Going Going Back Back to Vegas Vegas

It's been a fun little vacation but I'm heading back to Vegas tomorrow night and I'll be playing in the $1500 NL tourney on Tuesday. Tuesday is my birthday so hopefully the poker gods smile on me and let me go really deep.

Getting out here was quite the debacle. I had a short layover in Chicago and we boarded the plane on time, ready for the short flight to Boston. We stop mid-taxi and the pilot informs us that there will be a 2 hour delay because of the weather in Boston. Apparently, there was a lot of fog in the morning and all flights throughout the day were pushed back. It would have been nice to know about before boarding the plane. We end up waiting for about two-and-a-half hours and I wasn't a very happy camper.

Once I finally got to Logan I rented a car for the weekend and drove to Cambridge to pick up my mom. A tunnel on I-90 collapsed a few days before and traffic was horrid. I had to take a wicked detour and would have never found my way without my trusty GPS. Greatest purchase evar. My mom and I ate a late dinner at Legal Seafoods then went to the top of the Prudential Tower. There was a line for tables so we snuck a quick peek at the view then went back to Justin's place for the night. Thanks a million to Justin and Caitlin for letting us stay at their place. I didn't know where they were registered but they had a ton of Crate and Barrel boxes in their house so my mom went online and we bought them some champagne glasses. I figure they can think about their alkie friend Brandon every time they drink champagne.

In the morning I went to a laundromat to wash all my clothes. I refuse to pay the prices at the Rio($5 to wash a t-shirt!) so I flew to Boston with all my dirty laundry. I wanted to get a haircut but the dryer at the laundromat was horrible so I didn't have time.

THe drive up to Vermont was pretty nice. I really like the lush green hills of New Hampshire and Vermont. We stopped in Concord, NH for lunch and saw the domed capial building. We got a bit lost on the way to Killington, VT, where the wedding took place, and drove about an hour north to Montpelier. It was cool to see our second capital of the trip and we pretended like the detour was intentional. Did you know that Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonald's? Now ya do!

The resort in Killington was pretty nice. It's a skiers destination but they have weddings there in the summertime. It was hot and humid as crap and I was sweating non-stop. The wedding was short and sweet and the reception was long and awesome. Open bar from 4-10 PM, does it get any better than that? Ramsey brought a pint of Goldschlager to the table since they didn't serve shots at the bar and we had a grand ol' time. At the end of the night I was so sweaty that my clothes were literally sopping wet. I went to the room to chang and then headed to the pool for more beers. I ended up getting pushed into the pool and my phone may be dead forever. I'm still holding out hope that it'll work once it dries but I'm not very optimistic about things.

Today my mom and I woke up at 6 AM to go hiking. I birched and moaned the whole time and ended up turning around after about a mile. I had a wicked hangover and there were a ton of bugs and I was sweating like a stuck pig. Not fun. I slept in the car as my mom finished the hike and we got out of there around 11. I tried to get to Boston in time to register for Pokerstars' big WSOP giveaway but I missed it by about 15 minutes. We headed to the airport to return the car but all the hotels out there were too expensive to we drove back to Boston. The whole debacle took a ton of time because of the collapsed tunnel and the traffic was as bad as I've ever seen anywhere. What a horrible time to be in Boston.

We're staying in a hotel a few miles north of the city and we're going to do some touristy stuff tomorrow before I fly out at 8 PM. We have a car but I might just park it in Cambridge and use public transportation to get downtown.

I can't wait to get back to Vegas. I feel like I've been playing better and better with each tournament that I play and I think I want to make a final table someday soon. I've been working on a new strategy: getting it in with the best of it. It hasn't worked so far but I think things are bound to turn around. I'll give it another few tournaments then I'll go back to my old strategy of getting it in bad and sucking out.

Tomorrow I finally get to move into our sweet house. I'll take some pictures there and finally post some. If you're in Vegas, I'll see you soon. If you're in Seattle, COME TO VEGAS!