Well I just made it back down the hill from Tahoe and as others have said, it was a terrific weekend. It was really great to put some faces with people I hadn't met before from the board. One thought I had as I was driving down was how varied the chips and chippers were. I went though the traders of one chipper who had them marked by value. One chip would be marked $8, the next $3,000. There were chips from all over Nevada, illegals from the south, plenty of crest and seals, California and Atlantic City. Almost any category you could think of was represented. The chippers in attendance were just as varied. Several who had been collecting for more than a quarter of a century along with many who had started in the last several years plus a bunch in-between. Appearances varied too. There were good looking guys like me plus some rather odd looking fellows. I did notice all the women were good-looking, though. The ages varied too, although Generation X was somewhat under-represented. But one thing everyone had in common this weekend: A smile on their faces from having had a wonderful time.

I got even got a free lesson in "harvesting" on Sunday morning. I had stopped by the cage of one of the major North Tahoe Casinos when who should wander up but a couple of chippers from the board. I don't want to give anything away but I will say their first names both start with "J." One was carrying a large sign encased with plastic advertising the Millennium set from the casino. The woman in the cage looked at the chipper suspiciously, no doubt figuring he was trying to not too discreetly "harvest" the sign. "Uhm, what are you doing with that sign," she asked. The chipper quickly mumbled the name of some high executive at the casino he no doubt knew wouldn't be working on a Sunday. "I have instructions from MJ only to turn this over to so and so," the chipper stated forcefully. The casino employee said, I"m sorry, you'll have to give it to me." When the chipper refused, I thought, "uh, oh," she's going to call security." But the chipper held his ground and wandered back out of the casino boldly with the sign. I thought to myself, "that's the method I'm going to use to get my first ice machine." <g>