Friday, November 03, 2000
JUST A QUICK.E:
Good news! Mom just got home from the hospital and she's looking so much better! Of course, we'll take her to the doctor just to make sure she's okay -- but what a relief to have her out of the hospital!
I'll make a more detailed update later on, but right now I'm EXHAUSTED from this ordeal.
Oyasumi, for now...
posted by Donna, 11/3/2000 09:07:54 PM
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We admitted Mom to the Hospital last night. She was complaining of severe dizziness, nausea, cold sweats, fever. I noticed an unusual drooping in her right eye. She was admitted last night at 12:30 AM. Will write more later...
posted by Donna, 11/3/2000 10:44:05 AM
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Thursday, November 02, 2000
It appears that as a result of the Daylight Savings Time, the Blogger time is now correct! Woo hoo! :)
Byte Me:
Breakfast: Slim Fast Peanut Butter Bar
Lunch: Mini Roast Pork
Snack: Poore's Brothers Jalapeno Potato Chips, leftover Halloween candy
Dinner: Maruchan Instant Ramen
posted by Donna, 11/2/2000 05:00:18 PM
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I've got updates to make, but so little time to do so this week. Tonight I will be going on an HPD (Honolulu Police Department) ridealong for my Citizen's Police Academy Class. I'm sure I'll have stories to tell about that. I'll make some substantial updates tomorrow and this weekend. I'll also upload some photos from Halloween for you to enjoy. :)
posted by Donna, 11/2/2000 04:58:04 PM
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Monday, October 30, 2000
RANDOM VEGAS THOUGHT:
::Ads'R'Us::
Everybody was advertising something. Everywhere you turned, you were being seduced by flashing lights, pretty pictures or a well-phrased slogan. HUGE billboard-sized TV screens advertised attractions at the various hotels on the Strip. I noticed 4 biggies in terms of advertising in Vegas: food, entertainment, gambling, and sex. All the vices of life. Ah, no wonder they call it "Sin City."
One thing that I thought was really unusual was that we saw a truck or two with LCD screens on the sides and back of the truck that was a rolling billboard of advertising. Gee, wouldn't you think that might distract drivers and cause accidents? No wonder drivers in Vegas are scary... but then again, that's another random thought to expound on later.
posted by Donna, 10/30/2000 04:30:15 PM
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RANDOM VEGAS THOUGHT:
::BIG!::
Something that I noticed right away was that everything in Vegas is BIG. Big, huge, grand... Signs, hotels/casinos, billboards... This helped me to find my way around as I drove us around in the rental car. Being that I drive by using landmarks, it helped me tremendously. I couldn't even begin to imagine how large the hotels would be. I was especially impressed by the Luxor with the replica of the Sphinx and the pyramid. BIG!!!
posted by Donna, 10/30/2000 04:24:01 PM
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RANDOM VEGAS THOUGHT:
::Elevators::
A necessary evil to get around within the huge structures in Vegas. Unfortunately, I already had a stigma about elevators. I don't know if it's a tinge of claustrophobia or what, but I hate being enclosed in elevators pressed up against strangers like a bunch of sardines.
The elevator situation at the West Tower of the California Hotel was absolute horrors. There are 3 elevators, but only 2 were operational. One guest told us that the elevator was broken the last time she was here too...back in April. Either they never got it fixed or it's a major dud.
The wait for the elevator could range anywhere from a few minutes to maybe 10 or 15 minutes because it kept coming up/down full. Sometimes the mob in the lobby waiting for the elevator was so large that we opted to play some slots while we waited. I think the 3rd broken elevator may be an evil ploy of the hotel to get those last several dollars from us before we head up to our rooms.
Another thing is that most people don't know elevator etiquette -- or at least Donna's elevator etiquette. Hmm, you didn't know there was such a thing, did you? Well, here's an example: You catch the elevator at the bottom floor, everybody and their brother gets on, pushing and probably exceeding the maximum weight capacity. As people start disembarking on their respective floors, you SHOULD move and make space for the remaining riders. Right? Well, I found that I could be squashed against the back of the elevator and the guy standing in front of me won't bother to move to give me a little breathing room even though some people got off on the previous floor. So we've got this big gap in the front of the elevators and I'm pressed between the wall of the elevator and this stranger's back. What's up with that??
I disliked elevators before -- I despise elevators now...
posted by Donna, 10/30/2000 04:14:01 PM
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RANDOM THOUGHT ON MY VEGAS EXPERIENCE:
::Dirty Money::
If there was ever a thought that money was dirty, Vegas surely confirmed it. After playing the Slot machines for a while, I noticed the grime that started building on my right hand (the one that fed the quarters to the machine). Filthy doesn't begin to describe it. Soap, water and a *lot* of scrubbing is required to wash your hands of that dirty money...
posted by Donna, 10/30/2000 03:52:54 PM
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I'm home... Ahh, home sweet home. :)
I'm still unpacking, so I'll get an update posted sometime later this evening.
Out for now...
posted by Donna, 10/30/2000 02:56:44 PM
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Sunday, October 29, 2000
Byte Me:
Breakfast: None (Are you kidding?? I was sleeping!) Folks had the breakfast buffet.
Lunch: Hotdog from the Primm Valley Casino hotdog stand.
Snack: Cookies and Cream ice cream (the Dippin' Dots type -- although they called it something else)
Dinner: Hamburger Steak from the California Hotel Restaurant (I still don't know the name of that place... it's something-something Cafe.)
posted by Donna, 10/29/2000 12:38:56 AM
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OH! I forgot to write about something else that was way cool today...
We ran into Hubby's Uncle Owen at the California Hotel Casino! It turns out that he works here! It was totally by surprise because we had a problem with our beloved Wild Wheels machine and he came over to help us fix it. (Being that he lives in Vegas, I have only met him once or twice before and I didn't recognize him.) So here's how we discovered each other: We have the Players Gold card in the machine at all times, which displays the players name on the screen. Being that I have a hyphenated name, I guess someone got confused and thought that my married name was my first name. Go figure. Anyway, so he sees my married name on the display and freaks out. Hubby's last name is quite unusual and the only folks with our last name are all related. So he inquires about it and I tell him that it's my last name... I look at his nametag and it immediately clicks... It's Hubby's Uncle Owen! :) We had a blast. He's such a fun, jovial kind of guy, so he would come by every so often and check up on us to see how we were doing. He was happy when he saw that we FINALLY had hit the jackpot.
Maybe Uncle Owen was our little lucky charm today? :)
posted by Donna, 10/29/2000 12:36:11 AM
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TODAY WAS A GREAT DAY! Actually, to be technically correct, it was yesterday. It's already 3:30-something AM here in Vegas, but I'm still wide awake. Heck, it's only a little after midnight in Hawaii -- which is what I'm running on. So all is well.
THANK YOU, DEREK! You're the bestest! :) He came through with emailing me the USB drivers that I needed to download my digital pictures into my laptop. Thanks also to Rodney who saw my plight as well and e-mailed me a link to a USB support site! Ahhh, people DO care about my disasters! Although it wasn't critical or life-threatening, it sure put a damper on my mood yesterday... so what a great relief to be able to download my photos and go nuts with the camera tomorrow! Tomorrow is our last day in Vegas, so we're heading for the Strip all day to venture through all of the neat hotels. Maybe even do some light gambling.
Hey, speaking of gambling...
Mom and I spent about 5 hours on one $0.25 machine (the Wild Wheels slot machine) tonight while we waited for Dad to come back from his Lanai High School Reunion, which we didn't attend. We had so much fun because we only put in about $80 total and we kept getting lucky and hitting small jackpots here and there to keep funding our play. Dad came down and played with us for another 2 hours... so $80 (and the subsequent winnings) funded us for 7 hours. I thought that was pretty amazing since my luck thus far hadn't been too great. It wasn't uncommon to put in $20 in a machine only to have it suck all of it up in about 3 minutes flat. (And we're talking quarters here...) I played a couple of dollar slots, but couldn't bring myself to put in more than 5 or 10 dollars. I did, however, put in $20 in the Megabucks machine...just hoping... *fingers, toes, and eyes crossed* After all, it's up to $8 million... ;)
Oh yeah, the best news of all was that we were able to walk away with $250 -- which I split with Mom & Dad -- for our efforts. It was a fun time. No big winnings...but heck, we all had a blast. Isn't that what it's all about anyway?
We drove to the state line today -- between Nevada and California. We ended up at a little casino town called Primm Valley. There was an outlet mall there and a casino, so we did some shopping and a little bit of gambling. Nothing major. We were there for only about 3 hours, so we couldn't do too much damage.
Oooh ooh, the highlight of the trip to the state line was being able to drive 90 mph and not be TOO paranoid about getting a ticket. After all, the speed limit is 70 mph and everyone is going about 85-95mph on the straightaways... Shh, Hubby, you didn't see that.
Welps, all in all, it was a GREAT day. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the folks. I hope tomorrow will be good, since I will be driving to the Strip and doing the "tour guiding" from the info in the AAA book on Vegas that Brenda had picked up for me. (Dang, that thing came in REALLY handy -- especially the map of Downtown and the Strip.)
Anyhoo, I better get to sleep. I'll give you one last update from Vegas tomorrow night. Wish me luck... my last chance to strike it rich before I come home!
Oyasumi!
posted by Donna, 10/29/2000 12:29:56 AM
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