I’m sitting in my Best Western hotel room at Las Vegas with my wife thinking about what’s going to happen tonight. We pray we need God’s protection.
Today was one of the saddest days We’ve ever felt in my life. Around 1:30 in the early morning, I’ve heard a loud noise outside our room. I woke up with an intuition of something happening outside. I had a glass of water and headed to the door to have a look at what’s happening outside. I put my hands on the door handle, turned and looked through the door hole. I saw a white pickup truck leaving the parking lot fast - I presume they might have heard me turning the door handle. It did not strike me at that time my JEEP Commander was a target for the guys in that truck. I thought they may be guys who have come to the nearby room. In the morning, I’ve found out that the window of my car was broken. I did not realize what was lost until my wife called me again and reminded me that the thieves have taken our bag containing the video camera and accessories. And more than anything we’ve lost 5 memory cards which had years of our digital pictures - family pictures dating back to 2004. Later we have found out at the Police station that the thieves tried to break the key hole to get into the car - may be with an intention to steal the JEEP as a whole. That did not happen by God’s grace.
I’m absent minded at times when my wife is around. She is a good manager. This time I did not realize completely that the medicine she was taking had little side effect to her memory - she was in the hospital emergency last Sunday for few hours. When we have got back from the Las Vegas Convention Center, I was tired as well as she was. We’ve forgotten to take our valuables from the car to the room - yes, it is our mistake that we’ve left the video gear bag in the car.
At the Police Station:
We headed towards the Police Sub Station that is close to our hotel. We’ve spent at least 2 hours working with the police to prepare the statement. In addition to us, there were few others who were also robbed today filing complaints at the station. Some have lost thousands of dollars like us and some have lost few hundreds. The fact is that it is a every day story in the town after the recession.
Our car was broken into - second window on the driver's side is broken
Why?
The economy in Las Vegas is pretty bad. There are thousands of job losses. The people living here are desperate. The jobless who live here target the visitors who come here for entertainment. The area where the Las Vegas Convention Center is a bad area in the City according to many people I’ve spoken to. The crime happening in this area is not something extra ordinary to point out. It happens everywhere in Las Vegas nowadays. In the big hotels like MGM this is common like thieves breaking into cars - even in garages. The most dangerous thing is that people who are walking towards their cars in the garage are threatened and some attacked. There is not enough police to lower the crime - after the budget cut due to recession.
Back to Home:
We’re preparing to go back to our home tomorrow. I did not play the 2200 event today. I’ve not got a chance to focus well and play yesterday although this incident has not happened until today. I had severe sinus problem and the benadryl pills that I took made me so drowsy. The saga of depression was around me from November during the time when Utah Tournament took place. It was all about family. My wife had a allergy attack this Sunday and she was taken to the Emergency. We did not think we could make this trip. She is under medication these days and I had to loose focus whenever I had to look at her face – she was never down like this before. I had to be sure she was not getting any bad allergic reaction to anything.
I would say I missed this year Nationals pretty bad. I had opportunities to meet only few people this year in addition to the sets back we had.
The US Nationals had fewer people this year. The interesting thing about this year Nationals was the racket testing procedure. I’ve heard few stories of players testing positive to VOC content in their equipments – some have lost titles because of this.
Doubles and 2300 Events:
Meg and I did good at the doubles event. Though we were not able to grab a win in that match, we’ve felt pretty good about a close win. We’ve lost by a drop ball from the opponents which ultimately fell over the net. I had participated in only one event - under 2300 event. I’m not proud of playing good against two players, but I’ve scored significant points against them. Against a 2000 rated player, I played 5 games before I’ve finally lost in the fifth. Whatever it is, I would say some of them should have been little more honest in their “serves”. Two players primarily scored their points through illegal serves. I did mention this to one player and he said I had long pips so that can be considered as a substitute for illegal serves - how funny it is. The other player later told me he could not find a better way to score points rather than doing some “stupid” serves that he has done accidently. Angelita Rosal Bengtsson came to the rescue of him. I don’t want to blame them for their serves. I would like to take this failure as a challenge to learn returning these kind of “not tossed” hidden serves.
I thought about raising my level to at least 2000 this year, but I could not. I don’t see that as impossible if I become consistant with my top spin loops on the forehand and add more deception in serves.
This may be our last visit to Las Vegas:
This is our 7 th or 8 th time in Las Vegas. We have stayed at big hotels like MGM, Luxor, Riviera and also at small hotels like Best Western. This is the first bad incident happened to us while we are at Las Vegas. We have never come here to gamble or see x-rated shows. We love the excitement, people, bellagio, MGM lions den, shows like Celine Dion, David Copperfield and something specific is the buffet at hotels like MGM or Mandalay Bay.
Probably I’m not gonna come back to this city because of this incident - I’m not safe here neither my family. Before leaving for the bed, I pray let God protect us this night.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I heard about your bad luck while we were down there. I’ve had my car broken into once before in Bountiful, so it isn’t just Las Vegas. Crime is everywhere. I hope it doesn’t keep you from going again. I’m mostly wary of Las Vegas cause of the sleezy advertisements.
The hotel we stayed in had security guys constantly driving up and down the parking lots looking for burglars. We had Glenn Brown stay with us. Next year I’m only bringing my two oldest boys, so we’ll have an extra room if you’re interested. We stay at the Marriott Wyndham and have a three bedroom condo. It’s a much safer place and very family friendly compared to other resorts. Seriously think about joining us next year. I think you’re experience would be much better.
You can read my experience here.
Dear Varghese,
You are my best practice and double partner. You played very good at double events. Sorry I put you down. I could have play better and play short balls more. I am sorry that you had bad luck. Otherwise, you will play good and your rating would improve dramatically. Because you worked so hard and I have never seen you missing the Fridays.
I wish you all the best for the future tournament where you participate.