Ring Found

The Uniontown police have advised via a Facebook post that a ring was found in the parking lot of a local restaurant. If you think the ring is yours, you're asked to call Uniontown police to claim it, but you will need to describe the ring and identify the restaurant where it was lost/found.

Lady Luck

Somehow, within the last couple of years, my family started the tradition of brunch and gambling on New Year's Day. So I started 2016 with my very first trip to Lady Luck at Nemacolin--after a very brief and very cold visit to Ohiopyle, of course. And if you're up for putting up with the cold and don't like crowds, it's the perfect time to go!

To be honest, way back when Lady Luck first opened and I heard about their policy of paying to get in, I was put off. If you want to play for the day, you get a 24-hour pass that costs $10, but you're reimbursed via a gift card good anywhere at Nemacolin. You can also put it towards food if you eat at the restaurant at the back of the casino. If you want a year's membership, you can pay $40, which is admittedly a better deal if you live nearby and plan to go a lot. For me, since I live an hour away now, it wasn't worth it.

We started the trip with brunch, which was served buffet-style. I'm told this is different than the restaurant's usual setup. The food was decent but not impressive, although I was a fan of the massive omelette I got from the omelette station, as well as their dessert cakes. I regret not snatching a piece of strawberry cake while there was still some left, and it was replaced with some sort of bacon-topped cake.

Now, part of the reason we went to Lady Luck rather than our usual Meadows in Washington or Rivers in Pittsburgh is that most of my family tends to do better at Lady Luck, but yesterday, most of us did terrible and lost, with the exception of my brother's fiancee. It's hard to gauge from one visit, especially since I've visited most other area casinos multiple times, but this was one of the worst trips to a casino I've ever had in terms of money and winnings/losses.

Which brings me to the fact that all in all, compared to other casinos in the area, I found Lady Luck to be disappointing.

The quality and variety of food at other casinos is better. Other casinos are also bigger, though I admittedly don't care about how big a casino is. The catch is, though, that Lady Luck also doesn't have as much a variety of games, especially some of the ones I've come to love at Rivers and the Meadows. at Lady Luck, there were only a handful of slot machines I had fun playing--the rest were really generic and kind of boring, honestly, while at Rivers and the Meadows, I make my rounds between games like Jurassic Park or Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz of this one I like with goldfish or The Princess Bride or Titanic. Lady Luck had only two of those, and they had a much smaller number of them. And I lost.

My verdict? If you want to have a more fun overall experience and better food, go elsewhere. I've heard people tend to do better at Lady Luck, if you're more concerned with your chances of winning--although that wasn't my experience. But the thing is, if I'm gonna lose money, I'd at least like to have some fun doing it, and the chances for that were pretty limited at Lady Luck.

Best of the blog 2015

Ah, New Year's. It's hard to believe another year is just over four hours away. Why am I blogging on New Year's? Because most of the people I party with moved away and I'd quite like a nice evening in for once. But rest assured--I have some of Christian Clay's Summit Mist wine in me. I intended to try to drink a whole bottle with my boyfriend, but one glass in and I realized I don't think I can physically fit that much wine in my body.

So 2015. As always, things were interesting from the Nam, from some cool stuff to some astoundingly dumb stuff. Honestly, I'd love to do a recap of the year's most popular posts, but unfortunately, Blogger either doesn't have that feature or I haven't figured out how to work it. So instead, I'm picking my personal favorites.

So here it is! The best--and by "best," I do occasionally mean "worst"--of the Nam in 2015, mostly in chronological order.

• Ex-pat Rob Hensley created an organic lip-color line.
• We were on "Finding Bigfoot," and my brother proposed a new theory for who/what Bigfoot actually is. And then later, a local singer announced plans to release a Bigfoot tribute album.
• Fallingwater was nominated to be put on the World Heritage list.
• Seven people were charged in connection with prescription painkiller scheme.
• A man assaulted his brother with a Jesus license plate.
• Local music brought us Violet Rose.
• A historic farmhouse was destroyed by vandals, probably.
• We had some cool graffiti.
• A DUI suspect showed up drunk to the police station.
• I took some cool pictures at Ohiopyle.
• A Geibel graduate plays for the Pittsburgh Passion.
• I liveblogged the fair. Shortly after a fair employee was arrested for running someone over.
• A woman burned her stepson in a "fire challenge" for reasons I still cannot comprehend.
• We all got a chance to own a piece of Hollywood history when Buffalo Bill's house went up for sale. It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.
• A man was arrested for masturbating in the chip aisle at Sheetz. A new, hopefully untainted Sheetz has since opened across the street.
• A Connellsville man sang with Idina Menzel at her Pittsburgh show.
• Love of my life and actor Ewan McGregor visited Fallingwater.
• Brownsville looked a lot like a new video game.
• The TV show "Outsiders" filmed in the area.
• Everybody got raided.
• My parents remodeled their bathroom with the local Buckel Remodeling, and it looked amazing.
• I lectured my Facebook fans about referring to women as "whores" who have multiple children to get welfare money.
• I found a really pretty picture from up the mountain.
• A guy trying to rob Pechins got stuck on the roof.
• My brother guest-posted an open letter to man he's fairly certain was impersonating a member of the military.
• Connellsville's Aaron's Building remodeled and reopened, and it's gorgeous!
• Farmington was named one of the most beautiful small towns in the state.
• A Geibel grad joined the Ohio Bobcats swim team.
• A local Marine voluntarily lived homeless for a month to raise money and awareness for homeless veterans, ultimately raising $25,000.
• A man decorated for Christmas with a Santa hanging from a noose.
• The Uniontown Mall Santa adorably communicated via sign language with a little boy.
• Three car loads of food were donated to St. Vincent De Paul.
• 
  

And if you're interested in my writing away from this blog, 2015 saw a lot more of that--I had my first essay published on The Billfold, followed by two more on Neutrons Protons. I also regularly wrote about "Harry Potter" for Examiner, debuted two articles for CBS (1, 2), and had a photo appear on Pittsburgh blog Ya Jagoff. It's been a good year!

Here's to 2016! Mark smart decisions!

Did you have a favorite moment/post that I missed?

Blast from the past

One of the cool things about Facebook is pages dedicated to sharing Fayette County history, as well as all the random local pages that share the posts. I don't know what it is lately, but there have been more and more of these posts--maybe it's the coming New Year leaving everybody nostalgic. But because not everyone is on Facebook, here's a look at what you're missing.

Photo from John Beeson

This one from 1946 shows the spot where the 911 building now stands in downtown Uniontown--as well as a different Uniontown. Sometimes, photos like this are a sad reminder of what this entire county used to be, but they're also a reminder of the potential we have.

The old Pechins cafeteria

This is my personal favorite--Scottdale used to have a bottling company!

More of me elsewhere

I have appeared elsewhere yet again! This time, a photo of mine from Instagram was featured over on Pittsburgh blog Ya Jagoff.

And if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, please do! Just don't expect much more than my dog and concert pictures. Wouldn't want to get unfollowed after a concert-pic binge. Again.

Sme other stuff I've been writing

I always try to make it a point to highlights writing and exciting stuff from other locals, but I forgot to mention my own latest endeavor. Oops.

About a month ago, I started writing articles on basically a freelance basis for Pittsburgh's CBS site, and the first went up about a week ago. You can check it out here--it's about the best local winter  beers, in case you're looking for an alcoholic pick-me-up winding down after Christmas and gearing up for New Year's.

Speaking of New Year's, my second article, which went up today, is a guide to spending the holiday in Pittsburgh.

And yes, I'm writing about Pittsburgh now, but don't worry--I haven't abandoned you, Fayettenam.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas--or whatever holiday, religious or otherwise, you celebrate--and have a fantastic New Year. Make smart decisions!

Community donates plenty in food drive

I wish I would've gotten a chance to post about this food drive while it was happening and maybe give it a bit of a signal boost, but alas, the holidays are a very busy time, so here we are.

Check out the results--three cars full of food to benefit the St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry.

Good job, guys, and since this is probably the last you'll hear from me until after the holiday, merry Christmas! Make smart decisions!