Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Key to the Game
Richard Alpert is an android on the ABC show "Lost".
Final Season Of 'Lost' Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever
Friday, January 15, 2010
Doldrums
Since its been nine days since my last post, I thought I'd get on here and start talking about something......ANYTHING! The problem is that nothing much is happening. January is a very slow month at the casino and it doesn't really start picking up until March Madness arrives. I've only gotten 3 days at work the first two weeks of the new year and the only reason I have 4 on the schedule next week is due to MLK day weekend.
I was thinking about taking another one-night vacation downtown but thought better of it. Even though its a fairly cheap way to get away for a night (not to mention the delicious micro-brews at Main Street Station), it'll still cost some money, especially if I plan on doing some gaming activities. The one thing I hate about this time of the year is that all of the Christmas bills, my life insurance annual bill and my semi-annual car insurance bill all come at the same damn time. I pay off the 6-month car insurance coverage at once because it saves me about $50 overall. To make matters worse, I can expect to shell out another $200 or so to re-register my car and get the smog check done again. For those of you who don't know, Nevada does not have state income tax, but it seems they get it all back when you have to register your car. The price is outrageous compared to Ohio and and other states.
So late December through January is pretty much the only time of the year when I spend more money than I make, which I hate but know I can't do much about. The result is that I've been getting more days off lately but can't really justify doing anything fun with them due to the lack of income. Thus.....no real exciting posts on here. And of course the irony is that when I'm pulling in some pretty good paychecks in March and April, I won't have any time or energy to do anything with them!
Speaking of no time and energy, Chris (my former roommate and the guy I moved out here with) got a sweet new job at City Center as a full-time floor supervisor. At first I wasn't sure it would be a good move because most new mega-resorts overhire and lay off a bunch of people on the 89th day (last day of probationary period). However, Chris texted me the other day and told me he has worked 33 out of the first 35 days and that he can't expect to get a normal "weekend" of two days off in a row until mid-April! So I think he's pretty safe. Plus, he is just RAKING IN THE CASH by working all of those hours. I honestly wouldn't want a job at the level that he's found himself at, but I wouldn't mind finding something in-between where I'm at now and where he's at. He texted me again at some point and told me he was watching a table where some guy was playing 50 grand per hand on a blackjack table with THREE hands at a time! So I'm assuming they've got him back in the high limit room, or at that play, maybe some table hidden on a different floor somewhere for the whale! It's almost like they're letting him sink or swim.
Okay, enough rambling. I'll update the blog on any hikes I happen to take, but without a new phone it'll be difficult to get any pics up. Wish me luck on picking out a new one, it's been three years since I last renewed a contract.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Big Ten is Back!
Okay, so what else did I do on Tuesday night? After posting the entry below, I wandered into the living room to watch the Orange Bowl on the DVR, having successfully avoided seeing the result all night at the casino and elsewhere!
WOW! I won't make any crazy statements that overestimate the Big Ten's performance in the bowls this year, but I will say with 100% certainty that the Big Ten is back and competitive with any other conference out there! The three losses suffered by the Big Ten this year were definitely overshadowed by the four wins. Wisconsin looked very good against Miami, but the ACC was down this year, so there was still a lot to be seen. Minnesota was disappointing in their one point loss, but Northwestern pretty much shocked the nation in their 3 pt. (or one yard) loss to the SEC's Auburn. Penn State took care of LSU, who many argued should have been in a BCS bowl if not for the rules of not allowing more than two in. Of course the Buckeyes were extremely impressive against the best the PAC-10 had to offer (did I see the stats right....41 minutes of time possession???). And then the Hawkeyes, who finished SECOND in the Big Ten and needed to get in at-large controlled Georgia Tech Tuesday, only allowing 7 offensive points for the game! The only bad loss was Michigan State, who had suspended half their damn team.
For some reason though, I keep thinking back to the Northwestern game. Remember, we're talking about the perenial doormat of the conference all of the "experts" keep saying is the weakest in the country. Say is again....Northwestern almost beat the SEC's Auburn!!! It's kind of surreal, isn't it?
At any rate, it almost seemed like the Big Ten entered the bowl season this year on a mission. Only the SEC can possibly boast of two BCS wins this year if Alabama pulls off the championship. As of tonight, I'm very proud of the hard-nosed play by the midwesterners this year and expect it to show in the preseason polls for next year!
A couple other observations from the bowls. First, I'm not too happy with whoever decided that Boise St. and TCU should play each other in the Fiesta Bowl. It's almost as if the BCS committees were tired of seeing 2nd-tier conference teams beat up on the big boys every year. So they made sure it wouldn't happen again this year by pitting them against each other. The Fiesta Bowl WAS a terrific game, but I would have preferred to see something like a Boise St./Florida Sugar Bowl and a TCU/Iowa or Cincy Orange Bowl....something along those lines. Oh well, I'm just glad I got to see so many of them this year.
Mother Earth's Green Skin
On Tuesday, I spent some time playing video poker at South Point and then watched a $1.00 movie at Regency Theaters on the corner of Trop and Pecos. Danielle declined these activities since the casino environment isn't up her ally and the movie started at her bedtime.
South Point is still proving to me that it may be one of the only casinos in town that is still doing things right! They sent out a general mailer (not addressed to me, just to resident) that included coupons like the $15 free slot play that I used, 2-for-1 buffet, free pop and popcorn at the theater, etc. So I headed over there to use the free play and turned their $15 in free play (plus my $1 to activate it) into a cash out of $41! Total investment on my part = $1 while cash out = $40.....with $2 going to the drink lady.
At around 9pm, I headed out of South Point to get over to the cheapo theater for some viewing entertainment. $1 for the movie plus $7.75 for the nachos and Mountain Dew. Normally the movies there cost $1.50, but you can get in for just a buck on Tuesdays. I almost NEVER buy stuff at movie theater concessions, but I always try to get stuff at this place. They obviously don't make their money selling $1.50 movie tickets and I want this place to survive! I used to make it a point to actually spend $10 every time I went there since that's what a regular movie ticket goes for at the "real" theaters, but since they reduced their normal movie prices from $3 to $1.50, its actually hard to spend ten bucks now!
As for the movie, well, I got my $1 worth! It wasn't a total miss, but I won't go out of my way to watch it again. It seemed like they created a really great back story and did nothing with it. But then again....$1.
I got a message on my voicemail on the way home from the theater. Chris has worked 26 straight days at City Center and, before his current break, was watching over some guy betting three hands on blackjack at 50 grand per hand. Casinos normally call these guys wales. Maybe I'll start calling them goats.
The total profit for my night comes to $29.25, minus gas.
