Today I spent time watching CNN and ”Hurricane IKE” has caused serious havoc for literally millions of Americans who live in single family homes, condos and/or apartments. When a serious catastrophe happens and people are forced to flee their homes, I feel for them, I really do. Eventually they can come back to face the devastation, but wow it is a live changing experience. “Experience is what you get, when you don’t get what you want!” With a motor home you have everything you need to leave the dangerous areas and stay gone until the mayhem is over. Heck stay gone for a long while, me and Janice are lucky in this way. If a natural disaster were to happen where I am currently located, I can pick up and leave quickly taking nearly everything with me.

 

A motor home has more disadvantages than just not having 5000 square feet or floor space to get lost in. Well this has been a busy week. As you may already know, me, Janice, and our two dogs Charlie and Katie are in Las Vegas and we are staying in a motor home. Well maintenance is a never ending task and this week turned into motor home maintenance week. There is a great deal of satisfaction in doing things right, but it is still work.

 

I always start the motor home every 10 days or so and run the diesel engine for 30 minutes. While it idles I cycle the transmission through the gears and in and out of reverse. I also run the Air/hydraulic leveling system by raising all the hydraulic jacks and airing up the air bags which make up the air ride suspension.

 

The motor home is a 2004 model and earlier this year I had to replace eight deep cycle batteries which are used by the UPS/Inverter systems to provide 110 volt power when no shore power is present. Now it was time to replace the two 12 volt 950 Cold Crank Amp heavy duty batteries that operate the starter, headlights, hydraulic jacks etc. So earlier this week I took out the two batteries and went to Interstate Batteries and obtained replacements $350… did I say heavy duty… That burned up 4 and ½ hours.

 

Janice spent a couple of days cleaning the inside and putting some stuff away in preparation of taking the motor home out for a ride. We removed the outside windshield and side window covers and cleaned them.

We removed the wheel covers which protect the tires from the rays of the sun which can dry rot tires really quickly in the hot Las Vegas sun.

 

On Thursday afternoon we put in the 4 slide-outs, raised the jacks, disconnected the water, sewer and electric, put down the high definition satellite dish and got ready to leave.

 

We went to the Speedco center in North Las Vegas and had an oil change, and lube job … $200 … It does take 42 quarts of oil. The guys at Speedco also checked the air in all 10 tires and set them to 120 lbs. That is the maximum recommended tire pressure and will give the best fuel mileage. They checked tread depth and said they looked like nearly new tread level, even though the motor home has 35000 miles on the tires. That may have something to do with the fact that I forced the dealer to have a 10 wheel alignment done by the best company in town before I would take delivery. We then went to the Shell station which had diesel fuel for $3.97 which was 17 cents less expensive than the TA truck stop. Go figure … and the fuel in North Las Vegas is about 10 cents per gallon less expensive than just south of the strip. Fuel Cost to top off the tanks $402.63 

 

The motor home drove great and everything was appearing to go smooth. We got back to where we stay and backed in perfect … Then SNAFU ,,, when we plugged back into the shore power we got a beeping noise and a warning light in the electrical bay which said FAULT.  When I rotated the TDI Products Model RV5036 Shore Reel the FAULT light flicker out but only a couple times and would not stay off. Day light was fading and it was apparent that I was not going to get it fixed before nightfall so I gave up till Saturday.

 

Problem was we only had 1 leg of the 240 volt 50 amp service so we had only 110 volts on one leg of the 110v main.  We could get full power running the diesel generator but at the cost of diesel fuel today, I try to avoid it. Problem was only 1 out of the 3 AC units had power without it. Just before bed we started the generator and cooled down the motor home real well as we love to sleep in a cool room 62 degrees and under the warm covers.

 

I researched the Shore Reel on the internet and found an installation manual but not maintenance manual. Now back when I was 13 years old I ran a ferris wheel at carnivals… Ever wonder how the lights on the edge of the ferris wheel go round and round with out the cable wrapping around the wheel and eventually pulling itself loose?  Brass Rings carry the power and brass brushes pushed by springs make a moving connection. I had a feeling that one of the brushes was broke or loose. Problem no manual.  I later found out why … The manufacturer put the power operated cable reel together with 100% rivets and then put a sticker on the unit that said, “Warranty Void” if the rivets are tapered with… Please .. I drilled out the 3 rivets for an access plate, which really did not reveal anything, then 8 more rivets to get to the power ring assembly,,, I found the black leg had come loose and the brushes were not making contacts, but the power had arched and burned the insulating blocks… I removed the damaged contact and re-drilled the holes in the block, re-assembled and voila, problem fixed. Janice really did a lot of help because some of this is in tight spots for my big body to squeeze into. Thanks Janice…

 

We had to re-install the power reel and the motor home AC was back in business. Also today we washed the entire motor home and then we re-installed the sun screens and tire covers.

 

We also added salt to the brine tank of the Culligan soft water system. WOW this was a lot of work.

 

Today is the official 28^th anniversary of me and Janice, although we are not married. I guess that ship sailed by and we decided not to embark on that voyage. Our neighbors in Cincinnati, Ohio had sent a pre-paid Visa card to use because when they were in Vegas they wanted to take us to dinner but were unable to find the time. Darn Vegas, so much do so little time to do it. So we had an anniversary dinner on our neighbors… Thanks Mike and Sue hope to see you again soon.

 

Bye the way Janice will be Cincinnati, Ohio shortly to spend time with our grandson.

 

Below is a copy of a letter which I am mailing to the President of Las Vegas’s Caesar’s Casino as well as the manager of Caesar’s Poker Room

I hope they will respond and improve their responsiveness of the poker room management. It is my intention to spur upper level management to discuss this situation with the Poker Room management and see if an improvement can be made.

 

Below is a copy of the letters I am mailing.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Hanna

POB 231659

Las Vegas, Nevada 89105

Caesar’s Casino

E Flamingo Rd & Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Attn: Office of the President

 

 

 

cc:  Poker Room Manager

       The online blog of Mark “Big Daddy from Cincinnati” Hanna

       http://bigdaddy.blogs.blogs.wdia.com/

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                September 6 ^th, 2008

 

 

Dear Sir:

 

Below is an excerpt that I found from an article online regarding the grand opening of Harrah’s premier poker room.

On December 20th, 2005, Caesars opened Las Vegas' largest poker room. Caesars new poker room spreads 63 tables – 33 specifically designated for tournaments and 30 for live action.

"For many years, Caesars was one of the biggest names in poker," said Michael Matts – Caesars Palace Poker Room Manager. "Starting on December 20th, a new poker era began when we brought poker back to one of Las Vegas' most legendary and luxurious casinos. Whether it's recreational games, mid-limit poker, big-bet poker, or our ongoing tournaments, Caesars sets a new standard in excellence."

Well I have a service complaint as far as that “standard of excellence” is concerned;

 

The upper management of Harrah’s and Caesar’s must have realized the importance of a quality environment when they built the new poker room. They went to the expense to build the room as a “ROOM” off the casino floor but near the sports book. They built it separate with a big glass doors and a 40 foot hallway leading to the poker room. This was done to make it a good environment to play poker. The players do not hear have to hear the horse race announcers as in some other rooms.

 

However during certain nights the combination of LOUD and I mean very LOUD music from the Pussy Cat Dolls casino and to a lesser extent from PURE which invades the poker room to such an extent that I and other players do not always hear other players announce a raise or an all-in. One player at my table was using Bose Noise Canceling headphones and told me that they would not even completely block out the LOUD MUSIC, did I say VERY LOUD MUSIC coming from outside of the OPEN doors.

 

When the floor management was asked by me to at least close the glass doors which would greatly reduce the music, I was told that they never close the doors as they were afraid people would not come in to play poker, as if the people would think the poker room is closed.  You have glass doors to enter the casino and your customers seem to have figured out that they open by pulling on the handle. Why not close the doors, they were included in the expenses when building the poker room. Since the room is open 24/7 365 why include glass doors which open and close when building the room. If you can not use the doors, then why not save the expense and just put in a hallway opening.

 

I am writing this letter to the top management as my suggestions seem to fall on deaf ears in the poker room.

 

I am hopeful that you as President of Caesar’s Las Vegas realize that we as locals we are your clients, your customers, not players, not just once year tourist gamblers who next year may decide to stay elsewhere.

 

During the months of August thru September 2008 the poker room is actually giving away nearly $600,000 in seats for their October Classic main event tournament. A reasonable person would thus conclude that Caesar’s desires to increase the awareness and popularity of their poker room.  Repeat business comes from great customer service.

 

Friday night, September 5th, 2008 I was playing at Caesar’s where they had ONLY two 2/5 NL games spread. The Venecian had eight 2/5NL games spread during the same time. (I called and checked) You may ask why the Venecian spreads four times as many games.  I think it is because they listen to their customers and are willing to do everything they can to satisfy their customers! During the Presidential conventions the Venecian had no problem in putting CCN on one of the televisions, so I could listen to the simulcast on XM radio and listen to the speeches. The management at Caesar’s said they could not put on CNN, they can put of the fashion channel but not CNN. Don’t get me wrong, beautiful women on the televisions beat the heck out of some of the sporting events, but no CNN??? That is basic cable why not? 

 

Another example is that when I attended the last Caesar’s major tournament event, management suspended “Tableside Dining” until after the multi day event ended. What, they serve food at the tables every other day, but now that they were running at 100% capacity they suspended food service.  Why … during these events they have attracted more players and they give less service. I was told by management that they would not have enough waiter staff to bring the food to the tables when they have all of the tables busy 24/7 … Are you kidding me … How many employees do they have working at Caesar’s? Are you telling me that for a special event in which they worked hard to attract more players that they cut back on customer service because of lack of food service help?  Please …. Tell me it is not so! 

 

I ran my own business since I was 19 years old and I can not believe that the upper management levels actually know what is going on. That is the reason that I hope that I am not wasting my time in sending this letter to you as the President of Caesar’s.

 

I sincerely hope that I have not made enemies of anyone within the Poker Room Management, but when I feel management is not making sensible decisions when it comes to customer satisfaction, I try to elevate my concerns to their superiors. If they do not address the situation, then I can only conclude that they are not serious about wanting to grow their business.  The press release I posted above said  “… Caesars sets a new standard in excellence" are you serious about delivering on this goal or not.

 

I also open posted a copy of this letter on the internet in my blog located at http://bigdaddy.blogs.blogs.wdia.com/    you may post your own response on the blog as well.

 

Respectfully Submitted

 

 

 

Mark Hanna 

 

 

The annual Caesars Palace Classic begins in October, and with festivities just around the corner, the poker room is giving away $400,000 worth of seats into the main event — for free.

There are two ways I can snag one of these $10,000 tournament entries. The first promotion is a daily raffle that runs from now until the end of September. Every day, players who hit a qualifying hand of quads or better will receive a raffle ticket. That day’s raffle tickets will go into a drawing that is held on the next day at 7 p.m. The winner will get a seat into the Caesars Palace Classic main event scheduled for Oct. 28. Participants do not need to be present to win.

The second way is through a freeroll tournament that awards 10 seats.

All that players have to do to qualify for the freeroll is play 40 hours of cash games from Oct. 1-26. The tournament will be held on Oct. 27.

 

I have been playing at Caesar’s since the 1^st of the month and Friday night I finally made quad 4’s … Ten other high hands were made on Friday so Saturday evening at 7PM I will watch them draw names from a raffle drum. I will have approximately a 9% chance of winning a $10,000 seat for the Caesars Palace Classic main event scheduled for Oct. 28… The tournament will be maybe the best structure ever with 100,000 in tournament chips and probably about 350 players in the field with a guaranteed minimum $1 Million Dollar 1^st place prize.

 

I hope the raffle gods are smiling on my chances tomorrow night.