Trip report 5/23 to 6/9 2013

Quote: Nareed

Yeah, that would have been a lost cause from the start. Do you know how often I found myself thinking "What did I do yesterday?" or "when did I get this blouse?" Long trips are like that. The only reason I can even divide it in two weeks overall is the weather. The dates for meetings I kept the reminders in my cell phone calendar function.

Sorry, I should have worded that better. Of course with a week long session of furious activity, perfect recollection is impossible. And then there’s a more themed post, where you’ll cover all gaming, all shopping, etc in sections without respect to timing. That’s all fine and good. What I should’ve said is just to keep it sorted, keep it tidy. Avoid what I call “wife-speak” (no offense ladies, but my ex was terrible with this). Avoid letting an idea in your head lead to another idea which leads to another, totally unrelated idea, and on and on until before you know it we have no idea where you began and no idea where you’re going ;)

Quote: Nareed

Really? No offense, but either a topic grabs me or it doesn't. Not exactly regardless of who wrote it, but the topic comes first.

None taken. I just find, even with the most interesting of topics, that I usually enjoy the conversation more than the topic. How people act, how others react, certain styles of certain members, all that stuff.

Quote: Nareed

I sense that's a rebuke of some sort :)

None at all, honestly. I don’t even give you the Benefit of the Second Language as I do to many overseas/foreign language posters. Your command of English is impressive, as I’ve told you before. I never see grammar errors, run-ons, spelling issues; the only thing I ever see from you is a transposition of letters, “palce” as opposed to “place”, for example. That is well within my realm of tolerance for even a First Language-er =)

Quote: Nareed

No, it posted the quote. When I re-quoted it came up empty. Anyway, I did see the questions in question and replied I'd rather not answer such questions.

Ah gotcha. When you quote someone's post here, you can't gather anything that they quoted in the post. Since I just posted 1BB's quote, quoting me in that post gets you a blank. Personally I hate this. I would rather collect all the quotes in the post and edit them out instead usually. I've been known to copy and paste from multiple posts to make the post the way I want it.

Quote: Face

Sorry, I should have worded that better. Of course with a week long session of furious activity, perfect recollection is impossible.

You should try placid innactivity, too ;P

Quote:

What I should’ve said is just to keep it sorted, keep it tidy.

"Tidy" is a four-letter word. Really, count the letters and you'll find four of them ;) I've a messy-type of creative personality. I tend to stay ordered in the kitchen, because otherwise I miss ingredients. But tidy just gets in the way. Did I ever mention sometimes I just look inside the fridge and pantry and come up with something to make? Tidy won't get you that :P

Quote:

Avoid what I call “wife-speak” (no offense ladies, but my ex was terrible with this). Avoid letting an idea in your head lead to another idea which leads to another, totally unrelated idea, and on and on until before you know it we have no idea where you began and no idea where you’re going ;)

That's called rambling. I can do that, too, and even enjoy it to some extent. I can easily spin a rant on, oh, something like Windows 8 into a history of the PC in a few minutes. But that's necessary to prove how rotten Windows 8 is. and if I meander and talk about shoes in bewteen, well, what did you expect? :P

Quote:

Your command of English is impressive, as I’ve told you before.

Why, thank you!

Quote:

I never see grammar errors, run-ons, spelling issues; the only thing I ever see from you is a transposition of letters, “palce” as opposed to “place”, for example. That is well within my realm of tolerance for even a First Language-er =)

That's how my fingers think English is written :)

Seriously, I rely too much on spell checkers and type too fast. Ergo without a spell-checker all kinds of typos go through. I usually get all the letters, just not in the right order. Sometimes the letters are in order but thes paces aren ot. :)

Quote: tringlomane

Ah gotcha. When you quote someone's post here, you can't gather anything that they quoted in the post. Since I just posted 1BB's quote, quoting me in that post gets you a blank.

If you say so.

:)

Quote:

Personally I hate this. I would rather collect all the quotes in the post and edit them out instead usually. I've been known to copy and paste from multiple posts to make the post the way I want it.

The board posting is rather labor intensive. That's why I rarely post images or labeled links. But the quality of the posts usually makes up for that.

It didn't immediately dawn on me but apparently Nareed has me blocked and couldn't see my post. Nareed was relayed my questions by a third party and declined to answer. I respect that but find it odd from someone who rarely misses an opportunity to provide us with intimate personal details. For that reason, I felt my questions were appropriate and that the answers would have been educational for all of us.

I don't expect all trip reports to be as good as DJTeddyBear's but what is talked about in this one? Liz Taylor perfume, camis, earrings, ear piercing, skirts, bras, panties, jewelery and depilation. None of that tells us about Vegas. Peace, Nareed.

One important thing I've learned this time is to pay attention to US holidays. So, for example, next time I'm avoiding Memorial Day. Since it falls on the 26th of May next year, I see two options: 1) leave on Sunday May 4th and return on Thursaday May 22nd; or 2) leave on sunday June 1st and return on Thursday June 19th.

Given the blast furnace weather this June, Option 1 seems more pleasant. Sure, I run into May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo, which will draw lots of Mexican tourists and drive up prices, but likely not as much as Memorial Day. On the other hand, I've no control over WoVCon Quattro, so I risk missing it <hint, hint>.

I guess I'll just have to check prices late in 2013 and decide then.

I'd love to travel in April, but given what work was like this year, I'm sure April won't be an option <sigh>

Quote: Nareed

Given the blast furnace weather this June, Option 1 seems more pleasant. Sure, I run into May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo, which will draw lots of Mexican tourists and drive up prices,

I was there on May 5th this year and it was
no different than any other day that week.
I didn't even know it was May 5th till the
end of the day. No extra tourists, no higher
prices.

A couple of oddities I missed:

The buffet at Fremont has jicama in the salad bar. Alas, there were no carrots or lime to go with it. Still, I put a little in my salad plate and added dressing and vinegar.

Also at Fremont all their dinner buffet menus are "special." They cycle between steak, prime rib and seafood. The steaks are NY Strip type, more or less, and cooked to order. The cook on that station has the raw beef on hand. Judging by the looks of it, it was top-notch quality. With little in the way of fatty tissue, and no connective or nerve tissue at all (tendons and nerves are harmless, but not really edible). They were pretty good, once cooked.

Overall I prefer the MSS buffet at any time over the Fremont. But the latter is a reasonable choice if you want a buffet and don't want to walk all the way to the MSS.

Quote: EvenBob

I was there on May 5th this year...No extra tourists, no higher
prices.

Why did you investigate the cost of travel from Mexico to Vegas? Don't you live in Michigan?

Quote: rdw4potus

Why did you investigate the cost of travel from Mexico to Vegas? Don't you live in Michigan?

I was all over Vegas on May 5th and saw no extra
revelry, nothing out of the ordinary. In fact it was
the opposite, it was quite cool that day and the
place felt deserted.

Nice sarcasm, rdw!

Not only is this Nareed's thread, but she is probably much better prepared to discuss this than I am. My impression is that May 5 is not really celebrated in Mexico other than in Pueblo. The battle there that is commemorated was particularly noted by Mexican descendants in the southwestern US territories because it meant France/Napoleon would not be coming to the aid of the CSA against the USA anytime soon. It was pretty much celebrated only by their descendants and those in the one Mexican state until beer companies started promoting it as another opportunity for a drinking party.

Quote: Doc

Nice sarcasm, rdw!

Yes, indeed :)

Quote:

Not only is this Nareed's thread, but she is probably much better prepared to discuss this than I am. My impression is that May 5 is not really celebrated in Mexico other than in Pueblo.

PueblA.

Anyway, it depends what you mean by "celebrate." There are no parties, parades and such. It's not even an official day off anymore, though schools and many workplaces do take the day off. In addition, May 1st, May Day, is an official holiday (with pompous offical "acts" and speeches to match). Next year May 1st falls on a Thursday and the 5th on Monday. Meaning lots of people will take the long weekend. Some places will trade Friday May 2nd for some other day off, too. This should increase tourist traffic, some of which goes to Vegas.

BTW, I just thougth of something else, and I'll post it on prospective WoVCon threads, too: when is the sucker (I mean soccer) World Cup in 2014? I do expect increased tourist action for that, too. Typically it's played in June...

Of course, any holiday weekend in the US draws a lot more people to Vegas than all the Mexican holidays combined. So I don't expect a big surge in hotel rates, but there may be some. I do expect an increase in airfares from Mexico.

Quote:

The battle there that is commemorated was particularly noted by Mexican descendants in the southwestern US territories because it meant France/Napoleon would not be coming to the aid of the CSA against the USA anytime soon.

I'll take your word as to the motivation, but it was Napoleon III, not the Napoleon. The difference is akin to that between BJ and 2-for-1 21, only mroe so.

Quote: Nareed

BTW, I just thougth of something else, and I'll post it on prospective WoVCon threads, too: when is the sucker (I mean soccer) World Cup in 2014? I do expect increased tourist action for that, too. Typically it's played in June...

I just looked it up: from June 12 to July 13.

In 2006 I timed my vacation, to Orlando, to coincide with the World Cup, reasoning that all potential European, Asian and South American tourists would stay home. It didn't work out so well.

Quote: EvenBob

I was all over Vegas on May 5th and saw no extra
revelry, nothing out of the ordinary. In fact it was
the opposite, it was quite cool that day and the
place felt deserted.

I was there too.
Rented a Cabana at the Golden Nugget Hideaway Pool.
Barely 80 degrees out. Cloudy and windy.
The Corona girls were trying to hand out free swag. No one was interested.
Just another Sunday.

Quote: ten2win

I was there too.
Rented a Cabana at the Golden Nugget Hideaway Pool.
Barely 80 degrees out. Cloudy and windy.
The Corona girls were trying to hand out free swag. No one was interested.
Just another Sunday.

Thank you. And it was so cold after dark I had
to wear a jacket. 80 in Vegas with 12% humidity
borders on chilly.

Quote: Nareed

At WovCon the Wizard gave out some business cards for his websites. I handed one to a dealer at the CR who grew itnerested in a WoV member's "Wizard of Odds" shirt. Over the rest of the trip I handed out four or five more. One to a cocktail waitress at the Ditz, who commented she liked that game and chatted about it briefly. Another later at the same machine. I kept the Bible, sorry, the Wizard's "Gambling 102" out while playing in order to consult the simple strategy. A gentleman approached to ask me about it. I showed him the book and gave him a card.

I think I was the one wearing the WoO shirt at CR. Where did the business cards come from? I don't recall, many months later, if the Wiz himself handed them out or if someone else had printed them up.

As to the copy of Gambling 102 that I won at trivia, I already had a copy at home, so I left it next to the Gideon's bible in my hotel room. Hopefully a poor ploppy will pick it up and learn a few things :).

Quote: Nareed

Next year May 1st falls on a Thursday and the 5th on Monday. Meaning lots of people will take the long weekend. Some places will trade Friday May 2nd for some other day off, too. This should increase tourist traffic, some of which goes to Vegas.

On planning this year's trip, I sort of focused on when Good Friday was and wound up choosing to depart the following Sunday. but I just realized I'll be in Vegas clear past May 5th. I'll be able to judge first-hand if any unusual amount of Mexicans make it there.

Quote: Nareed

On planning this year's trip, I sort of focused on when Good Friday was and wound up choosing to depart the following Sunday. but I just realized I'll be in Vegas clear past May 5th. I'll be able to judge first-hand if any unusual amount of Mexicans make it there.

Oh, on that, I ran across quite a few. But this year thigns were a perfect storm of sorts. May 1st is a Holiday, too, and it fell on a Thursday. May 5th fell on monday. That's quite the long weekend. Many businesses will have exchanged My 5th for May 2nd, too, which makes it an even 4-day weekend.

It could be confirmation bias, too. I wasn't alert to the presence of Mexican nationals before or after May 5th.