Tao of Pauly

Almost in Vegas

On Monday I had a "To Do" list of about 20-25 things that I had to do before I left for Las Vegas. I cranked out about 10 of them last night and added 10 more. I did about half my list before Tuesday at Noon.

So what's on these lists you ask?

Some of the errands included going to the post office and doing laundry. The most important thing on the list is making sure I bring the right plugs and cords for my various electronic items like my laptop, two cameras, and my cell phone. In Barcelona, I had to get a UBS card reader and I luckily had a mall next door to my hotel. It was much cheaper in Spain than in the US. Packing for six weeks is no different from packing for six weeks. Lucky for me, where I'm staying in Las Vegas and LA, there's a washer and dryer.

I also had to answer my email. When I first had email, I used to write lengthy responses to the handful of people who sent me messages. It was cathartic for me, plus it was a great writing exercise. No one writes long letters anymore. It's been replaced by the coldness of two-line emails with plenty of "lol" and :).

Anyway, I have a few different email addresses and it takes almost 30 minutes every morning for me to look at all of them and pick out the important ones from the crap. I had almost 100 emails that I never answered and I took 2 hours to do all of that. And I still feel that I gave a few people just a few seconds of my time when they deserved more. Oh well. That's the hardest part these days... too much email. It's good and it's evil. The good news is that I got over 100 messages down to 4 in one account.

I also have a lost of people I owe phonecalls too. It seems the people you need to get in contact with the most are never around or in the middle of a vacation in Chile or at a business luncheon. I've got through 80% of my list.

I ate an Everything bagel yesterday. There's three main people who work that shop; an old white lady with a hair net, a young Cambodian girl, and a middle-aged ethnic guy from somewhere in Eastern Europe. I've been going to that place for years. The young girl and old lady know what I want by now. I rarely have a problem with them. I always cringe when the ethnic guy takes my order because he always fucks it up. They do a bad job buttering the bagels. Since they keep jacking up the prices, I want my fair share of butter. Anyway, I always have to ask for "extra butter" because they always skimp. Sadly, whenever ethnic guy butters my bagel, he barely gives me any. I ask for "extra" and he simply does not get it. Maybe I should try "double butter" or "extra extra butter."

I finished up a few writing assignments. I've been cranking stuff out the last few days. It seems since I got back to NYC, all I've done was write and watch basketball. I finally cranked out the latest issue of Truckin'. That project had been taking up a lot of my time. Just when one deadline is over, I have another one looming.

I watched The Soprano's on TiVo so now I'm all caught up. I appreciate it when writers take risks. And they did it in this episode. The beginning started out great and then it fizzled. The Sopranos still suck. I did like the Tibetan monks bitch slapping Tony. Oh well. I'm awaiting the new episode of Entourage. Johnny Drama baby....

I completed The Tipping Point. I read most of it on the subway on Monday. I started Arthur Nersesian's new book and I read the first 20 pages of Charles Bukowsi's Hollywood.

I cooked dinner for my brother last night. I cooked spicy sausage and cheese tortellini. I made the marinara sauce from scratch with extra garlic. Oh, and I made garlic bread with extra mozzarella cheese.

I just have to finish up last minute packing before I head to the airport for another cross-country flight. I've done the NYC-Las Vegas leg so many times that I think I can do it in my sleep. 5 hours on a plane used to bother me. Now I can do it without blinking.

Update...

10:10am... I arrived at the airport super early. My flight does not board for another hour or so. I had an incident of sorts to report. Last night while I was packing, I grabbed my press badge for the World Poker Tour which I keep with my passport in a drawer. Since I was going to be on the road for 6 weeks, I decided to take my passport with me. I usually take it with me whenever I travel because you never know when you might have to leave the country at the last minute. Being on the road for six weeks meant that it was a necessity. I'm glad I packed it because when I arrived at the airport, I could not find my driver's license anywhere. I used my passport to get past security and everything is fine for this trip as long as I don't drive... which is supposed to happen at the end of April when I get a rental car to cover the WPT Championships at the Bellagio. I was fixin' to stay with Grubby in Henderson and commute to work everyday. If I can't find my license, I might have to stay in a hotel near by! I'm 75% sure I know where it is... on my old dresser next to some business cards. I had taken out an old credit card last week and replaced it with my new JetBlue American Express Card. I must have also taken out my license at the same time. If it's not there... I have to go get a replacement when I get back to NYC in May. Yikes.

10:21am... Hot Asian chick with a book sat down next to me. She smells like peaches.

10:23am... In a moment of clarity, I realized where my license was! I had to photocopy it for a bill for proof of address. It's sitting in the tray of my printer/scanner. I'm such a retard. I'll ask Derek to mail it to me in Las Vegas/LA. Problem solved, for now.

10:50am... While on the shitter, I sent Bobby Bracelet a text message.

10:55am... I called Senor to tell him what a dumb ass I was for forgetting my license. He's flying into Vegas on Thursday morning via Providence. He suggested that we go to a strip club tomorrow night. He wants to play golf on Saturday, which I'll miss because I have to drive to LA. In case you are wondering, I'll just be a passenger since I'm totally inept and can't drive stick. So the missing license is moot anyway.

11:01am... A suit sat down next to me and checked his Americtrade account. That reminded me about a small windfall that unexpectedly came my way, part of my grandmother's estate that was liquidated this week. It's not much, but more than the $1700 I got last month. At least this check won't go to pay my taxes. I have three options...