Monday, April 28, 2008

A Pretty Good Friday... [Updated]

... For a Monday, that is.

Yep, even though I still have to go to work tonight, I'm having a pretty good day. I woke up a little earlier than I'd hoped, when Falcon Rob came stumbling in, home from his cross-country adventure. Since I was awake, I crawled out of bed a few minutes later, took a shower, cleaned the bathroom, put in a load of laundry, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and then wandered down to the office to get a new mailroom key and pick up the mail.

And I wanted to give a shout-out thank-you to a couple of loyal readers who were kind enough to send me birthday presents. Jazzguy sent me a copy of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and RudySwans sent me a big damn glass mug with a SPAM logo on the side of it. Of course, the instructions said not to use it for beer, but rum drinks instead. Hell, I think the first thing I'm gonna do is use it for coffee and Kahlua--it's the perfect size.

So thanks again, guys, it's much appreciated!

Also, I believe I'm having dinner with RudySwans out at Grimaldi's on Wednesday night, since we both share the same birthday. (Lars--you comin'?) I'm also planning on going out with the Future Mrs later that night, but she has to work until the wee hours, so I'm not sure if that's gonna happen or not. I'll find out for sure tonight, but like a googly-eyed teenager, I've got my fingers crossed.

But that's still a couple of days away. Today is a nice relaxing day where I'm getting a lot of little things done. And I checked the weather and tomorrow is going to be sunny and 90 degrees here in Vegas! Oh hell yeah--it'll be the first day off I've had since March Madness where it's not going to be windy, cloudy, and relatively cold. So after I hit the gym, I'm going to spend a couple of hours lounging by the pool, catching some rays, drinking a rum cocktail, and re-reading a few of my favorite passages from the scriptures.

Once the sun goes down, I'm gonna go find myself a cash game for a few hours, and if I'm feeling up to it, I'll go and take another run at the Silverton poker tournament. With whatever money is left over, I'll probably run a bit through the Megabucks machine and take a shot at removing myself from the working class once and for all. And when it hits, well, I guess I'll have to take up the Future Mrs on her offer of being my slave (her idea, not mine!). And that would pretty much take care of the rest of the week...

Anyhow, that's about all I've got, except that I want to address a few questions from the comment section:

Lurker: The cashews hold up just fine in the fridge. It's been two days now, and I just finished off another sandie. The cashews are still crunchy, the pineapples haven't gone mushy, and the chicken salad is still damn tasty.

Alleyoop: $1 chips have nothing at all to do with the lack of $5/10 Hold-em in Vegas. Having been going to poker dealing classes on and off for almost three years now, I can tell you that the very first thing they teach you once you learn how to take the rake accurately is how to unobtrusively get $10 worth of $1 chips into every pot. If, as a dealer, you're not getting dollar chips into the pot, you're not getting paid. And one of the most popular limit games in all of Vegas, $10/20 Hold-em, is exactly the same as 5/10, only with twice as much action--all red chips and it's the fastest game in town. And every dealer who deals it gets ten bucks worth of singles into every pot, minus the rake and the jackpot drop.

As far as players not knowing about the rake, you're way off on that, too. Poker players, especially the old rocks, are keenly aware of the rake and always correct the dealer if he over-rakes. I see it all. the. time. Only drunk tourists are unaware, but the sharks that feed on them are the ones tracking the pot and the rake amounts with every hand. As a semi-serious player, I *always* know exactly how much is in the pot and how much rake has been taken, because I'm always thinking about pot odds whenever I'm involved in a hand, too.

Drew: Give up rum and poker? NEVER! Those aren't bad things, anyways. But I'm surprised at your Puritan outlook!. Heh.

Tara: I would PM you, but I have no idea what your T2V screen name is. I'd like to get my hands on that Excel workbook--email me!

I think that just about covers it for today. Y'all have a good one!

Mikey

Update -- About a half-hour after I made this post, I got a call from my favorite lady. We are ON for Wednesday night.

Best. Birthday. Ever!

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