Multigenerational Multicultural

Sitting in my kitchen this morning it struck me how much our family is like Las Vegas, multicultural. My American Indian grandson is eating his cereal, my Japanese husband is sleeping on the couch, my Eurasian daughter is upstairs waking her two daughters whose father is half-Jewish. My son's two Irish/British/Japanese daughters are off from school today for President's Day. My daughter is mistaken for Hispanic as is one of her daughter's. My half-Hispanic niece is working today, my half-German nephew is on his days off, my mom is German, English and Scottish and my dad was French, English, Indian and Irish. Oh, our dog, is an Akita from Japan, our fish are Siamese fighting fish and our frog is from, well, his mother.

We are five generations here in Las Vegas, all, like most Americans, from somewhere else, from California, Vermont, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Scotland, France, Canada, England, Israel, and, well you get it, I'm sure. Neither can you tell by looking at us how 'small town' or multicultural are lives are. Our 'small town lives' reside in the middle of a big city. My grandson asks me, "how many toes does a frog have," as I'm reading an article about increasing crime in 'Sin City' the 'City that never sleeps.'

We live the midst of hotels and casinos, night life, and neon excitement, and we feel their presence in our quiet lives, daily. We live in a city of transients; we've lived here since the mid 60's. We go to Chinatown to buy 'nori' and then stop by the Supermercado for 'pico de gallo.' We go to th Haufbrau House for dinner and Soporo's for lunch. We buy corned beef to make for St. Paddy's Day, and hot cross buns for Easter. Appearances can be deceiving.

Oh, and by the way, a frog has four toes on the front legs and five on the back legs.

Shootings

Shootings at schools. I don't get it. I don't want to get it. Two shootings today, at schools. Palo Verde High School and Whitney Elementary School ... two transported ... one fatality, a 9th grader. A patron gives me a lopsided grin at the announcement ... "Yeah, Palo Verde" is his only response. Where's the horror? Where's the tightened jaw? Where's the pain? A lopsided grin.

"Palo Verde? Oh, that's over on the other side of town" a random wave towards the north. "Up there." So, that's okay? I bite my tongue, may I never become accustomed to violence, so that a casual response sufices. Ninth grade, fourteen or fifteen years old, an unlived life, leaving grief and loss in its wake. Ninth grade, math, science, p.e., movies, boyfriends, girlfriends, going to the mall, giggling with friends, screaming at scary movies, complaining about cleaning up, staying up late, 'whatever', practicing foul language, showing off and then hiding. Ninth grade. Never tenth grade, never prom night, never holding hands, never never when ninth grade ends with ninth grade.

Windy?

Wow, what a windy night, and we've got another one coming tonight.
Maryland Parkway was dark, parts of Trop and Flamingo were too, and probably other parts of town as well. Driving home after 6 I could feel the wind pushing against my car as I kept reminded myself that the car is heavy the wind won't push it over. On the freeway some slowed down (me) others ran their bumper (the car behind me) because he couldn't get around anyone so decided I was the most likely to move (sigh). I couldn't even see his headlights he was so close.

But I made it home (obviously) early enough to get in a game of raquetball at the rec center before crawling home, into a hot shower and collapsing into bed. No homework then, and the dentist today (groan). But ... it's not cold here ... much ... and it's not windy here ... yet ... and the dentist's ad says that he's gentle ... we'll see and I'll let you know.

Las Vegas Scene

Check out LasVegasVegas.Com. A little glitzy at the top of the page, but good information, well written, lots of pictures, for those who are literally impaired and overcompensate visually. Who's taking over for Celine Dion, how many 'who's, that is, and more.

And for local news, forget Channel 3, 13, 10 and 8. Logon to http://www.topix.com/city/las-vegas-nv. Just trying to find local news that's not old on the channels is exhausting, time consuming and just too frustrating. Bring it into the 21st century or stand back and let others do the job for you.

I'll post more sites, or please, jump in and make some suggestions.

Ebay Blues

So the consumer wins again, sort of. Well, Ebay has learned, as companies before, that there is power in numbers, especially if the numbers threaten a boycott. Imagine what Ebay stock would look like if there were, say, five members trading? Hmmm. Well, Ebay, read the numbers and figure it out. If you keep consumers happy they will trade, if not. Even big companies can lose their client base (all of their sellers and buyers) if they piss them off badly enough.

Oh, BTW, the fuss about sellers leaving bad rap's on buyers; remember, that works both ways.

Yahoo Dentistry

Wow, it is so expensive to go to the dentist ... that border towns in Mexico are offering dental care, inexpensive dental care, for customers. They even pick them up at the airport and drive them back to the airport after their appointment.

I thought about it. I need a root canal and my dentist thinks that I need to go to an endodontist .. fancy name for expensive - expensive dentist that does dental surgery. Ouch in both pocket and mouth. The good news ... my insurance pays 80% for root canals. The bad news, there is a $1,200 cap for each year ... wow ... that's one root canal and one crown and I'm out of pocket about $900.00

Maybe Taco Bell is not the only good reason to make a 'run for the border.' Hmmm.

OJ ... not the Juice

So, OJ Simpson is in the news again, this time in Las Vegas. What will he not do? We don't know, but we're watching and waiting. His lawyer is doing the 'it's not fair' thing. You remember that. When you were a kid, you heard it, and said it. Now that you're grown up you still hear it, and maybe still say it. I hear it from my grandkids all the time. Life isn't fair ... get used to it.

But who does? Apparently not OJ. His lawyer doesn't think it's fair that he's being prosecuted for taking his own stuff back. Well, if it's not in your house, taking something from someone else's house is, if I remember right, stealing. So I guess when OJ steals, or I'm sorry, takes his own stuff back, he does it in a big way. That would explain the charges of kidnapping, and armed robbery.

He doesn't think it's fair either to mention the homicide of his wife back in the mid 90's. He also doesn't remember any guns being involved in the robbery. That lack of memory explains a lot about his wife's homicide too, maybe.

His attorney's stated that they're going to let the documents speak for themselves. Well, this should be interesting.