The Past Week in Review

(rss feed from http://www.MyRoadArt.com)

A look back over my shoulder at this past week:

1. Watching people salivate over a drawing at the Red Rock Casino has me laughing...because I'm just like them. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights we all stand around and wait for our club card number to appear on a video screen. Ten people receive $1,000 each, plus there's a drawing for a new $75,000 Escalade.

2. A move to tax legalized prostitution in Nevada failed, as predicted. The brothels were willing to pay $5 per "client" as a tax in exchange for some respect. But the state legislature balked. They are willing to make prostitution legal, but don't want to tax it like a legitimate business. Brothels are good for tourism. But treat them like a normal business? Nope.

3. It snowed one morning, for ten minutes, on my way to Starbucks.

4. The Coffee Bean is my new favorite hang-out.

5. The MGM Mirage survived another week. As The Strip's largest employer, the developer of CityCenter keeps plugging ahead without the help of its partner, Dubai World. Will they file bankruptcy and attempt to reorganize a $13 billion debt? Will CityCenter open this fall as expected? The answers depend on what you read and who you talk to.

6. The local economy is in shambles, but some say they see signs of recovery. Housing sales are increasing, mainly due to prices dropping through the floor. If you're looking to buy real estate, bargains exist on every street corner. Example: condos selling for $275,000 can be had for $160,000. The number of foreclosures has more than doubled.

7. My right thumb still hurts. I did something to it before I left Carmel two weeks ago. When I bend it at the knuckle, a pain shoots down to the palm of my hand.

8. I met a very nice lady at a UPS Store. She's taking over a new store in June. UPS Stores in general do fairly well if they are managed well and are located in the right area. While shipping is down, the other services they offer help keep the cash coming in.

9. I like Facebook. I hate MySpace. I like email. I hate cell phones.

10. I sold a domain name through GoDaddy's Auction Service and found it to be a pain in the groin, mainly because the buyer was a city government.

Nothing much happening today, just work. The rain continues. The sun is usually out with Tucsonians involved in their outdoor hobbies and work, but for the last few days the rain has forced everyone inside. I'll be glad when the storms move out of here so at least I'll be able to find a seat at my local Sbux.

A retail UPS Store at Christmas is a madhouse. Gas may be $3 a gallon, but that and a slow economy hasn't slowed the pace of people shipping Christmas gifts around the world. I began this morning at 11 a.m. and didn't have a chance to catch my breath until mid-afternoon. It was a steady barrage of nonstop shipping, faxing, wrapping, processing, and general mayhem. We finally slowed to a snail's pace around 6 p.m. It will more of the same until Christmas week.

____________

I'm listening to the new album Raising Sand, a collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Do yourself a favor and listen to the entire album, for free, online at http://www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com/site.php .

I'm beginning to settle in for the Winter. I can't think of a better place than Tucson. Now that I've been here for a couple of weeks, it's starting to feel like home. Unless something changes, I'll be here until Spring.

I've taken a job at another UPS store. I applied at seven different stores before one hired me on the spot. Most of the stores have managers who are taking a lot of applications, wanting to take a week or two before hiring someone. The store that eventually hired me has a manager who acts quickly, decisively, and doesn't look back.

"Hi. I'm Mitch. I worked at a UPS store in Albuquerque and was wondering if you needed some help," I said.

"So you've worked at a UPS store?" she asked. "When can you start?" She glanced at the application for maybe five seconds before offering me a job. The whole meeting took less than ten minutes. At the end of our brief conversation I said, "Well, I'm glad to finally find a manager at a UPS store that can make a quick decision."

What's the difference between this manager and the other six? Business sense and a willingness to frame a decision by the circumstances. I can't think of one legitimate reason that it should take the manager of a retail store to take two weeks to make a decision on hiring someone. After all, they aren't hiring brain surgeons. Managing a retail store isn't that complicated, unless you make it that way.

___________________________________

I've been playing cards at the Casino del Sol, run by the Pascua Yaqui Indians. Their reservation is located southwest of downtown Tucson. One night I went to the other card room in town at the Desert Diamond Casino, but was turned off by the lack of adequate parking and the construction taking place. The Desert Diamond is building a hotel next to the casino, and until it's finished, it's just not worth the trouble to go there.
I was leaving the Casino del Sol one day last week and saw this beautiful moon rising above the horizon. I tried to quickly take a photo. Of course, this photo doesn't do any justice to the view I had.

The last time I was at the card room the "Bad Beat" jackpot was over $52,000. At that amount, the jackpot will be shared by all the players in the room at the time it hits. The split is 50/30/20, meaning the winner of the jackpot gets 50% of the prize money, 30% is shared by the other players at the winning table, and the remaining 20% is shared by all the other players in the room. My poker blog is at http://www.7seat.com/.

____________________________________

I met an interesting guy today at work. He was returning a box of CD's to Canada, so I asked him if he was a musician. "Well, I'm actually what you might call a performing artist."

It turns out his name is Vincent Redhouse, and he's a grammy nominated Navajo recording artist who plays a flute. Check his out his web site. A very cool guy. He told me he played at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. last week. According to his web site, he was there to perform in the "Native Classics Recital on Traditional Native flute with Classical guitarist Gabriel Ayala."