Gamblin' Ramblin$

As promised

Now that the olympics are over *sniff*, I have been able to work on my site. It is optimized for better search engine placement, new chips have been added, and I'll have a printable version of the Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club membership application.

Changes are coming

I'm working on my website in the hopes of improving search engine result rankings. Mary Beth is pretty good at placement and she's been giving me tips. You may not see the improvements at first, but they are there.

Ok, one last thing

The Olympics are over, I'm sad and tired. I wish for one thing...

the idiot that interfered with the marathon today (yesterday?) should be put in a ring with a Cuban boxer for some gloveless sparring. It's a shame he didn't get clipped by one the F1 cars when he decided to stroll down the track some time ago

The Day has Come

It's the last day of the Olympics and while the athletes celebrate their performances and newly made frindships, I find the finality of the ending of the Games a bit sad similar to taking down the Christmas Tree.

I won't get the chance to write anymore today as I'll be at work for an extended period conducting inventory. In fact I doubt I'll see the Closing Ceremonies.

Just one man's opinion...I thought Athens did a marvelous job with the Games.

Less than 2 years until the Winter Games and I'll be watching.

For the last time...for a while anyway...

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!

Contrast

In Athens, there is a gathering of the greatest athletes in the world. People who are the very best at what they do. This gathering is called the Olympics.

In Louisville, there is a gathering of human debris, the polluted end of the gene pool many of whom have family trees that form a loop. This gathering is called the Kentucky State Fair.

Is the fair all that bad? Not really, but if I wanted to create a mullet-cam with my camera phone I would have needed a couple more batteries! Lots of tattoos and women with bare-belly shirts that had no business showing that stuff off. I could do without huge wrinkled cleavage as well...wow, that was disturbing.

There were some nice looking people though as the Horse Show was in its final night. These folks have some bucks and it showed. But within 50 feet of this cultural oasis the sea of overweight and dentally challenged ebbs and flows.

I really don't know why I go every year to see the same old thing. Perhaps I'll enter some illegal chips next year. Some guy has put in a couple of Indiana illegals and he wrongly claims them to be from Kentucky. Mary Beth has done well with her baked goodies, winning a 3rd place ribbon for a batch of forgotten cookies. She once won a 1st place ribbon for a shawl she knitted a long time ago...cool. Maybe being a part of the whole experience will bring back some of the excitement.

Followed by a grey cloud

Ever have "one of those days" where little things just bug the hell out of you? Not only did they bug me, but there were a lot of little things happening today.

Crabby customers, one of the Wireless carriers had computer problems, causing incredible delays, business sucked, short handed, not enough time to go to tae-kwon-do, too busy to watch any Olympics at all. I got in such a rotten mood that my employees threw me out of the store and told me to go home!

Nothing but a blur

Finally, the Tae-Kwon-Do competition in Athens got started today. I've been looking forward to this since the games started.

Wow!

Talk about fast...man-o-man! No hands at all, nothing but kicks...fast fast kicks! I saw all kinds of high-flying techniques being thrown. Devastating Axe kicks, Spinning Back kicks, and of course lots of Round House kicks.

I love the Olympics...hmmmm...I've heard that before. I love being able to tune in 24/7 on any one of 4 channels to watch the action.

Among the medals...

...a couple of chips found their way to my door. A $5 Landmark and the $25 Rocky's. Those are real nice. No scans yet...calm down! Soon...very soon!

The Best of the Best

Ok, with all of the controversy surrounding the Gymnastics judging, coupled with that tremendous display of sportsmanship by the crowd at the individual apparatus last nght, it's no wonder that Paul Hamm is pretty disgusted with the whole thing, I don't blame him.

Here's the way I see things:

The Russian gymnast showed a ton of class trying to get the crowd to calm down. I agree he got hosed on his scores as his routine was incredible. To have his scores changed was/is unprecidented...chalk that up to the figure skating fiasco that occurred in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Games.

Paul Hamm had to perform after waiting over 10 minutes while the crowd was continuing its barrage of boos. When the crowd quieted some and he was announced...the chorus of class started up again. Just what did he do to deserve this? He then proceded to nail his routine with only a small hop on his landing keeping it from perfect. When he received a higher score than the Russian, the boos got even louder...unreal.

Paul earned the Silver Medal due to an unusual tie-breakng system and that may have been a good thing to happen given how the crowd was acting. What he should have done was go back up on the floor and salute all of those idiots with a couple of solitary fingers. While not wise, it would have been appropriate. It was also ironic that the Korean gymnast, who is/was involved in the original controversy, blew his routine completely...hitting the bar on a release move. In my opinion that left no doubt that Paul was the all-around top male gymnast. He managed to overcome all types of adversity to earn his medals...it's time to congratulate him for a job well done!

It goes on and on...

Did I mention that I LOVE the Olympics?? I've been watching as much as I can, perhaps more than I should at work but it's too tempting. Even with all of the complaining from the Koreans (ok, maybe they got robbed) and the female Russian gymnast (she got beat!), I've been soaking in all the action.

I'm eagerly waiting to see the Tae-Kwon-Do matches...just to see World Class Martial Artists do their thing.

The only problem is that it will end too soon. I am a blubbering idiot when things finish up. I'll look over at MB and sigh "I miss the Olympics".

I know, what a wuss!

Out with the old

Desert Inn to be imploded Nov. 17
Las Vegas Sun

Get ready for a double implosion at the Wynn Las Vegas megaresort in the wee hours of Nov. 17.

We're lookin' good now!

After 4 hours of getting worked over, all 3 of us earned our uniforms! We first broke out into belt groups to go over everything we needed to have down. That ran for about 2 1/2 hours, non-stop, outside for a while too.

Then the testing started.

I thought Trevor would have it easier since he didn't had as much to learn. I was wrong. Grandmaster had do everything they should have known. Trevor got in a bit of trouble by not responding loudly enough to Grandmaster. Trevor ended up having to go outside and yell "Yes Sir!" 10 times before he could come back inside.

I guess since my group had so much to review, it would have been difficult to have us perform everything. We got away with only doing 5 forms. Now, Grandmaster has a mean?, no, devious streak in him as he had us perform a couple of the forms at high speed. That looks pretty funny because you have a dozen people flying around doing the same form, but what's fast for one person is not for another, so there were arms and legs going every which way.

Maybe getting his new uniform is what Conor needs to get remotivated. He hasn't taken the thing off since we got home 5 hours ago!

Once we get our patches puton, I'll have a new picture taken for the 'Blog.

What a great day!

A big day today!

Getting ready for the big test today. I'm ok on all my forms but the general knowledge is a little shaky. It should be fun though. Trevor is psyched up, he has it much easier as he doesn't need to know all the different forms.

If all goes well, there will be a new picture on my heading with all of us in our new uniforms!!

Cal Neva Lodge $100s

I received permission to publish the story of how one collector came into possession of 100 of these very nice chips. I'll re-write his story and post a pic of the chips tonight. Then I'll add the entire entry to my website.

Oh Yeah!

Normally, Wednesday is sparring day. I look forward to blowing off a little steam during these classes. After warmups, we broke out into our belt groups to work on forms but for today we did things differently. As most of the adults in attendance were from Leadership class so we worked on all the forms to prepare for the uniform tests. Grandmaster came out to signal us to pad up, but he asked if we wanted to work forms instead. We elected forms so no sparring...yet.

The Advanced Class met afterwards...well only 3 of the class. I was invited to join in. For 45 minutes we sparred...hard! What a blast! I was going up against 2 Black Belts and a Black Striped Red Belt...awesome! A couple of the students had to leave before class ended so that left Stuart (Red Belt) and me to go at it alone for a while. We point sparred and worked on our Tournament Breaking routines until it was time to clean up and leave.

I'm beat but t was certainly worth it!

Mystery Chip

Here is the El Rancho chip I recently received. I'm also checking out a new image editor. I've used Canon Colordesk exclusively because it's so easy but I lose some image integrity when I save the image. The resizing looks great though...just some loss of quality. So I'm trying Irfan v3.91...we'll see how it does.

This is it!!

Featured Chip

If you wondering what I would consider my "Holy Grail" of chips, well here you go. All props to CasinoRarities.com for the pic.

$100 Golden Nugget

The Golden Nugget opened in 1946 so lets put things in perspective. $100 was a lot of money back then (still is!). Now you don't just bring home a "C-note" chip unless you either:

are quite wealthy,
or
you had a great run at the casino.

Most folks didn't collect chips back then, unless they were $1 or $5, and even then they weren't the most attractive chips.

Look at this thing! It's black (my favorite), with a sm-key mold (very nice), a die-cut metal inlay (uncommon and subject to tarnish). It is simple...it is elegant...it is striking...and it is the only one known.

I would give up most of my chips to have the chance to add this beauty to the rest of my Golden Nugget collection.

Pretty cool "Stuff"

New Release

Palms $5 Stuff Weekend Nicole Richie
08-15-04
Limited to 2000

I don't read Stuff Magazine, but I'm sure that it's quite..."informative". There are 2 chips in this set. The other has a pic of Amber Brkich. Leave it to the Palms to release some provacative chips for the 3rd Annual Weekend get-together for the magazine and its loyal followers. Some "Stuff" is more yummy than others!

To my crew

I don't think too many people actually visit this blog. I have had over 60 votes on BlogHop so there are a few of you.

I just want to let everyone know what a fine crew of employees I have. These guys and girls bust their tails to keep the store looking great and to maintain the level of customer service I demand of them. We may not have the best numbers or sell the most of a certain product, but we do set the standard in the district for Company Return on Investment, maintained gross profit and bottom line profit.

There is a sense of pride in the store that I've never felt anywhere else. A few of the employees have matured over the last year and their level of committment is incredible. I just wish that those in charge would look past the numbers and see how these kids (compared to me!!) work together. It's pretty damn amazing.

Thanks y'all...you make my job that much easier.

Here they come

All righty...here are pics of the latest additions the collection. I haven't even placed these up on my website, Jeff's Casino Chips...soon however.

Sahara $25

Yep, that's a hole in it but that's ok. If it weren't drilled, it would be worth over $500 and that's just a bit out of my price range.

There are all kinds of cool Sahara chips out therebut haven't really gone after them. Several can be obtained for reasonable prices too. Should I decide to focus more on the Strip, perhaps the Sahara will have prominance.

Rocky's $5

So this place buttons up this year with no warning. It was only open since 2002. When something like this happens, an artificial shortage of chips is created because the dealers and collectors had no time to get in there to pick them up. It is possible that some employees were able to get some chips but that's not known. Also, the $25 is almost impossible to find...well...almost impossible!! Let's just say that a pic of it will be here very soon!

Back In Business!!

All Right!!

The scanner is running again...woohoo!! I've already caught up my images, the cropping and resizing will begin tomorrow night. I spent this evening watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Athens Olympics.

I love The Olympics!

Once every four years, I get the chance to see the world's best ping-pong players, kayakers, archers...etc. This is great!

Hop to it!

Heh, heh, Grandmaster was in great form tonight. He was all over the Dream Team...that's the kid version of Adult Leadership. He was drilling them on proper line-ups, entering and leaving the demo area, and showing enthusiasm. If they didn't do things properly, they were led outside where they enthusiastically did some pushups!

Anyway, I spent my time watching Conor once they broke out in Belts. I'm not real thrilled with his lax attitude toward performing his poomse. He needs to concentrate and execute his techniques.

Toward the end of class, they lined up for their picture that will appear in the Tournament Brochure. Grandmaster called me over and I thought he wanted me to take the picture, but he actually wanted me in the shot. That was cool as he invited other adult students and parents to join in!

Stuff that sparkles

The 2 Palms tokens showed up today...even better in person! Really nice tokens. Still fighting with the scanner with no success, time to contact HP.

Sparring at Hwang's tonight, I'm curious as to the whereabouts of Mark. He hasn't been at HMA II for 2 weeks. I certainly hope everything is Ok. I miss his leadership and energy.

I also have my first true battle scar. I jammed my left little toe and broke the nail...it's been bleeding a bit...not too bad.

Back to School!

The day that many parents circle on the calendar. Hours of peace and quiet each day...what to do?

All the kids got up on time and were dressed and ready to go...so far so good, but it's only the first day. Plenty of time for early morning battles.

Sweet!

Featured Chip

Fremont $5 Arodie

Ok...when a chip just screams out "You need me!", one has to listen. This chip has all the characteristics of a classic:

Classic Vegas
Desirable Mold (arodie)
Great condition

Drool!

New for me!

No chips on the way...I think...but there are a couple of very nice tokens from the Palms. The 1st is a $25 Grand Opening token and the 2nd is a $10 1st Anniversary. These things are beautiful and I remember how much they were going for at the Convention last year...I stole these things!

Something's amiss

Still feeling rotten and half the damn internet is down or slow...like eBay, the ChipBoard, and Home Star Runner was fouling up my Windows Explorer. Looks the 'Net is broken, guess I'll play some PSO with the kids.

Yuck Pt. 2

The crud continues it rampage and nothing I take helps. Just gonna have to tough it out I suppose.

I did receive the El Rancho chip though...very, very cool. I also received word that I was ahigh bidder on a $5 Landmark chip, and the $25 Rocky's will be on the way soon! It would have been a pretty good day if I had felt better!

Yuck

Someone smacked me with an allergy hammer last night. Everything is swollen and my face feels like it's full of cement. What a great thing to happen the last 2 days of vacation...!@#$%^

I'll just have remain quiet today...no martial arts, no yelling at kids, no cleaning up in our room (yay!). I think rest with lots of sports on TV is just the thing!

Dr Jeff is out!

Here's something cool...

...that we found at Joe Ley. It's a Jim Beam Decanter for the Harold's Club in Reno, Nevada. I can't find anything like it on eBay, but there are other (lots) of Beam decanters. MB took the shot, I think it's killer and a steal for only $90!! BTW, it's still full, the seal's unbroken.

A Trip to the Past

MB and I took a break from the kids to go visit Joe Ley Antiques. It's located in an old school building in downtown Louisville. Now I've been to lots of antique stores and malls, but I've never been to anything like this! From the ordinary to the ornate, this place has it all. Hardware, plumbing, doors, postcards, and yes...gambling memorabilia fill 3 stories of the building...wait, don't forget the basement! Just the items from the old Fountaine Ferry Park make it worth the trip.

This place is a must see if you travel to Louisville and if you already live here...what are you waiting for?

Props from a Blogger

I was just peering over my stats in Blogshares and I noticed that I had a new incoming link from Linn Skinner's Blogsharing. It's a pretty new Blog that discusses what Linn finds good...or bad...while traveling through the game.

It's always nice when someone else speaks well of you, so I'm returning the favor to Linn. Good luck in your searches!

The Corrs

Those who know me will attest to the fact that I'm a big Led Zeppelin freak. I have my untorn ticket from the 1977 Louisville show, numerous *ahem* albums of questionable origin (bootlegs son...about 60 of them). I emulated John Bonham's style in my own drumming and when he died in 1980, I died as well.

As I grew older, my tastes expanded to jazz, fusion, and celtic. I also like to listen to well played guitar.

Of all places to find something new, I was watching an instore demo on an IBM computer we were selling and I see this 60 second piece from this band named The Corrs that consisted of 3 girls and a guy. The tune (Right Time) just caught me and I wanted to check them out. I was blown away by the folksy sound with an edge to it. A bonus was Simon Philips playing drums on a tune called Toss the Feathers. If you've never heard him play...Holy Cow...go find Pete Townshend's Deep End on Video. This guy will amaze you!

I learned that the band was named for the members, who are all siblings. The 1st album, Forgiven not Forgotten will send you on a roller coaster ride of traditional folk tunes, ballads, and face melting rock...all with a folk undertow featuring traditional instruments.

The next 2 albums, while good, didn't have the same folk flavor. It seemed they were heading in a more pop direction. Now they have a new album out called Borrowed Heaven. I'm going to check it out to see if they have circled back to their roots.

There is a very well done site dedicated to The Corrs and worth a look.

In the Eye/Ear of the Beholder

We just took our oldest child to register for high school. After paying the (over $200) fees for the "free" public school education, we discussed the dress code. This has been a stickler, because a lot of the policies are just plain stupid, or they are totally ignored. I've been a witness to the latter as I would drop Trevor off in the morning and would see a lot of varying interpretations of the code. They never dressed like that when I was in school!!!

As we were leaving the school we stopped by the booster club table and saw a few t-shirts, sweat shirts, shorts, etc...

The shorts (they were athletic) were very short...not even close to dress code. MB and Trevor were thinking of starting trouble and going to the office to complain, I'm glad they didn't.

What I found offensive was the idiot in the parking lot with the 1000 watt stereo shaking the ground with bass. I really don't understand having music(?) with nothing but a bass line, unless it's for the sole purpose of annoying everyone within a 200 foot radius. Don't get me wrong, I like music...all kinds of music, and sometimes I like it loud.

BUT!

I don't subject everyone around me to what I want to listen to. And what I do listen to is music...not some putz who got paid to lay down a bass track using a Casio Keyboard. If the school wants to have a policy to enforce...the loud, annoying music...errr...noise coming from cars would be a good one. Y'know...if someone is wearing something weird or goofy, you can look the other way but if someone is polluting the air with offensive sound, you can't escape.

The Hunt Begins

I managed to find a $25 Rocky's...well maybe I did. The last time I tried this collector, his site was out of date so we'll have to see. Other than that, nothing else going on...just relaxing.

Fight night tonight!!

Yo...Adrian!

It's been a busy posting day for me today..woohoo! MB and I made lots of trips to local stores today (can you tell?) and we're finally home...whew! So what was in the mailbox??? Hmmm? How about a $5 Rocky's from Reno! There's a story behind this one!

After coming home from the Convention, George was showing me his acquisitions and told me about how he found the Rocky's at a booth. The dealer told him that the casino simply closed up with no warning and of course there went all the chips, now making whatever chips that were floating about, much more valuable. I contacted that dealer, who was roaming around the country, to see if he could get me one and luckily he could. Now it gets better! They had $25 chips too, so I'm going to try to get one of those too.

We have a winner!

I've been in retail for over 26 years, 18 of them in management, so I have an idea what I'm talking about. I used to think that the lowest form of retail life was in the fast food industry. Let's face it, every time you hit the Drive Thru, you have to check your order to make sure it's correct. These people are paid to get things right! Obviously, they are paid too much.

Well, today I have come to the conclusion that Fast Food has been taken by the mighty retail team at Walmart. I can't call them a sales team because they don't sell you anything, they just stock the shelves. But as they are stocking the shelves, they make sure to get in the way as much as possible. I had to do a double-take at the mullet headed "Cart Crew" because they were holding a conversation that only Jeff Foxworthy could appreciate.

There is no pride in my local Walmart, you can tell just by the way it looks. If I ran my store that way I would have been fired long ago. Perhaps that what happened there because there were several employees from other stores helping get stuff on the shelves. There were more employees there than I have ever seen.

Congratulations Walmart...keep talking up that customer service!! I rest easy knowing that you're there!!

New Stuff

While taking off for a week, I managed to pick up a couple of chips. First is a $100 Victorian Gambling Hall. next, my Gold Bar illegals arrived and a cool "CC" from the Court Cafe in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

I also won a curious El Rancho chip...it's not in the Chip Rack. I'll post a pic on Jeff's Casino Chips as soon as I get my scanner working...IF I get it working.

Every little bit helps

Trade group kicks off Responsible Gaming week

By Liz Benston
LAS VEGAS SUN

Starting today, major gaming companies nationwide will put up posters and table tents as well as distribute pamphlets and other materials as part of Responsible Gaming Awareness Week, an annual event sponsored by the American Gaming Association trade group.

But casino customers won't be seeing many of these materials. That's because this year's event is geared primarily toward helping employees understand how to spot signs of compulsive gambling and direct gamblers to get help, industry representatives say.

I'm all for this...cigarette companies have self-help info on their websites, alcohol companies do the same. While gambling itself isn't life threatening, it can be overdone to the point where others get hurt, families destroyed, life savings wiped out.

The key element of this year's event is the Responsible Gaming Code of Conduct, a document crafted by American Gaming Association members in September 2003 that binds member companies to several rules that govern how casinos market to customers.

The document, which goes beyond regulatory requirements in certain states, includes some policies long practiced by some casinos but marks an advancement for others. Policies include offering problem gambling helpline information on the Internet as well as on the casino floor, initiating self-exclusion programs for people who have gambling problems and not serving alcohol or dealing to customers who are visibly intoxicated.

Member companies have until September 13 to integrate all the rules into their employee training programs, the American Gaming Association says.

"We see this week as the unofficial countdown to full implementation of the code," AGA spokeswoman Courtney Reiter said.

Companies including some of the major Las Vegas-based casinos have so far ordered about 54,000 copies of the code of conduct brochure as well as about 40,000 stickers, 15,000 ribbons, 1,100 posters and more than 1,300 table tents. Some companies will stuff notices in employee paychecks notifying them about the code of conduct.

Also new this year are pamphlets that discuss the odds of winning several casino games. The pamphlets, which will be available on the American Gaming Association's Web site this week and will be distributed to casinos soon after, offer customers and players information on the house advantage and satisfy a code requirement that casinos make public the odds on several casino games.

Now in its seventh year, Responsible Gaming Education Week is taking on a more important role as gambling expands nationwide, participants say.

Responsible gambling programs are becoming an integral part of the regulatory environment in states that are new to casino gambling, said Connie Jones, director of responsible gaming for International Game Technology.

Pennsylvania, which legalized slot machines this month, is setting aside funds for responsible gambling programs. And in Canada, where casinos and other gambling outlets are operated primarily by government agencies, IGT has begun rolling out slot machines with built-in protections for players such as digital clocks, cash winnings and losses, and time limits of play, said Jones, who was appointed to the new position in 2002.

Companies are approaching the subject in different ways this week.

IGT has posted a 25-question "proficiency program" on its company Web site that all employees will take to learn more about compulsive gambling, Jones said.

"Our employees are often our best ambassadors," she said. "We feel they really need to understand (gambling problems) for our business to be sustainable and for loved ones to get help."

The company also has created a "responsible gaming committee" to oversee Jones' work for the first time.

At Station Casinos Inc., workers each day of this week will see posters, table tents and articles in their employee newsletter about the code of conduct. They also will receive a quiz of sorts on certain aspects of the code.

Today, for example, employees are expected to hear pre-shift explanations of the odds of various casino games. Tuesday, the company will test employees about judging the ages of potential customers and discuss combating underage gambling. And the following day, workers will discuss carding customers as well as the link between problem gambling and drinking, for example.

"This is our opportunity to educate (employees) as a responsible member of our industry, as well as patrons and the public," Station spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said.

MGM MIRAGE will be distributing the code of conduct to employees this week as well as putting up posters in employee break areas. At the MGM Grand, Las Vegas' largest hotel-casino, managers will quiz workers of all stripes before mandatory pre-shift meetings.

Throughout the year, employees hear about compulsive gambling in meetings as well as in employee newsletters and through other forums, MGM MIRAGE spokeswoman Yvette Monet said.

"Communicating the importance of responsible gaming to our employees and guests is a yearlong effort that is ingrained in all aspects of casino operations and management," she said. "The casino industry as a whole has it in our best interest to make sure guests find gambling to be an enjoyable experience."

Just one of many

Featured Chip

Dunes $100 9th Issue

There have been a bunch of chips issued by the Dunes. The most common are the "Golf Course"chips, where for a couple of hundred dollars you can get a complete set up to the $25,000 chip. Then there are the "Marquis" and "Sultan, Camel, and Harem Girl" chips that comand some really high prices. This one falls in the middle, sometimes called the "Rectangle" or "Trapezoid" inlay.

It's a good looking chip that would fit well in anyone's Vegas collection, especially a collection featuring Classic Strip casinos.

Flying, Pointy Things

New Release

Riviera $5 Medalist Dart Championship 2004
07-30-04
Limited to 500

Now this is a good reason for an LE chip...an event! I love darts even though when I play, it's a good idea to get behind me...much, much safer!

This is a pretty good looking chip, combining the gambling elements of the Riv and the dartboard background. I would pick this one up, nice chip.

Las Vegas Hilton 2004 Star Trek Convention 4 Chip Set
07-30-04
Limited to 200 sets

I admit, I'm a Trekker (not Trekkie). I have the first Convention chip from 2002, which was very nice. The image shown is the common back to all the chips. The 4 obverses depict a different Star Trek ship...the original 1701 from the original series (Kirk, Spock), the 1701-D from The Next Generation (Picard, Riker), DS-9 (Sisko), and Voyager (Janeway).

All the chips are NCVs, unlike the 1st chip which was a $5. No matter, these are stunning chips that you will have to have (good luck!) if you're any kind of Star Trek collector.

BTW, I visited the Star Trek website...it's most impressive...full of info, video, and stuff to buy (of course!). Check it out!