We took a visit to the newly opened SugarHouse Casino last night. In terms of location, it is fairly ideal - only 15 minutes or so from Cinnaminson. And when we first got there, it was awesome. A bit crowded, but they had a team of individuals available to give you their players club card. And they had the Goldfish machine I like so much.

AND on every slot machine, in the area where they display your name and other info, they had a MINIATURE TV screen set to the Phillies game! Holy crap I thought I was in heaven!

But then things went downhill. Here is a laundry list of grievances:

1) The limits for table games were pretty high when we arrived. 15 and 25 dollars for craps, similar limits for other games. But then around 10 PM when we went back to the tables, EVERY stupid craps table was now a 25 dollar table. Unbelievable! So we were precluded from playing craps. This may be just a first weekend thing, but its not the impression they should have made.

2) It is crowded in there. People constantly bump into you, even when you're sitting at a slot machine. And walking around? That's an adventure in and of itself.

3) The crowd at this casino is not exactly what we're used to at The Borgata or even the Tropicana. There wasn't a lot of general casino etiquette going on.

4) Drink service was more or less non-existent. I did not get one drink from a waitress all night - me and Kim had to go to a bar to buy one. I actually saw a waitress pushing around a cart full of drinks, and apparently people just would flock to her, grab one, and drop a dollar in her bucket. It was basically anarchy.

5) There was security at the door, but it wasn't very good. The most telling moment came when I was playing (and losing) at my usual Goldfish machine. A HOMELESS MAN CAME UP TO ME AND ASKED ME NOT FOR SOME CHANGE, NOT FOR A DOLLAR, BUT FOR FIVE DOLLARS!!!! This is totally unacceptable for any casino.

Those are just the major issues. In any event, I think we'll be taking the extra 40 minutes to go to Atlantic City, unless we hear that things have gotten better.

Was extremely happy to see this email come into my inbox this morning:

NLDS Ticket Purchase Opportunity
FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED -- WHILE AVAILABILITY LASTS!

CONGRATULATIONS! You have been selected for the opportunity to purchase tickets to a potential 2010 National League Division Series ("NLDS") game scheduled to be played at Citizens Bank Park.

Got two tickets for NLDS game 2. Hello BEATDOWN of non-Atlanta Wild Card!

In honor of the Phils beatdown of the Braves over the last three days... I'm making some scrapple to eat. Mmmmm mmmmm good!

Irritable Bowl Syndrome is now 0-3. But that's not the point.

Why on earth is Michael Vick now the starter of the Eagles?

This is the last year of his contract with the Eagles. So he's not even in it for the long haul with us. And even if he was, was his history with the Atlanta Falcons not enough evidence? He's a great QB for turning a terrible franchise into a middling one. He is not a great QB for turning a good franchise into a Super Bowl contending one.

On the other hand, we were apparently all about Kevin Kolb for the last 8 months. He is a guy who has waited his turn, had two decent outings as a starter last year, and was ready to build a nice relationship with Jackson, Maclin, McCoy and Celek. Remember Peyton, Harrison, Wayne, Clark, and Addai? We could have our own version! Not so much now.

I don't see the logic for it. Short term it may be the right move. But whats the difference between 10 wins this year and 8? We BARELY beat the friggin Detroit Lions this week. They are hardly world beaters. Even if we go 6-10 this season with Kolb, the long term outlook should be the focus! Is a wild-card berth, ending in the divisional round, really the goal?

The U.N. General Assembly is back in town, which means that walking near where I live is a debacle. Police are everywhere, guard rails and police cars block random streets, and traffic lights are not to be trusted. I remember early on I walked when the light was green, without first looking left and right. That was almost the end of Evan, as sometimes cops wave traffic through without regard to the lights, and sometimes there is a special lane that ignores traffic lights completely. I would love to see pedestrian injury numbers for these few days compared to the rest of the year.

Large men in dark suits pace on various sidewalks. Unlike when a movie is filming and I totally ignore the loser guy asking me to walk on the other side of the street, I listen to the men who will likely do grave bodily harm to me with no repercussions whatsoever. I don't know if diplomatic immunity exists or would be even applicable, but I don't want to find out.

And of course, the UN is useless anyway.

Today I revisited the past.

My first "created" combo meal at a fast food restaurant.

Back in 2003, I worked in Rutherford, NJ. My title was "Marketing Manager", although I had only taken one marketing course in my life. Making matters worse was that I had very little understanding of what my product - International Doctor U.S. Licensing Test Preparation - was. To compensate, I took some long lunches. I didn't have a lot of money, so I would bring a book and go to a fast food place. That place was usually Wendy's.

I was never a big fan of ordering burgers at fast-food places. Its a chore to ask for them to make it "plain", as I don't want any ketchup, tomato, etc. on it. Around 1/4 of the time they screw up the order anyway, forcing me to go back up and ask for it to be done correctly. Thus, I usually order something that is impossible to mess up. Chicken nuggets.

For the longest time, Wendy's did not offer a chicken nugget meal. It was quite odd. I was therefore forced to come up with my own combo meal.

2 Five Piece Chicken Nuggets
1 Medium Fries

And the coup de grace

1 Cup of Cheese Sauce (extremely important)

You may notice the lack of a drink. It kills me to order a drink, or even to order an extra value meal that contains a drink. I'd rather drink water and have the dollar, or maybe order a bigger fries or maybe MORE nuggets with that dollar. Now that there is always a fridge full of soda waiting for me in my office, I order extra value meals only in the rarest of circumstances.

Anyway, back in 2003 I ate this meal like 3 times a week. I probably took a year or two off my life by doing so. But I looked forward to lunch so very much on days when I knew I was going to get it. Dare I say it, it was instrumental in getting me through my days of pointlessly sitting around pretending to know what was going on.

I've been doing the Insanity workout for the last few weeks, and it feels like I'm getting into better shape. Much like this past Tuesday when we had cheesesteaks and PBRs at 10:30 or so, I've undone some of that work with a terrible meal. But that cheese sauce made it all worth it.

Is it just me, or are the commercials with Christopher from The Sopranos for whatever tequila he's endorsing really awful? Oh look, this tequila comes in a special bottle! Or look I knocked over the bottle of the other tequila! Good one.

I'd call them the exact opposite of the "most interesting man in the world" commercials.

Irritable Bowl Syndrome is now 0-2 (0-1 with our team uniforms). We are in shambles. Somehow this girl who has never bowled before put up a 101 and 140 something against us tonight. We were crushed. Ugh.

On the plus side, we did get Shorty's cheesesteaks and 2 for 1 PBRs after the match tonight.

I'm going to come right out and say it. Feel free to disagree.

This season of True Blood kind of sucked.

First of all, and this is the main problem (as I discussed with Kim last night), but the basic premise of True Blood is that its a normal world, just with vampires. Sure, there are other things going on, things that have been going on since season 1. Sam is a shapeshifter. Sookie is a telepath. Fine. But ever since season 1, it seems like the writers are just trying to throw as many supernatural creatures in as they can.

A menad. Another shapeshifter. Werewolves. Witches. And then some form of were-leopard thing. And now fairies. The best part of True Blood is that you see how the world may interact with vampires. The Fellowship of the Sun. The politics involved. Basic prejudices, some justified, some not. Things are just getting too muddled up with a comic book style world of super creatures.

But even ignoring that larger issue, this season was just poorly written. I wanted almost every character to die at some point.

Tara - obvious, she's so annoying and irrational. The best thing to ever happen to her was Franklin.

Sookie - she loves and hates everyone, usually in the same 5 minute span in a single episode.

Sam's brother - I get it, he's angry and a dick. And unfortunately, he's probably still alive.

Lafayette - usually an awesome part of the show, but now annoying because of his hallucinations and his relationship with Jesus.

Tara - she should die twice.

The were-leopard girl - holy crap that black eye isn't ever going to go away, is it? She isn't even attractive, how on earth is Jason so smitten with her?

The red headed waitress - you won't get an abortion, but you'll drink some weird tea that is the equivalent of an abortion, only it will not be as effective. Also, the weird looking waitress should get it as well.

And then there are the parts that just didn't make sense. Just last night: Bill tried to kill Eric and his offspring, and then Eric lets him walk away. Bill then goes to try to fight the queen, who is twice as old as him, and thus this is a fight that should last approximately one second, culminating in his death. But no... Bill has "nothing to lose!" Yes, that changes everything.

I hope Dexter doesn't disappoint. Too bad no more Julie Benz.

Week 1 Fantasy Football for Evan:

1) Kevin Kolb, my number one non-keeper pick, gets concussed (and sucked anyway leading up to the concussion).

2) Percy Harvin and Robert Meachem also sucked.

3) I lost my matchup because of the Calvin Johnson "non-TD" call at the end of regulation.

Not a great start to the year.

The Onion's team by team analysis is one of the funniest things I've read in awhile. Two samples:

Buffalo Bills

Strength: Buffalo is well-known for its friendly locals, its world-famous wings, and its proximity to beautiful Niagara Falls

Weakness: Once again pretty much centers around the entire roster

Player To Watch: Starting quarterback Trent Edwards. Wait, him again? God, these guys are so fucked

Intangibles: The AFC East is, perhaps, the league's most talented division, making it the most respectable division to finish last in

Philadelphia Eagles

Strength: Though they have lost Donovan McNabb's rocket arm, they have gained a highly accurate short-range subsonic cruise missile of an arm in Kevin Kolb

Weakness: With the loss of Brian Westbrook, the Eagles have a major hole at starting knee injury and concussion

Player To Watch: Michael Vick's athleticism as he walks up and down the sideline, sits down on a bench, and jumps up whenever he thinks his name is called but realizes the coaches are talking to another Michael, is something to marvel at

Biggest Question: When will Philadelphia fans finally use their car-battery catapult?

Our lives now revolve around the stupid Insanity workout. I didn't get a much-needed haircut today because that would have made me get home a bit later, which would have pushed dinner back later, which would have made our 10 PM workout come dangerously close to that aforementioned dinner.

I've only had one drinking day since we started doing this, which is probably as much of a help as the actual workout (although my one drinking day did involve numerous carbombs). The recovery is getting easier - my legs don't hurt as much as they used to, and I no longer have random unknown muscles causing me great pain at odd times. But the actual workout doesn't seem to be getting any easier. Today, as usual, there were numerous points where I just laid on the ground while Shaun T yelled at us through my laptop.

I'll be in a hotel later this week, and its unlikely I'll be doing this workout on my own. So I'll probably just run on the treadmill in the hotel gym. I guess we'll see if there have been any results.

Day 3 of the Insanity workout is complete. I don't think I've ever worked out quite this hard since soccer practices in high school. That was 13 years ago, when I had longer hair and weighed approximately 120 pounds.

By halfway through a workout my shirt is drenched in sweat and I'm exhausted. But with each day, by the end of the workout I feel slightly less horrible. For example, on day one I had to quit the stretch cool-down and go into the bathroom to die. But on day two I did not need any such bathroom trip. And then yesterday I felt that, with great inhuman effort, I might be able to muster another set.

The annoying thing is that my legs constantly hurt, and I seem to have a headache as well. Maybe I'm dehydrated? I pound water throughout these workouts, but that probably still isn't enough.

On the plus side, I'm sleeping very well. And presumably there will be results at some point.

I'm contemplating purchasing some after-workout drink. But I don't know if this is entirely necessary or really that helpful. I guess it would probably be better than the eggs or pizza I've eaten afterwards.

I just "did", and by "did" I mean did maybe 3/4 of, the "Insanity Workout" fitness test. I couldn't even complete the stretching cool down at the end, and very nearly threw up. Everything hurts and is cramping up.

Tomorrow will be an interesting walk to work.