October 7, 2004

One Major Purchase Down, One to Go...

The search for a new automobile came to an end this weekend, only hours before committing to buying a new computer. On Thursday night I was playing in another poker tournament and flopped a full house. I was ready to take this guy out and get a sizeable stack of chips when my computer just froze up. It's frozen up in the past, but never when I was in the middle of a tournament where medium sums of money was involved. Needless to say, because I became disconnected, the tournament director folded my hand and all the
chips I already committed to the pot were awarded to the other guy.

As a person historically known to commit violence on inanimate objects, I kicked the shit out of my computer, smashed my fists into the keyboard, and threw the mouse at the wall. Amazingly, the computer is still working the same as before. However, when the day comes, and it will, my computer will meet a very violent and sudden death. Replacement or not.

Anyway, after it froze up and cost me a serious shot at a $75 pot I decided that I was going to drive to Best Buy and buy the first computer that I liked that fit my budget on Saturday. I don't need a shit ton of bells and whistles, just something that I can type on and cruise the Internet with. I generally reserve video game playing to my Playstation, so super-powered video cards and processors don't get me hard.

However, Friday morning my girlfriend forwarded me an email telling me that one of her coworkers was selling her car and she thought I might be interested. I was, so Saturday we drove to Lawrenceville to check it out. After giving the engine a good once over and taking a test drive, I decided to shell out the $1500 to buy it.

The car is a red 1995 Chevy Cavalier Z24. It only has 93,000 miles and is in excellent shape. It could easily pass for a car half it's age. It's a total chick car, but I hope some goon in an SUV has the balls to call me a pussy. I might end up getting a Napoleon complex about this. The backseat of my Oldsmobile is bigger than this car.

Speaking of my Oldsmobile, I was planning to immediately putting it up for sale for about $500-$600. However, that was before I got a $135 dollar credit on my insurance for carrying two cars on my policy. I was expecting pay more, not less. I'm sure if I called Geico, I would have had to take out a small loan to keep them both insured.  I'm still planning on selling it, but I'm just in no hurry. It's still the ideal vehicle for hauling bodies across state lines Soprano's style.

Recent Readings

Last weekend I bought two books and have had the time to read a good portion of both. The first book I bought is "Super System: A Course in Power Poker." This book was written by Doyle Brunson, widely known as one of the greatest poker players of all time, and a few other experts. Since reading the Texas No limit Hold'em section of the book, I've made it to several final tables and won a little less than $150 bucks in about a week. I'd say the book has already paid for itself.

The other book I've been reading is "The American Century" by Harold Evans. It chronicles the United States from 1889 to 1989. With over 900 photos on 708 pages, it's much more interesting than your average history book. I bought the former best seller from Barnes & Noble for $6.99. The original price was listed at $39.95. I particularly like the fact that it is broken up in such a way that you can jump around and read small snippets without having to commit to 30-40 page chapters.

Thank God it's October

October is typically one of my favorite months of the year. Down here in Georgia it's the first month you get any hint of Fall. In fact, yesterday was the first day since early March that I blew steam out of my mouth.

For all of us avid beer drinkers, there is also Octoberfest. It's really just an excuse to get drunk, but I'm behind it 100%. In fact, just an hour's drive north of Athens is Helen, Georgia. Helen businessmen decided that in order to attract tourist dollars, they would mold the town to look like some Swiss/German resort. Since then, they have had a huge Octoberfest celebration from mid-September to mid-November. I have every intention of getting up there in the next few weeks, drinking some beer, and coming home with a few souvenir mugs.

And finally, October rocks because it's the month that is home to Halloween. This means that there will be dozens of crappy, yet wildly entertaining horror films like Return of the Living Dead, Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Silver Bullet, and My Best Friend's a Vampire. Cramps songs will randomly pop up on the radio. The stores are packed full of loosely associated Halloween stuff, like Pumpkin flavored Pop Tarts and Creepy Orange Cheetos.  There's even going to be some independent horror movie film festival just outside of
town next weekend. But my favorite part of Halloween is how all the lame fucks leave Athens to go to the Georgia-Florida game. That leaves downtown to all the cool people who aren't afraid to dress up and have a good time. It's probably one of the top five reasons I like living in Athens. Since Halloween is on a Sunday this year, we'll have another two full days to party.

That's it for me this week. As always, send comments and complaints to jacsv76@hotmail.com.

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