*Apparently when the Aladdin was sold or torn down or whatever it was that happened to it, Planet Hollywood took over it's space. The Desert Passage shops simply became the Miracle Mile shops. But, since Hilo Hattie's no longer inhabits the building, I am left with nothing to say but that the whole place sucks. Miracle Mile? Not really. I can't even stretch it so far to say that it's a better than average mall. I would probably rate it higher than the Fashion Show mall, which is your basic average mall. The shops at the Forum I would have to give higher marks for overall environment, but definitely not for content. I guess I could easily say that my shopping experience on the Strip itself was far less than impressive.
*Recently seen on a friend's FB status: It is better to have loved and lost than to have ended up with a loser. I may not have the wording exactly right, but that was the general intent of the statement. I found this to be highly amusing. Then I flipped it around and wondered just how many people out there would find this to be a truism while thinking in the context of me. It was way to easy for me to think of several. That tended to make the whole statement a bit less amusing.
*My score from The Attic this trip: 4 vintage Hawaiian shirts and a nice pale blue Guyabera shirt. The boss came home empty handed. I would really like to know just what kind of bar/nightclub that building was before it became the Attic. I would also like to know why they can't be in a neighborhood that was just a bit less, well, desolate. If that area is what the Las Vegas city council calls the 'arts district', I'm thinking that they should be lined up for a group dope slap. Either that or the art community in Vegas is in really sad shape.
*A question before me at the moment is whether or not to go see Iron Man 2 on opening weekend. Instinct says no. OK, maybe not instinct. My general intolerance of crowds says no.
*I can check one more Blue Man venue off of my list, since I have now seen the show at the Venetian. That also helped satisfy my concert craving for a while to come. Now, I seem to recall that when I went to see Blue Man at Briar Street in Chicago many years ago, they had earplugs for sale in the lobby. I considered this a curiosity until I saw the show and realized just how high the volume can go. I don't see earplugs for sale anymore. Doesn't bother me as I still enjoy having my guts vibrated by gigantic sounds coming from monstrous speakers, but given the age of a number of folks at the show I attended, I think they might have appreciated having that option available.
*Of course I knew about the Hala Kahiki. I never mentioned it to her because it's hell and gone from where we live and I'm pretty sure they don't serve food there. Plus, I didn't see her as having any interest in going. Therefore, I didn't mention it.
*75 degrees. That's how warm, or should I say cold, the water in the pool at Paris was. Even with an 80+ degree daytime temp, that was still pretty chilly when you got into it. Now, imagine that same pool of 75 degree water after being out of the sun for 10-12 hours. I think we can both agree that it would most likely be even more chill inducing after that amount of time. But, when I got up and looked out of our window on the 30th floor of the hotel at 7 in the morning, there, in the pool, were 2 couples who seemed to be quite intent on consummating their relationships right there in that freezing cold water. Never have I wanted to be able to open a window so badly. I couldn't cheer them on in their efforts to merge, and I couldn't even give them a round of applause when security arrived to escort them away.
*Going to meet with someone this week to go over the possibility of having them build me a website. Or, for a similar cost, I could get a nice glass display case to house some of my more precious collectibles. The jury is still out at the moment on this decision. Of course, this is all being considered in the context of not having gotten the credit card bill for the Vegas trip yet.
*Based on our recent flight experiences, I am thinking we will be flying United instead of American, if the choice to do so is available. American just didn't seem to have their game completely together, which is something that's a bit off-putting in an airline.
*It's easy to tell that you are no longer on vacation when you have just spent the day mowing the yard, restocking the fridge, cleaning the windows, and moving mountains of laundry towards the washing machine.
*The guys snapping the cards on the sidewalks of Vegas are annoying. The people who are constantly trying to pull you aside to give you a 'deal' on show tickets, nightclub passes, or whatever are also annoying. People pushing quadruple wide strollers right down the middle of the sidewalk? Annoying. I did manage to find something that effortlessly put all of these behind as it single-handedly assumed the title of Most Annoying Thing on the Sidewalks of the Las Vegas Strip. That would be roving packs of well-to-do 20-somethings that had rented power scooters because they were just too damn lazy to walk anywhere. Then, they even have the nerve to get pissed at you when you wont get out of their way. Would have liked to whack them right upside their D+G sunglasses with a nice heavy stick. I'll take the card flickers over those pretentious posers any day.
*Frankie's Tiki Room is awesome. And it is a Bar. I use the capitalized form of the word here intentionally. What makes something a Bar, you may well ask. You know you are in a Bar when it's the middle of the night, and when someone opens the door to come in everyone shields their eyes from the light that comes in with them. At that point you know you are in a Bar. Anyway, I had my first Mai Tai at Frankie's. For those of you not in the know regarding this particular concoction, it's basically a rather large glass filled with a threatening amount of various kinds of rum. And a cherry. It made all the hair on my arms stand up with each sip. And, it took over an hour's worth of sips to finish it off. The boss said she could tell that I was a bit wobbly after that one drink. Good thing I had eaten dinner right before we went. That was the first drink of that magnitude and strength that I had had in longer than I can remember. And, while I totally enjoyed basking in the atmosphere of Frankie's, the alcohol part of it was just kind of meh for me. Guess I must have completely burned out that part of my brain all those years ago. At the very least, I know I can still participate in that aspect of tiki culture, if only in a limited manner.
*I went through what I thought was a really neat hallway(?) at O'Hare on my way to catch my outbound flight, but I'll be damned if I can remember where it was exactly. There was multi-colored neon on the ceiling and colored panels on the walls. It was really quite cool. At least that's what I remember of it while whipping through at a near run on my way to a terminal that was apparently somewhere out in the middle of Lake Michigan.
*The CMA Awards were at the MGM the same weekend we were in Vegas. Oddly enough, the observed percentage of boots, big hats, and plate sized belt buckles didn't increase very noticeably. At least not where we were, pardner.
*Staying up till almost 2 AM working to unclog a toilet: NOT fun. Staying up till almost 2 AM working to unclog a toilet that you yourself did not clog up in the first place: REALLY not fun.
*I'm not big on gambling. I flushed a few bucks down the slot machines this trip, and that was about it. I just can't bring myself to play blackjack, or any other game, for $5 or more a hand when I know the game is already slanted against me. If they ever decide to start letting people gamble with/for Cheetos, I will be the first in line.
*Had a couple of odd things occur to me over my trip that were related to Canada, of all places. First, someone trying to get us to look at a condo called Sheri 'exotic looking' and then without missing a beat asked if she was from Canada. I have yet to figure that one out. The other brush with the Great White North was meeting a Canadian couple over breakfast one day who had hit a $100,000 slot machine payout a couple of nights before.
*Luxor seems to be slipping, changing, fading-a lot of the shops are closed, the cool Egyptian style statues are much fewer in number, and many of the fountains are dry. Not sure just why this is, unless they're trying to tone down the original theme of the place. Still, that would seem to be quite a challenge when the entire building looks like a pyramid, and there's a huge sphinx sitting out front. I guess it could just be that business has been bad for the past couple of years. Shame. I really liked that place.
*Just so we're clear here-a birthday party for a one year old is for the parents/relatives, NOT the child.
*My jumbo sized box-o-tiki arrived via FedEx on Friday, and thankfully all of the contents were intact. Therefore, I direct a tip of the hat to the folks in the business office at Paris for a packaging job well done. 30 pounds worth of tiki items moved from Las Vegas to my doorstep in a mere five days. Now that I think about that, it doesn't seem all that impressive, since I got home from Vegas in about 5 hours.
*After leaving mid 80 temps and returning to IL mid-April weather, the boss is feeling the call of the desert. I don't doubt the intensity of her feelings, but her level of commitment to such a move remains far below any actionable level at the moment.
*I get to be at work at 8 AM on Friday to be retaught something I have already been taught. For four hours. I fully intend to be quite cranky for the duration of this process.
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