Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Busy Week BEFORE The Busy Week

Hey gang, sorry I haven't updated since Wednesday, but I have been mucho busiado this past week working, preparing for the Madness, and being sick.

Yep, that head cold has been lingering, and no amount of drugs, rest, or hippie-style alternative therapy seems to be helping. I just hope it's gone by the time Tuesday afternoon rolls around.

As far as the auditions go, I never heard from the formal one--obviously I didn't make the cut. And the second one--no positions were actually open, they were just fishing, or as far as I can tell, training the new shift manager how to run an audition, so nothing came of that, either. Basically it was a waste of time. And speaking of auditions, the casting director of Thunder from Down Under called with the bad news that I was too straight and my fake Austrailian accent wasn't good enough, either...

Just can't catch a break in this town. Oh well, I guess it's back to the underground card clubs, dealing to Worm, Mike McD, and all the Russian mobsters for now.

In the meantime, I've got two more full days of work until I pick Sticky up at the airport, and then the Madness officially begins. We've got no plans for Tuesday except a little Treasure Island Pai Gow and a bit of poker at the Mirage. On Wednesday the rest of the citizens of Buffoon Nation start arriving and I will likely be reduced to a slobbering mess for the rest of the week.

I can't wait, because I've been a slobbering mess on several occasions in the past, but this time it'll have an air of legitimacy about it.

There has been a wee bit of March Madness buffoonery on tap this past week, which has also contributed to my busy-ness. On Tuesday I got to have lunch with Jay from Ohio down at the Triple Seven Brew Pub at Main Street Station. We had an enjoyable visit and he was kind enough to be representin' with his O-fficial Hurricane Mikey t-shirt. We had a great meal of hot wings and burgers, and a good conversation about two of my favorite subjects--gambling and sailing--so the time just flew by. It was a good time.

The next night, Steve B from DC called, a little bitter that the festivities were moved back a week, but still happy to be in Vegas with pocket full of cash and a handful of parlay tickets. I drove downtown again and met him at the brewpub, and we had a pretty damn good steak dinner and drank several gallons of the monthly Brewmaster's Special--Strawberry Cream Ale. Damn, that stuff was sooooo good. Way better than Petes Wicked Strawberry Blonde, and not one hint of bitter aftertaste.

We gave Falcon Rob a call, and he was also lurking about down on Fremont Street at the time, pounding the pavement, looking to escape the $1 craps game Purgatory at Nevada Palace. So the three of us sat in the brewpub for several hours, just getting lit up and telling stories, but finally put the brakes on around midnight. We wandered out to the casino and sat around a bank of 5-play video poker machines that Steve likes, and watched him play while we sobered up.

Which turned out to be a great idea.

Finally, around 3:00 am, we decided to call it a night. I fetched my truck from the valet and made my way home, but not before getting pulled over by one of Clark County's Finest Donut Eaters On A Motorbike. Of course I was stone-cold sober at the time, and the guy didn't even ask if I'd been drinking, but I was doing 51 mph on Eastern Ave, where the speed limit is only 35. Kinda sucks--it's six lanes wide, and during the day you'd be lucky to hit 30 mph because it's usually gridlocked.

Anyhow, long story short, Mikey got a $300 speeding ticket. I've got to call the court tomorrow to find out about traffic school, because I certainly don't want that showing up on my already outrageous $193 per month insurance bill (with no tickets or accidents in over ten years!). But I made it home without further incident.

Thursday after work I met up with Steve again, and again we used his "anything you want is free for you and your guests" status at the brewpub for a couple of hours, but this time I was smart enough to take the freeway home instead of Eastern, in case Mr. Knievel was looking to go two-for-two this week.

Being that it's the first weekend of March Madness, we've been super-busy at work too. I'm happy to report that Thursday and Friday night we made more money than we did on New Years Eve and the Super Bowl combined, so I'm looking forward to collecting that paycheck. I've also been dealing dice the past few nights after 2:00 am, which has been nice because I need the practice and most of the fleas are gone by then.

That's about all that's happening here. If I have the time or the mood strikes, I'll try and make another update or two before I head down to the Strip and start acting like a tourist. Otherwise, you may not hear from me for awhile.

Peace out!

Mikey

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