Wow!  Finally, the Rio was my first stop when I hit Vegas on Friday.  I looked for some of my favorite media people but saw not one…I did see media but no one I knew. Seth Palansky was in the media room and I almost gasped out loud when I saw how much weight he’d lost.  I’m crossing my fingers it was planned and not a health issue – it doesn’t look healthy IMHO.

I registered for the wsop.com online poker thing-a-ma-jingy while I was there…mainly because my name went into the hat (along with every one else that has graced the halls of the Rio during this WSOP) for a main event seat.  Apparently I didn’t win since they started without me. 🙂

So…a few curiousities – Doyle Brunson had a bunch of bets out against some of the pros in the $50K Poker Players Championship, including betting on himself.  Anyone hear anything as to who/what/how much got paid off?

Why is the Amazon Room so dark? I couldn’t even do my usual take a picture trick and get a good one because of the dim light.

Let me clear up the date on this – I started it on the 7th, that was 12 days ago. I came home from the Rio with the best of intentions and then everything went south.

Updating me.  I’ve been sick.  It’s a week now of IBS and other issues.  Can’t even begin to describe how bad this session has been. If I had to get up every day and feel like this, I’d rather die. Having summed that up in one death knell nutshell, it’s time to move on.

I had grandkids here for almost a full week.  Of course none of that helped as it all fit right into the ‘insaniac’ package that goes with not feeling well and feeding, tending, caring for three grandkids.  I drove home from Vegas yesterday with complete silence, other than the sound of the road/engine noise.  When I got home, Scout was the only life that greeted me and she doesn’t bark unless she’s going after another dog or a person that could be walking down the street by the house. Silence!  Yummy!

But I must go back to my visit to the WSOP, not because I stayed long or had plans but because I’m always completely un-impressed by photographers and videographers that have an ego when they are working the WSOP.   I had one of them hit me in the back (fist bump) a few years ago because I raised my camera over my head and blocked his shot during the bracelet awards. This year I got to the Rio in time to watch Eli Elezra receive his bracelet for the Deuce to 7 tournament and Matthew Ashton receive gold for the $50K Poker Players Championship.

I happened to be right behind a few people that were ready to shoot pictures for the presentation – one in particular.  If I moved to the left, she moved in front of me, if I moved back to the right, she moved in front of me.  About the third time, she ran into my arm as I was trying to side-step her moves.

I said, “Sorry.  Every time I move, you move in front of me,” and chuckled about it.

She said, “That’s because I’m an official media photographer,” as she lifted up the badge hanging from her neck, making sure to wave it in my face.

I wanted to say, “Does that mean you have radar surgically implanted on your ass and you know which way I’m going?” Instead I said nothing and moved off to grab a hug from Eli who was talking to David Levi by now.

Her whole attitude was irritating.

I met up with Claudia for lunch that day.  It was a great visit, it had been a few years since we caught up.

I went back to the section where the WSOP bracelets had been revealed – wanting to grab a few pictures – but they’d already removed them. What a nice piece of jewelry…musing…

As soon as the sun sets over Shadow Mountain tonight, I’ll be taking Scout out for a desert hoof…it could be a crawl according to the way I feel, but come hell or dry ground, we are going.

BTW, I ordered boots for Scout due to super heated pavement and ground:

She hates them.  We’ve been out in the afternoon about 5 times – mainly pavement walk – and she’s not thrilled.

Laters…