Another Vegas landmark is gone

First, they demolished the Stardust.

Then that place that sold the 99-cent hot dogs that Brown ate was knocked down.

Now, the Golden Gate Casino in downtown has raised the price of its shrimp cocktail.

Since 1974, the old Golden Gate has promoted its "World Famous 99-cent shrimp cocktail." But on April 26, they raised the price to $1.99. (But if you're a member of the Golden Gate Players Club, you get $1 off.)

What's next? Closing the Peppermill Fireside Lounge?

Enjoy cheap gas prices while you can

In a couple of years, we might be wishing for $4 gas ...

The price of oil is likely to hit 150 dollars (Canadian, US) a barrel by 2010 and soar to 225 dollars a barrel by 2012 as supply becomes increasingly tight, a Canadian bank said Thursday.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080424190433.04dy6kj4&show_article=1

Edit: More gloom from other analysts. They predict $10 gas ...

http://www2.nysun.com/article/75363

I'm telling you, the Amish will rule this country before it's all over.

The joy of living in your hometown

It's great having family around. It really is.

Unless various family members keeping winding up in the headlines for getting arrested for various crimes. Here's the latest ...

http://www.4029tv.com/news/15970713/detail.html

Jen suggested we drop the "F" and become the Aldons. Mark called said the River Valley branch of the family is giving the NWA branch a bad name.

More details here ...

http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2008/04/24/news/news03.txt

Load up the pantry

That's what a Wall Street Journal columnist says we should be doing ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120881517227532621.html

2008 World Beer Cup Awards

Looking at the results of the "most-prestigious beer brewers competition," I'm convinced they had college kids, homeless drunks and mouthbreathers aplenty as judges.

How else do you explain Old Milwaukee Light, Lone Star Light and Natural Light sweeping the American-style Light Lager category?

Even worse, Steel Reserve (without a doubt the most rancid swill I have ever had the misfortune of tasting) won the American-Style Specialty Lager category. (Sidenote: They still make Ice beers? Who knew!)

Oh well, I guess next time we're drinking cheap beers, we can say they're award-winning brews.

http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/winners_list/winners_2008.html

Food rationing hits USA

Last night, while Jen watched her chick shows in the living room, I retreated to the guest room to the Internet and the 13-inch TV. That's when I came across a documentary on PBS called "King Corn."

The premise was simple. Two buddies from Yale realized their great-grandparents had both lived in the same small Iowa town and were farmers. The Ivy Leaguers did a little research, decided to move to Iowa and grow an acre of corn. Along the way, they show how screwed up the US food chain is these days.

While Iowans are now getting an average of 200 bushels of corn per acre, it's all unedible corn. They can't pluck an ear, boil it or grill it and eat it. It's all some strain of corn that's only good for being turned into cattle feed or high-fructose corn syrup. They traveled with their corn to a feed lot in Colorado where 100,000 head were kept and force fed corn to fatten them up. They talked to nutritionists, scientists, farmers and ranchers.

They also talked to the former head of the Department of Agriculture, the guy who started the farm subsidy programs. While he was cast as somewhat of a villain (farm subsidies caused the end of family farms and the rise of industrial farms that crank out poor quality foodstuffs) he made a very good point - part of the reason for our affluence over the years has been the cost of food has been kept low. Our grandparents and great-grandparents used to spend about 60 percent of their income on food. The average American now spends only about 12 percent on food. With that extra 48 percent now available, we've bought bigger houses, SUVs, clothes, flat-screen TVs and whatever else.

Then today, I come across this story about food rationing happening in some stores on both coasts ...

http://nysun.com/news/food-rationing-confronts-breadbasket-world

This is your biggest concern? Seriously!?!

I did not watch Wednesday's Democratic debate from Pennsylvania. But I have read quite a bit about the aftermath. The ABC questioners (George Snuffleupaguss ... I mean Stephanopoulos and Charles Gipson) did a horrific job. Their questions seemed to come straight from the Republican National Committee. And they wasted a lot of time on trivial BS.

At one point, they used a video clip of a PA voter. She was upset because Obama doesn't wear an American flag pin on his lapel. Some bloggers recognized the dude's name and found a New York Times story that featured him ...

Asked whom she might vote for in the coming presidential primary election and Nash McCabe, 52, seems almost relieved to be able to unpack the dossier she has been collecting in her head.

It is not about whom she likes, but more a bill of particulars about why she cannot vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

"How can I vote for a president who won't wear a flag pin?" Mrs. McCabe, a recently unemployed clerk typist, said in a booth at the Valley Dairy luncheonette in this quiet, small city in western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Obama has said patriotism is about ideas, not flag pins.

"I watch him on TV," Mrs. McCabe said. "I keep looking for that lapel pin."

Go back and reread that block. What stands out to you? Yeah, she's unemployed and her biggest concern for the upcoming election is a flag pin.

No, her choice won't be based on the economy. That mortgage mess that might cost $1 trillion to fix, gas at record prices, the dollar at record lows, a recession and possible depression are all meaningless to this dolt. That American flag pin trumps it all.

"Fort Smith" coming to your TV

Seems the producer of "24" is working on a western called "Fort Smith" for AMC TV.

It will follow the local sheriff's deputies who patrol Western Arkansas and Indian Territory in the post-Civil War years. Other than that, details are very sketchy. Here's what Ben Boulden, the paper's best columnist, has discovered ...

Hollywood Takes A Look At Fort Smith

2008 Steelers schedule

(All times Eastern)

Sunday, Sept. 7 vs. Texans 1 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, Sept 14 @ Browns 8:15 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday, Sept. 21 @ Eagles 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Monday, Sept. 29 vs. Ravens 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday, Oct. 5 @ Jaguars 8:15 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday, Oct. 12 Bye Week
Sunday, Oct. 19 @ Bengals 1 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, Oct. 26 vs. Giants 4:15 p.m. (FOX)
Monday, Nov. 3 @ Redskins 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday, Nov. 9 vs. Colts 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, Nov. 16 vs. Chargers * 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Thursday, Nov. 20 vs. Bengals 8:15 p.m. (NFL Network)
Sunday, Nov. 30 @ Patriots * 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, Dec. 7 vs. Cowboys * 4:15 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Dec. 14 @ Ravens * 1 p.m .(CBS)
Sunday, Dec. 21 @ Titans * 1 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, Dec. 28 vs. Browns * 1 p.m. (CBS)

(* Times and TV network may change due to flexible scheduling)

$3,400

Got a check from Farm Bureau for the damage to the Jeep.

Luckily, I think the whole thing can be repaired for less than $1,500 (especially with Nash and I doing some of the work). Cha-ching!

Adjuster woke us up this morning at 8:30 a.m. He said we'll need a new roof. Now we'll just have to get in line with a contractor. Hopefully they'll get to us before the end of May.

2008 Arkansas Derby

How much did that hailstorm screw things up? I'm missing the Arkansas Derby today due to it.

Heck, I didn't even pick up a Daily Racing Form on Friday. Even when I've not been able to make it down to Oaklawn for the Derby, I always get a Form. I honestly don't remember the last time I didn't get a Form for the Arkansas Derby. It's probably been 15 years or so.

This is also the first year in a few that I didn't make it to Oaklawn at all.

As I'm watching ESPN's live coverage from Oaklawn, I'm not happy with Mother Nature. Not at all.

And some "after" photos

I spent the afternoon installing four new windows.

As much as some of you love Lowe's, they hacked me off today. Guy cutting custom glass didn't know how to read a tape measure. So when I said "I need this 11 and eleven-sixteenths inches by 7" he was totally confused. He wound up cutting half the panes too tall (by a sixteenth) and the other half too short (by a sixteenth).

I know, I know, I should have stood over his shoulder to double check his work. But there were two of them doing it. One kid and one middle-aged supervisor dude. And they had one of those tape measures with the halves, eighths and sixteenths marked on it! Idiots!!!

Anyway, I got them to work. I just did the ones completely broken. I'll do the cracked ones this weekend.

In the last photo, you can see my tomato plants. They survived the storm. And thanks to Charles for teaching me how to glaze a window ...

Storm window

We've been talking about replacing the old glass storm windows with some of the new impact and shatter resistant ones. Here's why ...

And some more of the Jeep

Some photos of the damage

Roof started leaking this morning. Got up there and saw the damage. The roof is pockmarked from the hail. Nothing went all the way through, but the shingles are in bad shape. Golfers, you know what a divot looks like on a really soft green? Imagine that all across the western side of our house.

Some photos ...

That sucked

Big storm hit FS tonight. Golf ball sized hail. Possible tornado. Jen, the cat and I are fine.

Jen and I were at Bella Italia with Dad. Hail ripped three holes in the Jeep's top. Driver side door looks like somebody took a hammer to it. Looks like I will be waiting around for the insurance adjuster.

Six windows at house were knocked out. I'll post photos when the sun comes up. It was probably best that we were gone. Shards of glass blew across the living room. Good thing Charles taught me how to glaze a window. Of course, finding some panes might be a pain tomorrow.

FS schools have been canceled for Friday. TV station reported 10 schools were damaged.

Good thing my surprise party wasn't April 5

Because then we'd been in Papa's on Saturday night when this happened ...

Police Investigate Bar Fight

Of course, I know Craig would have had my back so we'd have been OK facing 15 members of an Asian gang.

Note to self

Never, ever go cover high school soccer after watching UEFA Champions League that afternoon on TV.

For you non-soccer fans, imagine going from watching the best movie you've seen in the past five years and then going to see the local high school do a production of the same story.

Brutal does not begin to describe it. Yes, yes, they're just kids. But geez it was painful to watch.

This made me laugh

Because if we had a bigger backyard, I could see Jen and I having this discussion. There's a house over on Country Club that has a chicken coop in the sideyard. I could see raising some backyard chickens for the eggs.

Spring

Spring is officially here.

Not because of any date on the calendar or the fact the dogwoods are blooming or because the Arkansas Derby is this Saturday. No, spring is here because I've got some tomato plants planted.

Two "patio" breed plants were placed yesterday. They don't deliver the huge tomatoes you see at the grocery store, instead these will be about 2-inches in diameter. Perfect for salads and salsa.

I'm probably going to get a third planter for a tomato bush. I had two of those last summer and they produced more tomatoes than we could eat. And I even snacked on sliced tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and a very light sprinkle of sea salt.

All of these tomato plants will be strictly organic. I'll use Terracycle fertilizer, made of 100-percent worm poop. Once the tomatoes start appearing, I'll use an organic pesticide. Last year, I found this stuff made from jalapenos. It kept the bugs, worms, birds and squirrels off them.

Anyway, the countdown to fresh tomatoes has started.

My new hero

Meet Jeff Deck. He's traveling the nation fixing typos and other mistakes on business signs.

Sign mistakes are one of my pet peeves. There's a hotel in Fort Smith that has a sign up that reads ...

Enjoy Our
"In"door Pool

I want to climb the sign and remove the quotes every time I drive past it.


http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/BusinessTravel/story?id=4593597&page=1

Oh, now they say it was holding

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08093/869712-66.stm

Playoff flag that wasn't thrown

Mike Pereira, the NFL's head of officiating, admitted yesterday that his crew working the Steelers-Jaguars playoff game erred in not calling a holding penalty against Jacksonville on a crucial play that allowed the Jaguars to kick the winning field goal.

Quarterback David Garrard scrambled on fourth-and-2 from the Steelers 43 and made the first down. Three plays later, Josh Scobee kicked a field goal, giving the Jaguars a 31-29 victory. Several Steelers players complained there was blatant holding on Garrard's run. Nearly three months later, Pereira agreed with them.

Tomlin declined to comment on Pereira's admission.

Question: What good does it do to announce this? (Aside from letting Steelers fans around the world say "A-ha, I knew it was the refs!") And what took them so long to announce it? Why wait 87 days from missing the call to say "Oops, sorry Steelers, we blew that one!"

OK, here goes

Jen keeps bugging me to blog about the surprise party. Honestly, I don't know what to say about it. Word fail to explain how much that night meant to me.

I was shocked. I'm talking completely and totally caught off-guard by it. Sure, I'd seen Karen and Nash wearing the shirts, but that didn't set off any warning bells. I chalk it up to being preoccupied with dealing with the new guy I've hired and trying to help him find a place to live. If I'd seen the shirts and then had time to sit around thinking about it, I would have been much more suspicious.

I was playing with a map creator yesterday, looking at how far some of you traveled to surprise me. It is humbling to know SK flew in from Boston, the Browns came in from Florida, Craiggers drove down from St. Louis (and left his pregnant wife!), Ed drove up from Austin, Dennis came from Tulsa, Mark and Sarah from Springdale and my in-laws trekked all the way from Walnut Ridge just for that party.

My mother wrote "I'm proud of the man you've become" on the picture frame by the door. I've been thinking a lot about that the past few days. Thinking about how I've grown and changed over the past 10-plus years. I realized I would not be where I am or who I am without your friendship, support, encouragement, laughter and love.

Thank you for helping me become the person I am today.

Wow

Still trying to recover from the weekend.

No, I don't have a three-day hangover. I'm talking about getting my head around the idea that Jen plotted and planned this spectacular surprise birthday party. And that even though I saw Karen and Nash wearing the tee shirts, I still had no clue what was happening.

The fact so many people took the time and spent the money to come to Fort Smith for it absolutely floored and humbled me. I freely admit I still start to tear up when I think about it. Thank you all for being my friend.

Photos have been uploaded onto our home Mac. I'll post some of them later.