We are now at the 750 mark before Las Vegas 2013, the 10th anniversary of our wedding/marriage/whatever!
You better be marking your calendars and planning to join us. I promise it will be a good time. Hell, it’s Las Vegas! The R-rated Disneyland. How could I fail on delivering?
When I first saw this movie as a tweener, I was surprised by how much it kept me in suspense and scared because I had attained that age of when you know the flick will pan out well for the good guys. Then again, Andromeda was made in the Seventies, the last decade with any kind of “unhappy” ending: the heroes die (The Parallax View, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Network, Silent Running, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) or off they go toward an uncertain future (I can only come up with American Graffiti and Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
Now it sadly made me chuckle since we’ve made greater strides in microbiology, pathology and (the big one) computers. I wish our wisdom kept pace. I could see a pandemic like this actually happening yet we’d fail to contain it, especially with the recent wave of ignorance sweeping America over the last 30 years.
For those who haven’t seen it, watch this version, don’t waste your time with the remake my friend Lester ripped on. What’s it about? A satellite crashes near a small New Mexico town. The Air Force heads in to retrieve it but the crewmen die horribly and quickly. Fearing the satellite has brought back an extraterrestrial plague a thousand times worse than the Black Death, the government enacts Project Wildfire to contain the outbreak and maybe find a solution (cure, vaccination, etc.). From there Andromeda gets rather technical on how micro-organisms work, decontamination techniques, why someone drinks sterno (“squeeze”), so on. Today’s audiences would walk out in 20 minutes unless there were a car chase or explosion to keep the plot advancing.
It certainly demonstrated novelist Michael Crichton’s medical school training, namely in the pathological matters. The guy who saves the day being a doctor, not one of those fancy-schmancy scientists, comes as no shock too. He should’ve stuck with medical thrillers as this proved. Crichton didn’t know crap when it came to climate change, computers, robots, dinosaurs and genetics.
Back to my point. Give The Andromeda Strain a try. Not just for the nostalgia factor. See if it can still surprise and/or scare a rather blasé populace.
A quick post after finally getting Enterprise to run on Netflix streaming, leave it to canceling a show to make it 100 times better (I was watching the three-parter involving Captain Archer toppling Vulcan society). Plus I tried making the upgrade to WordPress 3.2…I don’t recommend it right now, it totally hosed my plug-ins and if anyone bothered checking between 9-11 PM CDT, it took my site out.
So to the heart of this post.
The AHL Board of Governors decided to re-align the 30 AHL teams into a similar arrangement as the NHL: six divisions divided between two conferences. Thus, every divisional winner gets the top three seeds and the remaining five go to the remaining teams with the most points. Never mind that the NHL may possibly ditch this next year because Winnipeg will push either Detroit, Columbus or Nashville into the Eastern Conference. My Stars are moved to the slimmer West with OKC, Houston, SA and for some reason, Abbotsford. Our former common opponents get their own division called (logically) the Midwest (almost all Illinois): Chicago, Milwaukee, Peoria, Rockford and new ‘neighbor’ Charlotte. The North Carolinan hellhole has as much in common with the Midwest as Nancy Grace has with civil discourse. Somebody had to move, looks like the Checkers drew the short straw. The North’s core is intact: Grand Rapids, Rochester, Toronto, Hamilton and Lake Erie. Maybe this time we’ll finally get to see the Rochester Americans over the Syracuse Crunch.
It’s going to be interesting. By January or later, we’re going to discover which division in the AHL is the NHL’s equivalent of the Southleast (I’m betting it will either be my West due to all the changes in the three Texas teams or the North since they were weak in 2010-11) and the Northwest; fellow hockey fans all remember when the Pacific used to in this ugly spot about 10 years ago.
Amendment/Correction, Jul 7, 2011: My friend Jeremy pointed out that six divisions might be better than four. Case in point, the result of last season’s North Division. Three teams were awarded playoff spots when only one really had enough points to be a contender, especially if the West was used as a comparison. So the divisional winner can have the pity spot and stronger teams from other regions will have the points to continue on.
This movie was probably written specifically for John Cleese who would’ve been an English headmaster (or American principal) if he weren’t such a great comic actor. He just has that rigidity in his DNA although it’s probably an act, especially when people interview him.
The story revolves around Brian Stimpson, a headmaster obsessed with punctuality and today is the day he becomes chairman of a prestigious organization. It’s a huge deal because he’s the first chairman ever from a public school (or the British equivalent), a position previously held by all the posh institutions (where the rich kids go). Once Brian concludes the morning announcements and daily detentions, he is off to the conference. Unfortunately, due to Brian’s habit of frequently saying “right” when he speaks, he misses the train, thus the comedy ensues as the journey, deadline and speech unravel at every adjustment.
Clockwise is somewhat dated as you will see in the Eighties hairstyles and it’s a movie that couldn’t happen thanks to the ubiquitous of cell phones. Also, if you’re expecting Monty Python outrageousness, it won’t happen. This movie centers around a more subtle Cleese performance so I would put it on par with Fawlty Towers if Basil took anxiety medication or A Fish Called Wanda.
The movie is currently available through Netflix streaming. Catch it while you can. Cleese fans will enjoy it. I managed to catch it in theaters the first time at Milwaukee’s legendary Oriental Theater 25 years ago. Unlike some other gems in my memory, this one held up.
A rough weekend for us Austin Stars fans. Despite keeping our Cap’n Brad Lukowich with a chance for him to get a roster spot in Dallas, we’ve lost two pieces of our offensive punch. Last season’s leading scorer Greg Rallo received a deal with the Panthers so we will likely be seeing him in a Rampage jersey. I hope those fans who shot their mouths off at Matt Climie, Garrett Stafford and Matthieu Beaudoin will be more respectful. The other painful piece of news was Aaron Gagnon going to the Jets. Aaron was so close to playing for the Dallas Stars, I’m confident he has a great shot at making the Jets’ final roster in the upcoming NHL season.
This leaves the Austin Stars a big mystery. We need a new head coach along with an assistant. The goalie situation hasn’t been discussed and I think Dallas should ditch Raycroft, take Bachmann as back-up. The blueliners seem fine, we have a glut of them. It’s the offensive power I’m curious about. Rallo and Gagnon were two major goal-makers. This would leave Morin, Wathier and Sceviour.
What can I say? We got our expectations raised for two seasons. I would hate to see my Stars turn into the San Antonio Rampage for its third. Winning isn’t everything but it’s certainly more enjoyable to head to the parking lot listening to Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” than chanting the Chicago Cubs’ litany of “we’ll do better next year.”
Over in the NHL, Philly ‘won’ the Jagr Derby. Ugh! Did Nedved retire? Who in their right mind would sign a 39-year old forward with very little left in the tank? My initially answer is Bobby Clarke or Glen Sather but it’s Paul Holmgren. I’m also surprised to see that Dany Heatley would be the player the Sharks dumped to change things up. He does tend to choke at playoff time and with the Wild’s absence in April, I won’t be a problem anymore.
Apologies in advance now that I’m finally wrapping it all up for Las Vegas 2011. Other cool stories happened to us and I’ve been losing my ongoing war with insomnia (since at least 2008, maybe earlier) recently. Trust me, it’s no fun waking up around 3 AM, unable to sleep and the clock is staring you in the face, reminding you about how the whole ‘getting ready for work’ process will beginning in a couple hours. At least when I was on vacation, I didn’t need to sweat it and the Pacific zone put this problem around 1 AM; let’s hear a round of cheers for Tahiti Village’s hot tub being open 24 hours!
Alas, our last fun-filled day was upon us but we really made the most of it. I squeezed in my daily two-mile run, a follow-up at the jacuzzi (fancy word for hot tub) to iron out the kinks and off we went to New York New York to pick up the winnings, thank you Dallas Mavericks! Here’s a little trivia or what if. Last vacation, I placed my traditional futures bet on the Flyers to win the Cup. The MGM sports books printed the odds for both the NHL and NBA on the same sheet then. I held on to it mainly to see how accurately the casinos can be, especially in light of their 300-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes for 2005-06. Seems the Mavs were an unlikely yet not impossible candidate. Had you bet on them to go all the way, it would’ve paid 23-to-1. Pretty good when you see the Heat’s 9-2 which is almost as weak as 4-1 or 3-1.
Flush and giddy over 20 smackers (10 for me, 10 for Jose), we set out for Orleans. Actually, Somara wanted to stay put since NYNY had video poker machines with Jacks or better (a dying breed we’ve noticed). She didn’t assert herself enough for me to notice. Hence there’s was a brief, uncomfortable spat in the car. Not to worry, there’s a happy ending coming.
Orleans proved to be a total bust. You’d think the pit boss would open a second craps table with how busy it was. I decided to pitch a Station casino. We had a good experience with Boulder up north, there must be a branch near the Strip. With Somara’s navigation skills via an iPhone, we quickly found Palace Station. In many ways I think the Station casinos have a core template to follow when they’re constructed.
Either way, Palace Station proved to be a good joint decision. There were video poker games Somara liked and I found a hot craps table. It’s always awesome to wrap up with a big fat win, the shooter nailed point with a hard eight. I gave him five bucks as a thank you for hitting it plus he made me additional dough through a couple sixes. Thanks to those lessons from the day before, I felt more confident when I was communicating to the dealers…during the moments I got a word in. Chips were flying everywhere so I prefer to wait my turn, I don’t want to confuse the staff. Once the money is on the table, there’s an understood contract. Here, Palace proved why I am looking forward to returning. I forgot my money on six, a new shooter hit it, the dealer gave me the seven for it and the original wager afterwards. I was impressed. I always thought it was caveat emptor if you don’t pay attention or the chips remained ‘in action’ until the round was over. The dealer’s name was noted in my iPhone, I included him along with several others when I wrote Station Casinos a laudatory e-mail. Oh, below is how well I did.
We took a quick lunch break. Had a conversation with a nice gentleman from Dallas who was headed home that evening. We kept the meal pretty light because our dinner plans were going to involve the new (2009) buffet at M.
While Somara returned to scratch her video poker itch, I investigated the Louie Anderson Theater. Seems he has a semi-permanent gig which I think is the genius of Las Vegas: have the fans come to you intentionally (Prince, Elvis, Penn & Teller) or stumble upon you (quite a list). Louie isn’t quite the famous celebrity he was in the Eighties but I usually enjoyed his stand-up routine, the cartoon he had on Fox in the Nineties was clever and hosting a game-show (Family Feud) may draw snickers yet it pays the bills. Nothing wrong with earning a base income so you can tour or do cameos during the off weeks; game shows usually tape two-weeks’ worth of shows in two days, look carefully at the returning contestants’ wardrobes. What blew my mind was that he had a short-lived sitcom on CBS around 1995-6. Many comedians do unless they play the whacky neighbor (David Leisure, Michael Richards) or co-worker (Ellen DeGeneres, Andy Kaufman). Louie’s has the great distinction of having Paul Feig (created Freaks & Geeks, directs stuff for Judd Apatow and was Mr. Poole in Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Laura Innes (ER, numerous dramas) and Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad ). I am seriously considering tickets the next time we come out, maybe I can meet Louie. Like me, he has a slideshow gallery showing all the cool people he’s met in his career. I would love to add him to my collection.
The marquee to Louie's theater. I peeked inside, it's nice about the size of Austin's own Cap City Comedy Club.
The doors to his theater and his trademarked smile. Nice to see another great Minnesotan continuing to make people laugh and not in Branson.
Elated by the overall experience, we predictably recuperated at the timeshare until it was time to drive have dinner at M. This relatively new casino is so far south on Las Vegas Boulevard, it’s practically in Henderson. We decided to scope it out for the buffet due to the scuttlebutt saying it was on par with Bellagio. Overall the place resembled Planet Hollywood in its decor (colors, lack of tacky theme). As for the food, I rather enjoyed it, especially when I saw how the alcohol (wine, beer) was included. Somara is more particular which meant Bellagio remains the winner and we will be returning there next year. Somara did try out her new-found craps skills after I saw Boston win game six. How did she do? I think she ended in the red. I broke even which was fine, there wasn’t much happening with the table (four players, us included). We both agreed to return, our list is growing larger and larger, we’re never going to get to squeeze Fremont in.
All gambling concluded that evening with our traditional roulette bet on 27…lost which means pretty little. I usually joke with Somara on how it’s just an omen about how easily we’ll come into money for the next year. Historically it’s never been true but I would love to win back the near-equivalent of a plane ticket.
This pretty concludes our latest journey to Lost Wages. Day Eight always entails checking out by 10 AM, saying goodbye to the staff, telling them we hope to see them next year and sitting around the airport for several hours. Vegas knows how to get people through the TSA bullshit quickly, the wait for security was easily 10 minutes. Leaving blows. Not only is the vacation pretty over, the takeoff is rough; the plane shakes throughout the process of attaining 10,000 feet.
We did make it back to Austin in one piece, three cheers for Southwest. Our cats were overjoyed while guarded in their reactions. By bedtime, they were sure it was us.
Are we ‘cured’ for a while? I think so. I tallied up the expenses since it was the first vacation we’ve had to put on the credit card in a few years (the vacation slush fund got depleted by a Stars’ season ticket emergency) but I’m not worried, my forecasts have it paid off by my birthday. The more exciting part is how we can definitely return every year courtesy of our new deed.
Remember the date in 2013! Somara and I will be returning come hell or highwater to have a renewal on our 10th anniversary. Checking ahead in the calendar, July 27 will be a Saturday, a great day for a wedding!
Gambling Report (Finale):
With Jose’s announcement last Friday morning about being unable to make it down to Austin, hence the countdown’s shift, I am now open to new suggestions. Giving back the two days off I scored from the schedule isn’t an option. I really am looking forward to the four-day weekend to celebrate rejoining the prime number club.
There’s much to see and do around Austin yet I’m debating about a quick trip somewhere else. I hate flying which is why I usually prefer to have a week to recuperate; Southwest does have a reasonable flight to Chicago and back. Maybe I can get a super-cheap rental car so Somara’s work schedule won’t be disrupted. I joked about the Lego Store with Helen but I would have to say it’s a kid’s birthday instead, don’t want to give the impression I’m a sicko.
Well, fire away some suggestions. I may actually bug my brother to see if he’s busy that weekend.
With the transition of MobileME into iCloud, the one big thing I will miss is the iDisk. It was pretty sweet to have 20 GB of storage handy that was shared between a couple systems, as long as they had Internet connectivity. The primary function I had for mine was keeping KMAG’s contents consistent between my two QTSS servers (home and work). Not the music, it was for the playlists and spreadsheets I used to analyze (patterns, what was next, so on). I also stored some D&D jazz there: plots, character sheets, proposals, etc.
When Apple flips the switch next Summer to turn it off, iCloud will have something similar except it will be application specific. I’m sure the heavy hitters are going to be present: MS Office, Adobe’s stuff. Yet it’s nice to have access via the Finder to make sure what you’re looking for is present. I cleared it out today to get into the habit of no longer depending upon it.
Dropbox will get me through the interim and the iDisk’s larger features (Web publishing namely) ending never bothered me. As you can see, I have site place to cover all the other stuff it did.
For those who don’t live nearby nor keep up with me on a regular basis (anymore), the Maggi Republic is a pet name or inside joke with Somara regarding our finances. I call it the third as a nod to France being on its fifth and some historians argue that the United States is on its third, maybe fourth unofficially, due to the seismic political shifts through certain presidents.
What were the first and second? I would consider the first my time as a single person after I finally got out on my own and/or graduated from college. The ‘rents couldn’t claim me as a dependent anymore so the ‘colonial’ period ended. As for the second, it began while the ink dried on our marriage paperwork. However, Somara and I continued to have separate finances. Some thought we were crazy. I strongly disagreed for two reasons: our ages (we were in our mid-thirties which would make us two independent households unlike those 10-plus years younger) and it worked adequately with my maternal grandparents, who married even later in their lives. Having witnessed the money fights between other couples, including my parents, it seemed the wiser route. Thus, the second republic resembled a less brutal Austro-Hungarian empire or maybe what Quebec wants. As long as Somara could pay her share of the bills, it didn’t matter.
Sadly, this ‘grown-up’ arrangement unraveled due to Somara attending culinary school (over 51 percent paid off now), the internship in Phoenix’s costs (this one was my fault) and a lack of transparency on each others’ debts. Somara blamed it on her lower income at HEB; she made more before earning her degree. I felt it was caused by a culmination of numerous things coming to a head. Jose’s recent near-miss with a woman named Natalie only exacerbated my growing concerns over the letters Sallie Mae was sending and Somara’s grumpiness whenever I asked to see the Vacation Fund’s balance.
In short, we had several arguments over that Spring and a very uncomfortable Fourth of July weekend of not talking to each other. I don’t recommend the latter. Divorce wasn’t an option since it wouldn’t solve the larger money issue; it’s also a major cause with couples. Besides, I enjoyed (still do) Somara’s company too much to abandon her without pitching several possible remedies. There was a problem though. I remained rather pissed at Somara regarding the dishonesty I perceived with her student loans and wanted more time to calculate solutions/rebuttals in case she balked or countered. Initially I asked Somara to pack up some things and go live with her parents for a couple days so I could mull over the situation. She got pretty upset (obviously), offered to just move out permanently. Now I had to propose Plan A as is.
Contrary to Grandpa’s advice (and his general mistrust of women he shared the night I graduated from Marquette), I gave Somara all my numbers: the mortgage and two credit cards was all I had. She had a rough idea on how much I made at Apple and Kenny’s. In exchange I needed to see everything, especially the terms and conditions with Sallie Mae which just about gave me a stroke. Plan A went up in smoke along with my hopes of getting a new car before the year ended.
Now I had to roll the dice to get acceptance on Plan B which wasn’t too different on A, it mainly involved refinancing. Somara resisted somewhat because she was always able to pay her own way until then. I understood but explained the new rules on all the money becoming ours, not his and hers; the same went for debts. If I was willing to take on co-ownership of her enormous student loans (I felt I already did due to marriage), I needed to see all transactions going through her accounts so I could allocate everything accordingly. This entailed a trip to her credit union to transform the accounts to joint ones. It would’ve been uneventful if it weren’t for a psycho threatening to get his gun over UFCU putting a lien on his truck.
Next came a series of calls to Sallie Mae to add me officially and renegotiate. One great lesson I learned from all those “Sloan Sessions” on Marketplace is to never hide or avoid your creditors. Call them, see if you can make new arrangements. Most are willing to get something versus nothing and as I told Somara, they’re not interested in your failure. Well, it used to be true more often until the GOP and DINOs found a way to turn the screws for their corporate masters. Sallie Mae was cool, as I anticipated. They agreed to lower the rate dramatically by refinancing the biggest loan over 20 years instead of 10. I only wish they would’ve warned me about having to deal with their shittycrappynogood call center in Bangalore, e-mail was a continuous bust. My cats understood how to allocate the extra money better than these people and without a lecture.
All debts were now organized and prioritized: smallest to largest, all energy goes toward the smallest, then to the next smallest, creating a snowball effect. Many give the credit to Dave Ramsay for this strategy but they’re full of crap, my parents pitched it to me when I was younger. Killing off my smallest credit card first received a surprising affirmative vote from Somara. I figured she would disagree and press with her smallest student loan to demonstrate I was serious about this endeavor becoming a team effort. I would be skeptical too. Meanwhile, I had Somara added to my Chase-MGM credit card as an act of faith and when the opportunity presented itself, the house was refinanced to have her on the mortgage. Another thing I proved after several months was that her HEB income was enough to pay her share of household bills without fudging. I continued to split things 60/40 for at least another year though to give her more maneuvering room.
The initial Plan B was proving itself effectively enough to allow us to take a Vegas trip around Thanksgiving. Everyone knows how well that went.
Five years will have passed by this weekend, kicking off Fiscal Year ’12 for the Maggi Republic. How has it worked out? I would say even better than I had anticipated. I had my fears and doubts when I crunched the early numbers but thanks to good planning, occasional windfalls to offset the disasters (my car especially) and persistence…we remain on track:
Tonight we shall celebrate with a nice steak dinner to toast our progress and discuss the budget for the next year and quarter. I will get my new car eventually. Based upon the buzz I’ve found on the Internet, I’m hoping it will be the rumored hybrid version of our Honda Fit.
Last month was National Accordian Awareness month, hence “Weird Al” Yankovic being in the header…I haven’t listened to his new album yet. I thought I’ve managed to pull off several cool looks lately (Molly’s birthday in April, New Zealand for May) so I scoured the Internet to see if I could maintain the trend for July. Shoot for something beyond my birthday, Bugs Bunny turning 71 or Apple’s new OS (Lion) which may come out.
Then I saw that July is International Blondie & Deborah Harry Month. Yeah, it’s a stretch because the band’s run was relatively short plus their catalog isn’t very large. Influential? Somewhat. Much like their contemporaries Devo, Blondie’s descendants don’t show up for another generation since the band ran out of gas by 1982-3…by then no one cared, others moved on and the Classic Rock Backlash was getting started. The greatest hits compilation their labeled released in 1981 did become a staple for college radio stations. I had a cassette version.
My favorite contribution Blondie made was during their last big US tour in the early Eighties. The opening act was this little band from the UK called Duran Duran who is enjoying a huge re-surgence: SXSW, iTunes Festival and a really solid thirteenth album.
My cool martial-artist friend who helped me get my first IT-esque job celebrates his birthday. How cool, things lined up for him to have a long weekend.
This year he joins the prime-number club.
I hope his lovely wife Kim and two fun kids have something awesome planned.
You know the drill, if you know the Radman, drop him a line or post something here. Rad’s one of my more savvy computer friends I have so he knows how to do an RSS feed.
Here’s to my friend, co-worker and co-conspirator in the Austin music scene…a fancier way of saying he’s my usual bud with concerts, especially when Somara doesn’t tag along.
It’s a “school day” for him so he has to work but I’m sure his family will do something nice to celebrate. I missed out on the little bowling party too. I’ll make it up to him with a cool lunch or dinner.
If you know my friend, wish him well! Mark’s a righteous dude who has expanded my musical horizons, namely the Electronica genre.
Nothing like kicking the day off with a spotted dick joke…
It is on a red car.
That car was in motion while we were trying to get around accident on the way to work this morning. I had better luck with the latter since it was parked at Target.
The flying pig probably denotes Bachmann's chances.
A specialty cake Somara delivered this Friday for someone who is really into anime and/or videogames. I can’t recall which. I know it’s a Japanese character/villain.
If you can explain it, please, post away to clue the rest of us in.
He wasn’t as well-known to the general public like Jack Kirby, Neal Adams or Todd McFarlane but most comic-book readers/fans/aficionados recognize his name. Gene worked for both DC and Marvel drawing key characters: Batman, Daredevil, Wonder Woman; and sometimes the obscure: Howard the Duck. His style tended to gravitate toward the dark, brooding, Horror material; hence he did numerous comics starring Dracula or somebody who could withstand a copyright suit.
The man was a prolific workaholic. Despite failing health, many sites report how he continued to keep working and make appearances. He will be missed since Gene was a key participant in the Silver Age.
