This year, Miss USA will be hosted right here, in the lovely, fascinating Las Vegas. Where exactly? Planet Hollywood. When? April 11, 2008. Hosts?  Donny and Marie Osmond.

Now’s the time to come to Vegas, you single men out there! The most beautiful women in America will all flock here, in the city that never sleeps, abunds of alcohol, and offers waaay to many forms of entertaining. You can thank me later for the tip

This is an excerpt from the Miss USA official rules:

” contestants may not be married or pregnant. They must not have ever been married, not had a marriage annulled nor given birth to a child. The titleholders are also required to remain single throughout their reign.”  And also:

“Although contestants are discouraged from altering their own natural beauty, no restrictions are placed on cosmetic surgery; it is impossible to enforce such a rule. In fact, since 1990 the organization has allowed the use of padding in an effort to discourage participants from permanently altering their bodies for the competition. ”

It sounds to me like they’re more discouraged from having a family life, than from having plastic surgery.

“You’re married, divorced, HAVE A KID ?!? What the hell were you thinking? You could have had a nose job, a boob job, some other “minor” scalpel jobs, and you would have been at our level!”  No, thanks!

So, for anybody interested, the display of beauty will start next month, but I say there’s more beauty surrounding us than we’ll ever see in any Miss USA pageant. Even if that beauty comes from a pregnant woman, or a 30-year-old woman playing with her kid.

      It’s Monday, it’s the 17th of March, and it’s St. Patrick’s Day!

What are you doing on this day? Are you celebrating? If yes, how?

In Vegas everybody seems to have an extra good time! The green beer is pouring, the leprechauns are coming out, jeans are replaced by kilts, hair becomes green, and so does pretty much everything else. 

If you’re intersted where to go on St. Pat’s in Vegas, here are some ideas: cityguide

Looking for a genuine Irish Pub? Here’s some:Nine Fine Irishmen  -  3790 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109, inside New York- New YorkMc. Mullen’s Irish Pub  -  4650 W Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89103

The Tilted Kilt Irish Bar  -  3700 W Flamingo Rd, Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV 89103

Jack’s Irish Pub  -  2411 W. Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89102

Also, St. Patrick’s Day Festivities at Fremont Street Experience will end today, with a free concert by Whiskey Galore and lots of green beer.
St. Pat’s Parties are also a common thing in Vegas, like The Green Party, 6-9 p.m. March 17,  at Hard Rock Cafe, 4475 Paradise Road - promises lots of cool prizes for the greenest guests!

So enjoy today, wear a green wig, put on a ridiculously large green hat, dress like a leprechaun, stick green clovers on your cheeks, and drink lots of green beer!

Happy St. Patrick’s , everyone!

  Maybe many of you know already about the fact that prescription drugs have been found in the tap water of  America.  It’s scary…we knew that drinking water was contaminated, but now they added stuff you wouldn’t have thought possible…

How do the drugs get in the water? Here’s the scary part: waste-water is treated and then resent to us. That’s how the chemicals and drugs get there. Every time somebody takes a drug and then goes pipi, a small amount of that drug is eliminated through urine, and goes into the waste-water, to join other drugs that have also just been eliminated. Then the waste-water is treated (with chlorine - which makes the drugs more toxic), and voila! Back to us, in our cups, tea, soup, juice, or bottled water.

Even cows go pipi, and they are given muscle-building anabolic steroids, that they eliminate 10% of. Where does that go? In our water, of course.

A study shows the following 3 drugs having been found in the water of Las Vegas:

1. Carbamazepine. An anticonvulsant and mood stabilizing drug, used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder. It is also used to treat ADD, ADHD, schizophrenia and trigeminal neuralgia.  Common side effects include drowsiness, motor coordination impairment and/or upset stomach. Carbamazepine preparations may also greatly decrease a person’s alcohol tolerance. Pregnant women taking carbamazepine put their fetuses at increased risk for teratogenic effects. It has also been linked to serious adverse cognitive anomalies. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbamazepine)
2.  Meprobamate.  Is used as an anxiolytic drug. It was the best-selling minor tranquilizer for a time, but has largely been replaced by the benzodiazepines. For treatment of anxiety disorders or for short-term relief of anxiety. Meprobamate’s mechanism of action is not known. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meprobamate)
3. Phenytoin.  Commonly used antiepileptic. It has been suggested that phenytoin causes a reduction in folic acid levels, predisposing patients to anemia. It may accumulate in the cerebral cortex over long periods of time. Recently phenytoin is suggested to be a human carcinogen. The FDA has also warned of an increased suicide risk for any patients treated with anti-seizure drugs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenytoin)

Sad…

Sad…

Let’s hope for the best, and try to do our small part in making this world a better place for our children. Even if it’s just blogging about it. Raising awareness can help things change too.

read article about it here : http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-03-11-water-testing_N.htm

I’ve just found out about this today, and I wanted to share it with everybody. If you’ve ever heard about TripAdvisor.com, you’ll know it’s a site dedicated to travelers, it’s great, I’ve already subscribed today, and they seem to have a HUGE community. The best thing about it is that everybody there interacts with everybody else, you really have that sense of community. Their forums have hundreds of interesting topics, where you can ask other travelers or locals for advice about the places you plan to visit. You can even make friends and meet for a group holiday anywhere in the world.

In one of these forums about Vegas I’ve read something that seemed so cool, I had to share it with you!
In the Las Vegas forum, MadokaRN started a thread called  “June 24th MEGA M&G–Everyone is Welcome (march update)”.

Him and some others are organizing a trip to Vegas, that they named “MEGA Meet&Greet“, the main event having place on June 24, 2008 (Tuesday). The series of events starts Saturday, June 21. You can view the activities planned here: http://www.geocities.com/madokarn@verizon.net/

More than 100 people are going to attend to the event so far!

The activities include slot play, Laughlin bus excursion, stripping lessons!, limo ridding, and more!

So if anybody plans to be here in June, maybe you should take a look on this forum and make some friends. This seems like such a fun meeting, plus there will be discounts for groups!

I will try my very very best to be there for MEGA M&G, even for a couple of days, and I promise to post about it at the end, with pictures!

Downtown Las Vegas is on it’s way of becoming the city’s main cultural attraction. Yes, not the Strip with it’s Bellagio, but Downtown!

Known as “18b” (as the original Arts District area consisted of 18 blocks), the Las Vegas Arts Districtis located immediately south of downtown Las Vegas in an area bounded by Commerce Street, Hoover Avenue, Fourth Street and Las Vegas Boulevard (at Charleston) and Colorado Avenue.

On the first Friday of each month, we have the “First Friday” festival, where up to 10,000 visitors come downtown. The event provides food and beverage vendors, bands performing in the streets and artists displaying their works. A $2 donation is requested, which is redeemable for discounts on beverages at certain downtown establishments. The gated entries are located along Casino Center Boulevard, Colorado Avenue and Main Street, and Colorado Avenue and Third Street.

The Arts Factory (101-109 E. Charleston Blvd., Downtown. 702/676-1111) is the heart of the 18b Arts District, where you will find a display of fine art and local culture.

Jim Murren is the president and COO of MGM-Mirage, and the leader of  the CityCenter Project. The $470 million in private donations will build the Smith Center for Performing Arts downtown. It will open in 2011. The Las Vegas Art Museum also has plans, in 2009 will move to a new building on Sunset (now it shares space with the West Sahara Library).

So little by little, the Downtown area of Las Vegas (known to be a lower-class version of the Strip, and the “bad” side of the city) will reclaim it’s glory, becoming the main cultural attraction. As Las Vegas is booming, the emergence of a strong cultural alternative for the gambling frenzy on the Strip is thought to bring in more visitors, and make Las Vegas known as a cultural city, not just as a gambling destination.

You can find a nice list of Las Vegas art galleries HERE !

http://www.theartsfactory.com/

http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/Government/7550.htm?ID=

http://www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org/

http://blogs.lasvegasnow.com/downtown/2008/02/26/7930497/

a conversation between Bush and Condoleezza Rice

I don’t go to the mall very often. I don’t like shopping in crowded places like that where everybody shops. It’s all the same, you saw a mall you’ve seen them all. Plus almost everything there is expensive, and most of the times ugly, low quality and kitsch (still at a high price thou).

Well, what annoys me most about the Mall is… the kiosk vendors. I hate them! Sorry, nothing personal. You might be really cool if I get to know you. Actually, I take it back. I don’t hate you. I hate your damn job! Your job description is “annoying people at a maximum level, so they get to a point where they’re so frustrated they’ll buy anything to get away from you”.

Guess what? I had a job like this. I figured I’d work part time in a mall kiosk to make some extra money. Kiosk vendors aren’t paid, they just make a commission from what they sell everyday. The boss gives you a “script” you have to learn, and then you’re “taught” you have to be very aggressive, or else… you’ll go home with having wasted your time for nothing, and if it happens too often you’ll be fired. I kept the “job” for 2 days. Told my boss I couldn’t do it, it just wasn’t for me.

You can understand why they’re so aggressive, they have to make a sale, no matter what. I understand that… But… I got a job at McDonald’s after “quitting” the kiosk position. It was waaay better. Why can’t they do that? Who wants to annoy people for a living and have an insecure income that’s totally dependent on other people?

I know some folks just  can’t say “no” to persuasive people, even if they know in the back of their minds that they’re being cheated into buying something useless, that they don’t need, for a higher price than normal. Not me. Actually, although I have a phobia of this kiosk aggressive vendors, I have to admit I enjoy saying “no” to them! Really, I don’t think they get such a blunt response from too many people, judging from the stunned looks on their faces.

Walking by a kiosk, a woman starts yelling at me: “Miss, miss! Can I see your nails? Show me your nails! Let me see them!” I don’t stop, nor walk faster. Keep my cool and my regular pace. She follows me: “Do you have fake nails? Can you show it to me?”. I turn around and say : “No, thank you”.

What annoys me most is when they touch your skin, your hair, or take your hand to give their “expert” opinions about how dull your hair is, or how ugly your nails are. “Oh, your hair feels so dry! Come over here for a second, you will love this!” “It’s the freaking desert Ma’am, my hair will look dry when it has no water in it, if you see me after a shower than it will be wet. But only for a minute, you see, this freaking Vegas weather tends to dry it fast! And if by dry you meant to say it’s ugly, your’s isn’t better. In fact, I think you got a wig on! How are you gonna advertise for something that you obviously don’t use? Oh, you do use it? It didn’t do you much good. You might wanna go to Walmart and buy a bottle of Pantene and a bottle of olive oil. Under 10 bucks”.

I never said that. I got no time or reason to argue. I just walk away and firmly say “NO, thank you”. Sometimes I have to add: “Not interested, thank you”. It’s trickier when they approach you with the question “are you from Vegas?”. Usually these people try to sell you time shares or other stuff like that, but I always avoid to answer, I just say “Not interested” or “Why?”. They don’t expect that. “Why? It doesn’t matter where I’m from, I don’t know you, why are you asking me personal questions?”.  Sometimes they ask you “can I ask you a question?”. Don’t play their game. Just say “I’m not interested”. You don’t have to feel bad about being blunt, they are also, you have to with them.

The saddest part about it is that I , for one, (and I’m sure many others) would wanna go to those little kiosks and look at the products, and maybe even buy some, if it wasn’t for the aggressiveness of the vendors. They just make me wanna run away, I know that if I’ll be heading that way and start looking at the products they’ll never leave me alone! So I just avoid them.

If I was the owner of a kiosk like that I wouldn’t want to scare away the customers, or chase after them, but make them come to me. You can do that by selling quality, affordable products, with a great presentation and a charismatic vendor. NOT a pushy, extremely rude vendor!

At one time I was in the mall with somebody that immediately fell into the vendor’s trap. She put salt on his hand and start rubbing, saying this and that, how good the product was… I stayed there because of him, and she began putting salt on my hand too. After a while he asked me what I thought, I said “I don’t want to buy it. I don’t need it. It’s too expensive. You can buy stuff like this a lot cheaper.” I was very blunt, but I didn’t care. The girl was looking mad, and we walked away.

Hihihi! It’s my guilty pleasure to mess with the mall vendors! Just think about it, they piss you off, so why not do it in return? Maybe that’s the solution to ending mall-kiosk-phobia and getting rid if these pests! Mess with them! Drive them crazy! It’s perfectly legal and I promise it will feel good. They want to show you something? Go along with them for the sake of it and after a 15 minute presentation just say “I changed my mind, I don’t want to buy anything! Besides it’s too expensive, you think I’m made of money?” It’ll drive them crazy. So what? They drove you crazy for 15 minutes. Payback is a mother… Plus, if everybody did it maybe they’d finally quit and get a real job.

I found out, to my surprise, that there are other people out there just as annoyed as me! Go figure! One of the articles you can read about people dealing with mall-kiosk-phobia is this http://www.fashionparamedic.com/2007/11/carnies-at-mall-open-letter-to.html

“As you’ve probably heard by now, we at Burt’s Bees are entering an exciting new chapter in our lives as a result of the recent sale of the company to The Clorox Company. It’s a great opportunity to help us better deliver against our mission of making truly natural personal products available to everyone, everywhere.” - Burt’s Bees website (http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/UtilityView?contentPageId=590&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=-1)

I was happy when I discovered Burt’s Bees; and there is a Sunflower Market close to me that sells their products, or better, used to. Apparently, some retailers have decided to drop the line form their shelves since they feel their mission is no longer compatible with the one of the new owners of the company. This was the case of my Sunflower Market. Such a shame. I couldn’t believe it.

I read a lot of comments about this “transaction” and most were very negative. It’s obvious people don’t like this even one bit. Every now and then there’s an optimist that says everything’s gonna be alright, and Burt’s Bees is still going to be the same. But it’s not the same.

Why?

Well, first of all, it’s so sadly ironic to be called Burt’s Bees and be bought by a company that’s called Clorox. Burt’s Bees = natural(the bee - benefic insect, produces honey, wax, royal jelly, etc.); Clorox = chemical(a commercial bleaching agent, a preparation of sodium hypochlorite, the company used to be called Clorox Chemical Company).

I don’t know about you, but for me the two are incompatible. Clorox produces mainly harsh cleaning agents, and Burt’s Bees…natural cosmetics.

The company acquired Burt’s Bees for $925 million net of an additional $25 million payment for anticipated tax benefits.

Corporate buyouts have become very popular with small green companies that promote natural products, and show interest in the environment. If I had such a small, profitable company like Burt’s Bees (that established itself as a quality brand name, that protects the earth and uses no chemicals), I would hold on to it, knowing that people are becoming more and more conscious and educated about the environment and about the list of ingredients of the products they use. Some years ago we might have not known what carmine ,  sunset yellow, or parabens are. But now more and more consumers open their eyes to the ugly, hidden world behind the corporate advertising for miracle, “natural” products. The reality you can read in the ingredients list shows you that the L’Oreal products you’re using, or that body cream from Garnier, have a ton of dangerous, harsh chemicals. That’s the case with most products that come from corporate America. That’s how they became so rich, by using cheap chemicals to make their products smell good, feel good and have a loooong shelf life. Not being concerned about YOUR health (here’s a good site I found that lists the chemicals you can find in products and their nasty side effects: http://www.health-report.co.uk/ingredients-directory.htm)

Clorox is smart enough to read the consumer reviews and the current trends, it’s really common sense. Just google it and you will find a world of people out there that say it loud and clear that they are aware of what those complicated, long terms for chemicals mean. It’s not “natural” and it’s not doing you any good. And more and more people are concerned with their health and refuse to buy chemicalized products. So the potential for an all natural company like Burt’s Bees was immense. I wish we had more small companies like that that truly care about us, not about their pockets. I, and many, many others will stand by them.

Burt’s Bees, I wish you would have stayed little and grow with our help and support naturally, like the products you advertise for. Why did you want to grow fast and unnaturally merging with a giant like Clorox? Clorox might want to straighten things out a little now, but the fact is that for years and years it had no respect for the environment and no concern about using natural ingredients. But you, Burt’s Bees, had a clean start, we had no bad memories about you. You were loyal to your campaign from the beginning. Until now.

Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injure someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2006) http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm

I live in Las Vegas, the city of entertainment, gambling, partying, and drunk driving
In the spring of 2007, there was an accident in Vegas that terrified the locals. A drunk 19 year-old provoqued a crash that killed 5 people, 4 of them children.
February 2007, a young women’s husband was killed by a drunk driver. 24-year-old Mauro, living in Las Vegas, went out just to get a snack, and had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Guess what? Just a few months later Mauro’s father was also badly hit and critically injured by a drunk driver.   (http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4915388)

Another driver under the influence (of anti-anxiety medication), Veronica Schmidt, ran into a Las Vegas bus stop in 2005 and killed 4 people (ages 36, 16, 16 and 14!). (http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-19-Fri-2005/news/27074456.html)

A man is arrested for drunk driving and has his license suspended. Then what does he do? He rides his motorcycle in Vegas, drunk again, and with no license. But, unfortunately, this time he doesn’t make it. He collides with a car and dies, May 2007. The man was former two-division world champion Diego “Chico” Corrales.
April 2007. Flamingo and Arville, Las Vegas. A 49 year old pedestrian is killed by a 28 year old drunk driver. He lost control and hit the woman on the sidewalk.
The 4th of July 2007. An 18 year old Matt Robb was walking to the bus stop, in the same intersection (Flamingo and Arville), when he was hit and killed by Megan Adkins. She’s in jail for DUI causing death and manslaughter. (http://ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?s=6752913)

I even found a website that is dedicated to car accidents in Las Vegas, offering education and legal help. http://www.lasvegascaraccidents.com .
The legal BAC (blood alcohol content) limit for Las Vegas is .08% (if you’re lightweight you might reach it even after 2-3 drinks, after 4 you’re intoxicated - a drink is considered a beer, a glass of wine, a cocktail).

I see so many drunk drivers on the streets of Vegas, that is really scary. They are ticking bombs waiting to go off, and nobody is safe around them.

I would equip all bars with breathalyzers, so people would be more aware of the reality of alcohol in their systems (after a few drinks you tend to forget). The bartenders and cocktail waitresses could politely offer a breathalyzer test to a customer that has had a few drinks and seems impaired. Then a good advice to call a cab or take a bus wouldn’t hurt. People that are alcohol consumers and also responsible citizens can afford to buy a personal digital breathalyzer to help them take wise decisions that can save lives.
I know most people come to Vegas to party, and in the process consume too much alcohol. The many casinos, clubs, bars offer drinks everywhere 24/7. If you’re gambling you will be treated to free alcohol (which can be very tempting). It’s OK to have fun and drink while in Vegas, but please don’t drive! I hear it all the time: “I drive better when I’m drunk!”. It’s not even funny. The families and friends of the ones involved in drunk driving accidents will surely not think it’s funny at all.
In case you didn’t know, in Vegas the buses run all night also, 24/7. And the taxis flock in front of many casinos. Use them. 
If you cannot walk straight, have trouble concentrating, feel sleepy, and know you had a little bit too much, than why would you want to be behind the wheel of a 4000 lbs vehicle going 55 mph?

http://www.lvrj.com/news/7458252.html

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6477144
http://www.lvrj.com/news/7458252.html
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6477144

It just bugs me how my world is divided in two when it comes to eating.

One part of my world is filled with huge isles of candy, snacks, cookies, juices, adds on TV for these products, big signs everywhere showing you how happy (and good looking) people who eat them are…. A real heaven where everybody can enjoy the sweet, juicy, sour, salty, bubbly, ecstatic bliss of the foods that feed your buds.

The other part of my world shows me a different reality, with articles written by real doctors (that know better!) about the bad effects of junk food, with sick people, from too much sugar, too many carbs, calories, artificial ingredients, chemicals, that make tumors grow inside you, make you forget stuff, get colds too often, have diarheea, get stomach pains, oh, and, worse of all, make you FAT!

Doesn’t it BUG you? If it’s a fact, it’s proven it’s bad for you, why do they act like nothing happend and still advertise for it? (Duhhh, dumb question, it just BUGS me, that’s all…)

“Hey folks, drink this new COKE, it will refresh you, give you energy, and make you look cool!” (they don’t say the part with “…also gives you an ulcer, a headache, and too much sugar!”)

“Everybody looooves McDonalds! Just give her a MD gift card so she can eat our delicious food whenever she feels hungry!”  ( ”…one of our burgers has enough calories to substitute 3 meals, so once a day is enough to eat McDonalds and stay fat for the rest of your life!Oh, and we have a special surprise in every meal: enough additives to give you cancer, and if you escape that, we will clog your arteries for a later heart attack”)

“ An emergency meeting of international health experts has begun in Geneva to discuss fears that crisps, chips and certain types of bread may cause cancer.”   -  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2064635.stm  (this was back in 2002)

And what they found out…

“Aspartame found primarily in diet drinks and the sugar substitute “Equal” (the blue stuff), causes memory loss, arthritis, and most symptoms akin to multiple sclerosis” -  “scientists have discovered that acrylamide is a cancer-causing chemical found in many American products […] McDonald’s French fries measured the highest levels, at least 300 times more than what the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency allows in a glass of water.” - http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/acrylamide.html

Wow!  Scary… And there’s alot more scary information out there for you. Just do some reasearch and you’ll think twice before you put something in your mouth…