How often does it fall on New Year’s Eve? I don’t have the time or the energy to put up the New Year’s Eve party pictures tonight, possibly not even tomorrow.  I do have time to relate the tale of how the Blue Moon captured my full attention just after we cleared the foot hills coming down the hump towards Vegas.  It was frigging incredible, too big to be real, suspended over the lights of the city, and as amazing as the sight was, what was even more amazing was the people that were pulling over like we were, jumping out with their cameras.  AWESOME!

So here it is, sadly I could never get the definition of the moon’s surface, except in one shot I took with a flash.  I think to start monkeying with filters next time…and to get a new camera someday.  The 1st one is without flash, wonderful wispy clouds layered over the beauty. the city lights below.  The 2nd one is with a flash – although I have no idea how a flash makes the difference since it’s measuring about 10 feet in front of me.  The 3rd one was my 2nd stop a few miles down the road from the first place – I just had to have one more picture…I just have to get a new camera…

Me and the truck driving duo went to Gary and Marie’s for a New Year’s Eve toast before heading into the northwest area where I had to drop some stuff off at the old digs and then stop at a Whole Foods Market for a 3 week supply of Kombucha.  Carole met us there and the four of us traveled together to the Lederer’s for the party.  OK, shots of the party will be up soon.  In the meantime, a story to tell.

All said and done, party over, the three of us made the trip home, it was a cold night.  I had forgotten to turn the heat on before I left that afternoon and I about froze the hair off of my head waiting for my little coach to warm up after we arrived around 3 a.m.  I looked over the pictures I had taken, specifically hoping for a great shot of the moon, and crawled underneath my electric blanket to pass out-nope, not drinks at the party.  Around 5:30ish I woke up to a woman yelling/crying and managed to peer out my coach window.  It was dimly lit and the next door retards were having some kind of a fight festival, it appeared that a guy was standing out by the road and one kept running back and forth to one of the trucks that had an open door and then back to the guy on the street…the runner was yelling too.  Why I didn’t just call the cops I have no idea, but my resolve is set now if it ever happens again.  Finally one of them gunned off down the road in one of the trucks.  Love living next door to those people. Happy New Year!

I did manage to sleep in on New Year’s Day.  I also had checked Absolute Poker and the bad beat jackpot was growing like crazy.  I played in a .50/1.00 limit game off and on most of the day.  My sis had fixed an incredible prime rib on the spit on the BBQ, baked potato, and salad for our dinner, and I drank about 3 glasses of wine.  WOW!  I’ve rarely drank anything in the last 3 years, let alone 3 whole glasses, one after the other, on the same day.  Yummy!

I came back home and played on Absolute Poker, same scenario.  I won around $18 over about 7 hours of play, and I played as I worked and answered emails, etc. , finally leaving the table about 9 p.m. but just left the lobby up on my pc.  I knew I was going hiking at 10 a.m. today with Amy.  When my alarm went off, I signed up for a seat, the jackpot was now over 450k.  I got a seat, did the coffee thing, did some work, sat out a few hands, washed my face, got ready to go hiking, back into the game, and had the silent wish that someone would hit the jackpot in the next minutes or that it would hold until I got back from hiking.  BOOM baby!  About 5 minutes before I was going to set out, it hit.  I got $250 for my player’s share.  NICEY Nice!  Off to the hike. Oh, and I logged around a $21 win for around 20 hours of play in the .50/1.00 – move over Isildur1.

Check back for pictures of the party.