Well, Xmas is over at last! I'm glad Rude and Enron could make it to Ye Poope Decke this year. This was a really fun one. David seemed to think that between probate, getting whatever hideous monstrosity will be erected on the site approved, etc., the Poop Deck/Mermaid might survive another year. Let's hope so!

Ja-El: your story about the rat was gross, vivid, and hiliarious. I can exactly picture the scene in my mind. Awesome! I wish I would draw, because if I could, I would do an artist's rendering of the scene.

My phone (Skelephone II) is such a piece of shit. Half the time when somebody calls me they can't hear me, or it is as if I were yelling to them through a wind tunnel. Between Xmas money and some work rewards (nothing as good as a bonus, the company's too poor for that shit, but like some Amex gift cards and shit) I wouldn't have to spend THAT much to buy an iPhone. Some people have said that a big upgrade is on the way, which will switch from the Edge network to a faster internet network. I don't think that is coming until quite a bit later in the year however, and I really need a new phone now... any advice?

| i hackedidid my psp

holy shit, I took the solo route of modifying the slim's battery (just a simple cut of a trace line, then after software magic is done, simple pencil in said cut puts the trace back together) and it worked. but it's now 4 in the fucking morning and im so wired on my agro hax assault. The HARDEST most hair-pulling part was trying to open the fuckin battery. You basically gotta cut around the edge with a blade to kill the glue. Fuck that noise. By the end I had a method, but I was at it forEVER. Then the actual haxoring part was like 5 minutes...

| Overheating problems with my car

So my car is overheating again, but this time it seems more serious. Water jets up a little when the rad cap is off when i depress the gas switch. I overhauled the radiator, replaced the spark plugs, hoses but the problem persists. Is there a way to test the water pump? If so i'm wondering how, and then is there a difference between 1 row radiator and 2 rows? According to the company mechanic, he wants to try to replace the radiator first with a 2 row one. I'm wondering if more capacity of water would make a difference in the flow.
Actually I'm thinking it's something more serious like a bad gasket or a cracked head, which means I'll be needing a top overhaul soon... I don't see any oil in the water, but the water does get kinda fuzzy, and it's hard to tell if there's any water in the oil...

i'm pretty bummed, cuz it's not really the money, just that it's a real time hog to deal with these issues.

On the home front, I had to deal with a huge rat in the house. Rats are pretty common here and no I don't live in a jungle hut. Anyway, I tracked it down and we had a brief staredown. Then I proceeded to grab a 3 iron from my golf set and smashed his brains in one foul blow. As it's head exploded, it's blood flowed on my kitchen floor as its twitching body gave it's last movements.
Rats 0, Humans 1

Gunther fucking rocks!!!!@#%!@#$!!! He's total talent.

Nice! Most of the grad school graduates I know had to fumble around for a few months after graduation before finding something. Glad you're not in the same boat.

Here's a little after-Christmas Christmas for you guys: here.

Jorn, yeah. Looks like we're kind of stuck here for the immediate future, anyway. I had a couple of firm job offers and another nice sounding opportunity that hasn't come to fruition just yet. I applied for a position with Station Casinos in their Executive Management Program on a lark and somehow won the position out of 1000 applicants. Then, through fate or whatever, just happened to run into a company called Holiday Systems International at a job fair (where I was trying to track down a recruiter for Palms). Anyway, making a long story short, I was going to go with Station Casinos and told HSI as much because I was trying to think long term and wasn't sure what my future would be like at HSI, and not only did the Operations Director / CEO personally call me to make it clear that they wanted me badly, but he explained what his plans were for me and bumped up their starting salary offer to a level I couldn't say no to. So, I took the job at HSI after all. Now, I'm waiting on a restaurant group to either get their stuff in order here in Vegas and make me an ever better offer, or I'll work at HSI for at least the next few years and pay off some debt, if nothing else.

All in all, a pretty great Christmas! =)

Oh, and part of the benefits of me working at HSI is that I can use my position to get family and friends insanely great wholesale rates on lodging and accommodations. Last month they had a two bedroom suite at a five star Paris resort for $300 (usually $6000!)

Anyhow. I'm being paged from the Bella Dancerella dance floor. Talk to you goons laters!

Haylee was crushed under a mountain of presents this morning from Santa!

Action Team gifts are received with much glee:

Dolls from all around the world gets a small reaction

Haylee gets moderately excited about an outfit

And now, I get to listen to Bella Dancerella for the next 36-72 hours in a row.

Merry Christmas, Action Team!

Congratulations, Art! What's next? Are you going to stay in Vegas?

Cool picture by the way, you sort of look like Satan.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Haylee Madison in the Christmas spirit

Art done got gradumacated!

Here's to 2008.

| Skip-Bo, The Game Of "Fuck This Shit"

I was digging through the last of the old crap I left at my parents' place (looking for my Doomtown cards -- so far haven't found 'em) and I came across this old classic game "Skip-Bo" that somebody must have given me years ago. I decided to break it out and what a piece of shit. It's like somebody shit into a box, put it in cellophane, and made me keep in my closet for 10 years. Sometimes classic games aren't so classic. (Another example: Yahtzee. Also Yahtzee is better than Skip-Bo.)

I mean, what kind of name IS Skip-Bo? They don't explain the history of the game in the rules or anything. The best my sister and I could come up with was that the game was the work of Skip and Bo Duke (Skip Duke being a lesser-known cousin).

I also found a Playboy from 1996, a Maxim that must have been Enron's, and my old, broke-ass Dark Tower unit (death by battery acid). I wish that still worked... that game was awesome!

Definitely hope you can make it Rude! Give me a call. We'll probably be there from 3:00 on.

| hey suburbia hey suburbia hey suburbia we're in love with you!

Pandora.com made a suprisingly good punk rock station with just inputting "nofx" - only one early misstep with a blink song from that first big album eric used to be into when he lived in san diego. other than that, its fucking rocking out. (then they played MXPX soon after, so maybe i'm jinxing myself - thumbs down fagot!)

HAPPY FUCKING CHRISTMAS YOU GUYS! I know ppl will not post around the actual holiday so there goes my shoutout now. I'm at work today doing some OT so I can leave early tomorrow. I had a good time last x-mas eve with kool(jon) and the gang, so if they let me out at a reasonable time (i'm hoping NOONISH fucking cocksuckers) then I'd love to see you guys at the poop deck.

Otherwise, have a safe and sane X-Mas everyone!

| The Poop

Yeah, there is a real likelihood the Poop will not be in existence next year. Sigh... Anyway, it often does have a mix of young ones and old grits, but on Xmas Eve, we are the party and often no one else is there other than the bartender. The Meatloaf was super excited to find out we will be showing up on Xmas eve for a little pre-holiday dinner festivities. Do it!

Budweiser and piss? Yes often it does have a odor roughly as such. Part of the spirit of the sleazy dive bar action on Xmas eve. Kinda like The Champagne of Beer no? Otherwise, not so great.

D>M>

I'd heard that about the Poo Deck and Mermaid. All the more reason to come for what is probably the final year of a seven-year tradition! Put down that plate lunch and fly back from Hawaii for the day, jet-setter!

There's always been smoking there (one of their highlights is a machine that dispenses individual cigarettes -- another one is the old-school cloth towel) but I've never seen anyone younger than me there on Christmas. Actually, it's rare that there are more than two people besides our group there. Hopefully the youngsters will be too busy at home unwrapping their new Jettas and Nintendo 64s that day!

I am in Hawaii. Not to brag or nothin'...

Jon, this may be your last year to enjoy the Poop Deck. It is closing along with the Mermaid and Good Stuff. The owner of the property from whom the businesses leased, passed away. The inherited property was then sold for a pretty penny and I hear that there will be one of two businesses built in its stead: either 1) A hotel or 2) a Hard Rock Cafe! My vote would be to put your hands together, because frankly, fuck that city.

Not to be a killjoy, but I went to the Poop Deck recently and it sucked. I hadn't been there in a long while and it was full of a bunch of people who just turned 21, apparently they allow smoking there now, it smelled like stale Budwiser and piss and had absolutely no redeeming qualities to me... not even nostalgic or camp value. It will be missed by many though, just not me.

While I don't agree with Eric's complete hatred for Superbad, I only found it mildly amusing. I laughed really hard at the dicks part, but other than that, an occasional chuckle. I enjoyed Knocked Up way better. It was better scripted and just better done. Maybe it's because I already came of age, so to speak...