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27 Oct 00
Still in the Castro? Yep.
Still at the slacker temp job? Yep.
Getting into goofy arguments over vegetarianism and social policy with the big boss? Yep.
I did have a nice fairly low-key birthday, and made an impromptu solo trip to Yosemite. Holy cow, it is indeed very beautiful. Lives up to the hype. October was a good time to visit, while it was fairly crowded in my book, it did not have the bumper to bumper traffic that I have heard about. Hiking beyond the Half-Dome trail the crowds almost completely disappeared.
One interesting note is the bear activity in the park. It's not like Glacier. First of all, of course there are no grizzlies, but the odd thing is the black bears are particularly ingenious. The usual suspension mention for food is supposedly not that effective. Hundreds of cars have been broken into by bears when people leave food in cars. Most parking lots and nearby camping areas have bear boxes. The also suggest bringing bear proof containers. Unfortunately the container I rented (for only three bucks) did not fit into my old external frame Kelty backpack. I had to hike in about 13 miles (and over 3000' elevation gain) to get to a campground with bear boxes. Given my usual late start that was a bit of a trick, but worked out fine; except for the blisters I had on my foot after the hike was over.
The other trip of note was over the weekend of October 21st to 23rd. I flew to Las Vegas to attend the wedding of Chuck and Patricia Hale, newly relocated to the Los Angeles area from Missoula where Patricia was a math education professor and Chuck was a grad student with me.
Now, they have been together for 22 years, have an 18 year old daughter, the same last name, and the IRS assumes they have been married for years. In fact they could not file separately since they would have to prove to the IRS that they are not married. Try to prove a negative like that sometime.
Everything seems fine, but now enter the state of California. To receive the other's employee medical benefits they had to produce an actual marriage certificate. If they had been a same sex couple then they would have been covered, but their common -law marriage is not recognized.
If the state of California was going to make them get married they would do it in what they felt to be in the proper fashion. In Las Vegas. With Elvis presiding.
So I hooked up with one of their friends in LA and reserved a room over the internet and got some e-tickets from a different internet service for an early (6:10am) Saturday departure.
Of course I still ended up going out Friday night, and went to sleep at the fine hour of 2am. Instead of waking at a safe 3:45am I awoke at 5:15. Oops. I grabbed my gear and ran out to my car, parked about 7 blocks away since I still don't have a residential parking permit. I passed by a cab with a sleeping driver, and an airport shuttle picking someone up. Bad omens, I worried. (I seriously thought about waking the cab driver.)
Drove a wee bit fast down to the private parking lot near the airport. I got on the shuttle and asked how long before we left for the airport. Upon realizing my flight was leaving very shortly. The driver said:
"I'll get you there"
He drove fast, very fast. After running through the airport (nothing to check in) my belt in hand (it always seems to be the last gate on the concourse) I made the flight with, heck, three or four minutes to spare. I did give the driver a $5 tip.
Arriving in Vegas at before 7:30am gave me enough ambition to walk to the strip from the airport. It wasn't really that far away except for the fact that the entrance to the airport was on the opposite end of the strip. Still it probably took about 45 minutes.
Walking the strip at around 8 in the morning, there was not many people. Among the middle-age midwestern couples were the people standing hand out advertising on the sidewalk. Typical I suppose, except of course this is Las Vegas, Sin City. The advertising they're handing out is for dancers (female) who can be in your room in 20 minutes. The pictures did not leave much to the imagination.
My main task is to find a place for breakfast and where I can settle in for a day of watching college football. Upon the advise of a man on the street (decked out in Oklahoma Sooner gear), I went to New York, New York. A big hotel that looks like several different building attached together, including the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.
Although very happy to see the see Michigan triumphant over the rotten ol' Michigan State Spartans, the mood among the few other Michigan fans was less than celebratory. The final score was 14-0, but the spread was 17.5 points. I didn't think Michigan could cover that big of a spread, but I was ethically bound not to potentially profit on any form of Michigan State success so I didn't bet a thing. It's an odd atmosphere where people are rooting for scores when the game has been decided and maybe I'm a prude but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
When I was looking for one of the hotels I asked someone on the street where it was. He pointed and said it's the white, tall one over there.
I looked and asked, "That building just past the Eiffel Tower?"
I never thought those words would come from my lips.
Not because I didn't think I'd ever go to Paris, I just don't think people check directions like that in Paris. Just the fact there is a two-thirds size Eiffel Tower in an American desert is pretty weird. Not to mention the third largest pyramid in the world, or the fact (so I've heard) that there are more hotels in Las Vegas than any other city in the world. It is a strange place.
Meeting up with Patricia and Chuck and their friends was fun, but doesn't lend itself to easy anecdotes. Patricia, her daughter, and the rest of the female entourage went to prepare their dance for the wedding. Meanwhile us guys, all three of us, had a huge buffet dinner (yeah, I had some seafood) and watched the end of the 12-inning world series game while Chuck played the slots.
My gambling experience (besides a couple of dollars thrown into slot machines) was losing $30 playing Pai Gow. I never once won a hand in the $10/hand game. I did push (tie) quite a lot, but eventually my money went away. I don't understand how anyone could hope to make money on that game.
I can say proudly that both wife and husband liked my gifts - particularly the shirt that said, "Why do I need algebra for a career in pornography?"
When they picked up their marriage certificate (those places are open 24hours on the weekends in Las Vegas) the clerk checked if indeed they already had the same last name, "Where did you guys meet? At a family reunion?"
The wedding itself went pretty quick. Especially for me since I was given three cameras by others in the wedding with instructions to take lots of pictures so I spent the entire ceremony rotating through the various cameras, including mine. Patricia and the women did a dance to "My Girl(Guy)". Elvis did a good job and sang well. We were shuffled out and that was that.
The Star Trek ride was campy and fun, but the museum put me in Trekkie nirvana. The Save Atlantis ride over in the Monte Carlo was fun, but unlike for most of the other people the 3-D effects were a little blurry for me.
The last day when everyone else had left, I was still there and wasted my entire time playing video games. In fact I lost track of the time and left without a final buffet. Dumb, dumb.
Back in San Francisco, still in the Castro, I'm looking forward to Halloween....
Love and friendship,
James