Delays

So, what have I done since I've been in Vegas...

Correction. What have I done since the last time I updated this blog.
It was a crazy busy month. Let's start with my trip to Las Vegas for
my birthday, shall we?

My first night I wantered the Strip a little, made my way from my
hotel (New York- New York) to Bill's Gambling House and Saloon. It's
only two blocks or so but those are not small blocks. I had originally
intended on staying at Bill's, so I went in to check it out. It's a
nice western-style place. I sat down at a slot machine and won a
couple beans, and then made my way around in an attempt to find a
kitchen was still open (at this point it was kind of late).

As it turns out, the closest was this avergae looking restorant in my
hotel, so I got some particularly tasty and inexpensive ribeye before
miandering about somewhat in the vicinity of the slots. Lured in by my
previous luck, I sat down at a machine and began pulling the lever. By
1:30 I was up five hundred dollars. Epic success.

The next morning I got up and drove myself to the Las Vegas Gun Store,
where I proceded to fire off some automatic weapons in celebration of
the previous night's victory. That went as well as I could have hoped
(ie, it was fun and I didn't shoot myself). The next stop was a local
brewpub. I had a tasty plate of what was some sort of chicken, mashed
potato, asparagus with poutine-sauce concoction (it looked much better
than it sounds and was very tasty). I picked up a brewery pint glass
and then made my way back to the Strip.

I wanted to see the Blue Man Group, so I found the Venetian, navigated
my way through the maze of shops and indoor canals, and then finally
fount the Blue Man Group Theatre. If you don't already know, the first
five rows from the stage are referred to the 'poncho zone'. The
principle is that within this zone you can get splashed with paint and
whatnot from the performance. After having seen the show from this
position, I highly suggest that if you do go see the Blue Man Group,
to see it from the poncho zone. At no point in time was I ever in
danger of getting splashed (I was in the fifth row from the front).
Judging from the amount of splash I saw, I don't really think that
even the front row seats are in any real danger. The show was very
interactive, it was really great. Alot of climbing through the crowd,
a couple 'volen-tolds', and the music was epic. I would definitely go
again.

The next day I drove to the Hoover Dam and did the Power Plant tour.
It wasn't expensive (12$), but it was really short, only about 30
minutes, and you didn't see much more than the power generators on the
Nevada side of the Dam and a room above the passageway where the water
flows from the collection towers to the generator room. It was neat to
see, sure, but I was expecting a bit more. There is, however, another
tour available for 30$ that allows you to visit "two additional places
in the Dam". I doubt it'd be worth it, after having seen the Power
Plant tour.

Walking over the Dam was my favorite part. You can walk all the way
across and see the famous winged figures. I don't really believe in
luck, but I rubbed their toes anyways, as a symbolic gesture more than
anything.

That night I went to see Penn and Teller. I showed up at the Rio a few
hours early and assumed that the Rio would be like my hotel in that
the interior would be filled with restorants and other things to do. I
was unfortunately wrong. I found one pub, had a very reasonably priced
Guinness, and then walked over to the Penn and Teller theatre. THere
was a Starbucks across the hallway (closed, way to go Rio), so I
plumped down in one of the chairs and waited for the gates to open.

The show started at nine, and there was a one hour jazz "show" before
the start of the act. There was one pianist (I cannot remember his
name unfortunately) and an upright bassist. Though "cleverly"
disguised in a hat and using the bass to block his face from most
viewers, I determined that this was, in fact, Penn Jillette.

Penn & Teller were fantastic. Prior to the show, we were asked to
inspect a wooden box and sign an envelope that would be used during
the show. I did so, took a good hard look for anything hokey in the
design, but to no avail. Once we had all retaken our seats, the lights
dimmed, the spotlights came on, and Penn walked out onto the stage,
Teller popped out of the box, and the show began. Awesome.

Afterwards, they made themselves available for autographs and
pictures, I got the guide that came with my seat (4th row from the
stage) signed and had my picture taken with both of them. It was
really great. If you are a Penn and Teller fan, or not, the show is
very good. I quickly retired to bed, as the next day (yesterday, from
my current point of view) was going to be very busy.

At 5AM my alarm went off and I quickly got ready to go on my
airplane-helicopter-pontoon boat tour of the Grand Canyon West Rim. We
boarded what I think was a Dash-6 and got a nice arial view of the
Hoover Dam and Lake Mead from about 8000 feet altitude. We landed at
the West Rim airport, had out safety briefing ("this is how you put on
a seatbelt") and boarded a Bell Jet-Ranger. We flew down to the
bottom, about 1.2km, and disembarked. The ride was very smooth, much
more than I was expecting.

On the same tour as me were alot of Chinese tourists. Most of them
spoke no english at all, and there were one or two that spoke a few
words (yes, no, toaster). This made everything we did both incredibly
difficult and usually incredibly funny. All the aircraft are loaded by
weight, so you have to stay int he same seat as you were assigned to
keep the aircraft balance correct. This is a very hard concept to
depict, but we managed.

The tour was now officially over, but I had two hours to wander around
the west rim. I had lunch at the Native's outpost (some sort of really
salty beef with potatoes) and went and sat out on the rim. There's not
much else to tell, apart from that it was really pretty. About an hour
later, we flew back to Boulder City and were bussed back to our
respective hotels.

At this point I was seriously running out of steam, so I made my way
back to the hotel, changed into less dusty clothes, and went out for
my last night. I made my way to the Rockbar, I think it's called, and
bought a 100oz margarita in a yard glass that had its own strap and
walked to the Bellagio fountains. I guess it was cliche, sipping
margaritas while watching the fountains, but it was a good way to go
out, I think.

The drive home was eventful to say the least. Well, trying to get on
the road was. It was mighty complicated. Another post's worth. Gods,
another one at least.

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