Cholesterol Results

Just before I went to Vegas I had my cholesterol checked again. I was one guy who never thought would ever have a problem with this. I had been a long distance runner for years and I thought I ate a pretty good diet. Sure I ate too many cookies and cake but I always thought my running would take care of it. Boy was I wrong as I have related before. My last test was a disaster. My HDL (good cholesterol) was okay but my bad cholesterol LDL was horrible and my triglycerides were way over the normal. My doctor wanted to put my on cholesterol lowering medication but I resisted because I am really stubborn and I hate taking medication. I decided to prove to my doctor I could get it down without help from the little pills. I consulted a dietitian who put me on a pretty strict diet although she said a lot of what I was doing was good. Just a few adjustments.

What I did was cut out all coffee, no alcohol except for red wine, beef only once a week, either chicken or vegetarian the rest of the time. I ate oatmeal every morning with ground flax added. This is the oatmeal you cook not that instant stuff. I cut out all cookies and all sweet stuff period. No white sugar or flour. Lots of raw vegetables with yogurt based dip. Sounds boring?? Its not. I feel so much better. Getting rid of coffee made me less jumpy too.

So what happened???

My old results
Cholesterol 7.32 Normal is between 2.00-5.19
Triglycerides 3.52 Normal is between 0.45-2.29
LDL Cholesterol (the bad stuff)4.80 Normal is 1.50-3.39
HDL Cholesterol 0.92 Normal is over 0.90 Mine was okay

As you can see the only good news was that my good cholesterol was okay. Everything else wasn't

My new results after two months of the diet

Cholesterol 4.09 Normal is between 2.00-5.19
Triglycerides 1.38. Normal is between 0.45- 2.29
LDL Cholesterol 2.67 Normal between 1.50-3.39
HDL Cholesterol 0.79 Normal is over 0.90

As you can see my results were awesome. Even my doctor was shocked. You see she had given me a prescription for medication and thought that's what had made the big turn around. When I told her it was strictly diet she was impressed. The only thing she didn't like was that my good cholesterol had gone down but everything else was within range. I was really pleased and will continue this way of eating from now on. I feel great and I sleep great. The best thing is no medication. I go for another test sometime in December. Hopefully the results will be good.

Columbine

I just finished reading the excellent book written by Dave Cullen on the true story of what really happened at Columbine High School. On April 20th 1999 Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris entered Columbine High School and systematically executed 13 people. They then committed suicide. It was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and shook school systems around the world.

After the shootings so much misinformation came out about the two killers such as they were devil worshippers, part of a trench coat mafia. That they were bullied and thats why they did this. It went on and on. None of that was true. The true story is that these were two pretty normal kids at least on the outside from two good families who for their own sick reasons decided to go on a shooting rampage. Just three days before the shootings the boys had attended their prom before graduation. Everything appeared normal and they seemed happy but little did people know they had been planning this for months. Led by Eric who definitely was the ring leader. They managed to get guns and built bombs. The author took almost ten years to finish the book and really got inside the minds of the two killers. He even had access to the tapes the boys left their parents as a good bye message

What I found so disturbing was the fact that they were so easily able to acquire weapons. While the shootings were horrible they could have been a lot worse if the bombs they built had gone off. Literally hundreds could have been killed.

Cullen's book is a very disturbing yet eye opening read and I really enjoyed it. I know as a parent after Columbine I never looked at school as a completely safe place for my kids again. I also felt sorry of course for the families who's kids were killed but I also found sympathy for the Klebolds and the Harris's. They not only lost their sons too but have to live with the horror of realizing what their kids did in their last day.

Vegas After Thoughts

The Highlights

1. Playing at Caesars Palace. Great room.
2. The Bus driver on the Deuce. She really needs her own comedy show.
3. People watching. The best place in the world for this.
4. Superb service by the older guy(forgot his name) in the Flamingo breakfast place near the buffet.
5. Having a jug of beer at the Pioneer Saloon in Good Springs.
6. Winning a tournament even if it was a donkfest.
7. Playing a fun cash game with the drunks at Osheas.
8. Relaxing at the Adult Pool.

The Not so good
1. Poor drink service at most casinos if your just playing the slots. Never seen it so bad. It was different if you were playing the tables or poker.
2. Rooms at the Flamingo. Second time staying there but the rooms need an upgrading.
3. Indifferent service when out for dinner. This was a first for us in Vegas as usually the service has been outstanding.



It was a fun week as always and of course the highlights outnumber the bad stuff. I always say if you can't have fun in Vegas you can't have fun anywhere.

Counting the days until we go back

Vegas Day 7

Got up and headed over to Caesars Palace for their noon tournament. This is a 80 dollar buy in that gives you 5000 in chips and for an extra 5 dollars you get an additional 2500 in chips which everybody takes. There was 51 entrants in tournament. Before the tourney started I strolled around in their back tournament room looking at all the great pictures they had up on the wall. People like Ivey, Brunson, Negraneau and Hellmuth. Truly a special place to play. I got seated at my table and checked out who I was playing. There was young French Canadian who spoke very broken English and a very attractive older lady who at first I thought was from England but turned out she was from Vancouver. The rest of the players were a mix of young and old. Early on I got dealt pocket 7's in the SB and decided to limp in with 3 others. Flop comes AA2. Action on me I put a bet of 300 out there, two guys folded and the player to my right raised to 600. Hmmm . Did he have an Ace? I decided to call and see what the turn brought. It was a 7........ YES. I decided to check and he bet 1200. HMM Just call or raise?? Knowing only 2 hands would beat me right now that being Pocket Aces or A7. I thought for awhile feigning weakness and decided to push. He was startled I could tell. I honestly expected him to fold but he called and had me covered by a bit. He turned over AJ for trip Aces and was floored when I turned over pocket 7's for the Full house. He still had outs though but the river was 6 and suddenly I had a huge chip stack.

Not a lot of memorable hands after that but one comes to mind. Again in the SB I got dealt 3,8 off suit. Just me and the BB. Flop comes 3,8,K. Two pair. I decided to check to see what he did. He bet and I just called. Turn was a 6. We both checked. River was a 2. I decided to bet and he took a long time calling but he did and flipped over KQ. My 3,8 took it much to his disgust but I just smiled and said Small Blind special.

We were down to 23 players when two hands settled my fate. I got dealt AQ. I raised and French guy calls. Flop comes down Q65. I bet and French guy decides to go all in. He had been pushing a lot and I was questioning what he had. I had him covered but only by around 3000 chips or so. I decided to call. He flipped over Pocket 4's. Yes. Well sort of Yes. The turn brought a 3 and the river brought a 7. Yep he got his straight. I was crushed. But that's poker. Not sure how I could have played that hand different except I guess by folding but I was the favourite going in.

The very next hand what do I get dealt but Pocket 4's. Being somewhat on tilt and now short stacked I decided to push. Everyone folded but Vancouver lady who called and flipped over AK. Big slick had not won all day in 3 previous times as all of us at the table noted. This time I wasn't so lucky as the flop comes 963, turn was 2 and the river brought the killer Ace. I was out in 23rd and very disappointed. Vancouver lady smiled and said sorry but hey she made the right move by calling. I suddenly hated pocket 4s!!!

I loved the tournament and will definitely go back and play again. For the money the structure was good and its a great room with excellent dealers and waitresses. Highly recommend.

For dinner went to the Outback restaurant and had an excellent meal and great friendly service from the waitress. Spent our last night down at the Paris Piano lounge and listened to the guys again.. Great as always

Flew home the next morning. Great flight. We were both sad at the airport though as a week goes too fast but we are already planning our next trip in the spring.

Vegas Day 6

We got up early and decided to walk down to the Venetian and Treasure Island. I love the inside of the Venetian and always make a point of going there but I like so many others can not stand the smell in there. Its something they are pumping in the air. I really wanted to play in their poker room but after a few minutes I always have to get out of there. I keep hoping someone there will grab a brain and realize that some people can't stand the smell. They must have had some complaints you would think??

We headed over to Treasure Island. Played a few slots there and walked by the Poker Room which was completely dead but it was only 11 AM.
Walked back to the hotel had a couple hours at the pool and decided to head over to watch Big Elvis at Bills. We have seen him a couple times and its always an entertaining free hour. We sat with a couple from Pittsburgh and got in a great discussion about the American Medical system. Being from Canada they were quizzing us about our system. Boy did they have some wrong information. Our system isn't perfect but every Canadian is covered, can go to any hospital or medical clinic and get treated. It costs us very little. We were floored that they paid like 800 a month and had a 2500 dollar deductible. It seems they have been getting ads that our system is horrible. That is so untrue and I guess there are factions in the U.S. that don't want a reasonably priced system that covers everyone.

After watching Big Elvis decided to take the Deuce downtown. We had never taken the Deuce before having always taken a cab down. It was fine,relaxing and cheap. We wandered around downtown. I was really impressed with the Golden Nugget and would stay there if I ever decided to stay off the Strip. We ate dinner at Tony Romas. Food was okay but again terrible service and the waiters tip reflected the level of service we got. He never once came back after we got our meals to ask if we wanted anything or how things were. He wasn't even friendly when we were ordering.

We took the Deuce back to the strip and had the funniest bus driver I have ever met. She was talking on the speaker the whole ride. She had the whole bus laughing. Telling people what to do and if they didn't she was going to stop and have a Conversation with them. She was telling the ladies who were standing to snuggle in close to the guys. It went on and on. By the time we got back to our hotel my sides were hurting from laughing so much.

Played a tournament at Osheas again. Not a lot of interesting hands. I think there were 15 in the tournament. When were down to 5 I got dealt KQ. Flop comes KJ6 rainbow. Being somewhat short stacked I pushed. He had called. Had J9?? of course he caught his J on the river and I was out in 5th.

We walked over to Bill's and listened to the Karaoke. A lady got up and did a tribute to Patrick Swayze who had just died. She sang a couple songs from the movie Ghost and was it was really entertaining.

Headed back to the hotel and looking forward to playing tomorrow at Caesars Hotel where they have a great noon tournament.

Vegas Day 5

Got up early and decided to play the 10 AM Flamingo tournament. This is a 60 dollar entry fee with only 1500 in chips. Terrible structure but it was in the hotel where I was staying so I thought I would give it a go. These kind of tournaments you need to get chips early or you are basically shoving with anything. Its either that or get blinded away. Of course I was basically card dead for the first few orbits. I finally got a hand and with a dwindling stack pushed with AJ. I got a caller who had KK. He had me covered but I managed to catch my Ace on the flop and I doubled up. Still pretty short stacked though and a few hands later and being on the button I decided to shove with pocket 6s. Unfortunately the BB woke up with pocket Aces and I was out in 13th out of 27. Made a mental note not to play this kind of tournament again. Tough to play poker when you only have such a limited amount of chips to start.

Decided to take the shuttle over to the Rio. As usual checked out the WSOP store in Rio but didn't buy anything. We walked from there over to the Palms and the Gold Coast. First time in the Palms for me. Not overly impressed. Probably wouldn't go back. Seemed really dark in there. Liked the Gold Coast though. Staff seemed friendly at its part of the same ownership as Sams Town. Had a bite to eat at TGIF which was decent food for the price. After dinner started talking to an older couple from England who had flown to Chicago and drove from there to Las Vegas using Route 66 some of the way. We ended up taking the shuttle from the Rio back to the strip with them and showing them some of the sites.

I decided to play the 9PM Osheas tournament. The structure isn't much better than the Flamingo but oh well when you have a non poker playing spouse you take what you can get. Pretty uneventful tournament. Only 12 entrants and I lasted until 5th when my AK after hitting an Ace on the flop came up against trip 3's. Tried to get into the drunk cash game out front but there was a wait so headed back to the hotel.

Vegas Day 4

Got up and walked over to the Victorian Room at Bill's for breakfast. Food was okay again but service was not good. This we found in about half the places we ate ( more on that later) We decided to head down to the adult pool at the Flamingo. We used it a lot on our last trip. Very relaxing as its not crowded. A lot of the hotels have these so called adult pools now. They charge the guys an entry fee (10 bucks) and ladies are free. Spent a couple hours there reading and working on a tan. As you probably know tops are optional in these pools for the ladies and a great many take advantage of this. I grew up in Vancouver which has a clothing optional beach called Wreck Beach and I spent a lot of time there with friends in my late teens and early twenties so its no big deal to me. Nice to see standards are relaxing as people in Europe have been doing this for years. I know some people might not agree but then of course they don't have to go in. It's all about choice.

We decided to head over to Sams Town having never been there before. We took the shuttle from Harrahs and arrived there hungry so we decided to go to their buffet. The buffet while not great was okay and the price was right. We wandered around the hotel,played a few slots, checked out the poker room which only had one table running . Looked like mostly older locals so probably not much money to be made there. While I liked the hotel I certainly don't think I would stay there as there is not much around that area. I prefer the Strip. Still nice to visit though.

Got back to the hotel and decided to play 1-2 at the Flamingo. Won a hand early when dealt K10 and the flop came K78. I bet and everyone folded. A few hands later I got dealt A7. I limped in with 3 others.Flop comes A97 rainbow. Nice flop. I bet twenty.Everyone folded except old guy who raised me to 50. That's when alarm bells should have gone off. Does he have A9??. I called like an idiot. Turn was a 6. He pushed all in. I had about 50 dollars left and stupidly I called. Yep he had A9. The river was a J and that was my buy in. I thought about rebuying but I always like sticking to a plan. If I get felted that's it. Sure I could have come back but some nights its just better to walk away.

Found the wife and headed over to the Mirage and had a late night bite to eat at Carnegie's again. Great food. Poker on the night down 100 dollars. Still up 177 for the trip.

Vegas Day 3

We got up and decided to do the pool thing. Went down to the main pool and it was packed. 10 AM and tough to find a chair. We managed though but made a mental note to go to the adult pool in future. Much more relaxing and even though it costs 10 bucks its worth it. After a couple hours of sun, reading and people watching we decided to head over to the Mirage for lunch. Had a lunch at an incredible place called the Carnegie Deli. Food was great and huge. Massive portions. After lunch played a few slots at Mirage and wandered the Strip for awhile. Did dinner at the Victorian Room at Bills. It was okay. Not great not bad. After dinner decided to head over to Osheas for cash game. Tables were full and a bit of a wait. They had a 7 PM tournament starting so I decided to enter that instead. They only had 10 entries so just 1 table. Its kind of a donkey fest chip wise but hey its poker. I managed to do all right early. Got pocket queens and won a decent pot. A few hands later I got pocket jacks. I raised . Got one caller. Flop comes A,6,8. I checked, he bet and I folded. He showed an Ace. When we got down to 5 and I was getting short stacked with only 2000 chips. I got pocket 3,s. Pushed, everyone folded. Next hand I got pocket Kings. Someone raised preflop. I was going to call but looking at my chip stack decided a push was a better option. He called with Q,10?? My Kings held up and we were down to 4.
I started getting some cards and my stack starting building. The short stack decided to push and I looked down and I had AdJc. After a lot of thought I called. He flipped over AhJs. That got a lot of laughter until 3 diamonds hit the flop and the turn gave me another diamond for the flush and he was gone. Down to 3. Only winner gets paid. I had the huge chip lead at this point. One other guy was very short stacked and I was the BB. He pushed and not costing much more I called with a brutal 10,5 off suit. Well he only had 8,4. Told you it was donkey fest. Anyways I flopped two pair and we were down to 2. I had about a 3-1 chip lead and he asked for a chop. First prize was 300 dollars. He suggested 150 each. I said no way how about 180-120. We finally settled on 170-130. Good deal for him and a profit for me of 125 after taking off my buy in. I would have played it out but he was nice young kid there with his girlfriend who was pretty excited that he did that well. Fun table. Not great poker but a pleasant way to spend a couple hours.

After that found the wife and headed down to Paris and listened to the young guys on the dueling pianos there. They were excellent. There was some pretty drunk people there who were throwing money at them to play songs. Literally giving them 20 bucks per song. They were making a killing. Fun to watch and after a couple glasses of wine that was our night.

Vegas Day 2

We got up early and went down to the front desk and got a room change. Much better room than before but we have to admit the Flamingo is really starting to show it's age. Next trip we might try somewhere else. I do love the location and the pool though.

We met friends for lunch at Margaritaville. Had a great lunch and then they offered to take us out for some sight seeing as they had car. We never rent a car so we were game for it. They took us out into the desert to a place called Good Springs. It's a semi ghost town. Just a few houses and a saloon called the Pioneer. This is the bar where Clark Gable sat and got drunk while they searched in the Las Vegas hills for the plane that had crashed carrying Carol Lombard. They had a small room where the had a wall of incredible pictures of Gable. Really interesting. The bar itself is really small. Four tables but the pitcher of beer was cold and tasted great.

We then drove back to where they were staying which was at Southpoint. I was really impressed. First time there. Really nice hotel and their room was really spacious.
Took a tour of the casino and liked the way it was setup and the poker room looked comfortable and they had 2 tables going. Might even stay there sometime.

They drove us back to the strip and dropped us off. We had a quick dinner and then I decided to head over to Osheas for some 1-2. Why Osheas?? Well it was Friday night and that place always has lots of drunks playing. Sure enough. I got seated right away and realized I was the only sober person at the table. Beer and drinks were flowing. I got seated next to an attractive retired lady from Arizona who preceded to tell me her life story in between drinks. Pretty funny.

I got hot right away. I had pocket 4's and hit trips and won a decent pot. This would be the only time I liked pocket 4's on this trip (more on that later). I had pocket Aces, Kings, and even 7-9 off suit which hit trip 9's. Seemed every pot I played I won. Not huge pots but my original buy in of 100 bucks was really growing.

Arizona lady had pocket Aces cracked when she pushed all in and got called by AJd who caught his flush on the river. It didn't even phase her as she bought in again.
She kept up chatting away to me and told me the guy in seat 2 had asked her to dinner and she wasn't sure she wanted to go. I agreed with her it might not be a good choice. That got her laughing. A few minutes later Arizona lady decides she's hungry and guy in seat 2 gets up and away they go for dinner leaving their chips on the table. He grabs her hand as they are heading out the door which brought on lots of discussion as to what kind of dinner they were going to get. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. What a fun table. I played for another hour and a bit and maintained my profit and decided to leave when 2 sober aggressive young guys joined the table. Meanwhile Miss Arizona still hadn't come back which was still a topic of discussion as people were waiting for seats. I made a profit of 107 dollars and had a fun night.

Vegas Day 1

I had a direct 2 hour 15 minute flight to Vegas which left and arrived on time. We got on the tarmac at Vegas and pulled up to the hangar and we all stood to disembark and after a couple minutes the captain informs us that we can't leave the plane until a customs person comes to escort us off the plane. Huh! It must have been 15-20 minutes before that happened. Even the captain was getting a little annoyed. Anyways I guess coffee time was over we finally were able to disembark. We get to customs and a plane from somewhere in South America had landed before us so the customs wait was long. It was interesting watching the customs guys grill the Hispanic people on the flight. They even had them do the fingerprint thing. One guy was asked to go to the back room with one of the agents which of course got me and a couple passengers joking about the rubber glove thing. Anyways we get to customs and it was basically waving us through. Just asked a couple quickie questions. Totally different than the flight in front of us.

Get out to the cab and absolutely no wait. Gave the cab driver 20 bucks and said take me to the Flamingo and whatever left is your tip. Cab fare was 12.20. It's amazing how fast they get there when you do that.

Check in was slow at the Flamingo even though there was only 5 people in front of us. Took about a half hour. Anyways finally get to our room and was pretty disappointed with it. It was old, had a stained carpet and just not very nice. Had a much better room last time. We decided to wait until morning and request a room change.

We went for a quick dinner and then decided to head over to Harrah's and see the twins on the dueling pianos. Place was packed but we grabbed a table at the back and unfortunately only one of the twins was there but they had a guy on the other piano. He was good but I missed the back and forth banter the twins have but still a pleasant way to spend the first night in Las Vegas.

Played a few slots and had a couple drinks and made it a bit of an early night. No poker.

Back from Vegas

Well the week flew by down there. I am not sure how people go for just 3 or 4 days. A week isn't enough for me. The weather of course was incredible, the poker fun, the people watching as usual was the best.

I plan on in the next few days writing about what I did but here are a few brief snippets

1. Never road the DEUCE before but had the funniest bus driver. Its almost a post in itself.
2.Played for the first time at Caesars Palace and enjoyed the room. Great tournament.
3.Great direct 2.5 hour flight on our best airline Westjet!!! I love you guys.
4.Went to a saloon somewhere out in the desert at a place called Good Springs.
5.Only took two Cabs. One to the airport and one to my hotel. Both drivers were excellent and never tried to take me off course.
6. Visited Sams Town for the first time.
7. Great story at the HMMMM Adult Pool at the Flamingo.
8. Had one tournament win.
9.Played a funny cash game at O'Sheas. I love that place.

Now I have to get caught up reading other blogs

2 days until Vegas

I can't believe its almost here. 2 more days and then its a week in Vegas. Really looking forward to it. Been scrambling around doing a lot of last minute things like buying a long distance card so I can call home without getting ripped off by the hotel. Haven't started packing yet (tomorrow). I was going to take the laptop with me but a week away from the computer will be a good thing. Plan on playing some poker, 3 or 4 tournaments and hopefully some cash game action too. Its always harder when your spouse is not a poker player to fit it all in but I have to say my wife is incredibly understanding. Not sure if we will take in any shows but will decide when we get down there. We have a couple friends (both poker players) meeting us near the end of our week who I will play a tournament with and also another couple when we first get there for drinks. Am I excited or what? It's been over a year since the last visit.
I am planning on writing a journal while I am there so I can post it all back here when we return.

Talked to a guy who just got back from there and it seems the cab drivers are up to there old tricks of taking people the long way to their hotels. He got charged 28 bucks from the airport to Harrahs. Its about a 15 buck trip. I stay at the Flamingo and what I do is give the driver 20 bucks before he turns the meter on and tell him that I know the fair is around 13 and the rest is his tip. They are more than happy that way.

Wish me luck.