Vegas, Baby!

Just got back from the "Bodies" exhibit at the Tropicana. Creepy shit. Not sure I really agree with the whole skinning of dead bodies and putting them on display, but it was REALLY interesting. And REALLY creepy. But we had a coupon. This is a work trip for me, but Rachelle came along for a couple days. Being in Vegas for work isn't usually that different for me than being in Burleson, Texas for work. More restaurant choices in Vegas, but I generally spend a lot of time hanging out in my hotel room watching basic cable. With Rachelle here, I actually go out at night. With her. Lots more fun than hanging out in my hotel room alone, but only one of us has to be in a conference room at 7:00 am. And it ain't her. Makes for a very long and sleepy day. Anyway, she's leaving again tonight and I'll be left alone with my TV. Might even treat myself to some Spectra-Vision and a 64oz beer. Or two.

Livin' Large @ the Holiday Inn

Just wrapping up my second-to-last visit to Houston and I'm actually going to miss it. Kind of. I found a restaurant that I can't find one bad thing to say about. Seriously. I'm sitting in the bar (shockng, I know) and the guy brings out my free chips and salsa. I was expecting the usual boring chips and salsa. What I got was a mix of regular tortilla chips, blue corn chips, chips dusted with cinnamon and chili powder (rocks) and sweet-potato chips (also rocks). There was also some sort of orange/brown tortilla chip that I couldn't identify, but I ate a crap-ton of those, too. And don't even get me started on the food I actually paid for (think "chicken-fried tuna steak"). So if you're ever in Houston and hungry for some Southwestern grub, make sure you check out the Canyon Cafe. Happy Hour looks pretty sweet, too.

Enough about the good part of my trip. Let's go back to my 6:00am flight out of SMF. I had to leave home at 4:00ish. AM. Lots of other people had to leave home really friggin' early, too. Everybody except the one family they held the flight for because they were "stuck in the security line". Yeah, that's what happens when you don't get to the airport EARLY ENOUGH TO CLEAR SECURITY! Dumb-asses. Didn't help any that the young dad looked like a K-Fed wannabe. Mom looked OK enough, but you wanted to smack the dude upside his backward-turned, tag-still-on-it ball cap.

Goin' Back to Cali...

I've been watching reports of the nasty weather in the rest of the country and it makes me really happy that I no longer live there. Yeah, we've had some rain this month, but this entire weekend was sunny and mid 70's. Shorts and t-shirt weather. Of course that also means "yard-work weather", but I'll take a little mowing and weed-whacking over shovelling any day. Anyway, since it was so nice out, Rachelle and I decided to take Lucy for a walk along the American River. That's where we found this little bit of Northern California weirdness. As you can see, even Lucy is confused as to why there would be a large oil painting leaning up against a bush in the middle of a field. A little surreal. Whatever. The walk was nice and it tired Lucy out. Always a good thing.

My co-worker in the Sacramento office is "leaving to pursue other opportunities" next week, so I will be getting my original West Coast territory back. No more Texas/Oklahoma. I am so sad. I've got to finish out what I've got scheduled, hence the 6:00am flight to Houston later this week, but I won't be scheduling anymore trips there. Good thing I hadn't picked out a new belt-buckle and boots. At least I got a chance to visit the Oklahoma National Stockyards. Scratch that one off the list. It was actually kind of cool. Oklahoma really isn't that bad. I had some time to kill before my flight back to Cali, so I decided to check out a western wear store. Now, I've been to "western wear" stores in Nebraska and California, but they take their western wear seriously in Oklahoma. I had no friggin' idea you could spend $800+ for a pair of regular leather boots. No exotic critter skin, no fancy stiching, just boots. I didn't pay $800 for my first car. Hell, I don't think I've paid $800 for anything I could wear. Anyway, I walked into Tener's Western Outfitters and I immediately knew they could tell I wasn't from around there. They might have been tipped off by the black suit and wingtips, but I'm not 100% sure that was it. A guy came up to me and introduced himself as "Dwight" and said to let him know if I had any questions. My only question was "why do boots cost so friggin' much?", but I didn't think that would be polite. So if you're ever in Oklahoma City and you're in the market for some serious western wear, check out Tener's and ask for Dwight. He'll take good care of you.