Occupy Shmoccupy

It's pretty pathetic. Occupy Honolulu, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy International movement, has set up "homeless-style" tents in Thomas Square, at the corner of Beretania Street and Ward Avenue.

The City of Honolulu has refused to let them remain in the park after 10 p.m., and they're trying to get petitions that would allow them to stay.

They stress that they are the 99% who are taking the stand against the 1%. I doubt that very much. I try not to be a political person, I try to remain impassionate and present a non-biased point of view.

But you know what? They certainly do not represent the 99%; if they did, they would have the other 98% on their side and wouldn't have to ask for monetary donations to sustain the movement.

I think they are the 1% who are taking the stand against the 99%.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Palazzo Atrium Winter Display

The last time I showed you the atrium display at the Palazzo Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, it was their fall extravaganza. The other day, I went again, because I knew they would have changed it.

And yes, they did. They put up a gorgeous winter display to show off their waterfall and reflecting pool.

I could stand before you and describe it until your ears start humming and your eyes fall out of their sockets from boredom, but I won’t.

I’ll just show you some pictures. Wouldn’t that be better?

Nice, yah? Can't wait to see what they do for the New Year. I plan to be back.

Mini Museum Crawl

Every time I think I’ve seen everything there is to see in Las Vegas, something pops up that’s been there for quite some time and yet has escaped my notice.

When I was flying over from Honolulu, a page in the inflight magazine caught my attention. They were talking about how the Nevada State Museum had moved in October into the Springs Preserve area of Las Vegas. Hey! I didn’t know that … I thought they were still in their old location.

Naturally, I planned a trip there. Unfortunately, my planning was a bit on the “hurry up” side of things and all I wrote on a piece of paper with the new address was: Take Valley View to Bonanza Road, turn right, then head toward Twin Lakes, turn left on Twin Lakes and it’s right there.

Hah! Easier said than done. As I was heading out, I saw Bonanza Road ahead of me, and figuring it was shorter to just turn right on Bonanza and find Twin Lakes, that’s what I did. Only I made a major boo-boo. I was on East Bonanza and had to get on West Bonanza. I drove and drove and drove and drove. Then I drove some more until Bonanza ended near some humongous church.

All I can say is thank God for the GPS on my smart phone. I turned it on (as I should have done in the first place) programmed in the address, and let the nice lady voice tell me how to get there. I was so ‘way off that it took me a half-hour to find the museum (it’s right next to The Meadows Mall, in case you think you’d like to find it yourself).

Serendipity! Not only is the Nevada State Museum there, the whole area is called Springs Preserve and there are a couple of museums and activity centers there. Admission to everything is less than $20 (senior price), and I swear a family can spend the entire day there.

Me? I had other places to go to, so I just did the Origen Museum (which had an interesting exhibit on animal poop, the whole scoop, and life in the desert (humans, reptiles and mammals) and the State Museum with its huge mammoth fossil skeleton that begins a timeline that slowly brings you up to the era of neon and glitter.

I’ll do longer posts on the museums at another time, but for now, I thought you’d like to see a couple of shots from each:

Entrance to Origen Museum

Origen Craft Area



The Nevada State Museum

Prehistoric Fossils on display



The Fremont Experience

Since I'm staying in downtown Las Vegas this trip, most of my meals will be in and around Fremont Street, which is now called The Fremont Experience, what with the overhead light show, a zip line ride, and the generally festive atmosphere.

Christmas time is particularly jolly on Fremont, tourists from all over the world are having fun, many of whom have had too much to drink. In that sense, it kind of reminds one of Bourbon Street in New Orleans ... nah, I take that back. Bourbon Street is dingy and dark, Fremont is brightly lit and the casinos echo the loud live music emanating from various stages.

There's a live Santa sitting next to a humongous Christmas tree, talking to kids on his knee, and women too - they wait in line to sit on his knee ... this IS Las Vegas, after all.

The Fremont Experience (well a small part of it, anyway)

On Friday night, I had dinner at Don B's Steakhouse, 2nd floor in the Fitzgerald Casino. The food wasn't bad ... but the expensive lobster tail was a bit too small. Be that as it may, I enjoyed it.

What I enjoyed more was the sight that greeted me when I finished my dinner and left the casino. There on Fremont were a couple of hundred men and women dressed up like Santa and his helpers, elves, and even a Christmas tree. Since my Sony Cyber-shot also has a movie camera feature, I turned it on and wandered about, panning, zooming, filming.

It's amazing how cooperative the Santas were. I asked one particularly good-looking cute young lady what this was all about and she told me it's a traditional thing ... a mob pub crawl, kind of like a flash mob, but more holiday-ish, and why don't I get a suit and join in. Er ... maybe some other time.

I call this a Kris Mingle (like "Kringle" ... get it?)

Hmmm, I wonder if they're going to do it again tonight?

Christmas Gift Fair for Cowpokes

Looks like a Levi's convention to me

I had planned to attend this today; I just hadn’t planned to do it so early.

As you may recall, I didn’t get a chance to see the cowboys in action at the Wrangler Championship Rodeo – at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Arena – yesterday because I was unwilling to buy a mad-dash ticket.

And that’s why I hit the Cowboy Christmas Gift Fair early. And as luck may have it, the Fates stepped in. Almost as soon as I entered the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot, somebody pulled out only two row s from the crosswalk, and one space from the end. Yeehaw!

Jeeze Louise … every cowboy and cowboy wanna-be, every cowgirl and cowgirl wanna-be, every significant other and all their kids were jamming into the hall. I saw more blue jeans than a Levis convention, I saw more cowboy hats than a Western movie, and I heard more country-western music than I ever have in my life.

You know what whopped my jaws? The young girls. They were getting silly over who was scheduled to give autographs. I mean, I never heard of these people. They may be stars, but not to me. And whenever a new song came blaring out over the speakers, those young girls were singing away at the top of their lungs.

It kind of reminded me of when I went to the movie, Grease, and sat behind some junior high girls. It was eerie. When the characters started singing on-screen, there was this faint background singing in the theater … the young girls. That’s kind of what it was like in the big hall.

Talk about western stuff. There were hats, boots, belts, saddles, horse statues, Indian garb, knives, rifles, tee-shirts, socks, hankies, fur jackets for men, fur jackets for women, fur jackets for their kids, leather steering wheel covers, hardware belts, fishing rods and reels, lures and creels, salsa by the jar, longhorn heads, bison heads, wolf fur, stuffed birds, stuffed wildcats, teepees, beef jerky, sheep jerky, what looked like mule jerky, snakeskin holsters, lariats, bullwhips, spurs going jingle-jangle-jingle, ladies with big hair and kerchiefs, girls with big hair and kerchiefs … ah lordie, it was a cowboy paradise.

I almost expected Roy Rogers and Gene Autry to materialize out of thin air whenever I turned a corner. And if you don’t know who they are, then … then … get out of my face, ya young whipper-snapper.

Gotta say, I felt a little out of it – didn’t know anything or anybody cowboy or country-western related. But as Burt Reynolds told Sally Field in Smokey and the Bandit, I guess how stupid you are depends on what part of the country you’re from.

I can take some solace from that wise observation. It ain’t my fault that I felt stupid.

How ‘bout a few pictures of some cowboy-related stuff:

American Indian stuff, plus stuffed stuff

Bison and Texas Longhorn heads

Looks like wolf fur to me

Cowboy hats on a rack and in stacks

Yeehaw Day Was Not To Be

When I stepped off the plane last night at McCarren International Airport, I already had plans for today. An article in the inflight magazine noted that the rodeo was back in town. They were in Las Vegas the last time I was here back in October, but I didn't have time to go.

The last time I was at a real rootin' tootin' rodeo was back in the late '60s when a bunch of us college kids went to one at the Rose Bowl. All I remember about that one was that the participants looked not so big ... we were pretty high up. There was one moment of excitement when one of the ancilliary performers was doing stunts and fell pretty hard. They had to carry him off.

As soon as I could, I drove over to the University of Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center to see if I could get in. They'd been here since the start of the week and were winding it up tonight and tomorrow.

First problem - parking. I had to walk about a quarter mile across a vast and empty parking lot to get to the ticket office. Then the bad news. They were sold out for the rest of the event.

I could, however, buy a "mad dash" ticket that would enable me to stand around and make a mad dash to an empty seat if there was no one there. The problem of course is the real occupants might arrive and kick me out. But the bigger problem was that there going to be a lot of mad dashers trying to block me out of a seat. Kind of like musical chairs on cowboy steroids.

So I said gosh darn it, ma'am in my best cowboy polite talk, tipped my hat and thank you kindly but that's not my style.

Know what I did then? I did the next best thing and joined all the other cowboys in town at the Cowboy Christmas Fair, raht thar, smacky dab in the new-fangled Las Vegas Convention Center thangie on Paradise Road.

I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Le-e-e-eaving on a Jet Plane

Heading out to Sin City this afternoon - Las Vegas, that is.

I'll be there through Tuesday night, Dec. 13, so my Wandering blog posts will be a bit spotty (obviously that means I'm taking my laptop with me this time).

Hey, I know I was there in late October, but what the heck, I found a good deal with Vacations Hawaii (with first-class airfare and no baggage fees, including a room and meals at the California Hotel).

Therefore ... Las Vegas, here I come. Cya there.

Only One Thing, She Promised

Yesterday was one of those "I gotta pick up prescription meds at Costco" days, and as usual, my plan was to drive there, run in and pick up the prescription order I'd called in the day before.

Zip there, zip in, zip out, zip home.

Stupid me, I made the mistake of telling the wife what I was planning to do. She glommed onto me like a flea on a dog and before I knew it, we were both in the car headed to Costco. The new plan was for her to drop me off, find parking, and come find me.

Our conversation just as we got there:

Wife: I need to get one thing, only one thing, for dinner.
Me (naively): Okies, I'll get a wagon and you can find me.
Wife: Right (grinning evily).
Me (ten minutes later): . o ( Got the meds, I'll go wait in the DVD/Blu-Ray aisle. )
Wife: I'm here. Let's go get dinner. But first, let's get a couple of cases of Sunny-D.
Me (loading the cart): Okay.
Wife: Maybe I should get some crispy one ton chips to take to the neighbors for Christmas.
Me (loading the cart): Okay.
Wife: There are only two ribs packs there.
Me: They're fine. I'll get one.
Wife: Okay. How about those stuffed portabello mushrooms?
Me: (loading the cart): Okay.
Wife: I'll get a couple of flank steaks for dinner another time.
Me: (loading the cart): Okay.
Wife: Go pay for this, I need to go outside and buy a chicken wrap for mom.
Me: Okay.

The upshot? We spent $140. More than "just one thing for dinner." That would have been the spare ribs for $18.

See?

More than 'Just One Thing for Dinner'

The moral of the story? There ain't no such thing as "Only one more thing." When will I ever learn?

Well, It's About Time

On Tuesday, Nov. 22, I bought a new computer at Best Buy (Dell Inspiron All-in-One with a 23-inch touchscreen, 4 GB memory, and 500 GB hard disk) - plenty big and fast enough for what I do.

I also paid for their Geek Squad set-up and restore service, so I could at least cut down on some installation work. The software included Word Office, and Trend Titanium Anti-Virus. They asked for my mobile phone number and said they'd call me when it was ready.

I am here to tell you that I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally yesterday morning, I got a message on my phone saying the computer was ready for pickup, and that in fact, it had been ready for some time. That bothered me more than just a little, so I told the nice girl at the pick-up desk (a geek expert, I presume) that if I were called when it WAS ready, I could have had it up and running by now and could have been playing with it all this time.

She did apologize profusely, and agreed that the two-week wait was very inconvenient and unacceptable, and certainly atypical. And she promised to make an issue of it with the person or persons responsible. Fine and dandy, but I was tempted to demand some kind of remuneration - a discount or gift card, perhaps.

But I didn't, because I'm such a nice guy, and in the general scheme of things, I have my new computer.

Where Hawaii Ranks 7

Are we at the top of a good list? Or are we at the top of a bad list. No matter. It’s just interesting to find out where Hawaii or Honolulu rank in the general and specific scheme of things.

Average Monthly Rent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010)

1.       HAWAII ($1,291)

2.       District of Columbia ($1,198)

3.       California ($1,163)

4.       Maryland ($1,131)

5.       New Jersey ($1,114) 

Grandparents Responsible for Grandkids (U.S. Census Bureau 2010) 

1.       HAWAII (23.0%)

2.       New Jersey (26.5%)

3.       California (27.1%)

4.       Massachusetts (27.7%)

5.       New York (30.2%) 

Lowest 2011 Second Quarter Personal Income Growth (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2011) 

1.       Washington (0.7%)

2.       Georgia (0.7%)

3.       HAWAII (0.9%)

4.       New York (0.9%)

5.       Delaware (0.9%) 

Happiest States (Gallup-Healthways, 2011) 

1.       HAWAII (71 out of 100 points)

2.       Wyoming (69.2)

3.       North Dakota (68.4)

4.       Alaska (68.3)

5.       Colorado and Minnesota (68.0) 

Best U.S. Beach (Dr. Beach, 2011) 

1.       Siesta Beach (Sarasota, FL)

2.       Coronado Beach (San Diego, CA)

3.       KAHANAMOKU BEACH (WAIKIKI, HONOLULU, HI)

4.       Main Beach (East Hampton, NY)

5.       Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks, NC)