The Las Vegas Remix

Until my company’s conference two years ago, I’d never been to Las Vegas. I’d been all around it…Phoenix, Los Angeles, Reno…but never Las Vegas. To be honest, Sin City was never really high on my list of necessary travel destinations. This was certainly not due to its sinfulness, per se, but more due to my perception of how Las Vegas sins are packaged. I think I must have bee rebelling against a perceived commodification of sin, which, all too often, dilutes the fun.

Upon my first visit, two years ago, I stood corrected. I was there officially for an unreal estate conference, I didn’t drink, I gambled really minimally…and I still had a BLAST!

For those not in the know, for the past several years, I’ve been applying my graduate degree in Comparative Sociology and Socialism by selling out to the Man and doing marketing and transaction coordination for a real estate team. A couple of months ago, my team semi-dissolved and I was temporarily without job. In addition to the possibility of homelessness and starvation, I was really bummed that I wouldn’t get to go to the upcoming annual conference in Las Vegas. But, alas, I was quickly hired by another team…same company, different office…and BAM! I was, once again, headed to Vegas!

Since Tony works for the same company, we got to go together and, enjoy a romantic, partially company-subsidized Las Vegas Valentine’s Day. We both had a great time. Here are some quick highlights:

*Blue Man Group – it was my third time (once before in Las Vegas, and once in New York) and Tony’s first time. Blue Man is possibly the coolest show on the planet. I really think that truly great post-modern art can be defined by its ability to simultaneously touch the primal and the futuristic, its abililty to provoke both complex introspective thought and childish giggles, and its ability to be interactive. Blue Man Group epitomizes great post-modern art.

*David Hasselhoff – we saw him walking through the MGM Casino. There are few possible celebrity sightings that could’ve matched it.

*The Stratosphere Tower Rides – at the top of the 110ish story tower are three cute and relaxing rides called the Big Shot, the X-Scream and Insanity. Yeah, um, if you need to take a load off, and relax after a long day of walking from casino to casino, this is the place to be. If you don’t have a lot of leisure time, Insanity is particularly relaxing.

*Dollar Rent-A-Car – when renting a car for a two-day road trip to the Grand Canyon, we were amused as the perky and professional rental agent let us know that we needed to return the car with a full tank of gas, and that since the car had just been turned in, we should inspect the glove compartment for anything that might get us arrested if we got pulled over for anything. She wasn’t trying to be funny.

*Big Horn Sheep – we saw a small group of them climbing a rocky slope near the Hoover Dam. As you can imagine, I nearly caused us to careen out of control as I screamed for Tony to pull over. So, so cool.

*Flagstaff, Arizona – we spent the night in this peaceful hippie-ish mountain enclave. Love the vibe, but fuck does it get cold at 7,000 feet.

*The Grand Canyon – we took a helicopter tour, and after, just stood on the rim, speechless. I really don’t have words to describe the soul-shaking beauty of the Grand Canyon. You think you’ve seen it on tv, or in movies…but the awesomeness of it just can’t be conveyed in any other way than to experience it for yourself.

Oh, yeah, and I nearly met Vegasgustan. I tried. He tried. Missed him by that much (said in Maxwell Smart voice). Now, he and Audra and Noah have to come to Miami.