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Las Vegas Visit

I just got back from my third trip to Las Vegas, NV. The first was with a group of friends, the second was just with my brother for business, and this one was with my brother and my girlfriend. I stayed at the Tropicana on the south strip. I have stayed there before on my first trip to Vegas and not too much has changed. There is a lot less of an artificial coconut smell than before and I actually missed that because I thought it would remind me of my first visit.

I ate like crazy there. Vegas has great food and my break from my diet was well utilized. The most damage was done at the buffet at Caesar’s. I drank several mimosas, and ate from every category they offered. I was as full as a tick.  We also went to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant for Katie’s birthday and the view was great and the food was pretty good.

On our last day, we took a trip out to the outlet mall and got some shopping in. I had never done this before on a vacation and it wasn’t bad. We all ended up buying leather jackets at a Wilson’s outlet. I didn’t think when I woke up that morning that I would be buying a leather jacket in spring but that’s what happened.

Vegas has the ability to just completely drain me. I have to walk everywhere, the buildings themselves are expansive, and there is so much going on at any given time. There are constant stimuli from the slot machines, people shouting at the craps tables, and the constant movement of people around you. When I got back home, I was drained and ready for some sleep to catch up. In contract, my last vacation was on a beach, at an all inclusive resort and each day was relaxing. I would just sit down by the ocean, read a bit, drink a bit, and talk with my girlfriend. It was great and I think I want to do something similar next time I get a few days off work. I think I need a few years break from Vegas to explore the rest that the world has to offer.

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Arcadia, a great arcade in a small town

A few weeks ago I took a trip to Arcadia in McLean, IL. My girlfriend, Katie, knows that I’m always looking for pinball machines out in the wild. When we go out anywhere I will run to any pin that I see. Knowing this, Katie found Arcadia on the Internet and I had no idea that it even existed.

We loaded up on a Saturday and spent a nice afternoon there. The games were reasonably priced and the place was not maned at all. On the bill changers there was a sign with a phone number that there was someone close by that would come out if there were any problems. I really enjoyed the vacancy that not having an employee there provided. At times, we had the whole place to ourselves. Every once in a while, a couple people would pop in and play a little then leave. The pinball selection is good with awesome games like Medieval Madness and Addams Family to not so great titles like Super Mario Bros.

As well as lots of pinball machines, they had even more video games, including a Terminator 2 that I remember playing at the mall as a kid. They have a very interesting game there called Time Traveler by SEGA. The video on it was “holographic” and it was one of those machines that integrated live action into the game play. Not that there was much game play to speak of. The player mostly has to either duck or shoot some costumed moron running at you. The game was cheesy and I liked it a lot. One play lasted quite a while and it was fun. It was very different than any other game I had played in a long time and I enjoyed that.

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The tab on a soda can does not have the same amount of Al as the can

I have heard from a few people that the tab on top of a soda can contains as much aluminum as the can itself. My guess is that this rumor got started because of chairities like the Ronald McDonald House collecting tabs to raise money. I finally decided to test it with my postal scale at work. The tab didn’t even register so it is less than a tenth of an ounce. The can was 0.4 oz.