La Famiglia

This is my 200th post. I was going to name it “200” but that would too closely associate it with that computer generated turd, the movie “300”.

This was a family weekend. I went out to dinner with my wife, siblings and a few friends. We met at my sister's house early Saturday evening, where she was mixing some esoteric herb based cocktails. She's quite good at it. I stuck with a classic vodka martini and then we headed out to dinner.

During dinner, an arm wrestling match broke out. My sister took on my brother's friend and got her butt kicked. I'd like to remind you that we were not in some roadhouse deep in the outer East Bay. This was a nice place in Rockridge. When not hiding my face in embarrassment, I was scrambling to move stemware so the contestants would not get impaled. But the staff took it in stride as they placed bets on a winner.

The sight of two women at my table grunting as they tried to take each other down did not diminish my appetite. I ate every bit of my pan roasted half chicken. The rest of the crowd enjoyed their meal as well. I'd recommend The Wood Tavern if you are ever in that part of Oaktown.

http://woodtavern.net/

As usual, I pissed off my wife by suggesting we leave the restaurant within the first hour after finishing our meal. We headed back to my sister's house and spent the night. The same burst of energy that I had gotten on my last two trips to the mountains came over me upon our return. It must have been because we were in the Oakland Hills. I started doing my usual stand up routine. I was about to try a Chris Farley dive in their living room but the table had a marble top so I demurred. There was also a rematch and this time my sister won. I suspect someone took a dive.

My sister has four cats but they took off when they saw me tromping around. I think she said one of her cats is an Indian cat, but I have to check back with her for clarification on that. To be clear, my sister is not some old cat lady. She's firmly on her way to becoming one, but she's not there yet.

The next day we were served a great breakfast. My brother lives close by and came back to join us. He mentioned the blog and how he sometimes is embarrassed at the mention of the events at the end of my 8/11/07 post. C'est la vie. I can vouch for the fact that that turd was not computer generated.

Miscellanea

Here was my Facebook status from Saturday morning.

“I'm done arguing with my wife so its time to head to Safeway for vittles and blog material.”

I guess its a good thing that the wife doesn't read my blog and isn't on FB.

I did get a little blog material at Safeway. I ran into TCG. I told him the store wasn't big enough for the both of us. He understood, and left the premises. As I was checking out, the woman in front of me was engrossed in her iPhone so the checker had to ask her to start putting her stuff on the belt. She started chucking it on there and then grabbed the receipt out of the checker's hand. At least that's what the checker told me. I was engrossed in the latest copy of Cosmopolitan.

Dick Cheney is yapping again, but there's been a lot of good responses from the media, pointing out that his administration dithered quite a bit. How about three rounds, Biden vs. Cheney, with the Everlast mittens. I'll buy that pay per view package. Dick talks a good game, but his five deferments speak louder.

I got a call from my chum The Wig a few weeks ago. He's good about keeping in touch but the last time he called he talked to my wife for about half an hour and he was all talked out when he got around to me. He did relate that his parents were clearing out their basement and brought a load of stuff to his house. Most of it was junk but he was perspicacious enough to realize there was a treasure amid the ruins. Apparently there was a college era photo of me, which is precious enough, but the real find was a couple letters I sent him from Madrid in the fall of 1980. This may very well be some of the earliest DJ's Detritus extant.

Work is peachy. I have a new boss that I've never met and rarely talk to. That's my kind of boss. You may recall one of my earlier work related posts about the pregnant woman in the cafeteria that picked up several bagels and sniffed them individually. I've now encountered another interesting character, that I've named "The Picker". She and her gabby pal hit the caf at the same time I do every morning. She gets herself a mess of something, which I think is topped by sunflower seeds, and grazes on it whilst her bud prepares her meal. The sight does not do much for my appetite but I'm more concerned about the cafeteria's bottom line. This behavior may very well be clipping them to the tune of 3 to 4 cents daily.

The best part about being a hedge fund manager is being able to hire Kenny Rogers to sing The Gambler a dozen times in a row at your party. The worst part is doing the perp walk.

My college boy never communicates with me, but he does read my blog. Hello Sonny.

I'm heading out to Oaktown tonight to break bread with my siblings. I guess its time to update my FB status.

RIP Captain Lou and Soupy Sales

Vegas in Fall

First off, the colors were beautiful.

So I got two replies to my last question, one yes and one no. Tie goes to the sycophant.

We got in on a Wednesday afternoon and had good weather throughout. As we entered the taxi queue, we saw one scofflaw try to beat the system, but the taxi Nazi put him in his place, big time. We told the driver to take us to The Venetian. A few minutes later we got a call and were re-directed to The Bellagio. We had a reservation at The Venetian but my brother-in-law was worried about the smell. I often worry about smells too, but I'll try not to get off topic.

The deal was that The Venetian pumps in perfume to counteract the smoke in the casino. So the casino is OK but the lobby smells like a French cathouse, at least according to my brother-in-law. Since he is a well-connected individual, he thought we'd check out The Bellagio and try to make a switch. As it turned out, it was not necessary since the odor did not bother my mother-in-law, which was our main concern. It was all for show anyway. My brother-in-law doesn't really have any pull in Vegas, or anywhere else.

We were in Vegas for my mother-in-law's 80th birthday. We were following family tradition, as her parents frequented the place, starting in the 40s. They likely would not recognize the place now. But we heard some good stories.

I was in charge of the dinner reservations and the first night brought us to Bouchon. The wife and I had been to the one in Yountville and 4M, The UK and I had previously dined at the Vegas location. No one was disappointed. $15 cocktails gripe me slightly but that is de rigueur, and the food was top notch. My wife and MIL split the lamb shank but nobody walked away hungry.

The next day BIL and FIL played golf and I headed downtown to find the $5 blackjack tables. There seemed to be fewer than last time but I happened upon a few ladies in skimpy bunny suits at Binions dealing from a single deck. I won a few bucks there but found myself distracted from my goal by the blonde dancing on the pole, so I headed back to The Strip.

That night we caught Jersey Boys, after a cocktail in MIL's room I grew up listening to Frankie Valli but we all loved the show. We then stopped in for a light dinner at Pinot. It was pretty empty around 10pm. I think they overbuilt restaurants like everything else there. Afterward I hit the blackjack tables at The Venetian with my ex-dealer wife, as opposed to my dealer's ex-wife. She provided the guidance I needed to survive, no, thrive at the $15 table. She kept pulling the chips off as soon as I brought them in. We had a few Jim Beams and walked away ahead.

The next day FIL, BIL, MIL and I headed downtown. FIL and MIL needed to get their penny slot fix. BIL and I headed back to Binions, where we spent the time playing blackjack, drinking Heineken, and averting our eyes. No major damage was done to our wallets. I should have brought BIL a few blocks east, where you can find $1 tables. There you see quite a slice of life.

Dinner that night was at B and B, as in Batali and Bastianich. $26 for a buck's worth of pappardelle bolognese was a bit much, but the food was excellent. I did have a new dining experience there though. Perhaps my friends 4M or The Belgian would have known what was going on, but I was clueless. We had ordered a bottle of red and a bottle of white. The sommelier brought our glasses with just a soupçon in each. Most of us chuckleheads drank it down but my savvy sister-in-law was expecting more of a taste, which she got. You see, the smidgen in our glasses was to “prime” them.

As I recall, our last full day there was a pretty lazy one, at least for me. I did get a swim in everyday. The deck was always crowded but few folks actually go in the pool, which was to my advantage. We wrapped up Saturday at Stripsteak, another one I sampled with my buds on one of our earlier trips. I went for 3 for 3 in the restaurant picks. This is a big steak crowd and the meat was outstanding. They started us out with some complimentary duck fat fries. Good eating! I went against the trend and got the Kurobuta pork, but got to eat half of my wife's rib eye. We can usually pull off the mid-meal switch without rancor.

We flew out Sunday. I made a new friend before I left. I had gone downstairs for some reason and when I got back to my room, the key would not work. I kept trying, and knocking on the door so my wife would let me in. By the time the door was being unlatched, I realized I was one floor off. As my new bud said, “Get the f.....”, I sheepishly apologized and scurried away.

That's all I'm telling ya. The rest stays in Vegas.

Questions

Liz Cheney has started a new group, Keep America Safe, to oppose Obama's “radical” foreign policy. Is Liz

a) genetically authoritarian
b) still trying to please Daddy
c) crazier than a shithouse rat
d) all of the above

Next question. I just got back from four days in Vegas. Does anybody want to hear about it?

For Your Consideration

The right wing crazy machine has had me thinking lately. A treasonous article in Newsmax by John L. Perry stated:

"There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic."

Perry needs to get off the crack pipe and into the slam. Maybe he can share a cell with Roman Polanski.

Mr. Perry is worrying himself unnecessarily. America will not see a coup in my lifetime. We may elect the occasional dope who lets his VP run amok, but the transfer of power is always peaceful and orderly, usually in January of odd years.

Speaking of Dick, I thought I had come up with a good line on this topic. Something like “Some may have had concerns that it would take a silver bullet or wooden stake to get Cheney out of the White House”. I then googled “Dick Cheney silver bullet wooden stake” and got about 11 million results. So it appears that lots of folks beat me to it by lots of years. You see, blogging is hard, at least the responsible, semi-literate type to which I aspire.

Therefore.........

Food and Drink

I had dinner last weekend with my bud The UK and our spouses at his hideaway in Los Altos Hills. He served up some fine Grey Goose martinis for the boys and gin and tonics, with a designer tonic I had never heard of, for the ladies. Dinner was perfectly grilled steaks and several tasty accompaniments. The UK stated that my blogs were all about eating and drinking. This post will not disabuse anyone of that notion.

Last night, a blustery one in my cozy bedroom community, we headed to the abode of The Belgians for a village gala. I always look forward to these events. There's hugs all around, the conversation is easy, and yes, the grub is always great. The Belgian provided the two main courses, steak and salmon, and the rest of us brought the appetizers, sides, and desserts. I brought a Ridge Zin, which impressed my oenophile host. I especially enjoyed the three types of guacamole before dinner.

A rose between two thorns, I was seated between #1 and The Exec. The Exec held forth on many topics. #1 made sure to send out sardonic tweet in response as we grazed. Its a good thing that none the daddies in this mother's club are too sensitive, because they'd never survive the constant volley of barbs.

To end the meal, The Belgian brought out several digestifs, among them port, calvados, and a French version of limoncello. He's the baby of the group, a mere 46, but he knows how to entertain. If somebody wanted similar treatment at my homestead, they'd be lucky to get a shot of tequila.