Catching Up After a Busy Week

It's been a week since I sat down to blog and feel there's been a lot to catch up on.

As our time winds down here in Las Vegas, we've had to get busy getting the taxes done and preparing to store our furniture and get packed for the long road trip back to Traverse City. But there's still been time for some fun.

Yesterday morning I went to the Suncoast Casino for the first time in a few days. I immediately ground out a $47 profit at blackjack and took a little break. I found a "Wizard of Oz" slot machine that had been recommended by Helen's hair stylist and I shoved a $20 into the slot. It's a penny machine, so I had 2000 credits. But playing "the max" cost $1.25 so in about 10 minutes my $20 was gone.

So I headed back to the blackjack pit and found a table with only one other player. It didn't take long to rack up a profit of $81 so I took the money and ran. A profit of $108 for the day.

Then I headed to a storage facility and reserved a 10x10 unit to store our furniture, bathroom items, kitchen stuff and more. After checking out 3 or 4 facilities, it looks like the standard cost for this size unit is about $100. This place offers one for $99, with a $10 discount for the first three months. It's a month-to-month lease and we'll be getting billed at the TC address.

After securing the unit, I called a mover to help move our items on Monday, April 27. He made us his first customers of the day and said he'd have his two-man crew here at 7:30 a.m. There's really not too much furniture, so I hope we can get everything out of here in two hours, especially since they charge $85 an hour.

For dinner last night we met up with Meghan and Eric Daigh, two of our Traverse City friends who arrived in town Monday. Meghan surprised Eric with the trip for his birthday, which was last weekend. They are staying at the Flamingo and Helen and I met them for drinks and dinner at 6:30 p.m. at Margaritaville. We had a great time talking and eating. Meghan and Eric had turkey burgers, while Helen enjoyed a taco salad and I had a delicious caribbean chicken salad.

After dinner we all walked over to Bellagio to check out the Chihully blown glass in the lobby area. It was a cold, windy walk from the Flamingo to the Bellagio. This was Eric and Meghan's first visit to the Bellagio and they really seemed impressed by the place. The Chihully glass features hundreds of colorful glass flowers hanging on the ceiling of the lobby check-in area. It's really impressive! In addition to viewing the lobby area, we walked to the hotel's conservancy area where they have hundreds and hundreds of fragrant spring flowers and flowing fountains. It was really beautiful and we enjoyed our time there.

Then we headed back toward the Flamingo. Helen and I headed to the car, which was parked at Bill's Gambling Hall, while Eric and Meghan went on to enjoy the evening. Like a lot of Vegas visitors, they had a lot they wanted to see and do, including visits to the Stratosphere, the Venetian, Palazzo, Hoover Dam and maybe Red Rock Canyon. I hope they continue to enjoy their visit.

This morning I wrote my May casino entertainment column for the Booth newspapers and sent it to them. It's one of the few writing assignments I've been working on this winter. When we get back to TC I need to crank up the freelance work and start stashing money away for next winter's trip.

Tomorrow night I'll be playing in a free blackjack tournament at the Suncoast. I heard from one pit boss that they may have up to 500 people playing in this event that features a top prize of $3,500. I'm not sure how many other prizes they offer, but it'll be fun to participate and the price is right.

On Friday, Helen is heading to California to spend a week with her brother Norm, his wife Lorraine and their children. I'll drive Helen to Baker, CA and Lorraine will meet us there for lunch and take Helen back to their home in Thousand Oaks. Then I'll head back to LV and get ready for some time with my buddy Terry who arrives from Detroit early on Sunday. We'll have plenty of fun playing cards, betting sports and just hanging out. He'll be here until Thursday.

So as you can see, it's been a busy week for us. But I'm sure our adventures will continue...

Tax Time Again?

Our time is winding down here in Las Vegas and Helen attended one of her last Bible Study classes this morning.

The day began with coffee, morning TV news and a brief visit with those New Jersey entrepreneurs of Soprano Incorporated. By 9:30 or so it was time to take Helen to the church. I hurried back to our apartment where I undertook that most irritating annual chore - doing our taxes. Since we always end up writing a check to the IRS, I never file our taxes early.

It took me about an hour to do the taxes and by then it was time to pick Helen up. She wanted to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart, so we headed there for some birthday cards and other items. She also had a prescription filled. Then it was back to the apartment where I whipped up some chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.

I made a quick trip to the library to return some books that were due today. It's our last visit to the library for this trip, since we'll be leaving in about 3 weeks and won't have much time for reading during that time.

No visit to a casino today. Yesterday's 4-team baseball parlay didn't turn out too well. Out of the 4 teams, three of them were losers (nice pickin' huh?). Maybe tomorrow I'll get back into the action.

I'm getting ready to prepare dinner - feta cheese omelettes along with hashbrowns with onions and peppers. Then we'll watch some TV and catch up on emails and facebook. But tomorrow our adventure will continue...

Go Tigers--and Giants, Cubs, D-Backs & Dodgers!!

We're trying to recover from Monday's grim evening when the Tigers and Michigan State both embarrassed themselves.

Helen and I went down to the Venetian sports book about 3 p.m. yesterday to get a bet in on the Tigers, who started playing at 4:15 p.m. Vegas time. I decided to bet $20 on "over 7.5 runs" instead of picking a side and that turned out to be a winner. Unfortunately we also took MSU for $20 and that was a loser, so it was pretty much a wash on the sports bets.

We had a great time at the Venetian. It was Helen's first long-term (about 4.5 hours) exposure to the sports book atmosphere. Late in the MSU game, we gave it up and went to find something to eat. We settled on an Italian place in the Venetian's very nice (and pricey) food court - Italian sub sandwich for me and a grilled chicken wrap for Helen, along with two diet Pepsis for $25.

Then we strolled out the front side of the Venetian just in time for the 9 p.m. Volcano eruption across Las Vegas Blvd. at the Mirage. It was fiery and drew a big crowd along the sidewalk. We stayed near the Venetian and had a good, though distant, view of the spectacle. About 9:15 the show was over and we made our way back to the car and drove the 8 miles back to our apartment.

This morning began with coffee and an hour of visiting with Tony Soprano and his associates. At 10 a.m. I left to check out a storage unit that we'll be using for our furniture. It's about 4 miles from the apartment and we'll need a 10x10 foot unit to stash our items. Turns out to be $99 a month, with the second month free. I took an application and will return it to them in the next week or 10 days.

Then I went over to the Suncoast to try and win the first month's rent for the storage unit....no such luck. After about two hours, I was up $50 and decided to take the profit and invest it in two baseball bets - $30 on the Tigers to win and a $20 four-team parlay on the Giants, Cubs, D-Backs and Dodgers. If the parlay hits, it will pay $191 - or about two month's rent!

While I was gone, Helen finished the second nightgown for our granddaughter Katherine. One is for her birthday and the other is just because... Anyway, Helen's been working on them for weeks and is really glad to be finished. She does great work with that sewing machine of hers!
She also talked with Norman's wife Lorraine about spending time with them in Thousand Oaks. It looks like Helen will be going there sometime next week - either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday - for about a week.

Now, I'm getting ready to whip up a no-fuss, no-muss dinner - chicken salad sandwiches. Helen is going to do some searching online and we'll be watching some TV tonight. But tomorrow, our adventure continues...

Strollin' The Strip

Friday morning began with a few cups of hot coffee and the TV news.

Then about 9:30 a.m. I headed over to the apartment management office to pay the April rent. It's a little sad because it's the last monthly check I'll write for these folks until December when we return. I asked if they had any suggestions about having someone move our furniture and to locate a storage unit and they helped with both our needs. I'll be checking out their recommendations in the next week or so.

After taking care of that errand, I headed to the Strip to see if anyone was giving away money. Luckily they were. I parked at Bill's Gambling Hall and played at a $5 blackjack table, grinding out a $50 profit in about 30-40 minutes. Then I walked north, through the Flamingo and into O'Shea's where I again played at a $5 table. This time I was able to pile up a $55 profit in about an hour.

I was up just over $100 and it wasn't even noon yet! So I checked out the Imperial Palace and played there for about 20 minutes, dropping $60. Not good. Leaving the IP, I walked all the way to Bally's to have lunch - a chicken salad on rye - a favorite. I didn't like losing the money at the IP and tried to get it back at Bally's with no luck. I dropped another $25, leaving me only $20 up.

The day had started so promising and now it was slipping away. But I was determined to give Bill's another try. So I headed back there and found a $5 table. It was up and down for about 30 minutes and I netted $40. I switched tables, bought in for $50 and again hit a hot streak that enabled me to double my buy-in. I decided to quit and tally up my profits. When the dust settled, I had $110 more than I started the day with, including lunch...

While I was strolling along the Strip, Helen did some online work and made some phone calls to Bay Home Medical to ask about her wheelchair and static electricity. She also watched some TV and just relaxed a bit.

Dinner was another huge helping of the Italian sausage, grilled red peppers and rice. It was filling and tasty! Now we're just relaxing, watching TV and catching up on some emailing and Facebook. But tomorrow is another day and I'm sure our adventure will continue...

If It's Thursday, We're at Margaritaville

There's a newly-opened casino in Las Vegas, M, and today we set out to visit it.

So after a few cups of coffee and spending an hour with those zany Italian friends of Tony Soprano, Helen and I hit the road at 11 in search of this new resort. While we could have hopped on a freeway and gotten there sooner, I took the scenic route - Flamingo to the Strip, then south several miles to the M.

We scored the last handicapped parking spot and soon I was rolling Helen into the entrance marked "Casino." Her wheelchair has a problem of generating static electricity and transferring that energy to anyone doing the pushing through a series of nasty little sparks and shocks. Usually they are intermittent shocks and not too bad, but for some reason the M floor left me jolted every three or four steps! Owwww!!!

Anyway, after walking quite a ways through the resort, we found a series of escalators that take you to the 2nd floor casino. No good. No elevator. So we continued through the resort and finally found an elevator to take us to the 2nd floor - but it was shut for maintenance! The place has been open less than a month and already the elevator needs maintenance???

We decided to leave and headed out an exit, hoping to avoid the "shocking" process of retracing our steps through the resort. It was a circuitous route that took us by the pool and finally out to a street area which was blocked by two large concrete blocks. Rather than turn around and try to find our way through the maze of a resort, Helen got out of her chair and stood against one of the concrete blocks. I lifted the chair around the block, then Helen got re-seated and soon we were back in our car heading toward the Strip.

After that frustrating trip, we decided to have lunch at Margaritaville to cool off and fuel up. I parked the Vue at Bill's Gambling Hall and we rolled through the 78-degree fresh air over to the Flamingo where Margaritaville is located. We were both hungry and shared a HUGE portion of Volcano Chicken Nachos....ooooh tasty!!!

Then we drove home and relaxed for a while. We're both still pretty full from our lunch and dinner will probably be some salads...if we get hungry at all. Now we're watching some TV and catching up on some emails and Facebook. A quiet night in Las Vegas, but tomorrow our adventure will continue...

April Fools - On the Casinos, not me!

Our morning began with a few cups of coffee, the TV news and catching up on some emails and Facebook.

Wednesdays in Las Vegas have a certain rhythm to them. Helen has Bible Study at 10 a.m., so we relax until around 9:30, then head over to the church, arriving around 9:45. She goes to her class and I head over to the Suncoast for an hour or so until I return to the church to pick her up about 11:30. Today followed that familiar pattern.

When I got to the Suncoast, it was quiet with only a few blackjack tables going. I sat down at a $5 table and began to play. I made only $5 bets until I saw how things were going. It was up and down for the first 20-30 minutes. There were four of us at the table and NONE of us hit a blackjack during that time! We all commented on how rough it was, but as I checked my stack I was up $20, so not too bad despite the lack of Aces & Faces. Eventually I ground out a profit of $35 before I had to leave to pick up Helen.

Then we headed home where I fixed her a lunch of Middle Eastern fare - pita bread, hummus, Kalamata olives and Greek feta cheese. I went for a turkey on pita bread. Then Helen settled in to watch "Desperate Housewives" and sent me off to the Red Rock to see if they were giving away any money there. They were.

I played a little blackjack and a little video poker, eventually walking out with a profit of $53.

In addition, I bought a $100 ticket that my friend Nick and I will cash for $174 if the Tigers win more than 80.5 games this season. If they can just be a .500 club at 81-81 we'll be winners! Go Tigers!!!!! The only drawback is that we won't know if we've won til probably mid to late September...

It was a beautiful day today...70s and sunny with a beautiful blue sky....hard to imagine heading home to cold and snow. PLEASE get rid of that white stuff sometime during the next four weeks.

For dinner tonight I whipped up one of my new favorites - grilled Italian sausage and sauteed mushrooms and grilled red peppers over rice. Really flavorful and filling. I made a HUGE amount, so we'll probably hit it again tomorrow...

Now Helen is reading and I'm just catching up on some online bills and checking Facebook. A quiet night in the city of Neon and Free Drinks, but tomorrow our adventure continues...