Sin Tour 2005 continues

Last month it was clubbing and warding off lounge sharks in Whistler, this month it was gambling and general debauchery at the new and lavish River Rock casino in Richmond. Not a place I would ever choose to go to on my own, but InformEd, the group of post-secondary communications professionals I belong to, was having its fall meeting there.

So another one-night pass away from the responsiblities of parenthood was negotiated, thanks to my benevolent husband, and it was off for a day of intense networking with colleagues and presentations by marketing suppliers. But before the professional development began, there was some fun at River Rock, the venue for our Don't Gamble with Your Marketing conference.

(Must comment on the impressive architecture. The lobby was like the 'great room' we're planning for our addition but three thousand times bigger!)


We emulated the Las Vegas lifestyle by first eating at the buffet. Then my new boss and I went to relax in the lounge, but you can't actually get there without going through the Den of Sin casino, so I figured I might as well try this gambling stuff and invested $10 in the slot machine. Five minutes later, money gone. Thought I'd try another $20 and five minutes later I had $28 to show for it. Not bad. Could see how this could get addictive, although it's also a very silly way to spend time and money.

So we retreated to the lounge for some getting to know each other better time, but our casual chat was drowned out by the Eagles tribute band, which had a pretty good Wednesday night gig going for themselves.

Both being mums on furlough, what we really valued was a room to ourselves for the night, so we retreated to our separate abodes. The standard room at the River Rock is a sweet suite, with a big bed and TV in one room, and couch and chair and TV in another. Was running a big hot luxurious bath for myself when I thought I should really live the high life and have a glass of wine from the minibar, so I removed the bottle, knowing I couldn't put it back (once you pick it up, you pay).

While my hot, steaming, bubbly, lavender bath was running, I tried and tried and tried to open this bottle with the cheap little corkscrew in the room. I knew it was completely counterlogical to ignore the relaxing bath and fight with the cork, but I'm stubborn, and don't like to be defeated by technology. I had visions of calling the front desk to ask for help, but realized I was naked and that it would be far more effort than was worth it to get dressed again to seek assistance. Tried turning the corkscrew with my teeth and realized it wasn't worth major dental work to have a glass of wine at 11 pm. But, I'm very persistent. So, after sort of getting the cork unscrewed, ended up just jabbing at it, using the corkscrew as a digging tool. It worked, but created a very messy cork mess. So yes, eventually got my relaxed-mum-escapist-hot-bath with glass of wine, then read in bed til 12:30 pm. A rare luxury.

Was happy family survived and thrived without me (had to leave a whole page of notes on the logistics of getting everyone to soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, daycare, and back. Reinforced my realization that my major value between the hours of 3 and 6 pm is that of chauffeur). Miles was hiding so he could scare me when I came in the door, but was laughing too hard, so blew his cover.

Back to routine now. I think there's some lego to pick up and laundry to put in! Thanks for the day-pass, family!