Vegas Observations, Pt 4

OK, last section (I think). A few more thoughts as I wrap this up. As said before, catch up with parts 1, 2 and http://thispixelatedlife.blogspot.com/2009/03/vegas-observations-pt-3.html if you need to.

>> Gotta give it up for Matt, who surprised us all with his commitment to the tables. Cards be damned, he powered through and sat at the poker tables raking pots for around 40 or 50 total hours. This was enough, I think, to earn him a free spot in a high buy-in poker tourney the next time he is in town. Of course, I would have asked him about it had I been able to pry him away from his seat.

>> Must say, Caesar's is a great sportsbook to watch games. 8 large projection screens. Smart employees. Loud speakers. Hell, they even have the restrooms within spittin distance so you are not pulled away very far. I ended up hanging out with a crew of guys on spring break from Connecticut. This is because all my compadres were off playing poker or being pissed at each other. Hmmm, speaking of that ...

>> Agent Zero! Scott Summers! Silver Fox! It's Wolverine the movie! When the hell does it come out again?

>> Be careful what you wish for when trying to save money by crashing with friends. We're all grown men, and I guess it was a matter of time before words were had over the sleeping arrangements. Me? I'm a floor guy. Can't remember the last time I claimed a bed. Give me a comforter and two pillows and I will take one for the team and crash on the floor. Well, we had a gigantic room so it should never have been an issue, but sure enough a good deal of alcohol thrown in and tensions boiled over. I'll spare the specifics, but Luke and Sean had an epic battle over who slept where. It spilt over into the next day and all but killed the momentum of the weekend. I think hate beams from their eyes are being thrust from Cincy to Lexington as we speak. Come on, fellas, be adults and hug and move on. But it was damn funny to watch.

>> Luke pointed out this infomercial that had escaped me until now. It's four women and 100% D-bag talking on a couch about small penis size and how terrible it is for men. What the fuck? I was enraptured by this program. Wow, talk about highly offensive to men. I mean, come on, no good comes of this. I'm getting a wee tired of all the programs/pills/ads/whatever all spelling out how horrifying it is for a man to hear this stuff. Not every man needs Viagra, but you'd never know it if you watched any major sporting event. Christ, you'd think all women in the world were going unsatisfied. Just wait until they start advertising sex pills for women on E! and Bravo. Then the shit will really hit the fan. You know it's coming, ladies. Don't say you weren't warned.

>> The highlight of every trip for me is the Saturday night run at the Hard Rock Casino. Love it there. Never have bad luck there. Cool people. Great tables. Great music pumped throughout the place. Hell, they even have Aerosmith chips and a full display of Steven Tyler apparel. So you know I love it. This year was no exception. Luke and I had a thrilling run for a couple hours. We met some cool people, all of whom stayed around the table for a healthy session. By the end of it all, Luke and I combined took more than a grand from the Hard Rock. It easily helped us pay for the hotel room and cover some of our losses from earlier. In all, it was a fitting bookend to yet another fabulous excursion to Vegas. Next year we'll hopefully have a bigger crew. And individual rooms. And less Wolverine.

Vegas Observations, Pt 3

Thanks for catching up with me and my Vegas ramblings. Be sure to start with Parts 1 and 2 before proceeding. Done? Good. On with the ramblings ...

>> There is nothing better to remind you of home than sitting next to two chain-smoking horse racing fanatics. Shitfire, these two were something else. They were from Missouri, and they had a love of horse racing that rivaled those in Kentucky. Of course, their love of cigarettes would make any Kentucky tobacco farmer proud. But these two got it done. They were making 7-9 bets on races taking place at 4 different tracks across the country, and they knew what they were doing. The guy was hitting trifectas like I was putting down vodka/tonics; many and often. They gave me a few tips and won me some money while I was watching the hoops, so that was nice. Bonus gambling money and getting to cheer on the ponies always hits a warm spot in my heart.

>> 53 viewings of the Wolverine trailer into my trip, and I got to say I am a tad nervous about the handling of one of my favorite X-Men characters, Gambit. The dude is a cajun card player with exploding playing cards and an electric bo staff. That equals badass in my book. Yet in this movie it looks they have a makeup loving frenchman with perfectly coiffed hair and silk shirts. You already know my opinion on silk shirts. They better not screw this up. Maybe I am looking into it too much. I mean, I have seen the same 4-second clip of him 53 times now ... and counting.

>> The Wynn hotel and casino is a massive operation. How massive? We drove by a 6-level, two-square block parking garage. For its employees. We may be in a recession, but the Wynn at least gives its low-paid workers a place to park.

>> Stryker! Emma Frost! Beak! It's Wolverine the movie, coming May 2! I think everyone in Vegas has their tickets already.

>> With Vegas looking for any way to attract tourists to come there and spend money, they have appealed to a new low of retarded, lazy, stupid Americans. Yes, they are renting, renting, those motorized scooters for you to go about your day in the casino. Because apparently walking, elevators, moving walkways and all the casinos virtually connected so you can go from one end of the strip to the other without seeing the sun is too much stress for people. We can't get people united around solving the recession or global warming, but let's spend our time coming up with ways to make us expend even less energy. Brilliant. Thankfully, I was just one of many who called these guys out on their collective douchebaggery. It was fun.

Vegas Observations, Pt 2

Before you read this, be sure to check out Part 1, as it lays the foundation. Now, on with the random thoughts:

>> Perhaps my biggest screwup of the trip was being drunk and believing that Sean would find one of the apps on my iPhone particularly amazing. When it's quiet and you turn on the lightsaber app, you can move the iPhone around and it sounds like you are swinging a Jedi knight and kicking some imperial storm trooper ass. OK, maybe I am already making myself sound like a dork, but trust me, when you are hammered and looking for a quick laugh it's a solid go-to. Anyway, Sean was clearly not drunk and after hyping it and showing it off, he proceeded to call me a loser for the next 72 hours. Damnit, I'm an idiot. Let's just move on.

>> I don't mind advertising, but holy hell if you could not feel the effects of the bad economy with the ads during the basketball games. Hugh Jackman is playing Wolverine in a Wolverine movie. It's coming out May 2. These facts are seared into my brain. May 2, May 2, May 2. Wolverine. OK, got it.

>> Luke had a rough go at the start of it with the sports gambling. He played lots of parlays and lost the first games in them right away. Then he made wrong choices in betting the points or the money line. But luckily he rebounded Friday night, with a rare-for-him three for three sweep in NCAA games. That's him showing off his three tickets while slightly inebriated at the Luxor. Good job, dukey.

>> For the first year in six or seven that we have all been going to Vegas, I chose to leave Sunday morning, avoiding the dreaded Black Sunday. This is because, as is tradition, we normally kick ass in the gambling Saturday night and then get cleaned up all day Sunday as we wait for our late-night flights. Vegas does this on purpose, I know it. They bring in the tough dealers, the dice that feel like lumps of coal, and no one is drinking so everyone is in a bad mood. We all know we have to go home, and it sucks. So I left at 10 a.m., and it was fantastic. I won't forget this sure-fire move.

>> Sabertooth! Gambit! Blob! Deadpool! Wolverine! It's Wolverine, the movie, coming May 2! Mark your calendars!

Courtside Ramblings

So my boy Dan got us some swank seats to the Wizards/Blazers game Wednesday. These were $239 face value seats that Dan got for $75 each, saving us around $300 bucks easy, so already we were going into the night champs. And things only got better, since we showed up the Phone Booth (Verizon Center for you non-DCers out there) and saw our seats were right next to the Wizards' bench about 4 rows from the floor. Enjoying the view from our Kevin Bacon seats (since Spike Lee gets on the floor for the Knicks, we figure we had the kind of seats Footloose guy would get), here are some other rambling thoughts I had during the game:

>> Wizards "All Star" guard Gilbert Arenas (whose getting something like $110 million for several years and yet he's only played about 18 games the last two seasons) didn't bother showing up until midway through the second quarter. Guess he was busy in line buying a hot dog or a blue raspberry slushy. Those things take time to make, I hear. You stay classy, Gil.

>> The Wiz have a high number of suspect girls on their cheerleading squad. I'm not going to guess how many of them are earning a little on the side by kickin it on the stripper pole, but there are a few who were a bit too comfortable with the stripper perfume and had a quite a bit of ... well, let's call it sass ... when it came to dancing for the crowd in the lower seats.

>> Dan and I had originally agreed to dress silly for the game, either going for ultra-Euro trash (leather jackets, half-buttoned shirts) or look silly. Dan bailed, but I went strong, wearing some vintage gear and aviators. Yeah, that's me looking like an extra on C.H.I.P.S. to the right.

>> As if on cue, as Andray Blatche (Wiz center) passes by us with a tissue up his nostril, Dan chimes in "Damn, how many times have we told him to lay off the powder." That's Dan ... a man of few words, but they mean something.

>> One of the services we get with the VIP seats is access to the VIP lounge (free apps, which is nice), shoeshines, friendly bartenders who actually take the time to remember what you order, lots of TVs, close proximity to the locker rooms (both players' and cheerleaders). Ummm, yes, I did say shoeshines. What the fuh??? There were dudes actually skipping the game for minutes at a time to get their shoes shined. Wanted to bust out some Billy Batts on them, but they were bigger than me, and I'm a chicken.
>> After firing Eddie Jordan as their head coach, the Wiz's interim coach is some front office jackass that no one takes seriously. During any timeouts, all the players stand apart and watch the video big board and whatever goofy videos it is showing. Several times, this was happening when the Wiz were trailing the Blazers by only 5 or 6 points. Well, at least I'll know what to expect the rest of the season.