05.01.12 Mayweather vs. Cotto Arrivals @ MGM Grand - Las Vegas, NV

The place to be this week!

Today we had the ceremonial arrivals of Canelo Alvarez, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto & Floyd Mayweather in the lobby of the MGM Grand. I strolled up there around 1.30p. I've done enough of these to know they rarely start on time. Decent crowd although it looked like there were more people there than there really was in part due to the fact the barricaded area was enormous. Not only did we bike rack off the area around the ring but much like we do for the now standard UFC press conferences, it wrapped around the makeshift stage which held the "Throne" and the Corona girls. Every fight it gets more silly and gaudy. I'm not a fan at all. But what do I know. That's why I'm not in PR or marketing. 

Canelo Alvarez arrival

I managed to get there just as Canelo arrived. I really don't like crowds and have no desire to be around this hoopla so I stay just long enough to snap some ops pics (so when someone asks what the hell we did, I can show them). People seem to be having a good time. Lots of iPhones and Androids in the air trying to click a pic of the fighter. Good for them. Hope they get the souvenir photo they're looking for. Maybe it makes their trip a little more memorable.

The press congregates.

I don't have the patience to wait for the other fighters, least of all Mayweather who I know will be late. Little did I know HOW late. He was scheduled to be there shortly after 2.30p. At 3.30p, one of my supervisors came down to the arena and said he wasn't there yet. Rumor was he hadn't even left home yet. Who knows what the truth is and I really don't care. This is precisely why I didn't wait around. Been there, done that, not gonna waste my time again.

Decent crowd

I make it back to my office and at this point it's almost 2.00p. I am so behind with fight stuff, upcoming convention crap, getting back to the Drake & Billboard people. Meanwhile instead of doing any of that I was busy working on onsale CAD drawing and seating manifests. Like it or not I've been tasked with this stuff now. Shit runs downhill and when there's no one else around who can or is willing do it, I get stuck with it. This isn't a pity-party statement. It's a simple fact. 

The Throne

I finally get that stuff out of the way and go for a quick jaunt to stretch my legs. I head into an empty office where we have a digital scale to check to see how the Great American Juicer Experiment is progressing. In 2 months I'm down 12 pounds. Not bad. I can do better. On my way out of the arena admin offices go go smoke a Dunhill I tell my bosses assistant, "If anyone comes in here looking for me, tell them I'm not in the office." I've got too much shit to do and don't have time to sit and chit chat with people. So what happens? She goes to lunch (which she should, she's not chained to the office) and in walks 3 different people at 3 different times, each who stay and talk for 20 minutes. There goes an hour. I like these people but holy hell, I'm in no mood to play catchup, either with what's been going on in our lives or on the mounting count of the unread emails in my inbox. But I can't say that so I sit thru it. In the end I'm glad I got to talk to these people - their lives are important - much more so than any idiotic emails I need to respond to but sometimes a girl just wants to shut the door and pound out some work. 

Photogs waiting for the next fighter

Before I know it, it's almost 7.00p. Where the hell did the day go? I've barely made a dent in my emails and at this point I could care less. I'm only 1 person and last I checked my 24 hours last as long as everyone else's. I'm just trying to improve the quality of mine. Rodney is on his way over for TWR so I pack up and head up to Fiamma for some sushi with my BFF. All of this crap can wait until tomorrow. 

The Great American Juicer Experiment

Here are the players.

So when I had dinner with Motorcycle-guy last Monday he told me about juicing. I've been famously known for getting things because men I'm attracted to tell me to. I don't like to do what people tell me to do so this uncharacteristically abnormal for my personality. A Toyota was my first car was because of the guy I liked in college. I bought a Tag because that's what my college love had. My first love from junior high bought me a Mont Blanc so that's all I use when signing. I smoke Dunhills and drink Chivas in honor of my odd love for Hunter S. Thompson. Yeah, Miss. Independent is secretly not such an independent thinker. 

So far so good...

Anyhow, Motorcycle-guy told me that he was on this juicing kick. He's kind of into eating healthy. Apparently he wants to lose 7 pounds in order to look good for his trip to Hawaii with his girlfriend when they're holding hands watching the sun set, drinking champagne & walking on the beach while feeding each other chocolate covered strawberries - not that I'm jealous or bitter at all. He walked me thru the basics so I thought, what the hell. I've done dumber things in the name of a man. I did do my research on Consumer Reports & Google but there's so much info that it's hard to sort thru so I text him a couple days ago asking what kind of juicer he had because they vary from $35-$400. Luckily for my bank account he said he had one that was only about $50. Good deal. I'd never even had vegetable juice other than a V8 in a Bloody Mary so $50 sounded perfect. 

Looks better in a wine glass

In the end I settled on a Black and Decker model for $29 bucks. The waterpic I got on the reco of my dentist was twice as expensive; it's been sitting under my bathroom sink for a year. I hope this juicer doesn't meet the same demise. Truth be told the only other kitchen appliance I have is a toaster which doesn't see much action either. The only sickening part about getting the juicer is I had to pick it up @ Walmart. Target didn't have it. Home Depot didn't have it either. Christ, I loathe Walmart. Yeah, call me a bitch or a snob or an elitist or whatever. I'll pay more to avoid that joint. But I sucked it up and made the most of it. I was there there pretty early (for me) because the dog had an appointment at the groomer @ 10.00a so luckily it wasn't too busy. I also picked up a couple of $5 tee shirts that will last me about 2 washes and some vegis for my first cup of joe, ahem, I mean juice.

Clean up is a breeze

At home I washed the parts, read the directions and got to chopping. Here's a little secret about me. I actually kinda like being in the kitchen. I tell people I hate cooking (and for the most part I do) but sometimes I kinda like it. I like the ritual and consistency of the motions. The precision. I like the utensils, the gadgets, the pinch of this here and a dash of that there. I like the prep. I like putting things in little custard dishes before making it like they do on cooking shows so I can just dump it in when I need it. Saying that I like food styling more than actually cooking is probably more accurate. Once upon a time I did that for a couple of commercial shoots. I actually styled an entire Thanksgiving dinner for a commercial. Ah, the good ol' days back when I was in my 20s, before I knew what life had in store...

Next time, a martini glass

I dump the vegis in the machine and voila, brown colored muddy liquid. Yum-o. I made 20oz of it and dumped it into a huge Riedel burgundy wine glass. I thought it might class it up a little bit and help convince myself this was as satisfying as a glass of Chateauneuf du Pape. This was my only mistake of the culinary adventure. Burgundy glasses are big for a reason, so you can trap the aroma and smell the full bouquet when a wine opens up. This is precisely the opposite of what you want with this stuff. It does not smell pleasant. Luckily, it doesn't actually taste badly. Next time though - I pour it into a martini glass. Clean up was surprisingly simple. Aside from the fact that I hate all the parts sitting out on my counter while they dry, all's well. Man, I should copy this to a post for Black & Decker. So far, best $29 bucks I've spent all week.

And so ends my first foray into the Great American Juicer Experiment.