Say it loud, say it proud!

Well, there seems to be a few people visiting my first little foray into the blogosphere each day, or so says that free little counter I threw up here, but if I could trouble you to do so (and I don't know if I'm violating blog etiquette by asking) would you leave me a comment? If you like what I'm saying, or ESPECIALLY if you don't like what is being said, let me know. It is my hope that with a little humor, and a little insight, this could be a place to discuss ideas that people like you and I find interesting. I'm not asking for a novel, but I am writing for an unseen audience, and my only reward is feedback. Define me! Validate me! Make this insecure little only child feel the love.

Or the hate.

Just write something.

Anything.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and thanks to the people who have already left comments, your insights and commentary are appreciated)

The time honored tradition of presidential pandering.

Pandering is a long and established tradition among political candidates. I am just a little young (thank heavens) to remember, but in a debate with fellow Democrat Gary Hart, Walter Mondale famously countered Hart's continual use of "new ideas" as his slogan with this quote:

"When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad, 'Where's the beef?'"

Where's the beef. That's right, Mondale countered with a popular catch phrase from this Wendy's add campaign.



Who can forget Michael Dukakis' famous tank ride to assuage fears that he might not be strong enough militarily:



I don't know about you, but he looked about as comfortable in that tank as Elton John would be at a Scores nightclub. Now, these were some pretty good examples of good old fashioned baby kissing pandering, but this year, our current crop of presidential candidates have really taken it to a new level, as illustrated in this recent bit to promote WWE Monday Night Raw:



Holy mother of pearl! That just takes the cake! Now, I'm all for flag pins, embarrassing catch phrases, brazenly irrational declarations of war against Iran (thanks Hillary!), but I have to say, in 100,000 years, I never thought I would see the candidates, hoping to take the office of the most powerful person in the free world, on WWE Raw. Unbelievable. I'm reminded of the phrase "elitist" being bandied about as though it were a bad thing. Personally, I want my president so many times smarter than me it cannot be measured. I want a president that has been successful in just about everything that they do. I hope that they would have the saavy and business sense to be millionaires many times over. I want a president that has been toughened cultured, and refined.

And with all respect to wrestling fans (I've watched my share to be sure) I'd like my presidential candidate to steer clear from debacles like this, like, well, like Elton John steering clear of Scores.

We are the Champions!!!

Okay, this is way too self congratulatory, but allow me this moment, and I'll try not to let it happen too often. Our ward completed a perfect basketball season tonight, beating the extremely tough Goldcrest ward in what was one of our closest games of the season. I'm not going to posture and say that I contributed a ton, but but I will say that our ward was the epitomy of team. It didn't matter who was off, every game someone stepped up to shoulder the load. If anyone from either team reads this, congratulations goes out to (in no order).

Aaron Harris
Adam Warren
Brandon Shepard
Aaron Shepard
Demark Scott
Brent Patterson
Jon Berkabile
Kevin Barney
Matt Boyd
Allen Rasmussen
special contributor Ralph Majewski (if I left anyone off, sorry brethren, errors of men)

A bunch of guys contributed to get us there, and congrats to one and all, this is just a quick shout to those who were there tonight, but everyone who came out helped to get us there. Let's try again next year fellas!

Impress the honies, feed the beast.

Rochelle and I had one of our best Vegas dates ever last night, and the world should know, because this apparently hidden gem was not far out of Vegas and it made you feel half a world away. We attended the Indie Rock Wars at the MonteLago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas and had a fabulous time courtesy of local radio station Mix 94.1. We even had VIP passes which meant, if we wanted to, we could sit 15 feet closer to the stage than where we already were. AND we could sit on picnic tables! Viva la Mix!

Our evening started with dinner for two at the Sonrisa Grill, which was warmly decorated with extremely friendly servers. Have you ever had your finicky little requests for your meal fall by the wayside, as servers get about 85 percent of what you wanted correct? By my tally, not one mistake was made.

Accomodated our seating request (check).
Bussboy and waiter were on our table like white on rice, waiting on us hand and foot, NEVER letting drinks or chips run out (check).
And the coup de gras...
Asked for no beans on my wife's dinner, and double beans on mine (check, and checkmate for Rochelle, if you know what I mean. Sorry sweets.)

It was truly amazing, and with a warm and friendly manner to boot, the service was beyond exceptional. Roch ordered a Chimichanga and I had the steak fajitas, and neither dish disappointed. Neither dish was a revolutionary reimagining, but they were done absolutely right. Rochelle was particularly enamored with her selection, and Mexican food isn't even her thing.

After full tummies, we took in the MonteLago village, a Vegas imagining of a Mediterranean Village, with a minimum on the kitschy overblown drama of the strip. Wait, scratch that, this Mediterranean Village did have a Mexican restaurant and an Irish pub, but the atmosphere was so laid back, we completely forgot about how out of place they were. If you're going for shopping, I'd say scrub this one from your list, because obviously, the Forum shops would demolish MonteLago Village in sheer number of shops as well as high end vendors, but here, you're actually outside, and not looking at painted ceilings. Ambience was the thing here, and for a romantic mood, you couldn't beat the lake view. If there are future events at Lake Las Vegas, count me in, as I cannot imagine a better venue to catch a couple of decent bands for a cheap price than the floating stage at Lake Las Vegas. Make a note, though, that bug spray will be your friend, as the skeeters started to come out near dusk, which ultimately led us to pack it in a bit early.

The evening was capped off by performances from a few indie bands, and the most amazing thing of all, Rochelle dug them! The rock scene isn't necessarily her thing, and yet we had a great time. The bands, for a bunch of guys trying to claw their way to contracts, were actually quite good, bordering on impressive. We caught a three song set from local band Left Standing, whose nifty onstage stunts made up for their somewhat predictable (but ultimately enjoyable) rock. We caught a sound test by the band The Speaks, and I could tell that they would have been the band I would have most enjoyed had we been able to stay longer. They had a bit of a harder edge, and they seemed to be a crowd favorite. Look for them to maybe make some noise in the industry(if they aren't already, I'm not the hipster I once pretended to be). We caught a few songs from Gone for Good, and they were also quite impressive. Imagine a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Green Day fusion, and you have their sound. Their pink haired guitarist/singer had great stage presence, and any number of their songs would have been right at home on a re-imagined "Swingers" soundtrack. They made me feel like a punk rock lounge lizard.

With the options outside of taking dates to Station Casinos dwindling, it was nice to be outside by the lake, seemingly half a world away from the teeming humanity of Las Vegas, taking in a hidden gem.

(Special aside, these two young ladies were apparently contestants on a secret gameshow called "Guess How Hammered We Are!". They were like the spinning hippies at a Phish show, if those spinning hippies were on ten cans of Red Bull, and doing freak dancing instead. They were the true winners in this battle of the bands.)

One more reason for kids to ditch

I’d like to report to you something fascinating, devoted readers. My attendance for April 24, 2008. My first class, I had 19 out of 34 students show up. My second class, I had 11 out of 28 students show up, and in my final class of the day, I had 9 out of 26 students show up. When I had so many absences in my first class, I just thought it was an aberration, by my second class, I thought it was some kind of nefarious ditch day I wasn’t aware of. By my final class, I was convinced it was a nefarious ditch day, and come to find out, it was. Just a state sanctioned one.

What I’m talking about, is “Take Your Child to Work Day.”

At my previous school, I didn’t even give heed to the memos that went out, because so few students opted to go to work. Maybe there was a slight bump in absences, but nothing quite like the epidemic that I just experienced today. I want you to think about how hard it is when 3-4 students miss class and then need to be caught up. Now, think about my two classes, where over HALF of my class didn’t show. Can I ask you a question? That was redundant, because I’m going to anyway. Do you really think that all of those kids went with their parents to work? And do you think I’m going to call all of those homes to find out whether they did or not on my own personal time? (hint: the answer to both is no)

I’m sure that this semi-official holiday is well intentioned enough. “Let’s get our future workers/leaders excited about getting into the workplace!” But aside from the 5-10 percent of the youth that I actually trust my future with, do you know what these kids are thinking?

“Hellz yeah! No school!”

I fought a good fight to keep my first class on task, but after I picked my jaw off the floor upon seeing my numbers for my next classes, I was relegated to the dreaded “Make-up day” that teachers loathe (or is that just me?).

Might I suggest, to anyone in a position of influence, that we move this state sanctioned ditch day to a more appropriate date. How about some time between the months of June and August? Of course, this would rob many teachers of the opportunity to take their kids to work, but with the teacher retention crisis that we are facing in America, maybe it would be a good idea for us to avoid scaring our kids away from a career in education that early in their lives anyway.

Bruce Bowen, the face of the Spurs.

Dr. Stephen R. Covey has said that being "enemy centered" is not effective. Until this series is over with San Antonio, all I can find myself doing is be enemy centered. I hate the Spurs with the burning passion of a thousand supernovas. Tonight, I will direct my ire at Bruce Bowen, the dirtiest player in the league. So, when you hear all of the studio produced fluff pieces during these playoffs about how humble and good hearted those Spurs are, please remember that THIS is the kind of player that they prize.

Classic Bowen (and Horry employed this against the Suns last year), do something below the belt to try to antagonize the other team to react.



Would you want to defend someone who is willing to do this to you? At least he's consistently dirty, not just saving his underhanded tactics for defense.



This one is just amazing. I mean, nothing I can do can augment what you are about to see, other than say that Bruce Lee would be proud.



The following is a perfect textbook example of what I term the "San An Face". Characterized by an egregious foul, and then UTTER SHOCK that the officials would even consider that they did anything wrong.



I didn't buy into the Bowen is dirty school of thought until I saw this potential career ender, where he goes after Amare Stoudemire's achilles. This could have been horrific.



Oh, those crafty Spurs, willing to bite, scratch, claw, and flying tiger jump kick their way to a championship. Good luck!

RIPMYLV

As Roch and I were driving out of Las Vegas a little while back, on MLK I saw a curious license plate. RIPMYLV. Strange plate. We talked about about what it might mean. She came up with Rest In Peace My Love, which, given the part of town we were driving in, wasn't a longshot. I had a slightly different take, if not a bit more unlikely. RIP My Las Vegas.

There's no way, right? But as we drove south to San Diego and we passed a Scandia, I was reminded of that sentiment. So many people come to Vegas, even pepole who have lived here for years don't remember what it once was like, because, well, they don't know. A lot of you don't remember that we once had our own Scandia. I don't know how many cheap dates I took there, but before the property no doubt became too valuable for its own good, it was a great place to shoot some mini golf with families and gangbangers alike. Alas, Scandia, like so much of old Vegas, is dead.

How long have I lived in Vegas? You know that eyesore, the Huntridge theatre, down on Charleston and Maryland? I actually saw movies there before its second golden age as a music venue. You wouldn't know it from its hauntingly abandoned exterior, but bands, really good bands, used to play there. Nine Inch Nails, t the pinnacle of their popularity, played two surprise shows to open their world tour at the Huntridge for the downward spiral. For sheer brutal sonic intensity, that concert has never been matched in my books. My buddy and i met Ween backstage, and another friend and me narrowly avoided getting fake peed on by the lead singer of Rammstein. Good times. Crazy place. You wouldn't understand why a few people get crazy excited when rumors of this cruddy little movie theatre/music venue reopening ebb in and out every once in a while. That's okay, you probably weren't here.

You didn't know that Ford Service Center down on Lake Mead and Decatur was once a Chucky Cheese, complete with real, animatronic singing rodents. I know there is still Chuck E. Cheese, but its not the same. Wet n' Wild had to be one of the best waterparks in the U.S. before high rises crushed the life from it. Bonzai Bogan, anyone? Der Stuka (which I understand means you're stupid). The pee filled Lazy River. Liquid greatness. And let me tell you, if you have never visited the half dilapidated shopping center on jones and 95, then you have never eaten the best chinese food in las vegas at the Full Ho. Thats the one place that's still around, but let this be a cautionary tale, get there while you can .

As you've seen from these memories, nothing in Vegas lasts forever.

Chime in, Native Vegans, what do you remember? Post your own memories here.