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Stardate: 20210427.0041 | |
Location: The Lab | |
Input Device: daimos | |
Audio: Furniture EP - Fugazi | |
Visual: Lab clutter, PB&J sammich, mug of Airborne | |
Emotional: Not sleepy. | |
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Rather than have multiple phosts, I made a compliation of phosts that | |
I wrote during my trip to Vegas this past weekend. See below. | |
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Stardate: 20210423.1304 | |
Location: Somewhere on Interstate 15 | |
Input Device: unihertz titan | |
Audio: Soft rock ballads of the 70's | |
Visual: Traffic | |
Emotional: sleepy | |
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On the way to Vegas. This trip, I get to be a passenger. It is | |
nice to be able to just take in the scenery and not worry about the | |
traffic. We were able to partake in a free room at the Venetian for | |
two nights. | |
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Stardate: 20210424.1154 | |
Location: Palazzo Shoppes | |
Input Device: Gemini PDA | |
Audio: Bryan Adams - Summer of 69 playing in a nearby eatery. | |
Visual: Beautiful people, Las Vegas tourists, Bauman Rare Books | |
Emotional State: Flooded, overstimulated, exposed. | |
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OK, false start. I ended up dozing off during the last entry. | |
We are in Vegas for the weekend for 3 birthdays: my wife and two | |
out-laws. We were able to get free rooms and everybody wants to get | |
out of town. Me, probably not so much, but whatever. I'm here now. | |
The hotel we are staying at is The Palazzo, which is attached to The | |
Venetian. We have stayed here before and we like it here better than | |
the Venetian, which is pretty much the same except that The Venetian | |
is an older building. Every room is over the top, fancy for me. | |
They are all suites. | |
Growing up, staying at any hotel was a treat because we didn't do | |
it much at all except for family road trips, which was not all that | |
often, and we usually stayed at a Holiday Inn or something like that. | |
Something affordable and family friendly. | |
I did not get introduced to fancy hotels and resorts until I met my | |
wife. This is her thing. | |
OK, there is way too much foot traffic here and I am not digging. | |
Time to go on a walkabout for a bit and come back to this. | |
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Stardate: 20210424.1254 | |
Back at the room. Or should I say suite? The suite is over the top | |
extravagent and not a place I would want to pay out of pocket. The | |
rooms are comp'd and we have adjoining rooms with the out-laws. | |
In the sleeping area there are 2 queen-sized beds with a nightstand | |
in between. A flat-panel TV is above a credenza and there is a | |
closet with a safe, as well as an ironing board and other items you | |
would typically find in a hotel closet. | |
The bathroom has a shower and a separate bath tub. There is a vanity | |
station (?) with a stool, large mirror, separate illuminated | |
magnifying mirror and various vanity accoutrements. A large | |
wall-sized mirror covers the back wall above the dual sinks. There | |
is also an adjustable, wall-mounted TV arm with TV so you can catch | |
the news while brushing your teeth or soaking in the tub. | |
There is also a sunken living room with a wrap-around sofa that has | |
a pullout bed, and another flat-panel TV, sitting on top of a minibar | |
with a stocked fridge and expensive snacks on a touch-sensitive | |
refreshment center that will auto-charge your room if you remove any | |
snack. A desk with built-in power/USB/ethernet is here as well and | |
a round table with chairs and hanging chandelier. The two layers | |
of drapes are controlled by a panel on the wall by the thermostat. | |
We do not have a strip-side view, but still have a nice view of the | |
mountains and the airport. | |
Here is a crude floor plan (not to scale): | |
------------------------------------ || | |
| Adjoining room occupied | || | |
| by the out-laws | || | |
|________________________ _________| || | |
| TV !! TV \ | || | |
W | !! \ H || | |
I | [T] !! ____\ /____| A || | |
N | !! | |V | | L || | |
D | | / C |A |SH| L || | |
O | S| ___ ___ |__|N |__| W || | |
W | O| | | | | | | | | A || | |
|D F| | | | | |T | |BT| Y || | |
|D SSOFA| |Bed| |Bed| |L \ | | || | |
L_______L_|___|__|___|_|__|SINKS|__| || | |
TV | |
DD - Desk TL - Toilet | |
T - Table SH - Shower | |
C - Closet VAN - Vanity Station | |
BT - Bath Tub !! - Steps | |
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Stardate: 20210424.2023 | |
The party and working girls are out tonight. It is Saturday night | |
and I am observing people from the outdoor bridge in front of the | |
Venetian. Again, many people in groups and the walkways are | |
congested. Fortunately, there is much space and open air at this | |
bridge. This is a nice place to watch the sunset, especially from | |
the 2nd floor balcony that overlooks the bridge. Tonight's was nice | |
to watch with the view of the clouds, of the mountains, the | |
transitions of the colors, the intermittent illumination of the | |
lights on The Strip, the groups of people, the families with excited | |
children, the interspersed couples in their fine dining attire, the | |
locals hanging out doing their hustle, the chemically-imbalanced | |
street person begging for attention by proclaiming to the world his | |
truth, the dry, desert wind, the comfortable cooling off of the day | |
into night, the smells of food, of alcohol, of Mary Jane, of | |
over-powering cologne, of body odor. | |
I had to pass through the congested walkway earlier and was walking | |
behind this lady who was all dolled up and fine-looking, but looked | |
like she had just finished her shift. Her bare shoulders were still | |
dusted with stripper glitter and smelled of perfume that is common | |
with dancers. Tina Turner's song, "Private Dancer," entered my mind | |
and I hummed along until I got here to the bridge. "Deutschmarks or | |
dollars, American Express will do nicely, thank you! Let me loosen | |
up your collar...Tell me, do you wanna see me do the shimmy again?" | |
One of the things I did find were what I like to call the Date Card | |
Flappers. These are people whose job is to loiter the sidewalks and | |
hand out cards to pedestrians. Many times, they are flapping the | |
cards against each other, waiting for "appropriate" customers to | |
hand these out to. These cards have censored nudie pictures of | |
women, along with a phone number that you can call to order a date. | |
Each trip to Vegas, I look for these Date Card Flappers for my | |
souvenir cards. I have been collecting them like adult baseball | |
cards and put them in a card collecting sheet in a 3-ring binder. | |
I tend to collect trivial cards like this and used gift cards, hotel | |
room key cards, expired debit/credit cards, etc. | |
This trip I acquired 3 cards, which has pics and info on the front | |
and back. "Lilah, actual entertainer $50 special." It has an URL | |
and a phone number to "call or text 24/7." The back has "Sheila, | |
$50 special," same URL with a different number. "Bree, Naomi, actual | |
entertainers, $99 special, call or text 24/7." They're all pretty | |
much like this except with different pictures. | |
Time to go wander some more and then get ready for 12 midnight | |
birthday celebration 3of3 in the out-law's room. | |
Here's a post log entry card sample: | |
______________________________________________________________ | |
| | | |
| call or text 24/7 V6. ```7Wy1+.... ``` Lilah | | |
| (xxx)xxx-xxxx 3zk` ...Jum...?``?! `. actual | | |
| `?6.. .jNMMMB3?C.+..`.., entertainer | | |
| . ..````Y!``` ```````` `I+ $50 special | | |
| `````!``.JdkA+.`````````.Jd | | |
| .. ` `` JWqqHmmHo.```````,TWH | | |
| vYW,````1+WHH9UUS:```````,TW#97dM | | |
| HHr```.QQAdHMHd+!`````````` J,JJJJ | | |
| MHF````,HHMMMMMMMN``````````` ..?TNc.` | | |
| MM@``````zUWHMHHHM#.``````````.BI?!T$`` `. | | |
| MMM```````.XyWWHMHHH,```````````` .. +..,`7 | | |
| MHB'`.```````THMMMMM9I.``.``.``.```````.?!. | | |
| mHHHC````````````` 1wwXXI ``.```.``````````.? | | |
| HHHf```````````` .J.JwXXVI..`````````......... | | |
| UUC!```..`. ..JdXXwXUWWHWVWkwn,`.``.`. 7NgJaJj. | | |
| 1z?`.`.`..JdWHqqHkHkkWbkgMMMHHkkA+..```` ?HHHMM | | |
| MWkI...`.``.dWWHWWMmkWMMMMMHHHHM#MHHkbpWWo..`` ``!JM | | |
| NMNXXZ!```JwWHHMHQWHMMMMMMNMMHWHHHHkHqHHHgHkH,` .`.d | | |
| HMMW0v`.``.`zXWWHMMMMMMMMMMMMHQW@HWWHH@@HMH@g@@h,...JM | | |
|,7MMMHS;..`.``. ??7TTYYYUUWkQQWH@@HMHkXHMMHM#MMHkdWHx JM | | |
|..`MHSl^``.`.`..+1zwrwXXHg@@HHHH@@@H@gHdWMH#MNMNkdfWR, jMM | | |
|...`7l`...`. .+zOOzzwwWqgH@HMHHHHMHMMMHHHmWMMMMM#MMMX%`JWM | | |
|,^...^.....+OwwXyXXWkH@HHHMMMHHMH#HHHHHHHHHkvTWHHHH8=``jWM | | |
|$^.^^.MNswXXXWHWHNNNMMMMMMNMMMMM#HMHHHHMMHWyXZz``` ```.jWM | | |
|F`JJMMMMMHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHMMM@gHHX0ZI+udA. `` wWM | | |
|NW#NMNKMNNHNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM#MMNdNHZNWdFWgEHd8WJ@dr#dN | | |
|NNNNNNMNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMNHWXXUUZ1jwWHWWkXWWppMMM | | |
|MMMMNdMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNQHHM@@HH@@@HHHHHHHHHHHH | | |
|HgmHdgMNMNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHM@MHHHHHHqHHHH | | |
|--------------------------------------------------------------- | |
PRO TIP: If you scroll up/down, you can see it a little better. | |
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Stardate: 20210425.1710 | |
We are on the way back from Sin City and everybody had an enjoyable | |
time. Some winners, some losers, and some non-players. I am | |
currently dealing with loss, but it was budgeted for...so it's a non- | |
issue, but it still sucks just the same and that is what I get to | |
feel. As before, it is temporary and will pass. | |
Yesterday, I walked 25K+ steps, which is more than my daily 10K | |
steps. The day before was also more than my daily, but not by much, | |
especially considering that I was sitting in a car for a long time | |
while in transit to Vegas. I hope to continue walking longer | |
distances in the days ahead. | |
We enjoyed many delicious meals and I was able to stay in line with | |
eating properly and not overdoing it. No buffets, but I did get to | |
enjoy White Castle for lunch yesterday. Other meals were mostly | |
salads for me. | |
One of the things I did not like about the trip was how crowded it | |
was and loose adherence to social distancing. The hotels did a | |
decent job with enforcement, but during busy times, it seemed | |
challenging. There were partitions set up at some of the tables | |
and machines along with markers on the floor for spacing. But when | |
it came to the general public and people behaviors, it was lacking. | |
So I basically had to adjust accordingly, like hyper-vigilance when | |
maneuvering around crowds, shifting play schedule to low capacity | |
hours, constant personal sanitization. Now keep in mind that I | |
have 1of2 vaccines, I am in the high-risk category, and I keep my | |
distance from people in general. It was very manageable, but there | |
was still some underlying discomfort. | |
If you do decide to visit Sin City in the near future, I advise | |
you to be prepared, especially if you're in the high-risk category. | |
I think they are trying to open things up to full capacity in the | |
next week or so. | |
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