All the regulars showed up for poker last night. Joe and Ryan brought beer. Seth announced an entire list of beers in his fridge that he could have brought if we'd asked. Nate supplied music by hooking his mp3 player up to the TV. Yes, we have a TV now. No, we don't watch [insert your favorite TV show here]. We had a great night of poker. It started with a pot-limit holdem tournament which I won. Then we played low limit for the rest of the night, sometimes trying crazy games like Omaha Hi-Lo. Great fun, even if I did lose all my winnings from the tournament and more.

Last night also set a new record for me. I had a nearly four hour phone conversation with Brittan after a friend of hers ended up in some pretty serious trouble. For those of you who don't know, Shane and I met Brittan at new years in Las Vegas and I've kept up fairly regular correspondence with her since.

Back in October we met the girls from a band called Friendship Motor Inn at the Bigfoot Lodge and made a deal with them whereby we would go see their show in exchange for them showing up to our halloween party. They turned out to be both fun to hang out with and decent to listen to. Recently the band changed their drummer and their name. So, the Randies (aka the artists formerly known as Friendship Motor Inn) have a show tonight in Hollywood.

Two announcements:
1) John Lin arrived safely in Japan.
2) If you steel a car and drive away at 70mph, don't drive into a concrete barricade.

Ok, the remainder of this entry is political, so if you're bored already you should bail now. The longer the inspections go on without finding evidence of nukes in Iraq the more Bush talks about being sure that Iraq has "failed to disarm". Immediately after China joined France and Russia (now the majority of the permanent security counil members) in opposing an early US-lead military strike, the Whitehouse announced that it is "sure of allies" on the Iraq issue. Bush called Saddam a terrorist threat that needs to be eliminated, but offered him immunity if he would step down. Also, do you know which is the only country ever to have been convicted in the world court of state-sponsored violence and to vote against a UN measure that would make the world court decisions enforceable? No, not Iraq. The good old USA.

Yes. I am a slacker. Still, I do remember to sign my checks. This is more than I can say for my employers. I took my unsigned paycheck to the bank today fully expecting the teller to kindly point out the mistake and send me on my way. Instead, I left empty handed and wondering why they took the check. Did they not notice, do they not care? Will they notice later and deduct the amount from my account? Will I go to jail? Will I become the fourth member of the axis of evil?

I am once again up late and tired. My experiment tonight with NoDoz proved once again that caffeine does not make me more alert. It does make me jittery after a few hours if I continue to injest dosages well above those recommended on the box. Sadly, there is little other other effect.

Consider the two following statements: (a) the odds makers favor the Raiders by 4 points, (b) I don't care. Despite my traditional policy of not giving a damn I have followed Raiders news this week. It all started on Sunday when I visited my ex-boss while he watched the Raiders - Titans game. It's hard not to hope for a Raider victory when a man twice your size is pounding on furniture and yelling obscenities every time the Titans advance. Fortunately the Titans lost and the furniture was survived. And the presence of such forceful team loyalty infused in me a desire to watch the final battle. Along with any humorous advertisements which might accompany it. Don't get me wrong, I still don't care. You won't see me painted in black and silver, screaming advice at the TV. Perhaps a reserved clap at most. But, I maintain that my non-damn-giving policy has not been violated. I didn't inhale.

Tonight, Nate and I will host poker. If you live near Pasadena and would like to engage in a good game of holdem stop by. 8:30. I think it's even legal since the house doesn't profit from it.

Speaking of the law many of you know that I often seem to be a cop magnet. But, hey, at least I'm not this guy.

Beginnings.

Due to the gentle prodding of a good friend and the fact that ryancox.blogspot.com was available I have joined the blogging trend. Whether I'll keep up with the crowd or fall of the end off the bandwagon remains to be seen.

This is an odd time to start blogging, being a rather disorderly time of life for me. My schedule is currently inverted. I'm trying to flip it "back" to a "normal" schedule. Not that I'm frequently on any normal schedule. But, I'd rather not wake up at 10:00pm. So, my plan today is to stay up doing chores and possibly hanging out with friends. Exercise normally helps set a schedule as well, I ought to go hiking tomorrow.

For now, I merely strive to stay awake. Perhaps by the next time I make an entry I will have recovered sufficient cognitive ability to make a more complete summary of my current activities.