Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Last licks

Boy, I sure wanted to do more posts than the zero I have done thus far this week, but ’05 is making sure it gets some licks in before making an exit, which has put me on some serious life tilt. Quite a few bloggers seem to be getting bashed by ‘05’s flailing exit as well, so I won’t complain in detail as is my tendency. Sometimes it’s just your turn to get bashed in the groin a few times, whether you deserve it or not. One just has to suck it up and press on, even if it is easier to say than to do most of the time.

Vegas couldn’t be coming at a better time, and I know I’m not just speaking for myself. Let’s just hope that the poker gods take a sympathetic stance on the collective swollen junk and turn off the universe/luck doom switch for a couple of days.

On to more pleasant things…..

Mrs. Head and I decided to give ourselves a couple fo early presents this year in the form of new mp3 players. No, we did not get iPods. While iPods look fantastic, have a great UI, and are attached to a pretty solid iTunes software package, they are way too encumbered to convince me to fork over the cash Apple wants. I just can’t see why I would want to buy something that has a 20gb drive (or more) that doesn’t give me the option to store data like I need to, so I didn’t. For those that haven’t yet jumped on the iPod bandwagon, here is what the Mrs. and I purchased.

iRiver H10 20gb Player/Recorder

mobiBLU 1gb Player/Recorder Cube.

Both of these bad boys are pretty damn cool. While there’s certainly a case to be made for the iPod, these seem to have more cool features with some better inherent flexibility. Once I get a chance to play with both a bit more I may post a more extensive review, but for the time being I will say that both are money well spent and should serve us both well on the upcoming trip.

And speaking of trips…..

Only one more day till I make my 14th trip to the beautiful city of dreams (mostly broken) that is Vegas. I was twenty years old and in the military when I made my first trip. I was shitbox broke which meant that I was kickin’ it at the Casino Royale with my fake ID and going to Little Darlin’s with the guys. Looking back it makes me eminently thankful that I’ve managed to climb up a few rungs and am no longer relegated to wallowing in the desperation pool of $2 BlackJack tables. That’s not to say that desperation only exists in the seedier casino’s, but I like my desperation to at least make the effort and wear a bit of cologne, knowhutimean?

9 years, 14 trips. On most of those trips I would spend the entire way there wondering if I would have a good time, wondering if I would regret the decision to go. Because of all the fine folks in this little community, I no longer wonder such things; I only look forward with glee. The things that life throws my way in an effort to tilt me and make me give fade into the background, and I am thankful.

See you all there.