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My Morning Commute

The broadcast of the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic airs again on GSN tonight at 10PM, so this time I've given you some advance notice. One thing you'll notice about tonight's show (unless your TV is black-and-white) is that Aruba is jaw-droppingly beautiful. I'd never been to Aruba before I flew down to cover the Classic and every day I'd wander around with my head on a swivel, looking at the sky, the sea, the sand...

But I was there to work, not play, and so like every other working stiff I had to rouse myself out of bed early in the morning and get to my desk. And like everyone else chasing his tail in the 'ol rat race, the commute to work was a major hassle.

First thing I'd do after I'd wake was look out the window to see what the weather was like:

I don't know if that picture is from the first day or the last day I was there. The weather never changed. It was 90 degrees and sunny, every day. The sheer perfection of it became almost oppressive. Almost.

It's hot every day, it's sunny every day...and it's windy every day. A soothing off-shore breeze helps keep things cool, but it's rough on the trees, especially this one I passed every day outside my hotel which needed a helping hand:



So I had to brave sunshine AND wind as I made my way to work. I found the quickest way to work was J.E. Irausquin Blvd, because I found that if I walked along the beach to the tournament I tended to get distracted. Let's see how fast you get to YOUR cubicle if you have to resist the urge to frolic in the aquamarine sea. I think I'm fairly disciplined but there's no point in placing yourself in temptation's path. So I stuck to the sidewalk.

It was a grueling trek I faced every day--100, maybe 150 yards. And some of it I wasn't shaded by a canopy of palm trees. And once I reached the Radisson, where the tournament was held, my journey wasn't over yet.

And then turn right at the waterfall...

Yes, yes, what a pretty bird, what a pretty bird, good morning to you too...

And then, only then, would I arrive at the "office"

An epic journey, one I had to make EVERY SINGLE DAY. So the next time you're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the next time you have to fight through that construction zone, the next time you can't find an (expletive deleted) parking spot, think of me. Think of what I had to go through down in Aruba.