Whatever Happens In Vegas...Will Definitely Be Posted On This Blog!

My maiden voyage to Las Vegas will be in February as we booked a three-day, three-night excursion to Sin City yesterday. Using the friendly services of Expedia, we were able to get exactly what we wanted with flights and a stay right on the strip at Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon. I know many of the people who read my blog have been to Vegas so please send along your best advice to my e-mail address: mrl21@hotmail.com.

One funny sidenote of using expedia is that we were checking flights for both Akron and Cleveland when we accidentally put in Akron to Cleveland. Can you believe the flight was more expensive than Akron to Las Vegas? Not to mention there were two layovers. Apparently there are no direct flights from Akron to Cleveland and you have a layover in Detroit and Pittsuburgh, though my guess was that the layovers were in Stow and Brecksville which seemed to make more sense geographically.

Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

Pride Won Out Over Money...Barely!

Early Sunday it became obvious that my father and I were going to lose in our fantasy football league (the league with the big payout). Actually lose is too nice of a word-we got crushed. I still had one chance left to make it into a championship game in my other league (the league with the small payout, but a lot of pride was at stake). It came down to the last minute of the Monday Night Football Game, but I won my semi-final game in my other league (the pride league) by ONE point to make it to the championship game. If you read this previous blog entry, you would know my leagues and my teams came down to pride or money last weekend. Obviously pride won out, except for one small thing: I still have a championship game to play, and I have to play it against my Julie, the Fantasy Football First-Timer. Let me say one more thing: Her team is good, really really good. Yesterday my co-worker, and blog-reader Bill said the following thing: "It would really suck to lose to your significant other in something that you really loved, and something they were only doing to entertain you." That pretty much sums up what I am feeling right now. Thanks for the insight Bill!

The World's Best Wings? I Think Not!

Last week I took a new way to work as to avoid the crazy freeway traffic that occurs before you get downtown. As I took my new route, I found a Cleats Bar and Grille at the bottom of a big hill behind the freeway with a huge sign overlooking the parking lot that said: "Home of the Worlds Best Wings". I felt like Columbus discovering America for the first time, though discovering a place that advertises "Worlds Best Wings" might be an even better feeling.

Obviously it wasn't long before we headed over there for dinner as it was only 5 minutes away, and just to remind you, they advertised "Home of the Worlds Best Wings" outside on a huge sign. We got there and were excited it wasn't wing night, so we could taste the real deal and not get stuck with the skimpy wing night wings. We were pleasantly surprised that you could get a wing platter: 30 wings with choice of five different sauces. We were sold on the platter right away. We were also sold on the Great Lakes Christmas Ale, but that is a different blog entry. We chose our five sauces: hot garlic, samurai (teriyaki), memphis belle, cajun and sweet heat. When the wings came out they were all loaded on one big platter with a bunch of fries thrown in the middle. I felt my arteries tighten up as the waitress sat down our dinner in front of us. (Keep in mind this is a place that advertises an 11-pound sandwich on their menu called the Garbage Dumpster, so you know these wings are bound to be extra-healthy!)

As for the wings, I only liked the hot garlic and cajun dry rub wings. The other three were way too sweet and not spicy enough for me. On top of only liking the two sauces, I had two wings break on me, which is an automatic deduction in my rankings. Overall, the wings had good size but could have been sauced better. It looked like they just threw sauce on top of the wings on the way out of the kitchen, so only half the wing had sauce on it. I walked away underwhelmed by the whole experience. I give the wings served at Cleats three wings out of five wings. Also, if you don't think the name Cleats sounds like a romantic place to get wings, you shouldn't judge this wing place by the athletic shoes hanging outside on their big bright neon sign. Underneath the exterior of a very casual sports bar, with minimal formalities and a bathroom that looks like it is only half-completed, they also offer this deal: A Deluxe Chicken Dinner on their menu with 24 wings and a bottle of Dom Perignon for just $150.00. Now that's a classy romantic wing joint!

'Tis The Season

It's that time of year again. I am making last-minute preparations, checking my lists twice and planning parties. Of course I can only be talking about one thing: Fantasy Football Playoffs have begun. This year I was in two leagues for the first time, and this year I am lucky enough to have made it to the semi-finals in both my leagues. As much fun and excitement that it has been to be in two leagues at one time, it has also been quite a headache: twice as much research and twice as many decisions. I know! My life is so hard! The most stressful thing (if you can call anything with the word "fantasy" in it stressful) is that many weeks I face players in one league that I have on my team in another league. I will be facing this very situation this weekend. My father and I have a chance to win a lot of money with Adrian Peterson, Edgerrin James and Joey Galloway this weekend in our semi-final game. In my other league, my opponent has these same players and the opportunity to win bragging rights in Cleveland for the next year. I am torn on money versus pride this week. Talk about stressful. I would rather try to find a parking space at the mall on Christmas Eve. Speaking of Christmas...isn't that coming up sometime soon as well?

The Browns Score! CRASH!

Yesterday my brother Mark was the responsible one. You may want to read that last sentence again before I go on. Ok...now that you are all caught up, Mark is the responsible one. This is because he was the only one able to drive home yesterday after we spent four hours at the Blue Moose Eatery watching every football game possible on the NFL ticket. We left the bar before the Browns game was over even though it looked like they had the game won. However on the drive home and two onside kicks later by the Jets, the game was still not over. It was at this point that I got out of my car and watched Mark park my car ahead of his car on the street. Unfortunately, it was also at this point that Jamal Lewis scored the game-winning touchdown for the Browns. As my brother listened to Jim Donovan's excited voice do play-by-play on the score, he accidentally slammed his foot on the gas and backed up into his own car. At this point his alarm starts going off on his car. While there was very minimal damage for either car, it did create quite a commotion. I guess that was just Mark's way of celebrating. Let me reiterate, he is the responsible one in this story.

The Amazingly Cold Casting Call

On Tuesday my sister and I waited for four hours out in twenty degree weather for our chance to get an audition for The Amazing Race reality show. Let me just say, it took me almost 24 hours to regain full feeling in my extremities, but it was worth it. After doing a quasi-Amazing Race adventure in Dave and Busters, we were chosen to do a video that would be sent to the casting offices of the show. I will keep everyone updated. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Amazing (Blog) Race

Tomorrow at this time, my sister and I will be auditioning for The Amazing Race, which is one of our favorite shows. If things go well, at this time next year, you will be watching us adventure across the globe. As always, I will keep you updated.