Caesar Puh Lah Chay

Good afternoon everyone.  I just feel like I've been running very well lately (this is obviously not a reference to my micro-baseball betting, which we'll save for Friday).  However, on ramble day, I MUST insert one little betting line here.  While visiting with some excellent company from San Marcos, America today (this seems to be a theme lately, doesn't it?), I found myself in the sportsbook (shocker) at the Rio, and saw college football betting lines for the first time since I returned to the valley.  Here you go:  September 1st - Texas State (+37) @ Houston.  :)  The bookmakers evidently think that the Bobcats will lose to the Cougars in a barnburner...  ;)  Back to where this ramble was originally headed, I had so many belongings (so much crap) packed into my vehicle when I headed west from San Marcos, America two weeks ago today that I thought my axles would break, or that my tires would just POP from trying to handle the payload...  I also wasn't crazy about navigating Arizona and Nevada during daylight at the end of July.  As fate had it, my vehicle was a TROOPER, it was OVERCAST and RAINING in the mountains out of Phoenix and into Nevada, up til about five minutes short of the dam, and people have been so nice to me over these last few weeks.  Really quick, one little tidbit that I believe I have omitted to this point.  While driving, you pass many rock formations in New Mexico and Arizona.  While cruising on I-10 in one of these 2 states, off to my right, I noticed that someone had somehow made their way onto one of the not so monstrous of these formations and had tagged it "Fraggle Rock" with white paint (it was amusing after more than a dozen hours of driving)...  :)   Once again let me give a sincere shoutout to Carmel Josephine - her and the 'guard dogs' were very gracious in opening their home to me, and she has some serious good karma deposited for the time this puppy lands on his feet (moreso than the grape juice and the cheetos that I left behind)...  ;)  For those who might be questioning me, the Minute Maid grape juice is very tasty, and the dogs like the cheetos, so...  :P  Sincerely, thank you Carmel.  For the never-ending scores of people who keep treating me to meals, I might be able to start a seperate blog day devoted to 'Meals That My Friends Treated Me To' while doing reviews on the different dining options in the desert.  Today I was lucky enough to hang out with one of my favorite people from my coaching past - she was in town with her boyfriend for the Star Trek Convention (although they're not 'Trekkies' - they just happen to know Rod Roddenbery - go figure)...  Anyway, we strolled from the Rio to the Gold Coast lunch buffet, where yours truly started with a PLATE FULL of Italian food, had a second plate of trout and tilapia, and ended with a little piece of cake accompanied with blueberries...  #content  At lunch she asked me, "what's up with the bikini thing I keep seeing?" (I put entry notifications on my facebook page), and I let her know that it's basically a diary of what I have been up to, and how my little blog got its name.  The Gold Coast lunch buffet good and affordable if you find yourself on that side of town.  I honestly have never spent that much time in that area west of the Strip other than working the WSOP when I first arrived in town, so I didn't have any idea...  My friends are about "Rio'd out" after a long weekend stay there.  I have found a place to live - how permanent it is remains to be seen, but it does come with a t.v., with other 100 channels of cable, with utilities paid, and most importantly, with high-speed internet that I can plug my desktop into...  Let the job search proceed in earnest...  Just one job, that's all it will take...  ;)  I don't remember if I mentioned here before that I really had no chance at loving the movie 'The Hangover' because it was SO OVERHYPED to me before I saw it, but I realized today that it has probably scarred me for life...  While driving by Caesar's Palace on my way to the Rio earlier, all that I could think was...  "Caesar...  Puh.. Lah.. Chay..."  Horrible, I know...  I hope that all of you have a great day and I'll see you again on Wednesday with a little poker tale or two...