Archive for the year 2008
Will Deal Cards for Food
Posted on December 15, 2008 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life, Poker.
On Friday night at Highlands Jen was like, “So did you have to go to school to deal cards?” I explained to her that Brian and I just got to tag along on the cruise because they had two dealer spots open. We didn’t really have any formal training.
“I’m sure that the real casino dealers like the ones in Vegas receive special training, but Brian and I just dealt for that trip.” I mean, I doubt we would be able to do anything like that ever again. That’s really what I was thinking. I guess I spoke too soon.
Sunday morning (well, it was like noonish but Brian and I were still laying in bed) I received a call from Shane. He said he needed two dealers for a private holiday party at Highlands. We would get compensated for two hours of work from 7 pm to 9 pm. I woke Brian up for a quick deliberation. We figured we would be done with our movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, by 6 pm so we would have plenty of time. Called Shane back to tell him that yes, we would do it and we would even come early.
Dealing cards for a group of inebriated people is a lot less stressful than dealing for a bunch of APL players who watch your every move. You don’t have to worry about being perfect or being fast. However, it’s not without challenges. I was lucky that I had a couple of people at my table who knew how to play Texas hold’em pretty well. I only had to focus on the other five, making sure they knew the rules of the game and the hand rankings and all that jazz. Although, I still had to make sure that people knew when it was their turn to act because after a few drinks (some people had a lot) no one knew what was what.
We played a couple of 30-minute rounds and then at the end of each round, the player with the most chips won a prize. The prize for the first round was a $15 gift certificate to Highlands and then we gave away four Thunder hockey tickets in the second round. I totally spaced out and let the same guy win both though, and we weren’t supposed to do that. I didn’t realize it until after we were done and Brian told me that one of the guys at his table wasn’t happy about that rule because he really wanted the hockey tickets.
Anyway, at my table the guy in second place came pretty close in the second round. He technically should have won the hockey tickets because the other guy won the gift certificate already. I was a dum-dum, though, and I let the other guy win again. I didn’t realize it until after we were done and Brian and I huddled to tell each other what happened at our tables. That really bothered me, but I couldn’t do anything about it because Kurt was busy wrapping things up. I felt really bad. I hoped that Kurt would have a second before the guy left for the evening so that I could talk him into giving me four Thunder hockey tickets in exchange for getting paid so that I could rectify my mistake. Kurt was really cool about it, though. He gave me four tickets to fix my boo boo and I still got paid.
Kurt gave Brian and I the option of getting paid in cash or getting paid in the form of gift certificates. We opted for gift certificates because we are at Highlands at least once a week and we would definitely put it to good use. Althought, I wish I would’ve known about this opportunity before I bought a bunch of Highland gift certificates from Entercom. They’ve got a 50% off deal going on right now where you get $50 in gift certificates for $25. I couldn’t pass it up so I bought some. I guess they’ll be seeing a lot of us until all these gift certificates are used up. Even then, we’ll still keep coming back. LOL.
BTW, Brian was telling me about this overly flirtatious woman at his table. He was like, “If I weren’t married I probably could have gotten laid tonight.” Har har. Very funny. Not to burst Brian’s bubble, but I’m pretty sure the woman in question was flirting with everyone.
I told one of my coworkers about it this morning. I wasn’t upset or anything, I was simply sharing the story because I thought it was funny. She was like, “Doesn’t Brian wear a wedding ring?”
“Sure he does,” I told her. “Apparently she was too drunk to notice.”
Anyway, I was pretty impressed with how the whole holiday party went. Sure the card games portion of the evening started a little late and ran a little over, but everything (at least that I could see) seemed to flow pretty smoothly. I think the guests really enjoyed themselves. Then again, I’m looking at it from the other side so I could be a little biased.
Our own holiday party at Margarita’s the previous day seemed like mayhem in comparison, specially with the whole double booking situation and not getting our food until several people were done eating and had to go boxes already. Carly said the people there were really unfriendly.
I told her about the holiday party at Highlands yesterday and how nice it was and even suggested that maybe we could go with Highlands next year. She said some people wanted to do the casino thing again like we did in 2002 when we had a nice formal dinner at the Broadview. People could stay afterward and play casino games. The organizers had hired the folks at Celebrations to do that part of the event. Some people wanted to do the Warren thing again, where we rented an entire auditorium and had our dinner buffet served in the theater. Anyway, there were several ideas thrown out. I told her if they wanted to do the casino thing, Highlands would be a good option — except I didn’t think that Highlands could do craps and roulette and all that. I gave her their web site so she could check it out.
“Yes but are they still going to be open in six months?” she joked. It’s true that the location has been unlucky for its previous tenants. Then again, the other restaurants didn’t have JD Harvey and Kandu. Highlands seems to be doing quite well for themselves so I have no doubt they’ll be around for a good long time. I really hope we get to have our work holiday party there next year.
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Posted on December 14, 2008 by Ching under Movies.
Brian and I got to watch the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie trailer before The Day the Earth Stood Still. It looks like it is going to be such an amazing movie. Come to think of it, I think maybe I gave The Day the Earth Stood Still an extra half star because of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine preview. The Wolverine movie is definitely on our “movies to watch” list, along with Star Trek and Terminator Salvation. I think Christian Bale will make a fantastic John Connor. I’m really looking forward to watching it.
Anyway, Hugh Jackman is amazing as Wolverine. They couldn’t have picked a better actor to play this X-Men character. Naturally, I had to find out as much as I could about the upcoming movie and came up with this alternate trailer that was played at this year’s Comic Con. Check it out below.
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Super Busy Day Yesterday
Posted on December 14, 2008 by Ching under Life.
I really should have slept in yesterday instead of getting up at 6:30 am like I normally do. I was clearly not anticipating a long day. Okay, a long but fun-filled day.
The work party at Margarita’s was okay. The food took forever and it was really crowded. I’m glad Angie saved a couple of seats for Brian and me. I don’t know where they would have put us otherwise. Apparently there was a bit of an overbooking situation. We were supposed to have the entire upper level to ourselves, but there was another holiday party going on simultaneously. That contributed a lot to the overcrowding situation.
Anyway, Brian and I won a couple of gift cards. He got $20 to Granite City and I got $20 to Olive Garden. We love both so we were happy, despite the lack of food in our bellies. The food came eventually. As soon as we were done eating, Brian was dying to leave. He wanted to go to Julie and Viktor’s already. I never ever thought that I would see the day that Brian would be itching to go to a tweeup. It was definitely a landmark moment.
I asked him for one dance and then we could go, which I regretted very much because we didn’t figure out that we were supposed to cha-cha to Smooth until it was almost over. Ugh. I wanted another dance, but a deal was a deal so we said quick goodbyes and took off. That as around 9:45 pm or so.
We made it to the Tarm’s just in time for the white elephant gift exchange thing. I had wrapped a digital photo keychain and a screwdriver torch earlier that day so that Brian and I could participate. I threw it in the car as a “just in case” — you know I’m always prepared for anything. I figured if we arrived in time for the gift exchange then we could participate, if we didn’t then we still had two extra gifts for random holiday parties that might come up. No biggie.
Anita Cochran arrived the same time we did. She was like, “We have to hurry! They have been texting me that they want to get on with the white elephant gift exchange.”
We arrived just in time to pick our numbers. Anyway, Emily initially got the digital photo keychain. It was eventually stolen from her, though. The most coveted gifts were the drink fountain thing, the Guiness drinking set, the tic tac toe drinking game, the flask, and soft throw that Anita had brought. Several gifts got stolen and re-stolen.
Amy picked up my second gift, which I felt really bad about because I was hoping that one of the men would choose it instead. She was really gracious about it, though, and was like “I don’t have any tools in my house so this works great.” I think she said that mostly to make me feel better because not two seconds later she was encouraging people to steal it from her, advertising the thing every chance she got. She almost sounded like an infomercial.
Anyway, the only thing that she coveted was Ali’s vase thing. I felt bad that she was stuck with the screwdriver torch thing and I knew that Brian had wanted one for himself when he saw my gift stash so I urged Brian (Brian is pretty easy to influence so he didn’t require much persuasion) to steal it from her, a maneuver that allowed her to then steal Ali’s vase. =P
There was a lot of gift stealing going on. I think Kyle (what is your @name?) was the one who cracked me up the most because as soon as his gift was stolen, he immediately stole the drinking fountain thing. He did it without hesitation. It took about a fraction of a second. It was so funny. And the best part was that it was the third time that the gift had been stolen so it could not be stolen again. He was guaranteed to end up with the gift at the end of the evening.
So what did Brian and I end up with? I opened a gift (I believe it was from Dustin) that consisted of a very cool hangover eye pillow, an icicle Christmas tree ornament, and a pillbox shaped like a capsule. It was never stolen from me so I managed to come home with it.
Brian picked up the very soft throw that Anita brought as I mentioned above, but I think he liked it so much that people were like, “Aha!” Davis ended up stealing it from him so he stole the screwdriver torch from Amy (at my encouragement). It was all in vain, however, as someone else stole the screwdriver torch from him before the end of the evening. He ended up with an airfreshener thing, which he calls “smelly stuff.” He thought it would work great because the guy who sits next to him at work smokes and he figured that the “smelly stuff” would counteract the odor. LOL.
The Tarms have a beautiful home and everyone had a blast. I think what Brian and I drooled over most was their very cool studio. Actually, their entire house is very artsy. It reflects their personalities well. Brian initially didn’t want to stay past midnight but time just flew by. Before we knew it, it was well past one o’clock. Of course, the tweetup was schedule to last until 6:30 am the next day.
Before Brian and I left, Viktor sent me home with a pair of lithos depicting tango dancers. I love dancing so it was my favorite out of the bunch (bunch is an understatement because they have a ton of amazing lithos). I couldn’t believe he gave me both. I was just so overwhelmed with his generosity that I was bursting with happiness. I stupidly exclaimed, “It feels like Christmas!” Well, it is Christmas! Duh?!
I passed out as soon as we arrived home. I must have been really pooped from the previous day’s events because my body didn’t wake me up at six this morning like it usually does. Before I go, allow me to share some photos. You can find the photos I took at the work holiday party at Margarita’s here and then the holiday tweetup at the Tarm’s residence here.
P.S. I heard through the Twittervine that the tweetup lasted until 6:00 am this morning. Holy cow! I think that has got to be the tweetup of tweetups, car or no car through the bar. =P Thank you for a fantastic evening Julie and Viktor!
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Invite Tournament
Posted on December 13, 2008 by Ching under Poker.
Well, we were initially worried about participating in the $1000 invite tournament this afternoon. We were thinking that we might have to just go straight from Highlands to Margarita’s (where my work holiday party is tonight). Of course, that was wishful thinking on our part. We were assuming that we would both be there until the very end. Obviously, I’m blogging right now so I didn’t win. =P
I have two tickets to the holiday party, but the tickets don’t take care of the cover or admission fee that Margarita’s charges after 7 pm. The party starts around 6-ish so we would have gotten there before they start charging cover, anyway. Except the tournament kind of threw a kink in our plans. Not so much of a kink, though, because we figured two likely outcomes: (a) we both get knocked out early and are able to make it to the holiday party in plenty of time, or (b) we are late, which means that one or both of us cashed, so who cares about the cover? LOL.
Anyway, I made it to the final table but got knocked out in ninth place. No money for me, sadly. This tournament only paid out the top five places ($500 to first place; that would have been soo nice). I don’t mind not cashing in the tourney, though. Kurt splashed the pot at my table a couple of times and I won both splashed pots, so I didn’t go home completely empty handed.
The first time he splashed the pot with a $15 gift certificate to Highlands. I kept that because Brian and I eat there at least once a week (sometimes twice) so we will put that to good use. The second time he splashed the pot with two Thunder hockey tickets. I won those too, but the poker player next to me had his little son with him and he really wanted the hockey tickets so I just gave those to them. Brian and I are so busy, I don’t anticipate that we will be able to go to any hockey games any time soon. Plus, I think the little boy will have way more fun at the game than we would.
It would have been nice to have cashed in the tournament, but I had lots of fun anyway. And, we still have plenty of time to make the holiday party. I even have enough time to post this quickie blog entry! 🙂
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Crazy Night at Highlands
Posted on December 13, 2008 by Ching under Food and Drink, Poker.
Take that title however you want. Suffice it to say we had a “Wylde” and fabulous time, pun intended. Poker couples Vic and Jen and Scott and Sunny were there last night (again). I guess I should be getting used to this by now. They are “Eastsiders” after all and, like us, find the Highlands location extremely convenient. I’m not sure if that is such a good or bad thing. I guess good in a way that we are always guaranteed great company on Friday nights when we are there, but then bad in that now we’ll never be able to stop going because our poker buddies offer an additional draw besides just our regular poker addiction.
Jen was extremely quotable last night. I’m not a good storyteller so it’s probably not going to be as funny on the blog. It was definitely one of those “you should have been there” nights. Perhaps I should start from the beginning?
Got there a little after 7 pm — early by poker standards because the tournament doesn’t start until 9 pm, but too late to catch Kurt. We were hoping to chat with him this week about stuff. What stuff? I’m not quite sure. He just told us last week to track him down. We’ll just have to catch him today at the invite.
Yup, didn’t know there was an invite today. Just found out about that last night. Today is going to be a really long day: step class, brunch, invite, work holiday party, tweetup. I think I’m sleeping in tomorrow. =P I’m debating on whether I should skip step class. I guess it all depends on if I finish this blog entry in time.
Dinner last night was fantastic, by the way. Brian had the scotch chicken with regular fries and I had the brazed pork ribs with yam fries. Sooo good! Surprisingly our bill this time was cheaper than last time, but we realized that I skipped the alcoholic beverages this time. I think the cocktails are what drives up people’s dinner tabs in general. At least such is the case for us.
[ BTW, I think the food was fab last night because JD was there. ]
I had a crappy poker night, which is kind of a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Last week I was drinking and did well (made it to the final table). I had concluded that it was the inebriation, rather than my poker skills, that got me there. I decided that I would forgo drinking tonight to test this hypothesis. I did not make it to break. Therefore, I am not skilled enough at poker and must henceforth rely on heavy drinking to get me through the night (I apologize in advance, baby — but, considering that I just proved my theory, there is no other way).
Brian was doing well at break. I don’t know if my threat (I told him that he better make it to the final table, otherwise, he is dancing with me) helped any or not. He did make it to the final table, though. Actually, he finished fourth and in the money. He always tries to outdo me. I finished seventh last week and shy of the money. This week, he does better.
[ Grrr! Now I have try and outdo him. Maybe today will be my day. ]
Oh, and I ran into mom’s realtor pal Leon at poker last night. We actually started at the same table. He made the final table last night also. He made the big money. They did a three-way chop after Brian got knocked out.
His girlfriend, who introduced herself as “his lover” to everyone, was a little frisky last night. She totally molested Shane, who she insisted on referring to as Fabio. I don’t know if Shane should take that as an insult. He is far better looking than the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” mascot.
She grabbed Shane’s valuable ass-ets several times last night and, on one occasion, while Shane was standing there talking to Jen and Sunny and me. Jen was like, “Wow! I don’t even have the balls to do that.”
The woman was so drunk, I’m pretty sure everyone got molested at some point. Well, except for Brian and Vic (and me, I guess; I didn’t get molested either, thank the Lord). She wasn’t selective at all, molesting males and females alike.
Kristy said that she tried to sit on her while she was minding her own business watching Doug and cheering him on as he played. Kristy was like, “Noo! Get off me.”
Anyway, I think Shane got the brunt of it. “I wonder if we should tell his wife,” I joked to Sunny. I decided that I wouldn’t do that. I would just tell the world instead.
“Can I blog this?” I asked. Shane thought I said “Can I block this?” I was thinking to myself (but didn’t have the nerve to say out loud), “Hell no! I would not stand in the way of that woman and her desire to molest you. I don’t think anyone can.”
After I restated my comment, Shane looked at me incredulously. He said, “You’re asking for my permission? I didn’t realize I had an option.”
You all know how I feel about Shane. He is somewhat intimidating (specially when he is angry) so I try not to get on his bad side. Anyway, he was really cool about it, so I feel pretty safe blogging this. I’m still getting used to the nice Shane.
[ Mrs. Shane — if you are reading this — sorry, girl. There was nothing that any of us could do to protect him. ]
Jen later said, “Please don’t ever let me get like that.” LOL. Okay, so Jen and Sunny weren’t completely spotless last night in the molestation area. They were more selective (tasteful?) about it, though. They exercised discretion and mainly just focused on Yanis and his amazing physique, particularly his :very: muscular biceps.
We were assigned to different tables last night so Sunny had to tell me about a conversation that went on at their table. She told me how Jen asked with a straight face, “Have you got your tickets yet?” “To what?” “To the gun show!” Their table busted up laughing. Even the men could not keep a straight face. Definitely a “you should have been there” moment. You guys have to come to Friday night poker one night just to experience the hilarity first hand.
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