I am trying to muster enough energy to make a post after an exhausting Sunday.  It started with a training run in the hills of Jubilee State Park – yep, the one our EX-governor had the historic site closed on.  They have a daunting 13% grade hill that I spend a lot of time running up to train for the Bix7 in Davenport IA.  I had planned to catch up on some outside house work, but it started raining on me in the last mile or so of the run which I should have expected, since the local weatherman forecasted the rain would not start until tomorrow.  Trapped indoors, I decided to get another task out of the way – the Endless Set for Rock Band 2 on drums.  That’s right folks, 84 songs straight for the coveted achievement.  This took me from 3:30pm until 10:30pm because I opted against the “Iron Bladder” achievement which is given for those who can do the set without pausing (crazy).  Needless to say, I think my Rock Band fix is covered for the next couple of weeks.

I’ll dig deep and get this post covered.   Last night my wife and I headed over to the gambling boat for a little fun.  We set pretty conservative limits for ourselves.  So, when the big gamblers come out to play, I often find myself simply watching them try and beat the odds.  As is almost always the case these days, the low end tables are filled with people playing well beyond the table minimums.  I’ve decided these people need the attention and like to stand out from the pack.  In the high limit areas (where they belong) they are simply just one of the regulars if not the little guy depending on the spending ratios.  I was watching my wife play a machine and noticed two guys sitting at the blackjack table across the aisle.  Table minimum was $15 and had 3 or 4 other people playing hands in the 15-25 dollar range.  As far as I could tell, both guys were playing the same card spot with the guy on the end doing the majority of the betting and the guy next to him kept augmenting the bet at various times.  They had just won a 75 dollar bet and were given their winnings in $25 chips.  Catching my attention, they did not pull the bet off the table and let it ride.  They won that hand too and stacked their 6 new $25 chips on top and let it ride again.  Another win and they let those additional 12 chips ride as well.  Amazingly, they pulled a push on a 17, but left it out there for another.  Then fate came through and the dealer pulled a 20 over their 19 putting an end to their little grab for $1200 glory.  Thinking the show was over I turned back to my wife’s machine.  Twenty minutes or so later I look back to the table to see about 10 people standing around the perimeter of table.  Glancing at the card spot, I see another high stack of green chips on the line .. but this time they have their audience.  The guy augmenting the bets starts stacking blacks ($100) under the 25’s.  A couple of wins later, they have well over $1000 out there.  Maybe this is a good time to remind everyone that the table minimum was $15.  Then next deal draws a 7 4 against a dealer 9.  Sure enough, they doubled the stack and pulled the death card – in this particular situation a 4.  Dealer turns a 10 and the pile headed toward the bank.  Immediately the crowd dispersed and the show was over.  Sheepishly they reset to a $25 bet and stared at the ground.  No more high fiving each other or glowing to the crowd.

Were those sly smiles I saw on the rest of the players at that table? It appears the pedestal has been trimmed a little.   By the way, Michael Jordan was in town last night to watch his kid (Whitney Young) play for the State Championship.  They ended up winning thanks to the little Jordan’s efforts.  Hopefully, he’ll turn out more productive that the one the Illini got.  Thanks to their pathetic showing in the NCAA tournament, they are watching from the sidelines.  I mainly bring this up because I kept hearing people wonder out loud if Michael would be showing up based on his historical affinity to gambling.  I never saw him so apparently he has that under control now.