Joe in and around Las Vegas

Speaking Scottish

2012-01-26T09:18:00.000-08:00

Rob has been very kind in trying to educate me in how to speak like a Scotsman. I was able to work my way around France quite well, but I think I might have a problem in Edinburgh. To start you out slowly with Billy Connolly

But then we can step right into Rob’s posting, which doesn’t allow embedding but please go listen to it: do you understand it?
Thanks Rob.

Around our house our little dog Buster is really slowing down. Not sure how old he is, but he joined us from the animal shelter back in 1994, the vet then thought he was about four years old. Whatever it is, he’s put more hours in our house than any of the kids (they left every day for school while he stayed home). He’s almost blind and deaf and pretty shaky walking around, and sleeps most of the time. He usually finds the soft little bed we got for him, but sometimes he just lays down wherever he ends up.

He does move around once in a while.

Literal videos

2012-01-19T09:22:00.001-08:00

OK, I know it’s Thursday and I missed posting all week, still haven’t isolated all of those Strip photos from Christmas, but came across this video on Persephone’s blog. Since I love the Doctor it seemed interesting.

Done in the style of dascottjr, who makes literal versions of music videos, like this one:

Red Rock

2012-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

Nothing special going on right now – CES is in town, filling up the expensive hotel rooms. I thought rates on New Year’s Eve were outrageous, but evidently hotels charge even more than that on CES week. Wow.

But for now we can travel out west a few miles from the Strip and visit Red Rock. You can drive around the loop, walk the trails, or bike the long paths, but many people stop often and take photographs.

A new visitors center was recently constructed, with lots of interesting art and large patios so that you can just gaze at the vistas, while reading plaques to learn a bit of history and desert lore.

As you can see, we ended going out there on a really cloudy day.

Monday videos - waiters

2012-01-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

Some interesting videos for you – nto standard top 10 music. First is the Waiter Anthem – look over there on the right, there are several links to waiter and waitress sites, go see how your waiter really feels

Along the same line, not a song but a series on The Bartender Hates You

For Kevin, another series on the Sassy Gay Friend

OK?

Morning drive

2012-01-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

I like driving to work at this time of year, traffic is rather light and the sun isn’t in my eyes. Somehow all of the places I have worked at here in Las Vegas are east of our house, so I get the sun in my eyes driving in and the setting sun back in my eyes driving home. I usually work early, and for this job try to get out of the house before 6. It’s a 27 mile drive out to Henderson for me, but fortunately there are large freeways all of the way. Unfortunately the drive curves from due east to south and back again, so that no matter where the sun comes up for half the year it is directly ahead on some portion of the road. But for now I can make it in before it shows

I like the open sky, and the shape of the mountains all around. In the southwest US there aren’t any trees on the mountains, just rocks, so there are always interesting shadows.
We also get a lot of high level moisture over the mountains to the south, resulting in clouds that we don’t have in the summertime

Some of you have asked about the trains I play with – they are small ones, in the US it’s called N scale, with engines and cars that fit in the palm of your hand. This is the type of module we create

This one is five feet (1 ½ meters) long, so you can see how small everything is. People in my club build and decorate pieces like this, then we get together and hook them up to make a big layout and run trains. Nobody has a basement or extra room in their house for building a big layout, so we all make small parts that we combine. I like doing the wood work, and build most of the core shells for everyone, then each person puts down the track (according to a standards manual), wires it up and decorates with scenery and buildings. Most people do southwest scenes, with few trees and lots of sharp hills and rocks. Each piece is about the size of a coffee table, there are different size legs so I and set one up in front of the couch and sit watching TV while playing. Everyone needs ways to spend money, right?

New Year's in Vegas

2012-01-04T08:40:00.001-08:00

It’s been a quiet holiday season for us here in Las Vegas. The kids are all big and off doing their own things elsewhere, so we just had a quiet Christmas. I’ve been looking at people’s posts about the little kids under the tree, and watch the trips plus one across the street (they are 8 now, getting bigger) screaming in the front yard and I can remember our busy Christmases past. Sorry, right now I’d rather do the quiet one.
This was our last sunset for 2011

We usually sit in the front room having coffee in the morning (days I don’t have to drive off to work). This is the view we have out of the front window. There is a small courtyard out the front door, about 6m x 8m. I put a slotted cover over it to keep the sun level down in the summer, and B put more tropical type plants out there. It still gets hot in the summertime, so the plants have to be able to handle the low humidity and bright sun and 46c (115f) degrees so it’s not as tropical as our San Diego yard (no bananas for example). We can hear the kids across the street when they are noisy (when aren’t they?) but don’t get much traffic.

The Las Vegas tourist economy is picking up. We had over 314,000 visitors out on the Strip for the New Year’s Eve fireworks display, with another big crowd downtown on Freemont Street. Fireworks were set off from the roofs of a eight Strip hotels, all timed to music, producing a $500,000 eight minute display. This was on the corner of Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard, with fireworks from nearby Caesar’s Palace and some of the other hotels

This was the Strip a block away down in front of Paris

The view from a few blocks away, looks like it was the roof of the Hard Rock Café

Fremont Street, the original gambling district in downtown Las Vegas, has been closed off and is now a walking street, so if you see any movies with car chases down in front of the older casinos you know they are old shots or the street was closed for the filming. Three blocks are covered by the world’s largest video screen, so instead of real fireworks people got a big video display. The Strip was free, but it was $30 to go on Freemont for 30,000 people, as they had a dozen ‘tribute’ bands playing from 6pm to 2am and other entertainment activities.

The weather was better than previous years – it was around 9c (50f) at midnight, with clear skies and a light breeze, which blew away the smoke from the explosions, rather than being calm and having it settle and create a thick haze as it did a few years ago. The city was at 100% occupancy level, with over 150,000 rooms rented. Rates were higher – rooms at the Bellagio last year were from $659 to $799, this year $1199 to $1998, but you could have stayed at the Luxor further south on the Strip for only $250, a little lower than last year.

Or you could have done what we did: go to bed by 10pm and sleep through it all. Happy New Year to you all!

2011-12-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

Almost Christmas, and Vegas is well decorated. All of the casinos have some form of generic holiday stuff up – usually trees and lights. We’ll go wander the Strip later in the week and take lots of photos so you can all share.
In competition with the Santa race earlier in the month there was also the Rock ‘n’ Roll Vegas Stiletto Dash at the Palazzo, where young women dressed in short skirts and very high heels (minimum three inches) ran across the casino floor. Not to be sexist, there was a separate run for men in heels (no word on short skirts there). Over at the Bellagio there was the Downy Unstoppable Scavenger Hunt with a $20,000 first prize. Downtown at the Beauty Bar was the Freakshow Wrestling, one of the main events was a guy in a banana outfit wrestling a big, pink furry Elvis. (Hey, it’s Vegas). On the other side, Catholic Charities ran a ‘Phone Home’ event, with free phone calls for the homeless with clothing and toiletries given out. At Aliante Station there was an event for our local Army reservists being deployed to Afghanistan. In Boulder City the railroad museum ran train rides with Santa. Quite an assortment of things to do.

We were at the Harley Davidson Café for my companies’ holiday party. As usual I parked a distance away so that we could walk through a few casinos to get there. Being old folk we normally hit the Strip during the day, this was our first evening outing in a while. The tourist style does change after dark. Though it was only 9pm and not the opening time of all the fancy clubs (they open doors sometime between 10pm and 1am depending on venue) there was a definite switch from sweat suits and jeans to nice evening wear, with quite a few young women wearing very short, very tight dresses. My wife is convinced that the absence of visible panty lines was due to the wearing of Spanks, but I think there is a simpler explanation. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your (or my wife’s) point of view) I was not able to investigate thoroughly.

Just to throw in a few photos, here are some more of Tivoli Village. Yes, the sun is shining, though cold at night (around freezing this morning) it does get up near 60f (15c) in the daytime.

Outside the Scoops Ice Cream parlor

Main street

Security didn't seem very busy

MIB coming back? more 80's music

2011-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Oh, I really liked these guys – nice to see them coming back

As long as we are doing Monday videos (on Tuesday) let’s continue with those 80’s hits that we all love so well. I loved the ears on these guys

For standing on the street corners, these guys had a good beat

At the start of that video there are some clips of fans greeting Johnnie Ray, someone I had never heard of him. Wikipedia says he had a number 1 hit in the UK back in 1956 with this one

Personally, I’d rather hear Huey, who else would be brave enough to wear an orange suit?

Cupcake Sunday

2011-12-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

For those of you in Las Vegas, the lovely ladies at Pick Your Poison cupcakes
(who make absolutely the best cupcakes in the world) will be shown competing on Cupcake Wars on the Food Network this Sunday night.

The girls are also having a viewing party at The Lady Sylvia speakeasy, 900 LV Blvd south, from 7 to 10 on Sunday, with drinks and cupcakes to sample. If you follow them on Facebook there is a map and link.

weekend events and E

2011-12-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

A new restaurant is opening at the Excalibur – a BBQ joint partially owned by Lynard Skynard. Yes, these guys

Older versions of those guys of course. If you show up tomorrow for the grand opening they will be putting on an acoustic performance inside to kick the place off. I like that song, but most people would list this one as the band’s most played, so I’ll include it.

Other events this week include the ongoing Grand Finals Rodeo, directed at that audience are performances by Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Tanya Tucker, Merle Haggard and more, for other directions there are Jay Z & Kanye at the MGM, Jane’s Addiction, Andrea Bocelli, Ron White, Bill Engvall, Jenny McCarthy, Skrillex and a lot more scattered around town.

But on Fridays I usually post photos of my granddaughter E, so here are a few from back when she had more hair:
She still likes to read

And drive

And eat cereal for breakfast (she goes along with Grammie for Honey Nut Cheerios)

City center lights and the marathon

2011-12-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

It was a busy weekend here in Las Vegas. The marathon ran on Sunday, and I didn’t realize that this year they ran it at night – the start time was 5pm. Starting at Mandalay Bay on the south end of the Strip, runners proceeded up Las Vegas Boulevard north to downtown, running on Freemont Street and back. The half marathon returned to Mandalay while the full marathon turned west and wandered around a bit to get to the full 26 mile mark. This was put on as a Rock N’ Roll Marathon, with live bands playing every mile or so. It must have been a nice run, between the casinos and all the lights to the Freemont canopy with music along the way. It was cold though, at the start the temperatures were in the low 50’s (around 12c) and cooled off from there. But moving the run to the evening hours did spark attendance – over 44,000 runners, the third largest marathon in the US.

The timing required that Las Vegas Boulevard be closed for most of the day, which caused a lot of problems with our other big event: the National Finals Rodeo. The Rodeo itself is taking place at the University center, which is a few miles east of the Strip down Tropicana. When it let out at 3 there were thousands of people that had to get back to their hotel rooms, which was a challenging task with the Strip closed and traffic not being able to cross except at limited points. But the rodeo went well. We walked the south end of the Strip on Saturday night, and cowboy hats and very short skirts were much in evidence. The hats come and go, but the skirts are around most nights, no matter how cold it is. We also walked through the Monte Carlo and New York New York casinos and noticed the new trend in the big places of putting scantily clad dancers up on a bar right on the casino floor. (one in Monte Carlo did have on a cowboy hat, which probably covered more skin than the rest of her outfit). I was distracted walking past, I wonder how the players like it. It must work at attracting and keeping gamblers putting out their money or the casinos wouldn’t do it.

In keeping with the Strip theme, here are a few shots taken at the Crystals shopping center at City Center: first, I liked the birds on this store’s windows

From the upper level the center shows it’s interesting interior shapes

Down at the bottom is this sculpture, where the plastic sculptures keep changing colors

Almost December!

2011-11-30T09:50:00.001-08:00

We just went through a nice long Thanksgiving weekend and are preparing for Christmas. December used to be a quiet month in Las Vegas, but that has changed with several groups converging here. This weekend will see the annual Cowboy weekend with the Nationals Final Rodeo at Thomas and Mack center with sub events all over, Nascar will be back at our speedway up north, the Rock and Roll Marathon takes place on the Strip, and on Saturday will be the Santa Run (the one I participate in). So whatever your interest there seems to be something.

Out in our backyard it is finally Fall, the leaves on the peach tree have turned yellow and almost all fell off suddenly, and the ash tree is a nice bronze color.

The only unfortunate thing is that all the Thanksgiving turkey has been eaten up. I just love turkey sandwiches.

Steam engines

2011-11-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

I play with toy trains, and at times like to look at real ones also. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Union Pacific Railroad, and as part of their celebration they are having one of their two steam engines, UP844, tour the country. It's in Arizona right now, and on Sunday will be coming to Las Vegas from San Bernardino. Due to arrive Sunday afternoon and be open for tours at the rail yards downtown Monday from 9 to 5. This is the first steam in Vegas in eleven years, there are only a handful of running engines around the country and it is something you don't see very often. If you haven't seen a live steam engine then this might be your only chance - they are big and impressive. This one was built in 1929 and has been restored by UP.

It's pulling a train of pretty yellow UP passenger cars.

Not many computers in the cab.

It is more impressive up close (in Gilbert, Arizona last week).

There are some nice Videos here.

All photos from the UP Facebook page

I plan on driving down to Kelso on Sunday morning to see it running through. Probably joining a big crowd of steam enthusiasts, but we'll see.

from space

2011-11-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

Kevin posted this, and I really thought it beautiful, especially the lightning in one pass

Monday videos - 80's girls

2011-11-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

Looking up the YMCA video last week just forced me to look at a bunch of 80’s videos that were listed along the side as related. But before we get to those, LMFAO just came up with a new one that I found rather amusing. It even has Ron Jeremy dancing:

OK, back twenty five years. Let’s do the girls and girl groups today. I don’t think this one would get airplay today, much less back then. It would have been remade with a different top. Those things sure want their freedom

I rather liked Bananarama (at least the name). They came through town a few months ago.

Did you ever walk like the Bangles

Go-go

Cyndi is still around having fun

And a young Kylie

OK, enough big hair already

YMCA

2011-11-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

I knew Vegas was the destination for entertainers, most names come into town for a few hours or weeks (or years) to put on shows and make some money. Usually tickets to a show here are three times the price of the same show in any other city. Sometimes we even get acts that have been around for a while (Elton John? I remember him from . . ., and Cher?) but was surprised to read in yesterday's paper that the Village People will be putting on some shows next week. You remember them, of the YMCA fame? (sorry, no embedding allowed). (I really like that leather guy's mustache) Anyway, that YouTube search led me to many hours of old videos.

Normally I put up a few photos of my granddaughter E, so let's get back to that.

When Grammy was up visiting over the summer they wandered through fields of flowers

And put some in their hair (even though it was Portland and not San Francisco)

They put a lot of time into visiting restaurants and smiling too.

Cold already?

2011-11-08T07:55:00.001-08:00

I sure don’t like this daylight savings time change. Now I drive in to work heading east with the sun in my eyes and I drive home driving west with the sun in my eyes. I was used to getting to work when it was dark and watching the sun rise through my window, and having some time in the afternoon when I got home to do yard stuff. Now the sun is going down and I’m stuck inside. This is ignoring the cold – it was only 0c (33f) when I got up this morning (outside - yes we have the heater on inside) which probably has already taken out our tomatoes. We usually can pick tomatoes until the first frost, which some years has been around Christmas. This is much too early for it to get cold here. In the afternoon it warms up to around 17c or so (62f) but I would much rather have a longer fall with warmer days. This year it came too fast. Friday we had some light rain, and on the mountains just north of us it came down as snow - not much, but the hills and mountain were all white. I wanted a photo, but by the time we dug out the camera Saturday morning it had all melted. Oh well.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

Dr. H's open house

2011-11-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've written about Dr. Hammargren before, about how I much admire his collections (and would love to have a Statue of Liberty arm sticking over my back wall). He had another of his annual open houses last Sunday, and someone posted a few minutes of video taken around his place. (now what would my wife say if . . . )

Halloween

2011-10-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

E was a kitty this year, in costume made by Mom and face painting by Grammy.

This just in - sorting the haul (looks a little light to me)

E Friday - short hair

2011-10-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

We haven't done an E Friday for a while, and I've got a small backlog of photos, so here are some of them.

As a new reader E really concentrates on understanding what books are trying to tell her. Usually you can almost hear the gears grinding in there as she studies things, and sometimes it shows. But I guess learning to read is a serious thing

Since that photo she has had her hair cut. Recently they went on a trip up to Seattle, and ended up in the top of the Space Needle looking over the city. I guess this is more fun than reading, so a smile can come by once in a while

Also in Seattle is a flat maze for kids to figure out. I guess it was easy, because it looks like she's running through it

Cooking with Joe - French Fries

2011-10-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

For today’s cooking lesson we will go over how to make low oil French Fries (or Freedom Fries for you Republicans). A little healthier for you than deep frying but still full of carbs.

We start by peeling some potatoes and cutting them up into whatever size you like. I go for the thicker wedge style fries.

Then place into a plastic zip lock bag and put in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil and whatever spices you desire. I use seasoned salt and a little Creole seasoning for kick.

Zip the bag shut and knead lightly until the potatoes are all coated with oil and the spices are evenly distributed.

The onto a tray and into a 450F oven for twenty minutes, more or less depending on how thick you cut the slices and how crispy you want them. No after picture as they were eaten before I could pick the camera back up.

And finally for something totally different – did you have hair like this in 1985?

Mt. Charleston trees

2011-10-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Back to our walk up Mount Charleston a few weeks ago. There are a lot of trees up there, well, a lot compared to most of the desert and mountains of southern Nevada. Because it is still a desert up there the trees are not very big or numerous. But they are interesting. Most are pine trees, of the assortment found out in the west.

We had some thunderstorms a few weeks ago, and it was cold enough to come down as snow up on the mountain. With the addition of some man made stuff the ski resort up there was able to open for the weekend, and was quite proud to advertise that it was the first ski resort to open in the country for this ski season. All of the white stuff up there has melted as it has warmed up again (it's 29c - 85f right now down here) but another cold front is moving in. Ski season usually starts with Thanksgiving weekend so this was quite early.

E with pumpkins

2011-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Getting into Fall and close to Halloween. Yesterday E went to a pumpkin patch to pick out some future Jack O' Lanterns.

Tivoli Village

2011-10-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

Back again to Tivoli Village, a shopping center that opened up over on the west side. It's basically a small outdoor shopping mall. It was sitting untouched in the middle of construction for several years, then finally finished and opened a few months ago. Most of the storefronts are still empty, business being what it is. There are several restaurants and a large underground parking area. I think it was supposed to be part of a condominium complex, but those buildings are probably quite a few years off if to be build at all.

It's a different type of architecture, not sure what they were going for but the name makes me think of someone's idea if Italian.

On weekends they have a band set up on the central street, and a small farmer's market.

Most of the trees are big versions of those tacky crystal trees I associate with grandma's parlor, but about twenty times as big.

The pizza parlor there was pretty good.

Casino remodels and Aria

2011-10-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

It’s been a nice week here in Las Vegas. The weather has calmed down and we are running our seasonable temperatures, with afternoons up around 32c (90f) and nightly lows around 15c (60f), with typical sunny skies.

Last weekend seemed to draw some old style music. Both Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were playing, but at different casinos. And for even older Mitzi Gaynor was here as well, (remember her singing ‘was that man right out of my hair’ from South Pacific?) her first appearance in Vegas since 1978. She was a regular singer back in the ‘good old days’ in town a lot. (OK, can’t resist)

It was also IndyCar racing at the local motor speedway, which unfortunately was halted before it got very far. The Strip was closed ahead of the races as the cars sipped up and down Las Vegas Boulevard in front of Caesar’s and other casinos before large crowds.

One of the Republican debates will be held tonight at the Sands. There is hope that at least one of the candidates will mention the mortgage problems ‘ordinary’ people are having. Last year was rated as better than the year before, with only one housing unit out of eight getting repossession notices, the highest rate in the country. (and 12% was better?). wow. Our unemployment rate is at an official 14%, but admittedly is around 20% counting everyone not eligible for unemployment insurance, or who have used it up.

Business is picking up at the casinos, no big projects planned but many casinos are renovating to make them appear more modern. Wynn just spent $99,000,000 to upgrade their 2,700 rooms (in their five year old building). The Stratosphere spent $20,000,000; Bellagio underwent $70,000,000 in changes; $35,000,000 at the Plaza downtown and $180,000,000 at the Tropicana. Latest to announce remodeling is the MGM Grand, spending $160,000,000 on their 3,570 rooms and 642 suites along with changing the whole casino floor and all other public spaces.

Over at the Venetian there are plans to install a synthetic ice skating rink out front, on top of the Grand Canal, so you can skate while gondoliers row people alongside. This will be for their “Winter in Venice” celebration running from Thanksgiving through New Years. Lots of other entertainment activities are planned for what is usually the slowest month for visitors in Vegas. It won’t be cheap to skate - $19 per half hour. If you get sick of the snow season come on by in December, rates are usually low, shows offer two for one tickets, and though it isn’t too warm we usually average around 24c (mid 70’s f) in bright sunshine. You can still lay out and get a sunburn.

I don’t have any MGM or Venetian photos for you, but here are some from City Center – this is the Aria pool just outside the buffet windows (one of the only buffets in town with windows)

One of their indoor brass trees

And if you want to hit their shopping mall, it’s fairly open and a little different than the others around town

Aria

2011-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry to give the impression that the Cosmopolitan is devoid of people. We just went upstairs and wandered around the convention area. Next door at Aria it was rather busy

They do have slot machines

And crowds at the check in desk

And even here people bring along those big plastic drink containers

Cosmo

2011-10-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

Back to the Cosmopolitan.

Conference center waiting area

Some all art

Nice to wander around and not just face slot machines

Red Rock climbers

2011-10-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

We had some friends from Texas visiting last week. They didn’t want to go down to the Strip so we took them out to Red Rock Park. They’ve been camping their way across the Southwest in national park campgrounds, but still would rather see more dirt and rocks than glitter and neon (well, no more neon, it’s all LEDs now). With the storm systems moving through we still have a lot of clouds.

There were quite a lot of people out there enjoying the cooler weather. Most of the rocks had people climbing on them. Calico is the most colorful

Right next to those are more distinctive stripes.

Over by the quarry they were down closer.

Still a bit too slippery for us to try, we were all satisfied just watching.

Rain in Vegas

2011-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a rainy week in Las Vegas, and unseasonably cold. When we got up this morning it was only 46f - normal is usually much more than than. But should be back up to the mid 80's by Monday.

Because of the rain we have had some dramatic clouds. Coming in to work one morning I caught a double rainbow over where I work

Which terminated right in the middle of the Strip.

Somebody was probably down there pulling the slots looking for that pot of gold.

Yo-Yo

2011-10-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I had a hard time making a Yo-you go up and down, never imagining doing anything like this. (letting go of the string? Unheard of!)

Monday sing along

2011-10-03T14:45:00.001-07:00

A recent posting by Rob presented someone I hadn’t seen before, and I also found him rather amusing. Currently going through this with my six year old granddaughter E (who loves to read) I can see her responding like this

Though it doesn’t sound appealing to me, different people like different samiches

As long as we’re singing, this one goes through my mind many mornings when I’m driving in to work and some idiot blasts past us on the shoulder

Like Bernie?

2011-09-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind, this one has never crossed my path

TI

2011-09-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

TI - formerly known as Treasure Island, but now all (well almost all) the pirates have been taken down - recently changed owners. It was part of the MGM empire, but they needed money to finish up City Center. Phil Ruffin had just sold the New Frontier and had lots of cash, so he was able to buy the place mortgage free.

Treasure Island used to have a pirate theme, with skull and crossbones symbols all over, employees dressed like pirates, a kids arcade and a small lagoon out front where there were daily battles of pirates versus the good guys. (depending on your view of who the good guys are) A while back the place was converted to more of an adult contemporary theme, the arcade pulled out and the pirate battle changed to a ship battle between Sirenes (attractive young women dressed in bikinis) fighting pirates. (spoiler: the pirates always lose, and their ship sinks)

The new owner decided to do a minor makeover: instead of competing with the Wynn and Venetian which are on the same intersection (average rooms there: $189) he moved to the lower priced market, with $ 49 rooms. He pulled out the Audinger night club and brought back Gilley's (which he had at the Frontier). He kept the Cirque show Mystere.

This is what Sirene's Cove and the ships look like from Gilley's window:
;

Work

2011-09-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

I used to work right on the Strip, in the middle of all of the casino activity. I now work about as far away from it as you can get and still pretend you are in Vegas. Out at the eastern edge of Henderson, about 25 miles away.

Those are the casino towers, over to the right way down there.

Every payday these two guys show up to wash cars. They bring a little tent and a truck with a water tank and power sprayer and do a pretty good job.

Must be nice to work outside in the shade. When it gets up to 110 they can spray each other with the hose.

We have two little grass patches out front. Since we are out in the desert a lot of animals come by. I've seen roadrunners and quail and coyotes and chipmunks, but the most obvious are the bunnies. Looks like one family, as it started out with two big bunnies, moved to two big ones and four or five little ones and now they are all about the same size. They move between the two grassy areas, munching and just sitting. Usually in the evening all of them are gathered together at the corner, just waiting. They are used to people walking by, and just stare back not moving. But walk towards them and they'll sprint away.

Tday be Talk Like a Pirate day

2011-09-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ahoy Maties - Arrrg – this be a reminder te ya tha international talk like a pirate day be taday. Everyone a ya should be talkin like a pirate – Not this kind of pirates

But them kind

For more information yer can goes ta the Official HQ page. This event seems to be more fun over in jolly old England than here in the colonies.

So remember, don’t be talkin like this guy

Unless you dress like him too.

Update:
Arrrr, you've asked how to talk like a pirate matey, from the American site

So remember, ye be talkin' like this

Remember

2011-09-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Rob for following all of the 9/11 hate

Trimming the palm

2011-09-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to do some things around the house we’ve been avoiding, using the summer heat as an excuse. One of the big things was trimming the trees out front – mainly the big palm in the center. It should be done in the spring, but a lot of birds have taken to building nests in it, and if I trim the lower leaves I disturb them too much. Last time I trimmed I ended up dropping two mockingbird nests that had eggs, and I don’t think they came back. Mostly it’s the sparrows and finches, but sometimes I do see the mocking birds up there.

This is dangerous to trim – not because it’s so high but because of the palm fronds. The tree has probably been in for forty years, since the house was built, and the lowest fronds grow at about ten feet above the ground. New fronds come from the center top, forcing the lower ones to rotate from vertical down to horizontal. The fronds are about four meters long, and the ends droop down to touch the ground, getting in the way of cars in the driveway. I usually trim the lowest row every year, but skipped last year so there was a lot to take off. No before photos, but you can see the reach of the tree.

Down at the base of each frond the individual leaves change, ending up as eight inch long hard spikes. I use an electric saw to trim each, and usually the end hits the ground and the frond pivots down toward me. Yesterday I took a spike to the forehead, not very pleasant. You can see the bird nests scattered at the base of each frond.

But it’s all down now, this morning was spend cutting them up and bundling the end pieces, into things the trash men are willing to take.

Pick Your Poison cupcakes

2011-09-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

I like to eat – living in Las Vegas there are lots of fancy restaurants and places to go, but most of the really nice places are quite expensive. I cook myself, and a few of the things I make are pretty good. But there are only a few things that I have eaten that really cause a lasting impression.

When we visited France a while back I loved the food. Everything we had was marvelous, but we spent a few days in the small town of Baynac, in the Baynac Hotel. It is a very small town, with an old castle on the hill overlooking the valley. The area is known for the production of fois gras, never having it before I had a chance to try it. While dining in the hotel restaurant (the only restaurant in town) the first night I ordered the fois gras appetizer – small rounds served on walnut bread toast with a wine sauce. I put the first bite in my mouth and experienced something I never had before, just the way that stuff tasted in my mouth was overwhelming. I’ve never before eaten anything so gorgeous. There were other outstanding things we had during our trip, but that one dish is something I will always remember.

I’ve always been hoping for a similar feeling when I try something new. There are lots of places we go in town, and lots of things that I make, that are just delicious, but nothing so dramatic. Well, a few days ago I had a similar experience.

I saw a Facebook like by a friend for this place: Pick Your Poison Bake Shop. The web site looked very nice (well done ladies) but the descriptions of their cupcakes made them sound pretty good. I ordered an assortment: two dozen big ones and two dozen little ones, six different flavors overall. This past Thursday lovely Robyn herself came by work to deliver them.

I carried the boxes upstairs and asked if anyone wanted a cupcake. The result:

Fortunately I was able to grab a few of each to take home, and snagged one of the PB&J for myself. I peeled of the paper and took a bite and was transported. It was the best cake that I had ever tasted – light cake with a delicate flavor, jelly filling and peanut butter cream cheese frosting – it was heaven in my hand. Thank you Robyn and Taryn for creating these marvelous things.

Later I had one of the Lemon Drops, and a Margarita, and a Drunken Pineapple (no, not all at once, scattered over a bit of time). All of them were fantastic! I wish I were being paid to do a review, I would love to gorge on cupcakes like these, but I do plan on ordering more.

They do not have a storefront, but deliver anywhere in town, including to the big Strip hotels (with a delivery charge for those, the hotels make them pay). If you come to Vegas skip a few drinks and order a few dozen cupcakes – you’ll probably spend less but your tongue will thank you. Sit in your hotel room, by the pool, or as you walk around and much. Mmmmmmmmmm

E comics

2011-09-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

When visiting us last month we were interested to see our granddaughter E's new pixie cut hair

She likes to read the Sunday comics. And now she can really read them instead of having Grammie do it as she looks at the pictures.

Air repair

2011-09-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last month the air conditioner at our house that cools the bedrooms died. Our house has three air conditioning units and two evaporative coolers (commonly called swamp coolers) up on the roof, a lot of stuff up there where most new houses only have a single air unit. It was making noise, and blowing air, but it was hot outside air not cool refreshing breezes. Since it was 42c (108f) outside with another few months of that predicted we tried just using the front air unit and setting up a fan to blow into the bedroom, but that just wasn't designed to keep up with the summer temperatures. We ended up calling a repair company, the one that replaced the units when we moved in nine years ago. The result:

Doesn't look like $426, does it?

On a different topic, here is the Elvis store at Aria. I don't know if this will be closing when the show closes, or if the show will be renamed. But for now it's here, upstairs in a quiet area.

Around the office

2011-08-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I currently have to work at a job. No, not independently wealthy yet, I still depend on those paychecks to get by. My last employer was the Sands Convention Center, where I provided computer programming services for running the place, and created web sites as required. The Sands Convention Center is attached to the Venetian/Palazzo hotels (sorry, resorts). As visitors coming to Las Vegas declined along with the economy all of the big Las Vegas resorts had massive layoffs. The Sands was unaffected by several over at the Venetian, but eventually we were included in a round that covered about 2,000 people. The Venetian laid off 2,000, the Sands only 20, but proportionately it was a larger percentage of the Sands workforce. It doesn’t take too many permanent people to run a convention center, we brought in temporary workers to help put on the shows, the full time staff just maintained the place and organized renting the place.

I was out of work for a while, and eventually hired by a company located way out at the edge of Henderson, one of the cities that comprise the greater Las Vegas area. Our building is out at the far north eastern edge of the Vegas valley, with no other building within a mile of us. The building is split into areas, and filled with cubicles. Upstairs we have low walls, but downstairs the cubes are smaller and taller, providing isolation for the sales staff talking on their phones.

I’ve got a cube near the outside wall, with a window right behind me., with a view of the open desert and the mountains.

As a result of our location we have a lot of animal visitors to our small spot of grass out front. There is a group of seven or eight rabbits that are out every morning eating the grass. Yesterday one of them was a little different; it seems like he had a little run in with a coyote, as his left ear has a nice bite taken out of the very tip. Just had my cell phone when he was close to the window, so you have to look closely to make out the missing tip.

Besides the rabbits there are lots of little chipmunks skittering around. They are to small and fast and don’t stop to pose for me to get a good photograph. A family of a dozen or so quail also come by. Yesterday a road runner made his appearance, out on the grass with the bunnies.

But the warm summer also brings out some other desert citizens. Last week a rattlesnake was found in the shade of the building. Our office manager is a little snake paranoid, so we have several snake bite kits scattered around, along with a special snake stick to pick them up with – it’s about two meters long with a grasping hook at the end. The stick was used to move this guy (no photos of that, sorry) and it ended up being a young snake, about a meter long with only three or four rattle segments.

Still big enough to cause some pain if he bit anyone.

Monday Videos

2011-08-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

On Mondays I try to share some of the videos that I’ve been looking at lately. Most of them are music videos, a lot are here because I listen to the New Zealand radio station NZED over the internet while sitting at work, and they link to things that I haven’t heard in the US yet. Others are from postings on other blogs, or things I happen to run into.

Today I’ve been listening to a new release over in NZ. It’s a nice song with interesting images in the video

Besides, a video with naked people can’t be all bad.

This one came from somewhere, nice hook

Hadn’t heard of her before. She appeared on The Voice, a show I don’t watch. Looks like she picked up a good handler that greatly changed her style, judging by some postings from not too long ago.

I’ll take the new version.

E Friday - with hair

2011-08-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Just a mixture of things about granddaughter E today. One of her recent visits down resulted in a trip to the local park – local parks are important in Las Vegas because almost everyone has followed the advice of our water district and we have become more water smart (their advertising term) and pulled out our lawns and replaced them with gravel and native vegetation. For those of you not familiar with our ‘native vegetation’ it has evolved to be unattractive to eat, resulting in plants with no big leaves (that are easy to munch), tough bark and lots of thorns. Usually the plants also are low growing and not very colorful. They also depend on wind born pollination, which results in the creation of tons of pollen, which also produces allergies in people that didn’t have allergies before moving here.

Anyway, we went to the park, where E likes the big swings and the tube slides and climbing stuff.

Grammy went up to Portland for her fifth birthday (she is SIX now, say it loudly please). Back when she had more hair

Her favorite breakfast is cheerios. This trip it has changed to banana cheerios, due to grandma seeing that new flavor on the supermarket shelf.

And sometimes a muffin.

Mt. Charleston flowers

2011-08-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last week we went up to Mt. Charleston again for a picnic. It’s a lot cooler there, two patches of snow were still high up in the shade. We weren’t that high, but did have a nice picnic next to a small stream and walked along the nature trail. It’s still a mountain desert, with very little water besides the winter snows, so the vegetation is not very lush. The trees are scrawny and the weeds very low, but there were some flowers scattered here and there.

It is pretty remote down from the road, with no traffic and hikers that wander through every few years or so. There are some streams, and it looks like some Californians have moved in. Last week a police helicopter searching for a lost hiker found something else: several acres of marijuana plants growing. The TV news yesterday showed scenes of an assortment of workers hiking down to the location, finding a complex drip watering system fed by some springs and evidence that the growers had been there for several years. The estimate is of several million dollars street value of plants, which will be cut down, hauled out by helicopter and burned. I don’t know why they go through all that trouble, people had planned on burning the plants anyway, just in smaller quantities wrapped in paper.

Talk like a Pirate day coming

2011-08-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

An advanced reminder that International Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming soon, on Monday September 19

As discussed in this Wiki entry, and you can go to the official site to learn exactly what to do.

A hot week predicted

2011-08-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

This week is looking to be the hottest week of our summer. Highs for the next four days are predicted to be over 44c (110f), a point that we have only hit twice so far this year. Normally the middle of July is the hottest time, and August is the start of a cool down towards Fall. Thank you Oklahoma (and the rest of the country) for taking our heat for most of the summer. Though we love the sunshine and summer warmth it is still nice to be a little bit cooler than normal.

To help you think happy thoughts here is a cooling view of the Palazzo center court.

Caesar's Linq

2011-08-22T15:31:00.001-07:00

The largest employer and biggest company in Las Vegas, MGM, completed its City Center complex a few years ago (except for the Harmon Hotel thing). The second largest company is Caesars Entertainment has just announced its next large project, not quite as big as City Center, but for more than I could spend. The Linq is a $550,000,000 “outdoor retail, dining and entertainment district patterned after The Grove in Los Angeles and anchored by the world’s tallest observation wheel.”

It will be constructed in the center of the Strip on the east side, across from Caesar’s Palace between the Imperial Palace and the Flamingo. Currently O’Shea’s casino is located there, and it will be demolished to make room for the new stuff. I wandered through O’Shea’s a few times, the only notable thing about that small casino was their on-staff Leprechaun, dressed in green standing out front trying to entice people to enter and get some cold beer. The Imperial Palace will receive a major facelift and be renamed and the Flamingo will get a new entryway.

Caesar’s Entertainment is trying to provide an entertainment destination for the ‘younger’ crowd, those that don’t find acres of slot machines appealing but would rather have multiple things to do. Drawings show a mixture of rides, bars and restaurants along with the big wheel. (Don’t call it a ‘Ferris Wheel’; it’s an ‘Observation Wheel’). Caesar’s Entertainment covers Caesar’s Palace, Harrah’s, Planet Hollywood, Paris, the Flamingo, Rio, Imperial Palace, Bally’s and several other casinos.

Along with the announcement Caesar’s said they have all the plans and money in place, would be applying for permits and be ready to start construction almost immediately. This would create several thousand construction jobs which would be great as all other construction has halted. However, because of the lack of jobs most construction people have moved out of Nevada looking for work. I don’t know who is around to do that work. Then it would provide 1,500 permanent jobs.

The Wheel would be 550 feet high, 107 feet taller than the London Eye, with 40 passengers in each glass sphere. I don’t know if people will pay $20 (or whatever they end up charging) just to go up and down slowly, but the planners must expect riders. The rest of the design looks pretty nice, and will create a fun destination that doesn’t include just gambling. It should take two years to build, so the next time you come to Vegas you’ll have an additional place to take up some of your time.

The Elvis billboard is gone

2011-08-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like having the world’s most expensive billboard did not help out Elvis, or the billboard.

When City Center was built it was comprised of several separate buildings, each of which would function independently.

Most of them were designed by different architects and built by different construction companies, but they all seem to fit together quite well.

One of the showcase buildings, right on the Strip next to the Cosmopolitan and the Bellagio was to be the Harmon Hotel. The design was for 27 floors of hotel rooms, with 20 floors of condominiums above. Unfortunately, the construction company putting up this building had problems converting the engineering blueprints into an actual building. The reinforcing steel bars (rebar) that ran vertically in the walls were supposed to be firmly connected to the horizontal rebar in each floor, thus making the building one giant linked object. Concrete is then formed over the steel, creating the building. This is the common form of construction for most modern large buildings. The construction workers however had problems making the rebar connections, which resulted in the steel in the floors not being tied to the steel in the walls. For some reason the inspectors that were supposed to be examining everything as it went together were not doing their jobs either, and the difference between the blueprints and reality were not noticed until concrete for the 27th floor was being poured. (private inspection companies were used, not government inspectors)

Work stopped at that point as the county building department was called in. Unsure if it was safe to continue upwards, it was decided to put up the glass and leave the building unfinished until full inspections could be made. MGM put up a big sign for their new Elvis Cirque du Soleil show on the Strip side of the building, thus turning it into a $79,000,000 billboard.

MGM and Perini Construction are involved in a series of lawsuits about the building. A few weeks ago MGM released inspection reports by several firms they hired to review the building. The reports showed the building would be unsafe in a large earthquake. MGM took some time to decide whether they could fix things, and last week decided they did not want to. So a request was placed with the court to let MGM just tear the place down. Perini says they can fix it, and that MGM was going to destroy evidence and just wanted to take down a building that the economy was making unviable. A court will decide the fate of the building.

Meanwhile, the Elvis show has turned out to be so poorly attended that Cirque and MGM decided to close that as well. The plan is to modify the show, and take away a lot of the Elvis background and make it more of a Cirque acrobatic performance, like most of their other shows. They plan to be closed for at least three months while the show is revised. So the big Elvis wrap has been removed from the building, and probably the whole building will soon be gone as well.

The overall cost for the entire City Center project rose from initial estimates to a final $8,500,000,000, so the Harmon building is just a minor part of the big picture. It seems the only people that will benefit from the Harmon part are lawyers, many of which are working for both MGM and Perini. It looks like lawsuits will be around for this part for quite a few more years.

E Friday - fashion

2011-08-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Granddaughter E has developed into something of a ‘fashionista’. She likes selecting her own outfits, and mom has given up making suggestions. I find most of the combinations to be interesting, along with some of the poses.

scenes

2011-08-11T16:27:00.001-07:00

We went over to a restaurant in Summerlin a few days ago – just an area west of the Strip built up by the Howard Hughes Corporation into some fancy neighborhoods. One of the restaurant areas has a nice view of Red Rock

South of town, down I15 headed to Los Angeles about twenty miles is the big city of Jean. Just east is the site of the Nevada State Prison, now closed but used by CSI for most of their prison and jail scenes.

Bathroom's done

2011-08-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

A while back we remodeled our hall bath. No knocking down walls and making it bigger, just new tile all around, new fixtures, new cabinets and counter and sink and lighting and floor tiles. Just minor things (that for some reason took weeks to do). Did it all ourselves, and found out it’s hard to lay tiles with consistent grout lines if the tile saws that you rent from Home Depot don’t cut a straight line. Anyway . .

B wanted to go for big tile, so we found some 24” x 24” things that looked pretty. Then decided that they looked good on the floor but too big for a small bathroom wall, so they were cut down to 12” x 24” and stuck on vertically. That was boring so we came up with an accent stripe in a different shade. And of course I had to figure out how to do niches for soap and stuff in both the shower and tub areas. All of those home improvement shows we watch on cable aided us, and I was able to order some fancy waterproofing for the shower stall (pulled out a plastic one we put in when we moved and made it all tile) and figured out the right way to do tile. We can see the imperfections, but our visitors think it looks pretty good.

Here’s B working on grouting the tub area

And this is what the shower ended up like. Tile color is the same all around but the lights are different, so the camera auto color correct didn’t make them match in the two photos. To my eye they are more beige like the below photo

Cosmopolitan art

2011-08-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Cosmopolitan has many art pieces scattered around. These guys were interesting, over a meter high, having an intense silent conversation.

City Center fountains

2011-08-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

City Center is a large complex on the Las Vegas Strip just south of the Bellagio. It is comprised of several structures; a casino, some hotel towers (managed by different companies), a shopping center and some residential condo towers. There is a central court with a driveway for vehicles, a special cab only driveway and ramp and some fountains. A monorail runs from the Monte Carlo to the south through the complex and ends at the Bellagio. It was the largest privately funded construction project in the history of the US, with construction on the 76 acres costing over $ 9,000,000,000 (wow).

There are seven parking garages at City Center, six are valet only and one is public access. Whenever we visit we usually park at the Luxor located across Tropicana to the south, walk over through the Luxor and Excalibur, cross the street on the elevated bridge, through New York, New York (so nice they named it twice) and into the Monte Carlo, where we catch the monorail to the Bellagio where we look at the latest decorations in the conservatory, then walk back through City Center. (yes, it is a lot of walking).

Here is the central court

Over to the west is a large water wall fountain

The central fountain has the same water jets located in the Bellagio fountain, so you get to watch a miniature version of the big water show

The blue building in the center background of the last photo is the Harmon Hotel, which due to construction defects is now the most expensive billboard in the world, displaying a large sign for the Cirque show Elvis, individual construction of this building estimated at over $400,000,000. Sounds like it is going to be demolished due to problems with the construction steel and rebuilt.

Friday!

2011-08-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

For some reason I am glad it’s Friday

Just love Katy’ Perry’s response.

We were talking about music videos being short stories compared to movies – I miss when MTV used to show videos instead of reality shows. But at least YouTube is available. NZED plays this all the time, and it still sounds like fun.

Birds

2011-08-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

I found out why, within two hours of putting a pound of seeds in my bird feeder, the thing is empty:

Birds come by and eat all the seeds!!! Imagine that.

wet

2011-08-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of rain this weekend. Thunderstorms Friday evening really dropped the rain at our house, Saturday a little wet and then Sunday it rained steadily all day. Because of the hills and winds different parts of the valley get different amounts of rain - might have rained all day at my place but the Strip could have been sunny. No telling.

But the high humidity (well, for us 25% is damp) brings nice sunrises

The colors don't come out in the camera as nicely as they do live.

Mt. Charleston

2011-08-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

We went up to Mount Charleston one Sunday to see just how much cooler it was up there. Mt. Charleston is the big hill just northwest of Vegas, a forty five minute drive from our house. The peak is around 12,000 ft (3,700 meters) high, and gets a fair amount of snow in the winter. There is a small ski and snowboarding area with lifts, which is scheduled to greatly expand over the next few years. You can gamble down on the warm strip (winter highs are usually close to 80f (26c)) and then go up and play in the snow.

Driving up to the parking area near the ski lifts we can see that even though it’s the end of July there is still snow up here. Temperatures were about 30 degrees cooler than down in the valley.

There are a lot of walking trails through the pines. Even though it is high and they get snow in the winter it is still a desert, the trees are not as large as other mountains have, there are no low growing bushes, the grass is sparse, but still different than the open flats far below.

There are lifts up the slope, the skiing is nothing like the big ski resorts but it is close to town.

Trails are open, most are fenced to keep people off of the surrounding hills as feet tend to kill the plants, resulting in a lot of erosion due to the poor soil and slow plant growth.

Most of the upper mountain is rock, with no paths to the top. I haven’t heard anything about it being a big climbing area.

There are picnic areas, but due to the dryness and high fire danger most of the summer open fires are not permitted. Bring along sandwiches, or a camping stove if you want to cook something. It’s a cool diversion for summer activities.

Monday, not much to do videos

2011-08-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Some videos have been on my list to post for a while. My New Zealand radio station plays a lot of Justin Beiber. I can just see this at the biker bar near my house

What Santa does in his off time

Or fast clapping

721 Claps Per Minute - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

And back to one of my favorite singers

Green Valley Ranch

2011-07-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Green Valley Ranch to meet some friends for dinner and a show. Green Valley is part of the Station Casinos chain, with all of their places off Strip and aimed at locals more than tourists. We mainly went to see Lyle Lovett in concert, having seen him with his Large Band down in San Diego a while back. This time he just sat on stage with a friend and a guitar, told stories and played and sang by himself – quite different than having twenty musicians behind him.

Green Valley Casino seems to mirror other Station casinos, having an ‘old time’ feel with stained glass and wood.

The buffet is fairly cheap for locals, with dinner at $12.99, so the line is usually long.

The food is good if not exciting, but you can sit as long as you want and eat as much as you want, and the crowd seems to be mostly the over 60 group.

2011-07-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the reminder from Tricia:

Everyone knows Amy Winehouse died. Who are Justin Allen 23, Brett Linley 29, Matthew Weikert 29, Justus Bartett 27, Dave Santos 21, Jesse Reed 26, Matthew Johnson 21, Zachary Fisher 24, Brandon King 23, Christopher Goeke 23, and Sheldon Tate 27....? All Marines that gave their lives this week for you. There is no media for them... not even a mention of their names. Honor THEM by posting this!

Tivoli Village - Sophie's fountain

2011-07-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we drove over to the newly opened Tivoli shopping center. It’s similar in style to the Towne Center and the District at Green Valley; an open air shopping area with a mixture of standalone and attached buildings with shops and restaurants, living space above, and an atmosphere that is supposed to be like a small town rather than just a shopping center, with streets and parks and things. Since the weather in Las Vegas is rather pleasant most of the year a lot of shopping centers are not enclosed, as they are in colder climates.

At one end of the main street near the kid’s playground is an interactive fountain, the kind that is designed for kids to run through, with soft rubber underfoot and jets and sprays that alternate. There were a few small kids playing nearby when we walked up, and I stepped on the button to start the spray sequence and we sat to enjoy the cooling mist – it was 102f and we could use the cooling part. The kids saw the activity and came running over. One was named Sophie – her mom kept yelling “Sophie – don’t do that… Sophie, don’t …”. Evidently this was the first time Sophie had seen a fountain like this. Her grandmother kept urging her to go on the fountain, and it did take a while for her to brave the water.

My wife B said that once Sophie started running through the water her mom would have a hard time getting her out of there, and it seems she was right.

As we walked down the street we could hear Sophie laughing as she ran through the water and played with the fountain, and kept urging grandma to start it again when the sequence ended.

Mandalay bride

2011-07-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Mandalay Bay with a friend to eat at the Burger Bar and show her the views from the Fire & Ice Bar on the top floor; she’s lived in town for ten years and had never been to either place. I like going to Mandalay Bay and the attached Luxor for several reasons, the main one being access: it is on the same side of the Strip as our house and thus is relatively easy to get to, the parking garages open onto the road behind (Frank Sinatra Drive), and the parking garage is large with big aisles, wide parking spaces, and escalators within the parking garage between levels, taking you right down to the back entrance. It’s also a rather pleasant place, with good restaurants and an atmosphere that I like.

Anyway, the back door from the parking garage brings you in between the restaurants in the south western corner of the property. As we walked past the statue of Lenin in front of the Red Square restaurant (voted the Best Bar in America by Playboy Magazine according to their web site) we walked past one of those sites that I love to see on the Strip; a bride in full wedding gown walking around. This one appeared to be by herself, no spouse or fiancé in evidence, and was heading towards the garage, walking very quickly.

Sorry I don’t have a good photo, the camera wasn’t in my hand and I have not fully developed my quick-draw technique, though there are times I wish I was faster. I will have to pull all of these bride photos together, the average seems to be one bride for every three trips we take down to the strip; time of day or day of week is immaterial, I’ve seen fancy bridal gowns in early morning on the way to work, seen weddings on a pirate ship at noon, crossing the street in late afternoon, on late night walks, and everything in between. This one was at around 5pm on a Thursday evening.

Back to the Burger Bar – this time I tried one of their named burgers, with buffalo meat and an assortment of stuff on it: it was really great. But when we tried to get upstairs we found the bar was closed for a private party, so our friend still hasn’t seen the view of the Strip from on high. Next time you are in Vegas go up to Mix and catch the sunset – no cover charge if you’re early, you can even get by without buying a drink, but take some time, have a coke or something stronger and enjoy the view. Be sure to hit the restrooms – at my house we don’t even have a window in the bathroom, there you have a floor to ceiling glass wall looking down the Strip to the south.

Wow, looking at the menu for Red Square, the first thing listed is Imperial Golden Osetra 000 caviar at $ 275. One reason we haven’t eaten there. Of the other restaurants, Strip Steak at least lists the ‘average bill per person $110. A 30 oz Porterhouse steak at $69 – you better be really hungry.

Bunnie gauge

2011-07-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

The building I work in is rather far out in the middle of nothing. The nearest other building is about a mile away across open desert. Because of this we seem to get a lot of animals around the place. Sitting in the upstairs conference room I look out over the front parking lot to a big empty field. I usually see rabbits, chipmunks and quail. Once in a while a coyote wanders through, but they are usually night stalkers that sleep during the day. Some people have seen rattlesnakes near the doors as well.

A family of rabbits comes by to nibble the grass each morning, hanging around out there until about noon. They don’t seem too scared of the people walking by, but do run away if you stop or get too close. I’m trying to gauge what kind of day it will be based on the number of rabbits that are out there when I come in. Today was a one bunnie morning, some days have more than others.
Two bunnie morning

Three bunnie morning

Four bunnie morning

Haven’t seen more than that all gathered together, but others are hopping around.

E Friday, more random

2011-07-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, and I am finally doing E Friday on a Friday. Wow, I am impressed with myself (if I really do get to post this.) Inspired by Clare I am posting three photos of my loverly granddaughter E. She now lives up in Portland, and my wife and I get to go up and visit periodically. She is due down in August for her yearly swimming in warm water vacation, which we are looking forward to. Here are three random photos with no relation to each other taken on past trips up there.

E is taking violin lessons, and at one of the group sessions the instructor has the students play as they walk. I don’t know what this has to do with violin playing, unless there is a marching orchestra someplace. (E’s the one in white and red)

Not far from her house is an old amusement park named Oaks Bottom that she likes going to. The place looks like it’s been around for a while, and it’s nothing at all like Disneyland, but being her size and experience level it’s still pretty good. As with most places you end up waiting in line to get on the rides. Being short you grow tired of staring at the butts in front of you.

Grammy picks E up from school, and on the walk home sometimes stops for an ice cream or other treat. These seem to be appreciated.

Video Monday, TV themes

2011-07-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

Last week I posted a few bits from the TV show Route 66. Watching television this week emphasized to me how much time was spent in the past on tying songs to television series, with people being able to recognize what’s coming on from the first few bars of the opening music. Here are a few others that I remember, some with just music

Some even had words, of course they were fairly easy to remember

OK, I could go on for quite a while, but that’s enough for now.

more Red Rock

2011-07-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

Red Rock is the 'conservation area' just west of Vegas. We go there to hike and walk around, but it also has a long bike route that is very well used.

A while back several companies started renting scooters so that tourists could get around town easier. Realizing that people often fell off of these two wheeled vehicles they then came up with three wheeled motorcycles which don't require a fancy drivers license to operate, and are fairly easy to use while still keeping the rider out in the sun. Somebody thought of putting a fiberglass body on these to make them seem more like small cars, the result is these vehicles, seen on the Red Rock loop

In response, here is E riding her bike around the living room. I don't ask, she was 5.

Don't know if the training wheels have come off yet.

Rt 66 revisited

2011-07-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry, meant to put this up yesterday too. Not sure what came first, the song or the tv show. I think it was the song that inspired the show writers.

Rt 66

2011-07-13T07:37:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago I drove down to 29 Palms with a friend. We went to a train show there, but mainly the trip was the purpose not the destination. It's a three hour drive mostly on two lane roads through some of the most (try to think of some descriptions that aren't too worn out), well, what I thought was ‘Why the heck do people live out here?’. It was all flat, barren landscape with low scrub and distant mountains. (oh, yea, kind of like Vegas) with no water and an hour drive to the nearest store. But there were little shacks scattered all over, most of them vacant now. Must have been even harder to live out there years ago when cars weren’t as reliable. There were not farms, gardens, flowers, or anything green beyond the native shrub.

Part of the drive was along old Route 66, a road that used to be the main way from Los Angeles to Chicago. It’s been bypassed by much larger freeways now, but some nostalgic people still travel the road. We passed an old motel that is still open, even had a big grand piano in the lobby visible from the street. Comprised of that interesting lobby building and individual buildings for the bedrooms.

I was raised back east, but remember Route 66 from the old 1960 television series starring Martin Milner and George Maharis. There are lots of episodes on YouTube, one has the theme song

The series followed the two stars as they drove along Route 66 in their classy Corvette running into different adventures along the way. This opening showed more of the western area

But my favorite (after watching a variety of clips for a while) is an episode staring Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr. and Boris Karloff. This episode takes place on the eastern end of the highway, at Chicago.

Olives

2011-07-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

We’ve had a relatively cool spring, and our summer isn’t warming up very quickly either. This week the predictions are for high temperatures to be under 37c (100f) all week. Last year we were up over 43c (110f) every day. I still love the hot weather, but it really is nice to sit out in the morning, have my coffee and listen to the birds without having to sweat.

We have been getting out on weekends and visiting different spots around town. Last Sunday we drove up to Mt. Charleston, before it was Red Rock. Perhaps another road trip south might be next. Last time B flew back from Portland she took this photo of Red Rock from the plane

Makes it look pretty, but stark. I would still rather do trees, but then it wouldn’t be the Vegas desert, would it?
Out in our front yard the olive trees are full of fruit. We don’t do anything with it except let the birds feast, but even then there are quite a lot of olives left over. Right now they are bright green and starting to weigh down the tree branches, eventually they will turn deep purple and start falling off. That’s when are yard will be filled with pigeons pecking the olives apart. They seem to be the only birds that do that, all the other birds just use the olive trees for nesting rather than eating. The pigeon population is still limited, and more olives just lay untouched. The ones from last year are now all dried and hard, but we’re too lazy to gather them up.

An older couple does come around in early fall and asks if they can pick the olives, evidently it is a time consuming process to make them edible, I find it much easier to just open a jar.

Go To Sleep

2011-07-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

I've heard of this book but not gotten it yet. I love the way Samuel Jackson reads it. (something a lot of parents would be saying to their kids, at least in their heads)

Quiet weekend

2011-07-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

We had a quiet holiday weekend. The weather wasn’t as warm as expected, and Sunday brought some interesting lightning and thunderstorms, but we were able to hit the pool

And made up some grilled salmon following a recipe in the recent Sunset magazine

Sitting on some fresh summer corn (yea sweet corn!) and tomatoes from our garden (yea fresh garden tomatoes!) served with margaritas, made one afternoon enjoyable.

Last week it finally started getting hot. I walked out to my car after work, started it up and looked down at the dashboard thermometer saying 113 (45c) and yes, felt pretty hot in there. It took a while for the air conditioner to cool the car down, but it was cold in there by the time I got home. Usually I just drive with the windows down, a throwback to my convertible days, but it’s a little too noisy on the freeways to do that at high speed. Mornings are really nice – it’s around 78 (26c) when the sun is coming out, we sit on the back patio watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeder and listening to all of the birds chirping in the bushes, drink our coffee and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Bachi Burger

2011-06-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

A while ago Daly discussed her trip to Bachi Burger, a local restaurant in the area just south of the airport. Her descriptions made the place sound interesting, so we made a trip out there and were so pleased we’ve been back again. It’s a local burger place that offers this American staple in an Asian style. They also have steamed buns, interesting drinks and other items.

Located in the corner building of a strip mall, with a Subway shop on the other side, parking is easy and it’s convenient to most of the south valley. Not very thrilling from the outside, and rather bare on the inside

It still is a friendly place to enter. The staff members are all smiles and helpful, eager to explain the menu to new visitors. We started off with the assorted Asian pickle appetizer, an interesting combination of tastes and textures

B had one of their burgers and I opted for some tasty meat on the steamed buns along with a cone of interesting fries

Bachi Burger has a full assortment of boba teas, shakes and beers for liquid refreshment, and a few sweet desserts (which we have been too full to try). An interesting place, a good alternative to regular burgers, and a relatively inexpensive evening out. We’ll be back, and I’d recommend it.

Thanks for the referral Daly.

E graduates!

2011-06-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last week E graduated from kindergarten. I didn't get to attend the ceremony, but I understand that she had a great time, and is looking forward to moving on to the first grade.
She picked out her outfit for graduation – pink of course

And afterwards they went out for a celebratory dinner at her favorite restaurant (Red Robin) where she again selected her outfit.

Princess for a day (well, for granddad that is every day). Very fetching.

Weird Al

2011-06-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Weird Al Yankovic is an entertainer from Los Angeles. I first heard him quite a few years ago performing live with his accordion on the Doctor Demento radio show. He did a lot of remakes of Michael Jackson songs, some of my favorites include Beat It

Al's version is Eat It

And I'm Bad

becomes I'm Fat

He didn't just pick on Mike, he did some original stuff, and followed other bands, such as Nirvana

What brought Al to mind was his most recent undertaking, a Lady Gaga tribute

Not sure, but for some of them I like Al's version better.

Ice Cream!

2011-06-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

When B was up in Portland it seems she ended up taking E out quite a bit. One of the menu items that seemed rather consistent was ice cream (strange that). Available at a local small shop

And then when E hit her favorite restaurant, Red Robin, for her birthday dinner

Just came across this posted by Peter, and thought how some songs just have to be danced to, or wiggled or bounced to while singing. (as the singers were doing)

blocks

2011-06-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

It's getting on to warmer weather here, yesterday we finally got over 100f - up to 103f (40c). Driving in I was listening to the flooding reports from the midwest, while out here we are below average for our rainfall, so far this year only .26" (6mm), 2" below our normal for this far into the year.

Tomorrow the Sahara starts its liquidation sale - more details in our local paper the REview Journal story. Looks like everything in the building is for sale, from plates through gaming tables to the hotel room furniture and bars themselves. The whole gaming floor is available, except for the slot machines which are usually only leased by the casinos.

From my ongoing series on the Cosmopolitan: one of their art walls

E Friday (smiling) and Shania

2011-06-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Weather seems to be the topic of discussions around the country. This week we have been relatively cool – it was funny to see the temps in DC and New York as they were ten degrees higher than ours. The report for next week shows us finally getting warm. Predictions for Wednesday show us up to 43 (110f). Usually doesn’t get that high until mid July, so after a cool spring we jump right into a very hot summer.

If you are coming to Vegas this summer there are deals on shows – Cirque Du Soleil has Summer of Cirque specials, two tickets for $100 to many of their shows, including Mystere, Ka, Love and Elvis.

The Love show at the Mirage just had it’s five year anniversary. Paul McCartney was out to kick off the first show of his new national tour and he attended the Love show, singing to some individuals (one 16 year old had Paul sing Happy Birthday to her out in the lobby) and talking to everyone.

As for entertainment – MGM just announced that they reached a deal with Shania to be one of the revolving artists at the Caesar’s Coliseum. Celine Dion is the main headliner, with Rod Stewart, Elton John and Shania rotating in on her breaks. You remember Shania don’t you? The guys mainly remember that slinky red dress

Must have been hard on those cowboys sitting in the diner for however many takes with that dancing on your table.

Last week we had E posing for the camera, this week we have her smiling for the camera.

Still cute

Monday videos - Friday

2011-06-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

The New Zealand radio station I listen to (Zed FM) is always making fun of this song

Today they posted this one, asking if it is the worst song of all time

Someone mashed them together, and yes, it seems a little better with both of them singing along, but it's still not going on my IPod.

E Friday - posing

2011-06-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

B was recently up in Portland to help celebrate our granddaughter’s sixth birthday. It seems that granddaughter E has become quite the fashionista; picking her own outfits for school and combining things to create new looks. She has also learned a new ‘pose for the camera’ with a little head tilt. She also selects the backgrounds, being particularly fond of pink outfits and pink flowers (of which Portland has many).

Not much more I can say about that. (yes, of course I think she’s cute, why do you even ask?)

Pancakes

2011-06-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

I always wondered how to make the perfect pancakes.

Thanks Rob.

Not hot yet

2011-06-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

The weather has been very unusual for Vegas this Spring. It’s been cold (which is different) and windy (which is normal) and we’ve had some cloudy days. By cloudy I mean that you can see white patches up in the sky instead of plain dull blue, not that the sun is hidden. Tomorrow it’s only supposed to get up to 77f when our ‘normal’ expected high should be around 94f (33c). Doesn’t look like it will warm up until next week, and some people say they like this transition season – not me, I’m ready for it to get nice and hot.

Around the valley our Palo Verde trees are filled with yellow blossoms, and the red yuccas have flower shoots arching up. In the corner of our front yard we have both. The yuccas are the lower plants in the foreground, ours are only a few years old and so have just a few flower spikes each, as they get older and larger they will put out more spikes. The low wall protects the base from the wind, and it looks like yellow snow under the tree as blossoms fall.

Up close the flowers of each are rather pleasant.

Monday videos

2011-05-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

OK, I’m still here, and if you are reading this it looks like you didn’t make it either. So let’s go back to the beginning (with convenient fig leaves)

Since it’s Monday, hope you had a good breakfast – if not, how about some flapjacks?

And if you can’t take that, why not let William Shatner say it

Cosmopolitan

2011-05-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Cosmopolitan casino is built between the Bellagio and the City Center. It is on a very narrow strip located above some condominiums (they bought the air rights in exchange for building a big parking garage). Because of this it is different than the other casinos - there is no broad expanse of casino floor, everything is long and narrow (well, narrow for Vegas anyway). If you go upstairs and walk back toward the buffet and convention rooms there are smaller hallways filled with art works. This one looks like some form of steampunk death ray.

Cosmopolitan

2011-05-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

From the escalator,

Bahrain on the brain?

2011-05-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

I don't want to downplay the problems there, and the plight of protesters versus the monarchy and how our fleet depends on their port so it's a political challenge for the US. But whenever I hear a news story from there they always talk about the capital of Manama it makes me think of this:

Sahara closes

2011-05-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Cold rainy weather all week here in Vegas, only supposed to hit 20c (68f) tomorrow, and rain! Colder than predicted for Portland. Oh well, next week should be back to where I like, in the low 30’s (85f or so) and more sunshine. A lot better than putting up with those white lawns people have in other places in the wintertime.

Yesterday the Sahara resort closed, after 58 years of serving the public. Lots of local press, from tv shows to news to several articles in our local papers including an RJ article. The Sahara is way up on the north end of the Strip, close to the Stratosphere. There are empty lots across the street and next to it where other casinos have been torn down and not rebuilt, along with the steel skeletons of other modernization projects. It was too far away by itself to walk to from the bigger resorts and a little too old to attract younger crowds. It relied on tie ins to Nascar but that was not enough to keep things going all year. Perhaps it will be rebuilt and redesigned some day, the property is too valuable to become just another empty lot, but with the economy as it is that will probably be quite a few years away.

Caesar’s Palace announced that Rod Stewart will be rotating with Elton John and Celene at the Coliseum over the next two years. So if you like those guys and don’t mind dropping $150 or so to see them, check the schedules and select the appropriate week for your Vegas trip.

Supposed to be Dogs on Tuesday, so here’s a shot of Buster (in the diapers we were trying out) dancing with E and B. Well, he wasn’t really dancing he was just passing by.

He came along on our last road trip, though he doesn’t see well enough to look out the windows like he used to I guess it’s OK as long as we are there. He did sleep most of the way.

Friday!

2011-05-06T11:14:00.001-07:00

Not much going on for me this weekend. Temps are up in the mid 90's (35c or so) and our garden is doing well.
The Palazzo is celebrating Spring

Random Spring notes

2011-05-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

After a few cold windy days (highs only around 22c – 72f) we are warming up again, back into the 90’s later this week (35c+) where it should be. Most of our plants have finished blooming, and our first tomatoes are up to about an inch in diameter. We put in three tomato plants this year, two Hawaiian Tropic and one cherry, so we should start filling up on them in a month or so. A few peppers, and lots of sunflowers for B. The wisteria finished up blooming a few weeks ago

We visited the Springs Preserve for their annual plant sale a few weeks ago.

We picked up several flowering plants to put out in the yard, all low water requirement desert blooms. The trees we put in when we converted from grass to desert yard seven years ago are all getting fairly large now. We’ve had to replace some, but a few have really taken off. The larger shrubs, such as the sage, were up over six feet and had major trimming this winter. We periodically get smaller flowers to scatter around, and replace ones that aren’t doing well. That is a nice thing about having a desert landscape instead of grass; we can stick plants all over and not just have an unbroken field of green.

Around town, this is the last week for Santana at the Hard Rock. We went and saw his show several months ago, and were very impressed. Elton John has announced his return to the MGM, to fill in Celine Dion’s time off. Haven’t heard how often he will be there, but for the next few years it will probably be for two weeks every two or three months as he did before. Other names are being thrown around to also alternate, we’ll see who comes. I hear Celine’s new show is very good – and Elton is supposed to be something majestic as well.

Buster in Suzy's shirt

2011-04-28T09:29:00.001-07:00

A while back while reading somebody’s comments I clicked on one commenter and was presented with the blog of Suzy Soro. Since then I’ve been a regular visitor, appreciating her style of humor (yes Suz, I think you’re funny). I’v e never had the pleasure of seeing Suzy in person, but did catch her quick bit buying bobka on Seinfeld:

Suzy has some neat t-shirts for sale on her blog, and liking the basic black style I got one. Suz posts your photo wearing her shirt, and one month somebody sent in this one:

I figured Buster might like to appear, so we came up with this one

It doesn’t fit him very well, and he wasn’t pleased that I couldn’t capture his good side, but there he is.

The Hobbit

2011-04-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

Peter Jackson is posting a blog about the filming of the Hobbit. Wow, such a lot of work into making this -

Winslow

2011-04-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Last week I made my yearly trip to Winslow, to play toy trains with my friends. The town looked even sorrier than last year - more businesses closed and fewer people. The current store owners talk about 'revitalization', and they just spent a lot of money on fixing up Rt. 66, but to me that's not enough of a draw to keep a town going. It was started for the railroad, but currently there is no reason for Winslow to exist.

Well, except for that old Eagles song, which plays continuously from the gift shop across the street from the famous 'corner' park

Bread

2011-04-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs on my reading list is Chocolate & Zucchini (see that list over there on the right side? ->). She has interesting stories and recipes, I even bought two of her books on eating in Paris (I love Paris). Clotilde frequently talks about baking bread, and a few months ago I succumbed and sent off for some sourdough starter.

When you bake bread the main ingredients are flour and yeast. Many people just use packaged yeast, but one method is to use a starter. This is a yeast culture that you keep growing, and just take some of it and use that part as the basis for bread. Here on the west coast sourdough is very popular, and there are a number of places to get some dried sourdough starter. I searched around and ended up mailing off for some of Carl's Starter, which just required a self addressed stamped envelope (well, I put in $5 donation to help out).

What showed up was a small envelope with some dried flakes. I followed the directions and added this to flour and water, and ended up with a foamy jar of active starter. I feed it once a week, and on the weekends take some out and bake a few loaves of bread. It’s taken a while to figure this out, as I’ve never done bread before. I combined parts of Carlos’ low-knead hand-mixed recipe (on Carl’s site) and suggestions that Clotilde had in several posts, and now can make a fairly tasty loaf.

It usually starts out on Saturday night, when I take a cup or two of starter (I keep mine in the refrigerator in a closed jar, as I don’t bake that often) and add it to some more flour and water. Then on Sunday morning I add more flour, some salt and some Italian dried spices. I get my spices at the Spice House, they have some great stuff.

I knead it a few times following the directions and mainly just let it sit and grow. I found that warming up the oven and putting the pan in there to rise works great – our house was just too cold for the yeast, but with summer coming on it will be warming up (due for 30c – 86f today). The basic recipe ends up making two loaves. I followed Clotilde’s suggestion of baking it inside a cast iron pot. Our humidity is so low that the bread doesn’t develop a good crust, and doing it inside a covered pot keeps the moisture inside, and the loaf comes out great. A little olive oil keeps it from sticking to the pan.

The loaf is a little flat, but still tastes great. I usually bring it in to work to be consumed by others, we don’t eat that much bread at home, but it’s fun to make and is a nice treat.

Especially great warm from the oven with some butter. Mmm

Monday videos - guitars

2011-04-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

Watching a video and thought of the guitar performances that I like. Here are a few:
Rodrigo y Gabrila – Diablo Rojo

Dick Dale & the Del Tones – Miserlou

Eric Clapton – Signe

Wide variety of styles, don’t think I like one over the other, which one I listen to depends on the mood.

What are your favorites?

Random thoughts

2011-04-07T13:30:00.001-07:00

Thoughts driving in this morning:

Most of our freeways have those ‘New Jersey barriers’ lining the sides and the center divider. I wonder why there are so many rubber tire marks on both sides, indicating a lot of cars have scraped up the barriers. Are people really that bad at driving?

The sun is just peaking over the eastern mountains directly in front of me when I come around the curve from 215 to the 95. The freeways don’t have lane divider lines painted on the pavement but instead have the plastic reflective ‘Botts dots’ markers. These shine white in the headlights, indicating where to drive, and produce rumbling sounds when you drive over them, indicating you are drifting out of your lane. The back side is red, indicating you are driving in the wrong direction. Can’t use them in cold country where snow plows would tear them off the road, but that’s not a problem here. Looking in my rear view mirror all of the dots are bright red spots shining brightly in the orange morning sun lighting up the path I came from.

Getting out of my car in the parking lot there is a strong yeasty warm odor. There is a big building just off the freeway where Wonder Bread and other snacks are baked, releasing into the morning air the aroma of fresh bread. It’s different than the clear desert air we usually have.

The palm trees around the office are filled with little birds, a few of them are chirping morning songs quite loudly, sounding even louder than the radio in my car that I just got out of. They are different than the mockingbird songs around my house, shorter and not as lilting, but still quite pleasant.

Last week was pleasantly warm, but this week a cold front is coming down from the north. Going from an April 1 high of 33c (92f) to a high of just 14c (58f) tomorrow, with strong winds outside the window right now and rain possible.

Gucci

2011-04-05T08:09:00.001-07:00

While walking around City Center (yes, I have a lot of photos from there, it is an interesting place) you can see many of the buildings from the open spaces between the various towers. Across Las Vegas boulevard to the east are the Polo Towers, with the Gucci store at the Crystals shopping center in front

Thought the advertising sign on the back of this cab was interesting: Sluts R People Too!

Aria buffet

2011-04-01T11:42:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago we were wandering around City Center and the new Cosmopolitan and got a little hungry. Most of the fancy restaurants aren’t open for lunch; we didn’t want a $18 sandwich, so we thought we’d try out the Aria buffet. We aren’t too big on buffets, don’t eat enough to make all of that feasting worthwhile, but since there were several with us we thought it would be worth a try, after all, City Center is a fancy place, the food should be good.

City Center and Aria from the fountain courtyard.

The Sunday Brunch was running, cost around $26 per person, with a few bucks extra if you wanted champagne. It looked OK, and was one of the few buffets that actually had windows. Most of the time the buffets are located in the middle of a casino, under hotel towers with slots on one or two sides. A place to stock up and get back to gambling. But this one looked OK.

We were initially seated in the middle, but then pushed for a place by the windows. We ended up next to the dessert line.

My favorite part of the meal.

Food surrounded the main area on three sides, with cold crab legs and oysters over on one side. The ladies immediately headed for that, while I tried the meats and salads.

Unfortunately it was the Sunday Brunch, which meant a combination of breakfast and lunch, so a lot of space was taken up by breakfast stuff, such as eggs and meats and eggs Benedict and sweet rolls and cereals. I tried some eggs and bacon, but mostly hit the carved roast beef and ham. Not many salads were out, but that left more room for dessert.
Overall I wasn’t too impressed. Perhaps because it was the breakfast combination, but the variety wasn’t that great, and what was out there was not very impressively good. I want to be wowed by the food, and I wasn’t. Have to get back to the Rio and see if it’s still as good as I remember. My suggestion: skip the Aria Buffet. We had tried the Bellagio one a while back, and that was small, expensive, and not very good either. So if you are in the middle of the Strip and want a lot of food, I hear the Paris buffet is pretty good.

But there were windows. It was cold, but the big hot tub was just outside our table. No tiny bikinis, just a bunch of younger guys getting drunk, so the ladies had something to look at.

New Doctor

2011-03-30T10:01:00.001-07:00

Coming next month - one of my favorite series

Warming up

2011-03-28T14:02:00.001-07:00

Last week was a little cold, but it’s finally warming up again. Our normal high for this time of year is around 24c (76f) but last week it was significantly lower, by the weekend it’s supposed to be 28c (82f), with our normal full sunshine. We were out working in the garden this past weekend, getting in some more tomatoes and a dozen more sunflowers. B wants to fill one of the garden beds with dozens of sunflowers, she liked the way the few we had last year looked.

The Springs Preserve had their annual plant sale last Saturday and this year we were able to get up early enough to get there when some plants were left. They carry a few dozen pots each of hard to find desert plants, and even thought the total amount is probably around a thousand plants they still sell out by 10am (opening at 8). We snagged a half dozen gallon pots of some pretty yellow desert daisies and pestemons and some other pretty pink flowering thing. Those were laid out and will get into the ground this week.

The Springs Preserve is a large complex with a big desert botanical garden, playground, exhibits and other activities. If you come to Vegas a lot it’s worth stopping by. The outdoor gardens are free to walk around, and granddaughter E likes to climb on the big snake and play with the train, so we go periodically. Wolfgang Puck runs the café, where we grab a lunch salad and coffee.

Around town we are back in the ‘yellow’ season, where most of the plants in bloom have yellow blossoms. We have about a half dozen different things around our yard blooming right now. This one is a succulent, which only has one big bloom per year:

After the flowers dry up the plant carries the feathery seed pods for a while, until the wind takes them away.

Monday video's - the 80s

2011-03-21T09:03:00.001-07:00

Last week was warm, but we’re now back to winter here. It’s not getting down to freezing or close, but for us it’s cold. This morning when we got up it was 7c (45f) and highs around 13c (mid 50’s f). It rained last night, and showers are predicted for most of the week – but at the end we probably will end up with a weeklong total under 1cm (less than a half an inch). I remember a weather announcer a few weeks ago discussing the predicted “torrential downpour, with a half an inch of rain predicted”. Sorry, but the term torrential downpour indicates to me a lot of water falling from the sky, not a half inch total.

Celine Dion is back in Vegas, opening a new show at Caesar’s Palace back in the Colosseum Showroom constructed for her last run. Tickets range from $92 - $500 each, depending on what show and where in the 4,000 seat room that you sit. Her grand opening was last week, and reviews rated the show very highly. There are weeks when she is off, and other big names come in for a day, including Janet Jackson, Ricy Martin and Kylie Minogue. (wow, just looking at Kylie tickets, those run from $105 up to $772 each). If you’re coming to town you can see tickets here.

Form today’s videos we have some music from the 80’s. Can’t link to the Sting one I wanted, Dont stand so close to me with Sting dancing around, but here is the younger version with hair

How about the Talking Heads?

And of course we have to whip it

Showboat songs

2011-03-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Just reading through blogs, and Bill just had one on older singers. One of the references was to Helen Morgan singing Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man, one of my favorite songs from Showboat

The group dancing on the shore reminded me of a scene from Blazing Saddles

But back to Showboat, and the song I remember most, Paul Robeson