1. Three times a year, Ed and I head over to the Spokane Tribe Casino to put down modest wagers on the Super Bowl, March Madness, and both of the NCAA basketball championship tournaments. I won a wager in 2025 by betting on UConn's women's team.
Sometimes others who like to wager and play machines join us. One year it was Buff and Darren. Today, it was Jake.
I had a very relaxing, fun, and even a delicious day today. Once I laid a bet on the Seahawks to win on Sunday, I scrambled over to the coffee stand and ordered a terrific latte and a most pleasing thick slice of banana bread with nuts.
Then I hit the machines and they humbled me. After a while, I'd spent the money I brought to play with.
I hadn't heard from Jake or Ed and figured they must have been doing better and I decided to take a chance. I decided to go from playing to gambling. I withdrew some added bank from an ATM machine.
My luck reversed.
After a while I got a text from Ed that he and Jake were in the sports bar area.
I figured it was time for lunch.
And guess what! I dug myself out of the hole I'd been in and was now actually ahead.
My decision to throw a little caution to the wind, luckily, panned out.
My smashburger, fries, and zero alcohol Heineken beer all tasted especially good in light of my comeback and good fortune!
2. Speaking of casinos, today, the guys and I who join up twice a year for two or three nights at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton were able to nail down dates for this spring's trip. That casino has become a very busy place and we couldn't get rooms in late March or early April. But we learned rooms were available at the end of April and so we will make our trip then.
Right now the resort has one tower hotel and are in the process of building a second.
Good thing!
It looks like there is plenty of demand to make having two hotels a worthwhile development.
3. I didn't just wager, play machines, and book myself a Wildhorse room today.
I also bought a ticket to hear the Gonzaga Symphony play on campus on Thursday, Feb. 5th.
The concert will close with legendary violinist Gil Shaham as the featured soloist joining the symphony for a performance of Brahm's Violin Concerto in D Major.
As I've mentioned before, I started listening to classical music in the 8th grade by repeatedly listening to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in my upstairs bedroom. I also loved listening, on that same album, to his American in Paris.
So from way back then, in about1968, to the fall and winter of 2025 into 2026, I had paid little attention to Johannes Brahms.
Therefore, this evening, I've begun to do my best to familiarize myself with Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major in preparation (maybe anticipation is a better word) for (of) the concert at Gonzaga.
I'll listen to this concerto some more at home before I leave for Spokane and I'll listen to it some more while I drive over.
It's a stirring concerto and the other compositions are also full of vitality.
I'll hear:
Mozart Overture to Don Giovanni
Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain (You might remember this piece from the movie Fantasia.)
Saint-Saens Danse Bacchanale
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