Well the time has come and gone.  I am now a married man and have enjoyed everyone minute of it so far.  Thanks Tina!

The wedding went off without a hitch.  I was a bit nervous beforehand but once we got into the ceremony it was all good.  Thanks to everyone for making the trek and showing your support.  I’d also like to thank my parents, Tina’s parents, the bridal party, and since they are my boys I’ll name my party, Jason M (best man), Dan F, Chris A, Carl G, Jason S, and Ben K.

The reception was great.  Although it went quite fast.  Thanks to J again for a great speech.  I couldn’t even foul him up with the “go sign”.

Now for the honeymoon…. I surprised lbt  (a lot of good that tinagillen.com domain does now, eh?) with a trip to Maui.  I told her when we got back to the hotel after the reception.  She was quite excited (which I was expecting).

We flew out on Monday morning.  After a flight to Seattle, a layover spent at the bar, and finally landing in Maui we were relieved, tired, and excited all at the same time.  We picked up our rental car which was a mustang convertible.  By the time we were driving to Kaanapali it was dark.  Maui isn’t the best place to drive on unfamiliar roads at night, but we made it to the hotel.  After checking in we took a little walk on the beach.  I could tell this was gonna be good.

We woke up quite early the next morning and took another walk along the beach.  Tuesday was recovery and relaxation day.  We hung out at the beach.  The first two days the surf was extremely active (although the red flags were up all week).  The Pacific is much more powerful than any other ocean I have set foot in.  I was quite surprised and a bit itimidated at first.

The next day we went to the shops and boardwalk in Lahaina.  Since I left my sunglasses at home this was an order of business.  We walked into a Sunglass Hut and the sales guy got me into a pair of Maui Jim’s.  If you know me and how often I buy new sunglasses you might be saying “WTF?, You’re a moron”.  Perhaps.. only time will tell.  We also caught the fireworks in Lahaina.  They shot them from a barge out in the ocean and they were quite magnificent.  I have some time lapse videos that I’ll try and get posted.

Blah.. I am worn out..  I’ll continue in an updated post but I’ve got stuff to do now.  Later.

I survived and it turned out to be a success. I even managed to gamble $0.00. w00t!

Thursday — After an early flight and a screwdriver on the plane, and several attempted conversations with Mason about why he wasn’t at the airport for our flight we landed without incident. We get to McCarren and I get ahold of Mason who has left me a message. Turns out (and this isn’t the first time) he misread his itinerary and had to catch a standby at 4:00. God bless Airport check-in. If there is ever a time you need to make a choice between hotels, pick one with airport check-in. What took 15 minutes at the airport would have been probably 45 minutes to 1 hour at the hotel and that’s the last thing a guy wants to do when he arrives in Vegas. Dan, Jason, and I hopped up to our room at the Flamingo, put on more appropriate Vegas attire (shorts and a t-shirt). Then we started walking and hit every beer special we could find $1 taps at O’Sheas and a sweet deal at some convenience store $1.99 24 oz Bud Lights. We walked and walked and walked. Made it from the Flamingo down to the Stratosphere. Once we got there we stood and looked at each other and in a Forrest Gump moment we turned around and walked the other way back to the Flamingo for some eats. As we waited for Mason, Dan went to play poker and J and I started to get into the drinking. We witnessed a very drunk vegas local piss himself at Caesar’s and manage to be escorted out by security and his drunk buddy. Mason finally arrives and we head off to Gilley’s for some bikini bull-riding which is always a hoot. Of course the amateur’s have no chance of winning as they bring in the ringers for the $500 prize.

Friday — After one heck of a first night (including many red bull vodkas) I had to play it easy the next morning. We spent a fair amount of time lounging by the pool. Had a few girly drinks. This is when the day turned sour for Chad. I was hungry and went a grabbed a sandwich.  I am convinced that sandwich gave me problems the rest of the day.  The nightlife including a trip to the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay for the Spazmatics.  Once again, I enjoyed their show.

Saturday — It took awhile to recover.  A good buffet downtown at the Main Street Station and some meandering downtown in and out of the Formula 1 series car race and I started getting a bit tired.  We almost witnessed a serious crash.  On this particular straight-away stretch I would guess the F1’s were probably pushing 175mph.. maybe even close to pushing 200mph.  For whatever reason there were some speed bumps in the road (probably there naturally since it was a street race).  For the most part the drivers did a fine job navigate around them to avoid jumping.  One car hit it a little close and almost planted the nose of the car right into the sidewall.  Needless to say there was a loud “ohhh” from the crowd.  After getting back to the hotel, we found ourselves at IP’s Embers for a nice steak meal to set the night out right.  We hit the Piano Bar at Harrah’s.  These guys were ok.  I’ve seen better.  Some chowder head was dropping cash for songs like it was his job.  Oh well.  Once again we hit Gilly’s for a little more entertainment and cheap”er” drinks.  After Gilly’s it was off the the Famous Glitter Gulch.  62 Girls were on show, or so they say.  I ended up with a few lap dances… but honestly the best part about the place is the bathroom attendant.  He’s an older African American gentlemen and he’ll gladly offer you his opinion on anything you ask him.  I’ve heard him say some crazy shit.   We finally got to bed at 7AM and a few drunken phone calls and SMS’s later.

Sunday — It was a doozy.  Tired and worn out from the weekend we lounged by the pool while waiting for our later flight.  The cab ride to the airport was a nightmare.  We were almost nailed by a speeding car.  I don’t think our cabbie was paying attention.. and she may have been a little sauced.  A bumpy plane ride home made it tough to catch up on any sleep.

All in all it was successful and thanks to everyone who came.  For those of you who didn’t you missed out on a good one.  Now I am sick and trying to recover.  Whew this was a long one. Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Well the time has finally arrived and me and the boys are leaving for Vegas in just over 12 hours. I think I’ve got everything covered. Sunblock, the appropriate travel medications, a charged camera battery, an (almost) full ipod, swim trunks, and a reservation at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

The weekend weather report looks fabulous (high 80s) and it’ll be nice to get out of this 30 degree weather for a few days. I decided it would be a good idea to have a few red bulls tonight. We’ll see how good of an idea that is at 5AM tomorrow. Anywho, I am pumped and ready for this one. I’ve got a couple loose ends to tie up tonight, finalize the suitcase, and get some shut-eye for a real barn burner.

Beware of drunken phone calls and text messages.
I hope to report back on Monday.

Jason , Dan, and Mason.. I’ll see you on the other side.

Over and out!