I bungled in the jungle

Happy Sunday everybody.  I know many of you are looking forward to some truly awful weather today and in the next few days.  Here it's a bit chilly even.  High today is only supposed to be 72 and its pretty windy out.  Took the dog out a little while ago and I actually felt a little chilled.  Been quite a while since I could say that while standing outside. 

Last week at this time I was sitting at the Buccaneers game sweating my ass off.  It was only in the low to mid 80s but sitting there surrounded by people it was pretty warm.  It was a fun offensive game against New Orleans but the good guys lost.  The refs didn't help hosing them on 2 different occasions but the Bucs defense was completely helpless most of the game and generated no pass rush.  Give Drew Brees time and expect to lose.  Still the Bucs drove down in the final seconds and appeared to tie the game only to have a shitty ref call go against them.  I understand you cannot go out of bounds and come back in and catch a pass but where is the illegal contact call for the guy who pushed Mike Williams out the back of the end zone?  Last time I checked, the end zone is still 10 yards wide which means that contact came way more than 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.  But the Bucs got what they deserved for missing a FG and not scoring from the one yard line.  At least now the coaches have finally realized that LeGarret Blount is not a short yardage back and Doug Martin really toasted a good Viking defense this past Thursday night to prove it.

The reason I was at the game was that my cousin and some of his friends were in town on a mini vacation and wanted some good seats to a game.  Since I work for the company that has naming rights to the stadium, I was able to get a deal on good tickets down off the side of the end zone and about 20 rows from the field.  Closest I ever sat as well.  Chris my cousin has season tix to the Patsies up in the nose bleeds so he really enjoyed the view from down low.  Not to mention not freezing his ass off.  Apparently San Fran is playing the Pats up there on December 13 in the Sunday night game. And Miami is up there for an afternoon game on December 30.  He is not looking forward to attending either of those games I can tell you.  Nor would I be. 

Anyway we had a really good time, hit a few new places and just enjoyed ourselves.  I grew up only a half mile or so away from Chris and our families spent a lot of time together in the summers and holidays so we've always been pretty close.  His parents now have a place in central Florida so he is down here from time to time to see them and in fact will be down here at the end of November.  So while I didn't get to gamble any, I did have a fun weekend and was pretty tired at work Monday. 

Holy crap, I just saw the unis the Steelers are wearing today.  What the hell do they call that color, jailbird baby puke?  Wow, yellow and black or purple stripes circling around them?  I'd be embarrassed to be seen in that.  Of course I'm not paid millions or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to work in funny looking outfits.  I might change my tune in that instance. 

I love watching football on Sundays from the comfort of my own recliner.  Good thing I'm not an Eagle fan as they look pretty bad today, especially on defense.  Oh look, Andy Reid lost another challenge.  Here's my shocked face. 

Now Jaquizz Rodgers just ran through most of the Eagle D for 40 yards.  Ouch they cannot stop Atlanta.  Julio Jones has made them his bitch too.  What a TD he had beating Asomugha like a drum.  Unfortunately my wife started Matt Ryan against me in Fantasay Football and he is killing it.against a supposedly good pass defense.  I started Aaron Rodgers against the crappy Jags D and he has all of 1 TD in a 14-12 game that no one expected to be close.  Hey Rodgers!!  Wake up and throw some TDs so you can do your discount double check dance.  Because if I lose to her today I will be very disappointed.  Her team is 6-1 so far while mine is a stellar 3-4.  I loved this team when I drafted it but it just hasn't turned out the way I thought it would. 

Last night we hit Derby Lane for the 8pm tourney which we hadn't played in for quite a while.  About 50 players in the tourney.  10,000 chips and 20 minute blinds.  I kept it very tight early establishing my image.  Took down a couple of small pots, lost it back and had my starting stack after 3 blind levels.  Then took it up a notch and started being a little more aggressive.  The cards were nothing much to speak of but I'm not letting that stop me.  I managed to raise up 4-5 and river a straight against a gal for a decent score.  I later took her out when she pushed with 9+7 into my AK and I actually hit a K.  I felt pretty good with 16K in chips but lost 6K back to a shorty who pushed in with 33 over my preflop raise with KQ.  Nothing for me and I hit the first break at just over 10K in chips and feeling a little frustrated at not being able to build a stack. 

The PQ was doing a little better at the break but neither of us was lighting the world on fire.  After the break though I got going.  Got some hands finally and even made KK stand up twice, once taking out a guy who thought he would steal with KJ and another taking it down post flop.  My stack started building up and I was starting to feel better.  Then I decided to play like a lion

No not this lion taking down his prey

 

 

Yes  this is much more like me.

 

 

 

I was in the small blind with a middle sized stack of about 16K and look down at JJ.  Blinds are 300/600 and I figure I'm going to play this hard.  I really want to get more chips now.  Folded around to the cut off who is a kid that likes to make moves in position.  I'm hoping for a raise from him as I'm going to push in over the top of him.  He might have something, he might not but a healthy raise from him was right up my alley.  He pops it to 2500.  Then the lady on the button called him.  Which really surprised me as I thought she was fairly tight and liked to play big cards usually.  This changed my thought process.  I didn't want to get in a race with 2 big cards at this point for most or all of my chips.  I had her covered but not by much, the kid had me covered by a fair amount.  I thought a while and half of me wanted to push in but I figured the one person I was worried about was the woman and I was pretty sure she would call.  Not ideal with JJ in your hand.  So I played the cowardly lion and dumped it.  I breathed a sigh of relief when the flop came down AK7 then another K and finally a 4.  They both checked it down which surprised me as I was sure one of them, probably the lady had an Ace or King.  But the kid shows 33 and the lady MUCKS.  What??  You didn't have an ace or king or a pair and call a good sized raise for 20% of your chips and then don't even bet when he checks to you.  He rakes in the pot and I do a slow burn. So what do you think, was I too cautious there or is it right to toss JJ in that situation? 

 

 I kept my cool after that and started abusing the lady every chance I got.  She would call preflop raises with a wider range than I first thought but she would only call postflop if she hit something.  I was able to push her a few times with crap to build my stack and got away from one problem hand when she bet at me.  That helped me out a good bit.  Then I had cowardly lion hand number 2.  I'm on the button with 30K.  Big stack in seat 4 makes a raise to 4K on 500/1000 blinds.  Guy to his left raises to 8K.  Its folded to me and I look down at AK of spades.  Nice.  I start thinking through the betting.  I put seat 4 on a solid hand, big cards or a big pair, probably a big pair.  He got caught a few hands earlier raising light and I was betting he raised in fairly early position with a hand.  Guy to his left is a bit of a wild card and I didn't think he was too strong.  I thought he probably had a solid ace up to a mid pair.  My fear here is he has AK also and I push into the big stack with AK and am drawing short because 2 of my outs are in someone else's hand.  So I agonize for a minute between calling which I didn't like to do because thats over 1/4 of my chips and I may still have to call another raise then, folding which I don't want to do with these cards, and pushing all in over the top.  I finally decide to dump the hand.  Big stack calls the raise.  Flop is a jack high rainbow and the big stack pushes all in.  Guy on his left thinks really hard then calls for all his chips.  He shows AJ but the big stack has QQ.  He has one foot out the door until an ace splashes the river and burns the big stack.  What do you guys do there?  Are you really aggressive with AK suited or does that spell trouble to a raise and reraise in front of you?  I would have lost to the one guy who hit 2 pair on the river but beaten the big stack.  I'm sure the big stack calls my all in reraise and I'm not sure the AJ would though he indicated he was taking that hand all the way. 

 

We got down to 11 then the PQ got knocked out and we made the final table.  I was in ok shape with a just over 34K in chips, a bit below the average stack.  I stayed patient for a while but the blinds and antes were eating into my stack.  There was a good amount of action early on and a couple of people got knocked out including the lady on my right.   At that point I have the second shortest stack.  Then I started finding positions to move in and made up some chips pretty fast.  I got myself up to 70K while another guy got knocked out.  It sounds like a lot but the average by then was 80K so I was still below average.  I could tell a couple of guys were irritated as we were down to 6 and I should have been gone to get it down to the money but I did a pretty good job of picking my spots.  I did goof big though and wish I could play one hand over.  

 

I had moved up to 50K with blinds at 2K and 4K.  I had been pretty active so I figured someone would call a move from me thinking I was stealing.  Sitting in the big blind I look down at AA for the first time that day.  Just what the doctor ordered.   UTG calls with a big stack  then the guy in the cutoff min raises to 8K.  He is sitting on around 90K.   It folds to me and I have to make a decision.  Like I said, I thought a big push from me might get called because I had gotten so aggressive and I really didn't want to play AA against 2 opponents this close to the money.  Plus I thought the min raise might actually have a big hand and be looking for action.  And I really wanted to get a decent sized stack.  So I pushed all in.  UTG folds and the min raiser thinks for a second then folds as well.  Not what the doctor ordered.  I guess I should call there or maybe try a raise to 20K or so.  I won a decent pot there with blinds and antes it put me up to 70K but I could have done so much more.  With 6 people left and 5 getting paid, I really didn't want to risk a multiway pot but damn I think now that's the way I should have played it.   After that I managed to lose a chunk when I was on the button with 22.  I raised to 25K with blinds at 3K and 6K.  Unfortunately the big blind called me.  I thought with as much a stack as I had then and the fact I didn't push all in, it would make him think.  It didn't.  Probably I should have just pushed in and taken my chances.  Flop was queen high and missed me and he pushed in.  Had to fold there which put me down under 50K again.  Luckily the former big stack who lost with QQ had built himself back up to about 65K and tried to steal a hand after a king high flop.  He pushes in and the guy to his right calls him with K3 and that was all she wrote.  So I hit the money.  I held on for a good while afterwards too but could never get myself back into contention where I was a danger to the bigger stacks.  Blinds got so big that I ended up pushing in on the big blind with 52 after the guy to my right raised.  I put him on a pure steal and figured I had 2 live cards so I went for it.  He actually had 44 and I did not improve.  So out in 5th I go with a little over $300 to show for my efforts.  It certainly beat not hitting the money and for the most part I felt good about my play and my aggression but I really think I misplayed some of these hands and could have done so much better.  Then again, if you lose the tourney, don't you always feel that way?  



Barkeep, I'll have the usual

I mentioned in my last post I'd had some success in a poker tourney last weekend and since that is such a rare thing I thought I would gloat  talk about it some today.  I doubt I will get to play this weekend so I guess I'll just live vicariously through myself today.

The tourney was only around 30 players, which is a lot less than I would have liked but this time of year is generally slow in poker rooms around here.  The tourney is a little quick with 15 minute blind levels but with 6K in chips you get some play.  Not much time to fool around for sure.  The last time I played the tourney I didn't catch crap for cards and pushed as much as I dared but didn't dare enough.  Blinds got up and I didn't do enough to keep from getting blinded off.  I went out right before the final table.  This time I wanted to be more aggressive. 

I was determined not to come into hands without raising except for the blinds (makes it easier later to steal from the blinds if you don't raise from them earlier I think) so I avoided playing hands for the first couple of rounds.  Some of my neighbors were not so circumspect and a few of them were just going to war with anything.  After a few rounds I picked up AQ on the button.  A few limpers to me and I popped it to 4x the big blind.  3 people called including two loose ones.  Flop is ok with A K 5 with two spades.  Unfortunately I don't have spades.  Guy in seat 5 bets out 200 and guy in 7 calls him.  I pop him to 700 and while the big blind folds, both others call.  Turn is a 6 of spades.  Both check to me and I don't want this one to go further and lose to a lousy river card so I put about 3/4 of the pot out there.  Both of them called me.  I put one guy on a bad ace and I didn't know what the other guy had to be calling these bets.  I also figured at least one had a good spade as well which is why I put out as much as I did.  Didn't faze either of them as they both called.  River is of course the 9 of spades.  Seat 5 bets, seat 7 pushes all in, I dump, and 5 calls and shows the spade Ace.  He called me all the way down with A3 off and four flushes.  Other genius called me down with KJ off and had stayed in cuz he flopped second pair and made the J high flush on the river.  He went buh bye but unfortunately did not donate his chips to me. 

I'm down to almost half my starting stack but I'm not wasting any time here.  A bit later on I get A4 suited one off the button.  A couple of limpers to me and I popped it to 600 which was 6x the big blind.  2 callers and we see a flop of J 4 2.  I didn't expect that helped anyone and when it was checked to me I pushed all in.  Unfortunately one guy called.  And flips over KJ of course.  I flip over my A4 expecting to leave soon when an A hits the turn and I'm golden.  That put me over my starting stack and I was determined to not waste time with it. 

My hands were none too good but I made sure I kept raising hands and taking down pots.  I got up to 18K then tangled with seat 5 again.  He had given away a bunch of chips and was down to about 6K when he decided to push all in with top two pair post flop.  But I was sitting on a set of 4s at the same time.  Unfortunately a Q on the river makes his boat.  Twice had him drawing thin and he beat me both times.  Luckily there were 2 people at the table I knew I could steal from and I did.  Made a couple of ok hands like 8-8 stand up post flop.  My stack slowly built up but I still wasn't a big stack when we got down to one table, probably about 8th in chips.  The PQ made the final table too and in better shape than I was.  But that was about to change. 

Seat 5 is now sitting next to me and not a big stack anymore as he had made a couple of other miracle rivers after beating me twice.  Another guy is in seat 5 and he is pretty stacked and pretty aggressive.  This time it cost him dearly.  I called a small raise by him with my 76 of diamonds in the big blind.  Flop is nice with K 8 9.  I check and he bets half the pot.  I decide to tag along after another guy calls and a perfect 5 hits the turn.  Seat 5 puts in a good bet and the guy in seat 8 pushes all in for less than the raise.  I push all in for slightly more than the bet which seat 5 calls.  Seat 5 turns over AK, seat 8 has KQ and both pay me nicely when my straight holds up.   A few hands later I tangle with seat 5 again.  I call an unraised pot one off the button with K7 suited.  Flop is A 7 6 and two of my flush cards.  I call a smallish raise by seat 5.  We both check a 8 on the turn and when a ten comes to fill my flush on the river I'm a happy camper.  Especially when seat 5 pushes all in.  He was really happy to fill a straight on the river until seeing my flush knock him out.  Then he was  not so happy.  I raked in the rest of his chips and look around to see I am sitting with more than a 1/3 of all the chips with 8 people left. 

I have seen people in this situation just piss their chips away so I was determined not to do that.  But I was also determined that no one sees a free flop if I'm playing.  So I kept it fairly tight but still aggressive.  I raised up 55 but dumped it to a reraise, a call, and an all in.  Turns out I was way behind as I was up against 66  99 and AJ.  The 66 flops a six and takes down 2 people.  And if I had stupidly played my 55 I would have taken all 3 out as I would have rivered the straight.  Damn.  Instead a bit later I raise 77 and the loose guy in 3 pushes in.  I felt I was probably ahead about 2-1 so I called him.  It was better than that as he had 55.  And flopped a 5.  There go some chips.  Later on I have AQ and get reraised all in by a relatively short stack.  I call and he has KJ.  I'm ahead until a J flops and I get nothing again.  Twice I call all ins well ahead and lose chips which was exactly what I didn't want to do. 

But I buckled down and kept it together.  Made a couple of good laydowns and a big bluff steal on the turn to stay in the tourney.  Blinds got big and we ended up chopping it up when we got down to 3.  Beat losing but I was doing so well and couldn't bring it all home.  What was both good and bad is I got sucked out on a lot when I was a pretty good favorite.  But I managed to stay in and keep accumulating chips so it worked out well in the end. 

No poker tonight I don't think.  My cousin is in town and we'll be drinking a bit today and attending the Bucs and Saints game tomorrow.  He just turned 50 recently and needs to blow off some steam where it's warm.  He texted me a little while ago that he is happily sitting by the hotel pool drinking Dirty Mexicans waiting for me to join him.  How can I pass that up?  See ya later folks, I got some booze in my future.  Stay lucky you nuts.  And stay warm, which is not a problem down here right now. 

BTW I wanted to send my condolences to Lucki Duck after the recent loss of Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas.  Big Tex is this metal statue wearing Dickies clothes at the Fairgrounds in Dallas.  Apparently the electronics that drive his mouth when he speaks caught fire and the clothes he was wearing went up in smoke with him.  A true tragedy. 

Hey Pardner, got a firehose handy?

 

 

And this is what he looks like now

 

 

 

 

Word is a bigger and better Big Tex will be at the fair next year.  But it just won't be the same. 

Ask Mr Owl for he is the wisest of us all

I could be working this weekend, probably should be at work when you come right down to it, but I decided I needed a weekend to myself.  Was up early Saturday so I picked up the iced coffee and donuts instead of the PQ.  Then after she went over to her sisters I spent the morning catching up on some DVR shows from the past couple of weeks

One of the things I love about DVR is I can fast forward through all the commercials.  Especially now when every other commercial is one candidate bashing another.  Personally, I'm ready to vote for anyone who runs commercials and doesn't bash his opponent.

 I started to rant about Obama commercials and just gave up, I don't want this getting into politics, I'll never get off.  Nope I was talking commercials.  Anyway, I love skipping all those ads whenever I DVR a program but every once in a while an ad comes out that I enjoy.  Because instead of flashing a bunch of half naked women or a speeding car (always through water at some point) someone uses their mind or has a bit of inspiration and actually puts out a commercial that's fun or thought provoking or something other than the norm. 

I think back to when I was a kid sometimes and the some of the commercials from then.  Most of them were probably crap too.  I always like the old Alka Seltzer commercial  "I can't believe I ate the whole thing"  and also the one about shooting a commercial over and over where the guy has to say "Mamma Mia that's a spicy meat-a-ball"  I'm sure some of us have relatives from the old country that sound like that.  I never liked Alka Seltzer but it was a good commercial.  I don't remember too many others from my childhood but I occasionally still see one from that time on tv.  That old Tootsie Pop commercial, how many licks to get to the center where the kid asks the owl.  That one is probably more than 40 years old.  I'm sure I was no more than 9 or 10 when that first came out.  The original commercial was a lot longer as the kid asked some animal who told him to ask the turtle since he lived so long then the turtle tells him to ask the owl.   They dropped most of the early stuff out of the commercial after that.  But anyway enough dating myself.  So tell me what commercials if any that you enjoy.  Any you absolutely hate? 

There are a few commercials today I like.  I will even stop the fast forward for a couple of them.  I suppose my fave is one of the Allstate Mayhem commercials.  Lady's driving her SUV and he's in her blind spot.  So she wants to change lanes and he says "You're good" and she hits the guI y in her blind spot.  The car is spinning, she's screaming, mayhem is laughing hysterically.  I get a kick out of it.  You can view it here.  Some of the others are pretty funny too.

A commercial I thought was inventive was the VW commercial where the kids are driving in a Jetta and out of nowhere a car runs a redlight and slams into them.  Not brilliant perhaps but definitely gets your attention.  Don't know if it helped their sales but it made you remember the car and that's probably what they were aiming at.  Another one I enjoy is the Samsung Galaxy S3 commercial that really tweaks the Apple Iphone.  Pokes fun at it and makes it almost old fashioned with the kid holding a place in line for his parents.  It really gets the point out that the Iphone no longer rules the roost for having the best newest features and is actually behind in some areas.  I dislike Apple for its cultlike status with some people the way it locks people in to their market etc so it can keep milking them for more money but hey if thats what the sheeple want, so be it.  I may not like them but I have to admire them and there's a reason their stock price reached 700 a share.  Amazing when you consider you could have bought Apple for $7 a share in 2003.  Sure wish I had.  But I'll talk about them some other time.  They could have had a great commercial too.  Every time I see the Samuel L Jackson commercial talking to Siri I keep hoping he'll say, "Siri, what does Marcellus Wallace look like? "  That would have gotten a thumbs up from me.

Now to one I hate, no that's not a strong enough word, I absolutely despise this commercial.  It's the Citibank one where the chick says "Jack you're a little boring,  boring,   boring."   Then it shows Jack getting unboring by using his Citi card to cook with Giada DeLaurentis and go to some art exhibit (yes Jack you really are boring now) and to go backstage to see Alicia Keys.  Yeah you're not boring now Jack but you're in debt up to your eyes and we're gonna charge you 21% for the opportunity heh heh heh.  Yup Citi is creepily rubbing their hands like The Judge in "The Natural" while Jack goes on a spending binge to prove how unboring he is.  Hey Jack, here's a thought, just tell Lauren what a bitch she is and live your life.  And save some cash for your retirement.  Trust me you need it almost as much as Citigroup does.  And boy do they need it. I did find a pretty funny parody of the commercial on youtube here.  Take a look. 

Boy so much more I wanted to talk about yet I go off on a rant about commercials.  I must be boring   boring   boring!   Somehow I did managed to score some cash in a poker tourney last night.  I felt very satisfied with my play, had to suck out once but if I hadn't gotten sucked out on mulitple times, I would have won that tourney.  I felt really good about the lay downs I made and the bets I made.  Also never got great cards but did make some marginal ones into winners and that's what you need.  I made sure I played much more aggressively too and that was a huge difference.  It was great to pick on certain people and steal from them.  Never got a big pocket pair, I think 88 was my best.  Got AK once, AQ and A10 a couple of times yet managed to split the 2nd & 3rd place money.  Money won is definitely sweeter than money earned. 

Well long enough with this post.  I'm not Rob after all and I definitely don't have the writing skills to entertain on a long post anyway.  If I haven't bored you to sleep yet, stay lucky you nuts. 

It goes in the blink of an eye

Over 2 months since my last post.  What a slacker I have been.  I just haven't had the urge to write much of anything and I guess I just haven't felt I had much of anything new to say.  But I am back even if I'm not better than ever.

Since my last post I did take a little vacation to Pensacola and New Orleans.  Really enjoyed NOLA, it is definitely a great city to eat, drink and party in.  Almost a southern version of Vegas without as many lights and casinos.  Like Vegas, you get to see weird and wild sights and almost anything goes.

We first headed to Pensacola to help get our niece settled in at college.  When I travel I try to make it a point not to visit any chain restaurants as I want to support the local economies and try the local flavors as much as possible.  But in Pensacola we do make one exception and hit up the Whataburger near the campus of Univ of West Florida.  Been too long since I had me a Double Whataburger with a chocolate malt.  All of the Whataburgers in the Tampa Bay area closed a few years ago much to my dismay.  So it was really good to taste that again. 

Its only 3 hours from Pensacola to New Orleans.  4 different states in 3 hours, almost like being back in New England again.  Due to our spending last year in Vegas, Harrah's was willing to comp us rooms for 2 nights.  But since they have very few rooms in the NO casino, they have worked out deals with some of the other local casinos so we were comped for 2 nights at the Hilton Riverwalk.  What a nice hotel it was.  Way above the quality your humble scribe is used to enjoying.

We shopped a bit, ate a lot, gambled some (had very little luck there) and really enjoyed ourselves.  Since our daughter had always wanted to go to New Orleans, we took her along on this little jaunt.  That wasn't the original plan but it might be the last time she comes on vacation with us so why not.  Besides it gave us a designated driver if we needed one. We did some of the touristy stuff like beignets at Cafe Du Monde and shopped the French Quarter. 

It was a nice little vacation but like anything good in life, it goes too fast.  My gaming did not go particularly well but the food and drink were definitely worth a visit.  Hit a place called Muriel's Cafe for lunch in the French Quarter.  It was superb.  The next night we were planning on hitting a little place near the hotel that was well rated but ran into a problem.  Let me set the stage. 

The first day in NO we were going to hit a restaurant inside the Harrah's casino for  dinner but we couldn't.  To even enter the casino you have to be 21 and our daughter is still 20.  Seemed very odd to not even let her walk in there.  Then after going in I found out why, or at least why I think the casino enforces it so steadfastly (every entrance has security guards checking ID on the way in). 

I sat down at a video poker machine and started playing aka losing.  Found a good one with the right payout structure for a 100% return however you gotta hit some quads and stuff like that and I couldn't hit anything.  But I noticed there is an interactive section on the machine front.  After playing around with it a little I found that you can order your drink right there while sitting at the machine.  You order the drink and the machine tells you when the drink has been made, when its being delivered etc.  Now that is cool.  Before you know it I've had 3 Mai Tais and am feeling no pain.  And I figure that's why they won't let anyone under 21 in the building.  Just too easy to sit at a machine and get hammered. 

So a couple of nights later we decide to hit this little place for dinner.  The wife and daughter had looked it up and it had a lot of nice reviews.  I'm all for it. and its just down the street from our hotel.  Cool.  We walk into the place and its a little hole in the wall bar and grill looking place.  There's a couple of slot machines in there too which surprised me as I thought they could only be in the casino.  We walk in and before we get seated our server asks us if we're all 21.  Have to be 21 in there too because of the machines.  I was in a word, amazed.  So no dinner there.  We walk down the road a piece and there's a sports bar named Mannings.

Fortunately this Manning was not Eli or Peyton so I was not immediately engulfed in flames.  Instead the place was owned by their dad Archie.  I wasn't expecting much as it was just an upscale sports bar but I was pleasantly surprised.  The interior was nice with a few twists like stadium seating in front of the huge big screen on one wall.  But what set it apart was the food.  I had some of the best chili I ever ate and the PQ had a soup that was fantastic.  The main courses didn't suck either.  I also had a local beer called Abita amber ale.  Really good beer.  Abita also makes root beer with real cane sugar.  Best root beer I ever had.  . 

Well that's enough for now.  Definitely a fun trip and there is so much I haven't seen there that I will go back in the not too distant future.   I have a number of posts in mind, lets see if I can translate that to my fingers.