Gloating.
Today I was officially crowned “The Resident Techie” by my other half. I’m gloating, of course. But just a little.
As of late, our cable modem connection has been slowing down. To those of you who have high-speed Internet access, this means that I actually have to wait for pages to load, upwards of thirty seconds to a minute. And sometimes the pages won't even load the first time because the connection times out. To those of you who are still on archaic dial-up modems either by choice or circumstance, I’m sure this whole tirade will just seem like I’m standing impatiently in front of a microwave, saying stuff like “Come on…come on…faster!”
In any case, it’s been getting slower for weeks now. At first, I had heard ‘rumors’ that Internet traffic goes up every year around Christmas what with more and more people avoiding the crowds and starting to order online. I figured that it probably wasn’t all that abnormal to experience some lag time. But every day it’s gotten worse, until today when it seems like our connection is coughing and gasping for air; slowly sinking in the abyss that is the Internet. Enduring that kind of death can create a homicidal maniac out of someone who normally surfs at the speed of light, especially when trying to upload eighty-some-odd pictures of your recent trip to Vegas. Again: Dial-up users, you just won’t understand.
Ryan diagnosed it as new software interference problems. Learning from the last time this happened, I diagnosed it as hardware problems. The modem has to go. I made him call TedTurner Cable Company, since most of the techs there speak to me like English is my second language and not very fluent at that. The tech confirmed my suspicions and I was crowned Resident Techie; a small and modest accomplishment. Tomorrow my insanity ends.

posted by paula 9:04 PM

And without further delay, the summary of our trip to Vegas:
The past few weeks a few of you have found me a chit-chatter about how fabulously wonderful our trip to Vegas was. Put simply and quite understated: I love Vegas. Perhaps it’s because of the endless opportunity, constant change and perma-glow of neon that I’m attracted to such a city. Perhaps it’s the logistical wet dream of it all – thousands of people to manage, thousands of rooms to clean, thousands of guests to entertain and woo and all to be done as seamlessly and invisible to said company. And maybe it’s the idea that Vegas -- to us conservative and rather naïve Mid-westerners -- represents all that is sinful – even more so than New York or Los Angeles. After all, where else can you feel like you’re in Paris, win millions of dollars and legally walk down the street, open container in hand while you order your prostitute for the evening?

When I went the first time, my mother practically had to drag me there. It was after a horrible, long-distance relationship break up and at the time, Vegas was a stone’s throw away from being hell on earth. I fell in love instantly.

This time, we should have known this would be the trip of paradise. Slightly overstated yes, but it was a good trip nonetheless. Our flight there was #777, the ISA at the international airport was pleasant; almost humorous. Our car and check-in went smoothly and it seemed that the gods were shining down on us as everyone we saw couldn’t have been happier to meet us.
We stayed at The MGM Grand, a classic and popular venue for major events. My only regret was that we didn’t arrive a day earlier so that I could gawk from the slots at the stars attending the Billboard Music Awards.

And if you’re not interested in flashing lights, consider the psychology of it all: everything, absolutely everything in Vegas is targeted at getting you to spend money. Excepting restaurants and the grand lobby, there is no place to sit except in front of a machine or at a table. Entrances to theatres and cafés are not in the open, but tucked behind slot machines so that you literally have to walk through banks of them to get where you’re going. The carpeting is wild and the ceilings are bright so that your eyes are neither driven up nor down, but straight ahead to the gaming area. The types of green felt on the tables are tested for hours so that your eyes never tire, causing you to leave the table.
The newer casinos have got gambling down to a science. Literally. Mirrors are not installed around the casino floor, because the color of the lights is uncomplimentary to one’s skin. Should you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror, sitting slumped at a machine you might not like what you see and you might leave your seat. Conversely, the mirror in my parents’ suite shaved off a hefty 25-30 pounds -- no doubt purposely – because happy people spend more money.
The MGM Grand itself has 5,005 rooms, which hover above 171,000 square feet of gaming tables, slots and race and sports books. There are approximately 3,700 gaming machines ranging from nickel to $500 slots, all of which make plenty of noise as to attract attention should you win. The tin baskets that capture the payout coins are studied along with the average weight of a coin, until a basket is made that projects the sound of a coin payout upwards of 30 feet away.

Beyond the gambling, let’s not forget that that Vegas is taken over by cowboys the first and second week of December. Our original purpose of going was for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which is hosted at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center. The NFR, put simply, is the Superbowl of Rodeos. The top fifteen competitors in each category – bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, calf roping, team roping, barrel racing and bareback riding – compete in ten rounds over ten nights for the chance to become All Around Cowboy or at least take home the largest cash prize they can. The average earnings for a World Champion are usually in the meager $200,000’s leaving many cowboys to go home nearly empty handed. Many ride with broken arms, bruised ribs and are called crazy for doing so. This is what draws so many people to the sport: the passion of those participating. The minimal earnings that one collects compared to the risk involved leads one to believe that those who pursue rodeo are in it for the true love of the sport. In a day and age where baseball and football salaries are skyrocketing by leaps and bounds, it seems silly that these men -- twice the size of a regular bull rider -- cry over a pulled hamstring when many a bull rider leaves the toughest rodeos in a wheelchair.* And when these athletes are showered with money and fame as they often are, we're left wondering if the love of the sport is what’s motivating them.

But enough of the yip-yap. See the pictures for yourself.

*see Cody Ohl’s 2001, 9th round run, while competing with a torn ACL and MCL. While dismounting from his horse he twisted his knee, tearing the ligaments. Despite the injury, he crawled to the calf to flank him, finishing the 9th round and winning All Around Cowboy.

posted by paula 12:21 AM

Once upon a time there was a girl who had plenty of time on her hands. She aspired wonderful things for the blog she created – and then the holidays came. And a fury decorations, cooking, baking and holiday get-togethers ensued. And the blog was sad.

But in the meantime, thank you to our Irish friend and his wife for a wonderful, wonderful New Year’s Eve. And once again, happy birthday Lauren.

posted by paula 2:27 PM

Christmas, as usual was a blast. And again, I’m thanking all my friends and family for the generous gifts that were bestowed upon me.
In hopes to get the use of my computer back, after everyone bought Ryan games for the PC on his birthday, I bought him a Playstation 2. Needless to say, I now have the computer as much as I please. All his gaming though, got me to thinking about the games that I’ve played in the past. I was a Nintendo child and currently, there’s an N64 from college that could use some dusting off. But most of all, the best games beyond belief were those of Atari. All my reminiscing of wasted childhood in front of the TV got me to missing Q-bert, Pac Man and Frogger so much that I was tempted to see if I could find a working console on Ebay. Imagine my delight when I found this little gem; a blast from the 80’s past. Sure, they’re lacking a lot of the more advanced games like Donkey Kong and Dig Dug, but it’s got the basics and what’s even more important is that they’re free. Free and unlimited for my gaming delight. And between this and my new mp3 player, I’m sure I’ll be living by the glow of my computer screen for quite a few of my days to come.

posted by paula 10:18 PM