What an upside down world we live in. Out here in Vegas, only the cocktail waitresses wear the outrageously hot naughty red Santa Claus outfits with the furry white trim, while Santa Claus seems to be dressed in brown, drives a huge brown truck, and leaves stuff out on my front porch instead of coming down the chimney and putting toys under the tree.
Yep, there was another package waiting for me yesterday--this time from Jay in Ohio (Thanks, brotha!). Inside was a Live Free or Die Hard DVD and an Ultra Lounge Vegas Baby! CD. While I haven't watched any of my new videos yet, I took the CD with me last night when I was out exploring Chinatown and the Strip. Man, what a great collection of music! It's got all the Vegas greats included--Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Wayne Newton, Steve Lawrence, Louis Prima, Tom Jones, etc. It's heavy on the string bass and snare drum-with-brushes, plus lots of angry horn arrangements. Like Chris Isaak said in That Thing You Do!, That's swingin', man! Seriously, it's so cool that it makes me want to don a black suit and a skinny tie, and then hang out in the Copa Room with Angie Dickenson and Anne Margaret drinking martinis. F*ck these 'ultralounges' they've got out here now--they don't compare to the old days.
Anyhow, I've had it in the CD player in my truck ever since, and I think I've listened to it three times now. It's that good.
I haven't been home very much the past couple of days. On Monday, that check arrived from when I sold off a bunch of mutual fund shares last week, so on Tuesday, the plan was to go and put it in the bank while spending a little bit of it. And now that I'm not going home for Christmas, I don't have to buy a plane ticket anymore, either.
But I got called in to work on Tuesday morning--they called at 5:15, asking if I could come in at 7:00, since the morning dealer called out sick. I said sure thing, no problemo, then got up and got dressed. Since I had more than an hour until I had to leave, I set my alarm for 6:30, then turned off the light and went back to bed. Apparently, I didn't really set the alarm, because I woke up at 7:01 am to the phone ringing, the voice on the other end asking where I was.
Whoops!
I told 'em I'd get there in time for the next push, and I hurried myself down to the casino. There was still a shorthanded no-limit game going, but I didn't think it would last too long. I was wrong, though. Not only did it last all morning, the old guys came in an hour later, started their 4/8 limpfest, but then it broke up before 10:00 am. I ended up working until 11:00, but then two other dealers came in and we only had one game going, so I gladly hit the Eject button after making a quick hundred bucks in three and a half hours. I had stuff to do.
The first thing on the agenda was to go get my truck smog-checked. A couple of months ago, when we were talking about getting my truck re-registered to the tune of $900+ dollars, I downloaded the forms and such, but then realized I was about $150 short after all the bills were paid. I figured I'd do it the next month, since my tags had already expired, but I was lazy and irresponsible and never got around to it. So I've been driving around on expired tags for a couple of months now. Luckily I haven't been pulled over, but further inspection of the fine print at the bottom of the little tow-away sticker on my window from the Henderson PD that I got last week showed that it was actually a warning for an abandoned vehicle--not because I parked it in the same place every day, but because I parked it in the same place every day with expired tags. That made more sense.
So I spent the twenty bucks to get the smog check done, and it was so quick and easy that it they had finished the inspection before I got back from the cashier. But only in Vegas would the guys who give your truck the government's anal probe have a tip jar sitting on their workbench. I gave 'em a buck for making it quick and painless, and I was on my way.
I drove up to the bank to deposit my check, then headed back down to the DMV. I got there just in time, because the line to get to the information desk where you get your alpha-numeric ticket to see an actual person was only about 15 minutes long. By the time I got my ticket, the line was a good hour long. It looked like a good omen--I got ticket number G-307, and they'd just called G-270 when I got a seat. Of course, there were a scattering of A, E, H, and I tickets, too, but I figured I'd only have to wait about two hours. Luckily I was wrong about that, too, because I only sat there for about an hour before they called my number. Once I got to the desk, it only took about ten minutes before I was all square with the State of Nevada, and it only cost me $1060. My late fees were less than $200, but the basic registration was almost $600 by itself. But my vanity plate fee, government services tax, and the $175 pickup truck surcharge (WTF?) really padded the bottom line. All I could say was "Ouch".
After that, I shuffled over to the other side to get my new license done--I had my picture taken again and had a new license made with my new address on it (that added about three bucks to the total, also). It only took a minute, and I was out the door less than two hours after I first went in. That's gotta be some kind of record at the DMV.
Once that little chore was done, I headed over to Casual Male to do a little shopping. I need some new clothes badly--I've got plenty of work clothes, but my non-casino wardrobe is severely lacking in coolness. Unfortunately, nothing spoke to me, and I ended up just getting another pack of underwear and a couple of pairs of socks. I came home and continued my shopping online, instead, and spent a couple hundred bucks on some new dockers, a couple of twill shirts, and some nice hiking shoes. (I'm gonna conquer Mt. Charleston in the spring, I've decided).
As soon as I finished the clothes shopping, I did the online treasure hunt for the coconut body wash, and ended up spending a few more bucks at drugstore.com. You've already read about my coconut-themed evening in Chinatown, and I was lucky enough to not be called in to work again late last night, so I got a full night's sleep. In fact, I got more than my fair share. I stayed up until sometime after 3:00 am, but once I turned off the TV, I crashed hard. I didn't wake up until sometime after noon, which was a complete bummer because I really wanted to go down and play the noon tourney at the Venetian. I completely missed it though, as I was drooling on my pillow about the time they made the 'Shuffle Up & Deal!' announcement.
Since I've got a little money in my pocket this week, I decided to go down to the Dodge dealership and see about getting a new fender put on the truck. Don't even ask about that. You think I got bent over at the DMV, well, just check out the prices at the dealership if you want bodywork done. While that was a complete bust, I did, however, acquire a severe case of car lust while I was there. Sitting in the showroom was a new Challenger R/T with the same mettalic maroon pearl paint job as my truck. Oh dear god--it was the most awesome thing on four wheels that I've ever seen.
Normally, I'm not a 'car guy', and while I've always thought the Chrysler 300 and the new generation Chargers were beautiful cars, normally I don't give a shiat about Detroit iron. I prefer trucks. But man-oh-man, this new Challenger gave me a 370 horsepower woody. It's just a hot f*cking car all-around, and even though I thought the new generation Chargers were my favorite muscle car, this one is just bad-ass through and through. Kimmy and her sweet ass? Forget it. If I had one wish to spend on a sexy ride, I'd use it to get the Challenger. I think that at first glance, it's not nearly as photogenic as the Charger or the latest Mustang, but up close and personal, it's no contest. It's just that cool.
And while I may have a couple of grand on me this week, I didn't have 39 grand, which is about what that new Challenger costs. Plus god knows what insurance would run every month. On the plus side, it still gets better mileage than my truck, even with that fire-breathing engine under the hood.
Yes, I was smitten.
I managed to keep my pants on there in the showroom, and eventually backed away from the new lust of my life. I still had stuff to do. After leaving the automotive porn store, I headed out to Boulder Highway to go see one of the body-and-fender shops and have them give me a more reasonable estimate.
I figured, at first, that my new fender would cost about $300 and another $300 or so in labor to take the old one off and install the new one, so I had somebody take a look at it. A little blonde gal, all four-feet-ten and 95 pounds of her, came out with a clipboard and digital camera and went to work. Ten minutes later, I had an estimate in my hand. To get my fender fixed, it's gonna cost me four days in the shop and $1035. Damn. So much for paying out of pocket. But my deductible on my insurance is a thousand dollars anyways, so all I would save would be thirty bucks and the cost of a rental while my truck was in the shop. Again, all I could say was "Ouch". I'll get back to 'em on that one, but it looks like I'll probably be driving around with a dented fender until the next windfall hits.
I pulled out of the body shop pretty much resigned to the fact that I wouldn't be getting my fender replaced anytime soon, so I headed over to WallyWorld to pick up a few essentials. I needed some toiletries and a new shower caddy--my old one kept falling off the damn pipe at least twice a week, and I was tired of picking all that shiat up off the floor of the tub every time. While picking up my toiletries, I saw that they have Tree Hut coconut lime stuff there, but no body wash. I did, however, get some coconut lime body butter skin moisturizer (and some coconut coffee creamer, too!).
I also looked at new surround-sound home theatre systems while I was there, because my old one finally went Tango Uniform a couple of weeks ago. It was a good one, and served me well, but it was pretty old and had survived the trauma of several moves in the past eight years. But I didn't feel like spending several hundred dollars just yet on something a little, I don't know, frivolous, and I think I'd rather have a new HDTV instead. Yep, I've been watching the old standard-def TV ever since I left the apartment, and I was sorely tempted to pick up a new HD model this week, but I've decided to wait. I came this close to getting a new Sharp 720p 32 incher, but I think I'm gonna wait awhile and get what I *really* want--a Sharp Aquos 37 incher with 1080p resolution. That's not exactly in the budget this week, so I'm going to wait.
In the meantime, I needed a new DVD player badly--my surround system is dead, but generous readers keep sending me DVDs to watch. Luckily, WalMart had the answer--they have Phillips HDMI upconverting DVD players on sale this week for just $39. For that price, I just couldn't resist it. It's a good bandaid for my system now--I can just hook it up directly into my old TV and watch videos now, and I'll keep it until I buy a new 5.1 surround sound system with a 5-disc changer built in.
Since I've spent so much money in the past couple of days, I think my shopping is pretty much done except for a few Christmas gifts for my parents. I may head over to Kohl's tomorrow and check out their selection of Citizen watches, though. I lost my watch on New Year's Eve four years ago, and have been using my cell phone ever since. But I can't reach into my pocket while I'm at the table at work, so I've been needing a new watch for some time. But after that, I'm putting the brakes on stimulating the faltering economy. Well, except for the occasional pizza, I think.
Mikey
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