I Visit Another Planet

One thing that I miss about Ohio is the weather. Yeah, its always warm and sunny here but that can be boring. In Ohio, one day its 75 and sunny and the next day its 45 and rainy. One day it will snow and the next day its shorts and a t-shirt weather. I sort of liked that.

One thing that Ohio is used to is rain. Last spring it seemed like it rained every day for like 3 months. I think it rained something like 29 of 30 days. The beauty of Ohioans and all people from the Midwest, when the weather changes, we adapt and move on. If it rains for a month straight, "Oh well, that's Ohio weather." Well, this week at school, something happened that shocked the students, faculty, parents and quite frankly, probably every other person in Arizona. Something happened that was so shocking and eventful, I thought the Canadian Sensation Justin Beiber had stopped by. On Tuesday, September 13, it rained and it rained hard. Chaos ensued.

When I went to bed on Monday night, it was like any other night. It was hot as hell and the weather hadnt changed in weeks. I was awoken by lighting and rain around 3. I didnt think anything of it because well it was 3 am. When I left for school on Tuesday it was raining but not enough rain where I had to run to my car to avoid it. Just a light rain, nothing special. By the time school started it was pouring. By pouring, I mean it was an average rain in Toledo. Every student in the school went nuts. Students ran into my classroom to ask me if I noticed it was raining. Announcements were made to the students on how to "act" when it was raining. I was in awe. The students went nuts. In the middle of a lecture, a student asked me if it was still raining. Who cares! Students walked into my classroom soaked from walking outside (Sidebar: River Valley has 3 seperate building on campus where students are required to walk outside to get to and from class. Hence why they were soaked.) What happened next was something I never thought I would ever see in my life.

Around 11 in the morning, the AP came on the annoucements and said that students who rode bus #4, had to eat lunch now and go home. I was confused because I wasnt sure if I missed an email or a memo. So I walked next door to ask another teacher. He told me that the students had to go home because it was raining. What? Students have to leave school early because it is raining? I couldnt believe it. That wasnt even the worse part. Three teachers left school early and went home because it was raining. At this point, I thought I was on another planet. People really go home early because it is RAINING!?

When I drove home that day, I expected there to be flooding and people in canoes floating around the roads. You know what I saw? Nothing. Not a damn thing. I drove home and the roads were barely wet. They werent slippery. They werent dangerous. They were nothing but a little damp. Roads that the great people of Toledo drive on everyday from March 1st to May 30th. This might have been the first moment where I realized life out west is a little different than back home.

Part 2

Well I am back to finish the story of Kate's visit to the west coast. So lets do it...

Once we got back to Laughlin, I was really excited and nervous for Kate to see my place. Kate has pretty high standards (actually ridiculously high but I love her) and I wanted her to see that my place isnt all that bad. Well she walked in and said "I like it. Its cute but..." I thought she was about to tear it to pieces about how messy it was and how she cant believe I havent killed myself yet. Not so fast my friends. She said, "I like it. Its cute but its so plain." So when we went to Bullhead City (that is were all the shopping is located) Kate went to town. Before she got here, I had the bare essenitials. I had a place to sit, sleep, shower and watch TV. Well I didnt do all of that in the same place but you get the idea. So after Kate did work my apartment went from being boring and very plain to looking like this....

I got a cool new shower curtain (I actually picked it out, dont like her tell you any different)
And matching bath mats
AND a matching clock
AND curtains for my bedroom. Wow, who am I.
My boring futon got some decorations
So did my wall, and wall and wall.
No more paper plates and bowls for the Scorpion King. Thanks Scorpion Queen
Anyone who knows the Queen, knows she loves this stuff. She LOVES it!

So after Kate put so elegantly put her touch on the apartment, we decided to go out on the town. Now all of this didnt happen in one day but it makes it easier to tell the story that way. I am such a lazy writer.

Kate really wanted to gamble. She had never done it before and she was looking to hit it big (which didnt happen). So we hit up the casinos. We bought some drinks (more on that later) and we hit the slots. I wanted to play some table games but wasnt too sure how to so I stuck with the slots. The biggest problem with the slots for me and Kate was half the time we didnt know what we were trying to do or what would win us big money. So, essentially, we just keep feeding these machines our money not knowing what the hell to do. But as Kate would say "its vaction, who cares." After busting out at several casinos we headed towards the Colorado Belle which looks like a big boat. Kate decided to play a Wizard of Oz themed slot machine because nothing had worked up til then. With in 5 minutes Kate had almost tripled her money. Here are a few shots of her working over the wicked witch and showing her who is the boss. While she was playing, we noticed that there were cocktail waitresses taking drink orders from the rest of the gamblers. I couldnt tell if they were paying for the drinks. Well my friends, they werent and the Scorpion King was in heaven. Free drinks, gambling and Kate making big bucks? Color me excited. The only person more excited than me was Kate. By the end of the night, Kate was EASILY 8 Bacardi and Cokes down and feeling great. She felt great until she pushed the witch a little too much and then got busted. I guess we arent in Tecumseh anymore Katelyn.

After gambling for an hour, we hadnt won a damn thing and I was worried about my cash flow. I wanted to leave to save money but Kate talked me into playing a little more. I took $20 out of the ATM, split it with Kate and went to play this Monopoly slot machine. I ordered a Vodka and lemonade and went to work. After 10 minutes I turned my 10 bucks into over $50. Check it out.
I felt great but decided to push my luck (one too many Vodka and Lemonades I guess) and ended up just breaking even. Oh well.


Kate and I took a few pictures to remember our trip and here they are...
In front of the Colorado Belle
I swear I wasnt drunk or high in this picture
This is much better

Well once again I am sick of writing and cant think of any interesting things to write about. Hope you liked the new post. Stay out of the heat and watch out for Scorpions.

Vegas, Laughlin and the weekend with the Old Lady part 1

This past weekend was a very exciting one for me. I had been away from my family for a month and was starting to miss everyone from back home. So this weekend was exactly what I needed. Kate was finally coming to visit and we had planned to spend a day in Vegas and then head to Laughlin for the rest of the weekend. This is the story our of weekend and the fun we had. Enjoy...

I drove to Vegas to pick Kate up at 7am so I could go to a casino to watch the OSU game. I got to watch the majority of the game, Buckeyes won big and then I got to see Kate. It was going to be a good day. When I showed up at the airport to pick her up, we hugged and Kate said, "aw it woulda been nice if you got me some flowers." I said, "yea, I should have done that. Oh well." Little did she know when she got back to my apartment she walked right into this. This aint my first rodeo Katelyn. Or as the Doctor would say, "I aint no rodeo cowboy." So after we got her bags we went to hit the strip. She had never been to Vegas and I hadnt been since I was 9 years old. Shout out to the Stultz family for that trip. We parked the car at the Monte Carlo's parking garage (free parking everywhere in Vegas. Yes sir!) Kate and I were both hungry so we wanted to get some food. Actually Kate was super cranky cause she was so hungry. So we had to move fast before the Kapnick wrath ate me alive. After much debate (why cant women just say what they want. Someone help me out on that one.), we decided to go to a buffet. Ok, my thought process was I have a long weekend ahead and I needed to save money on food so I could spend money at the casinos and with Kate. So I thought a buffet might be like 25 bucks. Oh how I was wrong. This buffet (and it was a brunch buffet for God's sake) cost me $45. For brunch? Wow. Needless to say, it wasnt worth $45. I hope my dad isnt reading this cause he will be pissed I spent that much.

After the totally over priced buffest, Kate and I walked the strip. Here are some pictures we took. Hope you enjoy.

I thought we were in Vegas, not New York
This is a pretty cool looking casino
So, wait. This is Vegas right
Not sure what or who this is
Mario, Luigi and Daffy Duck?

So after walking the strip, Kate (who LOVES sharks) wanted to go to the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. So we took this awesome pic of Kate. We took a bunch of pictures but most were too hard to see. After having a great time at the casinos, Kate wanted to go to the outlet malls in Vegas. We did some research and found out there was a Coach outlet. I dont think I have ever seen Kate as excited as she was when we walked into the store. We walked in and the greeter gave Kate a 30% percent off coupon. Just for walking in the door? Why cant any of the stores I like just give me 30% off at the door. Anyway, let me tell you something. My girlfriend went to work on Coach. Back home, me and my buddy Stevan used to always say we were going to shut shit down at the mall but we never really did. The only store we shut down was Nori Japan in the food court. Love me some Nori Japan. But Kate, she did work.

I have to give her credit, she wanted a Coach purse for a long time. She asked me to buy her one like 100 times but come on, I dont have Coach purse money. Kate ended up buying the EXACT purse she wanted and a wristlet (whatever that is) for a crisp $200. In Toledo, she would have paid around $450 maybe more. Shout out to the Holliday frugal-ness rubbing off on Kate.

After Vegas we went back to Laughlin and I tried to show her a good time. Check back for part 2 of this post. My hands hurt from writing (I am such a wuss). Be back soon.

The Scorpion King Gets a Shout Out Request

Well I think I have taken this blog to the next step. Last night, someone requested that I write about them in the blog. When I started this, I was hoping someone would like and I would be dedicated enough to keep it going. Now I am getting requests for me to mention them in the blog. Well, here it goes. Shout out to my boys Beebop and Rocksteady aka Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro aka Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid aka Beans and Rooster. There you go. You got your shout out.

This is a huge weekend for me. Kate is coming to visit and I am going to go to Vegas for the day. See ya later Mini Vegas, hello Las Vegas. Dont worry CCM (for those of you playing along, Chris the Computer Man), I will have my camera ready to take in all the sights. This should be good.

Stay out of the heat and watch out for scorpions.