Bootay's House O' Pain: April 2005

Poker in Las Vegas

Amazing. Playing poker in a real Las Vegas casino is the ticket. Everything plays well with great dealers, good cards, good chips, good tables, good waitresses. And the players range from really loose to really aggressive to really cantakerous, but always lots of fun.

I played about 12 hours of 2-6 spread limit Texas Hold'em, which basically means there is a single blind of $2, any bet after that can be $2-$6, with a maximum of 3 raises per round. That resulted in a lot of $100 pots, which was totally fun. People would get taken out in 30 minutes that were too loose, but there was a steady supply of fresh meat. I played even over the whole timeframe, sometimes way up, sometimes down, but ending up even for the stay. With dealer tips/drink tips/rake accounted for, I would've been way up, so I feel good about it.
Stayed at the Mandalay Bay at The Hotel (had a plasma in my living room, view from 33 stories over the whole strip, and an LCD panel TV in my bedroom bathroom to go with my jacuzzi tub). They had all kinds of poker, but I didn't like the crowd and went slumming to the Excalibur to their large and nice poker room (they had $1/3, 2/6, and no limit $100 buy-in games).

High points:
First hand I played, 2 minutes after sitting, I draw A-Q. I raise it up, the guy next to me and some others calls. On the flop, K-K-A. I bet, he calls, others drop. On the turn, crap. I bet, he calls. On the river, A. I hit Aces full on my first hand. I bet, he calls, he has K-9 for Kings full... That was a joyous river A for me, and a quick $70 or so in the black :).
Last hand I played, 1.5 hours before my flight was due to take off, I draw A-J suited. I call the blinds along with 6 other people. On the flop, K-Q-9 rainbow, 9 is a spade. I bet, get called around. On the turn, 10d drops and I hit my straight! I bet, get RAISED, I re-raise, everyone else drops but the raiser who calls. On the river, 3. I bet, he calls. He has K-10 for 2-pair vs my straight. Another $100 or so to me, and I pack away my chips and call it a night.
If I had played a little smarter, I could've avoided a few bad ones when I had the Q flush vs. the K flush and the like, which would've had me $50-100 positive for the stay, but it's all good.

Spring skiing by Mastercard

One three-legged flight from CLT - SLC - LAS - CLT: $0
One hotel room for 2 nights in SLC: $70
One rental car for 2 days: $105
Ski rentals for 2 days: $60
Lift tickets for 2 days: $70
2 days of world-class skiing in April at Alta with Bryan Lesko, my trust skiing sidekick: priceless

Nothing finer than hitting the slopes for Spring skiing after 2 months of huge snow at Alta.

Saturday was phenomenal, just raw skiing pleasure as the slopes thawed and turned slushy (acting just like wonderful powder for many hours). Sure, Surpeme lift and a few others were closed, but most of the mountain was open and the weather was incredible. We had to leave the mountain by 3pm, a first for me to leave early, as I was near exhaustion from baby care. We slept from 4pm through until 7am the next morning...

Sunday was just as phenomenal, and introduced us to a local custom of insanity on the last day of the season at Alta. About 1500 locals descended on the mountain in outfits ranging from old ladies complete with dresses, handbags, and WALKERS to men in tutus and superman bowling shirts to women in gogo outfits and chearleader uniforms. And they all skiied while drinking copious quantities of beer. This is my kinda place :).

Sad to leave on late Sunday afternoon we were, but make it back we will next year, and I'll be bringing my 70's monkey fly-guy outfit with me... watch out.

Remodeling Diary - Final touches

The whole remodel has been basically done for months, but we've been waiting on a single board to cover the fridge (making it essentially look like a built-in model). We finally said screw it after numerous failed attempts to get the board from Ikea at a reasonable cost, and will get it later when they open the store this summer in Atlanta.

So, Doug and Mike are back at it, having finished some of the cabinet trim yesterday, tile backsplash today, and doing remaining trim work tomorrow. We put up our island light over the weekend, so all we're waiting on beyond this is mounting the plasma on the wall, wiring it up nicely, and doing some movement of the light switches to make them move convenient (likely using wireless X10 modules to save wiring costs).

Almost there...and next we're going ahead with the second story remodel. Houses in this neighborhood are skyrocketing in value, so it's finally worthwhile to do the 1500 sq. ft. add-on (plus adding front and back porches and a nice rear deck).

Time to kick the father out of the nest

I'm heading out to Salt Lake City for some R&R on the final day of the ski season at Alta with my trusty compadre, Mr. Lesko. We head to Las Vegas to work the Microsoft Management Summit on Sunday, coming home Friday. Meanwhile, my mother will be manning the booth at the homestead, taking care of the little woman. My life is rough :).