Very strange: my iPhone battery went from 70% to 0% while sitting on my desk while I was at lunch. I am not sure what happened.
Last week, the powers that be decided to do every repaving project on the list — all at once. The main road into work is half closed, but that’s not the big problem. No, the big problem is that both of the parking lots I usually park in are under construction, cutting off at least 150 parking spaces until they are done. This means I have to park even farther away than normal. And it’s the hottest week of the year. I broke a sweat walking the half mile from my car to my building. Seriously, can’t they just put Houston under a bubble for half the year? It worked in the Simpsons movie…
Jose and I spent another weekend in Corpus Christi to belatedly celebrate his mom’s birthday. She wanted to spend the day on the Texas Treasure, a casino cruise that leaves from Port Aransas. I had never gambled before in my life (at least not with real money) so it was an interesting experience. The boat was certainly not what I imagine Vegas to be. It was a little dark, a little smoke-stained. There were slot machines galore, but only one fairly small area for table games. A buffet lunch was included in the ticket, but the food was mediocre — like you would find in a cafeteria.
Despite that, it was fun. The ship cruises 10 miles offshore and then stops dead in the water while all the casino games open for business. Jose’s mom and aunts headed straight for the nickel slots, which were by far the most popular machine in the house. Jose and I blew $5 each on the quarter slots before heading upstairs to the table games. We played roulette for an hour or so, and I did enjoy that. I know that the house always wins, but I decided that I could get pretty good chances on the roulette table by following a specific strategy. The minimum bet was $5 on the table, but you could split it up into $1 bits. I would throw five $1 bids out on the table, each bid covering 4 numbers. That way, I covered 20 of the 38 numbers — more than half — on the wheel. If it hit one of the 18 number I didn’t have, I lost $5. But if it hit one of the 20 numbers that I did have, I got $9 — a net of $4.
This seemed to be about as even as I could hope for, and it did work out well. Overall, I ended up about $5 ahead for the day playing roulette. In all, I ended up down about $20, $15 of which went to never-never-land within minutes on the slot machines. I have since decided that slot machines will inherently take your money, not to mention that I don’t trust them because I don’t know what the odds are. The remaining $10 ($5 plus the extra $5 I had from roulette) went to playing bingo and buying food.
All in all, it was a fun day, even if I concluded that yes, I still think gambling is dumb. I don’t mind losing $20 because hey, I was entertained for six hours. But I don’t understand the people who leave having lost hundreds.
txrunnergirl says
Per my stat prof – stick to craps. 🙂