Daily Diary Notes - October

10/28/2008 - Had a good day at the poker tables. I won a $1,208.00 player's share in the "Bad Beat" jackpot at Green Valley Ranch today. Can't believe the weather has been so nice lately. Has been in the mid-80's the past 3 days - great for reading by the pool. Though the water has been too cool for swimming, next week they start heating the pool for the winter.

10/25/2008 - After a morning of working on some photo projects, reading, and watching a Netflix movie, we headed to Lake Las Vegas where they were having a Hawaiian Festival which including outrigger races, entertainment, and a mix of sidewalk vendors. For dinner we had teriyaki steak skewers and tempura shrimp, both of which were very good. We the sat over-looking the lake until dusk, after which we went to the Cigar Club Lounge and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine while sitting in rich leather couches watching football and reading some more of our books. It was then off to the Henderson Events Center for an evening concert

This was certainly one of the most amazing vocal performances we have ever seen. A free performance by Darlene Koldenhoven at the Events Plaza in downtown Henderson. She is a Grammy® Award winner and three-time nominee, who is probably best recognized for her performance as a vocal soloist in "Yanni - live at the Acropolis, which has been viewed worldwide by more than 1.5 billion people on PBS. She is one of the few classically trained singers with a five-octave range who vocally improvises in classical and non-classical styles, produces, composes, arranges, plays keyboards, and writes lyrics.

Her performance tonight left us spellbound. Click here ... to go to her official website. Listen to the video clip from the Yanni concert Click here ...

10/23/2008 - Not much new the past few days. We both started new books. I spent a couple of days working on creating some slide shows on my computer. I was really pleased with the result, however it is 20 minutes long and is too big to place on my blog or to email to anyone. Looks like I will have to make up some CD's and send them out. Got word a couple of days ago that my friend Sol from back east is in a pretty bad way, health wise. It sounds like he had kidney failure and conjestive heart failure last Saturday night. As of today he is in the hospital in a comma, on a ventilator / respirator, with no visitors. We are getting daily updates from friends. We sure wish him well. Today I went out to lunch and shot pool with my neighbor Marc. Connie went to lunch at here friend Joan's house.

10/19/2008 - Yesterday I went to "Big-O-Tires" and ended up getting a $100 credit for future work (lubes, oil changes, etc.) for the tires I had bought that were showing signs of dry rot and cracking. In the evening we went to the Chris Angel magic show at Luxor and were fairly disappointed. Click to read our Chris Angel Show Review. Today looks like a just a down day with some time at the pool. We both have a book to finish and then maybe a movie before the 7th and final American League playoff game, and the last chance for the Red Sox to make the world series. Oh well, even though they had a great chance in the 8th inning to win the game they just couldn't pull it off. Guess there is always next year.

10/17/2008 - Wrong again! Upon our return from the concert last night I stopped at our mail room to pick up the day's mail and when I got back into the car, it wouldn't start. Boy was I ticked! This morning I had to call AAA and have it towed to the Cadillac garage. It ended up being a worn out ignition. Of course, they were busy and it took all day to get it in and fixed. Another $251 and we were finally up and running again. This evening we went to another free concert provided by the Henderson Symphony at the Henderson Pavilion, just up the street from where we live. Read more ...

10/16/2008 - Yesterday was "getting the car back day" again. After last weeks ordeal with the Cadillac garage, I had to take it to the AC garage to get some warranty work done on the air conditioning system, and again had to leave it overnight. Next I have to go fight with "Big-O-Tires" over two tires that I purchased in the past couple years that showed signs of dry rotting. Hopefully, that will be the end of "car problems" for quite some time to come. Tonight we attended a concert by the UNLV Community Concert Band at the Henderson Events Plaza. Read more ...

10/13/2008 - Columbus Day. We saw the movie, "Body of Lies." We both liked it though Connie had a little trouble following it. Then we went to the Silverton Casino and had their "Seasons Buffet" which they were offering for only $5 as a holiday special. What a deal.

10/12/2008 - I guess winter is nearly here, the temperature this morning was 48 degrees, which was about 14 degrees below normal. We turned the heat on for the first time this year to warm the place up. The good news is, that it is suppose to warm up to the mid-80's by Tuesday. Went to GVR for a little gambling and then went to The Elephant Bar for dinner. Then came home and watched the Patriot's get trounced. One of the worst games we have seen them play in the past 4 or 5 years.

10/11/2008 - Today we attended the 41st annual World’s Championship Chili Cookoff held at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino on the Strip. There were approximately 400 cooks from across the United States and beyond that competed in the cookoff. The main categories were red chili, green “verde” chili and salsa. Each day the public votes a winner as well as the ICS judges. Winners can get up to $25,000. Even though it was a rather 'cool' day with impending rain that never happened, it provided a good was to warm up. I tried 12 different chili's and Connie about half that. We met several cooks from the east coast and one who had won the competition at Well beach in Maine. We both agreed on the one we thought was the best, which just happened to be the first tent we tried. The live entertainment was a little loud, but the beer was nice and cold. It was a good time.

10/10/2008 - Well, we have been without a car for four days and this was pick up the car day. The total was $3350.00. And this was a deal. Because I had it done by a friend, he was able to knock off nearly $1,500.00 on the cost of parts, labor and taxes. Now I just hope one of these crazy Las Vegas drivers doesn't run into me.

10/07/2008 - Not much new here. Have been involved in several meetings over the past few days with our property manager concerning security issues. There have been several acts of vandalism, smashing of unit windows, and some cars, that appear to be malicious vandalism vs attempted break ins. I started a community blog [Players Club Resident Association] a few months back to help bring residents together to help management resolve these and other issues. Today is "car" and 9-ball day. First I had to drop my car off at the Cadillac garage; then it was off to shoot pool with my neighbor. When I got home from shooting pool, I got the bad news from the garage. I knew I needed a lot of work, as it had been over 6 years since I've had anything done. The list was long; oil leak, transmission leak, new breaks, tie rods, front struts, front shocks, idler motor, serpentine belt, new tensioner, 4 new tires, aligned and balanced, fuel filter, tune-up, spark plugs, cap and plug wires, etc. Some of these items were needed based upon the fact that the car is 16 years old and were just worn out. Can't wait to see this bill.

10/03/2008 - There was a beautiful fall sunrise this morning and the air, a cool 75 degrees, was filled with the honking of the 20-25 Canadian geese that fly in and out of the the golf course directly across from out deck. Though we get to see them from the pool, we get a better view from our deck once the leaves are gone from the trees. After Connie fixed a nice breakfast we were off to the library to do some magazine reading and pick up some new books.
Our library has a beautiful reading area with a 40-foot high wall of windows overlooking Green Valley and the entire city of Las Vegas. I picked up the new Stephen Coonts book "The Assassin" and Robert Tanenbaum's new book "Escape." We then went to GVR for a little gambling and then back home for dinner and some of our favorite TV shows that we had recorded on TIVO.

10/01/2008 - TODAY's Low, 77 degrees, with a High 96 degrees. Today was kind of a down day after yesterday's day trip. In the morning we made our monthly pilgrimage to Walmart, Connie's favorite place to go. After an hour of shopping the bursitis in her hip really starts to hurt. In the afternoon, after a brief rest and lunch at home, we took advantage of Southpoint Casino's $3.00 movie prices for seniors and saw the movie, "Eagle Eye". Just a little extreme, but certainly full of super fast paced action. It was home to watch the winner of "America's Got Talent." We were not sure we agreed with the chosen winner, Neil Boyd the opera singer. We actually liked the two violin guys and the piano player better.