Thanks, Rex

VegasRex has announced that he is pulling up stakes, so to speak, and moving off to the Northwest sometime soon.

I've been thinking about this on and off today, trying to think of a way to express my thanks and admiration for his blog without embarrassing myself by sounding like a pathetic fanboy. I failed, so I'll just have to risk that he'll see this and roll his eyes in puzzlement and/or disgust.

I first learned about Rex when the Hilton poker room closed. It had been my primary spot for poker, so a reader (Smudger) sent me a link to Rex's post about the closure. It was clear he and I saw this--and a bunch of other stuff--similarly, so I posted a note about his eulogy. I've been a loyal reader ever since.

I have to admit that at first I was jealous, because I quickly discovered that he had the kind of style and tone that I had originaly envisioned for this blog: some blend of outrage and disgust that still managed to be humorous and not sound like I took myself too seriously. (If you look back at my first few posts--October through December of 2006--you'll see what I mean.) I was rarely able to achieve it, and certainly couldn't sustain it as my primary "voice." It seems to come naturally to him, though.

What's strange is that he and I have still never run into each other, despite both spending inordinate amounts of time in casinos. (I didn't know what he looked like at the time I put up that first post, but I do now, and--trust me--he would not be hard to spot.) My loss.

I owe him another round of thanks for bringing attention, commentary, and outrage to my incident at the Cannery last year, at a time when many others had attitudes such as, "You had it coming," or, "Everybody knows you can't take pictures in a casino," or, "You should have just done what they asked you to do," or, "You were just looking for trouble/attention." He knew by repeated personal experience how insanely arbitrary and thuggish both casino security personnel and Vegas-area cops can be, and was unflinching in taking my side, despite having never met me, and despite having no way to verify that I was telling the truth about the episode.

I'd be writing this paean even without that incident, though, because there is no other blog about Vegas that is even remotely as consistently original, thoughtful, and funny as his has been. Funny, as in, you don't dare read it on a laptop in public because people will look at you strangely when you're laughing your head off in Starbucks, and you won't be able to share, because the best bits would likely shock and offend the unprepared.

I also tend to agree with most of his opinions about how things ought to be, but even when I don't I have to admit that he nearly always presents good reasons and persuasive arguments for holding a different point of view.

OK, I guess that's enough fawning to constitute sufficient payback for three years of some of the most pleasureable reading I've gotten in this city.

Rex, I won't wish you happiness where you go, since you already expressed well in your announcement why you won't attain it. I hope, though, that you find more contentment than Vegas seems to be affording you lately. Moreover, I hope that you continue to write about it, wherever you land.

If you do, I'll be there to read and enjoy.


P.S. You mentioned in the posts today some uncertainty about where to start online play. That deserves more extended comment, so I'll do the next post addressing that question.