All right… it’s a slow Labor Day morning, I’m sitting down in the kitchen with my old Compaq laptop (seeing as the Powerbook is elsewhere), and I think I have a few minutes to do an update on what my trip last week was like. That said…

We arrived in Las Vegas early Sunday afternoon, and got our rooms at Bally’s after a bit of trouble involving their misunderstanding of how the comp dollars were to be used. We did some gambling at the slots at both Bally’s and Caesars Palace, and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the Forum Shoppes. After dinner and a bit more slots, I retired to my room to take a nap before hitting the slots again sometime during the night. Unfortunately, the nap turned into a full-fledged sleep, and I ended up waking up at around 5:30 AM.

After doing some checking of mail (and taking a support call from a VP at work who hadn’t realized I was on vacation), I got showered and dressed, and headed down to the casino. As I had expected, my parents were already down there. We ate breakfast at the Sidewalk Cafe, and did the slots some more. From there, we wandered down the Strip to the Venetian to visit the shops there. Problem was, we got there about 9:30 AM and the shops didn’t open until 10 AM. So, after a bit of that, we went over to the new Wynn casino/hotel to see what that was like. After browsing through there (and hitting the slots there), we wandered back to Bally’s. From there, we got on the monorail and separated; Mom went down to the Luxor to get the Blue Man Group tickets, and Dad and I went to the Las Vegas Hilton to see Star Trek: The Experience. We went through the Klingon Encounter ride, and then from there returned to Bally’s. After taking an afternoon nap, I met back up with Dad (who had met up with Mom when she got back), and we headed over to Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner. From there, we went back to Bally’s and got on the monorail, where we headed over to MGM Grand to see the new Cirque du Soleil show, Ka. Ka was a hell of a show; the only disappointment I had was the fact that the soundtrack won’t be available until mid-October. After the show, we headed back to Bally’s for a little gambling, and then off to bed.

The next morning, I was down at the casino at 7 AM, and of course Mom had already been down there for an hour or two. As soon as Dad came down we had dinner at the Sidewalk Cafe, and then did some slots. As soon as it got close to 10 AM, we headed over to the Forum Shoppes to browse around the entire thing and see what the store selection was like. About the only couple of notables were the Sony Style store, and a store with signed collectibles and other stuff from movies, TV, music, and the like. The latter had two locations, and we browsed both. Both stores even had old arcade games; while the second and larger (and original) location only had Ms. Pac-Man and an old pinball machine, the first location we visited had a Space Invaders machine, a Millipede machine, an Atari Star Wars machine, and a Terminator 2 pinball machine. The last one was the one that amused me the most; I felt like asking the clerk/manager if they guaranteed their stuff was in full original condition. If they did, then I would have given them a dressing down. The T2 pinball machine appeared to be in good condition, except for the part of the machine between the actual table and the top display, where the LED display and speakers were. That portion was very obviously originally from a Doctor Who pinball machine. Anyway, from there, we went back to Bally’s for a bit more slots. After another nap, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for the requisite early dinner. From there, Dad and I made our way over to the Luxor to see Blue Man Group. (Mom had seen it last time she was in Vegas with her sister, so he declined to see it this time.) As always, it was a great show. From there, we returned to the hotel, where I watched a bit of TV before turning in for the night.

The next morning, I spent a bit of time packing my stuff, and then wandered downstairs for breakfast. We ate at (you guessed it) the Sidewalk Cafe, and then returned upstairs to finish packing. Once we were packed and ready to go, we went downstairs, checked out, and checked our bags with the bell captain. (Our flight wasn’t until 4:45 PM.) From there, Mom and Dad hit the slots while I found a blackjack table and played there for a while. After we got done there, we wandered over to Cheesecake Factory and had lunch. That done, we went back to Bally’s, got our bags, and headed to the airport. The return home was covered in the previous update.

All in all, it was a fun trip. I did learn my lesson, though: I need to stick to blackjack, as I tend to get raped at the slots and lost a LOT more money off that than I did in the equivalent time in blackjack. I say blackjack, as I really didn’t have a desire to play poker there, and the poker table games didn’t really appeal to me. (The only one I had experience with was Let It Ride, having played it on my PC. I lose money far quicker than I do in blackjack.) Next time I go to Vegas, I’ll definitely play on the tables far more. I’ll also try and do a couple of different shows next time as well. Oh, well… I did enjoy myself, and I’m already looking forward to my next trip. :-)

Yes, I’m back from my vacation in Vegas. I’ll post about it tomorrow or the next day. I don’t feel like doing it right now.

When we got off the plane, we switched on our cell phones, to find voicemails waiting for us. They were from our vet, with whom our pets were being boarded. It turned out that Matey (our black cat, who first came to us as a stray who was hellbound and determined to be our cat) had a severe allergic reaction this evening, and died before they could get her to the emergency clinic.

Obviously we’re devastated by this news. Mom’s going to find out more from the vet tomorrow; he left his home and cell number with Mom, but Mom wasn’t going to call him at this time of night.

We’re going to miss her… :-(

Apparently the late 80s TV series War of the Worlds is coming to DVD.

For those not in the know, it wasn’t really an adaptation of the book so much as it was a sequel to the 1953 film. The series did have its moments, but all in all… I don’t know if it was as good as it could have been. I actually considered the book adaptation of the pilot better than the actual show, due to one detail: in the series, humanity forgot about the aliens and doesn’t believe they existed. In the book, humanity remembers the alien invasion; they just refuse to discuss it and try to consciously bury the past. Also, there was one episode that had a few gruesome spots that I honestly still can’t believe they showed on broadcast TV. (For those of you who remember the uproar about the guy’s head exploding in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation… this episode was worse. A lot worse.)

The second season actually was notable enough due to the fact that almost everything from the first season was casually wiped away. All but three characters were killed off, the aliens and their technology was completely revamped (and now almost nothing like the aliens of the original movie), and the setting was completely changed. In fact, now when we see a series almost completely reinvent itself between seasons, I call it pulling a “War of the Worlds”. (The term was originated by the venerable Jenn.) And no, when a series is referred to in that way, it’s rarely a compliment.

It’s sad, too… the second season was decent enough. It just wasn’t War of the Worlds anymore, and it’s likely that discontinuity that killed it.

Ah, well… I may or may not pick it up for shits and grins. I also see Dracula – The Series made it to DVD, and that might be worth seeing just for pure nostalgia (seeing as the series itself wasn’t all that good). We’ll see.