Nook Color Update and Some Gambling Results

It was too late on Friday to arrange any package sending or to do anything much. To get my mind off the Nook Color which was (supposedly) ensconsed safely somewhere deep in the recesses of the Smug Nugget's shipping department, I decided to throw Chippy in the half-ton and go over to play Crib with the FatherFlusher and drink about 11 Molson Excels.

The description on a reputable beer review site of Molson Excel is that it is "Very light & clear. Bubbly from CO2". It is also rocks a full 0.5% alcohol. Presumably because it is against the laws of physics to remove all alcohol from beer. That's 0.5%, one tenth of what is in a regular beer. But lets face it, removing any alcohol from beer should be a chargeable offense.

Now, imagine a beer being bubbly from C02! And being light and clear. Sounds like fizzy dishwater to me. In fact, the tasting impressions of the online review site describe it this way: "Thin & watery....This is bad for even a N/A beer. Can't finish it."

The F.F. is pretty good at crib - good enough to count my hand and even move my pegs before I've even started totalling things up. In fact, he even starts dealing for me if I don't get a move on. I'm not even sure why he needs me there to play crib with him - he's pretty much playing both sides of the board by himself.

I was starting to get a buzz from my 5th Excel when some information came in from Vegas by email - the final updates and random observations from the Quad Queen's trip. Actually, the buzz I was feeling was from my bladder, which was about to rupture from downing 5 Excels in 35 minutes. That's about the only buzz you are going to get from this froth.

On the way to the last show (Ka), the QQ was playing with all the buttons in the limo to see what they did, because she was too pasted to read the tiny labels. Turning the mood lights up and down, music on and off, opening and closing the moon roof. The driver turned around and said, "Is there something wrong with the car?"

Mrs. Flusher replied that it was she who was pressing the buttons.

Generally, on the last day, she was down only $300 or $400 for the trip. This is pretty good and if you've been to Vegas, you know that. In fact for a week, it is something akin to a miracle.

On the Golden Nugget Wheel of Meat, the QQ got to spin for $25. They moved on the the bar at the Four Queens for some quarter DDB and she hit quad 4s for $200.

Meanwhile over at the Cal, she hit the dollar Treasure Chest and was dealt quad 10s - it came up with the minimum, a not too shabby $140.

She was inching her way back to even, bit by bit.

At Fremont they hit the pick'em on last time and she managed a quad there, which is good for $150.

It wouldn't be a trip to Vegas without playing some $5 video poker - thats $25 a hand. First hand she got three of a kind and bailed for a quick $50 profit.

More quads ensued, a see-saw battle edging close to zero and in fact, edging close to a winning trip. Megabucks ate $50 and didn't make us millionaires. (Imagine that.)

She played another $20 as a last gasp and ran it up to $80 and cashed out - at that point the Quad Queen was even on the entire trip, without getting a Royal. Phenomenal job!

Tradition says we play at the airport, and the Wheel of Meat there ate $20 and yielded nothing in return.

So, final, final, final, the Queenus in Betweenus booked a $20 loss for seven nights in Vegas. Sadly the MotherFlusher pretty much went through her budget, and got it all back and then some in excitement and entertainment.

Big thumbs up for Du-Pars - apparently their entrees are home made including the chicken pot pie and the chicken soup, which were greatly enjoyed.

Big thumbs down for Lago Buffet at Caesars. "Very expensive for crappy food. And if you are not staying at the hotel, you cannot pay with a credit card - and they don't tell you until you get to the cashier as you enter (you have to pay before you eat)."

Apparently the whimsical, musical Goldfishing machines by the washrooms at Main St. Station are no more. I loved hearing those, I always knew I was in Vegas when I heard that little tune they play.

Throughout the trip, the Mother Flusher hit 23 quads, with three of them being $100 or higher. She hit 2 straights flush.

But the Quad Queen, in Queenlike fashion, hit 57 quads in all, including 16 quads of $100 or higher: 125, 400, 125, 100, 102, 250, 250, 400, 150, 400, 600, 125, 125, 125, 200, 140. She hit 2 straights flush.

And that is how you break even on video poker in Vegas.

Now that everyone is back home where they belong, I am hearing that, contrary to this being the MotherFlusher's "once in a lifetime trip", she is now planning to go back next May, with another daughter, and her grand-daughter in tow.

Heck with that, take ME.