Yesterday involved a rain
soaked trip to lower Connecticut with my boss
for a conference at the Mohegan
Sun Convention
Center. I
live only an hour north of the place but since I don’t gamble I’ve never been there
so I was semi-interested in checking it out.
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| The Mohegan Sun |
It really is an impressive place
as you approach it on the access road.
We parked and then entered through the casino. It was huge! I think the management of the
place wisely had us park in a garage where we had to walk through the casino to
get to the conference center – it was very impressive. I was immediately reminded of Las Vegas by the cigarette
smoke smell and senior citizens parked at the slot machines.
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| The Casino |
As conferences go this one
was fairly engaging (well except the insurance presentation). The best part was linking up with another of
my former bosses. She works in Springfield now and we
don’t get to see her often enough. She along
with my current boss are the ones that hired me when I first retired from the Army
so it was great spending time with both of them.
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| The Conference |
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| My First Civilian Bosses - Two of Greatest People I Know |
Then came lunch and the severe
attack on my will. I’ve been pretty good
about the keto diet but I had never been confronted with a plate of huge, chewy
chocolate chip and sugar cookies. I
gazed longingly all afternoon at the plate which they conveniently left mere feet
from my chair. I emerged victorious but
it was a close fight.
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| The Object of my Desperate Attention |
During one of the breaks I
decided to wander around the casino a little bit. I rounded a corner and was amazed to see a
huge rock wall waterfall right in the middle of the facility with a bar at it's base. I explored some more and found a series of
pools and brooks that linked the waterfall pool to the front entrance. It’s been a while since I was genuinely surprised
and impressed this way – it was very cool.
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| The Rock Wall - the Brook Flows Under the Light Sculpture |
I showed my wife the
pictures later in the day and made the mistake of mentioning shopping was also
available there. I think a return visit
with spousal escort is in my future.
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| Side View Where you Can See the Waterfalls |
The boss and I executed a
quick First Friday back in Worcester. It was a good way to unwind from the drive
through Tropical Storm Andrea and to wait for traffic to die down. While we were sitting there I spotted a guy
sitting at an adjacent table that was the spitting image of an Army buddy named
Ernie, if Ernie was still 30 years old.
It was truly spooky. I think
Ernie has some unacknowledged offspring wandering around Massachusetts.
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| Spycam Photo of Ernie's kid |
My wife and I returned to
Zorba’s last night as she assessed I had built up enough will power to resist the
pepperoni pizza. It was strange to order
something else but prime rib went a long way in assuaging any pain felt. The gorgeous waitress even stopped by to chat
no less than three times which made my night although my wife’s radar was fully
engaged.
The rainy day ended on the couch
watching a very taut Bruins game against the whiny Penguins. It was one of those games where the pucker
factor was astronomical and no one wanted to be the first to make a
mistake. The Bruins won it 1-0 on an
absolute rocket of a shot to eliminate the whiny bitches. Per usual the Penguins lamented their fate,
not giving the Bruins their due, even claiming there was a force field around the
goal. Enjoy your golf game whiners!
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| Tuuka Bids Goodbye to Prince of Complainers |
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