Saturday, April 04, 2015

Returning to Work From Vacation Should Be Against the Law


After a nice trip to Arizona, I somehow made it through a week of work. Actually, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. It was as if the week woke me up to remember that I need to take more time out for vacation instead of just grinding it at work all the time. Such was the transition I had to head of my department over the last three years. Any readers who have had significant responsibility for a group of workers and everything that goes along with that likely understands. Sometimes when you get away you are not really away.

I am also facing some blunt realities in life. In just over four months, I will have three kids in college at the same time. Money is just a concept in my life -- something that exists in the abstract. This is the closest that I have come to understanding how those rich professional poker players go about their business. It is if money isn't really real. It is also like I am the great middleman laundering money, making sure it goes from my employer to the University of Illinois and several credit card companies. Don't cry for me, Argentina, though -- I am just complaining, something I basically tend not to do.

The whole notion of vacation spurred Mrs. lightning to think about how, with the kids growing older, we might have just one last shot for a family vacation. So, outside of a little remaining planning, it looks like we are going to go to New Orleans in July, stopping in Memphis on the way down (shouting out to Memphis MOJO here!). I am still working on whether or not we will stop anywhere or go anyplace on the way back, or if we might just be too tired (or too tired of each other!) to do more than veg in the van.

I do have a Las Vegas trip planned sooner rather than later, however. I'll be flying down and getting into Las Vegas late in the evening on Saturday, May 30 and then leaving the next Saturday, June 6, just after midnight. Thanks to Pete P. Peters, who is letting me crash in his room when I get in late Saturday night. My wife asked me if I have warned him yet about how bad my snoring is. Heh!

I'll be setting up shop for the week in The LINQ. This will be the first time for my staying there since the old Imperial Palace was redone. Unfortunately, Caesar's  Corp has apparently been unhappy with my decision to work instead of being more of a degenerate gambler in its casinos, and it has been very stingy with room offers to me. I am actually paying for a room AND the resort fee? Blasphemy!

So ... life continues on. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful spring day in central Illinois. My best wishes to everyone. And for those who are so inclined -- Happy Easter!

7 Comments:

Blogger cokeboy99 said...

I'm stuck with free rooms like crazy and no opportunity to use them due to the new job....what little vacation time I will have this year will be spent in the Bahamas with the wife for a week. No more lengthy Vegas trips for me this year, With any luck, I am hoping for a short weekend trip, maybe 2, but that's all I can hope for this year, However, I am aiming for a return trip for the Super Bowl as well as a week during the WSOP next year!

Good luck with the family vacation, I know ours stopped once us kids all went our separate ways. And 3 kids in college at once?? Hope you run good in poker and can use it to help pay the tuition....lol

10:09 AM  
Blogger Onechiquita100 said...

You and PPP in Vegas simultaneously? I will be back by then I think, but leaving for Portland on the 3rd on a three week long trip to find Britni and drink beer.

11:48 AM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

SWEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!! NOLA is AWESOME!!!!!! i like the voodoo/zombie/Anne Rice tours. and cemetery tours too. and the beer and po boys. the WWII muesems is biiiiiiiitchin what i remember of it.

12:41 PM  
Blogger Tony Bigcharles said...

why shouldn't the kids pay the tuition themselves? i decided not to attend, but mine was paid for with grants, and scholarships, certainly none from me or my mom. 2 days was all the college i ever had in life.

4:10 PM  
Blogger ~Coach said...

"Resort fees" - What a joke... Between that and cabs... Anyway, sounds like you're be there for the WSOP - cool...

6:49 PM  
Blogger Memphis MOJO said...

Let me know when you are heading Memphis way. If I can be here (instead of FL), I'd like to take your crew to Corky's again.

Caesar's Corp has apparently been unhappy with my decision to work instead of being more of a degenerate gambler in its casinos, and it has been very stingy with room offers

I've heard times are tight for Caesars, and they have cut down on comps of all types.

11:19 PM  
Blogger Rob said...

You and PPP sharing a room sounds like the poker version of The Odd Couple. Do you realize he has Cabernet, not water, running out of the sinks and the showers?

CET has no money, that's why they are shafting you. I believe if PPP playes 100 more hours of VP there he will take over control of the whole corporation. Which is probably something nobody wants.

The family trip sounds fun, but you need to convince one of those kids to get a job so they can pay their own way at kolledge.

12:21 PM  

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