I saw it first!

When J.D. and I went to Las Vegas last month, we tried looking up things we could do for free and one of them was the CBS Television City Research Center.

CBS essentially has studios in Las Vegas where they run pilots of new, upcoming series. The website falsely advertised that they'd offer $15 for about half an hour of your time. We watched the pilot in a room alone in front of computers then had to answer about 50 questions, multiple choice and answers.

Before entering, we had to sign that we were ok to watch a TV-14 show. We were curious as to what was going to be shown, since most TV ratings are TV-G and TV-PG. TV-14 shows, on the other hand, are reserved programs after 9 p.m. and movies that are rated PG-13 or R.

TV-14

(Parents Strongly Cautioned -- This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age.)

Parents are strongly urged to exercise greater care in monitoring this program and are cautioned against letting children of any age watch unattended. This rating may be accompanied by any of the following sub-ratings:

• D for intensely suggestive dialogue
• L for strong coarse language
• S for intense sexual situations
• V for intense violence

The show we viewed was called Life, Unexpected, which airs on the CW tonight (well, it's probably currently on as I type this). Although it was a bit cheesy and slow-moving at times, it's a pretty decent drama that J.D. and I both agreed we'd try to watch and see how it develops.

The only thing I'm pretty annoyed about is the fact that it will run on the CW. I thought that channel was for middle and high school girls....

But it's gotten some pretty good reviews. I'm just curious to see how the viewers' responses from the CBS Research Center will change what we saw from what airs tonight. According to J.D., the responses will shape how they edit/alter the first run from the pilot.

Las Vegas, finally!

So after avoiding it for nearly a month, it's now time to regale you with tales from my first "real" trip to Las Vegas.

DAY ONE

J.D. and I hopped on our plane on Dec. 12 in San Francisco, headed towards Las Vegas. We enjoyed the quick one hour flight in the middle of the day, but upon arriving in Sin City, stopped to grab a quick bite to eat in our terminal. We tried to find a healthy option and ended up paying $20 for two half-sized paninis, chips and a soda. Yikes.

While awaiting our luggage, I wanted to wander through the airport, as every aisle was lined with slot machines or video poker! But again, grabbing our luggage was a breeze, as hardly anyone was flying to Vegas in the middle of the week, in the middle of winter. So we grabbed a cab and made our way through the desert, to the Strip, and our final destination, THEhotel at Mandalay Bay.

We walked up to the front desk, and I asked the woman working if we could possibly check in an hour early, since our flight arrived sooner than anticipated. She replied that it was no problem, but we'd have to wait 20 minutes before heading up to our room because house keeping was still tidying up.

No problem, we still had to eat our lunch and wanted to check out the place. So we stowed our baggage behind the desk and wandered in awe throughout the hotel. Let me just say that the ambient lighting and soft music pulsing through the lobby made me feel like I was inside of some futuristic day spa. We eventually made our way through the casino and to the central dining area. Again, hardly anyone was around, so we had prime real estate at an open table in front of some crêpe/frozen yogurt shop (guess what I had after lunch?!).

After filling our bellies and wasting over 30 minutes, we headed up to our room. Except, the keys didn't work. So we trekked back downstairs once again, asking for them to re-key our cards. So the same woman apologized, said yes the key was in fact dead, and re-keyed it. She also told us, if it didn't work a second time, to call the front desk from the phone located in the elevator room, and a technician would come up to help us.

Guess what? The second key didn't work, so I angrily called the front desk and they said someone was on his way. But J.D. and I waited, and waited. And made a pact that if 20 minutes passed, we'd call again. So he did in 20 minutes, and they still maintained that someone was on his way.

Well, after an hour of waiting, someone finally did meet us. And was appalled that we'd been waiting so long, because he only received the work order 15 minutes ago. He walked us to the room and explained that the entire system had switched to new keys and the front desk was still using the old system, because - it not so few words - they were idiots. So he told us he'd relay the word on that we'd been inconvenienced and he was on his merry way, as we, finally, made it to our room!

And what a room it was! I believe it was almost 800 sq. ft., including a living room with massive TV, front bathroom, bedroom with walk-in closet TV thing, and the largest room of all - master bathroom with TV - waterfall tub, shower, and a separate room for the toilet.


Anxious to get out, we wanted to familiarize ourselves with every corner of our hotel, then hit up the Strip at night! But while I was getting ready for our night out, J.D. angrily called guest services and complained about our hour ordeal. The front desk apologized for our inconvenience and offered us a $100 credit to the hotel owned dining services! SWEET! That would be about three free meals for each of us to share. Suddenly, that hour wait didn't seem so bad anymore.

As promised, the technician did put in a good word for us at the front desk, and they called apologizing for their f-up and were willing to offer us a mere $50 credit. However, she looked at our file, and realized we'd already been given $100. Again, she apologized and hung up. I'd be ok if I am never apologized to again after that cluster.


Then we were out, walking down the Strip when our bellies once again called to us. So we decided to enter the first casino, New York, New York, and look around there for a place to eat. Our location ended up being Nine Fine Irishmen, an Irish pub/restaurant.

Drinks around, J.D. ordered fish and chips, as I picked out a maple-drenched piece of salmon with leeks and dried cherries.

And then the rest of first night was all about taking inventory. After dinner, we walked the length of the strip and ended the night with a large "vase-like" glass of yummy frozen alcohol and sugaryness.

This is what we saw that night (much to our hurting feets' dismay):

Days Two, Three and Four to come!

All B-ball, All The Time.

Tonight's Stockton Showcase downtown at the Stockton Arena kicks off four-straight games for me before my Vegas trip.

After working professional sporting games in the past, going to a mid-major Division I collegiate team has been a nice change of pace. While the pressure still is great, it's not as terribly demanding as the professional realm.

But when we host Pac-10 opponent Cal downtown tonight, in front of nearly 8,000 fans and 25 media members to perform for, I think it's finally going to feel like what college hoops is all about on the grand scale. Tonight just might be a glimpse into working for a big-time BCS school. And I'm fairly excited about that prospect!

So we have tonight's game, women's basketball tomorrow night, men's basketball again on Saturday night and women's basketball Sunday afternoon. Then I head out to my parents' house in the East Bay Sunday night, so as to catch an early flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas on Monday morning.

Gosh I can't wait!

And I really am trying to practice my story writing. I made a promise to myself that it's going to get me somewhere. But you can't run a marathon before stretching... so consider this my pre-warm-up lap stretch.

Did I really fly hoem from Vegas drunk at 6 a.m.??

Here's my photo montage of what happened over the past five days. Since I'm apparently still hung over (I slept when I got home from the airport at 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., woke up made dinner, watched a movie and am now sufficiently ready to pass out again), I'll write more about these experiences later.

This is just to remind myself that I really did go to Las Vegas -- and I've lived to tell about it. Oh yeah, if it seems like I live/work like a groupie on the road, that's because I do. I'm not sure how to take that, but I guess it sort of goes with the territory.

My bathroom at Caesar's Palace - note the flatscreen t.v. That came in handy during showers and nightly prep before going out.

The view from my room! Definitely nothing to complain about.

Day one on site at Caesar's... do you blame the fans for not showing up at 8 a.m.? I almost didn't.

Jake "Spiker" Gibb. In hot pink Karch Kiraly cap.

This is the site at night! Selection ceremony for the men's final on Saturday.

Fountain entrance at Caesar's in the lobby.

Ah the famous Las Vegas pools. Caesar's (obviously) by night. I spent many hours there (see: lobster red skin)

The entrance to the designer shops at the Forum! So amazing.

And then after walking through the Forum, I sort of happened upon this fire spectacle. Apparently it was the taking of Atlantis. Whatever.

This might seem odd to those who don't know, but for some reason I always stumble across blinged-out bathrooms when I'm out with the AVP. The one pictured here is in Blush at the Wynn hotel and casino. I do think I have a penchant for silver bathrooms, so much so that I might bling my own toilet room out someday.

Ceiling at Blush. Pretty, no? This is about as far back as my memory goes that night...

Viva Las Vegas!

There are so many things I could write in this post, for never having been to Vegas before, that I don't even know where to start.

I guess I'll begin with the plane. Last month on my way to Chicago, I had a brief layover in Vegas and I could see all the hotels on the strip when we landed and took off. But until you actually set foot in the city, that all means nothing.

The grandeur and sheer size of everything is incredible. I felt like a little kid just taking in all the glittery sights and everything. Fuck Reno! I'm so glad my parents never took me here when I was younger, because that could have been very bad. It definitely is an adult's playground to say the least.

While trying to find the shuttle at baggage claim was a huge ordeal, I shouldn't have ever worried because I'm traveling with a group of 6+ foot tall people. They're so easy to spot from anywhere, that if I ever get lost I'll just walk towards the height. So when we located our driver, he took us to a fleet of shuttles and we all piled into the Caesar's Palace-bound shuttle. Appropriately it was the huge Celine Dion car. And then I joked to everyone within earshot (probably more times than was funny), "I feel like we're Celine Dion roadies right now." It must have looked funny to see a van of professional volleyball players and staff piling out of a Celine Dion van at the entrance to the hotel -- which by the way is RIDICULOUS! I have tons of pictures to share from that.

The best part? My room's view of the American version of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. It's a fitting transition for someone who plans on living in France in less than a month!

My night was crazy and fun all at the same time. I'll leave you with that and no further details about it :)

Supposedly Matt Fuerbringer's sponsor is going to be picking up the tab for happy hour FREE drinks at the circle bar on site after his last match tonight. That means free drinks from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. I'm so there. Only of course after the Intern Olympics, which should be both ridiculous and hysterical at the same time!

Pictures to come later, once I load them all on my computer...