Back to the slaughter house...

Well my bags were packed and I was ready to go...

Looking well packed.

off to Denver for the home and garden show. I got on the plane in Ft Lauderdale and it was 82 degrees...got off in Denver and it was 7. Brrrr. I picked up my rental car and headed downtown to my hotel.

My room seemed nice enough.

I went to the hotel and walked the 2 blocks to the convention center to help set up the booth. We had a great location and I was excited at the opportunity. The show hadn't done well in the past and I was hoping to be able to help change it. it did just under 100k last year.
Our goal the company gave us was 125. Around 10 pm we finished the setup and I headed to the room for some much needed rest.
The next 5 days the team and I worked relentlessly at closing some bed sales. We were well on pace to make our goal.

Getting ready for a big day!

They made me take a day off, so I had Thursday off and did laundry. Had it done by 11:30 in the morning. Now what? I decided to make the 45 mile drive up to Central City, Colorado. It is a gambling town just West of Denver, straight up in the mountains at about 9500 feet in elevation. It is a really neat town.

This place is really a sight to see.

 I saw a Fitzgeralds so I pulled in. The guy asked me if I ever had been there. I said I was in the one in Vegas, and he told me this was a different place, then gave me a coupon book, which had a coupon for a free entree from the restaurant. I played for about 3 hours and was up 50 bucks (which is a huge win for me as I almost always lose when I go play slots) so I headed for the cafe. I was looking at the menu when the waitress walked up, and I asked her what I could get with my coupon. She said anything on the menu. I asked, even the 17.99 prime rib? she said yup, so I said, I will take it!

This still looks good to me!

It wasn't the best I ever had, but for free, who could complain.
It was 5pm so I headed back down for the hotel to get some rest, as I had the final 3 days to get through. By the way, My eye was healing nicely I thought, here is a look.

Hey, Its Brad Pitt!

Not to bad.....

 We finished the show with a little over 200k and the big shots at home office were very pleased with the results. My job was done. Time to go home! I got back to Florida around noon on Monday and Bonnie and I headed to the condo. I got some much needed rest and Tuesday we went out to a couple of parks to walk, then headed down to Miami to eat at a place we had heard served good food and had a great atmosphere.

waiting for our food.

It sits right on the Intercoastel and it was nice. After diner we did some shopping and finally headed home.

There goes the sun...

Well I told you I would let you know what the company had to offer, so here it is. They designed a position for me that would offer me a lot of free time. They want me to work shows across the country at random times. They said I will have time off between the shows. I may work for a week, then have a week or three off. I told them that sounds good to me. So I have to fly to San Antonio tomorrow for a 4 day show. I fly home on Monday then don't leave again till march 9th, when I fly to Indianapolis till the 19th. Then home again until the 24th when I fly to Atlanta until the 29th. Supposedly I will have a schedule for a month at a time.

Gotta get some sleep...early flight tomorrow.

Stiches are gone

Ok. I got the stitches out and am feeling much better. And just in time as I am supposed to fly out to Denver today. I was worried that my face would be black and blue and swelled up. Well it is sort of, but I was worried it would be much worse. 

Here was Feb 3rd, right after the doctor got done.. and then by each day since..

I have to fly to Denver today...I am doing the Denver Home Show and it starts tomorrow. Should be fun, except for the 80 degree weather here and the 25 degree weather there. I got my bags packed and fly out today at 1:30.....

Next post....the Rocky Mountains.   See ya there!

Recovery

Ok, I got the aberration removed from my face! We got to the Dr's office at 2:30 and the surgery got under way. It took about 4 hours as he had to take a layer out then got to the lab and check for bad cells. He came back in a couple of times to take a bit more. I took a picture as he was performing the procedure....

I don't think he believed me when I said I wanted a picture of him in action.

 Right before he was going to do the repair work, he asked me if I wanted to see my face. I mistakenly said yes...I was going to take a picture, but it was a pretty big hole and it was nasty! So I did not take it. I did grab a picture after the nurse bandaged me up.

Right after getting my minor plastic surgery

I think I look like Brad Pitt (only better)

As we were paying, I grabbed a picture of the staff in the office. They were all very nice. (they should be having a party with as much as they charged me!)

Waiting to open the beers until we leave.

So here is a picture of it today....Not as ugly as I thought I would be.

What are you looking at?

I received an interesting phone message this morning...The home office from Select Comfort left me a message saying they want to pitch me an offer. They said they have an offer for me. What?

I guess we will find out Monday...And I will let you know what it is...Stay tuned!

Getting plastic surgery...seriously

Ok..It's not what you think. I had something like a wart grow on my face while I was in Sioux City, when I got back to Florida I went to the doctor and had it removed. They did some tests and called me to let me know it was carcinoma. A form of skin cancer. They said I have to get it taken off. We went to a specialist and he said it was no problem, however because it is in the eyelid area, I would need to have some form of plastic surgery to keep my eye from drooping.
I will get back to this in a moment....

As soon as my plane landed in Florida, I wanted to see the ocean, so we went straight to  the bamboo beach cafe. My plane landed at 12:45 in the afternoon and the weather was a delight! Right around 80 and sunny. We sat down and ordered some lunch with a fantastic view of the Atlantic. I inserted a video of me driving to the show in Denver for contrast reasons...sorry about it being sideways.

Lunch back in Paradise!

The next day I had an appointment with the specialist. It only took a half hour and he set the appointment for the surgery for Friday the 3rd of February.

My doctor...at lest a picture of a picture.

yikes....

We went down to our beach, as I hadn't seen it in a few weeks and I wanted to see the progress. They were tearing down the beach cafe and building a new one.

The Pier Cafe...we loved this place

cafe on the left and entrance to the pier center with Restrooms to the right

Gone in 60 seconds

We just hung out at the house for the next few days as I was apprehensive of being out in the sun. After a few days we grew weary of sitting in the condo so  we headed down to the beach for diner, settling on Rattlesnake Jakes, which is apparently world famous. (According to their sign) The food was mediocre at best but we were pretty hungry so we ate it all. On a side note the beer was excellent!

At least the beer is good

I told you!

Sunday we read there was an art festival at the beach so we ran down and checked it out. Oh and for those of you who were wondering, I bought a hat!

Indiana Steve

The art festival was very busy and had quite a lot of neat stuff to look at. I think they wanted us to buy it, but I am cheap, and the stuff was expensive so it wasn't going to happen. We did purchase some food though...and it was very good!

Lot of art lovers here

Right on the beach

Bonnie getting some grub

I am nervously awaiting tomorrow for my surgery and will post with some gruesome pictures tomorrow....