Jan
19
2009
The 27th Annual Martin Luther King Day parade will begin at Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas at 10:00 a.m. So you still have time to make it! 
This year’s theme is “Living the Dream: For One America”.
A little history about Martin Luther King Blvd. here in Las Vegas for you per Wikipedia:
“The section of Highland Drive north of Oakey Boulevard was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the 1990s. The roadway connects the western edge of Downtown Las Vegas to the newer and more affluent parts of North Las Vegas. Via ramps to the road at the “Spaghetti Bowl” (I-15/US 93/US 95) freeway interchange near downtown, Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard provides the most direct connection between the north-central Las Vegas Valley and the Las Vegas Strip. The road also passes through historic “West Las Vegas”, an older and predominantly Black neighborhood. The city identifies the road as “Martin L. King Blvd”, omitting the Jr. and using L in place of Luther. Most residents in the Las Vegas Valley uses the term MLK. “
Something I didn’t know about Martin Luther King Day was that in 1994 the holiday was deemed by Congress as a national day of community service. Here is a link to all kinds of service events going on around Las Vegas. If you can’t participate today, you can sign up with the website, USA Service , to get projects emailed to you all year long. Because of President Obama, this year is expected to be the biggest King Day of Service ever.
Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day! 
Dec
22
2008
I saw these tips on one of my other favorite Las Vegas blogs and they are so true I had to post them here for you.
Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Las Vegas has it’s own set of traffic rules. There’s no book about them. All you can do is get in your car and hope you survive to learn them.
1. All directions start with, “Go down 95…’cause you don’t want to get on 15.”2. Las Vegas Blvd, Charleston Blvd, and Torrey Pines have no beginning and no end.3. It’s impossible to go around a block and wind up on the same street that you started on. The Chamber of Commerce calls this a “scenic drive.”
4. The 8:00 am rush hour is from 4:30am to 11:30am. The 5:00pm rush hour is from 11:30am to 10:15pm. Friday’s rush hour starts on Thursday morning and ends sometime late Sunday night.
5. If you actually stop at a yellow light, then you cannot be from Las Vegas. You may only apply your brakes when the end of a yellow light and the beginning of the red light create a “pumpkin-orange” hue.
6. Just remember that Camino Al Norte is Martin Luther King Blvd, Boulder Highway is Fremont Street, Eastern Ave is 25th Street or Civic Center Drive, Desert Inn is Lamb Blvd, Spring Mountain/Sands/Twain are all the same street. Don’t try to figure it out. Just accept it.
7. Henderson is the only place in the world where THREE “parallel” streets intersect at one traffic light. That would be the 4-way of Green Valley Parkway/Eastern Avenue/Maryland Parkway. For laughs ask your middle school Geometry teacher to try to explain it. 8. Rainbow Blvd. has THREE exits from the 95, this just makes giving driving directions to newbies more entertaining. There is also a Lake Mead “Drive” and a Lake Mead “Boulevard” and both run east/west but are 30 miles apart. You have to be specific when you say “the corner of …….”. Again this is just another way to harass the 5000 newcomers every month.9. Many major roads just end abruptly at a house/Home Depot/Casino/McCarran International Airport Runways and start again after the interruption, that was done to encourage you to “see the sights” and meet new people. Just try to take Harmon Avenue from Rainbow to Nellis.10. Construction on I-15 and US 95 is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment. I-215 will never be completed. Get used to it.
Dec
09
2008
I am sorry it has been almost a week since I have posted. It seems like it’s been forever. I have been way under the weather!
Anyway, a bunch of stuff has happened. No. 1 being of course, OJ’s 9 to 33 years. I originally thought it was 15, but it’s no parole for at least 9 years. OJ is currently residing at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs, Nevada.
The National Finals Rodeo has been in town since last Thursday. That’s always a big deal out here. The events wrap up on Saturday.
There is a new volcano that opened Monday at the Mirage. Very bittersweet for me as I have fond memories of going to see the volcano as a kid. The show runs on the hour from dusk until midnight.
In the sprirt of the holiday season, the Hard Rock is going to have free drinks at several of its bars on Dec. 17 from 7pm to 9pm. No catch as far I can tell. Just stop by one of the bars and relax.
Tomorrow at 6:00pm Mayor Oscar Goodman is going to light up Las Vegas’ Christmas tree down on Freemont Street. I haven’t been there in awhile, but Freemont Street it great for a Vegasy night out.
Over the weekend we stopped by the Parasol Up Parasol Down bar over the Wynn and had a really nice time. The outdoor waterfall show caught our attention and we sat outside and had a few reasonably priced drinks. We’ll definitely be stopping by again.
I think that about sums things up for last week. Hopefully I’ll be back on point this week!
The 27th Annual Martin Luther King Day parade will begin at Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas at 10:00 a.m. So you still have time to make it! 
