Sunday, October 17, 2004

Vegas Pics

As promised, here are the Vegas pics. About 2/3rds of these are from Erin.

Waiting in the airport for Erin, who missed her flight:


After arriving, Erin gets off to a good, illegal start:


The desert is truly beautiful:


Dads #1 and #2 drive us into the Luxor parking lot:


Lee's Birthday Crown:


Stylin':


Stu accessorizes:


ANUBIS! ... You had to be there, I guess:


Lee stuffs her face at Aladdin's sumptuous buffet feast:


The ever bashful Benjamin Lynne Riggs:


I still think I should have bought these:


Later that night, Ben and I continued where Erin had left off:


At this point we were all too drunk to take pictures, so there is a marked lack of documentation. I here skip to the following morning.

I will very carefully refrain from making any comment about the next three images except to plead for my life for having posted them on the grounds that I am an impartial documentarian:






We made a serious mess of our suite:


This is Sunday morning and I haven't lost all my money yet, so I bought bagels and orange juice for everyone:


Take that!, maids:


And that!:


Lee takes a quick nap before returning to the Strip:


Caesar's Palace takes itself a little too seriously:


Damn:


And, because I couldn't resist, a few shots of Casper:


Isn't he cute?:



Well, that wraps it up for Vegas pics. Stay tuned for the coming weeks when I will talk about stuff!

Monday, October 11, 2004

Argh

Well, the gods punish hubris and I am now fantastically broke. That's right, I blew it all on several extremely ill-advised bets at Caesar's Palace.

I kept one $5 dollar chip which I will take with me the next time I go gambling to remind me that if by some miracle I win a boatload of money like that, I will take it and run.

Neverthless, I had a fantastic weekend, lots of fun with friends, and a LOT of booze. Pictures to follow.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

He's On Fire!!!

Oh my god, yesterday was amazing.

So we got up and drove to Vegas, a relatively uneventful trip made enjoyable by much jocular cameraderie. We stopped at Carl's Jr. on the way and I got a 6-Dollar Burger, which was, of course, great. We also consumed many bags of Sun Chips and much soda. We arrived in Vegas at around 1:30 but couldn't check into our fabulous suite at the Fairfield until 4, so we parked at the Luxor and went in to start gambling.

Well, this is where Jordan's Day Of Awesomeness really took off.

After Erin and I both won about a hundred bucks at the Luxor playing roulette, we checked into the hotel and hung around for a while before deciding to go to Aladdin for their buffet, which was rated best in Las Vegas last year and was very good. Worth every obscenely overpriced penny. While everyone was waiting in line for the buffet I ran over to the roulette table and won another 20 bucks. After dinner I won another c-note.

So now I'm up 220, I'm feeling great, I've had a few drinks and bought a few more for my friends. We met up and Stu and Ben and Erin wanted to play some blackjack, but the Aladdin had just upped the table limits to 10 dollars, which is standard for Saturday night, so we went in search of 5 dollar tables at another casino.

We walked past the Bellagio, which ooozes class and which I really want to go check out before we drive back to LA tonight. The coordinated fountains outside are really something special. We kept walking down the strip and ended up at the Barbary Coast and I watched Stu and Erin play blackjack for a while until I got bored, so I sat down at Erin's table and bought 40 dollars worth of chips.

I got 2 natural blackjacks and 3 regular blackjacks. I cashed out at $260. Erin also won another 150 bucks.

We went back to the suite, laden with alcohol, and played lots of fun drinking games until I passed out at around 1am, which I am sure I will be teased for once everyone else wakes up. It's currently 8:30am here - I woke up about an hour ago and wandered around until I found the hotel's internet cafe. So anyway, yeah, I'm up 400 bucks so far and lord only knows what will happen today before we go home but one thing is for sure -

VEGAS ROCKS!

Saturday, October 09, 2004

My Mouth Tastes Like Bad

Arrived in LAX yesterday with no troubles, but Wilson missed her flight so she didn't get in till 11:30pm. Since Sara Brady arrived at9ish and Stu didn't want to go back to his apartment and do another round trip to the airport, we went to IHOP for some dinner and chatting. Lee ordered eggs benedict and nearly vomited - the Hollandaise "Sauce" looked like yellow slime from a bucket and she said it tasted like sour cum.

(Aside to the Bent: I replied "So if you mixed it with peanut butter it would taste like those chocolates your mom got us?" Much amusement ensued.)

Finally picked up Wilson, went home and drank some whiskey. Stayed up whispering in the dark for several hours. Got very little sleep - heading out for Vegas in half an hour. If our suite is connected, expect more updates as the weekend ensues. I'm also trying to take pictures but the female contingent is very hostile.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

With A Wink And A Grin

My project manager, Mike, has started ribbing me about having a blog. But I refuse to curtail my personal freedom of speech just because someone from my work is constantly checking up on me. So, Mike, eat a lemon, you capering goblin.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Rodney Dangerfield
1921 - 2004

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041006/ap_en_ce/obit_dangerfield

I guess part of growing up and becoming an adult, is watching the adults you loved (and respected) as a child pass away. Rodney, wherever you are, I hope you arrived to a standing ovation.

Don't Waste Your Vote

Don't vote for a presidential candidate you don't respect. For more options than the Powers That Be want you to know about, watch the foreign policy debate between Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik and Green Party candidate David Cobb at LibertarianTv.com

Stickin' It To The Man

So I just had to share this story:

I have two bosses on this project, the project manager, who is our liason to the business, and my project leader, who is the lead architect. Because we are working offsite, both of them have to go down to the street every 2 hours to feed the parking meters for their cars.

Anyway, Mike (PM) told me that last week as they were heading out, Erin was driving his car. When they got down to the street, they saw that A) There were 2 minutes left on the meter, and B) They were parked next to the meter maid's meter-car, who was still sitting in it. So as they were peeling out, Erin rolls down the driver side window and yells "Not today, fucker!"

I'm told the look of horror on Mike's face was priceless.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Take A Look, It's In A Book, A Reading Rainbow!

Fun weekend :)

I picked up mom at the airport and let Casper out of his kitty taxi. He roamed around the cabin for the next hour as we drove down to Lake Forest to visit my aunt and uncle (my mom's brother Colin). Connie, as always made a delicious dinner and as it was late we collapsed into bed.

The next day I played 9 holes of golf with Colin and David, his son and another of my numerous cousins. I had fun; I'm a crappy golfer but every now and then I get a few nice shots in. I hit one drive about 275, which they were impressed with and so was I.

Later that evening we drove into Chicago for dinner and drinks and got into a heated political discussion, ruining several nearby parties' evenings. (Colin is a staunch Republican and he was sitting at a table with 3 Democratic women, his son who is moderate, and me, a Libertarian. It got loud.) Sunday morning we drove back to Milwaukee and had a leisurely day of not doing much, and this morning while I'm at work I'm sure Mom is doing mom like things for me, like cleaning my sink and doing my laundry. Ain't she sweet? When her mind finally goes I'll make sure to put her in the best home money can buy. (Just kidding, mom. I'm foisting you off on Royale.)

Friday, October 01, 2004

Do These Sound Like The Actions Of A Man Who's Had ALL He Can Eat??

I forgot how awesome IM is. I've been having extended conversations with awesome people once or twice a day since I moved offsite and the corporate firewall wasn't around to block it. I don't know how long this will last but as long as it does, I feel connected and happy. Happy enough to post about, even.