...so why don't we just get another dog? This, my friends, is the philosophy around here. With that in mind, we welcome to the house our new friend, Oscar, a 3-yr-old mutt that my aunt and cousins so graciously adopted. Thankfully, despite the lack of preparation for having a new dog in the house, things have gone pretty well. Oscar gets along pretty well with Scottie, and he knows how to pee outside (remarkable!). He's pretty quiet and just minds his own business. He won't let me take him for a walk... we figure he's afraid he'll go back to the shelter. Oh well. Interestingly, Oscar made his debut while I happened to be out of town briefly (and by briefly, I mean literally 30 hours). Imagine what will happen when I leave for four days....
My friend Brett arrived from NY this past week. She will be starting work with another company here in Vegas shortly, and whileher mom was in town to help her move in, we all went out for dinner. It was lovely. Her mom, Ro, was looking to go somewhere on the strip, but I suggested that it might be cheaper (and frankly, better) to go off the strip. We found this lovely Italian restaurant on Trop called Casa di Amore, which was ranked on TripAdvisor as one of Vegas' top restaurants. It was tacky, of course, but also had the most delicious Italian food I've had in months, AND had a guy playing piano and sinigng Frank Sinatra tunes and the like. As it turns out, it's one of my Aunt Bobbi's favorite places (which makes perfect sense).
The downturn in the economy is really showing its effects here in Vegas as well. Aside from the fact that friends of mine were able to get a room here for only $74 right on the strip (the cheapest room they paid for on their three-week cross-country journey), but the lovely staffing cuts have made it to MGM as well. So it looks like I'll be staying put in the department I'm in rather than rotating to help cover some folks who will be leaving. It's unfortunate, but such are the times.
I got to see Wall-E today. First time I had been to the movies in quite some time, and I must say I really did enjoy it... very well done. I really need to go to the movies more often. It's really convenient here... there's a movie theater in every casino off the strip.
Not too much else going on..... in a little over four weeks I'll be back on the east coast for good!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Beers and Sharks and Yelling
So I realized that Uncle Joe has gotten little mention in this blog, so I think it's only fair that I post a story about him. He said something amusing yesterday. We come home, and Uncle Joe is out in the pool:
Me: How you doing?
Uncle Joe: Boy am I glad you guys are home.
Me: Aww... Did you miss us?
Uncle Joe: No, I need another beer...
We had just come back from visiting the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, which is a pretty cool exhibit. As an MGM employee, I got a nice discount for us to go in, and it was cool to see the sharks, kimodo dragon, turtles, barracudas, etc. Apparently it's the only aquarium in North America dedicated to predatory sea creatures. For the discounted price, it was worth it, even after a long day of work.
In other news, I got to spend some time this weekend with other cousins of mine from Maryland who were visiting. We went over to another cousin's house who lives here (all these people are first cousins of my father), who cooked us a delicious BBQ. Ron and Pete and I spent some time later on in the casino, then I dropped them back off at the hotel. I had been up since 4:45am because I had worked that morning, so I was exhausted. After I got home, Kenny, Patricia, and several of Patty's friends were in the pool. They were so loud, and I was so tired. Apparently in my half-asleep state, I yelled at them to shut. I believe my exact words were, "The next person whose voice I hear is getting up at 4:45am with me tomorrow morning!" To be clear, I was, in fact, standing there, half awake, wearing only boxer shorts as I yelled this brilliant phrase. Needless to say, things quieted down. Interestingly, while my aunt and uncle upstairs couldn't hear the kids making noise, they did hear my shouting. Oh well.
More updates to come soon, I hope...
Me: How you doing?
Uncle Joe: Boy am I glad you guys are home.
Me: Aww... Did you miss us?
Uncle Joe: No, I need another beer...
We had just come back from visiting the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, which is a pretty cool exhibit. As an MGM employee, I got a nice discount for us to go in, and it was cool to see the sharks, kimodo dragon, turtles, barracudas, etc. Apparently it's the only aquarium in North America dedicated to predatory sea creatures. For the discounted price, it was worth it, even after a long day of work.
In other news, I got to spend some time this weekend with other cousins of mine from Maryland who were visiting. We went over to another cousin's house who lives here (all these people are first cousins of my father), who cooked us a delicious BBQ. Ron and Pete and I spent some time later on in the casino, then I dropped them back off at the hotel. I had been up since 4:45am because I had worked that morning, so I was exhausted. After I got home, Kenny, Patricia, and several of Patty's friends were in the pool. They were so loud, and I was so tired. Apparently in my half-asleep state, I yelled at them to shut. I believe my exact words were, "The next person whose voice I hear is getting up at 4:45am with me tomorrow morning!" To be clear, I was, in fact, standing there, half awake, wearing only boxer shorts as I yelled this brilliant phrase. Needless to say, things quieted down. Interestingly, while my aunt and uncle upstairs couldn't hear the kids making noise, they did hear my shouting. Oh well.
More updates to come soon, I hope...
Monday, June 16, 2008
...End scene.
Well the freedom is over. It was nice to have the house to myself, though it is still nice to have people around again. The return of the family to the house didn't come without incident, of course. The family returned just hours before Patricia's graduation on Wednesday only to discover that the tickets for the graduation had gone missing. Oy. Several hours, temper tantrums, and threats to dig through garbage later, Patricia did, in fact, graduate high school with all of us there to watch. It was a pretty interesting graduation... Vegas style. The event took place at the Orleans Arena (the Orleans is a casino), which is the home to the Las Vegas Wranglers, an ECHL hockey team. Anyway, at the arena entrance, there was a promotion where you could enter to win a free car. There were also tables set up where you could buy those glow-in-the-dark spinny thingys that they sell at like, the Sesame Street Show. Only in Vegas. The annoying thing about the graduation was that all these stupid teenagers brought blow horns with them, which they blew constantly throughout the event.
Other than that, not too much has happened with the family, aside from our usual Thursday night family dinner, for which Aunt Cathy made a delicious barbequed leg of lamb with polenta and asparagus. Yum! Work ahas been pretty boring, though today was good. We visited Luxor for the morning and heard from several of their executives. They've really spiffed the place up. I also got to tour the SkyLofts at the MGM Grand, which are these awesome penthouse suites that they built on the 29th floor. They are spectacular. The three-bedroom suite is 6000 sq ft and is probably the nicest hotel product I've ever seen. Check em out here.
I also spent some time last weekend with my friend Anna, whom I know from Cornell, who was looking for a new dog. We had fun searching the SPCA and Petsmart to see about adopting a little animal. At the end of the day, when she hadn't found anything, I called Aunt Miggie and told her I was giving Anna her dog, Scottie, instead. Aunt Miggie threatened to cut off my balls if I did. Oh well.
So apparently this blog has more of a following than I thought. I hope you all are enjoying the stories though. Ultimately, I hope this blog will entice you all to come spend a serious amount of time out here. It is well worth it.
Other than that, not too much has happened with the family, aside from our usual Thursday night family dinner, for which Aunt Cathy made a delicious barbequed leg of lamb with polenta and asparagus. Yum! Work ahas been pretty boring, though today was good. We visited Luxor for the morning and heard from several of their executives. They've really spiffed the place up. I also got to tour the SkyLofts at the MGM Grand, which are these awesome penthouse suites that they built on the 29th floor. They are spectacular. The three-bedroom suite is 6000 sq ft and is probably the nicest hotel product I've ever seen. Check em out here.
I also spent some time last weekend with my friend Anna, whom I know from Cornell, who was looking for a new dog. We had fun searching the SPCA and Petsmart to see about adopting a little animal. At the end of the day, when she hadn't found anything, I called Aunt Miggie and told her I was giving Anna her dog, Scottie, instead. Aunt Miggie threatened to cut off my balls if I did. Oh well.
So apparently this blog has more of a following than I thought. I hope you all are enjoying the stories though. Ultimately, I hope this blog will entice you all to come spend a serious amount of time out here. It is well worth it.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
temporary freedom
Well, I have the house to myself now. Uncle Joe and company departed yesterday morning for a little vacation in California. Looks like Chris and June are going to have the pleasure of spending the next four days with my relatives. It's kind of creepy here with it being so quiet... it's just me and the dog. He follows me everywhere, it's so adorable. I think he doesn't even miss them... they'd be so insulted.
So what else has been going on? The other day I went out with Aunt Miggie, Uncle Joe, and the kids. It was fun. We stopped off at the car dealership to get aunt Miggie's car an oil change. While we were there, Aunt Miggie decided that she would like to buy one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette. Unfortunately, they cost lots of these, plus Aunt Miggie walks with one of these.
Work has been going well. I think we've all finally figured out what our department actually does. We're basically responsible for maintaining all the hotel rates for the hotel. We don't make any decisions per se, but we make sure that when the managers decide what the rates will be or that they will change the rates, they make it to all the channels properly. Pretty interesting stuff, to be honest. Dunno if I'd make a career out of it, but I'm learning a lot.
I actually went out with the other interns for the first time this weekend. They've been going out quite a bit, but I'm not really into the whole "going out" scene, so I've not participated too much. But this time I went. We went to a karaoke bar in a place called the Ellis Island Casino and Brewery (http://www.ellisislandcasino.com/). I guess it's more of a locals place. There's no hotel as part of the casino, though it is conveniently located in the same parking lot as a Super 8 motel... you get the idea. It's a fun place. Freshly-made micro brews only cost $1.50 for a generous pint, and they're pretty tasty to boot. The people there are kind of interesting, but whatever. A good time was had by all.
I'm sure other amusing stuff has happened, but I'll close it for now. I mentioned the other day how I like my mom's lemon merengue pie, and then Aunt Bobbi went and made one for me, so if anyone wants some pie, let me know: it's delicious. Oh and supposedly Lori has started referring to Aunt Bobbi's house as the "nursing home." It's a good name: there are two old ladies living there, and they eat their meals on little trays in front of the TV. Funny stuff.
Bye for now!
So what else has been going on? The other day I went out with Aunt Miggie, Uncle Joe, and the kids. It was fun. We stopped off at the car dealership to get aunt Miggie's car an oil change. While we were there, Aunt Miggie decided that she would like to buy one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette. Unfortunately, they cost lots of these, plus Aunt Miggie walks with one of these.
Work has been going well. I think we've all finally figured out what our department actually does. We're basically responsible for maintaining all the hotel rates for the hotel. We don't make any decisions per se, but we make sure that when the managers decide what the rates will be or that they will change the rates, they make it to all the channels properly. Pretty interesting stuff, to be honest. Dunno if I'd make a career out of it, but I'm learning a lot.
I actually went out with the other interns for the first time this weekend. They've been going out quite a bit, but I'm not really into the whole "going out" scene, so I've not participated too much. But this time I went. We went to a karaoke bar in a place called the Ellis Island Casino and Brewery (http://www.ellisislandcasino.com/). I guess it's more of a locals place. There's no hotel as part of the casino, though it is conveniently located in the same parking lot as a Super 8 motel... you get the idea. It's a fun place. Freshly-made micro brews only cost $1.50 for a generous pint, and they're pretty tasty to boot. The people there are kind of interesting, but whatever. A good time was had by all.
I'm sure other amusing stuff has happened, but I'll close it for now. I mentioned the other day how I like my mom's lemon merengue pie, and then Aunt Bobbi went and made one for me, so if anyone wants some pie, let me know: it's delicious. Oh and supposedly Lori has started referring to Aunt Bobbi's house as the "nursing home." It's a good name: there are two old ladies living there, and they eat their meals on little trays in front of the TV. Funny stuff.
Bye for now!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Things I forgot....
One of my fellow interns in Channel Distribution, Louise, has been amusing us endlessly. Yesterday, we had a lengthy discussion about Bingo. Louise had no idea what Bingo was. She had also never heard of a lazy river. When asked if she had ever been to a farm, her response was that she had visited the Bronx Zoo. My other fellow intern from Indiana did not approve of that answer. We also discovered that she couldn't identify Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or Sammy Davis Jr. We tried to get her to sing the U.S. Nat'l Anthem... with a little prompting, she was able to do it.
Thankfully, Louise is a great sport about us teasing her. We have a lot of fun in our down time at work. Thank goodness, because some of the work is boring. There are some exciting things to look forward to at work though. Ask me for details.
Thankfully, Louise is a great sport about us teasing her. We have a lot of fun in our down time at work. Thank goodness, because some of the work is boring. There are some exciting things to look forward to at work though. Ask me for details.
Work has begun...
So I have finally started my first training shifts in my hope department. I will be working in Channel Distribution/Reservations. Basically, we set the room rates for the hotel by predicting how many rooms we think we can sell in order get the highest revenue possible. It's pretty cool. There are three other interns in the department with me, and we all get along pretty well.
To start off, they are training us in reservations. They placed us with a reservations supervisor, who is a UNLV student, and happens to be younger than all of us. For the first four hours of training, we went through and read the training manual out loud, each taking turns reading a paragraph. It was unbelievably boring. Later, we finally got started working in Stratus, the property management system the MGM uses. Just like the Marriott system I used last year, it is way out of date (DOS-based program). I guess I've been spoiled using Windows so much... Anyway, I guess I'm now an expert making reservations at MGM Grand. Or something like that. We get to take a room tour today, which is pretty cool... hopefully we'll get to see the SkyLofts, which are these two-story lofts at the top of the hotel, which are basically not sold to the public, but kept for invited guests of the casino. A friend of mine is also trying to finagle us a tour of the Mansion, which contains 29 exclusive villas that run over $10,000 per night.
We had our New Hire Orientation yesterday. Basically, they went over a lot of the same stuff they did last week. Once again, we are experts. The nice thing was that they had us do a scavenger hunt around the casino (I think they said it's 4 football fields long? huge.) which was cool. As prizes, they gave everybody 2 free tickets to Crazy Horse Paris, a topless/artistic show they have at MGM Grand. I knew I'd be getting free tickets to something, so I had planned to take either Aunt Bobbi or Aunt Cathy with me and just flip a coin or something. Luckily, at the end of the day, they also gave us two free tickets to KA, the Cirque du Soleil show we have at MGM. Now Aunt Bobbi and Aunt Cathy can both go---it will be interesting to see who chooses to go to the topless one. I also bought tickets the other night to go see Boston and Styx in June. They're celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV, so all the tickets were $25--I'm pumped.
Not much else to tell, at the moment. The weather has been beautiful. I've been taking the dog for walks a lot. Now every time I come home, he jumps all over me wanting to go outside. Yesterday, I refused to take him because I don't want him to think he can just get what he wants whenever he begs for it. We'll see how well that works. The dog has it pretty good, though.... the other day he got a nice portion of our New York Strip steak (I was hoping for a second serving, but what can you do....). Anyway, it's been fun playing with him. He's very loyal.
That's all, for now. Weekend is coming up... hopefully some good stuff will happen. A friend from Cornell will be in town, so I should get to go out a bit.
To start off, they are training us in reservations. They placed us with a reservations supervisor, who is a UNLV student, and happens to be younger than all of us. For the first four hours of training, we went through and read the training manual out loud, each taking turns reading a paragraph. It was unbelievably boring. Later, we finally got started working in Stratus, the property management system the MGM uses. Just like the Marriott system I used last year, it is way out of date (DOS-based program). I guess I've been spoiled using Windows so much... Anyway, I guess I'm now an expert making reservations at MGM Grand. Or something like that. We get to take a room tour today, which is pretty cool... hopefully we'll get to see the SkyLofts, which are these two-story lofts at the top of the hotel, which are basically not sold to the public, but kept for invited guests of the casino. A friend of mine is also trying to finagle us a tour of the Mansion, which contains 29 exclusive villas that run over $10,000 per night.
We had our New Hire Orientation yesterday. Basically, they went over a lot of the same stuff they did last week. Once again, we are experts. The nice thing was that they had us do a scavenger hunt around the casino (I think they said it's 4 football fields long? huge.) which was cool. As prizes, they gave everybody 2 free tickets to Crazy Horse Paris, a topless/artistic show they have at MGM Grand. I knew I'd be getting free tickets to something, so I had planned to take either Aunt Bobbi or Aunt Cathy with me and just flip a coin or something. Luckily, at the end of the day, they also gave us two free tickets to KA, the Cirque du Soleil show we have at MGM. Now Aunt Bobbi and Aunt Cathy can both go---it will be interesting to see who chooses to go to the topless one. I also bought tickets the other night to go see Boston and Styx in June. They're celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV, so all the tickets were $25--I'm pumped.
Not much else to tell, at the moment. The weather has been beautiful. I've been taking the dog for walks a lot. Now every time I come home, he jumps all over me wanting to go outside. Yesterday, I refused to take him because I don't want him to think he can just get what he wants whenever he begs for it. We'll see how well that works. The dog has it pretty good, though.... the other day he got a nice portion of our New York Strip steak (I was hoping for a second serving, but what can you do....). Anyway, it's been fun playing with him. He's very loyal.
That's all, for now. Weekend is coming up... hopefully some good stuff will happen. A friend from Cornell will be in town, so I should get to go out a bit.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Welcome to my Blog
By popular demand, I have decided to create a blog to chronicle all my exciting experiences this summer. More specifically, my wonderful cousins out in Texas are curious to hear what life is like living with the relatives here in Las Vegas. Therefore, they have requested a blog, and I am more than happy to oblige.
So... where to begin? I arrived here last Sunday late at night from Florida. I had been down there for two days for a Bar Mitzvah, and I was very excited for my arrival here in Las Vegas. The flight came in right on time, and Aunt Miggie and Kenny came down to the airport to pick me up. Aunt Miggie was thankful that Kenny was with her, otherwise she would probably still be trying to find her way around the airport as we speak. Anyway, on the way home, Aunt Miggie blatantly ran a red light at a left turn arrow. We made a lot of fun of her for it, but she was thankful that no cops were around to witness the mistake.
Ironically, I also had occasion to have an incident occur regarding a left turn arrow. On my way home from my second day of work, I was leaving the hotel, making a left turn onto a major road. The light is short, so I pushed it a little bit to make it through. Fortunately, I made it past the light as it was still yellow. Unfortunately, the Metro police officer (on a motorcycle, nonetheless!) nearby disagreed with my assessment of the color of the light. He assigned me a ticket of $300 and yelled at me for not having a Nevada license while driving a Nevada vehicle. Hopefully, he won't show up at Justice court when I go next week.
Other than that, things are going very smoothly. I am enjoying living with the relatives, despite the fact that things tend to be a little louder here. These people eat dinner at home every night (crazy!), which I have been enjoying immensely. Uncle Joe and Aunt Miggie's dog, Scottie, adores me. I think Aunt Miggie is jealous about it, but she doesn't say anything. I have enjoyed spending time with all of them, though. We had a nice outing yesterday to a casino and to do some shopping. We went to one store, a Costco-like place, because Uncle Joe was out of beer. While we were waiting on line to check out, Aunt Miggie noticed that her orthopedic surgeon was on line just in front of us. He had a side of beef in his cart (New York Strip), a case of Perrier water, and some other high end BBQ items. He said he was preparing for Memorial Day, and asked if we were prepared as well. Aunt Miggie pointed out the three 30-packs of Budweiser in our cart and said that we were more than prepared.
No more stories, for now. Aunt Bobbi and Aunt Cathy are living together, so I'm sure something amusing will come of that in the very near future. Perhaps even at dinner tonight. See you later!
So... where to begin? I arrived here last Sunday late at night from Florida. I had been down there for two days for a Bar Mitzvah, and I was very excited for my arrival here in Las Vegas. The flight came in right on time, and Aunt Miggie and Kenny came down to the airport to pick me up. Aunt Miggie was thankful that Kenny was with her, otherwise she would probably still be trying to find her way around the airport as we speak. Anyway, on the way home, Aunt Miggie blatantly ran a red light at a left turn arrow. We made a lot of fun of her for it, but she was thankful that no cops were around to witness the mistake.
Ironically, I also had occasion to have an incident occur regarding a left turn arrow. On my way home from my second day of work, I was leaving the hotel, making a left turn onto a major road. The light is short, so I pushed it a little bit to make it through. Fortunately, I made it past the light as it was still yellow. Unfortunately, the Metro police officer (on a motorcycle, nonetheless!) nearby disagreed with my assessment of the color of the light. He assigned me a ticket of $300 and yelled at me for not having a Nevada license while driving a Nevada vehicle. Hopefully, he won't show up at Justice court when I go next week.
Other than that, things are going very smoothly. I am enjoying living with the relatives, despite the fact that things tend to be a little louder here. These people eat dinner at home every night (crazy!), which I have been enjoying immensely. Uncle Joe and Aunt Miggie's dog, Scottie, adores me. I think Aunt Miggie is jealous about it, but she doesn't say anything. I have enjoyed spending time with all of them, though. We had a nice outing yesterday to a casino and to do some shopping. We went to one store, a Costco-like place, because Uncle Joe was out of beer. While we were waiting on line to check out, Aunt Miggie noticed that her orthopedic surgeon was on line just in front of us. He had a side of beef in his cart (New York Strip), a case of Perrier water, and some other high end BBQ items. He said he was preparing for Memorial Day, and asked if we were prepared as well. Aunt Miggie pointed out the three 30-packs of Budweiser in our cart and said that we were more than prepared.
No more stories, for now. Aunt Bobbi and Aunt Cathy are living together, so I'm sure something amusing will come of that in the very near future. Perhaps even at dinner tonight. See you later!
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