Chilling in My Palazzo in Las Vegas

Well, G. Ripley is back from vegas physically. Yet, his mind is still on a fun weekend which transpired in some wacky ways. Let's go over some highlights. First, RSG saw the 40/40 club in The Palazzo hotel. This club is designed and owned by Jay-Z and his partners. The hip-hop extraordinaire has put jerseys of basketball players, baseball players, and NFL football players in this cool lounge. There are tons of high definition tvs and plasmas so the place has the feel of a sports bar in the day, nightclub at night. After G. Ripley took pictures in the sports club, RSG saw the rest of the Palazzo. Then, RSG went to the Wynn hotel to see the maserati ferrari dealership. It was great to see maseratis, ferraris, and one lamborghini too. Next, RSG got into a ferrari 430 spider and did a photo shoot. RSG took 4 pictures in that car, and one of them is framed. It's part of the admission when you go to the dealership. The dealership is awesome. As for saturday night, RSG hit up Tryst. The wait in line was for a short amount of time (25 minutes), and then into one of the best clubs in the world. The waterfall at tryst, plus the dancers, and the cosmopolitan women were great. On friday night and most of saturday, RSG gambled on ncaa basketball and nba basketball at the sportsbooks in casinos. The fans of college teams (like wisconsin, UNC tar heels, or Kentucky) go all out for their team by wearing their school colors, and raving about their teams. One fan from wisconsin was totally loud and boisterous, that he started imitating Dick Vitale and ragging on the michigan state squad like there was no tomorrow. Many people in the casino sportsbook, including myself, thought the wisconsin fan provided tons of entertainment. RSG won 3 out of the 6 games which he bet on. Ganpuleone ended up losing $40 cuz various dollar amounts ($20 or $40 or $60) were bet on certain games, but it was fun. Lastly, check the waterfall picture below. It's a picture of the 90 foot waterfall at Tryst.

Review of "Breaking Back"

Yesterday, I finished reading "Breaking Back" by James Blake. It's a great book about James Blake's battle with Herpes Zoster and his other battles (specifically his dad's demise from stomach cancer) in 2004. The story will open your mind and give you the idea that "there is always hope in life." Hope is a good thought to think about and it helps you to keep going. For the author of this post, this book was special because it hit home. In early February 2008, Shingles entered G. Ripley's face (specifically the right eye) and it distorted vision plus it brought about shooting pain in various parts of the body. Three weeks later, the right eye was back to normal. The bumps on the right eyelid had disappeared as well. Back to my review, the book gives a timeline of James tennis career starting from 1999 to 2006. Since G. Ripley follows tennis passionately, it was good to catch up on tour results from the ATP. Last year, I saw James Blake on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". James was poised in his interview with the comedian. He talked about his book, and how the medical experience changed his life forever. Once you read the book, you will know that life is truly about "getting better."