brass Blog

In writing this entry, I have to apologize ahead of time to any and all of the West Virginians who may happen to read this entry. That being said, after having visited West Virginia, I believe they should just drop the West and merge with the State of Virginia.

My experience with West Virginia began as I flew over the mountains in a plane, mind you plane, not jet, that had propellers. I arrived into the airport, which had one baggage terminal, and apparently is the only way in and out of Charleston which is located in a valley that has nothing for 3 hours in any direction.

I arrive at the hotel, located in downtown, and upon checking in, the hotel clerk, a middle aged woman, asked me to walk 2 blocks to the ATM at 9 pm at night. Apparently it was so unsafe that she couldn’t walk the two blocks alone. When getting to the ATM, two cars were in park opposite of each other with the engines running. Apparently Charleston has a little bit of a drug problem, a problem neither of us wanted to be a part of, so we waited for them to leave and then went to the ATM.

The next day I finished my presentation, headed to the mall, and then out for some drinks with a fellow colleague from the meeting. We had some good times, until I had to be up at 4:30 Eastern Time, still being on West Coast time, to fly back at 6 am. The rest of the day was mostly a blur since I slept almost the entire way back.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures in West Virginia, because well, to put it bluntly, there wasn’t anything worth taking pictures of. Don’t worry though, next week it’s to DC.

I just got back from a short stay in Las Vegas at the Caesars Palace for a presentation I had to give. One of the things I have found is that traveling isn’t all that fun unless you’re with a group of people. Vegas in particular is a place that is much more exciting if you’re with a group of friends than by yourself.

Needless to say, being a fan of Texas Hold ‘Em, I hit the tables while I was there. Over the course of a couple hours, I began conversing with different people at the tables some in good times, some in bad. We began referring to various people by state names, as we began finding out where people were from.

One person in particular, was from New York. Naturally as a lover of New York, we talked at the table, despite his constant pattern of raising me as the big blind pre-flop. As we talked, I found out that he was a federal agent with Homeland Security. Sometimes life is a matter of fate I think. Because of some other things I have uncovered which I can’t elaborate on, he was exactly the person I needed to meet.

The following night my new found friend, his buddy and I headed out on the strip for the entirety of the evening. I also played in my first No Limit game in Vegas. After taking out a player who could hardly see straight, I thought I had it made when I called all in with a Flush on the turn. Unfortunately, the card that came out to make my flush made my buddy’s full house, and I lost all I had on the table to him. It’s alright though, because if I’m going to lose it, I’d just as soon lose it to a federal agent.

After the two nights in Vegas we all headed home, me to the West coast and them to East coast, but you can bet I’ll be in touch, because it never hurts to have a friend who is a federal agent.

Below are picture of Caesar’s Palace and the Bellagio.

Caesar’s Palace

Bellagio