Las Vegas

A quick trip. Fly to Las Vegas on Wednesday night, hang out, and then fly back on Thursday night.


Hey, Frontier, sit on it! What'd I do to you?!? And be grammatically correct at least. It's not "A whole" but rather "Asshole" or "A-hole".

Oh, and I know the TSA is super vigilant about guns, knives, nail clippers, water and stuff, but are they lax on drugs now:


My bag of Gatorade-flavored blow made it through no problem.

And big thanks to The Hangman! The accomodations, free.



The Knights Inn is not located in the best part of town. I hopped on the wrong bus when I got to town. And it was 9:30pm and dark. When I got off the bus these two guys said to me "Hey boss". I shot back "What up". I had about a mile to walk to the Inn. I thought for sure they might come back with some of their homeys and kick my ass. Cut me. And leave me for dead. But thankfully they did not. Note to me: next time, shut up.

Here's a view from the Inn.


It's only a tantalizing mile or so east of the Strip but there was nothing glamorous about it. The hot water got luke warm at best.

The remote for the TV. All the buttons worked except On/Off.




But again, free is free. So if hot water and the remote control are the only complaints it's fine.

Thursday morning I woke up early in anticipation of the Happi Inn. I had the local news on and happened to catch the Mike, Rich and Pat segment. I videoed some of it on the camera. Not great quality, but whatever. Later the anchor was talking about a murder investigation. Police want tips. "You can remain anonymous AND you don't have to leave your name". Do anonymous tipsters normally leave their name?

The weather on Thursday was great. Blue sky, sunny, and not hot at all - high of maybe 75 or 80. On the pilgrimage to Mecca I go by the NYNY to check out the venue. There's not a whole lot going on this early.





For the AVLV readers, where is this:




And now, take it in:








What an experience. Hallowed ground indeed.

Moving on.

Vegas is always changing. Stuff being torn down. Stuff being put up.


Maybe someone can answer this. I have always wondered. How do they get the cranes put up? With a crane? But how does that one get put up? With a crane? But how...?

At noon or so I head:



Like last year, the setup in great. Raised stage, lots of room on the stage. The NYNY puts on a good event with a DJ, free soft drinks, and a good crowd.







Also like last year, there is an employee-team contest in 3 or 4 heats (of 6 minutes each), a local celebrity contest (for fire, police, radio personalities...).



Here is another shot of the employee contest:


On the white plate is bacon. I don't know if anyone condimentized with it.


In the center here is The Undertaker. I don't know what employee team he is competing on. He came to kick ass. He ate 18 HDB in 6 minutes. And here the NYNY emcee announced to the crowd: "Stick around, the pros are coming up and Pat Bertilli..."

The stage is being set for us. Crowd gathering:



Lovely Carlene claims her spot. Rich went on to put down a personal-best 33!

There was a good turnout. Pat, Rich, Mongo, Mad Stork, Kevin, Toro, Erb. And four local guys whose names I didn't get. And one woman whose name I also didn't get. I don't know if this idea was inspired by the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, but there was a scale. As people were announced, we got weighed. The crowd dug that - hearing the before & after weights was cool. Pat gained 17 pounds!

At the end, it was Pat with 46!



He scored not one, but two trophies:


I think one was from Nathan's and the other was from NYNY.

And I guess Toro got one for his historic performance:


The IFOCE has not released ny official results beyond second place. But from what I saw:

1 - Pat - 46
2 - Rich - 33
3 - Mongo - 23
4 - Kevin Ross - 14.25
5 - Erbivore - 14
6 - Mad Stork - 13
6 - Me - 13

After that, I don't know what the local guys and the woman did. I didn't get a good look but the woman had one empty plate and 2.5 left on the other. Her with 7 or 8! That's pretty good! I had gone with the intention of getting every name and every total, but yeah that didn't happen.

The buns had been heated up on the grill so they were slightly toasted. The dogs were not hot but not cool. I started out pretty well. First plate in just over 2 1/2 minutes. After second plate, just over 6 minutes gone. Cool, right on my own pace! But then, wham. I did 10 in 6 minutes. But then just 3 in the next 6 minutes. Damn. Meh, it is what it is.

Heading back to the airport, I couldn't take my eyes off this guys heels:




Both pictures suck because we were walking so they don't capture how cracked, weathered, and open-sored they were.

I did get time for some high rolling. On arrival, made $1.10 in the airport. The BJ action at NYNY was hot. Slots and a few BJs later, down $40 when I got home.