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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Where to start?

I'm back from Vegas, only to find lots of snow and ice and more coming down as I type. Now I love winter and the snow but after spending the past 5 days in Vegas I was fairly convinced it was still fall. Erg...my mustang isn't the greatest car for winter driving but at least I didn't get stuck.
I did however sleep from 4pm yesterday until 9am this morning which made me late for work. And why did I sleep so long??? Let's go back to the beginning and see....

Bankroll for gambling: $500
I'm not a rich man so I only had this much to play with all week. It turned out to be just the right amount.
Arrived in Vegas Wednesday afternoon and got to ride in the Druggy-Buggy! What a sweet ride! MiamiDon was the first blogger I would meet outside of Numbono who just happens to live in the same city as I do. We worked our way over to Chad's pad for a BBQ and live broadcast on BDR for the Mookie. If you were listening then I don't really need to explain. It all happened exactly like it seemed. MiamiDrunk was a ranting fool and kept us all rolling on the floor. We even had some last minute guests as LJ and Recess apparently had gotten in early as well and stopped over at Chad's to join us. Good times.
After Don passed out for the 2nd or 3rd time we got a cab and headed on down to the IP where we met up with CK. This was my first time in Vegas so I was in no hurry to get to bed as I hadn't seen anything besides Chad's yet. After getting some chow with the gang CK was nice enough to hang out and show me around a little bit. What a sweetheart! I must have looked like the ultimate tourist as my eyes were almost always looking up and around as we walked from place to place. The Venetian was beautiful and we played a bit of video poker so I could at least say I gambled the first day.
Bankroll: $500 - $20 on video poker = $480

It was getting late and since I didn't have a room arranged for that night, Recess had offered to let me crash with him. He had left for bed a number of hours earlier and so when I went to find the room I got lost for a bit. Anyone who knows the IP will tell you it's a big fucking maze. But after going in circles for about 20 minutes I found the room only to see a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. WHAT??? REALLY??? Does he have a woman in there? Or maybe he forgot I was crashing there? Well I finally decided to go in so I put my ear to the door to listen for moaning but heard nothing. Inserted the key card and slowly opened the door trying to make sure I was not walking in on something. Nope. Turns out that house cleaning starts fairly early in Vegas so if you want to sleep in you better put the little sign out before you crash. I awoke fairly early as my body was still on Iowa time and went for a stroll. Alan was still asleep and so I started out on my own. But this is where I discovered my first mistake.

I had been warned by people and read the Vegas preparation posts but I was still not ready for all the walking. Holy Jesus!!! What I thought were comfortable shoes turned out to be the biggest problem with the whole trip. See in Iowa I drive everywhere. I get up and walk to my car. Drive to work. Get out of my car and walk into work and sit at my desk in my office. Turns out I am one out of shape lazy mother fucker. I could feel my feet complaining even in the first hour when I walked over to the Bellagio. And by the time I was done Thursday and went back to my room to rest. My socks were actually bloody from all the walking. I will spare you the pictures as I am not a picture taking kind of guy. My feet would be a problem the whole trip but as long as I kept a good supply of Advil on me they were just fine. Well that and that I didn't do nearly as much walking after this because of the pain. Next time I will be more prepared!!!

OK so after seeing the Bellagio and Paris I headed back toward the IP to see if Alan was up and around. We almost physically ran into each other at the front door of the IP. And after a 2 second discussion on breakfast we went across the street to Caesar's to try the buffet. Mmmmmn mnnnn mmmnnn! Good stuff.
CK, LJ and Alan were ready to start pokering it up at Caesar's but I wanted to get showered and cleaned up before sitting in. But after a quick shower I would be right back there and got seated at a 1-2 game. I'll spare you the badbeat story and just say I slow played my set to bustoville in just the second hour.
Bankroll: $480-$200=$280 DANGER DANGER!
Seeing how I had limited funds and didn't want to go completely busto the first day I found my way back to the IP and got checked into my own room. I learned another Vegas lesson about the cheapest rooms. They are cheap for a reason!!!! The internal workings of my room were no different than the one Alan was in in the same hotel. But the external part was the issue. The IP's lists these rooms as being in another building just behind the casino. The reality is that these rooms are more like from a motel where the door from your room takes you directly outside and not into just a hallway like in the hotel. This was not really the main issue. The main issue was what was directly outside these doors. A big fucking parking structure!!! Cars zooming around at all hours and car alarms going off every couple minutes. BUT this would not sour me on the IP or to Vegas in the slightest. I only spent a very short time in the room and so it did not become a problem like I thought it might.
Wow my first day hadn't started the best but so far but my adrenalin was still kicking so there was no holding me back. The preliminary plan was for us to meet at the Geisha Bar but it was still early so I wasn't sure anyone would be around. And the only people I had met so far were still over at Caesar's playing poker. What to do, what to do? Well this was answered quickly as when I came back down and looked around the bar I saw a guy with a pony tail and shirt that read 'Got Weed.' Walked up to the guy and said 'Let me guess? Gary?'. I was right and got right in to the mix. There were only a few bloggers around this early but I hung out and drank as they all slowly trickled in. Great Times!!!!

More later when I get a chance. Stay tuned to what happens when you are asked how you are doing by Iggy and respond with 'Well, I'm not drunk yet'. Whoops.

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