Re: TR part one: The Dingo Ate My Baby!


"Andrew in Alabama" <andrew26@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cqg292h1k4omgt9eh7pehrb8knah3g1ugn@xxxxxxxxxx
Mrs. Andrew and I got back a few days ago from a really fun trip to
Las Vegas. As usual upon our return I got absolutely flooded with
work at the office, so it has taken me a couple of days to get this
portion of the TR together, but here goes...

I planned this trip months in advance, as I always do for the Soiree,
an event that I look forward to all year long. Mrs. Andrew, by
contrast, decided she would join me on this trip approximately 6 days
in advance, while we were returning from a trip to Miami Beach with
the kids. From the Florida Turnpike, I was able to call Southwest and
use one of my award tickets to arrange an extra seat for her on my
flights, and the next day was able to call the Mirage who were very
cool about exchanging the ticket I had purchased for Friday night's
performance of "Love" for two tickets. With that done, we were ready
to go!

Kids safely taken care of (one with relatives, the other with a
friend) we set off for the airport to catch our 11:10 AM flight from
Birmingham. As usual Southwest was outstanding, and we were able to
snag Southwest First Class (empty seat between us.) There was a
fellow across the aisle who had never flown before. I bought him a
drink, as is my custom to try to get some good karma on the trip out,
but he didn't say thank you. We had one of those "funny" Southwest
crews who actually had some new lines I hadn't heard before. We
arrived in Las Vegas 30 minutes early, although we did have to wait
about 10 minutes for a gate to open up.

Since we checked bags this time, our departure from the airport was a
little sower than usual, but Hertz was fast, and we recognized our
shuttle driver from our last trip. We sat in the "front" seats and
chatted while he drove us to our car. Gold Canopy service worked
without a hitch, but the contract printed in our Chevy Impala
indicated a price of $119, when I had been quoted $104 by the website.
I decided not to worry about it, and upon my return, the agent reduced
the price to $90, so that worked out. FWIW, we put 106 miles on the
car during the 5 days we were in town. With all the traveling around
that we do, I think that a rental car is a great time and money saver
over shuttles and public transportation (time) or taxis (money.)

Our first stop was at a CVS pharmacy to get a few provisions, then to
McCormick and Schmick restaurant on Howard Hughes (Drive? Parkway?)
where we (eventually) met Steve Harder-Kucera, who had gone to Smith
and Wollensky by mistake, then had gotten stuck in Strip traffic. We
had his margarita waiting for him when he arrived, and we had a nice
lunch grazing through the menu and spending the $100 in gift cards I
had ordered from American Express Membership Rewards. Especially good
were the steamed clams (although a very small portion) and the fish
tacos.

After we ate our late lunch, we went to pick up Mrs. Steve, who works
nearby, and the four of us went to the pinball museum via a series of
back roads... the final effect being that I still really have no idea
where it is located and was unable to provide directions to Mieko and
Phill the next day. The pinball museum does not have my favorite game
(Police Force) but does have a game called High Speed that Steve
introduced me to, and showed me the ropes. It also has Mrs. Andrew's
new LEAST favorite game, Frogger.

Steve basically wiped the floor with me at High Speed, but I feel that
I will make a better showing next time, and Mrs. Andrew got so pissed
at the Frogger machine that it was a topic of conversation for the
rest of the evening.

We bid farewell to the Steves for the time being, and headed out
across the Strip to the Palms where we wanted to play some VP. The
Palms has a couple of slant-top machines with a 9/6 .25 Jacks or
Better game that pays $12,500 for a sequential royal flush. I used
the LVA 3X points coupon, and the fellow working the slot club booth
was nice enough to give me a coupon *** which included a $10 match
play (more on that in a second) and a coupon to double any
four-of-a-kind. I was lucky to hit my first four-of-a-kind within
about 10 minutes of sitting down, and Mrs. Andrew about ½ hour later.
We were able to make a small profit on those machines, while drinking
cocktails (good cocktail service at the Palms) and joking with each
other.

Each Vegas trip for us has some catch phrase or tag line that we
repeat incessantly to one another. For years, it has been "DO IT
SMOOTH!" (Ask CyberHog to tell you that story) but for some reason
this trip, we started putting on awful Australian accents and saying
"The dingo ate my baby." It's not really that funny, but in our state
of semi-exaustion and semi-inebriation, it was freaking hilarious.


I think DO IT SMOOTH belongs in the Hog Glossary dontcha' think?


.

Loading