Hey gang...
Haven't had a whole lot to say in the past couple of days, but truth be told, I spent most of yesterday sleeping. And I plan on spending most of today drinking.
A quick peak on flightview.com tells me that Angy's plane is arriving about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, giving me just enough time to shower, shave, pack a bag, pack another bag full of booze and such, and then point the truck Strip-ward.
The plan is to spend most of the afternoon slowly roasting in the sun at the Paris pool, followed by hitting the Sahara later tonight to see that soon-to-be-famous band, Savannah Jack.
I should have lots of interesting stories and pictures later in the week.
Mikey
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Another Good Day, Tater!
Well, here it is almost 6:00 am, I'm home from a very busy night at work, and I have a surprising amount of energy--I'm not quite ready to hit The Blob. It might have something to do with that Breakfast of Champions I had at 2:30 this morning--a plate of bacon and a glass of Mountain Dew.
As a bonus, I managed to talk my way into getting the half-hour early out for a full toke share but only working until 3:20. I always like it when I can pull that one off, especially on a weekend.
But there was even more good news--We're finally getting rid of the Rapid Roulette game next week. Thank god! I am so sick of dealing that game. I usually spend the last two hours of my shift just standing around hoping we can close it, and between the four dealers it takes to run the thing over the course of a night, we're lucky if we drop $50 in tips between us. It sucks soooo bad. And I've been stuck on it *every* Friday and Saturday night for a year straight. I think once we get rid of that waste of space, every dealers' tokes will go up about ten bucks a night on the weekends!
There is also a rumor going around that the crazy psycho biatch dealer on our shift that everyone hates (players and dealers alike), finally got fired. I'm not sure if it's true, so I'll temper my celebration until I find out for sure. But that's what everyone is talking about, and I hope it's true. She's pissed off so many players and had so many complaints against her that I'm surprised that she made it this long. Again, if she's gone, we'll probably see a noticeable increase in our nightly tokes.
Speaking of tokes, we're having a pretty good week. And today is 7-7-07, and every superstitious gambler in the world will be out today--should be another good night tonight. Although, with it being as hot as it is here in town this week (record temps, I believe--every day over 115 degrees), the casino is an absolute oven when you get all those thousands of people wandering through there. I swear I sweated off about 10 pounds last night--my head was shiny and dripping all night long, and I had to carry a towel around with me while I was dealing. It was miserable. Tonight is only going to be worse--there is only so much the air conditioning can do to cool down a hundred-thousand-square-foot room with huge vaulted ceilings that's full of bodies, lights, and electronics, so I'm considering bringing an extra black t-shirt with me to change into at the halfway point.
After I get some sleep, Rob's gonna get home from work and then it's back up to North Las Vegas one more time. His lease doesn't end at his old place until July 15th, so he's got a couple of things to clear out and clean before then. His old roommate left his a computer desk that he generously offered to me, since my desk/tower got ruined at the old house. The leaking shower seeped under the wall, into the carpet, and leached into the bottom of the desk. It was made out of particle board with a veneer cover, so the water seeped all the way up and ruined it over the course of the last year. As soon as I went to pick it up to move it, it came apart in my hands--just like the Bluesmobile as soon as Jake and Elwood arrived at the Cook County Assessor's Office. Seriously, it was like trying to move 80 pounds of wet sawdust that was stacked six feet high.
Once I get that desk over here, I'll finally have full use of my bedroom, and won't have to lay on the floor to surf the internet.
Also, while I was out running my errands yesterday, I got some *great* news. I stopped by my insurance agent's office to update my new address information, and now that I live in upper-middle-class Henderson, my premiums have dropped over $100 a month since I first got my truck. Oh hell yeah. The gal in the office told me that as soon as you ditch the Las Vegas Zip code, it costs just about half as much to insure a vehicle. Apparently, out here in Henderson, there is much less vandalism, thievery, and a lot fewer car accidents. Seriously, when I first brought the truck home last summer, my monthly insurance payment was almost $229, and that was for somebody with no accidents or tickets for ten years. It's now $125 and change every month! Woo hoo!!! And that's full coverage plus renters insurance on all my fine furnishings--The Blob, the leg-lamp, milk crates full of sailing magazines, etc...
Anyhow, finding that out certainly made my day.
Maybe when Rob gets home this afternoon, he'll be able to tell me what tokes were last night. And if they're as good as I *think* they were, my day will be made twice in a row!
Mikey
As a bonus, I managed to talk my way into getting the half-hour early out for a full toke share but only working until 3:20. I always like it when I can pull that one off, especially on a weekend.
But there was even more good news--We're finally getting rid of the Rapid Roulette game next week. Thank god! I am so sick of dealing that game. I usually spend the last two hours of my shift just standing around hoping we can close it, and between the four dealers it takes to run the thing over the course of a night, we're lucky if we drop $50 in tips between us. It sucks soooo bad. And I've been stuck on it *every* Friday and Saturday night for a year straight. I think once we get rid of that waste of space, every dealers' tokes will go up about ten bucks a night on the weekends!
There is also a rumor going around that the crazy psycho biatch dealer on our shift that everyone hates (players and dealers alike), finally got fired. I'm not sure if it's true, so I'll temper my celebration until I find out for sure. But that's what everyone is talking about, and I hope it's true. She's pissed off so many players and had so many complaints against her that I'm surprised that she made it this long. Again, if she's gone, we'll probably see a noticeable increase in our nightly tokes.
Speaking of tokes, we're having a pretty good week. And today is 7-7-07, and every superstitious gambler in the world will be out today--should be another good night tonight. Although, with it being as hot as it is here in town this week (record temps, I believe--every day over 115 degrees), the casino is an absolute oven when you get all those thousands of people wandering through there. I swear I sweated off about 10 pounds last night--my head was shiny and dripping all night long, and I had to carry a towel around with me while I was dealing. It was miserable. Tonight is only going to be worse--there is only so much the air conditioning can do to cool down a hundred-thousand-square-foot room with huge vaulted ceilings that's full of bodies, lights, and electronics, so I'm considering bringing an extra black t-shirt with me to change into at the halfway point.
After I get some sleep, Rob's gonna get home from work and then it's back up to North Las Vegas one more time. His lease doesn't end at his old place until July 15th, so he's got a couple of things to clear out and clean before then. His old roommate left his a computer desk that he generously offered to me, since my desk/tower got ruined at the old house. The leaking shower seeped under the wall, into the carpet, and leached into the bottom of the desk. It was made out of particle board with a veneer cover, so the water seeped all the way up and ruined it over the course of the last year. As soon as I went to pick it up to move it, it came apart in my hands--just like the Bluesmobile as soon as Jake and Elwood arrived at the Cook County Assessor's Office. Seriously, it was like trying to move 80 pounds of wet sawdust that was stacked six feet high.
Once I get that desk over here, I'll finally have full use of my bedroom, and won't have to lay on the floor to surf the internet.
Also, while I was out running my errands yesterday, I got some *great* news. I stopped by my insurance agent's office to update my new address information, and now that I live in upper-middle-class Henderson, my premiums have dropped over $100 a month since I first got my truck. Oh hell yeah. The gal in the office told me that as soon as you ditch the Las Vegas Zip code, it costs just about half as much to insure a vehicle. Apparently, out here in Henderson, there is much less vandalism, thievery, and a lot fewer car accidents. Seriously, when I first brought the truck home last summer, my monthly insurance payment was almost $229, and that was for somebody with no accidents or tickets for ten years. It's now $125 and change every month! Woo hoo!!! And that's full coverage plus renters insurance on all my fine furnishings--The Blob, the leg-lamp, milk crates full of sailing magazines, etc...
Anyhow, finding that out certainly made my day.
Maybe when Rob gets home this afternoon, he'll be able to tell me what tokes were last night. And if they're as good as I *think* they were, my day will be made twice in a row!
Mikey
Friday, July 06, 2007
Next Project
Well, Mamasan was right--I need something else to bitch about. Unfortunately, something has stepped up to fill the void. Apparently, about 25 songs (that I know of) on my iPod are completely corrupted. They either won't play at all, and skip right to the next song on the playlist, or after about 30 seconds or so of playing, they immediately skip to the end of the song and then shut down. I hope it's just corrupted files, and not a hard drive problem (and yeah, I tried them at both the 'root' level and also at the playlist level, and neither work. Luckily, it's limited to only one of my playlists, but it's the one with the most music on it).
None of my Jimmy Buffett has been adversely affected, thank goodness.
So at some point I'm going to have to sit down and listen to my entire music catalog (about 1000 songs so far), and note which ones are bad, delete them, and then reload them. It should be a real pain in the ass. But I've got until next March to do it, so there is no hurry. (Next March--Angy's suite party. We'll need enough music to keep the buffoons entertained for about eight hours!)
My work week started out on a good note last night. First of all, I found out that we made pretty good money on Monday night, so that was a nice way to kick off the new pay period. Second of all, I was only scheduled on two games, so it was a total walk in the park for the first four hours of my shift--40 minutes on, 20 minutes off. Of course, that makes the night go by slower, but I was on Pai Gow, so it was like a little mini-vacation. I picked up another table later on and had to an hour at blackjack and Let It Ride, but then I ended with 40 minutes at a $5 blackjack game where I just *crushed* everyone and then got out a half-hour early. Sweet!
One down, four to go. Then Angy gets here. Did I mention I'm taking a couple days off while she's here? I can't wait for that!
Ok, that's all for now. Sleepy time!
Mikey
None of my Jimmy Buffett has been adversely affected, thank goodness.
So at some point I'm going to have to sit down and listen to my entire music catalog (about 1000 songs so far), and note which ones are bad, delete them, and then reload them. It should be a real pain in the ass. But I've got until next March to do it, so there is no hurry. (Next March--Angy's suite party. We'll need enough music to keep the buffoons entertained for about eight hours!)
My work week started out on a good note last night. First of all, I found out that we made pretty good money on Monday night, so that was a nice way to kick off the new pay period. Second of all, I was only scheduled on two games, so it was a total walk in the park for the first four hours of my shift--40 minutes on, 20 minutes off. Of course, that makes the night go by slower, but I was on Pai Gow, so it was like a little mini-vacation. I picked up another table later on and had to an hour at blackjack and Let It Ride, but then I ended with 40 minutes at a $5 blackjack game where I just *crushed* everyone and then got out a half-hour early. Sweet!
One down, four to go. Then Angy gets here. Did I mention I'm taking a couple days off while she's here? I can't wait for that!
Ok, that's all for now. Sleepy time!
Mikey
Thursday, July 05, 2007
The Millennium Code...
C:\Users\Hurricane Mikey>net use z: \\oldcompaq\c ROADKILLThe command completed successfully. (Woot!!!)
Finally! After what seems like years, I finally got the new laptop to talk to the old-ass Compaq. I've had the network set up for a couple of weeks now, but for whatever mysterious reason, the two machines could not communicate with each other, so I could not move files from the old machine to the new one. I was tempted to just delete them and start over, but I had almost a thousand digital pics (not including the pr0n stash!), about 500 mp3s I wanted to keep, and dozens of Word/Excel/Text documents that I didn't want to lose. So I *had* to figure out a way of transferring them over, short of just copying everything onto disk manually and moving it over. That would take weeks.
I've been trying everything short of creating an ftp server, following all the directions on the "Network Wizard" (on both machines), but the bottom line is that Windows Vista is just not designed to talk to it's retarded cousin Millennium. They both say they can share files, but not with each other apparently, only with their 'own kind'. The worst part was setting up the old computer with a network password, but then the new one insisted on a user name and a password to get in. But there was no way to set up a user name on the old machine. It was ridiculous.
Anyhow, after giving up in frustration after two weeks, I finally called Big Stogie last night for a little Press-One-for-English technical support. We worked on it for over two hours before he finally came up with that little piece of digital voodoo I posted at the top of this entry. Frankly, we were both shocked when as soon as I hit the Enter button on the laptop, every file on my old Compaq suddenly showed up in Explorer window on the laptop display. Seriously, the two of us had a geek-fest happiness celebration not seen since that day in Mission Control back when the Apollo XIII astronauts finally splashed down. We couldn't believe we pulled it off!
So I immediately started dragging and dropping files into the hard drive on the Toshiba. The pictures took awhile, but moving 500+ mp3s has taken most of the night. As of right now, it says I have about 37 more minutes before everything is moved over and complete. Then I can go and delete whatever is left on the old hard drive, empty the recycle bin, and let Rob deal with it until he saves up enough cash for a new computer. But I'm about to wash my hands of the thing for the last time.
Damn, it feels good!
As far as my Fourth of July goes, I didn't do too much at all. I stuck around the house and finally got all of my unpacking done and cleared all of the boxes and such out of the dining room. I also hung up a few pictures, did some laundry, and spent several hours working on the computer stuff.
Rob went out with his old roommate, leaving me plenty of time to get the house put together. I know that if he would've stayed home last night, we would've just sat in front of the TV ooohing and ahhhing at Discovery HD Theatre for about eight hours straight. As it happens, I kept the History Channel going all day and night, as they were playing all episodes of The American Revolution back-to-back for about 12 hours straight. Interesting stuff, so I felt like I did a little bit of my patriotic duty, if not any actual celebrating.
But now my weekend is winding down--I've got to get some sleep at some point before heading back to the casino tonight (I've been up all night), and I still have a few errands to run later today.
If I can't sleep, I may write some more later...
Mikey
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Finally Made It!
Yee-Haw! The weekend is here! I know it's just a Tuesday morning for most of you folks, but the fact that my 'weekend' is here makes me giggle with unbounded happiness. It's been a very long week, and even though I tried to take an Early Out last night, I was denied once again because we were super-busy. (I can *never* get out early on my 'Friday' night. Ugh--it just irritates me to no end.)
Sunday didn't seem very busy, but we made decent money for a Sunday night (almost $175), and we have a lot fewer dealers working on Mondays--and the casino was hopping right down till the bitter end. So I'm thinking we made pretty damn good money last night. So good that I was afraid they were gonna ask for overtime... Luckily I dodged that bullet and got the 20-minute early push, collected the tokes, and headed for the door. I ran into my gal Denise on the way out to the parking garage--she was playing her weekly $5 in a video Keno machine--so I sat and visited with her for about ten minutes before heading home. Sadly she did not win the $136,000 Jumbo Jackpot this week either.
Today the plan is to get some sleep and then tackle the pile of boxes that are stacked in the dining room. I started on it yesterday but lost my motivation at some point. I might also get down to the post office and put in my change of address, which I'd forgotten to do last week, and I also need to go down to work and do the same at the HR office, and call my insurance company, too. Rob said his car insurance went down $120 per year by moving into this neighborhood, so I'm hoping to save a few bucks myself.
Of course, the first thing I did this morning was hop on the internet for a bit of surfing before I hit the sack, and I saw Angy lurking around the T2V forums, so I called her. I haven't talked to her in awhile, but she gets here a week from tomorrow, and I've got three days off while she's in town. We're both on a pretty limited budget this time around, so the plan is to spend most of our time at the pool drinking contraband cocktails--filling water bottles with Captain Morgan Silver and sneaking in our own Cokes.
I suppose I could smuggle the limes in my Speedo. Just got to remember to put them in front, that's all...
Anyhow, as much as I'm looking forward to her visit, I'm just happy for the time off away from work. I think she feels the same way. And she can now come over to the house and hang out without a weird-ass roommate bothering us. Seriously--he was just a little too interested in what we were doing whenever Angy was there, and it kind of creeped both of us out.
But those days are over. Rob is not nearly as creepy and likely doesn't give two shiats about what we're up to.
Whatever it is, it should be a good story.
Mikey
Sunday didn't seem very busy, but we made decent money for a Sunday night (almost $175), and we have a lot fewer dealers working on Mondays--and the casino was hopping right down till the bitter end. So I'm thinking we made pretty damn good money last night. So good that I was afraid they were gonna ask for overtime... Luckily I dodged that bullet and got the 20-minute early push, collected the tokes, and headed for the door. I ran into my gal Denise on the way out to the parking garage--she was playing her weekly $5 in a video Keno machine--so I sat and visited with her for about ten minutes before heading home. Sadly she did not win the $136,000 Jumbo Jackpot this week either.
Today the plan is to get some sleep and then tackle the pile of boxes that are stacked in the dining room. I started on it yesterday but lost my motivation at some point. I might also get down to the post office and put in my change of address, which I'd forgotten to do last week, and I also need to go down to work and do the same at the HR office, and call my insurance company, too. Rob said his car insurance went down $120 per year by moving into this neighborhood, so I'm hoping to save a few bucks myself.
Of course, the first thing I did this morning was hop on the internet for a bit of surfing before I hit the sack, and I saw Angy lurking around the T2V forums, so I called her. I haven't talked to her in awhile, but she gets here a week from tomorrow, and I've got three days off while she's in town. We're both on a pretty limited budget this time around, so the plan is to spend most of our time at the pool drinking contraband cocktails--filling water bottles with Captain Morgan Silver and sneaking in our own Cokes.
I suppose I could smuggle the limes in my Speedo. Just got to remember to put them in front, that's all...
Anyhow, as much as I'm looking forward to her visit, I'm just happy for the time off away from work. I think she feels the same way. And she can now come over to the house and hang out without a weird-ass roommate bothering us. Seriously--he was just a little too interested in what we were doing whenever Angy was there, and it kind of creeped both of us out.
But those days are over. Rob is not nearly as creepy and likely doesn't give two shiats about what we're up to.
Whatever it is, it should be a good story.
Mikey
Monday, July 02, 2007
Quirks
I absolutely *love* my new apartment. I finally got the last load of stuff over here on Saturday, and I never have to return to that old shiatty bad-retro 70's-era wood-paneled unhip hot-ass vortex of suck ever again. And I was so irritated with my old roommate that it was all I could do to not pummel him into a gooey mess on the driveway before I left (it's a long story that I don't feel like retelling here, but only because of my good graces did he escape an ass-beating that he truly had coming his way).
Anyhow, all my stuff is finally here, and almost completely moved in. There is a bunch of junk stacked in the dining room that needs to find a place, but once that's completed, the move is officially over. Of course, we have to move the liquor collection one more time before anything can get accomplished (It didn't fit on top of the fridge, and we need the bookshelf space that it's currently occupying, too).
But having been here for two weeks, I've noticed a few things that are a little off-kilter. First of all, my room is truly too small for a queen-sized bed, especially if I want to put a dresser, nightstand, bookshelf, and computer desk in here. So I think I'm in the market for a full-sized bed, instead. I had one over at the second place I lived in (the house *after* the stripper house), and it worked fine, and two people could sleep in it just fine--it belonged to that chick Lara I was seeing, and since we got along well at the time, it didn't seem too small. Besides, since it's not a queen or king bed, any overnight guests I might be entertaining would probably not want to stay the entire night, if you know what I mean...
A good salesman would call that a 'feature'.
Anyhow, besides the bedroom being a bit small, I've realized that my toilet runs forever once it's flushed. Maybe an adjustment can be made, but it hasn't gotten to the point where it irritates me yet. One thing that I don't like is the fact that my shower takes *forever* to warm up once I turn it on. I can crank it all the way over to full-on hot, and it's still three or four minutes before I get any steam. But once it finally decides to get hot, look out--it'll melt the grout right out of the tile. So then I have to turn it all the way back down and find a balance before I get cooked like a pot full of pasta. But the water pressure is fine and the shower head is made for tall people.
The washing machine, which is plumbed right next to my shower, but located just on the other side of the wall, gets hot instantly when it's set to do so. I haven't figured out that mystery just yet, but I'm working on it. And washing a load of towels the other day revealed that there is actually one leg on the washing machine that is shorter than the other three. I haven't adjusted it yet, but it's on the agenda this week.
Oh, and I've figured out that the calibration on the air conditioner is about twelve degrees off. If it's set at 84 degrees, it's actually about 72 degrees in the house. That's why we freeze our asses off at eighty. Eighty means sixty-eight. And coming in from 106, that's just a shock to the system. But man, I love having the ability to chill this place down like a meat locker.
It's like having Super-Hero powers, but they only work if I use them for good, not evil...
When we first moved in, everything else worked, but Rob said that the drain in his tub was messed up, so we had the maintenance guys come take a look. They replaced the stopper and cleaned out the pipes and all is well again. And we had them tighten up the bolts on the garbage disposal so it no longer rattles the entire counter when it comes on.
Now that we have a nice kitchen, I think we're going to discover that our fridge is too small. Both of us like to cook, and leftovers are becoming an issue along with all of the groceries that both of us stuff in there. Somehow we'll manage. But after I get some sleep this morning, I'm making another batch of biscuits and gravy. I made some a few days ago, but made the tragic mistake of using store-brand biscuits instead of Pilsbury Grands. They were awful, and detracted from my gravy masterpiece. So on the way home from work this morning, I stopped at Smith's and got a load of groceries, which included proper biscuits.
As far as the kitchen goes, we discovered that the burners on the gas stove are mislabeled on the knobs, but that's no big deal. Front is back, back is front, we figured it out right away by just putting the eggs on whichever burner had a blue flame.
Otherwise, this new apartment is perfect. It's clean, quiet, and serene. I've not seen a single child anywhere in this complex, no seen any dog poop. I have only heard the people that live upstairs one time, and that was a weekend and they were running the vacuum cleaner. Other than that, I haven't heard a peep.
My only gripe is my own fault. Living in a gated community is great, except that when I bought my truck last summer, I should've paid extra and got the model with the electric windows. Hand cranking the window each time I return home is slowly becoming a pain in the ass.
But the Ghetto Sled had electric windows. Sometimes. However, if I were still driving that hunk-0-crap, they probably would've never let me move in here. This is a nice neighborhood. No white trash allowed.
Mikey
Anyhow, all my stuff is finally here, and almost completely moved in. There is a bunch of junk stacked in the dining room that needs to find a place, but once that's completed, the move is officially over. Of course, we have to move the liquor collection one more time before anything can get accomplished (It didn't fit on top of the fridge, and we need the bookshelf space that it's currently occupying, too).
But having been here for two weeks, I've noticed a few things that are a little off-kilter. First of all, my room is truly too small for a queen-sized bed, especially if I want to put a dresser, nightstand, bookshelf, and computer desk in here. So I think I'm in the market for a full-sized bed, instead. I had one over at the second place I lived in (the house *after* the stripper house), and it worked fine, and two people could sleep in it just fine--it belonged to that chick Lara I was seeing, and since we got along well at the time, it didn't seem too small. Besides, since it's not a queen or king bed, any overnight guests I might be entertaining would probably not want to stay the entire night, if you know what I mean...
A good salesman would call that a 'feature'.
Anyhow, besides the bedroom being a bit small, I've realized that my toilet runs forever once it's flushed. Maybe an adjustment can be made, but it hasn't gotten to the point where it irritates me yet. One thing that I don't like is the fact that my shower takes *forever* to warm up once I turn it on. I can crank it all the way over to full-on hot, and it's still three or four minutes before I get any steam. But once it finally decides to get hot, look out--it'll melt the grout right out of the tile. So then I have to turn it all the way back down and find a balance before I get cooked like a pot full of pasta. But the water pressure is fine and the shower head is made for tall people.
The washing machine, which is plumbed right next to my shower, but located just on the other side of the wall, gets hot instantly when it's set to do so. I haven't figured out that mystery just yet, but I'm working on it. And washing a load of towels the other day revealed that there is actually one leg on the washing machine that is shorter than the other three. I haven't adjusted it yet, but it's on the agenda this week.
Oh, and I've figured out that the calibration on the air conditioner is about twelve degrees off. If it's set at 84 degrees, it's actually about 72 degrees in the house. That's why we freeze our asses off at eighty. Eighty means sixty-eight. And coming in from 106, that's just a shock to the system. But man, I love having the ability to chill this place down like a meat locker.
It's like having Super-Hero powers, but they only work if I use them for good, not evil...
When we first moved in, everything else worked, but Rob said that the drain in his tub was messed up, so we had the maintenance guys come take a look. They replaced the stopper and cleaned out the pipes and all is well again. And we had them tighten up the bolts on the garbage disposal so it no longer rattles the entire counter when it comes on.
Now that we have a nice kitchen, I think we're going to discover that our fridge is too small. Both of us like to cook, and leftovers are becoming an issue along with all of the groceries that both of us stuff in there. Somehow we'll manage. But after I get some sleep this morning, I'm making another batch of biscuits and gravy. I made some a few days ago, but made the tragic mistake of using store-brand biscuits instead of Pilsbury Grands. They were awful, and detracted from my gravy masterpiece. So on the way home from work this morning, I stopped at Smith's and got a load of groceries, which included proper biscuits.
As far as the kitchen goes, we discovered that the burners on the gas stove are mislabeled on the knobs, but that's no big deal. Front is back, back is front, we figured it out right away by just putting the eggs on whichever burner had a blue flame.
Otherwise, this new apartment is perfect. It's clean, quiet, and serene. I've not seen a single child anywhere in this complex, no seen any dog poop. I have only heard the people that live upstairs one time, and that was a weekend and they were running the vacuum cleaner. Other than that, I haven't heard a peep.
My only gripe is my own fault. Living in a gated community is great, except that when I bought my truck last summer, I should've paid extra and got the model with the electric windows. Hand cranking the window each time I return home is slowly becoming a pain in the ass.
But the Ghetto Sled had electric windows. Sometimes. However, if I were still driving that hunk-0-crap, they probably would've never let me move in here. This is a nice neighborhood. No white trash allowed.
Mikey
Saturday, June 30, 2007
I Was Going for Triple-X
But according to these folks, I fell just a bit short:
Must have something to do with the fact that the word 'ass' is mentioned thirteen times on the front page, and 'hurt' is mentioned three times. I wonder what would've happened if I featured more bunnies and rainbows.
But since I've already got the NC-17 rating, I may as well provide some content. Enjoy!
Mikey
Must have something to do with the fact that the word 'ass' is mentioned thirteen times on the front page, and 'hurt' is mentioned three times. I wonder what would've happened if I featured more bunnies and rainbows.
But since I've already got the NC-17 rating, I may as well provide some content. Enjoy!
Mikey
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Housewarming
As if the Indiana Jones trilogy on widescreen DVD wasn't enough, another package arrived yesterday from another generous benefactor. It seems that somebody was aware of the fact that the only glassware I have is a nice set of wine glasses I got from Hoya last Christmas, while the rest of my drinkware consists of sportsbottles and plastic tumblers from the sale rack at Target. But even so, I was quite surprised to see the UPS man standing on my porch yesterday afternoon delivering a package addressed to 'Oscar & Felix'.
I tore into it with the only cutting tool I had handy at the time--my car keys--and happily discovered a set of four beer glasses. But no, these weren't just any beer glasses, these were official Imperial Pint glasses, with the bulge for stacking, and the official British Government Seal. There was also a copy of Draft Magazine included, a surprisingly readable publication dedicated to the 'beer lifestyle'. It now resides in a place of honor on the back of my toilet.
And word around the campfire is that there is yet another small package enroute, too. Woot! Of course, Rob dampened my spirits by reminding me that I should've included LV Terry in the Hey gang--Here's my new address email, as we'd likely have a freezer full of Omaha Steaks by now, too. Doh! Oh well, somehow we'll manage, especially since we're not allowed to grill here. I guess the next batch of smores we do will be in the microwave...
Anyhow. Now that I made it to my weekend somewhat intact, and we got the HDTV all hooked up, of course nothing else has been accomplished in the past 48 hours except running the dishwasher. I stayed up late on Tuesday night watching a show on PBS HD about Yak ranchers in Wyoming and watermelon farmers in New Mexico. Seriously. I could not. turn. it. off. Just when I thought western civilization had peaked with the invention of the iPod, they come and unleash High-Definition TV on me.
It's truly the coolest thing I've seen in awhile.
I finally tore myself away from the digital crack pipe long enough last night to make another run to the old house. I got a bunch of very heavy stuff moved--mostly books, and I got pretty much everything else stacked up and ready to go. I think one more trip to get the small stuff, and a return trip to get my office tower/desk thingy for the computer, and I'll be completely out of there. Of course, I'm missing a big Rubbermaid tote full of books that my roommate moved and can't remember where he put it, so that's on my agenda tomorrow afternoon--finding the missing books. Then I get to unpack everything that's currently stacked in our dining room.
As well as everything is going right now, life is not without it's frustrations. I managed to get the new router set up properly and the whole wireless network is secure, so I can sit anywhere around the house using the laptop to surf and nobody can steal my wifi. I also got the old Compaq hooked up wirelessly, so Rob can hit the internet without having to run a blue ethernet cable down the hallway from my bedroom to his. The only problem is moving my old files (mostly digital pics and downloaded music, along with handful of Word documents) from the Compaq to the laptop. I've tried everything, and NOTHING works. For whatever reason, none of the 'easy transfer' options are compatible with Windows Millennium, which the old computer runs on. I can't even transfer files over a wired network--it looks like I'll just have to save everything to disk and move it manually. Settings and bookmarks? Forget it. Millennium and Vista are so far apart, they don't even recognize that they're both bastard children from the same father. (Although Vista clearly got the brains and the looks in the family, while Millennium eats from a dog dish and lives under the stairs).
But the entire network, both computers, keyboards, mice, router, modem, and about 15 miles of cable, are all sitting on my bedroom floor at this moment, taking up valuable real estate. Once I get all of my private files taken off of the old computer, it's going in Rob's room until the day we take it out to the vacant lot next door and give it the Office Space treatment with a couple of Louisville Sluggers.
Recycle? Forget that. That old Compaq is going to Rest in Pieces at the landfill, hopefully slowly decomposing over the next thousand years under a hundred tons of smelly rotting garbage, because I can't think of a more appropriate send-off for all of the headaches it's caused me over the years.
Anyhow, that's the news from here. We're almost 100% moved in, ahead of schedule, and everything at the new house works. Especially the AC. Did I mention that I'm freezing my ass off right now?
I am, but I don't care. I could die from hypothermia tonight and be happy. Because I know that I won't wake up in two hours drenched in sweat and cursing my stupid-ass roommate for being such a cheap bastard. I don't care if I have to live on Ramen noodles and peanut butter for the rest of the summer--we're GONNA keep this house cool!
More later.
Mikey
I tore into it with the only cutting tool I had handy at the time--my car keys--and happily discovered a set of four beer glasses. But no, these weren't just any beer glasses, these were official Imperial Pint glasses, with the bulge for stacking, and the official British Government Seal. There was also a copy of Draft Magazine included, a surprisingly readable publication dedicated to the 'beer lifestyle'. It now resides in a place of honor on the back of my toilet.
And word around the campfire is that there is yet another small package enroute, too. Woot! Of course, Rob dampened my spirits by reminding me that I should've included LV Terry in the Hey gang--Here's my new address email, as we'd likely have a freezer full of Omaha Steaks by now, too. Doh! Oh well, somehow we'll manage, especially since we're not allowed to grill here. I guess the next batch of smores we do will be in the microwave...
Anyhow. Now that I made it to my weekend somewhat intact, and we got the HDTV all hooked up, of course nothing else has been accomplished in the past 48 hours except running the dishwasher. I stayed up late on Tuesday night watching a show on PBS HD about Yak ranchers in Wyoming and watermelon farmers in New Mexico. Seriously. I could not. turn. it. off. Just when I thought western civilization had peaked with the invention of the iPod, they come and unleash High-Definition TV on me.
It's truly the coolest thing I've seen in awhile.
I finally tore myself away from the digital crack pipe long enough last night to make another run to the old house. I got a bunch of very heavy stuff moved--mostly books, and I got pretty much everything else stacked up and ready to go. I think one more trip to get the small stuff, and a return trip to get my office tower/desk thingy for the computer, and I'll be completely out of there. Of course, I'm missing a big Rubbermaid tote full of books that my roommate moved and can't remember where he put it, so that's on my agenda tomorrow afternoon--finding the missing books. Then I get to unpack everything that's currently stacked in our dining room.
As well as everything is going right now, life is not without it's frustrations. I managed to get the new router set up properly and the whole wireless network is secure, so I can sit anywhere around the house using the laptop to surf and nobody can steal my wifi. I also got the old Compaq hooked up wirelessly, so Rob can hit the internet without having to run a blue ethernet cable down the hallway from my bedroom to his. The only problem is moving my old files (mostly digital pics and downloaded music, along with handful of Word documents) from the Compaq to the laptop. I've tried everything, and NOTHING works. For whatever reason, none of the 'easy transfer' options are compatible with Windows Millennium, which the old computer runs on. I can't even transfer files over a wired network--it looks like I'll just have to save everything to disk and move it manually. Settings and bookmarks? Forget it. Millennium and Vista are so far apart, they don't even recognize that they're both bastard children from the same father. (Although Vista clearly got the brains and the looks in the family, while Millennium eats from a dog dish and lives under the stairs).
But the entire network, both computers, keyboards, mice, router, modem, and about 15 miles of cable, are all sitting on my bedroom floor at this moment, taking up valuable real estate. Once I get all of my private files taken off of the old computer, it's going in Rob's room until the day we take it out to the vacant lot next door and give it the Office Space treatment with a couple of Louisville Sluggers.
Recycle? Forget that. That old Compaq is going to Rest in Pieces at the landfill, hopefully slowly decomposing over the next thousand years under a hundred tons of smelly rotting garbage, because I can't think of a more appropriate send-off for all of the headaches it's caused me over the years.
Anyhow, that's the news from here. We're almost 100% moved in, ahead of schedule, and everything at the new house works. Especially the AC. Did I mention that I'm freezing my ass off right now?
I am, but I don't care. I could die from hypothermia tonight and be happy. Because I know that I won't wake up in two hours drenched in sweat and cursing my stupid-ass roommate for being such a cheap bastard. I don't care if I have to live on Ramen noodles and peanut butter for the rest of the summer--we're GONNA keep this house cool!
More later.
Mikey
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
I Can See Clearly Now
After this morning's epic post about the previous week's activities, I finally went to bed (feeling much better, thank you) around 5:00 am. All that hurling, coupled with a half-hour in the hot tub, conspired to sap all the energy from my body and I completely collapsed into an unconscious heap as soon as I hit the Blob.
It seemed like ten minutes passed, and Rob was knocking on my bedroom door telling me the cable guy was already here. But it was 8:01 am--we were the first stop on his route for the day. He spent a few minutes testing outlets and whatnot, and finally jury-rigged a solution that didn't cost us $50 for a service call. The downside is that I now have a tangle of co-axial cable coming out of two outlets in my bedroom, along with a splitter leading to the modem/computer setup. He offered to staple everything down along the baseboard, but I declined, figuring I'd just hide it all with my desk once I finally get it over here.
Once he left, it took about ten minutes before the HD receiver finally cycled through all of the updates and we got cable access. It took another twenty minutes or so of messing around in the spaghetti behind the entertainment center before we figured out how to get sound and pictures at the same time and which inputs the tv/receiver/dvd had to be set on for everything to work properly.
But once we figured it out, it was like the heavens parted and sweet high-definition goodness was poured out upon us, and we drank heavily from the digital cup. We spent an hour in wide-eyed wonder watching SportsCenter in HD, marveling that we could read the numbers on the empty outfield seats whenever a deep fly ball was hit. As a bonus, we discovered that HBO HD is included in the package, so I still get to watch Entourage every week (we opted not to get the HBO/Cinemax channels in order to save some cash), and we even have a Cinemax HD channel too. You know what that means--soft porn in High Def! Woot! I guess we'll be treated to the "Gene Simmons view" of Shannon Tweed's nekkid ass late at night. But the really cool one is the Discovery HD Theatre channel--and a show about underwater volcanoes is coming on in an hour and we'll be found sitting in the living room ooohing and aaaahing like a couple of retards at a fireworks show.
Seriously, I had no idea that HDTV was so cool. Only because I'd never seen it before. But the only thing I can liken it to was the fact that I have a relatively weak eyeglass prescription, and seeing HDTV compared to standard was like putting glasses on for the first time. It's amazing how sharp, clear, and brilliant everything looked. We found ourselves staring at the PBS HD channel for a half hour, watching a show about Mormon handcart pioneers caught in a snowstorm in Nebraska. Not exactly must-see TV, but like I told Rob at the time, I don't really want to watch this, but it's just so cool that I can't look away!
But only having about three hours of sleep last night started to catch up to me, and I needed a nap. So I kept the door to my bedroom open and crashed, while Rob turned off the TV and just put some Pink Floyd on the surround system. Talk about getting mellow in a hurry--Rob fell asleep in the chair in the living room, and I was around the corner passed out in my bed. I slept well, but dreamt about flying pigs and cartoon hammers and whatnot.
I'm awake now, and delaying the inevitable trip back over to the old house to get more stuff. I'm going to wait until after dark so that I can put stuff in the bed of the truck without having it melt. But since Rob is in the living room watching Star Trek, I figured now was a good time to make another update.
Mikey
It seemed like ten minutes passed, and Rob was knocking on my bedroom door telling me the cable guy was already here. But it was 8:01 am--we were the first stop on his route for the day. He spent a few minutes testing outlets and whatnot, and finally jury-rigged a solution that didn't cost us $50 for a service call. The downside is that I now have a tangle of co-axial cable coming out of two outlets in my bedroom, along with a splitter leading to the modem/computer setup. He offered to staple everything down along the baseboard, but I declined, figuring I'd just hide it all with my desk once I finally get it over here.
Once he left, it took about ten minutes before the HD receiver finally cycled through all of the updates and we got cable access. It took another twenty minutes or so of messing around in the spaghetti behind the entertainment center before we figured out how to get sound and pictures at the same time and which inputs the tv/receiver/dvd had to be set on for everything to work properly.
But once we figured it out, it was like the heavens parted and sweet high-definition goodness was poured out upon us, and we drank heavily from the digital cup. We spent an hour in wide-eyed wonder watching SportsCenter in HD, marveling that we could read the numbers on the empty outfield seats whenever a deep fly ball was hit. As a bonus, we discovered that HBO HD is included in the package, so I still get to watch Entourage every week (we opted not to get the HBO/Cinemax channels in order to save some cash), and we even have a Cinemax HD channel too. You know what that means--soft porn in High Def! Woot! I guess we'll be treated to the "Gene Simmons view" of Shannon Tweed's nekkid ass late at night. But the really cool one is the Discovery HD Theatre channel--and a show about underwater volcanoes is coming on in an hour and we'll be found sitting in the living room ooohing and aaaahing like a couple of retards at a fireworks show.
Seriously, I had no idea that HDTV was so cool. Only because I'd never seen it before. But the only thing I can liken it to was the fact that I have a relatively weak eyeglass prescription, and seeing HDTV compared to standard was like putting glasses on for the first time. It's amazing how sharp, clear, and brilliant everything looked. We found ourselves staring at the PBS HD channel for a half hour, watching a show about Mormon handcart pioneers caught in a snowstorm in Nebraska. Not exactly must-see TV, but like I told Rob at the time, I don't really want to watch this, but it's just so cool that I can't look away!
But only having about three hours of sleep last night started to catch up to me, and I needed a nap. So I kept the door to my bedroom open and crashed, while Rob turned off the TV and just put some Pink Floyd on the surround system. Talk about getting mellow in a hurry--Rob fell asleep in the chair in the living room, and I was around the corner passed out in my bed. I slept well, but dreamt about flying pigs and cartoon hammers and whatnot.
I'm awake now, and delaying the inevitable trip back over to the old house to get more stuff. I'm going to wait until after dark so that I can put stuff in the bed of the truck without having it melt. But since Rob is in the living room watching Star Trek, I figured now was a good time to make another update.
Mikey
Finally... Some Free Time!
Hey Gang... Thanks for hangin' in there and checkin' in on me. But here it is 3:20 on Tuesday morning and I've finally got a few free moments to hit the keyboard. It's been a helluva week. First of all, I left work early, but not by choice. I was sitting there at a $10 Pai Gow table when I suddenly got sick. Not just feeling tired or worn out--I'm talking Get-the-floorman-over-here-right-now so-I-can-go-puke-in-the-garbage-can sick. And it happened twice. After the second time they told me to hit the bricks. I was a trooper and tried to tough it out after the first episode, but I lasted about 15 more minutes before I grabbed the floorperson, Denise, and had her watch my rack (It only had about $40,000 in it) while I went and hurled.
Good times.
That's about the time they told me to get out of there. But at least I didn't get any on my shirt. The true bummer of it all was that last night was 1) My 'Friday' and 2) Stephanie's birthday, so we were likely to go have a drink together (although she was partying at Jet at the Mirage and I didn't figure to hear from her until it was too late--but the opportunity was there). Even worse, another gal I know, a very attractive cocktail waitress from the Luxor came by tonight and was following me from table to table and we'd made plans to go out for a drink or two after work, provided I could get an hour of Early Out. Well, I got out, but having her see me do my best Doc Al impersonation *twice* by giving the thumbs up as I yacked into a garbage can, well, it kind of put a damper on the evening. She was kind enough to fetch me a bottle of water and give me some Altoids, and had I had any hair, I'm sure she would've been Johnny-on-the-spot and held it back for me.
She's a great gal, but I'm sure that's not how she envisioned her evening going. But that's me, always impressing the ladies...
Of course, once I got out of there, I puked once more in the parking garage, again on the way home--pulled over under a streetlight on Arroyo Grande--then in the parking lot here at home. I made it to the bathroom before it happened again, so I decided I probably could use a shower and about thirty seconds with the Listerine. Once I got out, I made it down to the jacuzzi, where I only puked once more in the bushes before relaxing in the whirlpool for a half and hour and feeling much better once I emerged.
Now I'm back at the house, with a towel laid out on the floor, lying on my tummy typing this and taking the occasional sip of a watery fountain Coke. So far, it's staying down.
I don't know what the hell got into me tonight at work, because I felt fine for the first five hours or so, then suddenly I couldn't even keep bottled water down.
But like I said, it's been a helluva week. Last Tuesday I spent the day sweating my ass off and loading junk over here to the new house. Wednesday was a blast though--it was my day off and I spent it with Hoyaheel and Dane down at the Planet Alladinwood.
When I got to their room, I was given a cocktail for one hand and a pair of binoculars for the other hand. It seems that they had a Resort Vista room on the 17th floor, overlooking the pool, and thus all of the bikinis, too. One in particular stood out--a gal in a light-blue Brazilian-style Wicked Weasel bikini that became see-through as soon as it got wet. Oh hell yeah!
Once we finally put the binoculars down, we had a great visit, catching up on all the latest news and gossip while munching on a few trays of Mexican goodies that Hoya had brought up from La Salsa Cantina. Once lunch was over, there was more gawking at the window and drinking of more cocktails. I saw an outrageously hot girl in a black bikini, and at that point we decided to head on down to the pool and get a closer look, as it's not nearly as perverted as sitting up in the hotel room looking down with binoculars.
It was hotter than hell that day, close to 110 degrees, but luckily I'd put some sunscreen on my ol' bald head. The water was nice, there were no kids, and a few minutes after I got there, the hot chick in the black bikini bumped into me and we started a pleasant conversation that lasted almost two hours. And upon closer inspection, I realized that her bikini was purple, not black. Unfortunately, even with about a fifth of coconut rum in me and bringing my 'A' game, it was not to be, as not only was she married, but she was heading back home to Colorado later that same evening.
Two ships, as they say...
Once we got tired of the sun, we headed back up to the room for more cocktails. I called Scottie (GottaVegasJones) and he came over and joined us. We had a lot of laughs and finalized our plans for the evening. Dane and Hoya were going to see 'O' at Bellagio, but Scottie, his wife Alice Lee, Reverend Dave, Falcon Rob, and I were going to a wine tasting at the Mirage. I took a quick shower there in Hoya's luxurious digs, got dressed, and a bit later Reverend Dave showed up. We stayed and visited for a bit, but before we realized it, it was 5:30 and we had to be at the Mirage a half hour later.
We got there just under the wire and snagged a primo table for the wine tasting. Everyone eventually showed up and we got down to business, sampling wines from Central Washington. I wasn't very impressed, although there was a very good Riesling offered. But unlike the South African tasting last month, I wasn't scrambling to write down all my favorites. These were all good, but nothing really stood out.
I think the highlight of the wine tasting was the cheese tray, as there was some sort of high-powered Gorgonzola cheese that while tasty in it's own sort of way, it gave me the kind of jolt that drinking balsamic vinegar straight from the teat would do to you. As Reverend Dave put it "I've never had cheese that cleared my sinuses before...."
Anyhow, once a couple of hours had passed and we all had a good wine buzz going, we decided to have dinner downtown at Binion's Ranch Steakhouse. It's always been a favorite, and this time didn't disappoint, either. I had some more of their fantastic French Onion Soup (best I've found in Vegas), and the table shared a couple of orders of crab-stuffed mushroom caps. For dinner I had a Ribeye with garlic-mashed potatoes and green beans. And we can't forget the wonderful warm bread and butter they keep you loaded up with, either. It was a great meal, made even better at the conclusion when Scottie insisted on paying the tab for the entire party.
Wow. Talk about a generous offer. Thanks again, Scottie!
After dinner we were all struggling with food comas, but we made our way up and down Fremont Street seeing the sights--Reverend Dave hadn't been to Vegas since 1993, so he had some catching up to do. We made him take a trip on the Grain Train, also, and since he wasn't driving, he was cool with it. The worst part was enduring the smell at La Bayou while waiting in line, but we survived.
Once all of the sights were seen, we headed over to the Plaza for a little bit of gambling.
All I can say is that it was so ugly that it was comical. The moment we shifted to the Dark Side on the dice table, granny with the dice couldn't miss--she hit everything and wiped us out. Scottie and Rob played a bit more, while Reverend Dave and I took seats in the Omaha Lounge while smoking and people-watching.
Eventually, we started to hit the wall, and decided to call it a night. We said goodbye to everyone, and we hit the road for that long drive out to Lake Las Vegas. I made it home about five minutes before Rob did, and he had gone back up to his old place in North Vegas, loaded up his car with more stuff, and then drove back to our new house in Henderson. Suffice it to say, Lake Las Vegas is a geographical oddity--45 minutes from everywhere.
Thursday was a sleep-in day, but once we got up, Rob and I decided to go shopping. Living in such a nice place has motivated us to get better stuff ASAP and Rob wanted to step up first and get a new TV. A wide-screen LCD HD TV. I graciously offered the use of my truck and we spent a few hours browsing around at Best Buy, Circuit City, and the like. After a pretty good lunch at the Macaroni Grill, we decided to go with a 32-incher we saw at Best Buy. So back we went, bought it, along with a entertainment center and some networking gear so Rob can get online with my old Compaq, and we came back to the house with a truckload of new electronic gear. I took a quick nap while he wrestled with the entertainment center, as I had to work that night.
The next day, I moved another load over in the morning, ran my errands, and then spent the balance of the afternoon hooking up the new tv, the surround sound, dvd player, and cable box. Of course at that point we realized that we didn't have an HD cable box, so I got to spend a couple of hours in line down at the Cox office changing it out. After we got it all hooked up we found that 1) We still need some sort of digital audio cable to connect the cable box to the receiver and 2) the cable outlet in the living room doesn't work--no signal whatsoever. So we've been without TV for the entire week, but the Cable Guy is coming by sometime after 8:00 this morning to fix our outlets. So hopefully by tonight we can be watching Deadliest Catch in High Def and 6.1 surround sound (Do they even offer it??).
Also, a generous benefactor and regular reader of this site stepped up to send me my first housewarming gift, which also happened to be my first piece of mail--The Indiana Jones Trilogy on widescreen DVD. Hell yeah--can't wait to watch that again.
But the plan for today is to get a little sleep, get the cable and surround sound system all hooked up properly, and maybe move the rest of the big stuff over from the old house. I should be completely out of there by Wednesday night, and next Tuesday will be my first *true* day off where I haven't had to be anywhere or do anything in a month. I can't wait!
Mikey out.
Good times.
That's about the time they told me to get out of there. But at least I didn't get any on my shirt. The true bummer of it all was that last night was 1) My 'Friday' and 2) Stephanie's birthday, so we were likely to go have a drink together (although she was partying at Jet at the Mirage and I didn't figure to hear from her until it was too late--but the opportunity was there). Even worse, another gal I know, a very attractive cocktail waitress from the Luxor came by tonight and was following me from table to table and we'd made plans to go out for a drink or two after work, provided I could get an hour of Early Out. Well, I got out, but having her see me do my best Doc Al impersonation *twice* by giving the thumbs up as I yacked into a garbage can, well, it kind of put a damper on the evening. She was kind enough to fetch me a bottle of water and give me some Altoids, and had I had any hair, I'm sure she would've been Johnny-on-the-spot and held it back for me.
She's a great gal, but I'm sure that's not how she envisioned her evening going. But that's me, always impressing the ladies...
Of course, once I got out of there, I puked once more in the parking garage, again on the way home--pulled over under a streetlight on Arroyo Grande--then in the parking lot here at home. I made it to the bathroom before it happened again, so I decided I probably could use a shower and about thirty seconds with the Listerine. Once I got out, I made it down to the jacuzzi, where I only puked once more in the bushes before relaxing in the whirlpool for a half and hour and feeling much better once I emerged.
Now I'm back at the house, with a towel laid out on the floor, lying on my tummy typing this and taking the occasional sip of a watery fountain Coke. So far, it's staying down.
I don't know what the hell got into me tonight at work, because I felt fine for the first five hours or so, then suddenly I couldn't even keep bottled water down.
But like I said, it's been a helluva week. Last Tuesday I spent the day sweating my ass off and loading junk over here to the new house. Wednesday was a blast though--it was my day off and I spent it with Hoyaheel and Dane down at the Planet Alladinwood.
When I got to their room, I was given a cocktail for one hand and a pair of binoculars for the other hand. It seems that they had a Resort Vista room on the 17th floor, overlooking the pool, and thus all of the bikinis, too. One in particular stood out--a gal in a light-blue Brazilian-style Wicked Weasel bikini that became see-through as soon as it got wet. Oh hell yeah!
Once we finally put the binoculars down, we had a great visit, catching up on all the latest news and gossip while munching on a few trays of Mexican goodies that Hoya had brought up from La Salsa Cantina. Once lunch was over, there was more gawking at the window and drinking of more cocktails. I saw an outrageously hot girl in a black bikini, and at that point we decided to head on down to the pool and get a closer look, as it's not nearly as perverted as sitting up in the hotel room looking down with binoculars.
It was hotter than hell that day, close to 110 degrees, but luckily I'd put some sunscreen on my ol' bald head. The water was nice, there were no kids, and a few minutes after I got there, the hot chick in the black bikini bumped into me and we started a pleasant conversation that lasted almost two hours. And upon closer inspection, I realized that her bikini was purple, not black. Unfortunately, even with about a fifth of coconut rum in me and bringing my 'A' game, it was not to be, as not only was she married, but she was heading back home to Colorado later that same evening.
Two ships, as they say...
Once we got tired of the sun, we headed back up to the room for more cocktails. I called Scottie (GottaVegasJones) and he came over and joined us. We had a lot of laughs and finalized our plans for the evening. Dane and Hoya were going to see 'O' at Bellagio, but Scottie, his wife Alice Lee, Reverend Dave, Falcon Rob, and I were going to a wine tasting at the Mirage. I took a quick shower there in Hoya's luxurious digs, got dressed, and a bit later Reverend Dave showed up. We stayed and visited for a bit, but before we realized it, it was 5:30 and we had to be at the Mirage a half hour later.
We got there just under the wire and snagged a primo table for the wine tasting. Everyone eventually showed up and we got down to business, sampling wines from Central Washington. I wasn't very impressed, although there was a very good Riesling offered. But unlike the South African tasting last month, I wasn't scrambling to write down all my favorites. These were all good, but nothing really stood out.
I think the highlight of the wine tasting was the cheese tray, as there was some sort of high-powered Gorgonzola cheese that while tasty in it's own sort of way, it gave me the kind of jolt that drinking balsamic vinegar straight from the teat would do to you. As Reverend Dave put it "I've never had cheese that cleared my sinuses before...."
Anyhow, once a couple of hours had passed and we all had a good wine buzz going, we decided to have dinner downtown at Binion's Ranch Steakhouse. It's always been a favorite, and this time didn't disappoint, either. I had some more of their fantastic French Onion Soup (best I've found in Vegas), and the table shared a couple of orders of crab-stuffed mushroom caps. For dinner I had a Ribeye with garlic-mashed potatoes and green beans. And we can't forget the wonderful warm bread and butter they keep you loaded up with, either. It was a great meal, made even better at the conclusion when Scottie insisted on paying the tab for the entire party.
Wow. Talk about a generous offer. Thanks again, Scottie!
After dinner we were all struggling with food comas, but we made our way up and down Fremont Street seeing the sights--Reverend Dave hadn't been to Vegas since 1993, so he had some catching up to do. We made him take a trip on the Grain Train, also, and since he wasn't driving, he was cool with it. The worst part was enduring the smell at La Bayou while waiting in line, but we survived.
Once all of the sights were seen, we headed over to the Plaza for a little bit of gambling.
All I can say is that it was so ugly that it was comical. The moment we shifted to the Dark Side on the dice table, granny with the dice couldn't miss--she hit everything and wiped us out. Scottie and Rob played a bit more, while Reverend Dave and I took seats in the Omaha Lounge while smoking and people-watching.
Eventually, we started to hit the wall, and decided to call it a night. We said goodbye to everyone, and we hit the road for that long drive out to Lake Las Vegas. I made it home about five minutes before Rob did, and he had gone back up to his old place in North Vegas, loaded up his car with more stuff, and then drove back to our new house in Henderson. Suffice it to say, Lake Las Vegas is a geographical oddity--45 minutes from everywhere.
Thursday was a sleep-in day, but once we got up, Rob and I decided to go shopping. Living in such a nice place has motivated us to get better stuff ASAP and Rob wanted to step up first and get a new TV. A wide-screen LCD HD TV. I graciously offered the use of my truck and we spent a few hours browsing around at Best Buy, Circuit City, and the like. After a pretty good lunch at the Macaroni Grill, we decided to go with a 32-incher we saw at Best Buy. So back we went, bought it, along with a entertainment center and some networking gear so Rob can get online with my old Compaq, and we came back to the house with a truckload of new electronic gear. I took a quick nap while he wrestled with the entertainment center, as I had to work that night.
The next day, I moved another load over in the morning, ran my errands, and then spent the balance of the afternoon hooking up the new tv, the surround sound, dvd player, and cable box. Of course at that point we realized that we didn't have an HD cable box, so I got to spend a couple of hours in line down at the Cox office changing it out. After we got it all hooked up we found that 1) We still need some sort of digital audio cable to connect the cable box to the receiver and 2) the cable outlet in the living room doesn't work--no signal whatsoever. So we've been without TV for the entire week, but the Cable Guy is coming by sometime after 8:00 this morning to fix our outlets. So hopefully by tonight we can be watching Deadliest Catch in High Def and 6.1 surround sound (Do they even offer it??).
Also, a generous benefactor and regular reader of this site stepped up to send me my first housewarming gift, which also happened to be my first piece of mail--The Indiana Jones Trilogy on widescreen DVD. Hell yeah--can't wait to watch that again.
But the plan for today is to get a little sleep, get the cable and surround sound system all hooked up properly, and maybe move the rest of the big stuff over from the old house. I should be completely out of there by Wednesday night, and next Tuesday will be my first *true* day off where I haven't had to be anywhere or do anything in a month. I can't wait!
Mikey out.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Still Alive, Just Tired
Hey Gang...
Sorry I haven't posted anything since like Tuesday or so, but I have been one busy mofo this week and have had absolutely no time to just sit and pound the keys. I finally had a bit of a slowdown yesterday, but I spent the entire day sleeping. Yep, like 13 hours in bed on Saturday. I woke up about 45 minutes before I had to get ready for work.
But it's been a great week--I had a lot of fun, visited with a bunch of my favorite people, and got about 90% of my move finished up. I'll have it all written up in excruciating detail either later today or first thing tomorrow.
In the meantime, I have to get some sleep. I managed to skate out of work about a half hour early this morning, so I took off and headed over to the old house to get some more stuff. Not exactly a full truckload, but I got all the food out of the cabinets and fridge before the scavengers got to it. I'm home now, and hopefully I'll get about six hours of sleep before I have to get up and start on my list of projects for the day.
More updates soon.
Mikey
Sorry I haven't posted anything since like Tuesday or so, but I have been one busy mofo this week and have had absolutely no time to just sit and pound the keys. I finally had a bit of a slowdown yesterday, but I spent the entire day sleeping. Yep, like 13 hours in bed on Saturday. I woke up about 45 minutes before I had to get ready for work.
But it's been a great week--I had a lot of fun, visited with a bunch of my favorite people, and got about 90% of my move finished up. I'll have it all written up in excruciating detail either later today or first thing tomorrow.
In the meantime, I have to get some sleep. I managed to skate out of work about a half hour early this morning, so I took off and headed over to the old house to get some more stuff. Not exactly a full truckload, but I got all the food out of the cabinets and fridge before the scavengers got to it. I'm home now, and hopefully I'll get about six hours of sleep before I have to get up and start on my list of projects for the day.
More updates soon.
Mikey
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Four Things About Mikey
Four Jobs I've Had:
1) Casino Dealer
2) Options Trader
3) White Water Rafting Guide
4) Line Cook
Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1) Dazed and Confused
2) Ocean's 11
3) Forrest Gump
4) Swiss Family Robinson
Four Places I've Lived
1) Las Vegas
2) San Diego
3) Atlanta
4) Phoenix
Four TV Shows I Love:
1) Entourage
2) The Unit
3) Deadliest Catch
4) Pardon The Interruption
Four Places I've Vacationed:
1) Center Hill Lake, Tennessee
2) Mogollon Rim, Arizona
3) Mystic, Connecticut
4) Several cruises all over the Caribbean
Four of My Favorite Dishes:
1) Asian Nachos, Grand Luxe Cafe
2) A Bennigan's Monte Cristo. Haven't had one in years.
3) Broiled Scallops with Mushroom Risotto
4) Veal Marsala
Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1) The Other Side of Kim
2) Rachel Lucas
3) National Review Online
4) Ace of Spades HQ
Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1) Two Harbors, Catalina
2) On a cruise ship
3) Cozumel
4) On a sailboat in the Caribbean
Four Things on My Immediate Shopping List:
1) A bookshelf
2) Black polyester work pants
3) A new printer
4) A digital camera
Four Songs That Always Put Me In a Good Mood:
1) Sweet Child O' Mine
2) Sweet Caroline
3) The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful
4) Dancin' Queen
Four Things I Refuse to Eat:
1) Beets
2) Salmon
3) The 'Fish of the Day' in the Employee Dining Room
4) Oysters. I've tried, and failed, on several occasions, to enjoy them. Yuck.
Four Things I Can't Live Without
1) iPod
2) Hazelnut Coffee
3) Cigars
4) Rum
Four Places I Will Visit Before I Die:
1) French Polynesia
2) New Zealand
3) Romania
4) Thailand
Four Cars I Have Owned:
1) 2006 Dodge Dakota
2) 2001 Nissan Frontier
3) 1980 Nissan 280-ZX
4) 1995 Nissan Frontier
Four Concerts I Have Seen:
1) U2 - Zoo TV at Sun Devil Stadium
2) Duran Duran - Seven & The Ragged Tiger
3) Rush - Moving Pictures
4) Jimmy Buffett - Lots!
Four Favorite Candies:
1) M&M's
2) Junior Mints
3) Reese's Sticks
4) Kit Kat
Four Pet's Names:
1) Rebel
2) Baron
3) Benson
4) Oscar
Four Skeletons In My Closet:
1) Even though I went to the 'Gifted' classes in High School, I could never solve the Rubiks Cube.
2) I own just about every Erasure CD ever released.
3) Seven years, 150 credits, $40,000 in debt. No college degree.
4) When I was young, I always believed it was cheaper to spend the night in jail rather than paying traffic tickets.
Four People I'd Like to Have Over for a Dinner Party:
1) Fred Thompson
2) Charlie Steiner
3) Samuel L. Jackson
4) Jay Leno
Four People Who I Wish Would Do a Vanity Search on Google and Then Email Me:
1) Kimberly Kelley
2) Christine Maupin
3) Mark Seitz
4) Maria Slingerland
Four Girls I Wish I Could Hook Up With One More Time:
1) Jennifer, the outrageous redhead who liked Echo & The Bunnymen, Berry Wine Coolers, and riding on my motorcycle.
2) Michelle, the girl from the U2 concert.
3) Lorraine from Mesa--losing my security deposit because of all the wax melted into the carpet was very well worth it.
4) Danielle the cocktail waitress. All my buddies were impressed when she showed up with me at the hockey game that night. And I impressed myself later that night when I finally got that Roenick jersey off of her...
Four Books I've Read More Than Once:
1) Maiden Voyage
2) Red Storm Rising
3) Flirting With Mermaids
4) Two Years Before the Mast
Four Favorite Cocktails:
1) Captain & Coke
2) Stoli Vanilla & Coke
3) Bombay Sapphire Martini
4) Mt. Gay Pina Colada
Four Favorite Pizza Toppings:
1) Pepperoni
2) Sausage
3) Onion
4) Mushrooms
Four Halloween Costumes:
1) Ghost of Elvis
2) Uncle Fester
3) Rastafarian
4) Bob Ross
Four Pet Peeves:
1) People who can't talk about anything but work, their kids, or their pets.
2) Whistlers. Seriously--just shut the f*ck up.
3) Small talk. Sometimes I just want my quiet time, especially when I first get to work.
4) The fourth one is a toss-up between Bluetooth earpieces and sideways baseball caps. I don't know which is more annoying, but both make me want to kick people in the head.
Mikey
1) Casino Dealer
2) Options Trader
3) White Water Rafting Guide
4) Line Cook
Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1) Dazed and Confused
2) Ocean's 11
3) Forrest Gump
4) Swiss Family Robinson
Four Places I've Lived
1) Las Vegas
2) San Diego
3) Atlanta
4) Phoenix
Four TV Shows I Love:
1) Entourage
2) The Unit
3) Deadliest Catch
4) Pardon The Interruption
Four Places I've Vacationed:
1) Center Hill Lake, Tennessee
2) Mogollon Rim, Arizona
3) Mystic, Connecticut
4) Several cruises all over the Caribbean
Four of My Favorite Dishes:
1) Asian Nachos, Grand Luxe Cafe
2) A Bennigan's Monte Cristo. Haven't had one in years.
3) Broiled Scallops with Mushroom Risotto
4) Veal Marsala
Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1) The Other Side of Kim
2) Rachel Lucas
3) National Review Online
4) Ace of Spades HQ
Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1) Two Harbors, Catalina
2) On a cruise ship
3) Cozumel
4) On a sailboat in the Caribbean
Four Things on My Immediate Shopping List:
1) A bookshelf
2) Black polyester work pants
3) A new printer
4) A digital camera
Four Songs That Always Put Me In a Good Mood:
1) Sweet Child O' Mine
2) Sweet Caroline
3) The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful
4) Dancin' Queen
Four Things I Refuse to Eat:
1) Beets
2) Salmon
3) The 'Fish of the Day' in the Employee Dining Room
4) Oysters. I've tried, and failed, on several occasions, to enjoy them. Yuck.
Four Things I Can't Live Without
1) iPod
2) Hazelnut Coffee
3) Cigars
4) Rum
Four Places I Will Visit Before I Die:
1) French Polynesia
2) New Zealand
3) Romania
4) Thailand
Four Cars I Have Owned:
1) 2006 Dodge Dakota
2) 2001 Nissan Frontier
3) 1980 Nissan 280-ZX
4) 1995 Nissan Frontier
Four Concerts I Have Seen:
1) U2 - Zoo TV at Sun Devil Stadium
2) Duran Duran - Seven & The Ragged Tiger
3) Rush - Moving Pictures
4) Jimmy Buffett - Lots!
Four Favorite Candies:
1) M&M's
2) Junior Mints
3) Reese's Sticks
4) Kit Kat
Four Pet's Names:
1) Rebel
2) Baron
3) Benson
4) Oscar
Four Skeletons In My Closet:
1) Even though I went to the 'Gifted' classes in High School, I could never solve the Rubiks Cube.
2) I own just about every Erasure CD ever released.
3) Seven years, 150 credits, $40,000 in debt. No college degree.
4) When I was young, I always believed it was cheaper to spend the night in jail rather than paying traffic tickets.
Four People I'd Like to Have Over for a Dinner Party:
1) Fred Thompson
2) Charlie Steiner
3) Samuel L. Jackson
4) Jay Leno
Four People Who I Wish Would Do a Vanity Search on Google and Then Email Me:
1) Kimberly Kelley
2) Christine Maupin
3) Mark Seitz
4) Maria Slingerland
Four Girls I Wish I Could Hook Up With One More Time:
1) Jennifer, the outrageous redhead who liked Echo & The Bunnymen, Berry Wine Coolers, and riding on my motorcycle.
2) Michelle, the girl from the U2 concert.
3) Lorraine from Mesa--losing my security deposit because of all the wax melted into the carpet was very well worth it.
4) Danielle the cocktail waitress. All my buddies were impressed when she showed up with me at the hockey game that night. And I impressed myself later that night when I finally got that Roenick jersey off of her...
Four Books I've Read More Than Once:
1) Maiden Voyage
2) Red Storm Rising
3) Flirting With Mermaids
4) Two Years Before the Mast
Four Favorite Cocktails:
1) Captain & Coke
2) Stoli Vanilla & Coke
3) Bombay Sapphire Martini
4) Mt. Gay Pina Colada
Four Favorite Pizza Toppings:
1) Pepperoni
2) Sausage
3) Onion
4) Mushrooms
Four Halloween Costumes:
1) Ghost of Elvis
2) Uncle Fester
3) Rastafarian
4) Bob Ross
Four Pet Peeves:
1) People who can't talk about anything but work, their kids, or their pets.
2) Whistlers. Seriously--just shut the f*ck up.
3) Small talk. Sometimes I just want my quiet time, especially when I first get to work.
4) The fourth one is a toss-up between Bluetooth earpieces and sideways baseball caps. I don't know which is more annoying, but both make me want to kick people in the head.
Mikey
Well, That Was Fast...
So, there I was, sweating my ass off at the old house, packing some boxes, doing more laundry, and loading my truck. I even packed up the ol' laptop, not wanting to tempt my former loser roommates with unauthorized access to pr0n. (I caught them using the old Compaq on a couple of occasions when I wasn't around, but the new laptop is password protected even if you just want to play solitaire, much less surf the net).
Once I got too damn hot and sweaty to load any more stuff, I hit the road and came back over here to the new apartment. And as soon as I walked up, I saw that there was a pile of coax cable on the porch, and a FedEx sticker on the door, telling me I had a package at the rental office. That could only mean one thing--We now had cable!
I brought in a few things, got a huge glass of ice water, and chilled out for a minute or two. I then got down on the floor in my room (haven't moved the desk yet) and hooked up the modem and laptop. A quick call to the Cox Suckers to give them the MAC ID on my modem and I was good to go--back online in record time!
My original plan was to spend the day making several trips between the two houses. But once was enough because it's 108 degrees outside right now and I'm afraid it'll melt all the Rubbermaid tote boxes if they're in direct sunlight for more than a couple of minutes, not to mention cook whatever is inside of them. Besides that, I've still got ten days left to move the rest of my shiat, and honestly, I'm about 80% done. I'll do it late at night instead of during the heat of the day. I don't know what I was thinking, but I swear I've sweated off about 10 lbs. today.
I was also going to bring my TV over today, but I think I'm going to wait. I don't want to hook it all up just yet because Rob is considering getting a widescreen HDTV this weekend, and if he does, I'm definitely *not* going to go through the hell of hooking up the cable box/dvd/receiver/surround sound twice. And I don't want to make another trip back to the old house today, either. So I'll be surfing the net tonight instead of watching Deadliest Catch.
But it's good to be back. It's almost like I never left.
Mikey
Once I got too damn hot and sweaty to load any more stuff, I hit the road and came back over here to the new apartment. And as soon as I walked up, I saw that there was a pile of coax cable on the porch, and a FedEx sticker on the door, telling me I had a package at the rental office. That could only mean one thing--We now had cable!
I brought in a few things, got a huge glass of ice water, and chilled out for a minute or two. I then got down on the floor in my room (haven't moved the desk yet) and hooked up the modem and laptop. A quick call to the Cox Suckers to give them the MAC ID on my modem and I was good to go--back online in record time!
My original plan was to spend the day making several trips between the two houses. But once was enough because it's 108 degrees outside right now and I'm afraid it'll melt all the Rubbermaid tote boxes if they're in direct sunlight for more than a couple of minutes, not to mention cook whatever is inside of them. Besides that, I've still got ten days left to move the rest of my shiat, and honestly, I'm about 80% done. I'll do it late at night instead of during the heat of the day. I don't know what I was thinking, but I swear I've sweated off about 10 lbs. today.
I was also going to bring my TV over today, but I think I'm going to wait. I don't want to hook it all up just yet because Rob is considering getting a widescreen HDTV this weekend, and if he does, I'm definitely *not* going to go through the hell of hooking up the cable box/dvd/receiver/surround sound twice. And I don't want to make another trip back to the old house today, either. So I'll be surfing the net tonight instead of watching Deadliest Catch.
But it's good to be back. It's almost like I never left.
Mikey
Shuttin' It Down
This will be my last update for a couple of days, as I'm packing up the computer today. It's my day off, and I'm back here at the old house getting another truckload of stuff, and the computer is part of this next trip. But I got back here after sleeping (and showering--yay!) at my new apartment, and once the rest of my clothes and all of my electronic gear is over there, I will feel 'officially' moved in. Oh, I still have boxes of stuff to move, and tons of books and whatnot, but once this truckload is unpacked, I won't need to come back over to this place again except to get the rest of my stuff. Our gas and electricity are fully functional, and the cable and internet will be available either late tomorrow night or sometime during the day on Thursday.
Luckily, it's going smoothly, and the only obstacle is the fact that my truck gets horrendous mileage already, and all these trips back and forth are costing me a fortune in gas. I just stopped at the gas station for the third time this week, just putting another $20 in, and that didn't even get me to half a tank. Ugh. But on the plus side, I saw a local gas station has regular at just $2.99 a gallon now.
Sad huh? Two years ago we bitched at two-dollar-a-gallon gasoline, and now we're happy to pay anything less than three... Oh well. There's a rant in there somewhere, but I'll save it for another day.
Last night at work was a lot of fun--Scotty and Alice Lee and Reverend Dave showed up and for a few hours, and they all played at my table. Of course I was on all the sucker games for most of the night--Crazy 4 Poker, Let It Ride, and Deuces Wild, but later on I was on a blackjack game for a bit, too. Since it was my Friday, I signed up to get out an hour and a half early, but we were much too busy, so I got stuck. Glad I was, too, as Rob text messaged me a little while ago and told me that tokes were over $150 last night--not bad for a Monday.
Anyhow, Reverend Dave stuck around and I told him I'd drive him back to his hotel so he didn't have to spend $40 on a cab. Just before we were leaving, though, my gal Stephanie showed up, looking as hot as ever in her ponytail and too-small tank top. She wanted to go out, have a drink, and get some breakfast... But I had to take Reverend Dave out to Lake Las Vegas, about a 40-minute round trip, so as much as I wanted to, I had to decline the offer. (And he had to get some sleep, as he had an early meeting this morning, so he couldn't go out with us, either)
Damn you, Reverend Dave--costing me quality time with a young hottie--There's a special corner of hell reserved for the likes of you!
But we can do it again anytime, so it's not that big a deal. And it was good to see everyone--it certainly made my night go by much faster.
Besides Scotty, Alice Lee, and Reverend Dave being in town this week, Hoya and Dane are also here. We have plans to get together tomorrow over at Planet Aladdinwood for lunch, drinks, and poolside buffoonery. Later that night they're going to see 'O' over at Bellagio, while Dave, Rob, Scotty, Alice Lee, and I will be attending another wine tasting at the Mirage. It should be a great time.
That's about it. We're entering the Dark Side of the Moon phase now--I'll be incommunicado for the next day or two.
Y'all have a good one!
Mikey
Luckily, it's going smoothly, and the only obstacle is the fact that my truck gets horrendous mileage already, and all these trips back and forth are costing me a fortune in gas. I just stopped at the gas station for the third time this week, just putting another $20 in, and that didn't even get me to half a tank. Ugh. But on the plus side, I saw a local gas station has regular at just $2.99 a gallon now.
Sad huh? Two years ago we bitched at two-dollar-a-gallon gasoline, and now we're happy to pay anything less than three... Oh well. There's a rant in there somewhere, but I'll save it for another day.
Last night at work was a lot of fun--Scotty and Alice Lee and Reverend Dave showed up and for a few hours, and they all played at my table. Of course I was on all the sucker games for most of the night--Crazy 4 Poker, Let It Ride, and Deuces Wild, but later on I was on a blackjack game for a bit, too. Since it was my Friday, I signed up to get out an hour and a half early, but we were much too busy, so I got stuck. Glad I was, too, as Rob text messaged me a little while ago and told me that tokes were over $150 last night--not bad for a Monday.
Anyhow, Reverend Dave stuck around and I told him I'd drive him back to his hotel so he didn't have to spend $40 on a cab. Just before we were leaving, though, my gal Stephanie showed up, looking as hot as ever in her ponytail and too-small tank top. She wanted to go out, have a drink, and get some breakfast... But I had to take Reverend Dave out to Lake Las Vegas, about a 40-minute round trip, so as much as I wanted to, I had to decline the offer. (And he had to get some sleep, as he had an early meeting this morning, so he couldn't go out with us, either)
Damn you, Reverend Dave--costing me quality time with a young hottie--There's a special corner of hell reserved for the likes of you!
But we can do it again anytime, so it's not that big a deal. And it was good to see everyone--it certainly made my night go by much faster.
Besides Scotty, Alice Lee, and Reverend Dave being in town this week, Hoya and Dane are also here. We have plans to get together tomorrow over at Planet Aladdinwood for lunch, drinks, and poolside buffoonery. Later that night they're going to see 'O' over at Bellagio, while Dave, Rob, Scotty, Alice Lee, and I will be attending another wine tasting at the Mirage. It should be a great time.
That's about it. We're entering the Dark Side of the Moon phase now--I'll be incommunicado for the next day or two.
Y'all have a good one!
Mikey
Monday, June 18, 2007
Return of the Blob!
As I start typing this, I realize that it's 3:40 in the morning. I got one hour of E.O. from work, and as much as I *really* wanted to just go straight over to the new house and sleep in cool comfort, I had to come over to the old shiatty hotbox and get a few things done.
First of all, I didn't have my checkbook and any toiletries, and at some point today I'll need to groom myself and pay some bills. I also wanted to do some laundry, as I'm all paid up through the end of the month, utilities included, so I'm washing all of my clothes, towels, blankets--basically anything I can get my hands on--over the course of the next couple of days. Brothaman won't turn on the AC (by the way, it's 89 degrees in this house as I type this--I'm sitting here at my desk with the fan blasting on me but still sweating my arse off), so I'm gonna make up for it by doing about 20 loads of laundry this week.
I also had to do a couple of 'online' things, this post included, so I had to use the computer while waiting for the laundry. I'm also going to take a shower before heading back to the new place. But the gas will be turned on sometime later this afternoon, so hopefully this will be my last shower in this mismatched shiathole.
Anyhow, I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice I'm making by sitting here typing this up. I was absolutely *dead* tired last night at work--I could barely keep my eyes open, and just walking back and forth from the break room was an exercise in mental endurance.
You see, Saturday night after work, a bunch of us went out to a new bar that had just opened up, and I ended up staying until almost 7:00 am. I was beat from moving stuff the day before, but everyone wanted me to go out, so I did. Anyhow, I crawled back to the new house, and got about three and a half hours of sleep before Rob called, saying he was out of work. We had furniture to move from his place up in North Las Vegas, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna spend my days off this week fighting traffic, so I offered my truck and my back, but only if we did the moving on Sunday, when there was relatively light traffic on the roads.
He agreed, and by about 12:45 I was up at his place and we had some loading to do. But we figured that we should probably get some rope and tie it all down before getting back on the freeway. So over to Walmart we went. We found the rope, but ended up browsing at a couple of other items.
Since my mattress/boxspring combo is about the most poorly built model ever released on the buying public, I've decided to get a new bed--yes, even the foam pads on the floor these past couple of nights were more comfy than my bed. But a good queen-sized bed it gonna cost me something north of $500, which I just don't have right now. So I remembered the airbed that Eddie B was using when he came to visit in April.
Walmart had a nice selection, and I picked up a Coleman queen-sized airbed for just $50. Not a permanent solution by any means, but it works for now. Once we got back to the new place, I inflated it and realized that it sits up pretty damn high--higher than my 'real' bed, even. And it was oh-so-comfy... And Eddie was right--it's a big damn blob. So I'm going to use that for a bit until the financial picture changes enough that I have some more disposable income.
Anyhow, the project for the day was moving furniture, and we made two trips between N. Las Vegas and our new pad in Henderson, loading up my truck with overstuffed leather furniture and other assorted doo-dads. It took most of the day to load/drive/unload/drive back/load/drive/unload/etc., and by about 5 pm, I could see that Rob was hitting the wall, having come straight from work that morning. I had gotten a bit of sleep, but was yawning, and the combo of hot sun and sore muscles really took it's toll. It was all I could do to function at work last night. Seriously, I was on a dead table a couple of times and caught myself nodding off.
Once I got out of work, I seriously wanted to go straight to bed, but here I am typing like a zombie and waiting for a load of laundry to get done. I got a few more things organized and packed here at the house, but there is no way on God's Green Earth that I'm going to load up the truck again this morning and unload it again over there. I am dead man walkin'. I'm going to finish this post, put the clothes in the dryer, take a shower, and then head over to the new house to sleep for a few hours with my phone turned off, cradled in the warm embrace of my new blob.
Mikey
First of all, I didn't have my checkbook and any toiletries, and at some point today I'll need to groom myself and pay some bills. I also wanted to do some laundry, as I'm all paid up through the end of the month, utilities included, so I'm washing all of my clothes, towels, blankets--basically anything I can get my hands on--over the course of the next couple of days. Brothaman won't turn on the AC (by the way, it's 89 degrees in this house as I type this--I'm sitting here at my desk with the fan blasting on me but still sweating my arse off), so I'm gonna make up for it by doing about 20 loads of laundry this week.
I also had to do a couple of 'online' things, this post included, so I had to use the computer while waiting for the laundry. I'm also going to take a shower before heading back to the new place. But the gas will be turned on sometime later this afternoon, so hopefully this will be my last shower in this mismatched shiathole.
Anyhow, I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice I'm making by sitting here typing this up. I was absolutely *dead* tired last night at work--I could barely keep my eyes open, and just walking back and forth from the break room was an exercise in mental endurance.
You see, Saturday night after work, a bunch of us went out to a new bar that had just opened up, and I ended up staying until almost 7:00 am. I was beat from moving stuff the day before, but everyone wanted me to go out, so I did. Anyhow, I crawled back to the new house, and got about three and a half hours of sleep before Rob called, saying he was out of work. We had furniture to move from his place up in North Las Vegas, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna spend my days off this week fighting traffic, so I offered my truck and my back, but only if we did the moving on Sunday, when there was relatively light traffic on the roads.
He agreed, and by about 12:45 I was up at his place and we had some loading to do. But we figured that we should probably get some rope and tie it all down before getting back on the freeway. So over to Walmart we went. We found the rope, but ended up browsing at a couple of other items.
Since my mattress/boxspring combo is about the most poorly built model ever released on the buying public, I've decided to get a new bed--yes, even the foam pads on the floor these past couple of nights were more comfy than my bed. But a good queen-sized bed it gonna cost me something north of $500, which I just don't have right now. So I remembered the airbed that Eddie B was using when he came to visit in April.
Walmart had a nice selection, and I picked up a Coleman queen-sized airbed for just $50. Not a permanent solution by any means, but it works for now. Once we got back to the new place, I inflated it and realized that it sits up pretty damn high--higher than my 'real' bed, even. And it was oh-so-comfy... And Eddie was right--it's a big damn blob. So I'm going to use that for a bit until the financial picture changes enough that I have some more disposable income.
Anyhow, the project for the day was moving furniture, and we made two trips between N. Las Vegas and our new pad in Henderson, loading up my truck with overstuffed leather furniture and other assorted doo-dads. It took most of the day to load/drive/unload/drive back/load/drive/unload/etc., and by about 5 pm, I could see that Rob was hitting the wall, having come straight from work that morning. I had gotten a bit of sleep, but was yawning, and the combo of hot sun and sore muscles really took it's toll. It was all I could do to function at work last night. Seriously, I was on a dead table a couple of times and caught myself nodding off.
Once I got out of work, I seriously wanted to go straight to bed, but here I am typing like a zombie and waiting for a load of laundry to get done. I got a few more things organized and packed here at the house, but there is no way on God's Green Earth that I'm going to load up the truck again this morning and unload it again over there. I am dead man walkin'. I'm going to finish this post, put the clothes in the dryer, take a shower, and then head over to the new house to sleep for a few hours with my phone turned off, cradled in the warm embrace of my new blob.
Mikey
Saturday, June 16, 2007
F*ck This...
I got home from work a few minutes ago, and it's NINETY F*CKING DEGREES in this house. And all these old jerkoffs are sleeping like drunken babies.
Enough of this. But I'm not going to move the bed yet. I'm too damn tired and it's a pain in the ass. I'm just gonna grab a couple of foam bads and all of the bedding, then head over to the apartment so I can get some sleep without sweating.
Good grief. I have no earthly idea how these morons do it. A couple of them don't even work, so they just sit around under the carport all day smoking cigarettes. I guess after sitting outside in 105 degree temperatures all day, coming in and sleeping in a 90 degree house must seem like the lap of luxury.
No more updates until probably Saturday evening at the earliest. Also, depending on how much I get done between now and Tuesday, it'll be Dark Side of the Moon time for a few days as I'll be offline here at the old house, and in limbo until the Cox Suckers come out and hook up the digital cable and internet access in the new place. Y'all will have to find something else to read while wasting time at work. I'm *hoping* that we'll have cable access by Tuesday or Wednesday, but we'll see.
Mikey
Enough of this. But I'm not going to move the bed yet. I'm too damn tired and it's a pain in the ass. I'm just gonna grab a couple of foam bads and all of the bedding, then head over to the apartment so I can get some sleep without sweating.
Good grief. I have no earthly idea how these morons do it. A couple of them don't even work, so they just sit around under the carport all day smoking cigarettes. I guess after sitting outside in 105 degree temperatures all day, coming in and sleeping in a 90 degree house must seem like the lap of luxury.
No more updates until probably Saturday evening at the earliest. Also, depending on how much I get done between now and Tuesday, it'll be Dark Side of the Moon time for a few days as I'll be offline here at the old house, and in limbo until the Cox Suckers come out and hook up the digital cable and internet access in the new place. Y'all will have to find something else to read while wasting time at work. I'm *hoping* that we'll have cable access by Tuesday or Wednesday, but we'll see.
Mikey
Friday, June 15, 2007
Cool Breeze
I've been back to the new apartment twice today, but having moved a bunch of stuff already, it looks like I haven't moved a damn thing from the old house. It's kind of a depressing site to get back here, realize that it's almost 90 degrees in the house, and there's a shiatload of junk all over the place that needs my attention.
Ugh. The heat just saps my motivation. What I think I'm going to do is wait until I get home from work in the morning, take a shower, and then load up another truckload at 5:00 am while it's still (relatively) cool out.
If I'm feeling particularly motivated, I'll come back and get my bed, then take it back to the apartment, and sleep over there during the heat of the day. This house is just *miserably* hot right now, and I absolutely hate being here.
Once I got over to the apartment for the second time to meet Rob this afternoon, we had the A/C set on 80 degrees and it felt really nice. We couldn't believe that it was 80, but compared to the 108 outside, it was great. So once we finished bringing in all the stuff, we both just crashed on the living room floor for a bit, enjoying the cool air. He took off and went home around 3:00, but I stuck around. I had a sleeping bag for a pillow, and it was most relaxing, even for being on the floor. But I was also curious about just how the afternoon sun was going to heat the place up and how much of an advantage it would be by having the unit on the northeast corner of the building. Well, I shouldn't have worried--with no lights on, just a ceiling fan, and the thermostat at 80, it was downright comfy in there.
Once we get moved in completely and have all of the electronics running in addition to two bodies kickin' around in there, I'm sure we'll crank it down even more. But it sure was nice compared to this hotbox I'm at now. In fact, while lying there relaxing, I was getting so irritated by the fact that this house is so hot all the time that I decided to go ahead and bring my bed over tomorrow. I can sleep at the apartment for the next couple of days, and then run back to the old house to shower and get ready for work. I don't care if it costs me $20 in gasoline, it's worth every penny. Plus, not having to interact with the doofuses that I currently live with is also a bonus.
Of course, Rob suggested that I just go completely redneck this weekend and grab a loofa and a towel and head down to the clubhouse to use the outdoor showers by the pool.
I'm sure that would make a better impression than even the thong did...
Mikey
Ugh. The heat just saps my motivation. What I think I'm going to do is wait until I get home from work in the morning, take a shower, and then load up another truckload at 5:00 am while it's still (relatively) cool out.
If I'm feeling particularly motivated, I'll come back and get my bed, then take it back to the apartment, and sleep over there during the heat of the day. This house is just *miserably* hot right now, and I absolutely hate being here.
Once I got over to the apartment for the second time to meet Rob this afternoon, we had the A/C set on 80 degrees and it felt really nice. We couldn't believe that it was 80, but compared to the 108 outside, it was great. So once we finished bringing in all the stuff, we both just crashed on the living room floor for a bit, enjoying the cool air. He took off and went home around 3:00, but I stuck around. I had a sleeping bag for a pillow, and it was most relaxing, even for being on the floor. But I was also curious about just how the afternoon sun was going to heat the place up and how much of an advantage it would be by having the unit on the northeast corner of the building. Well, I shouldn't have worried--with no lights on, just a ceiling fan, and the thermostat at 80, it was downright comfy in there.
Once we get moved in completely and have all of the electronics running in addition to two bodies kickin' around in there, I'm sure we'll crank it down even more. But it sure was nice compared to this hotbox I'm at now. In fact, while lying there relaxing, I was getting so irritated by the fact that this house is so hot all the time that I decided to go ahead and bring my bed over tomorrow. I can sleep at the apartment for the next couple of days, and then run back to the old house to shower and get ready for work. I don't care if it costs me $20 in gasoline, it's worth every penny. Plus, not having to interact with the doofuses that I currently live with is also a bonus.
Of course, Rob suggested that I just go completely redneck this weekend and grab a loofa and a towel and head down to the clubhouse to use the outdoor showers by the pool.
I'm sure that would make a better impression than even the thong did...
Mikey
Walk Through
I'm in, baby! Just got back for the new apartment--I had to go pick up the keys and do the walk-through with the leasing agent at 9:00 this morning, so I took a small load of stuff over in the truck first thing this morning.
The first big happy surprise was the fact that we have a *huge* storage closet that wasn't part of the model we looked at. When I first walked in, I noticed a door off the side of the dining room. I opened it up, and it revealed another walk-in closet, but it was about 10 feet wide, tapering down underneath the stairs for the unit above us.
I told the leasing agent that I didn't notice that in the model, and she said that they don't tell people about it until they move in so that they're happily surprised (which I was) and also they'd have a harder time leasing the upstairs units--apparently the downstairs units are in higher demand.
Anyhow, we did our walk-through and inspection, and everything was fully functional except the hot water (no gas until Monday). And I don't need to buy a shower curtain, either--my bathroom is one of those 3/4 baths--it has a big glass shower stall like the pyramid rooms at the Luxor. But the absolute best thing was that the air conditioner just cranked out the cold air, and the ceiling fan had three settings--Low, Medium, and Barnstormer.
The first thing I brought in was my big blue cooler loaded up with all the bottles of rum, liquor, and wine that I had on hand, and I already set them up on top of the fridge. No more room for anything else up there now. And while the leasing agent was filling out the inspection paperwork at the breakfast bar, I ran out and grabbed a huge pile of clothes I'd taken from the closet back here at the old house. As I was walking back to my room, one item fell out on the floor in the living room--the pink thong Angy gave me back during March Madness of 2005 when I first met her.
You dropped something there, Mikey.
Oh.. that's not mine. Well, I guess it sorta *is* mine, but you know...
I'm sure I made a great impression with the gal from the office.
Anyhow, Rob just called--he's out of work, grabbing a bite to eat, and I'm going to meet him over there in about a half an hour. I'm going to grab a couple of other small things, not a full truckload (it's just too damn hot outside to do that), and head back over there so he can get his keys and sign a couple other things. I might grab a pair of swimming trunks and give that pool a try, too.
But I'm outta here really soon. I think I'll be sleeping at the new place by Tuesday night at the absolute latest.
Mikey
The first big happy surprise was the fact that we have a *huge* storage closet that wasn't part of the model we looked at. When I first walked in, I noticed a door off the side of the dining room. I opened it up, and it revealed another walk-in closet, but it was about 10 feet wide, tapering down underneath the stairs for the unit above us.
I told the leasing agent that I didn't notice that in the model, and she said that they don't tell people about it until they move in so that they're happily surprised (which I was) and also they'd have a harder time leasing the upstairs units--apparently the downstairs units are in higher demand.
Anyhow, we did our walk-through and inspection, and everything was fully functional except the hot water (no gas until Monday). And I don't need to buy a shower curtain, either--my bathroom is one of those 3/4 baths--it has a big glass shower stall like the pyramid rooms at the Luxor. But the absolute best thing was that the air conditioner just cranked out the cold air, and the ceiling fan had three settings--Low, Medium, and Barnstormer.
The first thing I brought in was my big blue cooler loaded up with all the bottles of rum, liquor, and wine that I had on hand, and I already set them up on top of the fridge. No more room for anything else up there now. And while the leasing agent was filling out the inspection paperwork at the breakfast bar, I ran out and grabbed a huge pile of clothes I'd taken from the closet back here at the old house. As I was walking back to my room, one item fell out on the floor in the living room--the pink thong Angy gave me back during March Madness of 2005 when I first met her.
You dropped something there, Mikey.
Oh.. that's not mine. Well, I guess it sorta *is* mine, but you know...
I'm sure I made a great impression with the gal from the office.
Anyhow, Rob just called--he's out of work, grabbing a bite to eat, and I'm going to meet him over there in about a half an hour. I'm going to grab a couple of other small things, not a full truckload (it's just too damn hot outside to do that), and head back over there so he can get his keys and sign a couple other things. I might grab a pair of swimming trunks and give that pool a try, too.
But I'm outta here really soon. I think I'll be sleeping at the new place by Tuesday night at the absolute latest.
Mikey
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Procrastination
Yep, I should be packing at this very moment, but I keep telling myself that I have two weeks to get it done. So while I've started loading up all the booze and organizing all the stackables and hangables in my bedroom closet, I'm taking a break, drinking a bottle of ice-cold water, and doing a little websurfing.
And in the course of my digital travels today, I came across a very intriguing list--The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All-Time. All non-fiction of course. Talk about a list that's right up my alley--it's like a whole new Amazon wish list for me! (Although browsing through there, I've seen about eight or ten titles that already reside on my bookshelf. Longtime readers will easily be able to guess which ones).
But two weeks to pack and get moved? Probably not. I could easily move outta here in two days if I felt really motivated. But I won't have internet for a week if I do that. So I guess a little surfin' in the afternoon is justified.
Mikey
And in the course of my digital travels today, I came across a very intriguing list--The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All-Time. All non-fiction of course. Talk about a list that's right up my alley--it's like a whole new Amazon wish list for me! (Although browsing through there, I've seen about eight or ten titles that already reside on my bookshelf. Longtime readers will easily be able to guess which ones).
But two weeks to pack and get moved? Probably not. I could easily move outta here in two days if I felt really motivated. But I won't have internet for a week if I do that. So I guess a little surfin' in the afternoon is justified.
Mikey
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