Vegas baby, Vegas!!!

Well its not really Vegas, but it is poker night at the Togo mansion. I have a regular monthly game for some of my friends and family at my pad. It's a time where we can get together, play some cards, win/lose some money and just hang out and relax after the long work week. Usually have a pretty good turn out too...between 8-12 people on average. $10 minimum starting buy-ins gets a little cash flow going into the mix. Its a great time and I look forward to it each month. I thought about expanding it to maybe twice a month, but between my schedule and the wife's I don't think that can be done.

What's poker without 1) beer and 2) tasty treats? Well we always have an abundance of beer so that's never a problem. However people always seem to skimp out on the treats. Now I start my game at 7pm and most people have to drive a bit to get to my house, so there really is no time for a real dinner for anyone. I always try to provide at least a few snacks, but I'll be hornswaggled if I'm gonna foot the whole bill. So I depend on others to augment my offerings. We usually get a few bags of chips if we're lucky. Sometimes some dip to go with it. Now I don't know about you, but when I get hungry I want REAL FOOD, not chips. This time however we should have a decent spread. I'm gonna go all out and make some hot wings and taquitos. Giving the pizza poppers a rest this go 'round....the wife thinks we need variety. Could be a bad choice as the poppers have been a staple of poker since Day 1. We'll see. Also, my good buddy Carrie is bringing her AMAZING spinach dip. Hopefully others will follow suit and step up the snacks...I have been dropping less than subtle hints.

I never know quite what to expect when we all get together either. I have such a wide range of friends that its hard to tell how people will relate. Some gel really well, others not so well. There are a few clashing personalities and its always fun to see what happens when you mix them. It's like my own private chemistry experiment. For example, last time one of my buddies (who has a bit of a temper) got more than a little agitated that he AGAIN lost all his money. Rather than blame his own skills he blamed the person that took the money. He got a little upset and said he was sick of ALWAYS losing ALL his money to this person. Now, he usually loses his dough, but I think he maybe lost to this particular person one other time in the history of our game. He proceeded to get up from the table, walk outside to "smoke" and then launch into a giant raging tirade about how pissed he was and how sick he was of losing to so and so. We could all totally still hear him outside and we just laughed.

Another friend of mine (we'll call him "Biff") has some "quirks" if you will. One of Biff's quirks is that he is extremely superstitious. A few games back, someone brought out a penny to use as a card holder. Well you would have thought that someone just layed down a dead body on the table by his reaction. He freaked out and started going on and on about how he can't play cards if there is a penny on the table. That penny will suck all his luck/mojo/powers/whatever out and cause him to lose all night. After much ballyhooing, the penny was removed and the game continued. This event and my friend's fear of pennies lived on however and we used it as a cautionary tale to all new players. We still rib Biff about it from time to time and this is fueled by the fact that Biff now brings a plastic cube with suspended pennies in it to every game as his luck piece. His reasoning is that this is ok because the pennies don't touch the table. He's just asking for trouble. So. last game, one of my old buddies (we'll call him "Cake") was finally able to make it for the first time so we warned him about Biff and the penny. Biff and Cake also know each other from way back when we all used to work together. Cake is a pretty easy going dude but he likes to push people's buttons sometimes.

As the night progressed, Biff and Cake discussed the penny issue a couple of times over a smoke. Biff explained his reasoning and Cake seemingly understood. After one particularly long hand in which Biff and Cake were going head to head and Biff won, we decided it was time for a break. The smokers (including Cake) all got up to go outside. As Cake got up he turned to Biff and said "Good hand dude. Here's something extra" and he flipped a bright shiny penny down on the table right next to Biff's stack. We all laughed but Biff lost it. He started ranting and raving about disrespect and rudeness and all manner of thing and then actually started gathering up his stuff to leave! We all just stared in disbelief. WTF? He is seriously leaving over a PENNY??? I told him not to go over something so dumb but he was all butt hurt. Finally one of my buds said "F it dude. Let him go home if he's gonna be a little girl about a penny. No one wants that here. Just go home!". Well apparently this calling out showed Biff that he was indeed being a little baby and he decided to stay....but not after having a 30 minute heart to heart with Cake outside. Fun times indeed.

So yeah, my poker nights are fun and crazy and you never know what  kind of drama you're gonna get. All I know is its nice to hang with friends and family. Oh, and I'm now on a two game losing streak so I think tonight's the night I turn stuff around. I plan to win big tonight....Papa needs a new video game!

Posted by Mr_Duke_Togo @ 12:23 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Rude Awakening of Optimus Prime

If you grew up with Transformers like I did, then this should be freaking hilarious!

 

Posted by Mr_Duke_Togo @ 1:17 pm EDT | Permalink | 4 Comments

Home Theater!!!!!

Well after many months of planning, buying and waiting, the home theater is now complete. Last weekened we purchased our PS3/Blu-Ray player and a couple days ago we finally got some dudes over to wire in the speakers. After several hours of wiring, hooking everything up, configuring and testing, the Man Cave is ready to rock. I have a few small things left to do with the decorating, but it is mostly finished. I busted out a few movies to run the speakers through their paces and its sounding pretty sweet. I'll probably continue tweaking it, or maybe just have someone come out and professionally calibrate everything, but for now its great to have some good sound again. I sure missed the floor shaking, wall rattling bass while it was away.

I'm looking forward to getting some more Blu-Ray movies as well. We picked up Spider-Man 3 so far and its pretty good. I've got the 5 disk collector's edition of Blade Runner on the way too, as well as 300 (no collection is complete without this one). I'm excited to settle in and watch some HD goodness this weekend. The wife is also looking forward to jamming on RockBand with the new setup...and I must say I am too.  I fired up COD4 for the first time today on the new set up and I was blown away.  It sounded like I was in the middle of an all out war...bullets whizzing by and grenades landing behind me.  Very nice.

Its been a long time coming but I'm glad its finally done. The movie-phile in me was getting restless for sure. I'll try to post some pictures up soon too....the framed posters and wall sconces look especially nice I think.  I guess now I'll have to actually go through with the viewing party I've been talking about.

Well, I'm off now. As I said I still have some tweaking to do so its back to work. Catch you later faithful readers!

Posted by Mr_Duke_Togo @ 5:17 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

I AM LEGEND

Apparently I am some sort of legend around these parts. First, some backstory.

So as some of you faithful readers may know, I am selling all my old toys and stuff on eBay. Sales have been good and the profits have afforded me a level of comfort and luxury one can only dream of. Not really, but I have been able to buy a lot of cool things I've been wanting for a while.

At any rate, in order to rake in the maximum profits I offer my goods worldwide. As you can imagine, there are lots of foreign dudes that want our USA stuff. I've shipped all over the world from France to Spain to Austrailia to Canada to the UK. But my only real hassle so far has been shipping to Mexico. Apparently there are all sorts of crazy shipping rules and regulations that only apply to Mexico. Sure all places have SOME restrictions, but Mexico's are 10 times crazier.

So anyway, a month or so ago I sold a huge lot of Star Wars stuff to a dude in Mexico. To date it is still the single largest shipment I have ever processed. Now one of the major headaches of eBay (aside from all the damn hidden fees) is calculating accurate shipping prices. Its bad enough in the US but when you go international it increases exponentially. So I did my research on the US Post Office website and quoted this dude what I thought was an accurate price. He won the auction and so I began preparing the shipment.

After checking all the size and weight restrictions on the website and using their International shipping calculator, I prepared two LARGE parcels for shipping. They were big, but not overly so and I thought I was well within the restrictions.

So shipping day arrived. I loaded the boxes in the car and drove down to the Post Office. I unloaded the boxes and took 2 trips to bring them in. The lady behind the counter eyed these parcels warily and uneasily said "I don't think those will go, they're too big".

I said "That's what she said". HA HA, not really but I love that from The Office. You really can fit that into any conversation.

Anyhoo, I really said "I checked everything on the website and they should be within regulation". So I hefted the first one onto the counter so she could check. She measured and weighed and checked her Postal Bible. According to the manual, they were kosher. So she starts entering everything into the computer, but the computer is saying "NO WAY JOSE!!!". She can't figure it out and apologizes. She tells me I need to talk to the Post Master. I say "Roll her old bones on out here then!". Alas, the Post Master is out on some ultra important Postal mission and won't be back for a few hours, but I can leave the packages there and she will call me when she gets back. I say "Ok".

A few hours go by and I hear nothing, so I ring up the old Post Office. The P. Master gets on and says the boxes are too big. I say "How so when your website and your Postal Bible both say they are good to go?". She says the info must be out of date and I laugh. I think that made her mad. So now I get to go back down to the P.O. and collect my goods. I have to re-package them and bring them back in suitable shipping packages.

So I get back and the P. Master comes out to "school" me on the ways of posting. After a Sunday Sermon from her and an outlay of $15 on my part for appropriate boxes, I am armed with all the knowledge and supplies I need. I journey back home, unpack my meticulously packed boxes and attempt to fit them into the 4 new boxes. This was easier said than done.

It was like some crazy jigsaw puzzle from hell but I finally managed to get everything crammed back into these new boxes. However, now because I am shipping 4 boxes instead of 2 the shipping is an additional $60. Meanwhile this poor dude in Mexico is already freaking out about the cost of shipping and the taxes he will have to pay so now I have to go back and tell him the P.O. info was wrong and I need more money. But, because I am an ultra cool dude I tell him I'll split it with him and he's cool with that. So I return to the Office and mail everything and everyone lived happily ever after and never gave it another thought......

........until today.

Today I hit my local P.O. accompanied by Sarah and J. My old buddy "Glasses Guy" was at the counter. We exchanged pleasantries and I handed him my stuff. As it so happened I was shipping another package to Mexico today. Sarah made some comments about how the box was not up to par and "Glasses Guy" offered to tape it up some more. As he taped, I happened to mention something to Sarah about what an ordeal I had the last time I shipped to Mexico. "Glasses Guy" stopped as if struck, his eyes wide.

"That was you?!?" he said. "Man, you're a legend around here!!!"

I chuckled a bit until I realized he was serious. His adoration was unnerving....I thought he was gonna ask for my autograph. Surely he jested with me. No, he was dead serious. Apparently my ordeal had become some sort of tall tale in postal folklore. My stature had reached giant like proportions and the boxes I wielded that fateful day were now like small moons perched upon my Atlas-like shoulders.

I just laughed it off and we completed the transaction. He bid me a more enthusiastic farewell than usual, as if to wish me luck on my adventures roaming the land and slaying mighty cardboard foes. It was all rather odd, but at the same time kind of cool. After all, how many people can say that they are a local legend. From the mentally challenged wheelchair dude patrolling main street to the crack whore that runs the coffee shop, I will gladly take my spot among the ranks of Kuna's finest.

Posted by Mr_Duke_Togo @ 4:07 pm EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments

So freaking cool...I can't wait for May

The teaser trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie hit today. This looks so sweet. I can't belive how long its been since the last one, but this takes me right back. Check it out!

http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html

Posted by Mr_Duke_Togo @ 12:23 pm EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments