Not Much, How About You?

Ok, so I took a couple of days off from the website. I deserve a weekend every now and then, right?

Actually, the truth is, there just hasn't been anything really interesting happening around here. The snow is pretty much all melted, Vegas is back to it's usual neon-splashed brown color, and I've been hiding out in my hermit cave for a couple of days, doing a whole lot of not much.

Avoiding the Christmas crowds, I haven't done any shopping (well, I try to do all my shopping on Amazon anyways, and this year, I only sent gifts to my parents), although at some point I've got to hit the grocery and liquor stores. I went out to breakfast again at the Omelet House yesterday, and yeah, it was very good once again. This time, I didn't get an omelet, I tried the chicken fried steak and eggs. I had to compare it to the Peppermill, and yeah, it falls a bit short, but then again, the Peppermill is the king of CFS and eggs in Vegas. There is none better. But that's not to say that the Omelet House isn't damn good. And the location and prices are more favorable, too.

On this latest foray, I discovered that if you order hot chocolate, they'll give you one free refill, unlike every other restaurant in the free world who charges by the cup. So that's a nice perk. And I'm three-for-three sitting at the same table on each visit, and my new favorite waitress Marcie was working again, too, so overall, it was another positive experience.

After breakfast, I thought about stopping over at Casual Male and getting some new jeans, but the traffic around the mall was just horrendous on the last-weekend-before-Christmas rush. There is also a Super WalMart across the street from the mall, with a parking lot as big as the airport, and it was packed, too. So I just kept on driving and came home, not wanting any part of that particular brand of madness.

I was doing a little bit of reading, watching some football, and the phone rang about 8:00 pm. I was just getting ready to make a pot of chili, but work called, asking if I could come in an hour later. Chili denied! So I got dressed and stopped at Taco Bell for a quick dinner--those loaded nachos are actually pretty damn good if you spring for the extra thirty cents and get a side of pickled jalapenos.

There were five games going when I got to the casino, but I kinda figured they'd all go dead around midnight. It seemed like every guy was saying "Oh, I'm just killing time until the wife finishes her shopping". And like clockwork, at midnight, three games went down at once. A few minutes later, another limit game died, and we were down to one game and three dealers, so I called it a night after just four hours. It wasn't a bad night--no jackasses to speak of, the money was decent, and time went by pretty quick. Also, Kimmy was working, wearing that naughty Santa outfit that makes me think all kinds of impure thoughts. And even though she was working the Chinatown pit, her service well was at the bar nearest the poker room, so whenever I was up from my tables and she was between rounds, we got to chat and visit for a bit. Of course that was the best part of my night.

I considered, briefly, sticking around and playing some cards, but I'm getting to the point where I really don't like playing limit poker, so I just bailed and came on home.

I stopped at the local convenience store to pick up a bottle or two of Pellegrino, but all they had was Perrier. I'm on a Pellegrino kick lately, having decided that it's more fun to drink than regular water, and much better than drinking Coke all the time. Besides, Grimaldi's is a Pepsi joint, so what's a brotha to do? I can't ruin a perfectly good pizza by drinking Pepsi with it, so I've been either having a Peroni draft or drinking Pellegrino whenever I go there.

Oh, I still keep the Coke on hand to mix with rum, but for just having for when I'm thirsty, I'll go with the mineral water.

Anyhow, today is another one of them relaxing days where I don't plan on doing much but reading and watching football. And speaking of reading, Kevin the Weatherman sent a cool book along that I got on Friday--he was astute enough to see from my latest wish list additions that I've been thinking a lot about hiking lately, so he sent along The Recreational Hiker's Guide to Las Vegas Area Trails.

It's a great source of info, and there are lots of nifty trails around town that I had no idea about. Of course I want to hike up at Mt. Charleston, but the weather up there is a bit chilly for me, plus there are feet of snow on the ground, not just inches. But there are some cool hikes around Lake Mead that are fine right now that it's not blazing hot outside, and plenty of beginner trails for somebody who's as out-of-shape as I am. As much as I'd love to conquer the summit of Mt. Charleston, a man's got to know his limitations, and I know I'm in no shape to do it right now. The altitude and elevation changes would kill me!

But I want to start taking easy hikes around the valley every week, and eventually build up to the more strenuous hikes up at Mt. Charleston, and eventually I'd like to do the 16-mile north loop trail to the summit (it gains over 4200 feet in elevation in eight miles, so it's a climb!).

So it was a very cool gift, from the guy who didn't send the Dean Martin CD. Thanks, again, Kev!

Back when I was a younger pup, I used to go camping and hiking all the time. I remember one year I did a long weekend in Brown County, Indiana, and did three trails in three days, hiking 50 miles. That second day, all 21 miles of it, damn near kicked my ass, but it was a good experience. Since then, I've always kinda liked hiking, although that whole backpacking thing isn't really my style. When I go camping, usually it's a sit around the campfire and drink beer type of activity, and when I hike, it's usually an out-and-back type of trip. I won't be conquering the Appalachian Trail anytime soon. But what's better than walking around in the fresh air and enjoying the awesome scenery of the mountains? And it's cheap, too!

That's about all for now. I'm getting hungry for some chili, so I think I'll wrap it up for awhile.

Mikey


Update: Dammit... I can't keep all the Kevins straight. Somebody named Kevin sent the hiking book. I don't think he's a weatherman. I have no idea anymore. Whoever it was--thank you!