USAS Bonebook - just like the ASUS Chromebook Flip

So it seems pretty clear that this Bonebook that Jimmy Poon got me is pretty much an exact duplicate of the ASUS Chromebook Flip - except for ASUS' attention to detail, build quality, and reliability.

I'm still working out the kinks, figuring out how I am going to use this thing on the road.

The battery life of the Bonebook is supposed to be an astonishing 10 hours. With the new Bluetooth mouse I got, and with wifi on as well as bluetooth, I imagine I will get somewhat less than that. But still!

Not only does the Bonebook feature a pretty crisp looking screen, it's also a touchscreen. And for the 'flip' part of the equation, you can fold the keyboard back 180 degrees (or maybe its 360 degrees - I don't know, I was never any good at astrology) and use the thing as a tablet. When you rotate it from landscape to vertical, the display re-orients itself accordingly.

This means you can also use the Bonebook in 'tent' mode to watch movies on the plane - it becomes its own stand.

The keyboard on this thing is pretty much useable - I am still getting accustomed to it and I make a few more mistakes than on a laptop - but not many. So I don't see any problem there.

And, I picked up a fancy schmancy bluetooth mouse to use and it works just fine.

So let's see if we can get some pictures into this thing. I can go one of two ways here - use the cable method to plug my piPhone into the Bonebook, copy the photos over, resize them, and post them. Or, I can use something like Google Drive to upload them to wherever Google Drive is, and then go from there into the blog.

I don't know what happened from before - but the Bonebook is seeing things from the piPhone. And offering to backup stuff to 'the cloud' wherever that is. Maybe the change is that I logged into the piPhone before plugging in the cable. Or maybe the Bonebook updated itself and now it magically works...

So let's test this out.

I see a number of folders of pictures and I can see a list of them or thumbnails. It's actually easier to find the latest pics than on a Windows laptop - on Windows, the piPhone photo folders appear as indecipherably named crypto-baffling folders. I have to use extreme tech savvy just to locate the latest pics.

Let's see if I can easily bring one into the blog.

I tried dragging and dropping from the photo list to Blogger. No joy there.

In the Files window that popped up when I attached the piPhone, I told it to back up the one new file it found. Now that picture appears in Google Drive, which Blogger can access directly.

Bored yet? Believe me, you'll care when I have all kinds of Vegas action photos to share!

And here it is - some form of success!

USAS BoneBook - the Savvy Blogging Tool of the Future

After I got back from the last trip, I had a talk with Jimmy Poon.

"Jimmy Poon," I said, because that is his name, "it was great having the company laptop in Vegas and everything because then I could blog live, but isn't there something a little more portable that I could use?"

"What's wrong with laptop?" asked Jimmy Poon.

"It's too heavy, for one thing. It weight almost 5 pounds and my carryon bag is only 20 pounds. It has a heavy power supply with a big heavy cord, too."

"Let me see what I can do, Royal," said Jimmy Poon.

A few days later, I get an email that there is an Amazon delivery scheduled to arrive at my house the next morning.

Great, I think, and I'm expecting an 8 foot bikini-clad bathing beauty.

WOO HOO!!!!

Instead, I get this:

I opened it up and the coolest, tiny, little, laptop you ever saw is inside.

It's called a BoneBook.

I called Jimmy Poon.

"Jimmy Poon, Amazon came, and instead of an eight foot goddess I got something called a BoneBook instead."

Jimmy Poon's elfin laugh echoed across the cell towers.

"Heee heee heeee. It's a BoneBook. Very light. Very small. Got touchscreen. ChromeBook knockoff made in a Pac Rim country so small, so unknown, that they've never even heard of the word 'patent'."

"Well thanks, Jimmy Poon, I'll try it out, and see how it goes."

I did some reading on ChromeBooks and it seemed like it would be the perfect tool for blogging on the go. I composed a checklist of features I'd need to have.

Fast Forward - I decided that the best way to figure out this new BoneBook would simply be to start creating some blog posts and using it for all the other things I need to do when blogging. I was able to get the Amazon picture loaded from a URL, and I took a picture of the Amazong box using my piPhone, and then running Blogger on my phone, and dumping the photo into the blog post directly. But that probably won't do when I'm on the road and blogging from Vegas - it's just too cumbersome.

Anyway for this post, I am using the bare BoneBook, and learning as I go. It has a touchpad, so I'm using that and so far so good.

It had to be light - my new BoneBook is under two pounds and has a power supply the size of one of those fuzzy ring boxes that rings come in that you give to some girl to signal the end of your life and freedom as you know it. About an inch and a half by an inch and a half by an inch thick. (The same size you'll be after ring giving etc. etc. etc.)

It has to go on the internet - check. And it's pretty fast too. It does email like a champ. Well duh, everything does.

I have to be able to write on it - check. The keyboard, though small, is just big enough for me to hammer out Vegas blog posts.

It has to support a mouse - check. I plugged a USB thingy in and my mouse worked immediately. It supports bluetooth mice too so I might get one of those to try out.

I have to be able to run blogger on it - I usually use Chrome for Blogger anyway, and the BoneBook comes with a nice Chrome compatible browser (cryptically called 'BoneBrowser') and it runs Blogger just fine (evidenced by these here words you are reading now).

I have to be able to process my photos for blogging on it - this is where it is going to get tricky. On a laptop, I transfer the pictures via wire from my piPhone 3.14 (another knock-off product courtesy of Jimmy Poon's shady Pacific Rim manufacturing buddies). Then I resize them using batch mode in IrfanView. Then I write the blog and upload as needed into the blog post.

The jury is out on how I'm going to work with my live Vegas photos. I tried plugging the piPhone into the BoneBook and it asked me 50 times if I trusted the computer. Every time, I said "YES, GODDAMMIT!". But all I got was an empty window.

I had to google how to do a screenshot but I got it done, and cropped it too.

I have to be able to access my favorite Vegas sites to spread the word on the new posts, and FaceBook too - if you got to this post via FaceBook, then you'll know it worked!

I'm kind of worried about the photo workflow. Photos coming from my Cameron digital camera got transferred to my laptop via putting the memory card into the card reader. The BoneBook has a memory card reader - but it's a TFT card reader, not one of the 'puny' variety. (TFT = Teeny Fucking Tiny).

I have to be able to view movies on the plane on it - there is a Chrome Plex app. YAY! The Chrome Plex app doesn't support syncing content directly to your ChromeBook knockoff. BOO!!!

That sucks, cause I have 16 GB of storage on this bad baby.

There are going to be a few more wrinkles to iron out (there don't seem to be page up/down and home/end keys, wtf is up with that???), and there are some really cool features to show you about this USAS BoneBook.

More to come.

Did I mention that I'm taking this BoneBook on an upcoming Vegas trip? Oh yes I am. I'm not going to go Royal-less in 2015 if I can at all help it.

Sit tight, I'll tell you all about it - when it's time.

Luxor Bounce-back Offer! (Sept 7-2015)

The wonderful, caring, people back-end marketing systems at Luxold - I mean Luck's Whore - I mean Luck Sore - I mean Luxhole - have bestowed another fine, fine offer on me.

I don't think I will be taking this one seriously. Sometime I might use the two nights and no-play them (except for the $40 free play of course), but I think I'm done with the place, after the grimy experiences we had this trip.

I wonder what else will appear in my Inbox...

Just The Facts Wrap-up

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face, still feeling good from the amazing, incredibly lucky end to our trip. I did some Veeblework, got of the amazing Wynn Reserve coffee (this coffee is the best brewed coffee in Vegas, or my name isn't Ducky Bradford) and hot water and some sort of semi-horrid egg thing for breakfast that is not worthy of Wynn, and got ready to roll.

I also snuck in a $20, four hands of dollar Bonus Poker. Got one pair out of it.

We finished packing up, and we got an email from the Bell Trans saying our limo was on its way. We checked out, and headed downstairs, to the main valet. The limo was right on time, and again, we didn't have to share with anyone. $28 per person return was a steal for this service, and if we need to do it again, this is how we'll -ahem- roll.

Everything went smoothing at the airport and the Rouge slaveship was on time arriving from Toronto, and also leaving Las Vegas. And that's where I am right now, seated on the aisle, having had a little plastic bottle of plonk and some hummus, and reviewing the pictures from yesterday, and writing up the blog.

The Airport is not without its diversions.

And there goes attempt number 23 - all unsuccessful.

I bought my 8 millionth in flight chicken wrap - it's the only thing that remotely appeals to me on the menu - and while digging for my wallet, my elbow contacted a flight attendant.

"Sorry! Did I bump you?" I asked.

"That soft lump was just my fat ass," replied the F.A. "Not a problem."

"On the contrary, I found it to be firm and toned," I insisted. Everyone in earshot had a good chuckle.

Life is good.

Some of Rouge's equipment. (The cart.)

I still have unfinished business in Vegas - that's three trips in a row with no royals for me. It's a mission, still.

The Final Tally

RF: Day: -$200 Trip: -$1860
QQ: Day: +$840 Trip: -$1640

Combined: -$3500

That's around $200 a day each.

Here comes the fancy math... For $200 a day each we got:
Room for all nights except one, including two free nights at Wynn.
Extra room for three nights.
Food for about five days out of nine, including two $150 dinners at Redwood Grille.

We also got about $1,400 in free play, and two limo security SUV rides, and a Binions cap. And a Lucky Werewolf SILVER! STRIKE!!.


It was an interesting experience doing this trip report live after having done quite a few after the fact from notes lately. It takes time out of Vegas, but I enjoy the feedback I'm getting - a lot more of you have communicated in one way or another. So I suspect you are more engaged also, when you now it is happening more or less as you read it, and that what is going to happen is not yet known as you are reading along.

Quite a few folks reached out to offer drinks and meetups. I'm sorry that didn't happen, please accept that first of all, there are too many requests to honor them all, and second, with having to work at Veeblefetzer, and blog live, there just wasn't much time to make arrangements and be specific places at certain times and so on.

Your interest is appreciated, and just know that the best part of Flusher is right here on the blog. Writing about video poker, I can make it sound fairly interesting - much more interesting than in actually witnessing it, which is 99% boring with 1% holy shit moments.

Until next time, stay savvy, and keep the royals coming.

Your Internet Pal,

St!mul8 Royal Flusher



This last picture is for a very special friend of Royal Flusher. Thinking of you.

Dreaming of St!mul8-ing Kickers (Sept 1-2015)

We decided to give T.I. some more play - rewarding them for having toned down the scent, increased the perks for video poker play, and for having full pay machines. The only downside is that the 'good' machines start at 50 cents and go up from there, so you need deeper pockets if you are going to play to any degree. So, we got off at Fashion Show Mall, and hustled over to T.I.

I had a little luck, but I could see that things had swung back to the way they normally were - with me struggling to hit the broad side of a Game King, while the Quad Queen reeled in quads like picking dandelions. I managed one, and she nailed three.

Me

QQ

QQ

QQ. Again.

The best part of my day thus far came when I went to purchase a pick-me-up caffeinated beverage at the Starbucks at the back of T.I., where, from this day forth, I am known cordially as St!mul8, or 'Stim' for short.

I pretty much had them all convinced that St!mul8 is my real name. The manager talked to me about it and I pointed out that although it was an odd name, it was a great conversation starter at cocktail parties.

Back at the machines, I was unable to get anything going. We finished up and I did a wipe 'n slide with my card and got a bunch of virtual tickets in a virtual draw. I deposited them in a virtual drum by pushing a button. The best part was I qualified for $25 in freeplay for earning at least 150 points. Some kind of promotion that started this month, now that we are in September. I blew through the $25 on dollar Bonus Poker. Got nothing.

We sizzled our way back to Wynn and played a bit there and that's where I hit my first wall - the end of my $400 stake. I was growing concerned, pissed off actually, and really frustrated. It was time to take a breather in the room, and that's what we did. The Quad Queen was having a great time, cruising along, not losing much, if any, and getting quads at the right times. Like having to test the C.O.C. software in Vegas, all I got was the shaft.

I convinced myself that, since it was the last night, the smart thing to do would be to cash more traveller's checks and continue to play something. The something in this case, was triple play Slutty Times Pay short pay Jacks or Better. Great choice.

I blew through $400 with nothing much to show for it. Oh, it was bad. It was so bad. I called out the results, nothing, nothing, 5, nothing, 10, nothing, 20, 5... We both agreed, objectively, that the Quad Queen got about three times the spinner multipliers that I got. My God it was brutal. It was a good thing the Absolut rocks with olives the size of hailstones were flowing.

Quad Queen's:

Mine.

We went and played near the front of the casino, some single line stuff. The Quad Queen made out just fine, and I tooled along playing video blackjack, one or two credits at a time, and sucking back the drinks. I tried some video poker after a long while, but of course, wasn't hitting.

I blame the Absolut.

Sixes. Again...

So now I found myself, on the last evening, $800 in the hole. I felt like shit. I was really and truly quite upset. We'd even dressed up for a long pants dinner, albeit a casual one at the Terrace Point Blank thingy, but at least QQ had a dress on, and we'd be able to get a steak or something. (That was a whole other discussion, trying to find something that would fit both of our needs and wants. If you've ever been married, you've been in on the secret fun that this can be. Let's Choose a Restaurant! should be a required course in every pre-nuptial preparatory curriculum.

Well, the fucking place was closed, so we waltzed into the buffet at 15 minutes before closing. We ate. It was good. It was very similar to our previous foray into all-you-can-cram silage fest that is the Las Vegas buffet.

I struggled to stay positive - I owed it to my gambling attitude, and to the Quad Queen, to try to have fun - but boy, I was worn down by the frustration level on this trip. We'd both struggled a lot. And, I still had a frustration hangover from the previous trip. Dammit, I wanted a Royal!!!

We headed to the casino for one last shot at it.

And that's when I spotted her. There was only one like her in the whole world, and I worshipped the very spectacles she wore on her noble head, like some gladitorial protective eye armor.

Mrs. Brains.

That had to be a good sign, right?

From the Spotted Moron Dept. Why would you play four coins on $10 instead of five? Or five coins on $5???

The Quad Queen slipped me a few twenties and for some reason, we decided to try a few hands of dollar triple play full pay (!) Bonus Poker. We took turns. We only put in one twenty at a time.

And I did okay. And then I was dealt three sixes and had a chance for a quad. Or two. Or three. And by gum, I got one.

Did it ever feel nice to cash out some bucks. I returned the two twenties to Mrs. F that she'd lent me to get started. We agreed to have one last bash at the multi-play machines.
I sat down and the game on my screen wasn't Slutty Times Pay, it was 6/5 Bonus five play. At this point, I just didn't give a rats ass anymore. I knew I was done and beaten for this trip. (And I would have to tell the world about it via this blog, too. No hiding in pseudo-anonymity for me.)

I played a few hands and it was shite.

"What are you playing?" asked the Quad Queen.

"Horrid 6/5 Bonus five play. But I don't recommend it."

"I might as well give it a shot," she said and punched it up from the menu.

I realized the folly of my ways right then - it was stupid to be playing that game. I needed to be playing the higher payback Slutty Times Pay DDB - it held the only longshot chance I had at winning back some money, short of getting a Royal. And we know how hard that is now, right.

QQ played for a while and put more dough in and then she stopped.

"I'm done," she said.

But my machine was starting - finally - to show signs of life. I was actually going up in credits, and getting spinners, not just getting killed hand after hand. I even got a quad.

I had forty bucks left, two twenties, and I shoved them at her.

"Here. Play this."

I didn't want to be left alone when I completely crashed out the end of my trip.

She went back to five play Bonus. It was late (very late for us, who'd stayed on Eastern time, getting close to three in the morning for us.) She was practically nodding off at the machine, but still playing, slowly.

"I got a Royal," she said. Just like that.

"You got a Royal. You got a Royal??"

I looked over and there it was. A sweet, beautiful, wonderful Royal Flush. In clubs. From three. Holy shit! Hallelujah!!!!! At last, at last, at last, a Royal for the Flushers!

I took pictures, we talked about it, admired it, and she played a few more hands 'just in case', and then cashed out over $1100.

I played on and the Quad Queen rode shotgun, keeping me from stupid overtired mistakes, and cheering me on. After only maybe two or three minutes, I got a spinner.

3x, a nice littel 3x spinner, on Double Double Bonus.

And the deal came up three pointies. I held the three Aces and we made the usual noise. If I could just get the fourth... if I could just get a kicker...

I hit draw and saw the first line come up nothing, and the second line had a little box pop up in it that said "2400" and I was like, whoa, what? I must have gotten it, and holy shit, I did! Aces times three for 2400 credits. Sweet, sweet salvation! All of a sudden it had turned into an incredible, unbelievable finish. It was literally the last couple of minutes we planned to gamble this trip. I know this sounds far-fetched, but check the tickets, and you'll see I am telling it like it really was.

My day was retrieved, and we made a huge, huge dent in our losses, to the tune of $1800.

The awful feelings I'd suffered all day were gone and in their place a feeling of contentment. I hadn't gotten a Royal, but one of us had, and I'd turned in a respectable $200 or so loss on the day, instead of staring down pretty much a $1000 loss. I felt like a winner.

We went up to bed and slept, dreaming of kickers.

Werewolf Luck (Sept 1-2015)

Our final day in Vegas. So far, on average, we'd had a much worse than typical trip, in terms of gambling results. And we both were looking for the first Royal of 2015.

Veeblework got busy so I spent quite a bit of time giving the C.O.C. quite a workout and had a few status calls with Jimmy Poon to do. Quite a bit of the morning was behind us by the time we finally were freed of the chains of employment. Breakfast had gone by the wayside - I'd made do with a big take-out Wynn coffee and a bunch of cashews. It's important to keep your nuts nearby when C.O.C. testing.

I'd noticed the quality of the Wynn Reserve coffee at breakfast the previous day - let me say, they make one of the best cups of straight brewed coffee I've ever tasted. It was so flavorful and complex and satisfying, that I felt no need to get a latte or anything - just a big ole serving of Steve Wynn's java in a cup.

Now you know how the little squares make them pictures.

We had a mission today - win a shitload of money on freeplay downtown. Here's what was on tap:

$200 each at the Four Queens (I'm still working on a deprecating slightly slanderous name for this place. One very smart readers has suggested the 'Eight Titties'. I think that's very worthy of adoption by The Flusher, don't you? Your suggestions, though, are welcome.)

$60 at the Downtown Grand

$5 at the D along with a $10 match play

So, we trundled our way out of the Enwynn complex, down the winding garden path, which was filled with beautiful blossoms and some pretty good chugga chugga music, and down to the bus station. (Those outdoor speakers they have are made by Bose and they must be tough as nails. They do a pretty good job of providing outdoor chugga chugga music. I'm thinking of installing a few dozen of them around the Flusher yurt back in Flusherville.)

We just missed an SDX express bus and had to settle for a ride on the many stopped The Deuce. Fortunately, north of Wynn, it isn't nearly as busy as on the rest of the strip, and the ride was quite bearable.

First stop, the D. Start small, work up. The $5 freeplay netted nothing, no biggie. We had plenty more to come. My $10 matchplay lost too. Usually I do well on those things.

Next up, the Downtown Grand. We walked in to find that the area where the table games had been was taped off with caution tape and was full of slot machines to be installed and powered up.

They'd already removed half the table games, and now it looked like a complete purge. However, we found some tables had been set up in what used to be the High Limit room, back when the Downtown Grand had an uppity view of itself, not realizing that in order to understand exactly who their customers are, all they had to do was take a walk down Fremont and count the number of beer helmet guys with money to burn and very little self control. And those guys don't play $10 blackjack on a Tuesday morning. No, they are playing $3 blackjack at Fremont.

A Conference of Suits.

Oopsies.

The Aces with Kicker progressive was up around $650, nothing to get excited about, but the Royal was well over $1700. Not bad on a quarter game. The Downtown Grand progressives are definitely something to keep track of if you are hanging out downtown - I've seen the Aces get over $1000 on a number of occasions.

Our $60 freeplay (and an extra $5 earned on points) got us exactly dick all. We did get a drink at the bar out of it though. Unfazed, we strolled into the E.Ts., home of the free slot pull that I never, ever win, and neither do you. Like I always do, I greeted Bill warmly. Like he always does, he shows no sign of ever having seen me before in his life. I've performed this ritual perhaps 40 o 50 times. I guess it's just that I'm a very forgettable person (until I lift my kilt and sing Mull of Kintyre at the top of my lungs).

At the Mikes Bar, we were warmly greeted by one of the Mike's, who posed for a very reserved portrait, taken lovingly on my piPhone 3.14. I think it shows the side of Mike that embodies his understated charm and subtle wit. Pensive, that's what I'd call it, pensive and with a steady calmness as he moves through his carefully planned day.

Mike poured us a libation or two and we got caught up, and started in on the $200 freeplay each. I played Double Double Bonus, and the Quad Queen played some short pay jacks game with progressive Royals that reached sky high on some of the suits. We got sweet fuck all out of it.

The plan, since we had skipped breakfast pretty much, was to have a replay of our gargantuan pizza pie order of the other day, have another drink or two, and play more double double bonus, and turn that freeplay into cash that we could walk out of the place with, and spend at Enwynn.

I had already blown through $60 of it at the Mikes bar with nothing to show. QQ, same. Nevermind, we headed up to Chicago Brewing, got our drinks, and put our pizza order in, and kept playing. Double double. The pizza was great, and we made a healthy $40 dent in our $640 comp dollar balance to cover it. No quads.

After lunch (breakfast?) QQ wanted to play hundred play for a while, and I opted for a short parlay scheme on the full pay Jacks uprights. I had $60 free play left and did $10 at a time, starting on quarters. My second round I got to 50 cents, got a quad (dealt), then  parlayed to dollars.

I had about $70 on the meter, and like the other day, it plunged into nothingness. Bugger.

Nowhere, did I get, and fast. With the last $30, I played the game that has never let me down - SILVER! STRIKE!! It let me down. No hunks of metal to weigh down my suitcase and sit around the house in various drawers and baskets for the next 29 years. Losing all my $200 freeplay with nothing to show for it was bad - but not getting a SILVER! STRIKE!! was worse. Really worse. I marched over to a different machine (after stopping at QQ's hundred play for a six minute whine and dine session) and put $20 of my very own USA cash dollars into it. MY OWN MONEY. Was I crazy like Trump's beaver dam hairpiece? I must have been.

Well, I showed them. I got not one, not two, but three SILVER! STRIKE!!s, and one of 'em was even a blue cap, which I hope to sell to DaiLun for big bucks someday. The blue cap one has a color picture of the Werewolf on it. I think its modelled after that Back to the Future guy (except when he was Teen Wolf, not a Future guy). The run of the mill ones aren't worth carting home, since they are just plated, so I cashed 'em in.

Luck y Werewolf SILVER! STRIKE!!

Still, it was pretty disappointing to walk out of there with nothing for our freeplay trouble.

Across the street, we hit up Starship Binions, and did some play there on Boner Deluxe. That's when the Quad Queen started to shake off her bad luck streak from the day before.

Not one, but two quads on Boner Deluxe, within a couple of minutes of each other.

My day continued to trend into the 'holy shit, what a fucking debacle in the making' area. I was hitting nothing.

We earned enough points for a little freeplay on points, and two spins each on the wipe 'n gripe kiosk promotion.

QQ won $5 freeplay, and I won $10 in chips, and prize LV2, which turned out to be a pretty swell hat festooned with the future retro kitschy classic logo which cryptically hints the name of the estalishment - BINIONS - in masculine, swirly, whimsical, hefty script.

My $10 in chips lost at roulette. Stupid chips.

Ultimately, I'd been shut out downtown, getting only one quad which I'd immediately blown back at the Eight Titties.

Waiting for the bus back down to the strip, I was pissed. We'd gone through pretty much $500 in freeplay / matchplay / chips and we had nothing to show for it. I tried to keep my thoughts to myself on the bus ride because inside I was steaming mad and frustrated beyond believe. I knew we had only a few hours left to possible make something out of this trip than the pocket emptying death ride to gambling purgatory that it had been thus far.