In N Out Of The 2010 WSOP

Just returned home from a small Las Vegas dose of this summer’s WSOP media row…well, it was a preview…should I return.  I was in and out of Vegas in less than 48 hours…exhausting.

style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Sunday Evening:

• I didn’t get a first class upgrade but the outbound flight was smooth thanks to the empty middle seat and the In-Flight movie When In Rome.  I found it to be a decent enough chick flick but I gave it another star when Pedro Sanchez made a cameo.  But more importantly, how awesome is an empty middle seat?
• I made it to The Rio an hour after landing.  Hmmm, I think I might have set a record time and it even included a stop at In N Out Burger.  We don’t have In N Out Burger in Texas…but we do have Smash Burger.  I don’t eat burgers often but tradition is tradition and In N Out is a must.
• While waiting to check in…I read Pauly’s hooker post and change100′s tweet “I don’t care how thin you are; micro-mini skirts after 40 are just wrong.”
• As always, I managed to get a room at the very end of the hallway… without asking.
• After settling in my room, I went to the gift shop and was reminded I wouldn’t be seeing any Vitamin Water ( Coca-Cola product) and bought a vitamin C SoBe instead.  However, I did see a woman wearing a micro-mini.  The odds of this woman getting to know her date were good, the odds she was under 40 were even better; However, the odds she saw me taking a picture of the display directly behind her were outstanding.
• I had good intentions for an early retire but…I was lured into the world of emails, texts and tweets by my iPhone.  By the way, when you sit around in a Las Vegas hotel room either writing or technologically socializing it pretty much feels like you never left home.

style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Monday:

• I received my complimentary 5:30 am hotel room door slamming wake-up from those incapable of closing doors quietly.  There are worse morning wake-up noises… there’s the construction jackhammer, the beeping dump truck in reverse and the occasional fighting couple.
• Around nine, I headed over to do the WSOP Academy shoot for ten plus hours.  It was a long day but a lot of fun meeting new people and chatting with old friends.  Here’s a preview of what I look like on-camera.
• I went back to the hotel to meet up with Jen Newell and Al Can’t Hang (Danerati didn’t show due to his wait-tainer audition).  Coincidentally, as we made our WSOP predictions… our voices sort of died out.  It wasn’t our fault… we were distracted by the male waiter who had replaced his tray with a microphone.  Yet, just when I thought Jen could continue her story, she was again muted.  I could see her lips moving but heared Ricky Martin. I let her continue for a bit while thinking she needed to work on her lip syncing skills.  I had to stop her and say “Jen, I’m not listening to you right now… I can’t hear anything you’re saying while the waiter is singing Ricky Martin and dancing on top of the slot machine.”  That’s when Al said “Oh, that’s a wait-tainer.”  Thank you, Al.  Go ahead and add that to Urban Dictionary.
• After we bid farewell, I spent another hour conversing electronically with Benjo and Dan.

style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Tuesday:

• After four hours of sleep, I received a wake-up call from Penn & Teller.  No idea what they said because I wasn’t in the mood to listen.  Which is unlike the other times of day when I like listening to a loud man tell me what to do.
• I discovered the hard way that The Rio finally moved the cab line to the front of the hotel.  I ended up with the best cab driver in all of Las Vegas.  He dropped me at Continental in less than ten minutes.
• The airport security line was short so I didn’t have to watch the video.
• I paid $6 to watch Invictus but it wasn’t an option and I had already seen the three movies available (one on the outbound flight).  When I swiped my card to pay, the Europeans next to me, rolled their eyes and pulled out their books.  I rolled my eyes back thinking up small minded responses.  But said nothing.  Not that it mattered…

Unfortunately, I was unable to hit the Nanette Lepore store, find a snow globe for my daughter, see any Chippendale Dancers and I still haven’t figured out what the beefy Italian guy with the shaved head at the Rio is advertising.  But one thing is certain, I love my poker friends and I’m running good on cab drivers.