 Vegas June 2018 (WSOP) |
| Day 1 - Drive, Dinner, "room change!!" |
| Last Updated: 2018-06-10 09:31:28 |
| Up a little after 3am, out the door and on the road before 4.
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| Easy drive as usual. Made a Starbucks stop in Avon (just past Vail) where we had to wait a few minutes for them to open (next option was a while away). No construction in Colorado, several "one lane each direction" spots in Utah but most of them were 60 MPH anyway. One even stayed 80 all the way through, and the few that had lower speeds actually slowed us down only where the work was going on instead of the whole stretch.
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| Lunch at In-N-Out in Washington UT (10 mile from AZ border just before St George) then flew from there to Vegas. All the construction on the far north of town is finally done so flew through there too...right up until we got to the I-515/US-93 loop where we hit a wall of traffic. New construction, apparently widening the next segment of I-15 now that they're done with the other stuff.
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| Still, pulled into the Aria lot a little after 2 and got checked in.
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| We asked for a high floor. She said the only thing on a high floor was an accessible room and that it only had a shower and no tub. For the record Joann said "as long as it has two sinks I'm good". On to the 31st floor...
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| One sink. Makeup mirror down around Joann's hip and couldn't be lifted up. A couple other things we didn't like...and back down to the front desk we went.
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| Room opened up on the 54th floor while we were away! 54 is the biggest number on the elevator! Up we went.
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| 2 sinks! Everything else exactly the way we expect. Jackpot! :-)
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| Joann started unpacking, I went back to the car. I get back to the room and Joann looks very upset. She tells me to "listen". There is a LOUD buzzing noise in the room. Like the sound you get from bad fluorescent lights. I go out in the hallway and walk up and down the hall and it's present the entire length of the hallway.
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| I make another trip to the car (gonna need a bellboy at this point anyway), Joann calls down to the front desk. I'm almost to the car when she tells me I should go to the 52nd floor. I get back up and they had just gotten to the new room. No buzzing. Still 2 sinks. We're good!
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| I get everything up from the car, Joann unpacks, I go to put our valuables in the safe. Won't open. Stuck.
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| Maintenance!!!
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| Guy comes up and says it's jammed, he's going to have to drill it out. Drills one hole, can't get it. Starts to drill bigger hole, breaks bit. New bit, battery dies on drill. Gotta go get a new battery...
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| Finishes hole. Then a second hole. And a 3rd. Let's try a bigger hole. Then a 4th. Each time fiddling around trying to get it to move. No luck. Calls in the expert. Yeah you can try there, but there's a better spot. Drill "here" instead...and pop! We get a new safe lid.
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| And so...finally...we're all moved in.
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| Dinner at Gallaghers in NYNY. I'll repeat roughly what I said last year: It was a very good meal and worth the price we paid. Steaks were perfect. I got an end cut of prime rib, it was huge and cooked perfectly medium/medium well. Joann's filet mignon was equally perfect. But it doesn't make us stop longing for Smith and Wollensky to return to Las Vegas. The sides are nothing special, the salads are skimpy for what we dropped on the meal, the bread is OK at best. Hell the bread at S&W is almost worth the price of the steaks.
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| Well, OK, let's not get too crazy. But their bread is really, really good. Point is for the same money it's a better experience there and we both definitely miss it.
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| I did try a new scotch, our "Total Wine" bill may have gone up a little...
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| That said, this is our one really expensive meal every year. All of our celebrations at once for the two of us (birthdays, anniversaries, etc) and a moment to reflect on the year that was. We realized that over the last 6+ years this was the most uninteresting year we've had in a long time. Moving 3 times (Springs to Chandler, Chandler to Broomfield, Broomfield to Arvada), selling of rental properties, job changes, etc is all done and behind us. Sophie ending her medicine was the best news ever! Peter started college, Joann started to work for the first time since she was pregnant with Angus. All great things to be sure, but for us that's a really slow year!
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| Gelato for dessert at Aria and up to the room for an early night. We both slept very well.
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| This went on way longer than I expected, I was planning to combine days one and two but it looks like I'm going to have to split them up after all.
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| So "tomorrow" I'm playing in the 8-game mix at the WSOP. Gimme an hour or so and that should be up too. I was in...er...I will be in Amazon Purple table 449, seat 1. Hate the one seat. Usually. This is 6 handed, it's actually not so bad 6 handed. Still not my first choice. |
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