If Everything That Can Go Wrong Does...

...then start over.

At least that must be what the MGM Mirage folks are thinking. So they have that big Bellagio blackout in 2004, then their reservation system goes berzerk at several resorts, then they have a car bombing at Luxor, then they have a shooting in the New York-New York casino, then a handful of construction folks die on the CityCenter site, then the Monte Carlo catches fire, then Ricin Man's relative ends up having stayed at the Excalibur. Or somesuch order. I'm a little too tired right now to get the chronology right.

And then a transformer explodes and they're back to a power outage. Wow.

Also wow is that, yet again, I'm on the road when some sort of disaster strikes the Strip. I might just be MGM Mirage's good-luck charm.

Miles and I were actually about to fall asleep in Fribourg, Switzerland when my cell buzzed with a call from the editor of a national publication. We didn't answer -- that would've cost a bundle -- but I did head News.Google.Com and saw the blackout in the news. Happily, it all ended quickly with nobody hurt -- although I'm sure they're comping those folks stuck in the elevator.

Whew.