Checklist
Arrived 1/2/07 about 3:30 local time, actually a bit early.
Time zone adjusted, check.
You check in using a kiosk, like the airlines do it now. It was easy and quick, but I got my choice of tower and didn't know which one to pick.
Room checked out. Gorgeous view (a wall). South tower kinda sucks, but the room's big. HVAC works, everything works. Except there aren't enough plugs. There's never enough power outlets. Help Save our Bottom Line placard was up in the bathroom. The one that suggests our planet will exhaust its water supply if I demand that towels be washed daily. Does anyone really think this is about the environment? In Las Vegas? It's about 1) forestalling complaints and 2) net profits. If that, incidentally, ends up helping the fresh water supply, well that's great. Actually about 99% of all in-room communication to the hotel "guest" is about why they need to go with the flow and quit bitching.
Powered up: Dell jukebox, cell & bluetooth ear nub, camera battery, Pro-96 trunking scanner with the LVPD file loaded (got new batteries), laptop, cruzer drives, we're good to go. The wireless internet is fast and easy, and it's $9.95 a day, billed in 24 hour increments. Come to think of it, it may be getting ready to cut off. I'd better publish this and check the account.
I swallowed a late lunch at the Riviera's buffet. It was a bit congealed, which is not unexpected when you eat late. Checked in with the wife unit, all was well.
Finished Crichton's novel/essay on gene splicing travesties, "Next." A good read, but the novel-with-an-agenda is not my first pick. Also, it was too short and there were too many plotlines. But it suggested that our courts & congress are behind the times. Duh.
This morning, Wednesday the 3rd, I resolved to find some actual non-buffet breakfast, and found it at the Venetian, the Grand Lux cafe, a short 2.5 mile hike from the Riviera. Crab omlettes and really good hotcakes. You know, most flapjacks are cooked to fry too thick - i.e., the batter is too thick, and they put too many eggs in it. The whole pancake experience is more about the texture of the product, as opposed to the actual flavor. Too thick and the cake falls apart and gets oversaturated with syrup. And you have to have buttermilk or sour cream in there. That goes to the texture too. Ah well. The search continues. Tomorrow, maybe IHOP or this other pancake house on north aways from here.
The slot machines are not kind to me, but I did win $80 to balance out the $50 or so I'd slotted in from yesterday. I barely managed to cash out before feeding the ticket to the hungry $1 machines. It is not an easy escape from the Venetian.
I found a Davidoff's cigar establishment in with the shops at the Venetian. Davidoff is really an over-hyped brand. Everything in there was too expensive. But in particular, I find the Davidoff brand to be bland and way overpriced, even when I got a few at the duty-free store on the way back from Italy.
The gondoliers were authentically dressed but decidedly not Italian. More like American with glazed back hair trying to speak with an Italian accent and it coming out like Rocky Balboa. I wonder how much you would need to pay them to sing an aria while not on the job. We do what we have to do, and I would guess the tips are nice.
There is something about that faux-sky in the Venetian shoppes that is disorienting to me. I look up just a little, and it's like my eyes are trying to focus on the sky as a ceiling, but the mind half believes it's an actual sky. It's instant agoraphobia and I have to look down or I get all dizzy. Weird.
I bought some shoes since I left my walking shoes at home. So far that's the only thing I forgot to pack. They are nice Nike walking shoes with the gel insoles. Very comfy.
Later!
Mike
Time zone adjusted, check.
You check in using a kiosk, like the airlines do it now. It was easy and quick, but I got my choice of tower and didn't know which one to pick.
Room checked out. Gorgeous view (a wall). South tower kinda sucks, but the room's big. HVAC works, everything works. Except there aren't enough plugs. There's never enough power outlets. Help Save our Bottom Line placard was up in the bathroom. The one that suggests our planet will exhaust its water supply if I demand that towels be washed daily. Does anyone really think this is about the environment? In Las Vegas? It's about 1) forestalling complaints and 2) net profits. If that, incidentally, ends up helping the fresh water supply, well that's great. Actually about 99% of all in-room communication to the hotel "guest" is about why they need to go with the flow and quit bitching.
Powered up: Dell jukebox, cell & bluetooth ear nub, camera battery, Pro-96 trunking scanner with the LVPD file loaded (got new batteries), laptop, cruzer drives, we're good to go. The wireless internet is fast and easy, and it's $9.95 a day, billed in 24 hour increments. Come to think of it, it may be getting ready to cut off. I'd better publish this and check the account.
I swallowed a late lunch at the Riviera's buffet. It was a bit congealed, which is not unexpected when you eat late. Checked in with the wife unit, all was well.
Finished Crichton's novel/essay on gene splicing travesties, "Next." A good read, but the novel-with-an-agenda is not my first pick. Also, it was too short and there were too many plotlines. But it suggested that our courts & congress are behind the times. Duh.
This morning, Wednesday the 3rd, I resolved to find some actual non-buffet breakfast, and found it at the Venetian, the Grand Lux cafe, a short 2.5 mile hike from the Riviera. Crab omlettes and really good hotcakes. You know, most flapjacks are cooked to fry too thick - i.e., the batter is too thick, and they put too many eggs in it. The whole pancake experience is more about the texture of the product, as opposed to the actual flavor. Too thick and the cake falls apart and gets oversaturated with syrup. And you have to have buttermilk or sour cream in there. That goes to the texture too. Ah well. The search continues. Tomorrow, maybe IHOP or this other pancake house on north aways from here.
The slot machines are not kind to me, but I did win $80 to balance out the $50 or so I'd slotted in from yesterday. I barely managed to cash out before feeding the ticket to the hungry $1 machines. It is not an easy escape from the Venetian.
I found a Davidoff's cigar establishment in with the shops at the Venetian. Davidoff is really an over-hyped brand. Everything in there was too expensive. But in particular, I find the Davidoff brand to be bland and way overpriced, even when I got a few at the duty-free store on the way back from Italy.
The gondoliers were authentically dressed but decidedly not Italian. More like American with glazed back hair trying to speak with an Italian accent and it coming out like Rocky Balboa. I wonder how much you would need to pay them to sing an aria while not on the job. We do what we have to do, and I would guess the tips are nice.
There is something about that faux-sky in the Venetian shoppes that is disorienting to me. I look up just a little, and it's like my eyes are trying to focus on the sky as a ceiling, but the mind half believes it's an actual sky. It's instant agoraphobia and I have to look down or I get all dizzy. Weird.
I bought some shoes since I left my walking shoes at home. So far that's the only thing I forgot to pack. They are nice Nike walking shoes with the gel insoles. Very comfy.
Later!
Mike
posted by Michael Moore @ 12:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home