Back out West, Part I

This is the first entry from the clydesdale part of the clydesdale and grape ape blog. Perhaps I should elaborate on my moniker. Last spring, I was debating whether or not to participate in Pat's Run, which benefits the Pat Tillman foundation (who starred collegiately at ASU). I was talking to the Grape Ape about it, when I noticed that there were both age AND weight classes.

As fate would have it, those participants who weighed more than 225 pounds were part of the special "Clydesdale" category, and a nickname was born. In retrospect, it could have been worse...255+ pound entrants were dubbed "Super Clydesdales."

Last night, I returned from a week-long "working vacation" back east. It was great to get to see everyone and not have to burn up a week of vacation time, but it was pure misery to follow up late night after late night with 9 hours of work the following day. I'm not so sure I'd recommend it to anyone, now that I look back.

Some highlights of my trip included stopping at old haunting grounds and getting rivered out of huge pots. Some things never change, apparently. What was even more painful was spotting my boy, Bones, and seeing the same grinning donkey busting us both in the same night. To make matters worse, Bonsey and I had the same hands preflop when we got broken up worse than a poorly-thrown high school kegger in the middle of the woods (pocket Ladies, for the record).

The weather cooperated down the shore, as well, as we were greeted to three days of non-stop rain and gale force winds.

Upon our return from the shore, Bonsey and I met up with Sir Charles and some of Bonsey's other friends, one of which treated us to a lovely rendition of Divinyls' "I Touch Myself." The kicker? It was a HE. Lovely. Amazingly enough, the crowd at the bar loved it. This guy even had his own groupies. Wild.

I also was able to ask my cousin, Michele, and her husband John to be a part of our wedding party. The ape and I are really excited to have them be a big part of our special day. We had a big dinner, followed by drinks and shooting pool the night that I asked them. In true Clydesdale fashion, I managed to leave my credit card behind at the end of the night.

On Friday, my Dad, Bonsey, and Sir Charles all got fitted for tuxes for December. I also met Bonsey's girlfriend, Janet, for the first time. After the fitting, Sir Charles, pops, and my college roommate, Jed, all went out for lunch. After lunch, we did some shopping at my typical weekend hangout, then headed back down the shore, this time for big winnings and relaxing beach time.

As fate would have it, we would experience neither. I managed to bust out just outside of the money in the sit-and-go tournament that I played in, while Jed about broke even playing blackjack. Jed would later hit for about a hundo on a slot machine at another casino. Incidentally, they are putting one of my favorite restaurants from the city in Caesar's next year. Fun!

Part II of my blog will fill out the rest of my trip. I would finish it now, but I am learning that to post all of these cool hyperlinks requires a lot of internet searching, and I am tried from the time zone difference.

Please leave comments, as the ape and I would love to hear from you!

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Playing on iTunes as I finish this entry: "Is This It," by The Strokes