Pics

Sometimes I take pictures on my camera phone with full intentions of getting them up on the blog as soon as possible. But things come up (including shear laziness) and some pics just back themselves up in my phone's memory until I either do something with them or decide they're not really worth it and hit the delete button. On Saturday (technically later today), Danielle and I are driving out to the Grand Canyon on a three-day weekend getaway from the lights and glitter of Vegas! It'll be the first time I've made a significant drive outside of Vegas since moving here in January of '07. Perhaps I'll have some more pics from the trip to post when we get back on Monday.

Until then, here are some random pics that I've cleaned off the camera phone for your enjoyment.

This is NOT a recent pic. This is a little fun I had with Chris in September of 2007 when he got trashed one night and passed out on the floor. His roommates liked to buy ground beef in bulk, which I took full advantage of!

This IS a recent pic of Chris (just two Mondays ago). Sorry for the darkness, but I didn't want to wake him up. There was no meat log, but there was a big package of discount ground beef in the fridge. Notice how he's wearing the exact same shirt, I think its the same shorts and its also the same damn position on the floor. If this trend continues, look forward to another meat-related passed-out pic of Chris in another 19 months from now!

This is the only pic I took of the Australian Pink Floyd show at the Hard Rock a few months ago.

RED DAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWG!

I'll take full credit for the Pittsburgh Steeler's victory in the Super Bowl this year. On the eve of the Super Bowl, I told Danielle to come over to my place and I'd fix her dinner. Little did she know she was in for a great surprise. I found a recipe online that mimics (albeit doesn't totally re-create) an authentic Primanti Brother's sandwich. Anyone who has ever been to Pittsburgh knows exactly what I'm talking about. It contains deli roast beef, provolone cheese, prepared cole slaw, french fries and tomato slices on fresh Italian bread! Visit this site for more info.

I met up with Gary and the gang again a couple of weeks ago at our normal hangout on the top level of Margaritaville. As always, it was great hanging out with them again and I wish we could do it more than a couple times a year!

Who remembers the content of my VERY FIRST blog posting??? Above are the nachos that we ate two weeks ago. Here they are only a few months after I moved to Vegas!

Danielle was able to join us a little later when she got off of work. Margaritaville employs a crazy balloon guy on stilts that walks around to each table and makes his balloon creations for all to enjoy. Danielle got a nice little balloon doggy hat!

OH.....

Here's a couple of pretty hilarious youtube videos poking fun at my great home state!!

A Suave Response

So somebody over on the T2V board posted a comment yesterday that I just now responded to. Apparently, she and her step-mom are coming into Vegas soon and her step-mom insists they check out a Wal*Mart here in Vegas. Yep, you read that correctly! You can check out the whole thread here.

This as my response on the board.

Is anyone else fighting the urge to go on a Wal*Mart rant right now??? I don't know why I couldn't just let this go, but I can't. My brain can't get over the fact that a store that I avoid like the plague is somebody else's vacation destination! To answer the original question, the location that Kikky mentioned just south of 215 by Eastern is a decent location. It's also got a Sam's Club right next to it in case you need a 15lb. bag of nutmeg during your trip. Okay, I just had to delete about 2 more paragraphs that might have gotten me into some hot water with the moderators. Please have a nice trip to Vegas and enjoy your visit to Wal*Mart.

This was my response before I edited it and deleted the necessary information that would have caused trouble with the powers-to-be over there.

Is anyone else fighting the urge to go on a Wal*Mart rant right now??? I don't know why I couldn't just let this go, but I can't. My brain can't get over the fact that a store that I avoid like the plague is somebody else's vacation destination!

To answer the original question, the location that Kikky mentioned just south of 215 by Eastern is a decent location. It's also got a Sam's Club right next to it in case you need a 15lb. bag of nutmeg during your trip.

Seriously, I see from your profile that you're from Texas, so I gotta tell you that the Wal*Marts here in Vegas have the same ethnically diverse clientele with a south-of-the-border motif. They have the same minimum requirements for the number of 24 year-old single mothers and their accompanying broods of satan trailing behind them. And they have the same apathetic employees who complain about not getting health care, and yet, spend more effort making themselves look like they don't give a s**t about their jobs while their ineptness is obvious to anyone who even came close to getting a high school diploma!

Forget about renting a car or taking a taxi. Don't Wal*Marts in Vegas offer free shuttle service to and from the Strip? Don't most of them have a lion habitat or fairly priced afternoon magic show? I'm pretty sure they at least have a decent 24-hour cafe with midnight steak and eggs specials. Oh wait, I may be wrong now that I think about it. IT'S FREAKING WAL*MART!!!!

Their happens to be ONE damn product that I use on a consistent basis that I can ONLY FIND AT WAL*MART! Yep, if it wasn't for this one product, I might actually be able to make it through an entire year without having to visit the place. The last time I stepped foot in a Wal*Mart was last summer when I bought about 6 bottles of this product.....and I just opened up my last damn one. The product in question is Suave For Men Hair Gel. The picture is above. I've looked for this product at Smith's grocery store, which is where I usually do my shopping, with no luck. I don't think Target carries it and I'm sure I've looked at other places as well. I'd gladly pay a couple bucks extra on EACH bottle if it meant not having to step foot in a Wal*Mart again!! So if anyone knows of an alternate place to purchase this favorite product of mine, I'd be eternally grateful!!

Sports Excitement........in April????????

There are no summer professional or popular college sports occurring in Columbus, Ohio. The college football season is still four months away (grrrrrr) and the Buckeye basketball team wrapped up its season in March. So what's this I hear about the Ohio capitol getting geared up for a BIG sports playoff series tomorrow night!?!?!? Oh yea.....THERE'S HOCKEY IN CENTRAL OHIO FOLKS!!

For the first time in its history, the Columbus Blue Jackets are heading to the Stanley Cup Playoffs! Tomorrow at around 4pm (my time), the Jackets face-off against the Red Wings in Detroit, thus ending their drought and creating some unusual interest in Ohio professional sports at this time of the year.

I REALLY hope I get a chance to watch some Stanley Cup playoff action this year. I've always felt that I've been much more of a "hockey fan" than a fan of any particular hockey team. I LOVE the Stanley Cup playoff season. It completely eclipses any passing interest I might have in the NBA and, as a playoff-type season, is only beaten by the NCAA men's basketball tournament in my opinion. I don't want to be a complete hypocrite here and devote my undying love for the Blue Jackets and their plight in the playoffs. After-all, I think I can name about 4 guys on the team right now (Nash, Mason, Umberger, uh....is Micheal Peca still on the team?). But once again, I don't usually follow the NHL season inently until this time of year anyway.....and its pretty damn hard to follow an ice hockey team in Ohio when you live in Las Vegas, Nevada!!

The Blue Jackets are definitely my favorite NHL team though, and I wish them good luck tomorrow. If they can't pull off the epic upset of beating Detroit, I'll most likely root for the Wings for the remainder of the playoffs. It should be a good one. Some higher seeded teams like New Jersey come into the playoffs faultering, while lower seeded teams like St. Louis are red hot! I hope I can enjoy this year's playoff season. When it ends each year, I'm always hit with the realization that the only sports occuring for the rest of the summer is a declining NASCAR season and a ridiculously long and drawn out Major League season.

Meat Loaf meets Dr. Dre

I've actually discovered the wonders of Windows Movie Maker. All this time I had no idea that you could put ANY audio file into Windows Movie Maker and create a video that can be uploaded to youtube! So I discovered how to turn an audio clip that my friends Tony and Mike created into a youtube wonder!! Enjoy!

Been Days-ed and Confused

Okay, so my stint back on swing shift lasted a grand total of 7 weeks! I checked the schedule last night and, to my surprise, I was not in the swing shift notebook. That either meant that I'd been fired and nobody bothered to tell me, or I was listed in the day shift notebook.....back where I belong! Woopeee!!!! That pretty much made my night even though this week has really sucked so far.

Like I've mentioned to Danielle a couple of times recently, I'm feeling like I'm getting a little burnt out at work....along with many other dealers at my casino. Starting with St. Patrick's Day, the past couple of weeks have just been brutal. This was made 10x worse seeing as how I've spent this time on swing shift, which is the most difficult shift to work by far! St. Patrick's Day and the whole March Madness saw some records get set in my casino. In fact, according to our shift boss, my place of employment may be the ONLY casino on the entire Strip that is outperforming compared to the numbers at the same time last year. From a dealer's perspective, this is very good news as it secures our jobs a little better in a time when many casinos are laying off employees. And it also translates into relatively good tips. However, as far as the tips are concerned, we definitely WORKED OUR ASSES OFF for them that past 3 weeks or so. Basically, on swing shift, I feel like less of a dealer and more of a baby sitter for drunk idiots that can't follow even the easiest directions. The people that I work with on swing shift are awesome, but with more dealers on swing shift naturally brings more drama that I'm not used to hearing. EVERYTHING IS LOUD ON SWING SHIFT! The karaoke, the live bands, the screaming players, the tv in the breakroom, the tvs in the dining room, EVERYTHING! I'm not saying that I'll never go back to swing. If given the option of going full-time on swing or staying part-time on days, I'd probably have to opt for swing. But for the time being, I don't have to worry about that!

So this upcoming week is just what a slightly burnt out dealer needs. I just have two more swing shifts to get through (Monday and Tuesday nights) and then my first day back on day shift will be this Saturday. Score!!! I'll get a good tip day in Saturday as well as a three-day weekend leading up to it! The scheduler was extremely nice in doing that since it always takes at least a couple of days to acclimate to a new shift.

Edited to Add: Jimbucc, tin foil? What tin foil? I don't see any tin foil??
Actually, I think I'll keep it up for the time being. When on day shift, the shifts usually begin at 12noon or 1pm. Therefore, I usually don't wake up until 10:30 or so (4 hours after the sun rises). I think I prefer living in the cave for now.

Let There Be No Light!

It's after 8am right now in Vegas and the sun that's rising in the east should be clearly visible from my northeast facing bedroom window. Since being forced back to swing shift, my usual bedtime is now anywhere between 9am and 12 noon, a problem for those of us who may find it difficult to sleep when it is light outside.

Since I live in a very nice rental house, the prudent solution would probably be to buy a nice set of drapes and hang them up with a nice blackout shade underneath them. It would be stylish and it would do the trick.

However, since this is a rental and not my own house.......and since I pretty much still feel like I live in a dorm since I have three roommates who are all younger than I am, I figured the cheap and effective way to go about battling the evil sun would be to use about 50 total feet of tin foil! Here is my project for your approval!

And here is a picture of the same spot in my room with the lights turned off.

You can tell its the same spot since you can see the light from the clock in the bottom center. The picture is just a little misleading since there is an extremely small fraction of light that somehow finds its way through the cracks in the tin foil (even though I double-plied and, in some spots, triple-plied it) and there is some light getting through the door cracks. But all-in-all, its a pretty successful experiment!

Wal*mart flops a set of sixes!