Good morning, Las Vegas, from sunny GA – a welcome change from, what the locals say, has been an unusually rainy winter spell. We hope it ends soon! Now time for some Q+A.
Q: Did you and Brad sell that “condo-that-VP-built” you had for so many years – or did you save it for future Vegas visits.
A: We did sell it – and thanks to a rising housing market we were pleased we got almost double the price we paid in 1999. Because of Brad’s failing health, we do not plan for a lot of air travel in the future, and we are trying to simplify our life, shedding all the responsibilities of property ownership, including also a couple of rentals we had.
I’d like to give a shout-out to our super real estate agent, Lisa Skurow (702-203-3826). She gives such warm personal service and has a stable of ready buyers and sellers: our condo never had to be listed because she had a buyer waiting. If you are in the market, tell her we said to give you a frugal price!
Q: You talked about the disappearance of full-pay Deuces Wild in your last blog. I hadn’t known about that – and I wonder how you found that out since you live far away in Georgia?
A: For 20-some years I have been writing about casinos in Las Vegas and all over the country, including information about many that I had never personally visited. How did I do that? Research, research, research! And although Brad and I have retired from casino gambling, I still daily browse the Internet – checking out the gambling forums and keeping up with Las Vegas news. I still get e-mails from readers sharing their gambling experiences and talk with friends who readily complain about machine downgrades. Although Brad and I are quickly picking up other activities, with family and new friends, I can’t visualize a time in the future when frugal gambling would have no place in my interest or thinking.
Q: Many have asked how Brad and I are adjusting to this major change in our life.
A: Right now it is too soon to discuss this subject since we are still in the organizing and home decoration stage. I am spending lots of time on Amazon.com. I couldn’t believe how many shower-curtain choices I had for my one elephant-themed bathroom and the other dollar-bill-themed one. Endless decisions for every room. Fun but it keeps us very busy!
However, there is one part of our family that doesn’t seem to be adjusting to this move. The GPS in our Encore SUV caused me a major driving problem a couple of days ago while we were in an unfamiliar part of town.
“Navigate to Home,” I instructed.
I started following her orders and got on the designated freeway. It was 5:30 and heavy rush hour traffic, and I was concentrating on being in the correct lane on the unfamiliar road. But then I noticed the signage and I realized that instead of heading to our apartment on the east side of town I was going west on the road that would cross the river and we would soon be in Alabama. I immediately started moving several lanes to the right, finally in a position where I could exit and find a quiet place where I could argue with Ms. GPS.
For some reason she couldn’t explain why “Home,” which had been programmed with our new address, had reverted back to our Las Vegas one. I guess our little red SUV just got homesick!
Jean, don’t be offended by my mentioning this, but as an older person, even older than me, you surely know about good ol’ maps! You know, those paper things that fold up. That’s what we all used up to 20 years ago. You can’t be victimized by a computer glitch if you use a paper map. Columbus is not really that large of a city, so a map showing every street can’t be that big, maybe 1/3 as big as a Las Vegas map. And you can get (or make yourself from the Internet) a smaller map (which would only show the major streets and destinations) that could fit on a 8″x11.5″ sheet of paper, which you could print in color, and laminate, and keep at arm’s length in your vehicle for quick & easy use. And spend some time with that “highlight” map to familiarize yourself with your city’s major streets. It will be well worth the effort. I wish you well!
Glad to hear that your weather and life is getting sunnier every day.
Unfortunately Big Brother is watching, listening and sometimes telling us what IT thinks our next move is.
Thanks for all your continued info
Jean and Brad,
So glad to hear from you and wish you the best. I want to thank you for your books which I started reading in 2005. I have them all and have read them more than once. You have given my husband and I countless hours of fun and 8 royal flushes playing video poker machines. We are very thankful for all the work you did for us and other players providing information on your blog and through the LV Advisor newsletter. You will be missed. We feel so luck to have met you and Brad once at a drawing at the Gold Coast. All the best with your family in your new Georgia adventure .
Marcia T
This morning, as I started my journey to the local casino here in AZ my iPhone informed me the driving time to the Casinos address without any prompting!
My phone seems to know where I was planning to go based on past Tuesday mornings. It would seem our devices are getting to know us. My phone also automatically mapped where my car was parked at Costco the other day and informed me by message as that as well. It’s no surprise your car wanted to take you home!!!
So good to hear from you…even tho you were having a few problems…..You will be doing everything right in order..real soon…..Anyhow…it felt so good to hear from you….We all really miss you….But,,,we wish you much happiness…..Virginia
The ‘good’ and ‘bad’ of technology that’s supposed to make our lives easier, Jean! LOL, as I can somewhat relate….having my first Android Smartphone this past year. I still haven’t figured out all the settings, it talks to me when I don’t know why, updates, apps, etc etc. I thought I had a smartmaps feature on it when driving, but I need to program it correctly. Eventually I will learn. I guess I better set up the voice mail first, I accidentally had a few friends call and thought they called the wrong #…. ah technology. But it also is what is inside the casinos, let’s hope the card readers don’t start giving directions to players and mis-informing them…lol!