Back in Vegas

Just got back from Petaluma a few hours ago. I'm super tired and I'll post a good/long update soon. Noel and Andrew - send me the pictures from your cameras please!

Suffices to say that the week was prittay good. Prittay prittay prittay good.

Butter and Eggs day

While I was in Vegas I was a little worried that my plan to get fat wasn't going to happen. A few days in Petaluma seems to have sorted this out though! Plenty of Mexican food, and even more cervezas, and I'm starting to pad out again. I don't really care too much as I want to enjoy the food over here as much as possible before I get back. I'll go on the mend then.

Yesterday Noel threw a barbecue for us and got plenty of people down there. It was cool to see some of the people that I met last year again, and the bbq was amazing as it was last year. To all my friends back home - we have to do one bbq with seriously good meat when I'm back, it's so much better than our 20 burger for a quid jobs!

Today is Butter and Eggs day, which is the town's birthday (I think). They have a parade and a ton of people are out and about. It seems like it's a nice day today as well which makes all the difference. We're heading off in a few minutes to go meet Noel, Veronica, and Marcello. Marcello's in the parade this year (as is Veronica actually), and he's made some drum out of rubbish/trash I think as the theme this year is reuse, recycle, remember.

I'll leave you with this video link of the camel encounter we had - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7VXO9YK0hk

At Noel's (P-Town baby!)

So I'm out here in Petaluma now. I left my camera at the 2+2 guys' house on Tuesday night, so I'll basically steal Noel and Andrew's pictures at some point. I guess I should talk about Tuesday back in Vegas before I get onto Petaluma.

The tournament we played had about 14-16 players and was a $20 rebuy. There weren't many rebuys though. There was a $10 add-on on the break too. The top four got paid, the bubble got a free pass to next week's game. I bubbled the bubble with a sick cooler. Two people limped in and I looked down to see a J in the small blind and had to jam my 15bbs or whatever I had. Unfortunately I'd been trapped good and proper by TT and my unsuited splasher didn't spike. Oh well. I went and played beer pong instead.

About half way through the night these two girls turned up and one of them had actually driven down from Petaluma either tha day or the day before. It was a pretty bizarre coincidence with me going in the morning. The rest of the night we just drank basically. A few of the guys went off to the Rhino, but baseball beer pong sounded more appealing to me so I stuck around to do that. It was a really cool game that I have little to no chance of remembering the rules to. I wish we'd had beer pong back in the UK when I was at uni as it's such an awesome game to play.

I got a 9.30am flight to San Francisco the next morning, and felt incredibly rough getting up for it. I get up early anyway, and I've been up at around 7 each morning in Vegas - especially as it's so bright then. But getting up after going to bed at 3am or something was pretty tough. I felt fine on the flight though after a nice strong black coffee, and once I was in SF I was doing ok.

We had around a half hour wait for Andrew to get in so we nailed an Anchor Steam Pint at the TGI's in the airport. Then we headed down to Gordo's Taqueria to get a super burrito with carnitas. Man, they're good. I wish we had such amazing Mexican food back home. After that we took a walk through a park (I forget what it was called), and then headed to Haight Street which is a really unique cool street with a bunch of funky shops and people around. On the way we walked through a pretty dodgy area of this park with a bunch of homeless people and drug addicts hanging out. I assumed it was safe as Noel had taken us through there, but afterwards I realised that Noel was a bit unsure of it himself! What a great tour guide!

We also headed down to Pier 39 to see the sea lions/otters/whatever the hell they are. They just kinda hang out on these wooden boards and make a lot of noise. It's really cool and unusual and a good tourist attraction. Then we headed back to Noel's in Petaluma and had some beer and pizza there. Andrew and I were both pretty tired after a long day so we headed back to our place around 10 I think and hit the sack.



This morning I hung out with Noel at a coffee shop just round the corner from mine for a little while, and then headed to his to sweat him for a session. Andrew joined us pretty soon after and we finished off the session, went out and got food and beer, and headed to Dillon beach. On the way we tried to see the crazy ostrich by Noel's dad's house, but it wasn't there for some reason. The next stop was to see the camel that hangs out in a field with a bunch of cows, and boy did we see the camel. Noel pulled over so we could get a proper look and a picture, and as we were standing there it starts heading over to us. It came right up to the fence and started spazzing out a little. Those guys both got cool videos of it, so I'll try and get them up at some point. It was seriously hilarious and we didn't know whether it was nice/going to spit/going to go crazy and try and attack us! Noel's son, Marcello, was loving it!

The beach was awesome. We played some football, jumped some waves, drank some beers, etc. I taught Marcello the Wipeout surfy song, so hopefully he'll remember that one. The kid is big into his music! He was singing/rapping along to Noel's music on the drive back!

Right now I'm just hanging out in the back yard of the place we're staying with a coffee, then we're heading over to Noel's in a bit. I think we're probably going to get some Mexican food (I have to make the most of it whilst I'm here!), and drink some beer. Maybe we'll head to some bar or something later.


EDIT - I have a disgusting spot in a disgusting place. When I was younger I never really got spots, but when I was 17 I got about four in a row on my arse. Well, I have another! I had to get a picture of it so here you go! It's seriously ferocious, and pretty painful.

Noel's tomorrow

Went out last night around the top of the strip. It's not quite as nice up there, but it was still fun to see different places and to not walk so far. Vanessa got kinda drunk - this tends to happen after a maximum of two reasonably strong drinks - and we ended up getting those huge drink things that most people probably know. I got some blue raspberry one and my spit was still blue this morning (necessary information).

We're off to some guys' house from 2+2 later on. I met them earlier in the week and they were all nice guys. They have some home game that Vanessa's been to before on a Tuesday nigh, and it should be good fun.

Then tomorrow I head off to Noel's in Petaluma in the morning. I have a 9.30am flight that gets me in at 11 ish, so we get a good full day. Andrew's getting in just after too. I know the plan is to get mexican food from a great place called Gordo's, and we might go to a baseball game too although we're going to see how we all feel tomorrow. I can't wait to get out to Noel's again - I'm very excited!

I have no new pictures for you right now, so you get one of me and the dogs from a few days ago.

Quickie

Just a quick update this time.

Here's a picture of us with a million dollars in the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street. I didn't want to do the picture hence my unimpressed expression.



And here's a picture at a place called Firefly last night. It's a tapas restaurant/bar just off the strip. It's really good and the food and drinks are both excellent. I tried dates stuffed with bacon, goat cheese, and some sweet sauce. I was skeptical about them, but they were amazing. Vanessa didn't like the picture so I improvised a bit.

Yesterday with Jason + all

To start off yesterday Vanessa and I headed down to the Wynn to meet her friends Walter and Melissa for breakfast/lunch. They were doing the buffet though and I wasn't hungry and couldn't get in without paying so I took a walk waiting for Jason and Dian to get in. I took a few pictures of around the Wynn:



We had a beer in one of the bars at the Wynn whilst waiting for Vanessa to finish her food. Then we headed down to Fremont Street (the old/original Vegas). We parked in the Golden Nugget and checked out their shark display (?) which is in the centre of their swimming pool. They have a slide that actually goes right through it which is really cool. I thought about trying to get a picture with someone sliding through, but as I had around a 0.4 second time window to capture it I decided to not even try. Here's the slide though:



We basically hung out in various casinos down there and chatted. Well, the girls gambled and the men chatted was more accurate. Scott/thealeph/I can never remember his new screenname joined us, and Dian's son-in-law, Jeremy, also joined us for a while. We went and grabbed food at this really good Mexican place (ahh, Mexican food cooked by actual Mexicans). I loved the place, and they gave me way too much food - which is just what I'm looking for from my food places here! It tasted fantastic and I got to try a few new things as Scott recommended this combo meal thing.

It was great to hang out with everyone - Jason in particular (of course!) - and I had a fun day. We ended it by driving out to Sunset Station, which is basically a newer casino that's off the strip and a bit quieter on a Saturday night for boring folk like Jason and I. We played a private table of 1/2 No Limit for a while (pretty much until Dian couldn't stand the hardcore aggression and skill of Jason, Scott, and I!), then we did some Pai Gow (which is definitely the best game to play to drink and not lose much).

I'm really tired today so I think it'll be a really lazy one. I'll leave you with a picture of Fremont Street at night, and one of Jason and I.

LuckySOB day

Yesterday after breakfast I rested in the apartment for a while. It was a very necessary rest! Then I took a walk down the strip. I walked all the way to the Bellagio - which was pretty far from the apartment - and I had a walk around some of the other casinos on the way down and back. I've walked the same places I walk yesterday before with different people, but I noticed that I took in more when I was walking alone. When I walk with someone I tend to be chatting and not really taking in all of my surroundings, but yesterday I noticed a lot of things I'd not really noticed before. There are a lot of beautiful green areas and water features in Vegas, despite the crowdedness and neonness! I didn't take my camera unfortunately, but I'll be walking that way again at some point and I'll make sure to get pictures.

My favourite place that I went was a shop called Villa Reale in the Caesar's Palace shopping area. The whole building is phenomenal as it's circular and based on three floors - it's a really stunning building I think, and I'll definitely get some photos of it. Villa Reale sells really old/period style furniture (for really large sums of money!), and it was pretty fascinating looking around. My favourite items were these chess tables with the boards engraved on the top, and little drawers for the pieces built in. I really want to get one, but I think it would be a little overindulgent!

When I got back I played some poker. I actually find it easier to log hands whilst I'm away travelling than when I'm at home. I thought this would be the case though. The basic reason is because when I'm at home I generally don't have much/anything to do. So I have all day to play and it's harder to motivate/oraganise myself. However, when I'm out here I'm doing things and I have certain time periods between doing things where I have spare time. It's much easier to put the hands in when you know that this is your spare time so now is the time to play if you want to (as opposed to being able to think, 'Whatever I'll just play in an hour or so').

Later that evening we went for food with some of Vanessa's friends that live in Vegas. They were five guys that live together and play different forms of poker for a living. I really liked them all and I think I'm going to go and play in their home game at their house on Tuesday.

Right now I'm about to head out and meet up with Walter and Melissa (Vanessa's friends that we had dinner with as soon as I got in). We're going to grab breakfast/dinner/whatever you want to call it at the Wynn. After that I'll be meeting up with Jason/LuckySOB and his wife Dian to do some drinking and have fun. I don't really know what the plan is, but I don't really care either. We're also meeting up with some guy who plays on AP. His name used to be thealeph but it's not anymore and I can't remember what it is! I'm pretty sure he's called Scott though.

No pictures in this blog, but I'll make up for it with plenty in tomorrow's!

Wow breakfast

I woke up really early today as I went to bed pretty early last night. I stood out on the balcony and watched Vegas at night for a while. I tried to take some pictures but they didn't come out very well which was a shame. Vanessa also got up early as her sleeping pattern is bad. Which was good for me this morning.

So we were both up at around 5.30am or so. We just hung out for a while and I got some dog attention, then we just went for breakfast at a place called Hash House. Great bejesus - the food was amazing. Seriously the best breakfast I've ever had. Note - that doesn't mean it's the most satisfying breakfast I've ever had. There have been many hangover cures that I've needed more, but this was a spectacular breakfast.

The sheer number of options was incredible, and the food was superb. I also had a cheesecake latte (which wasn't that amazing but worth a try), and a pineapple mimosa (it's Vegas - drinking at 7.30 or whatever is fine!). My meal was chicken reduced in maple syrup (seriously awesome), eggs sunny-side up, mash with bacon and shit in it, bacon (American bacon sucks though - too brittle), the freshest tomato I've ever tasted, and some bready shit that I didn't bother with.

Yesterday's steak


Breakfast

I am here

I arrived in Vegas about three and a half hours ago. It took ages to get through customs as a plane full of people had just arrived before. I made a new buddy on the flight though so I had someone to chat to whilst I was waiting. My American phone isn't working at the moment for some reason, so for Noel/Jason/Andrew/Brian if you want to contact me you'll need to phone Vanessa for now. I met Vanessa and she'd arranged to go eat with a couple of her friends at a place called Del Monico's. This was pretty much perfect for meas I'd starved myself on the plane in preparation for a monster meal once I got to Vegas.

Del Monico's is a really nice steakhouse (I think), but as it was in the day it was more informal and we ate at the bar and chatted to the barman a decent amount. I had a humongous steak. I can't even remember what it was right now - I think I have food blackout or something. I'm seriously so full right now it's unreal. It's going to take a bit of time to get used to eating over here again after months of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and cheese and ham sandwiches. The plan was to go to the supermarket afterwards, but I was too full to do that so we grabbed a coffee and headed back to her apartment. 

On the eating front, I tried a pair of jeans and a couple of pair of shorts on when I was packing back home that didn't fit me at all when I came back from Vegas last July. Well they were actually quite loose! So I must've lost some weight! That doesn't excite me too much to be honest - it just means I must've been really fat when I got home last year! Anyway, my new plan is to make sure I eat enough so that I don't fit into them when I get home this time. Good plan.

The only other interesting thing to report is that when I got to Manchester airport at about 7am, I went to book in and they asked for my return flight ticket. Well, I hadn't booked a return flight and apparently this meant that I couldn't get on the plane. Hmmm. I could've sworn I'd just booked one way before and been fine. Well it turns out I was wrong and I had booked a return flight both times last year (I'd just altered the first one). So I ended up having to buy a return ticket there and then at about 2.5x the cost of what I almost ordered one for the day before online! Oops. It was so annoying because I knew exactly when I was coming home, I just hadn't bothered ordering one yet. Oh well - you live and learn.

Here are some pictures so far:

A couple of views from Vanessa's balcony.

Itinerary

Here's my itinerary for my trip:

April 16 - Fly to Vegas (from Manchester for anyone who cares). I'm staying in Vegas with Vanessa/PrincessDonk. I plan to eat lots. On the 18th Jason/LuckySOB is coming up from Lake Havasu to meet up.

April 22 - Flying to San Francisco to meet up with Noel/peten2toms and Andrew/andr3w321 (who's flying in from Seattle/Washington/god knows where). I plan to eat lots. And drink lots (but less than last time).

April 28 - Fly back to Vegas.

May 5 - Fly to Charlotte to meet up with Brian/btimm. His wife is pregnant (heavily-ish?!) so I really appreciate the fact that their putting me up.

May 11 - Fly home.

There it is. I'm going to try very hard to update this blog once every two days on average. I'm also going to force myself to take more pictures than last time, and I'm going to include at least one per blog.

Here's today's of my new holiday haircut:

Return of the blog

This blog is about to be back. I go to America again on Thursday and I'll (hopefully) be regularly updating this blog whilst I'm out there. Get it back on your lists people!