I'm here in Las Vegas, safe and sound.

The morning started out pretty shakey. I after being anxious all day and night yesterday I pulled myself out of bed and onward to the journey out here. It could have been a disaster as I swore we were running late. As we arrived at Buffalo/Niagara we the shuttle bus people ignored us as we stood in the rain for about 5-8 minutes. We just said "screw it" and walked to the ticket counter ourselves. Then the fun part came. As Mike was passing through security the TSA gentlemen in a command presence kind of manner asked me to confirm my suitcase. Guess what Mike had a lighter in his sportcoat jacket. It was left over from the "Classy vs. Trashy" Party a few months ago. I don't even smoke. It was confiscated no big deal, Phew!!!

The flight from BUF to Charlotte was interesting. I was surrounded by the Canisus softball team heading down to Tampa for a tournament. What surprised me was they had a couple of Cali girls on the team. OMG!! "Like we are really close and snobby" "This girl I knew we are like so close we have the same plastic surgeon." Now how do these Valley Girls play a sport like softball again? Whacky flight to say the least. 13 underage for drinking girls in their warm ups and flip flops off sprawled all over the place. That is the stuff that Internet Porn is made up of....Right Paul? Ha Ha Just kidding

The flight from Charlotte to LAS was extremely turbulent in the begining. No in-flight service for almost 3 hours. But we arrived on time 4 Pacific or 1 Eastern. On getting on the ground we zipped to the Rio in 20 minutes. After getting here we had our Asian Noodle soup and since then I have just been messing around the Sportsbook making bets here and there on college basketball and some horses.

My head is a bit squeezed but that is most likey from the pressure changes from the flight.

Trying to get to the Mall before it closes. The problem is there is a meet and greet for these Nascar drivers of which I have a pass for that ends at 8.

I'm here to have fun. So far being here has been a soothing sensation. I have a Massage and Spa time booked tomorrow.

Oh well off to risk some $

Here is my room for the next few days

Almost done packing. I have a clue on what I am going to do in Vegas. Besides the usual gambling I will hit a club or two and piss away money. Yea ,like the one time I spent $90 on myself drinking @ Rum Jungle in Mandalay Bay. A total waste of time except for the fact that when the club closed I stumbled down to the Excalibur and ended up winning $200 playing 2-4 limit poker with cool rednecks from Utah and a couple of interesting people from the real O.C.

When it comes to Vegas I'm a bit old school. Going out there to get my "Wild On" is not really an option. Most people go out there with the mission in their mind to get laid and do some wild and crazy things. In a sense I am a voyeur when it comes to that kind of mentality. The Palms is one of my favorite casinos. The lounge and clubs there are out of this world. When I watch something on the Travel Channel that takes place there usually by the Tattoo Parlor by the gift shop and by Rain/Ghostbar I get a kick. Watching the people in that place around closing time is a blast. Yea, a part of me wishes I could be hopping in a cab with some chick and have some fun. It's just that things like that do not happen to me, or I don't have the game to pull something like that off or want to deep down inside.

The Vegas that lives in my mind hardly exists anymore. It is that old Rat Pack era 1.99 Buffets classy mob thing. You know the pic with Sammy, Frank, Dean and Tony. It is only a memory, one that I really should not have or try to hold on to. Heck, the best case scenario calls for me to be nostalgic over the Vegas of the year I was born in the mid 70's!!! I am such a dork, wishing for at the Vegas! the mid 70's show by Aaron Spelling. Although I do have to admit that I have Vegas the new one with James Caan on my DVR every Friday.

I just got caught up in that place when I was in High School. My parents brought me out there when I was 17 and I had a great fake I.D. for Vegas. The first thing I did was buy a pint of Jack Daniels and a pack of Marlboro Red's at some seedy liquor store. The first Casino I went to besides the old Aladin of which we were staying was the Mirage. The Mega resort that started the modern Vegas we know it today. I throw in a dollar in a quarter Triple Diamond machine and hit for $25. I have been coming back every since and now it is almost half my life that I have been taking every opportunity to hit that town.

The posh part of the new Vegas I totally am into. Wynn the new place of the mastermind that brought you the Mirage is just perfection. When I had dinner there for my birthday @ the Country Club there it was euphoria. The food was out of this world, the view of the 18th hole was killer and just being around that energy was mind blowing. If you dig back in my LJ you can read about it.
That is why I always pack a sport jacket and shoes when I head out there. Being dressed appropriately for the right place makes it feel so much better.

Well wish me luck :-)

Current Music: The Killers -Hot Fuss- (Vegas Connection! Ha Ha)

I can feel it now. The anxiety is setting in. My suitcase is still unpacked, but it is due to the undecided nature of my itinerary. Do I hit a club, or just go along with my Dad to upscale restaurants? These are the things I must think about. Most likely it will be me wearing my Calvin's, long sleeve thermal t-shirt with a screened short sleeved t-shirt over the long sleeve.

Just like my hero Phil "The Unabomber" Laak

After making small progress in trying to get things a bit tidy I found a CD companion that goes along with one of my favorite books, "The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time ( In two Lines or Less). It made me a bit happy.

In listening to the CD I did find a cool quote that made me think about my life a while ago. "You are permitted in time of great danger to walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge." Bulgarian Proverb

OK time for bed. One more day of dreadful work, then FUN!!!

Yea, I am starting to really get jittery. The reality of leaving for Las Vegas on Thursday is hitting hard. This is especially true when now that I am home from work the fact that my bank closes at 4PM drives home the necessity to grab my bankroll on the way home from work. If I have to stay later than 3 and miss stopping by the bank before it closes,I am going to really angry that in order to finance the fun on my trip I will have to resort to the Casino Loan Sharks Stock Symbol (GOOGLE - GCA). Those people just ruin the lives of the people that frequently use their services. Although Jen one of their reps is a very nice woman and a dual citizen like myself Can/US.

So I am just trying to get my affairs in order. The first really is cleaning my my living space. There is nothing more annoying that coming back home from a trip to a messy home after you spent your time in a nice hotel with maid service.

Ah, just two more days. They seem so far away yet are so close in other ways.

The highlight of my Day was heading back home from a disappointing stop by the orange cat drinking my jasmine tea with the track "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" by Death Cab for Cutie Blasting in my car.

Staying home is a nice change of pace. Usually I am the weekend warrior out doing some kind of thing out somewhere. Not this weekend so far. Last night after my 3.5 mile walk after work all I did was watch my Niagara University Purple Eagles on the Dish Play the opening round of their conference tournament.

I then received a call from my old friend Bill telling me some really insane news about the politics and firings of people that I knew from his place of employment. It was just totally insane. Did these people think that it was still the 1970's? WTF?!?

After sending a score via txt message to my college buddy I ended receiving a call from him and spoke for about 2 hours. Ended up telling him that I broke up with Laura. He consoled me and then tried to sell me a move to Metro D.C. telling me about all his wife's single lonely girlfriends down there. That would be nice but I need about 200K more to my name to move down there.

I just slept for about 11 hours last night. I actually hurt when I woke up this morning, for the first time I could almost see how bed sores happen! Ha Ha

The highlight of today was taking the GRE, of which went alright. In being spontaneous I ended up driving out to Lancaster to check out where this place Desiderio's was located. One of my LJ friends bartends there and I just went hoping that the off chance that she would be working, but no luck.

In looking for something to do I gave my LJ friend Tom a call. We ended up meeting at his house and driving looking for a cup of coffee. Our first intention was to head to the downtown spot, but after realizing the home show was going on he changed his mind and drove to the Spot on Elmwood. There were some really interesting people but when Tom got on tilt about seeing his old guy with a newborn and sharing a comment to be about Viagra; it was time to leave.

So on the way back to his house we listened to a band called "The Artic Monkeys" Pretty good stuff. Apparently they are the #1 CD in the UK but unavailable over on this side of the pond.

So here I am on the Estrip. I'm wondering if my presence here is worthwhile. My LJ friends are probably just thinking I'm in some kind of funk. It is just weird that I feel as if I'm cheating on them or something. This week I did take a post and copy and paste it over there. If I didn't my blog would not have anything other than mobile posts made of me whining about my job.

The reason that I needed another place to place my thoughts may be close to resolving itself. Just when will I learn not to mess around with psycho women? It is funny but in chatting with Tom at Spot he mentioned being in the "Mike Zone" defined by being a total inability to talk to or communicate in any positive way with attractive women. He is so right, I don't know what the hell is going or not going through my mind. But Yea, the "Mike Zone" the kiss of a sausage party if you are one of my guy friends. Funny but sad at the same time.

OK I have to try to get a few things done. The reality of going away in 4.5 days is really hiting home. I have to at least try to clean up my living space so it is not nasty when I get off the plane, oh and get some laundry done. I figured that if I am going to buy anything new it is going ot be out there. Since when I drove by the Galleria my gut instinct was not to venture inside.