In the Beginning
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...