Blood Moon

This is what the Blood Moon look like on April 15th around 2am from my backyard.

Various brushes with greatness...

My few seconds with the Stanley Cup

I did manage to touch it a couple times.

International Space Station making a pass directly overhead - Aug 6

Jumping off The Rock at Waimea Bay, Hawaii

West Coast Trip - Day 8

Wednesday Nov 23...the final day of the trip.  Check out was at 11... got all packed up and checked out a few minutes past 11 and threw the stuff in the car. We had 5 hours to kill before we had to be at the airport. Mel wanted to see the shark aquarium at the Mandalay Bay.  I didn't' realize how far away from the Mirage it was until we were about half way there..... it's quite a hike... 2.1 miles one way.  Ran into some more interesting sights on the way... including a snake, Sponge Bob, Freddy Kruger and a little Elvis.  The highlight was the guy playing the guitar with 2 Chihuahuas wearing sunglasses chillin'.  We walked up on him while he was playing Leroy Brown... so I chimed in and helped him finish it.  He was pretty good!  After hoping the tram, we made it to the Mandalay Bay and the Shark Aquarium, which wound up being pretty cool.  After that, it was back to the car and off to the airport to end our west coast trip. I think we did everything we wanted to do.... neither of us said "I wish we did _________....", so it was pretty successful.  1300 miles were put on the rental car.

  

 

West Coast Trip - Day 7

Seeing as how we stayed up til 4am or so, we slept in a bit.  I was up at around 9 or so... Mel crawled out of  bed around noon.  We walked up and down the strip...taking tons of pix, passing all of the people handing out those little hooker business cards... they're not as relentless as they used to be... but still out there in droves.  The street performers, or people on the street dressed up in costumes, seemed to be out a lot more than they used to be...lots of creative ones!   Didn't walk through many of the casinos because it was nice out.  We must have walked 5 or 6 miles. Had to stop at Bellagio to see the water show.... a bit over-rated, but still kinda cool.  Got back to the Mirage around 5:30... pretty dark outside by then.  Played blackjack until Mel's dinner date showed up, then I hit the poker room again. After winning about $200 the night before, I was hoping for more of the same... but it was not to be.  I got 2 outed for a pretty bog pot, for all of you non poker players, that means I was about a 20 to 1 favorite to win the hand... the guy with the worst hand needed one of two cards to fall to win... and POOF, he got it. I walked around the casino for a bit...and bumped into Mel and her date. They hadn't eaten yet.... so we went to California Pizza Kitchen... which was right in the middle of the casino. After that, Mel wandered off for a while and I hit the poker room again.... after doubling up a couple times, I got hit with another 2 outer in a $500 3-way pot.    If I won just 1 of those hands, I'd have been up about $500 for the trip... but quit dead even at around 3am or so. I really do get a kick out of all of these non-poker players who tell me that I should expect to lose when gambling... you folks just don't understand the dynamics of poker.  It's not like betting on sports, or playing craps or blackjack, or slots..... you aren't playing the house, you're playing against someone else... and 4 out of 5 times, I'm much better than most of the people sitting at the table.  Sometimes I really hate poker... it can really suck if you get unlucky... but overall, I have done very well.  Anyway, it was bed time after that last bad beat.