79 never felt so good

I made it through a hot and sweaty night on Tuesday, and while the outside temp was hanging in the mid-70's, it never made it below 83 indoors. By 10am yesterday, it was 85 indoors and getting stuffier by the minute. I figured the best thing for me to do was some hot yoga. I've never done hot yoga (or Bikram, for you practitioners), though I've heard some pretty interesting things about it, good and bad. I've heard about instructors acting like drill sergeants, I've heard of the cleansing properties of doing detoxifying poses while sweating out impurities, I've heard of people ready to pass out 10 minutes into a 90 minute class. I've never been interested. Truth is, I'm a bit of a yoga coward. I enjoy doing poses on my own, or with my DVD friend Rodney Yee talking me through in his "so calm I wanna smack him" manner. But classes intimidate me. And since I'm too broke to afford classes, I don't have to worry about conquering that fear just yet. Anyway, I was already sweating at 10am yesterday, and I couldn't sit still. So, hot yoga it was! Now, my understanding is that Bikram is generally practiced in a room set at 95-100 degrees, and it only made it to 89 for me yesterday, but that was enough! Somehow, it actually made me feel better, like I could handle the heat and perhaps even be productive! That feeling lasted about 20 minutes post-yoga, then I was back to being pissed off. Alex was working from home yesterday, so we got to be pissed off together. And poor She-ra, she drank her weight in water and was still thirsty for more. We finally heard from our realtor, Debbie, who let us know that she was talking with the owner and doing her best to persuade him to stop trying to fix an obviously unfixable unit and buy a new one, but he was hesitant. And again, I get it. Money Pit. (Remember that movie, with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long? Brilliant. The scene where Tom Hanks falls through a hole in the floor and is trapped there all night singing "The Name Game" still makes me chuckle. I'm chuckling right now.) But I can't live like this! And the same unit which is meant to bring us cool air in the summer is also responsible for bringing us warm air in the winter. IT NEEDS TO WORK! We went to Home Depot yesterday to buy screens for the sliding door and the bedroom window so at least we could get some air flow in here (She-ra is not an outdoor cat, much as she'd like to be, so with no screens, we've had to keep things pretty much sealed tight). We're trying to be understanding and patient and do what we can to improve the situation for the time-being. But when the outside temp is 96, a screen door is not gonna do much to cool things off inside. ARGH!
One of the perks of Alex's job is the comps. So by 3pm yesterday, 89 degrees and climbing, Alex made a call and got us a hotel room for the night. I felt bad leaving She-ra behind to deal with the hell-heat, but not that bad. I felt worse for us humans. Besides, I like staying in hotels. Mostly, I like escaping my routine. Alex and I started doing hotel nights about once a month during our last year in Boston, and we discovered how good it is in a relationship to break things up, to get away from the responsibilities of home for just a night and appreciate each other without the complications of adulthood. And I especially like staying in Vegas casinos. At least, I like staying in the casinos where we get free rooms, which are generally the more upscale places. There are many, many casinos here that I've not stayed in, nor do I have much of a desire to do so. But it's exciting to stay in a casino, even though I don't gamble. It's such a LIVE atmosphere, 24 hours a day. It's highly theatrical, from the costumes worn by the cocktail waitresses (yes, only waitresses, and yes, only those with bodies that look good in skimpy sequined outfits need apply) to the casino's theme, which carries over into the architecture, the restaurants, the music, the floor shows. For example, at The Rio, it's Mardi Gras every day! At Paris, everyone speaks with a faux French accent. The Venetian has a canal which you can travel along in a private gondola. And the rooms generally reflect the overall feel of the casino. Some are pretty basic, nothing you couldn't find in any of the 50 states. But some are...truly spectacular. I've taken many pictures of these rooms (which I'll someday figure out how to post), usually concentrating on the bathrooms, so that someday when I've got tons of money and am going to be designing my own loft, I can refer to some of the bathroom shots for inspiration. I love well-designed bathrooms, and we've stayed in casinos with some super-shwanky inspirations.
Vegas casinos I've stayed in: Harrah's, Bally's, The Rio, Palms, MGM, Paris, Venetian, Palazzo, Caesars, Bellagio, Wynn, Red Rock (which is out by Red Rock Canyon, about 25 minutes from the Strip) and last night, I spent my first night at Green Valley Ranch, an upscale resort about 20 minutes from the Strip. Alex had some work to do out there, so it seemed like the easiest option. Alex has stayed at GVR a few times. In fact, the last time he stayed, in June, they gave him a suite with a grand piano. Nothing so shmancy for us last night. Still, a very nice room, with a bathroom the size of our living room here. Funny, we've stayed in such ridiculous rooms that my perspective has entirely shifted. I mean, when we're driving cross-country, which happens twice a year, we stay in whatever is cheapest, and we're quite content. But when it comes to casino rooms, we (Alex especially) are snobs. At one time, our room last night would have seemed elegant beyond belief. But that was before Caesars. And Palazzo. And especially Wynn. All of the rooms at Wynn are suites, all are lovely and have top-quality fixin's. First time we stayed, August of 2006, I felt for certain that we would never stay in such a nice room again. Huge jacuzzi tub, shower built for 4, huge living room and bar separate from the bedroom, 2 bathrooms...it was Heaven. So good, I didn't want to sleep. I couldn't imagine ever finding myself in such luxury again. But then we stayed in one of the Wynn Villas. Holy. Crap. There are 18 Villas, sitting on the golf course. Entirely separate entrance from the rest of the resort. The foyer was the size of my living room. There were 3 bathrooms, each of which could have housed a small family. The private balcony was as long as a driveway. We even had a private massage room. Not that we used it, as we would have had to pay for the masseuse. And we paid for nothing on that trip. It was RFB. What is RFB, you ask? RFB is a license to charge as much as you'd like and never pay for any of it! It stands for Room, Food & Beverage, and all of those items are comped by the casino. So, in our 3 days at the Villa, we emptied out the minibar daily, we ordered room service at least 3 times a day (Alex ate lobster daily), we had all of Alex's friends over to help with the consumption. It was truly ridiculous. This room has to go for at least $10,000 a day, not counting the lobster and champagne and $10 minibar M&M's. What the hell are they giving it to us for? Sadly, we will never get that room again. Literally 45 minutes after we checked into the room, Alex had been booted from the tables. I was taking my first of 7 bubble baths for our 3-day stay when Alex returned from the casino to let me know he'd been barred from playing. I leaped from the tub to get packed, as I knew it was too good to be true. But no, we were allowed to stay, we could eat filet and lobster on the house, they already made the deal on the room. Makes no sense to me, but I certainly wasn't going to argue. (I did spend the whole 3 days fearing every knock on the door, but it was always either room service or minibar service knocking, never a couple of bodybuilders in dark suits come to forcibly remove us.)
I imagine that I will never again stay in accommodations like those, and I have definitely been spoiled by the experience. So much so that when I walked into our Executive Suite at GVR last night, with it's beautiful furniture and huge bathroom and enough space for me and Alex to get a vigorous game of catch going, my response was, "Cute." And cold! The air conditioner was cranked to 66, way too cold, but I was so relieved not to be sweating that I gladly just crawled into the plushest robe I think I've ever used (GVR gets the award for best robes) and enjoyed my nose being cold. It was ever so lovely to sleep under blankets!
And this morning, when we left the Ranch at 8am, we were prepared to sweat it out again. But lo and behold, John the Repair Man was hard at work when we pulled up to our building! And the AC is once again working! It's 79 degrees in here, and it feels like Heaven. Of course, John let us know that the owner is still not ready to buy a new unit, so the re-wiring that was done this morning is only a temporary fix. But that's good enough for today. As much as I like staying in hotel rooms, I don't need an escape from this apartment yet. It's too new, it's just starting to feel like home. I'd rather be here than a hotel room. Unless the Villa were available...