departments, however I am told there is a rainbow full of butterflies and employees at the end of the tunnel and I just need to keep on trucking on to get there.

Tonight I am the lone ranger in Plumbing and Electrical (and probably Appliances) which means another shift where all I do is talk to customers and fail to accomplish any of the tasks that I feel I need to accomplish.
Then, come Monday it's Inventory time which is a week of hell.

I'm really looking forward to the fiscal year ending as well as the Inventory Period.  Mainly Inventory.
This way I get a fresh slate instead of coming into messes left by previous ownership.
I also get to see if what I'm doing is making a difference for good or for evil and see what adjustments need to be made.  I'll have a clear look at the end of year numbers set by my predecessor (he was there all but the last quarter that I took over) and have something to shoot at coming under.  I already have a few things that I've been waiting until after inventory to implement that will help me get some more accurate numbers than the way the current system is set up.

And now, my belly hungers.
Is today going to be Spicy Chicken Sandwiches at Carl's Jr?
Am I going to have a McRib or two?
Will I settle for Del Taco's Spicy Chicken Quesadea?
Oh, I'm hungry alright.

Public Service Announcement

Yes, this is Las Vegas and everything but sometimes you still have to deal with real world problems even here.

It is the winter time which means the temperatures drop. Sometimes even here in the desert those temperatures will drop below 32 degrees which is widely speculated to be the freezing point of water.
When Water goes into this temperature range it turns solid and expands and sometimes causes mass amounts of damage to your property.

The last few days, this is what has happened.

So, my PSA is for everyone out there to COVER YOUR FUCKING PIPES.
If they are outside and exposed to the elements you are an IDIOT if you don't have them insulated and wrapped by something, even if it's your old pee-stained underwear.

Your pipes will burst, your ball valves will crack, your Anti-Siphon and Back Flow Preventers and  Pressure Vacuum Breakers will all burst causing you a TON of headaches and a good deal of time and money to fix as well.

You knew winter was coming but you left your shit unprotected.
Do you not put the condom on and say "Well, I sure as shit didn't see that coming" (Har Har).

Next year be prepared and save yourself a headache (and a nagging wife or girlfriend) and wrap that shit up.

This has been a PSA from the grrouch who has had to tell everyone and their mother that NO, we don't have that and have been sold out for nearly 2 days now.
Stop looking at me like I'm crazy - you're the idiot who didn't protect his junk.

An Open Minded Response to Vegas Linda Lou

Over on Linda's site she posted about having an open mind and how it really just doesn't work for her.
I started to type a simple reply and then the next thing I know I've got a 800 thousand ward diatribe (is that word used properly? I doubt it but it is what came into my head) and decided that it was no longer a proper response in the comment section and that I had to just move it over here instead.
Hope some of her readers still find this response and take it into consideration.

Linda - I think I might chalk this up to being stubborn.
Making your mind up one way or another and being bull-headed pre-disposes you to those feelings that you've already determined that you have.
Did you really give Zumba a fair shot or did you just go to shut your sister up and then to get the "I told you this would suck so I'm going to go do something else and you can think of how miserable I am right now"???

I say this because I'm the same bloody way.  If I tell you I won't like something then shut the hell up and leave me alone because I'm not going to like it no matter what. Even if I might end up liking it by some miracle I'm going to be miserable and tell you I HATE IT because you will not be winning this war!

However, I've been trying to change that slowly and give in and really apply the whole "open mind" concept by going into something without my normal "I'll prove you wrong" attitude.
I've caved on Sushi but it took me 4 attempts.
First 3 attempts I flat out said "I'm going to hate this, but I'll try it" and when I tried it I was right, it absolutely sucked.

Then, on the 4th try I did something different.

You see, Sushi is something I've always just known that I hate.  I never had it and never wanted it but dammit I guarantee that that shit is horrible and belongs no where near my body.  What the hell are you trying to do, kill me?  No sir eee.  I've had many offers to go out and have sushi and I believe the response "Are you fucking crazy" has left my lips a few times.  I'm a picky eater and I'll stick to the shit that I like.

So, with the new love of my life being a huge fan of Sushi I figured that at least taking her to her favorite Sushi place was a good compromise. (I wrote about that here) I could be near sushi, but as long as I didn't accidentally touch it I should be fine.
Then it happened.  I have my nice Filet Mignon (why does blogger not recognize this as a word?) sitting in front of me and I get the look with....

Love: "Are you at least going to try it?"
grrouch: "um, I've got this beautiful steak, why would I want to ruin it?"
Love: "really?"
grrouch: "Tell you what, when I'm close to done I'll think about it."

And that seemed to placate her.  However, she left me a piece and now I had to eat my words.  So I prepared a piece of my steak as a flavor savior.  I dipped the sushi in the spice and quickly ate it.  Then I quickly put some steak in my mouth to cover the flavor up before I knew what it really tasted like.

Love: "So?"
grrouch: "Yeah, it pretty much sucked, but I tried it.  Aren't you proud of me?"
Love: "Sushi is amazing"
grrouch: "Steak is amazing, Sushi is poison"

Over the course of our next couple of visits I humored her and tried exactly one piece every time we went with similar results.

Finally (what I was trying to get to way up there) I decided to play a different game.  How about we tackle Sushi the serge way - lets spice it up and give me a chance to cover up the fish taste and see if I can like it or not.  So, she ordered something spicy and I got my chicken teriyaki plate (which, again, was good).  This time I ate a piece early so I could enjoy the rest of my meal but with all of the added spice I actually kind of liked it.  I think I ended up eating 3 or 4 pieces that time and had a lot of my own food for left overs.
Then I did something that probably still eats at my soul to this day.
I told her that next time we came we'd order only sushi and I would give it a real try... however, if it was too bad then I'd have to order off the "REAL" menu.

That next time that we went we ordered up 3 different spicy rolls with various thins like Jalapenos and Sarachi sauce and overall I started to like all of them.  Now, as long as it's spicy, I can eat sushi and actually enjoy it.
In fact, I've had cravings for it at times and that kind of scares me.

However, the point of this all is this.
Having an open mind is one thing.  A true open mind is hard to do.
Most of the time you are pretending to have an open mind just so you can say "Fuck you, I told you I'd hate it and I do"

And Dear Linda,
That is my response to your blog in 100 words or less

Faith No More

The past week or two I've been on a serious Faith No More kick and been listening to all their albums on repeat any time I am in my car.  So, just a bunch of random videos/songs from the band.

A Mini Computer Bitch

So, the built in wireless adapter on my computer is dying.

I turn it on, everything is working properly and then within 15 minutes I no longer have internet connection.
I turn the wireless off, then back on again and things work well for a few minutes before it stops working again.

I either have to finger out a way to replace the adapter, run a cord from the living room the whole way to the computer room or replace the computer because it has failed me.

Stupid Computers

A question Answered

FBoy recently wrote a comment asking me where the "push up challenge" tab went on my page.

Simple answer is I took it down because I haven't been able to get to it lately.

More simpler answer is that right now I have some sort of issue with my right shoulder that has been causing me some pain and I've put the challenge on hold for a while until I get this worked out.

This, of course, is the same shoulder where I tore my rotator cuff a few years back and randomly causes me issues.  

Now, so that this post isn't horribly small and cause Rob to have a brain aneurysm or anything, I'll add just a little bit more.

In my first 10 days of the year I have read 40 Spiderman comics.  They have not all been The Amazing Spiderman because I have found some other early series that tie in and continue stories and as such I'll be giving up the quest to read the entire Amazing in the year 2013 because I'm going to be adding in a TON of other, non Amazing, Spiderman comics/issues into the mix that it might be nigh impossible.

700 of just one series in a year was going to be a big task and I'm pretty sure I could have accomplished it, but I'm fairly certain that by the time I get a complete reading order of all the Spidey comics done (or found) I'll be well over 1000 comics and will NOT finish.  I guess this is what I get by starting with a popular comic instead of one that was cancelled after 25 issues or so.

However, within these 1st 40 issues that I have gone through I'm really liking this Spider-Guy a lot more than I previously did and am now actually willing to forgive Spiderman 3 for all of it's SUCKAGE.  I'm enjoying being introduced to some of these great villains for the first time and watching as Spiderman falters against the likes of Doc Ock, Sandman and Lizard and goes up against Foes I didn't even know existed like The Vulture (which seems like a dirty old pedo to me).

However, some of the victories just kind of make me chuckle.  My favorite thus far was beating Sandman with a Vacuum cleaner the first time they fought.  Classic.

Mary Jane has been introduced by name, the Green Goblin has made an appearance and Spiderman gets a LOT of flack from the kids at school and from his boss - J.J.J.

All in all I'm having a blast going through the back issues and I am picking up some of the ones I really like through eBay and such.  I'm also going to start pulling Superior Spiderman as they come out though I don't know if I'll read them until I'm up to that part of the story line.

I'm thinking about going back to Amazing around issue 683 where one of the last big storylines started and reading through to the end and then going in with Superior.  Then when I get up to that point with all of the back issues just re-reading them again.

Who knows.

What I do know is that I've got to leave the house because I've got a date and we're going to Sweet Tomatoes for Lunch today (I've got a coupon).

Is it bad etiquette to use coupons on a date?

Safe for Work Porn

So recently I saw an amazing pic on a friends Facebook and I decided I wanted to share some pictures with y'all.

A Desperate Confession

I love Desperate Housewives.  There, I said it. Ridicule me, make fun of me.  Gouge my eyes and pull out my hair.  Whatever you want to do to me you can go for it.  This show is just fucking brilliant.  

Maybe it's the fact that I'm watching it so many years after the fact, maybe it's just the company that I keep while watching the show.  Maybe it's the amazing cast members that come and go whom I have loved from other things.

I never gave this show a chance when it was on the air because it really did seem like it was just a cheap Sex and the City knock off (Sex in the City?  I'm too lazy to bother to Google it to find out what the show's actual title was).  A bunch of middle aged broads sleeping with whomever and creating drama for those around them.  Blah blah, boring.  Give me Beavis and Butt-head any day instead.   However, now that I've had some time to sit down and watch the show I'm really enjoying the whole humor aspect to it.  There is a lot of on the surface humor and some dark humor going on as well.  

It reminds me of a "modern day" version of another of my all time favorite shows (though, not as over the top and not nearly as funny)....

SOAP was brilliant and had an amazing cast of characters to go with it, also had some spin off shows that became some of the best out there.  I mean, who the hell didn't love Benson?

Not only that but "Mona" was in this show (as a different character, but whatever) and the dude from Empty Nest not to mention others.

This was so over the top and a great parody of what Soap's where all about that I watched every episode that Nick-at-Nite would throw at me.

But, enough about this amazing show that everyone should have the pleasure of watching and back to the topic at hand.

With the episodes that I have been catching (you know, because I watch 3 but the lady watches 13) I have been running into actors/actresses who starred in some other shows that I love which makes me just enjoy Desperate Housewives even more.

I mean, Rita Bennett, Captain Jack Harkness and Agent Dale Cooper?  All of these amazing people have appeared in DH and it just adds to my viewing pleasure.

Now, even though I've only been able to catch about 3-6 episodes per season while visiting my lady I am going to admit.... nay... I'm going to Confess that I will end up using this show as background noise fodder while doing other things so that I can actually follow the whole thing from start to finish.

Do you think less of me now?

Mount Charleston

I don't know who this Charleston fellow is but bravo for him!

Tomorrow we are doing another outing to Mt Charleston to let the kids go sledding.  Once again it's going to be cold outside and I'm voluntarily going into such conditions, weird shit.

Last time we went there was no fresh snow so the white guy didn't get a chance to show the Mexicans how to make a snow man (Last year they stole someone else's and posed for pictures pretending they did it themselves).  I'm hoping for better conditions this time.

Also, I was the only person not wearing gloves last time and as such I was the only person really able to make a good snowball as the snow was not packy at all.  Packy is not a word, interesting.
I forgot that after a few minutes of being submerged and holding/manipulating this frigid white stuff ones fingers tend to go numb.  I learned quickly.  This time will be no different I'm certain.

I've got my "cold" clothes ready.  I've got two blankets in the car for the kids on the ride home.  I have an extra sweatshirt and some sort of coat like thing that I'll be wearing and an extra one in the trunk in case someone else gets cold and needs added warmth.

To start the morning off we'll be doing home made pancakes and probably Sausage and/or Turkey Bacon (definitely sausage, mmmmm).  We'll be packing sandwiches to take along so everyone can take a lunch break.  Bringing cookies and chips because everyone loves to snack.  And two thermoses of Hot Chocolate, though I think we should bring a third but that will require a trip to the store in the morning.  Only time will tell.

Last time it was definitely a great time.  I'm new to the whole doing things together as a family thing.  Having a kid to look after and entertain.  I'm adjusting well I think but it's still weird to me at times.  I remember the days when life rotated around me and those appear to be long gone.

So, everyone stay warm and watch the games and think of your dear old grrouch who is going to be out, high in the mountains (as opposed to HI in the mountains) and freezing off all of his manly parts while you are warm and inside and drinking a beer or two.

That's a great idea, I should bring beer to keep me warm.
Good thinking.

An Ode to the Playstation 2

It's been nearly 13 years since the greatest gaming console of all time was released to the known world.
The Playstation 2 was released on March 4th of the year 2000 in Japan and took the United States by storm on October 26th of the same year.  This was the 1st console that I desperately wanted upon release, I pre-ordered it and I even traded in my Playstation 1 for it (I still consider this my biggest gaming mistake, the ONLY console I have ever traded in to get another).
Here I sit over 12 years later with my release PS2 which is still in fine working order while millions upon millions of Xbox 360's continue to go bad every year. The PS2 was a marvel of hardware that has withstood the test of time and gaming.

Old Fatty vs newer Slim

So, it was sad news when Nintendo announced that they were discontinuing production of the PS2 in Japan (and I'm sure world wide will follow).  This means that I'm going to have to go out and buy a new PS2 Slim sometime in the near future so I'll have an extra console waiting around for all those games that I still own from that era just in case my larger than life original decides to shit the bed.

I picked up my PS2 while I was in college and I know that it has more gaming hours logged on it than all of the newer systems that I own combined (between myself and everyone else who played in my on campus apartment and various other living situations after college) and it impresses me that to this day I can still pop in a game and a memory card and play.

Just earlier this year I loaned it out to a friend who wanted to play through Final Fantasy 7 again (yes, a PS1 game).  Backwards compatibility - an ingenious concept brought to us by Sony even though 95% of the time the new console would be used to only play new games.  BC is for people like me who love retro gaming and don't want to have 30 systems hooked up to a TV.  It is the reason I rushed out and bought a 60 gig fully backwards compatible Playstation 3 once Sony said they were discontinuing it.


So Sony, I love you and your systems.  I will be lined up to buy a Playstation 4 when you release it and I will hand over my money for your exclusives over time as well. It would be nice if your handhelds could rival the quality of your consoles (something Nintendo has perfected) so that I could love the Vita (and PSP) just as well.

So here's to you, PS2, I love you.

If I were to get into the games and why I loved them this could become obscenely long.  I'd be going above and beyond what Rob has done (and that includes dividing this love letter to Sony into multiple posts) so I will just attach some pictures of the games that I enjoyed the most over the course of the PS2's lifetime.

The Evil Dead

It's not very often that I'll actually get really excited for something that is going to come out and count down the days until I get to see it, touch it, taste it or play with it.  However I've slowly been making an exception for the remake of The Evil Dead.

When I first heard about it was hated the idea and was rather annoyed that they were taking one of my favorite movies and re-doing it.  How could this possibly go right?  There was too much room to just destroy the movie and ruin the experience for me.

Then, the 1st trailer came out and my thought process turned to "You know, this doesn't look too bad, I'll give it a try."

Then today it all changed.  As I woke up prepared to write a blog bitching about how my back has been killing me this week I checked my Facebook and saw a New, longer trailer for the movie.

I've now gone to being officially excited and planning to be piss myself scared in the theaters.

This next video is not for the squeamish and if this is just a 2 minute preview I'm fucking dying to see the entire movie.

I'm going to have to wait to march but I'm requesting the day off and even if I can't find a theater buddy I'm seeing this on release.

Don't be fulled if the preview screen for both video's looks the same  (they do on my computer).  The 1st Video is the Teaser Trailer and the 2nd Video is the full length preview with different material.

This is a very well done horror movie preview.

I'm ga-damned excited.

Who else is going to see this movie?

Anyone want to watch it on release with me?

Gaming in 2013

I don't know if I've just grown out of gaming or if I'm just on a temporary hiatus or what has happened but 2012 has been the year where I have put the least amount of time into gaming in quite a long long time.

Maybe it was just with everything else going on that I just kind of lost my desire to have fun and it started off as a self imposed exile from entertainment.  I do not know the answer.

When playing games with others I still have a great time. I had a buddy visiting over the summer and in the 5 days he spent at my house I put in a TON of hours playing Gears of War 3 (finally beating the damned thing) and Borderlands 2 with him.
However, as soon as he left the gaming stopped.

Right now I basically only play when the ball and chain is visiting with her kid.  I've got a subset of games that I know are age appropriate and we play some of those games together for an hour or so before and after dinner.  When I am left to my own devices I have played less than 10 hours of games in the past few months.

I used to love gaming, I lived for it.  I couldn't wait to get home so I could sink my teeth into the newest game that came out.  Now I have a shelf (multiple shelves) full of all these games that I've played for less than  a couple hours each (or are still sealed) and it's turned more into a collection than a hobby.

This year I have picked up some games when they became cheap and I've maybe only put one out of ten into my systems.

Something has to change.
I either need to find a way to recapture my passion for gaming or I just need to give it up and do something better with my money.

With that being said one of the things I wanted to do for 2013 is to beat one game per month.  I know that this is going to be hard with my current work/social schedule but the reality is that I have to find time for what was (maybe still is) a passion of mine.
I have a large collection of Video Game Systems to go along with my Video Games themselves.
In fact, I have 2 of the last 3 systems to come out (only missing the Vita).  My 3DS does not get used very much and I have yet to open my Xmas present - the Wii U.

I'm going to spend some time this week (hopefully) going through my collection of games and organizing them into games that I'm still interested in playing and games that I'm going to hide somewhere and just pretend that I currently don't have them.  I figure with a smaller collection to look at it might not feel so daunting and like a chore to pick up and play.

There are only two games coming out early this year that I have already pre-ordered and both are because I absolutely love the series.
The first is Bioshock Infinite.  The 1st Bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time and as such I'll continue to get the newest ones that come out because they have been great so far.
The second is God of War Omega (I think that's the title).  The God of War series is probably my favorite gaming series out there right now and I have beaten every single title released (except the one released for mobile phones years ago that I just don't have access too). My eventual goal is to get the Platinum Trophy for every title as well.  In December I started playing one of the PSP ports and just need to pick that up and continue my journey through it.
In fact, now that we are just a few months away from the newest in the series coming out I should go through and just re-beat all of the old ones in preparation.
I'm feeling a twinge of excitement.  So, maybe tomorrow morning when I wake up I'll start on my journey and see if I still have that Gamer's Lust in me.

The thrill of Home Improvement.

In 2011 I have 31 published posts (does not include things that I deleted before starting over fresh) and in 2012 I have 338 published blog posts.  Obviously a pattern has emerged and in 2013 I'll have over 3300 published posts.
In order to accomplish this I'll have to be the anti-Rob.
In fact I should end this here and continue with my next thought on a new post just for the sake of trying to accomplish it.

However, that's boring.

Being the 1st day of the year I figure'd that I should hop on the scale and see where I'm starting at and that was 248.8.
I'm quite happy with this because that means I lost over 50 pounds in 2012 and it's also nice because for the past two weeks I have maintained my weight under 250.  I know I have a long way to go to reach my next goal of getting down to 220 and it's going to actually take work on my part but it's going to be a fun ride if I can pull it off before the year is over.

2012 ended with some punishment at work, though the punishment doesn't officially start until 2013 of course.  In the two departments that I run I have a total of 5 employees currently (one is on a leave until March/April).  I have 3 in Electrical but one of those guys is going to Flooring within the next week or so.  In Plumbing I have 2 and one of those is going to Appliances.
This leaves me with 3 employees for 2 departments.
Inventory starts on the 22nd of January and I am on it of course.  One of my Electrical and one of my Plumbing guys is also on it.  This leaves nobody in Plumbing and only a part-time employee in Electrical for an entire week.  Quite an interesting dilemma considering it appears to take multiple weeks to actually get a replacement to fill the lost shoes.
However, this is the retail life.  There are always struggles.  You make the best of them and get through until things get easy.

I've nearly got my spreadsheet flushed out and I've plugged in most of my normal recurring expenses.  I am a creature of habit and routine and I know that once I get into the routine of saving my receipts and entering the info on the spreadsheet that I'll never be able to quit.

One of the last weeks of the year I installed a new dishwasher in the house.
The reason I bring this up is because I'm not the home improvement do it yourself type of guy.
However, this is something that I really want to try to change.  I'd like to be able to do a lot of the small simple things myself instead of paying someone else to do it, this would save a lot of money.
So, I got my new dishwasher and decided I was going to try to do it myself.

Overall it was fairly simple, though it took me longer because I am a novice.  The hardest part was actually getting the lines from the dishwasher cabinet to the sink cabinet.  The reason this was so difficult is because the two cabinets are interconnected on an angle which has at least a 6 inch dead space between then, and on top of that the sink cabinet sits about 2-3 inches higher than the dishwasher cabinet.  Good thing I had a spare wire coat-hanger to get me through my troubles.

After I had everything hooked up and in place it was a matter of running a test cycle and this is where problem number two occurred.
Upon reaching the draining portion of the cycle I found myself presented with a nice flood coming out of my Air Gap.
The line running from the Air Gap to my Disposer was completely clogged (not to mention the Air Gap was in horrible shape as well).  So, another run to the store for some replacement parts and after connecting them everything now works great.

From here it only gets harder.  I've got a lot of painting to do, I've also got a Patio Door to order and put in (though I am getting help with this) and I've got 5 ceiling fans to hang and I really hate hanging ceiling fans.

If my house is still standing at the end of the year it might be a miracle.

Welcome to 2013

Happy New year everyone.
I hope everyone has a much better year this year than last and I look forward to mine.