Monday, October 01, 2007

Monday Morning Catch-Up Post

Howdy everyone! Welcome to the beginning of a new work week.

If you look closely, you'll see that I'm posting this at around 1:00 am Vegas time, about two hours before I'm supposed to get off of work. Well, see, I can esplain...

First of all, tokes on Saturday were huge for us, compared to what we've been getting lately. Without checking my little handy-dandy notebook where I track such things, I think it was our third largest toke day so far in 2007.

As nice as that was, tonight was completely dead in the casino. I was over in Chinatown, sitting at a dead Pai Gow table, watching the fourth quarter of the Eagles/Giants game, and counted ten, yes TEN dead games visible from my vantage point. It was awful. They started sending people home within the first hour. My string of three tables went dead by 11:00 pm, and they actually had me spend 20 minutes polishing all the lids on the dead games with glass cleaner because they had no place to put me. Then they stuck me on a five-dollar shoe game for a few minutes before I gave up, waved the white flag, and said "You win--send me home!"

The boss was kind enough to have me deal until 12:05, then had me tapped out by another hapless victim who'd been standing next to the roulette wheel 'mucking' the losing chips from two players for the previous half-hour. I was told to sign myself out on the toke book for 1:00 am, and then hang around till 12:23 before punching the time clock.

No problemo following those directions, and I was home by 12:40.

As good as Saturday night was for us, Sunday is gonna suck like a Dave Matthews album. So leaving two hours early shouldn't hurt too much, and the savings to my sanity is damn near immeasurable.

Ok, so what else is new around here?

Well, we made the Crock Pot O' Cheese on Saturday, and it was pretty damn good. Plenty of leftovers, too. But now that I've eaten it two days in a row, I'm good. I won't want to eat it again for a few months. I think my next culinary adventure, a couple of weeks down the road, will be some Chinese food--stir fried Kung Pao chicken and maybe some crab Rangoon. I haven't made that in years, and it's always a favorite. Besides, after Rob's minestrone, I have to prove that I too can cook veggies.

It looks like it may be time to buy a wok.

I'm also thinking of delving into the mysterious world of wild mushroom risotto, and maybe pair it up with some seared diver scallops, as I have two bottles of white wine in the fridge that have been sitting there, unopened, for months. I think risotto and scallops would make a fine accompaniment.

We'll see--these are just ideas rolling around in the attic at the present.

As far as life in Vegas is concerned, the weather has turned absolutely beautiful! The heat has broken and fall is here. Last night was so damn nice outside, it made it hard to go to work instead of saying the hell with it and just sitting out on the patio smoking a cigar. We turned off the air conditioner over a week ago, and with the windows open, I actually have to use blankets when I sleep because it's chilly outside at night.

However, now that the windows are open, I'm finding that my peaceful neighborhood ain't so peaceful. I hear *everything*, and the truth is, everyone else in my complex works different hours than I do. So every morning I hear kids that were previously non-existent. I hear my neighbors phones ringing. I hear the jackass on the cellphone standing under the covered parking, talking so loud that his conversation echoes off the roof and carries through the entire neighborhood. And I can't forget about the early-morning leaf blowers and lawn mowers.

Apparently, the vacant apartment above us is going to be vacant no longer starting today, and I had the wonderful experience of waking up at 8:00 am Saturday morning (after going to bed at 3:30 am) to the constant sound of tap tap tap BANG BANG!

It went on for over an hour before I finally gave up, got out of bed, stumbled to the living room, and yelled, to nobody in particular, Jeebus Farking Christ!!!! HOW MANY G*DDAMNED PICTURE FRAMES ARE YOU GOING TO F*CKING HANG UP THERE???!?!?!??!?

Rob, even more a creature of the night than I am, and used to being up at that hour, remained unfazed in his comfy chair in front of the TV. At that point, I was up for the day, so I took a shower and put on a pot of coffee before settling down in front of the TV for a day of enjoying college football. Of course I slept through the late game once my parlay cards were deemed worthless by the likes of Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State, etc...

Anyhow, that's the news from this end. I'm spending the day writing checks and paying bills, and maybe catch up on that latest Ken Burns saga, The War. I've seen three episodes so far, and it's pretty good, although I'm getting tired of the whole "the boys overseas are noble and fighting for a good cause, but everyone at home is a racist pig" vibe they're going for. Seriously, in every episode, they go out of their way to remind everyone of the Japanese internment camps in California, and the fact that there was segregation in the south.

I mean, honestly, how can you fight a global war on tyranny and oppression when black folks can't eat at the lunch counter???? Doesn't ANYONE see the IRONY? If not, we're going to keep reminding you over and over and over again!!!!

Yeah, we know. We got that. Let's just move on and get to the parts where we run through those Hun bastards like crap through a goose! (Patton's words, not mine...) When I first heard about this series, I was all about adding it to the ol' Amazon Wishlist. But having seen the first three episodes, enjoyable as they are 90% of the time, I just don't like being preached to, so they won't see a dime from me.

In the meantime, I need some sleep before I get my dander up and pound out a lengthy but useless rant, so I'll wrap it up and go to bed. I hope y'all have an enjoyable Monday...

Mikey

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