Monday, February 23, 2009

The rest of Vegas: reflections from 30,000 feet

Saturday was a good day. We both woke around 3:30 in the morning and both managed (A with a little more difficulty, being on that pesky EST) to go back to sleep until a reasonable time.

Our day:
  • Breakfast again at the hotel. Smoked salmon two days in a row! I feel so spoiled!
  • Lay bundled in our layers by the pool, getting some cloud-filtered sunlight, talking, people watching (a favorite game of ours was pointing out cute lesbian couples to each other)
  • Walk the strip again. This time we made it almost to the end of the strip – the Stratosphere looming just a block or two away.
  • On the way we found our caramel apples (they were at The Venetian, not the Bellagio), got a massage at Brookstone from these massive chairs that, after the ministrations of the sales people, held us captive, reclined and listening to the in-store Motown medley. A highlight from this part was pulling the leg of one of out chair jailers – we claimed dryly that Motown music history and basic mechanical car knowledge is part of the State of Michigan education exams, a requirement for all Michigan students.
  • I drooled over the cutest over-priced hoodie in Paul Frank, spend a little bit at David and Goliath, and put blinders up as we walked by the numerous designer show stores.
  • Then we booked back up the strip, returning to Todai to make it just 30 minutes before their lunch buffet closed, gorging ourselves on sushi stuffs, their little mini-desserts rounding off the meal quite nicely.
  • Then I forked over the money and bought one of the amazing dresses we tried on at the Betty Page store the day before.
  • We found ourselves being followed by a group of cheerleaders who insisted on one-handed death-defying lifts all over the city.
  • By then we were spent, rested in the room, I even got a good nap in.
  • After the sun went down, we went out again. We dolled up in dresses, me in my new one and A in a hot little black number and we caught some free shows. Treasure Island (TI) Sirens – the cheesiest of cheesy show girls lip syncing to really bad music and pretending to have a little pirate fun. The tall gentleman and his wife watching from behind us were almost just as entertaining as he shouted his Arrr’s and his wife drank a big yellow margarita out of a plastic skull larger than some human heads. (Avast me mateys! See "sinking" ship at right).
  • On this trek I did catch an Elvis – carrying a studded leather cape and whisking conspicuously through the crowd.
  • We caught the Volcano erupting at the Mirage on the way back from TI and then meandered back to the Flamingo, still dolled, A nursing her cold and me a bit dismayed that there really aren’t any slot machines with actual slots for coins (I had put aside a coin of every face to try for Luck but it turns out they were better suited for tip jars).
  • We each had a slice of pizza, watched a movie while we packed, and hit the proverbial hay, A missing her boys immensely and me missing A already.
  • A left early in the AM while I fell back asleep and woke two hours later.
  • The airport was crowded. The driver of my shuttle was from Sierra Leone and we talked about the war while navigating the way there. The Texan with the Mohawk and the reluctant New Yorker (“Where am I from? For now, New York”) joined in the conversation as well.
  • Beside me on the plane was a Marine reading about Java programming and, as I type this, we land in just under an hour. I finished Fahrenheit 451 (finally) and realize that it makes me want to read and write like I used to – every day.
Funny how a trip to Vegas ended up with inspiration to read more. And maybe grow some kick ass sideburns. That would be Elvis-y-cool for sure.

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Viva Vegas Vacation

I started this blog entry in my PJ's before heading of to Vegas. I think it was the chill of my apartment and the need to keep my fingers moving to prevent them from becoming little fingersicles. I wrote about a nightmare I had. Family Practice was suddenly no longer a viable specialty. They were going to shuttle us all to either Obstetrics or Medicine-Pediatrics. It was part of Obama's restructuring of health care. I thought it was a horrible idea. Some thought it was genius. Suddenly, here I was, more than half way through my second year, closer to graduation than the start of it all and I didn't have a job! All those years of medical school, the "fun" of the last 20 months, for nothing. I don't know what brought it on. All things considered, it wasn't all that terrifying. It certainly was less so than the nightmares I'd been having about my building falling over.

Nightmares aside, here I am in Las Vegas! The sun has been out each day, the weather in the 60s. No poolside lounging for me, but I have explored the strip. There is so much going on all the time here. Even for someone who doesn't really drink and doesn't enjoy gambling there is a lot of fun to be had! My poor companion is battling a nasty head cold so we turned in early tonight but today was pretty busy.

Our Day:

  • Big breakfast bright and early. I had eggs Benedict with salmon instead of ham and fruit instead of hashbrowns!
  • Then nearly four hours exploring - our own Flamingo, Bellagio, Venetian, a few other places, some interesting people watching.
  • Back to the hotel for a break - supposedly for a nap but we wound up messing around on my computer instead.
  • Then another exploring trek. We checked out Planet Hollywood and Paris.
  • Late lunch/early dinner in the old Aladdin desert walkway (or whatever it's called now): Mussels and ahi tuna salad (we tried Todai but it was closed between lunch and dinner so we ate at another place)
  • At the restaurant we met a nice local lady who surprised us by paying for our lunch! Then helped us shop at the Betty Page store where I tried on 5 dresses and loved them all!
  • Next we caught a few shows at the Bellagio fountain
  • Then we went on a wild goose chase trying to find these caramel apples we swore we saw at the Bellagio but couldn't find again, gave up and came home for the night.

Tomorrow maybe we'll make it to Todai for lunch and find those caramel apples. Maybe we'll take a ride on a gondola and maybe we'll see a Vegas show, preferably one with impersonators - Elvis impersonators. And maybe we'll hang out in the sun, by the pool, in sweaters, seeing if our exposed skin can help us get enough vitamin D to bring back to our cloudy homesteads. (Our bathroom, by the way, above!)

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Saturday, February 14, 2009

The V-Day Special: My dating pool

Since it’s V-Day I thought I’d go for a V-Day themed post. Inspired by an awesome program on NPR about being single I thought I’d do some math. I always joke about my dating pool being small. Let’s see exactly how small…

Population of Seattle (lets not even try with Tacoma): 600,000

Say half of them are women: 300,000

Percent gay population is 5%: 15,000 gay

Per one study 30% GLBT population is in a committed relationship, leaving me: 4500 single gay women in Seattle

Now I don’t date babies or elderly women so my age range, generously 20-45 maybe 1/3 of population: 1350 single, gay, women in Seattle that it would be at least legal to date

One of my most important criteria is education. I may be at an advantage here because the percentage of college educated LGBT folks was actually higher than the rest of the population in one study, 37% vs. 25%. However, that study was limited to one city (Chicago) and didn’t break it down by gender. Plus, given the level of youth homelessness in the LGBT community I estimate it actually might not be so high. So lets average that out to 30%: 405 educated, gay, women 20-45 years old in Seattle

Now… lets say I don’t want a smoker. Gross. LGBT folks smoke more than others, over 30%. That leaves me: 121 single, educated, gay women 20-45 in Seattle who don’t smoke.

Then, if I were to listen to Mom, lets find a nice Jewish girl: 2 women in my dating pool in Seattle Metro Area (actually its 2.43).

And that's not even starting to account for interests, belief systems, or incarceration!

And you thought YOUR dating pool was small!

(if I can, I'll post some links in for references later...)

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