Viva, Las Vegas!

I've wasted 10 years of Vegas trips...never played craps (at least not understanding it while doing so). And it's SO easy.

Shooter is the guy with the dice. Shooter throws, 2,3,12 loses immediately, 7 or 11 wins immediately. If you bet "the pass line", you win even money.

If the shooter throws something else, that # becomes "the point". A block is put on that number (physically on the table) to show it. Your "pass line" bet stays, and if the shooter throws "the point" again before throwing a seven, you win (again, even money). If a seven comes first, you lose.

Once "the point" is set, you can add an odds bet to your pass line bet. That bet can be any size up to some house limit, typically a multiple of the pass bet you made between 3x and 100x depending where you play. That bet provides even odds, so it's a GREAT bet to load up on. If the shooter rolls the point before a seven, you win the odds bet, and you get a varying payout depending what the point was - a 4 or 10 is harder to get than a 6 or 8, so they pay more.

Once "the point" is set, you can also bet the specific numbers. So, if the point is 5, you could bet $15 each on 6 and 8 (for $30 total). If the shooter rolls a 6 or an 8 before they roll a 7, you win a multiple of your bet. These bets are lots of fun, as they don't have to come off the table when you win - if the shooter is hot, they can keep rolling 6 or 8 repeatedly and you keep winning without making more bets!

And if you feel unlucky, you can pull your odds bets and number bets any time you want...if you have a lot of them out and the shooter rolls a 7, you can lose a LOT of money all at once, so sometimes following your gut is a good thing :). But it's even better to load up the table on a hot shooter, screaming and yelling the whole time. Bring lots of cash, even a $15 minimum bet table will require $500 to really play...maybe more if you max out your odds bets like you should.

WOOHOO!!

GTA IV

Grand Theft Auto IV rocks:

1) Stealing a car, having the person try to grab the door just as you take off and they're holding on as you fly around the streets (for a while :)).
2) HUGE stunt jumps in cars! The game needs more jumps scattered around, these things are just too good. Hitting one perfect is so hard with traffic thick in many areas, and I'd love to do them all in different cars and try sliding into them or hitting off-center to get great effects.
3) Bowling a turkey is HARD. Throwing 180 in darts should be fairly easy but has eluded me so far. Shooting a perfect game in 8-ball will be near impossible.
4) Michelle is easy.
5) Controlling slides while driving on big bridges through traffic, never hitting another car.

Multiplayer looks really good, only did some quick trials last night but it appears to be goofy fun, especially when you get 3-4 people loaded in a car, all hanging out firing at some other car loaded up the same way racing through the city :).

A night in the life

A typical night with the bears (on the weekend):

Dinner at 5-6
A walk outside around the block or playing in the backyard
Bath at 7
Dressed for bed at 7:30
Pillow fight with Philip until 8
Katarina and Philip pile-on daddy until 8:05
Karatina and Philip jump over "alligator" daddy until 8:10
Katarina gets a book to read, Philip runs off and gets trucks from another room
Philip gets a book to read, Katarina needs a tiny bit of milk
We forgot to brush our teeth!
Katarina screams to read her book first, Philip goes to play with his trucks
Halfway through Katarina's book, Philip wants to start it over so he can see all of it, big fight ensues
Katarina and Philip read Philips book
In the bed and lights off around 9, but no one knows since the last hour was insane
I need to go peepee!
5 minutes later
I need to go poopoo!
15 minutes later
I need a drink
Philip is stealing the covers!
Katarina sings "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's AMORREEEEEEE!"
Daddy falls asleep...