Ed Icionsub

There was an article in the paper that say over 60% of workers in the U. S. did not take their earned vacation time last year. That might be a good thing if you can can accumulate unlimited hours or days that carry over each year. But at my company we have to used the days earned within a year or we lose that time. So you can believe that I use my vacation time,

This year I have plans to go to the biggest and best golf tournament in the the world, held every year in Augusta, Georgia. I have a friend who lives in nearby Aiken, SC, so the deal is that I buy the The Masters Tickets for both of us and I get to stay at his house for a week during the tournament.

Last year I did not get to attend any baseball games all year, so this year I have to make up for that. I will get both Fenway Park Tickets for a game in July, and then Wrigley Field Tickets for the Cubs against the Cardinals. This game has been an annual tradition for us for 15 years, with the exception of last year and the passing of a brother in law. Obviously, we had to cancel our plans and attend the funeral. But this year, we are back to our yearly trek to Chicago in the heat of summer to cheer for the Cardinals.

Wow – just saw a commercial with Eric Clapton for a cell phone. I think the phone is a T-Mobile exclusive, which actually is making me consider switching from AT&T so I can get this phone. It has a special design on the case and in the commercial, it shows Eric Clapton strumming what looks like guitar struts on the phone display. I wonder if that is a special application that lets you play the phone like a guitar? How would that even work? Not that it matter so much to me – I can’t play the guitar anyway. I just like the case design and the thought that it has a variety of cool apps that you can get for it. Plus, I’m a huge Clapton fan – from way back.

There’s a lot of money on the table today as the Saints play the Colts for the NFL championship. I would not be surprised if there were bets on which team would win the coin toss, bets on how many sacks will take down Manning, how many touchdowns will be in each quarter, and all kinds of other nonsense. Office pools have been passing around sign up sheets and collecting small dollar bets for days. I can’t wait to see who cashes in the biggest on this game.

My head says to pick the Colts but my heart says to pick the Saints. This will be a good game, either way.

Every time I have a business trip or reason to go to Chicago, I make an effort to get together with a couple of my friends who live there. Two of my good buddies are Chicago born and raised, and I met them while playing cards on the internet about 12 years ago.

They are both excellent card players and we’ve played hundreds of games together, both online and in real life. They told me about an online casino guide that describes the various web sites and has other helpful information.

This morning I was reading one of their articles about American Indian casinos and the effect of their revenues related to the country’s bad economy.

Another interesting article on their site was about technology advances that will be making the gambling tables appear in 3-D. Wouldn’t that be cool? I’m a big fan of 3-D in today’s movies – and I would love to see 3-D on the home computers, too.

Looking forward to another trip to Chicago in February. It can be crazy cold in Chicago during the winter months. I’m hoping for a few days of decent weather so I can get back and forth without freezing my toes, and maybe I can find a free evening to hook up with my buddies for a few card games, too.

Today there is an awesome hockey game on TV. The Winter Classic is an NHL game that will be played outdoors. They did this last year and it was a huge success. So I was glad to learn that they are doing it again this year, except this year’s game will be played in Boston.

I’m not a big fan of either the Bruins nor the Flyers, but since the Flyers have two former Predators players on their team, I think I will be cheering for the Flyers today.

It just started, so I’m going to sit down and watch the game today.

This morning I spent an hour or so looking at toys on the internet. I have to buy birthday present for my three nephews and I’ve been looking for something unique for them. It can be hard looking for toys just after Christmas. They each have been good boys and I know that Santa was very good to each of them at Christmas.

My oldest nephew is going to be a teenager and I know he loves to play games. So I’ve been looking at electronics for him and I was able to get some good ideas from the ShopWiki web site. Video games and and all the different gaming platforms can be hard to keep up with, so I had to call my sister and ask her what he has and what he would like to get. I’m torn between some handheld games or one of the new remote control toys. Some kids really like the remote control trucks and the new ones are awesome.

The other two nephews are just a week apart in age – obviously different mothers. It was very strange to have a sister and a sister-in-law expecting their babies at the same time. They are young enough that they would like the classic toys – like action figures and robots from some of this year’s hit movies. I took them to see G. I. Joe and we all really liked that movie. But they also really liked the Transformers movies. So I have to decide what would be the best birthday presents for each of them andd clear it with their moms before I order them.

All three of my nephews have a birthday coming up in February. In fact, the three of them are just days apart on the calendar although several years apart in age. I always thought it was a little unfair to kids to have a birthday too close to Christmas – they have a strong likelihood of getting shortchanged in the gift department.

On the other hand, someone who is well organized and plans for the upcoming birthdays can take advantage of the Christmas sale prices and buy the gifts for each nephew at Christmas or shortly after Christmas and set them aside until they have to be shipped to the boys in early February.

It bothers me that popular games have books and online resources for players who want to get a hint, find a shortcut, or cheat to win the video games. The idea of cheating is very bothersome and offensive to me. Like in the old west, if someone was to accuse me of cheating I would push my chair back from the saloon table and demand an apology or challenge the scoundrel to a duel in the street.

I have a lot of personal integrity and would not cheat anyone in a card game or a board game. As much as I like to win, I do not believe in winning at all costs. You must play with good sportsmanship and honor, or the win is just a shallow victory of points, not a true win.

Tonight is the two hour special and live broadcast from New York City of this year’s Survivor series. We’ve been watching this show for years and we love talking about the cast of characters after each show. The interpersonal dynamics are what I like. The bickering and backstabbing, the lies and treaties, the teamwork and the competitions – all add up to the best of humanity and the worst of humanity.

There is a fun game that I found on Facebook called Zuma. It’s a quick little solitaire game. You are a frog that shoots different colored balls from your mouth. When the colors line up correctly you score points. Of course, the balls are a moving target and you have to beat the advancing line of balls.

The version on Facebook is limited to a tournament type of game, but you can buy the full version and have many more levels and competition types. I like it so much that I went ahead and bought the full version for about twenty bucks. Now I can play a quick couple of games without having to be online.