Tuesday, July 24, 2007

It's a Jungle Out There

Woo Hoo! It's Tuesday, which I never thought would be my favorite day of the week, but I think it's becoming so. It might have something to do with the fact that it's the first day of my 'weekend'.

And for the first time in what seems like forever, I have no place to be, nobody to meet, no errands to run, no pressing issues on a 'to-do' list--nothing but relaxation on tap for me today. I suppose I could go to the store and get a bottle of Coke and a lime or two to take full advantage of my day off, but I'm not feeling thirsty enough quite yet. Hell, even the housework takes a backseat today, as I finished up so much yesterday. I may just bust out a DVD or two, or hell, take the same advice my Dad has given me for over thirty years, and just read a book.

Work was fun last night, but instead of being on the anticipated string of two Pai Gow tables and the Ultimate Holdem game, I got stuck dealing Deuces Wild, Let It Ride, and the newest game in our arsenal, Mini Pai Gow. I should've known--every time we get a new game, guess who is the guy who has to not only deal it every night, but also teach all the other dealers how to do it. Yep, your humble correspondent Mikey seems to be the de-facto beta tester for all new games.

We just got it this week, so I've only had a few hours on it, so I'll reserve judgement and a full analysis until later. But basically it's a 6-card Pai Gow game, five down-one up, with no commission on a win. Sounds good, but damn, it seems that every hand is a Pai Gow. I'll have to do a bit more dealing to figure out the nuances and such, but so far, I'm not convinced that it's a better game. We'll see.

Anyhow, we were slow last night, being a Monday and all, and the bosses were doing what they could to close dead games early, evening bringing three craps games down to just one by 10:00pm. Hell, they even asked me if I wanted to go after just three hours. I politely declined, citing the fact that I took six hours of Early-Out time last week. But once midnight rolled around and I doing my damndest not to fall asleep at my table, I took a couple of hours off early and bounced, getting a head start on my weekend.

I parked on the top floor of the parking garage last night, and when I got off the elevator, I was pleasantly surprised by a slight drizzle of rain coming down. We absolutely need it, so it's very welcome (I swear Lake Mead is down about 50 feet right now). The only problem was that the slightest bit of rain makes the roads here so slippery because it's been months since all the oil and junk has been washed off, so everyone was just moving at a crawl during my drive home. And of course I can spin the rear wheels on my truck without even trying, so every corner was an exercise in hydroplaning and recovery. Luckily I made it home without a hitch. Scared a few people though, so that was a bonus.

But as soon as I got home, the skies opened up and the deluge was upon us. Lightning, thunder, and buckets and buckets of rain came down for about an hour. Since it was only about 97 degrees at the time, and hot again today, it feels like the Amazon rainforest outside. Just a few minutes ago I opened the front door to see what the weather was doing today and it was like getting hit with a blanket that hasn't been in the dryer long enough. It reminded me of the last time I visited Atlanta--as soon as I walked out of the airport I felt like I was in a steam sauna forcing me to ask out loud, to nobody in particular, Oh my god--How the hell do you people live here???

Yep, it's nasty today. Hot and humid, kinda like living back in the Midwest, without all the tornadoes and herbicide commercials.

But it'll dry up soon enough and we'll be back to bitching about the regular heat. Actually, now that the monsoon is here, I'm guessing that the heat has broken for the year. It'll still be hot for a couple of months, but not the ridiculous 115's and such we had a few weeks ago--"Pool weather", I like to call it.

Oh well, maybe I'll just embrace the tropical experience and go to the store, get those limes and some Coke, bust out the rum, put some Jimmy Buffett on, and pretend I'm on vacation down-island.

It sure beats working, even in the cool air-conditioned comfort of a casino.

Mikey

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