Laughlin

Those who know us are familiar with our vacation patterns. We spend much effort, time, and money, in visiting gambling facilities in Nevada.

We started out in Primm, Nevada. A collection of three casinos which have been sold at least twice as a collective group over the last 5 years. We usually stayed at Whiskey Pete's and enjoyed the small time feel, great dealers and pit bosses, along with excellent staff interaction with the cocktail waitresses.

The food specials for the prime rib was excellent and though the food staff was horrendous there was something amazing about their breakfast buffet - where we were introduced to made to order omelet stations. It was awesome all around.

Slowly the perks lessened, the crowd became less tolerable, and though the table and pit staff remained excellent it just wasn't enough to keep us there.

On the advice of a co-workers of Pat's, and along with a free hotel stay from her casino host, we tried Laughlin and fell in love.

Great service, cheap tables, yummy food at excellent deals, and only a few extra minutes driving.

After this weekend though, we're re-thinking Laughlin as our gambling destination. We were horrified to find that all the tables at Colorado Belle where we usually stay, and its sister casino Edgewater, had gone up to $5 by 3pm.

Friday night we played (and lost) at one of the bars, sucking down drinks just to get the night rolling. Pat and I went to Pai Gow ($10) and Monique went to slots. I lost a ton of money, but had fun. Pat went to go play Poker, apparently he had a great time and I eventually found Monique at the Monopoly penny machines where she went through at least 50 bonus games and everyone around me won. It was depressing but fun.

Saturday we hit the town, and the nearby outlet mall and shopped and had some fun. Monique and I headed to our rooms and prepared for formal night. Here's where the horror started.

Pat and I started out at penny Monopoly, hoping for some of the luck the others had at the machines the previous night. No such luck. When Monique joined us we headed to the blackjack tables at $5 a pop, a little steep for us. While we all did fairly well, drink service was non-existent. We saw the cocktail waitress just moments after she RACED by our table and we were done. At $5 a pop, you had better believe I expect drink service. We were there more than 20 minutes without even seeing someone, and by the time we saw her she was off to help the other side. She finally comes to our side - 30 minutes in, and ignored us completely.

We were furious, to say the least. We were loud, (and polite) in letting the pit boss and the dealer know we wouldn't be back for service like that.

We headed back to the bar but with their drink specials going on it was tough to get the attention of the bartenders. I did okay, and was up 3 drinks and 3 dollars (after tips of course), but Pat ended up buying margaritas he didn't like.

We wandered around penny slots a bit but the casino was PACKED, service seemed understaffed, and we weren't having fun. So Pat headed off to poker and Monique and I headed off to Edgewater where we proceeded to have a blast.

In the end - I lost a LOT of money, but had fun. However, I know that we will not soon be back to Laughlin.

We will most likely retry Primm, then Reno, perhaps even El Cortez or downtown Vegas, before heading back.

It's 9pm now though - and time to sleep, and tomorrow begins the countdown to our next trip. At this point that particular trip is undecided, but I intend to make some headway on that this week.

Have a fantastic week folks!

B

Winds!

Winter may have threatened to come to and end here in the High Desert,
but the winds have officially started.

It's amazing how you forget the horror from year to year. Today we're
at 26 miles per hour with gusts up to 35 MPH. The forecast for the week
is cold and gloomy. Scattered showers with snow down to 3k feet
tonight.

The mountains in the distance are beautiful!! But the wind still howls
something awful! There's nothing like winds that won't go away for
weeks on end. But spring is just around the corner, and I totally can't
wait.

Also, for those counting - we've got 10 days until we leave for Laughlin
(20th), and only 7 work days left! WOO HOO!

Today I got to really do the first part of my actual job, and it was
AWESOME! I'm very excited!!

Oh, and drinks Friday with Dave! I can't wait!

Have a good week everybody!

B

For Siam.

You asked for it, and no, it's not in black and white, whippersnapper!

Being Married is Hard.

Being married is hard. That's not to say it's not satisfying, or that I'm in any way unhappy. Indeed, I can't imagine being any happier than I am now.

But the truth is that sometimes it's hard. Not always! Just.....well, those of you who know what it's like to be married to someone you truly love understand.

It's not that Pat makes it hard. Hell, he makes it easier than I often think it should be. But we all grow up watching TV shows with married couples who are either totally 100% Stepford Wives in love, or fight until one of them kills each other.

Somehow, Pat and I are in between. It's more than that we just get along. It's that not getting along is the exception, but it still happens.

The true problem lies in that it would appear that humans, at their very core, are insecure creatures.

When one of us feels that the other should humble themselves and pay 100% attention to the other, dropping whatever we're doing at the moment - the other feels as if their own needs deserve to be paid attention to at the time.

Coming to the point where one of you needs to be willing to let go of their own pride and needs to give attention and love to the other, sometimes it's hard.

Often times it's down right impossible. And sometimes, it takes weeks of things being weird between the two of you before you realize what is going on, but by that time - well, you're even more hurt that the other hasn't realized that you're feeling alone and in need of special validation. And of course, the other is feeling the exact same way.

What a mess!

In all actuality Pat and I not getting along comes, not from disagreements but from the feeling of abandon and lack of attention. We both get wrapped up in our own lives - which includes the other, but at a much more superficial level than the other often needs.

By the time the both of us realize what the problem is, either one of us, or sometimes both - if life is stressful enough - are hurt or feeling so abandoned that it can take a few days of constant reassurance and attention to work out of.

The problem here is that Pat and I are both attention whores. You would think this would be good but in actuality it can be hard for the both of us to get what we need from the other without feeling abandoned.

On February 11th 2009 Pat and I will celebrate 6 years of dating. While we've known each other since October of '01. In this time I've met my true other half.

The man who makes me incredibly happy, who I can not imagine living my life without.

Whatever issues we may go through to maintain that love and support of each other throughout our whole lives, and let's be honest with each other - the work of loving one another will never end!; I will always love my Pat.

But sometimes, it's damn hard. Not today. But sometimes. :)

The New Job, and My Boring Life

I work for Jacobs Technology in their Naval Systems Group out of their local
office here in Ridgecrest, and am assigned to the Travel Accounting
office on the NAVAIR China Lake base, where Pat also works.

So far, the job is awesome! There's a lot of learning what to do, and
since no one has told me what I'm to be doing yet I spend a lot of time
becoming familiar with the entire process. That's a lot of training!

Last week I assisted our Defense Travel System trainer in a class for
new users of the web based travel system for four days and I spent my
extra time either preparing for the next class or writing out documents
I thought would be helpful for the next round of classes. Those classes
are taking place today in Point Mugu, the "sister base" to China Lake,
but I'm not attending as contractors can not board the transport shuttle
that flies between the two bases.

At home, Nath and Jenelle are good to have around. I hope they're both
able to find jobs soon that will bring them both what they want in life
that will be fulfilling and financially stable for them as well. I'm
really glad that Pat and I are able to be here to support them in this
manner.

Laughlin for Monique, Pat, and myself is coming up on February 20th.
We're not sure where we're eating in Barstow on the way down yet, but
that's always one of the biggest decisions regarding the trip!

I'm determined to win this trips 4 of a kind competition! You see, Pat
can never catch up to my number of Royal Flushes (2), and he ALWAYS
comes back with more money than I do (if you have money in your pocket
when you leave, urdoinitwrng!). So in a trip by trip competition we
compare number of four of a kinds with machines with higher payouts for
different 4 of a kinds giving bonuses. The last gazillion trips Pat has
won, but I still have ONE trip where it appeared that every hand I drew
on the video poker machine was a 4 of a kind!

We'll most likely spend most of our time at the Blackjack table with
bits of pai gow, and craps, (which are high in Laughlin) taking up teeny
bits of time, video poker is always a winner for us, and Monique prefers
the slots - but I always lose a LOT on slots, so you'd think I'd learn
not to even try!

Either way it'll be a blast and there will be lots of drunken fun and
gambling going on! Go Laughlin!

On January 24th Pat took me to Lancaster on a surprise and impetuous
trip where we went shopping, ate yummy foods (Wendy's and
Souplantation), and went mini-golfing! My butt was soundly kicked by
Mr. I-win-at-every-sport-and-event-no-matter-what but in a surprise last
hole victory - I scored my second hole in one!

Puppy needs to get out more. Since I've taken this job I've sort of
abandoned him and he needs some love and exercise!

Tawnia went to Lancaster this last Saturday, the 31st of January) and
Russell bought her the drum set for her Guitar Hero set for the PS2!
Band night is currently being planned!!! YAY! I volunteered for
singing. This is going to be hilarious!

This concludes this edition of "My boring but awesome cool life" by
yours truly!

We'll see you sometime later this week!

B