For those of you that don't know what a "Blog" is, it is short for "Web log" and is basically just a term to describe internet diaries or whatever. While I don't plan on updating my life on my page extremely thoroughly, I have set up my main page here with a Blog so that it will be easier to update, so multiple updates can still be on the page (and archive after a while), and to hopefully give me incentive to post more on my website without feeling the need to get into great detail.
Of course, I do have to get to more of my trip updates, but that will come with time. :) Don't worry.
Tough questions. Big questions. Very little answers. I'm going to talk about social issues, pop culture, politics, life and death, love, religion and faith, comedy, and everything in between. But this won't be a mess of a place. I'll look at the contradictions and hypocrisies at the root of many opinions out there (mine sometimes included), and why we accept those while offering up condemnation for the silliest of things.
Friday, July 25, 2003
Sunday, July 13, 2003
LAS VEGAS/LOS ANGELES TRIP: DAYS 1-3...
Well, it's about damn time I have an update on here. And this is going to be a big one. I just got back from a 12-day road trip to Las Vegas and Southern California with my friends Greg and Cam. So below will be my "official" recounting of the trip, and when I get my photos back and have time to scan them, I'll throw some of those up here as well.
DAY 1: Leaving Winnipeg
We left Winnipeg at about 2:30am on Sunday, June 1st. It wasn't my idea to leave that early, but I went along with it. At least we'd get to our destination sooner this way, and could get more rest once we were there. You see, we drove straight from Winnipeg to Las Vegas, NV. I believe it was a 34-hour drive. Let me tell you this: it's not safe to drive 34 hours straight, no matter how many people you have rotating the driving duties. Things were pretty boring until we hit Denver, somewhere in the evening of the 1st. Looking for somewhere to eat in Denver, we ended up getting lost in the city, which added about an hour to our trip. By the time we left Denver, it was definitely night time, and so we were about to embark on our mountain driving in the dark. I was doing the driving at this point, but my contacts were really bothering me with the night driving, and my stomach was starting to get a little sick as well, so I handed the reigns over to Greg. He took us smoothly through the mountain driving -- including a detour that made what would have been a 20-minute stretch last well over an hour. I took over once the heavy mountainous regions were over, a couple hours before sunrise, while Cam attempted to get some sleep in the back seat.
DAY 2: Part One - The Desert
As dawn was approaching and there was a bit of light hitting off of things, I started to realize that the hills and fields around me weren't exactly green and tree-filled anymore. Once in Utah, with the sun rising behind us, we realized we were smack dab in the middle of a desert. Sure, I've been to Manitoba's Carberry Desert before, but that's a bunch of sand in the middle of the prairies. This was mountains and hills of red rock and orange sand. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We continued our trek through the Utah desert, some areas having a decent amount of vegetation, and some areas as bare as a freshly-naired back! Some time in the late morning, Cam took over driving, we started heading more South, and made our way to the Utah border. We drove for about 25 minutes through the northwest corner of Arizona, and then hit Nevada. Right past the border, there was a town with huge casinos left and right. I took over driving again, and while Cam and Greg concentrated on playing a linked game of something-or-other on their Gameboy Advanced SP's, I marvelled at the fields of cacti to the left and right of me as we approached Las Vegas. Finally we hit Sin City, around noon local time, and checked into the Palace Station Hotel, a couple blocks away from the Strip. After spending about a half an hour gambling in our hotel (I ended up leaving up $20), we hit the hay for an afternoon of sleep before heading to the Strip for the night.
DAY 2: Part Two - Vegas, Baby!
We woke up in the evening, and by then the sun was setting on Sin City and we were about to head to the famous Las Vegas Strip. We walked a minute or two, when Greg realized he had forgotten his camera. It was getting dark out, but it still felt like a sauna outside. So we decided after picking up Greg's camera, that we'd take a cab to south end of the strip (furthest away) and make our way down towards Sahara Ave. (where our hotel was on). We spent the next several hours going by or into all of the major casinos/hotels on the Strip. Mandalay Bay, The Luxor, The MGM Grand, Paris, Bellagio, The Mirage, The Flamingo Hilton, Caesar's Palace, and Treasure Island were all casinos that had some of my money by the end of the night. Caesar's Palace took the most, as I lost $50 playing roulette. The rest of the roughly $120 I lost that night were put into various slots and VLT's. Cam and Greg were liking the fact that at most of the hotels, if you're sitting down playing some slot machines (even if it's the 2-cent machines) you get free cocktails. I liked the free bottled water, as it was hot as hell outside (about 35C at night)! We ate at the Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand (all of us ordered pizzas, our first of far too many on this trip...) and even got offered to buy some cocaine or exctacy from some dirty-looking fellow on our walk down the Strip from casino to casino. Also, if you've never been to Vegas, you will be shocked at how many people are standing on the street handing out magazines or card-sized ads for various Las Vegas strip clubs and prostitutes. The ground is also littered with them (I guess there aren't a lot of takers). By the end of the night, we were all down quite a bit of cash, but we headed back to the hotel (decided to take another cab after realizing the walk was probably still too long) around 4:30am and went to bed for a few hours.
DAY 3: Part One - Star Trek Heaven
Our plans for our last day in Las Vegas was to check out by noon and then head for the Las Vegas Hilton for Star Trek: The Experience. We were also going to wake up a bit early and have a swim/sun tan outside. We didn't end up getting up in time for this, but figured we'd have plenty of time in California to soak up the rays (more on how wrong we were later). So we checked out, ate at McDonalds, and headed for the Hilton. After spending 10 minutes looking around the car for Greg's digital camera in the parking lot, we headed into the Hilton for what -- for me, anyways -- turned out to be the highlight of the trip. For any fan of the Star Trek Universe (of which I am a huge one), it was the coolest thing ever. The mini-museum was interesting, with various costumes/uniforms on display from the nearly half-century of Star Trek TV shows and movies. There was a replica of the original series Enterprise, the Enterprise-D, and Voyager hanging from the ceilings. And there was a Ferengi, Romulan, and Klingon making their way around the place. The best part, though, was the ride itself. I won't go into great details, but basically it's just amazingly cool that you get brough into the Star Trek Universe and walk onto a replica of the Enterprise-D bridge. And the Virtual Ride part is really really fun, too. After going on the ride twice, we hit a replica of Quark's Bar (from Deep Space Nine) and ordered some drinks. I got some non-alcoholic strawberry/coconut thing, and Greg ordered the grand-daddy of all drinks -- the James "Tea" Kirk. It came in a "glass" that was essentially a fish bowl held up on a plastic stand. It is absolutely massive, and is made with Beefeater Gin, Bacardi Lemon, Fris Vodka, Blue Curacao, Sour mix, Gatorade Alpine Snow, and a splash of Hansen's Energy drink. Not to mention a block of dry ice to keep it freezing cold and essentially "steaming" the entire time. Needless to say, Cam helped him finish it up, and they both had a lot of alcohol in them after that large bowl they just finished.
DAY 3: Part Two - Video Games and Strippers
We decided to hit the Strip again, to check out "GameWorks" (wait a second, aren't there arcades here in Winnipeg?). Anyway, we ate at the restaurant there (Cam and I had sandwiches, while Greg had another pizza) and then played in the arcade for an hour. After walking back to our car, we spent the next 20 minutes trying to find "Cheetah's" (I was not happy, as I was driving and couldn't find it, and didn't even want to go in the first place). But Greg and Cam just had to go here, so we finally found the place and went inside. $25 (between cover and hugely over-priced drinks), a stripper jumping in my lap trying to get me to go to the back with her for $20, and an hour of my life wasted... and finally we were going back on the road, this time towards Los Angeles. I was driving (because Greg and Cam had been drinking) and the road was pretty good for most of the way (although lots of traffic and heavy construction zones for night driving isn't the greatest thing in the world). But then we headed towards San Bernandino, and into the valley. It's night time, there's plenty of traffic around me, and I'm driving through the thickest fog I've ever experienced. I was sure the car would fly off a cliff and we would all perish just 3 days into our trip. Nope... we made it out alive, and got to L.A. somewhere in the 3:00am range. After having to call our hotel from a payphone to find the short street it was on (Hollywood Blvd. at 3:00am on a Tuesday is not as glamourous as when the Oscars are in town), we checked in and went to bed. Tinseltown would be waiting for us in the morning (well, early afternoon)...
DAY 1: Leaving Winnipeg
We left Winnipeg at about 2:30am on Sunday, June 1st. It wasn't my idea to leave that early, but I went along with it. At least we'd get to our destination sooner this way, and could get more rest once we were there. You see, we drove straight from Winnipeg to Las Vegas, NV. I believe it was a 34-hour drive. Let me tell you this: it's not safe to drive 34 hours straight, no matter how many people you have rotating the driving duties. Things were pretty boring until we hit Denver, somewhere in the evening of the 1st. Looking for somewhere to eat in Denver, we ended up getting lost in the city, which added about an hour to our trip. By the time we left Denver, it was definitely night time, and so we were about to embark on our mountain driving in the dark. I was doing the driving at this point, but my contacts were really bothering me with the night driving, and my stomach was starting to get a little sick as well, so I handed the reigns over to Greg. He took us smoothly through the mountain driving -- including a detour that made what would have been a 20-minute stretch last well over an hour. I took over once the heavy mountainous regions were over, a couple hours before sunrise, while Cam attempted to get some sleep in the back seat.
DAY 2: Part One - The Desert
As dawn was approaching and there was a bit of light hitting off of things, I started to realize that the hills and fields around me weren't exactly green and tree-filled anymore. Once in Utah, with the sun rising behind us, we realized we were smack dab in the middle of a desert. Sure, I've been to Manitoba's Carberry Desert before, but that's a bunch of sand in the middle of the prairies. This was mountains and hills of red rock and orange sand. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We continued our trek through the Utah desert, some areas having a decent amount of vegetation, and some areas as bare as a freshly-naired back! Some time in the late morning, Cam took over driving, we started heading more South, and made our way to the Utah border. We drove for about 25 minutes through the northwest corner of Arizona, and then hit Nevada. Right past the border, there was a town with huge casinos left and right. I took over driving again, and while Cam and Greg concentrated on playing a linked game of something-or-other on their Gameboy Advanced SP's, I marvelled at the fields of cacti to the left and right of me as we approached Las Vegas. Finally we hit Sin City, around noon local time, and checked into the Palace Station Hotel, a couple blocks away from the Strip. After spending about a half an hour gambling in our hotel (I ended up leaving up $20), we hit the hay for an afternoon of sleep before heading to the Strip for the night.
DAY 2: Part Two - Vegas, Baby!
We woke up in the evening, and by then the sun was setting on Sin City and we were about to head to the famous Las Vegas Strip. We walked a minute or two, when Greg realized he had forgotten his camera. It was getting dark out, but it still felt like a sauna outside. So we decided after picking up Greg's camera, that we'd take a cab to south end of the strip (furthest away) and make our way down towards Sahara Ave. (where our hotel was on). We spent the next several hours going by or into all of the major casinos/hotels on the Strip. Mandalay Bay, The Luxor, The MGM Grand, Paris, Bellagio, The Mirage, The Flamingo Hilton, Caesar's Palace, and Treasure Island were all casinos that had some of my money by the end of the night. Caesar's Palace took the most, as I lost $50 playing roulette. The rest of the roughly $120 I lost that night were put into various slots and VLT's. Cam and Greg were liking the fact that at most of the hotels, if you're sitting down playing some slot machines (even if it's the 2-cent machines) you get free cocktails. I liked the free bottled water, as it was hot as hell outside (about 35C at night)! We ate at the Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand (all of us ordered pizzas, our first of far too many on this trip...) and even got offered to buy some cocaine or exctacy from some dirty-looking fellow on our walk down the Strip from casino to casino. Also, if you've never been to Vegas, you will be shocked at how many people are standing on the street handing out magazines or card-sized ads for various Las Vegas strip clubs and prostitutes. The ground is also littered with them (I guess there aren't a lot of takers). By the end of the night, we were all down quite a bit of cash, but we headed back to the hotel (decided to take another cab after realizing the walk was probably still too long) around 4:30am and went to bed for a few hours.
DAY 3: Part One - Star Trek Heaven
Our plans for our last day in Las Vegas was to check out by noon and then head for the Las Vegas Hilton for Star Trek: The Experience. We were also going to wake up a bit early and have a swim/sun tan outside. We didn't end up getting up in time for this, but figured we'd have plenty of time in California to soak up the rays (more on how wrong we were later). So we checked out, ate at McDonalds, and headed for the Hilton. After spending 10 minutes looking around the car for Greg's digital camera in the parking lot, we headed into the Hilton for what -- for me, anyways -- turned out to be the highlight of the trip. For any fan of the Star Trek Universe (of which I am a huge one), it was the coolest thing ever. The mini-museum was interesting, with various costumes/uniforms on display from the nearly half-century of Star Trek TV shows and movies. There was a replica of the original series Enterprise, the Enterprise-D, and Voyager hanging from the ceilings. And there was a Ferengi, Romulan, and Klingon making their way around the place. The best part, though, was the ride itself. I won't go into great details, but basically it's just amazingly cool that you get brough into the Star Trek Universe and walk onto a replica of the Enterprise-D bridge. And the Virtual Ride part is really really fun, too. After going on the ride twice, we hit a replica of Quark's Bar (from Deep Space Nine) and ordered some drinks. I got some non-alcoholic strawberry/coconut thing, and Greg ordered the grand-daddy of all drinks -- the James "Tea" Kirk. It came in a "glass" that was essentially a fish bowl held up on a plastic stand. It is absolutely massive, and is made with Beefeater Gin, Bacardi Lemon, Fris Vodka, Blue Curacao, Sour mix, Gatorade Alpine Snow, and a splash of Hansen's Energy drink. Not to mention a block of dry ice to keep it freezing cold and essentially "steaming" the entire time. Needless to say, Cam helped him finish it up, and they both had a lot of alcohol in them after that large bowl they just finished.
DAY 3: Part Two - Video Games and Strippers
We decided to hit the Strip again, to check out "GameWorks" (wait a second, aren't there arcades here in Winnipeg?). Anyway, we ate at the restaurant there (Cam and I had sandwiches, while Greg had another pizza) and then played in the arcade for an hour. After walking back to our car, we spent the next 20 minutes trying to find "Cheetah's" (I was not happy, as I was driving and couldn't find it, and didn't even want to go in the first place). But Greg and Cam just had to go here, so we finally found the place and went inside. $25 (between cover and hugely over-priced drinks), a stripper jumping in my lap trying to get me to go to the back with her for $20, and an hour of my life wasted... and finally we were going back on the road, this time towards Los Angeles. I was driving (because Greg and Cam had been drinking) and the road was pretty good for most of the way (although lots of traffic and heavy construction zones for night driving isn't the greatest thing in the world). But then we headed towards San Bernandino, and into the valley. It's night time, there's plenty of traffic around me, and I'm driving through the thickest fog I've ever experienced. I was sure the car would fly off a cliff and we would all perish just 3 days into our trip. Nope... we made it out alive, and got to L.A. somewhere in the 3:00am range. After having to call our hotel from a payphone to find the short street it was on (Hollywood Blvd. at 3:00am on a Tuesday is not as glamourous as when the Oscars are in town), we checked in and went to bed. Tinseltown would be waiting for us in the morning (well, early afternoon)...
Saturday, July 05, 2003
TESTING... TESTING... 1, 2, 3...
I am just testing to see if this file will work. We'll soon find out, I'm sure. Yipee?
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