Vegas - Everything is a Hustle

It's no surprise that Las Vegas exists to separate a man from his money. It is amazing how well they do it. If you are naive do not go to Las Vegas. You will be fleeced for everything you have.

Everyone there is trying to hustle you.

The cab drivers are always trying to take you somewhere. They will definitely take you to a strip club, especially since the strip club will pay the fare. Once there, I'm sure the dancers will hustle you for very expensive very short lap dances, while you drink expensive drinks and have payed an outrageous cover.

There are guys on the street trying to pass you cards advertising hookers. They are everywhere. you cannot get away from them. They are snapping the cards and trying to get you to take them in hopes you give the girls a call.

There are people in the hotels giving you passes to the clubs in the hotels.

There are people in the hotels and on the street trying to sell you passes to clubs all over the city. It's a hustle that's just the way it is.

There are guys with limos looking to take you places. They have the best lines. "You don't want to go down there, its only homeless people with guns and they know you have money." or "What are you guys looking to do tonight? Club, Strip Club, Party Favours?"

If nothing else it can be entertaining.

One night we had been at one place for a while and it was about 11pm. We were looking for something else to do for the next part of the night. As we walked through the MGM Grand a dude and a woman started to try and hustle us on some passes to PURE nightclub in Caesar's Palace. It was obvious it was a hustle however in the middle of her pitch the woman stopped and says to my good friend Kent, "You have the most beautiful blue eyes." So we bought the passes and headed down to Caesar's. Sure enough as we were walking in a guy handed us passes that would get us exactly the same thing for free, but I had no buyer's remorse since she commented on Kent's eyes. (I tease him regularly about them.)

The flip side to the hustle is you can often bargain with them. We managed to swing a deal with a guy on some passes to Body English in the Hard Rock and did save 66% of the cover charge.

You can try to ignore the hustle, but it is in your face constantly. Maybe the offers we had was because we were three fairly young, presentable guys walking about, but in the end, in Vegas, everything is a hustle.

I Survived Vegas Baby!

I returned from fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. I saw a lot. I did a lot. There is a lot more than I can fit into one blog entry so I will be talking about several aspects of Vegas over the next few days. A few of the points that I will cover include:

Everything in Vegas is a hustle.

Everything in Vegas is huge.

Getting around Vegas is an adventure.

There is nothing like the people you meet in Vegas

There may be a few surprises along the way as well.

So tune in regularly to hear about my adventures, since there will be some great observations and opinions.

Vegas Baby

Tonight at 10:01 pm the wheels will be touching down on my flight to fabulous Las Vegas. Quite a bit of preparation has gone into this trip. The research is done, the resources are booked, and I am ready.

I am rather excited.

If this place lives up to the hype that everyone is giving it I am going to have a super-duper good time. I sure hope it does. I need to live in a fantasy world for a few days. I need to remember why I work hard. I need to take some cool pictures of cool stuff. I need to make some new memories.

I was once told that Las Vegas is the best and worst of America all in one place. I want to see that. I want to people watch. I want to party. I want to ride Vegas style amusements. I want to see what this over the top city has to offer.

I really don't know what this trip will bring. I am open to whatever pops up. We only have a rough plan and will enjoy the rest the way it was meant to be. I hope to come home exhausted with a couple of loonies in my pocket, with a camera full of cool pictures and a head full of memories.

That's A Long Time

As I walked into the Sobey's I regularly shop at on the week-end I noticed a sign indicating they were now open from 6am to Midnight, 6 Days a week. In Manitoba the law limits retail shopping to noon - 6pm on Sundays so they would not be able to be open that much on Sunday. That is a lot of hours to be open.

The store will only be closed for six hours a day. I believe this is to compete with Walmart being open 24 hrs. That is a lot of time to be open.

I worked for Sobey's West, A Division of Sobey's Capital Inc. as a in-store manager back in 2001 - early 2002. From that job I learned that retail can really be a killer. The hours are insane. The public can be really good or really bad and everything in between. When I started we were open 9am to 11pm. The hours were reduced to 9am to 10pm as that last hour was not very productive. It was easier on the staff and the schedule. These new hours they are open must be murder on their staff. I can see strong morale developing when people are being stretched further.

I also noted the store was not in great shape. There were normal products that were not stocked. There was not a lot of staff to serve customers. It seemed that the store was suffering.

So, why am I ragging on Sobey's? This is a classic example of letting another company dictate how you will do business. The fear that Walmart strikes in the heart retail executives forces them to make bad and expensive decisions.

In any organization you must figure out what you do and figure out how to be the best at it. If you do what you do well, you will get the results you want. I see Sobey's being a follower in the marketplace and you cannot come in first if you are following someone.

Friday the 13th

It appears that I survived another Friday the 13th. It is said that this day is unlucky. I'm not sure if you can attach luck to a specific date. There are a couple of things you may be able to attach luck to. A broken mirror. Well, maybe, I don't know if you get seven years of bad luck but I'm sure you will have to deal with the aftermath of the mirror. Broken glass strewn about and replacement costs definitely rate badly on the good bad scale, as do the potential for injury in the breaking process. Walking under a ladder is another unlucky act. In reality walking under a ladder is more likely to be unsafe than unlucky. Objects could fall on you, not to mention the ladder. It just makes good sense to not walk under a ladder.

I do believe there is an element of luck that effect everyone's life. Gambling especially games of chance are based entirely on luck. Things happen beyond your control that influence your life. Many of these are so remote that significant preparation for their occurrence is futile. However, how you deal with or react to bad luck is a true measure of your character. If you work through bad luck, you will be less effected by it. If you work hard and are prepared for what you are trying to do you reduce the chance you will be unlucky as you will be performing your tasks properly and may be able to overcome bad luck or the luck will not produce a significantly negative effect since you are in a significantly positive position.

Some people seem to think they only have bad luck. We all feel like this from time to time. We all know people who chronically complain about their bad luck. If you feel you are having a lot of bad luck, I suggest you look inward. You are probably not a good as you think or are not willing to accept responsibility for your actions.

It has often been said, "You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good." There is definitely, some truth to that. If you are good at what you do and are working hard at it, chances are you will reduce the influence of chance. If you have some good luck come your way you will probably be in a position to effect change and may make a difference.

I believe luck exists, at least at the individual level. It is that unknown factor of chance that statistically will even out but in the one of cases can have a significant effect on a person or a small group. You have to live with it. You can tell stories about it. Your day may be changed by it. You will always wonder about it. Don't rely on it. Don't blame things on it.

I will admit, I would rather have good luck than bad luck.

KISS! What Else Can You Say?

Last night I saw KISS at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. I have seen them before, I knew what to expect. They delivered. The did everything that I expected them too. They didn't take themselves seriously and took themselves too seriously at the same time. They wore makeup and capes. They played loud catchy music. They used a lot of fire. They spit blood. They flew through the air. They lit a lighting rig on fire, I don't think that was part of the show. They lowered it and a couple of dudes with CO2 fire extinguishers put it out.

I admit I didn't have the best seats, but they were not the worst either. People were having fun and put all the worries of the world around us to the side for a couple of hours.

A KISS show is timeless. It doesn't really fit into any era. They are so unique that they can put out the same show for 35 years and it never gets old. That's what makes them who they are. If you have the chance I strongly recommend you go to a KISS show. The people in the crowd are a big part of the entertainment. Young and old, grandparents and little kids, you will see it all, including a good dose of very attractive women. Everyone seems to like KISS. The guy on one side of you could be a dentist and on the other a tow-truck driver, but this music seems to bring them together.

If you have a chance then Rock and Roll All Nite and party every day!

The Shot

I was the recipient of my H1N1 shot yesterday. I don't seem to have any side effects, yet. My arm is OK if I move it most ways but there are a couple of angles that I seem to want to stop moving it for the moment. In the big picture I have moved from one statistic to the other.

Enough about me.

The whole H1N1 thing is scary and not scary at the same time. On the one hand its ripping through the young healthy population. It has killed a few and made a whole bunch of people feel really bad for a few days. Nobody likes to be sick, and a lot of productivity will be lost during the latest wave. However, we will get through this.

Many people will get inoculated, others will get sick, some will get both (those are the really unlucky ones) but through this humanity will begin to resist this strain of the flu. At some point in the future, this latest threat will become a lesser threat. In many years we will sit around and talk about this like we talk about many other significant moments that define a generation. This occurrence will become part of the collective conscious, and that's OK. I'm not suggesting that a pandemic is a good thing but it is an opportunity to grow and learn. We see what we can do in trying times. I don't know how trying this is, but I do know it has a lot of people concerned.

People are afraid to catch this bug. People are concerned about the vaccine. People are concerned for their children. People are worried because most of us in the general population do not have the knowledge to evaluate the facts, we are at the mercy of the people who know about this stuff, and many people are distrusting of authority. This distrust makes fear-mongering easier. If there are opportunities for people to leverage situations there will always be people who will try to do so. Where we come in is to be logical, and seek out information. We must make the best decision for ourselves and our communities. In doing so we will move beyond this and learn from it and that is an upside to a not so good situation.

The Mass Email

If you work at a desk job you know what I'm talking about. You email a small fact off to a couple of buddies and the conversation begins. It starts out innocent enough but eventually it spirals deep into a pit of degenerate discussion.

Yesterday, I emailed a couple of buddies about the opening acts at a concert we are attending in January. From there we moved on to intimate relations with the undead and finally finished with metaphorically comparing each other's 'junk' to data storage media. How does this happen.

Today, I received an email about helping a friend move a table. Somehow this conversation degraded to a discussion on polygamy and the competition for head wife. How does this happen.

I think part of this is desk jobs are not particularly exciting. Most of the people capable of doing the work also happen to be rather creative and need those quick one or two minute breaks. The mass email provides an outlet to help people get through the day. Some of it is rather funny. Some is rather bizarre. All of it is saved on a server somewhere. I'm sure someone will publish a book someday about their mass email, it would be quite the read. You would have to take it with a grain of salt.

I know it appears that the mass email may be unproductive, and I am sure it is at times, but I am also sure that it often recharges desk workers and helps them get through their day.

The Sun Will Come Out.....Today

The continuous dense overcast layer that has been inhabiting Manitoba for the last month or so finally left, and lo and behold a great glowing how gaseous orb was spotted in the sky. I heard about this orb from a crazy old wizard one time. He called it the sun and spoke of magical powers it possesses. It can help create and sustain life and improve the well-being of mortals as they travel about the surface of this rock called earth.

I really noticed a difference as I walked to lunch with my good friend Kent. The sun was warm on my face and gave me a feeling of warmth and promise. Our daylight hours are dwindling and I am noticing. I see that as daylight gets more scarce I will miss it more. It is also good to know that the sun does come back out. I immediately feel better more optimistic when the magic orb makes an appearance. It was enjoyable to be outside and I have not felt that way for a while.

I would rather take two degrees Celsius and sunny than ten degrees Celsius and a cloudy, rainy day. Maybe its because it is better for both flying and photography (two things I enjoy very much) or maybe its just because a sunny day makes you feel all good.

I know that I may sound a bit nuts here but dude, I really like a sunny day.

Flu Scare

I'll admit there is a bit of a lead up to the point of this entry, stay with me.

A friend of mine hurt her back playing volleyball on Thursday evening. To make the story go a bit smoother lets call this friend "Jill." Now Jill really did a number on her back and the ever so helpful Doctor prescribed Tylenol 3 for the pain. Now I have taken T3's before and didn't like how they made me feel. I will live with a lot of pain to avoid taking them again. Apparently Jill has a similar reaction, however her pain was so bad she kept taking them. The combination of the pain and the medicine was causing her to puke, a lot. So after a couple of days of this she broke down and asked me to take her to the pharmacy to get something to calm her stomach down since she was getting rather weak from bucking her cookies for days now.

After the pharmacy we went to the Safeway next door to get some Gatorade so she could hopefully get some calories and fluid back into herself. She looked and felt like a bag of smashed apples. She was not doing well. So after roaming about the store we head to the till to pay.

This is where my story actually starts.

While waiting in line sickly Jill blurts out, "I just want to go home so I can puke in the privacy of my own bathroom."

The cashier responds, "Oh, are you hungover?"

I respond, "No she isn't feeling well but don't worry its not H1N1."

The cashier looked rather worried and a bit disgusted with my poor sickly friend. She pays for her stuff and we head off. As we are leaving the cashier showers her entire work area with hand sanitizer.

Paranoid a bit, are we?

Yes there is a pandemic. Yes it would suck to get sick. Yes you should take precautions. Yes Jill looked like death warmed over, but I'm pretty sure no one was going to catch back pain from her. It seemed a bit excessive if you ask me.

By all means protect yourself. Do what you feel is necessary to ensure your health is maintained. But I do suggest to try to be sensitive to others. I just found her rather rude. Her demeanour was standoffish. If you are hypersensitive, maybe a job interacting with the public all day is not for you.

This woman definitely had a flu scare.