Notival

I have not played golf in months. I've wanted to, but haven't had a chance to get out to the course for whatever reason. Yesterday, I decided to at least go to the driving range. They finally opened one up on the course that it close to the house, so it takes about five minutes to get there.

$5 for a 'large' bucket of balls. That would be 60. I think it was $3 for 30 balls. I gave the guy five dollars and he gave me two tokens for the ball machine. Each token should be worth 30 balls. I walked to the range, put in my first token and it spit out some balls.

Then it spit out some more. And some more.
And some more.

It almost turned into a sit-com episode with me trying to keep a bucket under the ball spitter while gathering up all the ones that had overflowed onto the ground. When it was finally finished, and I had picked up all the loose balls, four of the large buckets had been filled. Doing the math, that comes to about 240 balls, with one token.

I knew I wouldnt be able to hit all of them since I havent played in so long, but I took two of the buckets down and hit all of them. My hands still hurt. I learned that I must get a new gloves before this weekend. Since Im planning to play on Sunday. But it was good to go whack the ball again, even if I couldn't hit with the Four iron.

4-iron = nothing but dirt.

So Im sure you are all just dying to know how the races went last night...
It was fine. Ninsi came up and joined me in time for the fifth race. And it is a lot better when you have company. She promptly proceeded to lose every race she bet on, but that's okay. If she had hit any of them, it would have been a good payout. Especailly the one that was about 50:1. Personally, I only cashed on one race. But it was about $10 more than I wagered on the evening, so all-in-all, after parking and entry, I think I netted about $4.

I call that a win!

There was one bet I wish I had made, though I had no reason to do so. One of the superfectas paid over 20k on a $2 bet. That would have been sweet. Usually they pay a couple thousand. Not in the tens of thousands. There was one other race that I might have cashed on, except that one of the two horses I picked suddenly pulled up lame coming down the stretch. Im not sure what happened, but it looked like he snapped his leg. He was out in front by a good margin. The horse I had picked to come in second actually won that race, and the one I had picked to come in second is the one that broke its leg. I feel bad for the horse. And for me, because that might have been a nice win.

Oh, there's a new synthetic turf some tracks are now using that will cut down on horse injuries. But of course, it will have a hard time getting wide acceptance. Old guard not wanting to adopt and all... Here's a Slate story about it - Polysoft.

They also gave me a few free passes to the races next Thursday. And I think I have a pass for free parking next Thursday as well. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pass that all up...

I have not been to Houston since I was Eighteen years old. I'll leave that math as an excercise to the reader. Tonight, after work, Ninsi and I are driving to Houston for a day and a half. We'll be heading back on Sunday. I think the plan is to get there tonight, check into a motel, and then spend tomorrow at the beach with her dad and aunt. There's a beach house or beach trailer or somesuch.

When I was in Houston before, I was far less than impressed. I did not exactly vow to never return, but I have made a point to not do anything that would bring me to near it. Hopefully they will have made some improvements since I was last there.

That pretty much takes care of our weekend. We'll come back and should make it to Zero's on Sunday for a cookout. My blood should be significantly thinner now, but I wont know til Wednesday. And I've decided Im annoyed by the lack of physical symmetry in the veins in my arms.

New phones are in, may change my number.

Weekend was good. Got wet.

Doc only took one vial of blood today.

Muddy track does not make for easy betting.

Lawn is getting out of hand.

An ameteur scientist has caught the Loch Ness Monster on video. I watched a clip from a Scottish news program that showed a snippet of the tape. There's not much to see. It's something moving in the water pretty far out. It'll take some detailed analysis for them to figure out if it is anything or not. But, in the meantime, it's fresh publicity for the Loch.

ESPN is covering the National Spelling Bee this year. They have a sideline reporter, and commentary by Mike&Mike. And they talk about it on all the sports shows. It's pretty funny. They aren't taking is seriously, but the fact that they are covering it, and the occassional 'drama', such as the early exit of one of the favorites and his subsequent appeal (which was denied) is entertaining. It is a really slow time for sports right now. The current playoffs completely suck. And well, there's nothing engrossing in baseball for a couple more months. So if you are a network that relays on competition, you take what you can get. And right now, that would be the Spelling Bee.

Was in the office last night until just after 10 pm. Had to stay the extra five hours to implement some changes. They didnt all work. It was pretty much as expected. I also had a morning training class. Which wasn't completely worthless. It was just an overall very long day.

When I told the nurse yesterday about my plan to not come in and get blood drawn, she wasn't real receptive to the idea. I basically told her that the hours they kept did not work very well for me. Not opening until half an hour after I get to work, closing half an hour before I leave work, and then closing for the hour that Im at lunch. But she did find another place that I could go which was much closer to work, and open all day. So that is where I went for lunch. It was much easier. No muss, no fuss, no wait. I'll get the INR results tomorrow.

Probably go to the gym tonight. Time to get back into that rhythm.

She planned it, in secret, for two months. My friends kept it a secret for nearly as long. And Saturday, I was thrown a secret Un-birthday party. When I walked into Reptile's house, and everyone shouted, I was mostly confused. They were shouting, and blowing things and all wearing funny hats. And Ninsi had put a funny hat on my head.

When I get confused, my reaction is to keep doing exactly what I was doing when the confusion started so as to give myself time to figure it out. In this case, I was walking, so I kept walking, into the kitchen to put my stuff down. That gave me enough time to realize what was going on. It probably also had the unintended effect of making me seem not surprised, because I didnt stop and say "Wha?"

It was very cleverly planned, and really, the biggest surprise is that no one let it slip for the two months they've all known. There were a couple close calls. With the biggest near miss being someone in email saying "Dont you have a birthday coming up?" There were other clues, but none significant enough in itself. Looking back, I can remember half a dozen things that I noticed as being a little off, but I never put it all together. I had no reason to suspect anything. I also have a penchant for not asking questions, which made it a lot easier for Ninsi.

But it was a good time. Which a very well done cake. Pity no one brought a camera. Thanks go out to all my friends that were able to make it happen. :)

Spent the weekend with the Squid in OK. Except for Blockbuster pissing me off, we had a good time. Also saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, since it was the only thing we could almost agree on. Neither of us was really excited about seeing it. It wasn't great. I suppose it was alright for the $5.50 each it cost me, but it wouldn't be worth the $8.50 it would cost here in Dallas. I also almost got really annoyed with the theater when I learned they did not take debit cards. Fortunately, I had enough cash.

Headed back to Dallas on Sunday, and stopped off in Durant for about 2.5 hours to play some poker. I won a little more than I lost so that wasn't bad. After leaving the poker game, I was driving and talking to Reptile, and passed a Mustang. I looked over as I passed and then had to look back again because the girl driving it was surprisingly hot. I didnt even notice that there was another girl in the car until they passed me a little later. I forgot what I was talking about to Reptile and had to concentrate back on the road. The girl was just that hot.

Almost as hot as Ninsi...

Some of you know my friend Mo. She works here. This morning, when she came in, she saw this in her cube - Bo knows. I found it inordinately funny. Bo is pretty buff there. It is pretty old school to make the 'Bo Knows' reference. The real kicker is, she doesn't know who did it, but I do...

Went to the gym last night and ran a 5k in 26.5 minutes. I didnt mean to run at 7 mph the entire time, but I did. The last half mile almost put me down. I think I should start swimming some. Work new muscles.

A do nothing weekend. They are rare, but they do happen. This was one such. Ninsi and I had nothing pressing to do. Maybe some laundry, but nothing that was really going to take up much of our time.

She spent most of her time reading. Friday we went out to dinner since we really hadn't in a while. Saturday, she read, while I went over and engaged Reptile in a game of Warhammer 40k. I beat him soundly by the end of the second round. We were drinking while we played, and kept that up after the match. Eventually Ninsi came to get us we went with Dre to see Daywatch. Part two of a Russian movie trilogy. It is a little more comprehensible that the first, though not as much action. I liked it well enough.

Sunday, Ninsi and I went to Zero's house to swim for a while and just sat around by the poolside. It was nice.

I've been lax. I know. But I've also been busy.

A mere four days until we jet off to Seattle to embark on our Alaskan cruise. Nothing left to do but pack. And that may be quite the ordeal in itself. Im not going to worry too much about that though, I figure Ninsi will worry enough for both of us.

Painted the Squid's room over the weekend. A mighty pink! It's bright. It looks good. We still have to do the doors though. They will be a nice lime green when we are done. And probably the baseboards as well. Depends on if Im feeling my oats or not when we get started.

Finished Harry Potter 7. Havent got much to say on that order.
Saw The Simpons movie. It's well worth watching.

One more day.

Nothing left to do but finish the packing. That will all be taken care of tonight. Ninsi had to drive up to OK for the day, but she will return this evening and do most of her packing. If I haven't managed to get it all done before then.

We will be largely incommunicado for the next 10-12 days. I do not know if our phones will work or not. I suspect they will not.

No blog updates for a while. Relish the silence.

So a friend of mine supplied me with tickets to the Dallas Stars hockey game last night. She left four tickets for me at the the arena. So Ninsi, Reptile, and I went to the game last night. The fourth ticket was left unused. They were very nice seats. I had never been to a hockey game before, but it was a good time. I probably would enjoy it a lot more if I understood the rules. I may have to work on that if I plan to go again.

The only downside to the whole thing was one of the girls that sat in front of us. She was cute, but spent the entire match talking to her friend. Constantly. Non-stop. She had one of the guys with them fetch her a pizza at some point, and I thought that she might stop talking long enough to eat that. But no, she just talked right through the eating. She did not really detract from the game, but she was seriously annoying at times.

Ninsi and I head back to the gym tonight after taking a month off for the holidays. I lost over ten pounds last calendar year. Im pretty much at a good weight now. Just maintenance from here on out.

Stupid five day work weeks. Give me four 10-hour days. Please.

Ninsi and I are going to House of Blues tonight for the Flogging Molly concert. Irish Punk band, for those unaware. It should be a good time. Im too old to mosh, so I'll stay out of the pit. We'll probably eat dinner there too. She's already decided to just have a dessert for dinner. Chocolate is gud that way.

I'll update on it tomorrow if I think about it. And if there is anything of note to mention.

This was part of an email I got from Ninsi before we went to the concert last night:
"I’m totally getting drunk and crowd surfing tonight. Def wearing combat boots…."

I think the first part was accomplished. But she wore a skirt instead of jeans and didn't want to be an exposed surfer. Flogging Molly is a fun act to go see. A couple steel guitars, one acoustic guitar, accordion, tin whistle, fiddle, banjo, drums.

We had access through the Foundation Room which was really nice. And we went ahead and ate dinner in there. It was pricey, but Ninsi's filet mignon and my rib eye were really, really, excellent. Ninsi said it may have been the best filet she's ever had.

I think there was more moshing in the prior act, The Loved Ones. But there was a lot of crowd surfing during Flogging Molly. As the surfers got to the front, the big guys picked them up and put them on the ground and they ran back around. Only saw one guy get thrown out, probably for being too drunk. There was a lot of beer flying around. (and hats and random clothes/shirts). People were throwing whole cups of beer in the air, and others were shaking their cans of beer, spraying everyone around - then throwing the empty can.

Most of the people surfing were girls, and skinny guys. I saw a couple that might have been my size do it too. I also watched a couple my size go down hard because they were a little too big. Usually headfirst.

Good times all around. We'll probably go again if they come back through.

It has been over a week, I think, since last I wrote. I've been meaning to. I always mean to. I just often do not do it. As with many things, I tend to think about doing it when I am driving, or otherwise unable to actually do it right then.

Since the last time? Halloween happened. I had a four day weekend for that, and it was very good. Not having to worry about work for a couple extra days really felt nice. It has caused me to already start looking forward to my Christmas vacation which will be for almost a two full weeks. I'll be taking a couple days at Thanksgiving, of course, but not too many.

Tuesday night, Ninsi and I went up to the hospital to visit our friend, Khuul. He has been battling cancer since last October. It is starting to look like he may lose that fight. It is tragic, it is terrible. It is a great many things, and it pisses me off mightily that there is not a god damned thing any of us can do about it. Miracles have happened before, be they of science or nature, and that is what Khuul now needs.

I really do not like thinking about it, but it is impossible not to. Segues are forced, but necessary. So, Ninsi and I are going to see the King Tut exhibit tomorrow night. We bought our tickets many moons ago. And at least twice, we have forgotten when we were supposed to go. I'm still not sure of the actual time, but I think we're going to go around 8 pm. Mummies, gold artifacts, and a cash bar. Nothing bad can come of that...

Ninsi's birthday was last week. But, as we were both feeling mostly under the weather, we did not get out to find her a birthday present. I had promised to take her shopping and get whatever she wanted. We thought to give it another go yesterday while we had some time, and were near enough to the mall anyway.

We had barely made it into the mall when Ninsi decided that she didn't really want new clothes, but would be happy with a Wii. All the cool kids seem to have one, and Ninsi likes being one of the cool kids... I think she just wasn't in a mood to shop, and kinda wanted a Wii anyway.

We left the mall and drove across the street to Best Buy. They were sold out. I was not expecting that. I know that the Wii is generally in short supply, but I figured that over two weeks after Christmas, there would not be any real issues getting one. So that Best Buy was sold out. We called another Best Buy. And Wal-Mart. And Target. And Sam's. And GameStop. It seems everyone in Dallas was sold out, and most of them did not know when they would be getting more in. "If it's on the truck, we'll have more," was pretty much the answer we got when we asked.

One Target did say they would be getting more in today. And since it is the one closest to my work, I figured Id go by at lunch and check. Expecting them to either have not received any, or already be sold out. When I asked though, the guy said they still had 16 in stock. He pulled one of out the case as a woman walked up and she was afraid it was the last one. They had already sold 3-4 today, and probably will be completely sold out by this evening.

But, I got one, regular price. It's in the boot of the car, and I'll hook it up tonight. Probably go buy an extra set of controllers later this week.

Happy Birthday, Ninsi. :)

I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I bought the wife a Wii for her birthday. We have been playing with it most evenings. Borrowed a game from Zero that, like most Wii games, is simple and fun. Ninsi has been wanting to get the Wii Fit game though, but wasn't able to find it anywhere nearby. The places that had it were selling it as a bundle with crap that she neither needed nor wanted. She had therefore, resigned to waiting a couple months to get it.

Today, at lunch, I went to the same Target where I initially bought the Wii. They had three Wii for sale, and a pair of Wii Fits. So I bought one. I dont know what it is, but that Target at least seems to always have the Wii thing that I am looking for. They are 2 for 2, and that's a pretty damn good record.

The moral:
Want Wii? Go to Target.

Valentine's Day has come and gone. It was largely uneventful for us. Neither myself nor Ninsi felt it necessary to really try to fight the crowds implicit in a weekend Valentine Day thing. Friday night we were at the Lollie Bombs show with Reptile, Zero, and Ehlana. Saturday was mostly piddlin' around and then we went back out for the show again. Only this time we were joined by a friend from high school. Someone I've not seen in probably 18 years or so.

I have reconnected with more than a few people from HS via Facebook in the past few months. A good many of them, I don't think I have enough in common with to maintain a connection real well. But it has been good to get back in touch with a few of the others. Of course, there are also people that you don't really want to talk to on there as well.

I've had a FB account since it was opened up to the general public and not just schools. Few people I knew were on it then. Now, especially in the past 6 months, it seems like half the people I've ever met are now on it.
My MySpace account is mostly neglected these days. I've had that account since shortly after MySpace was created. But it seems more geared to teenagers than adults.
There's also Hi5. It isn't big in the US, but has a large Asian following and is growing. I've had an account there for a couple years, so I'm set should it become the next big thing.

Heading to OK this weekend to spend some time with the Squid. Ninsi will be flying up to visit with her fam in Tulsa. It'll be our first weekend out of town this year. And probably the last until late April.

Not much to say today. It's a really effing nice day outside, and I'd rather be not inside working.

As most people know by now, Grand Prairie has a professional baseball team. It's not a farm team, but part of an independent minor league. The great thing about minor league teams is that they try very hard to entertain the fans. Regardless of the product they put on the field, fans are expected to have fun. (Grand Prairie actually won the Southern division last year in their inaugural year).

What makes it fun? Well, it is pretty cheap and easy to go and is a pleasant way to spend an evening. And they do a lot of promotions to get people into seats. I was just looking through the schedule for the Summer, and was struck by this promotion, which typifies everything that makes minor league great...

Saturday, June 13 - Fireworks/Octomom night

That's just fantastic. I dont even know what it means, but it's funny.
Also, at the end of the season, apparently the Dallas Desire will be playing at the stadium. What is the Dallas Desire?

That would be the women of the Lingerie Football League.

Tomorrow, we're off to the con for a weekend of fun and frivolity.
And that's all I have to say til we get back.