This time, there were no sad good byes. GMa and Paul should be in Seattle around March. We've got to come back to take care of our taxes. Also, if I work in Seattle, for a year, I should have enough saved for taking two years off. Life is good! However, if I get a reputation at my new job, I could end up managing a system somewhere. And that could be very sweet!!!

And they're not in Las Vegas!
Louisville's Channel 6 news said there are more than 400 fires in Nevada this morning.
But Las Vegas's Channel 3 and Channel 8 said nothing about it.
I first heard about them last week.
It's national news!
So I was surprised when, after I talking to Sonny, he didn't know anything about it.
Wanna know something about where you're living?
Look at another city's news headlines.

- Family
- The Strip
- The mountains
- The proximity to Los Angeles and the ocean
- Local casinos
- All of that R rated adult fun out there
I've got 33 years of memories here. That's a lot of Christmas's
I've lost friends and relatives here.
I'll always be a Las Vegan.

- the Spanish invasion
- the aggressive drivers
- hearing "hate rap" music blasting at stop lights
- the smog, dust, allergens and the heat
- the pan handlers, hookers and tweakers
- unfriendly people, distant neighbors, people moving all the time, and the temporary nature of friendships here
- the overcrowding and poor quality of our schools
- the high cost of insurance and poor quality of health care
This isn't Kansas, Dorothy, it's VEGAS...lol

Our drivers are terrible here, we need
- Mass transit systems that are affordable. Pull offs for buses. Park and Rides.
- Ticket issuing traffic cams.
- Signs showing traffic conditions, with warnings about tailgaiting.
The greater Las Vegas area is the fastest growing area in the nation.
Oscar Goodman is right. Las Vegas is set to be the world's next Rome.
As such, we should have:
- Better schools, more teachers, and higher standards of education
- Better quality and more affordable health care.
- Legislation that eliminates malpractice lawsuits. How many 'messages' do you need to send the medical community?
- Better social services for legal citizens
- Better road design. No more 2 mile long, 2 lane off ramps that are 200 feet in the air. A child could plan better.
  New roads hit capacity when they open. That's poor capacity planning.
- Water should be a forethought, not an afterthought. The Colorado River is tapped.
A long time ago, there could have been codes set for the distance between houses.
Regulators let landowners squeeze every house possible into the smallest amount of acreage.
Now, we have overcrowding. There is plenty of land in Nevada.

The waiter gave me some soggy Orion Nebula Crackers at Quarks Restaurant.
So I called him a slimy, Swarathean Mole Squeezer. THEN HE HIT ME WITH HIS WARPING STICK!!!

Fortunately, Sonny came to my defense.
He'd been playing quarters on the Hilton slots, and he made the waiter smell his HAND!!!
"That quarter stink. That nasty quarter stink! KAHN!!!" he yelled, as his face hit the floor.
Once again, we emerged from the Las Vegas Hilton as happy slot players...
Seriously, the Borg 4D ride was excellent
We got to pretend we were in the Enterprises, and being abducted by the Borg.
Star Trek 3D was cool too.
It was a motion ride with spills and thrills.
It was an interstellar blast.
The food at Quarks Restaurant was kind of bland.
We had a 3 tiered appetizer which was good.
My seafood dish had a salt and butter sauce, with brown rice and zucchini. yuck.
Becky had a pecan chicken sandwich with fries. The fries were excellent.
The restaurant had a really good decor, but the food was a cross between McDonalds and Long John Silvers.
I like Long John Silvers better.

Good Luck!
There are no miniature golf or batting cages in Las Vegas.
Since Scandia closed, its a thing of the past.
The closest thing to Miniature Golf is located in the Adventure Dome, but if you've been around the country lately, it doesn't even come close to qualifying.
If anyone knows of a putt putt range, let us know.

A trash dump that turned into an environmental nightmare in 1998 is finally headed for closure after eight years of impasses. But closure might come with an increase in local garbage bills to fund the final $20 million of cleanup work.
Once a settlement is reached and the site is finally covered with two feet of earth and rocks, the county intends to end its lease of the land from the Bureau of Land Management and acquire the property.
The wash empties into Lake Mead, the valley's primary drinking water supply. Authorities feared that toxic compounds and metals buried in the dump might escape into groundwater layers and eventually Lake Mead. Months before the flood, in April 1998, nearby residents complained about the rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulfide gas emanating from the dump in concentrations hundreds of times higher than are considered safe. During a visit to the site that month, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he had "never smelled a toilet this bad."

We ate at the Bougainvillea Restaurant and it, TRULY, has the best steaks in Las Vegas.
What a deal too!
Sonny had a a 16 ounce T-Bone steak for $9.99.
I had a 12 ounce New York Steak for $12.99
Becky had a 12 ounce Prime Rib for $12.99.
Each dinner came with
- fresh steamed vegetables...they were great!
- Baked potato or mashed pototoes....they were....well...you know, potatoes.
- And the steaks and prime rib were perfectly cooked...exactly the way we asked.
Mine New York steak was medium rare.
It had charred lines on the outside, and was tender in the middle.
And people...it actually smelled like a steak.
Sonny's TBone was well done, and they burned it.
Thats exactly what he wanted.
Becky's prime rib was well done.
That always goes against my better judgement, but it came out really good.
The au jus was unique.
Terrible Herbst also has their own brand of steak sauce.
Its mainly ketchup, worcestorshire sauce and cayenne pepper.
It is spicy hot.
I've lived in Las Vegas now for 32 years.
They used to have $1 steaks everywhere here.
They tasted wonderful and were usually every bit as good as a charcoal grilled steak.
Somehow over the years, steaks got more expensive, and they lost their aroma.
Something else I've noticed: Clam steamers are hard to find anymore.
I used to order them a lot. I'd even find them on menus at local bars.
They were a specialty at the Port Tack, Starboard Tack, and Clamdigger restaurants.
Now they are hard to find anywhere, even in California and Florida.
I miss clams! I love clams!
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR CLAMS!!!
Bring back the clams
bwahahaha

Vegas weather is SO FLAKEY!
One day its hot, the next day its not.
Of all my odd observations, how people respond to the weather ranks on top.
When I cruise the Strip, I see people walking around in ski jackets, right next to people wearing tank tops.
  We'll be riding around in the Mustang with the top down, Becky will have the heat turned on, Jennifer and I will be marrily riding along, and Dustin will be in the back looking like he's in Greenland. 
I have been a Polar Bear Club wannabe forever.
That is to say, I've skinny dipped in a non heated pool on a cold Kentucky winter's night. What a blast!
But I'd like to think I'm normal in a few ways.
My question is...is 75 degrees HOT, or is it COLD?