I hit work on Thursday night, the 30th. The news hadn’t changed on the E/O-Play. I asked Pete if anyone had thought about the fact that it could change our ‘tip declaration’ if it remained the way it is. I had asked Kamell the previous day but I’m not sure if anyone is thinking in that direction yet. Our tip declaration is figured on a certain number of dead spreads and playing on shift. Not being able to play on the clock could open up an extreme can of worms. Lots of things may have to change. One of the first ones is that I may go to work every night and work my full shift and only sign the E/O on Fridays. That’s the only thing I see right now that’s paramount and earth shattering from my side of the coin. The rest of it? I’ll worry about it as it unfolds.

I didn’t even clock in on Thursday. I did sit and visit for a bit with a few dealers that started on first break – and Sylvia, she had the ‘bust-out’ and was having a brew. After the visit, I headed for home, the website, some online poker play, and a glass or two of wine. I have no idea why, but along about 2:30ish AM, I decided to jump into a $2 Buy-in NLh game on PartyPoker. Agony! There were only 849 entrants, I played for three hours and 56 minutes to take 19th place and win $13.58. Truthfully, I could have withstood at least 2 more rounds of the table with my stack and blinds/antes. I was so tired of playing…I was on a dead card run…I could have won over $300 if I won the whole damn thing…I picked up K-J off in the BB, UTG raised it to $24,000 (blinds were 6 and 12), one caller, and I raised it all-in to $60k. They both called. Why not? UTG had over 200,000 in chips. He held A-5 Off and hit Aces and fives to win the pot. I was so damn glad to just be ‘gone’. Funny…if I’d been playing for $30 or 40K, I’d been right in there, pitching ’til the last dog died. I was out on that hand…damn glad to find my bed around 6 AM.

*****

Friday early AM found me hitting Gaudin Ford to find out if my truck was done. NOPE! Something to do with the person that did the final paint check decided it wasn’t quite up to snuff and it went back to have the door sanded, color matched/blended in a certain area. I could have it by late Monday. Kee-rist! Help Mr. Wizard.

I spent some time speaking with Ken Martin, my estimate/paperwork signing man. He gave me the spiel. I had the look of the bitch from hell on my face. I know it was so because that’s how I felt. They were three days late on the time frame simply because they couldn’t call me to have me drop off the remote (I know they had my phone number…sure as hell they are going to call it when the truck’s done and they want all their money). Ken told me I could take my truck home with me for the weekend…with the door all sanded down…and then bring it back on Monday if I wanted – when I expressed dismay and told him I needed and wanted my truck. Yeah right! I’ll take it home for two days and then come back, go through the damn rental car thing, wait another two to three days for my truck to be fixed…blah, blah, blah. Of course I left it there.

I went to the RV Park, took a nap, and awoke to find the note taped to my door that Nevada Power had finished their work in the park and I could move back to my original space. Naturally. That’s exactly how I thought it would go down. No truck? Course not. Now I can pick the truck up on Monday night, go to work, sleep a few hours on Tuesday AM and get up to unhook everything, hitch up, move to back to the old space, level up, hook up, and try to sleep a few hours before work on Tuesday night…or I can call in sick. That may be the only out I have depending on how the day goes. And the true test will be if the motors will lift the jacks on the front of the coach – you bet I’m still a little nervous over that after the other problems.

And why would this week at work be any different than the last two months – like I should be able to E/O in a heart beat? We start our Fourth Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic. It runs from April 5 – 26, 2006, and satellites start on Tuesday, April 4th.

*****

I sent out an email to all my Pan Buddies – we were playing the Tuscany on Saturday night. That post is coming up…stay tuned.