Wednesday

Steak and eggs is one of the great breakfast meals in the history of the universe, if not the greatest. And the steak and eggs I had at the Oak Creek restaurant at the Horseshoe is the best I've ever had. Medium rare and pink in the middle, a little salty. Deeee-licious.

Brooke joined us that morning, and we went to the Louisiana Down racetrack, which was having races originally scheduled for the Fairgrounds in New Orleans. But first, we stopped by the new Louisiana Boardwalk nearby. A nice 4 for 1 deal going on at the Borders outlet. One guy walked up to the counter and asked if they had Brokeback Mountain in stock. They didn't. "Somebody told me to ask," he said. Suuuuure.

We stopped by the slots at the track first, where I was pleasantly surprised to win $60. I won on the first race, but that was about it. I was close on some exactas and a trifecta, but I ended up a little behind for the day. I think my mom came out about 50 bucks ahead. She ought to, since her grandfather trained racehorses. During one race there were only five horses running, so my sister bet them all to win, guaranteeing her one win. Mom bet them all to show, guaranteeing her three wins. Later on I was able to convince Brooke to bet on all ten horses in a race: 1, 2, 3 to win; 4, 5, 6 to place; 7, 8, 9, 10 to show.

For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant called Four Winds, which was really excellent. Our waitress, Fang, was competent and funny. When my dad ordered the ribs, she said, "Koreans like the ribs. Maybe not for you, huh?" The alternative she suggested for him was pretty good (orange skin fried filet, or something like that). My mom and Brooke were very fond of the pea and asparagus soup. I got the Beef Chow Fun, but the best thing in the entire restaurant wasn't on the menu: Sondra the hostess. She was a masterpiece of divine manufacturing. Not beauty personified, but rather angelfied. A wonder to behold in action. Most of the workers were Asian, and maybe she was too. But what she really reminded me of was a Caucasian actress from the 50s that the producers and directors would try to make look Asian (because using an actual Asian for the role would have been unthinkable, of course). Whatever she was, she was dream in a Chinese dress.

Brooke and I played some slots later on, but I was mostly interested in the Alamo Bowl between Nebraska and Michigan, two of the best programs in the history of college football. Nebraska had a 36-year bowl streak broken last year. Michigan was on the verge of losing five games in a season for the first time in 21 years. With Michigan up 28-17, Nebraska scored the last 15 points of the game and won 32-28. There was really, really bad officiating that didn't help Michigan, and a crazy lateral after lateral after lateral after lateral, etc. play that Michigan almost scored on, and that should have seen a flag thrown on Nebraska because they only had maybe 60 players on the field.