Catchy Name Needed

(The, uh, less coherent part is here.)

I wasn't sure whether renting a car in Las Vegas was really a good idea, but I would absolutely do it again - besides, I still want to go out to Red Rocks (or whatever that place is called) and we didn't get around to it this trip. We had a little bit of trouble parking at the Golden Nugget, which makes sense since it's downtown and it was Friday night and there were a lot of people at Fremont Street. And I had a bit of trouble navigating here and there but it's not like you can't see the landmarks from most places in Vegas. Parking turned out to be free just about everywhere, which I didn't expect. (The Golden Nugget does charge, but not for guests; noplace we parked on the Strip did.)

We got in so late Friday night so we didn't do anything except go to the hotel and check in and collapse. The Golden Nugget is nicely remodeled, and they're in the process of building another tower - which I certainly hope will include more parking, since we had to go from bottom to top to bottom of the parking garage twice before we found a space. I was happy to see that downtown looks just like it did nearly 25 years ago when I first came to Las Vegas, although frankly I think more places than the Nugget could stand to do some remodeling. (All I care about preserving is the exterior, really.) My sister Paula and her boyfriend Dave were already there when we got there, but they had been walking around all day and had gone up to their room by the time we finally arrived.

When we finally saw them at breakfast Paula was flashing that ring around - it's a big wide ring and I wasn't immediately sure if it was intended to be an engagement ring, but it was. They had already been talking about marriage in December when I was there so I wasn't terribly shocked. Dave is a nice guy and seems much more grounded than most people she's dated, so it's not like I disapprove. They haven't known each other all that long, but as I said yesterday, she's doesn't seem to be any hurry about things, anyway.

They had already been to a lot of different casinos, but Paula said she hadn't been to Paris so that was where we went. I've been there enough times that I had stopped thinking a lot about it looking different from other casinos, but it does, and she loved it. It's true that every other casino does look pretty much alike, as far as the actual casino goes. We wandered around and gambled a bit, and then we went up the Eiffel Tower. I was the only one who had done it before. (Paula has been to Paris, the real one, a couple of times, but didn't go up the real tower, either - she said the lines were too long.) Rob had some pretty serious vertigo on the way up, just like I did the first time. It didn't bother me so much the second time. Everybody was ok once we got up to the top, though, even though we could feel it swaying, which I don't remember noticing the first time. I sure wouldn't want to go up there on a windy day!

After that we walked down to Margaritaville and had late lunch/early dinner - it was about 3:00 by then. We had to wait in line for a good while but we goofed around in the gift shop, which was a fairly interesting place even if you're not a Parrothead. (I really wanted to buy a t-shirt that said "Yes I am a pirate" - don't ask me why that appealed to me so much, but it did - except that I really don't wear t-shirts so it would be a big waste of money, and I wasted enough money gambling that I didn't have much budget left for junk.) The food was pretty good and the drinks were better. The place was hopping and noisy but it was fun.

That reminds me that I can't really say I saw much sign of a recession, overall - although I'm sure most people were paying considerably less for their hotel rooms than they would have a year or two ago, and of course that's having a big impact on the casinos' bottom lines. But people were sure eating and gambling and buying stuff like crazy, as far as I could tell.

The other place we went before we went back downtown was the Rio, where none of us had been before. And it wasn't all that impressive, except for having the cheesiest cocktail-waitress outfits, by far. (And some of them climbed up on podiums and danced, from time to time, too, so I guess they were doubling as sort of go-go dancers, as well as waitresses.) There were sure a lot of people there, though.

That was enough walking that I was starting to have blisters on my feet, by then, so we went back to the hotel and regrouped. I put some neosporin on the blisters and changed shoes, and that gave me enough of a second wind that we were able to go down and see the light show on Fremont and wander in & out of a couple of the casinos down there. I had thought I would want my coat down there after dark but I hardly ended up wearing it at all. It really didn't feel that cold. We did win a little money gambling, Rob and I both did. (He ended up about $100 up for the weekend and I was probably nearly that much down, overall, so hopefully we came out even, or a bit better.)

So that was Saturday, and I've already talked a good bit about Sunday. The only thing I didn't mention was that we were still on the kick of checking out off-Strip casinos, so we did go spend some time at the Palms Sunday before we left. We liked it better than the Rio. It seemed a bit more upscale (although it had just about the most penny slots I've ever seen anywhere) - and it has a movie theater inside, which is something I don't think I've seen anywhere else.

It didn't seem like we walked as much as we did on the last couple of trips to Vegas, but I'm still exhausted today. Actually I just don't think it's possible to go there without walking a lot - unless maybe you're a star and can have your limo pull right up at the front door. (And even then, it's still an awful long way across some of the casinos!) Even with driving ourselves around, well, they don't put the self-parking anywhere convenient, that's for sure!

columbina , you did see this, right? Sad to see another newspaper go bust, even though I do agree with that piece about why this keeps happening.


We're leaving for the airport in an hour or so and I am still packing, which is par for the course. I did get my missing prescription (muscle relaxers, in case my back decides to be cranky) but my sunglasses are still MIA. I may have to buy some cheapies tomorrow - I can manage without here, in the wintertime when the sun's not so bright, but I betcha it's still awfully sunshiny in Las Vegas even in January.

I'll be back Sunday late. Particularly since my sister's going (is already there, actually), I'm sure to have plenty to say about this trip!

Rob brought home a crumpled piece of newspaper last night containing the news that Tilman Fertitta, who owns about half of Galveston as well as the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, is giving anybody who lives in Galveston County (and can prove it) two free nights in Vegas. Rob pointed out that we do have a credit on Southwest from the trip to Ohio in October that we didn't take.... so what the heck, we're going to Las Vegas again next month. MLK weekend, to be exact. (I never thought that Rob would like Las Vegas as much as he did. People surprise you sometimes, no matter how well you know them.) I suspect that Fertitta's motives are not 100% charitable, since he's trying to get gambling legalized in Galveston and this can't really hurt his chances, but still. Free room, hey.

We could have gone next week (assuming we could get reservations) but I didn't think it would have worked out like it did last year - last year Christmas was on Tuesday, and so we left for the airport to head to LV after lunch on Christmas Day, stayed three days and got the heck out on Friday before (a) the big crowds got there and (b) the prices went up for the weekend and New Year's. This year, with Christmas on Thursday, I didn't see how that was going to work as well. First you have a holiday weekend, which would be, what, the 26th-28th, and then presumably by the 30th, if not before, you start getting people coming in for New Year's Eve. (And NYE was also the only day blacked out on the free-room deal.) I didn't go and research this but I just couldn't see a big gap in there like there was last year. AND Rob is off next week but has to work some days the week after (I think it's Monday, Tuesday and Friday, but I forget, now that I don't have the calendar sitting on my desk to look at all the time). He does have a three-day weekend for MLK so that was why we picked that. And the airfare was only $30 more than what we had already paid. I also got a rental car, the first time I've done that in LV. I hope I don't regret it - but I never stayed downtown before, either, and I didn't want to choose between depending on taxis and being stuck downtown. I haven't even been downtown in years, but my memory of it is that it's a pretty small area. I'm inclined to think we're going to want to make at least one jaunt over to the Strip.



Random holiday-related stuff:

I love that Tor is sponsoring a Traditional Jewish Christmas (consisting of a Chinese buffet and Monty Python movies). Sounds like a blast to me.

Scalzi's guide to spotting fake Santas

The Guild's version of A Night Before Christmas (last year's Guild Christmas special is on that page too)

Oh, a small thing, but some of us are picky about stuff like this: if anybody is looking for the perfect red fingernail polish for seasonal purposes, I think I'm wearing it: OPI "An Affair in Red Square". I think I bought it last year but presumably it's still around. "Russian Red" might be a pretty good description of it - it's sort of a deep metallic red, just a hair darker than fire-engine red. I really like it a lot so I thought I'd share.

(Written Saturday)
I know I said I was done with the Vegas posts, but I keep thinking of little things. And I'm still sick(ish) so you have to bear with my whims, sorry! I've barely been out of the house for a whole week, for goodness sake. Apparently I have had the full-fledged flu - I had a flu shot ages ago but they said there's a strain going around that wasn't included in the shot this year, so that probably explains it. I am getting better, but slowly. I ended up calling in sick to work again yesterday so I sure hope I'm fit to go back on Monday. Seems like I ought to be, though.


For one thing, there turns out to be a Zumanity game online - you can see quite a bit of the "hula hoop" act if you're patient enough to mess with it - and more and more of "Julia" too, apparently. I wouldn't really call what I saw of it NSFW but it may get there eventually - I didn't get far enough along to be sure. I don't know that most people's work would approve much of that game - or at least of Julia's outfit! - in any case. Depends on your workplace, I guess. (You get an introduction by the lovely Antonio, for a bonus. And bits of the music, too.)

Also, apparently the Zumanity emcee is a guy named Joey Arias, who has been with the show from the beginning - four years - and is leaving as of the first of the year, so that means we saw one of his last performances.





(We are going to spend a night at Beau Rivage in April, when we go to Ohio, since we're flying Skybus out of Gulfport, anyway. I'm not holding my breath that we'll repeat our fabulous gambling luck, but oh well.)

I called work and left a message saying that it was very probable I won't be in tomorrow, unless I make a miraculous recovery. I still feel like crap. I suppose at some point I'll have to think about going to the doctor if I don't start getting better, but I'm gonna give it one more day, at least. I have no real reason to think it's more than just that same cold that Rob had a week ago - except that he was only really sick for one day, and I still feel terrible after four. I'm coughing and hacking, and I feel totally exhausted, which is the thing that's worrying me a bit. One of my co-workers was diagnosed with mononucleosis before Christmas - but his doctor said that it's actually not very contagious, and unless we'd actually been kissing him we shouldn't worry. Which of course I have not! But honestly, that's kinda what I feel like. And I've been home from Vegas for four days, so that shouldn't be it, and I have literally not been outside since then. I have been too tired. I haven't so much as been out on the patio. All I have done is sleep (quite a lot) and read, and goof around on the computer. I haven't even finished unpacking or thought seriously about taking down the holiday stuff or anything like that. Well, so anyway, we'll see. I felt less tired earlier in the day today, so maybe tomorrow I'll feel a little better too.

So I've been getting some of the pictures up, gradually.

(Note: you will find no resolutions here. I don't do resolutions. Nope, this is about Zumanity.)

(Note #2: this is continued from here and here.)

We were still close to our hotel by lunch-time so we went back and changed clothes. I had been wearing a wool cardigan with a heavy t-shirt under it, and that was fine in the daytime, but I figured if we stayed out until after dark that I would be cold. And we weren't intending to come back until after the show, and Zumanity is all the way down at NY-NY, which we figured out was about a mile and a half away. So I put on a nicer top and my heavy coat, and put my gloves and fleece hat in my bag. Then we headed south. We rode the tram from TI to the Mirage – although it's not really very far, it's not like it's saving you a great deal of effort, really. We wandered around the Mirage just a bit, lost a bit of money in a slot machine, and then left. (I think we played the slots at least for a few minutes at every big casino we came to.)

We went on by Caesar's, figuring we'd come back later, and went on to Paris and ate lunch there. On the TUS trip we had eaten at "The Café" at Paris and I remembered I thought it was pretty good, so we ate there. I enjoyed it, again; Rob criticized his penne pasta but I noticed he still ate it all. After that we went on to the new Planet Hollywood. It's been redone extensively but I can't say I was all that impressed. It does look very different and there were a helluva lot more people there so I guess you'd have to call it a success, whether I like it or not.

So we wandered around New York-New York until it was reasonably close to time for the show. I didn't want to go too early and have to sit there for a year! Inside the theater, they sold expensive drinks with suggestive names. I forget what mine was, something about POM (with "Sex"-brand vodka, I believe) but whatever it was, it was tasty. Here's the thing about our seats: front row of the orchestra, on the very end. There was a row of loveseats in front of us but they weren't actually in front of us where we were sitting. The stage protrudes into the audience (rather phallic, no?) so we were actually behind the cast if they were out in front of the stage. That meant that we couldn't see and/or hear things from time to time, but we also had a better view of other things. Various cast members also wandered around the audience at times so if they came out on our side they walked right in front of us.



We found this ad in one of those magazines they leave in your hotel room – all of these people were in the cast we saw, at least I'm pretty sure of that. I wasn't quite sure about the sexy redhead, but Rob says it's the same girl. She walked right in front of us, and I mean right in front of us, maybe two feet away, but frankly, I wasn't looking at her face when she did!

The two, um, large women – who they introduced at the end as sisters – seemed to mostly be there as comic relief. I couldn't quite decide how I felt about that one. On the one hand, it's nice to see somebody of size there at all. On the other hand, well, comic relief. Not exactly taken seriously. But I don't mean to imply that they were the only comics there, they weren't. Actually the show as a whole was very funny, which I liked. I don't generally think of Cirque shows as being funny, but this one sure was.

(And the other person in the picture is the emcee, the one with salacious designs toward my husband!)

There's more to this story but it's getting long so we're having installments within the installments! Sorry.

Christmas Day, about 7pm - Hobby Airport, Houston

Rob has a cold. He is sneezing and sniffling but doesn't seem to be in distress, so at least it appears to be just a cold and not the flu. He has gone off to get Chinese food now so I reckon he's gonna live.

So far the passengers to Vegas don't look like an especially festive bunch. Maybe they will perk up when they get on the plane. (note: they never particularly did) I've been on flights to Vegas that were like a rolling party all the way. On the other hand, it might be best that people don't appear to be getting on the plane already soused. It's a long flight.

We got here really early and I am a bit worried about my car. We parked in the big garage, which better turn out to have decent security because most of our Christmas presents are in the trunk. The economy lot was full - I was not too surprised about that. We probably could've driven around and found a cheaper lot with space open but I was unmotivated.


December 26, 11pm (Pacific) – Treasure Island, Las Vegas

Wow, I am tired. But unlike the last time I spent a day walking around in Las Vegas, I still have skin on the bottom of my feet, so I guess I'm doing ok.

Let's see, the flight was a bit bumpy but otherwise ok. I had a book so I wasn't too bored. Rob mostly just sat and sniffled. When we landed he went flying off (so to speak) looking for a bathroom – that Chinese food he ate at the other airport apparently didn't agree with him. Between that and the cold he was really not in great shape by the time we got to the hotel.

I posted already about the shuttle, didn't I? About the guy at Bally's who didn't have enough money for the shuttle? I guess he did have a ticket home, he just didn't have enough to pay the shuttle fare to the airport. Honestly, even though I am not generally a gigantic do-gooder, if I had understood the situation in time, *I* would have pitched in a dollar for the poor guy. I was really just sort of astounded, though – you hear stories about people losing everything gambling but I think in my heart I didn't really think anybody could be that stupid. (Should've known better!) The shuttle bus driver told us about it after we left Bally's – we were the only passengers by that time – and he said, “I just didn't have the Christian charity in my heart to take him.” I suspect that being a shuttle bus driver in Vegas tends to make you a bit jaded, don't you?

So, TI looks about the same as the last time I was here – I mean, I wasn't ever upstairs but the casino has the same tiki-hut sort of theme going. But the rooms are very nice, actually. We are on the 22nd floor and you can still hear the traffic – but not enough to be a bother. The ice machine across the hall is a lot more distracting, really. There are a good many youngish people staying here – by which I mean twenty-somethings, not kids – so the noise level generally is a bit on the high side but it quieted down by the time we actually went to sleep, luckily. We have a view that looks past the Mirage and across toward the Rio and the mountains beyond, a flat-screen TV, a very comfortable bed and a marble-floored bathroom. And the whole wall on one side of the bedroom is mirrored. (That part I could really do without.)

Everybody's favorite show, the Sirens of TI, has been dark for over a month and they were supposed to start up again tonight – if they did there were bound to have been some awfully nipply sirens. It's cold. It's not too bad as long as the wind isn't blowing but every once in a while there's a big gust... brrr.

Rob put $5 in a machine here & won fifty bucks - if the plane is late enough we may pay for the trip!

That was supposed to say 'transvestite' in that last entry. I AM tired.

At Bally's, a guy approached our driver asking for a fare discount - he had lost all his money & couldn 't get to the airport!