After all the news coverage about the busiest travel season in Vegas, there were no lines at all -- rental car shuttle, baggage check-in, security, tram... and now I'm at the gate with 3 hours to kill.
Luckily, McCarran has free WiFi, and I multi-tabled seven tournaments and netted $54.
One was a 3-table tourney and when 5-handed I cursed a little loudly when my A10 on the button ran into AA in the big blind. And it figures that we were both the big chipstacks. He went on to win, and I went on to close Full Tilt.
Very glad to be leaving. Ten days in Vegas is way too long. I had my biggest slot wins (relative to bet size) this trip, but on the other hand, I gave it all back and lost more than I want to admit.
I overstuffed myself on more than one occasion, which caused an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom.
Besides buffets and starchy foods, the food theme this trip was Asian noodle soup.
Palazzo has Zine, which is mediocre made worse with too many scallions. Upstairs in the Palazzo shops is Mainland, which opened earlier this year but was closed while I was there.
Harrah's has Ming's Table, which is overpriced but excellent and has a $14.95 spring roll/soup/rice/entree combo (also a $19.95 all-you-can-eat soup and sushi deal, but from selected sushi). I was staying in the Mardi Gras tower and Ming's is right next to it, plus I can use my comps there.
But my favorite noodle place is Noodle Asia at The Venetian, which has the added benefit of being open till 3 a.m. Every trip I work my way through the menu and have yet to find anything I don't like. It's modeled on the late night Hong Kong noodle shops with fast service and big crowds, but you can always cut through and sit at the bar.
The morning after a particularly big late-night soupy dinner, I stepped out of the shower, farted, then went to the bathroom.
At The Venetian, the bathroom is in a closed area, and when I came out, there was something brown on the white shag rug. It looked like a little dog had visited and left a present.
I hadn't farted, I'd sharted. And there was the evidence on the rug.
I pulled out a bunch of tissues and tried wiping it off but only made it worse. Dab it, don't wipe it, was the mantra I'd forgotten when my dog made similar messes on the rug.
I used all the tissues and shifted to toilet paper, dabbing disintegrating strips of toilet paper soaked with soapy water in an effort to hide my soupy shame.
Finally I was left with specks of toilet paper and a faded dried brown stain that I could claim was like that when I got there.
The Do Not Disturb sign stayed on the door the whole trip until I left, where I piled the dirty towels on top of the soiled rug, hoping they would just collect everything together and put it in the laundry.
I left a decent tip.
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