Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
I've been traveling since Sunday, which is the reason I haven't been too active or responsive here.
Thanks to everyone for not cock-bombing the site.
Right now I'm on the airplane flying BACK.
The highs:
- Weather was great, for the most part. NYC had been cold and rainy for the prior 2 weeks, yet it was 75-79 degrees high for us once we showed up. AC was a bit cold (high was like 53, and kinda windy), but it was nice again in Pennsylvania.
- Got a baller suite at the nice and right-on-Times-Square Marriott Marquis. Had it for 3 nights, and paid just $342+tax for a room that was selling for $1200. Managed this through Jewish shenanigans and negotiating skillz.
- Walked most of central park and even took a rowboat on the lake there with the family.
- Saw statue of liberty and Ellis Island, including my great-grandfather's name on the Ellis Island wall
- Went to top of Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center
- Met handicapme. Nice guy, and seemed totally normal during the time I spent with him. It was only about 30 minutes, though, so he could be a psycho and just hiding it well.
- Ate $500 worth of free Caesars food in AC
- Took interesting tour of Amish homes/farms (real ones) in Lancaster, PA
- Saw Liberty Bell and touched it even though I wasn't supposed to
- Came within a few miles of running out of gas, but barely made it to a gas station, just 3 hours before my flight home. I've come really close to running out of gas many times, but have only run out once -- back in 1996.
The lows:
- Found myself with a sore throat on the first night of the trip, which turned into a really bad cold, and I still have it. The worst day of it was Tuesday (the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island/Freedom Tower day), where I was barely able to stand by the end of the day. I definitely caught this cold in Vegas, where I was right before this trip. Thanks, Bellagio poker room!
- Had an argument with a pizza place by Times Square. Basically I ordered a pizza and a salad over the phone, and when I showed up, they forgot my entire order. The guy who took the order tried to lie about it, and finally admitted that, yes, he took my order but that the cooks "just didn't get it" (meaning he forgot). Dude didn't apologize once, and was a total dickhead about it. It was some asshole, young Puerto Rican guy, and he was aggressive and nasty with me from the start. I asked if he could at least prioritize my order ahead of everyone else, because mine should have been done already, and he refused. At that point, I decided I was done with them, so I told them to go ahead and make my food (didn't pay yet), and intentionally never showed up to get it.
- DENIED a suite in Atlantic City Caesars, despite it being my annual Seven Stars trip. Even worse, they weren't even honest with me about the reason. They kept telling me it was about "inventory" and "a busy week", but then couldn't explain why I couldn't move to a suite which was sitting empty late at night. Basically I have no play history there, and they simply didn't want me to have it. All other Caesars properties will give me a suite on my annual trip if there is one sitting empty (and not reserved) when I arrive.
- My girlfriend qualified for a free room in AC plus $50 food credit, and I totally forgot about it. So we could have had two rooms to kinda mimic a suite, but I totally spaced and forgot to check on that.
- Girlfriend caught my cold. Somehow Benjamin seems to have dodged it.
- Almost missed Amish tour thanks to terrible traffic between AC and Lancaster (about 130 mile drive). I was basically constantly checking Google maps and modifying my route to dodge traffic. The app attempts to do it for you, but it isn't particularly good at it. It won't send you on weird little side streets. Whole drive was very stressful. Had to illegally pass people a few times. Showed up at 4:52 for the 5pm tour. Interestingly, 4 of the scheduled 14 people missed it, and another family of 4 told me that, like me, they almost missed it due to traffic, as well.
Didn't gamble. Ran $75 freeplay at Harrah's Philly (why not?) and only got $25 out of it. Yuck.
Was on a United flight at the exact time that the controversy occurred last week, but obviously not the same plane. Odd coincidence.
Radio will return this week on Wednesday, April 19.