Some good news amid all the bad news.

I have finally confirmed that two of my friends who live on the Gulf Coast are alive. Brian lives just north of Lake Ponchatrain and Will lives in Pensacola.
I spoke with Brian yesterday. He and his immediate family evacuated to Jackson, MS. They are fine, but still without electricity. He hopes to get back to his home soon to see how extensive the damage is. His brother-in-law stayed put in Pascagoula and as of yesterday they had not heard from him.

Please keep everyone impacted by the hurricane in your thoughts in the days, weeks and months ahead as they try to put their lives back together.

Brian, you ready to move to the desert yet??

My month of slot mania has come to an end. August ended on high note as I eeked out small wins at MGM, Palms and Bellagio. Last night I played poker with Linda at Bellagio. She was "out to play" for about an hour but she then got picked up to deal. I booked a small win in the $4-8 limit game. That coupled with the small win in $4-8 limit last Saturday night left me 2 for 2 playing live poker in August. Hard to believe that I only played poker twice this month since I played the damn machines nearly every day. My goal for this month is NO SLOTS. Wish me luck.

*There was one little dealer annoyance from last night. Well maybe two little dealer annoyances. The first was the dealer who thought that tapping his toke before pocketing it passed for "thank you". Newsflash. Tap Tap does not equal Thank You. The second was the dealer who brought in each and every bet one at a time by picking it up and depositing it into the pot. If there were 8 players, she repeated this motion 8 times. She did all this with her right hand. Painfully slow.*

Please give what you can to help relieve the suffering along the Gulf Coast. I personally have issues with the Red Cross. I won't go into the details. BUT at this point I think that they are probably the best option.