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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Restaurant Luck

I'm still eagerly awaiting some contact from the manager of the Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse. It's all I think of the last hour or two on the Size 7 grommet line at N.A.V.

 I pick up Mrs. Flusher from the Administration complex (where she works in the estimatin' department) and floor it, sometimes before she has even gotten the door closed.

I tramp up to the Win Simulator 3000 still wearing my coveralls and grommet grease stained boots and check my email, fully expecting the promised discussion with the manager.

Day after day after day I come up empty eyeballed.

I am really starting to think ill thoughts about the way the venerable Butterknife Steakhouse is being shepherded into mediocrity.

On our 14 day trip to Vegas recently, we ate quite often. In fact, most days, we ate multiple times per day. Sometimes as many as 3 meals. (Vegas can mess with your schedule dramatically. One day we found ourselves pounding the drinks back fairly early in the morning. The day's plan went to hell and much, much later after hours of casino hopping and gambling, we found ourselves consuming a meal before heading to bed. And the question came up, "Did we eat the right number of meals today?")

Most of the meals we ate were as ordered and delicious.

But for some reason, the last couple of days, I was in some weird restaurant streak where nothing went right.

I hate to complain, which is why I do a very thorough job of it, so as not to have to go back and re-complain. So I'm going to note down here another problem meal I had, the day after the Binions Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse Fiasco.

We had a comp at Magnolias for two free entrees. We got set up and each ordered the New York Steak, medium rare.

Four Queens Fremont Street Experience
The Eight Nipples
Salad came, which we ate, and then our meals.

Mrs. Flusher's was perfectly cooked.

I dressed my potato with sour cream and munched some down, and then tried the steak. And mine was cooked perfectly, if you like Well Done Armageddon Inferno Heart Of The Sun Cooked Till It Is Gray steak.

The waitress was very apologetic and took it back to the kitchen. She left me the potato so I could pick at it.

By the time my replacement arrived, Mrs. Flusher was done consuming her perfectly prepared beef.

I cut into mine and ate a bite. It was certainly not Well Done Armageddon. It was quite rare actually.

Very rare indeed.

I sliced the top bit off and it looked like a flesh wound.

This steak was what you'd call blue. Seared on the outside and that's it. I couldn't eat it.

I told the waitress and she said, okay I'll go speak to them. And she did. And it was taken off our bill.

Now, you'll recall that we were on a comp anyway, so I wasn't going to have to pay for the steak as it was. I went up to the front and talked to the woman running the show.

She didn't seem to get it and halfway through my explanation, turned to the cashier and said, "Charge him for a salad and half a baked potato. He ate half a baked potato."

Has the restaurant world gone mad? Why was I being punished in my pursuit of culinary satisfaction???

The woman simply would not listen to reason. She cut me off and got on the phone. I assumed she was summoning someone higher up. She hung up the blower and spun on her heel (three times around) and waltzed off without saying anything further. Worse, the music playing was a rhumba, not a waltz.

So, fairly quickly, Donna showed up and introduced herself.

She said, "Hello. I am Donna" which I thought was quite appropriate.

I said, "Hello. I am Flusher."

I explained the sitch and after a couple of go-rounds she got it.

She said, "I'll write you a comp for the price of the steak, $15.95, for tomorrow."

That was satisfactory and I thanked this 'Donna' - Queen Manager of the Restaurant of the Amazon.

I decided I was being punished by the gambling gods for doing so poorly to that point and my dinner ended there - a comped salad and half a baked potato.

We went to the room and I made do for the night. (Attentive readers of this blog will note that this self-sacrifice led to a 'Stick it to the Golden Nugget for cutting our room offers Royal Freaking Flush'.)





Friday, October 16, 2009

Latest from Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse

I was very excited to check my Inbox this afternoon after getting off work from North American Veeblefetzer.

It was a pretty tough day on the Size 7 Grommet line. We had to recalibrate the grommet-holer three separate times today due to a misfiring holer piston. It seems that the holer piston u-bracket (where it attaches to the steam yardarm, not the u-bracket that holds the degreaser assembly of course) was put in upside down by the night crew who do all the disassembly, cleaning and silicon lubrication on the Size 7 Grommet line.

I mean can you imagine screwing up a u-bracket like that? I don't even know how they got the grease nipples aligned with the access holes so they could lubricate the assembly. It's beyond ridiculous.
Logo before Royal Canadian Veeblefetzer was taken over by the Crafty Koreans and the Pesky Belgians.
So anyway we start up the line, and this grommet-holer is punching out grommet holes the size of Joan Rivers' yapper, which, if you are familiar with our product, is just a ridiculously large grommet hole for a Size 7 grommet. Yeah, I can see it on a size 14 or maybe even a size 12 (in the new Everlast Grommet line) but Size 7??? All that was left of the grommet was a thin line that looked like a bathtub ring.

After about 10 gross of grommets coming out looking like melted rubber bagels (the tiny kind of bagels they have at buffets, not the regular kind - these are grommets, right) we shut down the whole line and try to figure out what is going wrong. We recalibrated, we cycled the steam yardarm inserts, we tried everything. Nobody thought to check the damn u-bracket assembly!!!!

Start up the line again and its almost lunchtime, so shut it down and wait for the horn.

Eat lunch, the usual, tuna sandwich on Wonder. Thermos full of Mrs. Flusher's Campbell's Du Jour. Ring Ding for dessert.

Fire up the line again (after reading the hilarious graffiti in the Men's - someone wrote some new limericks about that hot receptionist that started last month). Wave at Mrs. Flusher in the Estimatin' Department on the march back to the line.

Still the grommets are coming out like clowns lips.

Well we tried all the usual stuff and fired up the line a third time and the grommets are STILL screwed.

Goddam u-bracket.

And there was no word whatsoever from Binion's when I got home, either.

Maybe the B.R.B.S. manager has a u-bracket in upside down.



Postscript

Binion's minions never did offer opinions (or any other information) to me. I'd heard the last from them on the subject of the missing steak knives.

I responded to all this by never setting foot in Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse ever again.

Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse responded to all this by raising prices.

And that, my dear readers, is the end of the 'Will Gamble 4 Food' trip report.

Yrs.

R.F. 


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Some help for El Presidente of Binions


While I am awaiting what will no doubt be a very detailed and heart felt reply from the Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse manager, I thought I would do a little research to help out both El Presidente of Binions and the B.R.B.S. manager, since keeping the restaurant stocked with cutlery has proved tricky for them.

I think it is asking a lot for an eatery which touts itself as a 'steakhouse' to actually have on hand enough implements for patrons of said establishment, should it become busy, to carve off bite-size portions of steak, just prior to shoving them into their salivating gobs. Who could predict that such an establishment could, at some times, find itself 'busy'???

Somewhat near the B.R.B.S. is an establishment called Resco.

In their words, "our gigantic facilities include showrooms and warehousing... make RESCO/CRESCO one of the largest independent restaurant supply companies in the west."

Perhaps in the coming days and weeks (if things aren't too busy), the manager of the B.R.B.S. can get his snowshoes on, load up a backpack full of pemmican and bottled water, and make his way towards RESCO.

I hope he has plenty of beaver pelts and baubly beads to trade the peoples of RESCO because they are known to drive a hard bargain for their restauranteering supplies.

To wit.

One little beauty has a wooden handle, cuts steak (thus the moniker "steak knife"), and costs $10.99 per dozen.

I know its asking a lot to spend such a ridiculous sum on a steak knife (I mean really, one dollar per knife, when you are charging only $40 for a steak???).

So, may I also propose that with some careful wheeling and dealing, and skillful negotiation, perhaps said B.R.B.S. manager could land a deal on some of the knives pictured below - which, granted, have a little less 'elan' than the wooden handled model pictured above (but still wayyyy more 'elan' than the completely 'elan'-less plastic-handled model, which is totally not in keeping with Steak Knives, the Royal Flusher Way).


Dear loyal followers of this blog, I give you, the 'Value wood handle steak knife' at a princely $3.59 per dozen.

Perhaps we should take up a collection and send one or two dozen knives to the B.R.B.S. just to help them out of this difficult, difficult steak knife shortage.




Saturday, October 10, 2009

Binion's Speaks!

Received an email from the president of Binion's.

Binion's on Fremont Street
I'll paraphrase what it says:

Greetings Mr. Flusher,

Thanks for staying with us and dining at Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse. You gave us some good feedback. Thanks for taking the time to write. Your email has been forwarded to the manager of the Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse for him to immediately delete for his immediate attention.


Next time you're in Binion's, ask for me at the front desk and I'll come out and say hello. I'd really enjoy meeting with a degenerate gentleman gambler and cuisine-food savant such as yourself.

Yrs,

Mr. Big President
Binion's





Friday, October 9, 2009

Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse - Part 2


After pondering the somewhat unfortunate occurrences during our pricy dinner at Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse, I sent the following email to the hotel manager:

My wife and I were guests at Binion's this past Sept. 29 through Oct. 3. I'd been awarded a $200 dinner by my company, North American Veeblefetzer, and we chose to eat at Binion's Ranch Steakhouse the evening of Thursday Oct. 1. Here are the experiences we had.

We were seated and drink orders taken.

I ordered a Gentleman Jack and an extremely generous portion (i.e. tumbler full) of whiskey arrived. So far so good!

Our waiter was Mr. Waiter. I explained that my wife is allergic to lemon and he kindly checked with the kitchen to ensure there was no lemon in the raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing.

We ordered salad and french onion soup for starters, which we both shared. The salad was excellent with a delightful mixture of blue cheese, raspberries, pine nuts, and other goodies. The french onion soup was also excellent.

Service started out as very good, but with the entrees, there was a distinct lack of attention to detail.

Our entrees arrived - we both had the crab legs and filet steak. We both ordered medium rare. We waited for some time but no steak knives arrived. So we started to eat without them. The crab was cold, and so was the steak. And it was really rare, not medium rare. It was still cool in the middle.

Nobody offered us fresh ground pepper so I got the mill and did it myself.

No, I didn't complain about the entrees at that time not wanting to ruin the atmosphere of the meal. I think if I had known how much more downhill proceedings would go I would have.

The cut of filet served was of outstanding quality. A plus. I wish it had been cooked a little more.

Halfway through eating my steak with a table knife I asked one of the staff about steak knives. He said, "We're out of them. We ran low."

No apology, and no effort made to get us proper cutlery.

One of my crab legs tasted off so I didn't finish it. We neared the end of our meal and Mr. Waiter dropped by to see how things were.

"Do you normally offer steak knives with steak?" I asked. He replied that, "We had a lot of folks all at once and there was a run on them."

No apology was given.

I ordered cheesecake for dessert and it was absolutely stunning. Delicious.

The bill came and it included a glass of wine which we hadn't ordered.

I sent the bill back with Mr. Waiter and he returned with a new one.

The second one had the same total on it. Also, it did not itemize the things ordered as the first one had.

I had to get someone to round Mr. Waiter up again and redo the bill.

The third bill came and it was itemized. It still had the glass of wine on it which we hadn't ordered.

I had Mr. Waiter fix the bill a fourth time.

Finally it came back correct. It took almost half an hour to get the correct bill.

We got up to leave and walked by two of the wait staff who were chatting just inside the dining room near the podium. I smiled at them and they said... nothing. I said, "Thanks, goodnight." to see if I was
invisible or something and they sort of grunted something at me. I recall dining at the old gourmet room at Caesars when the entire staff would stop and bid you farewell as you left, and thank you for coming, and invite you to return.

On the way out I encountered the hostess and asked her, "Do you plan to order more steak knives? We weren't given any." She just sort of looked at me.

On the basis of this experience I would not recommend Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse, and I would not return.

The next morning, I had some personal issues which I believe were from the crab. You'll have to take my word on that, since I won't offer a full description. Believe me it is to your benefit that this
information is withheld.

Postscript.

The next day, I happened to bump into the Executive Chef (according to the stitching on his uniform). I asked him, "Are you the guy in charge of ordering steak knives?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," he replied.

"Last night I had to eat my steak with a butter knife because there weren't enough steak knives to go around."

I think he was shocked. His jaw literally dropped.

"You're not serious!"

"I am. I'm in room 1105 if you wish to discuss it."

We got off at the 11th floor. Sadly, I did not receive a follow up call from him. I would have enjoyed explaining what happened.

My conclusions:

The steak house is overpriced. The ingredients generally are excellent. The crab... not up to par. The wait staff was almost insultingly lackadaisical. I get the impression they've stopped caring
and take things for granted.

And for, if you'll allow me, for goodness steak, when you charge $40 for a top cut of beef, or $68 for surf and turf, you should have enough cutlery on hand to satisfy the patrons needs.

I would be interested in hearing your feedback.

Best regards,

Royal Flusher

I forgot to mention in the letter that the garlic mashed taters were so salty as to be inedible, unless you wanted your mouth to sphincter up.

We shall see if Binion's responds or not.




Monday, October 5, 2009

Binions Comp Situation

Got a hold of my host at Binion's and they picked up 2 of our 4 nights based on our play. Not sure what our coin in was. We had a lot of play on the machines which have better games on them but only give points at 1/3 the regular rate.

If comp values are calculated based on points and not on coin in, then this would explain why all four nights were not picked up.

Anyway, for 13 nights in Vegas we paid a grand total of $66 on hotel rooms. Not too shabby.

We have yet to receive any marketing offers from Binion's, so we'll have to see if this stay turns on the taps.

Maybe Elvis can turn on the comp taps?




Sunday, October 4, 2009

United Contined...

Fremont Street Experience Las Vegas Club
Bye Bye Fremont Street
Well, we did indeed need to rebook Mrs. F's flight from Toronto to Flusherville because the UA flight from Chi-town was almost 3 hours late.

Fortunately we were able to get it sorted and after a 13 day fun-filled trip, part of which I remember, we are home again.

Thanks for riding along!

Still have to deal with Binions and see about a room comp. And Presidential screwed up our limo reservation changes. Originally we had a return trip web special with a stretch, and a second one-way sedan for me.

I cancelled the sedan.

But the sedan was what showed up to take us to the airport and I had to give a credit card for the ride - so I might get dinged for 3 rides and not 2.

Why can't people follow simple instructions? Oh who am I kidding, people have problems with anything more complicated than an elevator, and many peeps can't even handle that.

Don't believe me? Just watch and see how many dumbasses press the wrong floor or can't find the 'door open' button in time to prevent a potentially limb-severing elevator door accident.




United Breaks Guitars and my will to live

Las Vegas at Night


I hate United Airlines.

They charge $20 for a piece of luggage. In an insane application of reverse Keenesian supply and demand insanity, for two pieces they charge $50.

WTF is up with that????

This is so not the Royal Flusher Way.

We're in Chicago, and guess what. Our 1:20 doesn't leave till 3:05 now so now we are totally screwed for our Flusherville Pony Express flight.

Not only that, but United Breaks Guitars.




Take it Easy

It was a good thing we took it easy. Once I got the Royal Flush, my luck was spent. I slowly dropped about 2 bills during the day.

Just for laughs Mrs. Flusher hit a quad at the airport to dilute her losses.

We were pretty much just one royal flush away from breaking even on gambling.

The final tally looks like this:

On the day, I finished up $777. Mrs. Flusher, including the surprise quad at the airport (read on!) finished the day up $0.00 - exactly even.

Trip Stats:

Royal Flusher, degenerate gentleman gambler TM: $-183 on the trip.

Quad Queen, el Quattro Supremo: $-1105 on the trip.

Total losses/gains: $-1288

Total comps: $1509

And we still have to contact Binions to see if they will comp our room for our play there, which could add another $110 plus tax to the comp treasure chest.

It's been just a fantastic trip.

Las Vegas Strip at Night
Farewell, beautiful Las Vegas.




Hell-trip 2009

Well, we're wrapping up our last day here in Vegas.

Hell-trip 2009 begins as the day ends... as we twiddle our thumbs and/or nap until the limo arrives at... 3:30AM. We have a 6:00am flight to Chicago and then a 1:20pm to Toronto.

Then we take different flights (because we booked on points) to Flusherville on the air equivalent of the Pony Express.

It's a long day of gambling followed by a non-existent night followed by a long day of travelling.

We're pretty hopeful we can get Mrs. F moved to the earlier flight to Flusherville with me. We had the same problem on the way out and it was no sweat getting us on the same plane.

They prolly only allocate one seat for points redemption on each Pony Express flight, even though they are not even close to full. So we should be able to get it changed at the gate.

McCarran Airport Jet Ramp
McCarran




Binions Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse Redux

Getting into the elevator a few moments ago, I happened to notice the Executive Chef for Binion's was standing next to me.

I asked him the following:

"Are you the guy in charge of ordering steak knives?"

"Steak knives?"

"Yes. You know, for the steak house upstairs. They ran out yesterday, told me they didn't have enough steak knives to go around."

The look on his face was priceless - his jaw literally dropped a little. He didn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"Last night, we ate our steaks with butter knives. I'm in 1209 if you want to talk."

I think some words will be exchanged in Binion's Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse today.

Binions Rooftop Pool
Binion's rooftop pool is actually pretty cool. See what I did there?




Taking the Golden Nugget

This is our last day in Vegas, and as you can see from my previous post, it started off with a bang.

And that's only part of the story.

Our morning started at Binions where Mrs. F pulled off a second winner of Four Deuces (the $250 variety this time.)


So we were off to a good start.

We decided to try some BP at the Golden Nugget and have a heart-starter or two. About 5 minutes in I held three to a royal and up popped the other two beauties for $1000.

I never get tired of seeing these.
I jumped out of my seat a little bit and made some appropriate noises to indicate that a positive event had happened. Positive? This totally pulled my trip from the fire.

Once we snapped some pix and I cashed in for 10 crisp benjamins, I was able to write down that I was up $975 for the day, and Mrs. F was up $200.

Maybe this is why we gamble. To play for almost 13 days, every day, and pull out a win to put me within a hundred bucks of even, having enjoyed about 793 pounds of free, greasy food, is some kind of modern day miracle.

We are going to chill today, preserve our stakes.

In two previous trips we had a somewhat disturbing occurence of each of us losing about $500 on the last day, burning through most of our profits in what had been winning trips. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

So we are going to show some discipline and just take it easy, cruise around, collect our cashback and freeplay here and there, sit out by the pool, and get ready for "Hell-trip 2009".




Saturday, October 3, 2009

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Bucks

Last day of the trip.

Royal Flush in Hearts at the Golden Nugget.
Royal Flush in Hearts at the Golden Nugget. Oh sweet joy!
Triumph!

Royal Flush!
Royal Flush!



Binions Ranch Butterknife Steakhouse

We're still quad challenged - or at least I am.

We had dinner at Binion's Ranch Steakhouse - and it was a disaster.
Binions Ranch Steak House View
Binion's Ranch Steakhouse
The makings seemed to be there in terms of quality ingredients but how can you run out of steak knives when you are a steak house? Our food was cold and I ground my own pepper since no-one offered to do it.

And I ate my filet with a butter knife.

The bill was wrong (included some things we didn't order) and it took three tries to get it fixed.

I asked a few people about the steak knives - "we're low on them". No one there seems to care.

I can't recommend the restaurant and will likely not return.*

At this point both of us were down a couple hundred or so on the day. Well, actually close to three for me. It's getting to be very old, this losing all the time.

Then the Quad Queen turned on the afterburners and starting hitting like she used to. She hit two Wild Royals Flush, and six quads including Aces for $200.

Meanwhile, I decided VP wasn't for me anymore and realized I haven't been playing any Blackjack.

I bought in for a measly $20 at a $5 at Main Street Station and just went on a tear. An hour and a half later I cashed out $125. That took some of the sting out of the day, and even better, Mrs. F finished up $120 on the day - a total comeback of over $400 on her part.


*I could, and I did.




Friday, October 2, 2009

Portfolio Review Time

Let's do a quick review of the finances for this trip, shall we?

So far, our gambling losses are approximately $2010.18, split roughly equally between us.

Generally, we have found that we lose about $100 a day each, but hopefully make up for that in comps. And on some trips, when the Royals hit, we end up losing a lot less than that or even winning, and still getting the comps.

This is a particularly long trip for us so it is tough to keep on a winning pace. On the other hand, with more play should come more Royals Flush.

So far we have managed a total of approximately zero Royals Flush. I've had 18 chances from 4-to-a-royal and the QQ has had 11.

In the comp department, we've received $1400 in comps - rooms, food, freeplay, taking advantage of coupons and offers, etc.

So overall, considering we arrived Saturday night Sept. 19, the cost of this trip when considered all-in is pretty reasonable.

All of this blatant justification and indignant number juggling really helps to remove the pain of losing two grand.

Today we headed down to the south strip for a change, to see if we can find some luck there.

I booked a personal transportation limo-autobus for 8:00am at the gorgeous and well appointed Downtown Transportation Center. Our carriage had been dubbed for good luck with the moniker "Route 116". The booking fee for passage was a reasonable Three American Dollars for each of us. I had the driver take the 'scenic route' through the naked city, and then down Koval so that we could assess the current progress of the fine construction efforts in that part of the city and I can assure you the project is continuing on time and under budget. A number of extras were apparently hired to act as 'locals', providing color and authenticity to the journey.

Luxor was our first casino and we have many, many fond memories of it. Sadly most of the landmarks inside have been ripped out in favor of bars. We ate at the Pyramid Cafe and were served by the cheeriest person in Vegas - Stephanie.

I asked her how she manages to be so happy an she said, "It's just too much work to be unhappy."

Words of wisdom.

Breakfast for two - was $44 all in. WTF???

This is why we avoid the strip.

We tried (unsuccessfully) to locate the only full pay video poker machine in the place. Mrs. F dropped some cash in the high limit room on a five dollar slot to no avail.

I had wished last trip I could have scored some of the old Egyptian decorations they were ripping out but couldn't lay my hands on anything.
Luxor Las Vegas Attractions Level
Remember 'In Search of the Obelisk'? I found it.

Well today, they were in the process of ripping up part of the marble tile in the lobby and I got them to give me a piece of it. Now I've got a piece of the Luxor to take home.

We checked out Excalibur and tried some DDB there - nothing much doing.

Picked up our monthly free play at the Four Queens. I turned my 50 into $30 cash, and Mrs. Flusher turned her $80 into $50. That's $80 cash free. Sort of.

For some reason the Four Queens have added a horrible fake strawberry scent to the casino. It is totally overpowering and we can't stand it. I really am avoiding the casino now because of it. Some of the personnel I talked to there are having headaches from it.

If you go there, let me know if you find the stench as horrid as I do - and let them know too.

I filled out a comment card about it indicating that the floral/strawberry scent "makes me puuuuuuuuuuuuuke".

And the music blows there to boot.




Video Poker Expletives!!


Took a last bash at the Double Double Bonus before bed and played into the end of my stake for the day and look what popped up.

Four Freakin' Aces dealt to me!!!!!!! The fifth card was a 9 so as it stood the hand was worth $200. I held all four Aces and drew for the kicker.

SCORE - a deuce, and a cool $500. And I am done for the day and up on the day $150, the largest daily result of the trip for me. And my largest win of the trip.

What a rush to get that kicker! I almost uttered an expletive!

What a rush getting dealt Aces, and drawing for the kicker!





Thursday, October 1, 2009

Hunting Results

Hunting trip results:

$20 in the California dollar coin droppers - $40

$20 on the Vegas Club deuces - $0

$20 on the BP at Golden Nugget - $50

$20 on the Four Queens machine where I got a royal once - $0

Four Queens 9/6 Jacks or Better Video Poker

$20 on the Win Free Meat machine at the Fitz - played for about an hour and did win a Free Steak Dinner coupon.

Fitzgerald's Free Steak Dinner Coupon
Fitzgerald's Free Steak Dinner Coupon
Played it into the ground, so - $0

All in all I spent a couple hours at this and had fun.

And that's what it's all about, right? Having some fun?

Actually, fuck no, it's really about the money. Fun is the bonus.






A Pantload of Fun

The rest of this day has been unremarkable. I'm in the hole a bunch and so is Mrs. F.

We just aren't getting the quads we normally get and really, we ought to have at least one royal by now. We've had royals in 4 of the last 5 trips and they were shorter than this one.

We need some big hands, now!!!

Tonight I'm going on a mission. It will be like a hunting trip. I'll circulate to all our favorite spots and play a $20 in each one, trying to double it up.

$20 in the California dollar coin droppers
$20 on the Vegas Club deuces
$20 on the BP at Golden Nugget
$20 on the Four Queens machine where I got a royal once
$20 on the Win Free Meat machine at the Fitz, so we can possibly eat tomorrow.

Mrs. F will stay in the room and read.

Last night we ended up getting a keno ticket and watching the numbers come in on the TV in our room.

Yes, its that pathetic and desperate.

But we are still having a pantload of fun.

El Cortez Keno Lounge
El Cortez Keno Lounge,




That's Winning to Me!

I have a coupon for $10 off a one hour 'table shower'. We have spent significant effort trying to figure out just what this would entail. A table. Some sort of shower. Probably a young female attendant.

After that I'm kind of baffled. Why would it take an hour? How much more desirable is it to shower in a prone position than it is standing up? Are there TV screens available to help you pass the hour? What do the 'happy ending' add-on bonuses have to do with the showering aspect of this activity? Only in Vegas can you find Ethel M chocolates, machine gun shooting, and table showering discount coupons all in the same booklet.

I am having such a hard time with 3-of-a-kinds still. I may change my name to '3 Ace Flusher' because that's all I ever seem to end up with.


We had a good run at Binions this morning with lot of drinks and two quads. It was good in the sense that it lasted almost 2 hours, not in the sense that we actually won anything.

At least we got to name a new video poker hand. The full house 10 4 10 4 10 - is now called a 'Convoy', good buddy.

I dropped down quite a bit and went into targeted small win mode where you try to eke out some profit with each 20. I clawed back $20 at the Fitz on DDB and then anothe 20 on deuces. I had been down $150 and made it back up to being only $50 down.

"You're improving," said Mrs. F.

"So, I'm winning?"

"Winning???"

"I'm winning. You know, winning. I'm a winner?"

"You're not losing as badly."

"That's winning to me!"





I Love You Forever!

Four Queens Hotel and Casino
Four Queens Hotel and Casino - the Casino part.
We got seated at Magnolia's and Carmen took our order.

"What's the most expensive thing on the menu?", I asked.

"New York eh-Steak, $15.95"

"I'll take six of those," I said brandishing my comp slip.

"Okay, 12 steaks."

What a charmer Carmen is!

The steaks arrived and sadly, mine was well done, not medium rare. Mrs. F's was perfect. WTF???

I had to send the eh-steak back.

The replacement arrived and it was definitely not well done. It was not even medium rare or even rare.

I sliced the top off of it and it looked like a flesh wound. This slab was still cold in the middle. I think they call it 'blue'.

Dinner was ruined and the person in charge wasn't much help. She wanted to charge me for the salad and half a baked potato I'd eaten.

This was definitely NOT the Royal Flusher way.

Finally, the manager, Donna, was called for. She offered to take my meal off the bill.

Well that really didn't matter when it was comped anyway, now did it.

In the end, I received another comp for the value of the meal, and an apology. I pointed out that Carmen had been lovely and had done everything she could to make things right.

I left Carmen a tip on the full amount of the comp - it was the kitchen that let her down, and she worked hard. I let her know how it got fixed up, and that I'd sung her praises to the manager.

"I love you forever!", she exclaimed and ambled off on her duties.

It was a fitting end to a rather shitty day for me not to have supper. I took it like a man, as penance.

Cuz I'm down (ulp) another $430 today to Mrs. F's $22 loss. I have now passed her in the Biggest Loser sweepstakes.

I fell asleep to some old RnB song about Blackjack - "everything I had I lost to blackjack". Maybe it should have been about video poker.