Guys Weekend 15 is in the books, and even though it wasn't in Vegas, it was in a city with a big shiny pyramid (well, relatively shiny; the building did seem to have seen better days) -- Memphis!
Here's a summary of the weekend:
We stayed in a very nice townhouse with elaborate decor on
Mud Island, a few short blocks from the Mississippi River.
Mark and Amorak arrived around 5 p.m. Wednesday after driving through Missouri and Arkansas. Christopher and the Joes came in from Birmingham maybe an hour later, and Mark and Amorak watched them drive by from the balcony in stifling heat/humidity. We all went out for pizza and beer, eating on a back deck in some of the bendiest chairs you'll ever find (certainly not suited for dining, those chairs). Then we went to Kroger for groceries, stocking up on the usual supplies and what turned out to be purt near the perfect amount of beer. Then it was back to the townhouse for poker. We spent the evening playing Texas Holdem exclusively.
A gullywhomper of a thunderstorm blew through the area shortly after we all went to bed, which is to say early Thursday morning. Mark and Amorak and Joe A dragged themselves out of bed for an earlyish tee time nonetheless, but when they got to the golf course, it was pretty much underwater, and a call to the clubhouse from the parking lot confirmed the forecast was grim. So we went to Starbucks (where they were out of strawberries), read The New York Times and chatted. Then we went back to the townhouse and ate lunch and made plans to go play laser tag with Christopher and Joe R. Alas, the laser tag place was not yet open when we got there, so we headed for a nearby park and a soggy game of football. Mark gutted out his neck and ankle injuries to play all-time QB, as Amorak and Christopher took on the Joes. There were numerous slips and spills on the rainsoaked grass -- with Amorak and Christopher leading the league in getting soaked -- and the game ended in a 14-14 tie. Back to the townhouse for showers, and the laser tag plans faded away.
Scott came in that night, and jumped right into the cards -- we played a new variety of dealers choice: after a game was called, we played it all the way around the table before switching games. Seems like this worked pretty well.
Friday was a day for sleeping late and hanging around the townhouse. Some folks headed down to the riverside park. Mark and Amorak monopolized the PS3 to play some first-person shooter game where Mark was the All-American hero soldier and Amorak was his barely noticed sidekick. Hey, that sounds kind of like high school. :)
Then, alas, Mark started feeling poorly and headed upstairs for a nap. The rest of us went to a little bar/grille down the street for dinner: fried pickles, burgers, catfish, cheap happy-hour beers. Yum. Some of us walked beside the greenspace along the river, some drove as we headed back to the townhouse to get the cards on the felt. More expanded dealers choice, followed by a few hours of Holdem after Mark went to bed and Scott fell asleep on the couch.
Saturday morning, Mark, Amorak, Joe A and Christopher went to Graceland. Counted a whopping 32 states on the license plates in the parking lot (and we didn't even cover the whole lot). 19 states in the handicap lot alone. Drove through Backyard Burgers on the way back to the townhouse. We all played a crazy six-person version of Spades in the afternoon, and then went to see Beale Street and eat at Rendezvous Ribs. Then, as usual, back to the townhouse for more poker.
Sunday morning, we got up, did the best we could to restore the place to its original condition, and piled in our respective cars to head for home. Joe A left exceptionally early (after scaring the heeholy shit out of Mark and Amorak when he came up to say goodbye), so Christopher and Joe R rode back with Scott.
And that was the weekend, in a nutshell.
Some things that I failed to mention in the narrative but that seemed worth recording for posterity:
- Yet another GW with an AC failure. That makes at least three. And we didn't call to complain until when, Friday at 4:55? So an herby-smelling fellow came in Saturday morning and fixed us up. Why didn't we call, like, Wednesday night? Scott's line about how nice/apologetic Mark was on the phone call: "By the end of the call, he was offering to go to their house and fix their air conditioner."
- One of the nice aspects of that big-ass thunderstorm was that it really cut the humidity. We had particularly lovely weather, considering we were in Memphis in July.
- It definitely was the GW of the GPS. Lots of use of them, lots of talk about them. "Those things kill your instincts," Christopher says. And the GPS folks didn't know that Auction Ave is now A.W. Willis.
- Guitar Hero made its GW debut. Scott and Joe A are definitely the pros.
- Mark and Amorak spent most of Missouri on the way over talking about "The Wire" and then Amorak proceeded to drop "Wire" references into conversation throughout the weekend, no doubt annoying the tar out of the other guys.
- How could I forget the Great Saltine Challenge? When Mark was feeling ill, he went to the corner grocery for saltines and soup, and Amorak and Scott told Joe A and Christopher about the thing where you can't eat six saltines in a minute without drinking anything. Joe was up for the challenge, and Christopher was openly skeptical of the assertion that he couldn't do it. Christopher tried the four-crackers-at-once approach and almost exploded. Joe tried the very-small-very-rapid-bites approach and folded before he finished the second cracker. Heh.
I'll post weekend pictures tomorrow.
The Fab Four in front of The King's mansion.
Christopher, shopping for a new suit.
Mark, taller than Elvis.
I don't know why there's no picture of Joe A in front of the gold suit.
We thought Junior here should see his final resting place.
Mirrors on the ceiling, pink Champagne on ice ...
A personal note to us from Elvis himself.
Joe A and Amorak in the gift shop. One of the many gift shops, that is.
