Reno 97805-1280

Mostly because my messages rot in my Facebook-ing friends and relatives' email Inbox. So, between house projects (hey, a new roof, new electrical panel and circuits, and coming soon complete house rewiring), pro-bono Web/board design and administration, and a day job, look forward to even fewer posts in '09...

In a recent message from the wife: "On the way to school, Nic told me he wanted to show Avalyn his undies. After explaining why that isn't such a good idea I had to ask why did he want to show them to her. His response, 'They are cartoons and Avalyn doesn't have a TV.'"

The day I got him, I was buying cat food for Pip, the (then) family cat, in the Burien (WA) days. In one of the pet store bins was a splitting image of the puppy version of the Thorndike-Barnhart Junior Dictionary entry illustration -- that I recalled from second grade -- for "Spaniel". I then remembered that I always wanted a Spaniel. He had no papers, but his markings were good enough to argue that he was far from the Heinz 57 variety (a point groomers over the years had galvanized). So I was curious as to the behind-the-scenes story. The shop owner said that little guy had been the pick of the litter to carry on the legacy for the previous owner, who initially chose to keep him along with the mother. But when the previous owner's new landlord allowed only one dog, s/he had to make a concession. The puppy drew the short straw. So with the benefit of a dog with no papers and good markings, and knowing what a pedigreed dog can fetch, I figured I wouldn't pay a cen...

[Left, i.e., disregarded, neglected] Seems, as with the incomparable Tony Bennett, my eternal fling with San Francisco remains strong. This time, it was ringing in the New Year with Cake at The Warfield Theater with my bro (the wife declined due to scheduling conflicts), BFAM and his wife. Again, one for the books. Now, many have either seen/heard first- or second-hand my past SF experiences dating back to 1988, each filled with some level of joy and/or wonder. It was looking pretty iffy at this concert experience in that it didn't echo that of Sia concert at Bimbo's in April '06 when Sia herself gave me (and only me) a big hug outside her tour bus after the show, or the Les Claypool concert at The Fillmore where my date scored backstage passes in December '00. First off this time, Cake lead singer John McCrea lives in Oakland, so he probably took the BART, given his dervish tendencies. Secondly, he was nowhere to be seen; just the bassist with whom BFAM and wife...

Correction to prior post : "3300", per the reference manual in the "Winner Paid" display, is a tilt message that says the hopper -- the thing that holds the coins -- is empty. (Geez; you'd think Winner Paid" meant "Winner Paid.") Since the machine had only 5 coins in it, no suprise there. Hmph. So, Nic's jackpot was more like 50 coins (150, had he bet max). Still, an upper-tier pay combination is not bad for a second-ever pull (958 pulls per hit on that pay combo; not too shabby). I'll continue encouraging him to "invest" his lunch money in pursuit of the elusive 10,000-coin top award.

Note: Correction posted OK, so I won a slot machine at my company's holiday party. (Way to go, me! Hypothetical High-5...awesome.) I mean, a genuine article. Something you read about, or try to win in a charity raffle, and as an employee, pretty much give up all hope after the second year of company raffles. It's now in the "John Room" (aka the basement) at 1280, waiting for visitors to drop in the occasional quarter to have a bona-fide player experience in a non-smoking environment. As far as Nic and I are concerned, it's a giant piggy bank. But that's not the big news. On his second-ever coin drop and pull of a slot machine, my beloved Nic unknowingly hit a jackpot: 3,300 quarters on a "multiple nudge" whereby all 3 reels moved a smidge up and/or down, transforming the payline from 3 blanks to a triple bar, triple bar and double bar -- all bonus symbols. All this on one one quarter. You want proof? Here you go. (Click to enlarge) Notice him point...

Let me explain. "Nic[h/k]olas" in the book of baby names stands for "Victory". I thought it was appropriate, given how my wife's card readings prior to his being born kept pointing to a girl. "So be it," I figured. But there was a dream, during the first trimester and prior to the ultrasound that dictated his gender, that made me think otherwise. There I was, riding behind the driver's seat, looking forward at the passenger seat. And there, peeking behind the seat to look at me, a smiling, dimple-faced, blue-eyed boy. And it hit me: that's my boy. And just as I was saying "Hey, little buddy," he takes a swig from an oil can. OK, I haven't yet figured out the oil can part yet, but the remainder served as a portent of what was to come. I figured it was imminent, but maybe the second child (what with the card reading and all). But on the day of the second ultrasound, the nurse could see what the gender was. She asked if w...