CuseTroop
Vegas Mole Person
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 11,593
- Like
- 28,151
it, work can wait!
My goodness. It took me 3 days to recover from that week.
Left Alaska on Thursday night. Spent the day in LA. Rented a car, checked out long beach and the UC Irvine campus. What a cool campus. 80% of those kids had cars worth more than my house lol. Had my first In N Out burger, and my first Chi-fil-a sandwich. WHO IN THE HELL PUTS PICKLES ON A CHICKEN SANDWICH?! Jumped on a flight to JFK around 9pm, then JFK to the Bahamas.
Landed Saturday morning around 9. Room wasent ready at the RIU but they gave us our wrist bands and took our luggage for us. Was at the pool for 15 seconds before I heard my first "Let's Go Orange!" I look, dude in the pool with a Cuse hat. He goes.. "Man, I didn't think I'd see many Cuse fans down here" I laugh and said, "yea, only about a thousand" He looked confused, so I was like "You're here for the games right?" Nope. He had no clue. He was here for his birthday. Was leaving on Tuesday. He gave his wife the worst glare I've ever seen lol. Not a happy dude. Spent the rest of my day laying by the ocean waiting for my brother and his girl to arrive. Due to a snow storm in the midwest, he didnt make it in until Sunday afternoon. Headed to Harborside to check out my room there (turned out to be the only time I'd step foot in that room), meet up with my friends from home, and we hit the casino. Danced the night away at the Dragon Lounge. Didn't run into anyone from here that night. Got pretty lit, and we headed back to the room.
Sunday, Laid by the pool, drinking margaritas and finally met up with my brother. Shot CTO a text to tell her I had arrived (more on that later). Had dinner, and headed back to the Dragon lounge for some more dancing and drinking. Ahh, My brother hung a SU banner off his balcony as soon as he arrived. Hard to see tho. Was walking through the Beach Tower lot, and I helped a couple find the elevator. I'm walking away, and I'm like.. I know that dude, we are facebook friends. Sure enough, it was Consigliere!
Monday- We picked up our week long Atlantis passes that I got through my room, and checked out the water park. Hit some wild slides, the rapid river was insane. Wish we would have spent another day there. Went to Anthonys for the bills game. Met Todd and Bridget from Texas. Todd is a lurker here (Todd, post more) and saw that I had posted that we would be there for the game. Let me tell you.. If you ever get the chance to meet Todd and Bridget, RUN! lol. Such an awesome couple, we spent the rest of the week with them. I believe we went to the Dragon that night as well. Oh yea, we did lol. Monday was the first night they were checking for Atlantis wrist bands to get into the Dragon. Todd and Bridget didnt have them, so the bouncer was going to charge them $20 a pop to get in. They said that. I was sad. 20 minutes later, I see them walk through some door from the outside, walk up some stairs, and they were in lol. No clue how they found that door. Text CTO for a second time (again, more on that later, but at this point was starting to get sad that she didn't love me anymore ) Jekelish sends me a message on facebook, with a picture of the SU yacht. "your mission is to get on that yacht" Challenge accepted. I met up with Fairfax and his wife at the too for a quick $27 vodka redbull lol.
Tuesday - 2 words - Booze Cruise. Snorkeled, got tanked, danced. Had a blast. On the shuttle back, I had a hunch that we needed to get off at the Coral tower stop. "Babe, we might run into someone I know!" she reluctantly came. Not 3 steps into the lobby, theres Iommi and his amazing wife and beautiful daughter. (Iommi's daughter stole the show, the whole weekend. I think she was on TV more than CTO). Talked to Iommi for a few, and Orangetown comes running up. I knew stopping there was worth it. We made plans for later, and headed out (It was yacht sneaking on time) Went to the room, changed clothes, time to find the yacht. Walking through Atlantis, I walk by a couple decked out in orange.. We high five, and I'm like hooooold up... Obie? It was the great Obie and his wife Headmaster! I said Hey guys! I'm going to sneak onto the yacht, wanna come? They looked at eachother for a second, and said, helllll yeaaaaa. And off we were. Bumped into Donna Diota, who took our picture, and it was off to the Yacht. Sneaking on? We pretty much just walked on. First person I see, Fairfax and his wife. Was getting a drink and Boom, there she was. The great CTO! After a big hug she says "You've been ignoring me, I've been texting you since we got here!" I said "I've been texting you!" sure enough, she shows me her phone, and all the times she text me to meet up. I deleted our text convo, sent a text, and we were good to go from there. She was with Iommi, who had a grin from ear to ear. Ran into Barb talked to her for a while. (side story, my friend Laurie and her boyfriend got invites for the yacht. they were on the booze cruise with me, and Laurie was hammered. I left her with Barb. Barb, I'm so sorry! lol) Got pictures with the team, Gmac, and Hop. Had a blast on the yacht. My girl reminded me that I hadn't fed her dinner yet, so we had to leave early for that. Heard later that they partied well into the morning. Should have went back! After dinner, it was back to the Dragon for once again, more dancing and drinking.
Wednesday - Freaking game day. Iommi and I made plans to meet up at the Coral Lobby. We got there, place was dead. we had a few drinks and were going to head to the sports book. Ran into Fairfax and a group on the way, and decided just to stick around the Lobby bar. We owned the Coral bar. 100% orange. The rest of the week we made that our spot. I met soooooo many people, way to many to list. ssbriefcase gave me the ol "hey, cusetroop?" yep. Met him and his wife. That dude knows how to party... I turned down a shot later that night with him ( I was already tanked, I owe ya one dude). We had a solid pregame, and headed to the arena. Chanting the whole way. My seats were immaculate. Between the end of the SU bench, and mid court. My girl had a seat a row back, more mid court. But the seats next to me were empty, so I flagged her down, and she was able to sit with me the whole game. I won't touch on the games, because everyone else has, and I'm supposed to be catching up on work. Post game drinks, dinner, and back to the dragon bar. Spent the rest of Wednesday night in the room, My girl was flying out Thursday morning, so we just hung out with my brother and his girl. First time they've all met, so we listed to my brother tell his crazy stories all night.. Towards the end of the night my girl starts giving me the whole "I'm leaving you unsupervised, you need to be good" speech. I was like, babe, I got this.. I've been good all week. She pulls a video out of her phone, me dancing on the dance floor with some chick, dropped it low, and when I came back up my head was under her dress... she says "thats not being good!" lol. My girl knows how I get when I drink, I come to freaking dance. (FYI, i was on my best behavior, female wise the rest of the trip).
Thursday-friday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday. Beating UCONN was amazing. That jerk UCONN fan post game was kind of a bummer. I was telling my brother.. If SU had lost, we still would be in this lobby bar, partying, and congratulating Uconn fans... See where the UCONN fans are? Either in their rooms, or out here being jerks. It was sad to see.
The party after the championship game seemed to never end. Friday was my favorite day of the trip. My hand was throbbing from high fives. I hugged everyone. I tried to propose to a girl. Epic. We all ended up in the casino.
If you ever get the chance to play blackjack with Iommi.. take it. Dude is a savant. Was calling out what the dealer had, and was right 90% of the time. He had me up $280 in no time. We had a blast. Iommi made me cash out, and we wandered back through the casino. I ran into the team, and had to play roulette with Lydon. He was the nicest kid in the world. After I introduced myself, he called me by name each time we spoke (He must have read 'how to win friends and influence people') I went to cash in my winnings from that, and ran into a cuse fan who was cashing in $1,000 of his craps winnings. Said the table was hot. I've never played craps before, and was hammered, so this seemed like a great idea (Iommi, I know I promised I wouldnt play anymore, but I was hammered, and caught up in the moment. I owe you man.) Well, that dude lost me money instantly. I ended up back at a blackjack table, using the knowledge that Iommi tried to drop on me. About every 20 minutes Tyler would stop by, put his arms on me, and say "Adam, how are the cards going" "Adam, you still up?" That alone was worth the money I lost. At one point in the night, it was an SU photo session in the middle of the casino. JB had the biggest smile on his face. we were taking pictures with everyone, chanting, hugging, it was epic.
Soooo the story you've all been waiting for. I was really trying to make it through the whole trip without getting in trouble... I was soooooooooo close. 4am Saturday morning. I'm walking back to the room. I had to walk through the arena lobby, and there was the ticket table, with a Battle 4 Atlantis table cloth. I asked the janitor if it would be a big deal if I took it home. "Don't take that" he said... I took it. Thing was way heavier than I thought. I hear HEY! Now I'm in a dead sprint towards the beach tower. I hit the beach tower lobby, and walked calm and cool through it (I didnt wanna look like a criminal) heard HEY again, and took off outside, to the street, around some hedges, and into the RIU. Stashed it in a luggage cart, called my brothers room "Open the door, hit the elevator button, police are coming". Then casually walked back outside like nothing happened. 3 security guards and 2 cops were there. Came right up to me Asked if I had just stolen something... I paused a second, then said yeaaaaaaa, that was me. They hassled me for about 20 minutes, I told em I was just drunk, thought it was a good idea, and apologized. Luckly they let me go.. Ughh I'm an idiot. I told you people not to leave me unsupervised!
Guys, greatest trip of my life. I literally rented my house out for the year, and spent two months couch surfing to fund this trip. Would do it all over again. I will 100% be there in 2 years for the next one.
My only regret was not listening to Iommi when he told me to take my winnings and go home. I was just caught in the moment, and didnt want it to end. You'll never pay for a drink when you are with me again.
I know I left out so many people that I met, and so many memories, but man, I was hammered 90% of this trip. I want to go back! lol
My goodness. It took me 3 days to recover from that week.
Left Alaska on Thursday night. Spent the day in LA. Rented a car, checked out long beach and the UC Irvine campus. What a cool campus. 80% of those kids had cars worth more than my house lol. Had my first In N Out burger, and my first Chi-fil-a sandwich. WHO IN THE HELL PUTS PICKLES ON A CHICKEN SANDWICH?! Jumped on a flight to JFK around 9pm, then JFK to the Bahamas.
Landed Saturday morning around 9. Room wasent ready at the RIU but they gave us our wrist bands and took our luggage for us. Was at the pool for 15 seconds before I heard my first "Let's Go Orange!" I look, dude in the pool with a Cuse hat. He goes.. "Man, I didn't think I'd see many Cuse fans down here" I laugh and said, "yea, only about a thousand" He looked confused, so I was like "You're here for the games right?" Nope. He had no clue. He was here for his birthday. Was leaving on Tuesday. He gave his wife the worst glare I've ever seen lol. Not a happy dude. Spent the rest of my day laying by the ocean waiting for my brother and his girl to arrive. Due to a snow storm in the midwest, he didnt make it in until Sunday afternoon. Headed to Harborside to check out my room there (turned out to be the only time I'd step foot in that room), meet up with my friends from home, and we hit the casino. Danced the night away at the Dragon Lounge. Didn't run into anyone from here that night. Got pretty lit, and we headed back to the room.
Sunday, Laid by the pool, drinking margaritas and finally met up with my brother. Shot CTO a text to tell her I had arrived (more on that later). Had dinner, and headed back to the Dragon lounge for some more dancing and drinking. Ahh, My brother hung a SU banner off his balcony as soon as he arrived. Hard to see tho. Was walking through the Beach Tower lot, and I helped a couple find the elevator. I'm walking away, and I'm like.. I know that dude, we are facebook friends. Sure enough, it was Consigliere!
Monday- We picked up our week long Atlantis passes that I got through my room, and checked out the water park. Hit some wild slides, the rapid river was insane. Wish we would have spent another day there. Went to Anthonys for the bills game. Met Todd and Bridget from Texas. Todd is a lurker here (Todd, post more) and saw that I had posted that we would be there for the game. Let me tell you.. If you ever get the chance to meet Todd and Bridget, RUN! lol. Such an awesome couple, we spent the rest of the week with them. I believe we went to the Dragon that night as well. Oh yea, we did lol. Monday was the first night they were checking for Atlantis wrist bands to get into the Dragon. Todd and Bridget didnt have them, so the bouncer was going to charge them $20 a pop to get in. They said that. I was sad. 20 minutes later, I see them walk through some door from the outside, walk up some stairs, and they were in lol. No clue how they found that door. Text CTO for a second time (again, more on that later, but at this point was starting to get sad that she didn't love me anymore ) Jekelish sends me a message on facebook, with a picture of the SU yacht. "your mission is to get on that yacht" Challenge accepted. I met up with Fairfax and his wife at the too for a quick $27 vodka redbull lol.
Tuesday - 2 words - Booze Cruise. Snorkeled, got tanked, danced. Had a blast. On the shuttle back, I had a hunch that we needed to get off at the Coral tower stop. "Babe, we might run into someone I know!" she reluctantly came. Not 3 steps into the lobby, theres Iommi and his amazing wife and beautiful daughter. (Iommi's daughter stole the show, the whole weekend. I think she was on TV more than CTO). Talked to Iommi for a few, and Orangetown comes running up. I knew stopping there was worth it. We made plans for later, and headed out (It was yacht sneaking on time) Went to the room, changed clothes, time to find the yacht. Walking through Atlantis, I walk by a couple decked out in orange.. We high five, and I'm like hooooold up... Obie? It was the great Obie and his wife Headmaster! I said Hey guys! I'm going to sneak onto the yacht, wanna come? They looked at eachother for a second, and said, helllll yeaaaaa. And off we were. Bumped into Donna Diota, who took our picture, and it was off to the Yacht. Sneaking on? We pretty much just walked on. First person I see, Fairfax and his wife. Was getting a drink and Boom, there she was. The great CTO! After a big hug she says "You've been ignoring me, I've been texting you since we got here!" I said "I've been texting you!" sure enough, she shows me her phone, and all the times she text me to meet up. I deleted our text convo, sent a text, and we were good to go from there. She was with Iommi, who had a grin from ear to ear. Ran into Barb talked to her for a while. (side story, my friend Laurie and her boyfriend got invites for the yacht. they were on the booze cruise with me, and Laurie was hammered. I left her with Barb. Barb, I'm so sorry! lol) Got pictures with the team, Gmac, and Hop. Had a blast on the yacht. My girl reminded me that I hadn't fed her dinner yet, so we had to leave early for that. Heard later that they partied well into the morning. Should have went back! After dinner, it was back to the Dragon for once again, more dancing and drinking.
Wednesday - Freaking game day. Iommi and I made plans to meet up at the Coral Lobby. We got there, place was dead. we had a few drinks and were going to head to the sports book. Ran into Fairfax and a group on the way, and decided just to stick around the Lobby bar. We owned the Coral bar. 100% orange. The rest of the week we made that our spot. I met soooooo many people, way to many to list. ssbriefcase gave me the ol "hey, cusetroop?" yep. Met him and his wife. That dude knows how to party... I turned down a shot later that night with him ( I was already tanked, I owe ya one dude). We had a solid pregame, and headed to the arena. Chanting the whole way. My seats were immaculate. Between the end of the SU bench, and mid court. My girl had a seat a row back, more mid court. But the seats next to me were empty, so I flagged her down, and she was able to sit with me the whole game. I won't touch on the games, because everyone else has, and I'm supposed to be catching up on work. Post game drinks, dinner, and back to the dragon bar. Spent the rest of Wednesday night in the room, My girl was flying out Thursday morning, so we just hung out with my brother and his girl. First time they've all met, so we listed to my brother tell his crazy stories all night.. Towards the end of the night my girl starts giving me the whole "I'm leaving you unsupervised, you need to be good" speech. I was like, babe, I got this.. I've been good all week. She pulls a video out of her phone, me dancing on the dance floor with some chick, dropped it low, and when I came back up my head was under her dress... she says "thats not being good!" lol. My girl knows how I get when I drink, I come to freaking dance. (FYI, i was on my best behavior, female wise the rest of the trip).
Thursday-friday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday. Beating UCONN was amazing. That jerk UCONN fan post game was kind of a bummer. I was telling my brother.. If SU had lost, we still would be in this lobby bar, partying, and congratulating Uconn fans... See where the UCONN fans are? Either in their rooms, or out here being jerks. It was sad to see.
The party after the championship game seemed to never end. Friday was my favorite day of the trip. My hand was throbbing from high fives. I hugged everyone. I tried to propose to a girl. Epic. We all ended up in the casino.
If you ever get the chance to play blackjack with Iommi.. take it. Dude is a savant. Was calling out what the dealer had, and was right 90% of the time. He had me up $280 in no time. We had a blast. Iommi made me cash out, and we wandered back through the casino. I ran into the team, and had to play roulette with Lydon. He was the nicest kid in the world. After I introduced myself, he called me by name each time we spoke (He must have read 'how to win friends and influence people') I went to cash in my winnings from that, and ran into a cuse fan who was cashing in $1,000 of his craps winnings. Said the table was hot. I've never played craps before, and was hammered, so this seemed like a great idea (Iommi, I know I promised I wouldnt play anymore, but I was hammered, and caught up in the moment. I owe you man.) Well, that dude lost me money instantly. I ended up back at a blackjack table, using the knowledge that Iommi tried to drop on me. About every 20 minutes Tyler would stop by, put his arms on me, and say "Adam, how are the cards going" "Adam, you still up?" That alone was worth the money I lost. At one point in the night, it was an SU photo session in the middle of the casino. JB had the biggest smile on his face. we were taking pictures with everyone, chanting, hugging, it was epic.
Soooo the story you've all been waiting for. I was really trying to make it through the whole trip without getting in trouble... I was soooooooooo close. 4am Saturday morning. I'm walking back to the room. I had to walk through the arena lobby, and there was the ticket table, with a Battle 4 Atlantis table cloth. I asked the janitor if it would be a big deal if I took it home. "Don't take that" he said... I took it. Thing was way heavier than I thought. I hear HEY! Now I'm in a dead sprint towards the beach tower. I hit the beach tower lobby, and walked calm and cool through it (I didnt wanna look like a criminal) heard HEY again, and took off outside, to the street, around some hedges, and into the RIU. Stashed it in a luggage cart, called my brothers room "Open the door, hit the elevator button, police are coming". Then casually walked back outside like nothing happened. 3 security guards and 2 cops were there. Came right up to me Asked if I had just stolen something... I paused a second, then said yeaaaaaaa, that was me. They hassled me for about 20 minutes, I told em I was just drunk, thought it was a good idea, and apologized. Luckly they let me go.. Ughh I'm an idiot. I told you people not to leave me unsupervised!
Guys, greatest trip of my life. I literally rented my house out for the year, and spent two months couch surfing to fund this trip. Would do it all over again. I will 100% be there in 2 years for the next one.
My only regret was not listening to Iommi when he told me to take my winnings and go home. I was just caught in the moment, and didnt want it to end. You'll never pay for a drink when you are with me again.
I know I left out so many people that I met, and so many memories, but man, I was hammered 90% of this trip. I want to go back! lol
We put our 5-year olddaughter in her Syracuse cheerleader outfit and met Donna again. We posed in front of a festive looking tree in front of our hotel and the pic wound up on the front page of the Post-Standard I think on Wednesday or Thursday. (I found the pic on-line but if someone who lives in Syracuse could send me a copy of that front page of the actual paper, please send me a PM.) 
