A Daily Diary - "July"

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SATURDAY - 07/31/2010 - So much for another month! There was a fairly strong wind today which made it seem cooler at the pool. We spent nearly three hours there talking and reading with our downstairs neighbors. After showering and changing, we headed to GVR for their weekend "all-you-can-eat" crab-legs brunch. It was free with a 2-1 coupon and my poker comps. We then headed over to the "M" where I picked up a couple of hundred playing poker. Came home and finished watching "Munich", the Netflix movie we had started the night before. Even though we had seen this movie many years before, it was still good.

FRIDAY - 07/30/2010 - After our normal wake-up routine of playing on the computer, while Connie watches GMA we put in some morning time reading at the pool. I prepared some simple snacks for a late lunch that we had over a couple of prerecorded TV shows. We then headed to the "M" Casino for some free slot play before going out for dinner. I had reservations at Todd's, a rather unique gourmet dining restaurant that is located just a couple of miles down the street from where we live. They had emailed me a $25.00 off coupon that I had to use by July 31st. Both the food and service were excellent. I had the Grilled Skirt steak On Fire chili cheese fries and black bean sauce. It was very tender and tasty. Connie had the Breast of Duck with sweet potatoes and pomegranate sauce. Unfortunately, the portions were too large for us to have dessert, some of which were very enticing. It made for a lovely evening out. We were both so tired after we got home, we were only able to watch half of a Netflix movie before heading to bed.

THURSDAY - 07/29/2010 - Our friend Jim Herring came over this morning and he a I headed out over the mountains west of Vegas to visit the Pahrump Valley Winery. What a pleasant surprise we had. Though not a huge winery, this place is like an oasis in the desert. We got a very interesting tour of the facilities which provided a detailed history of this 20-year old winery and their production methods.

After the tour we all stepped up to the sampling bar where we were given samplings of the 14 different varieties of wines they produce. We then decided to have lunch in the Symphony's restaurant, the biggest surprise of all. This gourmet restaurant offered a full lunch and dinner menu beautifully prepared and served in an atmosphere of quiet elegance.  I had the Winemaker's Club on a grilled ciabatta bread which came with a delicious cup of Creme Cherry laced Lobster Bisque. Jim had the Sirloin French Dip with homemade steak fries. Not only was everyting excellent, the prices were reasonable. I can't wait to go back with Connie and have dinner.  My mom called in the evening to thank us for the flowers we sent for her birthday. Unfortunately, the florist screwed up and delivered them 6 days early, even though mom said they were lovely. Got another call from Gus later in the evening providing us with the sad news that our dear friend Sol Negm passed away Wednesday night. We talked for quite some time reminiscing about some of the many good times we had shared with Sol.

PORTSMOUTH - Soliman "Sol" Negm, 75, died Thursday, July 29, 2010, at his home, after a long period of failing health. Born March 10, 1935, in Alexandria, Egypt, the son of Selim and Helen Negm, he moved to the United States as a young man and served in the U.S. Army. Sol was an innkeeper and restaurateur, and came to the Seacoast in 1969 to open the Helm Restaurant. He also opened the Matthew Marsh House, Harvest House and Eliot House restaurants. He then went into real estate and operated the Sol Negm Real Estate Company for many years. Sol enjoyed membership in the Warwick Cub. Survivors include his children, Michael Negm and Robert Negm; grandchildren Geoffrey Negm, Matthew Negm and Micheline Labrie; a great-grandson, Brayden; his siblings, Paulette Ghaly, Kamal Negm and wife Christel, Magdi Negm and wife Andrea, and Yvette Gamester and husband Richard; one niece and six nephews. SERVICES: A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Bethany Church, 500 Breakfast Hill Road, Greenland. Friends are invited. Memorial donations may be made to Bethany Church, 500 Breakfast Hill Road, Greenland, NH 03840. Farrell Funeral Home, 684 State St., Portsmouth, is assisting with arrangements.
   

WEDNESDAY - 07/28/2010 - I spent most of the day working on publishing a project that I have been working on for more than a month, a book for my neighbor Jim Freed that chronicles his playing in the Senior Event at the WSOP. In the early part of the morning, the pool was still shut down from yesterday and I wasn't able to use it until after noontime. In the early evening one of our neighbors picked us up and treated us to dinner at the Yard House, a place we had suggested that they had not been to before. Martin had the Turkey Pot Pie that was absolutely huge; the biggest that any of us had ever seen. I wished I had brought my camera. The rest of us had the Parmesan Chicken with three mushroom gravy that Connie had had on our last visit. Good food, good company, making for an enjoyable evening, and I didn't have to drive for a change. After we got home we watched American Idol and went to bed.

MONDAY - 07/26/2010 - I had another follow-up visit with my urologist this morning. Basically said that the analysis of the kidney stones pieces that I passed were a combination of both calcium and uric acid. Too much uric acid, associated with a high purine intake, can cause a stone to form. The highest concentrations of purines are found in anchovies, sardines, scallops, gravy, meat, liver, meat products and sweetbreads. Calcium stones, the most common, come from an over abundance of calcium in the diet such as from milk and foods made from large amounts of milk, such as chedder cheese, mozzarella, american cheese, pizza, yogurt, ice cream, broccoli (who would have thunk it?), and believe it or not, instant oatmeal. Of course, because sugars and sodium are bad, one should avoid canned and frozen processed foods. After emptying the cupboards, freezer and refrigerator, there was nothing left in the house to eat and we had to go out to eat. Isn't life just wonderful.

Jim Herring came over around noontime and we all went to lunch at Jason's Deli. He has one back home that he eats at often and loved the idea. We then headed over to the Southpoint casino to see "Salt", the new movie with Angelina Jolie. Despite mediocre reviews, we all like it. Check out our review here ... Salt. After the movie we picked up some ice cream and hot fudge sauce and went home and made banana splits. We sat around and talked, looked at some slide-shows of some of my pictures on the computer before calling it a day. After Jim left we watched a couple of shows on TV and then went to bed.

Connie, Jim and our champagne mimosas
SATURDAY - 07/24/2010 - Our friend Jim Herring from Kansas arrived yesterday for another week's vacation and came over this morning for some pool time. He said that, due to the humidity back home, they have had "heat indexes" of more than 115 degrees. Even though it was almost 105 by the pool, he said it felt cool compared to back home due to the fact that we have almost no humidity. We spent nearly three hours enjoying the pool, talking and drinking champagne mimosas. When we came in I prepared us a late brunch of mushroom, pepper, and cheese omelets, roast beef hash, and English muffins.  We sat around talking over a Brooks & Dunn tribute special we on the DVR player. After Jim left to head back to his vacation home in North Las Vegas, we went to the library and then over to the "M" for a little slot and poker play. I won what Connie lost and we came home even.

FRIDAY - 07/23/2010 - We went to the pool and read while a couple of our neighbors did some "water aerobics" that another of the residents was offering as an exercise class. I went and got a much needed haircut and stopped by the store to pick up some fixings for a nice salad. We ate lunch over a Netflix movie, "People I've Known", an old Al Pacino movie. Later I cooked up hot dogs and beans for dinner, watched a couple of recordings we had of "So You Think You Can Dance" and then headed off to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 07/21/2010 - We spent the morning out at the pool, reading out books and talking with some of our neighbors. Around noon, we ended up going to lunch with our neighbors Martin and Janice Wilson. They took us to "Jason's Deli".  Even though it is a very popular, country-wide chain, we had never been before. We had soup and sandwiches and thought is was very good. After lunch we took a couple of bottles of wine from the fridge and went over to their place and watched a movie on their new 48" flat-screen TV. After coming home we watched a couple of TV shows and then retired for the evening.

TUESDAY 07-20/2010 - It has been over 110 degrees for the past several days. Needless to say we have spent most of the time inside in air conditioning. I spent several hours over the past couple of days working on putting together the following picture collages for a couple of my poker playing friends. The first one is of my neighbor Jim Freed, who I helped with a little coaching during his play at the World Series of Poker Senior Event. He Placed 236 out of more than 3140 players.  The second was for a friend with whom I play with on occasion. After I finished up this morning, I hit pool for a couple of hours while Connie stayed inside reading. She won't go to the pool when it gets much over 100. We then went up to GVR for a 2-1 lunch buffet before heading over to the "M" to pick up two free bottles of wine and a little play. Came home and had PB&J sandwiches for dinner over a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

My Neighbor, Jim Freed

Mario - One of My Poker Friends

Dinner at the Yard House w/Ron and Garyann

SATURDAY - 07/17/2010 - I spent most of the day working on photos that I took over the past nine days on our mini vacation. It got up to 108 by the middle of the afternoon when we went to the movies and out to dinner at the Town Square with one of our neighbors to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary. We saw the new movie "Inception", which we all found to be extremely confusing, fragmented, and requiring way to much concentration in trying to make any sense out of it or to make it an enjoyable experience. We ended up having dinner at the Yard House. We each had something different and everyone really enjoyed their meal. I had the Vodka Shrimp Pasta (chopped shrimp and angel hair pasta in a light vodka tomato cream sauce. Dusted with parmesan). Connie had the Parmesan Crusted Chicken (over garlic mashed potatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and three mushroom sauce). Ron had the Fish & Chips and GaryAnn had the Southern Fried Chicken Breast (boneless and skinless chicken breast over spinach-corn-mashed potatoes and bourbon gravy). Being the old fuddy duddies that we are, after returning home, Connie and I watched a TV show and then retired for the evening.

FRIDAY - 07/16/2010 - Got up this morning at 6:00 am and it was 101 degrees. Suppose to reach 113 by late afternoon. Went out to use the pool this morning and found out that it has been shut down for the past five days. I'm so glad that we have been away for the past eight days. I would have really been mad if we had been here and couldn't use it being that it has been over 100 degrees every day. Connie had a "hair" appointment at eleven thirty and after that we headed to the "M" for a 2-1 lunch buffet. After a little gambling we headed to the Southpoint for the grand opening of their new poker room and sports book. We played there for a couple of hours, had some free champagne and cake, got 2 free t-shirts and received $10 in free play and came home. I ended the day even; I think Connie only lost $20.00 playing slots for the entire day.

The Pool at Harrah's

THURSDAY - 07/15/2010 - We got up and went down to Starbuck's for breakfast, after which we bought a newspaper and headed to the pool for the last time. Even though the water temperature was perfect, the shade was gone by 11:00, so we checked out and headed home, ending our nine day mini vacation. It was 105 when we got home and by the end of the fifth trip unloading the car, we decided to stay home for the rest of the day. After picking up the past week's worth of mail from my neighbor, I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, weighing through 320 emails, updating my expenses and paying bills while Connie washed some clothes and did some ironing. All summed up we got some great pictures, saw some very good shows, had some great meals and even though Connie lost at the slots, I made $160 at the poker tables and received $630 in free rooms, meals and slot play. Not a bad week! We then watched some TV shows that we prerecorded while we were gone and went to bed early.

Connie with the two leads

WEDNESDAY - 07/14/2010 - Using another 2-1 coupon, we headed over to the Emperor's Buffet for breakfast at the Imperial Palace, which is located next door to Harrah's. When we got back to Harrah's, Connie didn't feel like playing slots and decided to stay in the room reading her book while I headed downstairs to the poker room. I picked up $65.00 playing no-limit hold'em. At 4:00 we headed back to the Imperial Palace for another of our 2-1 shows, a show entitled Matsuri., Matsuri is a high energy acrobatic show replicating a Japanese Shinto shrine festival that was filled with ceremonial costumes, music, dancing and theatrical performances. We couldn't believe the energy of the performers in this show.

Chocolate Thunder Down Under

After the show we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse where we shared one of their famous "bloom'in onions", some coconut battered fried shrimp and a "Chocolate Thunder Down Under" dessert. Yea, we know how bad that sounds, but we only have one of these delicious onions about once a year. I don't know which tasted the best, the Bloom'in Onion or the Chocolate Thunder From Down Under. The warmed pecan brownie crowned with rich vanilla ice cream, drizzled with warm chocolate sauce and finished with chocolate shavings and whipped cream. A chocolate lover's dream. What the hell, you only live once.

Pam Mattison

After roaming for a while we headed to the Improv at Harrah's, the last of our 2-1 shows, for an evening of comedy. We got to see three comedians perform. Pam Mattison, a comedian singer impressionist, was the headliner and we loved her. Her set included a lot of impersonations of famous female singers including, Cher, Madonna, Judy Garland, Barbara Streisand, Cindy Lopper and many more. She is kind of like a female Gordi Brown. Even the MC was very good; it was a very enjoyable evening filled with a lot of laughs.

TUESDAY - 07/13/2010 - After checking out our room at the Cabana Suites in downtown Las Vegas, we drove up the Strip to check in for two free nights at Harrah's and the last stay of our nine day casino vacation. We then headed to Balley's and registered for my free entry into a "Shootout" Texas Hold'em Tournament. After an hour and a half of play I ended up getting knocked out on the "bubble". Bummer!

Using a 2-1 coupon we got checking into Harrah's, we then headed over to the Victorian Cafe at Bill's Gambling Hall for an early dinner. After a few hours of reading in our room we headed back to Freemont Street for another of our 2-1 shows. We had tickets for the "Gordie Brown" show at the Golden Nugget. We laughed from the moment he came on stage! He is an amazing talent, well known for his amazing comedy and celebrity impressions such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Nicholson and Sylvester Stallone, Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis, and many others. He has been recognized as Entertainer of the Year and Best Show. The impersonations are spot on and hilarious. He is so funny he even cracks his own band up! Loved it!

Conservatory at Bellagio

MONDAY - 07/12/2010 - After a light in-room breakfast we headed to the Conservatory at Bellagio to see its summer exhibit. We are always amazed at the absolutly beautiful displays they create here. It changes four times a year, once with each season and we always try to catch each one.

Artwork by Nancy Rubins

We then walked over to Vedara at City Center for some picture taking. A little expensive! Stopped at a lounge area to rest and ordered Connie a mimosa, which turned out to be $18.35 (yes, for One!). The picture at the left is of Nancy Rubins' work of art. It measures 40 feet tall, 50 feet wide and 70 feet long and is a colorful composition of numerous rowboats, kayaks, canoes, small sailboats, surfboards, windsurf boards, jet skis, paddle boats, catamarans and other small river and ocean vessels that are finessed into a gravity defying form that is both delicately balanced and precisely engineered. We then returned to Freemont Street and had a 2-1 lunch at the DuPars restaurant inside the Golden Gate Casino on Freemont Street. We then stopped at the Four Queens casino and the El Cortez, where Connie had $20 in free slot play from our LVA book.

Connie's Steak Diane

Using yet another 2-1 coupon out of our LVA book, we had made evening dinner reservations at "Flame" the steakhouse inside the El Cortez. Even though I have heard some people "talk" about this restaurant as being pretty good, we had never eaten here before. Boy were we surprised. We had a wonderful meal! We both ordered the Steak Diane which was the most tender steak dinner that either of us have had since moving to Vegas. Connie ordered the asparagus with bearnaise sauce as a side dish and it was cooked to perfection.  We will definately be going back here again.

Marina at Cottonwood Cove

SUNDAY - 07/11/2010 - We checked out of our room at the Edgewater and headed back to Las Vegas for the second half of our casino journey. On the way back we took a detour at Searchlight stopped at the Cottonwood Cove Resort and Marina on Lake Mohave. Located inside the Lake Meade National Recreation Area, I was surprised at how large this place was. When we reached Henderson, we dropped by the "M" Casino to pick up their "gift of the day", two free 6-packs of coke.

Lobby Inside El Cortez Cabana Suites

After dropping them off at home and refreshing the "coolers" with more ice, we headed Freemont Street where we checked into the El Cortez's Cabana Suites with a 2-1 coupon from our LVA book. This was the only time we had to pay for a room out of the entire journey. Not bad, eight nights for $45.00. In the evening we had a reservation for the FireFly, a tapas restaurant at The Plaza hotel and casino. It was nowhere near as good as it used to be. It was loud, food just so-so and the service was so poor that the manager took care of the entire meal.

SATURDAY - 07/10/2010 - We got up and headed across the Colorado River to Bullhead City to have breakfast at IHOP. Connie saw a rabbit roaming in the bushes outside the window while we were having breakfast. After winning some money playing poker at the Colorado Belle, I headed over to the Golden Nugget for a Hold'em tournament that I heard about at the "Belle." Out of 127 players, I got knocked out in 70th place with AK against pocket sevens. I hit a King on the flop and he hit a set of sevens. Oh well, that's poker.

The AVI Casino

Later in the afternoon we headed back to the AVI casino and had a 2-1 dinner on my poker comps at the Moonshadow Grill, their signature steakhouse restaurant. We had been by this several times in the past, but thought it was just a "cafe" type restaurant. Were we surprised! The quality of both the service and the meal was excellent. We will definately be eating here again.

FRIDAY - 07/09/2010 - Today we moved from Harrah's to the Edgewater Casino. After checking in we headed once again to Daniel's On the River for lunch. The portions here are huge and prices reasonable. I had the Taco salad with beef which was humongous. Connie had a toasted tuna sandwich and fries and could just barely finish it. Afterward we decided to take in a movie. Having already seen most of the better onesm, we decided upon "Jonah Hex", a movie based upon a Marvel Comic book. It is about the adventures of a wild west bounty hunter in the whose horrifically scarred face and personality hide his honorable nature. Considering the generally poor reviews it had received, we thought it turned out to be better than we expected. We then headed over to the Colorado Belle where Connie had $20 in free slot play. I won $10 dollars playing poker and we headed back to the room to read our books. I went down and got two shakes from McDonald's and made "snacks" from the cooler for dinner. We had some chocolate cake for dessert and watched some TV before retiring for the evening.

THURSDAY - 07/08/2010 - After breakfast in the room, we picked up the car from valet and headed to the AVI for some gambling fun. After an afternoon of fun, Connie won $5 dollars playing slots and I won $15 dollars playing poker, we headed back to Harrah's.  On the drive back we saw a California Condor. It took a fairly low sweep across the road as it followed along the river, unfortunately far to fast for me to be able to stop and get a picture. It was the first time I have ever seen this huge, magnificent bird. The California Condor is the most endangered bird in North America. It is also the largest, with a wingspan of about nine feet. Its survival is threatened by spent lead ammunition fragments in its food.


A Salute to Frank, Sammy and Dean

When we got back to Harrah's we had a 2-1 dinner buffet before heading to a show in the evening.  We had 2-1 tickets for a "Rat Pack" tribute show called, Drinkin', Singin', Swingin'. I won another $11 dollars at poker before the show. Even though we didn't think the show was as good as the one we've seen in Vegas, we felt it was certainly worth $10 each. After the show we headed to the room and had chocolate cake for dessert over a TV show before retiring for the evening.

Boarding for our Raft Tour

WEDNESDAY - 07/07/2010 - After packing the car, we headed out early for the Hacienda Casino to pick up our tickets for a raft tour of the Hoover Dam. It was just a short ride from where we boarded the raft but gave us some nice views from the base of the dam and below the new bridge spanning the river gorge.

Roy Purcell Murals, Cerbat Mountains at Chloride, AZ

From here we headed south to Chloride, Nevada and drove out to the base of the Cerbat Mountains to view the rock paintings of Roy Purcell, a well known western painter. About a mile and a half on a terrible road that wasn't fit for a burro, let alone a Cadillac, I finally had to stop, get out and walk the final 300 yards. In 1966, Roy Purcell took a break from pursuing a Master's degree in Fine Arts at Utah State University to labor as a miner in the Cerbat Mountains near Chloride, Arizona. While he was there he painted "The Journey," a 2000-square-foot set of murals executed in the abstract Modernism tradition.  It then took me nearly 10 minutes to turn around before we were able to head back to town.

Yesterday's RestaurantBefore leaving town we stopped for lunch at Yesterday's restaurant. We were quite surprised by the menu for a place that was located in the middle of nowhere in a dying mining town of only 320 people. Connie had the lobster and crab salad and I had the deep fried chicken livers and onion rings.  A little pricey, but the food was pretty good. Out front there were two of the oldest gas station pumps I think I've ever seen.

We then headed towards Laughlin and by mid-afternoon we finally arrived at Harrah's where we had our first two free nights stay. After getting settled into our room, we headed to Daniel's on the River, a small local's restaurant located inside the Regency Casino. We both had their Wednesday special, 2-1 burgers with fries and a drink for a total of $8.95.  Such a deal! It made up for our $35 lunch at Yesterdays.  Having had a long day we headed back to our room at Harrah's and watched a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

MONDAY - 07/05/2010 - Nothing is ever as easy as it seems. When I switched the Internet cable back to my primary computer, I couldn't get it to work. Ended up on line with a COX technician for nearly an hour before we were able to get it working again. After some early morning pool time, we started packing for our upcoming trip on Wednesday. Went over to the "M" in the afternoon so Connie could play some free slot play she had coming.

SUNDAY - 07/04/2010 - JULY 4th! Happy July 4th to everyone.  Just another day here.  Connie and I headed to the pool, read and talked with some neighbors. Sunny with clear blue sky and a temperature of only 100.  After our morning at the pool we came in and I prepared chili dogs with chopped onion, chips, pickles and olives.  It was like a old fashioned cookout without the bugs, misquitoes, and muggy hot weather.  Later in the afternoon we had watermelon while we watched  Rafael Nadal defeat Tomas Berdych, 6-3 7-5 6-4 in the Wimbledon Tennis Finals. Connie has been watching the whole tournament for the past two weeks, and I must admit there have been some great matches and big upsets. In the evening we had apple pie with melted Vermont chedder cheese while we watched "fireworks" on TV from Washington, DC and the Boston Pops concert at the Hatch Shell, and spectacular fireworks over the Charles River Esplanade. Having attended this event in the past, it always brings back wonderful memories. The Washington celebration was unbelievable; probably the longest fireworks display I've ever seen. Received a callback from my sister in Reno and had a nice talk. FIRE UPDATE: Still burning.

  

SATURDAY - 07/03/2010 - After spending a couple of hours at the pool talking with neighbors, I started working on a project that I have been putting off for nearly two years. Setting up my 7-year old Sony VAIO computer. After reading that Microsoft would no longer be supporting XP Service Pack 2 after the middle of July, I knew I had to get on this soon. Not having used it for more than a year and a half, I knew I would be getting into quite a project.  The process took nearly all day, and I still wasn't finished. First I had to find the power cord, all of the cables, and connect various printers, scanners, and other hardware. Then I had to get it connected to the Internet, which also turned out to be a hour long problem. Once I got it running, I had to download and install 97 updates to Windows XP before I could install the latest XP Service Pack 3.

FRIDAY - 07/02/2010 - Today we are taking our friend and neighbor Jim Freed down to the RIO to play in another World Series of Poker tournament. Today's event is a $1,000 buy-in Texas Hold'em event that has 3,500 people entered. After dropping Jim off we headed to the "M" for their lunch buffet and another free bottle of wine. I then dropped Connie off at home and headed back to the RIO to see how Jim was progressing in the tournament. FIRE UPDATE: After burning more than 680 acreas and 10 homes, the Moapa Valley fire is under control, however fairly strong winds caused the Mt. Charleston fire to spread overnight, causing hundreds more evacuations.

THURSDAY - 07/01/2010 - Hard to believe, another year half over already. Summer has certainly arrived here in the Las Vegas Valley. The temperature here over the last two weeks has averaged 100-degrees each day. As one can expect, everything is quite dry. As a matter of  fact, they are currently battling two large fires, one on Mt. Charleston, just 35 miles Northwest of the city and another in Moapa Valley, about 50 miles Northeast of the city. Both fires have caused hundreds of evacuations and have already destroyed 15 buildings and homes and are threatening dozens more.

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