Saturday, July 14, 2007

The Petcast is LIVE now!

Catch us in the chatroom frm 9-11 am PT -- that's right now -- for the live taping of "The Petcast!"

Come to LVRocks.Com and click on cam/chat.

see ya!

Friday, July 13, 2007

A Vexing Bathroom Mural


My apologies for laying off the blogging since I returned to Vegas from the funeral. It's been all I could do to simply focus on getting some work done and make up financially for last week. It is the curse of the self-employed that we must worry about money during a dramatic family emergency. I'll be posting a lot this weekend to make up for it, I suspect.

ANYHOW... let's get this party restarted with a little quiz for you. Take a good look at this mural above. It's recently been painted over the toilet at ReJavaNate, the brilliant independent cafe where I do most of my writing.

Can you help me identify all the buildings? This is what I've got from left to right:

Mandalay Bay, Luxor, DON'T KNOW A, DON'T KNOW B, DON'T KNOW C, Wynn Las Vegas, DON'T KNOW D, Stratosphere. Here's a closer look:

Anyone?

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

"The Strip" is LIVE from 7-8 pm PT TONIGHT!

Really this time... join us for the live chat during the show at LVRocks.Com at 7 pm PT (OK, we usually don't start till 7:05 pm PT!) as we record this week's episode featuring a news-breaking interview with the iconic Donny Osmond!

Plus, news from Vegas, the trivia question, the poll and, as always, the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week.

See ya later!

Monday, July 9, 2007

Believe it or not...

...Miles and I are doing a live show on Tuesday night. He asked if I was up for it; I am SO ready to get back in the swing. I'll fly back to Vegas early Tuesday; the funeral was today.

So join us if you can from 7-8 pm PT on Tuesday at LVRocks.Com for the live chat and our long-awaited Donny Osmond show. We will, I'm sure, discuss my grandfather but then get back to the Vegas news and all the rest of the stuff that you all crave.

Thanks for being so supportive through all of this. I'm too exhausted right now to write about the funeral and where I'm at emotionally. But I did want to let our weekly chatters know we'll be on tomorrow night. It'll be nice to be with you all at the conclusion of this dramatic time.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

R.I.P. Morris Friess, March 27, 1914-July 8, 2007

My grandfather died this morning.

Miles and I often debate euphemisms for that verb, since I'm a stickler for word economy and accuracy, and the term "passed away" always sticks in my craw. Yes, even in mourning I am a bit of a language curmudgeon.

That's him back in around 1991 with my grandmother and grandpa's sister, Aunt Sadie, browsing one of my earliest clip books. Other than me, they're all gone. And each of them died past 87 years of age.

We got the call from hospice at about 7:30 am today; it happened overnight and now my aunt is kicking herself over not staying last night. But, as I told her last night, when you're trying to go to sleep, it's easier when people aren't talking to you and the TV's not on. Grandpa wanted that peace to be on his way.

Or whatever. It's all in what you believe, what you need to believe, what makes these things seem better, more noble, more meaningful.

But now, this being a blog, I turn to a rant: AIRLINES SUCK. Bereavement fares are fictitious or, at the very least, anti-Semitic. That is, Jewish funerals are very quick affairs, no open casket and little pre-burial to-do. He died this morning, he'll be buried tomorrow at 2 pm in New York, then the weeklong period of mourning known as shiva occurs, largely a period of sitting around visiting with thoughtful relatives and friends and eating many bagels and whitefish. So, with just a few hours to arrange for Miles' crosscountry journey from Vegas to New York we discover the rates are obnoxiously high -- nothing short of $360 each way. Just too much. With the "bereavement fare" charade. I actually hung up on the reservationist for Delta, the airline of my salvation just a day earlier, when she started citing a fare of "One thousand two..." Click!

So I'll go it alone, although I'll be with my entire family. And I'll hightail it back to Vegas early Tuesday morning and Miles, who was going to visit his family in Atlanta the same day, will leave one day later so we can be together for a day. Thank goodness for Southwest Rapid Rewards tickets and the affordability and flexibility they provide.

And so it goes. I'll be giving a eulogy tomorrow for my grandfather, whom I adored and admired, on behalf of my sisters, their kids and my cousins. I'll post that later tomorrow since everyone's been so kind and since I really will want the world to know what a marvelous man Morris Friess was.