Reno, NV

Ok, so it wasn't the gambling capitol of the U.S., but it was definitely a mini-Vegas. Oh, how I've missed the colorful lights, the noisy environment, and half-drunk people! Yes, my week-long stay in the nicest casino in Reno was a much anticipated party. And, yes, I'm being sarcastic. :-)

I wasn't sure what to expect. All I knew was I was going to the O&M conference and giving a short presentation. The Operations and Management conference is held something like every 18 months and is hosted by either the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Bureau of Reclamation. People from both sides give presentations, I believe, in an effort to share hydropower knowledge between agencies.

[Mark, my brother, just came in to show me what was in the "rancid tea." I take it he didn't approve of "Apple-Cinnamon" :-)]

I decided to take the 6:20pm non-stop flight to Reno last Monday. That was a mistake. "Travel days" are usually fun because you get paid to fly or drive somewhere, but getting into the office at 6:40am made for a very long day. :-)

I was curious as to how the hotel would work out. The "Silver Legacy," to me, almost sounded like the "Bugs Bunny Hotel" on Colfax. After talking to some people on the plane, though, I figured it must be pretty nice as they all pretty much said the Silver Legacy was the nicest casino in Reno. I arrived around 9pm, Denver time, and checked in. It was really quite a nice place. After lugging my over-sized suit case to the 24th floor, I decided I must find some dinner. I wasn't in the mood for feeling dork-like and eating at a sit-down restaurant all by myself, so I took a tour of the three major casinos. Even though they're on separate city blocks, they're all connected indoors. After being lost for about an hour and finding one of my co-workers almost to the "I WUV YOU MAN" stage, I finally found that the food court was closed and the only place to eat was a Deli/Bakery. Discovering they had pizza, I decided I must partake of the scrumptious circular perfection, so I ordered two slices... One of those "by the slice" places. Inwardly groaning about spending $9.50 for two measly pieces of pizza and a Pepsi, I paid the cashier and went to go get the... hehe... pizza. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the two slices amounted to much more than I could eat... and not only that, it was good stuff! Not the rip-off variety Elitches would give you, charging you $10 for an extraordinarily low-quality "personal pizza," fresh from the freezer.

About that time, I realized I was quite desirous of sleep, so I headed out of the restaurant and had the familiar sound of slot machines meet my ears in an effort to lure me to the comfy seats, colorful displays, and free drinks. With a zombie-like saunter, I resisted the temptation with little hesitation and headed back up to my room and soon found myself waking to the sound of the alarm clock.

I headed over to the "ballroom" where our breakfast resided, and thus began may days of sitting... and sitting... and sitting... and doodling... and writing a requisition on my cool laptop with a solid-state hard drive... and sitting... It was like sitting through a Gothard seminar, only it went for 8hrs/day for three solid days! My presentation to about 150 high-ranking officials eventually got over, so that made me happy :-) er... yeah... whatever...

Now for the night-life!

The conference got over at about 5:15pm every day which left enough time for a great meal and... then... GAMBLING! I went to my room the first night in hopes of some free Internet... Yeah, right. "Wireless Internet" doesn't mean "Free" in a casino. I was pleased to find that you don't have to put quarters in the shower to get hot water, though. I wasn't willing to pay $50/week for the "basic service," so I decided to take a hike around the city. Downtown Reno is kind of shady. Within walking distance, it was all Colfax. Later, I ran into a group from my office who'd just come back from looking for a movie theater to no avail. They commented, "Hey, you know that guy who sits out there begging in the wheelchair out there? Well, he was up walking around." I saw him at the slots later that night :-)

After that, I decided that I'd be hanging around with my co-workers. Why, even the TV... Well... Let's see... There was the channel showing all the features of the casino, there was the Keno channel so you could gamble from your bed, the "How to play Keno" channel, the "How to play Blackjack" channel, the "How to play..." Ok, I think you get the idea.

Did I ever tell you how much I much I want to own a casino? :-)

The next night, there was no way I was going to go to bed early after sitting through hours of presentations, so I decided to watch my co-workers loose money. It's amazing what gambling does to people. People who'd have a hard time putting up $100 for a show in Vegas don't mind putting a couple hundred down for the gambling tables. Oh, and did you know that blowing on dice makes them magically know and conform to your wishes? I was amazed how superstitious some people can get when it comes to putting their money on the line...

If only I'd been there when they were base-jumping off the top of the Silver Legacy...

Here's kind of what it looks like inside:(hard to see and everything, but there's lots of lights and I like lights... but I still didn't enjoy it much.)

I think it was a good experience for me... what little interest I had in gambling is now completely gone. Do you have any clue how long it takes to finally dispose of $5 in a penny slot machine? Do you know how many $20 bills get sent down the slot at the Craps table or how many decks of cards get shuffled to use up $20 at the Blackjack tables?

Of course, most everyone from my office were engineers and approached gambling using the tools of statistics and mathematics to predict the future. And, true, for the most part, they came out ahead, a lot of them doubling their money... but in order to really do that effectively, you need to really understand the game, calculate odds before playing, and be able to make lightning calculations in your head. (By the way, if you want to get really good at addition, become a Blackjack dealer :-)

Oh, by the way, if someone offers you a little glass of ice-water with a lime in it and two little straws, don't drink it unless you mean to... It's not ice-water :-) Do you know how incredibly boring it is sitting around watching semi-loopy people with slurred speech gamble for hour after hour? WAY more exciting than going to bed!I was ready for the end of the week after the first night... Though I did like the 24-hour ice cream parlor... YEAH! ICE CREAM!

The meals? THEY WERE AWESOME! Casinos have great food! Where else can you get a 1/2lb burger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Where else can you satisfy your ice cream cravings at any time of day? Oh, and, man... I had some GOOD root-beer at one of the restaurants.