Back from Vacation Blogging. . .

Wow, its been almost a month since my last blog post.  I almost can't believe it.  On the other hand, that's the joy of vacation - you get out of your head for awhile.  For the record, I went to Miami and St. Petersburg, helped catch a 400+lb. Goliath Grouper (my contributions were minimal, but existent), and generally had a good time.  I even did stuff, which I had no intention of doing.  So, this has been the first chance, and inclination to blog at all. So without further ado. . .

Birthers, Birthers:  Hmm. . .do they really exist after Obama produced his long-form birth certificate?  Birtherism always struck me as being a proxy for the obvious - that Obama is a black guy with a Muslim-sounding name.  It is a direct attack on his legitimacy as President.  Obvious racism is generally despised, so to hide the racism, people would couch their language as doubting Obama's place of birth.  Still, it should be no surprise that the long form birth certificate confirmed what we knew.  I knew the whole thing was much ado about nothing when it was discovered that there were two birth announcements in Hawaiian papers published shortly after Obama's birth.  Of course, producing a long-form birth certificate won't make Obama any whiter, or give him a less Muslim-sounding name, but it does expose birthers as kooks and racists.

Popping a Cap in Osama bin Laden's Ass: Or rather, a double tap to the head.  In college, I had the privilege of meeting a SEAL Team 6 member (totally legit too - the guy's picture was in "Black Belt" Magazine).  We were in "The Matchmaker" together and while we rehearsed, the guy told all of us 18-22 year old kids how to take a human being apart like a cheap watch.  My best description in two words: AWWWWEEESOMMEE!!!!!* Anyway, offing Osama was a huge, huge coup for the President, and shows that there's some hope we can get out of Iraq and Afghanistan sometime soon.  Oh, and was the killing legal? Probably, and we'll never know for sure.

Weird Things in Iran: President Ahmadinejad's staff, including his Chief of Staff, have been charged with sorcery. . .yes, like Harry Potter.  Now, granted, sorcery would help explain how Ahmadinejad was elected by such a large margin in the last election (bud-dum), but the arrests also indicate a fracture between the President and Supreme Leader, and that's very interesting.  There's no question, Khamenei put his ass on the line for Ahmadinejad during the presidential election, and in face of obvious voter fraud.  And if the conservative elites fight amongst themselves. . .well, interesting things will happen. 

Pakistani and American Relations: Of anything out there that scares me, the deterioration of US-Pakistani relations does the most.  Its looking pretty clear that Pakistan, or some elements of its military and/or intelligence network were helping Al Qaeda.  There's no way, Osama bin Laden could've lived within the same town as Pakistan's chief military academy for six years without someone figuring it out.  And to now prevent access to bin Laden's wives. . .wow.  Of course, the problem with Pakistan is that it has nukes, and so pressing the issue is problematic, at best.  And by problematic, I mean, "potentially starting a war between the U.S., Pakistan, India and China, all of whom have nukes."  Let's tread very, very carefully, please.

On a personal note:

David L. Holmes, one of my religion professors at William & Mary is retiring.  While Prof. Holmes certainly would not appreciate some of the language used on this blog (for instance, I just wrote "blog" instead of "online journal"), I loved the classes I took with him. In part, Professor Holmes looked like a college professor should look - glasses, balding hair, jacket with suede patches, and sounded like Garrison Keeler, but more than his looks or how he sounded, Professor Holmes had the caring and the humanity that meant the world to me. 

I know that the human mind leads us to remember the good times, and forget the bad, but I remember thinking while in his classes that this is what a college class should be.  In the antique and wonderful halls of the Wren Building, smelling of old wood, the sun shining through the windows, hearing Professor Holmes lead a discussion on Ordinary People, or teaching us about the Reformation was a pure joy.  I worked hard in his classes, not just because the curriculum was difficult, but also because I wanted to impress him.  While I strongly disagree with his taste in whiskey - gleaned from my friend Ben, who was his boarder during my Senior year (rye, ick) - I will remember him, and the lessons he taught me, always.**

*Yes, I am aware that AWWWWEEESOMMEE is one, poorly spelled, word.

**Well, most of his lessons.  I have a feeling Professor Holmes would read this blog and gasp at the poor grammar.  I probably need to reread Shrunk & White, but slowly, as it is a rich as pecan pie.

Thoughts on Vegas. . .

After years of not taking a vacation, and under orders from one of my bosses, I finally went on a short vacation - four days - and headed off to Las Vegas.  Although Vegas is a common tourist destination, I'm not a big fan of gambling and I'm not good at it.  Still, Vegas looked better than all the other contenders for what was potentially a rainy weekend, so I went.

And I had a fabulous time.  Seriously.  Rather than stay on the strip, I stayed at the Golden Nugget Hotel in downtown.  Had drinks at the Griffin, a truly phenomenal bar on Fremont East, saw a band at the Beauty Bar, and enjoyed coffee at the Beat and even did some gambling at the Golden Nugget - won $100 a blackjack.  Oh, and there was this:

That's right, its an aquarium.  With sharks.  And that tube you see, its part of a 30 foot water slide. . .through a shark tank.  Even though it was not pool weather (I think the temperature topped out at 65 degrees), I had to give it a shot.  Luckily the pool is heated, but it was still very, very cold. 

Anyway, the whole trip got me thinking - the downtown Las Vegas hotels are doing it wrong.  Right now, the key market for Downtown hotels been the budget conscious tourists and locals, which could give the whole place a sleazy vibe.  However, the Fremont Street Experience, which connects most of the Downtown hotels in a walkable neighborhood is fantastic, and a lot less sleazy than parts of the Strip. . .and MGM Grand, I'm looking at you. 

At the same time, the hotels are pretty damned cheezy.  The Golden Nugget, which is a pretty decent hotel, couldn't help but pimp this guy:

That's me in the bottom. . .anyway, everywhere I looked, I saw posters for "Gordie Brown" and the Golden Nugget was pimping this guy like he was the lovechild of Sinatra and Wayne Newton.  Whatever.  By the end of the trip, and this took all of three days, I would say "Gordie Brown is sooo dreamy. . ." every time I passed by his poster and crack up my traveling companion.

But back to my point - there is a niche market that the downtown casinos are leaving untouched.  Rather than continue to cater to the older and/or budget conscious crowd, Downtown could cater to the younger, more independent-minded professional crowds who find the Strip nauseating.  Here are my tips for any hotel that follows my advice (all I ask is that you comp me a room the next time I go):

1. Get a kickass pool - seriously, everyone, even hipsters, love pools.
2. Skip the Starbucks, and get a real coffeehouse.  Seriously, you're making enough money from the gambling, get your own coffee.  Seriously, the best coffee I had in Vegas came from a hipster coffeehouse and a coffee cart.  You can, and should do better.
3. Put in a dive bar, a lounge and a kickass bar - with all three, you can reach all aspects of the hipster going out.  At the dive you can offer PBR on tap, put on punk bands, etc., the lounge can offer decent DJ's and dancing, and the bar. . .well, the bar has to be old school.  Dark, dank, classy, and offers GOOD liquor.  Its something to do for a long weekend.
4. Have a vintage clothing store.
5. Free internet access. Enough said.
6. The art should be local - I get the feeling that there are plenty of local artists who could and would be happy to display their latest artwork at a hotel - turn the whole place into an art gallery (and allow the guests to buy artwork they like).  And if there aren't enough artists in Vegas at first, there will be really, really soon.
7. Ease up on the decor.  Seriously, my hotel room was ugly - nice, clean, comfortable, well laid out, but ugly.  Go minimalist. 

Until a hotel gets religion and does these things, I'll remember to cobble together pretty good times all over Vegas.