Poker Girl In Vegas: December 2007

Why did I leave Florida?

I know why I left, it was because of the humidity and hurricanes, but there is neither of those things here in December. It's paradise and I will be back to visit Jill and South Florida again next Christmas. Without a doubt!

Happy New Year. I guess it's about 11 hours until 2008 and everyone else is making resolutions so I guess I will to.

1. Switch gyms and actually go to the new gym. I currently belong to this stupid little tiny gym next to my house and it's always empty, there are no cute guys there and they don't have any classes. Las Vegas Athletic Club is finally built and opening right by my house, they are HUGE, there is lots of eye candy there and they have tons of classes like kickboxing and salsa workouts. I'm committing.

2. Start paying off some of the debt that I've been ignoring. I have to bring in a third party to help me because I can't do it on my own. I have no self control when it comes to money and I'd rather go shopping.

3. Play more poker in the casino. I need to forget the stupid online bullshit and play at the casino. I play better there, it's more fun and most of the time I win, so why not?

4. Finish my 4th step. It's an NA thing, but it's important and I'm slacking. Time to really dig in.

I think that's it. I could say I'm going to be more grateful or nicer to strangers or that I'm going to donate my time or money to charity, but that shit isn't going to happen so I won't even pretend that it is.

Back to Vegas tomorrow with plenty of pictures and stories to post!

Happy New Year!

80 Degrees and Sunny!

Just a quick post! Florida is awesome. I forgot how beautiful it is here! I'm having a blast. We are going to the beach today. I've seen at least 5 or 6 people here who remember me even though I've been gone for 2 years. We are going to an outdoor concert tonight in Meisner Park which is in Boca Raton. Good Times!

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Happy Holidays

I just pulled up the 10 day forecast for Delray Beach - it's about 81 degrees in the day and 70 degrees at night!

Hope everyone had a great holiday - see ya in a week.

Ahhhh -- DMV on Christmas Eve

So, this is kind of crazy. I went to the DMV on Saturday to turn in my old license (it says Temporary on it), and I wanted to get the real one. Back when I got the DUI more than a year ago I had to serve a 90 day suspension, take the written test and then supposedly get my license. But, when I took the test, they realized that my lawyer never cancelled a DMV hearing he requested. So, until my lawyer cancelled that dumb hearing, I was issued a temporary license. It had an expiration date of like 3 years, so I figured there was no rush to get a new one. But, since I'm about to go to Florida and I might get a rental car, I figured I better bite the bullet and head over to the DMV to get the real license.

Anyway, come to find out, the license was actually suspended in June and I had no idea. I've been driving around for 6 months on a suspended license. When my lawyer finally cancelled the hearing, they just suspended the temporary license and never even sent me a letter or anything. And of course on Saturday my insurance company is closed, so I couldn't get the license reactivated until I could get a copy of my SR-22 to the DMV. Even though the DMV could look in their computer and SEE that I've been paying for an SR-22 for a year. They still wouldn't reactivate my license until I brought in something in writing from the insurance company. AND, they confiscated my license. So, I had NOTHING!

Wow - that sucked. Luckily, I never got pulled over. My insurance company was open today and I got what I needed and finally got my new license. Plus, they renewed it so I'm good until like 2012. Yay!

By the way, Christmas Eve is the BEST DAY EVER to go to the DMV, I was in and out in about 20 minutes. They called my number 2 minutes after I sent down. Amazing!!!!! That never happens.

I went to T-Bones Steakhouse with Don and his father last night. I had this amazing lobster bisque to start off with, but it was so filling, that I was like full before we even got to the salad and the entree. I definitely didn't have room for dessert. It was a great meal though. We came home and watched Snatch - cool movie. I can't believe I had never seen it. I had definitely heard of it.

Don and his father...

Me and Don...

Don...

Me...

The Party

My Christmas Work Party was off the hook! I actually had a GREAT time and I was super impressed. First off, it was in a really nice place called The Palm at Caesar's Palace. We had our choice of like salmon, chicken, filet mignon or some other dish. Most people chose the steak. We had a nice caesar or house salad to choose from and best of all was the freakin creamed corn and horseradish mashed potatoes. They are like specialities of the restaurant and they were fabulous.

Don is like the best person ever to take to a function like this, he's intelligent, friendly, social and doesn't get nervous at "work" functions. So, I don't have to babysit him when we are out, he talks to people and I can off and do my own thing. Good thing too because the Senior Project Manager on the Electrical side sat at my table along with the Senior Project Manager on the Mechanical side. Once we started talking about poker, I found out that my company actually did the engineering design for Howard Lederer's house. That's amazing because my company only works on commercial buildings, which tells me that Howard's house must be SWEET!

At any rate, they had a raffle and gave away door prizes. Unfortunately I didn't win, but good god - they gave away a really nice Ipod with a docking station, a digital camera, a digital picture frame and all kinds of good shit. My boss also played a game and if you got the answer correct (like naming all of the reindeer), you got a $100 bill. He probably gave away 5 of those. And then, best of all, we got Christmas bonuses at the end and they were pretty damn generous. So, all in all it was a HIT for sure. Can't wait to do it again next year.

Me, Chanon and Grace...

Me and Don...

Don, me and Bruce...

It's Friday Baby!

Well, I got through the last full day of work before vacation - sweet!

Tomorrow is a 3 hour workday - can't beat that.

This writers strike thing and lack of new television shows thing is killing me. TV is so pathetic right now. I've resorted to DVR'ing old episodes of Sex and the City, Will and Grace, King of Queens, and I'm even watching Days of Our Lives again. I've never watched so many movies - goor lord. In the past few weeks I watched...

- The Notebook
- Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift
- Green Street Hooligans
- Arlington Road
- Alpha Dog
- Some Halle Berry Movie
- Hostel 2

and I just got 3 more from Netflix. The one I'm most excited about is called Vacancy. Anyone ever seen it????

Okay, so I think it's time for a list. How about

Top 5 Things I'm Going to do while on vacation next week...

5. Shopping - Love shopping - can't get enough of shopping. Of course the malls around here are great, but there's also a fabulous mall in Boca Raton and I hope to spend some quality time there with Jill. Plus, her sister owns a really cute boutique in Boca, so of course we'll be swinging by there for some retail therapy.

4. The beach - I haven't been to the beach in like two years. Sure, the pool at Mandalay Bay is a wave pool and there's a makeshift beach with sand, but it's not the same as laying out right on the ocean, the REAL ocean, with the lovely seagulls and the tanned bodyguards and the cute volleyball guys playing on the sand (think, Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in Top Gun volleyball scene).

3. Eating Seafood - love seafood - especially mahi mahi, chilean sea bass, crab cakes and shrimp - all wonderful dishes to dine on when in Florida.

2. Relaxing - I definitely plan on taking it easy, hanging out with Jill and just not having any plans.

and the number one thing to do on vacation...

1. Play poker of course!

I have to mention this one thing - I've blogged about it before, but there is no chick fil-et here in Las Vegas. It's one of my biggest pet peeves ever. I absolutely love the chicken at chick filet. So, guess where there IS a chick filet - at the Boca Mall in Boca Raton, Florida, you know - the place I'll be next week - woo hoo!

How do they stay in business?

This week has been really good all around. Work is great, for the first time since I started there I actually feel like I belong, the work is interesting, I can almost say I enjoy it and yesterday without any warning I had my review. It was good that I had no warning because that way I wasn't sitting around all day and night obsessing about it.

Anyway, the review went VERY well. My boss had nothing but great things to say about me. Literally, they said it's the best review they've ever given to someone who was brand new. They said that I'm a team player, that I work really well with others, that I pick up things really well, they only have to tell me once how to do something and I've got it. I was very pleased. I can expect to get a raise in June and then another one at the end of next year. I was really happy to hear that!

After being sick all last week and basically sleeping the whole time I am feeling really well rested and I feel like i've had a major shift in mood. I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that tomorrow is my last full day of work, Friday I have a half day and then I'm off for a week and a half! I hope I'm feeling this good when I have to return to work on January 2nd.

I got a package in the mail today from my parents. They are so good to me. They sent me like ten gifts all beautifully wrapped. I'm waiting until christmas to open them.

So, today they decided to buy us lunch at work and I volunteered to go pick it up. They ordered like 3 pizzas from Pizza Hut, 2 boxes of breadsticks and about 40 wings. We called ahead of time and I gave them like 20 minutes and then I went to pick it up. The Pizza Hut across the street from us is one of those delivery and pick up only places. It's not an actual sit down restaurant. Anyway, when I walked in there was nobody at the counter, so I waited and waited and waited. A delivery buy walked in and I figured he'd tell someone I was there. But then I continued to wait and wait and wait. Finally, I start yelling "Hello!!!! Can I get some service??" A girl comes out and apologizes - she said the cook is really old and she's back there helping him. Okay, that's fine. So, I pay for the order and she says it's not ready yet. I wait a while longer and she comes out with one pizza and the wings. I just paid her $65 but this is my whole order? I told her she was missing some stuff, she prints out the ticket and takes it to the back. Next thing I know she comes back up and says that the cook forgot to put two of the pizzas in the oven. I'm like "How does someone just forget to put two pizzas in the oven?" This is for a group of people - we are having a luncheon and they are waiting. I've been here 20 minutes already and plus I called 20 minutes ahead. This is unacceptable. She apologizes and goes to the back to help. Another girl comes in. She waits and waits and waits. I told her she needed to yell to get their attention. She actually heard the whole conversation about my order being wrong and she still stayed. The girl behind the counter literally ignored her until I got my order. Finally I was like "you need to help this girl - she hasn't even ordered yet". Oh my god! It was so frustrating. They were the biggest morons I've ever had to deal with. When I left I said to the girl "Is it just you and the cook here?" and she said "well, yeah, and there's a delivery guy that is in and out" and I was like "you guys need more help" and she said "yeah, but they are trying to save a buck" and I said "well, they won't have a buck to save because nobody is ever going to come here and deal with this - this is ridiculous. I'll never come back here again". So, whatever, no big loss because I hate pizza hut anyway.

I am sometimes amazed at the terrible customer service provided in well known establishment. How do these places stay in business????? Amazing.

Try This!

Roulette instead of poker?

Roulette is a good alternative if you get tired of playing Internet poker. It’s not a very challenging game, but it’s a lot of fun, and there are actually a few things you can do to improve your chances of winning (and minimize your losses), no matter if you’re playing at a live high stakes casino or at no deposit casinos online.

1. Systems Don’t Work

Systems like the Martingale System, where you double your bet every time you lose, don’t work because the house is a controlled environment. In the first place, the online site has a nearly unlimited ability to book your bets, whereas you are limited by your bankroll. Secondly, the site will place a cap on betting maximums to protect themselves in case you do have an effectively unlimited bankroll. Let’s say you bet $25 on red and lose. You then bet $50 on red and lose again. You bet $150 on red to try to get even and black comes up a third time. Confident that black could not possibly come up four times in a row, you bet another $225 to get even. Black again. Black would only have to come up ten times in a row for you to be down thousands. Could this happen? Easily. Although given enough time the number of blacks and reds will even out, in the short term there could be streaks of 10, 20, even 100 blacks or reds in a row, no matter how unlikely that may seem. Since there is often a $500 limit on how much you can place on any one bet, a bad streak will quickly outstrip your ability to double yourself back even.

2. European Roulette Wheels Are Better

Finding a European wheel is the best roulette strategy. There are 36 numbers on a roulette wheel and a winning number pays off at 35-to-1. Since those are the odds of any one number out of 36 actually coming up, the game seems like a push. However, those odds do not account for the presence of zeroes on the wheel, which is where the house gets its edge. European wheels have one zero. American wheels have a 0 and 00. Twice the zeroes means (roughly) twice the edge. Stick to wheels with one zero.

3. Look for Surrender Rules

On an American wheel with surrender, half your even money bet (black/red, odd/even) is returned to you if the ball lands in a zero space. On a European wheel with “En Prison,” your even money bet is imprisoned on a zero spin, and is returned to you if you win on the following spin.

Simpler Times

This may very well be the lamest post I've ever done in my life. But, Oh well...

One of the fondest memories of my childhood is Baskin Robbins. My mom used to workout at a ladies only gym and I used to tag along with her. I would sit through her hour long class, wouldn't make any trouble and waited patiently until the end when she, in return would take me across the street to Baskin Robbins. I loved that place, I enjoyed those trips and I have to say, it was the highlight of my week. Yes, I was easily bought, but what kid isn't?

They used to make these clown cones. It was a scoop of ice cream on bottom, and then on top was an ice cream cone as a hat. A face was painted on the ice cream with colored icing and it was pure delight.

I had forgotten all about this time in my life until I moved to Las Vegas and I saw a Baskin and Robbins. Actually, I've been living here for almost 2 years and for some reason it just hit me the other day that Baskin and Robbins was the place I used to go as a kid. How could I have forgotten about that?

As I've grown older, simple pleasures like clown cones have gone by the wayside and more important things like partying, gambling, working, gossiping, shopping, paying bills, worrying about not having the money to pay my bills, stressing out about guys, talking shit about girls, stabbing friends in the back, being stabbed in the back, stressing out over if my car was going to start, etc. have taken over my life!

Gone are the days when a simple ice cream cone could make or break my week.

I had to wonder, do they even make those clown cones anymore? Surely they've come up with something more savvy over the years right?

So, tonight when I stopped by Starbucks for my chai latte I went into the Baskin Robbins next door to check things out. I headed up to the counter and right as I was about to ask the little asian lady if they still made the clown cones, I spied something out of the corner of my eye and there it was! The clown cone - just like I remembered except they have a nice little plastic cover now. I don't ever remember a plastic cover before. I'm sure that's a help to the environment. The lady behind the counter looked at me as if I was about to rob the place when she saw the look of excitement on my face - they still have the clown cones!!!!!! I wanted to buy the whole case. I didn't though.

I plopped down my $2 dollars and 85 cents, took a few minutes to reminisce about my childhood, I thought about my mom, smiled at the days when things were simple, when I knew that no matter what - everything would be okay, and then I thought "there is no fucking way my mom would have paid $2.85 for this little ass clown cone, surely they've jacked up the price". She's jewish ya know!

I bought it anyway, because I deserve it dammit!

And yes, I took a picture of it :)

I'm Back Baby!

Wow, that was a shitty last week. I am happy to say that I am feeling 100 percent better. I honestly haven't moved off this couch for like 5 days except to move into the other room to hit the bed. Well, I can say that I am very well rested. What shitty timing though, I don't have sick leave, vacation days or health benefits until January 1st. Nice huh? I ended up taking off a total of about 2 and a half days, so I guess I won't be getting paid for those, but I'll just have to suck it up. I had no other choice.

So, basically, last weekend when all the bloggers were in town, they all went to the Sports Book at the IP on Sunday, but I, like always, had another commitment. Once a month my sponsor has a get together at her house, we usually each bring a dish, eat, and then have a meeting. But, since it was December we all brought a gift with our dish and did a gift exchange and of course I took some pictures.

Rondie, Hilary and ME...

Angela and Jennifer...

Group Shot...

Another Group Shot...

I'm totally cracking up at myself in these group photos, I'm such a cheeseball. I totally learned that little up front pose when I was a cheerleader in high school and I guess old habits die hard because I STILL jump in the front of every picture - ALWAYS! Such a ham.

So, back to work tomorrow, but I only have to finish out this week and then I'm off until January 2nd!!!! woo hoo!!!!

On Friday we have a half day because we are having our Christmas Party at noon at The Palm restaurant over at Caesar's Palace. Has anyone ever been there? I haven't, but I hear it's very good, so I'm looking forward to that. I heard a rumor that we get Christmas bonuses so let's hope it's true! Don is lucky because not only am I taking him to my Christmas Party (nice free meal for him), but I'm also giving him all of my drink tickets, so he'll be able to get drunk too. What? Drink Tickets? No Open Bar you say? What the hell is that? Well, I guess they used to have open bar in the past, but a lot of people got totally fucked up so they decided to do away with the open bar and give people drink tickets instead. So lame. Whatever. Doesn't really affect me, but still lame.

Shout out to Schaubs for giving me his Mirage key card. I don't know if you guys remember, but they were the only casino that wouldn't allow me entry into the pool last summer, so I got them now! I will definitely be hitting up that pool first thing next summer!

I talked to Waffle's daughter on the phone twice today, I have no idea why, I think she wanted to check on me, yeah, she's like 4 or something, but hey - she was concerned!!!

More Pictures

So, I'm home another day sick. It's Friday, and guess what? We don't have direct deposit, but it's not like I can drive up to work and pick up my paycheck when I'm too sick to come into work in the first place. So, here's my dilemma... I don't have any health insurance until January 1st, so if I need to go to the hospital, I'm paying out of pocket and I don't even have my paycheck. What a pain in the ass. Not to mention, my sick leave doesn't start until January 1st, so basically, I'm not going to be paid for any of these days I took off work. Why couldn't this sickness have waited until January to hit?

Well, I'm sitting on this damn couch for yet another day, so I guess I'll post the rest of the pictures from the WPBT...

These are some random bloggers that I definitley won't associate any names with...

The other end of my starting table...

Me and Instant Tragedy...

Amy Calistri's starting table...

Derek...

Astin...

Me and CC...

JJOK and TripJax...

Me, Love Elf, Alcanthang and Waffles...

Don and Weak...

Columbo...

Me and Don...

Tripjax...

Still Sick...

Well, I'm still alive, but I wish I was dead. I am still very sick. I got up and went to work today, but they sent me home early because I couldn't keep anything down - STILL - how many days can one person just keep puking? It's ridiculous. I'm sick of laying on the couch, but I really can't do much of anything else. So, that's my update, I'm sick, I did watch SuperBad this afternoon with Don - good stuff - love that movie.

Oh, and there's a new Office on tonight - one hour long!! woo hoo!
The most exciting part of my week foshizzle!

Yes, the fever is getting to me - I better lay back down.

More WPBT Fun

Okay, what have you guys done to me? I am so sick right now. The bloggers come to town and all of a sudden I am violently ill? I started puking yesterday at work, I couldn't keep anything down. I even had to pull off the side of the road when I was driving home to puke - always a good time. I'm achey, feverish, yuck, I hate being sick. I took off work today which I hate doing. I hate calling out sick, but well, I'm very sick, so what am I supposed to do? I'm watching Regis and Kelly right now. I love them and I never ever have the chance to sit home and watch daytime T.V., so it's all good. The fact that I am able to sit up and type right now on the laptop is proof that I'm getting a little better, so that's a good sign.

Okay, back to my WPBT report - Saturday was the BIG Tournament at the Venetian. Falstaff hooked us up by having our tourney at the Venetian, with a nice amount of starting chips, 30 minute blind levels and an all around get structure all together.

We started our day off with breakfast at the Venetian cafe and I was lucky enough to hang out with these 5 good looking dudes...

Me, ScottMc and Waffles...

JJOK, Weakplayer, and MiamiDon...

After breakfast we had some time to waste before the tourney, I had a chance to talk to BuddyDank for a while - great guy...

I've met Derek before, but for some reason I never noticed how handsome he was until this year, so whatever your doing Derek, keep up the good work - looking good...

Mrs. GCox and Katitude...

Me and Alcanthang...

CC, Linda and Don...

Dawn and Karol...

Bobby Bracelet...

Me and Rooster...

This is the biggest dick in the Venetian Poker room - if you ever see him dealing at your table, get up and move. He put F-Train on dealer tilt - so wrong...