Wild Bill and me in Vegas

Well, it is November 2 and while most folks are voting, I'm goofing around on another kind of machine.  So far the score has been in my favor, but I know as soon as I report that, I will start to lose, so I'll soft peddle it.
Brandy was the drink of the evening last night at the Flamingo where Bill and I played for about six hours of 2-4.  I was in fine party mode and had some good conversations with a woman from Maryland, an 85 year old math professor who looks so much like Al Molinaro (Happy Days, Odd Couple) that he used to be used in look alike commercials and has met Al and talked to the woman who did the Where's the Beef? commercials.  This fellows name was Al as well.  I guess, "it was Al all the time" for him.
I was down about a hundred when my cards took off and I won or stole a long string of hands and then caught a $100 bonus with a 9-K straight flush in diamonds.  Flamingo does not have a bad beat, but they do have early in the evening cracked aces and high hand awards all the time.
Today we played free bingo here at Ellis Island and won nothing.   Bill and I made a side bet for breakfast and I won that so I had bacon and eggs for free while Bill ended up being the only guy who could play free bingo and lose $8.
My meet up with board friends from Vegas Message Board is happening in a few minutes.  I already met Boomer from Depew.  Strange to come all this way to see folks who are so close to home. We had a good talk about the Buffalo area and other gambling issues.  He and his wife were comped some Paris rooms and freely upgraded to wonderful suites, so he is having a fine time on his 15th honeymoon as he calls it.
I got my time twisted up because my clock here is not working right and ended up going for the meet early, so I played off a matchplay ($20 profit) and then played a bit of JOB 9/6 and in the course of a little while I turned $20 into $80, so for the day I have a profit of $80.  Not bad.  This has not happened on my last few trips, so I was pleased and also quit with the profit rather than chasing the royal.
I also won a hand sanitizer spray for being an old guy who could get a high pair on the promo video poker machine.
Hopefully Bill and I will go to the Westin for the Burlesque show at 9 tonight.  We have 2 for 1 tickets and have been trying to get to a show, but I have just been too tired.  Tonight I am just going to go tired. Yesterday was a long day of poker.  I was up playing at 4 am and quit at 1 am with some breaks, but I still woke up a bit before 6 this morning.  I wonder how the change in time will affect my inner body clock.  So, I'll take a bit of rest from the poker and the alcohol.
My computer went crazy again this morning, but I think I may have solved the problem by turning off the automatic updates that don't manage to update anyway and just use up hours trying to update.  Maybe when I get home I'll just boot the whole thing up new again and start over.  I hate losing all my favorites and cookies, but everything else is stored in the clouds, except my photos which can be backed up.
Oh, and I did vote by absentee.  That will please some of you and annoy others.
I am sorry not to be watching the returns as I enjoy the contest in spite of the fact that very few people agree with my agenda and the kinds of changes I would welcome or want to hear my analysis of issues.
I am very tired of the shouting.  More of it on Facebook today.  Why is it that people think if they get mad enough and shout and rant, they can solve problems?  It was interesting in the Lincoln book to see how he handled his quarreling cabinet and tried to make progress. And key to his success was his ability to form compromise and include many factions in some compromise.  I think Obama hoped to be able to do that a well.
Board buddy Boomer talked about his hope to leave NY state.  Many of the retired folks are doing that. Maybe they have some points, but I really love living where I live and I love visiting other parts of the state as well.  It is having hard times just now, but so are most states.  All are looking in some ways to raise taxes and get more revenue to pay bills.  That is certainly annoying.  But I never wanted to run away from NY state.  At times I think I see some place I would like to run towards, and some of my friends are certainly doing that more than trying to escape NY.  That is a different motivation all together.  My buddy Lucky Pete and his wife Carol love Florida so much that it is hard to even revisit the cold of NY.  That makes sense for them.  They left a long while ago.  But the folks who in the middle of an angry rant about how unfair it is to them to be living in New York and how they might want to "vote with my feet" as one fellow said to me last week in my view are doomed to be unhappy wherever they might go.
Well, perhaps that is my rant.
I am enjoying this visit to Las Vegas in spite of being held back by my sleep issues.  So much fun and easy times with some food and drink indulgence that is fun as well.

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The meet was a good success with lots of shared stories and it was good to put faces on names.  I'll have a photograph and info on all the people.  We had more coupons than we knew what to do with and everyone had great information.  I was happy to have done it.

In between I have tried to sleep without much luck.  I don't feel as tired as I did earlier.  I watched some HBO, the roller derby movie Whip It which I thought I would not like, but I did like.  Another coming of age theme with a wonderful cast. And a sub theme exploring the effect of not being honest on relationships.
The violence seemed playful.  I am not certain that is the way it really is in the world of roller derbies, but that is the way it was portrayed.  Ellen Page was just wonderful.
They have roller derby events here in Las Vegas.  Perhaps sometime I'll attend.