Happy Freakin' New Year!

Hey Everyone! Happy New Year!

It's been a pretty interesting weekend for me. At this point, I've finished day 4 of my 6-day marathon at the casino. I was only scheduled for 3 days per week this week and last, but the 3 days just happened to be Fri,Sat,Sun last week and Mon,Tues,Wed this week. Add in the fact that I was actually called into work last Wednesday means that I'll be working 7 out of 8 days come this Wednesday!

Yesterday was one of the stranger days I've had at work lately. About midway through the shift, my shift manager talked to me and told me that I'd probably be moving to swing shift beginning next Monday the 7th. If you've followed this blog for a while you know that I can hurt for hours at work at times. So even though I like graveyard hours and the people I work with, moving to swing will most likely allow me to work more days per week, which will be nice! The downside, of course, is that the 7th just happens to be the championship game that Ohio State is playing in, so that will suck BIG TIME if I'm scheduled that night (which is likely).

While talking to my shift supervisor later that shift in the break room, he basically offered to "juice" me into that place on the Strip that I've been trying to get into for a 2nd part-time job. It's ironic because I would have accepted his help 2 months ago when I was getting 2 days a week, but will probably not follow up on it now. I guess we'll see exactly how much they want me to work on swing.

The day wasn't over though. An hour before I was to punch out at 11am, I tapped into a double-deck pitch blackjack game at 10am. When I first approached the table I didn't think anything was out of the ordinary since the bet minimum bet sign was lit up as blue, which is almost always a $10 table. However, I quickly realized it was a $50 table (which is also blue) and that there was a guy betting a BUNCH of black and pink (black being $100 chips and pink being $500). And so the train wreck began. He basically played about $1200 on each hand because he was betting multiple black chips with TWO separate hands. The black was gone in about 10 minutes. Next came his pink stacks. When he ran out of black, he began betting 2 pinks ($1000) on each hand, with two hands at a time! That's $2000 in play everytime the cards are dealt! The soul crushing continued. I could not lose!! Every once in a while I'd deal him a blackjack or a successful double-down, which kind of kept him around for a little bit. But the way I'd been rolling the last couple of days, just killing everything that was unfortunate to sit down in front of me, he didn't last very long.

All-in-all, I took this poor guy for a little over 10 grand in about 30 minutes. He seemed cool and I know he'd been tipping the dealer before me, so it sucked I drained him so quickly. But there was nothing I could do.

So what are my plans tonight for New Year's Eve? Well, I guess I'll be asleep when the bell tolls 12 for the first time that I can ever remember! My shift starts at 3am tomorrow morning and I'll be dealing to all of the leftover die-hards from the NYE festivities. I really don't mind at all though. In addition to working all of these days in a row, the tokes have been pretty awesome! $180 on Friday, $167 Saturday, $155 on Sunday, and I expect another very good day today (being the 31st).

So I hope everyone has fun tonight! I wouldn't really expect another update from me until later in the week when I actually have a day off and am able to catch my breath.

Animal Cracker Antics

My friend Tony forwarded me this picture today. This is what his son actually found in a box of animal crackers!!!

Norm!!

This is one of the greatest lines ever from Norm Macdonald when he did 'Weekend Update' on Saturday Night Live. It's also appropriate for the Holiday Season!



Sorry for the audio and video quality. This clip is NOWHERE to be found on the internet, so I had to use my camera phone with a 12" screen TV and VCR.

Santa Visits the Man-Cave!

It's been a pretty good day! I hope everyone had a great Christmas today and was rewarded with some goodies from Santa! It was a pretty good time at Steve's yesterday. I avoided a severe tragedy while driving over there though. Some idiot pulled right out in front of me and I was able to slam the breaks to avoid him. However, my balls did a somersault and landed upside down! Before I could tend to my balls, I needed to make sure that doing so would not cause an accident, so the crock pot was upside down for probably 15 seconds or so. Fortunately I had the heating cover on it as well as the little bungee string keeping the lid on, so there were no ball casualties. However, about half of the sauce leaked out and into the cover with some getting onto the floor cover. Needless to say I had some cleaning up to do once I finally got to Steve's.

Speaking of the balls, I had probably the PERFECT mixture for the sauce this time. The recipe is brutally simple. Just put some pre-made meatballs in the crock and cover them with the sauce. Cook on low for a few hours to infuse the sauce into the balls and that's it. The sauce is made up of 1/4 cocktail sauce (what you dip shrimp in), 1/4 chili sauce, and 1/2 two different kinds of jellies. You pick what flavors, but my "perfect" mixture yesterday was strawberry preserve and apple jelly. Be careful with the cocktail sauce though. If there is one ingredient that can overpower the rest, it's that one.

We all had a grand old time on Christmas Eve playing poker, watching a couple of movies and eating way more than we should have. Eva, Steve's girlfriend, makes the absolute most delicious cheesecake I have EVER tasted! Everyone crashed around midnight and I woke up at 5:30am trying to figure out where I was. Since I couldn't get back to sleep I headed back to the apartment.

Around 8am, Mikey and I decided to tear into our presents which had been tempting us under the tree for the past couple of weeks. Santa sent them from Ohio for some reason. My goodies included some nuts (to go with my balls I guess), thin mints, a log of summer sausage, an Ohio State t-shirt from my sister, an OSU alarm clock and a buckeye welcome mat. The mat is extremely welcome since dirt and leaves seem to be getting into the apartment more often since the weather turned cool.


The rest of the day was spent cleaning like crazy. I hadn't cleaned the place in a couple of months, so the place was pretty filthy! Sweeping, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, bathtub scrubbing, laundry.....the whole nine yards. I was called into work for tomorrow morning and will be working 6 straight days beginning Friday, so I really needed to get these chores done pronto!

Once again, happy holidays everyone!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas!! In a couple of hours, I'll be heading on over to my friend's house to celebrate the holiday! It'll be the first time away from home during this time of the season in, oh, forever I guess. If you remember Steve from a couple previous posts, that's where I'll be. He and his girlfriend will be cooking up some awesome holiday treats. I doubt if I'll be making it back to the apartment tonight since the combination of food, spirits and their hot tub will make driving impossible later on!

I was trying to think of what to bring, so I did get a nice bottle of Robert Mandovi merlot, so we got that going for us, which is nice. However, when I spent Thanksgiving with them, I basically freeloaded since all I brought was some homemade guacamole that I threw together in five minutes. So I tried to think of something else besides the wine that I could bring this time. Of course there are plenty of holiday treats to choose from. Lemon cookies, spiced cider, candy canes, etc.

However, what I really like to bring out this time of the year are my balls!

A couple of movie favorites.....

...that you've never heard of. Well actually, I better not underestimate the people reading this blog. I guess a better subject title would be "movies that have flown under the radar."

While living in Bowling Green, my apartment complex was literally right next door to an independent local movie rental store. I believe their little tag line read "a movie buff's paradise." Unfortunately, it took me all of four years to actually go in there and take a look. Their tag line was correct. So during my last year in Bowling Green, when I knew my days there were numbered, I made it a point to go into the store at least once a week and sift through the incredible amount of really good movies on hand, many that would never be found at your local blockbuster. My favorite section did not organize the movies by genre or alphabetical order, but by director. So for a while, over the course of a couple weeks, I would watch a particular director's entire library from beginning to end. I did this with Scorsese (which introduced me to such films as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), the Coen Brothers, Speilberg, Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith, M. Night Shyamalan, etc., etc.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been pretty hard pressed to come up with good blog topics lately. Maybe it's all of this sitting around I've been doing since my casino has not needed me much. It's turning my brain to mush. So I got to thinking that perhaps I could just list some of my favorite movies, like pretty much EVERY blogger on the face of the planet has done. However, my little twist is that the movies below not only comprise my list of favorites, but also seem to have really been ignored for the most part by mainstream America, especially when compared to the creator's other works. Another theme that these movies seem to have is that the viewer probably loves them or just doesn't get them. There isn't much middle ground with these selections.

So if you're looking to rent a movie or two tonight and you're tired of seeing the same old crap shoved down your throat, consider seeking these out.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Life Aquatic is probably in my top 5 ALL-TIME favorite movie list. The director of this movie, Wes Anderson, is probably most known for his hit The Royal Tenenbaums. Like Royal, and his previous work Rushmore, Life Aquatic is a dark comedy. I loved Bill Murray in this movie!

The Kentucky Fried Movie

The Kentucky Fried Movie is one that I NEVER hear anyone ever talk about, except for all of my weird friends who obviously love it as much as I do. This was the very first movie that the Zucker Brothers/Abrahams produced way back in 1977. Of course their more popular works include the Airplane movies and the Police Squad/Naked Gun series. Basically, if you like Airplane, you'll like KFM. It's definitely NOT a family flick, so keeps the kids well away. There's no real plot to this movie, just a bunch of random sketches centered around a parody within the parody, "A Fistful of Yen."

Barton Fink

The last two are films by the Coen Brothers. So what do you think of when I mention the Coen Brothers? Most people that I ask that immediately start talking about either Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, the cult favorite The Big Lebowski, or their first hit, Raising Arizona. Those are all FANTASTIC films! However, Barton Fink deserves to be somewhere in that conversation as well. John Turturro and John Goodman are brilliant in this movie. Once again, there's going to be a certain segment of people who watch this movie and just throw up their arms saying, "what the f**k!", especially after a rather confusing scene at the end. But at least give this one a try.

The Man Who Wasn't There

I'm not sure The Man Who Wasn't There ever really had a chance to become a great hit. It didn't help that it appeared shortly after 9/11, but it also doesn't really lend itself to movie stardom. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Billy Bob Thornton. But he did do a super job in this movie! The movie is shown entirely in black and white, and also stars Scarlett Johanson and that guy who is in the Sopranos (the main guy, I can't remember his name). If you're looking for a lot of action, do NOT rent this movie. I looked up some reviews of this movie online and a couple themes of those who were not fans mentioned that its a 90 minute movie shown over 2 hours. Although I'd admit the pacing is pretty slow, it's actually one reason why I like it. Nobody complained about the length Shindler's List or Saving Private Ryan, so when it's appropriate, there's certainly nothing wrong with a movie running a little long.

Oh, and if these are already rented out or unavailable, a couple alternate Coen movies would be Miller's Crossing and The Hudsucker Proxy.

I could've used a little more......

Youtube has been a major league scrooge within the past few months, basically taking away all of the nice copyrighted stuff I loved. Stuff like Simpson's clips, Family Guy, and especially the old Saturday Night Live skits. This clip is one of my all-time favorites, and it seems to have survived so far since its December 10th posting. Enjoy while you can!

A little update

I've had a couple friends email me lately asking how I'm doing at work and what my status is out here in Vegas, so I thought I'd just give an update on the blog.

Unfortunately, I've seen better days since moving to Vegas. If you've followed from the beginning, you know that Chris and I (Chris being the guy I moved out here with) both broke into our dealing careers at Nevada Palace, a complete piece of s**t casino out on Boulder Highway that offered $1 craps and $1 blackjack. Not to get off the subject, but if you're looking for some cheap gaming, Nevada Palace has completely eliminated its table games in preparation for its much deserved demolition within the upcoming year.

I can give you a list of a hundred reasons why working at the NP sucked complete arse! However, there were a couple positives. First, with the exception of one asshat over there, all of the supervisors were really cool to work for! They realized we were making next to nothing and interacted with us with that in mind. Secondly, I was working a full 40 hours per week. So even though our tokes there were horrible (only about $34/day plus our minimum wage base pay), I was still able to save a little money up every month and the bank account was not taking any hits.

After only two months at Nevada Palace, I was "fortunate" enough to get an audition at my current casino and started there shortly thereafter. I have intentionally refrained from posting any info on my blog about my exact employment whereabouts in Vegas (due to some very negative experiences my roommate has seen through his blog), but you're obviously supposed to know if indeed you do. I will tell you that the average toke day at my current place is somewhere in the $110-$120 range. Pretty good, right???

Not really. One aspect of being a casino dealer in Vegas is that once you get your foot in the door of a good casino, you have to spend time as an "extra board" dealer, which means you're part-time while waiting for a full-time position to open. While extra-board like me, you can be scheduled for ANY amount of hours during the week, you can be sent home at ANY time during a shift, and you have NO IDEA when a full-time position will open up for you. At this point, I've been at my current place for 8 months, but for all I know, it could be another 8 months before becoming full-time.

The reason I bring this up is these past couple of weeks have seen my scheduled hours plummet! Yep, for some reason, the powers-that-be have decided that the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas is a good time to give me exactly 2 days and 1 day per week respectively. This is my "one day" week, so I'm sitting here kind of depressed feeling like I'm unemployed.

It's kind of a like the straw that broke the camel's back, because I just decided to apply to the place that Chris now works at on the Strip. For reasons already stated, I won't tell you where that is, but I will say the toke days are about $30-$40 less per day than at my casino. However, Chris has never received less than 4 days per week (usually 5), he is NEVER sent home early, and he describes his casino as a "blast to work in", with fun players and a severe lack of fleas!! So I'm kind of excited about this possible avenue.

I'll keep ya posted. If I happen to get the job over there, I could:
- try to work both places hoping that my hours stay down at my current place
- have a change of heart and turn down the new job
- quit my current place and work at the new one only

Whatever happens, wish me luck. Despite the setbacks, I have enjoyed this Vegas adventure so far and want to see it through!

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Flyingwinnebago.blogspot.com now has an open-door policy! Anyone can now comment, not just those few souls who have taken the time to register with google! Yes, it took me this long to figure out how to open up the comments section! Maybe now I'll go read the instructional manual for my electric shaver to see what kinds of fascinating options that thing has!

Oh, and I still have the "moderate comments" option on, so I still get to read them all before they get posted. It's good to be the king!

In the spirit of the season.

Okay, I promise this is the last Mystery Science Theater clip that I'll ever post on the blog, especially since I'm convinced that exactly ONE reader out there truly appreciates MST3K like I do. I just thought I'd spread some appropriate Christmas cheer!

Sodium Video

The shocking lack of amount of sodium education in America's classrooms is shocking! I think this educational video should clear up any questions the American public may have about sodium.

MST3K

I've just figured out the treasure trove of MST3K episodes circulating youtube! God help me!!

Words to Live By

Just think, nearly ALL accidental deaths in the United States could be avoided by attaching this very simple message to most vehicles and appliances!

Craps 101

One of the most common reasons that I hear when I ask people why they choose not to play craps in a casino is that the game seems too "intimidating" to them. Unfortunately, that means that I am usually exposed to the exact same players on a day-to-day basis (who are almost exclusively locals) instead of the fun tourist crowd who tend to gravitate over at the roulette or blackjack tables.

So I thought I'd give this very brief explanation of how to play craps so that anyone who hasn't given it a try (including my friends who may be in town in March) might mosey up to the dice table without fear.

While it's true that you'll get swamped if you tried to understand EVERY bet that can be made at the table, you only really need to understand ONE very basic bet to play competently. A bonus is that this one bet, along with an "odds" bet, is the best way to play as it has the very lowest house edge of any bet in the entire casino.

This one bet is called the pass-line bet. When you step up to the table, just throw down your money on the felt like you never want to see it again, and the dealer will give you chips. See that round "puck" in the picture that is white, or "on"? Well, the other side is black, or "off". Just wait until the puck goes to black, put a $5 chip on the pass-line, and your ready to play!

If the puck is black, then 7 and 11 are the numbers you want to see since they are winners. 2,3 and 12 are the bad numbers when it is black, since these are the "crap" numbers and you lose. ANY other number is neutral (4,5,6,8,9,10). If one of these neutral numbers are thrown, then it becomes the "point" and the dealer will turn the puck over to white and set it on that number (as has happened in the picture with the #4). So if the #4 is rolled BEFORE a 7, you win. If a 7 is rolled before the 4, you lose. It's that simple!

The one addition that you will want to make though is the "odds" bet. When the dealer turns the puck white and sets it on the number, which is the point, you'll want to put an odds bet directly behind your pass line bet. I won't go into detail why, but I will tell you that this bet is paid "true odds" and thus, is the ONLY bet in the entire casino that has NO HOUSE EDGE associated with it. It kind of depends on what number is the point to decide exactly what your odds bet is. However, $10 will work for ANY point number, no thinking involved.

So to recap,
1. Wait until the puck is "off", or black.
2. Put $5 on the pass line (7,11 are good....2,3 and 12 are bad....the rest are neutral)
3. Wait until a point is established (the puck turns white and is placed on a number)
4. Put $10 in "odds" right behind your pass line bet.

Oh, and most importantly, don't think about ANYTHING else. Forget all of those confusing bets in the middle of the layout. Forget the "field". Forget the Big Red 6 and 8. AND DON'T LISTEN TO ANYONE ELSE AT THE TABLE when they try to "teach" you how to play. Most likely, they are pathetic local fleas who have nothing better to do than to prey upon the unsuspecting ear of a happy-go-lucky tourist.

Good luck!

Humunga-Chunga

I guess in keeping with the great food/big portion theme lately, I just wanted to put in a good word for the place Mikey and I ate at last night. It's called the Guadalajara and it's located within the Sunset Station casino in Henderson, about 12 minutes from our apartment. I had a $25 comp ticket for ANY place at Sunset to use, but it wouldn't have gone very far at the higher end places like Sonoma Steakhouse, etc. So I decided to get Mikey in the mix and we both ate like kings for about $29, including the ticket!

We both opted for the enormous chimi-chunga, which had an awesome sauce and plenty of cheesy goodness. I can't remember the name of the side that I got (its in the bowl), but I liken it to a cross between chili and navy bean soup. It was also very tasty.

Guadalajara also had a really good salsa bar, which was free with any entree. If you got it separately, it would cost $5, so probably not worth it. But it was a great addition to the meal. The service was pretty good, especially Charlotte, who brought our chips and drinks.

If you're ever on the east side of town and looking for a decent Mexican place, you might want to check it out!

071027 Trinity University 28 - Millsaps 24 End Zone Angle

This final play makes the Stanford/Cal game look simple....except with no rogue trombonists!