Yet Another Passage To India

I'd better finish my story about the last India trip quick. Well...starting tomorrow. We are now making plans to go again in April. It will probably be finalized next week. I feel like I just unpacked.
There is always a celebration of some sort going on there.
The celebration is for Nephew this time. It has the potential to be huge. Like a wedding, huge. A guest list was compiled by MIL, FIL & SIL and so far it was around 450 people. Husband almost had a panic attack. Nothing can be simple there. Everyone is consumed with thoughts of "what will so-and-so think?" This is how such a large list was compiled. If you invite this person you have to invite that person because they will talk. Plain crazy. That is the way it is. In order to avoid this you can outsource the whole damn ceremony to a temple in another town. Husband is all for this idea because you can avoid having to invite 400 of your closest "friends." I say it should be Nephew's choice, after all it is his day.
Another problem with this whole thing is the fact that SIL is a widow. Indian society is cruel when it comes to widows. If you want a better idea of that, rent this movie. She is forbidden in certain temples and can't be involved in many prayer ceremonies. The one for Nephew, being one of them. It is very sad. If you were to meet her, you would love her. It is a heartbreaking situation for her to be in at a young age. The prospect of her getting remarried is almost nonexistent. The ceremony for Nephew that should be happy and festive will have a gray cloud over it, in a way.
Did I mention the heat factor? It will be well over 100 degrees. If we outsource the ceremony we will be traveling by vehicle to a village/town approximately 4 hours away. Electricity might be iffy and fans will be nonexistent. We will have to stay there overnight. Like camping. Yeah. Like camping. I have to tell myself it will be like camping. But I hate camping. The decision as to what the exact plans are will be made this weekend. I'm dreading it. Dreading it because I know how hot it will be this time. I experienced April in India last year and swore I would never do it again. I'm hot just thinking about it.

Button, Button, Who Has The Button?

Husband & I joined a fitness center in our new area. The choices are not good. None are near our house giving us plenty of excuses to skip a night here and there. I ended up making the final decision as to which one it would be based on size. It does matter. I can't stand the meat market type places where there are large rooms and all the equipment is close together. This new place is very small. I can't believe how small it is. But it never seemed crowded. Perfect.
Last week we went almost every night. On our first night one of the employees offered us a lanyard to keep our card keys for the door on. We declined. However when we got home we decided it would be a good thing to have. The last time we were there was Thursday. By the time we left, all the employees had gone home. This place is open 24/7 so there are times when you might be the only one there. Hanging on a hook next to the door were 3 lanyards. On our way out the door I grabbed one. We were slightly confused because there was something resembling a garage door opener on all three. I took it anyway and while walking to the car I attempted to attach the card keys to the garage door opener thing. I couldn't figure it out so we got in the car and left.
While driving away I realized that the garage door opener thing had a button on it and a red light that came on. The whole way home I was playing with it. Light on. Light off. Light on. Light off. What the hell was this thing?
Today I found out.
I got a call from the manager of the center. Did I by chance take one of the medical emergency buttons hanging by the door and leave with it? Oh holy shit. That's what it was! Apparently I set off a 4 hour "ordeal" where the fire department, ambulance and police showed up. Because all the employees had gone home, it was huge. The manager knew I took it because of the surveillance system. He reviewed the tapes and saw me take it. He wasn't mad or anything, just wanted to make sure I wasn't hurt. I apologized so many times. But I also let him know that no one ever explained to us what those were. There is also no sign or anything to say what they are really to be used for. I thought it was just a lanyard.
It was very embarrassing though. I don't even want to go back to that place now. The manager did ask if I could please return the button next time. I assured him I would. It might be riding around in the car. Or I might have thrown it away. I have no clue.

Filler

Until I can get my act together to type out a longer post, this is for you MK.

I was talking to my father on the phone over the weekend. He recapped a near collision in his beloved Corolla the day before.

"Your mother and I were driving down such and such road. For some reason I took my foot off the gas and slowed down. GOOD THING! This jackass ran a stop sign and almost hit us. He was hauling ass and we would have been toast. Your mother was shaken up. I took her home. Then I decided I'd had enough of the bad drivers around here. I got back in the car and went to the auto parts store and bought a brand new horn for the car. I went right home and installed it. Now...I can wake the dead! I got the loudest one they sold!"

He also got himself a concealed weapons permit and decided to get a new handgun.
I know.
You thought he already had one.
I'm truly scared now.

Going Bananas

The trip to Vegas started off with me getting held up in the airport security line for having an unidentified suspicious object in my carry on bag. The object in question was a banana. I thought it was some kind of joke.
Not.
So then we get to Vegas and head outside to get a cab. The cab queue was forever. We finally get one and we barely get the door closed when the driver shoots off like a bat out of hell. I now understand why he did this. He fully intended to "long haul" us. In the moment I couldn't understand why we needed to get on the freeway to get to the hotel when I could clearly see "The Strip" from the airport. But it was my first time there so I didn't question it. It cost us almost $30 for that trip. It wasn't until our return trip to the airport that we found out the fare shouldn't have been more than $10.
Bust.
I might be the last to know this and perhaps I did not do enough research. Apparently this "long hauling" is illegal. Too much competition between all the cab drivers in the area causes them to try and rip off the customers. To avoid this you must inform the driver that you do not want to get to your hotel via the freeway and threaten to call the cab commission and report him.
Remember that, kids.
Other than that, the trip was great. How can you have a bad time there? I didn't think it was too crowded. The weather was perfect. My legs have not forgiven me. I believe I could have walked home to California with all the walking I did in the 3 full days there.
We stayed at the Signature at MGM. It was a beautiful hotel. The location? Not so much. They constructed the 3 towers of the Signature in the backyard of MGM. The walk from the strip all the way to the towers was more than 10 minutes if you entered through the actual MGM entrance. Ten minutes and what felt like 40 miles.
I had one full day totally by myself while Husband was in meetings. I went to the breakfast buffet at Bally's. Then headed over to Bellagio to the art gallery where I saw a fantastic collection of Picasso's ceramics. After that I walked to a half price ticket place where I was hoping to get tickets to KA, but there were none. From there I visited M&M world and watched a 3D movie. It was then on to New York where I debated riding the roller coaster, but decided I was too chicken to go alone. Next I went to Excalibur and took a tram over to Mandalay Bay, walked around the hotel and got back on the tram and went to Luxor. I entered through the front doors of Luxor and started walking. And walking. Before I knew it I was all turned around. I couldn't find my way out so I sat down and played some slots. I was exhausted. Finally I found a way back to Excalibur and outside. Knowing that I was still 40 miles from the hotel room was horrible. But still I powered through! I even stopped in MGM's casino to check out the lion habitat, which was my very favorite thing.
We lost several hundred dollars in the slots. At one point I won $10, but quickly blew through it. The best "deal" we found was the players club at Wynn. If you get 25 points on your card you can get a free buffet. It was very easy to get the 25 points. We went to the buffet that night. I liked that buffet the best. We also went to the champagne brunch buffet at Bellagio.
As far as shows go, we only saw LeReve at Wynn. I highly recommend it. A very good show! Go for the cheap seats too. The first 2 rows in the whole theater are the cheap seats because they are in the "splash zone." I think people are nervous about this. However, it isn't like whales are going to jump out of the tank and soak you. I only got about 6 drops of water on me the whole time. Being so close to the action was great too!
I'm looking forward to going there again. The flight is only 1 hour and we're still in the same time zone. What more could you ask for?

Vegas, Baby

I'm off to Vegas tonight, for several days. Surprisingly enough, it is my first time going there. I'm excited to finally see what all the fuss is about. Maybe it is one of those love it/hate it places. We had wanted to see "Mystere" but apparently the cast is taking almost the entire month of January off. Bust. I couldn't decided on which other Cirque show to see there so I got tickets to one that is coming here in March instead. Instead we will see an unofficial Cirque show called LeReve. Hopefully it will be fun. I'm looking forward to buffet's and checking out all the casinos and getting free drinks.
I'll be back next week with a full report. Oh and maybe I will even finish my India story before I end up going again.

The Long December

Again, my apologies dear reader. I never intended to keep you hanging.
I'm trying to get back on the blogwagon.
Starting now.
With a picture of my new wagon.


I've forgotten how to properly post pictures in any kind of cohesive order. This is a picture of my Christmas present. It's an Acura RDX. It contributed to the Long December in many ways.

The purchase itself.
Husband and I tossed around the idea of getting a new car for a while. I happened to mention that it would be nice if I could get rid of my 1999 Acura while it was still in good condition. I know. I reread that sentence and it doesn't make sense at all. Why the fuck would you get rid of a perfectly good car in perfectly good condition and with only 63,000 miles on it?
Somehow, and I do thank the massive number of car commercials which ran incessantly during the long December for helping brainwash us, Husband agreed.
The thing about getting a new car when you don't exactly need one can be complicated. Especially if you have no idea what kind of new car you want. Sedan or SUV? SUV or Hybrid? Convertible or coupe? So many choices. So much time this decision can take. Especially if you decide to just test drive everything.
For almost 3 weeks we went on test drive after test drive. Dealer after dealer. Manufacturer after Manufacturer. Toyota. Lexus. BMW. Honda. Acura. Nissan. Saab. I might be missing one. Within each manufacturer, we drove model after model. One salesman even declared that we were "confused" and he said this in a Chinese accent which made it even more funny. After each test drive we would come home and study the cars online. Consumer reviews, Professional reviews, you name it. I studied forums. I studied features. I also made trip after trip to my local insurance company and collected quotes to aid in the decision. At one point I asked the owner if he didn't just want to hire me, I was there so many times.
Somehow we decided to go with the RDX. I don't even remember who finally threw their hands up and said we're getting it.
I drove it home.
Everything went well during the brief 30 minutes it took me to drive it from the dealer back home.
Buyer's Remorse.
It can hit you like a ton of bricks. Or you can accidentally hit it yourself.
Like when you don't manage to get the brand new vehicle into your garage without taking paint off the wall (and some wood too) and putting it onto the brand new vehicle. Or, perhaps taking paint off the brand new vehicle and leaving it on the wall. Yes. I. Did.
Needless to say, Husband was NOT impressed.
Not impressed at all. Enough said.
I got it fixed though. Sometimes it pays to return to the dealer and ask/cry for help. Help came to me in the form of an auto detailer there with a cash only side business. God Bless Mark. He took off the wrong paint and put back the right paint for just $75. I put his business card in my safe deposit box.
Buyer's Remorse.
Neither of us really loves this new vehicle. I like it, but I'm not in love with it. I now blame fear. Fear that something else will happen to it. Not if, but when. Unfortunately we are stuck with this vehicle for 3 years. In another December, 3 long years from now, it will be gone and maybe so will the Buyer's Remorse.

Happy New Year

Yes I know.
I have a blog.
It might seem like I have forgotten.
I have not.
It might seem like I'm turning into one of the C.'s.
I am not.
I have stories to finish and new ones to tell.
I will.
Trust Me.