32*

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jose Conseco, Hurricane Mikey. I hate it, but now I'm clumped in with those guys. I'm probably going to have to change my middle name to 'Juice Box'.

Yep, Mikey is now on the 'Roids.

I just got back from the doctor a few minutes ago, and it wasn't nearly as bad or painful as I thought it would be.

Bottom line-- I've got Strep Pharyngitis.

For treatment, I got a couple of prescriptions--some 875 mg Amoxicillin horse pills to kill the infection. And I thought it was tough to swallow already--try swallowing something about the size of a bottle cap. My second prescription was for some steroids in pill form to help kill the swelling. So I'm on the juice for the next week or so. Maybe I can get a contract with the Yankees.

And the asterisked 32 in the title? That's how many consecutive work hours I've had without taking one minute of Early Out time this week. I know--hard to believe, huh? But now my Ripken-esque streak is somewhat tainted.

Anyhow, I hope the drugs take hold quickly and I start feeling better. I don't know if I could take another night like last night. And the pharmacist told me not to take the roids on an empty stomach, I have to eat something with them (I've been living on juice for the most part these last several days), so I've got a frozen pizza in the oven.

So, what's new? Well, as far as this 'economic downturn' is concerned, I've yet to see any evidence whatsoever. This week, the casino has been as busy as I've ever seen it--busier than Super Bowls, busier than New Years Eve. Last night, they opened up every game in the joint, and they were all packed until deep into my shift. I've asked for the half-hour early out every night this week, and normally about 20 dealers a night score it. But not this week--nobody was leaving early. Especially the players.

As bad as I felt last night, it was still an enjoyable night at work. One of my favorite gals was playing last night, and she followed me from table to table for the entire shift, so that made the night go faster. We also had to do hour-and-twenty minute rotations instead of just the normal hour at each table, so even though it wears you out, the night flies by.

There was also some sort of anniversary or celebration for the casino last night, and the employee dining room was all decorated up, and they were serving the fancy food--steak, crab legs, peel & eat shrimp, all kinds of funky salads. I tried a little bit of shrimp and chicken cordon bleu, but eating is actually painful right now, so I didn't really get to take advantage of all the stuff they were offering. And my problem with steak is well-documented on this site, so I figured I wouldn't tempt fate since it was hard enough to swallow mashed potatoes. Besides, after last week's excursion to Kobe Beef Nirvana, I was pretty sure the stuff in the employee dining room wouldn't quite measure up.

But I gutted it up and ground out my eight hours last night, and even though they offered me a doctor's note today saying that I could take the week off, I declined. I'm not coughing or sneezing or being overtly contagious, and I'd rather keep my personal days for goofing off instead of laying around in bed being a slug. I do that often enough anyways. So I'll muddle through these next couple of days, and I'm guessing that I'll feel much better by Tuesday.

Mikey