A Daily Diary - January 2011

Entries for January 2011

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MONDAY - 01/31/2011 - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME! Here it is the end of the month and the anniversary of yet another year of retirement. As of today I've now been retired 14 years. Where has the time gone?  The good news is that I would do it all over again, even though I suffered a huge financial loss by leaving so early. The bad news is that I didn't know that my retirement would be going down nearly 15 year later.  Today I received notification in the mail that my retirement check was going down $87/month in 2011. First, there was no COLA adjustment for 2011; second, my BCBS health insurance went up $31.00/month; and finally, the IRS automatically increased my tax withholding deduction by $47/mo. Add to this that my Social Secrity check is going down $110/month to pay for Medicare Part B and my monthly income just went down $197 a month. Isn't life just wonderful! Even though the past couple of days have been windy and a little cooler, they have still been in the 60's. Today I worked on updating my blogs and reviewing the pictures I took yesterday when we went to see the Lion King at Mandalay Bay casino. Check this one out ... The Lion King Theater at Mandalay Bay. At noon we drove up to GVR so Connie could play some free slot play and to have their lunch buffet. We then drove over to the South Point casino to see the movie, "The Mechanic". Even though the reviews have been just so-so, it had plenty of action; we both enjoyed it. They informed us at the ticket counter that the ticket prices for seniors was going up from $3 to $4 per person starting tomorrow. Still one of the best deals in Vegas, it's hard to complain.



Lone Survivor

SUNDAY - 01/30/2011 - I don't know where the time goes. It seems like I just updated this blog the other day and its been four days since I last posted anyting. One reason is that I am hiking with a group from the senior center every Thursday. It then takes me a couple of days to sort through, clean up and then post all the pictures I take on the hike. Another is the time I've spent working on my new photo site. The hardest part was coming up with a list of categories and sub-categories in which to place my pictures. Then I had to select pictures, make a written write up and then post them to each category in order to create a link to the list. Although I sure there will be a few tweaks now and then, it's pretty much complete. Check it out here ... http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/.  The picture above is one of my favorites taken over the past couple of weeks. It's a desert still-life I call Lone Survivor. Click here to read more ... Redstone Loop Trail.

Curtain Call of "The Lion King" at Mandalay Bay Casino

This afternoon, after lunch over the men's finals of the Australian Tennis Open, we went to Mandalay Bay casino to see the Broadway show, The Lion King. From the imagination of award-winning director Julie Taymor this is a spectacular musical based on one of the most successful animated films in history. Just a few months back we watched a 60 Minutes segment on her past accomplishments and her direction of the new accident plagued Broadway show, Spider Man. Hailed as the world's most spectacular musical, it has been estimated that more than 45 million people worldwide have seen this truly one-of-a-kind experience. Newsweek called it "a landmark event in entertainment," It was truly a breathtaking adventure. The music, color and costumes and scene changes stretch the boundaries of your imagination. We gave it [5-Stars]. Click here to view a picture collage ... Lion King Collage

SATURDAY - 01/29/2011 - Today I decided to go down to Caesars Palace casino on the Strip and enter a Senior's Hold-em Poker Tournament. They were paying 18 places with a first prize of $4,000 plus a free $1,000 entry into this year's World Series of Poker Senior Event in June. Even though I played for nearly 6 hours, I ended up getting knocked out in 45th place. I came home and picked up Connie and we went to GVR and the "M" where she had $20 in free slot play. Came home and had grilled cheese sandwiches and left-over cheddar cheese broccoli soup for dinner. Watched a couple of TV shows and headed to bed.

FRIDAY - 01/28/2011 - Didn't do much today. I was still pretty sore from yesterday's hiking. I spent time reviewing and organizing yesterday's pictures and working on my new photo blog site. We then went over to the "M" buffet for lunch, played a little, came home. For dinner, I made some wraps. Watched some TV and went to bed.

A Fellow Hiker

THURSDAY - 01/27/2011 - Got up early as I had to be at the Senior Center for my weekly hike by 6:45 am. Nobody who is retired should have to be anywhere that early in the morning. This week we headed to the Sandy Valley area which is about 40 minutes south west of Las Vegas. This is an area that is crawling with old mines, which made for a very interesting day. Check out some more pictures on my new picture blog at Ken's Photo Gallery. These hikes are generally 6-7 hours and by the time I get home I am definitely worn out. After I played with pictures for a while and showed Connie where I had been, I made some cheddar cheese and broccoli soup for dinner that we ate over a couple of TV shows. By bedtime I was exhausted and took no time at all falling to sleep.

TUESDAY 01/25/2011 - Another nice day in the mid-60's. After a normal morning of playing on the computer, Connie reading and doing ironing, I went to GVR to play some poker. Connie stayed home and continued watching tennis (the Australian Open). After picking up $75 in the poker room, I drove over to Hair-4-U for a scheduled haircut. On the way home I picked up some Popeye's Chicken takeout for dinner. We were not happy with it. The chicken was overcooked and the coleslaw was extremely runny. We lost our water around 6:00 pm and after talking with several neighbors, determined that the entire complex was without water. It came back on around ten in the evening. We figured the town must have been working on something out by the road. After watching several prerecorded TV shows we called it a day and retired for the evening.

MONDAY - 01/24/2011 - Just another winter day in the mid-60's while New England and the east coast get pounded with snow, wind, rain and ice. We drove over to the "M" so Connie could play her $15 in free play. There wasn't enough people in the poker room for a no-limit game so after an hour of playing $2-$4 limit, we left and headed to Green Valley Ranch. By the time we left there, Connie was down only $10 for the day, and I was up over $200 between the two places. We came home and had a pizza for dinner over some TV shows and a Netflix movie. The movie was, "You don't Know Jack", an Emmy-winning HBO biopic starring Al Pacino that focuses on the life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. It was outstanding. Al Pacino, who won the 2011 Golden Globe award for won best actor in a made for TV movie, was brilliant. This is a must see movie.

SUNDAY - 01/23/2011 - I spent most of the day working on my new photo site. During breaks from the computer, I joined Connie who was watching both of the NFL Division Title games. We were actually rooting for Green Bay and the Steelers, both of whom won. One of my neighbor friends is a huge Steelers fan, so now we are rooting for the Steelers. At dinner time we headed over to the South Point casino where we had tickets to see comedienne Kathleen Madighan. We had Chinese (Won-Ton Soup, Shrimp Tempura, and Pork Egg-Foo-Yung) at the Coronado Cafe. I have mentioned before, this is some of the best Chinese food in town. After stuffing all that down we headed over to the theater to see Kathleen. We had seen her back in 2005 at the Improv at Harrah's. With a whole routine of new stuff, we enjoyed her more than the last time. Great show I had 2-1 tickets through our subscription to Las Vegas Advisor and the show was only $10 each. Such a deal! Came home and went to bed.

FRIDAY - 01/21/2011 - A few days ago I decided to design and create a new website for posting my pictures. You can visit by going to Ken's Photo Gallery. As a result I have spent 4-5 hours a day designing it, coming up with a category structure for placing pictures, and reviewing and selecting what I feel are some of my better pictures and uploading them to the various categories. I can tell, this will be a "work-in-progress" for quite some time, so bear with me. At noon we decided to take a drive up to Green Valley Ranch for lunch and a little "play". We ate at one of our favorite burger joints, Fatburger. Their hamburgs are made from fresh lean beef, not frozen patties and cooked-to-order, just the way you want it. They are the biggest, juiciest hamburgers around. They also have a choice of skinny fries of fat (steak) fries, great onion rings made from real onions, hand-scooped, real ice cream shakes and great tasting chili. After lunch we played for a couple of hours before heading home to get ready for a planned dinner engagement. We told my neighbor friend Jim Freed that we would take him out to dinner for his birthday. And what a dinner it was! We went to our favorite new seafood restaurant, Monstah Lobstah. Jim had a two-pound Maine lobster; Connie and I had the Fried Haddock, fried New England clams (the best in Vegas) and shared a 1-1/4 pound lobster. Not to mention, the baked potatoes, hush puppies and onion rings. It was a delicious meal and needless to say we were all stuffed! Came home and watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

Our Transportation

THURSDAY - 01/20/2011 - Today was the first of the 12 scheduled hikes I signed up for through the Henderson Senior Center. Today's hikes were along Lake Mead's Northshore drive. I had to be up at 5:30 a.m. in order to get ready and be at the Senior Center by 6:45. Not used to that!

Lovell Wash

Our first stop was at Lovell Wash located at mile marker 16 on the Northshore Road. This ended up being about a 4-mile hike. Though the sky was clear and sunny, it was rather cold and windy this early in the morning. The area had some amazing geology, a narrow slot canyon and a couple of old mines, both of which I would love to explore more on a return trip. I'm sure this would have been considered a relatively easy hike for anyone in shape, however, I was pretty tired by the time I returned to the van.

Arch at Redstone Loop Trail

Our second stop was at the Redstone Loop Trail at mile marker 27. This was a relatively short 1/2 mile hike in and arround a series of red rock outcroppings. In my exploring around this area I came across a rare finding for these types of outcroppings, a beautifully formed arch. It is always fun taking pictures of the various formations and trying to distinguish recognizable shapes.



Almost to the Top!

 On the trip back, our final stop was at the Las Vegas Wash area as it enters into Lake Mead. Due to the changes in elevation, this two mile hike was a a backbreaker. Following the wash trail down to the water's edge was relatively easy, however climbing up to the top of the ridge for the walk back was a killer. In addition, the entire morning's ride, sitting at the rear of the van, was no picnic either. Needless to say, by the time I got back to the Senior Center at 1:00 p.m., I was beaten old man. I ached so bad that I spent 30 minutes in the spa and whirlpool when I got home.

WEDNESDAY - 01/19/2011 - After our normal morning routine, we walked to our Pool House where they we putting on a free luncheon for the residents. Prepared by Olive Garden, they had three different kinds of soup, bread sticks, salid, soda and cookies. We ran into a couple of our neighbor friends who were going to see the movie "The King's Speach" afterwards, and invited us to go with them. With nothing else planned for the day we said sure, why not. It was a great movie. (click the title for a review) After the movie we went to their apartment for some wine and dessert. Came home and watched a couple of shows and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 01/18/2011 - As usual, I played on the computer while Connie read and put in a couple loads of wash. We got a call from Sue and Nancy, our ex-neighbors that we helped out a little over a year ago. They both sounded good, although we learned that Nancy had suffered a heart attack back in early December. They were both still working at the Pancake House and had gotten re-hired back in the fall to do follow-up visits for the Census Bureau.  It sounded like the working of the two jobs is what ended up giving Nancy the heart attack. Sue sounded like she had a good job opportunity with Hilton, but was hesitant on taking it because it would involve a lot of travel and would have to leave Sue home alone. They both sounded good; it was good to hear from them. At lunch time we headed to the "M" for two free lunch buffets on comps. Good as usual. Connie had $15 in free play and came home a winner; on the other hand, I lost for the day. After coming home we had PB &J sandwiches for dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

Green Hornet - 3D

MONDAY - 01/17/2011 - MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY - Today was just another beautiful day with a high of 72 degrees. Connie even spent some time out on the deck reading while I played on the computer and cleaned my bathroom shower. We had lunch at the South Point buffet before going to see the movie, "The Green Hornet" in 3D. We were both disappointed. I thought the script was bad, the acting was poor and the 3D photography wasn't much better. The Green Hornet never approaches the surreal heights suggested by all the hype. After the movie I picked up tickets to see comedian Kathleen Madigan this coming Sunday.

SUNDAY - 01/16/2011 - We stayed home today and had one of our most disappointing days of the year as we watched our New England Patriots loose to the NY Jets in the NFL divisional playoffs. After such an outstanding season, it was a heart-wrenching defeat. Just before the start of the game, I started taking down and packing all the Christmas decorations that we had put up for the holidays. After the game we watched the Neflix movie, "The Thin Red Line". This 1998 movie, based upon James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focused on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War. Almost three hours long, it had a great cast (James Caviezel, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte) and was quite good. In the evening we watched the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Here are the winners.

For MOTION PICTURES:
Best Picture, Drama: "The Social Network."
Best Picture, Musical or Comedy: "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Actor, Drama: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech."
Best Actress, Drama: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan."
Best Director: David Fincher, "The Social Network."
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version."
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter."
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter."
Best Foreign Language: "In a Better World."
Best Animated Film: "Toy Story 3."
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network."
Best Original Score: "The Social Network."
Best Original Song: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," (written by Diane Warren), "Burlesque.

For TELEVISION:
Best Series, Drama: "Boardwalk Empire," HBO.
Best Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire."
Best Actress, Drama: Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy."
Best Series, Musical or Comedy: "Glee," Fox.
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory."
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Linney, "The Big C."
Best Miniseries or Movie: "Carlos," Sundance Channel.
Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin."
Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack."
Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jane Lynch, "Glee."
Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Chris Colfer, "Glee."

SATURDAY - 01/15/2011 - I went to a friend's house to help him set up some "stuff" on one of his computers. Then went shopping at the Bass Pro Shops for some hiking boots and other accessories I needed to get for the upcoming hikes I signed up for at the senior center. Connie had free slot play at both GVR and the "M". We had the Seafood Brunch at the "M" and both agreed that it seemed even better than normal. The prime rib was the best we ever had there and the Alaskan crabs-legs were outstanding. I also had some Mahi-Mahi and baked mussels that were very good. Though the seafood brunch is rather expensive ($30 per person) it is certainly well worth it. After a 2-1 coupon and comps, it was only $15 for the two of us - a real steal. Connie broke even for the day, however, I didn't fare so well in the poker room. Came home and watched some TV shows over cake and ice cream.

THURSDAY - 01/13/2011 - Hints of spring? Today it got up to 58 degrees and it is suppose to be in the low to mid-sixties for the new seven days. We like it! Looking for some new photo opportunities for my new camera, I signed up online for a series of 11 different hikes to various scenic locations that were being offered by the Henderson Senior Center. For only $10 per trip, a van transports 13 people on a six hour hiking and picture taking experience to a variety of scenic locations, usually not much more than an hour's drive from Henderson. Today I had to attend a manditory orientation briefing at the Senior Center, so Connie and I decided to go early and have lunch there. For $1.50 each we had tossed salad, open faced pot roast sandwich, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables, beverage and canned pears for dessert. After my meeting we drove to the "M" for a little play. Using our comps we purchased a chicken Caesar salad and order of chili to-go for dinner. After watching a couple of prerecorded TV shows over dinner, we called it a day and retired for the evening.

WEDNESDAY - 01/12/2011 - Spent over an hour at the doctors office this morning trying to fix a prescription screw up that cost me $70 dollars. We then drove over to the "M" casino and had lunch at their buffet. We then played for a couple of hours and I won what I had lost yesterday. Came home and had some light snacks for dinner over a couple of prerecorded TV shows before retiring for the day.

TUESDAY - 01/11/2011 - I spent most of the day at the "M" poker room trying to hit some of the day's special promotions. Even though they gave away more than $13,000 in cash while I was there, I had no luck at the table I played on. Came home and cooked up some Ramin soup for dinner with Connie over a couple of TV shows and went to bed.

MONDAY - 01/10/2011 - Same old morning routine. At noon we headed to the South Point for lunch and a movie. Had lunch at the new "Steak & Shake". Was not impressed. Besides relatively slow service, the food was not great. There was a (lemon) seed in my hamburger. The toasted sourdough bread it was served on was cold, as well as were the french fries on both of our orders. After lunch we went upstairs to see the movie "Black Swan". Very different. Read our review here ... We then drove to the "M" where Connie had $15 in free play. That cost us both money. Stayed until 9:00 pm trying to win a 50" flat-screen TV in the poker room drawing. As it turned out to be a very long day, it was then straight home and right to bed.

SUNDAY -01/09/2011 - Where does the time go? Here it is Sunday already, and I haven't made a post update in three days. So let's start with today and work backwards. GVR's "bad-beat" poker room jackpot has been over $230,000 for the past several days, so I have been spending a lot of time there hoping it would hit. As the payout to each player is best early in the morning when fewer players are playing, I got up at 4:00 am and went up hoping to get lucky. The bad news is that it didn't hit; the good news was that I won $450 while playing. Came home around 2:00 pm and made us an avocado guacamole dip with salsa, sharp cheddar cheese and crackers to snack on over the movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", that we recorded off of a free weekend of Showtime.  This was Woody Allen's romantic comedy in which Penelope Cruz won an Oscar in 2010 as best supporting actress. It's about two young American tourists, Vicky and Christina, spending a summer in Spain where they meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem ) and his beautiful, but insane, ex-wife (Penelope Cruz). Vicky is straight-laced and about to be married. Cristina is a sexually adventurous free spirit. When they all become amorously entangled, both comedic and harrowing results ensue. The movie was quite good and we can now see why she won the Oscar. Cruz was outstanding as the tempestuous artist Maria Elena. Watched a couple more TV shows after the movie, however as I was quite tired from the last couple of days of poker playing, we ended up going to bed early.

SATURDAY - 01/08/2011 - We both headed up to GVR for a couple of free buffet lunches before I played in the poker room, trying to hit their bad-beat jackpot. We both ended up having a loosing afternoon, which we had to cut short in order to pick up my neighbor friend Jim at the airport. Perfect timing! We got there just about the time he was picking up his luggage at the baggage claim area. Had banana splits for dinner over a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

FRIDAY - 01/07/2011 - Connie had $15 in free slot play at the "M", so we drove over around noon to have lunch. There was no action in the poker room, so after Connie played her free play, we drove to Green Valley Ranch. I found out why there was no action at the "M". The bad-beat jackpot in the poker room was over $200,000, and everyone was here trying to hit it. At the end of the day Connie won $70 and I picked up $170 in the poker room. We came home and popped a pizza in the oven and watched some TV before heading to bed for the evening.

THURSDAY - 01/06/2011 - I spent most of the morning re-arranging and backing up the thousands of pictures I took over the past year. Connie tried to finish one of her library books that couldn't be renewed. After a light lunch snack we headed over to the South Point casino to see the movie, True Grit. Even though we expected it to be good, based upon what we had been hearing, it was even better than we had hoped it would be. Check out our review here ... True Grit. Came home and cooked up a frozen Pot Roast skillet dinner to watch over Paula Abdul's new Live To Dance show that we had recorded on our DVR player. We then watched a two hour special of one of our favorite shows, Human Target. Afterwards, I went into the den to write up the movie review, while Connie grabbed her book and headed to bed early.

WEDNESDAY - 01/05/2011 - Pretty much just another normal day. Computer and reading in the morning. Went to the "M" for two free buffet lunches, played a little and came home. Had dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

Jim & Christina - Back to Kansas!

TUESDAY - 01/04/2011 - Compared to yesterday's snowstorm, today was a complete opposite. Though still cool, it was a beautiful day with clear, sunny skies and no wind. I played on the computer sending out emails and updating programs most of the morning while Connie read. Around noon we headed up to GVR for two free buffet lunches. We both agreed that they had made some improvements and that they had added some food items that we hadn't seen for a while. The Sea Bass was excellent and the liver and onions was very good. We both played most of the afternoon hoping the bad beat jackpot would hit in the poker room. No luck with that, however we both left winners. Came home and made PP&J sandwiches for dinner. Watched some TV shows and went to bed.

View of Red Rock Canyon - 3 January 2011

MONDAY - 01/03/2011 - We woke up to a snowstorm this morning - heavy enough to place up to a couple of inches in some places and create some very slippery driving. Just Great! This is the morning I had to drive over to north Las Vegas to pick up Christina and her dad to drive them to the airport. The good news was that their flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 2:30 in the afternoon. As it was still snowing in many places when I left the house at 9:00am, I had to take the western route on the 215, which took a little longer. The picture above was taken about 3/4 of the way over to their house, and is pretty much the same view as the one at the very top of the page, though at a further distance.

After driving back to our place, I cooked us up a nice big breakfast with ham, scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and salsa and English muffins. After saying our good-bys and dropping them off at the airport, we hit the "M" and GVR for some free slot play that Connie had coming. I kept checking in on their flight on my phone and learned that their takeoff ended up being delayed about 35 minutes. Could have been worse! After we came home, Connie popped a pizza in the oven for dinner. We got a call from our friend Gus in Connecticut and talked for about a half hour. We then called my mother in Tahoe and wished her a Happy New Year. After watching a couple of prerecorded TV shows, we called it an evening and hit the sack.

SUNDAY - 01/02/2011 - Well, it was just another morning down in the 30's. Connie made some hot oatmeal cereal with raisins for breakfast. I spent time paying bills and doing some year-end cleanup on the computer while Connie watched a football game. Later, we had a light lunch of cheese and crackers and munchies over the the Sunday Morning show that we always record. We finally got showered and dressed around three in the afternoon and decided to drive up to GVR to play. I had a good afternoon and picked up $320 in the poker room. Came home and cooked up an Italian dinner - fried eggplant, spagetti, meat sauce, and corn. Watched a couple of TV shows and headed off to bed.

New Year's Eve on Freemont Street - 2010

SATURDAY - 01/01/2011 - HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to 2011! We wish all of our family and friends a wonderful, happy and prosperous New Year! We started the celebration of the new year by sharing champagne and some wonderful hors d'œuvres with Christina Paine and her dad who have been here on vacation all last week. We've had a really enjoyable week with them, talking, dining and sharing the 'holiday' sights and sounds of Vegas. Yesterday, New Year's Eve, was Jim's 60th birthday, and we celebrated it with them by having dinner at The Flame steakhouse inside the El Cortez casino and by attending the New Year's Eve celebrations on Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas. You can see by the way Christina, Jim and Connie are dressed in the  picture on the right that it was quite cold (31-degrees). That is the coldest that it has ever been on New Year's eve since having moved here. It will certainly go down as one of our most memorable new years celebrations. You can catch more pictures and details by reading the last entry in our December 2010 Blog ... Friday - 12/31/2010.  After they went back to Jim's house in north Las Vegas, Connie and I tried to watch a movie, but we were so tired from the previous evening we could barely stay awake and ended up retiring for the evening quite early. It is tough getting old!

Just one of the 3 stages with live entertainment New Year's Eve

We voted the The Rolling Stones tribute band at the best group of the evening

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