Blogger Meetings Start Early in Canuckland

Anyone I have talked to over the last little while knows how (absolutely, unbelievably) excited I am about the Vegas trip later this week. I leave for the airport in 75 short hours and I just can't wait. (Yes, I am counting it down - I told you I was excited.)

However, tonight I got to celebrate just a little early with the arrival of my fellow Canuck and WWdN regular Astin (plus three of his Toronto friends) who took a little time out of their Western Canadian ski trip to join me at one of my local casinos for a bit of degeneracy.

This was definitely a first for me, meeting a blogger in my own hometown, and they certainly didn't disappoint - all of them were fantastic. As any of you who have met bloggers before know, there is that quick moment where you try to associate the face with the online personality, but once you are past that it seems like you have known each other for a long time.

We settled in for a pre-game beer in the (very tiny) lounge, then hit up the poker room which was suprisingly pretty crowded, especially for that late on a Sunday night. The only game they were spreading at the time was $1/$2 NL, and there was a guy at our table who had racked up over $1200. Needless to say he was playing pretty much every hand (and invariably hitting most of them, too) so I was hoping he would stick around long enough to pay me and my uber selective-aggressive self off. No such luck though, he took his chips and ran before I could claim any of them for myself. I did manage to double up at one point, bringing my $200 buy-in over $400, but at the end of the night I walked out of the casino up just $100. Not bad though, considering that I paid for a few drinks and played some blackjack too.

Astin had a rougher time at the poker table - he was completely cold decked on a very loose table, but he did manage to make up for his losses there by winning a very nice jackpot on a min. buy in at the slots. (I'll let him tell you the details if he so chooses, but I do find it funny that he hit this just moments after telling me that the slots at my casino suck lol...)

Anyways I definitely had a great time, and am now looking even more forward to Vegas (if that is possible) for more of the same later this week. (Thanks again guys for inviting me to join up with you!)

So, speaking of the trip. I'm arriving into Vegas on Thursday at 2 or 3pm, but am not making any plans to meet up with anyone right away as I have some things I have to take care of. Sound mysterious? Sorry to disappoint, it's not, really. I am doing most of my Christmas shopping while there and if I don't do it first, I won't do it at all. That and I am tentatively planning to take a nap if I can. Yes I know napping in Vegas is a sucky plan, especially before actually doing anything there, but you need to understand - my flight leaves that morning at 8am, which means that I have to be at the airport for international check-in by 5:30am, which means my alarm clock will have gone off at 4:00am, and you all know that I don't go to sleep usually until about 3am. Ugh. Am I allowed my nap now? Thank you.

The first (and last) scheduled thing I am doing is picking up Kat, Gary, and Maudie at the airport that night and (finally!) having a live-and-in-person shot with them before we even hit the luggage carousel. Kat, Gary, and I have been counting this one down for the last few weeks, warming up with a flurry of dial-a-shots and IM-a-shots, so it will be very awesome to finally talk face-to-face with the two of them for the first time. I've met Maudie before (she was actually the very first blogger I ever met) so it will be absolutely wonderful seeing her at the airport, too. I heart Maudie. But then again, who doesn't?

Anyway it is 3:30am and the lettering on my monitor is starting to blur, so I am going to head off to dreamland for a few hours of zzz's. If I don't get another chance to post before the trip, I hope the next few days fly by fast, and that everyone has a safe trip in.