Daily Archive for November 17th, 2006

Viva la Lame

Published
by
Andy
on November 17, 2006
in Rants
. 4 Comments

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Excuse me while I rant for a moment.

I arrived home today from the Webmaster World conference in Las Vegas. I left Monday night and the conference was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I can’t say enough good things about that conference and it gave me a lot of ideas to increase business for my SEM, SEO and web public relations business, WebFuel. Basically the conference is a confluence of the web’s top marketing minds and they assist newbies to the Internet in understanding the complexities of web marketing and running a website. I was amazed at the hordes of people who have websites but no visitors. They are waiting for people to magically appear, but sadly it doesn’t work that way.

But I digress.

What I really wanted to say is how much I really, really, really hate Las Vegas. And it’s not because of the constant porno deluge, the booze, the 99.9 percent of its population that smokes, or even the gambling. It’s because the town is BORING.

Yep. I said it. BORING.

Essentially, a stay in Vegas equates to constant eating, constant walking (like a slow-moving heard of Europeans, Asians and Old Folkians), and then stops every block to stare at a third-rate Disney spectacle. Even if I could have afforded to go to a show, why would I want to spend two hours of my life watching a leather-pants wearing magician, or some freaky Circus gypsies from France creep me out for $60? You can bet your Thanksgiving turkey I won’t be saving up for a Vegas vacation any time soon.

Lastly, I had the most uncomfortable return flight in my lifetime of flying. I was squished between Mr. Yes-My-Armpits-Haven’t-Seen-Deodorant-Since-Reagan-Was-President and Miss Double-Wide. I’m sure that sounds rude, but I’m not talking chubby or fat. I’m talking HUGE. I kid you not, she practically had me pressed into the airplane’s window and rested her arms on me while she slept…er…I mean snored through the whole flight. Not even the Jaws of Life could have pried me from that horror. No wonder people fly First Class.

Thanks Shane!

Published
by
Andy
on November 17, 2006
in Just Saying Hi
. 3 Comments

I just wanted to give Shane a shout-out for fixing my POS Mazda. Yeah, the heater didn’t want to actually heat, nor did the front defroster actually want to defrost. But Shane and his magic fix-it-fingers of glory got the Green Menace back into working order.

Fun Photos

Published
by
Grandpa
on November 17, 2006
in Photos and The Mission
. 6 Comments

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The first photo shows the center piece for a baci. We all sit around it and hold onto the strings that are coming off of it. The one giving the blessing (in this case it is the man with the cloth hanging over his left shoulder) chants the blessing. Then individuals take the strings that are on the center piece (they look like white decorations on it) and go around and tie them on the participants wrist as they give individual blessings.

The next picture is me with the village chief. This is the first time I have seen a women village chief. We had just finished a Lao dance.

The next is a water truck - they are watering the grass that is in the little park just across the street. This is the dry season remember. The photo was taken from our balconey.

This is the pool where we swim almost every day. Notice the water come up right to the top. It makes it so nice.

This is a picture taken across the park looking back at the building where we live. They had set up for a ceremony opening the construction on the road just in front of our building. It is going to be a mess for a while. The covering is just temporary for the ceremony. It is gone now.

The last picture is of Jeanene standing on her balcony. Ours is the one just abover her.