Life and Times of a Random Guy in the Universe

RESP's

2011-05-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

I just wanted everyone to know that I am now licensed to sell RESP (Registered Education Savings Plans) scholarship plans. I just got my license last week so if any of you have children, plan to have children, or know anybody who has children, please contact me. I have access to one of the best plans on the market. It's easy to contribute and you will also get free money from the government as a result! Facebook message or email me, or if you have my phone number, call me!

First Steps

2011-04-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

Through networking, I have begun an internship as a writer for the Vancouver Observer, an online newspaper of sorts. As I write more and more hopefully this will lead to the future that I've dreamed about. My first articles were about something dear to my heart, the casino industry. I was also interviewed by one of the senior writers there. Enjoy. Many people have said I should write that book that I've wanted to do, and I know that I will start that soon. I do have the short term goals to meet first and then, get ready. The opportunities are there.

My Interview
One of My Memories from the olden days
Vegas
Gambling Addiction

Goodnight Liz

2011-03-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

A handful of celebrities are known by one name (Madonna, Cher, etc.). But there was one celebrity who was simply known by her shortened three-letter name. Liz. In the acting world, there was and will only be one Liz. But Liz left us this morning, and Hollywood lost perhaps the last icon of the Golden era. The days of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Vivian Leigh, Ingrid Bergman and others are now of the past.

Priorities

2011-03-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Even though right now I'm a difficult time, I guess it's part of my nature that I'm worried more about other people and events The devastation in Japan has almost made me forget that I have to look for a job in the short term. I guess that's the way I've been brought up, to think about others before thinking about yourself. Even closer to home I think I'm more worried about how the employees (OK, ex-employees) are rather than how I am. Shouldn't I be panicking now (is that how you spell panicking?). Stay calm I guess.

That being said, it's scary and sad watching the news regarding Japan. I know the country itself will eventually rebound but all these reports of tsunamis and nuclear explosions makes everybody nervous. And to think it happened so soon after the disaster in New Zealand. Who's next?

Don't Worry Be Happy

2011-03-10T23:02:00.000-08:00

I don't want to hear about people crying and sad, because then I start feeling the same. I've been very blessed and fortunate to read such wonderful words in the matter of 24 hours. I'm man enough to say that there have been tears in my eyes. I'm sorry I did what I did but let's just remember the good, happy, and fun times.

Tell you what, I see these kind of posts before so if you want to play, post your favorite memory of me or something about me that made you happy. I hope it's more than just "I got EO a lot", although I know I may have been the King of Handing Out EO's (especially Pit 11). Gordon, you get to pick between "Delilah" and "FINGA". And even if you are one of my "non casino" friends, you can participate.

Goodbye (long version)

2011-03-10T00:03:00.001-08:00

I won't go into detail, but suffice to say I am no longer working for River Rock or Great Canadian Casinos. It was sudden but it's happened. I'll leave it at that.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people I met and knew through the years. People such as Albert and Ron I knew before I even started in the casino industry in 1989. It's hard to imagine that was 22 years ago. I spent many years at the Holiday Inn on Broadway later known as Casino on Broadway. It's ironic that a few days ago I was reminiscing about the HIB and those memories still remain.

I spent a year at Fraser Downs and I met some great people as well. Some people came over with me when the COB closed down but I met others when I went to Cloverdale. And not just the tables department, but also the security, cage, and slot departments were very welcome (sorry Deryck, I guess we won't be doing cards anymore).

The River Rock was where my career ended. Sorry guys, I can't help you with EO's and cancelled shifts anymore. Enjoy the 10am shifts though. Les is still morning EO king and Fred can stay the 8pm king. And when Dancing Queen or Beat It plays on the stereo, do a little dance if no one is watching. Mamma, somebody else has to get coffee now. And for whoever does: Albert (1 and 1), Danny (1 cream), Oscar (hot chocolate), Chris (3 and 3), Ann (3 and 3), Dan (double double) and Wanda (double double). Sorry graveyard, never did buy coffee for you guys...

To Albert, Danny, Oscar, Chris, Ann, Sina, Dan (I'm putting you in the midshift section), Howard, Sylvia, Lenny, Wanda, Bo and Eva, you are one fine team and it was my pleasure to work with you. To Rick, Deborah, Daniel, Jim and Ray, I'm sorry for what happened but keep up the fine work you do. Take care everyone.

That being said, OTHER than the casino industry, Facebook me (is that a verb now?) if there are any job opportunities that a Michael Jackson dancing tall Chinese guy may be qualified for....

Oscar Predictions

2011-02-23T00:17:00.000-08:00

Well the Oscars are coming up. I realized that I haven't seen any of the movies in the major categories so it's hard to properly predict. But based on the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, here are my guesses for the major categories:

Best Picture: The Social Network won the Golden Globes but I suspect it will be a good night for The King's Speech so I will vote for them

Best Actor: Colin Firth, too easy

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, too easy. Seems like only yesterday she was in The Professional with Jean Reno. That was an awesome movie

Best Director: It's between David Fincher for The Social Network and Tom Hooper for The King's Speech. Let's go with Facebook guy

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in a lock

Best Supporting Actress: I have no idea. There are two actresses nominated for The Fighter and Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech. I'll go with Melissa Leo for The Fighter

That's all for now.

Signs You've Been a Floor Manager for Too Long

2011-02-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but since people have been asking what's happened to my blog, here is a bit of humor only because #1 happened to me yesterday. These are signs that you've been in the casino industry for too long.

#1 You sign a personal cheque at home with your signature.... and GPEB number
#2 You "wash your hands" before you wipe your face or touch your hair.... at home
#3 You're at Safeway and when the cashier gives you your change you wait for him or her to put it on the counter because you can't take money from her hand
#4 You answer your cell phone "River Rock Casino"
#5 You drop something at home and yell "Pit".

The Secret

2011-01-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 months since I wrote on this blog. But it looks like the big secret is out so in case you still don't know, I am now engaged. I proposed on the radio sort of. If you want to hear, tune in to 103.5 QMFM from 8am-8:30am tomorrow (well, today, FRIDAY) morning. I think I sound really monotone on radio but it was taped really early in the morning. But it all went well because she did say yes.

Thank you to Brad, Mike and Tara from QMFM for setting it up, and to my friend Maureen for knowing Brad.

Memories of An Old Friend

2010-11-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

Daryl Lee was one of the nicest people I knew. He always had a smile on his face and never let the pressures of work get to him. When I first became a floor manager in 2005, he taught me a lot about how to do my job and I owe a lot to him. One of my favorite memories was when Tommy, Sony, him and I went to see the Russell Peters show for Tommy's birthday. We got front row seats and Peters even made jokes about Daryl (part of Peters' schtick). We had such a good time. There were so many good times. And even though I hadn't heard or seen much of him since the COB closed, I never forgot the good times. Thanks, buddy. Rest in peace.

Manny

2010-11-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to see how an entire country can put their support behind one person. I am of course talking about the Philippines and a certain athlete named Manny Pacquiao. Perhaps to the "outside" world he is just a boxer, but to his homeland he is a hero, a legend. He grew up from humble beginnings to become an almost religious figure. The fight is only an hour or so away, and it's pretty obvious he has the support of an entire nation (and even other countries) behind him. I can almost envision everybody in the Philippines watching Pay-Per-View right about now. I honestly don't think we have such heroes in North America (Britney Spears and Paris Hilton??). That's a shame.

Stress at Work

2010-11-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

November has been a very stressful month at work. There's not much I can say about it other than the fact that a lot of things happened. A lot of things have been happening that one may not agree with, but I guess that's the way things are. As much as I could say that things could be different, and most definitely a lot better, it is not my decision. I can only suggest and hope that perhaps somebody listens and takes things to heart. I can try to keep that smile at work and try to put a smile on the faces of my coworkers but it's getting harder to do that.

The truly unfortunate thing is that the stress has affected my work at Mahalo as of late. I'm writing less and less and even the articles or tidbits I write have been of a lower quality than I am used to. There have been a number of projects at Mahalo that I wished I could have been a part of. I really wish I could spend more time there but I also need a lot of winding down time after work. The swing shifts also do not help as in the past while I've been unable to sleep well. Maybe it's just a sign I'm getting old.

Promise

2010-10-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

I've made a promise to continue create more pages and do more work on Mahalo, even if it involves waking up early or staying up late. If I'm getting paid to write a page, then why shouldn't I be doing more? Even with my confusing schedule at the casino I should be able to devote a bit of time each day to write or update a page, or complete any assignments given to me. It would also give me time to properly write a page, as with my rushed schedule the quality of my work has dropped a bit as of late.

Besides, I will be going on holiday end of November for two weeks, so I should probably get as much done as possible before my trip. I don't want to lose my creativity, and hopefully when I get back I'll be able to devote as much, or even more, time as before. It is such a rewarding and relaxing job for me, and who knows, maybe I might end up more and more involved with Mahalo. It would take a lot to get me away from the casino industry (despite the stress and pressures) but for a long time, when people ask me if I had a choice what would I do: my answer is simply to write.

Sports on Mahalo

2010-10-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year Mahalo had a different system where writers would create their own pages and then be responsible for updating them as facts or news changed. This was perfect for me as I was able to create a lot of hockey-related pages from scratch. Because the company is based in California, hockey is not as well known to them as other sports. As a bonus, I did a few pages on the Dallas Cowboys as well. The very first page I did was on the Dallas Cowboy jersey. With the help of my mentor Jeff Hoard (who luckily was Canadian and believe it or not a big Montreal Canadiens fan) we got most of the Habs pages going. I wrote pages on most of the Habs roster and updated the playoff page during the amazing run. It was with sadness that I had to update the part where they lost that last game to the Philadelphia Flyers. Maybe next year.

The system is a bit different now, we are no longer in charge of updating our own pages. Nobody really "owns" the pages anymore, they are just updated by whoever is available. I will explain this shortly.

Mahalo Pages

2010-10-29T10:29:00.001-07:00

This week there are a number of categories of pages on Mahalo that have been assigned: actors, Black Friday sales, Thanksgiving, and coupons. Most of the actor pages are for TV actors who don't have a page on Mahalo. So far I've done pages on Paul Guilfoyle (Jim Brass on CSI), Bonnie Bedelia, and Brian Benben. Benben was on an HBO series Dream On that I enjoyed in the 1990s. There are a lot of actors left to do.

You can perhaps begin to see the enormity of this whole "project" of starting a search engine by scratch. Mahalo has been around a while but there are so many pages in so many categories. The old system (which was discontinued this past June) had the writers doing pages in their "preferred" categories but that has changed for the time being. I would love to continue writing pages about the Habs and anything to do with Las Vegas and gambling, but for now I have to do what is assigned. We do have the option of suggesting new pages to do, but we also have to do what is assigned.

Goals at Mahalo

2010-10-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

Eventually I would like to be a part of the Quality Control Team at Mahalo. Currently there are three people who are working way too hard but doing a fine job of critiquing new pages and updated pages. It's been hard for me sometimes to put together a good page. I usually like to spend a lot of time proofreading my own work, and sometimes if I'm updating a page, I have to proofread somebody else's work. Updating pages takes about an hour a page. This involves checking for grammar, adding news if necessary, and making sure all the facts are still true. We frown on words like "current" or "today" as these tend to date the page. Pages have to be free from bias, so things like "Montreal Canadiens rule" unfortunately don't work (even if it is the truth).

It's too bad I can't spend more time with my writing, but hopefully with a more balanced schedule at the casino I may be able to.

Romer's Burger Bar

2010-10-27T23:50:00.001-07:00

I'd forgotten to mention that last night Amy and I went to the grand opening of Romer's Burger Bar down in Kits (it is where Pinky's used to be). The grand opening was also a fundraiser for Pinups for Pink. We didn't win the 50/50 draw but we got a nice surprise when the owner, Jim Romer, treated everybody to a free meal (less alcohol), what a nice gesture.

As for the food, it was delicious. We both had.... burgers of course. Amy had the Maple Bacon Burger and I opted for the delectable Ultimate Kobe Classic. It was a $20 burger (no sides!) but it was delicious. We also ordered two types of fries on the side, the garlic fries and the truffle oil fries. Yum yum. And if that wasn't enough, we ended with what was called Drunken Doughnuts, 10 of them drenched with powdered sugar and then served with three sauces: Lemonchillo, Nutella, and Maple Whisky. I can't wait to go again!

Red

2010-10-26T11:28:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention that on the weekend we went to see the new movie starring Bruce Willis and a bunch of big-name stars. We hadn't seen a movie in a while and it was a good choice. Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren were also in it, as well as Mary-Louise Parker. Maybe it was just your usual spy movie but I had a good time. Helen Mirren played her role very well, and reminds me a lot about Meryl Streep who also can star in just about any movie.

Acme Cafe

2010-10-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Amy had heard about this nice little cafe near Gastown and we saw a writeup of it in the latest Food & Restaurant Guide so our Sunday brunch adventures resumed after a short absence. She had an Americano and turkey sandwich while I opted for a very delicious Chicken Pot Pie and something called an Affagato, which is two shots of espresso with ice cream. Mmmmm. I must say the chicken pot pie was one of the best I've had in a long time.

Then the server tempted me with something called the Double Rainbow pie. Nice.

Life at Mahalo

2010-10-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

So what do I do at Mahalo? Simply put, I write! It's one of my favorite hobbies so I'm doing something I like, and getting paid for it. I am a part of two departments, the Gurus and the Guides.

Gurus are in charge of asking and answering questions on various topics. The main "answer" site is located at Mahalo Answers but there are other more specific topic pages as well. One of the ones I am heavily involved at is on the Ask Inc site. Gurus are paid money for each question and answer they ask, subject to quality control policies that must be followed. Each question and answer must be a minimum number of words and include a video.

Guides are more involved with writing and updating pages. Mahalo is a page similar to Wikipedia, which you may be familiar with. Once on the Mahalo site, you can search for a specific topic (like Marie Osmond for example). A page comes up with a description or snippet of what you are searching for. As you can probably figure, there are a LOT of pages to do. My coworkers and I are basically in charge of writing an encyclopedia from scratch. It is a tedious process. Many pages are assigned but the guides are also available to suggest pages that they wish to work on. Due to my knowledge of hockey and gambling, I have been able to do a number of pages on River Rock, Aria Las Vegas, and Venetian Macau for example.

Guides also have to update pages that are already in the "system". The task this week is to do a lot of updates on the 2010 Senate Elections in the U.S. Yes that's very exciting for a Canadian like me but it's part of the job. I'm waiting for them to assign hockey page updates.

Anyways, if you have any questions, let me know!

Laugh of the Day

2010-10-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

Amy and I were at Canadian Tire after a nice dinner. As we were leaving we overheard a lady and her companion attempting to return two of those red gas cans (those ones you get when you run out of gas). She said something along the lines of that they were broken and don't work. The clerk politely said that they don't do returns because the cans smell of gas. Yes, lady and companion, you were so smart thinking that when you ran out of gas and had to get two gas cans you thought you could use it once and then bring them back. You could have at least been marginally smart enough to WASH the damn things before you tried to return them.

Octopus Garden

2010-10-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

Amy and I went to a nice little Japanese restaurant in Kits last night. It was a small restaurant with interesting decor. Other than the sushi bar (where we sat) and some rooms there were tables with chairs arranged so that customers had to cross their legs as there was no leg room underneath. Interesting.

Amy chose this restaurant because they served Wagyu Beef! Yay! The 4 oz steak (yeah that's it) was $35 but it was good. I could tell it wasn't the "real" Japanese-imported kind but it was well cooked nevertheless. We also had the usual Spinach Gomae, as well as a pan-fried Okara Cake, spicy tuna sushi, soft shell crab sushi, and bluefin tuna. Very nice.

Where Have I Been?

2010-10-12T11:31:00.001-07:00

There was a time when I would try to update my blog every day or at least every two days. But unfortunately that time seems to have passed. But I'm still here. I think everybody has an idea where I have been and what I have been doing. It's the four-letter word every dreads.... W-O-R-K.

Things have been quite hectic at the casino. A lot has happened in the past two or three months. The Party Pit has been going well as of late. We even have an unofficial Party Pit hostess Jessica who is great with the guests and even some of our VIP players upstairs. And of course the casino gets busy when the cage dancers get going at 9pm.

My part-time work at Mahalo is also going well. It is unfortunate that I can't spend more time writing for them but work at the casino comes first. But I enjoy what little time I can devote as I am doing something I truly enjoy. I'm writing little pages on topics that I love, what more can you ask for? If you are interested in working part time, let me know. Or email jeffhoard@mahaloguides.com and mention you are interested in working for Mahalo. Include my name as I will get a referral bonus!

Memories of the PNE

2010-09-08T02:05:00.001-07:00

Favorite Memories of PNE 2010 (in no particular order):

1) Pork Sliders and Korean Tacos at the Roaming Dragon (my official favorite restaurant)
2) Getting Fat BBQ Pork Rice from employees who probably will ask for EO when I get back (but thank you nevertheless)
3) Meeting new people from Boulevard and Fraser Downs
4) Hearing "Stayin' Alive" when I was taking a break but coming out to do a dance anyways (too bad they never played "YMCA" or something from MJ)
5) Passing 260 chips flat with my left hand to one player and 120 chips with my right hand to another player at the same time (love those chips)
6) Dealing roulette as if it was the early 90's. Nobody could spin the ball like Wes Smith and Jason Feng (too bad Wes wasn't there)
7) Spending dinner breaks playing the arrows
8) Thank you to Mr. Ken's Donuts for giving the staff free donuts if you asked. It was great for the first two or three days and then I guess I got tired of it. But the generosity was much appreciated
9) Discovering an uncanny ability to deal Texas Shootout as if I was an expert (that's for you, Raymond)
10) Having the time of my life

17 Days

2010-09-08T01:42:00.000-07:00

And as quickly as it started, it has ended; 17 fun-filled days at the PNE doing something I hadn't done since I was a rookie Blackjack dealer in the summer of 1989. I'd vaguely remembered that summer as I did my one shift at the PNE, 8 hours of Blackjack and 4 hours at Crown & Anchors. I swore I'd never go back to the PNE. And even though through the years I kind of missed it, I never went to the PNE. But this year, there was a shortage of roulette dealers and an overage of management shifts at the Rock, so I asked, and was approved, to be a roulette dealer. It was a decision that many thought was silly of me to decide on. Why would I take a pay cut and work extra long hours? The answer was simple: I was doing something I truly enjoyed.

I averaged about 11 hours a day, sometimes in frigid weather. I dealt 4 hours straight on Red Dog on the first day (thank you Sager), and in the 2.5 weeks I got to deal the other games: Texas Shootout, Four Card Poker, Three Card Poker, and even a bit of Texas Hold'em Bonus in addition to Blackjack. But of course most of my time was spent doing the one thing I missed the most since I became a floor manager. I got to hear the sound of the roulette ball once again. I wasn't the same as I was back then. I made a few silly mistakes but in the end it was the time of my life. Give me the cold anyday.