Living in Las Vegas

We are up to the 10th annual Pet-a-Palooza here in Las Vegas, this Saturday, April 4th.  Looks like it’s going to be a nice weekend and the location is perfect for a nice day out with your pets.

Pet-a-Palooza will be open from 10am to 5pm at the Star Nursery Fields over at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Admission is $5 for people ages 3 and up and all pets are free.  The Mix 94.1 website states that this year a portion of the proceeds will be donated to all the animal rescue groups attending Pet-a-Palooza

I have to list the performances because some of them sound so cute and funny!

 THE FINDLAY VOLKSWAGEN MAIN STAGE SCHEDULE

• 10:45 AM SMALL DOG FINALISTS
• 11:20 AM POPOVICH COMEDY PET THEATER 
• 11:45 AM BIG DOG FINALISTS 
• 12:00 PM THE SCRIPT  
• 12:45 PM UGLIEST DOG FINALISTS 
• 1:00 PM  BARKING CONTEST 
• 1:15 PM BEST DOGGIE SMILE FINALISTS 
• 1:30 PM   OWNER-DOG LOOK ALIKE FINALISTS 
• 1:45 PM   BEST DRESSED FINALISTS 
• 2:00 PM   MAT KEARNEY  
• 2:45 PM   BUFF DOG FINALISTS 
• 3:00 PM   HARRIEST DOG FINALISTS 
• 3:15 PM   MR. AND MRS. PETAPALOOZA 2008 
• 4:00 PM   GAVIN ROSSDALE

DOG SHOW ARENA SCHEDULE

• 10:30 AM PURINA INCREDIBLE DOG TEAM
• 11:30 AM SIT MEANS SIT DEMONSTRATION
• 12:30 PM PURINA INCREDIBLE DOG TEAM
• 1:30 PM WEINER DOG RACES
• 2:30 PM PURINA INCREDIBLE DOG TEAM
• 3:30 PM SIT MEANS SIT DEMONSTRATION
• 4:30 PM PURINA INCREDIBLE DOG TEAM

In addition, Mr. & Mrs. Pet-a-Palooza 2009 will be chosen among all 1st place winners of each contest.   Good luck and have fun!

The results are in! Here’s a quick run down of the staff and reader picks for Best of Las Vegas 2009.  To get the complete list, head on over to the Las Vegas Review Journal and click on the Best of Las Vegas.

Best Nightclubs: Pure and Prive

Best Family Attractions: Adventuredome and Bonnie Springs Old Nevada

Best Local Rock Bands:  The Killers and The Black Jets

Best Steakhouses: Outback and Capital Grille

Best Performers: Danny Gans and Bette Midler

Best Comedians: Rita Rudner and Craig Ferguson

Best Magicians:  Lance Burton and Keith Barry

Best Singers: Bette Midler and Rick Faugno

Best Strip Hotels: Bellagio and Paris

Best Downtown Hotels: Golden Nugget and El Cortez

Best Locals Hotels: Red Rock Resort and Eastside Cannery

Best Buffets: Bellagio and Wynn

Best Malls: Fashion Show and Town Square

Best Places to take out-of-town guests: Red Rock Canyon and Mount Charleston

Best Celebrity Residents: Andre Agassi and Vince Neil

Best Local TV Anchors: Paula Francis (KLAS-8) and Jim Snyder (KVBC-3)

Best Local Radio Personalities: Mark & Mercedes (KMXB-94.1) and Dave Berns (KNPR-88.9)

Best Local Politicians: Mayor Oscar Goodman and Senator Steven Horsford

Attorney Glen Lerner won the most annoying local TV commercial, beating out John Barr from last year. I have to disagree with this because John Barr’s commercials are beyond annoying, but at least Glen Lerner’s are somewhat catchy, and effective. 

And a special congrats to Paris Hilton who uniquely managed to win top pick as both best and worst celebrity tourist!

Here is a rare picture of The Strip with most of the lights off.  I didn’t actually get a chance to go down there myself but it would have been fun to go just for GP.  I bet it was crazy if you were flying in and everything was all dark! 

Anyway, Earth Hour was created by the World Wildlife Fund with the intention to raise awareness about climate change.  Las Vegas was a Flagship City for Earth Hour and one of about 2,5oo cities around the world that dimmed it’s lights on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. to show its support.  Lights stayed on at City Center and of course headlights and some hotel rooms remained on, but other than that it was dark on The Strip.

The casinos on the Las Vegas Strip do not turn their lights down too often, but there have been a few occasions. In 1992 the lights were dimmed during the filming of “Honey I Blew Up the Kids”.  In 2004 for the death of president Ronald Regan . Also, for the deaths of Elvis and the members of The Rat Pack the lights were dimmed.

Check out Earth Hour Las Vegas for more info about Las Vegas’ participation and what you can do to help.

It gets windy here in Vegas, real windy sometimes.  Today was one of the those days. It was just annoyingly windy outside.  Everything is dusty, trash is flying around and everyone is sneezing.

Unfortunately for two window washers, they did not get the day off.  Early this morning, two workers were outside the Encore up on scaffolding washing windows and doing maintenance.   At about 9:15 a.m., when they were at the 15th floor, a cable broke on their scaffolding.  30 to 40 mile an hour winds gusts pushed them as far as 40 feet away from the side of the hotel.  The men were blowing in the wind hanging from their harnesses and the scaffolding broke 15 windows on the south side of the building.  Firefighters rescued the workers by going inside the Encore and breaking several windows to secure the scaffolding and rescue the men.  Neither the workers nor any hotel guests were seriously injured.

Many questions remain about this incident.   According to an employee of another high-rise maintenance company, they will typically stop working when wind gusts reach 20 mph. There was a wind advisory was issued for Clark County all day today, and some wind gusts reached over 45 mph.  Why were these men working in such unsafe conditions?

Rarely does an article stop me in my tracks, but today when I browsed over to this Las Vegas Sun article, “Whether to walk away: Housing’s moral minefield,” by Brian Eckhouse, I stopped.  The comments on the article were actually as interesting as the article itself.  Basically, it discussed how the forclosure crisis is affecting homeowners in Las Vegas.   More specifically, homeowners like this reader:

By pilauguy
3/22/09 at 3:34 p.m.

“Purchased my home the ‘old-fashioned way’ prior to the boom days: credit/employment/financial verifications…the whole 9 yards. Today my owner/occupied home is under-valued in a neighborhood of foreclosed homes. While there is enough blame to trash around, there seems to be no practical assistance for people like myself. I’m ready to damn’ morality,the right thing and latch on to a ‘ME FIRST’ mentality!” 

Author, Mr. Eckhouse, posed many thought provoking questions, “If your mortgage is greater than the value of the house, why pay it? . . . Is your greater responsibility to your family’s financial well being, or keeping your word to the bank? . . . Do I violate personal ethics and walk away from a contract that I signed with my eyes wide open?”

Two readers posted their very practical and very opposite side of the moral spectrum, solutions to the problem:

By James_P_Reza
3/22/09 at 10:17 a.m.
“If the government wants to address the economic downturn that is at least in part caused, and perpetuated, by the speculator-caused housing crisis, and if the government wants to spend billions of taxpayer money to “bailout” portions of the economy, then the government should consider these steps:
1) appraise every single owner-occupied residence in the US
2) provide a new FHA mortgage at that amount to the owner-occupant
3) pay off the difference to the mortgage holder
Housing crisis, done. Is it morally appropriate to bailout homeowners who used their homes as ATMs? No more or less than bailing out banks who made it possible by providing low-doc and no-doc loans - loans from liars to liars.
Moral outrage is everywhere because behavior on all sides has been morally questionable through this whole mess. The point is, we’re already spending money in morally questionable bailouts, so why not spend some where it will do some good? Otherwise, even the morally upstanding will consider the immoral, and then what?”

By jk1313
3/22/09 at 10:26 a.m.

“It would be best for most everybody to get the “deadbeats” out of homes as fast as possible, please, walk-away, the faster you do the faster we get to a bottom.
Now, if one really wants to have fun and games with the banks, play it this way. Don’t pay your mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA, LID/SID, only utilities. Wait until the lender’s foreclosure sale (not Notice of Default) is going to happen, you must be notified within 30 days of the sale by law, then the day or two prior to the sale file Ch. 7 bankruptcy. All processes are “stayed”, the lender has to basically have a hearing to even begin the foreclosure process again, meanwhile, one is still not paying on the mortgage, HOA, taxes, SID/LID. The Ch. 7 will eliminate the mortgage, and will in addition, give one an extra 7-10 months of free living in the home on the banks dime. The best part is that one can still maintain their credit card and auto payments if the home mortgage is the only debt that one would like to have dismissed. Consult state and fed. bankruptcy laws for complete details on income levels, and protected assets.
If done properly, one can live for free in their home for nearly 18 months. Make sure the lenders and banks know how much they are appreciated.”

Although I do not have to personally make a decision like this myself, I can see both sides of the story. Everyone in Las Vegas, homeowners and renters alike, are being affected by this crisis.

So, dear loyal readers, I am curious, what are your stories and your thoughts?

Well, you can because Dinner in the Sky Las Vegas is literally that, eating dinner over the Las Vegas Strip.  You and 21 other diners sit at a table in a Sky Box. Everyone is strapped, comfortably, into a leather seat that is secured to the dining table. The dining table and seat are connected to a crane. The crane then lifts the Sky Box to a viewing height of 160 to 180 feet. The center of the  table has a walking platform that can accommodate up to 5 staff for the purpose of serving dinner, taking pictures or conducting a meeting.

Keith DeRiso, proprietor of Dinner in the Sky Las Vegas says, “The menu options and food quality are that of any fine dining experience, but what we provide that no other restaurant experience offers is adrenaline as an appetizer and views as sweet as dessert.”

Now, normally I am not afraid of heights, but the thought of eating dinner while dangling over The Stip is thrilling and terrifying at the same time.  I imagine no matter how great the dinner is, the view and experience would be quite distracting.

Fortunately (or not) the price tag, although currently on sale from $169 to $199, is over the limit on what I am willing to spend on a meal, no matter how death defying it may be!

I finally found out the complete list of performers that will be headlining at the new Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

4/17 8 p.m. The Killers
4/18 8 p.m. Avenged Sevenfold (with Atreyu & Rev Theory)
4/19 8 p.m. Paul McCartney
4/24 9 p.m. Bon Jovi
4/25 8 p.m. Kenny Chesney (with Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum)
5/23 9 p.m. Flight of the Conchords (with Arj Baker)
7/13 7:30 p.m. Rise Against (with Rancid & Billy Talent)
9/13 8 p.m. Ricardo Arjona

In addition, things look like they are going to be sounding pretty good over at the Hard Rock pool for awhile also.

5/1 Rusted Root
5/15 Eek-A-Mouse
5/22 Ozomatli
5/29 Sugar Ray
6/5 Gavin Rossdale
6/26 Gin Blossoms (with Tonic)
7/24 Unwritten Law
8/14 Los Lonely Boys (with Los Lobos)
9/11 Collective Soul

All these concerts are going to be held on Friday nights starting at 9:00 p.m. 

As usual things are going to be pretty hot over at the Hard Rock all summer.  And congrats to The Killers for getting opening night, they deserve it!

McCarran Airport in Las Vegas has been selected by the Transportation Security Administration to test the new millimeter wave whole-body scanners at its security check points.  Right now it is being tested as a primary screener at Terminal 2, which is for international travel.  Back in October, McCarran  started using it as a secondary screener at Terminal 1. At this point, passengers still have the option of not going through it and being screened with a wand.

According the TSA website, “In a matter of seconds, this technology can detect weapons, explosives and other threat items concealed under layers of clothing without physical contact.” 

Jose Ralls, the TSA’s federal security director in Las Vegas said that, “We are going to take a look at this as being the wave of the future.”

From looking at the images on TSA’s website, it doesn’t look like it is really that invasive.  The important thing is that it is going to be helping people get through the Las Vegas airport quicker and safer . . . hopefully!

Lot’s of stuff going on in Las Vegas today! Some good, some bad, but it’s nice to let the headlines do the work for me.

Nevada Ballet makes cuts due to poor economy. 

They are reducing everything, laying off dancers and staff and cancelling the last show of the season.

Divorce papers filed for casino chief Wynn, wife

Apparently the Wynns think second time around is a charm.  They were originally married in 1963, divorced in 1985 and then remarried in 1991.

Nevada’s earmarks listed.

A very looonnngg list of projects Senator Harry Reid is spending money on in Las Vegas and Nevada.

Convention authority official: Downturn costs Las Vegas about $131.6 million.

340 event cancellations in the past 90 days per the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority . . . hmmmm, what happened about 90 days ago?

Senate passes hotel room tax hike. 

Room tax rates in Clark and Washoe counties can be increased from 3% to 13%.

 Las Vegas family awaits new home on ABC’s ‘Extreme Makeover’

A famly in the northwest valley was chosen to be featured on the tv show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

There was an interesting article in the Las Vegas Sun about the size of Las Vegas’ and Nevada state’s government.  Basically the legislature needs to vote on the size of our government to determine if budget cuts need to be made or if they must raise and/or add new taxes.

Economist Elliott Parker pointed out that Nevada government is leaner now than at any time in recent history. He stated, “I’m not saying we need to be California. I’m not even saying we need to be average. But we have the smallest government in the country, and cuts would be very damaging.”

On that other hand, fiscal policy analyst, Geoffrey Lawrence stated,  “My response is that it shows Nevada historically has been a leader in allowing the private sector to drive economic growth. Compared to other states, we’ve encumbered the private sector much less, but we could do better.”

There was a very interesting discussion following the article. It roamed around for a bit and ended on the fact that although Las Vegas policemen and firemen can retire at age 55 and receive up to 90% of their salary as pension, their average life expectancy is actually 5 years less than average.  It made me wonder, how much money is 5 years of your life worth?