Mr. Vegas Endorses - Raw Denim

so I am sitting here attempting to pack for my trip to laguna beach for a wedding. but something keeps bugging me. no its not the flawless fit of my newly tailored t.m. lewin tux shirt that i will wear this weekend. nope, it's the desire to share with new fellow blog heads the pictures of my a.p.c.'s. for those of you new to our blog a.p.c.'s are a brand of raw denim jeans. unlike sean i have commitment and dedication to my goal. i have gone 6 months with only one hot soak with woolite black. yep, that's right, never washed. as you can see the "fades" are coming in nicely.

I love the idea of breaking in raw denim. maybe its the beauty of self dedication or the process of making something your own....or maybe its the ability to stick it to your best friend that you wear your jeans harder than him. not really sure. but what i do know is that i feel damn good and proud when i look down and earned my wear and tear.

So blog heads please get out there and get your self some raw denim and earn your stripes...er...fades ;)

Golf Course Review: Rich Valley Golf

Where: Mechanicsburg, PA

Cost: $19 to ride 9, $26 to ride 18

So I got out this afternoon to play some golf and decided to give this course a try after not playing it for 2 years. I got my clubs, shoes and a couple extra balls and made my way to Rich Valley.

Upon arriving at the course, you realize that the name is very fitting of the surrounding neighborhoods but is quite the misnomer for the course itself. The clubhouse and restaurant reside in the same building, a building that can be mistaken with the equipment shed.

a bad sign

The course itself is quite short, so much so that even on longer par 4s a decent drive (225-250) will usually leave you a shot in the range of 70-120 yards. This is a good thing right? Nice and easy pitch to the green. Most average golfers like myself love these kinds of courses because it gives us a change to score high and build confidence. Well, this is where the trouble starts.


The 100 and 150 yard marks are woefully inaccurate and you might as well make a guess just based on your gut feeling. Supposed 100 yard shots flew far past the intended landing point and into the woods on several occasions. To make matters worse, the scorecard yardages are completely different than the yardages at each tee (which are spray-painted on the ground no less). The tee boxes on the back 9 have recently been aerated, they are uneven and the ground is so hard I thought I was going to need a hammer to get my tee in the ground. Several holes offered blind drives where you couldn't even see where you wanted to land the ball and no yardage indicators to the landing zone. In other words, take your best guess and hope you made the right choice.

These golfers are dreading the back nine

Now there were a few positives. The pro shop is actually well staffed an organized. I teed off right on time and the starter was a seasoned vet, keeping the groups moving along. Rich Valley has the best driving range in the area with both grass and mat surfaces to practice on, although it is a tad on the expensive side.

But probably the best feature of this course is the "practice course" they offer. It is comprised of three par 3 length holes with different tee options so beginners can make it as hard or as easy as they wish. It is not crowded so those who are intimidated of the full c0urse can get their feet wet on the practice course without feeling rushed or hurried by crotchety patrons. I found this feature unique to the area and quite a high point for Rich Valley.

In closing, Rich Valley offers a mediocre 18 holes and better courses can be played for the same price locally. The practice course and driving range however are great and should be at the top of the list if one needs a place to practice. If you must play here, stick to the front nine and avoid the back nine at all costs. You'll be much happier you did.

Confined by Rules...

The white dress. Such a simple idea and yet we jump so many hurdles to properly wear this piece. If one goes to a wedding, don't even think of wearing a white dress if you're not walking down the aisle with a guy and a ring at the end of it. If you're having a fat week, think twice before throwing on that white dress, and if it's a cookout, happy hour, event of any kind where there will be food and drink(with color)...just don't do it.

This morning, I was faced with a big decision, almost too much to really think about before 8am. I see the white business dress hanging there...an impulse purchase I made that was driven by the fact that this once overpriced dress was now on Clearance simply because we were 4 weeks away from the end of summer and no girl in her right mind would ever wear a solid white dress after the looming Labor Day. What do I say to that? SOLD!

So now, I'm faced with the question, of when do I wear this item, that I so happily skipped out of the store with, laughing at the fools at the cashier thinking about how I just robbed them blind?

My friends...Joke's on me.

Truth be known, it is almost impossible to wear a solid white dress. Logistically, you have only 3 months to wear it. 3 months comes out to roughly 12 weeks...of these 12 weeks, you need to rule out 3 of those weeks as "being out of commission due to womanly reasons..." That leaves us with 9 weeks. As we all know, a white dress stands out, and when you have an outfit that stands out, there is a general rule of thumb, that you can only wear it once a month (every four weeks to be exact) for fear you'll be labeled as the girl who wears the same outfit over and over. Cheap.
So now, we're down to 9 weeks in which you can wear the white dress...which really comes down to 2 times if you adhere to the "four week rule".

So now, I just finshed lunch, sitting here in the new all white dress, draped in napkins for fear of my balsamic dressing making a lunge for the lap which would be the total demise of this dress as everyone knows that stains do NOT come out of white. All this knowing the next time that I can wear this dress will be in the next fiscal year.

Lesson learned? Pick your battles...

It's all about balance

Have you ever noticed everything in life is a matter of balance? Whether it's booze, work, working out, or in Sean's case the number of pairs of Selvage Denim jeans you own. Long story short, too much of anything is usually a bad thing. This brings me to my tip/discussion of the day. I like to use this lesson when putting together my ensemble before leaving for work. It's all about balance...with color....size proportions...etc from having a good shirt tie/combo to lapel size to tie width to collar style.

Take for example the shirt/tie combo. How many times have you left the house thinking, "something about this attire just looks unbalanced, or off a little bit"? One thing that I've learned is to make sure your patterns compliment each other. If you have a small checked tie, go with a wider striped shirt and vice versa. If you have a bright colored shirt soften it up with a simple blue blazer. If you have a fat head, wear a slimming collar style. It's actually a very simple concept but I do admit it can often be challenging. Especially when you have lofty expectations of that new tie you just bought or that cool shirt you have to make work.

Just remember, the key is balance! See? Now you're starting to get it Harrisburg.

Mr. Vegas loves balance.

Welcome

Here we are. I want to welcome everyone to what we hope will be Central PA's source for making the most of your life, midstate and beyond. We will cover topics such as food, movies, nightlife, style, drinks and anything else we feel like talking about. And for those who like to get away we will have contributors who live in nearby cities such as Baltimore and Washington, DC who can give you some good ideas for things to do while visiting. You could consider this a work-in-progress so if you have topics you want to hear about, let us know and we will do our best to get on it.

So there you have it! Expect posts on a pretty regular basis and comment if you feel so inclined. Get ready for an upgrade...

Style - Belt or no belt??

Hello fellow sartorialists. I am extremely excited my good friend Sean has started a blog about the one thing that really matters.....Style. I am honored to be invited to be a recurring contributor to the blog and am looking forward to ramping this thing up and helping out the average dude who gives a damn about what he wears. I truly feel we can help not only ourselves but each other.

For my first ever blog I will start with a topic Sean and I were discussing earlier today. Belt or no belt? It has been a common theme these days for the hipsters to not wear belts especially with suits. I myself tried to pull it off today at work and to my surprise (and dissatisfaction) no one noticed. Or maybe they did and they just thought I was a D-bag. I think this is a good look if worn properly. Flat front pants are an obvious must. And you can't be overweight.



Since I know Sean is the only other person on our blog at this point I will let him fill you in on his opinion. Hope this is a good enough topic to spark some interest. If not I have plenty of more ammo.