Vegas...

Headin back for the usual 4th of July trip! 6/30/2011-7/5/2011

Mexico Cruise Feb 2011

Exactly 2 weeks away from the Mexican Riviera on Carnival Splendor. This cruise got pushed back a month because of mechanical issues, but had it left on time, it would have already been over with. So fun times still ahead...

Vegas, Sept 2010

There are many Vegas trips taken throughout the year, but the one that is almost always mostly looked forward to is this one. It's the perfect combination of still nice weather, the start of football, my birthday, Ronnie's birthday, and basically an end of summer party, so maybe you just enjoy and appreciate it more. Me and Brian had been planning this one since...well, this time last year, and the countdown got more and more intense as we came closer to the trip. Krassimir was coming along, Tain was meeting us there, and there would be a host of other people in Vegas at the same time. After getting about 45 minutes of sleep (what else is new) I pick up Chris and we get to the airport much to early, have some breakfast, and depart. I was still not feeling well from what I thought was food poisoning the other day, and the plan was to nap when we got to Vegas, but no such luck, since the room was not ready yet. So what else to do? Well go and play some poker at O'sheas while you are waiting to check in! When we finally got into the room, it was absolutely amazing. We were essentially comped the Neopolitan suite, which was a two room suite, complete with flat screens, push button curtains, and a tv in the bathroom. Brian was almost to town, so rather than nap, me and Chris hit the gym, and we were off to the Go Pool for about an hour. We kicked off the day with a first beer, went to the liquor store, and Chris bought us a bottle of Crown with his winnings, in addition to a ton of beer and s0me cotton candy vodka. The cotton candy vodka definitely grew on us, and we went and made some run line bets, and played some poker over at Bill's. Watching baseball, playing poker at Bill's, and drinking free beer...the goat. Well over at O'sheas we met these girls from London, and Brian was feeling kind of tired, so we went over to Cleopataras for some dancing, and one of many cherry bombs Chris bought that night. After all, my birthday was at midnight, and it seemed appropriate! The drinks seemed to get more and more expensive, so we decided to get into our stash, which consisted of beer, champagne, and cotton candy vodka, and we played drinking games until the wee hours while Brian slept away.

Day 2: I went over to the MGM to check in Ronnie and Linda, and I gambled while they got ready for the pool. I considered it a donation to MGM for getting me that great rate! It was a perfect sunny day, and I had a ceremonial birthday beer with Ronnie, and we went and found a nice spot right next to the lazy river. I tell you, sun, nachos, bucket of ice cold bud light, and a floating tube...also the goat. We each took a turn, being pushed into people throughout the lazy river, Ronnie asking random girls to rate us, followed by the grand finale, which was to be pushed under the giant waterfall at the end of the lazy river. We all decided to place bets on the Phillies, and Chris calls me from the sports book and asks how confident I am. I said I am extremely confident, and he says, good, because I just placed a $300 bet on the Phillies. Now I am nervous, and even more nervous when the Nationals went up 1-0 in the first, but Roy Oswalt and the Phillies were money and they went on to win 9-1. Chris actually double our best for us, so we all made money and it was great. Me and Brian played the ponies at MGM, and I am really glad they still have that game there although the longshots never seem to win! We showered up, got our money, and got ready to go to Fremont. I don't know if I mentioned but today is my birthday, I am 34 today! I kind of like that number...it sounds good. It sounds better than 33 or 35 so let's just stay here for a while! We cabbed over to Fremont street where we met up with Ryan and Tain at the Golden Nugget Pool. We had some drinks up there and lit up some cigars, and we went to Fitzgeralds for some drinks at the Vue Bar, and some nickels gambling. Brian was the Monopoly goat! We then went over to the Griffin for some Mirror Pond and to watch the interesting dancers, Ronnie and Linda went their own way, and we went over to Binion's for about 3 hours worth of Pai Gow, free beer, and about an $18 profit. Me and Brian had what was probably our first food of the day at the Golden Nugget coffee shop, before we finally headed back to the hotel from what which was a long and epic day.

Day 3

Sometimes Vegas is such a whirlwind, you can be here for 24 hours and feel like you have 3 days worth of action that has happened. That is definitely how we felt today, when we went to the Go Pool. Thats basically how this trip has been so far, go go go...Alabama really made our morning, by instead of just covering the 24, they won by 50. USC was favored by 11.5 and Utah had a Miracle touchdown with time expiring and lost by 11. I talked to a girl from a city that eludes me for quite a while, and Ryan came and joined us. We were supposed to go to the Nugget pool but it was much cooler hanging out here. We even met a lady that runs a topless housecleaning service! I tell ya, only in Vegas. We did the 530 poker tournament at Bill's, and Lewis joined us on his 21st birthday! I lost when my pocket kings lost to A-2 on a stupid bluff all in bet. And then I had my aces lose to kings on the cash table. Brian actually won the tournament and hit two baseball parlays! Vegas has been very good to him thus far. At least I had my Alabama ticket and now a Fresno State ticket to cash! By now we have accumulated so many drink tickets from the sports book it was getting silly. We got dressed and me and Brian met Ronnie and Linda at Toby Keith's for Ronnies birthday dinner. She is a very cheap date, she only had a house salad, but she really loves it. We were all just spacy and getting really drunk, and great, it was time to meet up with the family and my aunt who thinks I am an alcoholic! Brian, Esther, Daniel, Lewis, Aunt Natalie, and Cheryl all met us at Harrah's and we went to the dueling piano bar. I bought everyone a round of drinks, including Aunt Natalie, who had a tall gin and tonic. Ronnie turned in Lewis's name to the piano girls AND thought Esther was his twin so they both had to go up on stage for birthday embarrassment! We all went to Casino Royale from there and it was funny being in that atmosphere with Aunt Natalie, but Lewis was right at home at the blackjack switch table, although Cheryl needed some coaching. So Brian pulls out $200 from the automated 3-card machine by hitting three deuces on the pairs plus with a six dollar bet! He is on fired today. I won a little playing blackjack, and about $70 on Monopoly, which was my best slot hit of the trip, sadly, lol. Lewis and Daniel walked with me back to the Flamingo, where we met up with Tain. I played a little bit of 1-2 and got mad and left when I got slow rolled when this guys pocket jacks made a set against my queens and Daniels aces. This tilted me for the rest of the night, and into tomorrow. We met Ronnie at MGM, played this bagpipe slot which I did good on, and I actually won a little on Deal or No Deal, kept getting the bonus on this Alfred Hitchcock machine, and we TRIED to get something to eat, but to no avail, because the prices were too high. The prices were better than the two hundred I lost on blackjack though! I told you this tilt, really got to me and I woke up the next day with a, I lost $200 on blackjack hangover. I literally got back to the hotel with the sun up, and was in no way shape or form ready for the football day that was ahead!

Day 4

THANKFULLY I overslept and missed out on my football bets, because I would have done terrible. I finally got my ass in gear, phoned my New England bet into Tain, and we got in a cab and headed to the Orleans on a brilliantly sunny day. It was a good fantasy football day for me, thinks were shaping out rather nice. But what started off as a good start for New England, quickly fizzled, and we would once again leave our fate in the hands of Peyton Manning and -6. I went to the Orleans buffet THREE times for what was probably my first nutrition of the entire trip. I was fizzling money away at the Orleans, but I figure it is paying my dues for the free rooms that I got, which was rather handy. Well, Indianapolis proceeded to dismantle New York, but we appeared to just miss on the over, which was 48. The score was 38-7. Let me first say that Tain hit for $800 on video poker, getting four 4's and the kicker, went and got his shoes shined, and threw a $25 chip on the number 25, and hit for another $900. Absolutely incredible. Much better than Chris, who wasted $45 on a massage from a man in the middle of the Flamingo! Anyways, the Colts are simply running out the clock, and needing a first down and Mike Hart FUMBLES! Eli Manning throws a touchdown to Hakeem Nicks on the ensuing play and a celebration ensues. The Mannings did it AGAIN! I was officially off tilt, and was basically on a winning note for the rest of the trip. After a long day which ended with Euphoria at the Orleans, it was back to the strip. We decided to walk from the Flamingo, and we didn't stop until we hit the Stratosphere, buying beer at every stop along the way. We got to see ALL aspects of Vegas, and I even took a little bit of money out of the Strat.

Day 5

Time to go out with a bang, and first thing is first, we got our suits on and went for one last session at the Go Pool. We immediately made friends with these girls from Minnesota, who went from not drinking to doing tequila shots with us. Coors light, tequila, tossing the football around, "the goat". Why would I ever leave Vegas! Well with our new friends, we decided we were going to all watch Monday Night Football, but before we left the pool someone really wanted to keep the football, and I remember playing this game, only this time I got a bucket of beer out of it! Well, we placed our MNF bets, bet on the Twins, and I am glad the latter won because the former didn't. We cashed in our stack of free drink coupons got buckets of Miller Chills, watched San Francisco cover, drank the rest of our beer and champagne, and Ryan picked us all up and took us to Fremont. I guess going to the Nugget pool first was a bad idea, because we all ended up thrown in the pool, me with my phone and camera. Very sad, and I was so bummed I took a cab back. I took a nap, woke up for a few minutes, walked to Casino Royale, cashed out my tickets, had the $3 burger at The Burger Joint, and got ready to get the heck out of Vegas! We went to our first restaurant together the next day at the airport, which came after being in Vegas for five days. It was a true whirlwind of a trip, which is why we love it!

Upcoming trips...

Vegas in September...Vegas in November....Los Angeles in October (for amys 50th) and the cruise in Feb with my dad.

Vegas X 2 +1 =3 2010!

Two Vegas trips down for the Summer, one big one to go. Of course we, or I, took the annual trip to Las Vegas this Fourth of July, and of course Tain was there to join, and he had his typical meltdown. Shawn and Angie also came, and when two people go to Vegas once a year, as opposed to four times a year, you tend to hit it pretty hard, which they did. It was hot hot hot, as it always is over the Fourth and the scenery and people watching did not disappoint. Couple that with a Brock Lesner fight and the atmosphere in Las Vegas was electric. Not only that, but with the introduction of the Coors Light 16 ounce aluminum bottles, they celebrated it with an actual snowboard kicker in front of Ceasars Palace, and an amazing fireworks show. I ended up winning $250 that night at Aria on the John Wayne nickel slots. Of course, we went to visit the opening of the main event of the WSOP which is always fun. Among the people we saw were Mike Matusaw, Eric Seidel, and Jesus. Not the calibur of people watching of years past, but not bad either. The cabana we rented on fourth of july was definitely a highlight, although the service of the pool cocktail waitress was not.

In August we went back for David and Jonathans 30th birthday, and this was a long ago planned and highly anticipated trip, that I got delayed in arriving because I swallowed something the wrong way at the airport. That part was not fun, but I was happy once we got to Vegas and I had a nice Coors Light with cousin Steven. There actually was a great turn out for this, and everyone had a great time. Me, David, and Michelle saw Criss Angel on Friday night, and Jonathan went and saw Terry Fator. We all met up at Bill's later that night and of course Ryan joined us as well. Saturday was the day of the party, and I spent most of it by the Go Pool, arranging the cabana for the following day. The Neopolitan suite was awesome, and even though we had some customer service issues, the party still turned out great. David and Jonathan had to endure a series of challenges and games, and they took it like good sports, and everyone got some good laughs out of it. Good laughs turned into a beer shotgunning contest, and we all worked up a good buzz before we headed to Pure. Ryan definitely came through for us, and we had our own private booth, complete with bottle of Belvedere. Aria was not so good to me this time, and we cabbed it back to the Flamingo, everyone good and hammered. David was so drunk, he didn't even eat! The next day, I went to check into the cabana, and the pool attendant was so incompetent, that we ended up going to the lagoon pool instead. That ended up being much better, we had many buckets of beer, had a great game of football toss, and Hayden LOVED the waterslides. Well dinner that night had a change in plans when Hayden bit her tongue and had to go to the emergency room. She gave everyone quite a scare and was crying so much. We were missing a few people at Gilley's including my mom, david, hayden, my dad, and Michelle. I ended up going missing when I swallowed something the wrong way AGAIN!! Yehuda was with me for most of the recovery process which seemed to take forever. When I was finally able to swallow again, the first thing I had was a beer. Shimshone and Joshua met me, Jonathan, and Melissa at Planet Hollywood. We played goldfish until the wee hours before heading back. Jonathan and I sat down at the Flamingo poker room for literally about ten minutes, and we each came up about $200, all won on about one hand. Good time to call it a night. We did the poker tournament the next morning, and the levels and blinds are so disproportionate, that I was out after playing two hands. Jonathan ended up chopping for $300 which was appropriate, because it was his birthday. I did some gambling with Yehuda before they all left, and it was just down to a few of us, and that night we all headed to Fremont Street with Ryan, and some of his new friends. The vue bar at Fitzies was fun, and of course we ended up at the Griffin, one of our new favorite spots in Vegas. I kind of had my first alone day in Vegas, and I went to the gym, did some gambling, and met up with Ryan for dinner at Paris. I was still hesitant to eat, but I had some things. I will say that I don't see myself eating chicken breast for a long time! I actually did go to bed at a reasonable time, but still overslept, missed my flight, and had to pay to change my flight. Miserable day of travel, but definitely fun weekend in Vegas that I am sure everyone will remember for a long time, for better or for worse!

Vegas Vegas Vegas!

Well, to talk about my summer travel plans, I would have to say..Vegas, Vegas, and Vegas. July 2, August 6, and Sept 17. And then again in November. Maybe I will live there by then?

Reno, 4/16/10 and 6/1/10

I went to reno in April and had so much fun I had to go back in June. Actually it was Memorial Day weekend and my mom invited me. April was the traditional trip, about a month late thanks to me being in Mexico in March, and a few other things, so we went in April. We still did our usual visit to the Grand Sierra where we had some very nice hits on the slot machines. We hit for about $140 on Hee Haw, and also about $75 on Wheel Of Fortune. I always seem to win when I partner up with somebody. Pretty much the whole crew was here, we stayed at the Silver Legacy. David, Michelle, Hayden, Amy, Brittany, Darren, Allan, Peer, Angie, Andy, Shlomo, and we had a very nice dinner at Ash and Jordan's new house. Amy made spaghetti pie and made an incredible leprachaun cake. We had fun dancing at the Silver Baron Lounge, having a food fight at Brew Brothers, and when Ash hit the hundred dollar bill on Green Machine! She has the magic touch. We probably ended up at the "Neva" every night where everyone seemed to have a measure of success at the blackjack table. I broke even on my only poker session at El Dorado, but I chopped the sit n' go at Silver Legacy and had four bounties at the Silver Legacy. I probably won a little bit at the cash game at their automated table too. Deak cleaned somebody's clock, and he ended up buying me breakfast, and then losing all the money he won. Typical! Oh, and I felt terrible on the flight home. Probably my least favorite flight ever. Serves me right for drinking all night and getting two hours of sleep =)

For the Memorial Day Weekend trip, none of the usual suspects were in town, but my mom and Ron were and I did go to Virginia City for the first time. Let me just say, I LOVE VIRGINIA CITY! Why did I not go here sooner? This town was right up my alley. There was a car show, lots of live music, tons of old school saloons and you can walk around with your beer. The Bucket of Blood was probably mine and everyone's favorite. Lots of cool candy stores too. Having had zero sleep and a few beers in, I made it through dinner at Sterling's (while sneaking away constantly to see the Lakers win AND clinch in Phoenix) and got to see Bill Cosby from the front row. I did the usual rounds, Eldo, Neva, and the Nugget. I had a nice $170 hit on Kitty Glitter which put me well ahead for the trip. I took a day trip to GSR and Atlantis the next day after having lunch with my mom and Ron. Keri was in town from Fresno with her friends, Carol and Paul, and I watched him play $5 wheel all night. I had a nice french dip sandwich and went and played some more poker at Eldo. It was only 3-6 but I started off really good, getting way down, and recovering to the point that I cashed out $15 ahead. I had lunch again with my mom the day she was leaving and tooled around Reno myself on Monday. Tuesday Ash and Jordan met up with me and she continued her magic, hitting for $200 on the giant wheel. I also got dealt three 3's at the Neva on Let it Ride Bonus, and hit a $4 bet on the number 20 on roulette. I like leaving with some cash in my pocket. See you soon Reno...maybe Fitzy's will be open by then! Just for good measure I hit the Kitty Glitter Bonus at the Reno airport. Next up is the Maltese Fortune!!