After hearing several of my friends rave about Bethlehem's new casino, I called an audible this Sunday Night and changed my plans of watching TV and headed out about 10:30pm to check it out.
What I really wanted to do was see the new Irish pub located on the premises. As to be expected, the price for a pint was steep. I think I paid $6.00 for a pint of Harp. In a casino, they can get away with that. This new Irish Pub won't be a watering hole for the locals.
St. James Gate (http://www.pasands.com/dine/stjames.aspx) was a little too dimly-lit for my tastes, but I understand they're going for atmosphere. Nobody visits bars that are lit up like Wal-Mart. It was very busy. It felt like most of the crowd was from out of town. Some folks were dressed to the nines, most were casual in jeans, and then there were a few backward-hat wearing fools with oversized Nike T-Shirts and gold chains. One of these tools was with a very nice-looking girl, who was dressed well -- almost kind of a preppy look. I wanted to give her Dr. Mark Moran's phone number to have her eyes checked. (If you're reading this dear, his number is 610-437-4988).
With about $100 remaining in my pocket after a few pints, I headed out to the casino floor. I actually wasn't even sure I would gamble at all before I got there. But then, the beer started telling me "...awww what the heck!". I wanted to play a machine that ended with 77, because I just bought a raffle ticket for a new Harley whose number ended in 77. I also graduated in 1977 from Freedom High School.
I did find a machine that ended in 77, but it was occupied by a very large woman who was playing two machines at once. I hate that. I sat down on the end of the row in front of machine 1079. It was a $1 machine. I stuffed five 20's into the validator, and pushed the "play max bet" button -- a five dollar bet. It was a "Double Diamond" slot machine with multiple pay lines. The $100 quickly fell to $50, then went back up to $89, then down to $30, then up and down for while, until I was left with $10. I figured I had two more chances left.
I only needed one.
I still don't exactly know what I did, but the Double Diamond logo was in the middle, and there were a lot of "bar" symbols in all directions like this: / \ and horizontally (---). The credit counter showed 358. Each credit is a dollar. I stared at the red LED "358" for about 10 seconds with a wry grin on my face. I then thought about playing it down to either 300 or up to 400. But in a moment of rare sanity, I decisively hit the "cash out" button. In 30 minutes, I had taken the Sands Casino to its knees! Okay, maybe not. But I was done, and I knew it. In my former years, I would have squandered it on other machines. In this time of financial uncertainty, I was certain not to squander this unexpected windfall. But I knew who was buying breakfast.
In actuality, the Sands casino paid the $21 breakfast tab at Denny's. I'm 1 and 0 at the Sands, but I think I'll sit the rest of the season out. It was a fun 30 minutes, but I think I'll invest my extra money elsewhere.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
If it WAS hungry, it wouldn't try to kiss it's meal!
Saw this short two minute video on my cousin Patricia's Facebook page. It's three years old, but I've never seen it before.
Posting YouTube videos is sometimes like telling a good joke. You never know who has seen the video, or who already knows the punchline.
So, in case you haven't seen the amazing video of the dog and the killer whale, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUlpDLuYUI
If you've already seen it, e-mail me a good joke that I can tell to people. Maybe they haven't heard the punchline yet!
Posting YouTube videos is sometimes like telling a good joke. You never know who has seen the video, or who already knows the punchline.
So, in case you haven't seen the amazing video of the dog and the killer whale, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUlpDLuYUI
If you've already seen it, e-mail me a good joke that I can tell to people. Maybe they haven't heard the punchline yet!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Backstreet Boys? REALLY?
A few Sundays ago after cutting the grass (what else?), I popped the TV on in my family room and sat down on the leather couch hoping to find a baseball game to watch while inhaling leftovers from the night before.
As I surfed through the HD Channels (yes, I am an HD snob), I couldn't find any baseball, or even any other worthwhile sports to watch. I continued along higher up in the 500 series of channels, and stumbled across one of those boy bands sitting on four stools in front of a huge crowd. I was on Mark Cuban's channel, HDNet, which actually has some very cool commercial-free concerts from groups such as The Doobie Brothers, The Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac and many others.
As I watched these guys start to sing, I couldn't tell if they were The Backstreet Boys or 98 Degrees. Not having kids, how would I know, or why would I care? I caught the very beginning of a power ballad they were performing called "Helpless When She Smiles". It's about a 4 or 5 minute song I guess. 30 seconds into it, I was thinking, okay...I need mustard for this leftover WaWa turkey hoagie. 2 minutes into the song, I'm thinkin' "...hey, this song is actually pretty good". By the time the song was over, I was seriously blown away. I hit the "info" button on my remote control to solve my "98 Degrees or Backstreet Boys" query. It was indeed The Backstreet Boys, taped from a live show in London. The song was an incredibly slick, hauntingly melodic, dramatic power ballad. Part of the lyrics in the chorus were "...I'm a house of cards in a hurricane...". Actually, I would have named the song "House Of Cards", or "Hurricane", and if you listen to it or are familiar with it, you'll know why I suggest that.
The leftover hoagie devoured, I sat there agape for another 45 minutes until sadly, the show was over. I was truly impressed with how good these guys really were. Yeah, they might have had some backing tracks pumped in behind them, but you can't cover lousy vocals with backing tracks. The Backstreet Boys were thoroughly entertaining with their choreography and overall vocal performance. I was blown away. If these guys come to Musikfest or The Allentown Fair, I'm going!
The next day at work here at the station I mentioned to two co-workers about my Sunday boy band surprise. They both agreed that Backstreet Boys were incredible performers, and they couldn't believe that I didn't know that. I guess for all their years of success, fortune and fame, I had attributed it to their teen appeal of boyish good looks coupled with a few slick stage moves.
The lesson I learned is sometimes it's not a bad thing when there's not a good ball game on Hi-Def. I wonder what else I'll discover the next time that happens. I'll let you know.
As I surfed through the HD Channels (yes, I am an HD snob), I couldn't find any baseball, or even any other worthwhile sports to watch. I continued along higher up in the 500 series of channels, and stumbled across one of those boy bands sitting on four stools in front of a huge crowd. I was on Mark Cuban's channel, HDNet, which actually has some very cool commercial-free concerts from groups such as The Doobie Brothers, The Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac and many others.
As I watched these guys start to sing, I couldn't tell if they were The Backstreet Boys or 98 Degrees. Not having kids, how would I know, or why would I care? I caught the very beginning of a power ballad they were performing called "Helpless When She Smiles". It's about a 4 or 5 minute song I guess. 30 seconds into it, I was thinking, okay...I need mustard for this leftover WaWa turkey hoagie. 2 minutes into the song, I'm thinkin' "...hey, this song is actually pretty good". By the time the song was over, I was seriously blown away. I hit the "info" button on my remote control to solve my "98 Degrees or Backstreet Boys" query. It was indeed The Backstreet Boys, taped from a live show in London. The song was an incredibly slick, hauntingly melodic, dramatic power ballad. Part of the lyrics in the chorus were "...I'm a house of cards in a hurricane...". Actually, I would have named the song "House Of Cards", or "Hurricane", and if you listen to it or are familiar with it, you'll know why I suggest that.
The leftover hoagie devoured, I sat there agape for another 45 minutes until sadly, the show was over. I was truly impressed with how good these guys really were. Yeah, they might have had some backing tracks pumped in behind them, but you can't cover lousy vocals with backing tracks. The Backstreet Boys were thoroughly entertaining with their choreography and overall vocal performance. I was blown away. If these guys come to Musikfest or The Allentown Fair, I'm going!
The next day at work here at the station I mentioned to two co-workers about my Sunday boy band surprise. They both agreed that Backstreet Boys were incredible performers, and they couldn't believe that I didn't know that. I guess for all their years of success, fortune and fame, I had attributed it to their teen appeal of boyish good looks coupled with a few slick stage moves.
The lesson I learned is sometimes it's not a bad thing when there's not a good ball game on Hi-Def. I wonder what else I'll discover the next time that happens. I'll let you know.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Weed consultant needed!
This cool, rainy weather has been conducive to vegetation growing like crazy. Just last week, our sister station ESPN Radio (1230/1320 AM) had to hire guys to cut down the tops of trees on neighboring property because they had grown so tall and thick, they interfered with our satellite reception.
This weather has given me an second full-time job: Cutting grass and pulling weeds. Or, are they weeds?
So far this year, I have been mowing my lawn in Bethlehem every 3 or 4 days. I have a Honda mulching mower, so I can't set the wheels too low and cut it like a golf fairway (I wish I could). I feel as though I've cut the grass already as many times this season as I did all of last year. But one thing that's different this year is the vegetation in my backyard. I have a mini-jungle in the back of my property along my neighbors fence. I owned the place almost four years, and don't ever remember seeing the variety of greenery that seems to have sprouted this year.
Was that stuff always there, or with my "Rambo-style" of mowing, was I just running it all over from the beginning the past three years? Am I mowing my lawn with a new "kinder, gentler" vigor? Who knows! But what I really need to know is what is a weed and what isn't!
Sure, I can figure out the dandelion weeds, and some other common-looking ones, but what part of my new mini-jungle are actually weeds? I'm sure I am avoiding mowing over some weeds, but they look so pretty. And who says all weeds are bad? The flowers of some weeds (like dandelions) are actually nice. I also have these little purple flowered weeds that grow in a small part of the yard as well. I do mow over them, but they're back in 3 or 4 days to say hello again!
My youngest sister Betsy (nicknamed "Bad Betty") has somewhat of a green thumb, and she volunteered to come over and assess the situation. Unfortunately, that was before she landed a job at the new Emeril's Chop House at the new Bethlehem casino. Scratch Bad Betty off the list of potential weed consultants. Actually, with her new job, her new nickname is "BAM Betty"!
The Yellow Pages has no listings for "weed consultants". It's not even a category, can you believe it?
So, if you know any good weed consultants, send them my way. Even if they're just "average" weed consultants, I'll take them, as long as they'll work for beer and a steak made on my fancy new grill. There are no weeds anywhere near the new grill. That just wouldn't be right.
This weather has given me an second full-time job: Cutting grass and pulling weeds. Or, are they weeds?
So far this year, I have been mowing my lawn in Bethlehem every 3 or 4 days. I have a Honda mulching mower, so I can't set the wheels too low and cut it like a golf fairway (I wish I could). I feel as though I've cut the grass already as many times this season as I did all of last year. But one thing that's different this year is the vegetation in my backyard. I have a mini-jungle in the back of my property along my neighbors fence. I owned the place almost four years, and don't ever remember seeing the variety of greenery that seems to have sprouted this year.
Was that stuff always there, or with my "Rambo-style" of mowing, was I just running it all over from the beginning the past three years? Am I mowing my lawn with a new "kinder, gentler" vigor? Who knows! But what I really need to know is what is a weed and what isn't!
Sure, I can figure out the dandelion weeds, and some other common-looking ones, but what part of my new mini-jungle are actually weeds? I'm sure I am avoiding mowing over some weeds, but they look so pretty. And who says all weeds are bad? The flowers of some weeds (like dandelions) are actually nice. I also have these little purple flowered weeds that grow in a small part of the yard as well. I do mow over them, but they're back in 3 or 4 days to say hello again!
My youngest sister Betsy (nicknamed "Bad Betty") has somewhat of a green thumb, and she volunteered to come over and assess the situation. Unfortunately, that was before she landed a job at the new Emeril's Chop House at the new Bethlehem casino. Scratch Bad Betty off the list of potential weed consultants. Actually, with her new job, her new nickname is "BAM Betty"!
The Yellow Pages has no listings for "weed consultants". It's not even a category, can you believe it?
So, if you know any good weed consultants, send them my way. Even if they're just "average" weed consultants, I'll take them, as long as they'll work for beer and a steak made on my fancy new grill. There are no weeds anywhere near the new grill. That just wouldn't be right.
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