Every year Kel and I take a day off of work, in the middle of the week, to do our Christmas shopping. (or holiday shopping for you all to PC people)

Yeasterday was that day. We always pray for snow that day. A few years back it snowed a few feet the night before we went, and it was fantastic! We encountered no lines anywhere! But no such luck this year, just a shitty, cold and rainy day. We didn’t see any really long lines anywhere, which is why we go when we do. We got most of our shopping done by noon, which was awesome. We don’t mess around when it comes to shopping. The guy at one store was shocked when he found out we had all that stuff, and we had only been there about 20 minutes or so. We power shop.

But anyway, we almost got it all done, and we didn’t spend that much. (not that much in our terms is a fortune to many at Christmas time) We just have so many people to buy for.

Is the bonus coming?
Right now, there is an office wide meeting going on the conference room. Ken and I were not asked to join. We’re hoping this is the Christmas bonuses. We’re also hoping that we will at some time today, be asked in. lol. It sure would suck, not to get one this year. We’re pretty sure Kel’s not getting one, unless she’s good at Kareoke (long story). So we’re kind of counting on mine. That’s the reason I’m NOT going to get one though, because we need it. Isn’t that alwyas the way?

I bought this game yesterday for the computer. I wanted a game for my laptop, and I needed something that you don’t need a mouse for. Something I can play “on the go” if you will. I figured a racing game would be perfect for that. And why not the newest NFS? I love some of the older NFS games. This game, is no different. It’s underground street racing, a la Fast and the Furious. Almost all import cars, and you get to upgrade them with turbos, body kits, neon, vinyl kits, all the normal “ricer” things.

I gotta say, this game is just plain fun. The graphics are great (stressing out my nVidia GeForce 4200 go to the max). And you can customize the shit out of your cars. A bunch of different race modes, including the ultimate “Drag” mode where drag race down a busy street. Did I mention you can customize the shit out of your car?

I was up till 1:00am before I knew it, playing this game last night. Good times.

HUH?!?
So, I’m playing NFS last night, and I get a chat invitation from someone. I look, and it’s someone I know, but haven’t talked to in a long time. I won’t say who it was, because some people that read my blog know this person, and I don’t want to imbarrass them. So anyway, I get this chat invitation and say hello. I quickly realize that this isn’t the person I know, it’s someone else with their username. So I start chatting with them. Turns out, it’s this persons Mom, and she’s manic. I talked to a buddy of mine after this happened last night (he knows her) and he told me that when she’s manic, she’s really bad, and that she was probably peaking at the time she was chatting with me. It was hysterical, because at first I thought it was someone fucking around. Plus, I’m pretty sure she was hitting on me, lol. She asked me if I was hungry because she was making lasagna. And she told me that she was a “motorcycle party Mom” and that people tell her she’s good looking for her age. At first, I thought we were just chatting, till she threw in her height, eye and hair color, weight, etc. I was cracking up. The IM chat request minimized my game, so I ended up quiting and playing poker with Clay for a few minutes. (took 150.00 off him BTW) I could barely concentrate, the whole situation was really funny.

I got an appology from the person who’s Mom it was last night. To you I say, don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal. It kind of made my night!

Sunday morning, and I’m sitting here watching QVC. Don’t ask me why. I would like to know what kind of drugs these QVC people take though, MAN they’re hyper for 8:00am. I just heard one of my favorite QVC quotes ever.
“If you want to play high end games, this is the laptop for you. It comes with the GeForce Mobile 440 graphics card”…lol

This reminds me of one of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen in my life. The QVC ladder video. Here’s a link to it: http://www.933flz.com/audio/video.asx
Watch that, it’s absolutly hysterical!

So I’ve had a nice four day weekend. I hate that I had to take time off of work, but whatever. Thursday, I did nothing all day, but went to Bonnies at night. Friday, Billy called mea nd wanted to go hang out. I picked him up and we went driving around. We stopped at my Dads shop, hung out for a few minutes, then picked up Olgas and came back to my house. We played heads up poker three times, of which I won two. Heh. Yesterday Kel and I took Jaz to the vet, then I had my guitar lesson. Then at 6:00 we met Kel’s Mom and Dad for dinner at Andiamos. It was Kel’s Moms birthday on Friday, so the four of us got together last night to celebrate. I had a really good time at dinner last night, we even talked about making it monthly thing. The food was great (except Kelly’s steak) and I ate so much I thought I was going to explode.

So, my plan for today, Play my guitar, play XBox, read my book, play some UT, and chill. Yipee.

I can’t watch QVC anymore. These people are driving me crazy. I really don’t know who’s worse, the people working on the show, or the people calling in. Sheesh.

Ok, so I’m watching the replay of the VGA’s (video game awards) on Spike TV. I didn’t watch the first run because I was at Bonnies. A quick side note about Bon and the Thursday ngiht crew. They knew I had strep throat, and Kel had asked me if I felt like going tonight, or if I felt like staying home and relaxing. I told her I felt pretty good, except for the swallowing thing, and I’d leave it up to Bonnie whether or not she wanted me there. Without even batting an eye, she said to come over. I love going over there on Thursdays, and really wanted to go tonight. So thanks Bon, I appreciate it you letting me come over in my current state.
Anyway, back to the VGA’s. Kind of an odd award show. David Spade is hilarious so thats cool. Seems like a big collection of dorks though. Nicole Eggert gave out an award. GOD DAMN shes hot! She’s just getting hotter and hotter everytime I see her. Not as hot as my wife of course, but close. There was a premier of Tony Hawks new tour also. Lasek, Burnquest and Hoffman were featured. They did some ramp ridin’, some pretty cool shit. Two half pipes next to eachother, and one of the guys on the bikes pulled a flare/ramp to ramp. That was tight. This was all right after Tony Hawks Underground (THUG) won for best sports game. I agree, I have this game for my X-Box and it’s awesome.

Apperantly, in this day and age you don’t really need a doctor to diagnose your sickness. You just need a mirror, and the internet. I was dead on. I have strep throat. Everyone that I have talked to that has had this, tells me how bad it is.

I gotta say, it’s really not that bad. It’s gross looking, thats for sure. But other than the pain when you swallow, it’s really not terrible. The left side of my throat is really bad I guess, that side hurts more than the right side. I don’t feel that bad though. Day before yesterday, I felt like shit. Yesterday and today, i feel ok. I’ve had flu’s that were way worse than this though. If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s highly contagious, I would’ve gone back to work today. I told them I was coming in tomorrow, but Jim called me back and told me to stay home. He said it’s supposed to snow tonight, and to just stay home and relaxe. Nice thing for him to do, but I really need to work, I have shit to do.

Billy called me today, to tell me about something he saw on TV. (MXE, if you haven’t seen it, it’s hysterical!) Anyway, he asked why I was at home, and I asked the same about him. He just had surgery on a hernia. I didn’t even know. We decided that we might meet for breakfast tomorrow since we’re both off work. I think I’m going to have to pick him up though. He got T-boned and his truck was totalled. Let’s see if he alls me tomorrow morning.

I havn’t been to a doctors office in 10 years. So I went in to work this morning for two reasons.
1. It’s my week to open up
2. Ask Wendy where the nearest doctors office is

She told me of a place called Urgent Care right around the corner from the house. So I left the office, and went there this morning. Urgent Care my ass, they’re not even open yet. So I’m home, waiting for 9:00 to call them, and hoping that they open then.

Apparently shitty TV isn’t just a Thursday phenomenon. I’m almost wishing for a Saved by the Bell marathon. Almost.

Ok, so for the last two days, I’ve had a swollen throat and it hurts like hell to swallow. Kept me up all night last night.

Well, I never looked close. Upon further investigation, I have these nasty white spots all over my throat. From what I understand, that means strep throat. And that sucks. I’ve been avoiding this, but I’m going to the doctors tomorrow. I think I’m highly contagious. Shit.

Finally my entry for Mimi and Scotts wedding.

The church that they got married at was awesome. It was an old stone church out in Lapeer (I think). It was a really cool place.

The wedding was at 2:00pm on Saturday November 29th. I left the house at 12:45. I had to stop for gas, and I wanted to make sure I gave myself enough time to get up there. Kelly had left the house at 9:30am to pick up Meems and take her to get her nails done, and her hair did. So she was hanging out with Meems all day. I stopped for gas, and ended up getting to the church around 1:30. Way earlier than I’d expected, but no big deal.

Typical catholic wedding. Mimi looked fantastic! And Scott cleaned up really well for a hillbilly. J/K bro. The ceremony lasted about an hour. The one thing I thought was really cool was when the priest gave Jenny and Scott a gift at the end of the ceremony. It was a picture for them to hang at their house. The coolest part was that on the back of the picture was their marriage liscence. The priest said that it has all the important information on it except one thing. He then pointed at the guests. He said that the border around the liscence was for all the guests to sign, and that it was Johns (Scotts brother and best man) job to make sure everyone signed it. I just thought that was really cool.

The reception was at Adison Oaks Park. The only problem was the reception didn’t start untill 7:00pm. For the interum time, Kellys uncle aquired a senior citizen center for everyone to hang out at. There was food, and tables set up. Pretty good idea seeing how most everyone lives about an hour away.

I, on the other hand, did not get to hang out. Kelly ended up driving with me instead of the limo due to spacial restrictions. Heres how it went:
We left the Church around 3:30, after pictures.
Arrived at Adison Oaks for more pictures around 4:00
Left Adison Oaks around 6:30 to go to senior center
Arrived at senior center around 6:45, ate a bread roll.
Left senior center to go BACK to Adison Oaks for the reception. Arrived at 7:15.

Keep in mind that the route between the church/senior center and Adison Oaks is a collection of dirt roads. With the shitty weather on Friday, and the nice weather on Saturday, they ended up being a collection of mud pits.

The reception was fun. I took a lot of pictures, and got some really good ones. We hung out till about 11:00 abd got home around midnight.

Good times, good couple, good wedding. Have fun in Australia guys! Get me a boomerang!

I realized something last night. Not that I’m a poker addict, I already knew that, I realized that I can’t play poker with my brother anymore. Over the years I’ve been compiling a mental list of things I can no longer do with my brother. For whatever reason. Last night, I added poker to that list. Heres how it went down:

The players:
Chris
Anton (Tone P)
Anthony D
Joey D
Clay
Eric the Kid
Me

No limit hold em, winner take all. Eric went down first, I took him out. Although, he had to leave so he just kind of threw it in. Bummer for him because I tell you what, that kid can play. He plays loose and aggressive. I love it. Anyway, then Tone P went out which worked out great for the rest of us, because he delt almost the rest of the night. Clay was out next, then Anthony D. Left in the game was Chris, Joey D, and myself. Chips went up, down, back and forth for quit a while. Then I took out Joey D.

Heads up time. Chris and I.
Never played Chris headsup before, so I was kind of excited. I love heads up play. It was starting to get late though. We played a few hands, without much action, then decided to take a ciggerette break. While we were out side, Chris suggested that we count the chips, and whoever has the lead takes 80 bucks, and the other takes 60 and we call it a night. The only problem with that is, we both knew he had the chip lead. So I suggested we throw a time limit on it. Another 20 minutes of headsup, and if nothing happens, we’ll split then. That we’d still end at a decent hour. (1:30am decent?)

So we started to play. First hand dealt, I go all-in. Chris folds. Second hand dealt, I go all-in again. Again, Chris folds. Third hand I go all-in before the flop, Chris folds. I talk some shit like “man, call me on something would ya”. Chris says, and I quote “I’m not going to risk my chip count on these cards”. He’s telling me he’ll sit on the chip lead for 20 minutes and take it down. So I say to him “This is the reason we never put a time limit on the game. Someone will get a chip lead, and sit on it till th time limit runs out.” He tells me he’s had crap hands at which point I disclosed the fact that I went all-in the second time with a 3, 9 off suit. He for sure would have won, but he was protecting his chip lead. We play a few more hands, and this is where it gets interesting.

This is the swing hand. Flop comes like 9, 9, 4. I check. Chris bets. I raise, he calls. Next cards a rag. I bet strong, he calls. Rivers a rag, I bet strong again, he calls. I have another 9. I take it down with three of a kind. I check-raised him, and played the hand perfectly to take it down.

Chris says “there, you’re the chip leader now, we’re done”. I say I want to play it out, he says no, we’re done. So we start counting out hte chips when he says “Just so you know, I beat you tonight”. I’m like, “what?” He says “yeah, I flat out outplayed you tonight”. I said noway, and Tone pipes up with “play it out, thats the only way to know”. I agree, Chris still says no.

While we’re cleaning up with chips, we start going back and forth. Here’s my issue. I was willing to play it out. Chris wasn’t. I played him like a god damn fiddle on that 3 9’s hand, and he says he threw it away on purpose. He’s claiming at this point that he did everything right, and I’m a shlub.

Fact: I wanted to play it out.
Fact: I took a big hand from him, and he got an attitude.
Fact: I had to work in the morning, he didn’t, yet I STILL wanted to play it out to see who would win.
Fact: He’s never made it that far, and I’ve won many, yet I don’t know how to play….sure
Fact: He fucking told me he was going to sit on his chip lead till the time limit ran out. He can’t deny that, Tony was right there when he said it.

All this adds up to me never playing poker with Chris again. Am I mad at him? Yeah, a little. Will I get over it? Sure, probably real quick too. Will I ever accept an invitation to cards at his house again? Nope. God forbid we end up going heads up again, it’s just not worth it. So, I had fun, won 80 bucks to which I gave Tone P 20 for dealing for 4 hours, and I got home at 1:45am.

There are other things I’d like to talk about, things that happened over the weekend. The wedding, and another issue thats been really friggin bothering me, that I’ll probably never post about ( I dont think I should), but all this will have to wait till later.