CSI: South Jersey

OK, sorry for the drama, the mystery and the absence of late. It's time to fill you in on the details. Timeline: July 2, 2006, 0630 hours. I received a call on my cell at approximately 6:30 am Monday morning from a Haddon Township police detective. He informed me that the manager of my building in Westmont was in police custody and he asked if I could come in to the station. I told him I was at the shore and if he explained to me what was going on I could better determine if a trip from the beach was necessary at this ungodly hour. He began to explain the situation and I told him I'd be there as soon as I could. It turns out that late Sunday evening the police responded to reports of fireworks being shot off the roof of the building (this is a 7 story office building near Haddonfield). The police saw two suspects on the roof but they refused to come down. With the assistance of the fire dept. they were able to gain access and found my building manager and his brother in the building. They appeared intoxicated and denied setting off the fireworks (the police had already found his truck in the parking lot with fireworks on the front seat, so they probably weren't buying his story at this point). The police arrested the two and while searching the building made a particularly interesting discovery in a large vacant space I have on the 6th floor. It turns out my manager had a bit of a green thumb and police found grow lights and 11 marijuana plants behind one of the locked doors. If he had done his homework he might have avoided a lengthy jail sentence as in NJ the cutoff for the highest level drug felony is 10 plants, and he was one over! The police continued their search of the space and the next discovery, while not illegal, was even more disturbing. Two fully-equipped bondage dungeons had been painstakenly prepared with chains bolted into the concrete ceiling planks and wall racks and shelves of various toys, whips, gagballs, buttplugs, candles and seran wrap displayed on the walls. I don't think we'll ever know the real truth about what was going on in those rooms, and quite frankly I don't think I really want to know! My manager was charged with manufacturing and possession of controlled substances (they found Ecstacy on him, too) along with the theft and fireworks charges. He was remanded to Camden County Prison on $110,000 full cash bond and awaits a court hearing.
Anyway, in addition to all this we discovered a bunch of items stolen from the building that he was most likely going to sell, maybe on Ebay. Needless to say, it threw my world upside down for the past 2 weeks as I dealt with the police, the tenants and the rumors running amok through the building and tried to find a new building manager. I think things are finally under control now, the new manager started Monday and last weekend I was even able to escape to the shore for a little rest.
Saturday night I hit the Tropicana's craps tables and lucked out when I found an empty table except for one gentleman on the far corner. Normally an empty table is a bad sign, but I plopped down a few hundred and placed $20 on the Pass Line. This guy was amazing. He started hitting numbers like crazy and in less than 20 minutes I was up about $500 and the table was packed with people. When I play craps I take my time building up my bets, but this all happened so fast I couldn't take maximum advantage of the situation. When he finally crapped out it was my turn and I sevened out after three rolls of the dice and decided to cash out. A nice win for such a short time and strolled to the cashier cage and walked out of the casino.
Sunday I was at the Borgata fora little No Limit Texas Hold' Em and to finally see the new poker room. The 85-table room is incredible and is now the largest poker room in AC. The lounge downstairs is great, too, with a huge food court and seating areas with flat screen TVs. I signed up for a game but the wait was not long. When I was seated I recognized two of the players from ESPN poker tournament broadcasts. I played mostly tight-aggressive and was able to win a few pots. I lost one big pot when I bluffed on the river with rags but my bet was just a little too small and the other player called. I only needed to bet a bit more and he would have surely folded. I won another big pot with pocket kings when I moved all-in on the river after my opponent had called every one of my bets (this was my only all-in of the day). I played for about 5 hours total and cashed with anice profit. Then I headed over to Brigantine to see my friend Nicole's new baby boy and went home from there.
Between the Trop and the Borgata it was a great weekend although it was a bit hot on the beach Saturday and Sunday morning. I am planning on returning this weekend, as well.