Journal Entries
Journal schmurnel
Posted Aug 25, 2006
This feature of H2G2 is restrictive and annoying.
I therefore put my journalling needs out to RFP two weeks ago and would like to announce the winner is Livejournal.
For those who care, my dull and ugly thoughts can be found at:
http://desertempire.livejournal.com/
and will feature here no more.
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Latest reply: Aug 25, 2006
I missed my 5 year anniversary
Posted Aug 4, 2006
...at Hootoo!
August 2nd 2001!
Darn. Oh well, belated grats to myself.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Aug 4, 2006
The Lyrical Triumphs of Warren Zevon #2
Posted Aug 2, 2006
"...little old lady got mutilated late last night. Werewolves of London again."
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Latest reply: Aug 2, 2006
Oh, gosh darn
Posted Jul 16, 2006
I've developed an allergy to gluten. Or wheat. It comes to the same thing. Either way...
Bread's out. Cookies are out. Pasta? Gone. Beer? Nope. Chinese food? History. Breaded anything? Fugetaboudit In fact, almost everything made with wheat gluten has got to go.
Think about what that entails.
So...been and restocked the pantry with rice based everything and thus far, it's all going well.
But still. No beer. I am therefore forced to rely on rum.
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Latest reply: Jul 16, 2006
Viva Las Vegas - the gush
Posted Jul 8, 2006
Things were done that had to be done, could only be done, in Vegas.
What we did was, you see, was we flew in. Oh yes. We flew in. Definitely flew in. (That's an obscure H2G2 reference). The airport in Las Vegas is curiously downscale. Doesn't really compare to Phoenix skyharbour - that's where I live, Phoenix. Did I mention that? I do. The floors in Skyharbour do not shake when portly people step upon them. The ones in Vegas do.
In Vegas, however, one can smoke. Anywhere. Seriously. So don't go if you mind a bit of secondary cancer.
You are allowed to walk abroad in the daytime with alcohol. Which is just as well as Mrs G and I bought a yard of pina colada and proceeded to get toasted.
Nevada, in case you forgot, is desert. The Mojave, I think. Anyway, it's cooler and more humid than the Sonoran (which is what Phoenix is baed in) and therefore hot and dry to nearly the rest of the world. There are lots of folks in Vegas from places where 25c is seen as uncommonly toasty. They get all sweaty, they drink beer because its cold and apparently refreshing, they get dehydrated by the beer and so they have another one and in a few short hours they wind up as small crystaline piles of essential salts, whereupon Casino employees sweep them into special bags and stack them in a vault.
Anyway, back to the things that needed to be done.
We got to walk up and down the Strip, which is not what you'll see in CSI shows - that's usually Downtown, where they want the publicity. The Strip is busy being flash and glitzy, but a couple of the casinos are Old Skool (Harrahs is the default Redneck casino, as far as I could tell, The Flamingo is for families, Treasure Island is catering to the Young Clubbers crowd).
Some of the casinos are just so low end it's not funny. Usually, a casino will have slot machines and gaming tables and a restaraunt or cafe. Maybe several. There's one that has given room to Subway - if you're not aware of Subway, it's a sandwich shop - and Dennys. And again, for the Brits this would be akin to Little Chef. That's how cheap and nasty the place is.
Some of these places have hotels attached, others not so. Some of the hotels have gimmicks. I stayed at Caesar's Palace - it's in the Ancient Roman style. The Luxor is a black pyramid with a big light at the top. There are a variety.
The newer casinos have eschewed the gimcrackery big time and are all about class.
Except the Hilton, which has Embraced The Cheese and hosts the Star Trek Experience. I, of course, went to see it and got transported and suchlike and was then patronised by a Ferengi, who was rather funny.
There's a Madam Tussauds in The Venetian. It's not as good as any other Madam Tussauds anywhere else. The chamber of horrors is compressed air bangs and people leaping out at you. We went there, were duely scared and left again having enjoyed it.
Look, you can be cynical about Vegas when you're not in Vegas.
The other thing Vegas is famous for is legalised prostitution. Its legal so its advertised. Keep that in mind if you're going and don't take the kids, m'kay? Such ads as there are tend to be handed out by folks on the streets or pass you buy as mobile billboards. These are not telephone chat services, you call that number and someone will arrange for a lady of negotiable affection to be sent to you.
I don't knows why people would want to bring kids to Las Vegas. Outside of Circus Circus, there's not a lot for them to do. You have to be 21 to even lurk near the tables and slots.
If all of this sounds like a bad time to you but you still want to go, get a room Downtown, in one of the Old School hotels on or around Freemont Street where things are a little friendlier. And beware, even down there where prices are lower Vegas is hellishly expensive. And don't take your car. You can't take it to Freemont street anyway - its been pedestrianised - and you won't want to drive anywhere else because its freaking busy on the roads (which are full of tourist busses and cabs and more stretch Limos than the mind can comfortably accommodate anyway).
There's more to Vegas than all of this, though. There's more to Nevada than Vegas. The Hoover Dam is there, the construction of which (in the 1930s) is what caused Vegas to legalise gambling and prostitution in the first place). Area 51 is there. Not that you'll get close to it, or see much. If you're a UFO nut you're better off going to Roswell, New Mexico. Lake Mead is pretty cool - that's the man-made lake formed by the Hoover Dam - and is a huge recreation park. Its also undeveloped, for the most part, so all you get is water and rugged desert landscape. Personally, mooching about on the Lake was a highlight for me and I'd have done a lot more mooching had I not injured my knee marching up and down the Strip on the first day.
Did I mention the Monorail?
Vegas has a monorail. It comes in handy from time to time because it shuttles up and down the Strip. So if you're seeing Ka at the MGM but you're based somewhere like The Stratosphere the monorail will save you a long, sweaty walk.
And at this point I feel a pause coming on while I think a few things over.
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Latest reply: Jul 8, 2006
Dark Side of the Goon
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