Day 633

We’re in the air and on the way home. I hope that what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas. Pain is such a relative thing. Everyone has their own threshold. Maybe I’m a total wuss. On the other hand, maybe I’m a total idiot who took a Vegas vacation when he should have been in a neck brace. At any rate, I think I may have passed my own personal threshold when I found myself spending several nights in an expensive hotel, sleeping in an upright chair because it was the most comfortable place I could find.

We had a lovely dinner at Canaletto last night. I think it was a signal that the worst was over. The Northern Italian Ravioli was light, fresh and satisfying. I ate everything and actually felt like doing something after dinner. We went outside again to see a beautiful sunset, and then it rained. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by Madame Tussauds. I'd never been to a wax museum before and it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. You never get a sense of how large or small people are by looking at pictures. The wax figures are absolutely accurate. A lot of famous Hollywood people turned out to be much smaller than I thought they'd be. At some point, I came face-to-face with Richard Petty and I was stunned. I'd spent some time with Richard in the mid 90's when I was making a series of Pepsi commercials that featured the legendary NASCAR driver. I stood a few feet away from the wax figure and the effect was so real that I almost expected Richard to start talking. Not all the wax figures were this real, but this one brought back some fond memories.

I think Janet is going to be mad at me for a while for turning into the Howard Hughes of the Mirage. I seldom left the room, but that’s just the way it was. Things didn’t really start getting better until I gave up on the pain pills in total disgust and decided that “cold turkey” couldn’t be any worse. Almost immediately, I started feeling better. All the pills were doing was making me loopy. I was starting to see bugs flying around the bathroom that weren't even there. I’m so mad that my doctor gave me a big bottle of Tramadol when this medication obviously had no effect on my type of neck pain at all. Janet told me that she was worried sick that she’d come back from the casinos and find me OD’d on the floor. It probably was a very good thing the pills didn’t work, because if they actually did what they were supposed to do, I would have taken a lot more of them.

It will be great to see the dogs again. We’ve both really missed them this week. Dot and Dash always looked happy enough when we looked at them on the webcam, but I’m sure they’ll both give us one of those “how could you” looks as soon as we get them home. Luckily, dogs forgive very easily; especially when you remember to put dog treats in your suitcase.

Janet’s been having trouble with her computer and I told her that I’d take it to the Apple Store for her after she went to work tomorrow. “It’s Friday John,” she told me. “What day did you think it was?” Lord only knows. I don’t think I left anything at the hotel though.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day