85. With Mike and Con Stefanidis - Harrah's, January 28-30, 2005

• This trip was to "celebrate" getting laid off from Hughes.

• After 84 trips to Las Vegas, I finally sat down and played at a casino poker table.

• Mike was invited to a Texas Hold 'em tournament. He played well, but the blinds were just too big to start, and he was eliminated in the first round.

• My mom gave me twenty bucks to bet on one of those really big slot machines (which she calls Big Berthas), so I let Mike's dad pull the lever and he won about sixty bucks for her.