 Vegas June 2017 (WSOP) |
| Days 1 and 2 - Drive, shop, eat |
| Last Updated: 2017-06-16 14:04:05 |
| I have no poker to write about today, but I am going to go ahead and try and get into my writing groove. A couple of good days so far...
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| Worked for half a day Wednesday while Joann finalized everything at the house. I'm an early riser and I went in a little earlier than usual so for me half a day means OOO by 10am.
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| Load up the car, lunch with Roni and the kids and Joann and I headed out. Peter drove everyone else home since he got his permit last week.
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| The drive out was about as easy as it gets. Not a lot of construction, some construction zones we encountered didn't even drop the speed limit. And no traffic anywhere that I recall. But there was something I noticed that bugged me. This is in the "You had ONE JOB..." category.
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| I assume everyone knows that mile markers descend heading west and south and ascend heading east and north on interstate highways. I-70 westbound ends at I-15 in Utah, so "mile 0" is the I-15 exit. Simple, right? We do a lot of multi-state trips as most people reading this know and I often use the mile markers just to keep track of progress so I'm in the habit of spotting them.
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| We cross into Utah, cross the first valley and head up through the stunning canyon and we're back up on high ground again when I see a sign letting me know how far to the next couple of towns and that I-15 is 192 miles away.
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| A little under a mile later the next mile marker I see is 189. Um...
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| A little while later we pass another sign, updated with new mileage to the same three locations. 181 miles to I-15. 20-30 yards past the sign is mile marker 178. If you were standing at the sign you could read the mile marker. Er...
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| This isn't hard. You had one job. You had a sign that said how far to the end of the highway. All you had to do was find the mile marker WITH THE SAME NUMBER ON IT and plant your sign.
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| Apparently between mile markers 178 and 156 you go through a 3-mile wormhole 'cause practically right next to that mile marker was a sign that said 156 miles to I-15.
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| See how easy that was?
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| Got to In-N-Out around 8:30, grabbed a quick bite, then with the time change we made Vegas around 9:30. The last several trips we've always been on a low floor, not that we're spending a lot of time in the room but Joann wanted to look out at the window and see more than the buildings behind us for a change. They obliged with a room on the 34th floor!
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| Thursday was all about shopping and date night. The website for the outlets said they opened at 9 so we got there about 10 of. Unfortunately it turns out only a handful of stores actually open at 9am, most don't open until 10. BUT one of our goals was new sneakers and Nike was open!
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| Neither Joann nor myself are happy with the direction Nike is going in with their styles. I think we both wish they'd go the Converse route and keep a few classic styles around to go with whatever new wacky stuff they want to do. But alas we're starting to think we're done with Nike.
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| That said, we each found one pair we liked. For Joann, the bad news is she was settling for something she liked but wasn't really what she wanted because they apparently stopped making the particular style she liked. But the good news was that they were real cheap and they were comfortable. They actually had two different colors, since they were so cheap she got them both.
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| For me, the ones I wanted to buy were too narrow but they had a "wide" version. Only problem with that was that they had "wide" in every size but mine. Again, settling. I always like the "Nike Air" line, but everything they had that was "Nike Air" was either not something I liked or was priced way more than I wanted to spend. This pair I kinda liked tho, so I was a little frustrated.
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| But good news! There was a worker guy who had been doing some restocking and had been helping Joann by checking inventory when Joann couldn't find her size in something and so on. Now he too was in the Men's section, figured out we needed help, then called the store in the south outlets to see if they had that shoe in a wide in my size. Yes they did, and they're holding it for me!
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| As a general rule I tend to wear things that don't stand out. If I could find clothes and accessories that had chameleon qualities built into them that would just blend me into the background I'd buy them. So that's the filter I shop with when it comes to not only clothes but also sneakers, sunglasses, etc.
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| I used to be a "Revo" guy when it came to sunglasses. But at some point I stopped spending the money and went with cheaper stuff for many years. A couple of summers ago tho on a similar shopping day I went into the Oakley store and came away with two pairs. I like them, but I don't love them like I loved the Revos. They have rubber things on them that I assume are to help keep them on my face, but they're always coming detached in spots and I have to keep reattaching them. And one of the frames is a little fancier than really fits my dull style...
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| But I decide I want a green pair of sunglasses (mine are, depending on the angle and light level you see them in, orange/yellow and purple/blue). The reason I bought two pair the last time was because of a "buy one get a second at a steep discount" sale. Alas, same kind of sale this year at both Oakley and Sunglass Hut and I really only want one pair. And Sunglass Hut didn't have much outside of Oakley and Ray-Ban anyway and with apologies to Patrick (whose Ray-Bans are with me instead of with him at the moment, left them at my house last weekend) Ray-Ban isn't my taste. Once you cut out the Ray-Ban's it was just the same store as Oakley with the same prices. No sunglasses for Pete...
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| Joann had a good day shopping at Coach and Kate Spade, off we went to Rio.
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| Bought into the Omaha 8/b Mix for Friday. I'm at Amazon Purple, table 106 seat six. Very happy about that, I've been getting stuck in the one-seat a lot and I hate the one-seat.
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| Then it was on to the south outlets to get my sneakers.
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| We get to the Nike store, Joann decides to look around and lo-and-behold they actually have one kind of sneaker that's exactly the style Joann likes and it's cheap!!! Joann says something about not wanting to buy three pair of sneakers in one day, but she's worried that she'll never see a pair like this again since Nike appears to be moving away from that style. I suggest she can put one box on a shelf for 6 months if it will make her feel better about it...and Joann has three new pairs of sneakers. And I got my pair as well.
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| Lots of time until dinner so we decide to walk through all these stores also. See a Sunglass Hut, walk over. Same stuff, same prices, same kind of sale, nothing I want in the price range I'm looking for (which is less than full price :-) ). I say something to Joann about how the one thing we hadn't seen in either of the two Sunglass Huts we went to was Revo. Nowhere to be found.
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| We walk around to the last display...and Joann spots a pair of green Revos!!! With a discount tag on it!
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| Guy who pulls them out for me says what hadn't really sunk in until he said it - Sunglass Hut is going away from all brands except Oakley and Ray-Ban. They're trying to unload their Revos. I got $200 sunglasses for $50. Sold!
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| Back to the room, change for dinner and on to Gallagher's.
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| The steaks were fantastic. Good taste and cooked perfectly. Really enjoyed them. The bread, salad and sides were OK. It was a small step down from our usual Smith and Wollensky, but it was also a bit less expensive. I would definitely go there again, but I likely wouldn't pick it over S&W if I were deciding between the two.
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| Gelato for dessert back at Aria and upstairs for an early night.
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| So that's it for today. I'll be in the Amazon room at 3pm local time in the Purple section as mentioned above. Omaha 8/b mix (Pot-Limit, Limit and "Big O"). Stop by if you're in the area :-) |
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