LV: Vegas, Baby!

You know you're in Vegas when... you're drinking coffee at 10:30 p.m. and cocktails at 10:30 a.m.

~ BigNightFan, August 2007

Ah, the beginning to this year's Vegas, Baby! trip is now roughly 48-hours away. I am starting to get into serious prep mode: doing laundry; counting bills; (mentally) packing; stocking up on Aleve, grapefruit (for the Vitamin C) and Visine.

For those who would like to take a peak back at my last year's trip, go to my Blog Archive, click on 2007, then click on August. It's all right there: the good, the bad, and the, well, crazy-ness of Vegas. (Here's one of my favorite posts from that time: LV: Craps.)

I go this time a little wiser, a little more... low-key, having played so much poker over the past year. But I know that during that taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (we're going old-school again -- I know, I know: surprise, surprise -- staying at Fremont Street), one of the greatest rushes ever, the adrenaline will start pumping hard, the veins will bulge just a bit, the shirt collar unbuttoned one (or two) more... and it will be Vegas, Baby! all over again. Thinking about it now, I believe one of LV's biggest appeals is not that you can gamble. (Hell, I do that everyday, with my business, my mortgage, etc.). No, I believe that LV's biggest appeal is that the results are so immediate. (Unlike, say, starting a business -- say, a restaurant--which can take months to get up and get going.) No in Vegas, you not only put your money on the table and see what cards are dealt to you, you see them now. Anything can be yours in minutes. Anything. And ThAT is the rush of Vegas -- the infinite succession of now this, now this, now this, now....