The Pratt's of Las Vegas

Started eating clean.

2010-09-24T08:02:00.001-07:00

This month Yulia and I started the Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno.

Suspended at work

2005-06-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I was suspended for 5 days for dealing to an underage person. I arrived back from my break on Tuesday and the individual was playing at my Roulette table. When someone sits down the dealer is supposed to get ID before they are allowed to play. Since he was already playing I assumed (incorectly) that he had been asked and that he was old enough. As it turns out he was not. Probably got asked for ID at the Cage when he tryed to cash in his chips. Probably was let off with a warning if he was to point out the dealer(s) who dealt to him. He also pointed out the Floor Supervisor. I was told that Gaming wanted me terminated but somehow only got the suspension. The system SUCKS but what can you do.

The girls had been sick so last Saturday I took them to the Doctor. Nan had an ear infection. Din's was just a cough. Dr. gave them both the same antibotic and now they are fine.

Looks like we made it thru the first half of June without scorching temperatures but expect it to start getting really hot until Mid September.

Memorial Day

2005-05-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Thought that today would be a good day to update the blog to let all of you know what has been happening here in our sunny part of the world.

Work: Since the merger, I am now full time as opposed to being extra board. What this means is that I am guaranteed 5 days per week as opposed to taking my chances that I will be scheduled or not. Still have split days off (currently Thursday and Sunday but that could change)until they hire extra dealers but will not be out of work for a couple of weeks in December like last year and the year before. Also, no more occasional 4 day weeks. Yulia's regular days off are Tuesday and Wednesday except a couple of weeks in the month of June. She is also scheduled to do inventory the same hours that I am at work so we will have to figure that one out.

House in Reno: In February had an electrical fire and had to replace the box (ate up the month's rent). In March the property manager decided it would be a good time to replace a valve that was authorized last September but could not be done while the ground was frozen(ate up another month's rent). I decided that I do not need a property manager that is not concerned how I am supposed to pay the mortgage without any rent or warning so I fired him. Then the tenant decides not to pay the rent this month. I decided that I do not need this tenant. Sent the tenant a 3 day notice to pay or quit. I contacted a Real Estate Agent to get a current market analysis to determine what the place is worth. He has a property manager who is in the process of getting tenant out. While waiting for him to get back to me I contacted a different agent who believes as I do that a distress sale brings out the worst in buyers. Surprise, the house is now worth somewhere around $299,000. This means that there is enough equity to finally address the issue of the problem foundation. Also, figured out a different way to take care of this problem. As opposed to installing foundation piers to level the existing foundation at a cost of $53,000 I contacted a house mover to jack up the house, then correct the problem foundation the lower it back down. Haven't gotten the estimate for this yet but am working on it. Even at $35,000 I am still ahead $18,000.

Girls: Nan and Din are turning out to be quite the party goers. First they went to our next door neighbor's daughters Birthday party. Then Westin's Birthday (he is in Nan's class) and has (get this) called her twice already. Then Saturday they got to go to the Baby Sitter's niece's party. When I asked Nan if Westin was her boyfriend she said no just a friend, Dad.

Bananas: decided to put the update on the bananas on a separate blog for those of you who do not care about them as much as I do.

Mother's Day

2005-05-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

The current growth of our Banana Plantation: the Mysore is approx. 4" high, the Brazilian Dwarf is just a bud and the Texas Star has not yet budded. Still having a few problems growing the Thai Chili's. Forgot to season the seedlings before planting and they got sunburned and mostly died. Will plant some more seeds and try it again. So far only a few have survived.

Ananda, Adinda and I go swimming almost every day. Took the solar cover off for a day a couple of times but had to put it back on again. The nightly temperatures are still in the 50's and this year it has been overcast a lot more than usual not allowing enough sun for the Solar heater by itself to keep the pool warm. Water temperature usually 84 degrees.

Have been busy getting used to sleeping during the day with the change in shifts at the Luxor. Rumor has it that MGM is going to hire additional dealers and make the existing Extra Board full time. The Cactus garden has been neglected and needs attention. still have to complete the unfinished corner. The weed blocker fabric only slows down some of the weeds. I am going to try to use weed killer.

The front yard grass looks better but still needs to fill in. Haven't figured out how to stop the neighbor's cat from using our planters for his restroom.

And lastly, still working on figuring out how to trade the Forex market. Purchased 4X Made Easy software and am currently paper trading with some successes but not yet to the point of using real money.

2005-05-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Nan and Din with Mysore Banana

Nan and Din invited to neighbor's Birthday Party

2005-04-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today Nan and Din were invited to our neighbor's 5th birthday party. Instead of going to their regular sitter they stayed at the neighbor's house during the time I had to leave for work and when Yulia got home. Usually this only occurs on Saturday now that I have requested 8 pm to 4 am shifts. It has only been two weeks since I have changed shifts and just about 10 days since Yulia started her job at Dillards.

Banana trees

2005-04-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today the banana trees that I ordered from TyTy Nursery in Georgia arrived (bareroot). Got them planted with the help of Ananda and Adinda. Three different varieties: Texas Star, Mysore and Brazilian Dwarf. All three varieties are supposed to withstand cold weather in winter. According to another source the heat here in the summer will not be a problem if the plants get water when they need it. My biggest challenge is to figure out when that is.

Removed the solar cover from the pool, went swimming with the girls. Water temperature was 82 degrees. Felt pretty nice but with air temp in the high 60's we were cold when we got out. I left the solar cover off (at least for tonight). Need to clean the filter so that the auto pool sweep operates better. When the solar cover is on the pool sweep and the skimmer do not keep all of the debris out of the pool as good as when it is off.

2005-04-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Latest picture of Bailey Pratt (Anthony's daughter)

Yulia gets a job

2005-04-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Yulia got word that she starts working for Dillard's Dept. Store in the Perfume Dept. With training to begin on Thursday, April 7th. This is a full time position. We do not know yet all of the details: how long it takes to receive any benefits, whether or not there is a 401K and other details associated with new employment. The good news is that she did this all on her own. This makes me really proud.

In order to keep from paying too much for day care I switched from Day Shift at the Luxor to Swing Shift starting tomorrow. This way I will be able to pick up Ananda from school. We do not know yet how her days off will mesh with my days off. While on Day Shift my days off have been split most of the time. My first schedule on Swing Shift has me off Monday and Tuesday. Since I am still on the Extra Board my days off will probably change depending upon who is on vacation, which Holiday it is or ???. Once the merger with MGM Mirage is complete there will be at least a few changes hopfully at least some of them will be beneficial to our family.

Easter Pictures 2005

2005-03-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

using Dudley's Spin an Egg

For more pictures please click here

Easter 2005

2005-03-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we colored our eggs Dudley's Spin an Egg instead of our usual way using food color and vinegar. With the Spin an Egg you put drops directly on the eggs the push the button which spins it like a top and centrifical force and where the egg touches puts the dye on the egg. You can add different colors to the same egg. Don't know if you can buy more dye or if you have to buy a new Spin an Egg each time. Found it at Wal-Mart.

Ananda and Adinda liked using it but I am not sure that they remember how we did it last year.

Today was our annual backyard Easter egg hunt. The Easter Bunny left the girls some balls and a lot of those plastic eggs filled with candy. They needed help to locate the last one.

Changing shifts at work

2005-03-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Today I put my name on the list to change to Swing shift at the Luxor.

My reason for changing shifts is to be able to pick up Nan from school when Yulia gets a job that she has been interviewing for. I think that staying home for 6 1/2 years would be good for a while but would get kind of boring. Selling things on E-Bay, Yahoo and Overstock was pratty good until the last couple of months. E-Bay raised its fees. Problems with winning bidders not following thru, etc.

Hopefully I will be able to change by April 4th, when Nan goes back to school. She has been on Spring break this past week and also next week, too.

Purchased a new computer

2005-03-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

When in Reno I tried to network our older Dell computer with our Sony but could never get the two machines to talk. A couple of weeks ago I decided to give it another try. Went to Best Buy and got a wireless router and a card for the Dell computer. Signed up to have them come out and network it for us. Alas, they didn't even call when they said they would so I made an attempt to do it my self. Then I came to realize that the Dell had a few problems (which is why we upgrade to the Sony) like not recognizing the CD rom drive even though diagnostics would say that it was working correctly and its Windows 98 operating system does not always communicate well with Windows XP.

Bought a new Hp computer at Wal-Mart. Because we have four computer users and having only one computer meant long wait times. At least one of us (me) doesn't like to wait much. Our new computer has a faster processor and a larger hard drive and it came with at 15" flat panel monitor all for a couple of hundred dollars less than what I paid for either the Sony computer or for that matter the 17" flat panel monitor.

Got tired of waiting for Best Buy to call so I cancelled the appointment and started installing our network myself. On the first try I was able to retreive a file from the other computer networked without and encription. After hearing so much about the vunerabilities about not having your wireless network encripted and that a hacker could get into our system and screw things up I then tried to encript our network. First thing that I lost was the file sharing. Again I tried to correct that and lost the internet connection. Decided to start over and got the internet connection back. Finally throwing my hands in the air I paid a computer geek to fix it for me. I am certain that Anthony could have done it with his computer training but since he is so busy and the cost of a plane ticket made that choice too costly.

To make the long story short, it works