today was a special day.....

......and not just because i managed to FINALLY post some pictures from vegas :-) check'em out!

today was Administrative Professionals Day. every year us administrative-types are recognized (in some companies) for our continuing efforts of keeping our peeps organized, getting reports out the door to clients, planning special events, coordinating schedules, etc. etc. etc. so today renee, derek, erin, sue and i headed over to the hilton for the International Association of Administrative Professionals breakfast info-session. i was there for the prizes :-) but of course, i didn't actually win anything. boo.

it's this time of year when i realize how valued my work is to my company, and how much i'm appreciated by my peers. every year all administrative staff receive a floral arrangement along with 2 hours of paid time off (comes in handy on a sunny friday afternoon!). in addition to that, my team leader also gave me a box of godiva truffles. yum-yum! i've decided to have them with the bottle of wine one of my consultants gave me along with 2 riedel "O" tumbers. i'm very fortunate to work for such a great team in this large international organization :-) i have to admit that today i was touched by the nice words these two ladies had to say on the thank-you cards. it's little things like this that make me want to step up and be a better person.

with all the pressures of meeting billable hours, adhering to SOX, maintaining ethical standards, and all that other random stuff that makes a company function, it's nice to know that at least once a year the company worldwide celebrates all administrative employees. i'm lucky because our vancouver office is somewhat smaller compared to other locations, and i know my work is appreciated every day of the week. working with the right ppl is so important - it can motivate you to strive further and challenge yourself in new ways. i can't imagine working in a place where i didn't get along with everyone!

besides, tomorrow is the BC Children's Hospital Jeans Day. two great days in a row! what more could a girl ask for? hmmmm, isn't the super 7 at $30 million?!?!

i'm a tax virgin!

so every year we all have to file our taxes. every year i hand over all my paperwork to my dad. every year he enters my numbers onto the computer. every year i blindly sign on the bottom line, just long enuf to see how much my refund is. every year i trudge over to canada post and mail my tax return to surrey.



this year, i made a change. after 28 years of my dad taking care of everything for me, i decided that as a married young woman with property in my own name, that it was time to stand on my own two feet. well, sort of. i managed to print out the T1 form (yes, i'm doing my taxes on paper, not computer), instruction manual, gathered all my random papers, and then i got line 1 right - my income. game over. i struggled for several hours on what boxed numbers corresponded to what lined numbers, threw around all sorts of schedules, and got myself completely in a knot. chris wasn't much help either because he's never actually done his taxes either - i guess that's what happens when you have a family business w/your own accountant!

so with the april 30 deadline looming, and i was just assuming i had a refund coming my way, i started to get panicky.......what if i don't get it done on time? what if i actually OWE money? what if i don't have all the right forms? what if i don't have all my receipts? what if i can't figure out the mathematical equations? what if...... and on i went.

so last night, we had dinner at my parents' house, and i took all my tax stuff over with me. my dad confirmed that i indeed had line 1 right - my income. and from there onwards, he rambled off all the lines to fill in, forms to complete, etc. etc. 30 minutes later i was finished. it was incredible! well, i still have to white-out a few spaces where i incorrectly put information, but not a big deal. hopefully i'll retain everything i learned last night, and successfully complete my taxes next year all by myself.

words, words, words - no more words

again i have to say it.....all good things must come to an end. i went for my usual morning starbucks latte, and found that the "akeelah and the bee" sleeves have been discontinued. i might try a different location tomorrow...... for the past 3 weeks i have been enjoying the various words that have been on the sleeves and on the coasters. here is my collection........

eudaemonic - producing happiness and well-being

elucubrate - to produce (a written work) by working long and diligently

foulard - 1) a lightweight twill or plain-woven fabric of silk or silk and cotton, usually having a small printed design; 2) an article of clothing, especially a necktie or scarf, made of this fabric

autochthonous - 1) native to the place inhabited, indigenous; 2) originating in the place where found. used of a disease originating in the part of the body where found, or of a disease acquired in the place where the patient is

shalloon - a lightweight wool or worsted twill fabric, used chiefly for coat linings

argillaceous - containing, made of, or resmbling clay

lyceum - 1) a hall for public lectures or discussions; 2) an association providing public lectures, concerts and entertainment

pococurante - indifferent; apathetic

pastiche - a dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent

appoggiatura - an embellishing note, usually one step above or below the note it precedes

pulchritude - great physical beuaty and appeal

"i was feeling stifled in my shalloon coat and foulard scarf at the argillaceous lyceum, sitting through a pastiche, when a normally pulchritude appoggiatura sounded pococurante today."

anyone else want to try making a sentence w/these words? i dare ya!

it's all about the eats!

so it's been a while since my last post, because i've just been crazy busy. between vacationing in vegas, working in calgary, helping w/sunny & geoff's wedding in vancouver, getting roll-shades installed, watching non-stop tv on our new HDTV (sans HD), i need a break! hahahahaha! it's a rough life i lead :-)

anyhoo, on friday night i was supposed to have some workmates over for dinner, but due to unexpected circumstances our plans got postponed. so instead, we had vic over for dinner and enjoyed prawn & chorizo sausage penne in a tomato cream sauce with garlic bread. (the night before i had ordered rigatoni al porto from anton's!) talk about a carb-filled couple of days!

on saturday night, we went out for dinner w/stan @ nan-chu (i think i've spelled it wrong?) in richmond - it's on alexandra road with a million other restaurants. i can't remember everything we ate, but here goes......ebi mayo, pork/chive/shrimp gyoza, grilled rice balls, beef sashimi, chicken & green onion robata, beef robata, tuna sashimi on rice, green salad, seafood salad, and a whole lot more. everything was delish!

on sunday i went for a much needed paracure for the feet at eccotique. my feet went absolutely insane after walking around vegas, so for an hour, i lay back and relaxed while they got all cleaned up. i actually picked a bright pink colour for my toes......not sure what i was thinking because i don't actually have a lot that matches pink. i was feeling springy on sunday :P

we went out for dinner at the keg to celebrate my brother's birthday. i had my usual.....filet classic, medium rare - steak & bacon, how can you go wrong?. so yum! after dinner my family, including my grandma and one of my many aunts, came over to our place for coffee and dessert. the only reason we registered for a coffee maker was for occasions like this :-) i still haven't figured out how to use it! my grandma is really cute.....she's turning 96 in 3 months, is sharp as a nail, still doesn't speak very much english, and a bit hard of hearing, and sometimes her hair turns purple for no reason - now that's really funny! anyways, she was super impressed with our new wall-mounted tv. my aunt's trying to convince her they need one as well (it's been an on-going discussion since last year). so we showed her the full motion of a wall mount tv. i think it was a successful sale!

since i hadn't cooked on the weekend, i had to buy lunch yesterday, so i had gyoza, chicken karaage, ten musu, and tuna sushi combo from fujiya - this was one of my more expensive meals from there because of the tuna. then after work, ang called us out for dinner - she and ryan were heading to sushi garden. of course i said "count us in!" so i had a spicy tuna roll, alaska roll, smoked salmon nigiri sushi and gyoza. ah, so yummy! i think i've had my fill of japanese food for the week :) hopefully my mom doesn't cook anything too japanese-y for dinner tonight. it happens once in a while - when we go over, she tries to cook stuff i wouldn't normally make. a couple weeks ago we had tuna sashimi, fish eggs on seaweed, and a few other dishes i can't remember.

another plane trip - how bad could it be?

it couldn't be bad! that's because i got all the bad luck out on the vegas trip! so after the plane problems from the weekend, i thought i wouldn't be seeing a plane for a long time. but i was wrong! on monday, my boss asks if i would mind going to our calgary office for a few days to help out their support staff. "no problem!" i said. i quite enjoy travelling for work purposes :-) so i headed off to calgary at the crack of dawn on wednesday morning and returned on thursday night. this time i flew with someone reputable AND canadian.......westjet! and of course, it was an uneventful flight. this is the way all flights should be.

i didn't do anything exciting in calgary (outside of work), because i was just too tired from the weekend, and the 5 a.m. alarm. i downed a lot of coffee though just so i could make it through the day. i think i'm growing a dependence on this substance. is there a CA (coffee-aholics anonymous) group i can join? i used to drink short lattes, and now i'm doing the triple grande lattes in the a.m., followed by a grande iced latte in the p.m. how messed up is that? you think i had an expense account or something! i might be able to catch up on sleep this weekend.

i have to comment about sunterra. our calgary office is located downtown and it has a foodcourt on the ground floor. but across the street is sunterra......it's like a foodcourt, but a million times better. it's like having a buffet selection in front of you......they have a salad bar, dessert bar, pizzas & pastas, mexican food, indian food, everything you could imagine. i ended up getting the butter chicken on rice and a tomato basil pasta salad. this was an amazing meal for $7! and to top it all off, i was completely full! and the next best thing about this place is that from the office, you can still get to sunterra without having to walk outside, thanks to the +15 (it's a walkway that connects lots of buildings together - convenient when it's -20!). however, since it was a tropical 18 degrees, april (my co-worker) and i figured we could manage the outside walk :-)

and that was calgary.

las vegas: day 5 - the fun is over :-(

well, all good things must come to an end. i felt so ripped off from our first "night", and i really didn't want to leave vegas. i didn't do as much gambling as i had hoped i would do. i wanted to stay up for the 3 a.m. poker tournament, but it wasn't meant to be. apparently i need my sleep :P darn it!

so on our last day in vegas, we started the day off right.......late breakfast at the little patisserie (is that what they're called?) in our hotel. the 3 of us each had a savoury and a sweet treat - i opted for the chicken and mushroom pastry pocket and a cherry flan. so yum! after filling our bellies, we headed back to caesars for some last minute shopping/exchanging. it took a lot of willpower on my part to NOT buy another coach item. that store is just pure evil :-) i spent the entire weekend in vegas ppl watching, in the hopes i would see someone famous, and i finally did. we saw cindy crawford & randy gerber in the forum shops! i only noticed her because she was darting (quickly) around ppl, and randy was trailing behind trying to keep up :-)

and finally, the time had come - ang and i said farewell to sunny (and geoff) at their terminal, and then we were off to our terminal. why do fun things always end so quickly, and horrible things drag on forever? it's not fair! anyhoo, we met up w/chris, ryan and andy at our terminal, and we were on our way to our departure gate. we were excited because our flight was leaving on time, and boarding started right on cue! whoo-hoo! america west has redeemed itself. or not........

so the 5 of us boot it onto the plane, so we can cram our oversized bags into the smallest overheads bins imaginable. it's ridiculous. chris and ang end up having to check their carry-ons. so, ppl are still boarding the plane, chris and i are settled in our row 1 seats, and then he points at the ppl standing outside the plane doorway (still in the walkway). hmmm, what's going on? why have they stopped boarding ppl? i then strain forward in my seat (to the point where i'm barely sitting - i might as well have walked right up to the flight crew and listened in :P) , and i hear random words......."substance", "vial", "security", "hazmat". yikes! words you don't want to hear. bottom line was this......a passenger in the back of the plane found a vial of pills/powder in an unlabelled bottle. since it was a safety issue, the flight crew had to give the substance to security, and they had to clear it. while all this cafuffle was going on, the crew were still chatting amongst each other and we heard them trying to decide if they should stop boarding passengers, whether we should be getting off the plane, and possible if we might be stuck in vegas for another night (well, that wouldn't have been so bad!).

so after about 1/2 hour, the substance was cleared as someone's prescription drugs (who carries around a prescription in an unlabelled bottle? are you stupid?!) and they allowed the remaining passengers onto the plane. who-hoo! we were almost ready to leave! or not. seriously, what else could go wrong? well, apparently seat 12a had been "soiled". we don't know what it was soiled with, but the announcement from the flight crew said there was an "inoperative" seat. since our flight was completely full, someone from the back of the plane volunteered to stay behind and catch another flight since his other friends were still in vegas (for his "inconvenience" he was given a roundtrip flight to anywhere in north america). i thought to myself "great, get him off the plane, and let's leave already!" unfortunately, this volunteer passenger had luggage with him stored in the plane. it took 10 minutes for the luggage crew to get permission to remove his luggage because we were on an international flight and there were safety risks. argh! who cares?!?! he wants to get OFF the plan, not ON! finally, finally, after a 45 minute delay on the plane, we were taking off for vancouver. good grief!

now, i have to admit that not everything was the airline's fault, however, when you have such a horrible experience with an airline, it tends to scar you for life. i will never ever ever fly on america west/us airways again. i wasn't impressed w/their customer service when we arrived in seattle after our first incident. whatever, live & learn, right?

at that was the end of my las vegas weekend. we were so glad to finally get into vancouver :)

las vegas: day 4 - poker & shopping

so sunny and i finally made it to the luxor poker tournament! it was a $30 buy-in with an additional chip buy-in for $3 (i believe we started with $350 in chips). since it was our first casino tournament, we weren't sure what to expect. the 1st hour was a limit game with the blinds raised every 15 minutes ($10/$15; $15/$25, and when it eventally hits $100/$200, the blinds double), and then after the 1st hour was over it became a no-limit game.

sunny and i were placed at different tables - there were only 3 tables w/11 players per table. when a player is eliminated from the tournament, there are alternates (ppl who have entered the tournament, but there weren't enough seats to start a 4th table) who come and take their seat (at my table we had a high turnover in seats 7 and 8).

i had some decent hands in the 1st hour, and i actually thought my game was over before we even got to the no-limit round. my goal was to stay in for at least an all-in hand, and i succeeded! i'm terrible at remembering what my cards are after i'm finished playing, but i remember in my final hand, i was down to my last $200 and i was chip loser, so i just called an all in w/my suited dolly parton's. i was hoping for a flush, but my river never came :P (winning hand was pair aces on the river). ah well, at least i finished in 5th place, so i won $46 (the top 7 players get paid out).

sunny and i were so pumped up from playing poker, that we wanted to play in the 3 a.m. tournament at paris, but we were too tired later on to stay awake :P anyhoo, we were on to the next task at hand.......more shopping! we were heading over to the premium outlets, just 6 minutes off the strip by taxi. as always, we started our experience with some lunch to get ourselves all pumped up. i finally, finally, finally found my coach bag at the outlet. funnily enough, it turned out to be a diaper bag (it has the changing mat), and no, this was not a hint to chris, nor was it an announcement of any kind. so simmer down everybody! it's a great multi-functional bag (as the salesperson told me), and it's true, i've already been using it for work (which was the purpose of the bag, as opposed to buying another purse). the 3 of us did more damage at a variety of stores in the outlet.......they had everything under the sun......coach, banana republic, shoes stores galore, designer labels (d & g, kenneth cole, armani exchange), sporting goods (nike, adidas, puma). ah, i was in shopping heaven. the only problem was i didn't find as much stuff as i thought i would. usually spring and summer are my best seasons, but nothing was jumping out at me on this trip. well, at least i got my coach bag and signature wristlet. hehehe, i can't wait until i get my coach coin pocket next month :-)

after our 5 (?) hour shopping excursion at the outlet, we headed back to our hotel and got ready for a nice dinner and clubbing at pure. we ate in the hotel at mon ami gabi......i just like saying the name......mon ami gabi. so flow-y :-) sunny started with a salad, while ang and i shared garlic potato crisps (or something like that)......personally i didn't really taste the garlic until i washed it down w/my martini - paris romance (amaretto, malibu and fruit juice). for entrees, sunny and ang both had the mussels & frites while i had the steake frites (medium rare of course!). all the food we ate (including the bread, butter, and carrot-like spread) was delish!

we headed over to pure just before 10 p.m. for more girly fun. unfortunately the clubbing fun never developed for us. after waiting and drinking (mmmmm, malibu & pineapple!) in line for 2.5 hours, we finally gave up.....we still had at least another 1/2 hour till we would have gotten inside, and then we would have had to pay $20 for cover, and then if we had gotten in, we were determined to stay for at least an hour. so we decided that it just wasn't worth it :P the 2.5 hours weren't a complete waste of time......the 3 of us had the best time in line......remember girls, WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, STAYS IN VEGAS! i did throw $5 into a slot machine for a few minutes, and i was actually up to $35, but then i kept playing and lost it all. whatever, it was only $5!

so after a slightly disappointing night, we headed back to our hotel and ordered room service. there's something about those chicken wings on the 1st night that we just loved, so we had another 2 rounds. yum! i'll post a picture of our time-killing activity in the room.......we were having a good time :-)

las vegas: day 3 - lots of action today!

day 3 started off great......sunny and i headed over to luxor for our 10 a.m. tournament. except i got my weekdays/weekends confused, and the friday tournament wasn't until noon (it's at 10 a.m. on weekends), so we decided to play at the $2/$4 table for a while. we had a good time, and we both left with some extra money in our pockets. "money in my pocket, money in my pocket, money in my pocket!" (this is chris' favourite jingle.....i think it's from one of the credit unions or something.)

so with our winnings, we went back to our hotel to get ang and start on our shopping experience. but first, we needed to energize ourselves, so we headed to cheesecake factory for a very filling meal, complete with a banana cheesecake which we all shared. i love the restaurant because it has such an extensive menu (and the portions are huge!). i had the spicy buffalo chicken burger w/fries while ang and sunny shared a salad and they both had pastas for entrees. our server was absolutely fabulous! a meal is just THAT much better when you have a great server who you want to chat with, keeps your drinks filled, and just all-around entertains you :-)

after our filling meals, we were off! the stores were calling our names :-) i could just hear the coach bags teasing me from afar. we actually didn't make it out of the forum shops at caesars palace......in fact, i'm not sure we hit that many stores. i won't go into all the details, suffice it to say there was some damage done :-) we also made our way to wynn hotel just to see what vegas' newest hotel looked like - not bad! after that we crossed the street and entered another shopping haven......the fashion mall. unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to wander around, but we were also pretty tired, so it was a quick adventure.

for dinner we made our way over to aladdin for the dinner buffet. for $24, we were tempted by alaskan king crab legs, shrimp w/cocktail sauce, salads, italian food, mexican food, chinese food, middle eastern food......everything under the sun! after my 2nd plateful of food, i was completely stuffed, but there's always room for creme brulee and a strawberry tart!

after dinner, we made our way to our evening entertainment.......Australia's Thunder From Down Under! it's almost as cheesy as it sounds :-) it's an entertainment show with partially nude hot men. when this show started, i realized how crazy women are.......you'd think they'd never seen a topless man before! i have to admit that it's nice to see a guy w/an 8-pack and nice butt cheeks that he can shake w/the music. but seriously girls, what's with all the screaming? the show is very interactive, and basically all the seats are good because the guys are running around the room, shaking their bon-bon and jumping on tables, gyrating their hips and thrusting their penis', i mean pelvis', in every direction. they brought several ladies up to the stage to participate in fake orgasms and kissing - apparently the grandma slipped one of the boys some tongue after she grabbed his butt and crotch - yikes! there was a lot of hands-on action! luckily the 3 of us managed to stay in our seats and avoid total embarrassment. however, during the water portion at the table in front of us, we did get sprayed while one of the guys flipped his (long - yuck!) wet hair & body everywhere. it was actually kind of gross, and it took a while for my sweater to actually dry again :P

the show was 1.5 hours, and at the end of it you can take a picture w/the guys from the show. well, we did it. we paid $15 each so we could sit on their laps and have a polaroid memory forever. again, i have to admit that i did enjoy that as well, even though they're kinda sweaty, but oh so hot! yum yum! i was sad when i had to get off my boyfriend's lap. boo-hoo! at least i have a photo to remind myself of him. i tried to find my boyfriend on the website, but cuz he has a shaved head i couldn't quite figure out which one he is, if he's on there at all.

after such an entertaining evening, i fell asleep w/visions of hot guys dancing in my bed. i mean head, not bed. really.

las vegas: day 2 - we finally, finally arrive

3:30 a.m. - i wake up 1/2 hour before my alarm. pissed off. so tired.

3:50 a.m. - chris' alarm goes off. i get out of bed, and we all start getting ready to go back to sea-tac.

5:00 a.m. - we've checked out of the red lion and on the shuttle bus to the airport.

5:15 a.m. - disaster strikes!

we're waiting in the check-in line-up with other ppl from our original flight from vancouver......not everyone made the 6:40 a.m. flight (via reno). ang and ryan were lucky and got seats on that flight, but chris and i were stuck on the 11:25 a.m. flight (direct) to las vegas. we tried to find ppl to switch with us (several groups were split up as well), but to no avail. however, we overhead a lady putting up a bit of a stink at the check-in counter, and discovered she was being put on a 6 a.m. flight, so chris and i tried to do the same thing (the lady actually missed the flight because they'd just closed the airplane doors). we lucked out and got the last two seats on the 10:30 a.m. flight, so we were only a couple hours behind ang and ryan.

since we had so much time to kill, and only 3 hours of sleep, chris and i took turns napping in the food court. glamorous, i know! i waved goodbye to ang & ryan's plane when it took off :( meanwhile, we were given $10 in food vouchers for our troubles, so i went to starbucks and grabbed a coffee and apple fritter. this was the BEST apple fritter i've ever head in my life! i have to admit that Americans definitely know how to eat......this huge fritter was coated in icing, and drenched with fattening ingredients. i was in heaven! thank goodness i don't travel to the states very often......i would gain way too much weight!

our flight to las vegas was pretty uneventful, thank goodness! once we caught up with ang and ryan in vegas, we went to check in at our hotel (paris), and then promptly proceeded to the casino! after playing the slots for a bit, we headed for the table games. i was playing pai gow poker - this is the first game i learned how to play many many moons ago. it was looking pretty bleak for a while - i think i was down to my last $25 - and then i won a few huge hands, and i was back in the game. by the time we had to leave for dinner, i was only down $7. not bad!

the rest of day 2 was pretty uneventful......just chilled out and relaxed, since chris and i were still tired from day 1. finally, around 10 p.m., ang and i said farewell to chris and ryan for the weekend. our stag/stagettes were about to start! sunny arrived in vegas around 11:30 p.m., so we hit the only restaurant open in the hotel, and got caught up. this place had the best chicken wings......they were the perfect amount of sauce and spice! so yum :-) so, we all know that everything in the US is in extra-large size, and the chicken wings were no exception......steroid chicken!

anyhoo, after catching up, we were pretty tired, and sunny and i had to get up early the next morning for our poker tournament. we called it a night around 2 a.m. i think. i love vegas!

las vegas: day 1 - will we ever get there?

so, let's go back a few days now, since i've been away from a computer for awhile. day 1 = wednesday, april 12......i go to work as per usual, have a busy busy day, and it's just flying by! how great is that? so it's 4 p.m., and i'm off to the races. my dad picked me up, we picked up ang & ryan, then we picked up chris, and were at the airport by 5 p.m. whoo-hoo! exactly 2 hours to get us through security, customs and ready at our boarding gate. but wait! upon check-in, we found out our flight was delayed an hour. boo! none of us had the time or forsight to confirm the time :P so we had to kill an extra hour. whatever, we all had our magazines.

so our flight only ended up being about 40 minutes late for take-off. no big deal. vegas wasn't going anywhere! take-off. whoo-hoo! vegas, here i come! i already had the dollar signs lighting up my eyes :-) hmmmm, i wonder why we're not flying very high. i can still see the cars below, street lights, everything was crystal clear. then the announcement came. "ladies & gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. i don't want to alarm you, but we've experienced a problem with this aircraft. on take-off from vancouver, the front window cracked. this is not a serious problem, however, we cannot continue on to las vegas, and we will be making an unscheduled stop in seattle." blah, blah, blah.....i stopped listening for a sec, because the dollar signs were starting to fade from my eyes, and all of a sudden the jackpot seemed out of reach. well, they turned on all the cabin lights again, and then chris grabbed the emergency procedures pamphlet and started reading. we weren't allowed to return to vancouver because we had too much fuel still, so some of it had to be burned off, so onwards we went. seattle never seemed so far away :P

anyhoo, everyone's buzzing around on the plane trying to guess what's going to happen next. so our flight attendent gave us severe instructions regarding use of electronic items and devient behaviour, but i think it wasn't really needed, since everyone was already imagining the worst (well, at least i was!). anyways, 1/2 hour later, we were making our descent into seattle (i was relieved to hear the landing gear operating properly), and it really was obvious how emergency-like our situation was, because the fire trucks and ambulances were escorting us down the runway and to our gate. whoo-hoo! we landed safely!

so, while we were on the flight we were told a bunch of stories......yes, we'll get your all on your way tonight. yes, you're all booked on another flights. yes, the airline knows your coming and you will be assisted right away. wrong! wrong! wrong! no one had any clue about us "distressed" passengers. so we were stuck in sea-tac for 2 hours while the airline tried to find us hotels (yes, we had to overnight in seattle) and connecting flights to our destinations (we had a 6:40 a.m. flight to vegas - more on this later). all i could imagine was while we were on a shuttle to the red lion sea-tac, was how we should have been in a taxi from mccarran airport to the mgm grand. and while we were checking in at the red lion, all i could picture was the lion in front of mgm grand. the irony!

so you would think that all the bad luck ended right there, right? wrong! the hotel had no idea what was going on and why 15 ppl (we were sent to different hotels in the area) suddenly showed up on their doorstep. whatever, i was so frustrated i told them to check their fax. voila! so ryan, ang, chris and i shared a room and ordered room service. "sorry, the restaurant closed 45 minutes ago, and we're only serving sandwiches for the distressed passengers." "oooh oooh, that's us", i said! so ryan and chris traipsed to the restaurant for our late night snack, when really, we should have been having hot dogs & fries at the mgm sports bar. 20 minutes later, they were back in the room, and we had our 3 sandwiches. or so we thought. we were given the wrong food order! bloody hell, can't anything go right? it was already after 11 by this point, and we were starving, so we just ate the damn food. then chris and ryan went back to the restaurant to get food for breakfast. turns out the lady realized her sandwich mistake after the fact, but because the room was in my name, she didn't know who to call, so the right food order was waiting for them upon their return. so they came back with more sandwiches, fries and a fruit cup as well as breakfast for the morning. so what did we do? oh hell yeah, we ate again! (see picture)

it was pretty amazing that we actually finished 90% of the food that night. especially considering we were going to bed right away. so finally around 12:30 a.m. we fell asleep, with our alarms set for a 4 a.m. wake-up call. i should have been sitting at a poker table by now. or at least at a slot machine. so not impressed. we contemplated suing the airline for lost income.

our vegas adventure didn't stop here! stay tuned for more posts!