This my friends is a cautionary tale as to why some people just shouldn't gamble. This story is about me and something that happened years ago and I think about it from time to time and thought I would share it with you.

 I was at the Winna Vegas Casino near Sloan, Iowa a few years ago with my wife Mandy and her parents. We would go there every once in a while to eat the buffet and unwind. We didn't always gamble when we went but this night we did.

 On this particular evening I was drawn to an Elvis Presley slot machine. One of the real fancy ones with a spinning wheel and no matter what you landed on, a TV monitor built into the machine would play you a snippet of video showing Elvis in concert. It was a cool thing.

 I was hot that night. I eventually turned 2 dollars into over 200 dollars. Luck like that I had never seen before (or since for that matter). Mandy urged me to cash out and take the winnings home and put them in the bank and relish my "victory" for the evening. But I figured if I was running that red hot on luck I should probably continue. The whole "make hay while the sun is shining" philosophy. So I kept going. And my winnings began dwindling. To the the point where I cashed out with something like 20 dollars. Mandy was amazed. I was upset (I would use another word but this is a clean blog). I absolutely could not believe it. I heard about it all the way home from Mandy. How could I have been so reckless and clumsy and stupid to build up that much cash and then walk away. The worst part about it was I knew she was right and I knew exactly what was driving me that night: greed. Pure greed. I saw dollar signs and I wanted to see more. Once I began to look at it from that vantage point, everything changed. I didn't want to become a person who was motivated only by money and the want for more money. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cash and love to see when my investments do well. I guess I would refer to that as passive greed. Since then, I have never really gambled. I lived in Las Vegas for three years and went to a casino to gamble ONCE. I really didn't enjoy myself either.

 This isn't a soapbox speech about gambling. If you like it and want to do it, more power to you. But a couple of years I learned something about gaming, and myself, that I really didn't like and as a result, I haven't taken part since.

 Quote Of The Day: "Gambling promises the poor what property performs for the rich-- something for nothing." George Bernard Shaw

 This Day In History: Japan surrendered to the United States, ending World War II, on this date, August 14th, 1945.

 Something You Should Check Out: One of Fleetwood Mac's classic hits is "Second Hand News". Most everyone has heard this song but have no idea who sings it or what the title is. Enjoy!

 That's it for now! Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an e-mail by clicking here.