The "A Gift to Shawn Got Me Thinking...", edition.

 The Spinners, "I'll Be Around".  5:15 and it's quiet. For now. Yelling lady usually rolls in around 5:30.  The doors to the treatment area open at 4:45.  When they opened and we (the patients) entered, some started yelling and imitating yelling lady. Apparently and not surpringly, the clinic manager got quite a few complaints. I vented online and got several numbers to call, such as the ESRD network.  We'll see how it goes today.  People were getting off early again on Monday. And other patients started yelling back and cursing loudly. I digress.

The Roots, "What They Do". The Tonight Show house band. Bet they never saw that coming!! WTG. Shawn is spending her holiday break with us in Las Vegas.  After Christmas her friend from New York will be visiting her here.  Accommodating both of them is no problem and Grampy says she can have access to his car. Well, I got my promotions from our "locals" casino.  One of the promotions was rooms for $19.00. I mentioned it to Shawn and ended up suggesting she and her friend could stay one night. Both agreed.  I also asked if they wanted to see the Cirque de Soleil Michael Jackson tribute at Mandalay Bay. Ugh. 5:27 and we're off to the races.  The yelling has begun. ;-(   Up goes the volume. If  you talk to me one day and I have trouble hearing, you'll know why.  I've digressed. Again. 

Pharrell, "Happy".  I started thinking why even drive to the strip. So I checked out rates at some of the hotels. There is a window of days after New Year and the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) that are ridiculously low. Jackpot!!!!  I gave her a list of hotels for them to select. When I was her age I'd love being on The Strip. And especially now. Vegas is gearing itself to attracting the younger, non-gambling crowd. The girls sound excited. 

Bread, "Making It With You". This process also got me thinking. My first trip to Las Vegas was in 1986. The Strip has changed quite a bit. The Excaliber, Luxor and Mandalay Bay weren't there. As a matter of fact, it was an empty lot until The Hacienda, where Redd Foxx played. The MGM wasn't the MGM, it was The Marina. When the MGM was built, they kept the shell ofthe Marina.  I can show you, if you wish. That whole cluster of City Center and TheCosmopolitan used to be souvenir shops and the Holiday Inn Casino. We were there when The Dunes was closing. We were playing blackjack.  The dealer would tell us his hand, which determined our bets.  We won a lot of games.  Lol. We were there when Treasure Island was being built. For some reason we spent almost 2 weeks there for one Christmas.  Treasure Island was under construction.  Treasure Island was built in modules. They'd lift entire sections of floors.  In 2 weeks, we saw Treasure Island grow 15 stories!!!  And we were there when some of the crosswalks were put up. Before that it would take 20 minutes to cross the strip because the pedestrians would not stop for the traffic lights. ;-(  I could go on. Lol

Signing off with  Terry Callier, "Ordinary Joe".  Well you've got my dialysis news....yelling lady.  She really is not self aware. I will get do not rescusitate orders. I do not want to be kept alive with no hope of getting better, not recognizing my loved ones. And leave my family with the burden of exorbitant medical costs. So they can watch me die. But don't worry. I'm not planning on dying soon. :-)  Have a great day. Stay warm and find some entrepurenial  kids to shovel the snow. :-)   Photos of Vegas around 1986. Check out Sigfried and Roy at the Frontier.  I found a Frontier matchbook with them on it.