Monday Afternoon

Hey gang...

Word around the campfire is that the shirts started arriving today, and a couple of people have emailed with glowing reviews. Glad you liked them. Don't forget to bring them on your next trip to Vegas!

I'm still in the process of moving rooms--about 90% of the junk is moved, but not much is hooked up (still haven't hooked up the new speakers and subwoofer to the computer yet, and I'm really not looking forward to battling the dragon of the surround sound system again, either). At least the bed is put together and I've had the sublime pleasure of sleeping with the windows open when I get home from work.

Of course, when I wake up at 11, it's almost a hundred degrees in here (which is fine when lurking about out-of-doors, but not so much in the house), so I shut everything up and turn the air on. But believe me, coming from that oven of a bedroom to a place with windows that open on two sides allowing fresh air to circulate is a slice of heaven. And it's starting to get *really* nice at night out here too--it's cooling off again, the oppressive summer heat has broken, and we're hovering around a wonderful hundred degrees during the day with no humidity and somewhere it seems in the high 70s at night. Add a little breeze to that and it feels pretty good.

Anyhow--once I finish the blogging this afternoon, I'm going to spend a couple of hours moving the rest of the stuff (mostly boxes out of the closet and a few odds and ends) then hit the carpet with the vaccuum. But most of it will sit here and wait until I get back at the end of the week before I organize everything and get officially finished with the move. Yes, I've been taking my own sweet damn time.

Once that chore is finished, I've got one more night of work, then I'll grab a few hours of sleep before hitting the highway bound for Phoenix. I'll drop the tailgate and see if I can improve on that 14 mpg I've been getting around town. I've also noticed that my gas gauge absolutely races to the half-tank mark, and that's usually about the time I fill it up, not wanting to cough up $75 for a fill up. But I've let this last tank run down, and happily the needle has been stuck on a quarter tank for the past three days. I'll fill up tomorrow before I hit the road, and I'm *sure* 22 gallons will be more than enough to get me all the way to Phoenix, but I still have to figure out just how far I can go before I need to start looking for a gas station.

Back in the day, I lived on the southeast side of Phoenix, down in the Tempe/Mesa/Chandler/Gilbert area, and the drive to Vegas took about four-and-a-half hours. But I imagine that this trip won't take four hours because 1) I'm not leaving from the Vegas Club, which was our usual destination--my house is 20 minutes closer to Hoover Dam, 2) I don't anticipate much traffic on a Tuesday afternoon between here and there, and 3) I'm going to my buddy Ed's house, who now lives way the hell up on the northwest edge of civilization in Phoenix, about a half hour closer to Vegas than when Derek and I lived up the street from Sun Devil Stadium. So it should be an easier trip than previous jaunts across the desert.

I can't wait to get there and see everyone. It should be a great time! I just have to put in another eight hours behind the tables first...

Work was interesting last night--I made it the entire eight hours, but damn, it was tough. I dealt mostly Pai Gow for the first six hours, and longtime reader and occasional comments-section poster 'Jimbucc' and his wife stopped by and played for an hour or so at my table. They basically broke even, maybe even made a buck or two before calling it a night. I wish I could've given them a good hand--I dealt two four-of-a-kinds last night, but nothing that big landed in front of them.

At 2:00 am, they moved me to the dice table, and I was glad to see that it was an easy game with just two players. But as soon as I got there, the dang table filled completely up with players, most of which were a lot of fun. But this complete tool, betting $5 on the line with no odds or any other bets kept whining like it was my fault that the cocktail waitress wasn't coming around quick enough for him.

Yeah pal, like I can summon scantily-clad chicks bearing free booze while standing there making payouts to five other players... Whatever, douchebag.

I was glad to see him lose his last twenty bucks before he ever got that Corona he was holding out for. Everyone else was a lot of fun and we had a good time for about an hour before the table turned ice cold and chased everyone away.

We dropped down to a three-man crew with me sitting box for a few minutes before falling ass-backwards into the 20-minute early out that I clearly didn't deserve. But I'll take it! I spent a few minutes collecting tokes (basically carrying around a bank bag while two of the gals I work with emptied the toke boxes into it--that shiat gets heavy with all that silver!) before punching out ahead of the mass exodus, and was home in bed enjoying the cool breeze a half hour later.

One more night just like that and I'll be good to go.

Mikey