Okay. So just because everyone in the known world seems to
be doing one is not a good reason to start my own day-notes type
diary. But then, WTF not?
Consequently, this will be an ongoing experiment. I
may like doing this or just chuck it and do something more
interesting with my (and your) time.
I don’t pretend to be a professional writer. As such,
expect to see all kinds of grammatical errors. If you let me
know what they are, I will gladly throw your email into the
circular file.
Everything set forth herein are my own Miscellaneous
Ramblings (R&T or Car and Driver, I can never remember
which).
And so, on with it then.
My wife and I (She Who Can Not Be Disobeyed -
henceforth known as SWCNBD) returned from our two-week
vacation in San Francisco and Las Vegas last week. The
weather in EssEff was anything but an Indian Summer. Day
temps. in the mid 60s. Mostly clear in the city but sometimes
light fog.
Stayed at the SF
Hilton. Passable as a seminar barn (“Now you too can make
big bucks by over charging companies like Sun to come to
motivational meetings 99!”). But the darned noisy,
vibrating A/C in the room would obviate the need for magic
fingers in the bed if it were not for the fact that your back
was sore due to sleeping on a lumpy mattress. Then there was
the slight problem that the room was just down from the
elevators…
We had dinner atop the main tower in a restaurant
called CityScapes or some such. 46 floors above this city by
the bay (“Live Nude Girls!”). Other than the fact that all of
the food was sauted in wine (is there a winery near SF or
something?) it was a pretty good place to eat. And the view
wasn’t bad either (did I mention “Live Nude Girls” already?).
Oh, I almost forgot. We flew United Airlines on
all legs of our trip – HNL to SFO to LAS to LAX back to HNL
(see here for
those not in the know). And therein lies a story best told by
others. Suffice it to say that United deserves everything
that is signified by it’s ranking
(number 5 out of the worst 10) on the U.S. Dept. of
Transportation Consumer Complaints listing. Hawaiian Airlines here we
come.
Vegas was less
than overwhelming. I had not been there in over 10 years and
I guess the reality is much less than the hype. Yes, the Venetian, Bellagio, and Paris
hotels show you where every one of the billions of dollars
were spent in their construction. But still, it’s
Vegas. A one or two mile strip of sun baked dust in the
middle of a desert. Here it is October and the temperatures
were still in the mid-90s.
By the way. We stayed at the Luxor hotel. The East Wing. You
know, take the underground service tunnel heading in a
northerly direction to the hotel tower that looks like
any other tinted glass building in Anytown, USA. I guess the
rooms in the pyramid are for “high rollers” only. The rest of
us hovel in rooms with a view of the next hotel down the
road. Actually, all was not bad, the bathroom was very
spacious. It had a separate shower big enough for two large
sized Hawaiians (or five regular sized Egyptians). The tub,
while large, loses marks for not having the equivalent of
magic fingers. And polished brass everywhere…But the towels
were thread-worn and had holes in them!
I was glad to get back home. Even if its now raining
something awful (damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!)…
More when I feel like saying more…
