I'm A Self-Made Man

I started with nothing.....and I still have most of it left.

Most Likely My Last Post

Unless I have a change of heart, this may be my last post on the blog......as least for a while. For anyone still reading this blog, its obvious that it has taken a nosedive down my ladder of priorities in the past year or so. My main motivation for the longest time with the blog was to update and convey stories to both my buddies back home as well as anyone interested on the Travel 2 Vegas message board. However, I now post most of my would-be blog topics directly on the message board itself and as for my buddies back home, that's what facebook is now used for.

The blog never had a real direction. I just used it for random thoughts about whats going on for the most part. If I ever do resuscitate the blog in the future, I will try to pinpoint a definite direction for it and try to put some quality time into it on a regular basis....two things I'm unwilling to do at this time.

For the time being, I'll still keep the blog up and running just in case anyone happens to want to read some archived posts or for anyone still getting here due to a google search.

For old time's sake, here are a few links to some of my favorite posts in the past:

The story of my trek out to Vegas with Chris

Pictures of the Trek

A story of a couple road trips that involved a bigger than average burger!

A favorite post of my T2Vers......about my favorite casino game

The most difficult hike that I've accomplished so far

Most Nerdy Video EVER!!!

I've always thought the Leeroy Jenkins internet viral video was probably the most nerdy thing I've ever seen. This one takes the cake though!

Random Updates

1. Just saw True Grit at the Green Valley movie theater the other day. Excellent movie!!! If you haven't seen it yet, don't be turned off on the fact that its a remake. The Coen brothers rarely disappoint!

2. I finally made full-time status at work this week. It only took me 2 years and 9 months from the first date of my orientation! The big positive is that it appears that I'm staying on day shift. I would have bet the farm that they'd move me to swing shift for at least a few months or so.

The other positives is that I will have a consistent weekend every week so that I can actually plan my life more than a week in advance. Also, I will be picking up the company's health insurance. I don't think its the best in the world, but its gotta be better than the independent catastrophic insurance I'm paying for now. I do know it includes vision and dental. So hopefully I'll be visiting the dentist for the first time in 2.5 years soon and the eye doctor for the first time in FIVE years!

3. Because I know I'll have Wednesdays and Thursdays off now, I'm planning another one-night staycation downtown Vegas for next Wednesday night. It's something I do about twice a year and have a blast each time. Sometimes its a solo trip (Danielle has to work the next morning) but sometimes I get some buddies to join me. At any rate, a visit to the brewpub at Main Street Station is definitely in the cards next Wednesday night!

4. Going back to the full-time deal, its not really as awesome news as you might think. As a part-timer, I think I worked less than 40 hours maybe four total weeks last year. So the amount of hours won't really be different. However, my base pay drops down to the true minimum wage as opposed to the slightly increased part-time minimum wage. The company pays part-timers a little more per hour to "help make up for the lack of insurance"......or so they claim.

Anyway, I'll be paying less for health insurance now but will be making less per hour. I guess I also can't look past the job security aspect as well. There are SO MANY part-time dealers at my place that they'd have to layoff a HUGE amount of dealers to get close to me.

5. Pittsbugh's goin' to the Super Bowl!!!!

I hope they can get Pouncey back for the game though. Legursky didn't look too bad and I'm sure they can hammer out those snap issues during the next two weeks, but I think Pouncey is a much better run blocker. I noticed Legursky completely whiffed on a couple of blocks about 5 yards downfield. Apparently he has the athletisism to get down there quick enough, but not enough to get a good block on the inside linebackers.

I still don't think Troy was playing full tilt either. Hopefully, he'll get over what ails him. I'm not accostumed to the Steelers being the underdog in the Super Bowl, but I can completely see why they are. Looking back at the season though, it is so sweet that they have another chance in the big game when everybody pretty much counted them out before the season even started!!

6. Today, while I was floor supervisor, I saw the biggest tippers I've ever seen at a craps table at my casino! They had the dealers up for $5 on the passline with at least double odds EVERY ROLL! They bought in for about 2 grand between the three of them and played for over 4 hours. Every single time a point was hit, the dealers dropped AT LEAST $50. When it was all over, they all lost their buy-ins. However, the casino still lost money when accounting for the huge amount of green chips in the toke box. I can safely say there was at least $2500-$3000 in that box at the end of my shift! Unfortunately, since I was on the floor, I will see NONE of it. It was still great fun watching my fellow dealers drop that cash though. That's a once in a year type of situation!

News From Vegas

Just an update to those who may still be checking in from time to time:

1. Work is super slow right now. The rodeo comes to town every December and dumps a good amount of cash into the local economy. But when it leaves, there's a void of about 7-10 days between the rodeo and Christmas when its dead as a doornail around here. The previous two years during this time, my parents were visiting here in Vegas. My mom's birthday is also during this time and it was nice celebrating an early Christmas with them while taking some time off work. Since they weren't in town this year, I actually worked through this time period and saw firsthand how bad things can get. To give you an idea.....tokes last Friday equaled a grand total of $58 for eight hours. Absolutely pathetic. Not only is it naturally slow, but the weather has been literally frightful lately, which also hurts business. The week of New Year's is usually pretty solid and then there's another lull during January until the Super Bowl gets here. Then it gets CRAZY during March and so forth.

2. Even though I'll be spending another Christmas Eve and Day at the casino this year, I really don't mind. That's because my "actual" Christmas will occur during the weekend of January 8th this year. My mom's side of the family always has a Christmas reunion every year. Because both Christmas and New Year's fall on the weekend this year, they are pushing the reunion back to the second Saturday of January. This kind of stinks for most since its so far removed from actual Christmas Day, but its awesome from where I stand since I can actually get that week off of work for once and not pay an arm and a leg in airfare!

The plan is to fly into Columbus on the 7th, join all the relatives for, what is essentially, a two-day reunion in Clyde, Ohio and then spend the majority of the week in Sandusky. I'm taking exactly one work-week off and only asked to be paid for three days of it. I figure the tokes will be bad that week, so I might as well eat some unpaid time off and actually use more of my vacation time when I'll be making some legitimate cash while off!

3. The short days are killing my motivation to do any hiking lately. My absolute favorite time of the day to hike is in the afternoon to early evening. Unfortunately, early evening at this point is 3pm! My work-days usually start well after 10am, so when I'm off, I usually can't drag myself out of bed early enough to drive out and get a hike in. My last hike was on the Arizona side of Hoover Dam (Liberty Arch hike that I wrote about last year). I still have yet to make it up to Red Rock.

4. As far as work goes, its becoming a grind. When I deal, its usually with a bunch of new dealers on craps where I have to turn into a babysitter for 8 hours. When I'm on the floor, its usually watching a bunch of new dealers where I have to turn into a babysitter for 8 hours! It sounds similar, but I would MUCH rather be on the floor everyday at this point. Dealing $5 blackjack and $5 craps got old a loooooong time ago!

5. If anyone reading this has ANY info on how the casinos in Ohio are progressing, please let me know. There's a very good chance that Danielle and I would like to relocate to Ohio sooner or later, and getting in at one of the new casinos in Ohio would be a convenient scenario!

This is my last day off before Christmas, so Happy Holidays everyone! Hope Santa brings you what you deserve!

Hilarious News Blooper

A friend pointed out this funny news blooper today.

At least 6 months....

...until we could make another trip back to Zion National Park. Just felt like posting this pic. Its the Kolob Canyon section of the park at sunset. Usually, to get a good view at sunset, you have to look toward the sun. In this case, the better view is to turn you back to the sun and watch it paint the sandstone cliffs!

8-Track Channel on DirecTV striked again

Discovered another good song. Enjoy.

Zion Pictures

Here's the link to my facebook album with 43 pictures of the trip to Zion last week. Enjoy!

Facebook Zion 2 Link

Pet Roll Call

Thought I'd let everyone know what the various animals look like who roam the halls of the condo on daily basis. Sadie and Calypso were with Danielle LONG before I met her. Sadie is the dog and Calypso the cat. Troy is the brand new cat that we just rescued in mid-September. He is completely black, so I guess its appropriate I introduce him on Halloween!

Here's a pic of Troy the day we brought him home. He had been stuck in the cage at the shelter for more than 3 weeks. In fact, he had been at the shelter longer than almost every other cat. We kept him in my bathroom for the first week, but the first two days pretty much saw him like this, a shell of a cat with the life sucked out of him. He's only one year old, but he didn't act like a cat at all the first couple of days.

Once he started getting some energy and acting like a cat again, I took this pic of him up on a cupboard where I don't think Calypso ever goes onto. See that his right ear has been clipped level at some point. The shelter people told us that was done by a charity group who goes out and fixes cats on the streets, clips their ears to signify that their fixed, and then lets them go.

Calypso the cat (about 9 years old) chillin' on the old cat feeder. We had to stop using that feeder when she figured out a way to make the turnstyle turn, thus gaining access to days of food all at once.

Sadie the dog. We're not sure how to describe her when people ask what breed she is. A golden mix is what I usually say, but I don't know if that's even close to accurate. She's an awesome dog!

So one day (way before we got Troy), I get up and take a shower. When I get back to the bedroom, this is what I find. I have to go to work while the pets have to toil away doing what you see here all day!