News From Vegas

Just an update to those who may still be checking in from time to time:

1. Work is super slow right now. The rodeo comes to town every December and dumps a good amount of cash into the local economy. But when it leaves, there's a void of about 7-10 days between the rodeo and Christmas when its dead as a doornail around here. The previous two years during this time, my parents were visiting here in Vegas. My mom's birthday is also during this time and it was nice celebrating an early Christmas with them while taking some time off work. Since they weren't in town this year, I actually worked through this time period and saw firsthand how bad things can get. To give you an idea.....tokes last Friday equaled a grand total of $58 for eight hours. Absolutely pathetic. Not only is it naturally slow, but the weather has been literally frightful lately, which also hurts business. The week of New Year's is usually pretty solid and then there's another lull during January until the Super Bowl gets here. Then it gets CRAZY during March and so forth.

2. Even though I'll be spending another Christmas Eve and Day at the casino this year, I really don't mind. That's because my "actual" Christmas will occur during the weekend of January 8th this year. My mom's side of the family always has a Christmas reunion every year. Because both Christmas and New Year's fall on the weekend this year, they are pushing the reunion back to the second Saturday of January. This kind of stinks for most since its so far removed from actual Christmas Day, but its awesome from where I stand since I can actually get that week off of work for once and not pay an arm and a leg in airfare!

The plan is to fly into Columbus on the 7th, join all the relatives for, what is essentially, a two-day reunion in Clyde, Ohio and then spend the majority of the week in Sandusky. I'm taking exactly one work-week off and only asked to be paid for three days of it. I figure the tokes will be bad that week, so I might as well eat some unpaid time off and actually use more of my vacation time when I'll be making some legitimate cash while off!

3. The short days are killing my motivation to do any hiking lately. My absolute favorite time of the day to hike is in the afternoon to early evening. Unfortunately, early evening at this point is 3pm! My work-days usually start well after 10am, so when I'm off, I usually can't drag myself out of bed early enough to drive out and get a hike in. My last hike was on the Arizona side of Hoover Dam (Liberty Arch hike that I wrote about last year). I still have yet to make it up to Red Rock.

4. As far as work goes, its becoming a grind. When I deal, its usually with a bunch of new dealers on craps where I have to turn into a babysitter for 8 hours. When I'm on the floor, its usually watching a bunch of new dealers where I have to turn into a babysitter for 8 hours! It sounds similar, but I would MUCH rather be on the floor everyday at this point. Dealing $5 blackjack and $5 craps got old a loooooong time ago!

5. If anyone reading this has ANY info on how the casinos in Ohio are progressing, please let me know. There's a very good chance that Danielle and I would like to relocate to Ohio sooner or later, and getting in at one of the new casinos in Ohio would be a convenient scenario!

This is my last day off before Christmas, so Happy Holidays everyone! Hope Santa brings you what you deserve!