Thursday, January 18, 2007

Las Vegas

Okay, I'm back.  Let me brief you all about what I'm doing out here, how damn cold it is, and what finally happened with The Patio.
 
Let's start with the Patio.  We moved out of the space without selling the business, so if you ever wanted to be in the restaurant business, all you have to do is sign a lease and buy some food to cook and sell.  Even the cash register is still there (how am I going to use it!)  So, if you stop by the site in a couple of months and you ask what the new owners paid for the business, if the answer is anything over "nothing" they're lying.  If they lie to you about that, they'll lie to you about not spitting into the soup, so watch out.  No, but seriously folks, if the food's good and the prices are fair, enjoy it.
 
It's been freezing in Las Vegas for the week I've been here.  I know the California citrus crop is more important than my personal comfort, but only to you!  Yes, nothing's more important to me than my personal comfort, which is why I'm pissed at Blue Cross.  Remember that nasty and tenacious kidney stone I had back in August?  Well I was just informed by the insurance company that they will not pay for my treatment if I get another one in the next five years!  Imagine!  What gall?  A pre-existing condition, indeed. Let's get some of our Boalt Hall partisans breathing down the necks of health care companies.  I'm just glad it wasn't my heart, even if some have trouble finding it.
 
Sandia National Laboratory, the so-called Lead Lab in the Department of Energy's Program to bury high-level nuclear waste in a deep repository in Nevada, has hired me as a consultant to assist them with personnel training activities.  The people I work with are professional, personable, and long in the tooth, for the most part.  I have known some of the people on this program--maybe 6 or 8--for more than 15 years.  It's sort of nice to be back in my professional area, but I really do miss the poverty of the Patio.
 
I live in a neighborhood called Summerlin, which is maybe 10 miles NW of the Strip.  Meena has two friends who work in the hotel business here so we will probably get to see some shows at a good price, or without having to wait months for tickets.  I am looking forward to seeing the Cirque Du Soleil's show on The Beatles, and I have my ticket request in with the ladies.  If I can see that, and then meet the cast of CSI, I'll be happy as hell.  Then, I can die in peace, my friends, like Art Buchwald and Saddam Hussein.
 
Did you know that Barak Obama is not Irish?  Those "O" names can be confusing, huh?  Well even if he's not Irish, I like him.  Editor of the Harvard Law Review is a pretty good recommendation, and at 41, he's the perfect age to be President of the United States, so let's all get behind this intelligent young dude and get a Prez for the future, not like the current guy, who only wanted to be Prez because his Dad had been Prez and he couldn't think of anything else to do but smile, shrug, and say, "I'd kinda like to be President like mah Daddy done were."  Compare Obama to Bush.  It's like comparing the Himalayas to the Poconos.  Let's get this man elected!
 
As soon as it warms up, I'm chipping the ice off my small swimming pool, mixing a huge martini in it, throwing in 2,000 olives, and inviting everyone over for a swim.  Game!

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