Friday, 5 July 2002
6:00pm

A

lthough I usually start new update pages on Sunday, since this is going to be a long weekend, I decided to just start a new one now even though it's still friday. But anyway... I'm in Vegas, woohoo! I made pretty good time, leaving home at 11:37am, and I got off the Flamingo Rd. exit in Vegas at 4:02pm... but from there, ugh... It took me 15 minutes to get from the exit to actually being on Las Vegas Blvd. (essentially one block!), but once I made it on to the Strip, I was able to get to my hotel room by 4:30 or so.

And what a fabulous view of the fabulous pool I have here! As much shit as I always seem to talk about Casino Royale, I always seem to end up back here, now don't I? But don't worry, I won't be spending the entire time here! I guess there is a lot to be said about location, location, location!
Holy hell, is it crowded this 4th of July weekend! Cars and people everywhere! I huddled in my room to avoid them for a while, before heading out into the casino to play some cards... now I'm back in my room writing this thing, before I go out to meet my friend Kris (pKx from the riceboard) for some dinner. He's actually been here since yesterday or the day before, and he's leaving tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow, in the early afternoon, I'll be heading to McCarran International Airport to pick up good ol' Jenny and we'll be hanging out here in Vegas until Tuesday or so. So yeah. Sounds like a nice, full, long weekend for me!

 

3:35am, Saturday morning

W

elp, I did end up hooking up with Kris, and he brought his friends Amanda and Eve. They were going to watch The Amazing Johnathan at the Golden Nugget downtown, so I offered to drive them down there and we could get something to eat before they caught their show. I managed to snap a few pics of them on Fremont Street (hmmm, this picture looks a lot like one I took 2 weeks ago!), and then they took in their show. Meanwhile, I hung out, played some cards, then battled through the picket line in front of Golden Gate to get myself some 99 cent shrimp cocktail. The culinary union is on strike, seeking a contract with Golden Gate. The picket line did seem to be pretty effective, as it seemed pretty empty in there for a Friday night.
Anyway, I told them before their show that if I was still around when they got out, I'd give them a ride back to the strip (they don't have a car here), and I did get the call and we ended up going to Hard Rock. They went clubbing, and I came back here, and now I am going to bed so I can pick up Jenny from the airport tomorrow!

Saturday, 6 July 2002
11:59pm

T

he screens showing arrival times at McCarran suck ass. Jenny's flight was supposed to come in at 1:52pm. When I got to the airport at around 1:30, the screen said the flight was estimated to be coming 1:32pm. "Great," I thought, "her flight is early". Except I never did see anyone coming out of the terminal. Pretty soon, it was around 1:45. The screen still said the flight was estimated to come in at 1:32. Hmmm. No sign that it was arriving, or had arrived, but only that the flight was estimated to come in 10 minutes ago.
1:52pm came by and went, and still this flight was estimated to arrive at 1:32. Hmmm. Finally, at around 2:05, the flight disappeared from the screen, never having "arrived". Hmmm. It was at this point that I decided to call Jenny on her cell phone to see if she was actually here or not. The first few attempts did not go through so I walked to a different part of the airport to try to get a better signal. I got a hold of her, and she was irritated because she had actually been in the airport since around 1:45. Hmmm. But everything worked out, and we found each other after some phone co-ordination.
Seeing Jenny is always a joy for me. I am typing this as I am saying what I am typing aloud the way they do things in the movies. Jenny says she's not sure how that statement will translate for my readers, but I don't care because I have a lot of whiskey in me right now.
But before I get on with the day, I'll tell you about what I did before Jenny showed up. I went down to the newest locals casino, Green Valley Ranch which is right off the 215 east of the strip. I gotta say, for a locals place, this place is swanktastic. I guess you could say it's the Bellagio of locals casinos.
They had a crazy modern multi-level swimming pool area that was very cool. See pic below. You will also be able to see more pics of this place once I get back home and compile the pics for the repository once the weekend is over.

 

So. Jenny and I had some Subway sandwiches and then we wandered around the strip in the vicinity of our hotel. Then we decided to head downtown for some no-nonsense drinkin' and gamblin'. We did not take any pictures though. Then we went to Hard Rock because Jenny had never been there before and she wanted to try the surf 'n turf special that Cami got 2 weekends ago.
Then after that, we headed to Imperial Palace to hit up the drink machines... ie. the nickel slots with unusually speedy drink service for nickel slots. You can make nickel video poker go very, very slowly when you want to.
And still, we did not take any pictures today. And now we are back in the room and being nerds sitting on laptop computers. Jenny is the only person I have ever shared a Vegas hotel room with that also brought their own laptop computer. We are a bunch of nerds up in this place. And so concludes the update for today, which again, I have been reciting as I have been typing in. Thank you, and good night.

Sunday, 7 July 2002
11:59pm

Tuesday, 9 July 2002
11:59pm

D

on't worry, I didn't die or anything. After a really long day yesterday, I was just too damned tired to update anything. Anyway. Sunday night while I wrote my update, Jenny was still downstairs playing blackjack. She returned in the weee hours of the morning, in some state of intoxication. She told stories of how she drank a little too much at the table, and everyone there was being loud and obnoxious and having a good time. I believe she even mentioned something about how this one particular other guy was like the leader and the loudest and most intoxicated one of all...
Fast forward to Monday night. I'm playing some blackjack when Jenny comes up to my table (drinking only water that night, hehe) to see how I am doing. The floorman from the night before recognized her and joked to her saying, "hmmm, not making so much noise tonight, eh?", and then he proceeded to tell me details about the previous night that Jenny conveniently forgot about. He even jokingly offered to bring the security camera video tapes down from upstairs so I could see what it was like, haha. After this hazing, Jenny said to me back in the hotel room something like "perhaps I was a little noisier last night than I remeber being" haha. Well at least she had fun, and although I'm fairly sure she didn't want people to know this stuff, hey, I couldn't resist divluging this information :) Oh, and if you are Jenny's dad and you are reading this, please note that this and the previous paragraph are complete ficticious fabrications, unless you are otherwise informed!
Earlier on Sunday night we went back to downtown Las Vegas, and we got some 99 cent shrimp coctails at Golden Gate. This time, instead of just the usual lone piano guy, there was actually a 3 piece rhythm section (piano, drums and bass) there, playing some jazz standards. It seemed like I really made the piano player's night by going up and requesting "In a Sentimental Mood" which he quite gladly obliged me by playing.
The band played a wonderful, extended version of the tune (one of my favorites), the piano player smiling gleefully the entire time. At the end of the song he stopped playing and asked me from across the room how I knew that song, and told me about how much he's loved it since he was a kid. Something really cute about a really happy old man, I guess. And hey, where else can you get a shrimp cocktail for 99 cents (plus tax it comes out to $1.06), and get live entertainment? Nowhere!! By the way, if you are not familiar with this song "In a Sentimental Mood" I suggest you get on your favorite illegal music sharing system, and look up the version by John Coltrane and Duke Ellington (which is an instrumental) and also the version sung by Ella Fitzgerald. It's a really great tune.
Hmmm what else. Oh yeah, Monday night we went down to Sushi on Tropicana, that place I keep talking about, and got some all you can eat sushi. Yummy! I think I've spoiled myself by going there twice in 2 weeks... and dammit, I forgot to get my card stamped... I could have been two stamps closer to getting free all you can eat sushi!
Yesterday, I dragged Jenny along with me as I collected clues for the 2nd Annual Riceboypage Messageboard Vegas Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt. During this excursion we discovered that there is yet another ABC Store coming to Vegas, this time at the Desert Passage shops at Aladdin. I guess now you people who are scared of Downtown can visit the ABC store on the strip once it opens.
Hmm. Not a whole lot happened today though. We checked out of the hotel and I drove Jenny to the airport where we had some lunch at a shitty "tex-mex" joint... their menu was about 10% "tex-mex" and the rest was standard generic American food. My "seasoned beef tacos" were about the blandest things I have ever tasted. I got the impression that Jenny's french dip sandwich was also not very good. After I left Jenny at the airport, I wandered around Vegas wondering what to do
I didn't want to start driving back home as it was mid-day and even with air condition, it was going to be hot driving back with the sun beating down on me. I decided I wouldn't leave until 7 or so, so I needed to find something to fill my time with. First, I finished collecting more clues for the scavenger hunt, then I returned to Hard Rock for some dinner. This time, I tried the surf and turf special at Mr. Lucky's which both Jenny and Cami had tried before... and I gotta say, I agree with them, it's some damned good steak and shrimp for just $7.77! And it ain't on the menu, so you get to feel all special ordering it like you're on the inside or something haha.
And boy was I glad I waited before I drove back. Not only was it so much more comfortable without the sun beating down on me, the drive super easy (I made it back in just 4 hours!), and I got to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the California desert, which I tried to take a picture of, but it just didn't come out well with the low lighting and the cruise control set to 90 MPH. So, sorry this update is so full of words and no pictures! But after 5 days of being in Vegas, I'm definitely glad to be at home, and I'll be glad to finally sleep in my own bed, woohoo.
But back to the subject of pics for a second. I've put some up in the giant repository, but I just noticed as I was assembling them that none of them even have Jenny in it. Hmmm. Well, I took a few pics of her with her camera, so maybe you'll get to see them if she posts them?
Gosh... San Diego isn't even really that humid, but after spending so much time in Vegas... I feel like I'm dying here!! Ugh. Hahaha. I should stop, I mean really... complaining about San Diego weather? I'm too spoiled! Haha. Any updates that come for the rest of this week will come on a page 2 since there are kind of a lot of pics on this page already, ok? Alright.

PAGE 2