Barroom Banter

UPDATE: I'll try and have my friends music derived profiles up by March 14th if I can. Thanks to all who participated!

The Fiance of one of my Coworkers and I were discussing music at the Barling Alley (the Bar in the Bowling Alley), and he told me that he could profile people based on their ten most favorite bands. I called BS and demanded proof.

He demonstrated this ability with people around the bar using only 5 bands, but he only gave details about them that he would already know about them. Small town life means you pretty much know everyone around, so he asked me to get lists of bands from people that I know whom he has never met.

So, folks, start posting your list of 10 bands in the comments. I'll try and have his results back in a week or two. Let's see how well the amateur Rock n' Roll Psychologist does!

Old School Addictions

It's about time someone put this together: It's a Dual NES/SNES console and it only costs 50 bucks. So if you're having trouble finding an old nintendo console that actually worked (like I did) This is you're chance!

Who's Hungry?

This is why you're fat.

Badly as these pictures clash with any bit of gastronomical moderation and health sense I have... most of it makes my mouth water.

Road Trip

So, after we get the kids all married off, (on Friday the 13th, for extra style points!) we head down to Yuma, AZ. The desert is pretty, in a hostile, oppressive kinda way. All the flora is pointy, and the fauna is venomous or carnivorous.

We met up with Jim's wife at the local chapter of the Elk's Lodge and met some of his old time friends. Fun crowd. A lot of older folks with a laid back attitude, a quick wit, and in many cases, own large swaths of the town.

The next day, we parked at the boarder, and strolled into Algodones, Mexico. The town is one part tourist trap, one part trading post, one part Optical and Dental capital of Mexico.

After a few Margaritas and some shopping, we took off for the day. I looked for some authentic trinket of Mexican culture that I could bring home. Meaning not a refrigerator magnet, and not a trunk full of guys who'll paint my house for 5 bucks. So what did I find?

Awesomeness. THAT'S what I found.

Also, Jim's wife, Cheri, picked up a wedding cake for the newlyweds. There was indeed smeary frosting action, as is tradition.

Sunday, We went on a driving tour of Yuma, and I learned how to play a Dart Game called 301. Quick Rules: You start with 301 points, and have to reduce that score to exactly zero, by landing darts on the marked scoring area. Aside from the difficultly of getting your score exact, you need to hit the doubling ring (a narrow area, if you've ever seen a dart board) on both your first score and your last.

The last day was a 14 hour drive back to Cold Country. We had lunch at a little cafe on an Indian Reservation. Part of the advantage to doing shopping in a place that the government doesn't tread is Tax Free Cigarettes and Liquor. Not to mention picking up a bottle of something difficult to find...

And that's about it. You can view the pictures at your leisure.

Road Trip Day One: Wyoming to Las Vegas

We left Thursday at Noon, and headed south on I-15. Winter attempted to hinder our driving, as did the Utards. As the snow started to stick to the roads, we blew past the folks in the slow lane, going 70-80 MPH in the snow. By what authority? The Wyoming License plates we were sporting. By what means? By the super grippy snow tires on Jim's truck.

About 10:30 local time, we pulled into Vegas and crashed at Sam's Town. Becuase our rooms were so cheap, we decied to donate a little money to them via the casino. I played a few table games, scratching one more line item off of the list of things I always wanted to do.

I just don't like slots. I think it's the thought of feeding money into a machine waiting for it to run it's calulation of when it's allowed to maybe give you an astronomical chance of getting paying out. I like to gamble on things that I can kinda sorta affect the outcome of. Even if it's as simple as choosing whether or not to taking a hit on a hand of blackjack. I'll put a little money into a Video poker machine as a time waster, but that's about it for electronic gambling.

Anyway, the following morning, we got my coworkers Johnny and Meagan all dressed up and to the Chapel of the Flowers for their nuptial.

They asked us not to take photographs during the ceremony, mostly to avoid getting in the way of their professionals, so for more pictures, you'll have to go to the chapels website.

Before we left Sam's Town, one of my friends back home asked me to pick up some of those iconic red dice for him, so I made a fast run to the gift shop. Hope you like them.

More tomorrow, I spend most of the night tagging, titling and captioning my pictures.

Random Encounter: Level 6 Road Trip

As many of you know via random text messages I've been sending to all of you, I spend the weekend in the southwest. First a night in Las Vegas, then onward to Yuma. I would have sent you a text from the third leg of the journey, but I couldn't seem to get a signal in Mexico.

I just got back from a long drive, so I'll not expound tonight, but check back either late night Tuesday or early Wednesday for a lengthy post (might be broken up into several posts) and a massive Flickr dump. (Between hitting the 200 picture limit and close to a half gig of pictures to upload, I'll be upgrading to a pro account very soon.)

Odd-io

Some of the most weird, yet strangely beautiful things I have ever had the pleasure to listen too:

Freak on a Leash (acoustic) - Korn feat. Amy Lee of Evanescence
System of a Down's Lyrics to the Legend of Zelda Theme
Bluegrass tributes to Just About Anyone.
Anything by Richard Cheese

and most recently...

Seether covering... Careless Whisper by Wham! (?!?!)

...and All that Jazz

I took an opportunity this weekend to get out of the Valley for a while, to meet someone face to face after communicating via blog comments for several months, and to see Chicago at the the Buell Theater in Denver. Darn good show, and it was awfully nice to get out of the Valley for a weekend.

Wyoming Cultural Fact: each corner of the state has some kind of getaway in the boarding state. SE corner has Denver and Fort Collins in Colorado, NE corner has Billings, Montana and Rapid City South Dakota, SW corner has Salt Lake City, and Jackson has Idaho Falls, or rather, they would if they weren't so full of themselves and decided to visit once in a while. Those unfortunate enough to live in the center of the state are faced with an empty wasteland on all sides.

Thanks again to Sarah, for providing the tickets, the drive from Laramie to Denver, and the hospitality!

acclimation

After the nasty coldsnap we've had, along came another reprieve from the harsh single digit temps. It's nice enough to go out in a light jacket, and when returning home from work, I took it off completely. Er, the jacket. THAT came off completely, not- nevermind.

Anyway, I looked at the thermostat on my workplace's big lighted sign expecting to see 45 or 52 or something.

32 degrees.

I think I'm getting used to this.

Victory - We Has It!

Superbowl XLIII Breakdown:

First Team to win six Superbowls - Pittsburgh Steelers
Longest Returned Interception in Super Bowl History - James Harrison for 100 Yards
Most Epic Choke - Thowing an interception on the opponent's 1-yard line, resulting in the above mentioned return.

Total Yards:
Pittsburgh - 292
Arizona - 407

Penalties:
Pittsburgh - 7
Arizona - 11

Amount of Money I won in the Football Pool - $250
Amount of Money I lost - 2 bets of $5 each to coworkers. (Pittsburgh didn't beat the 7 point spread)
Net Gain -220 ( 250 - 20 in the pool - 10 to my coworkers)

Total Bullets sweated out by fans on both sides - 253,476
Cries of Grief - Approximately 6.5 million

Summary: The Cardinals' Offense overran our Defense, and certainly could have pulled it off, but in the end, made a lot of mistakes and penalties, and proceeded to choke.

Best anecdote from the night:
{After an interception by Pittsburgh was ruled as an incomplete on review}
Jim: *smugly* Sorry. :-)
Me: So instead of a turnover, you're on 4th and 6 on your own 35. You DO realize that you're just gloating over the fact that you suck less than was previously thought, right?
(Note: Jim is from Yuma, Arizona, and was able to provided me with a real home team vs. home team rivalry)

Best Pun: (From former coworker) I was really hoping Arizona would win, but it looks like it just wasn't in the Cards.

And now... a victory pose!