Minions!

With the vast power I've accumulated, I've set on of my lackeys to do some of my more menial tasks. I've set Fido to do all my mind reading for me give this a click and see if you can expose him as a fraud.

Not a whole lot going on, time for round two of christmas. I have a very nice christmas night with Kari's family, got some great loot too! Now I have to worry about doing the shopping for my family and get ready for prime time baby! We fly out this Friday early evening and I'm expecting to hit a Jack-in-the-Box inbetween the airport and my moms house. Jumbo Jack's with cheese.......ain't nothing wrong with that!

I'm a little sad that I'll be missing the Larson/Smulka Extravaganza '05. Ok, it's a little smaller than an extravaganza, but always a lot of fun. But I will get to spend it with my family, so it's more than a fair trade.

Hmmm....I've got to get some cleaning done before I take off for Oregon and I really can't concentrate at work, so I'm probably just going to chill here for a while. I'll talk to you all later!!

Much Love!

-riz

Covered Parking!

Man, what a difference covered parking makes. With Russ now gone the house is quieter and a lot more empty, the plus side is that now I get to park in the garage and let me tell you, that's pretty sweet. I've never had it in all my time here in Wisconsin, so the morning frost and scraping is now a thing of the past. I'm not sure I can go back after this. The funny thing about this is that now at work, I'm seeking out covered parking as well, when I used to just park on the top of the ramp for shorter walking distance. Now the walk is a hint longer, but snow is kept to a minimum.

Gah, did I really just write a paragraph on covered parking....oh well... I think I'm starting to pull my head out of my ass, I hadn't been feeling like myself lately, but I'm feeling the Riz coming back, so that's good and much more pleasant. Not too much happening on this side. Still have to do a bit of christmas shopping this weekend. It sounds like I'll be getting two Christmases this year. We're going to Christmas with her parents this Sunday I believe, because she's coming with me for Christmas in Oregon. It should be a lot of fun, still have to get some gifts by this weekend, but it should be fine. I really can't believe that Christmas is already here.

I think that's the big stuff, not really sure on the little stuff. I ruined my Digorno's (sp?) pizza last night by adding too much oregeno, so that kind of sucked. Remember kids, just a dash or two, don't empty the shaker. Umm...that's Riz's cooking tip of the day.

It's pretty funny my comment on turkey burgers and vegetarians, wow is my perception off a little on that one. To me a burger should be some kind of red meat, if it's a white meat, then it's more of a sandwich, of course there's a lot of crossover. What I was trying to say is that at a place like Fatburger, I'm expecting all the burgers to be beefy and less than healthy, so to find something decent for you (the turkeyburger), it threw me off a bit. That and I was still tired, yeah, that's the ticket!

I'm hoping to be a little better about updating this thing, maybe once or twice a week.

Thanks for showing the Riz the love! Much love to you all!

Tuckered out!

Sorry I haven't rapped at you in a while, but it's been hectic over here. Short recap, was real busy before I went to Vegas, and upon returning still busy as heck. So, enough with the boring stuff, I'm just swamped at work.

Vegas trip! Yes, the Riz, Kari, D-Ren, Jules, and my little sister went out to Vegas over the weekend. We pretty much met up at the airport in Las Vegas Thursday night. Fortunately it was a direct flight from Madison, unfortunately, extremely loud drunks on this flight, which made it suck. Good news is that Kari & D-Ren got up graded to first class, so they sent a drink and some snacks back to me in coach.

Thursday night I was just beat, but we stayed up in the hotel, planning events and getting things organized. Friday morning I had to pick up my sister from the airport (she came from OR on a later flight). For the most part we wandered into the Alladin and gambled a bit, I lost $50 in under 10 min at the Hold 'Em table, while Kari came out like a bandit. We played some slots and had some drinks. That night we went to Cirque Du Soleil - Mystere and it freakin' ruled. I'm not sure have the words to express how crazy awesome it is. If you ever get a chance to go to any of the Cirques, do yourself a favor and do so. The show was incredible and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a show so much. It kind of makes me think I missed my calling and I should have been a Cirque performer.

So, after the show, we did something, not too important. Saturday was kind of more of the same, wandering from casino to casino. We did stop in the four story M&M shop, which is pretty much a waste. It was just a huge merchandise store, the only cool thing is that they had M&M's in pretty much all colors, so that was nice. My biggest advice on casino's is that they're all pretty much the same in terms of slots, roullette and craps, so just find one early that you like and get to gamblin'. Don't forget to sign up for your members card. Alladin seemed to be the only one that gave a free $5.00 in slot play just for signing up, so that was a bonus.

Saturday was also the day Kari and I went back to the poker table at the Alladin. Again, within about 10 minutes the guy to my left took all my chips. It hurt to be out so soon, again, so I threw in another $50. So, next hand after my loss, I caught two pair, but there was a straight possible on the board. The same guy raised me all in, and I called. Woo!! It paid off, he was bluffing and he doubled me up. I had another big hand with a trip 4's, that won me some money too. Another two pair and I cleaned out another guy. When all was said and done, I finished at about $225 for a total profit of $75. So, that was a good day indeed.

We ate at the Surf Buffet at the Boardwalk hotel (which is where we were staying). The buffet is the only 24 hour one, so that was cool, unforutnately the Boardwalk is scheduled to be torn down in a month. The buffet was good, but I filled up at the waffle bar before I saw that they had fajita's and some very tastey Chicken Marsella. Also noteworthy eating places; Fatburger - limited selection, but guess what, they've got damn good burgers, unfortunately they also have Turkey Burgers, which is good for all you vegetarians out there, but it turned me off a bit. If the lines were shorter, I would have made a second trip through for my "Apparantly, size does matter" t-shirt. Oh well, next time. I also ate at Shake 'N Burger, again a great burger place, hit the spot something fierce.

Sunday was kind of a get everything left done. My sister and I blew threw $100 at blackjack, it's where I learned I'm just not a blackjack player. I'll stick with poker and slots. The slots were actually pretty good to me, so that made them more fun. We also sprung for a gondola trip in the Venetian. The ceiling is painted like a very nice sky background with clouds and everything and as you walk it looks like the clouds are moving. So we took the gondola trip, which was nice. We then headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our midnight flight home.

I had to come into work today. Our flight touched down about a quarter to six, I dropped D-Ren and Kari off and then went home and took a shower. Got ready for work and showed up on time. I'm just dragging today though, so very tired. I got an hour nap Sunday afternoon and about an hour and half on the plane, so tonight when I get home, it's sleepy-time!

And that's pretty much my weekend. I now have a new goal to attend as many Cirque du Soleil shows as possible, they are just phenomenal!

Much love to everyone!

ps- Anyone up for seeing the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this weekend?