Cappers – Pellegrini Page

Ready for Halloween 2023

Getting ready for Halloween and keeping busy with lots of activities!

Halloween is always a big deal for our family. Not only is it Nan’s birthday, but it’s easily one of our favorite holidays. Elise will tell you without hesitation that Halloween is her favorite holiday, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ava and Enzo said the same thing. Jessica is really into it as well; she’s the reigning costume champion at the school she works at and is hoping to repeat this year. Last year she killed it with her pinata costume and this year she has put together an amazing outfit to dress up as Willy Wonka.

As far as the kids’ costumes go, Ava is dressing up as one of her favorite anime characters, Elise is a Pokemon character, and Enzo has a blowup chicken suit with bright rainbow colors. I’m taking the easy route and just dressing up as a baseball player, but in all honesty, Halloween isn’t as big of a thing for me simply because I work from home, so I don’t have anywhere to go in a costume besides trick or treating with the kids.

Speaking of trick or treating, I feel like Halloween has gotten even better for us since moving to Nevada because of the neighborhood we live in. I’ve never seen anything like it. It might even be fair to say that houses in our neighborhood are more decorated for Halloween than Christmas. There’s a house that builds a haunted house in their backyard each year, plus houses that give out full-sized candy bars. There’s even one house that has a cotton candy machine and spins it individually for each kid! It’s such a fun experience for everyone and we always look forward to it each year.

To make our evening even better, my Mom is coming over to have dinner and spend her birthday evening with us. She’ll also be working the front door to hand out candy while we’re out in the neighborhood. I’m looking forward to making a nice birthday dinner for her and getting some quality time. The kids haven’t been able to spend as much time with her recently due to activities and social events, so it will be great having her over.

A Big Night For Elise and Jessica

About six weeks ago Elise was supposed to go to the Ed Sheeran concert at Allegiant Stadium with one of her best friends. They got all the way to the stadium before finding out that the concert had to be postponed due to safety issues while setting things up. The concert was rescheduled for Saturday, October 28, which was last night. As it turned out, Elise’s friend’s Dad wasn’t able to make it, so they had an extra ticket and were kind enough to offer it to Jessica. She was thrilled to be able to go and of course, they had a great time. Jessica took a bunch of videos for me so I’ll be making a Vegas Showbiz video out of it very soon.

Since Elise and Jessica were having a special night, I wanted to do something fun with Ava and Enzo to keep them from getting jealous. We went to the mall and then decided to go to our favorite conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Enzo asked if we could take the long way so I decided to cruise all the way down the Las Vegas strip. I figured it would be fun because it was Saturday night, but it turned out much better than expected. First of all, the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix is only a couple of weeks away, and they’re going to be racing on the strip, so we got to see all the grandstands and other race infrastructure. I love Formula One racing and it was so cool to be driving down the same street that my favorite drivers will soon be racing on. I can’t believe they’re going to be driving 200 mph on that road and can’t wait to see it.

To make our drive even more fun and memorable, we were sitting at the front of an intersection near MGM Grand waiting for a green light, and suddenly about 15 motorcycles came up around us to get in front of me. They were ¾ size stunt bikes and the riders were doing all kinds of cool tricks while waiting for the light to change. We had no idea what was going on but they were waving to us and the kids loved it. They had their bikes up on the back wheel spinning around, then as soon as the light changed they were doing wheelies through the intersection, and some were riding while standing on their seat.

It was 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night, so it was prime time to be cruising the strip. I’m used to seeing classic cars cruising the strip on a Saturday night, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Ava was filming it the whole time on her phone and we were talking about it all night.

Activities Galore

As mentioned earlier, the kids have been staying busy with activities lately, so Jessica and I are constantly running them around. Elise and Enzo are back in their Saturday morning boxing class, and Ava has been loving her new softball team. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the fields and batting cages lately, which I love. Her team won their first nine games before losing one yesterday, so they’re off to an excellent start. The Fall season is shorter than Spring, so there are only a few games left, but I think it’s a guarantee that Ava will be playing again next Spring. She has made a ton of improvement over the past couple of months and we plan on working hard during the offseason.

I’ve enjoyed being back around baseball so much that I too am joining a team in January. I’ve been wanting to get back into some type of team sport or activity because I spend so much time at home working. While I do get plenty of exercise at home via the rowing machine and weights, it’s not the same as getting out there with people.

I thought about joining a hockey team but here’s the problem; hockey is very popular here (like it is in Seattle) but there are only a handful of ice rinks to play at. Kids teams always get preferential ice time, so if you’re on an adult team it’s not uncommon for games to start at 11:00 p.m. or later. I simply can’t make that work with my schedule, but that same problem doesn’t exist for baseball. Not only are there fields everywhere, but the weather here is conducive to playing all year long. I always loved playing baseball as a kid and wish I wouldn’t have quit, so I’m excited to get back into it. I did some research and found the Nevada Adult Baseball Association (NABA), which is a hardball league that looks really fun. I went to one of their games last Sunday and felt like I could definitely keep up. I’m planning on playing catcher and have started training for the season. Luckily, I’ve become friends with a guy who used to be a catcher in the Phillies system, so he’s going to work with me. I’ve also been watching a ton of videos on YouTube and regularly get out to practice with the kids. It’s important for me to stay active and I can’t wait to get back into a team sports environment.

Vegas Showbiz and Cappers Update

Our subscribers for the Vegas Showbiz YouTube channel are continuing to grow quickly and we’re now up over 850. Getting to 1,000 has been a goal for me since day one and I think we’ll be there in the next two or three months at most. On the Cappers side of things, I’ve been working on it for exactly a year, and we now finally have some paid subscribers! We’ve obviously still got a long way to go, but our growth is totally organic without any type of paid advertising, so it feels great to see it gaining momentum.

It’s doing well from a performance perspective as well, especially with NHL recommendations. We’re only a few weeks into the new hockey season and if you were to bet one unit on every NHL betting system recommendation our site makes, you’d already be up over 50 units! 50x on your money is insane, and there are certainly no guarantees that it will stay that way for the entire season, but there is no question that we have tapped into some successful systems and methods. I wish we could get that type of performance with football betting, but there’s too much action and the lines are too sharp to make that kind of money. The real profit, when it comes to betting on the major U.S. sports, is with hockey and baseball.

Hopefully, we can continue spreading the word and growing the business. Devin and I are both extremely bullish on our business model and feel like it’s only a matter of time before it blows up. Just gotta keep grinding in the meantime.

That’s about it for now. We’re looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rudd in a couple of weeks. It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is already here. I don’t have too many recent photos to share, but here are a few. See you next month!

Enzo and his buddy — Enzo and one of his best friends

Heading to Ava's softball game — Off to another softball game!

At the Las Vegas Ed Sheeran concert — Elise and Jessica before the Ed Sheeran concert

Dinner at "Marriage Can Be Murder" — Having fun at the “Marriage Can Be Murder” dinner show

Outside Sapporo Revolving Sushi — Revolving Sushi with Ava and Enzo

Falling Into Autumn, 2023

An update on our family as we enter Fall 2023. We’re as busy as ever with school, activities, work, and more!

Fall is my favorite season, especially earlier on, and this year is no exception. Living here in Southern Nevada, the weather this time of year is absolutely perfect; it reminds me of Summers in Seattle. The brutal heat of the Summer is gone, and so are the monsoons of August. It’s sunny and about 90 degrees every day with no wind, so we’re outside enjoying the weather a lot more than we normally would be during the Summer, swimming excluded.

One way that we’ve been out enjoying the weather lately is by going to the softball field. Ava recently joined a new team through a private softball league and is playing in their Fall Ball season. She last played in the Spring of 2022 for a team through the city of Henderson, and we tried to do the same thing again this year, but there weren’t enough girls signed up so the season was canceled.

This new league she’s playing for is a lot more serious and the quality of play is much higher. She was a bit intimidated at first because most of these girls are more experienced than her and have been playing together for years, but she’s been getting so much better after the past few weeks. I’ve been practicing with her at home, plus she has never missed a team practice, and we meet with the team every Sunday morning at the batting cage.

In addition to getting better as a player, she’s also learning a lot about being a good teammate. At first, she would sit quietly on the bench but now she’s up there cheering for her teammates and participating in all their funny team chants. We’re really glad to see her involved in a team sport again and it’s fun going to the ballpark to watch her play.

Another cool thing that Ava has recently taken on is that she has become a member of her Middle School band. She is playing the cornet trumpet and is really enjoying it! It’s not uncommon for her to stay after school to get extra music practice in. Obviously, I’m thrilled to see any of the kids taking on an instrument and I can already see the joy it’s giving her. Just like softball, we’ve seen a noticeable improvement in just a few short weeks.

To cap it off, this week she brought home her first progress report and it was mostly all A’s and B’s. The transition from elementary school to middle school is tough for a lot of kids, so Jessica and I are very proud of how she’s been doing.

Elise Having A Great Final Year of Elementary School

Speaking of progress reports, Elise just brought hers home and it was all A’s with one B. Once again, Jessica and I were so proud. It hasn’t been the easiest start of the year for her but she’s been putting in the work and it shows. Regarding activities, we took a break from boxing for the Summer but Elise has been asking to get back into it, so this weekend will be her first class. We’re glad to see her doing something that she enjoys so much, and that gives her confidence. I’ll tell you what – Elise is not to be messed with. She’s fast, strong, and can throw a solid punch. I pity the fool that crosses her someday.

Elise has made some great friends at school over the past couple of years and now she frequently finds herself getting invited to do all kinds of cool things. A few weeks ago her friend invited her to come to the Ed Sheeran concert at Allegiant Stadium. They made it all the way to the front door before finding out that the show had to be postponed due to an accident while setting things up. They were bummed but took it well; the show will now take place on October 28th so they will be going then. She still got to go out to a nice dinner that night with her friend’s family.

Elise and her teacher at Pali — Elise with her 5th grade teacher at the Pali Institute

More recently, this past weekend Elise was invited by another friend to go to the iHeart Radio festival at Mandalay Bay. Her friend’s dad is a marketing executive for MGM so they brought a group of girls to the show. She got all kinds of cool swag, including an M&M bucket hat, and then saw artists like The Foo Fighters, Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, 30 Seconds to Mars, and others.

Jessica and I didn’t want Ava and Enzo to be jealous so we took them out for an epic night while Elise was away, which included an hour at an arcade, dinner at a conveyor sushi restaurant, and a viewing of Sphere Las Vegas the weekend before it’s grand opening with U2. It was an awesome night but Enzo was clearly partied out by the time we got home.

Enzo and Ava having conveyor sushi for the first time — Enzo and Ava experience conveyor sushi for the first time

Enzo partied out at the end of a long Saturday night out on the town. Those are my Gucci sunglasses that I bought for my 26th birthday in Vegas. Now Enzo rocks them regularly.

Another really fun thing Elise recently took part in was her school’s 5th-grade camping trip to the Pali Institute. Ava had a blast doing the same thing last year and this year was no exception for Elise. Going on a 5th-grade camping trip is like a right of passage and we were so happy to hear about the great time she had. She got to participate in all kinds of cool activities and spent lots of quality time with her friends.

Enzo Crushing 3rd Grade

Like his sisters, Enzo is off to a great year at school. I haven’t seen a progress report for him so far but he’s doing really well in every subject. He’s just like me in the sense that he comes home each day and does his homework immediately. He takes his work seriously and never misses a beat. He’s excited to be getting back into boxing this weekend with Elise, and like Elise, he has made some great friends at school.

Enzo has definitely found himself in the middle of a great group of friends and I think it’s fair to say he is one of the more popular kids in his grade. Jessica recently took him over to his buddy Charlie’s house for a play date, then came home and told me about how beautiful this kid’s neighborhood is. Apparently, he lives on a golf course and one of his newest neighbors is Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. I’ve been telling Jessica that our kids clearly have good taste when it comes to making friends and that it might not be long before we’re riding their coattails.

A Change of Plans for Jessica

Jessica spent the whole Summer training for her upcoming Mt Whitney hike but unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. A few weeks ago she went on a big hike with one of her friends as a training exercise but the weather and conditions turned out unexpectedly bad. Out of respect for her privacy, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but the short story is that she was injured during the hike and the injury is preventing her from going on the Mt Whitney trip.

I don’t want to alarm anyone because she’s going to be totally fine, but a hike like that is no joke and she simply won’t be able to do it at the scheduled time. It was really tough for her to accept and she was gutted by it, but there’s no question she made the right decision to cancel. Although we can’t replace that experience for her, we’re working on setting up some super cool things to do that weekend to help make up for it in some way.

Vegas Showbiz Update

I can’t believe how much Vegas Showbiz has started taking off over the past few weeks. It all started off with me reaching out to various performers to see if I could interview them for the Vegas Showbiz YouTube channel. Through one of those requests I got hooked up with Authentic Public Relations and now all kinds of things are popping up. They were impressed by my interview with Adam London, one of their performers, and have since invited Jessica and me to see the show Marriage Can Be Murder and then interview their performers. They have also invited us to the grand opening of Tape Face’s new show at MGM Grand, which includes a meet and greet afterward.

Additionally, another public relations company called KorePR found me online and asked if I’d be interested in interviewing a comedian named Byron Kennedy regarding his upcoming headlining slot at the Laugh After Dark comedy festival and the debut of his first comedy special “NashVegas.” Obviously, I said yes and the whole thing went really well.

I’m having so much fun doing these interviews, mostly because I feel like I can talk to anyone about practically anything. I guess I’m just channeling my inner bartender from a previous life, and I feel confident that it’s going to continue growing from here.

Cappers Update

I feel like Cappers is right behind Vegas Showbiz in terms of starting to take off. One reason for this is that, as Devin and I put it, we’re finally fulfilling our AI promise. The URL for the Cappers website is https://cappers.ai, which implies that we are using artificial intelligence to handicap sporting events, but that wasn’t actually the case until about a week ago. Certainly, we have always been building databases of sports data and using that data in various sports betting formulas and systems to produce betting recommendations, but until now, there was no actual artificial intelligence going on behind the scenes.

That’s all in the past though, as we are now using ChatGPT, the most popular and widely used form of AI in the world, to evaluate games and make betting recommendations. We’re still calculating results from all the systems and providing all the data that we always have, but the ChatGPT results are a huge value add.

At a high level, here’s how it works. You can think of ChatGPT as an invisible robot that you can ask questions to. While you could simply ask the bot something like “Who’s going to win tonight’s game between the Lions and the Packers,” you probably wouldn’t get a very intelligent response because you’re not giving it information to use in its decision-making process. I’m sure it will get there someday, but for now, you have to construct a very detailed question, known as a prompt, in order to get an intelligent response.

A big part of the work I’ve been doing for the past year is writing little computer programs known as Azure Functions that run regularly on timers to get all the latest data from every sport we support and save that data into our database. Once you have all that data, you can use it any way you like. We use it in all those betting system formulas, and we use it to construct the ChatGPT prompts. The prompts we send to the GPT bot are long (about 300 words) and contain all kinds of important information about how each team is performing, point spreads, betting odds, injuries, weather conditions, etc. It takes a lot of code and logic to produce these prompts, but the result that you get back from the bot is really impressive.

I’m not going to lie and say that the recommendations from the bot are always 100% correct because clearly, nothing can ever predict the future with total accuracy, but the responses so far have been looking great. What you get is a response that is very well thought out, takes all the important factors into consideration, and makes an intelligent recommendation. Even if you decide not to make the bets recommended by the bot, it’s still really useful information that you should be aware of and take into account. Plus, more often than not, the bot gets it right. Here’s an example of it’s response about last Sunday’s Steelers vs Raiders game, which was totally accurate across the board.

If that’s too small to read in the image, here’s what it says:

Analysis

The Steelers and Raiders both have a 1-1 record this season, but the Steelers are coming off a win while the Raiders are coming off a loss. The Steelers have been scoring more points on average this season (16.5) compared to the Raiders (13.5). However, the Raiders had a higher average score last season (23.2) compared to the Steelers (18.1). Both teams are averaging 2 turnovers per game this season. The Steelers have 1 offensive injury and the Raiders have 2 defensive injuries, which could potentially impact the Raiders’ ability to stop the Steelers’ offense.

Point Spread Bet

Given the Steelers’ recent win and the Raiders’ defensive injuries, I would bet on the Steelers +2.5 points. This means that even if the Steelers lose by 2 points, the bet would still win.

Money Line Bet

I would be on the Steelers’ money line at +124. This means that for every $100 bet, the payout would be $124 if the Steelers win.

Over-Under Pick

The Over/Under is set at 43 points. Given the average points scored by both teams this season (16.5 for the Steelers and 13.5 for Raiders), I would pick the Under at -110 odds. This means that if the total combined score of both teams is less than 43, the bet would win.

Summary of Picks

Point Spread: Steelers +2.5 Money Line: Steelers +124 Over/Under: Under 43

Final Thoughts

While both teams have had a mixed start to the season, the Steelers seem to have the edge due to their recent win and the Raiders’ defensive injuries. However, as with any sports betting, there are no guarantees and outcomes can be unpredictable. It’s important to bet responsibly.

As you can see, this is an extremely well-thought-out response and had you wagered $100 on each of those three recommendations, you would have gotten your $300 back plus a profit of $282. Considering the fact that we’re offering a two-week free trial of the Cappers Application, then only charging $19 per month (for now), Devin and I feel that it’s an incredible value. People pay hundreds of dollars for tout services to tell them who to bet on. We’re not a tout service but instead believe in giving our customers intelligent recommendations and using them to make more informed betting decisions of their own.

If you’re reading this and know anyone who may be interested in a Cappers free trial, please reach out to me and I will give you a code to extend that free trial to one month. I firmly believe that it’s just a matter of getting the word out there and this thing is going to explode. We’ve put a TON of work into it and I’m so proud of what has been created. While we’re currently only offering AI betting recommendations for NFL games, I’m already working on it for the upcoming NHL season and will do the same thing for NBA games. It won’t be long before every game has an AI recommendation to go along with all the other system results.

That’s about it for now. As I say every month, we’re extremely busy, but busy is good and it beats the alternative. Jessica and I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and everything they have going on. If you’re thinking about making a trip to Vegas, please let us know.

Jessica and the kids at the Las Vegas Museum of Illusions — Having fun at the Las Vegas Museum of Illusions

The Pellegrini kids at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas

The Pellegrini Kids at the Vegas Golden Knights 2023 Rookie Game vs the Anaheim Ducks — At the Vegas Golden Knights 2023 Rookie Game versus the Anaheim Ducks

The Pellegrini family at the Neon Trees concert in Las Vegas — At the Neon Trees show on Fremont St. This was our first entire family concert in Vegas.

Happy 10th Birthday, Elise!

All about Elise’s 10th birthday, plus updates on how our Summer break is wrapping up, Vegas Showbiz getting into the YouTube Partner Program, and Cappers going live!

Today our sweet Elise turned 10 years old! I still remember the morning she was born like it was yesterday. It was shortly after 6:00 am when Jessica delivered her in a small hot tub at a birth center in Bellevue, Washington. With the music of Elliott Smith playing in the background, Elise was brought into this world and I got to hold her for quite a while shortly after. Obviously, it was an experience that Jessica and I will never forget; it’s just hard to believe that 10 whole years have already gone by since then.

As is usually the case with our kids’ birthdays, we’re spreading the celebration out over several days. Since today is her actual birthday, she started off the morning with breakfast in bed, then came down later in the morning to open presents. We went to a play center in the afternoon to let the kids get some exercise, then we went out to dinner as a family. We let Elise choose the restaurant, and luckily for all of us, she chose Chef Kenny’s, which is an Asian vegan restaurant that we love.

After dinner, we came home and did some night swimming, then took a break to enjoy a cake that Elise and Mom baked last night. More swimming and hot tubbing ensued. All in all, it was a great day, but her birthday celebrations are far from over. Tomorrow, the kids will be going to my Mom’s house for a couple nights and I know she has a few things planned. Then next Thursday our good friends the Palmers are visiting us from Washington for a long weekend.

Instead of having a traditional birthday party, Elise wanted to go see the new Barbie movie in theaters with her friends, but she wanted to wait until her buddy Miles was here for a visit. Jessica got tickets for a big group of Elise’s friends to go to the movie, but Enzo and I decided to pass. I’ll admit it does look funny but since my friend Leon will be here, I think he and I will take Enzo to do something that day while the girls are at the movie.

I know Elise still has all these fun things to come but I hope she enjoyed her day today. It was pretty much the perfect family day and I don’t think anyone will be forgetting it anytime soon. Happy 10th birthday Elise, we love you!!

The Last Few Weeks of Summer Break

Jessica and the kids have been enjoying their break this Summer, but it’s flying by and they will be heading back to school in about three weeks. We’re really excited for our friends to come down for a visit, but they all know that this will basically be the last hoorah. In addition to the movie, we’re all going to a water park one day while they’re here, so that should be a lot of fun.

We recently celebrated the 4th of July, which was also Peach and Spencer’s third birthday, by having my Mom plus our friends Tiko and Tina, plus their two girls, Helen and Beatrice, over for swimming, a BBQ, and fireworks at the park. We were spoiled by relatively cool temperatures during June but that all seems long gone. The forecasted high temperature for this Sunday is 117 degrees, which is extreme even for us. I remember it getting that hot one day during our first Summer here, but it never got that hot last Summer. When you live here you just learn how to live with the extreme heat during the Summer, but at least we always have a pool to go out and jump into.

An Update on Vegas Showbiz and Cappers

Shortly after my last family blog post, Vegas Showbiz was accepted into the YouTube partner program. They recently lowered their limits to get into the first level of the program and we qualified, so I applied and we were accepted almost immediately. Now that we’re in the partner program we’re technically able to start making money, although that hasn’t happened yet. We’re allowed to sell private memberships to our channel but I don’t think that makes sense for us at the moment. We’re also able to accept tips/donations via the Thanks button below our videos, and we’re able to sell Super Stickers, which are digital pieces of art related to our channel.

I don’t expect us to capitalize on any of these options, but I’ve definitely seen an uptick in our viewing numbers and subscribers since we got into the program. It makes sense that YouTube would start surfacing our videos more in searches now that we’re in the partner program, because the better our videos do, the better they do in terms of advertising revenue. Our big goal is still to get to 1,000 subscribers because at that point we will make it to the next level of the partner program, and at that point, you start getting paid a portion of the revenue generated from ads being viewed when people watch your videos.

It won’t be a huge amount of money, but we expect it to be enough to buy tickets to a show each month. Our plan is to reinvest the money into doing more fun things to make videos about and grow the channel that way. Although we had a lull between February and May where we were only producing two videos per month, getting into the partner program has definitely been reinvigorating. We’re not quite halfway through July and have already dropped five new videos for the month. Here’s our most recent one, which is a review Enzo and I made after visiting Fly Over Las Vegas on the Strip.

Regarding Cappers, last Friday Devin and I went live by releasing it to the world! Our main website is located at https://cappers.ai, so if you want to learn more about what we do, that’s the place to go. The web application that people pay for subscriptions to is located at https://app.cappers.ai. So far we don’t have any paying customers but I’ve made some nice progress this week.

Yesterday I messaged about 10 professional sports handicappers on Twitter; I introduced myself and offered them a free Cappers subscription. I explained that I was trying to gather feedback from established handicappers so I can fine-tune the site and asked if they would be interested. I have already heard back from three of them who are interested and one, who has over 56,000 followers on Twitter, has already gotten set up with a free subscription. Another one has 35,000 subscribers, so if I can get these guys to tweet about it, give feedback, and perhaps give a testimonial on our site, we’ll be looking good.

Our main goal for these first couple of months is to get feedback so we’re ready for NFL season. Hopefully working with these established handicappers will help get us there. In addition to promoting the site via Twitter, I have also been making videos for the Cappers YouTube channel and writing blog posts for the Cappers blog. Most of the blog posts I have written are heavily focused on sports betting, but my first one was more like our origination story. I wrote about growing up in a house where my Dad ran an illegal sports gambling operation, and how he always told me to do something better with my life. I honestly feel like my tech experience combined with these experiences as a child makes me very qualified to be a founder of a company like this. If you’d like to check it out just go to: https://cappers.ai/blog/2023/07-july/01-commandments-of-sports-betting

I’m already working every day to get us ready for NFL season and I expect to be hustling for months to help build up our subscriber base. Devin and I should be starting our Vegas sports podcast soon as well, so hopefully all these things will start coming together and the site will blow up. I’m not worried about it because I know how much hard work is being done; it’s just a matter of time.

More Homemade Music

I’ve been on a roll with content creation lately and music has been no exception. I recently tried something new by recording music specifically to be used for the background of a Vegas Showbiz video. Normally, when I record music I’m trying to come up with progressive, interesting ideas and play things that sound impressive. This time, it was a different approach because I wanted something simple with an uplifting feel to it.

I was particularly proud of this one, not because it was the best playing I’ve done, but because I recorded it in an old-school way using my actual amplifiers and microphones. Normally when I’m recording music at home, I plug my guitar into my computer and use software recreations of classic amplifiers. This approach has always worked well and sounded good, but it almost feels like you’re cheating. I’m able to pick from all these classic amps from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s, then mix and match them as I please.

This time, I set up a couple of amplifiers in my bedroom closet, which is the closest thing I have to a recording booth, then mic’d them up and cranked the volume. The music was intentionally simple but the guitar solo was done in a single take with zero practice or preparation. In a strange way I was more proud of this than most of my other stuff, mostly because I was using my own physical amps and pedals to get all the sounds.

I also promised my Uncle Bob that I would make a video with the guitar he gifted me before moving back to Washington, so here it is. Again, I used a microphone in front of an amp with lots of volume, which I think is good for the soul. Playing loud feels so good!

Obviously, it’s been a busy few weeks but I honestly believe that staying busy is the secret to happiness. I’m looking forward to making more music to use in our videos, excited for the future of Vegas Showbiz on YouTube, and extremely excited about everything going on with Cappers. It’s only a matter of time. For now, here are a few more recent photos from our Summer.

Elise having breakfast in bed on the morning of her 10th birthday

Elise opening presents for her 10th birthday — Elise opening her presents

Elise at her 10th birthday dinner at Chef Kenny's — Elise at Chef Kenny’s for her birthday dinner

Elise finally got to have a Grimace Shake at McDonalds

Enzo Pellegrini, July 4 2023 — Enzo with a sparkler sword on the 4th of July. Love those glasses!

Ava Pellegrini, July 4 2023 — Ava and her sparkler sword on the 4th

Elise Pellegrini, July 4 2023 — Elise and her sparkler sword

The Pellegrini family, July 4 2023 — Family photos on the 4th of July are a tradition for us. Here are a few from this year.

Nana and Michael, July 4 2023 — Mom and I on the 4th

Visiting the Vegas Strip with Avery — Our good friend and old neighbor Avery recently came down from Washington for a visit. It was a fun couple of days.

A Family-Filled June

Sad news about Jessica’s grandpa, followed by lots of good times during a recent family visit. Father’s Day and the upcoming Cappers launch are also covered.

June has been a fun and memorable month, but before I get into all the fun stuff we’ve been up to, I want to take a moment to pay my respects to Jessica’s grandpa, Larry Pipkin, who unfortunately passed away earlier this month. I had the pleasure of spending many occasions with Larry, and his wife Sherry, over the past 15 years. He was always so kind to me, and I always enjoyed his endless questions about the restaurant and tech industries.

Larry was born in 1929, which is the year after my Dad was born. Jessica and I always chuckled about the fact that my Dad was older than her grandpa. He was only a few days short of his 94th birthday, so I have to commend him on a life well-lived. Not only due to the amount of time he was here but for everything he did during that time. He owned an optometry practice, which came after graduating at the top of his class in medical school. Later in his career, he and Sherry would travel overseas to provide free optometry services to those in need.

Without question, my most special memory of Larry is based on him marrying Jessica and me on a boat in Seattle back in April 2010. It was Jessica’s idea to have him be the one who officiated the service and I was all for it. He took it seriously and ended up getting ordained specifically for that occasion. I remember standing next to him moments before the ceremony began; we made eye contact so I nodded my head and whispered “How ya doin’?” He chuckled and said, “I’m fine, but how are you doing?”

The other great memory I have of Larry was from the end of that year when he and Sherry came to spend Christmas with us at our little beach house in San Diego. The four of us, plus our two dogs, lived in this little house for a week, which was so memorable. We showed them all around San Diego, took them to the restaurants we worked at, and went for walks by the beach.

I probably shouldn’t say this but I will anyway; Sherry wanted to try a pot brownie so we got one for her. Larry wasn’t interested but I could tell he was enjoying giving her a hard time about it. She was worried about having too much and decided not to finish it. Before the remainder of the brownie made its way to the garbage, Larry, ever the sweet tooth, said “You don’t let brownies go to waste Sherry,” then snatched it up and ate it. I’m not sure how much it affected either of them, but let’s just say everyone really enjoyed the spaghetti dinner I made that night.

Of course, Larry’s family could tell many more stories than I can, but those are some of my favorite memories of him. Congratulations to him on a life well lived; if someone told me right now that I could live until the month of my 94th birthday (which for me would be July 2074), I’d take it without thinking twice. Rest in peace, Grandpa Pipkin.

Larry Pipkin officiating the Pellegrini wedding in April 2010

A Visit From Family

On a happier note, last week my cousin Kristy, her husband Gilberto, and her daughter Madi spent the week at our house. We kept busy with various activities including eating at several of our favorite restaurants, swimming in the backyard, and visiting a handful of fun Vegas attractions. One day they all picked up my Mom and went to an escape room near her house. I wasn’t able to join because I was working but it sounded like everyone had a nice time. Another day while I was working they all got to visit the botanical cactus garden at Ethel M’s chocolate factory.

I think the highlight of their visit for me was on Thursday night when we all attended the Tournament of Kings dinner show at The Excalibur Hotel. Jessica and I have wanted to take the kids to this show for a long time so it was great to experience that with family. Everyone enjoyed the entire experience and I have already posted a Vegas Showbiz video of some of my favorite parts of the show. Hopefully, Jessica and I will be making a review video soon as well.

Kristy, Tito, and Madi were very kind in bringing me a Father’s Day present since they arrived the day after Father’s Day. They got me a cutting board made by Fender, which is shaped like a Stratocaster. It’s the perfect gift for me because I love to play guitar and I love to cook! I had to verify the shape was correct by grabbing my strat and laying it directly on top of the cutting board. It was a perfect match.

Their visit flew by but it was a lot of fun. The weather was hot, but not as hot as usual for this time of year, which made things ideal. I hope they enjoyed it and find time to come back.

Outside of Excalibur Las Vegas — Outside of Excalibur after the show

Family swimming time! — Obligatory family selfie from the pool

Chillin in the pool and hot tub with family

Jessica and Tito on a hike at the Hoover Dam — Jessica and Tito did a hike one morning at the Hoover Dam

Family fun at Ethel M's Chocolate Factory — Family fun at the chocolate factory

Measuring the Fender Stratocaster cutting board against the real thing — Comparing the cutting board to the real thing

Father’s Day

Since the kids were gone on a camping trip with their grandparents last year on Father’s Day, and the last time we celebrated me, which was my birthday last Summer, Enzo split his head open and I got to spend the evening with him in the emergency room, it was important to Jessica that they treated me to a nice day this year. She really came through too; it was easily the best Father’s Day I’ve ever had!

The kids surprised me that morning with presents they made, all of which were special gifts that I will keep forever. Then Jessica surprised me with a few presents that I never expected. She got me a nice new swimsuit because I had mentioned a few weeks earlier that I only had two pair of swimming trunks. She also got me a new little football which is meant for the water because I love to play catch with the kids in the pool.

The biggest one though, which totally caught me by surprise, was the JBL Bluetooth outdoor speaker she picked out. I’ve been wanting one of these since last Summer so we can listen to music in the pool. Technically we were already able to do that because our house’s intercom/radio system has a speaker by the back door, but the sound quality wasn’t very good and we hate all the radio commercials. The speaker she picked out sounds amazing and I’ve been bringing it outside for every swimming session since then.

We did some swimming that morning, so I got a chance to wear my new swimsuit, play catch with the new football, and listen to music on the new speaker. It was perfect. My Mom arrived a bit later and hung out for lunch. Jessica was putting out delicious snacks all morning, then I hopped on the grill to make veggie skewers and Impossible burgers. It was great spending time with my Mom for the afternoon, then we spent the evening relaxing as a family. I know she was happy to do it, but I still really appreciate everything Jessica did that day. Again, it was my best Father’s Day ever.

Summer Break for the kids

Summer break has been going well for the kids, although Enzo and Ava have been sick lately, so that’s no fun. Enzo is just now getting over tonsillitis and Ava is starting antibiotics today after being sick for several days. Yesterday, Elise got started with Invisalign at her dentist’s office. Her dentist was recommending Invisalign as the best option, otherwise braces. I’ve never had either but Jessica has had both and her results with Invisalign were much better, so we decided on that option.

There was an optional Summer School session going on for a couple of weeks so each of the kids decided to do it. They enjoy seeing their friends, and in Ava’s case, it was a chance to start getting familiar with the new Middle School she will be attending in the Fall. School starts early here, so there are only about five more weeks of Summer vacation before they get back at it.

We’re not going anywhere this Summer but that’s okay because we have more visitors coming soon, plus we’ll be hosting a few more pool parties, including one on the 4th of July. There’s always so much going on in Las Vegas that we didn’t feel the need to go anywhere this Summer. We’ve also got Elise’s 10th birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, so that should be a lot of fun.

Here’s a video Jessica and I recently made about things to do this 4th of July in Vegas.

Cappers Beta Launch

Devin and I have been hard at work on getting the Cappers site ready for our beta launch. We’ll be displaying it to the world in the next week or two, which is really exciting. We have things broken up into three components: the Cappers website (https://cappers.ai), the Cappers blog (https://blog.cappers.ai), and the Cappers app (https://app.cappers.ai). The Cappers app is what I mainly focus on, as it is the tool that our customers will purchase subscriptions to. At this point, the app is ready for our beta launch, also known as an MVP (minimum viable product) launch.

I will certainly be adding more to it in the future, but as it is, the baseball handicapping tools we’re providing are outstanding. I’ll have a lot to do to prepare for football season, but for now, our focus is on getting the marketing website and blog launched. I wrote my first Cappers blog article recently and look forward to writing more of them in the near future.

In terms of attracting customers, Devin has a variety of marketing strategies to execute, but we’re hoping to utilize the blog for SEO (search engine optimization) and attract customers organically. Another exciting way we plan to promote the business is via a podcast. Devin was doing some research and found that there currently aren’t any podcasts dedicated to Las Vegas sports. There are more specific podcasts about the Golden Knights and the Raiders, but not one more generic about the entire Las Vegas sports scene.

We decided to capitalize on that hole in the market and look forward to dropping our first episode later this Summer. While Las Vegas has long been considered the entertainment capital of the world, it’s no secret that the city is now making a big push to become the sports capital as well. The Golden Knights just won the Stanley Cup in only their sixth year, the Raiders sell more tickets than any other team in the NFL (mostly because people love coming to Vegas to see their team play), and the Aces are the defending WNBA champs.

Formula One recently spent a quarter of a billion dollars on land in Vegas and will have their first race here this November. The next Superbowl will be hosted here in February, and soon the Tropicana will be torn down and converted into a beautiful new stadium housing the Oakland A’s. Or should I say the Las Vegas A’s? It’s no secret that the NBA badly wants a Las Vegas franchise and LeBron James is already on record saying he wants to own that team. Plus, we’re already the fight capital of the world, so I don’t think we will have a hard time finding things to talk about.

In the same way that we see a clear opportunity to bring AI to the world of sports betting, we also see a clear opportunity to advertise that business by generating content about the fast-growing Las Vegas sports scene. Our plan is to record weekly episodes and release them to all the main podcast feeds, as well as upload the video of each episode to our new Cappers YouTube channel. We don’t have any videos on there yet but they will be coming soon. I’m already looking forward to next month’s post when I can officially announce that we are live.

New Homemade Music

Between my day job and Cappers, I spend a lot of time writing code, so by the end of the day my brain often turns to mush. I tend to deal with that by engaging in one of my creative hobbies, which usually means cooking dinner and/or playing guitar. When I’m playing guitar, the easiest thing to do is just practice or jam along to a backing track, but the problem with that approach is that you never have anything to show for the time spent.

When you’ve already spent the entire day on the computer, it definitely takes more determination to open the computer back up and work on writing and recording a song, but the reward when you complete one is great. I recently started experimenting with some different tunings on the guitar because it forces me to play different stuff than I would normally play. Consequently, I was inspired to write something new, then started working on recording the song and making a video of myself playing all the parts.

It’s a ton of work and I’d rather not think of how many hours I put into it, but at the end of it all you have something to share and keep forever. It’s like my version of doing a painting. I try to think of a title early on and let that dictate a theme, then keep that theme in mind when writing the rest of the music.

In this case, I had this idea of a sandstorm brewing in the desert. It starts slowly and peacefully, then grows into a violent rage before ultimately calming back down to its original state. Most of my normal bluesy licks didn’t work in this tuning, so it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and come up with something new. While I don’t plan on keeping this alternate tuning forever, it was nice to switch things up and get a new dose of inspiration. I’m already planning on my next recording and hope to get it started soon. Here’s the finished product for SandStorm.

I love how our cat Spencer makes an appearance in the video. I didn’t even know she was there!

Looking Ahead to July

As mentioned, we have Elise’s 10th birthday, plus two sets of visitors coming in July. Grandma and Grandpa Martin are coming out for a visit, as are our good friends the Palmers. Our new pool deck was recently completed so the pool area at our house has never been better. We’re looking forward to lots of swimming and Summer fun with them. Here are a few more recent photos from an epic June 2023!