Day 9 Monday August 2, 2004

Flight:
I took my usual final drive around town after leaving the Fiesta before returning the rental car. This ride usually consists of a trip through the downtown area, and then up the strip. It was starting to rain and traffic was a bitch but I had plenty of time before needed to be at the airport.

I gassed up the car at a Terrible’s on the strip just south of Mandalay Bay and then it was off to Dollar to return the car.

Returning the car went well and I was on the shuttle. After dropping off the rental car it was off to the airport. My flight is at 3:51pm and arrives in Newark at 11:48pm.

I’m taking America West flight 216 and the flight is full. I thought I was going to get lucky and not have anyone sitting near me but just before the door closed a bunch of people arrived and I ended up in a full row.

We left on time and after getting my snack of 2 tiny bags of peanuts and soda (good thing I had some left over Jack in the Box!) I went to sleep. Tonight’s movie was Shrek 2 but I wasn’t into watching that and sleep was much needed.

During the flight there was a kid up front that decided he wanted to play with the overhead lights. The people sitting in front of him were getting annoyed so the parents finally stopped him. The only problem was every time they stopped him he’d scream at a very high pitch. This was very annoying and the parents should be a little more considerate of the other passengers in the future.

We landed right on time and the pilot bounced the plane off the runway really hard. Oddly the passengers gave him a round of applause. That didn’t seem to make much sense to me why what the hell do I know?

Dining:
Dining this afternoon was quick and on the run to the airport. It was a quick stop at Jack in the Box. Not only was this stop for lunch but it was to grab something to eat on the plane on the flight home. After a couple of tacos and a chicken sandwich for the flight I was on my way to the airport.

Transportation from airport:
After getting my bags I headed up to the monorail and headed to Avis. I have a Luxury car reserved for the ride home. As has been the case in the last few trips, the Luxury cars are only $4 more than the mid and full sized cars. I had booked this car with my preferred account so my mane was up on the scoreboard and I went right to my car. It was a 2004 Cadillac Deville with about 25,000 miles on it. This was a really nice car. I only wish the Dollar rentals I had the last week were as nice. Not that they weren’t nice but nothing rides quite like a Cadillac.

The ride home was pretty uneventful considering it was after 1am. I finally pulled into my driveway at 1:30am as another trip has come to an end.

Total win/loss for the day 0
Total comps for the day 0

Final Thoughts

• It was nice of the lot attendant at Dollar to give me a larger car instead of the lame PT Cruiser that was available
• Sahara is a decent hotel but now has nothing playable
• The pool area is pretty nice at the Rio
• The rooms at the Hilton are pretty nice for standard rooms
• The 10+ hour craps session I had was a new record for me
• Crapsfest was a fun gathering except for the dice not rolling well
• I still like the Cannery and the promos they run
• Dollar still seems to have the best rates for rental cars
• The weather was pretty nice and although in the low 100’s didn’t seem too bad this week
• This loss brings my Las Vegas record to 14-10-1
• I played about 20,000 hands of video poker and didn’t hit any royals
• It’s now been over 90,000 hands of video poker since my last royal
• My next trip will be in December

Eff Yous

• Eff you to Alaska Air for boarding the plane ALL rows at once
• Eff you to Sea-Tac airport for being a total zoo and the most unorganized airport I’ve ever been in
• Eff you to Dollar for screwing up my credit card info in my fastlane account
• Eff you to Bonn at Dollar for not honoring my CTI code and for trying to hard sell me insurance
• Eff you to Dollar for not having my contract ready for me at the booth
• Eff you to the Sahara for removing all of the 9/6 jacks and 8/5 bonus machines
• Eff you to Sahara for raising the amount of coin in required for a point
• Eff you to the whale at the Sahara pool that was wearing a bikini
• Eff you to Sahara for charging a $3 per day energy charge even for comped rooms
• Eff you to Rio for not having my sunglasses available when I arrived
• Eff you to the people that have to walk 5 wide and take up the entire walkway
• Eff you to the people that like to congregate in the middle of walkways blocking everyone else from getting by
• Eff you to the dice at crapsfest
• Eff you to the people on the plane that feel they are allowed to walk around when the fasten seat belt sign is lit
• Eff you to the parents of the kid allowed their kid to play with the overhead lights
• Eff you to the same parents for allowing their kid to scream every time they stopped him from playing with the lights

Total win/loss for the trip $-700
Total comps for the trip $1110