There's nothing quite like knowing that someone has your back. In order for someone to look out for you like this, you have to instill a sense of trust in the person. This process usually takes time to develop, but once you do, they got your back for life.
I am thinking of this as I took on a role at work the past 3 days that was unfamiliar to me: that of a consultant relations person. After my boss forwarded over all of the potential consultants that we were looking to hire for a project coming up, I read the emails and noticed that a lot of the people who were looking for work had been told by fellow consultants about the job opening. My task for this week, which was to interview the consultants, allowed me to peer into the world of consultant networking.
This helped me realize two things about the consulting world: (1) While it appears to be large, the consultant network is tightly connected and (2) the relationships that consultants have developed with each other is no different than that of a good friend referring another to an ordinary job.
Every day, whether you know it or not, you are networking with someone - whether it be talking to a new person on the phone at your job or saying hello to the clerk at the grocery store. Every impression you make with someone goes a long way in determining future opportunities should your job situation somehow fall apart.
I am no stranger to the above. My last two jobs, I have received interviews (and then later was hired) thanks to a recommendation from someone I had developed a friendship at different points in my life (one through school and another through work). People are always more willing to hire someone that comes with a recommendation from someone that they trust. Why go through all the trouble and hassle of mounds and mounds of cover letters and resumes that flood your desk and email inbox when you can take the word of someone that you've developed a friendship/professional relationship with. Many times (not all the time - nothing is ever fool proof), the person recommended is a success - and this opportunity likely wouldn't have existed if the middle person (who knows both the employer and future employee) didn't develop good repore with both parties.
So next time you are in a position to make a good impression on someone, it would be in your best interests to do so. You never know who you might need to put in a good word for you if you or someone you know happens to need employment.
6/28/2011
Definitely Maybe For Sure Coming: How Not to Answer Invites on Facebook
About 2-3 weeks back, I spoke of some pros and cons of Facebook. However, I forgot to mention my major pet peeve.
It doesn't have so much to do with the site itself, but how people treat the site. In particular, how people treat event invites.
I am not counting the large, public events that a lot of times are celebrating something that mocks something in pop culture or the world in general (i.e. Post-Apocalyptic Looting following the end of the world on May 21st).
Rather, my beef is with the way people respond to event invites and how oftentimes, people will answer an event invite a certain way because they think the host would rather hear a certain answer for them.
"Maybe" = "No"
This is my secondary of pet peeves when it comes to event answer "faux pas". I can't put it as the primary because I know there are times where someone's answer is "maybe" because they have another event that day or something conflicting and they will try to make it to the event that you invited them to.
However, a lot of times, someone answers "maybe" because they are just avoiding the word "no" because it seems like it would be insulting to say, "No, I don't want to go to your party." For example, my last get-together of significant invites, I had 19 people respond maybe and 15 didn't come. In past events, I noticed a similar 80-90% ratio of "maybes" not showing. I spoke to my friend Jenny, who co-hosted a Memorial Day BBQ last month with three of her roomates, about this pet peeve of mine in a conversation. Their party had roughly the same 80-90% no-shows from the maybes, according to her.
Trust me, you're not going to offend me if you say you don't want to come to my party and answer with a negative response instead of the obligatory "maybe".
Sometimes I will initially answer "maybe" when someone posts an event. However, I will always go to change the answer to a definite "Yes" or "No" when I know for sure whether I am attending. Especially if it is something that requires reservations or the pre-purchase of something that requires a headcount of some sort.
When "Yes" is a "No Show"
This would be the biggest of the pet peeves. When I organize an event of some sort, I buy a certain amount of food that will cover the entire party. Granted, I usually go a little overboard (particularly when I win at the horse track the same day I'm buying the food/drink). However, I use the # of people who said yes as a barometer for how much I need to buy.
If 20 people say "Yes" to an invite, I expect those people to show up. Like the "maybe" answer, I'm sure there are some reasonable excuses for not coming if you answer "Yes". However, I consider the only reasonable ones are ones that are last-minute things that need to be attended to (i.e. babysitter not showing up, sickness, other family-related thing, and so on). If you answer "Yes" and don't even bother to let me know why you're not showing up, that is something that annoys me to no end. At least maybes don't make me think that they are showing up. Often, I know they are not, especially based on the given ratios that I've experiences with events that I've hosted.
When the aforementioned "Yes" goes to "No" with no explanation, I am much quicker to not invite said people to future things.
This article wasn't meant to offend anyone, but rather educate those who have poor etiquette when it comes to responding to things. If it offended you, then you are likely a culprit of the above behaviors and you should learn how to help those people out who are inviting you to events that many times require an accurate response for purchasing decisions.
Think about it this way - if you were sending out wedding invites to 300 people, of which 250 people responded yes, how upset would you be if 50 of those people didn't show up and you were stuck footing the bill for 50 dinner plates that didn't get touched? (Note: I've never gotten married, so I don't know if there's some sort of insurance or something that allows married couples to avoid this potential nightmare).
Not too often you will catch me quoting Nancy Reagan, but if you don't plan on coming to a party, "Just Say No".
Please don't make me quote her again. You've been warned.
It doesn't have so much to do with the site itself, but how people treat the site. In particular, how people treat event invites.
I am not counting the large, public events that a lot of times are celebrating something that mocks something in pop culture or the world in general (i.e. Post-Apocalyptic Looting following the end of the world on May 21st).
Rather, my beef is with the way people respond to event invites and how oftentimes, people will answer an event invite a certain way because they think the host would rather hear a certain answer for them.
"Maybe" = "No"
This is my secondary of pet peeves when it comes to event answer "faux pas". I can't put it as the primary because I know there are times where someone's answer is "maybe" because they have another event that day or something conflicting and they will try to make it to the event that you invited them to.
However, a lot of times, someone answers "maybe" because they are just avoiding the word "no" because it seems like it would be insulting to say, "No, I don't want to go to your party." For example, my last get-together of significant invites, I had 19 people respond maybe and 15 didn't come. In past events, I noticed a similar 80-90% ratio of "maybes" not showing. I spoke to my friend Jenny, who co-hosted a Memorial Day BBQ last month with three of her roomates, about this pet peeve of mine in a conversation. Their party had roughly the same 80-90% no-shows from the maybes, according to her.
Trust me, you're not going to offend me if you say you don't want to come to my party and answer with a negative response instead of the obligatory "maybe".
Sometimes I will initially answer "maybe" when someone posts an event. However, I will always go to change the answer to a definite "Yes" or "No" when I know for sure whether I am attending. Especially if it is something that requires reservations or the pre-purchase of something that requires a headcount of some sort.
When "Yes" is a "No Show"
This would be the biggest of the pet peeves. When I organize an event of some sort, I buy a certain amount of food that will cover the entire party. Granted, I usually go a little overboard (particularly when I win at the horse track the same day I'm buying the food/drink). However, I use the # of people who said yes as a barometer for how much I need to buy.
If 20 people say "Yes" to an invite, I expect those people to show up. Like the "maybe" answer, I'm sure there are some reasonable excuses for not coming if you answer "Yes". However, I consider the only reasonable ones are ones that are last-minute things that need to be attended to (i.e. babysitter not showing up, sickness, other family-related thing, and so on). If you answer "Yes" and don't even bother to let me know why you're not showing up, that is something that annoys me to no end. At least maybes don't make me think that they are showing up. Often, I know they are not, especially based on the given ratios that I've experiences with events that I've hosted.
When the aforementioned "Yes" goes to "No" with no explanation, I am much quicker to not invite said people to future things.
This article wasn't meant to offend anyone, but rather educate those who have poor etiquette when it comes to responding to things. If it offended you, then you are likely a culprit of the above behaviors and you should learn how to help those people out who are inviting you to events that many times require an accurate response for purchasing decisions.
Think about it this way - if you were sending out wedding invites to 300 people, of which 250 people responded yes, how upset would you be if 50 of those people didn't show up and you were stuck footing the bill for 50 dinner plates that didn't get touched? (Note: I've never gotten married, so I don't know if there's some sort of insurance or something that allows married couples to avoid this potential nightmare).
Not too often you will catch me quoting Nancy Reagan, but if you don't plan on coming to a party, "Just Say No".
Please don't make me quote her again. You've been warned.
6/27/2011
Youth Wasted on the Young - No More
In the past 9 days, I doubt I went to bed any earlier than 1:30-2am. Many times, especially the weekends, I found myself hitting the hay closer to 3am. I can say that a combination of house sitting and hanging out with the new lady had a big role in that.
Am I complaining? Not in the slightest. In fact, I'm embracing it. No one should embrace a lack of sleep, you say.
But it doesn't affect my work, doesn't affect my relationships with others and I usually end up making up the sleep on the weekends. Today (well, Sunday) is the perfect example of that - I was in bed until 12:30pm, which I haven't done in years. I was surprised my dad/mom let me sleep that late. Maybe they figured I could use the beauty sleep.
(I know others - and rightly so - would say that you can't really make up sleep that you've lost. But I've always been one who functions well on about 6 hours of sleep).
If staying awake being entertained by friends and enjoying the company of others is a crime, I'm guilty as charged.
This past month, I have found myself hanging out with people several years younger than me. It reminds me of the energy I used to have and the energy I can still have. Granted, this will require me to get into better shape to feed off of this fountain of youth.
However, with the future I see ahead of me, I feel that it will be worth it. I will make sure that youth is no longer wasted on the young.
(I know I'm not old, but go with it, people!)
Am I complaining? Not in the slightest. In fact, I'm embracing it. No one should embrace a lack of sleep, you say.
But it doesn't affect my work, doesn't affect my relationships with others and I usually end up making up the sleep on the weekends. Today (well, Sunday) is the perfect example of that - I was in bed until 12:30pm, which I haven't done in years. I was surprised my dad/mom let me sleep that late. Maybe they figured I could use the beauty sleep.
(I know others - and rightly so - would say that you can't really make up sleep that you've lost. But I've always been one who functions well on about 6 hours of sleep).
If staying awake being entertained by friends and enjoying the company of others is a crime, I'm guilty as charged.
This past month, I have found myself hanging out with people several years younger than me. It reminds me of the energy I used to have and the energy I can still have. Granted, this will require me to get into better shape to feed off of this fountain of youth.
However, with the future I see ahead of me, I feel that it will be worth it. I will make sure that youth is no longer wasted on the young.
(I know I'm not old, but go with it, people!)
6/19/2011
Happy: The Fail-Proof Economic Stimulus Plan
Dear government (you don't deserve a "G" until you can earn us more "G"s),
I found a way to get us out of this mess. It has nothing to do with policies, nothing to do with addendums to bills that you may not like, nothing to do with politics at all.
In fact, it may be something that you may find hard to tax. But leave it to me to give you guys a chance to find something new to tax. I'm pretty sure everything in my sight has a tax to it at this point.
Sell me some happiness.
Yes, happiness.
The happier consumers are, the more they will buy. Get them to win some horse races and share stories with how awesome their new dating interest is, and watch how much more money they spend than they originally planned on.
(If you haven't figured out that this letter is written by me about me, then you should stop reading now.)
Show me a person who is happy, and I'll show you someone who is more willing to spend money on things than the average person.
Depressed people spend money only on booze.
Happy people spend money on that and then some. They don't even realize how much they spend until they look at their new credit card bill weeks later.
Consider me a potential buyer into this system.
Consider me an actual buyer. I'd show you the bill for my BBQ for tomorrow, but the receipt is too long. And that has to do with effects from happiness - from the track winnings and life in general.
If you can find a way to bundle happiness for others to buy, then I think we will be ok.
Rig a horse race or two if you have to. Whatever it takes.
Love,
Brian
P.S. Happy Father's Day to all of those good fathers out there. Bill Bolek - that especially means you.
P.P.S. Mentioning my dad in a social medium and expecting him to read it is about as pointless of a sentence as there can be read in this world.
I found a way to get us out of this mess. It has nothing to do with policies, nothing to do with addendums to bills that you may not like, nothing to do with politics at all.
In fact, it may be something that you may find hard to tax. But leave it to me to give you guys a chance to find something new to tax. I'm pretty sure everything in my sight has a tax to it at this point.
Sell me some happiness.
Yes, happiness.
The happier consumers are, the more they will buy. Get them to win some horse races and share stories with how awesome their new dating interest is, and watch how much more money they spend than they originally planned on.
(If you haven't figured out that this letter is written by me about me, then you should stop reading now.)
Show me a person who is happy, and I'll show you someone who is more willing to spend money on things than the average person.
Depressed people spend money only on booze.
Happy people spend money on that and then some. They don't even realize how much they spend until they look at their new credit card bill weeks later.
Consider me a potential buyer into this system.
Consider me an actual buyer. I'd show you the bill for my BBQ for tomorrow, but the receipt is too long. And that has to do with effects from happiness - from the track winnings and life in general.
If you can find a way to bundle happiness for others to buy, then I think we will be ok.
Rig a horse race or two if you have to. Whatever it takes.
Love,
Brian
P.S. Happy Father's Day to all of those good fathers out there. Bill Bolek - that especially means you.
P.P.S. Mentioning my dad in a social medium and expecting him to read it is about as pointless of a sentence as there can be read in this world.
6/15/2011
In Your Facebook: The Pros and Cons of the #1 Social Network
This may be a blog I add more to as response to it dictates as such. I have been thinking of the pros and cons of Facebook for a while. The reading of The Facebook Effect on my Vegas flights allowed me to get more perspective on the topic.
Pros:
Contact with old friends that you actually care about
This is the the best part of Facebook. For the people we are already close to, Facebook is an extension of the friendship where people can see ridiculous posts made for liking and humor purposes.
However, there are some people you lost contact with that you actually give a crap about. You will usually find out about these people within a month or two of being "Facebook friends". You will usually have a good idea on who these people are the minute you get their friend invite or when you send it yourself.
While some high school people befriend you simply to build their "friend" list to say, "Hey Mel, I got 987 friends, you only got 684, so suck it, beotch!", there are others who were actually your friend at some point and just lost touch with as college, work, etc. got in the way.
Random check-ins
The random check-ins are my new favorite thing. The mobile app allows you to check into a place based on where your phone's GPS is. It gives you the liberty of checking into a place that is anywhere within a mile of your current location.
I love the confusion that this has caused with people who have taken the check-ins seriously. For example, I checked into a tanning place when I was at a bar around 12:30am on a Friday night. My brother was wondering to his fiance what the hell changed with me.
As you can see, the humor for this is limitless, as long as you go to different places.
Sharing humor
People have realized the limitlessness of my humor through Facebook. While I remain humble on the subject, I can't help but agree. I believe people's true personalities are shared through their statuses in the long run of posting. We will all have our ups and downs in life, but what people share with the world in general is the type of person they are. Any time I can make people laugh or someone can make me laugh, I feel like Facebook has accomplished something good.
Cons:
Detail Ad Nauseum
I don't need to know every single detail about what you are doing. You're brushing your teeth? Fantastic - your dentist should be happy.
Your mom cooked you spaghetti? Yippee! Glad to hear you won't starve to death. Actually, I take that back.
Not to say I'm not guilty of pointless statuses. But when you're doing things you should be doing already, I don't need to hear about them.
Fake Enthusiasm
I know this is a prevalent thing. I'll post a status about something (for example, I haven't been this happy in forever). And while I believe that most people who respond to this (and those who don't) are genuinely happy, some people "like" the status without giving 2 thoughts to it.
This also goes to "Happy Birthdays" from people you never speak to or that really wouldn't make an effort to actually go out for a birthday drink (or for some other occasion). While it seems polite to wish someone a happy birthday, if you're saying it because you think I want to hear it, then you are mistaken. Honestly, I'd rather hear it in person or through a call. This more applies to the fringe friends. My family and close friends, I know actually care to say those words to me - regardless of whether I hang out with them on my birthday. I'm guilty of saying Happy Birthday to people that I never see, but for the most part, I try saying it to people that I am in a position to say Happy Birthday to.
Odds are, if you are reading this blog, these things don't apply to you. We probably at least have a shot of hanging out at some point in our lives, whether it be in the next month or the next year.
Also, I'm sure I do the pointless posts as much as the next guy, so no need to call me a hypocrit. I am well-aware of it. I think we all do it from time to time. But it's the people who do it all the time that are who I am referring to here.
I'm sure there's more to this, and I'm sure I'll add more to it. Please add your own "likes" and "unlikes" about Facebook. I wrote this up quickly to get something out there and wanted to touch on my main points of happiness/disgust.
Good night folks.
And also, I'm no longer single. You better "like" that, if you're my "real" friend.
Pros:
Contact with old friends that you actually care about
This is the the best part of Facebook. For the people we are already close to, Facebook is an extension of the friendship where people can see ridiculous posts made for liking and humor purposes.
However, there are some people you lost contact with that you actually give a crap about. You will usually find out about these people within a month or two of being "Facebook friends". You will usually have a good idea on who these people are the minute you get their friend invite or when you send it yourself.
While some high school people befriend you simply to build their "friend" list to say, "Hey Mel, I got 987 friends, you only got 684, so suck it, beotch!", there are others who were actually your friend at some point and just lost touch with as college, work, etc. got in the way.
Random check-ins
The random check-ins are my new favorite thing. The mobile app allows you to check into a place based on where your phone's GPS is. It gives you the liberty of checking into a place that is anywhere within a mile of your current location.
I love the confusion that this has caused with people who have taken the check-ins seriously. For example, I checked into a tanning place when I was at a bar around 12:30am on a Friday night. My brother was wondering to his fiance what the hell changed with me.
As you can see, the humor for this is limitless, as long as you go to different places.
Sharing humor
People have realized the limitlessness of my humor through Facebook. While I remain humble on the subject, I can't help but agree. I believe people's true personalities are shared through their statuses in the long run of posting. We will all have our ups and downs in life, but what people share with the world in general is the type of person they are. Any time I can make people laugh or someone can make me laugh, I feel like Facebook has accomplished something good.
Cons:
Detail Ad Nauseum
I don't need to know every single detail about what you are doing. You're brushing your teeth? Fantastic - your dentist should be happy.
Your mom cooked you spaghetti? Yippee! Glad to hear you won't starve to death. Actually, I take that back.
Not to say I'm not guilty of pointless statuses. But when you're doing things you should be doing already, I don't need to hear about them.
Fake Enthusiasm
I know this is a prevalent thing. I'll post a status about something (for example, I haven't been this happy in forever). And while I believe that most people who respond to this (and those who don't) are genuinely happy, some people "like" the status without giving 2 thoughts to it.
This also goes to "Happy Birthdays" from people you never speak to or that really wouldn't make an effort to actually go out for a birthday drink (or for some other occasion). While it seems polite to wish someone a happy birthday, if you're saying it because you think I want to hear it, then you are mistaken. Honestly, I'd rather hear it in person or through a call. This more applies to the fringe friends. My family and close friends, I know actually care to say those words to me - regardless of whether I hang out with them on my birthday. I'm guilty of saying Happy Birthday to people that I never see, but for the most part, I try saying it to people that I am in a position to say Happy Birthday to.
Odds are, if you are reading this blog, these things don't apply to you. We probably at least have a shot of hanging out at some point in our lives, whether it be in the next month or the next year.
Also, I'm sure I do the pointless posts as much as the next guy, so no need to call me a hypocrit. I am well-aware of it. I think we all do it from time to time. But it's the people who do it all the time that are who I am referring to here.
I'm sure there's more to this, and I'm sure I'll add more to it. Please add your own "likes" and "unlikes" about Facebook. I wrote this up quickly to get something out there and wanted to touch on my main points of happiness/disgust.
Good night folks.
And also, I'm no longer single. You better "like" that, if you're my "real" friend.
6/13/2011
Missed Cuban Crisis: What could have been for the Cubs
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| Cubs fans can only dream of Cuban owning and leading their team to the promised land. |
this will sound weird. Im laying in bed. with the trophy next me.#dreamcometrue.
This was a tweet posted by Mark Cuban earlier this morning. Can't say I blame the man for enjoying his (and the Mavericks') first ever championship. His Mavericks have come a long way since he bought the team back in 2000. In the 20 years before he bought the team, the Mavs won only 40% of their regular season games, with only 1 division championship in that period of time (which was followed by a quick 3-1 first round exit in 1986). Since Cuban took over, they are now winning close to 70% of their regular season games and have made the playoffs every year in his reign - including two Finals appearances. Before this year, they had been known as a regular season team who faded come May - including a rare upset to the #8th seed Golden State Warriors in 2007.
Around that time, the Tribune company was looking to sell the Cubs - a team that Cuban highly coveted. So much so, that Cuban was rumored to be the highest bidder for the team ($1.3 billion). However, baseball being the way it is (Selig and Reinsdorf being the guys with power), it wanted nothing to do with a younger new age owner that may look to shake up MLB's status quo. His bid was never really taken seriously even though he did enter the 2nd round of negotiations (The Ricketts family ended up with the winning bid). To say that the Ricketts' tenure of ownership has been rocky would be an understatement, especially with this insistence for public funding to rebuild Wrigley seemingly his focus over the product he has been putting on the field. To be fair, the bad deals made were done before him. But he has done nothing to inspire the loyal fan base, a base whose faith is starting to crumble.
I don't know how much better Cuban could have done with this roster. But I do know his track record with the Mavericks (and his other business ventures) has been nothing but successful. He would have provided hope for a franchise needing a non-traditional owner to improve its long-term chances of winning. Instead of their franchise being in the hands of such an owner, Cubs fans will have to hope that Ricketts can get his focus more on the team and less on a stadium financing deal.
If the Cubs organization hopes to light up some victory Cuban cigars celebrating a World Series title, it will have to do so without Cuban.
Until then, cheaper knock-offs will be smoked, and likely only in situations involving stress, not celebration.
One in the Hand is Worth Two Busch Lights
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| Only took 70 years, but Americans are finally embracing an element of Germany again. |
Disregard every I said in the past month about LeBron and the Heat. Everything they did right against the Bulls, they did wrong against the Mavericks. They couldn't close out games. They blew a big lead in what turned out to be the difference making game (to me anyways) in Game 2.
Everyone and their mother (except me and my mother) were rooting for the Mavericks in this series.
Correction. They were rooting against the Heat. Never have I seen such hatred for a team in my memory. The 2007 Patriots were close, but this Heat team takes the cake. Not to say I blame people, because all the elements of hatred were there.
(1) The declaration of a championship in July. Actually, make that 8 championships. Not too many people are going to like you when you do that.
(2) The Decision. Even though all the money he got for that went to charity, this was what made people hate LeBron and the Heat the most. Jim Gray goes from respected journalist willing to ask tough questions to a complete tool. Lebron made people think this The Decision was a difficult one when he knew all along he was going to join his boy Wade as early as 2008.
(3) Heat over Bulls in EC Finals. This was merely the icing on the cake. People from Chicago didn't need any extra reason to root against the Heatles in the Finals. But Chicago's exit made Miami a popular hate item on the menu. See: just about every bet I made with people on the Dallas/Miami series.
An aside here, but I don't think the Heat are going to relinquish their Eastern crown any time soon.
(4) Dirk - What do fringe basketball fans like rooting for more than anything? A white guy who can shoot hoops! Ok, this wasn't really a reason. I just needed to throw in a "White Guy is Good at Basketball" reference.
There's probably more reasons, but I don't care to go into them. I just lost $190 ($135 from series bets and $55 on Miami -5) and 6 pitchers of beer. And not only that, I'm drinking a 9 month old Busch Light at the moment. The point of the story is: people here (and everywhere aside from Dallas) were watching to root against the Heat, not necessarily rooting for the Mavericks. If Dallas beats Orlando, no one here gives a rat's ass.
Turn out the Busch lights, the party's over. As the 26 real Miami Heat fans sulk in defeat, the rest of Miami (and the world) parties.
6/11/2011
Lost (in) Vegas, part 6
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| A view from a walkway during Vegas dusk, 6-5-11 |
No shock here...I lost in Vegas. My friend Tom says he is never coming back after some pretty big losses, notably the French Open and NASCAR. Sometimes I wish I could say the same thing - that I'm not coming back here. Rarely do I even come up on a trip here. In fact, most of my trips have had a similar feel. Very awful first day, moderate 2nd day, and then a comeback on the last day.
This trip was no different. I had won my first 2 bets of the trip but then fell into a hole with my Thursday night/Friday morning bets of Miami ($330 lost in 2 bets) and Djokovic ($300). A moderate comeback started with some horse bets, increase $ in my wallet from $13 at one point to over $200. I left the sportsbook with $103 that day and was about to call it a night when my friend reminded me that I was in Vegas so I went to plop down $100 at our casino's roulette table. I decided to play the #28 and #22, and not even 2 spins in, the 28 came in. 3 spins later, #28 again. Another couple spins later, another 28. At the end of the night, up about $360. I had to thank Tom for getting me out of the room.
Saturday seemed promising after I won my first bet (five inning under of Red Sox/A's) to get up to nearly $600, but then a string of three bets flushed nearly all of that away. I tried another horse race comeback to no avail - this failed attempt occuring as the annoying Canucks fans took over the Bellagio sportsbook. As the night closed, I decided I was gonna cave on my ATM avoidance and take money out so that I could bet on Nadal the next day. However, 7-8 failed attempts at getting money out of 4 different ATMs (first trying to take out $300, then $280, then $200, then $100 several times to no avail) made this a problem. I finally tried taking out just $80, which I was able to do twice before a third time said I exceeded my daily limit. I was able to bet Nadal $120 to win $50 profit (-240, which was a shock considering Djokovic was -270 and not the player on clay that Nadal is).
Sunday, we wake up around 7 to see the end of the first set, which went to Nadal, who then took the second set. Federer took the third set around 9:35 local time, tying up my Nadal money and preventing me from betting the early games. I guess that wasn't such a bad thing, seeing as though I had no good feels on the games. After Federoff hurried back to the Flamingo to get that money, I wagered $120 of the $170 I got back from Nadal on a first 5-inning over for the Red Sox/A's - came in the 3rd or 4th inning. Unfortunately, everything after that up until the Heat game went to crap. I was throwing hay into the wind with some of the bets I was making (five inning bet on Astros against the Padres, Carl Edwards in NASCAR finished 5th). I had to make another ATM trip and took out $80 this time. I distributed it between first half under of 94.5 ($30 to win $30), Miami to win the first quarter ($30 to win $33), and then two separate first basket of the game props in Jason Kidd (10/1 odds) and Mike Bibby (12/1). In reverse order, Bibby got the first basket (+$120-10 for Kidd = $110); Miami pulled away at the end of the quarter (+$33) and a slow down of offense in the 2nd quarter allowed the first half under to clear no problem (+$30). The $60 I got back from the first half under went completely into the Heat/Mavs 2nd half under, which was juiced heavily in favor of the over ($60 to win $72 profit). That came in no problem, but unfortunately my $100 on the Heat covering a reverse line of -3.5 didn't come in.
Monday - the horse racing tradition continued. I won my first horse racing bet and then soon another one after that. But unlike previous last day trips, profits were not in order for this adventure. Tom and I grinded out a few hours of no betting before catching a cab back to the airport, and then eventually getting back to Chicago around midnight.
Tom kept saying he didn't want to go back to Vegas, that this was gonna be his last trip. As recently as a few days ago, he's already talking about going back.
Such is the power of a gambler's life in Vegas. You may lose your cash there, but the Vegas allure remains.
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