everywhere. The Monkey arrived in town the same day that I was hanging out in Bellagio with my bro and his wife…as we were getting ready to head to the buffet. His Monkieness and I decided that we’d meet the following day/evening and have dinner. Things went as planned, family was dropped off at the airport, I went home for a nap, called the Monkey on the way, and we decided on a time and meeting place. I called Wayne, connected with him and he agreed to meet us for food too. Almost like the old Aruba days where we ran around like the three musket heads, spending our off time together. *Nice memories*

While cruising through the Tuscany Casino, on my way to the sports bar to find Monkey AKA Jim, I ran into Klaus (originally from Denmark). He played poker for the last few years at Bellagio. We visited for a few and he’s been in Malta, hasn’t played poker now in awhile, and may not for a longer while. He said that he takes a year or two off every now and then. I say good for him. It was nice touching bases and as I left him, I spotted Wayne, moving through machines and bodies, on his way to the sports book.

The duo and I hit the coffee shop and gorged on some hamburger special of the day. Wayne left us to go meet friends, for a free show in some casino as soon as we finished eating. Unreal! Don’t think we didn’t give him a ration of grief about the fact that he would leave US, HIS FAITHFUL FRIENDS AND TRAVELING BUDDIES, behind to go see a show, especially a free one. It would be different if he’d already booked a reservation and paid a lot of money for it…but free? And he’d rather watch it than spend time with us? Wow! We’ve moved down a lot in the social ladder.

We laughed our asses off as we gave him hell for leaving us.

It was just as well, we took a drive up to the old digs and went in to visit with the boys for a bit. Jim stayed at my place back some years ago, on other poker trips into town when he was in ‘go off’ mode. But what’s changed? He doesn’t stay at my place anymore but he still goes off. Just kidding, M-O-N-K-E-Y! I taxied him over to my new digs and he spent 45 minutes in the chair* while we gabbed it up and filled in gaps about our ventures with life and its happenings, poker, and digging into the meat of what lies beneath poker (one of my favorite topics as of late – the mind game). Then it was time to drop him off at his hotel and get back to my life as it usually is – pretty quiet and laid back when there’s no family in town or people coming in that are a must see.

As usual, Bellagio’s big tournament was rocking and I barely made it through the door of the casino, I simply have no desire or will to force myself to go hang out in a poker room or crowded tournament area right now. So…I missed another one. Perhaps there will come a time when I’m in there, possibly as a player or a media type, but right now I think the chances are slim and none.

While hitting a restaurant up in the NW section of town with my bro and his wife – on our Red Rock Canyon scenic tour – we walked into the Vineyard section of Mimi’s Cafe and ran into Eric Drache. Eric was on the phone but took the time to say hello. He’s an amazing individual and someone that I have always enjoyed seeing, when he’s in a game or out of it. He was my first boss when I came to Vegas in ’87, the card room manager of the Golden Nugget, and he’s always been very actively involved in all phases of poker.

And on yesterday’s post, I really hate opening a yearly policy from my insurance company or a paper bill (I’ve been internet only notification for a long time now on everything except insurance) that is detailed out – and one page states, “This page left intentionally/purposely blank”. I can’t help but wonder how many trees have died to make that one page that does nothing except add weight to the US Post, and ends up in the trash anyway. For a paperless society, we certainly use a lot of it in all of our transactions.

*The chair is the Ultimate Human Touch Robotic Massage Chair sold through the Sharper Image. There’s a previous post somewhere in Tango about it. It’s totally, unbelievably awesome and everyone should have one.