Traffic was horrendous. I personally drove from here to Barstow and it was bumper to bumper the entire way. As soon as I switched to the passenger seat the traffic disappeared.


I know I'm in a minority here, but I'm almost entirely uninterested in gambling. (Almost). Table games are a little too intimidating, and most of the slots seemed boring too. (Most). I'm more interested in just seeing all the beautiful buildings and fountains, and walking through the designer stores pretending I could buy something. $595 for the small dog carrier?


Some kid is really sad that they lost their balloon in the Venetian. I just thought the balloon bumping up against the "sky" looked really funny.

Outside of shopping and visiting with family, the highlight of the trip was going to see Penn & Teller at the Rio. The show itself was really cool; I've read about or seen (on TV) some of the tricks already but seeing them live and ten feet away (eighth row) was completely different. They opened with a bit where they do that cheesy routine with the boxes, you know, that every magician does? Except they did it with clear boxes to let you see exactly how it worked...they were wearing sequined vests and dancing...it doesn't translate in print but it was hilariously awesome. Teller did the "goldfish" trick, which I've seen before but still completely blew my mind. Where did the fish come from?!? "King of Animal Traps" was also the shit, and I'm still amazed by "Magic Bullets". See the show. Actually, if you're ever in Vegas with me, you probably won't have a choice.
Something that did really surprise me about the show was how they managed to sneak in quite a bit of their skeptic's philosophy into the act. If you've ever seen Bullshit! you know the attitude I'm talking about...they did a good bit about the Bill of Rights and snuck in a speech about not accepting anything on faith into the regular patter...and nobody does patter better then Penn...except maybe Stumpy "Toby Huss" Dreifuss.
edit: I just found where you can listen to the sequined vest song online: go to http://www.pennandteller.com/03/coolstuff/music.html and click on Penn holding the bass...if you think I'm not listening to it and dancing my ass off you don't know me very well.


After the show, they hang out in the lobby giving autographs (I got two, but the scanner's attached to the broken computer). I really wanted to gush (reread the last bit for the gist) but I was so awed by the fact that I was talking to Teller and HE WAS TALKING BACK that I just managed a "Thank you, love the show". There are additional pics, but really, how many pictures of me standing next to Teller/Penn do you need? BTW, you can't tell in this picture but Teller is wearing wing tips. Awesome.


It's sort of second nature to put your arm around someone when you're taking a picture together, isn't it? When I took the first picture with Penn, I did, in fact, put my arm around his waist, and his response was to say: "Quit grabbing my ass!"

...

I did not, in fact, take the opportunity to grab Penn Jillette's ass. In hindsight (hindersight) I realize that it was probably an open invitation, and that I've now squandered my opportunity. Oh well, what's a trip to Vegas without regrets?


I'm not really a huge fan of Jimmy Buffett's music, but I have endless respect for anybody who can make a career of talking about being drunk on the beach.

It was hot and windy, and I was feeling a tad crappy. I'm sorry, Jimmy Buffett, but seafood + tequila x desert heat = unhappiness. Moms wanted to go into the Imperial Palace, I just wanted to get out of the sun. That's when I saw them: the machines I'd scoured half a dozen casinos for...



Yes, they're Star Wars slot machines, and yes, those are giant Death Stars spinning around on the top.


If you look closely, you can see I managed to turn my initial $8 into more than $80.


Here we've captured the exact moment I soured my luck by saying "Hey, take a picture while I'm winning!" Also: Death Star Bonus, bitches!


Alas and alack, my luck did not hold out. I only walked away with about $40, which means I got to watch tiny pictures of Chewbacca roar in unison at a $32 profit. Not too shabby.