What the holy heck happened here while I was gone?
My stats are through the roof, subscribers to the site are way up, and all my guest bloggers get a ton more comments than I get? On my own site??? Is this a sign that it's time for me to give it up and just let you all take over? Wow.
But I suppose this is what I get for letting the peanut gallery run rampant here on kapgar... they all bring their own nuts along with them. Hmmm.
I must take a second to thank all my guest bloggers. While I have not yet had a chance to read all the guest posts, what I have read has rocked! You are all awesome and very near and dear to my hearts. If I had a cool Friendship Circle rating system like Dave does (I'd link if I could find it on his site), you'd all be Circle 1. But I am curious how Dave's post yesterday wound up attributed to Snackie. Did I miss something?
So how was Vegas? Quite nice! Thanks for asking. We really did have a blast to be perfectly honest with you. Much moreso than I ever thought possible or ever wanted to have considering I was not looking forward to going. The ironic thing about it all is now that we've gone, I don't think we're welcome back. Katie and I violated two cardinal rules of vacationing in the city of Lost Wages.
- We came back with more cash than we left with.
- Despite being in the city of sin and buffets, we lost weight. This has never happened to us on a vacation ever before in our lives. We're shocked.
How much money and how much lost weight? For money, not a lot, but enough to make us smile. And I dunno the number of pounds exactly but I forgot to put a belt on my shorts one day and they were literally dragging down to my hips and Katie was hiking up her bridesmaid dress the entire night of the wedding. As much of an inconvenience as that may be, they are more than welcome and we hope they decide to extend their stay with other outfits we own.
Vegas itself was quite nice. But a week there is far too long. We were dying to come home by Friday of last week. However, I have compiled a list of things I learned about vacationing in Las Vegas in an extended post should you be so interested.
- First-class travel? Not worth the money really. Yeah, you get free food and drink and the seats are bigger. But, in our plane at least, the section of the plane is old, the seats are really not that much more comfortable, you're still stuck with the crappy ceiling mounted television to watch the same canned programming.
- However, the warm, wet towels in first class? So not an urban myth! Although we only were given them on the flight out and not the return leg.
- Flying over the southwest United States really reminds you how beautiful this Earth truly is. Some of the most stunning visuals to which I've ever had the privilege of witnessing. The essay I wrote about it in-flight is forthcoming.
- WiFI in O'Hare Airport sucks. My Palm Pilot could not connect to
it because their login and disclaimer screens were incompatible.
- WiFi in the Centurion Tower of Caesar's Palace is non existent. So I had no access to the Web the entire week save for one time I snuck on for a couple minutes in the wedding planner's office. Oddly enough, I really didn't miss not having a connection.
- After a week away from the Web and work, I am scared to see how
many posts I have waiting in Google Reader and how many e-mails await
me in both my personal and work accounts. Gah!
- No matter how many times we reconsidered what we packed and how
many times we pulled extra crap out of our bags, we still overpacked by
a long shot.
- You do not need a rental car in Vegas.
- The pools at Caesar's are awesome and, apparently, fifty million other people agree with me as finding chaise lounges near any of the five pools is an exercise in futility.
- Dry heat is fan-friggin-tastic! I hate heat because I despise
sweating and anything above 85 degrees in Chicagoland usually makes me
sweat because of our constantly high humidity levels. Temperatures
averaged about 103 in Vegas and I never sweat once because it was dry
heat! I loved, loved, loved it! Oh, and it was great on my allergies
too! I don't quite understand why it is that dry heat never made me
sweat, but I will not complain about it at all!
- I really am capable of tanning without burning!
- There are some people in this world that make me ashamed of being both male and human. That story will be coming soon. Remind me if I forget.
- Do not forget chargers for electronic equipment. This is the first trip we had everything we need and we are quite thankful. I had to recharge my digicam three times during the week.
- As much as I love my video iPod, Dave is right, you don't really ever need much more than a Shuffle or a Nano when traveling. I brought my first gen Shuffle and Katie brought the second gen Shuffle we just bought her and they were perfect for everything.
- Speaking of Nanos, there is no better surprise in the world than discovering that your grandmother (I've called her "Nano" as long as I've been alive), who was not supposed to be able to make the trip out for the wedding due to travel option limitations, decided to spend two and a half days on a bus from Florida, just because.
- But it would've been better to have made this discovery and welcome her while sober. How many of you can say your grandmother has seen you drunk?
- And this is only because Rocco, Limo Driver Extraordinaire, rocks! I do have his contact information if you'd like it.
- Orbitz's cell phone flight notification system is great! If only they could get their e-mail system to work as well. Apparently our flight information (time and flight numbers) were changed back in February and they never once notified us via e-mail like they promise to. We only found out because my dad called in a day or two before we left Chicago. But I received four automated calls from Orbitz for the return flight yesterday.
- Messes and home improvement projects you leave at home are still there when you get back. Damn!
- No matter how much a hotel room costs and how many stars it may receive from travel guides, their beds and pillows will never compare to what you have in your own bedroom.
- Dorothy was right... there's no place like home.
