TR SNIPPET - INTRODUCTION TO MY 2014 VEGAS TRIP

NOTE:  There are a long list of TR SNIPPETS.  So when you reach the end of the first page, I'm not done.  Look to click on the small printed " older posts" at the bottom right hand corner and that will give you the next page of the report.  The trip report ends when earlier posts are no longer labeled TR SNIPPET.
While similar topics are grouped together, there is no attempt at putting them in a sequential order.

Well, it was a losing trip.
25 days from October 21 to November 14, 2014

However, it was a cheap trip.

When I start with an average hotel rate of $9.25 cents a night, I have some flexibility in gambling bankroll.

I stayed at the Orleans, Monte Carlo, Mandalay Bay, Planet Hollywood, The D, Four Queens, and The Gold Coast bouncing from deal to deal, but being in one of these three general areas for large blocks of nights: The strip, Downtown, The Boyd places. This made the check in/ check out fairly easy.

I don't get too excited about the rooms. Mandalay Bay and Planet Hollywood put me in upscale rooms. The D room was actually better than the Monte Carlo room. The worst room was one visit to the Four Queens. At the Gold Coast I paid an extra $10 so all three nights would be in a “premium” room and that seemed fine to me. I have never caught a scruffy room at the Orleans.

However, for the next trip I may choose to increase my nightly hotel expense, and have more breaks from where I feel I have to push the video poker in order to seed for the next trip.

I did cut back a bit on gambling half way through the trip, and still managed (with my son's help) to effectively seed my usual places and a few new ones.

I traveled with a 30 day all access RTC pass at the senior rate of $32 and added in free shuttles and trams when I needed them.

The weather was perfect. Summer held on in Vegas for a long while. A few nights I needed a light jacket or warmer shirt. Some nights just an extra tee shirt pulled out of the cargo pant pocket was plenty.

I was home before it turned cold.

On November 14, I was swimming outside at the Orleans.

The people I met, poker buddies, old friends, board friends, and strangers gave me much pleasure.

The highlight was some father/son time with my oldest son Frank. Really a magical time.

Also I enjoyed an unplanned reconnection with my old gambling buddy Lucky Pete and his wife Carol after a year or so or no communication. That was especially nice as well.

I went dancing at the NiteKings lounge on Wednesdays at the Orleans and at Marilyn's Lounge for the Claudine Castro act on Mondays at the Eastside Cannery.

The gambling was fun if sometimes a bit nerve wracking. In quarter 10/7 DB VP the whole trip I never caught 4 Aces, Deuces, Treys, or Fours, a straight flush or a royal except for 3-3-3-3 at the Eastside Cannery once.

Dry.

Nickles were better.

The poker was not very satisfying.

I lost $928 in the gambling, ate on under $12 a day, and saw 14 shows, lounge acts, comedy, etc. for $178, a figure skewed by an $87 ticket to go with my son to Chris Angel.

The shows were fine. I best liked seeing Kelly Holmes at the Italian Social Club, 40 is the new 20 at the Riviera and MacKing at Harrah's.

The only downside is that I was perpetually tired and still had trouble sleeping. It is an issue at home, but in Vegas where I am not always around my hotel for a nap and have at times to consider the schedules of other folks, it was crippling.

Otherwise, until the very end, I was healthy. At the end I ruined one foot hiking and dancing and caught a cold I'm still fighting.

What is magical is the diabetes numbers. Ironically, Vegas is a virtual health spa for me. The buffets let me make reasonable choices and the constant walking, the swimming in lazy rivers with no tube or in heated pools, all of it dropped my blood sugar to normal levels and gave me a 6.0 on my A1C at the doctors when I came home.

I can't do a 25 day trip report in sequential detail or I'd lose the few readers I have. I do Snippets. They follow this introduction and are labeled TR Snippet and titled so that a reader can skim and follow by topic the issues that might be of interest.

Hope you enjoy the writing.