Ft. Wayne and Las Vegas

I've been to Fort Wayne, Indiana now.  I have to say, there's not a lot to do there.  The vacant car dealerships as you exit off of I-69 onto Lima Rd. really tell the tale.  That town seems to be drying up.  When you get downtown and see that they're clearing space for a sports stadium, you get the idea that the place is preparing for a rebound.  I literally did nothing but listen to conference calls while I was there and assist with troubleshooting one problem.  The whole thing could have been done over the phone.  I was only there as a safety net to keep the project on track if things went horribly wrong, and they didn't. 

This silly Eckrich vehicle was parked outside the distribution office where I was working.  I felt compelled to make the cab driver wait for me while I took a picture of it.



Contrast that with my trip to Las Vegas over the weekend.  I went to the Mr. Olympia finals to see how Ronnie Coleman would do.  He came in fourth.  I thought Victor Martinez or Dennis Wolf would win this year, but Jay Cutler won it again.  I saw another Cirque du Soleil show and went clubbing.  I hit a churrascaria at Planet Hollywood called Pampas, which was outstanding.  I didn't have time to gamble even one dollar before it was time to head back.  The best part of the whole weekend was the Mr. Olympia Weekend Expo.  I got to meet Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Stephan Bonner, and Kieth Jardine at the Xyience/UFC booth.  I bought a very cool UFC shirt.  I saw Lou Ferrigno and got some other bodybuilders' autographs.  It was very inspiring.  I haven't missed a workout since.  I got a ton of free stuff.  Everyone wants you to try their protein drink mix or creatine supplement or thermogenic fat loss pill or arginine/nitric oxide muscle pump pulmonary vasodilator substance.  I got some free t-shirts with marketing schlock on them and enough energy drink mix to last me a long time and enough thermogenic pills to keep me hopped up for days if I decided to take them.  I'll stick with my tribulus terrestris and vitex agnus herbs and whey protein from GNC and Wal-Mart.  And if I need a thermogenic, I'll stick to coffee and tea as a caffiene source, raspberries and cayenne pepper for my capsaicin ketones to get lean.  Most of the stuff they're pushing now has sucralose as a sweetener.  Chlorinated sucrose.  Doesn't even sound good for you.  That stuff makes me feel awful and promotes extra bathroom visits.  The last thing I need is something else to promote atrophy of my thymus or put stress on my liver.  Bleh.  To promote all the supplement crap, there were a lot of really big people there. . . and one midget.