The first victory of the trip goes to Angie! My friend at Waterloo Records. She wanted 29 so I went for it on 7/29, an excellent choice in my opinion.
Finally, the other major reason why we came to Las Vegas, to celebrate my 42nd birthday. If this factoid I once heard from a Raymond Burr movie is true, every atom in my body has changed out since 2003, the last time I was here for my birthday. So far, searches via Google hasn’t been able to refute nor back this claim and one friend with a PhD in Chemistry wasn’t sure. Regardless, we’ll take it as a theory (close to factual) until otherwise. Thus, I kick off me, Version 7.0 in Las Vegas! Version 6.0 was off to a great start but vacationware patches were needed through a Vegas trip in 2005, 2006 and 2008. I think Version 7.0 will fare better, than 6.0 or Windows 7.
Thanks again to all of you who sent me birthday wishes through my site, Facebook and e-mail. I loved it all so much that I copied, pasted and re-posted them into Picayune before I went to bed on my birthday; thankfully the Denny’s under my timeshare has free WiFi yet you have to re-authenticate about every 20 minutes. You people rocked. It resulted in my birthday post receiving 31 Comments, easily a record I doubt will be beaten; the previous champ is like four.
With Day 2 being rather busy, we took a more laid-back approach. First was breakfast at Paris, the only other buffet we go out of our way to eat. Always get there early, say before 830-9 AM. If you don’t, you’ll be in queue for a while. Paris is the only breakfast I look forward to in Las Vegas because there’s a station with a person who makes personal crepes. There’s other stuff too: eggs benedict, apple-smoked sausage, pate, etc. Overall, don’t count on eating until evening and I would recommend at least an hour of walking.
We then proceeded to place more friends’ wagers. This trip I counted 16 individual bets in the five and 10 dollar range. We also spread them out over time, about two or three per day. Paris seemed like a good place as any, besides, I wanted to look into the Cheap Trick show I had seen on the way to the rental car complex. Here was the first (and sadly only) victory of the trip. Angie of Waterloo Records wanted 29 and I decided, why not go for it on the 29th, my birthday! Good thing my hunch was successful. Looking back, I had the same result for Kate in 2003. I placed 13 for her on my birthday at Aladdin! I certainly need to do this every birthday.
Quitting while we were ahead, I inquired about the Cheap Trick does Sgt. Pepper show at the box office. I figured there were plenty of those $50 seats as per the billboards yet I asked for the closest thing to the stage. When the nice lady said fourth row, I quickly begged Somara to let me buy these $125/each spots and have it count as my gift to myself. How could I pass up the opportunity to sit in row DD, seat 29! (She got 30.) You know the rest of the Cheap Trick story.
We meandered north up the Strip to TI where Somara beat me for round three in our video poker tournament. Angie and Cheap Trick must’ve consumed the remainder of my birthday luck! I did place my futures bet on the Flyers to take the Cup next season and the same wager for my friend Brian with his Red Wings; why not? A Flyers v. Red Wings rematch for 1997, certainly will be more interesting than Flyers v. Blackhawks since the latter’s lineup has already shifted by a third.
By then it was past noon (PDT, 2 PM back home) so we went back to our room for a nap; sleeping was a key objective of this vacation. When the alarm went off we went on a quest to locate a Starbucks because our timeshare’s WiFi is Clear and they charge $7/day or $40/week. Maybe we’ll look into it next time.
The rest of my birthday was spent online at two different Starbucks; the first on Amigo and Warm Springs closed at 8 PM. The friendly staff told us the other we went to at Eastern and Pebble was 24 hours. Spending the remainder reading e-mail, posting, etc. was no big deal. I wanted to check on things at work quickly because every time I come back from a vacation, there’s a few hundred messages to sift through. It’s easier to look every two-three days, then my return day doesn’t have the first half bogged down in an electronic triage.
The other online element though is my favorite. I love to post stories about all the fun we’re having. Not to rub it in, to share it with all my friends. Maybe I should ask the cash-strapped city of Las Vegas for a raise due to all the publicity and enticing I do for them?
Reading all the great wishes was touching and awesome too. Maybe there’s something magical about the number 42, other than the worn-out, Douglas Adams nerd joke.
Gambling Report:
- Video Poker: Somara 2, Steve 1 ($36.25, $0)
- Somara: -$21.75
- Steve: -$60 (no craps yet!)