Hello on Playoff Sunday

Dear Friends,

We had a wonderful time on Saturday on the bus ride to and from the Casino as well as in the Casino. The bus was packed as we departed from Pittsfield. We started off the day with Irish Cream and Coffee. I had to try a Bloody Mary which the guy across the isle was making. There were a bunch of Thirty Somethings on the bus drinking Mimosas, Amaretto, and there male significant others were sticking with beer. For any of you who have never been on a Casino bus trip, there is a certain procedure when you arrive. A person from the Casino comes on the bus, and goes from back to front distributing a $10 meal voucher, and a $10 betting voucher. Linda and I also had a letter saying that we had some sort of betting voucher because we were such good customers. We had another $15 betting voucher.

Well here is how our day went. We used the $10 voucher at a money wheel. Linda turned her $10 into $50. I wasn't so lucky. Her good fortune kept on going from from 10 AM until 12:30 PM when we headed off to an Irish Pub where we hooked up with some friends for lunch. While on a slot machine, which had an Irish theme, she turned the $15 dollar voucher into $100. After lunch, she went back to the same slot machine, and stayed on it until we left the Casino a little after 5 PM. While she was winning and having fun, I lost everything, and another $20 which Linda had given me. Next time I might skip the gaming machines, and stick with playing KENO. There was more fun and merriment on the bus ride back to Pittsfield.
When we did get back to Pittsfield, we put our stuff in the car, and went into the Members' bar where we had a whole bunch of pizzas waiting for all of us who went on the trip. We were tired and home by 8:30 PM. One of our Irish Sister City friends was the only other person who was lucky. She stuck a $100 bill in a slot machine, and turned it into $400. She also had won a couple hundred dollars earlier in the day. Linda and this woman were the only ones on our trip who came home with more dollars than they went in with.

Politics -- I can't wait for the President's State of the Union address. You would think that things are turning around if you go out to restaurants on almost any day of the week, and see how many people are dinning out. The same thing could be observed at the Casino yesterday. They came in all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and ages as well in various states of physical condition. Smoking is alive and well in the Casinos. Linda and I stuck with a smoke free room. The smoke still drifted into our room a little.

Weather -- It is a balmy 4 degrees below zero right now. We will reach 16 degrees for the high of the day. Tonight we drop to 14 degrees below zero. The weather people are still discussing the track of the Wednesday storm for us in the Northeast.

Social Calendar -- I have a 16 run pool luncheon today at the Italian American Club. The Club is hoping that some of us stay to watch some of football playoffs. I heard Linda discussing some recreational shopping with some girlfriends today, but nothing was set in stone.

Well, I have to do some quiet activities before the Berkshire Eagle and the Boston Globe arrive. I am pretty sure that Linda would like to sleep until noon today. I am hoping that the telephone doesn't ring and wake her up. I was just thinking, why do we have a telephone in every room in our house including my man cave? We must not want to miss a single telephone call. Have a great Sunday. Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad