Helaine was up early for Vegas, late for her. She took a shower and got dressed first. I am much less driven and much more leisurely.
She headed down to play "I Dream of Jeannie" slots while I dressed. It is a nickle slot machine in much the same way that you can fill your gas tank for $1.59.
Here's what I found out about my Cingular Preferred Nation plan (and what I had already known). Niether the caller ID nor the voicemail indicator work in Las Vegas. What I already knew was, when Cingular is using AT&T's towers, as they do for my TDMA type service here in Las Vegas, the phone incorrectly reads Cingular Extened which should mean $.79/min, but doesn't).
The fact that they continue to advertise this plan but can't in reality supply what they promise, and what their brochures tell you to look for, is wrong. This is not a recent occurence. I've had this plan the better part of a year, and it just doesn't do what it's supposed to do.
We had some weird problems with our room safe. We locked it, checked it, and came back to find it open! I think something we had in there was getting in the way of the bolt. Who know. It seems OK now.
There are probably more photos taken on the walkway between The Mirage lobby and casino than any other 100 foot strip of land in the world. It's because of views like this.
Helaine went to get a Player's Club card for me and mistakenly left her credit card. By the time it was discovered, Mirage had sent it to "Security" for safe keeping. When Helaine went to retireve it, she got a 'tour' of the security area, including watching what looked like the duplicating of "wanted" posters.
We had breakfast at The Caribe Cafe. Very nice, as always. Helaine had gotten a week long line pass and we went right in. It looked like the regular line was 20 minutes or so. Pancakes and coffe for me, eggs for her. This is a Vegas coffee shop, which like a Jersey diner is a well defined and normally dependably good thing.
After breakfast, while Helaine retrieved her credit card, I went to double check the room safe. We met outside, next to the tigers. Then as Helaine went to The Forum Shops (yes Steffie, you already have something coming home) I sat and played poker.
Last night is was a $3/6 table. Today I tried $6/12. Mostly I was satisfied with my play but lost two big and difficult hands, ending up losing around $90. At a table of ten, I would suppose 5 were locals, playing to kill time or make a living.
Playing for a few hours, or more, and the difference between winning and losing is often just one hand. Poker players remember their lost hands... their bad beats... much more than their big wins.
Later tonight I plan on entering The Mirage Hold'em Poker Tournament. Last night the big winner walked away with $6,000+
