2011 Vegas Diary, part 2

Back from a mini-vacation to Beijing. The past 2 days were a holiday in China for "tomb-sweeping" days, where the living honors the dead by.....burning (fake?) paper money in public. Will have lots of photos at a later date.

But let's continue (and even finish?) the Vegas diary, since it has only been 3 weeks now since the trip began. By the way, I would never be able to do this without my little record book that I keep. If I didn't have this, I would mix up the days so bad and forget 75% of the ancedotes.

Fri Mar 18 (continued)

After the magical UTH run, where better to parlay the winnings than the craps table? If I recall correctly, Leland and I found a table and started playing; Wiz and Layup came over later but there was no room, so they went to another table. It was a busy Friday night, and 6 tables were open.

Our table did not get hot. I got beat pretty bad.

The table where Wiz and Layup were at did not get hot.

There were loud, Augusta like cheers from at least two other tables. I felt like Feherty, being confined to the 14th green at Augusta when all the excitement is occuring around him at 13 and 15.

We decided then to have our first serious go at Blackjack - the four of us. (Don and Mike were still at the UTH table; Don was sending me text messages about the Danish pirate - "he went 4x on a $300 hand - and won!", 2 separate times. The four of us found an empty table, and off we started. However, we got one hand into the shoe when two other guys came over and asked to join.

The best way to describe the lead guy of the two (the other one seemed to be a deaf mute) would be a 40 year old Jersey guy who worked too many years at an Applebee's. He was trying way too hard to be our friend....and to show he was COOL.

"Let's make some MONEY tonight, boys!"

and, after he sensed that he wasn't entering friendly waters...

"Oh don't worry, O know how to PLAY this game!"

He gave Leland about 15 fist bumps whenever he won. He never crossed the line into being obnoxious, but he was always annoying. There was just something - fake? Over-the-top MTVish? - that was just too much for me, and I packed it up after 30 minutes.

(To show you how naive I am, Leland and Wiz talked about him the next day. "He was so high, you could see the coke on his nose." I'm sure you could see it - I just never made that connection. I just thought he was an arrogant asshole).

Sat Mar 19

A first in Vegas! Layup actually got up before me and asked if I wanted to place a bet! Unfortunately, the Excedrin PM was still kicking in and I probably said something to him like "Rick Pitino and Katie Couric"....it was unintelligible. I actually told Layup to put $1000 on Kentucky....oh well....

(The Excedrin PM helped me to my best day in the book, with winners like Richmond -4, Florida -6, BYU, Wisconsin, Richmond under.....the only one I had wrong was Temple +6, which lost in Double OT).

Today was the day I had planned to go shopping. Janice sent me to the US with a shopping list for items that we needed. We got most of the medicine on Wednesday, but there were odds and ends that one trip to the mall would take care of.

** wife complaining alert***

I don't normally air any complaints about Janice on here, but I have to now. This "list" grew and grew on the days before the trip. It started with a trip to Wal Mart, and then a few clothes for the boys. "You can pick that up at Target", she said. Um, but there is no Target on the strip.

Then, three days before Vegas, she drops this bombshell.

"And we need document boxes, too. Can you pick those up?"

What? Document boxes?

"Yes, Decorative boxes to hold office papers."

Um...um....didn't we just buy those at the Guangzhou IKEA last weekend? (Yes, there is such a thing)

"Yes, but they are the wrong size."

Excuse me?

"The boxes we bought were for A4 paper, and we have the US 8.5x11 paper. So we need boxes sold in the US"

Um....ok....where does one get these boxes?

"You may have to look for them...They should be at Staples or Office Depot"

She doesn't really think that Don, Leland and I take off Sunday morning for an 8 hours shopping trip around Vegas, does she?
(Don't answer that).

Anyway, 3 hours on Saturday afternoon was spent going over to the Fashion Square mall to buy DS games for the boys, Apple power cords - and then a taxi to Target for a shopping trip that resembled "SuperMarket sweep", where I run up and down the aisles and get to the cash register in 15 minutes while the taxi meter kept running outside.

Yes, they did have document boxes - but no, they did not fit in the suitcase. Consuela the maid for the week should have those lovely boxes by now.

Craps with Mike after that; we got to the table, and the first point was 10. If I play the hard ways, it's only the 4 and 10 - I don't know why. Everyone loves the hard 6 and 8; someone has got to show the love for the other two numbers. So I threw a few bucks on the hard 4 and 10....did not hit.

The next point was 4; same thing - a few bucks on the 4 and 10 again, but nope.

The next point was 6. I put my odds down on the point, and a place bet on the 8, and waited for the next roll. However, the dice were still in the middle of the table.

The dealer held out his hand in my direction. I looked at him.

"I'm waiting for your hard 6", he said.

I corrected him. "No, I only play the hard 4 and 10" I said proudly.

It doesn't take an idiot to guess what was rolled on the very next roll. I am still surprised that Mike didn't immediately hop the 3-3 for $10.

Dinner that night was at Table 10 at the Palazzo at 6:30; the ending for the Butler-Pittsburgh game occurred as we were walking over there. We couldn't figure out what happened, because 3 different phones had three different scores. In a 10 second span, three phones showed:

Pitt 71, Butler 70 (F)
Pitt 70, Butler 70 (End Reg)
Butler 70, Pitt 69 (0:01 left)

We had no idea what was going on until 20 minutes later.

Dinner that night was nice, but I don't think it was great. And what's with the Pear Vodka fad? Jesus, I accidentally was served one of those, and I hated it. When did this become cool? I know I sound like a hypocrite here - but there is a line in the sand for alcoholic drinks. When you want to have fun, hey, have your strawberry daiquiris and your Tom Collins. I love those! But when it is serious drinking time, don't fool around. There is nothing more comforting than a good Vodka Tonic with lime.

When you are expecting that drink, and instead sip something like a Vodka Fresca with a flower in it, you should have the right to spit it out on your neighbor.

Saturday continued with the annual $25 craps run at the Palazzo (and yes, every year it is amazing to compare the craps dealers at the Palazzo to the Mirage). We returned to the Mirage later that evening, played some more UTH (which was another nice winning session for me).

At this point, it is Saturday night, and I am almost break even for the trip. Wiz then was looking for takers for the high-limit salon. I decided to try my luck.

So - for those of you that care - this was my first dive into black-chip only play. And I'm not drunk (yet) (probably because of that Pear vodka) - so I am a little nervous. This could get out of hand quickly......

The fourth or fifth hand I was dealt was the hand you don't really want to see when betting a lot. (Well, most of you would not want to see a pair of 8's - and you would be right. This is the second-worst hand to have).

I was dealt 11 vs a 10. Now, I am about 70/30 with that; 70% of the time, I would double, but if things aren't going well, then I would just hit.

I lost the first 3 hands at the table, so I sensed this would be a struggle. I elected to just hit. I got a 4, then busted; Wiz and Layup immediately started to yell at me.

Was that a sign? I lost 12 out of 15 hands, and after 20 minutes, I picked up what was left of my chips and ran out of there. I needed a full time-out after that trashing.