2700 reasons to like the Borgata

So I went down to Atlantic City yesterday to make my contribution to the local economy. I decided to venture over to the Marina for the first time, to check out the new Borgata Casino. It was a really nice place, still not as luxurious at Las Vegas, but definitely a step up for AC. They had some $10 craps tables and were very liberal with the drinks.

I managed to play craps for about 3 or 4 hours when I decided it was time to move on to dinner or another casino. I sat down at a slot machine to rest my feet and finish my drink and started playing w/ $20 in quarters. I just kept hitting the button, watching the number of available coins dwindle down. With about $2 left, I saw a few sevens on the screen and it started counting up my winnings. And up… 500… 1000… 1500… People around me started asking me how much I won. I had no idea, I couldn’t do the math in my head, I was in shock. I was actually getting impatient, I started to look at the machine’s rules to try to figure out what I had won. Eventually it stopped at 2700 quarters. I had hit two “wild” sevens and a bar of some sort. Apparently, that was 300 coins, plus a 9 x bonus because of the wild sevens. I cashed out and got a receipt for $675.

I have a new favorite casino now.

Another Hallmark Holiday?

Holiday Inn | Towel Amnesty Day

“About the towels, we forgive you.”

Too funny.

When the lights go out in the city

So I was fortunate, though not unaffected by the massive blackout on the east coast. I was actually on my way home from work when the event started, and at about 4:15, the radio stations all started going on and off the air. I figured my car was busted. Eventually, I started to get bits and pieces by listening to AM radio. Once I got home, all the street lights being out already started to create havoc, and I cut through some mini malls and parking lots so that I only had to make right turns to get home.

I regretted turning my air conditioning down when I left for work, because my apartment was already warmer than I would have liked, and the temperature kept rising. After grabbing some perishables from the refrigerator for dinner, I did a few hours of work (no rest for the weary). Thank goodness for laptop batteries, and conservative power settings. I found extra batteries and candles, and even filled up some jugs with water just in case. I listened to my portable radio (usually reserved for football games), so I got some news and eventually music came back. Went outside to read in the available light and cool off, as the neighbor was marshalling their 2 year old to the car to watch a DVD (ah, the modern wonders).

Power came back at 9 pm and about 30 seconds later I turned on the A/C. So I was fortunate enough to sleep in comfort.

Thanks to Bob Buckman from Q104.3 for playing the above Journey song, along with Dancing in the Dark, etc., and keeping the mood light (er, or lack thereof).

An analogy between warfare and cancer treatment

I was reading this article, Wired 11.08: The End of Cancer (As we Know it), and was intriguied by the following analogy:

This was not about fighting cancer using chemical or nuclear weapons – chemotherapy and radiation. It was about understanding how cancer functions at the cellular level, then building drugs that worked like smart bombs to target only the molecules causing the problem.

With war so prevalent in the news these days, and our concerns over chemical weapons, this was sort of chilling. Which will come first? The end of chemical/nuclear weapons in global warfare or in human warfare?

At least the researchers (and patients) are fighting the good fight…

Spam Update

I’ve started tracking these things, because it’s such a big problem with my work email.

Spam Totals

June 2003
Work: 1226
Personal: 261

July 2003
Work: 1481
Personal: 238 (I got 1032 emails total, 54 marked “very high” spam, 184 high spam)

* These are the totals that my filters actually caught. I use SpamAssasin for my personal email, and work has it’s own solution.

When you can’t even get it up for the Coors Twins…

Yahoo! News – Football Hero Ditka Hired in Impotence Ad Battle

Football Hero Ditka Hired in Impotence Ad Battle