Posted by Rob on March 17, 2011 – 12:47 am
Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as albany, big bad bob, bigbadbob, call of duty: black ops, casino, competitive, family, flying, FPS, henderson, job, las vegas, lucilles, multiplayer, online, PlayStation 3, PS3, raising canes, sonics, southwest, st. patricks day, the strip, the yard house, ufc, ufc 2009, ufc 2010, vegas, work
It’s been a very busy, yet relaxing, couple of days, as I have been visiting with the in-laws in Las Vegas, NV (well, technically Henderson, NV, but it’s pretty damn close to Vegas.) Both of Shell’s sisters live out there so we don’t really get to see them too often…the last time we were out there was almost two years ago. So we decided to take a bit of a break and head out there for a five day weekend. We left from Albany on Wednesday at 11:55 EST and arrived at 2:20ish PST (thanks to Southwest it was a direct flight), so what was a five and a half hour flight technically got us to Vegas in under three hours.
Since this was more of a visiting family trip, we didn’t really hit the Strip. Shell and I did head down on Tuesday for a little while and checked out some of the casinos and what not. So while there wasn’t any gambling, there was a lot of good eating, as we went out for every lunch and almost every dinner. Some of the highlights included Sonic’s (I really wish one would open up near Albany…the closest one to us is in Kingston), Lucilles, The Yard House (which had quite a large collection of beers on tap…I went for the Spaten Oktoberfest), Raising Cane’s, and many more. Read More »
Posted by Rob on September 1, 2010 – 3:17 pm
Filed under TV Shows
Tagged as 2011, ahl, albany, kane, mma, nxt, smackdown, smackdown vs raw 2010, superstars, svr, times union center, ufc, undertaker, wrestling, wwe
I went to a taping of WWE’s Smackdown show last night (Tuesday, August 31) at the Times Union Center in Albany (home of AHL hockey!!!), and enjoyed myself quite a bit. The arena about a twelve minute drive from my apartment, tickets were only $25, and the Undertaker was going to be there…all aspects which made me want to go, despite the fact that I haven’t sat down and watched wrestling since the very early 2000′s. I must say that it is a heck of a lot more fun when you’re there as opposed to watching from home.
Note: I did not bring my camera, since I assumed they would be searching and Shell was not around to hide it in her pocketbook. Turns out that cameras are encouraged, just no video cams, so I could have brought it, and if I had known, there would have been a lot more pics. Instead all I have are a few crappy ones I took with my cell phone.
Let me talk about the overall feel in the arena first. It was hot, sweaty, and stinky…I have to say that the stench was far worse than anything I had to endure at PAX East. But the slight discomforts made up for actually being there, surrounding by raving fans who probably believe that the WWE is the same as UFC and other MMAs, in that the fights are real. There were kids, teens, and full-grown adults walking around sporting various WWE shirts, signs, and even belts (professional and makeshift.) To hear the crowd react to the wrestlers in the ring was also pretty cool, from everyone shouting for a fan-fave to kick out of a pin or submission to the crowd booing at the heel when he flaunted to the stands. You could hear everyone say “oooh!” with each chest chop and dropkick that was received. The other mind-blowing reaction was when a wrestler’s theme music hit, indicating they were on their way to the ring. The people got so worked up to see their fan favorites, and it really did make the experience a fun and memorable one. Read More »
