Some of you might remember an old blog I did this summer about Eric Wolf.
If not, I'm going to repeat the Reader's Digest version of that story because it still cracks me up.
Eric is an OU student who occasionally drops by Riverwind to donate from his tuition fund into Addison's tuition fund.
During the month of June, when I took the family to Vegas for the World Series of Poker, Eric was there the whole time so we hung out quite a bit.
Early on, Eric managed to acquire a "flag," which is a $5,000 chip. He also had two or three $1,000 chips. Instead of cashing these out, he carried them in his pocket the whole trip and took every opportunity to show them to me.
One day, Eric called me and sounded like he was about to throw up. "Dude, I lost two of the $1,000 chips. They fell out of my pocket in a cab."
Knowing Eric, I knew what he did next, so I said, "I assume you took the flag over to the blackjack table to try to win back the $2k. How did that go?"
He said, "Let's just say I don't have the flag anymore, either."
During the month I spent in Vegas, I had one or two $1,000 chips in front of me for about 30 minutes. I got so nervous about losing them or someone stealing them that I quickly cashed them out. I can't imagine how sick I would have been had I actually lost them.
This weekend, I went to Durant for the World Series of Poker circuit event at the Choctaw casino. Five of us went, and I was rooming with Eric.
We kind of have this big brother-little brother thing going, which basically means I make fun of him all the time and he fires back with whatever new jokes are going around the frat houses at OU these days. But of course if he ever needed anything I'd be the first to help him out.
This weekend, all Eric needed was a little reality check. He won $3000 the first night we were there and made sure everyone in the group heard about it 5 or 6 times. And to his everlasting delight, I lost a pretty penny on that first night.
After the second night of our trip, the five of us decided to play a double-elimination, heads-up tournament at our hotel, for $100 per person. Up against a roomful of professionals, Eric didn't stand a chance. He got last place, and I ended up winning the tournament.
Despite being up $3000 for the trip, Eric refused to surrender his $100 to me, probably because he knew I was going to have it framed and hung in my living room.
The other guys also like stirring Eric up, so they suggested we play a double-or-nothing match for the $100. He agreed, and five minutes later I had another $100. I didn't really want the stakes raised any higher than that, but I agreed to play Eric for another $100. He lasted a little longer at this one, probably nine minutes, before another decisive victory. Finally he had the good sense to wave the white flag and call it a night after four consecutive losses (two in the tournament, two afterward).
Since he was smart enough to quit, Eric still managed to show a nice profit for the weekend. And since Eric was smart enough to quit, I still finished the weekend in the red. But dominating a heads-up match against my "little brother" almost made it worth it.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
My Precious Daughter
I'm getting requests for more Addie stories in the blog, so here's a couple quickies.
She is just so stinkin cute!
Addison's vocabulary is rapidly expanding, but her pronunciation could use some work, and she doesn't always have the right context for the words she does know.
For example, she knows the word "sorry" (aka sowwy) and she says it to get out of timeout when she disobeys. But she also says it on your behalf. The other day I was taking her bib off and accidentally grabbed a chunk of her long hair when I was unsnapping the bib. She said, "Hurt. Sowwy."
She also says, "excuse me" when anyone burps.
Addie's getting a little mischievous when it comes to getting snacks she likes. Her favorite is the Welch's Fruit Snacks ("Froo snack"), but she also likes chips, crackers (which is what she calls the Goldfish) and cookies (Nilla Wafers). She likes to sneak into the kitchen and snag whatever is within arm's reach. Sometimes she can get into the pack of Nilla Wafers, but the other items she can't open. It isn't until after we catch her that she holds the small Welch's package up and says, "Froo snack. Peas." (Peas = Please).
She also likes to drink whatever mommy and daddy are drinking. The other day I got up from the couch for 5 seconds and came back to find Addie in my seat, tipping back a Monster energy drink. Fortunately there wasn't much left so she only got a sip.
Addie also loves answering the phone, and she's getting better at it. When the phone rings, she looks at me and her eyes get huge. She purses her lips and slightly opens her mouth, like she's catching Santa coming down the chimney. Then she picks up the phone and says, "Hello," and after a pause she just starts babbling away. Usually she's not making any sense, but recently when I call her she can sort of answer some questions. I'll ask her if she's been playing with Mommy and she'll say, "Play. Mommy."
We never really use our land line -- it's just part of the Cox bundle (what a bargain!!!). So it's basically Addie's phone. I call her on it when I'm at work, and Missy's parents call her on it.
The other day it rang and Addie was just chatting away on it. After about 2 minutes, I went over to listen in and some poor old lady was on the other end, actually trying to reach us. That was pretty funny, can't believe she was still on the line.
I love that girl, and I know a lot of you do too. Thanks so much to everyone who came to her birthday party on New Year's Day and to those who got her a present.
She is just so stinkin cute!
Addison's vocabulary is rapidly expanding, but her pronunciation could use some work, and she doesn't always have the right context for the words she does know.
For example, she knows the word "sorry" (aka sowwy) and she says it to get out of timeout when she disobeys. But she also says it on your behalf. The other day I was taking her bib off and accidentally grabbed a chunk of her long hair when I was unsnapping the bib. She said, "Hurt. Sowwy."
She also says, "excuse me" when anyone burps.
Addie's getting a little mischievous when it comes to getting snacks she likes. Her favorite is the Welch's Fruit Snacks ("Froo snack"), but she also likes chips, crackers (which is what she calls the Goldfish) and cookies (Nilla Wafers). She likes to sneak into the kitchen and snag whatever is within arm's reach. Sometimes she can get into the pack of Nilla Wafers, but the other items she can't open. It isn't until after we catch her that she holds the small Welch's package up and says, "Froo snack. Peas." (Peas = Please).
She also likes to drink whatever mommy and daddy are drinking. The other day I got up from the couch for 5 seconds and came back to find Addie in my seat, tipping back a Monster energy drink. Fortunately there wasn't much left so she only got a sip.
Addie also loves answering the phone, and she's getting better at it. When the phone rings, she looks at me and her eyes get huge. She purses her lips and slightly opens her mouth, like she's catching Santa coming down the chimney. Then she picks up the phone and says, "Hello," and after a pause she just starts babbling away. Usually she's not making any sense, but recently when I call her she can sort of answer some questions. I'll ask her if she's been playing with Mommy and she'll say, "Play. Mommy."
We never really use our land line -- it's just part of the Cox bundle (what a bargain!!!). So it's basically Addie's phone. I call her on it when I'm at work, and Missy's parents call her on it.
The other day it rang and Addie was just chatting away on it. After about 2 minutes, I went over to listen in and some poor old lady was on the other end, actually trying to reach us. That was pretty funny, can't believe she was still on the line.
I love that girl, and I know a lot of you do too. Thanks so much to everyone who came to her birthday party on New Year's Day and to those who got her a present.
Monday, January 10, 2011
No Bueno
So I'm at Riverwind and decide to take a dinner break.
My friend Brian and I went to the food court, where they have Panda Express, Burger King, Taco Bueno and Rick's Cafe.
There was nobody in line at any of the restaurants except Bueno, which is what I was wanting. There was a middle aged couple at the front of the line, and they were looking up at the menu and literally discussing every item. The guy kept pointing up there and saying, "Now, what's that one?" and the cashier would have to figure out which one he was talking about, then say, "It's a burrito" or whatever. This was going on for a good five minutes, by which time Brian has already ordered and received his Panda Express.
When this couple got to the second column on the menu and it was obvious that no order was forthcoming, I decided to intervene. Quite loudly I said, "THEY HAVE TACOS! ORDER ONE!"
The dude turned around, and I felt like a little bit of a jerk when I saw that he had a broken arm, though that really shouldn't affect his order time.
Brian heard me and came over. I'm telling him what's going on, but I'm still standing in exactly the same place, a normal arms-length distance behind the woman in front of me. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a little 5-foot, 95-pound middle aged hispanic dude casually walks right up and gets in front of me in line. I looked at him, looked back at Brian, and we both just started cracking up laughing. You couldn't have scripted that in a movie, this dude just waltzing in and standing 2 inches in front of me when I'm clearly in line.
At this time the first couple had somehow managed to complete an order, and when the next woman moved up I quickly moved back ahead of the cutter. He didn't say a word and shuffled back behind me.
Quick Addie story. On Sunday she was obsessed with my bag of Fritos. I let her have some, but she just kept wanting more. On a commercial break during the Eagles-Packers game, I got up to get a Coke, and I had taken no more than three steps when she scooted over on the couch, reached over to the table where the bag of Fritos were and grabbed them.
I had already cut her off, so I said, "Addie, put the chips down." Being in her terrible twos, she threw the bag on the floor, got off the couch, flopped herself onto the ground and started bawling.
We got that situation under control, but about an hour later Missy needed me to help her with something in the den. That took about five minutes, and when I returned to the living room I saw Addison sitting in my seat on the couch, just as upright as she could be. She had the bag of Fritos sitting in her lap and a handful in her mouth. She giggled like the happiest girl in the world when she saw me.
My friend Brian and I went to the food court, where they have Panda Express, Burger King, Taco Bueno and Rick's Cafe.
There was nobody in line at any of the restaurants except Bueno, which is what I was wanting. There was a middle aged couple at the front of the line, and they were looking up at the menu and literally discussing every item. The guy kept pointing up there and saying, "Now, what's that one?" and the cashier would have to figure out which one he was talking about, then say, "It's a burrito" or whatever. This was going on for a good five minutes, by which time Brian has already ordered and received his Panda Express.
When this couple got to the second column on the menu and it was obvious that no order was forthcoming, I decided to intervene. Quite loudly I said, "THEY HAVE TACOS! ORDER ONE!"
The dude turned around, and I felt like a little bit of a jerk when I saw that he had a broken arm, though that really shouldn't affect his order time.
Brian heard me and came over. I'm telling him what's going on, but I'm still standing in exactly the same place, a normal arms-length distance behind the woman in front of me. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a little 5-foot, 95-pound middle aged hispanic dude casually walks right up and gets in front of me in line. I looked at him, looked back at Brian, and we both just started cracking up laughing. You couldn't have scripted that in a movie, this dude just waltzing in and standing 2 inches in front of me when I'm clearly in line.
At this time the first couple had somehow managed to complete an order, and when the next woman moved up I quickly moved back ahead of the cutter. He didn't say a word and shuffled back behind me.
Quick Addie story. On Sunday she was obsessed with my bag of Fritos. I let her have some, but she just kept wanting more. On a commercial break during the Eagles-Packers game, I got up to get a Coke, and I had taken no more than three steps when she scooted over on the couch, reached over to the table where the bag of Fritos were and grabbed them.
I had already cut her off, so I said, "Addie, put the chips down." Being in her terrible twos, she threw the bag on the floor, got off the couch, flopped herself onto the ground and started bawling.
We got that situation under control, but about an hour later Missy needed me to help her with something in the den. That took about five minutes, and when I returned to the living room I saw Addison sitting in my seat on the couch, just as upright as she could be. She had the bag of Fritos sitting in her lap and a handful in her mouth. She giggled like the happiest girl in the world when she saw me.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
$22.47 and a bunch of pencils
There's probably a poll somewhere to prove it, but I'd be willing to bet that more people in America went to the gym on Monday than on any day in the history of our country.
We planned a family gym night, and I predicted to Missy that it would be totally packed. But I had no idea how packed it really would be.
The obvious factor is that Monday was the first day after New Year's weekend, and the number one New Year's resolution is to lose weight. That's all I was banking on.
We go to the Earlywine Park YMCA, and anyone who's familiar with that knows it's a big gym with a massive parking lot, because in addition to the gym there's an outdoor walking trail, tennis courts, a playground, a pool, and a couple of covered areas with picnic tables.
I decided we should wait until after dark to go so that there wouldn't be as many people on the walking trail, etc., but that wasn't enough of a precaution against this madness.
The parking lot, which is generally half full, was overfilled. Several cars were illegally parked, and several others were just sitting in the middle of an aisle waiting for someone to leave. Others were circling the lot like hawks, then swooping in as soon as someone started to back out.
We pulled up alongside the building where we could see into the gym, and the inside was just as crazy as the outside. Every machine we could see was in use. So we gave up and went to Golden Corral.
OK, we didn't go to Golden Corral, but we did decide to abandon the gym for a day and insead do a little project at the house. We cleaned out our closets.
Missy and I knew we had lots of old clothes that needed to be given away, so we went through those and filled four trash bags full of them. Most of mine I'd had since high school. We also filled a bag full of old shoes.
My closet also had several random items that I had thrown into a bag and into my closet when we moved from Lawton to Oklahoma City a year and a half ago. I had never gone through that bag -- until Monday night.
It's funny the kinds of things you find when you take up a project like this. Here's some of the highlights of my random bag.
* Two rolls of quarters (ten bucks each!) and some other loose change. Why did I have two rolls of quarters? I have no idea.
* About 8 double-A batteries, not in a package but just loosely laying all over the place.
* Five pairs of headphones. One was the really old kind, with the huge circular foam pieces. The other four were earbuds, a couple of generic brands and one that came with an old MP3 player I had. No idea why I would have so many headphones, and since they were all in one place I don't know why I kept buying them.
* A couple of necklaces like guys used to wear 10 or 15 years ago. Not the gold chains from 20 years ago but the ones that came after that, with little wooden beads that fit pretty tight on your neck. I got a chuckle out of remembering that I wore those for awhile.
* A couple of old cellphone chargers, for phones they haven't made in 7 years.
* A bottle of Motrin with an expiration date of July 2001.
* About 20 pencils, including several fancy mechanical pencils. Who even uses pencils anymore? Who ever used pencils? I'm not an architect. And I remember never having liked mechanical pencils. They break too easily and it's a pain to load them back up, kind of like a Pez dispenser.
The sad part about this project is that most of the clothes I threw out don't fit because I weigh 40 pounds more than I did when I got them. Which is why I need to go to the gym. Which must be what everyone else in Oklahoma City is thinking.
We planned a family gym night, and I predicted to Missy that it would be totally packed. But I had no idea how packed it really would be.
The obvious factor is that Monday was the first day after New Year's weekend, and the number one New Year's resolution is to lose weight. That's all I was banking on.
We go to the Earlywine Park YMCA, and anyone who's familiar with that knows it's a big gym with a massive parking lot, because in addition to the gym there's an outdoor walking trail, tennis courts, a playground, a pool, and a couple of covered areas with picnic tables.
I decided we should wait until after dark to go so that there wouldn't be as many people on the walking trail, etc., but that wasn't enough of a precaution against this madness.
The parking lot, which is generally half full, was overfilled. Several cars were illegally parked, and several others were just sitting in the middle of an aisle waiting for someone to leave. Others were circling the lot like hawks, then swooping in as soon as someone started to back out.
We pulled up alongside the building where we could see into the gym, and the inside was just as crazy as the outside. Every machine we could see was in use. So we gave up and went to Golden Corral.
OK, we didn't go to Golden Corral, but we did decide to abandon the gym for a day and insead do a little project at the house. We cleaned out our closets.
Missy and I knew we had lots of old clothes that needed to be given away, so we went through those and filled four trash bags full of them. Most of mine I'd had since high school. We also filled a bag full of old shoes.
My closet also had several random items that I had thrown into a bag and into my closet when we moved from Lawton to Oklahoma City a year and a half ago. I had never gone through that bag -- until Monday night.
It's funny the kinds of things you find when you take up a project like this. Here's some of the highlights of my random bag.
* Two rolls of quarters (ten bucks each!) and some other loose change. Why did I have two rolls of quarters? I have no idea.
* About 8 double-A batteries, not in a package but just loosely laying all over the place.
* Five pairs of headphones. One was the really old kind, with the huge circular foam pieces. The other four were earbuds, a couple of generic brands and one that came with an old MP3 player I had. No idea why I would have so many headphones, and since they were all in one place I don't know why I kept buying them.
* A couple of necklaces like guys used to wear 10 or 15 years ago. Not the gold chains from 20 years ago but the ones that came after that, with little wooden beads that fit pretty tight on your neck. I got a chuckle out of remembering that I wore those for awhile.
* A couple of old cellphone chargers, for phones they haven't made in 7 years.
* A bottle of Motrin with an expiration date of July 2001.
* About 20 pencils, including several fancy mechanical pencils. Who even uses pencils anymore? Who ever used pencils? I'm not an architect. And I remember never having liked mechanical pencils. They break too easily and it's a pain to load them back up, kind of like a Pez dispenser.
The sad part about this project is that most of the clothes I threw out don't fit because I weigh 40 pounds more than I did when I got them. Which is why I need to go to the gym. Which must be what everyone else in Oklahoma City is thinking.
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