One Prayer Answered...One to Go!!!!

If I were to say I was happy last night...I would seriously be understating things. Seriously!

My day started with the arrival of a package on my front doorstep. Ahhhh....Brett Allelo, who finished 2nd to me in the Omaha tourney where I finally got my first WSOP circuit ring...and has become a good Facebook buddy, heeded my pleas for beef jerky in my life and sent me a BOX of it! Guess what the last 24 hrs of my life have consisted of? Yeah....you know it!


Watched a few games of college bowl action...then put on my Husky jersey and prepared for the Cornhusker beatdown that I was certain was coming. But wait. Something funny happened to my 14 pt underdog Washington Huskies. The defense showed up! And the whole team played inspired ball for 60 minutes...probably a lot of it having to do with it being Jake Locker's last college game and them wanting badly to send him out a winner. Well...I will tell you I sat here all night screaming and yelling and scaring my dogs! I was so happy, so proud of my dawgs! To go from 0-12 with Ty Willingham two years...to hiring Steve Sarkisian from USC...beating USC last year...and winning a few games...then making a bowl game for the first time in 8 years...wow! EIGHT YEARS! When I was growing up we were in a bowl game almost every year...and the Rose Bowl a ton. Times have really changed. Well, hopefully they are coming back! Great win! And a great win for the Pac-10! So it should make this Oregon/Auburn game even more compelling.


Now...it doesn't mean quite as much to me...as a Husky victory over Nebraska in a bowl game...considering we would be the first team in NFL history to win a division and make the playoffs with a losing record...but I will still root for it. Seahawks...please, can you find it in yourself to put together ONE solid game, win the division, and get into the postseason? Please? And if they do pull it off...hey, next week is a no-loser for us...as we would play New Orleans. I would be perfectly okay with getting beat by the Saints. How else is my New Orleans vs. New England Super Bowl going to happen!??


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New Year's Eve tonight! What to do what to do. The Claw just came by to borrow a purse from Squirrel and is cajolling me to meet her and Gabe and a bunch of others at Hard Rock tonight. Granted, I know the real reason she's doing it is because she knows that if I come, Cheryl will likely meet them all when she gets off work, and if I dont...she will probably be more inclined to just come home and get ready for tomorrow's Alabama/Michigan State game that starts at noon, and not be all hungover and tired. I guess I will decide later.


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Was driving around doing errands yesterday and see someone dump a bag of litter out of their driver's side window. I don't see this very often anymore...not as much as I did, say in the 80's. But when I do see it, it makes me nuts. I hate it. I don't think I am friends with, or even KNOW anyone who does this. I think it should be legal to get out of our car if we see someone do this...walk up to their car...and smash their windshield.


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If I had to start a list of the most annoying people who announce sports, I am afraid I would run out of paper and ink.


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One of my readers works in an oil field. He sends me some very entertaining emails once in awhile. Today he sent another one. He said, referring back to my blog a couple blogs ago...that it is totally normal for me to find myself loathing 75% of the people I encounter at my poker tables, cash game primarily. He included a couple of examples that he has to deal with in his job...calling the engineers 'know it alls' who he would like to punch in the face. I got a kick out of it. But then he referred to my mention of running my car into a tree as fast as I could to see if my air bag would deploy and save my life or not, and called that 'totally NOT normal.' I'm glad you folks are paying attention!

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Check this out! When I was visiting my sister in Milwaukee a few months back, I noticed the coolest painting in their house. Ah hell, I was going to post it...figuring she would have it on her Facebook page. Nope. Oh well...well, she has these four dogs, all great...and she sent numerous photos to this artist...and that artist did a mural/painting of them, taking into account all of their various 'personalities.' Well, I just loved it...and wanted one of our dogs. So, unbeknownst to me, Cheryl was doing that over the course of the last three months together with my Mom...and this is what we got from my Mother for Christmas....so cool!!








Jasper is, of course the one with the ball in his mouth...and Mollie is on the right. Here are the photos she modeled this on...pretty amazing! As I write this Jasper is in my lap...like a cat. There is a storm outside...and he gets scared. So cute...he is trying to duck his head under my arm.


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I just had to take Squirrel to work. This is a 7 year ritual now. Because its such a busy night...the Beau Rivage forbids their employees from parking in the 7 story parking deck...even posts a guy out front to check for them. If they are caught, I suspect they get fired. A couple years ago, I had a guy stop me, insisting that I worked there. He didn't want to let me park in the garage. How do you react to THAT one!?? Well, I am completely understanding of why they would ask the employees to park across the street in the employees parking lot.

However, I think its ridiculous for them to ask the waitresses to do that. Its not like there are 100's of them...and you are talking about two shifts. The last thing I want is the liability...not to mention just having a heart...and not wanting my cocktail waitresses having to walk out at night, into a poorly lit lot, carrying a good amount of money and risking getting robbed or worse. Seems utterly ridiculous to me. So every year, I drop her off at work and pick her up.


They got new uniforms that they unveil tonight. I like them. All black, short skirts. Show a lot of cleavage. Much classier, and much sexier. Maybe she will start making more money! Hope so, for her sake...she is about to lose her mind. This year for them has really sucked. Thanks BP!


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You know when you are driving, and you are going to merge onto the highway...and there is that retard who can't figure out the whole concept of 'merging' and just STOPS at the end of the exit? Just STOPS! That pretty much always comes close to causing an accident. I just don't understand how people in this world can be so dense!


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Georgia is about to lose to Central Florida. Wow. 10-6 with a minute to go. This after South Florida beat Clemson earlier today. So...lets see if I have this right. The two smaller schools in Florida have both won...over an ACC team, and a SEC team...and meanwhile, Miami got torched by Notre Dame...Florida State goes tonight against South Carolina...and then Florida plays Penn State tomrrow I think. Wait. FOUR Florida teams all played bowl games today? That's pretty wild. Uh oh...Georgia just completed a long pass. :30 seconds left. Murray for UGA just took a sack. No timeouts. Looking bad. 40 yard line. Fans on field. Should be 2 seconds left. Another mess. Wow...Georgia sucks. Here we go. 2 seconds. From 40 years. I'm calling this a One in 150 shot.


Ballgame. UCF wins. Too bad...in my bowl pool...if Georgia had won this game (and covered) my backer...who is in my bowl pool...would have won 10% of the prize money for being the leader after 20 games. Damn.


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Just talked to Shaun Johnston...no relation to my wife, and he brings up an interesting point about tonights tourneys online might be the right night to play online poker. Lots of guarantee prize payouts...but with a LOT of people OUT...equals a lot of overlays. Hmmmm....very enticing. Now, if we could just do something about the rest of the shitty players and the bad luck that I have when playing online! But honestly, I have no desire to leave my house! So maybe I will stay in and play on Tilt, both literally and figuritively!


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Well...this will FOR SURE be my last post of 2010! I hope you all have a great night...and a great New Year! Thanks to all of you for your support all throughout the year...through both thick and thin...as there has been a lot of both! I am really looking forward to 2011...and have a lot of goals I hope to accomplish. See you all at some point in the New Year!!!!


MONKEY