Mission Accomplished!

Bally Arakis in Black Calf

Size 10D

$395

Las Vegas

We drove over yesterday, Sunday. Five and a half hours. It's always easier heading here than heading home. No Mark and Arturo this time, it's mainly a work trip for Hector. And we're staying at the Paris, not our beloved Bellagio. After checking in, we wandered around a bit, and played at a few casinos after we arrived. And, surprisingly, I won a total of $800 at 4 different machines at 3 casinos. I was hot. And now early this morning, to confirm my fears that my lucky streak was temporary, I just lost about $100 in less than an hour. Oh well. I'm now heading over to Kenneth Cole at Caesars Palace to buy a new pair of dress shoes before I squander the rest of my winnings.

TGIF

This has been a busy, physical week with work. Lots of hauling heavy bookcases up to the 2nd floor at Jim's and schlepping all my tools everywhere. So I'm looking forward to our upcoming 3 nights at Paris Las Vegas. I'm even looking forward to the 5 hour drive over on Sunday. It's a work trip for Hector so while he's doing his song and dance I'll be at the gym, the pool, the spa or the slot machines!

Suspicious activity

This morning at 130 am I awoke to the sound of car doors out front. I looked out the window and saw a police cruiser driving away. My immediate thought was, "are they here for me?", an instinctive reaction that I haven't shed since my pot-head days in college in the 1970's. But now, returning home, I see my neighbor's car is being towed, or more acurately: repossessed. So it's odd that a cop would be snooping around his car at 130 am but as they say...rather him than me.

My brother Lucien, me, my cousin, my brother Keith, Crawford

The Wright Family:
Mom is upper left, Uncle Harold is bottom second front left

My new cousin, Barbra, and her husband, Crawford

Just squeaked past a birthday over the weekend. A very low-key one, compared to the over-the-top celebration of last year. But we had dinner with Jorge & Elsa at Park House Eatery on Thursday, then dinner with Mark & Arturo at Pacifica Del Mar on Friday. By Sunday I was ready for cheese and fruit in front of the DVR. Hector bought me a beautiful jacket and trousers to wear to my sister's wedding in 2 weeks.

We just returned from a family reunion in Waxahachie. The Wright Reunion (Mom's side of the family) is held every 3rd Sunday in August at the Optimist Youth Center. I haven't attended in 35 years but the place hasn't changed one bit. We all went so we could meet our newly found cousin, Barbra, from the UK. It's the big news in our family: My long-dead Uncle Harold served in York, UK during WWII and apparently did a bit of fraternizing with a local married girl, whose own husband was serving in Europe. Anyway, Uncle Harold eventually returned to Texas and never told a soul what happened. 60 years later, Barbra decided to search for her birth parents, which led her ultimately to my cousin in Waxahachie Texas. And although her birth mother rejected her attempts at contact, we all welcomed her and actually smothered her to death with attention. She and her husband are really fun. She got to meet tons of cousins and saw hundreds of old family photos.

Hector is working in Costa Rica this week, I'm catching up with clients, then we are driving to Vegas on Sunday. It's a work trip for Hector, a pleasure trip for me.

Monday

I took Hector to the airport at 5 am today then had a pit stop at Starbucks on the way home. It was so nice on Adams Avenue that I sat out front for a bit to enjoy the sunrise. Now home, I need to prepare for the electricians who are coming soon to install the new lighting. Ceiling is scraped, house is clean, a long to-do list awaits me this week.

Back home now. The remainder of the trip was wonderful. After 2 nights at Monte Sagrado (and wishing there was a 3rd) we drove back to Santa Fe and re-checked in at Inn at the Loretto. Suddenly the city was overflowing with tourists and we discovered that the annual Spanish Market was scheduled for that weekend. We caught a bit of it before leaving on Saturday and there was some impressive folk art but everything cost $3000. I suppose they price things for the rich New Yorkers who jet in just for this show. Needless to say we left empty handed. Even the children's art section was overpriced. I'm so sure I'm going to pay $85 for a 10-year-old's painting of the baby Jesus.

Today, Wednesday, we have the ceiling scraper crew in to remove all the "popcorn" (acoustic texture) from the ceiling. They are making an unbelievable mess and we're not allowed upstairs for any reason. Floating down the stairs is a lot of dust, a few curious trickles of water, and the occasional whiff of pot, so at least they are finding satisfaction in their work.