Real Kato Blog: Amy's Birthday

Our weekend-long celebration of Amy's birthday.

About a month ago, I told Amy that we were taking a trip for her birthday, but I didn't tell her where we were going. She thought maybe New York, San Francisco, or perhaps somewhere tropical.

The idea was to reveal the location to her by baking her an appropriately-themed cake. However, that plan fell through when someone asked "Where are you going on your trip?" and I blurted out the answer without thinking, right in front of Amy, one day before her actual birthday.

I still baked the cake, though.

Yes, I'm still going to Las Vegas again in a couple of months, for my annual trip with the guys. But it only seems right to share the fun with Amy once in a while, and it's been some time since she's been there.

So we flew down on Saturday. We stayed at the Excalibur, which is a cheesy place to be sure, but conveniently located (adjacent to the Luxor and New York New York), and half the price of the other hotels nearby. I do have a few complaints about the Excalibur. There was no wireless Internet access, only an ethernet cable that was hidden behind the dresser. We had a flat panel TV but it only got twelve channels. The air conditioner sounded like a jet engine. But really, it was good enough... we got good sleep there. And the view was nice.

We entered two poker tournaments. We didn't win either of them, but didn't do too badly (Amy reached the final table in the first tournament, and I did in the second). These were our first times playing poker in Las Vegas. The first tournament was small, and most of the people were amateurs, no better than the regulars at our monthly local game. In the second tournament, the quality of the competition went up. But with blinds that doubled every fifteen minutes, there was a lot of luck involved anyway.

Other than that, I played a little blackjack (and won $100), and we played a bunch of nickel slots. We took one spin at a penny slot machine, and Amy won three thousand pennies (betting 9 lines at 40 cents per line). It took over five minutes for the payout counter to get up to 3000. We almost missed one of our poker tournaments.

We did some shopping at the Forum Shops at Caesar's (where, of course, we had to take this obligatory shot, in honor of my Dad who always made us pose like statues when we were kids):

We went to a clothing store that had a huffy 50-something saleswoman. This woman was clearly tired of dealing with day after day of shoppers who browse but don't buy. Just try to imagine her straining to be polite and keep a scowl off her face during this conversation:

Amy: I'd like to try this on... what sizes do you have it in?
Huffy Woman: Can you speak up? I'm hard of hearing.
Amy: Which ear?
Huffy Woman: Both ears.

When we thought back on this conversation a little later, we realized that although it's somewhat odd to have a saleswoman tell you she's hard of hearing, it's even more odd to ask "Which ear?" And we cracked ourselves up over and over again saying "Which ear?" and answering in a dry Judi Dench-like voice, "Both ears."

Anyway, we did buy a nice outfit for Amy which may make its debut later this week.

The signature moment of the whole weekend? Watching the Bellagio fountains choreographed to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's duet of "Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye)". You can see it on YouTube here:

Permalink 2 Comment

Posted by Ken in: life, travel

Comments

Comment #1 from Brett (Guest)
2007 Sep 26 - 12:54 pm : #

YES! The fountain song! We heard that one, too, but couldn't figure out the name of the song. We went back to hear it again but they played, like, Avril Lavigne's "Complicated," or some garbage, it was terrible.

Bravo, "Con Te Partiro," bravo.

Comment #2 from Bake Town (Guest)
2007 Sep 26 - 1:09 pm : #

I'm going to Vegas for my 40th B-day next month! woo hoo!

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