Being bad, or at least dull!

It sure looks like I've fallen off the posting wagon but in my defense I must say that I haven't done much I would want to read about so maybe I've just been saving you from drivel, my reader.   We've had weird weather here with much more rain than usual interspersed with our normal July HOT.

Our big excitement was to visit Las Vegas for dinner at Panevino Ristorante.  It is a pretty upscale place that is NOT on the strip but is right next to McCarran Airport so you get to watch planes taking off and landing.  We had a 6 pm reservation & dinner took about two hours.  It is quite a nice looking place specializing in Italian gourmet meals.  The service was excellent and the food was good.  My complaint would be that the meals were quite expensive ($30-$50 for the entre), and the alcohol was unreal!  A gin and tonic for $9?  We had a bottle of the cheapest American Pinot Noir on their wine list - $75!  Come on.  Just a quick look at the wine list showed many more $200 bottles than under $100.  Maybe there are places in the world where people are going to appreciate such a wine list but I don't think it is Las Vegas.  Especially in this economy, I wouldn't like to be offering that kind of wine.  Granted, it was a lovely wine but I'm thinking there are better values out there.  Will we be back?  I kind of doubt it.  The food was pretty good but if you can't get out the door for under $100 a person; it isn't going to be my regular haunt.

Doing dinner meant that we couldn't do all our usual Las Vegas shopping so last Monday we returned for the usual round of buying stuff you can't get over here.  On this occasion we tried out a burger joint called Cheeburger Cheeburger.  Yeah, I know, we aren't exactly stuck in a rut when it comes to restaurant choices are we.  Anyway I can't really complain about the prices - $7 for a cheeseburger and $4 for some onion rings is pretty reasonable.  I can complain that once again you can't get a rare burger.  I guess they can't maintain good hygiene.  Of course the burger was pretty thin so maybe they can't get it warm enough to melt the cheese and still have it rare.  It is a 50's diner themed place so if you are allergic to that you are forewarned!  Will we go back?  I suppose but only because it is on a road that we travel most times we go into town.

Our local political scene is just as crazy usual.  Our 'town board' is supposed to run a few of our local government offices.  A group is trying to get them fired and have it replaced by an advisory board with no real power.  The power would revert to the county.  They managed to get an item on the ballot for the November election to this effect.  Now there will be a vote.  In the last election I think there were about 7,000 votes cast; this is out of population of 35,000+.  So whatever happens this coming election, it will most likely be decided by something under 10% of the population.  Why the hell can't people be bothered to vote?

I read a few blogs regularly.  One that I like but don't often read is BadNick.  Nick is an rv'er who just has to ask unusual questions from time to time and writes this blog specifically for that purpose.  I especially like the entry that I linked to, especially his last line.  "How come those of you who are very conservative think I’m stupid for asking half of the questions above, and the very liberal ones think I’m an idiot for the other half?"  I like people who look beyond the surface of a question.  We need a lot more people like Nick.

Have a good one!