The Torn, Stained and Frayed Fabric of my Life

Yesterday morning was kind of weird. I decided to head to Bally's to play some and seed possible future CET offers, which seem easy to come by and are useful if staying on the strip and if T.I. dries up.

I played more at T.I. than I thought I would, but not nearly as much as I have been.

Plus I won.

Next dog's name.

I hadn't been to Bally's in ages and ages so off I went, stopping off for Scottish food along the way.

Going in to Bally's, I encountered a stupidity. The stupidity I would make later would balance the karma of me railing at stupid Bally's for their stupidity.

I wound my way through what was once a prime piece of Las Vegas Boulevard property which Bally's has brilliantly leveraged to what amounts to a flea market. At the end of all this nonsense was the big escalator taking you to the walkway into the casino.

As I rode up, a couple rode down.

"It's blocked," said the couple. In unison.

I got to the top and saw what they meant by it being blocked.

It was blocked.

You can't see all this elements of a stupidity from the bottom of the escalator. WHY ISN'T THE SIGN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FUCKING ESCALATOR? What a stupidity!

As I rode down, I passed a couple who rode up.

"Prepare to be disappointed," I said helpfully. Really, what could I say that would do them any good? Nothing. So why not screw with them a little bit. In about 20 seconds they'd nod their heads and go "that guy was right... what a disappointment!"

The play at Bally's was of two kinds - slow losses leading to brokeness, and fast losses leading to disaster.

For probably the first time this trip, I went on tilt and dumped way more than I should have. With a $3000 bankroll for 10 days or so, that's roughly $300 a day - and I'd managed most of that before 10:00am.

Pissed, I stormed back to T.I. and packed up. I had some blogging to do, and the hockey game was one. I'd secured late check-out, which is part of my offer, and got busy.

This is where it got stupid.

When you log in to the room wifi, it says if you are a hotel guest, your resort fee covers the wifi. I looked this up and down the first day because I hate getting nasty surprise bills down the line.

I got the iPhone 3.14 hooked up to upload pictures to Photos, and got the Bonebook hooked up to write the blog and access the pictures. On the dot of two, the maid was knocking at the door and I hustled to get out of there.

While waiting for the car at Valet, I used this new option they have to check out via text. Got the car, flew downtown, blah blah blah, checked in, etc. etc.

That's when I looked at the folio T.I. had emailed me. It included internet charges at $25 a pop.

Five of them.

This is the latest in a series of stupid things that I've done that have made up the torn, stained and frayed fabric of my life thus far.

I figured for sure that on a comped room, wifi would also be comped. And I was pretty certain that I'd used the wifi in the past and not been charged.

Never mind that $25 is outrageous, it's PER DEVICE, giving the chance for me to pile stupider upon stupid.

I made a call to my host at T.I. and left a message and forwarded the folio. It's the next morning and I haven't heard anything.

It just so happens that a cousin of mine is in town - and at Bally's! It would have been cool to bump into him. We're going to meet for lunch today so I have forged a plan...

I'm going to march down to T.I. today and see if I can sort this out in such a reasonable and agreeable fashion that at the end of it I haven't paid $125 for internet that I used for an hour a day on 2 devices.

Then I'll meet up with my cousin and his wife for lunch. Any recommendations in the area? I'm thinking hop back in the car and fly up to Peppermill.

As far as the rest of Sunday, more happened. A LOT more.

For one thing, my pal Kevin was in town and he used some of his comp dollars to treat me to crab legs at Hugo's. Thanks a bunch Kevin for your hospitality. It was great catching up with you!

And other more stuff happened too but you'll have to wait for the full write-up to find out!

First Royal Fail of the trip!

On an interesting side note... the Cal has free wifi on the casino floor. I used it while sitting in the coffee shop to create this charming post.

I plan to use that wifi an all of my devices every fucking day like a wifi butt burglar bastard, saving $25 every time I do.