Bacon. In Brooklyn. Sunday.

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Heeding the words of Bob & Doug MacKenzie, Dawn Summers and I headed north to join in the Eh Vegas fun this past weekend. For the non-poker blogger reader of 423Smith, this post might be a bit of a snoozefest so you may want to check back in a few days for a more typical 423Smith post.

Motoring to Buffalo – mostly uneventful, however I did learn that traffic circles scare Dawn. (I would link to Dawn’s blog but she gave blogging up for Lent so a link would be useless.)

VinNay treated us to a nice evening of drinks and dinner. The light jazz band accompanying our meal made conversation difficult at times and I swear I heard Dawn Summers say she really does love puppies and that VinNay once worked as an assassin for the CIA. I also learned that Dawn really doesn’t like instrumental music.

After dinner we headed to the casino in Niagara Falls, USA to play some poker. It was taking forever to get seated so VinNay and I headed to the main casino floor. VinNay promptly lost some money playing video poker and roulette so I thought I was bad luck charm for him. However, we were finally seated at the same poker table and he handily won all his money back plus some. I more than doubled my buyin but would have won more if I hadn’t started playing so stupidly. We got to watch the crazy Syracuse-UConn game with the 6 overtimes – lots of Syracuse fans in the house so it was pretty raucous.

That night I awoke to the screeching sound of a Dalek! Exterminate! Exterminate!

But instead of being vapourized by a Dalek I was being smothered by linen-covered polyvinyl! The air mattress had a slow leak and was in the process of swallowing me whole! I managed to fight back with the attached air compressor and all was well again.

The next day VinNay kindly took me to the local cemetery and we traipsed around for a bit.

A ghost of VinNay

Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY

VinNay then showed us some of the highlights of Buffalo. I had always thought of Buffalo as a freezing cold, decaying industrial town. Of course I was proved wrong. Unfortunately, the only photo I took during this tour was of the War Memorial Auditorium, currently being demolished.

Wee Dawn and VinNay

Later that day we headed off for the Great White North. Dawn and I were grilled by the border patrol due to the fact that she tried to blow past the stop sign while wearing NE Patriots gear. I was envisioning a “Brokedown Palace” (that would be “Midnight Express” for you older folks) future for the two of us. Luckily my skills at deceit were enough to get us through.

We met up with the Eh Vegas crew at Distillery District in Toronto. All I can say is — beer!

After several hours of Canadian poker (which is pretty much like American poker except that it is played in Canada) we headed off to bed. It was my turn on the couch – which I had no fear would try to suffocate me like the air mattress. Instead it tried to freeze me to death! The guest suite was freezing so we cranked up the heat which didn’t seem to work. There were no blankets so I put on three layers of shirts and used the extra towels as blankets. Brrr!

After brunch the next day, VinNay and I were following Katitude, Keith and OhCaptain back to Kat’s place. We were chatting away while they led us through a strange neighborhood. We started to get concerned about this path but figured we were headed to the Beer Store to get supplies. The driver finally turned to talk to the front seat passenger and he had a beard! Which Keith doesn’t! D’oh! Luckily VinNay’s phone’s GPS sorted us out.

Waiting for the Eh Vegas tournament to start, I introduced some folks to Jungle Speed. I had played once with my friends and promptly bought the game for myself because it was a ton ‘o fun. The game instructions warn about potential violence and I must admit I may have inflicted some wounds on VinNay and at one point OhCaptain was flinging me across the table with a vengeance.

I was mostly card dead throughout the tourney but did make the final table. I even got my first royal flush. PokerTart busted me when her mighty 99 took down my JJ. Congrats to PokerTart for cashing but unfortunately she did not take down the coveted Beaver trophy. That honor went to NutzCarson after an epic HU battle with Astin. OhCaptain (I keep wanting to call him OhPirate) took third.

I then headed over to the cash game where I wasn’t so card dead – if only I had these hands during the tourney!

The next day a bunch of us headed out to see some Toronto sights. Of course we had to visit the CN Tower. Try as I might, I could not see my house from the tower.

Next on the agenda was Niagara Falls.

We got our fortunes read by Zoltar. He said something about me giving away my hidden treasures. What was that all about?

Kat and Zoltar

We had dinner at the TGIF wannabe of Canada. I think it was one of worst meals I’ve eaten in a restaurant. Good company though.

We then said goodbye to our Canadian friends (and OhCaptain, who, although lives in Minnesota and that could be considered Canada, is really an American). Dawn was happy to be heading home.

Back in Buffalo Dawn, VinNay and I settled down to watch Flight of the Conchords, Dollhouse and Dewey Cox Walk Hard. A glass of Midleton Very Rare Irish whiskey finished off the night quite nicely.

During our journey back to Brooklyn, cross-eyed Mary (Dawn named her GPS Mary to spite me and I have now renamed her cross-eyed Mary) tried to get us lost in New Jersey. For some reason she kept telling us to exit and get back on the road north – heading back from whence we came.

All in all, a very fun weekend with a great group of folks. Thanks again for hosting Kat and to VinNay for putting up with the Brooklyn girls. Next year make it during a warmer month so Astin can BBQ.

: )