Kathleen McGivney

The Vegas Experience

Holy crap, how did I end up in space?, originally uploaded by kmcgivney.

My husband's birthday is the day before mine (his is August 11, mine is August 12). Last year, we went to Las Vegas and celebrated our birthdays with Team Leo (you know who you are!) and also got engaged; this year we decided to reprise our Vegas birthday adventure and headed there for a long weekend. Our plans included eating at Nobu (where Atom popped the question the previous year) and playing poker. Nothing too fancy, just a weekend in Vegas with our friends.

We stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton for a couple of reasons - Hilton points, their poker room, and easy access to the monorail. We will not be staying there again, for a couple of reasons - the room was pretty crappy, they removed the poker room, and they are no longer going to have the Star Trek Experience, which included two fun motion-simulator rides and a space-themed casino. The lack of poker room and rides, combined with the poor quality of the hotel rooms, leaves the hotel with exactly zero draw for us.

We did have fun while we were there, and I shot a few photos with my trusty Nokia N82. The photo above is of the Enterprise that is hanging from the ceiling above Quark's restaurant and the entrance to the rides. There are a few more photos after the jump.

Wii-kend update

This weekend, we had some out-of-town guests come in for the NYC tattoo convention. We headed over there for a little while and met up with a few friends, but it was a bit crowded for my taste, so I bailed out early. Fortunately, our guests were able to stay the weekend, so we spent the rest of the time eating great food (with the obligatory trip to our favorite restaurant, Lan, for some tasty sushi and some Kobe beef tongue*) and wandering around to various toy stores looking for a particular collectible piece our friend was looking for (with no success).

Today, my husband went out and picked up House of the Dead 2 and a Wii Fit. So far, only Atom has had time to play either since I was on approximately one million conference calls today. I was able to watch him set up the Wii Fit during a half-hour respite from eternal phone-holding - I desperately need a headset for my home office - and it looks like it will be a really fun addition to the Wii. Of course, I'm fairly uncoordinated and klutzy so I'm sure my little Mii character will suffer a lot of injuries as I get used to it. (Or I will.)

This week, I plan to upload some more photos in the evenings, as my days are fairly full of the aforementioned conference calls. Perhaps if I have a long enough break between them I will pop out and pick up a headset. Without one, I either have to go with the speakerphone (no good when the cats are meowing, though I'm sure their contributions are appreciated) or hold the phone to my ear (which causes me to have an inquisitive, tilted-head look, much like Nipper, the RCA dog - a look that suited him much better than it does me).

I also have some more medical tests scheduled in what seems like a never-ending barrage of examinations that have gotten my doctor no closer to figuring out what the hell is wrong with me. My doctor promised that after these next two appointments and the minor outpatient surgery I need to have next month that I won't have to come back and see him for at least six months, but I'm not buying it. However, hopefully I will have some interesting photos of my innards to show you all in a few days. I know you can't wait, but try to contain yourselves.

* don't make the obvious cowlick joke. It's only funny with a LOT of sake.