Super Bowl LIV

I think we've added a second Atlantis tradition to our list - the Super Bowl bash was a blast and we're really glad we went.  I spent Saturday night at the hotel - got us registered.  Had a lot of fun playing though I lost.  I decided to go eat dinner and then on the way back to my room, passing my favorite machines, I decided to try a little bit of play.  Proceeded to play for hours and left with ten times what I started with - so my earlier losses were (more than) covered.

At some point, I realized that while I had the schedule of events flyer for Sunday's events (which had been given to me in a business envelope with my name on it), I did not have the envelope - which had our two wrist bands and a raffle ticket.  I went up to the room - thinking I'd just taken the enveloped out of my purse - but then I was pretty sure I'd taken the flyer out while I was eating dinner.  I raced back to the restaurant but they said they didn't find it when they cleared the dishes. 

My casino host had come by while I was playing (after dinner) and I had mentioned 'I'm a little worried 'cuz I just looked in my purse and I don't have the envelope'.  Upon confirming I didn't have it, I phoned her.  She said she'd take care of getting us replacements when she came in at 1PM on Sunday. 

She came through - though the 'special events' people were not happy, she said.  Guess there were a lot of people who had 'lost' their wrist bands - pretty sure people were asking for extras.  But she assured them we truly had lost ours, there were only two of us attending and got us another set. 

It was a fun day - I'm usually not that in to football but when you're in a huge ballroom with hundreds of people, big screens everywhere enjoying good food and fun, it's a pretty fun game to watch. 

I think we'll be attending annually.

On the house front, we've finalized the lighting selections and our ceiling fans.  We'd arrived at the lighting place a bit early and saw a fan we sort of liked - and one of the staff (not our consultant) came over and said 'we have that fan in our house and we absolutely love it'.  She brought us out the remote and showed us how it works - has six speeds (instead of the usual high and low).  We loved the look of it - the light is 'flush' mounted so it's a really sleek look.  There were catalogs on the table where we were sitting so I found the fan specs and confirmed we could get it in brushed nickel - so done!  That was the one thing we hadn't really decided on and our consultant had said 'don't worry - we'll look for fans together' - but we were able to cross that off the list right away.  The rest of the visit was just reconfirming the things we'd already agreed to via email - a pretty quick meeting. 

H. has had some major events this past week.  On our way to the lighting appointment, he phoned to say his car wouldn't start.  We were picturing him in his driveway not being able to get it to start but he had actually been driving when it stopped dead - and wouldn't restart.  We checked and confirmed/realized that he didn't have Triple AAA roadside service anymore - so he found a mechanic (a neighbor recommended) and they towed his car to their shop.  They did a preliminary look and it wasn't the starter - the motor was dead.  They gave an initial expense of $1,300 because in order to see if it was the engine, they'd have to remove the transmission and the engine - yikes.  If it was the engine, the estimate was $3,500-$5,000 to possibly replace the engine.  The car's been sitting there since - until today. 

J. contacted a Hyundai dealership near H. and explained what had happened.  The mechanic told J. that it was very likely the engine would be covered by warranty and suggested he have the car towed to them.  That happened today and hopefully, we'll have confirmation in a day or two that the car will be repaired as a warranty repair.  That's the good news.  The bad news?  Hyundai is replacing so many engines these days they are having a shortage of parts - so the repair will take 30-90 days.  H.'s job is 1.75 miles from where he lives so technically, he could ride a bike.  Or even walk.  We'll figure something out.  He's been working 40-50 hours a week so that's good. 

I'm looking forward to trekking to Auburn in a couple weeks to meet my friend C. for brunch.  We've been keeping in touch via phone, email and text but we are really glad to have found a day we think we can share a meal live and in person.  We'll have to see what the weather looks like - I don't mind driving down the hill with snow all around but I don't really want to drive in a snowstorm.  So we'll adjust as/if needed.  But I'm hoping for a beautiful clear day for a quick road trip.  I'm so grateful to have a friend who works equally as hard as I do about keeping in touch.

We're currently binge watching an Amazon Original series "Goliath".  We're in the third season and it's a wild, twisting, crazy ride - great show.

I'm pretty sure we have an entire week of 'no commitments'.  No meetings we have to do related to the house.  No doctor visits scheduled.  OH, I do have to run to the lab tomorrow for some blood work - I had a 'cyber doc' appointment - saw a Physician's Assistant (who was actually in Utah) who did a thorough workup and exam with the help of a medical assistant in the exam room with me.  Who knew they have blue tooth stethoscopes?  I need to get the labs done and then he'll see if there are any 'next steps' needed.  Hopefully not.  The good thing is that now I can call that medical group if/when I need an appointment and be seen - 'cuz I really don't like going to Urgent Care.

Driving home this morning from Reno, my car had ice crystals on it that looked exactly like small diamonds.  It was very cold and there was fresh snow on the mountains - but crystal clear and beautiful.