Las Vegas

M and I went to Las Vegas last weekend for our anniversary. It was cool; I'm sure we'll go again soon.

Some pointers:

1. You're going to walk A LOT. Our legs were sore for two days afterwards from all the walking we did.

2. Take the monorail. Sure, it's a little spendy, but it more than makes up for the price. You get great views of the Strip, and it stops at most every hotel.

3. The buffet at the Rio is the shit. You can take a free shuttle to it from Paris. The other buffets in town are embarrassing compared to this one. I've never seen a buffet before where they have crab legs and red velvet cake.

4. Ignore how much everything costs and just pony up the money. Las Vegas is like being trapped in a big airport. It's all over-priced, and that's how it is.

5. Buy bottles of booze and cigarettes from somewhere other than a casino. The bottle of Bailey's we bought at a liquor store would have been $10 more if we'd bought it at the casino gift shop.

6. It's hard to tell the Las Vegas hookers from the women trying to look like one. Typical look: Sky-high stilletos, halter mini-dress.

7. You tip for everything. The economy has even hit Vegas. There's a sense of desperation among the service industry. This is the first place where I've been flat-out asked for a tip.

8. You can't get it all done in one trip. We plan to hit downtown next time. We got a lot done in three days, but there's still a lot to explore.

Yay My Day Off

I got my replacement Social Security card today. We tried to go to Comcast to get our digital converter for the bedroom (otherwise we get only channels 2-30). The line was out the door, so that's gonna wait till next Friday as soon as they open.

The Trader Joe's parking lot was a clusterfuck as always. They had this new fondue we're gonna try. I wish a Trader Joes would open downtown. I don't think they'd put the Kiva out of business. I can't imagine their clientele sidling over to Trader Joes. And I hate driving over to Oakway Center.

M picked up this crockpot we've been eyeballing for a year at True Value. It has three different inserts so you can make different size meals. We already have a crockpot, but it's too big. Now we have options. AND it was $20 off. How cool is that?

I got my xmas present from my brother, Jeff:

He also sent me the following CDs: 3Oh!3, GnR--Chinese Democracy, and two Martina Topley-Bird albums. Katie, you'll be getting a copy of the 3Oh!3 the next time I see you.

As soon as the garlic in the oven finishes roasting, I'll prepare the baked brie. Yum! Hopefully I will see the Blazers beat the Hornets tonight. Not sure if Roy will be playing.

Now I Get It

I've been watching VH-1 since I got home from work. I watched profiles on the years 2003-2007, and now "The 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" is on.


An abandoned pawn shop on the other side of our alley burned to the ground yesterday. My neighborhood smelled like a campfire when I got home from work last night.

I saw this recipe online tonight and can't wait to try it....

A Long Friday

It snowed again last night, and the silence outside woke M and I up early. Really early--out of bed before 5am. We made boozy coffee, steak and sweet potato hashbrowns for breakfast. Yum.

My plan for today had been to go to the Social Security office today and apply for a replacement card. I lost my secondary wallet last week and have been dealing with that ever since. I swear I won't ever carry my Social Security card or account numbers with me ever again, I promise. My lunch hours and time after work have been filled with phone calls to credit agencies (and getting yelled at by the Experian agent for paying for my bank's monthly fraud service instead of theirs), closing and re-opening checking and savings accounts. I gave my car insurance my new checking account number, only to find out that my payment had been posted to the old account the same day I closed it. So back to the bank for a letter to prove I'd closed my account due to fraud.

Anyway, I still need to get a new Social Security card. It had snowed overnight, the weathermen were saying how slippery the roads were, and M saw a minivan do a 360 in front of our house. It's probably gonna be a couple of weeks before I can get to the Social Security office. They don't do anything about your number unless actual fraud is committed, so I might as well not not deal with the bad weather.

So, I lost my wallet because I wasn't paying attention. Hopefully whoever found it looked for cash, threw the rest away, and it's buried in a landfill. Hopefully none of the homeless who hang out in my work's parking lot know how to commit identity theft. I console myself that my social security number can be accessed any number of ways besides by my own stupidity. I wonder which illegal alien is gonna have my name. The odds of someone using my spare keys are slim. I'm gonna be reading my monthly credit reports like a hawk.

The weather's been really shitty all week. Oregon is unable to handle ice, and I'm tired of white-knuckling the drive to work. I'm tired of my car doors icing shut every single time, and having to spend a half hour to get the car's windows scraped and defrosted.

This is the worst possible time to have bad weather, workwise. The recession has been really hitting us, and the ice & snow is making it so much worse. I've never seen it like this.

Peggy also died a few years ago during Christmastime, during shitty weather. I couldn't fly home because the weather in Colorado was so bad, and it was Christmas retail.

This week has been a real grind. It's been nice staying inside and not having to deal with it. This week really wore me down. So fuck it, why bother getting my social security card right away if I don't need it?

I made spaghetti carbonara (mmm, bacon) for dinner, then we watched the Heat beat the Lakers. We flipped off Kobe after his final shot didn't go in. Fuck Kobe. Brandon Roy got 52 points against Phoenix tonight. Close game all night. Right now, Denver is getting their asses handed to them by Cleveland. Cleveland's uniforms tonight are ugly. They remind me of McDonalds.

Christmas Presents

I need to wrap the fam's presents and get them all boxed up to take to Hiron's tomorrow to ship. However, all I feel like doing is watching basketball and sitting on the couch.

I wish I had something good for dessert. I'm already in my pajamas and not going anywhere. At times like these, I think about getting DoCo, but all I want is cookies. I brought home French dips and chips, but neglected getting dessert.

This weekend I have some new music to check out. I bought a couple cds on the Fat Possum label, circa 1997. I've never heard of either artist, but the potential for greatness is high. And I picked up the Electric Apricot--Quest for Festeroo DVD. I knew if I waited long enough, the list price would go down--by twelve bucks!

Getting XMas Done Before Thanksgiving

I hate dealing with shopping during the xmas season. The combo of working retail and shitty weather make me want to be done with it as soon as possible. I probably got 80% of it done today. I got both of M's big presents today while he was at work.

Target first thing in the morning before it got busy. I love how Target has all those packaged "gadgety" gifts at xmas. I found a new manicure kit (since M picked up my cuticle scissors last week and the handle broke in two). I also bought the remote control holder I eyeballed last year and didn't get. Why can't Target have all those cool gifts year-round? I also got all my gifts for my Secret Santa, and I'm pretty happy with my choices. Last year Target had a crockpot with three different sized inserts, but I can't find one anywhere, and now we want one, of course.

Then off to Value Village. I found a couple of shirts, but no pants. I want a pair of dark brown pants, and I am always on the lookout for jeans that fit. No crockpots, and no cast iron skillets either.

I picked up the last of the groceries we need for tomorrow. We're having:
fresh angel hair pasta w/ pesto cream sauce, baked baby carrots, mashed sweet potatoes, salad, and pecan pie. We've got appetizers from Trader Joes to snack on all morning.

Now I'm watching Food Network and coming up with cooking ideas for the weekend. We're trying to cook a lot more instead of eating out. Our food tastes are kinda gourmet and we buy as much organic as possible, so we're not really saving any money by eating at home. Mostly, we're tired of our usual restaurants, it's cold outside, and it's basketball season.

I happened upon what I think is going to be my new favorite Food Network show, Quick Meals With Robin Miller . Everything she made today was super-easy and looked so good!

My friend Gabe is home for Thanksgiving, and we're gonna hang out later. I'm gonna make baked Garlic Mac & Cheese for dinner, and we'll watch the Blazers play the Heat. However, now it's nap time.

A Fun Thursday Night Was Had

I met up with Katie and Dusty at Davis' for a friend's birthday dinner. The poor service and the fact that I never got my change back on my beer reinforced my dislike for the place. Granted, it was $1.50 change on a five, but maybe if I wasn't a member of the working poor, the principle of it wouldn't bother me. Especially when I asked for my change, and she said she'd bring it.

Davis' sure is pretty looking. I like the color scheme. However, the menu is too chi-chi and spendy for my low-wage job taste. I'm not a yuppie or yuppie-in-training, or aspiring to be one, and that is the crowd that it desires & draws. I am normal folk who like kicking it with normal folk. The positive I can give Davis' is that you can dress casually and still fit in. And that their burger is the shit--get it with blue cheese and bacon.

Next we got dinner (mmm chicken strips!) and drinks at Horsehead. I like Horsehead because all kinds of people go there. You've got your resident alcoholics, business people getting a drink after work, aging hipsters, troubled hipsters. It has more of a feel of a neighborhood bar with awesome food than its uptight prissy cousin across the street.

M was supposed to meet up with us when his band practice ended, but of course, some stupid bullshit happened like it always does. Katie and Dusty walked me home because M's band practice didn't get started until late, and we were ready to leave by then. Anyone got a band my BF can jam with?

Anyway, the three of us hung out at my house for awhile. They got to check out the Memory Foam mattress pad, and we talked about all kinds of pop culture. I wish I got to hang out with Katie and Dusty more often because I like them so much. They are super-cool and we think alike on a lot of the same things. I'm glad they're my friends.

I Don't Feel So Good

Yuck, I'm getting the same cold that M has. I have the sore throat, I want to jab a pipe cleaner inside my ears they itch so much, and now I have to blow my nose a lot. M has band practice tonight, so I picked up the House Curry from Sweet Basil. The new issue of Blender arrived today, and I've already perused it front to back.

I do enjoy M having band practice because it gives me back some "me time." Unfortunately, I feel crummy--not that what I'm doing tonight would be much different if I felt better. I lived by myself for six years before we started dating, and I did enjoy having my space. M used to work weekends, which gave us Friday together and Saturday by myself. Now we have the same days off, and I could have time to myself if I wanted, but I want to hang out with my BF when we get the time.

I think it's time for my evening nap. Should I sleep on the living room couch or the uber-comfy bed?