Sweet 16 In Las Vegas: The Bellagio, Big Meals And Basketball Bets

This is the end my friends. Of another trip anyway. I’d have to say that this is the fastest it has ever felt. There’s clearly more I want to do and the Vegas weather is supposed to heat up the next couple of days, which would have made the pool an option.

I feel pretty good with my packing choices. Didn’t forget anything, had everything I needed, and the only things that went unused were brought as just in cases: an extra undershirt, an extra pair of underwear, a pair of shorts and a bathing suit. That’s pretty solid. Unlike others, I don’t delude myself into bringing gym clothes: it’s just not going to happen.

Well, this update is coming a lot later today as it was a very long night last night and I needed some extra sleep. Funny, but wives don’t really appreciate you taking off four days to go to Vegas only to come home and complain how exhausted you are. Certainly did not expect to sleep until close to 11 am though.

After writing my update yesterday, my friends convinced me to go to the breakfast buffet yet again. As much as that gets you stuffed, it isn’t a bad plan since you are certainly not hungry again until eight o’ clock-in time for dinner. So, after my arm was twisted, I went to the buffet, this time with mostly a carb-avoidance plan and a focus on only the foods I really, really wanted. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a Vegas buffet, but if you haven’t, they are everything you would imagine and more. And the benefit of a place like the Bellagio is that everything is abundantly fresh. We were somehow able to put aside all thoughts of guilt at how they must have to throw 40% of the food away to keep everything so fresh--one buddy heard that they sell it to pig farms, but I cannot confirm or reject the accuracy of that statement.

It’s a miracle. I ended Thursday, my first day in Las Vegas, slightly up on sports betting. It didn’t start well though.

My first bet of the day was BYU on the money line to win. And, I finished a poker tournament--that I won, more on that later--just in time to see perhaps the most depressing part of the game. I literally got to the tv so that I could see BYU miss a free throw, Florida miss a shot, get the rebound for the last shot of regulation, miss it to send the game in to overtime, and then have BYU be demolished in overtime. Part of me felt like I caused the meltdown (well, the part of me that didn’t blame the BYU honor code) since after my 1-9 record last trip, I was now on a seemingly impossible 1-10 run -- maybe worse; I don’t remember my record from two years ago.