My brisket and pork shoulder came out GREAT!
I showed Sonny how to make it. He said "wow, thats easy"... :^)
As usual, Gma's chicken fettucini was delicious.
I played with sending text messages from my web page to my cell phone (for notary stuff).
Two days ago, I installed the Internet Explorer 7.
Today, I installed Office Professional 2007 on the PC and my laptop.
They're both attractive. So far, except for some things being moved around, I haven't found many improvements.
Most of the improvements I've found were items begging to be fixed, like re-adding HTML email to Outlook.
Renee called Becky
She likes Washington state. Its cold here with little chunks of white everywhere from the snow.
I get chills when the phone rings on Christmas.
On a few occassions, its been terrible news (like Rob and Mom).

Regarding Question 5, it reads:
54% of the voters approved Question 5.
991,054 voters are registered.
283,598 of them actually voted.
SO, when we're talking about the majority of voters that passed Question 5,
we're talking about 11,343 voters who tipped the scale.
I call that a very slim majority in a state that has 3 million people.
These stats came from http://sos.state.nv.us/nvelection/2006StateWideGeneral/VoterTurnout.htm
Everyone should vote. You can make a difference.

I know the following sounds crazy, but it makes sense if you think hard about it.
The odds of rolling a 7 with two dice are:
6 to 1. That is calculated by taking the total combinations of the dice (36) / the number of ways to make a 7 (6).
How fast this happens depends on how fast the dice are rolled.
The odds of life happening are:
The total combinations of elements in the universe / the total number of elements necessary to make life.
It took 2 billion years for this to happen on Earth
Check out Life on Earth for more information on how life came about on Earth.
The odds of your life happening are:
The Odds of You Happening = The Total Combinations of life / The Number of Ways to Make You.
It took 8 billion years for your combination to come up.
The odds are that'll you'll come back to life after you die 
simply because it has happened once in 8 billion years.
Since nature was created from scratch 8 billion years ago, the odds of our re-creation shouldn't take as long the next time around.
So there...I've said it. I know this all sounds profound, but numbers do not lie.
Math is truth. It is the language of nature.
If you can't figure things out for yourself, then you'll have to take what others say on faith.
And faith is a symptom of laziness.

They kissed most of the way there and you could tell they are anxious to get away.
Its been a strange day, with the phone ringing off the hook.
I guess some people think Renee is really messing up.
I think she's twenty-one and she is happy. How could she be doing the wrong thing?
And who knows what the right thing is anyway.

---

I guess I'm a softy, but it always jerks a tear from my eye when I say goodbye.
We didn't see much of Renee since we've been back, but just knowing she's gone somehow seems sad.
And Robert will be leaving soon.
Guess thats just the way of Vegas

The food was Jordan cuisine and it was Very Good!
We smoked a hookah bowl and chatted with the waitress for quite awhile.
She said the decision on whether they can exist as a business remains to be seen.
She also said they would most likely be given except status since they were licensed as a tobacco smoking club.
Who knows....
Sonny, Becky and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was really nice, the customers were very friendly and the prices were reasonable. My only complaint, the place was too small for the number of people there.
On another note, Jonathon and Renee are taking off tomorrow night
They're leaving for Everett Washington at 9pm.
I'm egging Renee to call Robert, just in case she doesn't see him again for another 10 years.
Is it me? I'd think that would be instinctive, to say good bye to your brother before moving out of state.
He's 5 miles away. hmmm.
I just called Robert and explained everything to him
He'll be by after work tonight.

Jonathon is staying at 138 Bonnie Ln, Las Vegas, NV 89110.
He says he has a plane ticket for 2 to go back to Washington, and they can take off at anytime. (hmmm).
Anyway, they want to stay here for two nights.

Friday, the indoor clean air act takes force in Nevada.
In my mind, the law was put to vote without any thought about its corrupt nature or its consequences.
If the law included casinos and strip clubs, I'd be fine with it, but it didn't.
The point is:
- No thought was given to the people who will be over the DUI limit, because the bar couldn't serve food.
- No thought was given to the enforcement of this law.
- No decisions were given to the small businesses that have to declare themselves as "Supper Clubs" to exist.
- It is blatently illogical
You can smoke in casinos and strip clubs, but not in bars. What's the difference?
Small bars aren't throwing big money at the politicians? They can't afford it?
Any law that favors big business, and bullies small businesses into extinction should be, in itself, illegal.
However, the Nevada Supreme Court doesn't care about that.
It is a stupid law, that bullys over 50% of local bar patrons.
It also puts 8 hookah bars out of business who have business licenses here in Clark County.
My real fear is:
With a stroke of a pen, my business could be destroyed.

---

One possible action small bar patrons could take this Friday
- Go from one bar to another.
- In each bar, light a cigarette.
- When the bartender informs you its against the law, tell him to call the police (311).
- Move on to the next bar.
The facts are:
- Most smokers will never get cancer from smoking.
  The estimates run from 1% to 12% depending on who is giving the estimate. Look it up.
  My grandfather died at 93. My dad died at 83.
  I should mention that most smokers will almost surely develop emphysema.
  Smoking is very bad for your health.

---

In Nevada, there are enough stupid laws on the books.
- One of them is, if you want to get a business licenses as a limo service,
   you have to get approved by other limo businesses.

I guess everything has its place.
Last night, Renee was telling Becky how they decorated their Christmas tree.
She said that she put the hooks in the Christmas balls, while Jonathon hung them.
Becky said, "Renee, you were the hooker?". I laughed and said "and Jonathon was the baller".
Becky blurts these things out all day. You can see why I love her so much.
Thanks for the suggestion about the tenants junk.
I'd bet Big Brothers, Salvation Army, Goodwill, or any of those places would love to clean out that garage.

 
I am Superman at the Las Vegas buffets.
I tend to eat just about anything in mass quantities.
I'm often heard saying "gimme whatever that is" when ordering at restaurants.
I eat foods that dogs spit out. I'd eat fried shoelaces.
So I often wonder about those people who don't eat certain foods because:
- they've never tried it before, its too green, too loud, or its too yucky,, or its touching the mash potatoes on their plate.
These are the people who only eat green M&Ms, or pick the beans out of their chili and pile them up on the side.
These people must be insane?
I've read that picky eating is a symptom of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
On the other hand, eating fried shoelaces would undeniably be schizophrenic.

- 3 months ago you could fry an egg on the side walk.
- 1 month ago, our honeysuckles started to bloom
- Today, the temperature will be 28 to 47 degrees.
The temperatures have dropped 80 degrees in 3 months.

I really don't know what to expect this next week.
The tenants haven't even tried to move out. They haven't called.
The gardener (Rich) thinks they are tweakers.
It seems suspicious to me.
I have two images in my mind:
- Us with the constable, knocking on the door and nobody answers.
  I drill and replace the door locks.
  The constable leaves. 
  Later the tenants come back and break in.
- Us with the constable, the tenants answer, they exit the building
  I change the locks. 
  The constable leaves and the tenants don't. 
  Later, they break in.
No matter what happens tommorrow, its going to be very ugly.
I'd bet we'll be involving the police.

We ate a wonderful dinner at GMa's.
Paul, Renee, Jonathon, Dustin, Jennifer, Becky and I were there.
Sonny make it, due to the bird being done at 2pm.
Becky's back hurt really bad, so we had to leave early too.

My recipe:
- brining the turkey for 3 days
- cook the bird in the oven at 350 for 4 hours or until the thingy pops out.
- Put soaked hickory chips in the smokers pan. Fill water pan with water.
- Smoke the turkey for an hour.
- EAT the turkey! haha
Becky sprung her back muscles while in the shower.
She is in a lot of pain.
I looked it up, and most lower back injuries are from torn or pulled muscles.
Inactivity will cause that.
Robert and Joy came over.
I drove Robert's Ford Focus to pick up a video. His car drives like a Porsche!!!
It has 6 forward gears, shifts like a dream, but has continuous power through the 1,000-6,000 RPM range.
The speedometer may say 160mph, which I think it could do, however most tires are only rated for 120mph.
It handles OK. The suspension could be a little tighter.
I would recommend a Ford Focus to anyone.
Becky started crying really bad when she got up to use the bathroom.
I felt so bad so bad for her. I had to help her walk.
Robert suggested she needed to go to the hospital.
Seriously though, what are they going to do?
I went through 6 years of therapy with my ex wifes problems and it was a waste of time, and thousands of dollars.
The doctors and hospitals take a lot while giving very little. Insurance proceeds, not the customer, is their master.
I talked a lawyer not long ago about health care assistance.
She said, a person is better off going to California if they have low assets.
Nevada no longer gives Medicare assistance to women unless they have a child anymore.
She said I can get group coverage with the corporation if there are only two employees.
Insurance companies have to comply, however, that will be a couple of months down the road.

After talking to Teresa Zeigler from Yellow Book (702) 406-8170.
We will now get a white backed Yellow Page ad for $200 a month.
The book comes out in April, so we got in just about the right time.
A business has to advertise!
Our ads will be under the headings for Notaries, Loans, and Real Estate.
Plus, we'll show online in 6 weeks.
Ya know, I had to notice from the other ads in Yellow Book
- There was an ad for a notary that was listed as Notario Publico, which is EXTREMELY ILLEGAL.
To people, from spanish speaking countries, that is the title of a lawyer.
It is specifically listed in the Nevada Revised Statutes as being a no no.
- Also, in the listings, an ad mentioned wills. Normally a will is notarized by the lawyer that drafts it.
While this is not illegal, it is probably unethical.

November 19, 1863 (143 years ago today)
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation,
conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

---

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

---

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us...
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ;
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

We hung out, watched X-Men 3, and went to the Chocolate Gardens.

It was okay. I guess don't like cheese e characters. Paul sprung for it.
Gma had a birthday party at Paul's house, and that was especially cool.

We went to the Chocolate Wonderland.

That was really neat. We saw lots of lights throughout the gardens. 
Starbucks was giving away their special holiday brew too. Yum.
We also saw some rabbits, and an owl...Pretty cool, huh?
To spoil things 108 FM was advertising their We Hate Smokers concert in Henderson.
Its the "Industry-Free Hardcore, manipulation-free punk, smoke-free-seen against tobacco users"
Thats what the pamphlet reads. I thought that was really UnCool.
I hope these guys appreciate what is happened when sales taxes and unemployment go up, and tourism goes down.
Everyone gets what they ask for I guess.
Also, to top things off when we got home,
Dustin hung out for 10 minutes, then played Gameboy for the rest of the night.
He said he didn't like the "Da Vinci Code", but he had no idea what the movie was about.
Becky, Jennifer, and I watched The Da Vinci Code
I learned more about the Constantines and the Byzantines.
The movie was interesting.
Dustin learned how to jump things over cartoon characters I guess.
Once again, we all get what we want, I guess.

Clint Holmes, along with Santa and his elves, will be at a tree lighting ceremony at Lake Las Vegas Resorts.
Clint Holmes will be singing, and the Ice Skating Rink will be open.
All day passes for the Ice Skating rink are available for $12.
It is a free to all that come. Activities start at 7:30pm. Click here for more information

I've had to notice, since I've been studying the laws relating to Notaries.
Two things are mandated:
- The person has to be in front of the notary.
- A notary can't charge you more than $5.
This year, we've had four documents notarized.
One for a home refinance (it was legal).
One for our bond and insurance (it was illegal, the notary never saw us, she was in Pahrump).
One for our corporate account (it was illegal, the notary never saw us).
One was a neighbor's document that had no title, no legal certificate but a Postal Outfit notarized it for $15 anyway.
After calling around for a Mobile Notary Services
I noticed ALL of them charged more than $25!
At least I'll be 100%  legal.
I'm going to charge $20 for the referral, $20 for the trip, and $5 for the notarization.
I may be the only person with a legal notary business in Las Vegas.

It costs $2,500 to open, but it is completely free!
And it pays interest, even if you just have a $1 balance.

Bidding starts at 11am.
We can be there, or online at www.greatamerican.com .
11/17 Fri - Casino Floor and Tables, (no slots will be sold) Sportsbook, Consumer Collectibles
11/18 Sat - Art, Antiques, Collectibles, Signage, Photos
11/19 Sun - Art, Antiques, Collectibles, Signage, Photos
11/20 Mon - Cooking equipment, Landscaping, generators, Suite furnishings etc.
11/21 Tues - Facility assets, Office furnishings, miscellaneous, odds and ends.

I listened to the people in front of me at the lines. They were being duped.
So I got written estimates and used logic to beat them.
Mr Brake said I needed new rotors.
- They estimated over $400 but $250 was for the rotors. Ceramic pads were included.
Midas said my rotors were fine, but I need new shocks.
- They estimated over $400, but $250 was for the shocks. Ceramic pads were included.
Another Mr Brake said the rotors were fine, but $99 brake pads were crap
- They estimated over $400 for the pads, but $250 was for ceramic the pads.
Combining all of those estimates, it was obvious I was being duped.
I showed my estimates to the first Mr Brake
- I pointed out that, unless Midas and the other Mr Brake were lying, they had to be wrong about the rotors.
- A customer was present that was about to pay $400 for a $99 coupon brake job. (I listened in)
Mr Brake gave me new ceramic brakes (front only) and shocks for $250.
- They said OOPS! We made a mistake on the rotors.
I should point out the following:
- I felt sorry for the other customer that was getting duped.
- It was near closing time
- I watched them do it from the parking lot.
DO NOT TRUST AUTO MECHANICS!!! Get written estimates first.

---

Channel 8 Stings Purrfect Auto
I was really happy to see what I think is a common dupe.
Auto repair companies typically lure people in with coupons that charge unreasonably low rates.

Its supposed to help 1 out of 5 smokers quit, by both blocking nicotine absorption into the brain, and by satisfying the craving for it. It joins Zyban for quit smoking drugs.
Unfortunately, it costs $4 a day ($128 a month).
For me, without insurance, that goes up to $8 ($256 a month), due to needing a prescription.
When you consider we have two smokers in the house, its not a viable solution.
I can't find it in the underworld of  pharmaceutical drugs yet. Maybe in a few months it will be available for $1 a day.
Since Chantix's success rate is only a marginal gain over Zyban for smoking cessation
And its SO EXPENSIVE, I think I'm going to go with Zyban.
Zyban can be purchased from this link Offshorerx.com for what amounts to $60 a month.
An article by Phyzer says only 1 out of 20 smokers who try to quit smoking succeed without aid.

From :whyquit.com
Today there are nearly 50,000,000 smokers in the United States, which is nearly 20% of our entire population.
If 20% of the 42,191 who died in 1998 automobile accidents were smokers,
your chances of dying from smoking are 50 times greater than being killed in a car accident. 
With those kind of odds, why even wear a seatbelt?
With 220,000 middle aged smokers dying this year, each an average of 22.5 years early, wouldn't it make more sense to sell the seatbelts and the airbags and use the money for a down payment on a coffin.  Seriously!  Have you ever been coffin shopping?  It's a real eye opener - so many colors and lots of styles.  Save your family the hassle!  Plan and pay for your own early funeral now.
I just went to the above sight for some tips to quit smoking.
Instead, I find myself reading blatent propaganda.
That sucks!
Did I read that article right?
Are they telling, not only smokers, but EVERYBODY to not wear their seat belts.
I did some simple math on these numbers.
Lets to some math...what do you say?
- The average life span in the US is said to be 76 years old.
- There are 300,000,000 people in the US.
So, 300,000,000 / 76 = 3,947,368 people die every year. That was easy.
The article says 220,000 people die of smoking each year.
So, of the deaths that occur each year, what percentage is smokers?
Simple, divide 220,000 / 3,947,368 and muliply by 100...
ANSWER: 5% of deaths each year are caused by smoking.

Yahoo! Now we just need to:
x Open a checking account. ($2,500). Opened 11/17/2006
x File Corp S election with the IRS. Mailed 11/17/2006
- File with Nevada Department of Taxation
- Finish Certification (1 week for me). $180 + 3 weeks for Becky's background check and certification.
- Get business cards ($100)
- Get another phone line. ($100)
- Set up for accepting charge cards. Check PayPal
- Advertise. Embarq Super Bold Listing under Mobile Notaries (up to $5,000).
  Yellow Book is by coming Monday 10am.
And we're on the road to the American Dream, to own our own business!

I'd compare the addiction to breathing. When you don't get oxygen, you go nuts!
Why did it get so popular in the first place?
I'd imagine the cause was greed.
Smokers have been over taxed and under compensated. That adds up to a lot of money.

---

The following are some statistics I gathered from the internet
If you believe what you read, this is how statistics fit together.
Taxes: There are 44 million people in the US smoking 1 pack a day. They pay $1 a pack in taxes to the state.
So 44 million people x $1 a day x 365 days = Smokers pay $16 billion dollars in state taxes a year.
Social Security Retirement: The Average life span is 76 years. Smokers live 17 years less than non smokers.
So most smokers die by their 59th birthdays. Smokers rarely get Social Security Benefits.
Social Security and Medicare have taxed 15% of every dollar I've ever made. That will all go to non smokers.
This sad commentary is interesting:
From www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov
Despite a widespread cessation in smoking over the past several decades, there has been no significant decline in death rates from lung cancer among former smokers, according to a new study (Epidemiology 1999;10:500-12).
So, given my own collection of information from the web:
- I'm going to die early even if I quit.
- Insurance won't touch me.
- I won't get a job.
- I'll die before retirement.
- I won't get Social Security benefits
- I won't get that 15% in FICA paid throughout my life.
In short: I'm going to die poor, hated, sick, and cheated.
My course of action can only be one thing:
Quit smoking, and lie about ever having smoked.

Your absolutely right Mikey, we need to quit.
I really appreciate your response.
Tweaked articles like the one you pasted are hard to dispute. They do insult common sense though.
I think I found that article. Smokers need not apply here 
If you read that article, you'll realize the employer, Weyco, absolutely HATES smokers.
Rebutting a few things it said:
- Since when do you sell your $500,000 house without repainting it? I think thats funny.
- Who gets their teeth dry cleaned?
- About the 6,000 employers who don't hire smokers. 
   Weyco admittedly spies on its employees. They are not someone I would want to work for.
   I really think this employer has gone too far. They'll admittedly fire someone for lighting up while vacation.
The justification has a footing: Smokers can be persecuted because they can quit, and it costs insurance companies money.
If you could renounce Judaism to escape persecution, would you?
The solution for me isn't one of faith though. Its one of character.
When good guys are suddenly depicted as bad guys, don't you want to ask the question "What happened?".
Mob mentality, I think, is always a bad thing.
Of all the people I've known in my life, 3 died from cancer, 2 of them were smokers
Therefore I could say 2 out of every 3 people who die from cancer, smoke.
But my group is made up of at least 100 of dead people that I've known.
From personal knowledge, the top killers would be old age, accidents, suicide and murder.

Chocolate Wonderland 

Ethel Ms Chocolate Factory Mtn Vista and Sunset.
5pm to 10 pm, Fri, Sat through Dec 23rd. Free
Features 500,000 lights, chocolate houses, sculptures, Santa Claus and live enterainment.
Tree Lighting Ceremony
Lake Las Vegas - Nov 17. 8pm. Free. Clint Holmes will be singing 8pm to 9pm.
The Floating Ice Skating Rink is open for $12 per person (all day).
Gift of Lights
Sunset Park - Thu, Fri, Sat 5pm to 9pm. Cost: $12 per vehicle
It has displays with over 7 million lights.
Heritage Street Holidays
Clark County Museum - 1830 Boulder Highway. $1.50 adults, $1 children
See holidays past on the Clark County Museum"s Heritage Street.
The restored have historic homes decorated in vintage trim from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
Museum-goers will be given a set of period recipes, available at each home.
"Holiday Trains Around the Tree" will take place 4:30-8 p.m. Dec. 9-11.
The event will feature music, trees, and Dec.rated homes along Heritage Street; historic train runs at the Railroad Depot and a special 1920's Lionel's Golden Age model railroading exhibit; a special holiday discount on every purchase; and complimentary holiday refreshments.

Theres problems with the First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech.They may face lawsuits about it.
At least their trying to hold on to what they view as sacred.
I've noticed that you must speak English to gain citizenship unless you are over 55.
Americans have lost so much.
You can't raise your child the way you want, you can't say a prayer in school.
I can't even understand the girl in the drive up window at McDonalds.
It won't be long before all of the religious holidays are gone.
Hey, kids are murdering each other. Has anyone noticed?
Do we need something like language dividing us even further apart?

Lyman Cutlar was a farmer in San Juan, an island near Washington, and Vancover.
During that time, the English and British were at odds of the rights to land.
In 1959, San Juan only had 18 American colonist.
Cutlar caught a pig eating his tubors (potatoes), and shot it.
The pig was owned by a sheep herder who worked for the Hudson Bay Company.
The two, who had gotten along before the incident, got in a dispute, one yelling "Keep you pigs out of my potatoes",
the other yelling, "Keep your potatoes out of my pigs". The British threatened to arrest Cutlar.
The colonist petitioned the US for aid and the situation esculated.
Things started getting CrAzY
Next thing you know, 514 Americans with 14 cannons opposed five British warships, with 70 guns, and 2,140 men.
It was known as the Pig War. It didn't happen though, thanks to President Buchanan's intervention.

Can 20,000 votes out of Nevada's 2.4 million people take away individual freedom.
- take away a business's right to decide what his customers want?
- take away a consumer's rights to choose what he buys
There are 1.8 million people over 18 in Nevada. 20,00 votes allowed Question 5 to pass.

What really bothers me about Question 5 is what it does to free enterprise.
A line is being crossed here that is dangerous. Today, the smokers are the targets.
Do you like your steak medium rare? Do you like hot coffee? How about beer?
Its forseeable that fatty foods, drinking, obesity, even illegal immigration could all be construed as being harmful to your health. How many jobs have to be lost before Americans wake up?
Destroy freedom and you destroy what this nation is all about.

Free Enterprise - How it is supposed to work
The following is an excerpt from socialstudieshelp.com
The U.S. economic system of free enterprise operates according to five main principles: the freedom to choose our businesses, the right to private property, the profit motive, competition, and consumer sovereignty.

Freedom to Choose Our Businesses
In this country, the decision whether or not you should go into computer services or any other kind of enterprise (business) is basically yours alone to make. You will decide what fees to charge and what hours to work. Certain laws prohibit you from cheating or harming your customers or other people.
But, in general, you will be left alone to run your business as you see fit.

Right to Private Property
Private property is a piece of land, a home, or a car owned by an individual, a family, or a group. It differs from a public building, or public property, such as the city hall, a park, or a highway, all of which provide a government service for all citizens. In the U.S. economic system, people's right to buy and sell private property is guaranteed by law. People must use the property in safe and reasonable ways, of course. In setting up computer systems for your customers, for example, you do not have the right to interfere with the electrical, telephone, or computer systems of other people.

Profit Motive
The main reason why you or any enterprising person organizes a business is to make money. You do this by earning more money than you spend. The amount of money left over after subtracting your business expenses from your business income is known as your profit. In the free enterprise system, business firms try hard to keep costs down and increase their income from sales. The better they succeed at this, the higher are their profits. Economists describe the efforts by business firms to earn the greatest profits as the profit motive.

Competition
Just as you are free to start a computer business, so is everyone else. The rivalry between sellers in the same field for consumers' dollars is called competition. If your business is profitable, it is likely that others will enter the same business hoping to be as successful as you are. They will be competing with you for the same customers. To win a share of the computer business, other sellers may try to offer more and better services, or services at lower prices. Because of the pressure of competition, business firms must constantly try to provide the best services and create the best products at the lowest possible prices.

Consumer Sovereignty
In the end, it is the customers, or consumers, who determine whether any business succeeds or fails. In the U.S. free enterprise economy, consumers are said to have sovereignty-the power or freedom to have final say. Consumers are free to spend their money for Product X or for Product Y. If they prefer Y over X, then the company making X may lose money, go out of business, or decide to manufacture something else (perhaps Product Z). Thus, how consumers choose to spend their dollars causes business firms of all kinds to produce certain goods and services and not others.

I'd assume it has something to do with the space shuttles. 
The Thunderbirds were GREAT today. They can climb straight up, 6 miles in 2 minutes. AWESOME!
19 more miles up and they'd be in a stationary orbit.
It was also the F15's last official flight today. It was pretty incredible to see these planes hoover

Ahhh..I'm glad you asked!
It needs to be on the internet somewhere first.
You may have to load it up somewhere on the net (MySpace is pretty easy).
Once you have the picture on the internet:
- Right click the thumbnail on the uploaded picture, select copy.
- While entering or updating a blog entry, click where you want the picture to be, then click Paste
- or right click where you want the picture, then select Paste,
- or On the bottom toolbar, click the icon.
I saw those shots of Pearl Harbor in an email someone sent me.
I noticed that emailed pictures don't copy and paste very well too (it probably has something to do with them being in temporary storage).
-- Sorry bout that --
I didn't do the code that copies and pastes...lol

Maybe a non smoking Vegas would be great...for the Indian Reservations.
In California and Florida, you can smoke in Indian casinos.
You can on riverboat casinos, and international waters too.
Vegas is assumed to be the Sin City.
I've been to Copper Keg and the Blue Ox...they think they'll be losing their jobs!
Here, you have a bar on every corner. Its not like that in California.
A lot of people doubt that the law will take effect.
Nevada is supposed to be the national test bed for legal challenges on the indoor clean air laws.
Anyway, I was thinking that being a bartender might be a good fall back if this notary/corporation thing fails.
Guess not, if the local bars close. Timing, it seems, is everything.
I was talking to 5 bikers at a local bar last night.
They said they won't be coming back to Vegas if it becomes prudish, like California.
They liked how Vegas has everything to do, all the time, and is laid back.
They come here every weekend to get away from all the suppressing laws.
Another customer got into the conversation...oh man, did he get riled.
We represented 8 out of the 14 people in that bar.

November 11, 2006 - Nellis offers a free airshow, open the public.
The Thunderbirds perform, along with dozens of vintage aircraft.
We met the pilots, and they let you tour the interiors of the planes. We liked it!

The annual Las Vegas Veterans Day Parade takes palce on Saturday, Nov. 11.
The parade begins at 10 a.m. and should last until 1:30 pm.
The 4th Street parade route begins downtown on Coolidge Avenue and will stop at the Fremont Street Experience.

:)

Yes, its bad! Unless Dustin is lying to me.
I asked Dustin about the homework I'd helped him with last week...he said he lost it.
Then he said I got all of my answers wrong.
He said he got an "A" on it.
He also said I was wrong because on a graph, the X axis runs up and down and the Y axis runs horizontal.
Even Jennifer knew he was wrong about that.
He said ratios weren't anything like fractions.
He said I got the slopes wrong. He uses the formula slope = y² x x² .
I used the formula of a slope=(y₂-y₁) / (x₂-x₁).
In other words, Dustin hasn't learned anything.
But I guess he'll graduate as an "A" student.

According to the American Cancer Society.
Thats funny! .
They also say there has never been a study showing that tourism was hurt by a smoking ban.
Now thats just plain dumb.
I've read at least a dozen such reports.
They are all over the internet. Don't they use the internet?
One report says New York lost 2,650 jobs, $50 million in workers earnings,
and $71 million in the gross state product after the smoking ban.
But this is Las Vegas. We have quite a few non-stop flights coming in from Japan, and all over the world.
Of course, a smoking ban will hurt Nevada business.
Its silly to say it wouldn't.
Many of the reports that measure no change in business, go by the taxes collected per year.
They don't take into account the national growth in income per bar is around 25% per year.
They say if a bar made $1 last year, and is still making $1 this year, there is no change in business.
The studies should reflect the national growth in revenues.
Its no different than investment thinking.
If an investment is worth the same thing it was last year, it is actually losing money by not keeping up.

Nevada's minimum wage of $6.15 an hour will take effect November 28th.
Exemptions:
Employers who offer health insurance for less than 10% of the workers gross income.
Overtime Changes
Those with health insurance get overtime after 8 hours if their wage is less than $7.73.
Those without health insurance get overtime after 8 hours if their wage is less than $9.23.
What does that mean exactly?
Does that mean, if you make > $9.23 without insurance, or > $7.73 with insurance, you don't get overtime?
Is overtime pretty much history now?

The Treaty of Versailles officially ended World War I in June 1919.
However, the fighting between the Allies and Germany ended November 11, 1918 on Armistice Day.
In 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans

1829 -- Discovered by Spanish explorers.
1855 -- First settlement by Mormons in Las Vegas.
1905 -- Town of Las Vegas established by auctioning of land.
1905 -- The First United Methodist Church of Las Vegas formed at 3rd & Bridger.
1911 -- The city of Las Vegas is incorporated.
1926 -- First commercial airline flight, Western Airlines.
1931/03/19 -- Gambling legalized in Nevada.
1936/03/01 -- Hoover Dam completed in Black Canyon.
1940 -- Clark County population 16,414 (Las Vegas-8,422).
1941 -- El Rancho Vegas opens on the Strip, destroyed by fire 19 years later.
1941 -- El Cortez Hotel opens downtown.
1942 -- Last Frontier Hotel opens. (Later called New Frontier and Frontier.)
1944 -- The first Helldorado parade and rodeo is conducted.
1946 -- Bugsy Siegel opens Flamingo Hotel. State levies first gaming taxes.
1947 -- The U.S. Air Force opens Nellis
1950 -- Clark County population 48,289. (Las Vegas-24,624).
1955 -- Gaming Control Board created within the Nevada Tax Commission by the Legislature.
1955 -- Riviera opens
1957 -- Tropicana opens
1959 -- Las Vegas Convention Center opens. The Nevada Gaming Commission is created by the Legislature.
1960 -- Clark County population 127,016. (Las Vegas-64,405).
1966 -- Howard Hughes arrives to live at Desert Inn.
1966 -- Caesars Palace opens
1967 -- Nevada legislature allows corporations to obtain gambling licenses.
1970 -- Clark County population 273,288 (Las Vegas-125,787).
1975 -- Nevada gaming revenues first crack $1 billion mark.
1980 -- Clark County population hits 463,087 (Las Vegas- 164,674) as Las Vegas celebrates 75th birthday.
1981 -- Las Vegas celebrates Golden Anniversary of Gaming.
1985 -- First National Finals Rodeo held in Las Vegas.
1989 -- Mirage opens Nov. 22, with 3,039 rooms.
1990 -- Clark County population 741,459 (Las Vegas-258,295)
1990 -- Excalibur opens June 19, to date the world's largest resort hotel with 4,032 rooms.
1991 -- Ground broken on MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park; Treasure Island Hotel, and pyramid-shaped Luxor.
1991 -- The Las Vegas Online Entertainment Guide goes online as a dial-up BBS system.
1992 -- First Las Vegas Bowl held at Silver Bowl.
1993 -- MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park tops off. Flamingo Hilton announces plans to raze Bugsy suite and office.
1993/10/27 -- Dunes sign is imploded
1993 -- Money won by Nevada casinos tops the $6 billion mark for the first time.
1993/08/23 -- Grand Slam Canyon Adventuredome
1993/10/15 -- Luxor Hotel opens
1993/10/26 -- Treasure Island Hotel opens
1993/12/18 -- MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park opens
1994 -- Buffalo Bill's in Stateline and Boulder Station Casino on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas open.
1994/09/07 -- Downtown Fremont Street closed to traffic
1994 -- Steve Wynn reveals plans to construct Bellagio
1994 -- Sam's Town on Boulder Highway expands with lush, plant-filled atrium.
1994 -- Boomtown opens
1994 -- The first non-stop flight from Europe begins with weekly flights from Cologne, Germany.
1994 -- Four skywalks are built over the intersection of Tropicana Boulevard and the Las Vegas Strip.
1994 -- County opens Interstate 15-McCarran airport connector tunnel
1994/10/27 -- The Dunes hotel-casino is imploded
1994 -- The Fiesta opens in North Las Vegas 
1995/02/01 -- Vegas World closes its doors to make way for the Stratosphere Tower.
1995 -- Clark County population estimated at 1,000,000+
1995/03/10 -- The first Hard Rock Hotel opens March 10.
1995 -- New visitors center opens at Hoover Dam.
1995 -- Circus Circus Inc. buys Gold Strike Resorts.
1995/06/14 -- Monorail begins operation between MGM Grand and Bally's
1995 -- William Bennett, former president and CEO of Circus Circus, buys Sahara Hotel-Casino
1995 -- Bally Entertainment Corp. announces Paris Casino Resort
1995 -- Texas Gambling Hall & Hotel opens next door to the Fiesta on Rancho Road in North Las Vegas.
1995 -- $25 million monorail begins running between MGM Grand and Bally's hotel-casinos on June 14.
1995 -- The Las Vegas Online Entertainment Guide moves from dial-up to the Internet.
1995 -- ITT Corp. buys Caesars World Inc. for $1.7 billion, including Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
1995 -- Construction begins on Steve Wynn's Bellagio
1995 -- Circus Circus Enterprises buys Hacienda and surrounding 100 acres.
1995/12/13 -- Fremont Street Experience opens
1995 -- Las Vegas reported a 29 million visitor volume for the year.
1995 -- State gross gaming revenue surpasses $7.3 billion. 
1995 -- Clark County produced $5.7 billion of the state's gaming revenue total.
1995/11/07 -- Landmark Hotel imploded
1996/01/24 -- Ground breaking ceremonies for Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience
1996 -- Wayne Newton celebrates 25,000th Las Vegas performance.
1996 -- Siegfried and Roy celebrate 15,000th Las Vegas performance.
1996 -- Desert Inn Road arterial is completed, creating the first tunnel under the Las Vegas Strip.
1996/04/30 -- Stratosphere Tower opens as the tallest free-standing observation tower in the US
1996 -- Hilton Hotels Corp. purchases Bally's Entertainment Corp for $3 billion
1996/06/18 -- Caesars Magical Empire, a multimillion dollar dining and entertainment complex opens
1996/06/21 -- Monte Carlo, a joint venture between Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Mirage Resorts Inc
1996/09/01 -- The $72 million, 1,100-acre Las Vegas Speedway opens
1996 -- Clark County Commission grants permits for Paris Casino Resort
1996 -- Hyatt Hotel Corp. announces plans to build a 500-room hotel on the shores of Lake Las Vegas
1996/06/30 -- The Sands Hotel, after 44 years of continuous operation,
1996/11/25 -- Sands tower imploded Nov. 26 to make way for the Venetian
1996 -- State Line, NV is renamed to Primm, NV
1996 -- Ground breaking held for 3,000-room Planet Hollywood Hotel Casino. It never happened.
1996/12/31 -- Circus Circus implodes Hacienda Hotel Casino Dec. 31 to make way for megaresort.
1996 -- 29.6 million people visit Las Vegas in 1996; state gross gaming revenue totals $7.45 billion
1996 -- Clark County population hits 1.1 million.
1997/01/03 -- New York-New York Hotel Casino opens.
1997/01/27 -- Stratosphere files Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It continues to operate.
1997/01/28 -- Hilton Hotels Corp. makes a $10.5 billion hostile take-over bid on ITT Corp.
1997 -- ITT shareholders accept Starwood Lodging offer.
1997/02/07 -- The 6,945-yard, par 71 Lakes Course opens Feb. 7, the first golf course located in Primm, NV.
1997/04 -- Ground breaking to build the $1.8 billion Venetian theme resort on the grounds
1997 -- Steve Wynn, builder of Las Vegas Strip megaresorts, calls for a slow approach to future expansion in Las Vegas.
1997 -- Megabucks is hit for $12 million at New York-New York Hotel/Casino (worlds largest slot payout)
1997 -- Coca Cola Co. opens howcase Mall marked by a 100-foot-tall glass Coca Cola bottle.
1997/05/07 -- The first non-stop scheduled commercial flight from Frankfurt International arrives at McCarren
1997 -- Sunset Station Hotel-Casino opens June 10.
1997 -- Players Island Resort purchased by Virgin River Casino and renamed CasaBlanca on July 1.
1997/08/29 -- The Forum Shops at Caesars opens
1997/11/25 -- The Aladdin Hotel closed to make way for joint venture with Planet Hollywood
1997 -- The Desert Inn Hotel Casino completes $200 million renovation and expansion.
1997 -- Owners change the name of the Boomtown Hotel Casino to Silverton
1997 -- Harley Davidson Cafe opens on the Las Vegas Strip, continuing the theme restaurant proliferation.
1997 -- Caesars Palace opens new tower in December.
1997 -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. buys Showboat Inc. in a $1.154 billion deal.
1997 -- The Frontier Hotel, owned by the Elardi family, is sold to Phil Ruffin, a Kansas industrialist, for $165 million.
1997 -- Rio Casino opens
1997 -- Alan Paulson buys the Gold River Casino/Hotel in Laughlin.
1998/01/04 -- Star Trek: The Experience opens at the Las Vegas Hilton.
1998/02/10 -- Ameristar Casinos, Inc. opens The Reserve Hotel Casino on Feb. 10
1998 -- Circus Circus officials announces Mandalay Bay
1998 -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts buys ITT Corp. for $14.6 billion which included Caesars Palace and Desert Inn 1998 -- Eagle Canyon Airlines buys Las Vegas-based Scenic Airlines.
1998 -- The Aladdin Hotel is imploded on April 27.
1998 -- Northwest Airlines offers non-stop service June 1 from Tokyo
1998/08 -- Korean Airlines offers three non-stop charter flights from Seoul, Korea
1998/10/02 -- Japan Airlines inaugurates non-stop service October 2 from Tokyo
1998 -- Country Star restaurant on the Strip is acquired by Mirage Resorts Inc. and closes.
1998/10/15 -- Bellagio opens. Bars people under 18 that aren't registered.
1998 -- Las Vegas Convention Center expands to 1.9 million square foot expansion
1998 -- The Debbie Reynolds hotel-casino is sold at public auction August 5 to the World Wresting Federation
1998/12 -- Speedway Motorsports buys Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1998/11 -- California voters allow casino gambling on American Indian reservations.
199811/15 -- A 66-year-old Las Vegas resident hits a Megabucks for$27.58 million at Palace Station.
1998 -- Annual gross gaming revenue in Nevada hits the $8.1 billion mark.
1998 -- Annual number of visitors to Las Vegas totals 30.6 million people.
1998 -- Hilton Hotels Corp. spins off its gaming division to Park Place Entertainment Corp
1999/01/01 -- Harrah's Entertainment buys the Rio
1999/03/01 -- MGM buys Primadonna Resorts Inc to own Primm and New York-New York
1999/03/02 -- Mandalay Bay Resort opens March 2 with 3,300 rooms.
1999/03/02 -- Four Seasons Hotel opens
1999/05/03 -- Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino opens 3,036 suites.
1999 -- The Las Vegas Convention Center celebrates its 40th birthday.
1999 -- Circus Circus Enterprises changes its name to Mandalay Resort Group.
1999/07/15 -- The Resort at Summerlin opens
1999/01/01 -- Paris Las Vegas Casino Resort opens
2000 -- Caesars World sells for $3 billion to Park Place Entertainment.
2000 -- The Resort at Summerlin changes its name to The Regent Las Vegas.
2000 -- MGM Grand Inc. announces the purchase of Mirage Resorts Inc
2000/08/28 -- Desert Inn closed by purchaser Steve Wynn and is later imploded.
2000 -- El Rancho (formally the Thunderbird, then the Silverbird) is imploded on October 3rd.
2000/08/18 -- The new Aladdin Resort & Casino opens
2001 -- Clark County's population reaches 1,498,274, while Las Vegas gets to 506,111.
2001 -- Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa openned by Station Casinos
2001 -- The 3 millionth marriage certificate is recorded in Clark County on February 9.
2003 -- Clark County's population reaches 1,641,529; Las Vegas' grows to 535,395.
2003/04 -- Caesars Palace opens the Colosseum
2003 -- The Stratosphere releases plans for X Scream.
2003 -- Las Vegas Premium Outlets opens in downtown Las Vegas.
2003 -- The Fashion Show mall completes a $1 billion expansion
2003 -- Mandalay Bay opens new 1,120-suite tower, The Hotel.
2004 -- Harrah's Entertainment purchases Binion's Horseshoe.
2004 -- Mergers abound in Las Vegas. MGM MIRAGE announces plans to purchase the Mandalay Resort Group. One month later, Harrah's Entertainment announces its plans to purchase Caesars Entertainment.
2004 -- The Strip dims its lights for President Ronald Reagan's passing.
2004 -- The Las Vegas Monorail, a $654 million mass transit system, opens to the public.
2004 -- Las Vegas Sands releases new details about its planned $1.6 billion Palazzo casino resort on the Strip.
2005 -- Las Vegas celebrates is Centennial year throughout 2005
2005/04/28 -- Steve Wynn opens Wynn Las Vegas
2005/12/22 -- South Coast Hotel & Casino, south of the Las Vegas Strip opens
2006/11/07 -- Smoking is banned in Nevada