Author: Nick Momrik

I'm searching for my first hole-in-one. I enjoy being active and making things. I work for Automattic.

To Tip Or Not To Tip…The Dealer

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Ever played poker in a casino? Do you tip the dealer after a winning hand? Do you do it every time?

For some reason poker etiquette expects you to. I don’t play in a casino very often, but when I do, I’m there to have fun and to make money. As if it’s not hard enough to overcome the rake (casino’s cut of each pot), I’m also expected to overcome dealer tips. Might as well play the slots!

I give a waitress tips because she is taking my order, getting me food, and cleaning up after me. Her job is to serve me in the restaurant. Waitress’s don’t get a decent wage, because tips are the norm. Dealers get paid wages and from the little bit that I’ve heard, it’s pretty decent money. I could be totally wrong on that though. A dealer’s job is to deal the cards and count chips. Something that I (or anyone else at the table) could easily do. Why again do I need to tip this person? No one tips me at work when I fix their computer. I know it’s my job, but it’s hardly a job that anyone at the University can perform.

If we are supposed to tip the dealer, why only on hands that we win? It’s not like the dealer had any influence on our cards. If we are tipping them for “service,” they are providing the same level of service on hands that we win and hands that we lose. The only difference is that we are satisfied with this “service” when we win, but not when we lose.

I’m heading to the casino on Saturday night. I think I might see how much I can win, without tipping the dealer on every pot that I pull in.

Note

For some reason every 5 years or more this post gets shared around to a bunch of angry dealers who fail to read the entire discussion or fail to see by the date that this post was published in 2004! I had to close comments years ago because it gets out of control. Here’s a comment I left in 2009…

For the record, I’ve always tipped when playing poker in a casino unless I forgot to on a hand, which happens to everyone. The only time I’ve ever not given a tip on purpose is if the pot was too small.

Golf Swing – Fixed?

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I think I figured out what has been wrong with my swing all summer. I haven’t been rotating my hips and lower body on the backswing, which has been causing a drop in my left shoulder and then my head. Every regular golfer knows that the head is supposed to be still throughout the swing. It’s amazing how this little bit of movement was causing me to almost miss the ball on tee shots. I’ve been driving 50-100 yards for about 3 weeks because I keep dribbling it off the tee box. Ugly and embarrassing!

Scoring has been in the upper 40s, which still isn’t too bad, but it gets old having to hit a miraculous second shot on every hole to recover. Chipping has been up and down all year, but my putting has been spectacular.

If I’ve truly found the fix to my swing, maybe golf can be fun again!

Tour de France

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Every year I look forward to following the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. It’s amazing to watch the strategy and teamwork that goes into a 3 week bike race. I think it may be the most difficult event to complete in sports. 20 grueling stages up and down mountains, through wind and rain, ditching fans standing in the road. After getting into riding myself, I think I’ll appreciate what these men do even more.

On July 3rd, Lance Armstrong will attempt to become the first man to ever win the Tour de France 6 times in a row. A truly unbelievable achievement after beating cancer. The man feels no pain, attacking his opponents whenever he senses weakness. He excels in the mountains where most fall off the lead.

Team USPS has a tough road ahead, but as they’ve proven year after year, they are more than up for the challenge. Lance’s teammates will sacrifice their bodies to protect him from crashing riders and blasting winds. They’ll take turns leading so that he can draft behind them. Their glory comes in Lance’s victories, knowing they had a hand in the outcome.

On July 25th will it be Armstrong on the podium with the yellow jersey once again? I can’t wait to find out!

Dark Fury – The Chronicles of Riddick

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Dark Fury - The Chronicles of Riddick (Animated)Dark Fury is a short animated film, explaining what happens in between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick.

It was about an hour long I think, but well worth the time to watch. The story begins with Riddick flying through space, where Pitch Black left off. The spaceship gets picked up by a bounty hunter who “collects” specimens like Riddick because she views them as art. I won’t give away any more details, but say that if you’ve seen Pitch Black or plan to see the Chronicles, you need to watch this in between. I give it a B.

Pitch Black

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Pitch Black (Unrated Version)Vin Diesel is a bad ass! This is one of his best movies if you ask me. He plays the part of Riddick, a criminal who has eyes that have been glazed, making it difficult for him to see in the light, but easy in the dark.

A group of space travelers crash onto an unknown planet. Soon after they gather themselves, the find out that the planet has 3 suns. Talk about hot! They also find out there is soon to be a total eclipse when surprise visitors will come out to play.

I thought the plot of the movie was pretty good and believable for the most part. Character development was OK, but they had to leave something for next movie, The Chronicles of Riddick. What really caught my eye was the lighting in this movie. Awesome! With each sun being a different color they had to match up shadows, reflections, and the look of people’s faces. When the eclipse hit, lighting had to be shifted to correspond to the effects of torches, glow tubes, and flares. All of course, were different colors. I was impressed.

I watched Pitch Black a few years ago so it should say something that I’ve watched it again. I give it a B.

Swingers

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Swingers (Miramax Collector's Series)I watched this movie over a week ago and forgot to post about it. Maybe I forgot to post because I hated it so much and wanted to forget about it as soon as possible.

In real life I can’t stand people who talk just for the sake of talking. Annoying! Why would anyone want to watch a movie with a character like this? The best part of the movie was the ending when one of the characters finally stopped talking about his ex-girlfriend and then his friend (the talker) didn’t know what to say. It was silence…welcome silence.

Not much else to say about this movie really. There were scenes in Vegas so that was my highlight. I give it a D+.

Lack Of Posts

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I know I haven’t been posting much lately, but I haven’t felt the creativity or had any big inspirations. I’ve been busy cleaning the house, biking, hanging out with friends, golfing, and of course working. Today I had my oil changed and found out that I need new front tires. This weekend I’m heading up to Rogers City for the long weekend (we have the 5th off). The big plans are to go up to the casino in St. Ignace to play some poker, celebrate Jere’s new job, eat some of Dad’s deep-fried turkey, go biking, and check out the poker table Isaac is building so that I can give him specs on what I want mine like. I’m looking forward to the visit home because it’s been quite some time since my last journey north.

I’d like to have some suggestions on topics to write about. I like doing posts that fall into the Thoughts category, so I’d like your (Yes, all 5 of you!) help. What would you like to read? Maybe my thoughts on space exploration, recycling, fashion… It’s up in the air. Let’s get those creative juices flooding.