Biker Event

I headed to Reno early yesterday morning - super excited about a weekend of play.  I've had some good runs recently so I had plenty of funds to work with and was really looking forward to my Blue Moons and slots.

The drive was fine but I noticed right away there were tons (TONS!) of motorcycles on the road.  Turns out there was a biker event this weekend and they were everywhere.  As were their ladies.  Nice people and boy, do they love their leather pants and vests.

I was down 50% of what I brought when I headed up to my room last night - I didn't feel 'bad' about it, really - I'd had a blast playing and had wins and losses throughout the evening and while I was down?  I wasn't out.  And I was disciplined enough to call it a night and head up to my room.  I was 'done'.  Or so I thought.

I had a lot of trouble falling asleep - my room was freezing cold.  I finally realized that though the thermostat was set for a warm and cozy 72 and it was running, it wasn't set to heat.  It was just blowing fresh (cold) air in the room.  Once I fixed that, I finally drifted off and was so thankful for the sensation of warmth.  I feel for people who have nowhere to sleep.  Sleeping cold is so awful.

I woke up at 7AM this morning and got going - headed down to breakfast around 8:30.  Treated myself to the buffet and skipped the champagne.  Didn't eat anywhere near what I paid for the meal but then again, I didn't technically pay a dime - other than the cash tip.  I headed to a bank of machines I played last night and did OK.  Made up about 1/7th of what I'd lost.  Took those winnings and headed to a machine the local I played with a few weeks ago told me about.  I turned the 1/7th into 1/2 what I lost.  Took that amount and stopped by another machine and gained a little more.

I cashed in my ticket at the cashier.  On the way by, I put $ into a favorite machine and did OK.  But was down a bit (on that machine).  On a whim, as a final 'leaving Reno', I took the amount left on the ticket and headed to the high roller room.  Played a dime denomination machine - minimum bet $6.80.  My leftover ticket was about 8 spins or so.  I figured I'd play the spins quickly, call it officially done and head back up to my room to finish packing and get on the road.  Only I hit line wins right away and then a couple bonus rounds and the next thing I knew?  I had $869 on the machine - I'd won $800!  Super happy about that -

I cashed in again at the cashier - the lines at the ticket redemption machines were long - and headed up to my room.  Packed up and took my suitcase downstairs to the valet.  Checked out of the room.
Went back to the high roller room to try some more on that machine - the Grand Jackpot was $88,000  and I couldn't resist.  I put some money back - not one bonus round this time - so I stopped.  Finally.  Stopped by another two machines that I'd played last time - nice lady there.  Asked her how the machines were doing today and she said 'OK.  Not great'.  But within a few minutes of  me sitting down, we both started hitting bonus after bonus.  Turned $40 into $150 and then had to stop.  It was tons of fun and I was super tempted to stay - triple point day today - but I really didn't want to get home super late.

The drive home was fine - tons of bikers on the road again - groups of 20 or so in clusters on the freeway the entire way home - but everyone behaved themselves and the trip was uneventful.  It's a pretty drive - even though I opted for the quick route down Highway 80 vs. the back roads like I did on the last trip home.

On the work front, a co-worker became a grandmother for the 2nd time this morning - and this co-worker is celebrating a birthday tomorrow so I'm baking angel food loaves.  Served with fresh strawberries and whip cream.

It will be a busy week of board prep and my assistant is off a couple days so it will be super busy.

I had dinner last Thursday with my friend J. - we ventured to an Indian food place that J. and his friend R. frequent a lot - it was a wonderful evening with a dear friend.  Delicious food, great company and not too traffic-y to or from.

Two weeks from now, we'll be in the plane waiting to depart SFO for London.  There's a lot to do between now and then -

On the home front, we had the trees trimmed in both front and back yard.  We'd previously had a tree company come out - they charged us $1500 for two trees and didn't actually cut anything back.  They just 'thinned out' the middle - but the trees were still so dense, no sun was getting through.  This new company trimmed 9 trees and charged us $500.  They did a really great job and the trees look so much better.  They are new and growing their business and their price reflects their desire to get referrals - but we will definitely use them again AND because their pricing is reasonable, we can get things trimmed more often which will greatly help the amount of raking and clean up we are constantly doing.  Though there are still (always) plenty of dead leaves to be dealt with.

I haven't seen or heard from H. in over a week and on the drive to/from Reno, I have moments when I just have a huge lump in my throat and feel so sad about everything.  I shared that with J. when I got home and he said 'if we live out of state, you won't see him often'.  And it hit me:  it's not the NOT seeing him that hurts...it's just the uncertainty of it all...that he's with someone who avoids us and has him do the same mostly....that he's with someone who isn't used to having supportive parents in their life and treats us like an inconvenience to be avoided...that there's no opportunity to have conversations with him without caution.  It's the distance that hurts - not the frequency. And it's not a physical, geographical distance - not one bit.  It's just the current situation that makes me feel so deeply sad.

But it is what it is and we will deal.  I drove through a retirement community on the way to Reno and gave some thought to 'what if?'.  We could move further north in California - closer to Reno and far enough away from here that H. won't be able to pop in (and then head straight to his room where he stays - often falling asleep).  The distance would be officially geographical and maybe that would make it not hurt quite as much?