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| Observations On Las Vegas | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 8 2006, 10:12 AM (614 Views) | |
| Rick Zimmer | May 8 2006, 10:12 AM Post #1 |
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Fulla-Carp
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I have just returned from a weekend in Las Vegas where my mother and sibings gathered to celebrate my old brother's 60th birthday. We stayed at Mandalay Bay. It has been 30 years since I have been there, with the exception of a short 3 hour visit about a year ago or so. One of the things I wanted to do while there was to simply observe and react to what is truly a cultural phenomenon. When I first arrived and got a sense of the palce, I was not sure what to say. There were times I laughed out loud to myself at the sheer absurdity of it all. Other times I was amazed at the creativity. Still others I'd shake my head at the financial waste and at hedonism of it. Still other times I found parts of it very beautiful. Now that I have finished the weekend, I thought I'd share my observations with you and see what you all think. It is a place of immense architectural and engineering creativity. It impresses by virtue of overwhelming the visitor. There is very little truly good architecture there and almost no architecture as art. Designwise, it is, for the most part, tacky and lacking in any taste or sense of design. Even that which is intended to be "tasteful" strikes me more as an opulent looking rip-off of true design and recognition of beauty. I kept thinking of the people who buy gold gilt lamps and ornamentation for their homes -- thinking they were decorating as a wealthy person might, but coming across more as trailer trash wanting to be seen as better than they are. The place is an amazing study of what is wrong in American culture with little that points to what is right in it. Those who work there serving the tourists need to be sent to the Disneyland School of handling guests. So few ever smiled or spoke with any warmth in their voice. I found myself trying to get people to smile or laugh or even look me in the eye. Seldom happened. The hotels are all far too large. I found it annoying and a major task just to walk through one. The place is not visitor or user friendly -- which is surprising because it depends on visitors. The intense hedonism was off-putting for me. I am hardly a prude; but the in-your-face blatant sex that is everywhere I found to be, well, to put it bluntly -- disgusting. Because of that, I cannot imagine people bringing children there and having them experience this -- and yet there were lots and lots of children. And speaking of bringing children there, leaving the impression it must make on young minds, I cannot imagine wanting to be burdened with children there. Why go to an adult play ground and have to worry about taking care of kids and being curtailed by their constant needs. Traveling is hard enough with kids -- why go to Vegas where there is little for them to do? I decided I do not find gambling particularly enjoyable. It is a gathering place for an amazing assortment of people and characters. It was truly fascinating just to see all of the different type of people there. And where do these people all get the money not just to go there and stay, but to gamble at tables with $15 minimums? Lots and lots of young male adults. I really was surprised at home many groups of 5 or so 20-something males I saw -- many just wandering around in packs. Why are so many women are drawn there? It is so focused on titillating and satisfying the male sexual needs -- and the image of women there is so overtly sexually exploitative, I asked myself often why so many women like to come there. I found I could only take about 48 hours of sensory overload. By Sunday afternoon, I was worn out just by the lights, noise, confusion and dazzle. I was more than ready to go home. And, as much as I love my family and enjoy them, I found I can only take about 48 hours of close family interaction as well! <g> |
| [size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size] | |
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| ivorythumper | May 8 2006, 10:15 AM Post #2 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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All the above is why I have assiduously avoided LV for 20 years. At last, something was can agree upon.
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| The 89th Key | May 8 2006, 10:16 AM Post #3 |
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Thanks for posting your thoughts, Rick. I've never been, but I have the same sentiments when I visit NYC. After 48 hours in NYC, eventually the noise, lights, etc....just overload your senses. Certainly nice places to visit though...but I prefer the suburbs.
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| John D'Oh | May 8 2006, 10:19 AM Post #4 |
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MAMIL
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I've been out in the boonies so long I need a lie down if I visit Basingstoke for more than a couple of hours. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
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| JBryan | May 8 2006, 10:23 AM Post #5 |
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I am the grey one
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On the other hand, visiting Antlers or Broken Bow, OK is something you would like to cut short soon after you arrive. |
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"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it". Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody. Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore. From The Lion in Winter. | |
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| kenny | May 8 2006, 10:26 AM Post #6 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Rick, that was my reaction to LV the last time I was there. That was in 1980 just to visit family. Different strokes I guess. ![]() BTW, how was traffic getting there and back? |
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| Phlebas | May 8 2006, 10:27 AM Post #7 |
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Bull-Carp
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So, how were the hookers? |
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Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D | |
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| DivaDeb | May 8 2006, 10:31 AM Post #8 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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ditto for me on Vegas, Rick I do okay in Basingstoke though
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| AlbertaCrude | May 8 2006, 10:49 AM Post #9 |
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Bull-Carp
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I've only been there once - in September 2004 to attend a Mining Show and Conference. Despite misgivings prior to my arrival, I thought the place was great. The Convention Centre was excellent and among the best such venues I have ever seen. The famous Strip is an adult playground and fantasyland par excellence. A virtual Fellini masterpiece of divine decadence and naughty mischief. A place where eternal damnation and salvation are fully licensed commercial ventures. A perfect place for families who want to see the world but don't wish to travel outside the continent. Why travel all the way to Egypt when you can book a room at the Luxor? Want Italy? Try Caesar's Palace or the Venetia. My only disappointment was to find that the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign is so small and out of scale with the rest of the production. Still, the highlight of the week was the day excursion to the Valley of Fire State Park north of Vegas. Next time I'm there I might just make a day trip to Las Vegas. |
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| Rick Zimmer | May 8 2006, 10:59 AM Post #10 |
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Fulla-Carp
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I purposely flew because of my expectations of the traffic coming back Sunday afternoon -- I did NOT want to be in an 8 hour stop and go jam. My sister and mother droive (from the LA area). Going up on Friday they had no problem -- left a little before noon. They chose, however, to return today (Monday) because of their expectatins of a traffic jam. |
| [size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size] | |
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| Rick Zimmer | May 8 2006, 11:04 AM Post #11 |
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Fulla-Carp
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I was thinking that this might have been my problem -- everything there just moves too damned fast. At my age, a slower pace is better since frequency is not a viable option. :lol: Along these lines, I was surprised by the trucks beng used a billboards driving up and down the Strip advertising "Girls Delivered Right To Your Door." I wondered if they had a two for one special like Little Cesar Pizza. |
| [size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size] | |
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| George K | May 8 2006, 11:06 AM Post #12 |
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Finally
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There are medicines for that. Just watch any football game and you'll see.
I'm sure they do, Rick. I'm sure they do - for a price. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Kincaid | May 8 2006, 11:10 AM Post #13 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Whoa! Big spender - the Mandalay Bay is one of the nicest places there. Was the pool open? That looked like the nicest part to me when I checked it out. I visited twice on business, about seven and then six years ago, each time in March. I agree with you about the architecture and I'll quote you: "Designwise, it is, for the most part, tacky and lacking in any taste or sense of design. Even that which is intended to be "tasteful" strikes me more as an opulent looking rip-off of true design and recognition of beauty. I kept thinking of the people who buy gold gilt lamps and ornamentation for their homes -- thinking they were decorating as a wealthy person might, but coming across more as trailer trash wanting to be seen as better than they are". I thought the hotels were just fine in size, what was awful was walking from one to the other. Because they are so big, they seemed to be closer than I thought and it was quite a chore walking between them. Not sure what you mean by "in-your-face blatant sex that is everywhere I found to be, well, to put it bluntly -- disgusting". I would like examples. My visits were during a time in my life when I would have been desensitized to that if it existed - heck, I would have been seeking it. Other than getting flyers shoved at you for sex shows, I don't recall anything that blatant. (I didn't check out any of the nude reviews or "O" by Cirque de Soleil. I do recall that the second time I went I did decide as well that it was a place I wouldn't bring my kids to. I also found losing money to be no fun at all and winning money elusive. I would like to take my wife there - arriving in the morning, spend the night and then leave in the afternoon the next day. (Though maybe if we spent an extra day we could check out the Valley of Fire State Park). My favorite thing on each visit was to dine in the perpetual twilight of the "St. Mark's Square" inside The Venice casino. |
| Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006. | |
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| iainhp | May 8 2006, 11:21 AM Post #14 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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I've been there many times over the past 3 years. 2 nights and I'm happy to go home. From San Diego I can often do day trips on Southwest cheaper than staying overnight. The convention center is great - my only comment is that it is too far from the strip and not easy to get to. The tram is overloaded at 5.00pm on a convention day (try CES). So is the taxi line. And those are hookers in the lobby of the LV Hilton (my chiropractor verified this). A good hotel room is a necessity - it acts as an oasis amid the 24 hour action packed city. There are hotels off the strip which do not have gambling - Embassy Suites on Paradise, and the Residence Inn (with a Gordon Birsch next door). There are great places to eat - forget the all you can eat for $8 buffet. Corporate expenses help in this regards! Try Rumjungle (foods ok) and stay for the dancing afterwards - you won't be disappointed. Or for good food try 3950, also in Mandalay Bay. If you frequent the place and have a car you must learn the routes around the strip. Check out "things to do" outside Vegas. There are great gold courses. And I'm told some excellent mountain biking in the hills. Just don't expect to be doing this at high noon in August! There are also some interesting things to do along the strip. The Imperial Hotel has a motor museum in the back with some interesting cars. And the Hard Rock hotel has a swimming area complete with sand beach and a lazy river. Also some great shopping. Funniest thing that happened to us - last year at CES we stayed at Luxor. Parallel with CES is the Adult Entertainment industry show at the Sands (and before you start wondering, we were there for CES). We exited the elevator at the ground floor of Luxor the first evening to be confronted with a young blond reading the hotel map. My sales colleague (who talks to everyone) started a casual conversation with her. The woman innocently asked if we were there for the adult entertainment conference, to which my colleague answered yes. The conversation went downhill from there with the woman inviting us to a party upstairs the next night - all the porn stars would be around for photo ops, and the highlight was to be a guy in a monkey suit dispensing pina coladas from his..........well you get the idea. Never seen our sales guy at a loss for words. I've lost a total of about $5 in my time in vegas - just not into gambling. |
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| QuirtEvans | May 8 2006, 11:30 AM Post #15 |
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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Au contraire, there are a ton of things for kids to do in Las Vegas. You just have to do a little advance planning. For example, there are three or four different roller coasters ... there's Circus Circus, and Excalibur ... several high-end hotels have pools that rival a water park ... and the food! What child doesn't like an all-you-can-eat buffet of various kid-friendly alternatives? |
| It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010. | |
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| JBryan | May 8 2006, 11:31 AM Post #16 |
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I am the grey one
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He hastens to add.
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"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it". Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody. Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore. From The Lion in Winter. | |
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| ivorythumper | May 8 2006, 11:57 AM Post #17 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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A businessman flew to Las Vegas for the weekend to gamble. He lost the shirt off his back and had nothing left but a dollar and the second half of his round trip airline ticket. If he could just get to the airport he could get home. So, he went out to the front of the casino where there was a taxi waiting. He got into the cab and explained his situation to the cabby. He promised to send the driver money from home, offered him credit card numbers, his driver's license number, and his home address. The cabby said, "If you don't have $15 for the fare get the hell out of my cab!" So the businessman was forced to hitchhike to the airport. He barely made his flight. One year later the businessman, having worked long and hard to regain his financial success, returned to Vegas and this time he won big. Feeling good about himself he went outside the casino looking for a cab back to the airport. Guess who he saw at the end of a long line of cabs? His old 'buddy' who refused him a ride to the airport when he was down on his luck. The businessman thought for a moment about how he could make the guy pay for his lack of charity and he hit on a plan. The businessman got into the first cab in line. "How much for a ride to the airport?" he asked. "Fifteen bucks," the cab driver said. "And how much for you to give me a blow job on the way?" the businessman inquired. "What?!? Get the hell out of my cab!!" screamed the cabby. The businessman got into the back of each cab in the long line and asked each cab driver the same question. Every driver gave the businessman a similar response. When he got to his old 'friend' in the back of the line of cabs the businessman got into the cab and asked "How much for a ride to the airport?" The cabby replied, "Fifteen bucks." The businessman said "Okay," and they drove off. As they drove slowly past the long line of cabs the businessman gave a big smile and a thumbs up sign to each driver. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| Kincaid | May 8 2006, 12:01 PM Post #18 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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| Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006. | |
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| Kincaid | May 8 2006, 12:04 PM Post #19 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Did the car museum and it had some neat vehicles - some of which were for sale. The second time I was there I stayed at the Hard Rock Cafe but in March the pool was closed. |
| Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006. | |
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| Qaanaaq-Liaaq | May 8 2006, 12:22 PM Post #20 |
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Senior Carp
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I guess it’s my turn to offer some thoughts about Las Vegas. I’ve been to Vegas three times but it’s been about fifteen years since I was last there. I think everyone should visit Las Vegas once. It’s really something to see those casinos lit up at night. The huge neon signs of the casinos flash and flicker in the night and beckon you to come inside. Once inside, it’s pretty hard to walk through it without getting the urge to gamble. Money is no object when it comes to interior decoration. The casinos are all lavishly decorated each with its own motif. Vegas is basically a one industry town. I don’t think Las Vegas would be a big city if it weren’t for the legalized gambling. The book “The Green Felt Jungle” by Mario Puzzo, a former casino insider, offers interesting insights into how casinos operate. Caesar’s Palace is something else. It’s opulence is only exceeded by their low disregard for exiting patrons in the form of the motorized overhead sidewalk. The motorized ramp will take you from the street to the casino but it won’t take you in the opposite direction. In other words, if you want to leave their casino, you walk buddy. The best thing to do is to go to there, lose your ass, get it out of your system, and then don’t go back again. But there’s plenty to do there without having to become a casino rat. Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam are must-sees. It’s the end of my lunch hour. I could talk for hours about Las Vegas but this is all I have time for. |
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| iainhp | May 8 2006, 01:24 PM Post #21 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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They used to have Hitler's staff car - and Mussolini's too I believe. The owner of the Imperial had a big celebration every year on Hitler's birthday. However even the people in Vegas finally had enough and he stopped the birthday celebration! Aug 24, 2005 Harrah's officials issued a press release announcing the sale and a time table for the completion of the transfer was listed as the end of the year. The Imperial Palace hotel has 2640 rooms and was built by transplanted North Dakotan, Ralph Engelstad. Engelstad purchased the old Flamingo Capri property and built the Imperial Palace. Engelstad and the IP gained international notoriety in the late 1980's when he was fined a record $1.5 million and his gaming license was placed in probation after the Nevada Gaming Commission found that he had damaged the reputation and image of the states gaming industry due to some rather bizarre behavior. Ralph held parties at the Imperial Palace every April 20th celebrating the birthday of Adolf Hitler. Additionally, he had amassed a large collection of Nazi war memorabilia which was housed in a large private room in the IP Auto Collection area. Only in Vegas! |
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| ivorythumper | May 8 2006, 01:49 PM Post #22 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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How can you damage the reputation of a whore? |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| George K | May 8 2006, 03:02 PM Post #23 |
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Finally
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Easy, have her get caught with a politician (but, that's another whore). |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| iainhp | May 9 2006, 06:43 AM Post #24 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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How could we have had a discussion on Vegas and not even given Elvis a mention. Maybe he really is dead? |
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| ivorythumper | May 9 2006, 08:44 AM Post #25 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Touche!
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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10:46 AM Jul 11