Got the chance this past Monday to work the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star game. It was basically a volunteer position, although I was asked to do it by our local chapter. The game was in San Antonio and I did get a watch and a plaque! Woohoo!!!
Went from San Antonio on Monday to Vegas to officiate a little out here and help my friend Rich Almstedt celebrate his 60th birthday! Rich was the guy that first taught me about officiating at a clinic that I attended at Humble High School back in 1995. We have become good friends over the years and he has helped my career in many ways. Was also out here with Steve Oakes, a good friend and groomsman in our wedding. He assigns several tournaments out here over the summer, so I got to work a few games and subsidize my trip out here and had a free room for the last couple of nights!
We went out for all-you-can-eat sushi the other night… First time I had ever tried the raw sushi — it was really good… We tried Octopus, Eel, Yellowtail, and lots of other things — and threw in a few cooked items for good measure.
Derek is finishing up his bar exam today and then he and Brendan are headed out here for the real Vegas trip! I just beat them by a couple of days
And, yeah, I suck at blogging, but started a Twitter profile and have been updating that a little… Kind of cool… Not sure if I will stick with it, but will try it out for a while, so check it out.
Carrie’s post about an inspiring and motivational video reminded me of probably the most inspiring video and story I have ever seen. With the summer olympics going on it seemed even more apropos.
I couldn’t remember the exact details, but thanks to a Google search I was about to find out the name of the Olympian I was searching for. Then, a quick Youtube search on his name got me the video I was trying to find — all in under a minute! (The interwebs are amazing, aren’t they?!?)
I hope that you enjoy the video below — you will be moved…
Apple released the new 2.0 firmware for the iPhone today and I clicked the Upgrade button in iTunes. Everything went fine until it tried to connect online and reactivate the phone and I started getting errors.
So, if you try to call me or text me don’t expect a response for a bit
UPDATE: Apparently the servers were swamped… After trying several more times over the next hour or so, I finally got through and everything is working now. Downloading some apps to try out! Cool!
A lot happening the last couple of weeks, so lots of photos and video ahead!
Friday, June 20th
Carrie and I paid a visit to her family up in Oklahoma. I was supposed to be at a referee camp this weekend, but it was sold out! OOPS.
It was a short weekend trip, but very relaxing and enjoyable. We didn’t take a ton of photos, but I had to get a photo of this — I’m sure that several of you are in the market for a Bullie! It can be used for a number of things — car trash can, potpourri, and anything else you can think of.
Yes. This is what you think it is.
Tuesday, June 24th
Had a very enjoyable lunch with my mom, sister (NatBatt), and Mamoo… No pics — we were too busy eating and talking! Always enjoy seeing family!
Later that evening I flew out to San Francisco with Brendan. Why? Because I can! I was headed to Vegas later that week anyway and was flying on miles, so decided to fly to San Francisco from Houston and then back to Houston from Vegas on Continental. A one-way on Southwest completed the San Fran-Vegas link for me.
Brendan on the way to San Francisco… Yes, he is in the middle seat. That is what happens when you let your friends check you in! LOL
Wednesday, June 25th
Went to eat at John’s Grill in San Francisco — had a nice steak and some a nice California cabernet…
Rode the streetcar back up to the hotel — only a few blocks…
Here’s a video of them turning around the streetcar — they still do it all manually!
And a video of the ride back…
Thursday, June 26th
We spent a few days in San Fran and got to do a little sightseeing after Brendan’s conference was over on Thursday. We tried to go to Alcatraz, but the soonest tour they had available was Sunday. Um, yeah, we were really looking for something on the same day.
So, this is the closest we got…
And then headed out to pay a surprise visit to Gigi, Brendan’s grandmother and his aunt.
I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this old Lyons family photo…
Friday, June 27th
I headed off to Vegas and Brendan was off to Southern Cal for a job fair… Didn’t make any money in the WSOP, but it was fun.
Here’s a photo of Phil Hellmuth, who was playing in another event. Carrie thought this was cool because it was a poker player whose name she actually recognized!
Here’s a short little clip from the hallway outside of the WSOP poker rooms, as well as the main poker room where my tournament was. Notice the sound of shuffling poker chips once you enter the room! There were 2700 people in that room when my tournament started — that’s a lot of chips!
This is completely random, but funny. After busting out of the tournaments, I played some $1/2 over at Mandalay Bay with some Canadian tourists. It was a fun group and we played most of the night together. They were talking about smoking and showed me a packet of cigarettes from Canada — yes, that is a human brain on the cover!
I think that this is proof that it is impossible to get people to stop smoking!
Monday, June 30th
Back from Vegas after flying all night on the red-eye, I took a cab to meet Carrie and her family downtown. Her parents and sister had come in from Oklahoma to go to the Dodgers game. Yes, it was played at Minute Maid park, but was not “the Astros game”, at least according to Macey or Dan!
Wednesday, July 2nd
We got packed up and headed out towards the river. Well, after a few trips back and forth to the house. We went to Sam’s and underestimated our capacity by just a bit, so this is what the trip back to the house looked like…
Our brilliant idea? Tow the Jeep to use as storage! Sweet!!!
So, Brendan searched the garage for the towing bar, found his owners manual to tell him how to put the Jeep in neutral (there is a specific method that you have to use to ensure you don’t jack things up!), and we hooked everything up. Of course, it started pouring raining while we were doing so!
We got to the river just in time for dinner… Here is Jen preparing some sopapillas. She let the kids help out with the flour and dough and lots of it ended up on her and the floor!
Derek, Kim, and Kerber all relaxing on the river…
Brendan saying “Cheers!”
Me chilling in the river!
And Carrie and Kim… These two got along a little too well!
Of course, there was poker… I had lost $50 or so and Derek was up $30 or more when he said, “OK Brad, I’ll play for another hour or until I’m down to $10″ — this was at 3:00am.
At 3:30am this is what the table looked like…
I think they call that the Agony of Defeat. By the way Derek, you can ship the $20 via Paypal or contact me for a mailing address. Thanks!
Filed under: Officiating, Personal
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