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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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