Splendiferous

Today is our Independence Day. It's mine too, and important. More on that later.

I'd also like to say in the voice of a spoiler person that having finally set up roots (on a mid-rare permanent basis) I will finally set to paper the moments of this trip that have slipped through the cracks. It may feel a little PulpFictiony, but that was a great movie and if you don't appreciate that reference you can pleasantly ask me for another. ( Memento is another award-winning movie example of an out-of-sequence narrative for all of you who are ready already.)

When I left you I was ready to go to Vegas - and to Vegas I went. My experiences there were similar to most of my previous Vegas experiences. I ate delicious food, gambled money I didn't have on games I don't really understand, didn't sleep as much as I would have liked and am still finding $1 chips in the pockets and soles of the shoes that I own. Apparently I'm one of those gamblers.

Part of this trip was spent at the new-to-me Steve Wynn Casino, which is gorgeous. I myself donated the money re-do most of the marble in the lobby, but I'm sure that Mr. Wynn has better things to spend his money on than that.

Mr. Wynn, if you're out there, I'd like to say a little something. How do you work so fast? In the time that your not-so-busy cocktail waitress brought me my drink you and the dealer (her name was Jeannine by the way and she had a Fred, and coughed on me, a trespass I think that is worth 10k in hotel stays and benefits) had taken all of my "fun money" away from me. And before the next drink arrived Jeannine and you, Mr. Wynn, had taken my "rainy day money" my "lunch money" and my "eating money." If Krissy hadn't flicked me in the ear several times, Mr. Wynn, I think you'd have gone for the jugular and taken my "gas money" my "get-it-all-back-in-three-crazy-roulette-bets-money" and my "quarters." If you have any big plans for all my different money, please let me know so that I can visit the new urinal cakes or ashtray brush that I so generously provided.

Anyhow - since the main reason for this trip was reconnaissance, I can accurately report that there are normal - very normal - parts of Las Vegas. There are many houses on the market that a person can rent for low prices, they exist in neighborhoods without spray paint or urine on the walls and only very few CostMart shopping carts in the lawns. There also exist opportunities for restaurant industry people like ourselves - so many in fact that listing them all here (using only the truly profitable ones as criteria) would still take half a page. Only recently did we realize that the owner of our previous company knows "everyone" there and could maybe help a couple employees to find places to live. We've also learned that getting a four bedroom house is as easy to rent as a three bedroom one which would mean that all our friends worldwide could find respite and hospitality in one of our many guest rooms fully furnished with tiny hotel soaps and tiny hotel shampoos stolen from one or many local casinos.

So we're not moving there anymore.

Not yet.

Yes, it sounds like just another in a long list of really annoying back-tracks that we've catalogued over twenty states and as many or more cities. . . but it's not. Not really. Instead the plan has shifted back to Arizona where the weather is warm and the people are (*mostly) sweet and genuine. If you've been following this blog at all, you'll know that today, July 4 ^th, marks our 65^th day of traveling, and our 68^th day of unemployment. For the non-financially independent (ahem) putting 70 days of wildness into your system can cost you three pretty pennies and a bit more. (Eat Shit Steve Wynn). Scottsdale is beautiful through the fall and early winter, and for this reason we'll hang around, land a naughty little apartment and resume working at NoRTH in Kierland Commons.

It's re-calibrating.

It's re-laxing.

It's re-splendent. (click that, they say splendiferous, which I think we can all agree should be added to normal everyday conversations. Try using it today. Splendiferous. If you're in Maui and reading this, use it at work in reference to morale.)

That does it for today - we're current - we're here in Scottsdale and moving to an apartment on Saturday. The trip is over. The trip is all finished, but the stories from the trip are just getting warmed up. (That's a reference to an Al Pacino movie. Also award-winning. Spend more time at www.IMDB.com if you don't believe me.)