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We’ve walked past this joint in Vegas plenty of times, actually ate at the one at Winstar Casino once (it was OK), and had about average expectations for the Dallas incarnation, which is housed within the walls of the old AMC Grand 24. We finally ventured to this locale after purchasing a Groupon some time back; we picked Saturday lunch to finally cash it in. We were seated promptly and got our drinks quickly.

My wife chose the Delmonico Steak Sandwich and I ordered the Sweet Bourbon Salmon. We were told the sandwich took a little longer, but in the end the wait wasn’t too bad — we appreciated the heads up. While we waited we were served cornbread and flavored butter. The bread wasn’t warm, but was edible. I thought it served its purpose while my wife thought it was a bit too sweet.

<figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The Delmonico Steak Sandwich</figcaption></figure>

Our first bite into our entrees was enough to discard any negative expectations we might have had about the menu. The sandwich steak was cooked to order and packed with flavor. The steak is cut into smaller parts to fill the sandwich, so watch out it doesn’t spill over the bread, which my wife also pointed out was fresh and delicious.

The salmon was grilled maybe half a minute too long, but a couple of crunchy bites didn’t damage the rest of the man-sized fillet. To my taste, salmon is best when it’s juicy and seared hot from the first bite to the last, and the Sweet Bourbon did not disappoint and was enjoyable from beginning to end.

The Delmonico Sandwich came with a generous serving of fries, the salmon comes with two sides, mixed vegetables and rice. Our server said we could switch our sides if we wanted and I substituted the rice for sweet potato tots, which I’ve never had before, but will now always order again (you know how the Sonic Tater Tots stand our over any other burger side? This is the sweet potato equivalent).

The restaurant retains the tall theater ceilings, tall walls decorated with HD TVs tuned in to every sport available at that moment. Patrons are free to explore the establishment and discover the stage, the well-stocked bar and arcade games.

We will visit Toby Keith’s again, Groupon or not. If you sign up for their VIP club, you get a free meal for your birthday… I’ll update my review then.

Also uploaded to Yelp!: bit.ly/10AOmgL

Christmas Day started with breakfast and the opening of presents at Grammy and Grandpa’s house. Everybody got some pretty cool presents — including a camera tripod for Uncle Paco, maybe now he can get in some of the pictures! Lunch followed at Grandma’s house, where we were treated to a snowfall before dessert.

Click the image to see the album, two videos follow below.

A couple of hours of snow dropped as a bonus Christmas present. Target practice? Oh sure, there’s Uncle Paco:

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Snow is cold — and wet! Who’s to blame for getting this lovely new coat wet?

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(Or, how to publish sound files in WordPress.)

I signed up for Soundcloud and recorded my first message.

Truly, a voice made for print media.

IMMEDIATE REACTIONS:

1. Might be better served recording audio on my PC using Audacity and then uploading after clean-up.
2. I wonder if I can change the size/look of the audio player?
3. Can I edit online?
4. Only 2 hours worth of audio. That might be enough, really. Let’s look at alternatives.

Second test

I have no idea what’s going to happen next:

AudacityTest

OK, so I recorded an MP3 using Audacity and basically I get a link to an MP3 file. Which is what I expected.

Third test

Using a plugin with instructions in Hungarian Czech, so your guess is as good as mine:

http://paco.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/AudacityTest.mp3

Fourth test

Very nice! Downloaded and installed the Mini Audio Player plugin and installed it, and the second test link came to life! This may be the way to go…

Recently subscribed to the Radiolab podcast, to fill in the hours while Howard Stern is on vacation, and it’s programming like this that makes me wish The King of All Media would just retire already, or make good on his promise to only work one day a week, so I can pay attention to something else.

Long story short, this NPR show is not easy to describe, but suffice it to say they talk about killer Argentine ants, how Bugs Bunny saved Mel Blanc and how researchers are working on programming better, smarter artificial intelligence. The latter episode is titled “Talking to Machines,” and if there’s one URL I’ll keep visiting for at least the next couple of weeks, it would be http://cleverbot.com, a result of efforts like ELIZA, a program I had all but forgotten about.

Good show.

The first computer ID I was assigned was the number 2013, when I was 11 years old and enrolled in the gifted-and-talented program in my junior high school.

By gifted and talented, the school meant students should use computers to solve second-grade math problems. Luckily, the teachers in charge knew nothing about the system, and a couple of friends of mine and soon enough found the password to the system and made it our own.

I need to start preparing a list for things that need to happen in 2013. What kind of list? The answer to that will be the first bullet point.