I'm hanging out at The Cottage for most of this week and it is sheer bliss. However, there is one super annoying factor, and it isn't even that my cell phone costs a lot of money here and doesn't work well - it is the internet! It has some how gotten worse since the last time I was here. You have to huddle in the upstairs back corner to get any kind of signal, and even then it is just one bar. It is difficult to reach a plugged in laptop into a good position and since my computer is so old it has no battery life, it is also super annoying to lug it upstairs when I am predominately spending time at the dining room table working on my MRP. So I go on my parents tiny netbook to access the internet. Even though I used this thing throughout my big Russia trip, I'm finding it hard to adjust. I have a bunch more emails to do but I think I will just save them until I'm back in Toronto for a couple of days mid-week. Bliss is only truly complete with good internet.
Monday, 8 August 2011
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Comments?
I have noticed a sharp decline in comments. There is also a slight decline in visitors to Always Standing; I went into Google Analytics to check that someone somewhere out there was still reading the dribble that I post, and a few people are. But I live for the comments, I post better and more often if I am getting feedback of some sort. I guess I'm one of those people, like Tinkerbell, who survive on applause.
Update On Me:
Finishing the last touches on my MRP. Hanging out at the cottage with my mom and having to deal with terrible internet. Starting to think about finding a job and really wanting to get a car.
Update On You:
(Respond in comments, don't be scared.)
What are your plans for the last remaining weeks of summer?
Update On Me:
Finishing the last touches on my MRP. Hanging out at the cottage with my mom and having to deal with terrible internet. Starting to think about finding a job and really wanting to get a car.
Update On You:
(Respond in comments, don't be scared.)
What are your plans for the last remaining weeks of summer?
Friday, 5 August 2011
Quick Quotes
The Las Vegas trip was epic! I will do my usual post of point-form observations soon. However, Teri and I noted two amusing quotes that we should remember. We both wish we had kept a log of quotes for the trip; Teri did that for a trip once and JennB, the girls, and I had one for the insane New Years trip in New Orleans. We didn't do a log for Las Vegas though, but besides these two I don't think it was much of a funny quote filled trip. Here are the two good ones:
At one of the pool parties...
Cute Bartender: Wow, you have really nice ears.
Me: Thank you.
Cute Bartender: Yeah, they look like little vanilla wafers.
At one of the nightclubs...
Sleazy Guy: So, I think you should come back to my room.
Teri: Uhh, no, I have a boyfriend.
Sleazy Guy: I have a cat.
Teri: Huh?
Sleazy Guy: Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about things that didn't matter.
Besides the jerk quoted above, a rude waiter, and numerous airline staff, everyone we met on this trip were amazing. It felt like a city filled with friends; everyone just wandered around smiling and chatting.
At one of the pool parties...
Cute Bartender: Wow, you have really nice ears.
Me: Thank you.
Cute Bartender: Yeah, they look like little vanilla wafers.
At one of the nightclubs...
Sleazy Guy: So, I think you should come back to my room.
Teri: Uhh, no, I have a boyfriend.
Sleazy Guy: I have a cat.
Teri: Huh?
Sleazy Guy: Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about things that didn't matter.
Besides the jerk quoted above, a rude waiter, and numerous airline staff, everyone we met on this trip were amazing. It felt like a city filled with friends; everyone just wandered around smiling and chatting.
Monday, 1 August 2011
Dancing In The Sky
M & M joined Teri and I in Las Vegas for the weekend. They left this morning so we had to make last night count. We grabbed a quick dinner at a casino bar at The Rio, then went to a Chippandales show. After the show, we popped up to the 51st floor of The Rio to go to the nightclub VooDoo but were not totally impressed. We decided to just leave because we hadn't had to pay to get in, we used passes from a promoter. (Ter and I have been totally hooked up the whole time we've been there - it is all very baller, or some other cool term.) We walked next door to The Gold Coast and drank some cheap drinks since the prices in the actual clubs are insane but at some of the casinos, especially the older ones, the drink specials are amazing. After that it was over to Ghostbar at The Palms, another roof top club. This one was awesome and we stayed there for the rest of the night. So much fun!!
Above The Las Vegas Strip
Self Portrait
Above The Las Vegas StripSelf Portrait
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Las Vegas Tidbit - #4
Fun Fact
The Golden Gate casino/hotel was the first to serve a fifty cent shrimp cocktail in 1959. This is now a Las Vegas cliché. The Golden Gate is best known for its "Original Shrimp Cocktail" served at the San Francisco Shrimp Bar and Deli inside the casino/hotel. It is served in a regular-sized sundae glass filled with small salad shrimp and topped with a dollop of cocktail sauce. Unlike many other places in Las Vegas that advertise a cheap shrimp cocktail, the one at The Golden Gate is not padded with lettuce or other fillers
It serves a ton of cold-water shrimp each week. The sheer quantity of shrimp sold gives the small hotel the leverage of a large mega-resort with orders. In 1991, the price was raised from 50¢ to 99¢. In 2008, The Golden Gate raised the price to $1.99, due to a rise in fuel costs. To offer a trade-off, the casino now uses larger shrimp in the cocktail. Prior to the fuel increase, the casino lost about $300,000 a year on shrimp cocktails.
They just want your money but they have to get you in somehow...
The price of a shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate is $2.15 after tax; it is a pile of shrimp served with a lemon and help-yourself crackers from a bucket.
Great Quote
"In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over what I considered to be an odd number."
- Steven Wright
The Golden Gate casino/hotel was the first to serve a fifty cent shrimp cocktail in 1959. This is now a Las Vegas cliché. The Golden Gate is best known for its "Original Shrimp Cocktail" served at the San Francisco Shrimp Bar and Deli inside the casino/hotel. It is served in a regular-sized sundae glass filled with small salad shrimp and topped with a dollop of cocktail sauce. Unlike many other places in Las Vegas that advertise a cheap shrimp cocktail, the one at The Golden Gate is not padded with lettuce or other fillers
It serves a ton of cold-water shrimp each week. The sheer quantity of shrimp sold gives the small hotel the leverage of a large mega-resort with orders. In 1991, the price was raised from 50¢ to 99¢. In 2008, The Golden Gate raised the price to $1.99, due to a rise in fuel costs. To offer a trade-off, the casino now uses larger shrimp in the cocktail. Prior to the fuel increase, the casino lost about $300,000 a year on shrimp cocktails.
They just want your money but they have to get you in somehow...
The price of a shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate is $2.15 after tax; it is a pile of shrimp served with a lemon and help-yourself crackers from a bucket.
Great Quote
"In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over what I considered to be an odd number."
- Steven Wright
At A Loss For Words
Teri and I visited the Grand Canyon the other day. To do the trip in one day is a little tough, but we found a bus tour that goes early in the morning and comes back late at night. We did have to spent around 12 hours on a bus though and only got to hang out and hike along the rim at the canyon for a couple of hours. But it was so worth it. The Grand Canyon is absolutely mesmerizing. I have no words to describe it and I doubt our pictures will do it any sort of justice. It really is one of those places that needs it be visited and experienced.
"The human quest to conquer and possess began a new chapter in the history of Grand Canyon. John Hiller, the first to seriously photograph the Canyon, began what no one could ever finish. The Canyon challenges and then defies man’s passion to capture and communicate. No picture or word, no brush or palette, no lens or paint, can extend the wonder of Grand Canyon beyond itself."
- Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets (IMAX)
"The human quest to conquer and possess began a new chapter in the history of Grand Canyon. John Hiller, the first to seriously photograph the Canyon, began what no one could ever finish. The Canyon challenges and then defies man’s passion to capture and communicate. No picture or word, no brush or palette, no lens or paint, can extend the wonder of Grand Canyon beyond itself."
- Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets (IMAX)
Friday, 29 July 2011
Las Vegas Tidbit - #3
Fun Fact
The phrase "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" has been around for less than ten years. It was created as an advertising slogan for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in 2002. The campaign brought Las Vegas a record-breaking 37.4 million visitors in 2004. Jeff Candido and Jason Hof are credited with coming up with it. However, the slogan is not new; "What happens on tour, stays on tour" is a saying that has been around since the early 1970s. It was used by men who got together and travelled either interstate or overseas for sporting tours, it is more recently used my musicians as well.
They just want your money but they have to get you in somehow...
Planet Hollywood has an hourly thunderstorm, inside.
Great Quote
"To most people, Las Vegas is synonymous with gambling and glitter; a slightly, pleasingly sinful fairyland for adults where they can watch the most entertaining performers and biggest names in show business in between bouts of indulging in games of chance that everyone knows favor the house."
- Clifford L. Linedecker
The phrase "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" has been around for less than ten years. It was created as an advertising slogan for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in 2002. The campaign brought Las Vegas a record-breaking 37.4 million visitors in 2004. Jeff Candido and Jason Hof are credited with coming up with it. However, the slogan is not new; "What happens on tour, stays on tour" is a saying that has been around since the early 1970s. It was used by men who got together and travelled either interstate or overseas for sporting tours, it is more recently used my musicians as well.
They just want your money but they have to get you in somehow...
Planet Hollywood has an hourly thunderstorm, inside.
Great Quote
"To most people, Las Vegas is synonymous with gambling and glitter; a slightly, pleasingly sinful fairyland for adults where they can watch the most entertaining performers and biggest names in show business in between bouts of indulging in games of chance that everyone knows favor the house."
- Clifford L. Linedecker
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Las Vegas Tidbit - #2
Fun Fact
The very first hotel/casino on The Strip was the El Rancho Vegas, which opened on April 3, 1941. It burned down twenty years later. However, its That casino stood for almost 20 years before being destroyed by a fire in 1960. The second one to open was the Hotel Last Frontier, in 1942. The Flamingo (which is right next to our hotel and we have access to their pool) opened in 1946, and the Desert Inn, opened in 1950.
The second period of development saw the opening of the first MGM Grand in 1973. This hotel had 2,084 rooms and, at the time, it was one of the largest hotels in the world. However, it burned down in 1980.
The next important period of development on The Strip started in 1989 wuth the opening of The Mirage which set a new level to the Las Vegas experience, as smaller hotels and casinos made way for the larger mega-resorts.
They just want your money but they have to get you in somehow...
The Mirage also has this big volcano out front that in the evenings until midnight erupts every 15 minutes.
Great Quote
"I lost $35,000 in less than a week at the Mirage in Las Vegas."
-Dennis Rodman
The very first hotel/casino on The Strip was the El Rancho Vegas, which opened on April 3, 1941. It burned down twenty years later. However, its That casino stood for almost 20 years before being destroyed by a fire in 1960. The second one to open was the Hotel Last Frontier, in 1942. The Flamingo (which is right next to our hotel and we have access to their pool) opened in 1946, and the Desert Inn, opened in 1950.
The second period of development saw the opening of the first MGM Grand in 1973. This hotel had 2,084 rooms and, at the time, it was one of the largest hotels in the world. However, it burned down in 1980.
The next important period of development on The Strip started in 1989 wuth the opening of The Mirage which set a new level to the Las Vegas experience, as smaller hotels and casinos made way for the larger mega-resorts.
They just want your money but they have to get you in somehow...
The Mirage also has this big volcano out front that in the evenings until midnight erupts every 15 minutes.
Great Quote
"I lost $35,000 in less than a week at the Mirage in Las Vegas."
-Dennis Rodman
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