Valentine's Day and Visitors From Canada

Helen and I have developed a Valentine's  Day tradition over our 4 decades together. It involves making each other hand made cards and enjoying a box of chocolates together. She's never been much for flowers, but candy is something she's always enjoyed. 

So this morning I was up about 4:30, sipping coffee and making her a V-Day card. I'm an early riser and there's no logical reason for it. When I got her up at 7:30, we exchanged cards and opened the heart-shaped box of assorted chocolates. It's kind of corny, but we both enjoy the annual tradition of love and sharing. 

At 10 a,m. we watched Michigan and Wisconsin battle it out in hoops. A close game all the way and, to my surprise, the Wolverines prevailed. Then it was time for lunch and I made us both soup - Vegetable for her and Chicken & Rice for me. 

We've haven't been doing any gambling lately and my visit to the casinos have been limited to picking up some complimentary meals, cashing in on all the points I've racked up during our first 3 months here. So Helen decided we should cash in $50 in Rampart Casino comps for steak dinner to celebrate V-Day. 

I drove over to the casino and flagged down a pit boss to write out the comp for the Earl Grey Cafe. Two New York Strip Steaks, mashed potatoes with gravy, steamed veggies, rolls, salads and two slabs of chocolate & raspberry cake came to $48, 

Some 20 minutes after ordering, I got the bag full of food, and rolled back home where we enjoyed it immensely!  

After dinner, Helen got a call from Scott and spent an hour or so catching up with him. Yesterday we talked with Anna who wanted some advice about a financial issue. 

On the way out of the casino, I ran into a couple of visitors who had just flow in from Canada I believe.

And so our LV adventure continues...

Looking Ahead to March Madness

 As soon as the Gatorade dries over the shoulders of the winning coach in today's Super Bowl, some here in Las Vegas will turn their focus to next month's major sporting event, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.  

Here are odds on some of the big-name colleges:

Gonzaga 2/1

Baylor 5/2

Michigan & Iowa 8/1

Villanova, Illinois & Texas 10/1

Houston & Alabama 15/1

Wisconsin 20/1

Tennessee 25/1

Virginia, Florida State  & Texas Tech 30/1

Several historically powerful teams are now getting big odds to win The Dance, including:

MICHIGAN STATE, LSU, Purdue, Indiana, UConn & Minnesota 100/1

Marquette, BYU & Syracuse 200/1

Kentucky, Maryland, Penn State & Pitt 300/1

Georgetown, UNLV, Arizona State & St. John's 500/1

Hopefully COVID won't tangle this event as our LV adventure continues!

More Platin'

ns LV seems to have more personalized license plates than any town I've ever seen. Here are a few I spotted while being out and about.

                                            Also Known As Pooh?

Are Tens It? Or Tens Info Technology?

Pulled up behind Bad Company at a red light.

No One here. 

    

                                            Getting It Done!

Here comes The Sun.

                                            

                                            AlimonyN?                                            

A water lover.

                                            Raja At? With a little snow to show it's winter.

Super Bowl Investments!

 Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas has always been one of the highlights of our winter. 

Typically, I would get down to the Strip, find a hopping sports book and enjoy the first half of the game. When halftime shenanigans began, I would slip away and make the 30 minute drive to our apartment, usually arriving just in time for the 2nd half kickoff. 

It's a matter of pride that I've missed every halftime show since way before that legendary costume malfunction by Janet Jackson. I think the last time I saw a halftime show, Anita Bryant was belting out God Bless America.

Meanwhile, back at our apartment, I would share the second half with Helen and we'd cheer for our teams. Wings, Pizza, Nachos or Middle Eastern treats like hummus, tabouli, lebne and fresh pita bread were our standard fare. 

But this year we'll be watching the whole game here in our apartment. Today I went shopping for the grub. Helen suggested nachos, so I got all the fixings. I also snagged a dozen chicken wings and blue cheese dressing for dipping. We're good to go, foodwise.

I also made my prop wagers this morning. At the Red Rock Casino , the sports book issued a thick (22 page) packet of possible prop bets. I grabbed one a couple of days ago and poured over it looking for good bets. Quickly I find 13 possible investments, narrowed that down to eight, then 5, and finally just 3. Here they are:

1, Neither team puts up 3 unanswered scores, not including extra points. I think the scoring will go back and forth with none of them scoring 3 straight times. My $10 wager will return $26 when it hits.

2. KC QB Patrick Mahomes total passing yards more than 327.5. If he gets 85 a quarter, my $25 ticket will pay $45.

3. 6-point teaser of Buccs +9.5 and the game over 50 total points. I see a close game and getting all those points with Tom Brady was just too good to pass up. 30-24 would not surprise me. My $25 investment will pay $45 when it hits. 

Some of the others I considered included:

 Shortest TD by either team. Over/Under 1.5 yards. Tempted to take the over since a $10 bet returned a juicy $14, but decided that a pass interference penalty in the end zone puts the ball at the 1-yard line and there goes my bet. May regret not taking this one though. 

TB receiver Scotty Miller over/under 1.5 receptions. All he needs is two catches? And it pays $11.50 for every $10 wagered. 

Total Chiefs penalty yards over/under 49.5 or total Bucs penalty yards over/under 43.5. Seems like a couple of pass interference or personal fouls could get you close to winning these bets, not to mention a holding call or offsides. Another one I may regret not making. 

And Finally....the Super Bowl Odds for next year's game on Feb. 6, 2022 in Inglewood, Cal. 

Chiefs 5/1

Packers 8/1

Buccaneers 9/1

Bills 10/1

Ravens 10/1

At the other end of the odds are the Bengals 80/1, Texans 80/1, LIONS 100/1 and Jaguars 125/1.

If you're a football fan, enjoy the game and here in LV our adventure continues...

Finally Back to Semi-Normal

After two weeks without my laptop, I'm finally getting back to updating the blog. 

Sorry to have been away, but I'll try to explain how we got lost in cyberspace. Two weeks ago my trusty Asis laptop refused to power up. Dead. Black screen. Nada, zip zilch. So I toted it over to Best Buy to visit the Geek Squad where one of the consummate Geeks looked at me condescendingly and said "well it's probably the battery or the motherboard." 

He wanted $100 to just open it up and another $100 for a new battery. I politely declined and tried a local computer joint, "U Breakit, I fix it." 

I didn't really break it, but I hoped they could fix it. After having it for 5 days, I called and they admitted it needed some soldering inside and, of course, they don't do soldering. But they tipped me to another local shop who did. So I went there and, in about a week, they got it working. Seems the socket where the power cord attaches went bad and had to be replaced. $135 later it's working. 

So getting back online is pretty nice. Didn't realize how reliant I was on my laptop until it was gone. During this whole cyber ordeal, I was a regular at the LV Library where I could log on to one of their 8 computers. The only drawback was they put a one hour limit on computer use and I used most of it checking emails, paying bills, updating ebay, reading the Freep, News and Review-Journal.  

Haven't been to casinos very much lately. I had been on a nasty losing streak, so just taking a break from blackjack and poker. I'll play a couple of SuperBowl props, but nothing too crazy. Looking forward to the game on Sunday. But instead of watching it in the excitement of a sports book, I'll share the fun at home with Helen.

Highlight of the week happened on Wednesday. For a couple of weeks, Helen has been trying to make us reservations to get our Covid vaccines. Vegas has about 6 different locations and they are so busy and so confusing that it's almost impossible to get a reservation. There is no central website that schedules the shots, so you have to check out each location individually and the availability changes by the hour. So you have to be persistent and, typical Vegas, lucky too. 

But she learned that Laughlin had much easier availability and she was able to get us a 3:30 appointment there. Only drawback is its a 90-mile road trip each way. So we took off about 1 for the drive. Using google directions we promptly got lost about 30 miles into the trip. I finally stopped in Boulder City at the police station where we got directions and hit the road again. Rolled into Laughlin at 3 p.m. and by 3:20 we were in the ballroom at the Aquarius hotel and casino. Got our vaccines and we were heading home by 4 p.m. We go back there on March 3 for the second arm poke. 

We stay pretty close to the apartment on most days. I go shopping and run a few errands. Helen hardly leaves except for a medical appointment. We have one today. She has a routine check up scheduled with the urology clinic here. She keeps busy during the day, talking with Anna and Norm's wife Lorraine, who checks in with us almost daily during her dog walking time. She always enjoys hearing from family and friends.

We're more than halfway through our winter here, about 2 months before we'll pack up and return to TC. Have to admit it's been one of the least fun times here in LV with no shows, no in-restaurant dining and very little interaction with locals. But the weather has been beautiful, 65and sunny for most of this week, shorts and t-shirt weather for me. 

I'll get back into the blog habit and I hope you all enjoy our updates. 

So our LV adventure continues...

More Platin'

 

                                             His business is for sale?

                                            Sweet Temptation!

Haters?

Huh?

She's a Primadonna!

She's a Lorena!

No idea...

                                            

                                            Credit Doctor

NFL Playoff Odds & More

Red Rock Casino has posted new odds on winning the NFL championship and Conference titles. Here are the details...

AFC - Chiefs 5/6, Bills 2/1, Ravens 5/1, Steelers 10/1, Titans 15/1, Browns & Colts 25/1.

NFC - Saints 12/5, Packers 3/2, Buccaneers 7/2, Seahawks 4/1, Rams 16/1, Bears 40/1 and Football Team 50/1.  

Super Bowl 

Chiefs 9/5

Packers 7/2

Bills 9/2

Buccaneers 8/1

Saints 9/1

Ravens 10/1

Seahawks 12/1

Steelers 22/1

Titans 30/1

Rams 35/1

Browns & Colts 50/1

Bears 80/1

Washington 100/1

Red Rock is also offering  a SB bet of "AFC Team" -3 1/2 and a game total of 56. You can invest on the AFC team on the money line of -175 or the NFC at +150.

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The odds are also out on the NCAA hoops title game set for April 5.

Heavy favorite right now is Gonzaga at 2/1 with Baylor at 6/1 and every other team at least double (or triple) figures. Michigan State is at 22/1, while the Wolverines are 60/1. On the other end of scale, there are a handful of teams at 400/1,including UNLV, Temple and Rhode Island.