Red Rock Hotel and Casino Gains Rizzbanik Four Star Approval

So it turns out when it comes to hotels, there is a bathtub that can rival the one in West Virginia. In all honesty, all of the amenities at this place were fantastic. I haven't been to too many swanky hotels in my day, but I imagine this one is up there.

I mean, where else can you stay in Las Vegas that's got all the great stuff about the strip, without actually having to deal with the hassles of the strip? Casino. Great restaurants at a variety of price points. A bowling alley. A movie theater. Arcade. Concerts. Awesome pool and spa. Toilet paper ends folded into a perfect triangle. A valet polite enough to call Alex "Mr. Rizzuto" (which Will says is what happens when you don't bother to marry your travel agent). 24-hour room service with delivery and stories about how we are positively in winter parkas as compared with the compromising positions other folks have answered the door in. I even saw someone who fit the 2B1B description of Jersey Shore's "Snooki" after returning from the "clerb" -- a veritable one-woman bachelorette party.

Let's revisit this tub. Here's the one from West Virginia.



It's got the depth. It's got the fantastic tiling around the top for books, wine glasses, rubber ducky collection, what have you. But does it have a TV? Spa quality bath products? A slightly bizarre jungle-themed painting? I think not.



The only thing the West Virginia tub had that this one didn't was a spectacular figurine of a cowboy riding a rooster. But what it lacked in kitschy decor, it made up for in the ability to track Paris Hilton's latest drug toting fashion faux-paus as it happened mere steps outside our hotel (with picture in picture of the latest episodes of My Super Sweet Sixteen back to back with Sixteen and Pregnant). That's pretty much priceless.


In addition to the tub and the fantastic frosted glass shower, there were bath products. Ridiculously high quality bath products in containers twice the size of the normal hotel fare. I mean, it actually made it difficult to stuff the lot of them into my checked luggage for the next leg of the trip.



We're talking delicious smelling soap with the grainy flecks in it. A separate face wash bar with magical moisturizing properties that I still don't quite understand. Shampoo that didn't feel like I was using the shampoo from the wall dispenser at the pool when we were kids that I suspect is actually what turned my hair green, not the chlorine. And lotion that's more substantial than the usual runny, water thickness stuff you get at hotels. Rich, creamy lotion that I was able to use for a number of days for my legs and hands without running out. Fantastic.

Oh, and the mini bar. Mind you, I'm not really into paying $18 for tiny bottles of vodka, but if I was, I imagine this mini bar would have made all my dreams come true.


There were various foodstuffs, every type of expensive alcohol you could think of, and even an intimacy kit which was never really explained in any of the literature. All I know is that the giant warning sign precariously perched behind the frosted martini glasses let me know that if I managed to knock one of these products off of it's sensor for more than a limited number of seconds, that it was mine forever. This sort of put a damper on my pre-fantasy football draft powder puff game that I had been thinking of having with the nice stripper moms we met at bowling. Couldn't risk an entire year's salary on mini bar shenanigans because someone gets out of hand.

And then of course there were the pool and spa. I'm ashamed to say that in our running around and scheduling life around toddler and infant nap schedules, I was actually never at the hotel when the spa was open, so I missed out on the sauna and free water situation. I did, however, spend some quality time with a mai thai out by the pool.

Besides the wading pool (behind Alex and I in the first photo below), there were at least 2 hot tubs, 4 regular-sized pools, a few smaller pools, and lounge chairs and cabanas stretching as far as the eye could see. There were even a few folks taking naps on the bed-sized, circular cabanas they had for rent. If my Kindle hadn't committed suicide the night before discovering the pool, it would have been absolute perfection. I settled instead for a perfect day outside by the pool with some of my favorite people (2 of them very tiny people) and 70 SPF sunscreen. Some fantastic memories with some good folks from this day.









Definitely one of my more memorable hotel stays, and one I would like to repeat again in the future.

Teach 'Em Young: Gamer Edition

As Long As You're Green, You're Growing

Aaron has been hard at work painting the house this week. Here's the video he sent me of the first day's worth of work. That's a whole lot of "Monsoon Green" and I LOVE it. Our house is starting to feel like a home.

The majority of the house (whole downstairs and upstairs hallway) are "Monsoon Green," Our room will be "Totally Tan" which is by far the absolute laziest paint color name I have ever encountered, but it will look nice. I haven't gotten to the other rooms in the house yet, but I'm thinking a marigold color for the guest bathroom, the historic blue that Alex likes for the office, and am completely undecided on the guest room. Thinking it will take a few months to get to those anyway since we'll most likely be doing those ourselves.

Here's the online version of the colors I'm looking at. The green is a little brighter in real life, the tan a little warmer, the yellow a little less overwhelmingly canary-colored and more like a muted marigold, and the blue a little brighter. Any suggestions for the guest room? Downstairs bathroom? An accent wall color to go with any of these?

Top Five Reasons My Workplace is Awesome

Our office supplies and company forms are very unique.


We have a variety of mascots.

We make fantastic mistakes and fix them accordingly.


Practical jokes occur often.



We're not afraid to get a little silly from time to time.

Congratulations, Uncle Joe!

Congratulations to my Uncle, Joe Papili, for his new appointment as a U.S. Marshal for Delaware! Here's some of the Papili's celebrating in Wildwood last week when they received confirmation of the appointment. We are all very proud!

According to the news release:

The US Senate has confirmed Joseph Papili to be a US Marshal for Delaware. He was nominated by President Obama and will be sworn in in the next few weeks. He is a twenty-four year veteran of the Delaware State Police and holds the rank of Major. He has been a member of the Executive Staff of the State Police since 1999.

Carper, Kaufman Statement on Papili Confirmation to be U.S. Marshal for Delaware


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sens. Tom Carper and Ted Kaufman (both D-Del.) issued the following statements responding to the U.S. Senate’s confirmation last night of Joseph A. Papili to be the United States Marshal for the State of Delaware:


“I thank my colleagues for their swift consideration and confirmation of Joe Papili,” said Sen. Carper. “Joe’s career of public service in Delaware has been exceptional. The President has made a wise choice in nominating him for the position of U.S. Marshal and my colleagues have made a wise decision in confirming him. I’m confident Joe will do an excellent job and continue his outstanding record of public service. Joe will have big shoes to fill; the current US Marshal Dave Thomas has done an excellent job in the position and the people of Delaware are in his debt for his high degree of professionalism and his commitment to the Marshal service over the past eight years.”


“I am very pleased that such an outstanding and committed candidate as Joe Papili will serve as Delaware’s next U.S. Marshal. His long career of dedicated service to the Delaware State Police has prepared him well for this position, and we will all benefit from the expertise and professionalism that he will undoubtedly bring to the U.S. Marshal’s office,” said Sen. Kaufman.


Joseph Papili will be sworn in later this month or in early September. He is a twenty-four and a half year veteran of the Delaware State Police. Holding the rank of Major, he is the Special Operations Officer currently overseeing the Intelligence, Homeland Security, Homicide, Tactical, and other specialized units within the agency. He has been a member of the Executive Staff of the State Police since 1999. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware in 1983.

Puppy Wars

So Elizabeth, Steph, and I have an ongoing dispute over which is cuter - wrinkly faced, floppy eared, short haired dogs or small curly coated dogs. I am in the first camp and love pugs and French Bulldogs especially. Elizabeth and Steph feel differently. I have Zach Braff's french bulldog, Scooter, as the background on my computer. See how cute Scooter is?


Well, this prompted Elizabeth to download this picture of a labradoodle as her background, and then she and Steph stood around her monitor and clucked about how cute it was and how clever it was to have an elongated snout so it didn't have breathing problems.



It's sort of gone on like that for a few days now. For example, Elizabeth sent me this picture.



Which I then corrected.



And she then counter-corrected.

Well played, Elizabeth.


And then today, she sent me a picture of Dakota the cockapoo, a dog she helped rescue on Salem Church Road over the weekend.


Luckily, Dakota is now safely home with her owner, so I was glad of that. But since Elizabeth sent it with the subject line, "I'm Cute", I sent back a bunch of pictures of French Bullies with the subject line, "I'm Also Cute!"


She made fun of me, so I made this.



And then she sent this.




And on it goes...


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EDITOR'S NOTE: Update August 19, 2010

Today, I sent this to Steph and Elizabeth after they changed my background to a picture of a St. Berdoodle (which is the stupidest thing I've ever seen).




This is what Steph sent back.


So I sent this.



And she burninated it.




I took a bizarre picture and made it the background on her phone. She waited until I went to the bathroom and made it my background.