12/31/2009 - In the afternoon I cooked up our leftover Swedish meatballs and made chicken fingers and served them with marinated mushrooms, pickles, marinated olives, Vermont chedder cheese and some fancy crackers. We opened a bottle of Champagne and toasted the upcoming new year. Then Connie and I got ready for our evening at the Eastside Cannery where we took in a "Blood, Sweat & Tears" concert for New Year's Eve. Click here to read more about the concert, New Years Eve 2009.
12/30/2009 - I got up and stared on my pea soup, I soaked enough peas that I made two batches. I prepared a nice big breakfast of scrambled eggs with onion and cheese, english muffins, and bacon. John and I sat in my computer room talking "computer geek" stuff for hours. The pea soup was ready in time for lunch. Connie and I went to the library, ran some errands and went to the "M" and picked up two free bottles of Champagne. For dinner we headed to Garduno's Mexican restaurant at the Palms, where we enjoyed another very good meal, The Chili Rellenos were excellent. We came home and watched a couple of prerecorded shows we had on TV with John and then retired for the evening.
12/29/2009 - We got a surprise today - my cousin John arrived a day early in his Lazy Daze RV for his planned week stay. Seeing that we missed being able to see him last year, we have really been looking forward to his visit this year, knowing that there would be "tons" of stories to "catch up" on. Of course, the first was his coming from his visit with friends at the Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. During his five-day stay there he suffered temperatures as low as -10 below zero. Yikes! We took him to the lunch buffet at the "M". He thought it was very good and said he ate more then he normally eats in a full day. On the way home we stopped at the store and got some stuff I needed to make a pea soup with the ham bone I had in the refrigerator. I started the peas soaking for my soup and then we sat around and listened to some more of John's travel stories, had chocolate chip cookies for desert and then all hit the sack early.
12/28/2009 - Today we are headed to our favorite movie theater to see "it's Complicated" with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. We enjoyed it thouroughly. Click here for our review. It's Complicated. After the movie we headed to the "M" for a wonderful lunch buffet. After viewing my cousins website, it appears that he is on schedule for a visit with us tomorrow. After more than 4 days of "below zero" weather at the Ghost Ranch in norther New Mexico, we're sure he will enjoy a much warmer week here with us.
12/27/2009 - I spent the morning adding pages to my new travel blog. I just about have all of our 2009 road trips added to the site. Check them out by visiting at the following address: Our Travelogue Diary Connie spent most of the day watching her football games. I went over to the "M" and played poker for about 6 hours and picked up a $100 dollars. Just about made up for what I lost the day before.
12/26/2009 - I spent yesterday and this morning working on "year-end" computer stuff, upgrading drivers, etc. As is always the case whenever you load something new into Windows, it causes something else not to work. So I spent several hours "fixing" some things after loading new video drivers. In the end I finally got everything working.
12/25/2009 - CHRISTMAS DAY - Opened a couple of gives that April had sent, other than that it was just another morning as usual. We have already been wearing some L.L. Bean goodies that we ordered for ourselves a couple of weeks ago. This evening we have been invited to dinner at our downstairs neighbors. They are having Cornish Hens, stuffing and all the fixings. After all the work preparing for yesterday, we are really looking forward to a nice quiet, relaxing evening.
12/24/2009 - Got up and started working on food for our little gathering tonight. Talked to mom and wished her a Merry Christmas. Received a surprise call from the girls saying they were in Phoenix, AZ. They sounded good though Sue said that Nancy still weren't doing great and that she hadn't been able to keep any weight on. We were glad to hear from them. After a few last minute shopping items, I started preparing dishes for this evening's gathering of some friends and neighbors.
We served shrimp dip on crackers topped with a baby shrimp, smoked salmon, cucmber slice, capers and dill cream cheese on pumpernickel cocktail breads, sea scallops wrapped in bacon, Swedish meatballs, a baked ham, shrimp, deviled eggs, assorted olives and marinated mushrooms. On top of this my friend Jeff brought a huge Sushi platter and brownies for desert. There were nine of us and everyone had a good time, most not leaving until after 9 pm. It turned out to be just a lovely evening.
12/23/2009 - I spent the morning working on recipes and a shopping list for the Hors-D-Oeuvres that I'm preparing for a few friends and neighbors we are having over on Christmas Eve. We went to the movies in the afternoon and saw, "Did You Hear Abou the Morgans?". Not great, but we both like Hugh Grant. Click the title to read our review. After the movie we had a all-you-can-eat, 2-1 prime-rib buffet that was excellent. It was then home to begin working on a couple of the dishes for tomorrow. After that we talked with my brother in Tahoe for nearly an hour and then watched G.I. Joe: The Rise of The Cobra, a Netflix movie that our neighbor gave us. Click the title for a review.
12/22/2009 - We received a call from the girls this morning. We hadn't heard anything from them since they left on Saturday morning and were getting quietly worried. They told us how much they appreciated everything we had done for them that that they were in Laughlin, headed for Arizona, where they thought they might have a better chance for some assistance as they both had Arizona ID's. I then spent the morning working on posting some pages to my new travel blog, http://ourtraveloguediary.blogspot.com/. Then we went out to do some food and gift shopping. Later in the afternoon I picked up my neighbor and went to the "M" where we both came out winners.
12/20/2009 - Having received a draft of my book in the mail a couple of days ago, I finished working on the necessary formating revisions that I started yesterday. In the afternoon we watched the Mel Gibson movie, "We Were Soldiers". This was probably one of the most realistic Vietnam war movies ever produced. Check out our review here. Of course we spent the evening watching the final three hours of Survivor, Samoa. We both felt that Russel certainly deserved to win and were glad that he at least received recognition as the best player.
12/19/2009 - The girls' brother from California showed up early this morning, finally relieving us of our three days of trying to nurse them back to health. Even though we were glad that we were able to help them, there was still a fair amount of stress and strain from dealing with both them and their brothers over the last three days. As a result, we decided to stay home and get some rest and relaxation. I worked on revisions to my book and Connie read.
12/18/2009 - We spent the last two days caring for and trying to nurse the girls back to health. They were so weak that they sometimes needed assistance in walking back and forth to the bathroom. The good news was that after two and a half days, they appeared to be getting a little better. In the meantime, I convinced their brother in California to come pick them up on Saturday. In the meantime, I bought them a disposable cellphone for emergencies and gave them some luggage bags for their few meager belongings.
12/16/2009 - About mid-morning we went to the hospital to visit the girls. Though somewhat better they both still looked pretty bad. Because there was some talk about them being discharged that day, something we couldn't believe was possible, we let them know that they could stay with us if they couldn't get into a shelter right away.
Around 5:30 in the evening we received a call from them requesting our help. We drove to the hospital and found the two of them sitting in the foyer. They were both so weak, that neither of them could walk across the lobby to my car without assistance. We just could believe that the hospital had discharged either of them. Once we got home, one of them almost didn't make it up the stairs to our apartment.
12/15/2009 - This was the last of our 3-day stay at the "M". We slept in late and then enjoyed another continental breakfast in bed while reading the morning paper. After checking out, we tried our luck again in the casino before heading home. Once home I went through the mail, paid bills and did some catching up on email. We then watched some recorded TV shows. It was just kind of a wind down day. Just before heading to bed we received a call from the girls' brother stating that he had to get back to California. I informed him that we would both go visit them in the morning.
12/13/2009 - After some quick packing, we headed to the "M" Resort for our 2-night stay. After check-in we went down to the lobby bar to view their 110-foot Christmas tree - the tallest in the entire U.S. We then enjoyed the Sunday Seafood Brunch at the Buffet. Along with the all-you-can-eat crabs legs, we had shrimp, salmon, calamari and a delicious seafood stew.
In the evening we had tickets to Bowfire. This was a concert of some of the best "strings" musicians we had ever experienced. Fiddlers, violinists, guitars, etc. Some sang Christmas carols and two performed some fantastic clogging.
12/30/2009 - I got up and stared on my pea soup, I soaked enough peas that I made two batches. I prepared a nice big breakfast of scrambled eggs with onion and cheese, english muffins, and bacon. John and I sat in my computer room talking "computer geek" stuff for hours. The pea soup was ready in time for lunch. Connie and I went to the library, ran some errands and went to the "M" and picked up two free bottles of Champagne. For dinner we headed to Garduno's Mexican restaurant at the Palms, where we enjoyed another very good meal, The Chili Rellenos were excellent. We came home and watched a couple of prerecorded shows we had on TV with John and then retired for the evening.
12/29/2009 - We got a surprise today - my cousin John arrived a day early in his Lazy Daze RV for his planned week stay. Seeing that we missed being able to see him last year, we have really been looking forward to his visit this year, knowing that there would be "tons" of stories to "catch up" on. Of course, the first was his coming from his visit with friends at the Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. During his five-day stay there he suffered temperatures as low as -10 below zero. Yikes! We took him to the lunch buffet at the "M". He thought it was very good and said he ate more then he normally eats in a full day. On the way home we stopped at the store and got some stuff I needed to make a pea soup with the ham bone I had in the refrigerator. I started the peas soaking for my soup and then we sat around and listened to some more of John's travel stories, had chocolate chip cookies for desert and then all hit the sack early.
12/28/2009 - Today we are headed to our favorite movie theater to see "it's Complicated" with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. We enjoyed it thouroughly. Click here for our review. It's Complicated. After the movie we headed to the "M" for a wonderful lunch buffet. After viewing my cousins website, it appears that he is on schedule for a visit with us tomorrow. After more than 4 days of "below zero" weather at the Ghost Ranch in norther New Mexico, we're sure he will enjoy a much warmer week here with us.
12/27/2009 - I spent the morning adding pages to my new travel blog. I just about have all of our 2009 road trips added to the site. Check them out by visiting at the following address: Our Travelogue Diary Connie spent most of the day watching her football games. I went over to the "M" and played poker for about 6 hours and picked up a $100 dollars. Just about made up for what I lost the day before.
12/26/2009 - I spent yesterday and this morning working on "year-end" computer stuff, upgrading drivers, etc. As is always the case whenever you load something new into Windows, it causes something else not to work. So I spent several hours "fixing" some things after loading new video drivers. In the end I finally got everything working.
12/25/2009 - CHRISTMAS DAY - Opened a couple of gives that April had sent, other than that it was just another morning as usual. We have already been wearing some L.L. Bean goodies that we ordered for ourselves a couple of weeks ago. This evening we have been invited to dinner at our downstairs neighbors. They are having Cornish Hens, stuffing and all the fixings. After all the work preparing for yesterday, we are really looking forward to a nice quiet, relaxing evening.
12/24/2009 - Got up and started working on food for our little gathering tonight. Talked to mom and wished her a Merry Christmas. Received a surprise call from the girls saying they were in Phoenix, AZ. They sounded good though Sue said that Nancy still weren't doing great and that she hadn't been able to keep any weight on. We were glad to hear from them. After a few last minute shopping items, I started preparing dishes for this evening's gathering of some friends and neighbors.
We served shrimp dip on crackers topped with a baby shrimp, smoked salmon, cucmber slice, capers and dill cream cheese on pumpernickel cocktail breads, sea scallops wrapped in bacon, Swedish meatballs, a baked ham, shrimp, deviled eggs, assorted olives and marinated mushrooms. On top of this my friend Jeff brought a huge Sushi platter and brownies for desert. There were nine of us and everyone had a good time, most not leaving until after 9 pm. It turned out to be just a lovely evening.
12/23/2009 - I spent the morning working on recipes and a shopping list for the Hors-D-Oeuvres that I'm preparing for a few friends and neighbors we are having over on Christmas Eve. We went to the movies in the afternoon and saw, "Did You Hear Abou the Morgans?". Not great, but we both like Hugh Grant. Click the title to read our review. After the movie we had a all-you-can-eat, 2-1 prime-rib buffet that was excellent. It was then home to begin working on a couple of the dishes for tomorrow. After that we talked with my brother in Tahoe for nearly an hour and then watched G.I. Joe: The Rise of The Cobra, a Netflix movie that our neighbor gave us. Click the title for a review.
12/22/2009 - We received a call from the girls this morning. We hadn't heard anything from them since they left on Saturday morning and were getting quietly worried. They told us how much they appreciated everything we had done for them that that they were in Laughlin, headed for Arizona, where they thought they might have a better chance for some assistance as they both had Arizona ID's. I then spent the morning working on posting some pages to my new travel blog, http://ourtraveloguediary.blogspot.com/. Then we went out to do some food and gift shopping. Later in the afternoon I picked up my neighbor and went to the "M" where we both came out winners.
12/20/2009 - Having received a draft of my book in the mail a couple of days ago, I finished working on the necessary formating revisions that I started yesterday. In the afternoon we watched the Mel Gibson movie, "We Were Soldiers". This was probably one of the most realistic Vietnam war movies ever produced. Check out our review here. Of course we spent the evening watching the final three hours of Survivor, Samoa. We both felt that Russel certainly deserved to win and were glad that he at least received recognition as the best player.
12/19/2009 - The girls' brother from California showed up early this morning, finally relieving us of our three days of trying to nurse them back to health. Even though we were glad that we were able to help them, there was still a fair amount of stress and strain from dealing with both them and their brothers over the last three days. As a result, we decided to stay home and get some rest and relaxation. I worked on revisions to my book and Connie read.
12/18/2009 - We spent the last two days caring for and trying to nurse the girls back to health. They were so weak that they sometimes needed assistance in walking back and forth to the bathroom. The good news was that after two and a half days, they appeared to be getting a little better. In the meantime, I convinced their brother in California to come pick them up on Saturday. In the meantime, I bought them a disposable cellphone for emergencies and gave them some luggage bags for their few meager belongings.
12/16/2009 - About mid-morning we went to the hospital to visit the girls. Though somewhat better they both still looked pretty bad. Because there was some talk about them being discharged that day, something we couldn't believe was possible, we let them know that they could stay with us if they couldn't get into a shelter right away.
Around 5:30 in the evening we received a call from them requesting our help. We drove to the hospital and found the two of them sitting in the foyer. They were both so weak, that neither of them could walk across the lobby to my car without assistance. We just could believe that the hospital had discharged either of them. Once we got home, one of them almost didn't make it up the stairs to our apartment.
12/15/2009 - This was the last of our 3-day stay at the "M". We slept in late and then enjoyed another continental breakfast in bed while reading the morning paper. After checking out, we tried our luck again in the casino before heading home. Once home I went through the mail, paid bills and did some catching up on email. We then watched some recorded TV shows. It was just kind of a wind down day. Just before heading to bed we received a call from the girls' brother stating that he had to get back to California. I informed him that we would both go visit them in the morning.
12/14/2009 - After a continental breakfast in bed while reading the USA Today we headed down to the Spa. We spent nearly two hours bouncing back and forth between the steam room, sauna, and whirpool. Our day then got interrupted by a phone message from the two sisters who used to be our neighbors, asking if they could spend the night. As it turns out they had been homeless and living in their car since the last time we heard from them back in June. They hadn't eaten in more than a week and were in such bad health, near death, that someone actually convinced them to go to the hospital emergency room. After I met them at the hospital I call a brother in California and convinced him to come the next day. After I got back to the casino, I sat down in the poker room for a hour, waiting for the Oyster Bar to open for dinner, and hit a high hand jackpot for $500.00. After dinner we headed to the room and watched the Monday Night Football game and a couple of shows over cookies and milk.
12/13/2009 - After some quick packing, we headed to the "M" Resort for our 2-night stay. After check-in we went down to the lobby bar to view their 110-foot Christmas tree - the tallest in the entire U.S. We then enjoyed the Sunday Seafood Brunch at the Buffet. Along with the all-you-can-eat crabs legs, we had shrimp, salmon, calamari and a delicious seafood stew. 
In the evening we had tickets to Bowfire. This was a concert of some of the best "strings" musicians we had ever experienced. Fiddlers, violinists, guitars, etc. Some sang Christmas carols and two performed some fantastic clogging.
12/12/2009 - Spent the last couple of days designing and putting together a new blog site to share some of our travel experiences over the past seven years. Though this site will probably end up being a work in progress for several months, I feel like I got a good start on it. Click here to check it out, Our Travelogue Diary
12/10/2009 - I spent a number of hours updating my retirement blog site. Having checked out some new blog features and having learned some new things about posting, I have pretty much automated the posting of background images into a lot of my posts. I think this makes the site more appealing and certainly adds a lot more color to the site. Also went out and performed a little shopping.
In the afternoon we went to the "M" Casino and met our neighbor friend Jim for lunch. After bringing Connie home and having dinner, I went back out to the Southpoint for some more poker action.
12/09/2009 - This afternoon we went to the Southpoint to see the movie "The Blind Side". Having got there an hour and a half early we both decided to play a little. I won $450 at the poker tables and Connie won $25 playing slots. What a country! Check out our movie review here The Blind Side. After the movie we decided to try out their steakhouse with a 2-1 coupon that we had. What a great surprise. Catch our review here Restaurant Review - Silverado Steakhouse
12/08/2009 - Today I started my year-end review of my blogs, checking pages, links,making changes, etc. This will probably take me several days to complete. Check out these pages that I added in an effort to catch up on the past couple of weeks. Entertainment Review - "Vinnie Favorito and Entertainment Review - "Jersey Boys" In the afternoon we went to the Southpoint to see the movie "Blindside".
12/07/2009 - Today was windy and rainy almost all day long. Just outside the city, Mt. Charleston got nearly 18 inches of snow. After our normal morning routine, we went to the "M" for the buffet lunch and some "playing".
12/06/2009 - Woke up with an upset stomach this morning and didn't really feel like going out or doing much so today I took on the project of reviewing a year's worth of sites in my favorites and password lists and weeding out those I no longer use or visit. Done. Cross another of my "year-end" projects off the list.
12/05/2009 - Today I started my end of the year cleanup on my computer. Getting rid of programs and stuff I no longer use, cleaning up my IE Favories list, deleting files I no longer need, updating website logins and passwords and trying to rearrange what is left so I can better find what I want, when I want it.
12-04-2009 - Nothing much to report. Ate out at "Buffet Asia" one of our favorite Chinese places. Wen over to he "M" and picked up a free bottle of wine, lost a little and came home and watch Survivor.
12/03/2009 - We sat around reading and watching TV until it was time to leave for the Rodeo. We had pizza for lunch over a couple of shows. Jim came over at 4:30 and we headed to the Southpoint to catch a shuttle bus to the Cashman Center so I wouldn't have to deal with traffic and parking. As we expected, the arena was mobbed. The shuttle worked out great except that when it was over, they didn't have enough busses and we had to wait outside in line for them to make a return trip. As it was only 45-degrees, we were all chilled to the bone by the time it came. Although attending one of these events makes for a fun evening, we both agreed that we certainly couldn't do it every night for the entire 10-days of the event. Click here to see some photos ... The National Finals Rodeo
12/02/2009 - Picked up our neighbor, Jim, and headed over to the "M". We had dinner together at the "Vig Deli". Hamburgers and fries, all on comps. Everyone came home a winner except Connie who lost $20. Besides winning at poker, I won two tickets to Thursday's opening night of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Jim talked his way into another free ticket as well. Jim had actually been wanting to go for a couple of years.
12/01/2009 - Here it is December already. Where has the year gone? I played on the computer and worked on puting the final touches on my photo book while Connie read. I cooked "Orange Chicken" and rice for a late lunch which we watched over a "B" Netflix's movie titled, "Direct Contact". After the movie I did some more work on the book and then we had some apple pie for dinner, watched TV and went to bed.
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