Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all you readers - and by that I mean, hi Mom! It's actually the day after TDay, and I am just waking up. i read Dan & Em's Peru blog this morning and it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to log in so I could leave a comment. I noticed Dad had left a comment - I can only imagine it did not take him as long. Pretty soon I won't remember how to set the clock on the VCR. Is that even a saying anymore? Do teenagers even know what VCRs are? Em should do her dissertation on THAT. Not quite as academically noteworthy, but, more relevant to modern day living.

I got an invitation from a girl I know to come to her bar for a free Thanksgiving Day dinner. I wasn't holding my breath, but as it turned out, it was stupendous, and I was elated to find that the meal was almost as good as home. They had a string bean casserole but of course, it paled in comparison to Mom's. What doesn't though? I wonder if that sort of think is shippable - Im sure they had leftovers...

The turkey, I must admit though, was probably the best turkey I've ever had, which probably means, they used a cheaper quality turkey then we use at home. I don't know why it is, but it sure seems that a lot food tastes better as you go down in quality. Ergo, McDonalds/Subway/Taco Bell... For meats this is frequently because of the fat content, but turkey doesn't really have any fat, so, maybe this doesn't apply. Of course, there are exceptions, like Chateaubriand and fish. So actually, perhaps my observation is in vacuo, and I'm just fishing for an excuse to cover for saying that I had the best turkey ever (sorry Mom!) I dunno. but either way it was damn good turkey. Got some pie as well, which we took to go.

It looked a lot better on the plate.

Anyhow, then I went to a $100 poker tournament down at Harrah's. On my way there I called Joyce to catch up, and because I have a friend who I think would be a great casino hostess, and she knows one here at the Rio, so I'm trying to put them together. Joyce had a cyst scare a few days ago but fortunately everything was negative. Seems this hasn't been the best year for the family health, with Nana and Olivia and even to a lesser degree myself with my weird leg issues that arent going away but arent significant enough that I can even describe it to a doctor in any concrete manner. But at least my problem is minor.

As usual, I lost the tourney with the best hand. This is becoming indicative of my poker career. I know I am the best player at the table, and with blinds of 100-200, a raise to 600 and a call ahead of me, I look down to A-10, I look at them both, I know I have the best hand, I announce "I have the best hand, Im all-in" and push 1800 in the pot (1800 in chips, Ma, not cash), they both call, I do indeed have the best hand, they have QJ and JT, and the cards come 789QK. So as usual, the worst hand wins, and the best hand goes home empty handed.

57% favorite + 2 stupid players = guaranteed loss

Thinking about it now, it actually was a decent call by the QJ IF he had known what I and the other guy had... which he didnt.

So that was a big let-down, that money was mine to lose. Which as usual, I did. So I called Matt my new roommate, who was over at Mary's house for some Turkey Day festivities, and I went over there, and got a second turkey dinner, this time with a green bean cassarole (also didn't compare to Moms) and some homemade sauer kraut pirogies and other goodies. It was a great pick-me-up after losing that *^%&% tourny.

Let's see, what else is going on. I bought a car. 2001 Saturn SL1 with 102500 miles, for $5275 + about $198432842 in fees. Actually, the financing and fees brought the total to about $7000, even though I put 2500 down. I am second-guessing myself a bit because since the car came AS-IS, I could have just bought from private party and saved myself the fees and financing charges. But Saturn is known as the best costumer service car company, so, hopefully if I do have a problem, they will be helpful.