Weekend Errands

Yesterday afternoon, Lisa and I went into Reno-Sparks to run errands, including buying another one of the nice work shirts from Work World (and more socks, made in USA even), a pass by Whole Foods (where they have good dill pickles not made with Yellow Food Dye, so Lisa can eat them), and then a big grocery trip up to Winco. After that it was over to the Nugget, where we went to the 7 PM prize draw for the Nugget's current promotion, then went to dinner at the Oyster Bar. William, the bread server, recognized us and said, "Long time, no see." (Many of the staff there have recognized us as "regulars.") After dinner, we had some time to kill until the big $10K drawing at 9 PM. We played a bit on the slot machines, and had some decent luck. At one point I was playing the nickle Keno machine and hit a 6/7 ticket, which pays 355:1, for instance. We were slightly ahead for the night overall. Obviously, we didn't hit the $10K drawing, but we did have a chance — I saw my name roll by in the list of the people eligible for the drawing. The $10K winner was escorted off for a photo with "Lady Luck" (wearing a green costume with dice as shoulder pads, a roulette wheel hat, and a boa made of money) and Stephen Ascuaga (son of the casino's owner). Lisa had spoken with Ascuaga back at New Year's, and he recognized her and said hi. (Lisa and travelswithkuma are rather memorable, I think.) On our way out, Lisa said to "the Prize Guy" (the casino's director of promotions, who acts as MC for these things), "We keep coming back thanks to these promotions," which seemed to please him.

As soon as I finish composing this message I need to get the van packed and get on the road, because there is a chance of snow later this afternoon and I want to get over the pass before then.