It's been a month.
Funny how little time it takes my body to adjust from 5:30am wake up calls to 8 am sounding early. Holly's very good abut making sure I'm up before she leaves for work.
The trick has been keeping my time occupied during the day. Sure, I spend a decent chunk of time looking for work, but after a few days, the same jobs I've already applied for drift to the top.
I did have a staffing agency call me today for a short term project; I meet with them tomorrow to get to know each other...we'll see where it goes.
Holly and I have been looking at apartments closer to Milwaukee. The only thing we have here in Oconomowoc is her job, and all of our friends live in or near Milwaukee, so she's ok with driving. We've got a few places in mind to check out.
In a couple of weeks, Holly has wrist surgery, which means she be out of work for six weeks. I'm hoping to have found something before that time, since she goes on disability, which combined with my unemployment could make things very tight. We've been watching our money very carefully in the last month, and we're ahead of where we thought we'd be, which is great.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Waking up in Vegas
FRIDAY
Friday arrived and Holly and I were both anxious to get on the plane to Vegas. Trouble is, she had to work; her job does not allow her to take off or get out of work early on the last day of the month and so we prepared for that.
However, things worked out just fine: she WAS able to get done early due to low volume of work. I picked her up at 3:50 and we made our way to the airport.
We both haven't flown under the increased security, so we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time to get through security and make our flight. The security wasn't all that bad really and we were at the gate by 5:30 for our 6:50 flight. We checked in for our flight, only to find that Southwest overbooked the plane. I received my confirmation, but Holly didn't. Great.
As the time to board grew closer, we considered taking the offer of free one-way tickets the next morning and a voucher to volunteer to bump from the flight. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to as they called Holly's name for her confirmation while the "A" group was boarding. The flight was full; not an empty seat.
Holly boarded about 13 spots before I did, and as things go, we didn't get to sit together; at least we were on the plane!
The flight itself wasn't bad; at night it's tough to tell where you are, although the pilot pointed out Denver before we flew over the Rockies. We had some turbulence, but nothing too bad.
We deplaned and waited for our bag to come out on the conveyor, then went to grab a taxi back to the airport. The vistors and cabs both are slotted to allow for an efficient loading process and we were hotel bound in 15 minutes.
We got to the hotel, checked in and were headed to the room when we were offered a "free" show. Upon further review, we were getting slotted into a presentation for a time share here in Vegas...more on that later.
Get to the room, set the bags down and just get our bearings; it was almost midnight back home and we felt it. I was hungry, so we headed back downstairs to grab a bite to eat.
SATURDAY
Woke up Saturday with the agenda to walk around a bit and play some games in the casino. Had breakfast at McDonald's in the hotel, then walked from Excalibur down to Bellagio and back, taking pictures all the way down. We had hoped to see the fountains at Bellagio, but were an hour too early, so we made our way back to the Excalibur to relax in our room. Holly laid down for a nap and I headed downstairs to watch the Nationwide race and have a beer.
After Holly's nap, we took in the casino. We played the slots, Holly having better luck than I did. I wandered off and found the race in one of the bars while Holly headed back to the room when she was done gambling.
We vegged out in the room for a bit, then headed out to see the Strip at night. We went to the Hard Rock for a light dinner since it was my birthday :) Took pictures of the guitars and other memorabilia on display. After that, we came back to the hotel and crashed.
SUNDAY - RACEDAY
Up at 7:30 to walk over to Tropicana to get the shuttle bus passes to the racetrack. Came back and grabbed breakfast for Holly and I on the way up to the room.
Wait in line for the shuttle bus, then take a 45 minute ride from the Tropicana to the track. We were allowed to cut through Nellis Air Force Base and got to see some birds pretty close up. If I knew which ones I would tell you.
Get to the track and off the bus. First stop: scanner booth. Rented a scanner and then we made our way to our seats. We were dropped off behind turn 2 and we had to walk to turn 4...the long way...uphill to the front stretch...but we survived.
We had FANTASTIC seats and could see the whole track from where we were. The sun was bright and the weather was perfect! I fetched a couple sodas and other snacks for each of us. I love the pageantry before a race: the driver introductions, the prayer for a safe race and the command to start the engines...nothing's more fun than Holly and I sharing it with 140,000 of new friends :)
We saw the "major" incident of the race in front of us on lap 90, but otherwise it was a clean race.
After the race, we made our way back to the line for the shuttle bus. Someone didn't relay the message that the race was over, and we wait over 2 hours for a shuttle bus...kinda ridiculous, but made it back intact, making conversation with the Canucks in line behind us while waiting.
When we got back to the room, we were spent, sun burnt a bit and hungry. Neither one of us wanted to go anywhere, so we ordered room service for dinner. I ordered a chef salad and Holly a chicken quesadilla, with cheesecake for desert...we were told it would 90 minutes to 2 hours for the food...and we were fine with that.
Food arrived only an hour later and was wheeled in. The salad was in a 12 inch salad bowl and was huge. Holly's quesadilla was in a hot serving tray....everything tasted great!! I destroyed my salad and finish the quesadilla...Holly commented that she's never seen me eat so much in one sitting :P After that...bedtime
MONDAY
We slept in on Monday...didn't bother to set an alarm. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel buffet; stuffed ourselves silly on scrambled eggs, sasuage and biscuits and gravy.
Once we were done with breakfast, we took another stroll down the Strip. Holly wanted to re-visit the store she bought a purse at on Saturday night for some other accessories, so we headed there. She found a very nice necklace that she like more than the other half dozen things she wanted :P
We came back to the room to rest and I started writing this entry. We then hit the casino floor one more time, trying in vain to break even...yeah, like that was gonna happen.
After the casino, we returned to the room for a while before heading to In-N-Out for a burger..first time!!! Loved it!!
One more stop by the room, then we walked down to see the Bellagio fountain show; we stayed for 3 different shows and loved them all.
We returned to the hotel, stopped by the convenience store for some snacks, then retired to our room so that we could get up at 4:30am to catch our 7 am flight home.
We will be back!!
In case you didn't figured it out, the title of this entry is also a link to the Facebook page with the pictures from our trip :P
Friday arrived and Holly and I were both anxious to get on the plane to Vegas. Trouble is, she had to work; her job does not allow her to take off or get out of work early on the last day of the month and so we prepared for that.
However, things worked out just fine: she WAS able to get done early due to low volume of work. I picked her up at 3:50 and we made our way to the airport.
We both haven't flown under the increased security, so we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time to get through security and make our flight. The security wasn't all that bad really and we were at the gate by 5:30 for our 6:50 flight. We checked in for our flight, only to find that Southwest overbooked the plane. I received my confirmation, but Holly didn't. Great.
As the time to board grew closer, we considered taking the offer of free one-way tickets the next morning and a voucher to volunteer to bump from the flight. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to as they called Holly's name for her confirmation while the "A" group was boarding. The flight was full; not an empty seat.
Holly boarded about 13 spots before I did, and as things go, we didn't get to sit together; at least we were on the plane!
The flight itself wasn't bad; at night it's tough to tell where you are, although the pilot pointed out Denver before we flew over the Rockies. We had some turbulence, but nothing too bad.
We deplaned and waited for our bag to come out on the conveyor, then went to grab a taxi back to the airport. The vistors and cabs both are slotted to allow for an efficient loading process and we were hotel bound in 15 minutes.
We got to the hotel, checked in and were headed to the room when we were offered a "free" show. Upon further review, we were getting slotted into a presentation for a time share here in Vegas...more on that later.
Get to the room, set the bags down and just get our bearings; it was almost midnight back home and we felt it. I was hungry, so we headed back downstairs to grab a bite to eat.
SATURDAY
Woke up Saturday with the agenda to walk around a bit and play some games in the casino. Had breakfast at McDonald's in the hotel, then walked from Excalibur down to Bellagio and back, taking pictures all the way down. We had hoped to see the fountains at Bellagio, but were an hour too early, so we made our way back to the Excalibur to relax in our room. Holly laid down for a nap and I headed downstairs to watch the Nationwide race and have a beer.
After Holly's nap, we took in the casino. We played the slots, Holly having better luck than I did. I wandered off and found the race in one of the bars while Holly headed back to the room when she was done gambling.
We vegged out in the room for a bit, then headed out to see the Strip at night. We went to the Hard Rock for a light dinner since it was my birthday :) Took pictures of the guitars and other memorabilia on display. After that, we came back to the hotel and crashed.
SUNDAY - RACEDAY
Up at 7:30 to walk over to Tropicana to get the shuttle bus passes to the racetrack. Came back and grabbed breakfast for Holly and I on the way up to the room.
Wait in line for the shuttle bus, then take a 45 minute ride from the Tropicana to the track. We were allowed to cut through Nellis Air Force Base and got to see some birds pretty close up. If I knew which ones I would tell you.
Get to the track and off the bus. First stop: scanner booth. Rented a scanner and then we made our way to our seats. We were dropped off behind turn 2 and we had to walk to turn 4...the long way...uphill to the front stretch...but we survived.
We had FANTASTIC seats and could see the whole track from where we were. The sun was bright and the weather was perfect! I fetched a couple sodas and other snacks for each of us. I love the pageantry before a race: the driver introductions, the prayer for a safe race and the command to start the engines...nothing's more fun than Holly and I sharing it with 140,000 of new friends :)
We saw the "major" incident of the race in front of us on lap 90, but otherwise it was a clean race.
After the race, we made our way back to the line for the shuttle bus. Someone didn't relay the message that the race was over, and we wait over 2 hours for a shuttle bus...kinda ridiculous, but made it back intact, making conversation with the Canucks in line behind us while waiting.
When we got back to the room, we were spent, sun burnt a bit and hungry. Neither one of us wanted to go anywhere, so we ordered room service for dinner. I ordered a chef salad and Holly a chicken quesadilla, with cheesecake for desert...we were told it would 90 minutes to 2 hours for the food...and we were fine with that.
Food arrived only an hour later and was wheeled in. The salad was in a 12 inch salad bowl and was huge. Holly's quesadilla was in a hot serving tray....everything tasted great!! I destroyed my salad and finish the quesadilla...Holly commented that she's never seen me eat so much in one sitting :P After that...bedtime
MONDAY
We slept in on Monday...didn't bother to set an alarm. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel buffet; stuffed ourselves silly on scrambled eggs, sasuage and biscuits and gravy.
Once we were done with breakfast, we took another stroll down the Strip. Holly wanted to re-visit the store she bought a purse at on Saturday night for some other accessories, so we headed there. She found a very nice necklace that she like more than the other half dozen things she wanted :P
We came back to the room to rest and I started writing this entry. We then hit the casino floor one more time, trying in vain to break even...yeah, like that was gonna happen.
After the casino, we returned to the room for a while before heading to In-N-Out for a burger..first time!!! Loved it!!
One more stop by the room, then we walked down to see the Bellagio fountain show; we stayed for 3 different shows and loved them all.
We returned to the hotel, stopped by the convenience store for some snacks, then retired to our room so that we could get up at 4:30am to catch our 7 am flight home.
We will be back!!
In case you didn't figured it out, the title of this entry is also a link to the Facebook page with the pictures from our trip :P
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