The Infernal Machine Strikes!

 It's getting COLDER!  We are down to 39 degrees on this morning.  Perfect time to head on off to the desert, though I've heard it's cold down there too.  Not yet, but soon, which means I should be packing.  Instead, I'm recovering from a late night at Bingo.

But first ... the earthquake.  It was about 150 miles away, which makes me surprised we felt anything at all.  I instantly get a dizzy feeling in my head, which is how I know we've got a shaker.  We never feel very much.  Even when the last big earthquake hit San Francisco, we saw very little damage here.  I instantly look to this light to see if it's real or not.  After all, I'm old and it just might be me!

You'll have to stare at this really close to see the movement.  This was still shaking probably a minute after the earthquake happened.  I'm glad to hear Shirley and Ken are fine.

So much to eat ... so little time.  I pulled out the second half of my chili chicken sandwich and went to town.  It disappeared in a flash.  

Before I knew it, I was off to the land of magic and torches.  Instantly there was a problem.  My code number would not open the door.  We've been having trouble with it and have scheduled a replacement.  Apparently the guy didn't look quite close enough and the wiring isn't compatible, so no new installation has been done.  Oh yeah .... that will make the peasants happy, let alone ME.

I signed a slew of checks and finally took the time to do our safety inspection.  The responsible MAN has been asked five or six times to please get the book up to date and actually DO the inspections.  The MAN has not done said inspection for FOUR months.  The MAN is in trouble because now the WOMAN had to catch up on all those sheets of paper.

With that done, I headed to the kitchen for my usual drink of the night ... a glass of coke.  It's the only thing that keeps me awake.  They had their problems too ... someone lost their phone, so six people called the number.  Nothing.  Boy do I hate it when that happens, but thankfully this time it wasn't me.

As they ran out the door, I set up for another lovely night of BINGO.  To be honest, I'm surprised folks are even playing since it's so close to Christmas.  Surely the nice folks have family to buy presents for.  It was instantly a madhouse.  We have a new MAN volunteer to call the early bird games.  He knew not what he got himself into.

The crowd was on edge that he might make a mistake or call something wrong.  Sure enough, there was an uproar when he miscalled a number.  Ooooheeeee the slings and arrows thrown his way were epic.  There's two or three that know it all, and boy do they make their voice heard.  The King had to step in, throw water on the flaming torches and calm them down.

Thank goodness he only called five quick games before stepping down.  That means it's dinner time for me.  My lady in waiting always places our order.  Apparently the kitchen made a mistake this time.  They gave us THREE orders instead of two.  This is the leftovers we did NOT eat.  Chicken tenders highly overcooked ... deep fried to be exact ... until dry and tough.  We can't complain.  Bingo pays for it so the volunteers don't run screaming off into the woods.

Sometimes I wonder about my lady in waiting ... though she's the best card counter in the entire nation, she sees things a little differently.  I see a misshapen chicken tender.  She sees a Whale.  What can I say.

Things did not go well after that.  The infernal machine spit out an extra payout of $250.  Oh that's not good!!  I tried to fix it, but only managed to mess it up further.  Add to that a lovely player who bought cards and asked for cash back.  All of that was punched into the machine, but the Mini Infernal Machine refused her debit card ... three times.  

The lady took out a huge handful of credit cards from her purse ... but we don't take credit cards.  After holding up the line, I finally had to ask her to come back ... and we kept her bingo cards.  Oh the infernal machine was mad about that!!!  

I had to take an extra half hour to make it happy again, and it still refused to balance.  Add to that a huge amount of change to count, having come from those broken piggy banks belonging to their grandchildren, and I was WAY behind.  I had to write four big notes on the register tape so the bookkeeper would be able to figure it out.  DARN MACHINE!!

At long last I was out the door at a little after 10:00.  As usual, sleep was elusive, probably because I've got company coming tonight and the place is a mess.  Oh well ... no time for cleanup ... I'll be on the run again today.  

A final note:  Sadly, may Kelly rest in pease, free of pain.  My heart goes out to Al.