Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Viva Las Vegas

I have a plane change in Vegas. So I decided to gamble a bit. I committed $5 and played the 5 card draw machines. I tended to bet $0.50 at a time which I think worked pretty good since I kept getting 2 pairs. At one point in time I was up to $7 and rarely fell below $5. That is until I decided to stop playing as soon as I got back up over $6 -- I didn't win another hand. I though about closing out when I was down to $3 but ended up going for it. I got pretty bored at $1.50 and quickly lost the rest of my money. So $5 for 15 minutes of amusement? Not necessarily a good deal. $5 for 15 minutes of amusement at the Las Vegas airport? Good deal. It's cheaper than the oxygen tables.

The scenery flying from San Jose to Las Vega was beautiful. I really wish I had brought my camera with me. The Bay Area was super green from all the rain we've been getting (I love this time of year) and since the sun was barely coming up, there was beautiful light reflecting off the oranges and yellows of my Southwest plane. We flew over part of the Rockies (it was quite turbulent at this point) and the snow on the mountains looked fluffy and undisturbed -- kind of like freshly whipped cream.

It's hump day! Only a couple more days till the weekend!

3 comments:

Pablo said...

So what did you make of Crichton's book?

Cleaty said...

I enjoyed reading Crichton’s State of Fear. As a science fiction book, it was highly entertaining, as his books usually are. As far as the global warming ideas…that’s a different story. I felt it to side with the conservatives who say global warming is non-existent or it’s not really an issue. Crichton did have references to validate his claims. And I suspect there is some truth in that concrete cities are more to blame for rises in temperature than CO2 emissions. At least in cities. And Global warming is based on scientific theories not on history. But I believe the scientists who have the expertise to backup the theory of global warming and say it is an issue. And even if they were wrong, there’s still no need to be more wasteful than we have to be. I think we should diminish our footprint on this planet. There’s no need to drive around in gigantic SUV’s. It’s kind of like if you get full after eating one burger but end up eating two burgers, your going to get fat. The consequences could be bad.

I am reading Next right now. It hasn't yet captivated my attention like his other books have.

Pablo said...

I think you're being too kind. I thought the book was hogwash and based on his misinterpretation of the scientific evidence. Yeah, it was entertaining but books like State of Fear can heavily influence public opinion regarding a very real threat. I've heard too many people actually cite the stupid book on global warming discussions.