Charlie’s Haus

Its been a busy two weeks since my last post.  On my way home from Vegas my Mom called and informed me that my cousin John’s wife Sarah had given birth to their son Jack.  So on the way home from the airport, Mandi and I stopped in to see them.  He was not happy with me taking pictures, but I got a couple good ones.  Here they are (there are none of me because Im afraid of babies…silly I know…but its true), you can click on them to make them larger.

I was putting my boat motor back together, and found out I was still missing 1 small but very important part.  It was the exhaust housing that connects the lower unit to the midsection.  I managed to find a guy who is selling me one for fairly cheap though.  That should be here next week sometime….just in time to do some fishing!  That gives me this weekend to get the boat all ready except for that part.  Clean it up, get my rods ready, install my onboard charger, and get the other wheel bearing replaced.  You know, all the fun stuff.

I also managed to finish building my new motorcycle intake from 1.5″ copper pipe.  Its all mounted up and the bike is running.  I had to get a new battery because the one I bought last year was crap.  From now on every battery I buy will be from Interstate…no more screwing around with cheaper/inferior batteries.  Anyways, Im still working on dialing it in, its running mostly good though.  Just filled up this morning and am getting 30mpg.  I should be getting better than that, but it still beats the 23 I get in my car for the same route.

I got a little bit of work done on the bar.  I really need to get some pics up.  I got the cabinet doors stained and polyurethaned, as well as the faces of the “cabinets.”  I just need to put some veneer on the edges and then mount the doors on them and they will be all set.  After that, I need to put the trim on the edge, and then install the laminate for the lower counter top, and I will be all ready to start putting on the top!  It wont be long until that is done if I keep whacking away at it.  Probably this fall sometime since I will be gone a month between Europe and Canada. 

This weekend we are going to see Spamalot with my buddy Scott and his wife.  It should be good.  Sunday is my sisters graduation.  A lot of people go to school for seven years….   Haha…just kidding…love you sis!  Congrats!

Last nights closing party at MMS was sweet.  They had a ton of 360’s with a bunch of games.  They had halo3 setup on the lan so you were playing 16 peeps.  It was awesome.  They also had a bunch of arcade games, pool tables, etc.  Awesome stuff.  They had a few entertainers also.  Chainsaw jugler, a guy who ballanced stuff on his face….you know…good stuff   Really though…MMS was awesome, and Im a believer.  I learned more this week than I would learn in any class.  Most of the presenters are people who wrote part of the software, so they can answer just about any little question, and they can tell you how the software was intended to work.   Good stuff for sure.

I went to a few sessions today, they were good.  Nobody was around though….they all must have had to leave to catch flights.  I know thats why Im going home tomorrow, because I couldnt get a flight from Chicago to Madison in the evening. 

Today I went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay.  It was really short.  But I got to touch stingrays!  They feel weird.  The really nice thing is that everyone got the ear phone things that you punch a number into and it tells you about the animal.  No paying extra.  For how small it was, it was still pretty cool though.  It took me about an hour to get through.

On the way back (its got to be a good 2 or 3 miles down the strip), I took some pictures that I am going to turn into HDR photos.  HDR photos are the ones you see with like the extremely vivid details (like the sky is bright blue).  Its one of the reasons I got a dSLR for Europe.  Im hoping they turned out good.

So now its time to pack up my bags and maybe watch a movie and head to bed.  My flight leaves at 11:30am tomorrow.  Hopefully I have a good single serving friend on the plane =D

My photography journey down the strip got cut short last night because of high winds.  I started out a little before dusk headed down the strip to find some good shots.  I managed to get 1 round of photo’s at the bellagio fountains before they stopped them.  Then the wind really picked up.  I got a few more pics, but it was so windy my tripod was even shaking….I ended up frehanding a few and calling it a night.  They even turned off all fountains.  So that leaves me with Friday night when I go to the Shark Reef to get some more pics.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Yesterday at MMS wasnt as good as the first couple of days.  I couldnt find any sessions that really interested me for part of the day.  I went to some anyways and was pretty bored as they didnt apply at all…I ended up leaving them early.  Today Im thinking about trying to get into the instructor led labs instead of listening to something thats boring (duh…why didnt I think of that before). 

Last night I signed up for the Venetians casino card.  I got $25 in free play…not too shabby.  You have to play all the money till the end, and then you can do what you want with the winnings.  I managed to walk away with $24.  That gives me something to do now in the casino and not feel too guilty! 

Although its fun here, Im ready to go home.  I miss my wife and kitties (not to mention my own bed).  The pillows here are killing my neck because they are the thickest pillows on the planet Im pretty sure.  Hopefully next year Mandi can come for a bit and we can do some stuff together. 

Well Im off for a long day!  Tonight there is a closing reception that goes until 10pm.  Hey at least they have free beer/wine and snacks.  Good times!