Humbug

This weekend seemed like the longest few days of my life. Friday was an absolute nightmare. We left home at 5:30 am, and it took us nine hours to get to Las Vegas. We stopped in St. George to fuel up (don’t get gas at a Sinclair station, even if it’s 10?/gallon cheaper than the gas station across the street), and we had to stop at several other places along the way so Traci could feed Bradley. Having a nine month old baby in the car on a road trip is just asking for misery.
After we finally got to Vegas, we were still an hour and a half too early for check-in at our motel (a dumpy little place just across Tropicana Ave. from the MGM Grand). We decided to venture out and find a department store to buy some things that we needed, and grabbed a bite to eat before heading back to our motel. After that point, we got settled into our room, then pretty much followed everybody else around, which turned out to be a big mistake. They decided to split up and meet for dinner at the Stardust, though they didn’t specify where–do you know how many places there are to eat at any given hotel/casino? We got lost on our way there (Desert Inn Road travels under The Strip instead of meeting up with it), and ended up being much later than we expected, then we wandered around the Stardust for nearly an hour before finding Traci’s family. The fucking assholes didn’t even save us a seat, so we ended up sitting in a booth near them (really feeling like part of the group, you know), and the food was pretty shitty (what should I expect, they chose the cheapest place they could find). After that, we went to Circus Circus for some shitty-ass free entertainment, then back to the Stratosphere where Traci’s sister (Michelle) and her husband-to-be were staying. Up until that point, the entire day had sucked, but Michelle said she’d watch Bradley while we headed out onto the floor and had a little fun.
After all that, we finally headed back to our room and crashed, after being awake and on the move for nearly 20 hours. Saturday wasn’t actually too bad. We woke up around 8:00 am, took our time getting ready, then headed to the Stratosphere where Traci was helping Michelle get ready for her wedding. After a couple of hours of just hanging around (and the groom almost missing his wedding), we headed to the Little White Wedding Chapel for the wedding. Afterwards, we went to the Bonanza for some souvenir shopping, then we just headed home.
I thought the nine-hour trip on the way down was long, but it took us 13 hours to get home. Luckily, Bradley slept almost the entire time, but we had problems with our car. The front-end alignment has been off for quite some time, and one of the front tires was worn down pretty far before we even left for Las Vegas. Well, it got chewed up even more on the drive down, though when we left Vegas I thought we’d be ok to make it home. After stopping again in St. George for fuel (NOT at the Sinclair), the tire looked quite a bit worse, and after stopping at a rest area just south of Cedar City, I decided that I didn’t dare to drive on it any further. I jacked up the Mazda and removed the right-front wheel, then lowered the spare tire and tried putting it on. Well, the damned thing didn’t fit–the center hole in the rim didn’t fit around the front hub. I thought the only thing left to do was to put the shitty tire back on and try to make it to Cedar City, where we’d spend the night and get a new tire in the morning. Traci tried getting ahold of my mom to let her know what had happened, but there was no answer at her house (which had us worried). It turned out that she’d taken Michael back to our house because his allergies were really bothering him (because of her cats). During all this calling around and trying to get ahold of somebody in Price, I realized that I could probably fit the spare tire on the rear, since the rear doesn’t have hubs like the front. So I put the bad tire back on the front, jacked up the rear, removed the right-rear and replaced it with the spare (it fit!). Then all I had to do was remove the plastic dust-cover thing from the rear wheel and put it on the right-front, and we were all set. I think we were at that rest area for a couple of hours while I changed three damned tires, but I’m glad we didn’t end up having to stay another night.
Since I now had four good tires on the car again, we hauled ass home, thinking we’d still make it in good time. Hah, wishful thinking. After meeting up with I-70 and stopping in Richfield for a stretch and something to drink, we headed over the mountains and through Salina Canyon. We started seeing a lot of deer right along the side of the road, so I slowed it down from about 75 mph to 65, but soon after, one of the headlights burned out. It’s amazing how much difference having two working headlights makes–I couldn’t see shit after that. I had to slow down to about 45 mph for most of the drive back, except for when we got past Emery, where I was a little more familiar with the road.
When we got home, my mom had been dozing on the couch, and Michael was sound asleep in his bed. He sounded really bad–his airway was constricted (sounded like asthma), and I was a little worried about him. We woke him up and let him stay up for just a little bit while we got ready for bed, and we didn’t get to bed until after 4:00 am (another 20-hour day).
Yesterday, we didn’t do shit. I unloaded the car, and we all went to the park to play for awhile, but other than that it was a lazy day. At least I got plenty of sleep last night. I don’t think I’ll be going to Las Vegas again for a very long time–I certainly won’t do it if any of Traci’s family is around, and I’ll also never bring a child there again. If I had it to do all over again, I’d have stayed home with both of the kids while Traci went with her parents. That way she could play tag-along, and I’d have the relative pleasure of staying home with my two sons.

22 thoughts on “Humbug

  1. I don’t understand…how is it that you feel justified in this:
    “The fucking assholes didn’t even save us a seat, so we ended up sitting in a booth near them (really feeling like part of the group, you know), and the food was pretty shitty (what should I expect, they chose the cheapest place they could find). After that, we went to Circus Circus for some shitty-ass free entertainment, then back to the Stratosphere where Traci’s sister (Michelle) and her husband-to-be were staying. Up until that point, the entire day had sucked, but Michelle said she’d watch Bradley while we headed out onto the floor and had a little fun.”
    I have two problems with that besides being called a “f.a.h.”; number 1, Why would we wait any longer? We had been there an hour before we went in and when you did finally show up, Traci told me that you had been there a while just looking at gift shops. How rude is that? You are ok with us waiting for you, but we wait an hour for you before finally going in, and you don’t see a problem with that? Well I think it is selfish. Furthermore, it wasn’t the cheapest place, so don’t say it was. We went to a place that had a deal for steak and lobster for 9.99 (if you had the coupon, which Traci lost). The lobster was small, but the food wasn’t bad.
    Number 2; You stated before we even left, that you would have to follow us around and it would suck. Why did you follow us around? If the entertainment wasn’t good enough, why did you stay? Your car was outside. You are a big boy, not a child who would need to follow around an adult, so I would say it was safe to say you chose to be there. Yes it was free, but I thought it was entertaining. It was not a strip show if that was what you expected. Michelle and I had a good time because we did what we wanted. We invited you to do some things, but you never wanted to do anything. I just don’t understand how if you weren’t having fun, why didn’t you go do something you would rather do? We told Traci that we could all go on some of the rides or whatever you wanted to do and Michelle would watch Bradley since she couldn’t go on any of that anyway.
    I hate when I end up looking like a jerk and get called names that I didn’t earn, so at least now, I have earned it.

  2. Oh great, here we go again…
    First off, there’s no need to take everything so personally, since you know that it was your parents who made all the decisions as to where and when to go (though you can certainly take all the blame if you feel that you must).
    About dinner: If I’d told an individual to meet me at some unspecified restaurant at a hotel (there are NINE restaurants at the Stardust), in a city that was unfamiliar, and I knew that person was going to be late (due to my own vagueness), I wouldn’t ask for a table for one when I was eventually seated. That would make me a fucking asshole. And no, we didn’t spend our time lost at the Stardust looking at gift shops. We passed a few while walking around, but we were only looking for any place to eat, since it was pretty clear that we wouldn’t find the exact one we were supposed to meet your parents at.
    Also, you didn’t have any problems telling that couple at the Circus Circus that they couldn’t sit in the back row because you were saving three seats. They were there before Dave, Michelle, and Chris, after all. Well, I think that is selfish of Dave and Michelle to expect you to save a seat for them when other people have been there longer.
    As for following everybody around, well, it wasn’t my sister’s wedding, so I didn’t have much say in the matter. As much as I’d have liked to go off and do our own thing, Traci wanted to do whatever Dave and Michelle were doing.
    And finally, I think it’s about time you chilled out around here. When I post about these things on my website, it isn’t meant to be a reflection on you or your family as much as it is the combination of all the little, insignificant things that happened to me to make my first day in Las Vegas miserable. You take these things way too seriously, as though I’m posting about them just out of spite, to hurt you and your family. Well, if I’d only said, “Vegas sucks” and not given any of the intimate details that contributed to it sucking (the greatest of which had nothing to do with you or your family), neither you nor anybody else would read this site anyway, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to look back on it with any measure of retrospect, which is the main reason I keep this site anyway.
    Whenever something happens to me–whether positive or negative–that has some sort of effect on my life, I’ll post about it here. Sure, you can debate all you want whether my feelings are based on fact or fiction, but when your family is involved, you always think that the basis for my reasoning is flawed. It sounds to me like you’re in denial, and that you still believe that your family can do no wrong. Well, my family never treats me as shittily (is that a word?) as yours treats me or even Traci, so I can at least speak the truth in relative comparison to the way I’m used to being treated by family.

  3. Well, that still makes no sense to me. If I were to walk up to you and say “you are a fucking asshole”, my bet is that you would take that VERY personally. Maybe you could do a poll on that…
    Anyway, I never denied that my family has issues. All I ask is that you keep it to yourself. If I wrote on here that you were a bastard and your mom is a bitch and your sisters were sluts, things like that are not fun to read about are they? I don’t know anyone that would like to see that type of thing said about his family, true or not. If you want me to ignore that, then sorry. I can’t and anyone that would ignore that type of filth about his or her family is a pansy and must not have a backbone.
    I don’t know what you were doing while we were waiting for you, so all I could go off is what I am told. Just one more question; did you do anything wrong with posting what/how you did?

  4. If you can’t address my reasoning as to why I believe they were inconsiderate assholes, then what’s the point in arguing further? Do you really believe that I had absoultely no reason to feel the way I did? If so, then there’s no reason to continue on about whether or not I should have posted about those feelings.

  5. I don’t agree, because it sounds like you can’t admit when you are wrong either. I’m just saying that nobody would like you saying those things about their family, so don’t be surprised when I defend them, because I will every time.
    I can address the reason…the way I see it is that you were mad that we planned to go to a restaurant that we didn’t know the exact location of. I can see that that would be frustrating, but my father found it and he sucks at directions. I can also see that if you were not an hour late then maybe we should have waited. What I can’t see is this, we wait for an hour before going in to sit down. That made it after 8 when we sat down. I was hungry because I normally eat around 6, so yes, I was pushing to go in. What I don’t understand is how that is bad. I propose the following; without stating your involvement, go to anybody else you know and ask them how long they would wait for someone who was late for something such as dinner. I happen to know from personal experience that your family wouldn’t even wait 15 minutes when my dad and I were late your Michael’s birthday party so are they assholes too?

  6. Hold on a sec–you and your dad were late for Michael’s birthday party due to your own stupidity apparently, because you left your dad’s house at the same time I left my house (you crossed Main Street heading south on 400 East right in front of me). If you had errands to run that were more important than his party, then that’s your problem. You knew exactly where you were going and what time the party started–you certainly didn’t get lost based on a lack of clarity from me, since the time and location were printed on the invitation. For you to even suggest that my family had anything to do with starting early, and suggesting that they are assholes, makes you a fucking asshole. It was mine and Traci’s decision to start the party 15 minutes late, and your own damn fault that you were late.
    This conversation is over. I won’t tolerate outright lies and false innuendo, and it’s obvious that you’ll do anything to cloud the issue with such dishonest tactics.

  7. Whatever. I was just trying to show how when something happens to you, you blow it out of proportion, but when it happens to us we are just supposed to accept it.
    I am not going to go into details because I was the passenger in the situation I mentioned, but that is not important. You just made my point for me though. I thought it was wrong for us to be late, but you are asking us to wait for you for well over an hour, but you aren’t willing to offer us the same courtesy. Don’t you see how wrong that is?
    Also, how come you got all defensive when I started calling your family names and making you look bad? Isn’t this all just for something to talk about?
    “there’s no need to take everything so personally”

  8. YES, there is a need to take it personally, because we weren’t even involved in any of this, and we had absolutely NO control over when Michael’s party started.

  9. Jaysen
    I’d like to know how we twisted Dennis and Traci’s arm to start Michael’s birthday party without you; I remember nothing of the sort. Being late was your choice (Dennis and Traci being late was not). When you are late to a movie do you complain to the manager about starting the movie without you? Do you call your bishop and tell him to hold up the services when you’re running behind? How about showing up 2 hours late for a barbeque with your own fast food? Was it rude for the barbeque to proceed without you? If Dennis posting his personal feelings on his web site embarasses you, you have two choices. Either change the behavior that’s embarassing or don’t visit his site. How simple is that?

  10. I totally agree that it IS offensive. That was my point in the first place. I was just standing up for my family when they did something totally nice by waiting a whole hour and then Dennis turns around and thanks them by calling them the names he did. Which were not deserved, I might add. It is strictly through Dennis’ selfish view that he can’t see how they are not at all wrong in this instance, he is just sckewing things so he looks good on his page.
    For the record, I was not calling any of your family the names above, I was just using names that he has referred to my family as. I don’t have anything against any of you, so please don’t take offense. I was only making a point, but I see that Dennis only thought they were “dishonest tactics”.
    My point is this: Yes I understand that this is his web page, but I am not going to sit idly by while he calls me and my family every name in the book. I wouldn’t expect that of anybody, and I will not stand for it. My advice is that he stop calling his in-laws those things and be respectful because I never have and never will allow someone to trash my family. You married into that family, Deal with it.

  11. Don’t put words in my mouth! I didn’t say “offensive”, you did. I said embarassing, to you and your family. MY advice to you is, what you don’t know won’t hurt you. I repeat, either change the embarassing behaviors or quit visiting Dennis’s web site. Deal with that.

  12. To Samantha, Mom, and Dennis. I don’t know you guys, I’ve just been reading this website and the comments being posted. Do you 3 actually believe that it’s all right to call someone a Fing Ahole on a casual basis? That’s one of the most offensive terms in the English language that I can think of?! To throw that onto a public website where you know the people that you are calling that can read it is highly offensive. This isn’t your private diary Dennis. This is a place where ANYONE can pop in and check out what’s going on in your head. I’ve had thoughts like that about my inlaws but I kept them to myself so as to not cause problems like this. If you want to voice them, that is of course your prerogative but you shouldn’t be surprised if there is consequences and offense taken when using language like that.
    It doesn’t matter if Jaysen’s family walked right into dinner without waiting at all. You shouldn’t call them names like that. As for you Mom, defending your son is great and all, but if I were to call my inlaws those words I’d expect to be slapped. Justified or not, there’s just somethings you don’t say and it doesn’t say much for your parenting skills that you are defending your son when he casually talks like that about his wife’s family.

  13. Dear Anonymous,
    Your reading skills are deplorable. Neither Samantha nor I called Jaysen’s parents names, certainly not “fucking assholes”. I’m really happy for you that you’re so virtuous and high minded, so why are you reading this site? It’s still a free country last I looked. Are you looking for a job as censor? Oh, and I admire your courage in putting forth your opinion, “ANONYMOUS”!

  14. If you’d like my name, here it is. As far as reading my posts correctly go, you’re 0 for 1. I didn’t state anywhere that you or Sam had CALLED them that. But you most definately are defending your son doing that. As I stated before, if I were to say that about my inlaws in front of my mother, I’d expect to be slapped.
    If someone called me/my family those words, well…them’s fighting words I think. Seriously, spoken outloud or typed in place I could read them. It would seriously hinder any relationship that I was trying to have with them.
    Beyond that, I think my wife would kick me somewhere that would hinder us from having more children if I said/wrote that about her family in a public place.

  15. The impression I got from the post was Dennis wasn’t upset so much with the fact that you guys didn’t wait for them, but that when you did go ahead and get a table you got one for the original party minus two. I’ve done a lot of events with large groups and there is always people late. Very understandable to start after waiting an hour, but we always got a table for the full party in hopes that they would join us. If I got us a table for original party minus who was missing, I would be called a “fucking asshole” for sure. And yes, some families use “fucking asshole” very casually. I am dating somebody from such a family, God damn hilarious.
    And Dennis, poker and boooooze this weekend. E-mail me if you need directions to the new appartment.
    P.S. Totally support the comment on your site being basically an online journal to reflect on. That’s exactly what No-Homers is to me.

  16. Thanks for the input Ted, but I can see this is a losing battle.
    I never said that my family doesn’t have issues, but it looks like my family isn’t the only one huh?
    “Mom”, Sam, if you will look back, I didn’t say that you said it was offensive, but from what you have said I can see that you obviously were offended. I didn’t want to offend you, but I was saying those things to make a point, which it seems you have missed. Ted is correct about saying things or writing them. This is one of the times that you don’t say things like that. I can’t believe Traci would allow that. I have asked her an all she says is that that is how Dennis talks, well I don’t (normally), so it is something that (to quote both Sam and Dennis) I take very personally.
    As for the embarassing habits, I haven’t denied that my parents or even I have been wrong in the past, but Dennis wont buck up and admit when he is wrong. It sounds like he learned that at home.
    I will not just ignore it as you have suggested. Sorry, even though my family has there “embarassing habits”, they are still my family and I value them a great deal. Dennis should too, or at least value his wife enough to not belittle her family in such a way.

  17. That is another problem that I have not addressed yet Soabirw, they were sitting next to us and we already had the biggest table that I saw in the place. The only way we could have all sat together was to get at least 3 tables next to each other and slide them together. I would have been happy to request that if we would not have had to wait probably another hour for that to happen. My mother was over at there table almost as much as she was at ours. Dennis is just leaving out information so that he doesn’t look like he is nitpicking at stupid details.

  18. It seems to me that Jaysen has some control issues. Maybe he “learned that at home”. He’s trying to control every bit of Dennis’ opinion. It’s Dennis’ site where he puts his opinions. If you don’t like it, oh well. It’s just an opinion, and whether you like it or not, Dennis is entitled to it.
    And BTW, my family is a bunch of assholes too, and they couldn’t care less if myself, or anybody else said that about them.

  19. Sorry you have such a poor self esteem Mark.
    Call it what you will, I don’t really care, but I DO care if someone calls my family that. Especially if it is someone who claims to love one of them.
    I never said he couldn’t say that and I am not nieve enough to think that he wont say it still. I definitly defend the right of freedom of speech, but anyone who says that type of things needs to be aware that there ARE consequences that will come with those choices.

  20. Jaysen,
    Like mom said..u don’t have to read this site. Get over it. Dennis has the right to his opinions. U keep going in circles..and no one cares anymore. ok. Dennis
    Man, if it was me..I would’ve left and gambled by myself, and met them later.
    I mean we all have issues. My mom was having problems and went to a certain someone to lean on..well..that certain person dropped her like old news because she couldn’t handle all the baggage my mom was giving her. what kind of friend is that.wait a minute…im just ranting and raving now. ..sorry. LOL. anyway…love your site dennis…keep it going.

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