I ended up going out to Vegas last weekend. Here is where i stayed, again.









I actually did something that didn't involve gambling, I saw Oasis on Saturday Night.























Liam being a Liam at the end of the show



Everyone trying to get out of the Palms



The Venetian, adding another tower altough the stock price has plummeted from $200 a share to $5.







Me going out to a shady but always entertaining bar by the Hard Rock, The Double Down Saloon.



Why can't we have a special at a bar like this?


Now my Mom actually wanted to go and see "Dirty Vegas" aka the are off of Fremont St.


Here is the regular Fremont St Experience













A Million Dollars @ Binions, which they had back in the day before the casino was sold 3 times in 10,000 Bills. It's good to see that the new owners are putting money back into such a historical casino.



Now the lowest of the Low Casino's on East Freemont St which is really "Dirty Vegas" or the Gold Spike.






























The Berlin Wall in the Men's room @ Main St Station.











Want your Checks Cashed?

This is such a weird feeling. I'm watching this show on some channel called TruTV on Direct TV 246., or at least that's where i saw it. It's freaking "so there" on what actually happens.

The scary part is that I did go to one Rehab Sunday during the summer in August. Now I just hope that I don't show up on some episode ;-/

The economic downturn is taking down more than just previously unshaken investment houses on Wall St. It's taking down Frank Sinatra's old casino The Sands. When the auditors have doubt for you to "continue as a going concern," You're in for some trouble.

I guess I could feel the vibe when I was out there in August. The place is in for some trouble. How are they going to fill all of the rooms that have tripled the capacity of rooms over the last 10 years with less flights being booked? It's just too insane now these days. If I do go back I'm going to check in at a dump on Freemont St or hang in a "local" casino where you have a shot at making your bankroll last the whole trip. The days of people going to Vegas, spending $500 on a room, Droppinig $5000 at a nightclub for bottle service, and $100 bills on other "stuff" are at an end. The credit card is Maxed out & the bank won't let you get any more money from your HELOC since you're underwater on your mortgage

Since I'm getting a dose of the "Vegas Drop," the phenomena that is when you return to reality from that town and reading (e:paul) 's posts I felt that it I should post on my little experience out there.

I went out there last Saturday to Thursday and I have to say that it was not the typical Vegas experience that I had for the place is just plain more nuts that I had remembered it. For half my life I 've been going out to Vegas. Now it just has become a behemoth of a city with all of the massive overbuilding. Getting around is now on par with NYC it seems, or at least when I tried to get around town on the bus.

I went to Rehab on Sunday @ the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and it turned out to be an insane time for myself. Yea everything that you ever heard about the Sunday Pool Party is True. The place is just stacked with people that are 9's and 10's strutting their stuff. I just took it in by paying a $50 cover and had my share of more than enough $19 dollar drinks! There isn't a glamorous ending to the whole time other than I hope that what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.

For the rest of the trip I ended up hanging with my friend Bill that came into town on Monday. Basically we just went up to the top of Mandalay Bay and had a good time @ the H.O.B. Foundation Room which has a pretty spectacular view of the Strip. Other than that we just hit every major casino on the strip and stopped by the old casinos Downtown in the Freemont St Experience. I still love the shady downtown area. The highlight of that experience was not a the lightshow, but a guy trying to sell up a laptop!

The gambling was OK as I did hold my own betting baseball. Really the bulk of the trip's funds were spent partying with my friend Bill attempting to "score." That didn't happen at all, but we did take some good pics of the Strip from Ghostbar @ The Palms.


My Room @ Paris looking towards the "Death Star" City Center


My Room @ Paris Nightime looking at the same Spot


Rehab


I Say "No, No, No!"


Tower of Wine @ Mandalay


Top of the Foundation Room


Bellagio



A Very Neat Idea


Rio & Strip From Ghostbar


City Center from Ghostbar


Moonlit Center Strip Ceasars, Flamingo


Palms from Playboy Tower


Fake France


Steve Wynn's 18th Hole

I have been out here a week and to be honest I wish I could stay out here longer. This is the first time where I may have to leave something to stay here, Ha Ha.

The best part is I had to stay sober for the entire time out here and I still had a blast. The highlight of the trip was hanging out with my friend Chad from LJ. You just love the way the internet brings people together in very strange ways.

Now I have to pack and try to squeeze some fun in the next few hours before I head back to B-lo.

Oh, the mystery "guest" that sent me the message when I was leaving the Palms after a not so good session brought me a smile.

May 23, 2007 thru May 27, 2007 @ Hard ROck Hotel Las Vegas
Mountain View King Wed. (Cheapest Room Offered)
23
$99.00 Thu.
24
$109.00 Fri.
25
$599.00 Sat.
26
$599.00


Total:
$1,406.00


I may possibly swing Thu/Fri but if I'm shelling out that kind of money for the weekend I better be getting laid by a porn star or something along those lines!!!

With spring finally here and women finally looking good in flip flops, the need to quench my Vegas moved into the forefront. I booked myself to be a week out there from May 23-30. The airfare only cost me 261 for a round trip!!! Now the only thing I have to worry about finding a hotel room for 3 nights Wed, Thurs, Fri. That right now is what is really giving me fits.

I looked and saw that the Hard Rock Hotel has rooms on Wed and Thurs but just out of my league on Fri $299 a night. Although when I stayed there back in Dec it was a fantastic room, and the ambiance was outstanding. I wish I could take (e:metalpeter) out there so he could play on that casino floor with awesome tunes blaring. I almost was sold when I went on their website and saw that Air and Interpool were playing there, then I realized it was this month and not next when I'll be there. To see those 2 bands I would have payed some outrageous amount of cash to catch eirther on them.

Right now I want to go and stay there but the only downside is that they don't have a poker room and my mission for this trip is to play more poker. I just didn't have enough time to play the last trip believe it or now with only 4.5 days. I would just get caught up in my fantasy of trying to get laid @ the Hard Rock in Vegas. That is something I want to do before I get too old to stay at that place.

So my choices seem to be spend the $ for a room @ the Hardrock or Palms for a couple of nights or Slum it up downtown at a local casino and try to make some money. I love downtown especially the Golden Nugget and there are a few bars down there that I really can get into, and the cost is very cheap. It's just that within the last couple of years I've just embraced the side of Vegas that I pretty much ignored as a kid/young adult, thanks to my friend Jeff.

I'm not talking about the strip clubs and those service fliers and ads that expolited illegal immigrants hand out on the strip. Heck, if you're into that sort of thing you have the best in North America for that kind of stuff right across the bridge. To me Veags and that "industry" are just totally obscene, overpriced and soft of a joke to me IMHO.

It's those nightclubs that charge $20 to get in after waiting in a line that takes hours, unless you slip the big dude at the door at least a $50 or you just plain young, skinny and hot. The $10 drinks, but the view oh the view :-) Last trip I just had a blast kicking in at a very slow Red Square at Mandalay Bay thinking I was inside the Kremlin hanging with a headless Lenin statue. It was there that I didn't even think about paying $12 for a vodka martini [oh which really was worth it].

So now I just have to mull me decisions. I think I have to book a place at the Imperial Palace on Friday night since the premium for rooms are just nuts. I have a connection there, a friend from LJ so I should be set. Although it is a very old and time warped hotel the location is very convient for what I want to do on Friday night.

I'm back in town. I feel half dead right about now. My ride told me tha the weather was fine until I arrived back here this morning. So she is basically saying that it's my fault for the dreary conditions :-/

I have the same amount of money on me that I left with less the things that I bought @ the Fashion Show Mall. The trip was a great exercise in online socialization as I hung with 2 friends of mine that I originally met on LJ. Hopefully the next time I'm out there I'll hang with (e:deeglam) as well.

It's just that when I was out there usually I think of things that I usually subconsciously ignore. I guess this trip was sex versus the concept of being in love. When I use the term sex it is used in the context of just settling with someone that you can get along with and do what people need to do naturally.

To be honest I have no clue in when was the last time I felt the passionate romance, the concept that I stumbled up on out the In LV of all places. I've just had people that I think I get along with great, but just it just never really made me queazy in the stomach or filled with fire like (e:lilho) is experiencing the flip side of right about now :-/ I guess I'm coming to the point of thinking it is better to feel pain than nothing at all. It's just that the people are the of that potential pool of possibilities in that department just don't ignite that fire in me. Then when I travel to some city something within me gets stired up that never crosses my mind when I'm back here.


Well unfortunantely off to work right now :-( and New Years eve as well ::--(( unless you guys are kicking it until 5am..yea right

I think for the first time I am going to make a few NYE resolutions, seriously

I went over to the Hard Rock last night. Well it was Tuesday in Vegas and most things were dead. Then I remembered that there was this place right around the corner called the Double Down Saloon. I was pretty impressed, since it was the closest thing a dive bar like the Old Pink in this town. Although the Jukebox was pretty much heavier music and Punk. The scariest and most fascinating drinks that I have seen are in this place. The speciality "Ass Juice" is a mixture of all the leftover bottles and they feature a "Bacon Martini" seeing the bacon in a bottle was quite a site. I just drank my mainstay Pabst Blue Ribbon. I was seeling like I merged Hardware and the Pink into one weird place. I ended up having some strange conversations with a couple of airline piolts and the bartender. Then again the place was pretty slow.

Then these people from California took me next door to a place called the Buffalo. It was jumping pretty good. I don't know if I should go into more details, but the theme was a Bear night! Pretty exhuasted I made it back to my room @ The HR after my Cali people left.

I have just cooled it on playing table games and slots. The slots have been chewing me up. The one sucessful aspect of this trip has been betting Hockey with my college buddy giving me games. So far we're 4-0 with my laying a lot of lumber yesterday with the Sabres. I don't want to say how much I bet but even though I won, it gave me some good fuel to go out as I did last night just due to the relief.



Tonight I'm off to placed downtown, the first being the Art Bar. Another LJ friend is taking me out and she's probally one of the most fascinating people that I know. I haven't hung out with her since the last couple of times I have been out here. It is never boring that is for sure.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll end up going to the new local casino Red Rock 30 minutes off the strip with my other LJ friend Chad.