Vegas 2012

Last year about this time, I got to write a pleasant blog about our family's month-long trip to Vegas, the highlight of which was a $35,000 second-place showing in a 900-person field in a poker tournament at the Venetian.
Last year was the second straight year I loaded up Missy and Addie and we made the 17-hour drive. Both times we rented a house away from the strip and really enjoyed the adventure of it all. Two years ago, I didn't win $35k but it was one of the better months of the year for me at the tables.
This year, Missy re-started her career as a nurse, getting a job at OU Medical. With her new obligations we weren't able to do the month-long family trip, but thanks to a wasted two hours of my life, I did get a free room for three days this year.
Last year we decided to hear a two-hour sales pitch for a timeshare deal. They tried to say it wasn't a timeshare (it's so much MORE than a timeshare! And BETTER!!). It was a timeshare.
We were offered a $100 gift certificate to a fancy restaurant on the strip, as well as two tickets to a show and two free nights at a hotel in Vegas. The only catch was that the hotel room was only to be used in the year 2012.
If at any point during the two hour sales pitch, if they determined that we were not seriously interested in the timeshare, they could kick us out and we would not get our gifts. In fact, the couple at the table next to us admitted they didn't have the money for a timeshare and got kicked out.
They started out offering us a $40,000 timeshare package. It was hard for me to sit there and act as if I actually had $40k of disposable income burning a hole in my pocket, but I did it. I said I simply chose not to spend my 40k on THAT.
Then they went down to the $25,000 package. I just couldn't quite squeeze the trigger on that one either.
Then they did the $15k package and finally a $5k package. I stood my ground. The lady said, "What? Are you not going to go on vacations at all???"
Finally I pointed out that we had signed a contract saying we would listen to the pitch for two hours, and that two hours was up. I wanted our free crap.
The lady tried to act like she was going to get fired if we didn't buy anything and mentioned her two small children. Tough beans, honey.
Then they thought they could get us to buy a week in Hawaii for $1000 or something like that. Missy was starting to break, but I stood firm. Gifts, please.
Of course, Missy's best friend flew into town the next day and they used the restaurant voucher on a fancy meal. I got pictures of the food sent to my cell phone.

Since she got the meal, I claimed the free room for a poker trip with my buddy James. I decided to play another Venetian tournament, assuming they would hand me another $35k.
That's not how it worked out. James, of all people, busted me out of the Venetian tournament, and I lost a little more at the cash games. Oh well. Who among us hasn't dropped a couple thousand in Vegas in a weekend?
The free room we got provided an interesting experience. It was at the Polo Towers, which has a nice pool on the roof that I took advantage of. And the room itself was nice -- with the exception of one quirk.
The first time I tried to take a shower, the water was scalding hot. I turned it all the way to cold, and it was still scalding hot. Figuring I had turned the knob the wrong way, I put it on hot, and it was still scalding hot. Finally I put it right in the middle. Still scalding hot.
After about 10 minutes of just standing in the back of the shower, it finally cooled off enough to get the job done. But that wasn't the end of the hot water business. When I brushed my teeth, the water was scalding hot, and when I tried to get a drink of cold water from the sink in our kitchen, it was scalding hot. Luckily the drinking water wasn't the first thing I tried in the place, else I probably would have burned my throat. I just didn't drink the water.
James had the most humorous water issue, however. He said the water burned his toosh during a courtesy flush. I thought that would be the most hilarious lawsuit ever, and it's a guaranteed winner. How are you going to rule against a guy doing a courtesy flush?? Answer: You're not. Give him the money.