Playin' the (very small, canine-like) Ponies!

Saturday night has come and gone in Sydney; my final night is well beyond twilight. I literally leave Australia, Avid Reader, in eight (8) hours. Yes, that means between now and then I must try to find sleep, cab to the airport, do the whole international check-in 'thing', and take off for Tokyo. Instead, I've decided to prolong the evening and provide an update here. I'm just that kinda guy.

Sarah, Liam and I met up at the the Australian Youth Hotel where we quickly began to imbibe in ice cold (well done, Australian!) adult beverages and Screw Your Neighbor. Sarah finished the evening as Supreme Ruler; Liam was the best card collector ever. And yes, have you played SYN before, you know what title that means!

The highlight of the night, of course, was hitting up the Sydney Dog Raceway! Never having seen greyhounds race, I was blown away by the sheer speed. I thought horse racing was something; boy, does dog racing take the cake! Friends, our canine friends take 520m in ~30 seconds. No joke. I was all about the fast speed camera and all I could catch was a blur.

Being awesome, however, I also picked a pair of big winners of the evening... dogs #1 and #2 in the sixth race. I chose a quinella for both to finish top two (no specific order) and turned my $5 "investment" into $41 at the end of the race! Brilliant! It's something to experience altogether -- though, not going to lie -- it was also a bit unnerving having some knowledge of the sport's perception (in my mind) back home.

THAT SAID, the night was a hoot and I'm wonderfully pleased to have optimized for tons of time with Liam & Sarah. You're wonderful!