Common Courtesy

Apartment living has some realities attached to it. You have to watch how much noise you make. You may have to wait to wash your clothes as all the machines are busy. You can't just paint the interior of your place. I accept these are parts of living in an apartment. I also expect people to do their best to not make it any more unreasonable for others.

Tonight I was doing my laundry. I needed three washing machines and two dryers to get it done. The washing machines were immediately available. I went back to the laundry room when the washing was done. There was still a few minutes left on all the dryers so I waited. The dryers finished. I waited. The person who was using them left their clothes in the dryer for 21 minutes after they were done drying.

That's ridiculous.

Laundry is a necessary evil. We all want to be done it as quickly as possible. So, why would anyone leave their laundry in the dryer for 21 minutes after it is done drying. I think it is rude. I think it is wasting my time and theirs. Don't you want to be done your laundry as quickly as possible. I know I do.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are definitely rolling into the holiday season. There is the hustle and the bustle. We go to functions and parties. We give well wishes and greetings. It often feels like we are going through the motions. Many people get stressed and worried. Many people feel lonely and sad.

For me, Christmas is all about taking some time for people that matter.

It doesn't matter what you do for them or with them. It is the who that matters in the equation. It is easy to do good things for people who matter in your life. It is easy to take time for those people you hold dear to you. At least it should be easy.

We often get caught up in everything that doesn't really matter about Christmas and as such forget about what does. If you take some time to do something nice for someone you will be rewarded. It won't make you rich. It won't make you famous. It will make you feel good about yourself and the world around you. It doesn't have to be anything big, it just has to be genuine.

To me the holiday season is a time to reflect and enjoy with people who matter. If you do something nice for someone this time around you will be surprised how much it will enrich your life, during the most wonderful time of the year.

Guilty Pleasures

We all have guilty pleasures. We all have more than one. There are the trashy TV shows we watch. There are the bad songs on our iPods. There are the cheesy movies we just seem to like and there are the foods we know we shouldn't eat but we do.

I have them all.

I'm only going to talk about one of them. KFC. Yes you heard me. Kentucky Fried Chicken, the unhealthy, greasy, yucky chicken that, from time to time I just need to eat.

I don't know why I ever eat KFC. I always regret it a few hours later but, once again I just couldn't help myself and stopped and picked up some chicken on my way home from the gym. I ate some. I enjoyed it in the beginning. I'm already starting to regret my decision. Just like every time before.

I can feel the junk that is KFC oozing though me. I am starting to feel sluggish. All I can think is I should have had a salad.

I guess that's why its a guilty pleasure. I know its bad but for a brief moment it seems so, so good.

The Grand Canyon

On the last day of my trip to fabulous Las Vegas, we rented a car and headed out to the Grand Canyon. I have seen many pictures of the place over the years and thought that's nice, but I don't know if that's worth the trip. The picture I included is a nice picture but I'm not sure if it says you have to go see this place.

Everyone should go see the Grand Canyon.

Located entirely in the state of Arizona this natural spectacle is so far amazingly beyond any natural destination I have ever seen. I have not been everywhere. By no means have I seen it all. I have been a few rather cool places in my life. The Grand Canyon tops my list.

The canyon is wide. The canyon is deep. You can see many layers of the earth. You feel small as you stand at the edge. It is difficult to write about as words do not do justice to how I felt as I stood next to this natural wonder.

Since we were in Las Vegas we went to Grand Canyon West. The Hualapai Indians own the land and manage the attraction. They are business people, it will cost a bit more than a couple of bucks to visit, but I was completely satisfied and felt I got more than I paid for.

I also pulled out my iPhone and turned on the GPS app I have in it. The south rim at the west end of the Grand Canyon has an elevation of over 4600 feet. That's higher than Calgary but not quite as high as Denver. It added to the feeling of being with nature to be up in the thin air.

Although it was fairly cloudy the day we were there, it was quite the place to be as the sun set. As the sun gets lower in the sky and strikes the canyon walls at different angles the experience is enhanced. As the sun was setting it did manage to find a bit of a hole in the clouds. Sunshine on the bottom of clouds is always breath-taking, even more so at the Grand Canyon.

There was one thing I did find a wee bit strange. There is was no safety barrier along the edge of the canyon and the ground is not prepared along the edge. If you mis-step, you could stumble and fall over the edge. That would be it. However, it was part of the amazing experience that it was not too prepared. The adrenaline rush from standing so close to the edge without any safety equipment was unique in this day of over safetied everything. It felt closer to nature.

I've tried but I know I have not done justice to this amazing natural spectacle. All I can really say is everyone should make every attempt to visit the Grand Canyon in their lifetime.

Vegas - There is Nothing Like the People You Will Meet

No matter where you go you inevitably meet people. Las Vegas is no different. How people are in Las Vegas is unique.

I'm sure many of the people you meet in Las Vegas are normal when they are at home but, since they are on vacation is Las Vegas they relax and act like the person they sometimes want to be. They probably have a few more drinks on vacation. They let their hair down on vacation and Vegas is all about vacation.

We talked to a couple of dudes from Finland in Coyote Ugly, they were there to relax and have a good time. One looked like Kirk Hammett's long lost brother.

We danced with girls from Brazil in Body English. They seemed rather impressed we took the time and put in the effort to wear suits out for the night.

We posed for a picture with a group of women from Calgary that were in town for a wedding the next day. They had all gone to see the Chippendale's and appeared to have enjoyed a few more drinks than they normally do. The were kind enough to point out that we were not like the Chippendale dancers, but we were still cool anyway. They were cool as well, but would never do that back home.

There are also the people who live and work in Vegas. Some of them are just as unique.

There was Al the bus driver. Al drives The Deuce up and down the strip for a living. He likes to talk on the bus PA system. He talked about the wives he had. He told us about the peanut pecan cheese cake waiting for him when he was done his shift. When he was asked how late the bus ran he replied, "In the words of the brother Lionel Richie, All Night Long!" He greatly added to the bus riding experience.

There was also our waitress in Hooters one night. She had a rather sharp tongue and quick wit. She told us about her bookie back in Florida and how it was so inconvenient to bet on a football game in Las Vegas.

There were others that we encountered throughout the trip and only served to enrich the experience. If you are ever in Fabulous Las Vegas watch the people and enjoy the interactions, they are a big part of the trip.

Vegas - Getting Around is an Adventure

In any city there is usually different ways to get around. Las Vegas is no different. You have several options to get around each with their advantages and disadvantages.

No matter how else you travel you will have to do some walking. Inside hotels and casinos it is big. To get to where you want to be you will have to walk. You can also walk outside. There are two distinct advantages to walking. It is free and it is healthy. There are also disadvantages to walking. You cannot walk in a straight line anywhere in in Vegas. In the casinos you are always walking around slot machines, game tables and various other things. Outside is not much better, you need to get over the overpass foot bridges. They do not just line up with the sidewalk, but that's ok since the sidewalk is not straight anyway. Add in some street vendors and your mile walk is probably closer to a mile and a half. However if you walk you sure get to see a lot, even if it does take a lot of time.

If you are really in a hurry you can take a cab. They are pretty much like any other cab in any other city. They are priced fairly similarly to any cab I've been in. However, the cabbie is probably going to try and hustle you and take you to a strip club. I don't blame them, they make good money from the strip clubs taking customers there. Taxis will pick you up and drop you off on the main entrance to the big hotels. For the most part these entrances are located on the side of the hotel back a bit from the strip. So, once you are dropped off you may have to walk a bit inside the hotel to get to where you want to go. The additional upside to a taxi is the drivers can be really interesting to talk to and know were everything is.

I between there is the bus. For $15 you can get a pass that is good for 72 hours on the whole system anywhere in Las Vegas. You will probably only need to ride 'The Deuce' up and down the strip and out to Freemont Street at one end and the outlet mall at the other end. The Deuce is a Double Decker bus that runs 24/7, only the frequency the bus comes by changes with the time. On the bus you will probably have a chance to chat with other tourists. The downside to the bus is it is not very quick. Probably 90% of the people on it do not ride public transit regularly and it takes a long time to load and unload. If you are on a schedule it may not be the best choice but if you have been walking quite a bit, you probably don't mind taking a load off a little longer.

If you rent a car in Las Vegas at the airport you need to take the shuttle from the airport to the car rental facility. It is free and takes about 7 minutes. Overall not a bad idea as it gets the tourists away from driving near the terminal. The facility itself is quite big but well laid out, organized and easy to get around. Car rentals cost about the same as any other city. I don't think you would want to rent a car unless you were headed out to the Grand Canyon or Hoover Dam.

There are also limos, but we never took one anywhere, and that's all I have to say about that.

Navigation in Las Vegas is not difficult, but the time it takes to get around inside and outside is staggering. It may look like your destination is just over there but it is probably quite bit further than you initially thought. Each way you travel has its upside and downside but you should probably use a mix to get around when you want within your budget. And like everything in Vegas, have fun with it.

Vegas - Everything is Huge

Las Vegas is built on a different scale. It is big. However, since everything is so big, it looks normal, until you start to move about. At that point you realize it is really, really big.

We stayed at the Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas. This is a hotel with nearly 700 guest rooms. This hotel appeared to be really small. It was dwarfed by the massive MGM Grand, which is dwarfed by the incredibly massive Mandalay Bay.

If size matters then Las Vegas wins.

All these places are big. The casino floor just keeps going and going. The attractions are all encompassing. The buildings are tall. Everything is built to be an impressive size. Yes much of it is over the top. Yes much of it is cheesy, but that is what you look for in Las Vegas. If you like big you will like this city.

Even more amazing is they are still building more. There are partially built structures. There are new sites just being set up. As far as I can tell, Vegas is big but is going to get even bigger.