Vegas Baby, Vegas

The trip came and went w/ out too many good stories to bring home, unless you want to count the one of me passing out in our hotel bathroom at 5am. One might think that since I blacked out at 5am, we probably stayed up way to late partying/gambling/drinking, etc... I wish that were true. For those of you who haven't heard yet, I got the flu (and probably the H1N1 virus) while out in Vegas. I actually probably got it in Indy before I left, but the virus finally kicked my ass out there. Long story short, I wasn't feeling well Sunday evening so i went back to the room around 7. Got up at 10 to go eat something light (fruit cup), met Dave at the tables to gamble a little bit, finally decided I really was sick, then went back to the room. After a few hours of sleeping, I woke up to use the bathroom and after was done, proceeded to get really dizzy, lose all strength and crumble like a ton of bricks to the floor, knocking my noggin on the floor as well as scraping my back against the wall or countertop...something to cause me to bleed. After 30 seconds or so I finally decided I needed to call out to Scott or Dave as I realized I really didn't have any strength to move. Of course after about 10 seconds of concern for my well being, they realized I was just sick and wasn't anything too serious, so the jokes and hazing of my mishap began. We did call the Bally's medical staff to come take my blood pressure and just to see what they could do. It was just an EMT, so I'm sure Scott's tee-shirt he was wearing "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor" may have been a little intimidating to this guy as he seemed more concerned w/ wanting to hang out w/ us then about my low blood pressure and 102 degree fever I was running. Once he left it was good for a laugh, which revitalized me enough to shower/shave and head down to tables at 7:30 before trying to eat some food. The rest of that day involved about 2 hours of gambling then 2 hours of sleeping, then repeat. So that put a little damper on our trip, but luckily neither Scott or Dave got sick from me. Unfortunately for Scott, the gambling gods didn't shine well on him as he took a beating. I actually won a few hundred bucks and Dave held his own, maybe losing a little bit.

I went to my 2nd high school 10-year reunion this past weekend as I was invited to the Indianapolis Ritter class of 99 reunion. I was only there for about 2 hours, but I knew maybe 30-40% of the people there, thus reaffirming my Ritter status. Their reunion sucked though in comparison to my actual Jimtown reunion.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. Spending the day at my mom's w/ my step-brother and his wife & kids, so should be fun. It'll be good to have a nice long weekend as I'm only working Monday & Tuesday next week.

Just watched IU get beat by 20 to Mississippi...IU is really young and did not look good. Could be another long year for the Hoosiers.

Vegas is starting to catch up w/ me on my NFL bets. The weekend I was out there was a tough weekend from an NFL perspective. I went 3-4 on my bets against the spread, bringing my record at the time to 12-9 for the year. Scott went 0-6 on his NFL bets, so it could have been worse.... I went 1-1 last weekend bringing my actual bet totals to 13-10. As for my picks against Diddy, i'm 12-8 while Evan is 13-7 w/ his 2-0 week last week...so its important I nail a few of these upcoming weeks as I do not want to lose another lunch bet to a guy from Wabash Indiana, seriously.

I'm too tired to post a video, but this website has been getting a lot of pub lately, so here's the link to the beautiful people of Walmart. Oh wait, I just remembered this wonderful video of Cleveland, which apparently caused a little bit of an uproar on the local Cleveland news stations

Halloween surprise

So I threw my 3rd annual Halloween party this past weekend. A little smaller party this year than last year, but we still finished the keg off (minus half a pitcher), had some good beer pong games, and good times hanging out w/ friends. I went as the Pope, which was my costume 4 years ago. I think the best costume at my party was "Alan" from The Hangover, complete w/ baby Carlos. A new addition to this year's party was the cops showing up at like 1am when only like 5 people were left. I hadn't turned the music off outside, so one of my neighbors must have finally been fed up....oh well. I've probably thrown or "co-hosted" w/ roommates maybe like 10 parties in my life that were loud/wild enough to have the cops called. This was the 2nd time in my life the cops have came to a party i hosted, so 20% isn't too bad I guess. Overall, Halloween was another success.

Heading to Vegas w/ Scott and Dave this Saturday, will be there till Tuesday, then when I get back I have the rest of the week off work. definitely looking forward to my vacation. I have a good feeling about this Vegas trip....i feel some magical blackjack sessions coming for all 3 of us, which will definitely make the trip that much better!

The NFL season is halfway over so it's a good time to check in on my predictions I made 9 weeks ago....this is gonna be ugly.

• The Colts go 11-5, but lose to the Chargers in the 2nd round of the playoffs, again, for the 3rd straight f'n year [Since we are 7-0 now, we should finish better than 11-5, however our schedule gets much tougher the rest of the way. I'm thinking 13-3 now]
• The Cowboys finish 8-8 or worse [5-2 now, w/ four easy games left on schedule (Wash x2, Oakland, home against SD, along w/ a few tough divisional games left. 10-6 is looking for like it for Big D]
• The Packers will win the NFC North [The Pack are struggling, but I still think they'll eek into the playoffs. I just wasn't buying the Viking hype before the season. I was just plain wrong]
• The Vikings will miss the playoffs, but the Bears will make playoffs 8 [See above about Vikes. The Bears are 4-3, but really haven't beat anyone outside of getting lucky against Pitt. Remaining schedule isn't easy w/ only 2 "should-be locks" (St. Louis/Detroit). 8-8 or 7-9 sounds about right for them, missing the playoffs]
• AFC playoff teams - Pats, Chargers, Colts, Titans, Ravens, Steelers [midway prediction: Pats, Broncos, Colts, Cincy, Pitt, Houston]
• NFC playoff teams - Eagles, Pack, Saints, Bears, Giants, Seahawks [midway prediction: Saints, Eagles, Vikings, Cowboys, Arizona, Pack. The Giants have a tough schedule rest of the way and they just haven't looked good the last 3 weeks, so I'm dropping them.]
• Super Bowl Champ will be the AFC rep, which will be either the Pats or the Chargers, and they will defeat the Packers [I'll leave the Pats here, but will sub in the Colts. Also, the Saints or Vikes are gonna represent the NFC...and please God let it be the Saints so we don't get bombarded by Favre media coverage for 2 weeks leading up to the game]
• Michael Vick throws/runs/catches for at least 5 TD's this year [I have the same amount of TDs as Michael Vick has this year...nuff said]
• The Raiders finish 2nd in the AFC west...at 6-10. [not happening. maybe 5-11, but not 6-10. Luckily the Chiefs are in their division, so they'll only finish 3rd in the AFC West]
• The Bengals finish 8-8 or better (i love Hard Knocks). Vegas has the over/under at 7 wins (and yes, i already have that prop bet booked) [Definitely my best prediction. currently 5-2 and still have the Browns, Chiefs, Lions, and Raiders left on their schedule. Good job, Me!
• I will dominate my work fantasy football league. Seriously, I possibly have the greatest team ever assembled for a league that has 10+ teams [I have a good team, but got off to a slow start, however, I'm still 5-3 and should still be a force to reckon w/ come playoff time]
• I will win at least 62% of my bets. I'll explain... [Yep, 9-4 on my actual bets this year....so far so good. Diddy and I are both 10-6 in our picks against the spread, but there have a been a few weeks where I haven't been able to get to a computer to check the spreads for the early games, so I haven't actually "bet" on 2 games every week.
• I hope that at least 3 of my predictions above come true [I'll say that I have 3 of my predictions right (Bengals, Bets, and 1/2 correct on AFC rep winning Super Bowl prediction and 1/2 of my playoff teams right)]

Let's see, what else... Mackey (my cat) had a bladder infection last week. Apparently urinating blood isn't a good thing. Poor guy, but I got him on some antibiotics now and he has responded nicely. Back to his same old self, which is terrorizing everyone that walks by him.

My sister turned 26 today...Jesus that's old! which just means that i'm 28 and even older! oh well, such is life. Yanks about have the World Series up as I type this (up 7-3 in the 7th)....although it'd be sweet to see a collapse so that we get a Game 7 tomorrow night. I'm afraid we aren't that lucky though.

Reunion

I'm getting a little lazier w/ my blog postings considering its been 2 weeks since my last post. But that's OK, I'm back like Mickey Rourke, except not as crazy (or funny, successful, popular, etc...but possibly better looking).

So some quick updates on a few things that were in my last few postings. Vegas - room is booked for Nov 7-10th. Bally's Casino was nice enough to comp my room for 3 nights, including a Saturday night...obvious evidence that Vegas is struggling! Scott is in for sure and it appears like I have 2 other friends that are going to go. Highlight of this trip is going to be spending all day on a sunday in a sportsbook. I plan on betting on every NFL day game. None of us going have ever spent a day in a sportsbook betting on a bunch of games and it's obviously something that most guys must do once in their life, so we are crossing it off our lists this year!

Speaking of NFL and betting, i've gone 4-0 over the past two weeks to increase my record to 8-4 on the year. Diddy is also 8-4.

Halloween party is scheduled for Oct 31st at my house and I'm looking forward to it. I've also decided on my costume..The Pope will once again be in attendance for Halloween (my costume from 4 years ago). The party should be fun, that's for sure. Last year we blasted through a keg in about 2 1/2 hours...had around 40 people so it was a good turnout. I'm expecting around 30-40 again for this year.

I've also come out of 8-week retirement from tennis, so that's been fun. Another great athletic achievement came yesterday at my firm's annual outing. We went to a city park out in Danville, IN and had a great time. Part of the day me and few of the guys in my firm went over to the football field nearby and decided we'd try to kick field goals. None of us had really ever done it before. Out of the 10 people or so that tried to kick a 20-yarder (a PAT), only 4 people actually made it. Diddy and I both hit 25 yarders and I hit a few from 30 (one that would have been good from 40). however, i never did hit one from 40 when I tried from that distance. It was a lot of fun and much harder than it looks. Also, I definitely strained/pulled some sort of muscle/ligament in my upper leg...sorta hurt to go up and down stairs today. But well worth it!

And I guess the biggest thing that's happened to me over the past 2 weeks is that my high school 10 year reunion was this past Saturday up in my hometown of Elkhart. I'd say around 40-50 people from my class of 110 made it out, so that wasn't too bad. I had a blast up there all day, which included tailgaiting at Notre Dame for the USC game w/ some high school buddies during the day, then the reunion at night. Great to see everyone. Hopefully our 20 year reunion doesn't end up being something like the Fox show Reunion, which sadly only made it through 9 of the 20 some episodes before being cancelled. Matt and I were bummed at the time, but after learning the future outcome of the show, i'm glad I didn't waste 11 hours of my life on it.

I ended up going w/ Kelvin Hayden for my Colts jersey, but thanks to all of you for voting. I realize that he wasn't even on the original poll...a slight oversight on my part. Unfortunately he's been hurt the last 3 weeks and has only played in the first 2 games this year. He's one of the starting cornerbacks for those of you who don't know.

A friend of mine sent me this video...hope you all like it!

The countdown is on

That's right, the countdown to the 3rd Annual Cook Halloween Bash taking place on Halloween night this thanks to it falling on a Saturday. Still not sure on costumes yet, so I gotta get on that soon. My initial thought was a golf caddy, but I'm not sure I really want to carry around golf clubs the whole night, but I may go w/ that still. It's early in the process so I'm sure I'll change my mind about as much as Scott did when he was deciding what kind of doctor to be because apparently some are better than others...who knew?

So just a quick update for this blog:

Went to Athens, GA this past weekend w/ Adam and Scott to visit my high school buddy Craig, who lives about 1/4 mile from the University of Georgia's campus. Got down there real early friday morning, spent Friday afternoon walking around (aka, scaling/climbing the massive hills) the campus. Best part of this was actually sneaking "Between the Hedges" (Georgia's football field). It's amazing what you can do if you just act like you know what your doing. So we got some decent pictures from that. Tailgate was very sweet on Saturday. A lot of great scenery down on Georgia's campus... Didn't actually go to the game as scalpers would not come below triple digits for a single ticket as the game featured two teams in the Top 20. So we ended up watching the game at a bar...great game, wish we could have gotten in, but not for $125/ticket. The rest of the trip was an assortment of bar hopping at the college bars....Craig said it was the craziest he's ever seen it. Weather was great (high 70's, blue skies), so all in all a great trip.

Is Jimmy Clausen going to win the Heisman? I'm being serious.... he's got a much better shot then I initially would have thought. something to keep your eye over the next few weeks, especially if ND pulls out a victory over USC. Speaking of that game, I'm tailgating w/ some high school friends for that game as it's the day of 10-year HS Reunion, so I'll be in Elkhart that day. Not sure if I'll go to the game or not, but I wouldn't rule it out.

My 10-year reunion...holy smokes. Time has gone pretty fast. I am looking forward to it though. I know many people, including some of my blog readers, who aren't looking forward to their's and some that did not (will not) go. Hell, I may even go to Ritter's 10 year reunion as well since I know a ton of people from their 99 class plus some people actually think I went there...like their alumni office. I got an invite to go the Alumni Dinner for Cardinal Ritter HS. It was addressed to me and everything, so somehow the school as me in their alumni database. too make it even funnier, Andy & Scott, two of my friends, that actually graduated from that HS did not get invites!

Went 0-2 in my picks against the spread last week, bringing my record to 4-4. In all fairness to me, since I was in Georgia Thursday-Sunday and driving back from GA on sunday, I didn't have access to any of the spreads until the afternoon games, so I essentially had to pick from just 5 games. Didn't get a chance at the 1pm games. Also, since I didn't have computer access in the car, no money was actually wagered...so a good week to go 0-2 since nothing was lost! Diddy went 1-1, so he is now 5-3 on the year w/ the early advantage over me.

Vegas trip in November is picking up steam as I have 2 guys that seem to be committed as well. Can't wait for my vacation...I need one desperately

I'm out. I leave you w/ this. And parents thought monkey bars were the most dangerous recess activity

What should I be?

For Halloween that is...what should I dress up as? I have to determine this in the next 4 weeks or so before the 3rd Annual Cook Halloween Bash. I also need to decide if i'm throwing the party on Friday night (Oct 30th) or Saturday night on Halloween. I see pros & cons to both.... Some of my costumes over the past few years have included:

• Ghostbusters
• The Pope
• Pirate
• Tony Montana (Scarface)
• Daniel LaRusso (Karate Kid)

so I have a lot to live up too....

Played golf about a week ago and broke 80 again, so i've done it twice now. I shot 78 at Eagle Creek on the Pines course...i had previously shot a 79 at Eagle Creek, but on the Sycamore course. For you out of towners, Eagle Creek has 36 holes. This round was particularly sweet as I took an 8 on #9 to shoot a 42 on the front, but then fired a 36 on the back, and had a 10-footer for birdie on 18 to shoot a 35. I missed, but was definitely pleased w/ shooting even par on a nine.

Remember how I started 0-2 in my NFL picks this year after week 1 and i said I wasn't worried, well...i knew what I was talking about. I've rolled off 4 straight through Week 3 and am 4-2 on the season. Diddy is currently 3-2, w/ one of his games in process as I'm writing this posting.

I'm heading to Georgia next Thursday w/ Adam and Scott. We are going to Athens & staying w/ Craig. The weekend should be a good time as we are planning on scalping for the LSU/Georgia game. LSU is currently ranked #4 in the country and Georgia is ranked in the high-teens I believe. should be a good time....the Univ of Georgia is a beautiful campus and a prime tailgating venue. I believe there is a bar or two (or 100) right on campus, so we'll survive!

Some other random events of this past week

• Dominated a whole chicken (w/ assistance from my mom). I'll explain - I bought a chicken from the grocery store (already cut up) and fried it up. I'd never made friend chicken before, so it was fun and was pretty tasty! I had to call Mom at the grocery store to see exactly what I would need to do it. I think some other people shopping were getting a kick out an obvious bachelor calling his mom to get cooking assistance!
• Been on a few college campuses recruiting/interviewing for work. Very busy time of the year for me w/ recruiting. I've already done 20 interviews or so and have around 30-40 more in the next 7-10 days. I actually had a kid tell me one of his hobbies was reading Simmons and listening to the BS Report (ESPN columnist - see my link on the right for the Sportsguy)....unbelievable. I had to stop and explain this to Jim, one of my bosses who was conducting the interview w/ me, in the middle of the interview. I'm actually going to email this to Simmons to see if this is worthy of making his mailbag...
• Ran a 5k yesterday morning for the Indianapolis Corporate Challenge. My goal was to do it under 23 minutes and finished around 22 min 30 seconds, so I was satisfied. About a 7:15/mile pace.
• The Vegas trip for 2nd week of November is starting to take shape. It appears Scott is going to go, so still looking for a few more. Debating on going out Sat-Tues or Mon-Thurs. If we go Saturday, i'd have to sell my Colts tickets for that game, but I would get to spend all day Sunday in a Vegas sportsbook for all the NFL games, so that's intriguing. We'd also be in Vegas for the Main Event final table of the World Series of Poker...so that would be kinda fun to go to, seeing $9 million up for grabs!

Well I'd love to hear your thoughts/ideas for my Halloween costume. Until next time, go IRISH and Colts!

Because we can never get enough Peyton

I think I'm in love

Just kidding, wanted to an excuse to work Eddie Money into my blog

Not sure if the roommate thing is still going to happen, so yes Kimberly, the pros to living alone outweighed the cons to having a roommate. Looks like I'll be by myself for the foreseeable future. Alright, it's been a very busy past 10 days. I've been to IU, Colts opener, Matt's housewarming party coupled w/ ND/Mich game, saw Who's Bad (michael jackson cover band), Pittsburgh for 3 days, oh, and my firm kinda split, got a raise, made final table of an online poker tourney, dominated both fantasy football leagues in week 1....whew, just a typical 10 days!

Let's see, Colts home opener. Adam was in town for like 4 days last week, topped off by the Colts hanging on against the Jags 14-12. sole possession of 1st place in the division already...chalk it up, another division title is imminent. Adam's tailgaiting grill didn't work, so we made some friends quickly as we needed to gank their grill.

Gambling - well, i didn't get off to the start I was hoping for, losing both of my games last week. So 0-2 to start the year, but that's alright. Gotta love the spread as I went 13-3 in picking straight up winners, but 0-2 against spread. Oh well. I started off 1-3 last year in route to my 28-17 finish a year ago, so i'm not too concerned. Week 1 is always tough. Diddy accepted my challenge and he went 1-1, so he has an early advantage. On a positive note, i'm 1-0 in both of my fantasy leagues, and see no reason why I won't be 2-0 after this week.

Pittsburgh - I was there for a leadership/management training course, so it's obvious i'm bringing this trip up for another reason. The exciting part was that I got to see a blast from my past who just moved out there. She made a great tour guide and by the end of the night, I was drinking a beer w/ Hines Ward....right place at the right time. I had two different friends text me to say something to him about his fumble in the NFL opener...i passed on that opportunity. He's a stocky man plus had just bought me a beer, so I made the safe move and kept my mouth shut. So some good stories from that trip...definitely one of my better work related training trips.

Speaking of work, it's no secret anymore, so I feel like I can mention it here. One month ago we had close to 60 employees....today we have around 45. Quite a big change for a firm that has had less than 10% turnover since I started working there 6 years ago. One of our senior partners, whose name is part of the firm name, decided to take his practice elsewhere and start a new firm. Some good people and friends of mine followed him. Obviously we lost some clients as well, but nothing that's going to cripple my firm. anyway, it's been a hectic and challenging past 4 weeks at the firm as all of this has unfolded. I wish my prior coworkers well in their new endeavor.

For my faithful readers, you may remember that I had a possible hookup to play Oakmont Country Club this year (which is related to my Pittsburgh training), but unfortunately it fell through for this year. However, since i'm the luckiest guy I know, MAY 18, 2010, I have a tee time to play the course that has hosted eight US Open's, most recently in 2007. I'm not exactly sure yet if i'm playing in a foursome and if i'm allowed to take anyone, but if so, maybe one of my lucky friends may get to make the trip to Pittsburgh w/ me to play it.

I'm throwing this out there...i want some people to go to Vegas w/ me the 2nd week of November as i'm on vacation that week. Let me know if interested...i can get a room for free at some of the hotels on the strip, so let me know!

Marko sent me this video, i thought it was good...enjoy! Speaking of the Croatian, him and Jenny and their first child 2 weeks ago, congrats!

ahhh, football

So I may potentially have a roommate...a boyfriend of a girl that I casually dated for maybe 4-6 weeks a few years ago. So as I presented this idea to a few friends/coworkers, I discovered this intriguing trend. Women gasped at the idea and guys couldn't have cared less.

Seriously, I think every woman I told made a comment similar to "won't that be weird/awkward?" The guys reaction was, "oh, that's not a big deal at all." Even before this whole idea picked up steam, i ran it by the girlfriend of the potential roommate to make sure she was OK w/ it....she didn't mind, although, i'm sure there was some hesitation at first. Now i'm fairly certain she doesn't care because, well, it was 4 years ago. As for the potential roommate, he obviously didn't care, and if he did, it was like for a milli-second. So, hopefully it works out for me as the extra money would be nice.

I had two separate requests from readers for my NFL predictions, so here ya go:

• The Colts go 11-5, but lose to the Chargers in the 2nd round of the playoffs, again, for the 3rd straight f'n year
• The Cowboys finish 8-8 or worse
• The Packers will win the NFC North
• The Vikings will miss the playoffs, but the Bears will make playoffs
• AFC playoff teams - Pats, Chargers, Colts, Titans, Ravens, Steelers
• NFC playoff teams - Eagles, Pack, Saints, Bears, Giants, Seahawks
• Super Bowl Champ will be the AFC rep, which will be either the Pats or the Chargers, and they will defeat the Packers
• Michael Vick throws/runs/catches for at least 5 TD's this year
• The Raiders finish 2nd in the AFC west...at 6-10.
• The Bengals finish 8-8 or better (i love Hard Knocks). Vegas has the over/under at 7 wins (and yes, i already have that prop bet booked)
• I will dominate my work fantasy football league. Seriously, I possibly have the greatest team ever assembled for a league that has 10+ teams
• I will win at least 62% of my bets. I'll explain...
• I hope that at least 3 of my predictions above come true

I bet on 2 games a week against the spread, plus every playoff game. There are 17 weeks, so 34 bets in the regular season and then 11 playoff games, for 45 total bets. last year I went 28-17, my inaugural year...so not a bad year! Now i'm not betting a lot per game, but enough to keep it interesting! this year, i'm looking to basically replicate my record from last year. Week 1 and 2 is always tough as it's hard to have a real gauge on the teams.... I'll keep a running total of my wins/losses for the year during the NFL season.

Now I have two main rules when it comes to gambling on NFL games. First, never bet for (or against, obviously) "your team." Trust me on this. Second, you better have 5 good reasons that can be verified by two separate friends to bet on a road team. In other words, stick to the home teams.

I'd now like to take this opportunity to challenge Diddy to pick against me in my betting format. Now I know he won't put up his own money every week like I do since he's not a compulsive gambler (and his wife wouldn't let him), but I propose that he picks two games against the spread each week, just like i do, and we'll just keep a running total of who does the best during the year. Diddy, you have been officially challenged.

And my pick of the week - ND 27 Michigan 20. Highlights from the 2008 Wolverine turnover display, six to be exact. I personally like Tate's move at the 1:59 mark of the video