Time to get busy

I can call myself a TV junkie this week as that's about all I got done. HA.

Lost was just fantastic! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It is still the best thought out Drama on TV in my opinion. So much happened that it is hard to all comprehend. I must go back and re-watch it this weekend. A few things struck a chord though. What about that foot of the statue with only 4 toes? That will have to come up again in the future...Biggest revelation had to be the fact that Desmond believes he caused the plane to crash. I was thunderstruck as this scenario never even crossed my mind but it does make sense and was well thought out plot point. What about Kelvin being in Sayid's flashback and then being in the hatch when Desmond arrived? Hmmmm...strange. As well as Libby giving her boat to Desmond. I can hardly wait thru the summer to see what happened to Locke, Ecko and Desmond. I thought the way Charlie talked when he got back to camp that they were alright and thought it funny they hadn't gotten back yet. Why was Hurley sent back by Henry and not taken with Jack, Kate and Sawyer? Questions, questions. I spent almost 20 mins trying to answer a friends questions about the show last nite as he hadn't seen any of the past 3 or 4 episodes. That there proves what an entralling show this is.

Moving on to Idol. I watched a tape of it afterwards. What was up with Clay's new hair?? Popped big time for Prince and Mary J. Glad Taylor won.

Desperation was good this week too. I could look at Steven Weber all day and not get tired. :)

Going tonight to eat with Ronald, probably Mexican and then back to his house to watch Transamerica.

Weekend is still sketchy on what plans are. Nascar is in town and it makes things difficult with the heavy traffic and all.

Well the weekend went by in the blink of an eye. My great uncle was up for the weekend and I got he caught up on some past episodes of "Lost". He is a professor of physicology and really enjoys the stories and mental aspects of "Lost". Saturday I cleaned house and then went up to Ronald's store to cash in some past expenses we had shared on the last Dollywood trip. Ron gives me a store credit a bunch of times in exchange for gas, food, etc. Sunday I washed my car and waxed it. Had a date Sunday nite which is hard to believe. LOL. Been so long I bout forgot what to do on a date.

Monday Nite RAW was a good show I thought. The slow build to the reunion of DX finally started to come into light. I have to commend WWE for not hotshotting this angle. Paul Heyman continues to be one of the best promo guys and why in the world has this man been off TV the last year or so?? Where was Charlie Haas? He has been MIA the last 2 weeks. You re-sign the guy and bring he back with some great matches to reintroduce him and then NOTHING! I don't understand WWE train of thought sometimes.

Desperation is tonight on ABC and I plan on watching. This was one of Stephen King's larger books a number of years ago. I enjoyed it the first read thru but didn't really get it till the second go around. The first time the characters just didn't click with me. I loko forward to seeing what has been changed around if anything. My big question is why didn't ABC promote this more? I have hardly seen anything in the way of advertisments on tv, print, etc. Maybe I just missed them.

What a blur of a week. This past weekend I was up in the Village for a festival called Cottonstock. Got to see the music group "Chariman of the Board". They were very good and really had a great set. My friend Brad was dancing his little heart away. It was a beautiful day, kinda hot in the sun but a very ncie day.

Monday had dinner at Roma's with Ronald. Had to catch up on things with him since he had to work all weekend. Watched RAW and popped big time for terry Funk's promo. All the younger guys hopefully were watching and listening as Funk is still one of the best promo guys. I did buy tickets yesterday for Vengenance in June here in Charlotte. It has been ages since I have been to an event in person so should be cool. DX is supposed to be reunited by then. Will be interesting to see what the lineup will be like.

Having dinner tonight with my friend Scott. We are going to try to watch some episodes of Footballers Wives from season one. I am addicted to this show and Scott seems to be getting there as well.

Nascar is in town and traffic is already a mess. I have to drive by the speedway everyday for work and I don't look forward to this time of year as it takes me like twice as long with the races here.

Chris should have been kept on Idol. I haven't watched much this year, but the guy rocked "Suspicious Minds". He shouldn't have to worry though, he will have a great singing career.

Raw was pretty good this week. I gotta give props to the Spirit Squad as they are really putting in an A+ grade. Kenny has superstar written all over him. I like how they are mixing Triple H and Cena together. If they do meet this week for the title I look for Vince to somehow cost Triple H the title somehow leading to DX being reformed. Loved the Fatal Fourway. I hope they continue the push for Shelton and Charlie Haas. Mick Foley's turn was surprising. I assume we will see a promo this coming Monday explaining the turn. Wouldn't be surprised to see Terry Funk or Sabu show up.

Lost was most excellent. I popped big time for Ecko seeing the ? when he climbed the mountain. More questions as usual with the storytelling than answers. Strange how they were crying and all over Libby but not Ana-Lucia. Michael's backstory next week should be interesting and to see how and if Locke, Jack figure out Michael was the one that pulled the trigger.

Going to eat tonight with Ronald and maybe some others. What sounds good? Maybe Mexican....yum.

I cannot believe that with the way things are going lately in this country that Dubya would even think of his brother running for President. Will this be the republicans answer to Hillary? I cannot even fathom what another Bush would do in the White House to this country. More civil rights out the window I'm sure. Remember the Terri Schivao incident.

Hello all,
This may end up being long so get comfortable and let's get to it....

People on the trip:
Me
Mom
Huey
Bonnie

Left Concord at around 11am Monday bound for Harrahs Cherokee to start our trip. Arrived and played for a bit before checking in. 2 Rooms both comped and check-in was a breeze. Rooms very nice and clean. Back down to play awhile and then hit the buffet. It was so cold in the casino at this point you could have hanged meat. Even in the buffet area it was freezing. After eating, went back up to the room to watch WWE RAW. Went back down for about an hour to play and by that time it was so hot in the casino I was sweating and trying to get rid of extra clothing. Guess people had been complaining about it being so cold. Didn't really hit anything but didn't lose a whole bunch either. The beds at Cherokee are very nice and slept very well.

Left Cherokee about 9am for our trek thru Tennessee. Rained most of the way but cleared up by the time we got to Tunica. Stayed at the Sheraton for the first time. Went to check in which is quite strange there as they don't have a normal front desk area, but anyhoo it was a breeze. The lady checking me us was super polite and friendly and explained where everything was, etc. Went to play some and wonder around looking at everything. Played some of the new slots I hadn't seen before: Milk Money, Kaboom and all That Glitters (these are very fun and very different from normal video slots. Had a couple of nice wins to keep me going). Decided to head upstairs to the buffet because we realized we were starving. Buffet was very, very good. After eating we played awhile upstairs in the non-smoking section. As we were about to head downstairs I was playing a .25 Triple, Double Stars machines and hit for $320.00. Not a bad way to start the trip. Some money to play on. Went up to the room to rest a bit and unpack. OH MY GOD! The rooms at the Sheraton are just fantastic!!!!!!!! I don't know that given the chance I will ever stay anywhere else. The beds are unbelieveable, I slept soooo good. Anyhoo, back to the report. Decided to try and call Jen about meeting up sometime and couldn't find her card. Looked in every bag and no luck. (Jen, I found your card when I got back home. It must have fallen out of my day planner when I was packing. Sorry we couldn't meet up while I was there.) Left Sheraton for a stroll up to the Gold Strike. Many changes since I was last there. Lots of new slots. Played my Gilligan's Island, and tried out the new HOT SHOT slots. Mom comes over to me to show me a ticket she had. She had been waiting on Huey to come as he had forgotten his license and had to go back to the room. She had hit on a 10 Times pay machine for $500.00. It was so freaking loud we didn't stay very long. Music was blasting out from the sound system PLUS a band was playing. I seemed to notice this trend at alot of the casinos this time around. Very loud music to add to all the slots sounds. Huey never showed so went looking for him and found him at Horseshoe. He thought he was at the Gold Strike. Guess he wasn't paying that much attention or something. Around 2am we decided the beds were calling so back to the room. Hit the Jacuzzi for about 15 mins and slept so great. It was really relaxing after the long drive and then gambling.

Wednesday we hit Reno's for b'fast. It is so affordable and so very good. I think they have the best grits anywhere in Tunica. Went to try the new penny machines and played for about 2 hours on $20. Was going to leave and head over to The Fitz but had to wait on Huey to run up to the room so I put 10$ in a .50 WOF red,white and blue machine. Hit the bonus to spin the wheel and hit 1,000 credits for $500! Now we are talking. Got some more money to play on. Over to the Fitz for awhile. found a WWE machine I had been wanting to try on a Fort Knox bank. Won the small progressive for like 20$. Did ok on it rest of time, nothing big and nothing small. Bonnie was playing the Fort Knox at the front right corner and hit the third progressive level I think it was for $116.00. Huey playing roulette, mom breaking even on a bunch of different slots. Over to Sam's town for a bit. Bonnie hit $175 on a Triple Diamond and mom played Fort Knox Cleopatra and ran a $20 up to 80$. Ate at the snack place in Sam's. Their burgers are just the bomb. They are so good and very cheap. Didn't feel like the buffet as we weren't that hungry. Over to Hollywood to cash in a promo ticket. Played near the back on a MIB machine and made about 30$ or so. It is right next to a self-serve drink machine with also coffee and cappacino. The Cappacino was awesome. Went back to the right hand far corner and was playing a Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry machine. I hit the bonus of 7 free spins called Take it or leave it. You get to decide if you want to keep the win or risk losing half or hitting a 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x. Well I hit for 3,000 nickels for $150.00. Then I had to decide...keep the 150$ or risk trying for that 10x which would have been 1,500$. Well I decided to try...it's called gambling isn't it? Ended up picking the lose half. Oh well, 75$ isn't bad. Left and headed back to the Sheraton for some quick plays and then up the room as it was about 2am by this time and we were exhausted. Hit the jacuzzi again . God, that's the life. I just can't say how relaxing it is when you are so tired.

Thursday ate b'fast again at Reno's and off to visit Graceland. Rained while we were there but nothing too bad. Had my peanut butter and banana sandwich and we were off back to stop off at the Grand for a bit. Bonnie hit for $150.00 on a Five Stars machine. Loud here too. Music just blasting over the speakers. Back to the Sheraton and hit a few here and there but nothing great. Went back to Gold Strike and Horseshoe for a bit before retiring for the night.

Got up early to pack and play just a bit before leaving and heading back to Pigeon Forge Tennessee to finish out our vacation. Counted up and I almost broke even moneywise except for gas, Graceland tix, etc. Hated to leave and hated that drive even more. Got to Pigeon Forge and checked into hotel. Went to Dollywood on Saturday. Very crowded but we had a great time. If you ever go, be sure to go during Festival of Nations. The Chinese acrobats and the Moscow Circus are just fabulous. Hurt my neck/shoulder on one of the roller coasters but nothing too bad. Drove back home and didn't do a darn thing on Sunday as I was just flat out exhausted.

Some things I noticed on this trip: Casinos all seem to be very loud. Its loud enough with the machines going much less the music being blasted at me. All the employees at Sheraton need a pat on the back. They made our trip so enjoyable. Machines this trip seemed to be paying out a bit more than in trips past. I was able to play alot of times for a good while without having to constantly feed the machine. Food was great all around. Not a bad meal to be had. I need to know what kind of beds the Sheraton has! They sleep sooooo good.

anyhoo, it's back to work now and I hope I can get back to T-town soon.

Brian

All packed and ready 2 go. Just waiting on packing the car. A much needed vacation is just a few mintues away! This is much needed and will be my first visit back to Tunica in a year. Will give a trip report when I get back Sunday. Until then, everyone have a great week.

Pop one open
Fire one up
The Weekend is here!

With my vacation upon me, I still find myself with tons to do. Laundry, grocery store for snacks, get my money ready, make sure I have all my reservation numbers, etc Lord help will it end? LOL

Monday I leave on vacation with my mom, her boyfriend Huey and my friend Bonnie. We will leave from Concord and head to Cherokee NC to stay at the Harrah's there. Free rooms and it will help cut out some of the drive. I don't plan on gambling much there as the machines always are not very cooperative. Tuesday we will head for Tunica MS. I so hope we can get an early start as it is about 8 hrs to Tunica and I don't want to hit Memphis in rush hour. In Tunica we are staying at the Sheraton on Casino row. I haven't ever stayed at the Sheraton but I got very good recommendations on it. I need to be on a diet right now because the casinos usually have some fantatic food and buffets. We plan on visiting Graceland on Wednesday if the weather is nice. This will be my 3rd trip in 3 years. Can't wait for a peanut butter and banana sandwich while there....lol. Friday we will head back to Pigeon Forge Tennessee to visit Dollywood on Saturday. I hate driving that much with what gas prices have gone to but it is still cheaper than all of us flying.

I will miss WWE Backlash Sunday but I will say that I feel they should put the WWE Championship on Edge. Cena's character needs some time away from the belt and HHH doesn't need it. Will God show up to be Shawn Michaels' partner? Who cares is what I say. I hope they move away from this stupidity.

Hopefully I can get in an update before leaving but if not...hope everyone that reads has a great week.

Wow, what a quick week! I have hardly had time to do anything. Work has been unbending...coming in early and leaving late. I did get to go Tuesday to see Silent Hill with my friend Scott. I have been a fan of the video games as they have had good stories and great graphics. While the movie was great to look at with great colors and all...the story was confusing. It was almost like they tried to hard to incorporate things from previous game stories. Pyramid Head was great to have in the movie, but they nothing to explain why or who he is. Anyhow, wouldn't mind seeing again to help piece together some of the questions I still have.

I have got to start packing for vacation. Lord help, I am running out of time. To add to it I found out I have to work on Saturday. Will be nice money wise but I could use that time getting ready. The pay will also help if I lose my butt next week gambling. HAHA.

I also wanted to get me a bottle of "Fierce" cologne from Abercrombie. That is some fine smelling cologne. Damn!

Well the weekend went quick enough. Saturday was cleaning day around the house. I have been so slack during the week keeping things cleaned. I have a habit of just piling stuff up. Went to eat at McCab's with 5 friends Sat nite. We always have a good time and the conversation is always great...unless we start talking politics with Tim that is...hee..Sunday was about the same..did get some time laying out in the sun and finished reading Stephen King's "Gunslinger". I think this is my 6th time reading this book and the second go around reading all 7 Dark Tower books in a row. Say thankya. :)

Monday at work was busy but not too stressful. Watched WWE "Raw" from England. It's great to see Charlie Haas back in the company. He is such a pure talent it's a shame creative can't figure out how to push him more than what he gets. While I didn't care for the Spirit Squad at first, they are showing they can go in the ring and I am starting to rnjoy watching them more. Edge, Cena, Triple H should be interesting this weekend at Backlash. McMachon and God? Who cares! I am so ready for this angle to be over with. Maybe Shawn Michaels will be drafted to Smackdown and can get back in the groove so to speak.

Going tonight hopefully to see Silent Hill with my friend Scott. I loved the video games of the franchise and can't wait to see if the movie is any good.

Be sure to check out this new website. Clark from GWC/HMG has started his own website and make it rocks. www.clarklive.com
Be sure and check it out.

5 days to vacation!!!! Lord I can hardly wait.

With nothing much going on today, I thought I would revisit my trip 2 weekends ago to Dollywood for the season opening.

My best friend Ronald and myself set out for the season open of Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. Of course, Dolly was going to be there and that was the purpose of the trip. Ronald has been a season ticket holder for all 21 years Dollywood has been there. This would be my first year of going to season open. Last year Ronald went late and missed the press conference where Dolly gave away to everyone in attendance a 20-yr gold pass. I think Ronald is still a little bitter over that. :)

Anyhow, we left Concord about 7:30pm and started our trek up the mountains. Stopped off at KFC (I know not very healthy right??) and then hit I-400 once again. We had hoped to be in Pigeon Forge by 11:30pm or so but noooooo we come a literal stop by road construction around Ashville. Took us hour and half to go about 3 miles. Thankfully we had Prince's new Cd and a Dolly dance remix to bop along too. We got to Pigeon Forge about 1:30am and were able to get a little sleep before getting up early to head to the park.

I got my season pass and we stood in line for about an hour before they let us in. They actually let us in about 30 mins early so we hiked up towards the new Timber Tower ride hoping Dolly would be doing something there first. they still hadn't opened all of the park and as we waited the gates opened and a van with Dolly drove past. First sighting of the weekend. 5 minutes later the gates open and here comes Dolly's best friend Judy in a cadillac. Ron joked that Dolly had forgotten her lip gloss and Judy had to go on a Wal-Greens run. Anyhow, we finally made it up to the Tower ride and waited about hour and half before Dolly came out. Couldn't here what the press conference was about but did get a few pictures there. Nothing else much rest of the day so we headed to see the Chinese Acrobats and then to get some lunch. MMMMM....fried chicken at Lillian's....yum, yum..

We then decided to go to the Russian Circus at the Celebrity theatre. DO NOT sit near the front and on a end seat unless you want to end up on stage...yep I was chosen and ended up onstage with the clowns in front of about 1,500 people. Lord help. The clowns had the 5 of us they had picked act out a love story with balloon flowers and swords. It was fun but I am not the best in front of a crowd much less in front of 1,500 people. ron laughed till he about pee'ed his pants...all at my expense. After exiting stage left we rode the new ride and then left the park to head out for the parade thru town.

In 21 years, Ronald has never seen the parade....only Dolly's float. We parked at the end of the route and hiked our way back to the beginning. 2 friggin miles...and it was hot...and I was already sweating. The float this year was a big log with dolly appearing to be tied down to it as a razor saw comes towards here. We followed her float the entire length of the parade. We would run up ahead of the float and wait for her to come by and repeat this over and over for 2 miles. Talk about sweating and being worn out. I now have a feeling for what stalker-razzie people do. After the parade off to dinner and some sleep.

Next day we hit the park and quickly found Dolly was doing make-a-wish and would be coming out of the building shortly so more standing around and waiting. After that off to the new candy store as we had heard she would be shooting a commercial. Sure enough we timed it right They started roping off almost right when we walked in. Stood there for another hour and half waiting for dolly's appearance. Big thunderstorm came up right afterwards and we were trapped in the candy store for about 15 mins. talk about temptation everywhere you look. The fudge, candy, etc was so tempting but I was strong and didn't have any. (Gotta watch that figure right?) After the storm blew by we headed to the fashion show they were having at a new store called: Dolly's closet. Waited there about hour and fiftenn minutes. Have you noticed a pattern here? Hurry up and wait. After that the parade thru the park was at 4pm. Dolly was dressed as a Genie on a huge floating carpet. we said our good-byes to Ron's friend we had met there and were back on the road headed to Harrah's at Cherokee NC to spend the nite. We had the buffet after checking into the hotel and gambled a bit but too damn many people and we were beat so we headed to the room for some rest. Got to watch the new 9 to 5 DVD with the cast commentary. Next day b'fast and some more gambling and we were off back to Concord.

It was so much fun but my butt was worn completly out by the time we got back home.

If you would like to see some pictures of the weekend, check out this great site.

www.Dollymania.net

The webmaster was there as well and has some awesome pictures from it.

First post in LJ land.

More to come I promise....What's on the agenda in the future for me? Vacation say thankee. Gambling trip starting May 1st. I will revisit my Dollywood trip from 2 weeks ago and figure out how to post some of the pix from the event here in a post or 2.


I've been putting off signing up for LJ and finally took the plunge. Ought to be an interesting ride for sure.