The theme for Vegas IV: The Pirate Vacation is nearing a consensus between Somara and me. Something involving static cling and getting shocked from walking around the casinos. This city is normally dry but the cold has created an annoying problem of us getting zapped every other time we touch a brass fixture. Makes you rather reluctant to come into any physical contact with living or non-living objects. My co-worker Tony arrived here Wednesday afternoon too. He may have some helpful input. Coining a catchphrase is easier when José is present.
Our timeshare escapade didn’t work out because we missed the bus. Primarily my fault and the Apple Store’s wireless set up flaking out in the final minutes of me trying to post Day One’s events. We are rescheduled for tomorrow and Mystère in the evening. The James Bond movie has been scrapped since Somara declared how she didn’t want to do anything we could do at home. I will be holding her to that when we get home then. With the Flyers loss put off until 4 pm, I actually had time to gamble at the game I grew fond of last trip, craps. But first, we got signed up for the MGM Mirage Players Club (TI belongs to that family of casinos), what I recall Rob Fedson called the Frequent Losers Club. Worked out well for Somara. They issued her a new card with five bucks of free play. It took only a dollar of her own money to activate it on a 25-cent poker machine yet she came out ahead. All losses with the game came from the credit while winnings went into a separate pool. When the free play was all gone, she had $4.75 in the victory pool so I’d say she’s up $3.75 or extracted that much from the free five bucks! Me? I have $25 free play on the card they issued me. I haven’t touched it, I’ll probably give it to Somara because it doesn’t work on the table games, unless you’re dropping $25 a bet. If I could afford to drop that much per bet, I’d be staying at Bellagio or Wynn. It didn’t discourage me from playing craps on the five-dollar table. I only used $60 and I effectively killed an hour with only a loss of five bucks and even that was just “lost” giving the casino people a tip. I think I came out ahead for the entertainment and a free beer. I couldn’t say I was as fortunate with my time in the sportsbook. I made the wager at TI but had to go to Mirage to watch the gam. By the time I made it to the Mirage, Philly was up 1-0 halfway into the first period. I thought my $20 would actually be returned as a $50 bill. Fat chance. As expected, they blew the lead and ended up down 2-1 against Nashville, another annoying, successful team from NASCAR country. Umberger tied it up in the third and again, it was short lived as the Predators scored several minutes later to finish them off. I already figured the 20 bucks was lost and getting the two free-drink coupons with the betting slip did soothe the sting of losing. I know better where to go for the probable spanking they’ll get from the Islanders.
I’ll close this brief entry (don’t want to miss the time-share shuttle again) with this little vacation score board on gambling losses and winnings. We better have a theme by then too!
GAMBLING REPORT
Somara: $3.75
Steve: -$20