Vegas 2007 and Other Fall Ruminations

It's hard to believe that the last time I was in Vegas was at CES in January of this year. (To see a photo of me at the show with a Dr. Evil impersonator, see the very first post on the blog.) It was time to go back again and as usual Vegas did not disappoint.

Tracy, Mary Beth and I attended the Maroon 5 concert at the new Pearl theater at the Palm. We loved the theater, and also the place where we had dinner, Nuovo Italiano on the 55th floor. But other than that, the Palm is not really our kind of place. To add insult to injury, we were super bummed to learn from People magazine that there were all sorts of celebrities at the Palm that weekend. Somehow we missed them.

Staying at the MGM Signature is always a good call, in contrast. The place is like a high end apartment building you can call your own while in Vegas. Here was what my room looked like, wicked:

The next night, we branched out and went to the Mirage for dinner at Japonais and drinks at Stack. We have absolutely no idea who these guys in the photo are...


Monday, I had a day dedicated entirely to me. OK, this entire year is probably dedicated entirely to me but especially that day was. I went all over Vegas and shopped til I dropped. I also visited a few of my favorite places, including the Bellagio Hotel, which has beautiful art.


There is one more issue which needs to be addressed on the blog, which is the absence of Andrew Bowins at the golf game which took place at Star Ranch on November 1, 2007. Several sources who wish to stay anonymous predicted he would wimp out, and they were right. Here's what a few folks had to say about Andrew...

“Yeah, Andrew was invited but did his usual—accept and then was a no-show. I’m actually glad he didn’t play because we’d still be out on the course waiting for him to finish.”
---V. Figueroa

"I used to think this was typical Canadian behavior but now I realize that he is unlike his countrymen..."
---T. Masson

"The word 'duck' comes to mind when AB approaches the tee-box."
---B. Kaufman<

What a Strange College Football Season It's Been

Today, I'm writing about something you probably don't expect to read on my blog: football. Specifically, college football. Mostly because, it's much more fun than pro football, being scrappier, and because this has been a weird season indeed.

Let's start with the Tennessee Vols, currently #20 in the BCS rankings with a 7-3 record. That record does not tell the whole story, because like Michelle Pearcy's team, LSU, Tennessee has been playing "heart attack football" this year. The South Carolina game almost went into double overtime. I hate to say this about my team, but they won out of sheer luck - some favorable calls in the first half combined with South Carolina missing a field goal in overtime to lose the game. Lots of people in Knoxville thing Phillip Fulmer should be fired, but they're just looking for someone to blame for wearing out the batteries in people's pacemakers.

Then there is the hometown team, Texas, ranked #13 with a 9-2 record. Again, these guys have become the masters of coming from behind and I'm not sure the fans are really appreciative. The Longhorns have the week off this week, and everyone here is so bored after all the action that they're coming up with stupid video ideas to keep the locals at bay. You can see Kirk Bohls' interview from New York at http://www.statesman.com/news/mplayer/m/40550.


Lastly, I have to acknowledge to my great chagrin that Oregon lost last night which means that LSU is now #1 in both the BCS poll and the AP poll. I worked with a lot of LSU people and they never have anything nice to say about the Vols, so this burns me. But the chances of Tennessee playing LSU in an SEC championship are diminishing, so at least we won't have to get our ass kicked. And, Florida is #12. I hate Florida.