Category Archives: Life in New York City

Las Vegas 2003: Look At All The Things I Miss!

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If you have stumbled onto this chapter of an ancientLas Vegas trip report from 2003 and want to start at the beginning, you can go HERE.

I am up early at the world famous Boardwalk Hotel.  I am showered and out of the room at 8:45. I’m going to really gamble and try the world famous Boardwalk Buffet. It relatively empty, but the short line is SO slow. I credit this more to the gaggle of women who all had travelers checks, who all had to be asked 983984798327489327483274329874328 times for ID, than I do to the cashier.

Well, all the stories you have heard about this buffet being terrible are true. Now I don’t think it is disgusting to the point I’ve read about. but it is just not good. I can’t think of one nice thing to say about it, other than “well, it is not as bad as the Frontier buffet.”

Off to gamble!

The casino had the air conditioning up so high i could barely handle it. it was FREEZING. I kept stepping outside to warm up.

Nap time before moving hotels! I set the alarm for 11:30. I sleep through the alarm and got woken up by “room checks” at about 12:10 ‑ ten minutes past check out time. Who knows how long i would have slept if I hadn’t been woken up?

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Las Vegas Spa Day!

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Welcome to day 4 of this trip report.  If you are lost and want to start at the beginning, go HERE.

Work up at Paris on day 4 for yet another shitty shitty shitty shitty shitty day at work.  I crawled out of bed to stand online forever for iced coffee.  I am exhausted.  Because I am exhausted, little tiny insignificant things annoy me.  You order coffee at Cafe Belle Madeleine at the register and pick up at a counter near the entrance/exit.  But the creams and sugars are all the way back near the cashier.  So you order, walk towards the exit to get your coffee, then back to where you just were……I mean this whining is so stupid and dumb and useless. It is not far at all.  But exhausted and so many people and “excuse me, excuse me, EXCUSE ME” followed by dirty look by the person who thinks you are an asshole for screamng EXCUSE ME at them.  But I had to because you didn’t fucking hear me the first two fucking times.  Yargh.

I worked all day without a break.  Then once it was time to log off, the work texts began coming in.  My manager posted my birthday is this weekend and I have people texting me to wish me a happy one. This is nice, but my phone going off for work related things is really making me anxious.  I need a fucking break.  Good thing I am off the next five days.

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Quick Trip to Resorts World Casino in Queens, NY

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A lot of people don’t know there is an actual casino in New York City.   This is probably because while technically being located inside New York City, it is so far away from everything that taking a trip there is probably not a good use of a tourist’s time.

I decided once it opened, that I should never go visit this place.  The idea of having a casino just a subway ride away was probably going to just result in degeneracy on a whole new level.

That said, I did end up going after MyVegas had announced rewards for this casino.   The rewards are pretty lacking.  There are dining rewards, gift shop rewards, but no free play.  Why do you not have free play DAMMIT.

So off I went.  I didn’t write about that first trip because it went kind of like this: I lost all my money in about ten minutes.  And discovered that spending $50 in their gift shop = one hand lotion, one bar of pomegranate soap and one pack of gummy bears.   Their selection of stuff is so tiny and extremely overpriced.  I mean let’s be fair, all casino gift shops are over priced.  But I was expecting more things to choose from.  I was not expecting to go home with SOAP.

Then I boarded the A train to get home.  That was a nightmare.  The A train connects to the Air Train for JFK airport.  When I got on the train, it was jam packed with so many people coming from their airport.  With so much luggage (who needs that much stuff?!?) and even more entitlement.   There were people who had clearly walked onto their train with their luggage and duffel bags, dumped their stuff right in the doorway and kept walking into the train.   I had to step over a whole lot of stuff to get onto the train.  Other people could not get out of the doorway and into the actual train, because of all the luggage blocking all the walkways.

I vowed I would never go to Resorts World again.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: The Day I Was A Degenerate Winner!

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Note:  This is an older Las Vegas trip report that I am posting for the entertainment of Las Vegas addicts and anyone else who loves fun.  It was written back in 2008.  Most of this information is now outdated and some places mentioned no longer exist.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 – Day Twelve of Twenty One

I’m up at the Palazzo at 8:00 and out at 8:30. I head over to Encore to see what I missed last night. It’s really nice but nothing surprising.  It appears to be butterfly themed.

Encore Las Vegas butterflies Encore Las Vegas butterfly carpet Encore Las Vegas butterfly light Encore Las Vegas butterfly mosaic tile

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“Oh you are from new York? Were you there on September 11?”

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I have been asked this quite a few times in my life. Exactly two months after the towers fell, I was in Las Vegas.  When you are a gambler, you sign up for player’s cards at casinos and earn comps.  There are a lot of casinos in Las Vegas.  I showed my ID to people a lot of times.  Every time, I got asked about it.   After that trip, it died down a bit.  Then I started going to Europe and it began all over again.  Every European who has ever asked me about it, has done so with the most sincere look of interest on their face, as if I am about to expound a fascinating firsthand account of that day.   I hate to disappoint them by telling them that while yes, I was indeed here on that date, you saw more than I did.   Including the collapse of the North Tower, which had a television antenna on top of it.  While you were watching the tower collapse on your television screen, you were watching the antenna that gave me television reception collapse as well. 911_collapse Continue reading →

What’s It Like Living in New York City? Rant #2 AND Rant #2.5 – Canal Street Train Station

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The Canal Street train station is located on…Canal Street in Chinatown.  There used to be a venue here called The Knitting Factory, which has since moved to Brooklyn.  But for many years, it was located a few blocks from this train station.

The Knitting Factory had shows that started at reasonable times, and as such, ended at reasonable times.  This should have been a plus, but the MTA does not like its riders having any positive advantages, so they made sure to turn this positive into a negative.

Case in point, the sign located on the N train platform that reads “Late nights, N runs on local track”.

Okay great.  But WHAT TIME is “late night”?  Was this sign made up by a youngster for whom getting home and into bed by midnight was a regular occurrence and not exactly “late night”?  Was it made by a suburban housewife for whom staying in “the city” past sunset was “late night”?  Who knows?  Certainly not anyone who would need to know.  Like me, who needed to know in order to get home.

Many nights, I would be leaving The Knitting Factory…let’s say around 10:00 pm-ish.  Is this “late night”?  How am I supposed to know if I should be waiting for my train here or on the local track?  And where exactly is the local track?  Well let’s find out, shall we?

In order to get to the local track from this platform, you must first walk up 21 steps.  Then you walk up a little bit of a hallway, then down 23 more steps, through an underground tunnel, then up 25 steps and there you go – you are on the local track.

Now if you are reading this and thinking “so you are complaining about having to walk  up 21 steps, up a little bit of a hallway, then down 23 more steps, through an underground tunnel, then up 25 steps? That doesn’t sound very far you lazy piece of shit”.  NO . THAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM ASSHOLE.

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What’s it Like Living in New York City? Rant #1 – Barclays Center

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I have decided to take advantage of the fact that i live in New York City and do some posts about it.  While I intend to post some nice things about living in New York at some point, that point will not be today.

Today I will be ranting about Barclays Center.  I hate this thing.  It is New York City’s brand new arena, located in Downtown Brooklyn. It can hold up to 19,000 people.  It has been open less than a year now.

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

I honestly do not know if this thing is painted a rust color or if it was made out of cheap metal that rusted.  For the intent and purpose of HATE, I am going to act like I know for a fact that it is the latter.

This rusted out piece of crap was built right at a major transportation hub.  Not only do many subway lines stop here, it is also a stop on the Long Island Railroad – which is the commuter rail between New York and you guessed it – Long Island.  The Long Island Railroad is also what us Brooklynites are expected to take to JFK Airport.  It is only fifteen minutes to the JFK Airtrain from this stop.

Sounds good right?  WRONG.

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