Tomorrow, I will be in Las Vegas. Oh yes. Staying Thursday through Sunday at the Imperial Palace, on the strip.

What to do, what to do... Let's see... Ben Folds is playing at the House of Blues Friday night, although I'm not sure if we'll drop the $20 each on tickets or not yet. According to my mother, I will NOT be getting any lap dances. Absolutely NOT. So there goes that plan. Getting married? Um, no. Every time Lindsay or I tells someone we're going to Vegas the first thing they say is "Are you getting hitched?" Every time. No. We're not. We're doing that on a tropical island, people! Otherwise, Vegas is wide open for lots and lots of booze and lots of cheap and moderately-to-completely insane entertainment. Wayne Newton? More than likely, friends. More than likely. Blue Man Group? Not really my thing. The Cirque de Soliel? Maybe. David Copperfield or Brenner? Probably not. If we do, it would only be to heckle. We're so jaded, Davids. Lord of the Dance? Oh God. That would be insanely funny. Siegfried & Roy? Probably not. Star Trek Experience? For sure.

Gee, Eric, aren't there Final Four games on Saturday? Why, yes, friend, there are. And hey, since I'll be in Vegas and all, why don't I just stop by and watch them at the Las Vegas ESPN Zone? I'm drooling already, I think, although I'm too numb to really tell. A vacation will do my body good, that's for damn sure.

I'm a little concerned about the testosterone level at the ESPN Zone, though. I am, after all, 80% female according to this test. Also, I will have 3 female friends along, too. Hopefully I can con them into believing that the ESPN Zone is a good idea. Yes, basketball is really fun to watch in a giant sports-worshipping arena like the Zone with hundreds of other people. We can all cheer for the team that no one else is cheering for. We'll get our asses kicked, sure, but it will be fun, right? Right? Guys? Plus the Zone has air hockey and a dessert made with 3 warm Krispy Kremes, Hot Fudge, Caramel and Vanilla Ice Cream. I think I just wet myself again. Damn.

You know what? While in Vegas, I can gamble on the NCAA games, too. Ha. Cory Johnson would be so proud of me right now. At Iowa State, he was my dorm floor bookie. I think I was his project my first freshman year of college. He'd pull me aside before NFL weekends and tell me all about the lines and odds and whatnot. He'd take me to Prairie Meadows and teach me the ins-and-outs of dog and horse racing. He called me a "bitch" a lot, too. That's a sure fire sign that the guy liked you. "Bitch, grab your shit, we're going to Prairie Meadows." He taught me everything he knew about gambling. I promptly forgot it all, mind you, but I did well sometimes. Sometimes I fell flat on my face, though, too. I didn't ever really gamble much, though... maybe $10 on a game tops. I was living on like $3.28 a month, so I had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it. I wonder what he's up to nowadays... At any rate...

Vegas!

---

I'm dealing with my mortgage company again to 1) try to refinance my house before rates jump back up and 2) get a home equity loan to consolidate Lins and my bills.

This is the third time I've dealt with them to try to get this going. The first 2 times, the person I dealt with was a male and I received horrible customer service. I had to call them to remind them to do their work for me. I'd talk to them and they'd pledge that they would call me back in an hour -- and they never would. I'd wait for them to call me. 2 days later, I'd have to call them. Turns out they'd forgotten to do anything for me. Riiiiight.

This time, I'm dealing with a woman. Terrific customer service. Last night, I called her at 5pm, she took down all my info and said she'd crunch some numbers and get back to me the same evening, before 6pm. 5:40, the phone rings -- it's her. She actually called me back!

So I'm hoping something good can come out of this -- especially home equity loan-wise. Lins and I have some horrendous interest rates on a couple of credit cards. Paying about $150 a month on each card. On one of the cards, $75 goes towards interest and $75 goes to actual payment. Yikes. Feels like we're making no progress on those.

We are knocking out the smaller cards, though... and that feels treeemendous. Kohl's is done. Target is nearly done. The bed that we bought 4 years ago is nearly paid off. It's a little tiny weight off my shoulders each time something like that gets knocked off. It'll feel a lot nicer if we can consolidate the larger ones and actually see that we're making forward progress on them. Plus the interest is tax deductible. I'm not really sure what that means, but I think it's a good thing. Ha.

I think I'm done rambling for now. See you in Vegas, suckers!
Eric