me and the diva

I live in the mountains of western North Carolina and on Tuesday night, November 30th it was raining hard. Molly needed to go out for her pre-bedtime pee and so I threw on my rainsuit, leashed her up, and headed out the door. That lasted all of 5 seconds. As soon as the rain started hitting her head, she flattened out her ears, ducked her head, and started blinking her eyes. She looked up at me and headed towards the door and I knew it was time to go in.
I knew she couldn't hold it until the next morning, nor did I expect her to so I started looking for alternatives. I got an umbrella and thought I would try that. I had on a bright blue rainsuit with my Indiana Jones hat on and I am crouched down following Molly around with an umbrella over her head so she can pee. The mission was quickly accomplished, Molly stayed dry and I looked like a big blueberry following my dog around. The things we do for our dogs.

Molly and Michael Vick

When I am watching football, Molly will not allow me to pull for Michael Vick. Its because of all of the trouble he got into with the dogs. Molly believes that anybody that abuses dogs is not worth paying attention to. I have to agree with her.
There are certain football players that come along that I just enjoy watching play even though they do not play for a team I pull for. Barry Sanders, Lawrence Taylor, Steve Largent, Jim Zorn, Earl Campbell are just a few of the names. I enjoyed watching Michael Vick play. He is probably the best athlete to ever play Quarterback in the NFL. When I started watching the Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Redskins game last Monday night, Molly showed her indifference by going into the room (after she farted, of course, to really let me know what she thought).
It is true that he has paid his debt to society by serving his prison time and doing everything that has been asked of him but how many convicted felons can step right back into a job like that and stand to make millions more in the future just because he can run with and throw a football. Is he truly repentant? Or is this just a public relations move in order to get back in the good graces in the public's eye? That is yet to be seen. As long as Molly don't find out, I can still quietly enjoy watching him play.

taking care of Molly

I have to have a colonoscopy tomorrow and my first concern is my dog Molly rather than my own health. I have already put a contingency plan in place in case something goes wrong and I end up in the hospital for a few days or something worse.I have even gone so far as to start researching pet wills as to how I want Molly taken care of if I die first.
Molly has grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle and it is really funny. She gets a dog treat as soon as I get up in the morning, 4 dog treats when I get home in the afternoon, but she is also accustomed to a life of leisure. She sleeps on the bed, she sleeps on the couch, and she has the run of the house. She is the diva. She pretty much gets whatever she wants whenever she wants it. Thats just the way it is.

molly is a diva

My dog Molly is an 8 1/2 year old diva if there ever was one. She is a mixed breed but AKC diva. She has the run of the house and flaunts it. She has certain expectations of me (an Ol' Roy munchy bone as soon as I get up in the morning and 4 dog biscuits when I get home in the afternoon)and if i do not meet these expectations, she vociferously lets me hear about it. She tells me when she wants out, when she needs water, and when someone or something (like those flea bags down the street) is in the yard. She is not fond of UPS's big brown truck or anyone she doesn't know and refuses to recognize. She also doesn't like my family which kind of works out well for me. Last night she hopped up on the couch to lay down down beside me the couch pillows were not arranged to her liking. She gets up, takes her teeth and arranges them to her satisfaction, pats them down with her nose, and she was set. If there is such thing as reincarnation I want to be reincarnated as a dog that has an owner like me.

molly was cute

I saw a video post this morning that shows this 5 or 6 week old puppy sleeping and he starts woofing and yipping in his sleep while he is laying beside this stuffed doll. The puppy is laying flat on his back as well. It was really cute and I thought "Molly still does stuff like that." I just don't have it on video. She barks and woofs in her sleep (she has even awakened herself barking before and then looked at me like "what did you wake me up for?"), she "chases" rabbits and squirrels in her sleep with her paws just digging on the floor, and once in a great while she sees someone that she likes in her dreams and she will start wagging her tail and thumping the floor with it. The one thing you do not do while Molly is having one of her dreams is wake her up. She has about taken a bite out of me on several occasions when I made that mistake.

the molly in molly's world, part II

The ride home with Molly from the kennel was less adventurous than the ride over there. She was just happy to be home. We get out of the car and she has to sniff and pee on all of her marker bushes and re-introduce herself to Honey the Boxer next door and the three ankle biters down the road. For the first couple of days after she comes home from the kennel, all Molly does is sleep and follow me around. On Sunday, if Molly could have fit in my back pocket she would have. She has separation anxiety real bad and she doesn't want to let me out of her sight again.

the molly in molly's world, part I

I went to north myrtle beach, SC last week for my last vacation of the season and i had to take molly to the kennel (Paw Pleasers in Hendersonville, NC website mypawpleasers.com) and the staff at paw pleasers does a great job of taking care of her but i don't like taking her to kennels because it is very stressful for her. i didn't have any options and this kennel is the best to have. Molly loves to ride and all i have to do is say "do you want to go for a ride?" and she meets me at the door with the leash in her mouth. once we get out the door she heads right for the passenger door of the car. i always make her go to the bathroom before we go anywhere so she quickly does that. her place in the car is front paws on the console, back feet in the back seat and she looks out the front and side windows. on longer rides she will sometimes lay down but it is not too often. on these winding mountain roads, she has learned to lean into the curves so she can keep her balance. every once in a while the real sharp curves will catch her off balance and she will go tumbing across the car but not too often. when i take her to the kennel i have to travel about 4 miles on the interstate but as soon as i pulled off on the proper exit, she started whining, woofing, and growling. she knew where we were going. when we got to paw pleasers, molly was really worked up and she just wanted out of the car. in the process of her busting out the door, she stomped on on my car keys, setting off the panic alarm. that, in turn, set off an alarm of its own inside the kennel alerting every dog in the place that we had arrived. they all started barking and carrying on and the girl working inside the yard looked at me, i muttered an apology and i finally got her inside. molly voiced her displeasure to anyone that came around while we were waiting to be "processed" in. it was almost like dropping a child off at summer camp.

sex clubs and the media

the owner/operator of the Blu Lounge in Arden, NC was basically arrested for allowing sex acts to be performed in the night club in which he owns and since that establishment sells alcohol, he was arrested. what happened with the media may have even trumped what happened in charlotte about a month or so ago. channel 13 news, wlos-tv, had a reporter on the scene with search warrant in hand standing outside in the parking lot of the Blu Lounge night club warning viewers that if they had young children they may want to get them out of the room for the next couple of minutes while he reported this story. he told of the charges levied against the owner, what allegedly transpired inside the club, and then they cut away to the house beside the club that could vaguely be seen through a patch of trees from the parking lot. they interviewed the owners of the house who were playing with their children in the swimming pool. the reporter was trying to illicit some kind of response of outrage from the owners of the house for what was going on next door but i don't remember him reporting that it took place in the parking lot and their children having a front row seat to the "sex show". if it did transpire, it took place inside the club behind closed doors between consenting adults. the reporter promised that he would be reporting from the club with more this weekend. that was sensationalistic journalism at its finest. he didn't illicit the desired response from the owner of the house. she kind of laughed about it. it showed her sitting in her swimming pool. there was alot of kids that didn't need to see that but there was wlos-tv's camera and microphone shoved right in her face. i also heard ALE mentioned so i don't guess it is just the clubs in charlotte. i didn't hear of anyone at the club complaining so it should be a non-issue.

the charlotte observer must be in league with the CMPD. the charlotte observer jumped all over the six misdemeanor arrests of the entertainers in charlotte, posting their pics, which club they worked at, with follow up articles and interviews of the club owner of the paper doll lounge. one night last week i read with interest that a 15 year old in charlotte had been shot in a drive by and three arrests followed. if i remember from my pre-law days, a shooting offense is a felony. no pictures of those arrested were posted, no follow up stories or interviews were posted. nothing. as a friend of mine so eloquently put it " i guess you have to flash some pussy in charlotte to get your picture in the paper." sad but true.

i went over to a friends house last night to watch ufc 116 and the main event between brock lesnar and shane carwin. every fight on the card was pretty good which, in my experience, is unusual but lesnar-carwin was the one that was hyped and the one i was waiting on. the longest fight carwin had ever been thru had been 1:27 and i was interested to see how both of them would handle it if it went beyond the first round. they came out kind of slow but carwin immediately took it to him. he hit lesnar with a left and lesnar went down against the cage and immediately "turtled". he tried covering his head and his face as best he could and offered nothing in the way of defense. carwin tried his best to put an early end to and hit him repeatedly. lesnar was battered and bloodied and any defense he did offer was very feeble. in my opinion, if that would have been another fight the referee would have stopped it. he finally made it to his feet and his next line of defense was running like a girl. he made it through the end of the first round and i was wondering if carwin had wore himself out trying to finish it. the second round started out very slow but lesnar bull rushed carwin and got him on the ground and within a minute he had him in a choke hold and carwin tapped out. lesnar won that fight by brute force and strength alone. lesnar put him in a submission hold that he had probably been doing on wrestling mats since junior high school. the bottom line is that lesnar won. it really doesn't matter how. he just won. i came out and checked espn.com and the punch stats tthey had listed were mind boggling. lesnar attempted 2 power strikes and carwin attempted 78. lesnar attempted 1 submission hold and it was successful and carwin didn't attempt any. i still believe that in any other fight, the ref stops that fight in the first round. but this wasn't any other fight.

book review of big hair and plastic grass

every once in a while a baseball book will come along that is not only stats and history but is all encompassing and entertaining as hell. dan epstein has achieved that in "Big Hair and Plastic Grass" a book about major league baseball that covers the entire decade of the 1970's. i first started following baseball religiously in 1976. i was 10 years old and became a devout los angeles dodger fan mainly because my dad was one. i was always hearing stories about sandy koufax, don drysdale, and claude osteen as well as stories about the brooklyn dodgers. my favorite player was ron cey aka "the penguin" because of his running style and his physical stature. i really started following baseball thru beginning my collection of baseball cards. my hometown newspaper only came out three times a week (monday, wednesday, and friday) at that time and this was way before espn and other sportscasts so dodger news was very slow in coming. the only games on tv were on saturday afternoon's game of the week and monday night baseball. i also caught this week in baseball narrated by mel allen as often as i could. dan epstein filled alot of those gaps and ron cey even got a mention. the dock ellis throwing the no-hitter under the influence of lsd and i never knew don sutton's nickname was almost "pussyface" (that explained alot) and other great stories are sprinkled throughout the book. i do remember the mark fydrich monday night game against the new york yankees. it brought back alot of good memories from my childhood as i lived it through baseball. it is a great read and entertaining as hell and i would suggest it for anyone both baseball and the non-fans out there.

booze, broads, and bullshit

the title of this blog is a quote attributed to harry caray. the entire quote says "booze, broads, and bullshit. if you got all that, what else do you need?" i have enough of all of that in my life to make it complete so now its time for me to write about it. me and my friend myran first started going to strip clubs in the mid-1990's at the old Diamonds in greenville, sc. the first one i ever went to was thee dollhouse in raleigh, nc in the early 1990's and i don't even think its there any more either. now i probably go to one or two a month most of them centered around charlotte- leather and lace south and the gold club on old pineville road- are my usual stops. i'm not exactly like norm from the television show cheers but quite a few of the strippers do recognize and some have even managed to become friends over the years before they have moved on to bigger and better things or have gotten married and have digressed into more drama and lower lifestyles. i have learned alot about human nature over the years but i kind of doubt that the strip club scene is a microcosm of life in general. myran and i have always referred to the world of the strip clubs as "the abyss" paying homage to 1980's music icon rick james in the process. when the insanity was raging all around us we just kind of took it all in with a smile on our face and a sense of wonderment. the stuff we have seen and experienced is stuff movies are made of but it would be more like a movie along the lines of american pie or animal house. we also have a cast of characters-steve, craig, john that are the most regular ones- that sometimes come along for the ride and enjoy the show. some of my favorite times are sitting around myran's living room on a saturday morning laughing about what went on the night before. its all about the ride for us and not about the destination. in my mind, thats the way it should be. we are enjoying one hell of a ride.

dedication

this blog is dedicated to a friend of mine at work named kristen. she told me that some magazine or something had named charlotte the manliest city in the u.s. because of all the things for men to do there. she said the report did not specifically mention strip clubs but it mentioned nascar and other things like that but she and i both know it is because of the strip clubs. charlotte has alot of them of all shapes and sizes (the clubs too). most women would actually probably enjoy going to strip clubs if they can manage to leave their jealousy at the door. some women can, some can't. most women will say that if a man has it at home, then why does he need to look at someone else. ladies, its because he's a man. we have to look. its genetic. it can only spice things up for you. he might even come home and "lay the pipe" to you.

first love- baseball or boobs?

i got to squeeze in both of my hobbies this past weekend. the penthouse club in spartanburg, sc and i did get to see some of the yankees-dodgers series from chavez ravine. i got to see them crush the yankees 9-4 on saturday and i got to see closer jonathan broxton blow a 4 run lead in the top of the ninth and george sherrill add to his astronomical era in the top of the tenth to lose 8-6. i know the yankees are probably the best team in baseball but damn! you have the perfect shit storm forming on the los angeles dodgers horizon. a cheap ass owner going thru a $20 million divorce, a manager in joe torre (joe's gotta go) who, when not surrounded by $200 million in talent and payroll, is not much of a manager, and a minor league system who's best talent is 2 or 3 years away from being major league ready (if ned colletti does not trade them away for has been major leaguers), and you have a team that is on the verge of a couple of 90 loss seasons. thank god for strip clubs! i need somewhere to drown my sorrows....i can wipe my tears on some strippers' boobs...

the penthouse club

6/25/2010- tonight i went to the penthouse club in spartanburg, sc. it was not hard to find and located only about a half mile from I-85. plenty of parking, nice looking from the outside, you step in the door, and the receptionist is behind the counter right there in front of you. i was really kind of put off by the $15 cover charge but i was there so i paid it and after i passed buy the security waving the wand over you, i went inside. the security thing is not a big deal and a very minor incovenience and a necessary evil. the club is as nice on the inside as it was on the outside. it has a huge center stage and two side stages. the club is totally nude and i did not know this until i got there. i was supposed to meet some friends there but i was there first so it gave me a chance to take the place in and see what was going on. i hadn't been there five minutes when two girls came over and started talking to me. i had one of them lay out the ground rules for me ($10 table dance, $30 VIP, $40 two-for-one specials about once an hour-they threw in a porn video which was pretty cheesy but it was still the best deal) and the night got started. they have these girls that go around and offer "shooters" to customers which to be honest is a real annoyance. that does not qualify as a necessary evil. it was not that crowded for it to be a friday night and there were probably 20+ dancers there and all with the exception of about two or three were hot. i got one lap dance and it was just average but the VIP room was a different experience. its located in the back of the club, you pay your money to the man holding down the fort, and then you go into a room where its just you, a couch, and the dancer with the door closed. the dancer that took me back there for the two-for-one made me feel very comfortable and we had a good time and it was worth it. i stayed about 3 hours and had a pretty good time. i would and will go back
my rating for the penthouse club itself would get a 9.0
my experience at the penthouse club would get an 8.5

undercover part II

taxpayer money was spent lavishly on this six month so officers could have a good time and enjoy themselves in these strip clubs so they could get six misdemeanor arrests. thats one a month. one misdemeanor a month for six months. i would love to see the final bill for this investigation. also on the front page of the charlotteobserver.com was the fact that several branch libraries in mecklenburg county were closing. god knows we can't afford that. teachers being laid off (lets be serious- they were fired) and libraries closing and an expensive six month investigation into bottomless strippers. it sounds like everyone in county government needs to be laid off, hire the teachers back, open the libraries back up, and leave the strippers alone. i believe i'll run for mayor.

undercover part I

on june 17, 2010 the lead story on the charlotteobserver.com website that afternoon was about the arrest of six female entertainers from charlotte area strip clubs on the charge of indecent exposure. indecent exposure at a strip club. what a novel concept. the article went on to state that these arrests were the culmination of a joint 6 month investigation between the CMPD (an off duty Pineville police officer) and the ALE, which i believe is a division of the ABC board or something like that. they went into these clubs posing as customers and these 6 girls were arrested for taking off their bottoms (they were searching for 10 more) thus resulting in the "indecent exposure" charge. six out of the eight clubs targeted were owned or operated by MAL entertainment.

boobs and baseball part II

6/7/2010- i really wanted to take in a myrtle beach pelicans game this afternoon but i did not realize that local college Coastal Carolinas had an NCAA baseball playoff game this afternoon so getting into the stadium was a bit of a hassle with all of that traffic trying to get out. once i got my car parked and everything it was no problem after that. i sat about four rows behind the pelicans dugout on the first base side, the sun was behind me, the temperature was about 80 degrees at gametime, a real slight breeze blowing and it was just a perfect night for baseball. BB & T Coastal Field is a very nice stadium, picturesque with the palm trees beyond the right centerfield fence, very fan friendly and it was a really good experience. Before the game i got to meet Deuce the Homerun Dog in the pro shop while i was buying me a hat, and after the game started i got to see him in action- he delivers baseballs to the umpire via a wicker type basket and the crowd gives him a well earned ovation. after the second or third inning the manager of the pelicans started throwing handfuls of bubblegum to the crowd. it was a real good experience and very professional. the pelicans won the game 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning.

after the game i decided to to to derrieres mens club on seaboard street and my gps led me right to it. i had looked up their website online before i left my hotel but it really didn't provide too much info outside of the fact that it was byob. i go in and there is a gentleman at the door and i told him i had never been there before and he gave me a breakdown on all of the rules and everything. you walk in and it is a big club with a large central stage. this was a monday night so i really wasn't expecting much but it wasn't bad. all of the women were very attractive and they did advertise the fact that it was myrtle beach's only all nude review and that they had 3 to 8 girls dancing on the stage at one time. true to their word, they kept three girls on the stage at all times. since they don't serve drinks i really didn't notice any waitresses (they don't need them) and it was just a matter of minutes before one of the dancers came over to me, introduced herself, and sat down with me. after a minimal amount of small talk she got right down to business but i politely declined her invitation for a VIP dance with the excuse that i wanted to get a better feel for the place. the next girl that came by (it was her first night) and she was learning the "rules" pretty much like i was. i took the plunge and got a VIP from her and the VIP room was monitored by an attendant who played a song on a system and the song was shorted after about three minutes and the dance was over. i did get a dance from an experienced dancer at the club and the dance was alot smoother but it still only lasted about three minutes.

The Derriere's Mens Club gets an overall rating of a 7.0
my experience there gets a 5.0

boobs and baseball warmup part II

6/6/2010- after i made it to myrtle beach i decided to go to thee dollhouse late in the afternoon/early evening. it has been 11 years since i have been to this particular strip club and alot has changed over the years. the first strip club i ever went to was thee dollhouse on yonkers road in raleigh, nc but i think it changed over into something else a few years ago. this is a nice club and because of the time of day that it was, it was pretty slow. there weren't many customers or girls in there at this time. it is a fairly sizable place with a big bar located kind of in the center of the club as well as a smaller bar along the left hand side of the wall. the stage is huge and comes out of the back wall with plenty of seating around it. i sat at a table kind of in the center and i was approached almost immediately by a waitress, ordered my beer, and she kept coming back to check on me so that wasn't a problem. there was a placard on the table listing the prices of the entertainment in the club ($10 for tableside, $20 for VIP couch dance, $25 for a "friction dance", $50 for 30 minutes with a dancer of your choice, and $100 for an hour i believe). those are not actually bad deals but i found out later on from one of the dancers that those prices are very misleading. for example, the dancer may get $100 for the hour but the club gets $600 for "rental" of the room making the total $700. if i looked hard enough i could probably find a high class hooker for that kind of money and should would do more than dance. one of the dancers finally approached me after about 30 minutes (i had tipped her while she was on stage) and struck up a conversation with me, spent quite a bit of time talking to me, before she ever asked me if i wanted a dance. i appreciate that kind of effort and time spent so i bought a couple of the $20 dances from her. she led me to a "private room" (they had the rooms numbered but i don't know what that was supposed to differentiate) so it was just me and her and a love seat in a back area of the club. it was very nicely decorated and is a very nice friendly club but you had better ask what the price is going to be before you agree to anything.
Thee Dollhouse rating gets a 7.5
my experience at thee dollhouse 5.0

warm up to boobs and baseball part II

6/5/2010- before i headed to the hickory crawdads game and the "afterparty" at thee playhouse, i stopped by leather and lace gastonia. i remember the first time i ever went to this club was probably around 2006-07 when i lived in gastonia and it was a dive of a club that actually had a hand-printed sign on the door saying "open" when i first walked up. this club has made great strides in appearance since then undergoing a complete remodel and it is much nicer and more spacious. the bar is on the right as soon as you walk in and it is bigger and better as well, the wait staff is excellent about always making sure you have a drink, and the dj's play the usual brand of rock and roll. there are two tables (maybe three) in the center of the club and everything else is up against the walls. they have a fairly small stage that comes out from the back wall and extends towards the center of the club. overall a very nice looking club. granted i got there at about 2 p.m. on a saturday afternoon which is not the optimum time to go to a club if you really want to have a good time but they had about 7 or 8 dancers there which i consider alot for a saturday afternoon at any club. the lap dances were either $5 or $10 (i'm thinking $5) and i had to pay $10 to get in. the VIP's are $20 (although i didn't get any). i stayed exactly one hour and only one girl approached me the whole time i was in there. there were only 3 or 4 male customers in there and in an hour, only one girl talked to me and i did buy a couple of dances from her. that brought my experience way down.

my rating for Leather and Lace Gastonia- the club itself gets a 7.0 but my experience while i was there gets a 2.5.

boobs warm up tour

6/4/2010- i did a little warm up before i started my official "boobs and baseball tour" on the 5th by going to Leather and Lace on South Boulevard in Charlotte and the Gold Club on Old Pineville Road in Charlotte. i have been to L & L South more than i have any other club since i began going in the early 1990's and it really hasn't changed much over the years. a very small, intimate club it has the bat to your right as soon as you walk in, a pool table a litle to the left of you as you walk towards the stage, the VIP area to you left as you walk to the seating area beyond the pool table and in front of the stage, and a small central stage area against the back wall.since this club opens early in the afternoon, there is a day and a night shift as far as the dancers ago with the night shift trickling in anywhere after 7 p.m. the dj's are good and play mostly rock music. the club is very small and intimate and has a mostly regular clientele and it is very easy to become a regular here with enough visits but i don't think i would consider this a club that needs to be actively sought it but you cannot beat the $5 lap dance (and they are usually good lap dances-the dj's don't short you on the songs) and the $20 VIP with alot of 2 for 1 specials there. there is also alot of diversity as far as the dancers are concerned on most nights. the club also has a nightly beer special, so if you don't want to spend alot of money but still have a reasonably good time then this is the club for you.
Leather and Lace South overall rating 6.0

My second stop of the evening was the Gold Club and this has always been one of my personal favorites. i love the atmosphere of this club. the door girl is right in front of you as soon as you walk in the door and you walk around the corner and the club is laid out in front of you. the L-shaped bar is on the far wall and the stage is to your right against that wall. the club is ornately decorated, has high back easy type chairs, tables with tablecloths and lit candles in the center, and i always feel comfortable and relaxed as soon as i sit down. the waitresses are always a constant so you never lack for anything to drink. the large VIP area is upstairs with several couches in which to choose from (the attendant is always on duty), its fairly well lit (i like to be able to see the girls). the club does offer a few extras-they usually have a masseuse on duty (i believe its $25 for 15 minutes and she is good as i have had several massages myself). the lap dances are $10 and the VIPs are $30 so this club is a little pricier but it is more upscale. they don't offer any drink specials that i know of. i usually have a good time when i go in there but it is a little pricier. they also open early in the afternoon but i have not been in this club before about 9 or 10 p.m. in forever. it is usually a late arriving crowd for this club.
the Gold Club overall rating 8.5

boobs and baseball part I

6/5/2010- i started my "boobs and baseball tour" of the carolinas tonight at a Hickory Crawdads game. I had to make sure i took in my nourishment so i went to the Hooters in Hickory before the game. Hooters are not all the same and i would have to rate this one as a good one and would rate it at a 9.0. i had nice friendly waitress who went out of her way to strike up a conversation with me and since i was by myself i really appreciated it. I had read on the Hickory Crawdads website before i left Charlotte that it was Madison Bumgarner bobblehead night and i didn't think it was a big deal since i had no earthly idea as to who the hell he was. evidently he was a big deal because i got there two and one/half hours early and i was just going to sit in my car and write in my journal. i figured i would be out there by myself but even that early, i was like the 5th car there. i was amazed at the flood of cars that came pouring in there and the line that developed 45 minutes before they opened the gate. i went ahead and bought my ticket but i wasn't about to fry standing in that line in the hot sun. i gave hope of getting a bobblehead because i figured there was no way i was going to be one of the first thousand to get in. i collect a little bit of sports memorabilia but still not a big deal because i did not know who he was. I have always liked L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory. Its a great place to watch a game. i looked madison bumgarner up on thebaseballcube.com after the game and he is a big deal. a combined record of 27-5 in the minors and already in AAA baseball with the San Francisco Giants. he got in a few innings for them at the tail end of last year. he was a local high school product (south caldwell) and pitched in a different organization and i was impressed that the crawdads would honor him with a bobblehead.

Now for the boobs part of my review. My emphasis in this review will be on the clubs themselves and not really the dancers. i went to Thee Playhouse after the game and i had never been there before. Its easy to find and not too far from the stadium. i walk in and its $12 cover just to get in. that is steeper than most but i paid it and went inside. Its a sizable club with a large central stage that extends from the back wall to well past the center of the main floor with a couple of much smaller stages on the sides with the obligatory stripper poles. They had a bar on the opposite side of the stage and along the far wall. i sat at a table to one side of the stage but in the back row of tables. as in much of everything in life, location is everything and i did not garner much attention throughout the evening but that really wasn't why i was there. the waitresses kept coming by to check on me, and occasionally a dancer would come by. the "lap" dances were $10 (they moved you to a little couch area near the tables for that) and the 2-for 1 extravaganzas were $20 plus a test tube full of something with liquor in it, and regular VIP's were $20 as well. The VIP areas were in plain view of the rest of the club and they were fairly comfortable love seats. they also had a "champagne room" is i believe what they called it and it was a completely separate room that i did not go to. the best thing that thee playhouse had going for it was they had this segment where they did $1 dances (they would play pieces of songs and strippers would rotate after each piece of song) Overall i would rate this club a 7.5 and if i was in the area i would go back again.

Thee Playhouse- Overall Rating 7.5

new career path

after 21+ years with wal-mart i have had enough. i've had enough of the b.s. rules and policies and being capped out and of the persecution because i have been there so long. go ahead and fire me and get it over with. i feel like i am in the prison work release program and my ability to think freely and use my creativity has had a stranglehold put on it. i, unfortunately, only have experience in the retail industry while my college degrees are in history. that doesn't exactly give me many options. i wonder if death and the afterlife is relatively painless...

men and strip clubs

i finally got to go to the strip club in charlotte last weekend after 5 months. 5 long months. strip clubs are the ultimate hangouts for men and women will never understand that. most don't even try. their philosophy is the man gets all he needs at home. wrong. a strip club can enhance what he's got at home. he can nail the hell out of you while he's thinking about the stripper that he just saw shaking her "wallies" in his face. a little bit of fantasy never hurts anyone. the same goal is reached. men don't go to strip clubs looking to get laid. if they do, your marriage is shot to hell anyway. single men that do, lead sad, desperate lives. anyway i went to leather and lace south and met a longtime friend of mine and hung out for a couple of hours. several lap dances later, i went on to the gold club on old pineville road. that has always been one of my favorite clubs because of the atmosphere and it is a very classy place. i met another friend of mine there. its always good to have a wingman. you don't look as desperate either. one of the big advantages to the gold club is the fact that they have a masseuse on duty named danni and she is completely legit and very good. a great place to get a great massage, good food, alcohol, and throw in a lap dance or ten and it is the perfect night out.