More Wasteful Government Spending in New Orleans

A January 16, 2011 NY Times article 5 Years After Katrina, Teacher Tills Soil of Lower 9th Ward stated that there is still much that can be done in New Orleans' lower 9th ward. According to the writer, Charles Wilson, "Five years after the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward remains largely a place where time has stood still. Lots where shotgun houses once stood are empty and overgrown with tall grasses. Gutted homes with smashed windows list to one side."

Wilson isn't the only one that had seen that more needs to be done. According to It's a tortoise's pace, but New Orleans Ninth Ward is changing one house at a time written by David Karas of the The Times, "While the Quarter, the center of tourism for New Orleans, has been completely restored and bears no reminders of Katrina, it is just the opposite in the residential areas within walking distance of the levees that were breeched."

Today I was reading the January 2011 issue of Travel South USA magazine and they highlighted:  Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond, a 6,700 square-foot interactive multimedia exhibition to opened on the ground floor of the Presbytere October 26th, 2010. It remembers the events of the Katrina, the Atlantic hurricane of 2005, and show cases the renewal of New Orleans.

It is a $7.5 million exhibit!!  That's $7,500,000. I think it's good to chronicle and commemorate the tragic events of that great hurricane at the same time that's way too much that was spent for this exhibit.

How many homes could have been build for $7.5 million?

Comedian Tim Allen Makes His Return to Standup at The Venetian Las Vegas® in 2011

Since I'm a Las Vegas lover and I saw this and had to post it.

J


Allen Kicks Off Series of Limited Engagements With First Show Saturday, Feb. 5

SOURCE: The Venetian Resort - Hotel - Casino

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - January 6, 2011) - After giving fans a taste in 2010, Golden Globe Award-winning actor and comedian Tim Allen returns to stand up in a big way in 2011 with a ten-weekend Las Vegas residency in the 742-seat Venetian Showroom.

"We're thrilled that Tim Allen has chosen The Venetian as his Las Vegas home," said Chris Yancey, executive director of entertainment at The Venetian and The Palazzo. "Tim's legion of 'Home Improvement' fans will now get the chance to see him do what he does best."

The sitcom star is eager to remind the world that he can wield a microphone as easily as a power tool and safety goggles. "It feels great to be doing standup again," said Allen. "It is where I got my start and I love making a crowd laugh. Las Vegas audiences are my favorite; they're just looking for a fun time and The Venetian Showroom is the perfect venue."

Top 5 Poker Rooms in Las Vegas

If you want to experience live poker action at the gambling Mecca of the world, here is a guide to the top poker rooms in Las Vegas. You can read here updated info on each of the recommended Las Vegas poker rooms including their game variety, limits and tournaments.

Las Vegas NV Bucket List - Things that come to mind when I think of Vegas and what is fun to do

1. Drinks at the top of The Stratosphere (no expense spared on this one!) … $8-$10 to go up plus drinks $8-$10 at rotating table … ride a ride if you want
2. Breakfast upon arrival at The Golden Gate
3. Drive The Strip the morning of arrival as we head to The Golden Gate downtown. Drive the strip once at night. Try to avoid after that due to heavy traffic.
4. After breakfast walk around the downtown
5. See The Freemont Street Experience, downtown
6. Take pix by the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign on South end of the Las Vegas Blvd.
7. Take pix in front of Crazy Girls Bronze Buns at Riviera Hotel & Casino
8. Penny Slots, The Big Six Wheel, Roulette, Craps,
   Black Jack $1 at Casino Royale, Poker Palace and the Sahara;
   $2 Black Jack at Slots O’ Fun;
   $1 Craps at Joker’s Wild in Henderson and Slots o’ Fun,
   50 cents or less Roulette at Slots O’ Fun, Casino Royale, El Cortez, El Dorado, Golden Spike
   Poker for Doug
9. Go up The Eiffel Tower at The Paris
10. The free Pirate Show “The Sirens of Treasure Island”
11. The Volcano eruption at The Mirage
12. Maybe drive out to Red Rock Canyon; perhaps we could find where Benny Binion’s son, Ted, is buried???
13. Car Show at Imperial Palace
14. See new property, Aria at City Center
15. Ride the Gondola while being serenaded (in or out) at The Bellagio
16. See the Tigers at The Mirage
17. Do late-night meal at Binion’s Coffee Shop
18. While at Binion’s get your pix taken with $1,000,000!
19. 45-minute drive to Hoover’s Dam (90-minute round trip)
20. See the Masquerade in-the-Sky Parade at The Rio. Beads are thrown in the crowd and you don’t have to bare your breasts! (Harrah’s offers a free shuttle ride every 20 minutes to Rio up until 1:00 am – take advantage of parking at Harrahs and doing this)
21. The Tropicana has The Giant Slot Machine – try your luck!
22. Dueling Pianos at Harrahs (Su-Th 9pm-2am), New York New York (ntly 8pm-3am), sing King of the Road with a lounge act at a casino bar while playing black jack
23. Street Performers at Grand Canal Shoppes in The Bellagio
24. The Bellagio Chocolate Fountains
25. The Las Vegas Neon Museum in downtown Freemont Street area
26. Get pix with the World’s Largest Golden Nugget at The Golden Nugget
27. Get pix with a real Las Vegas Showgirl at Harrah’s

2010 Hastings Community Education Holiday Light Tour Video - Grand Finale

As you can see, it was a good time for all!

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 7 - PALERMO (SICILY)

Today we slept in until about 8:30 am, had breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe and headed out to explore Palermo, Sicily. We docked right at the pier and could walk off with shops and street vendors everywhere. This is the perfect atmosphere to negotiate for the best price. Zena is becoming quite good at this and even has perfected the art of "The Walk Away". We feel we have gotten some good deal thru this final technique. John even thinks we should employ one more technique after that by then saying, "No, now we offer 4 (one less than 5) for the bracelet!"

We have not gotten run over or hit by scooters or cars (yet) today. It is always a possibility yet as we are still many blocks from the ship. It has almost become a game to try to cross the road unscathed. Kind of like that Frogger game ;-)

Also, we have not been or seen anyone get pickpocketed yet, although we feel we were a definite target this morning as Zena noticed one guy following close by us, alone and turned the corner when we did. We ducked in to a coffee shop and enjoyed an espress and cappuccino for only 2.30 EURO and noticed him still hanging around outside. He was indeed stalking us. After a bit, he came in to the coffee shop. We decided to duck out and dash around a corner to loose our tail. It worked! To our good fortune it brought it right into a beautiful little shopping piazza. Ahhh, a chance to spend some more EUROs!

We strolled along for a little longer and came upon this internet cafe and decided to provide our update. More later, please check back.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 6 - NAPLES

Today, we slept in until 7 or 8 am. Had a casual breakfast and wrote postcard to family. We brought them to the pursers desk to be mailed today.

We got off the ship and walked around Naples for a little while before our afternoon tour to Herculaneum.

Herculaneum ... the city buried by mud from Mount Vesuvius in 79AD at the same time as Pompeii got buried by ash. This was a little different, though, the people became decomposed and nothing was left but the bones. In Pompeii, the remains were hollowed out and filled with plaster showing their positions as they were when they suddenly died. About 300 bodies were found down by where the sea was when they were trying to escape the mud spewing thru the air and flowing down the mountain. What we saw was considered to be only one fifth of what the city size actually was. Around the excavation there is apartment buildings and other dwellings where people live now and refuse to move. The government is having a hard time acquiring this land to continue excavating the village. This was quite and exhausting tour as we climbed up and down on pebbly streets in and out ducking here and there thru passageways as we explored the dwellings made of stone and plaster.

Of course, the tour stopped along the way at a Cameo factory where we could see them being carved from shells by an old man as he artistically created cameo figures in the shells. Then, there was the shop to buy cameos.

Today is also our 15th Anniversary and we are going to bed at 9 pm!

Gotta run ... we will update when we get another chance...probably at the airport though, as the ships internet service is slower than 300 baud dial up! Ugh! Or, slower than molasses...

Stay tuned... tomorrow we will be in Sicily. Maybe we will even see some mafio as they are still quite active there.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 5 - ROME

Marcio was our tour guide to see Rome in a luxurious 9 passenger van. We saw the Colisseum and toured inside. It was very cool. Then we went to see the Trevy(sp) Fountain and thru our coins in to make a wish. We saw the Spanish Steps and the Forum. We had lunch at a great restaurant that Marcio arranged for. Zena had authentic Italian Fettucini Alfredo and John had something with clams and pasta. Marcio bought us all a Lemoncello, hard lemony flavored Italian alcohol drink. It as fantastic and quite strong!

For the afternoon, we went on to the Vatican and toured it with a private tour guide. Our tour was for 2 hours and with 6 of us we were able to move in and out of the rooms easily without getting lost in the thousands who were there. We saw the Sistene Chapel, John prayed in a private chapel area, we saw the largest canvas oil painting in the world. We saw where the Pope lives but we did not get to go inside. As we left the St. Marks Cathedral, we walked right behind a Cardinal who was doing a press conference. All the mikes and cameras were on him. Zena told John to wave as maybe his mom would see him on tv behind the Cardinal. Unfortunately, mom and dad dont have cable, so they would get the POPE channel!

We saw the Swiss Guard outside and they were dressed rather like Jesters. They are not allowed to get married and have to be citizens of Switzerland. It is really prestigious to be a guard. Our guide told us that even though everyone who is a citizen of the Vatican City is quite religious, they all go out to the bars at night and whoop it up.

After dinner with our Canadian friends, we met up at the Pig & Whistle Pub again where John sang karoake twice! Everyone was tired and ready to go to bed to get ready for the next days activities.

We rushed back to the ship ... tomorrow ... Naples, Italy!

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 4 - FLORENCE, Italy

Today we went to Florence. We bought a bus ticket to get to the train station. From there we boarded our train to Florence. It was an hour and a half ride from the port. We just happened to bump in to our friends from Canada on the same car that we were sitting in. We met them on cruisecritic.com.

We booked a pass for the HOHO (hop on hop off) bus and took the blue route. We sat on top and used ear buds to listen to narration of the areas we drove in. We saw Duomo and town of Fiesole waaaaayyy up in the hills. We talked to a couple from Alaska who invited us up to visit and stay in his bed and breakfast. We talked politics, specifically Governor Palin. We also saw a little of the Palazzio Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio and the Porta S. Frediano. On the bus, Zena happened to mention, "what would be the chances of us seeing our new friends from Canada walking on the street below us as we cruised around." Not 2 minutes later as we slowed down, we glanced down and there they were at the same time the spotted us and called up to us! Crazy, twice in one day and we were pretty far away from the train terminal and they walked there. I guess it was karma.

We hopped off the bus at stop 3 and walked toward the terminal, stop 4. Along the way, we decided to enjoy a little lunch at a sidewalk cafe. We enjoyed cheese pizza, quarter bottle of vino, and Zena had a Coca Light. Then John mentioned, it would be completely awesome for us to meet us with our friends from Canada again. It would be like winning the lottery. I said that it would be a pretty slim chance that it would happen again! And then ... two minutes later up they all four walk right by our table eating gelatos. CRAZY KARMA! We agreed to meet back at the McDonalds in the train terminal to ride back to the bus station together.

John and I waited and waited for them to show up. We kept track of our train track number by watching the board and watching the clock. They did not show up so we decided to go without them and headed toward the train just minutes before it took off. We actually had to RUN FAST to catch the train as it started pulling out. We would have missed our train and the ship as it takes an hour and half to get back to from Florence!

In the evening, we crashed dinner at the early seating to meet up with Mo, Brian, Dave and Pat. After dinner, Zena and I went to the Welcome Back party for people who have cruised Royal Caribbean before. Once guy in the group has cruised RC more than 25 times! We danced some and drink free flowing champagne.

After champagne, we met the Canadians at the Pig & Whistle Pub, had another drink and called it a day at 10 pm. Tomorrow, Rome.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 3 - FRANCE & MONACO

PORT: Villefranche, France
Nice, Eze, Monte Carlo, Monaco

Today we drove up to Eze, the oldest little town in the Med highest up overlooking everything for miles around. Im fussing on a keyboard that is very different than our own. Will fix errors later. We drove up to the Eagles Nest castle and had authentic French crepes in outdoor patio and had to climb many, many stone steps to get to it. We used the bathroom inside the cave area and to run water to wash your hands you had to step on a button on the floor. The room was so tiny, you had to slowly turn your body to maneuver around. It was very hard to just find the bathroom in the little room, the door was disguised and flush against the back wall. John walked out and noticed on the big screen they were playing Starsky & Hutch in French.

We walked along the French Riviera along the pebbly beach area. Many people were walking here with their dogs. Then we explored the local Market Place and tasted olives and salsa and saw many interesting wares.

We then drove on to Monaco and saw the castle where Princess Grace lived with Prince Rainier and also where she lay to rest. We saw the two homes side by side that her daughters own. Then we drove to the casino of the rich and famous, in Monte Carlo. We got to sneak past all the people waiting in a long line to get in because our guide got us a short cut. This casino wasnt all that interesting though because you had to be quiet the whole time. You are not allowed to shout out or get loud.

After the casino, we drove along the Grand Prix Racetrack area of the highway. They were doing some sort of Grand Prix race with scooters when we were there.

Flight Home

Here we are on our flight home. Friday night we went to the Stratosphere Casino. We saw The show American Legends, had the buffet and had a drink at the top of the Stratosphere Tower. Zena had a hot brandy water because her throat was bothering her and I had a Vodka Martini, straight up. Connie had a Diet Coke and Zoey had a bottled water. Drinks are high priced there but it's a cool thing to do for the view. It was about $25 for all of our drinks.

Saturday (yesterday) we slept until 11 AM and then drove around town. We went to the Paris Casino and went up the 1/2 scale version of the Eiffel Tower. From there we could see the water show at the Bellagio. We then went to the Wynn and had a drink at the bar.

I'm kind of hungry. Nothing for breakfast except yogurt and Cracker Jacks. I'm eagerly waiting for the hot sandwich they'll be serving us here on the plane. Z and I will have alot of work ahead after this trade show. We'll have lots of filing and purging to do once the manufacturer catalogs start coming in.

PPAI - Second Day

The PPAI show has over 4000 booths and only three days to see them all. I had found this big chair to sit in awhile to rest my feet. Cliff is sitting behind me the right.

PPAI Trade Show - First Day

Today Z, Zoey, Cliff and I went to the first day of the PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) trade show. This morning was the fashion show. The big hubbub about the fashion show is that apparel is now being designed to fit women more. In the old days a woman would have to just wear a polo shirt that is cut for a mans bod. Now polo shirt and other women's clothing in the promotional products industry is no women's clothing with a company logo on it.

Grand Canyon

For some reason this morning there are three steak and egg breakfasts in our fridge this morning. Cliff must have left them there.

Yesterday we took a drive over the Hoover Dam towards the Grand Canyon. The water in Lake Mead is about 100 feet low.

The Grand Canyon was spectacular. The Indians that control the area charge $20 per vehicle for parking, $29 for the tour and another $29 for the Sky Walk and an additional $8.40 in taxes and fees. The Hualapai Legacy tour is a rip off. It's a dozen tee pees that were falling apart on a self guided tour. The view from the Sky Walk wasn't as good as Guano Point. I'd recommend skipping the Sky Walk and just see the view from Guano Point.

The picture show me standing next to Cliff. He's waving!

The Sky Walk Bridge is made of a composite glass. I call it the glass bridge to nowhere. You can walk out on it and come back to where you started. The Infinity Room at the House on the Rock is way better.

I believe the Haulapai Indians are putting in a hotel and casino at Eagle Point. That would further ruin the pristine area.

Vegas Baby!

Yesterday Zoe, Cliff Z and I flew into Vegas and spent some time before check in at the casinos downtown. Zoe won $175 at a slot machine. I parlayed $21 into $78 at a Craps table at Binions casino.

Las Vegas

Today we are in Las Vegas NV.

"The City Than Never Sleeps" and they say "What Happens in Las Vegas Stays in Las Vegas!" I love this town. There is an incredible amount of flashiness in Vegas. Their whole economy depends on the tourists. Tourist come here to gamble and to convention. The people that live here either work o the casinos or work to support the casinos or are in construction. Casino workers make their living on tips from the tourists. Everyone looking for a buck or two with their hand ready to take the cash.

The casino owners wring their hands in anticipation of the losers cash. The tourist's only hop o just compensation is to make the big win or get comped. Casinos give comps to all who know the ins and outs of the comp system.

Outside the city limits there is nothing but mountains sage brush and Joshua trees. It is so unnatural in Vega that the palm trees that exist herein front of casinos are not indigenous to this area.

Vacation driveway shoveler caper.

I finally found out who shoveled our driveway when we went on vacation in January. It was Adam my next door neighbor.

We've some great neighbors!

We have some great neighbors

I had arranged to have by brother and one of my nephews come down and shovel my driveway and sidewalk while we were on vacation. It had snowed about 7 inches here in Rosemount last Sunday and when my brother came to shovel the driveway it had already been cleaned off!

I wasn't expecting that!! Whoever did it, I would really like to thank them!

I'll have to do some investigating on this...

Waiting at Miami International Airport

The end of vacation always ends waiting at the airport.

We got up late yesterday. Yesterday afternoon Z and I lounged by the pool. We did a little packing and then we went and played some Bingo. Z and I won at Bingo and won $130. Cliff won the $5000 Bingo jackpot. Above, the photo shows Cliff with his winnings!!!

Z has a bad cold. Z tried to make it through dinner but her cold was hitting her hard. She was just miserable.

We took advantage of Independent Debarkation by choosing to carry our own bags off. We zipped on through Customs. The Customs agent commented that he really liked our new passports with the computer chip. All he had to do was zip it through the reader and we were on our way! Slick!

Cozumel Mexico

Today we went to Cozumel, Mexico. Zoaunne was a "shopping monster". She was buying t-shirts and all sorts of trinkets. Zena and I only bought some shot glasses and a couple of baskets.