Day of Arbeit

The long Labor Day weekend came and went and of course it has been way too short. As usual. But George and I managed to make it a very relaxed and enjoyable one.

We saw one hilarious comedy show with a very potty-mouthed and no-holds-barred Joan Rivers at the Venetian Showroom, met friends for a nice Italian dinner at Brio at Town Square and caught up on movies and specials which we’ve recorded on our DVR over the last few weeks. Good thing too because we ran out of recording space.

In-between we just tinkered around the house and backyard, worked out, took nice walks in our park, bought some groceries for the week and cooked some delicious food.

Needless to say that we’ve packed an additional pound or two on the scale, despite our working out and walks in the park. These holidays, as few and far between as they seem, do come with a price. But it’s a price we’re happy to pay.

And here we’re off again to another work week. But luckily it’s a short one. The next weekend can’t come soon enough.

Some things will never change.

Below are a few random photographic slivers from the last few days. I also took a picture of the birthday cards I’ve received. Can you spot the one you’ve sent me? Once again thanks to all.

Hier nun schnell wieder etwas auf Deutsch. Damit meine Familie und Freunde in Deutschland (...und in Kanada?!) nicht denken daß ich sie total vernachlässige. Gestern feierten die U.S.A. den Labor Day Feiertag, was man in etwa mit dem Tag der Arbeit am jeweiligen 1. Mai vergleichen kann. Natürlich geht es hier weniger politisch ernst zu wie z.B. in Europa. Das wäre nun doch ein wenig zu sozialistisch und daher absolut unamerikanisch. Wo kämen wir da auch sonst hin?! Ich konnte mir an dieser Stelle ein bischen Zynismus einfach nicht verkneifen.

Dafür ist hier an solchen Tagen das Grillen draußen im Garten angesagt. Oder man sieht sich zuhause oder in irgendeiner Bar mit einen Haufen anderen Leuten Footballspiele im Fernsehen an. Oder ärgert sich wieder einmal insbesondere über den alljährlichen Chaos auf den verstopften Autobahnen und überfüllten Flughäfen. Dieser Feiertag kündigt auch gleichzeitig das offizielle Ende der Sommer Saison an und natürlich “freuen” sich alle Kinder das sie wieder zurück in die Schule dürfen.

Wie auch immer, für George und mich war es nur wichtig das wir wieder ein langes Wochenende geniesen konnten. Wir werden hier in den Vereinigten Staaten nicht unbedingt mit freien Tagen überschüttet. Also machen wir aus jeden einzelnen Feiertag das allerbeste daraus.

Wir sahen eine recht ausgelassene und lustige Show mit der bekannten Komödiantin Joan Rivers in einem der vielen Las Vegas Casinos, traffen uns mit Freunden zu einem italienischen Abendessen und sahen uns viele der Spielfilme und Fernsehspecials an, die wir im laufe der letzten Wochen auf unseren Digitalrecoder aufgenohmen hatten. War auch höchste Zeit, da uns mittlerweile der Platz auf dem Recorder ausging.

Zwischendurch pfuschten wir im Haus und im Garten herum, machten Sportübungen und sind viel im unserem Park gelaufen, haben unsere Wocheneinkäufe erledigt und haben viele leckere Gerichte gekocht.

Trotz aller sportlichen Tätigkeiten haben wir es geschafft ein oder zwei zusätzliche Pfunde auf die Waage zu legen. Es scheint als ob man für diese Feiertage, so selten sie auch vorkommen mögen, immer ein Preis zu zahlen ist. Aber mit diesen Preis können wir ohne weiteres leben.

Nun hat uns allerdings der Alltag wieder zurück. Immerhin wird es eine kurze Arbeitswoche werden. Und das ist schließlich auch etwas wert. Aber das nächste Wochenende kann nicht schnell genug kommen.

Einige Dinge, so scheint es, werden sich wohl niemals ändern. Egal, in welchen Land man lebt.

Anbei sind ein paar Bilder die wir in den letzten Tagen gemacht haben. Under anderem sieht man einige der Geburtstagskarten die ich bekommen habe. Könnt Ihr Eure Karte erkennen, die Ihr mir geschickt habt? Nochmals nachträglich viele herzlichen Dank.

Birthday Cards...which one is from you?
Geburtstagskarten...welche kam von Dir?

One even came with glittery things
Eine Karte enthielt sogar Glitzerdinger

Labor Day Relaxation
Entspannen am Feiertag

The new Westgate Tower at the Planet Hollywood Resort on the Strip
Der neue Westgate Hotelturm des Planet Hollywood Resorts am Strip

I'm just intrigued by any kind of light reflections and shadow play
Mich fasziniert einfach jegliche Art von Lichtreflektionen oder Schattenspiele

Labor’s Sweet Fruits

That’s what we’re going to be tasting this weekend. In form of a long weekend due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Even though George and I just enjoyed a wonderful long weekend, we’re already in desperate need for another one. Work this past week has been rather exhausting.

Today also marks George’s first official day as a teacher’s assistant. He’s going to be thrown to a pack of wolves...I mean...a class of third graders. I hope these little wolf cubs are gentle with him. And the teacher too.

Let’s also hope that the little rascals don’t tear him up too badly because right after work tonight we’re off to see Joan Rivers at the Venetian Showroom. We got the tickets a while ago and are really looking forward to some “bleeping” fun. She’s hilarious. We love how she’s making fun of everything and everyone and especially of her greedy self and the millions of plastic surgeries she’s been through already. We saw her comedy special on Logo TV the other day which was taped in London. I was laughing so hard that I almost peed in my pants.

A friend and former colleague I used to work with when I was still living in Germany is going to visit us next February. It’ll be so much fun. She will be staying with us for a few days with a friend of hers and then rent a car to drive either to California or Arizona or both. Either way, I’m happy to see her again. The last time I saw her was when I was visiting Germany back in 2001.

Have you noticed that I didn’t unleash a ton of political rants this time? And boy...is there a ton to rant about! But I’m going to restrain myself. There’s nothing to be done about mass insanity and that’s that. George and I just keep to our circle of friends and family whom are sane, intelligent and compassionate.

Yes, believe it or not. There are actual Americans who are really sane, intelligent and compassionate. A handful out of millions of idiots. Better than nothing I suppose. We take that.

Oops! Well, there it was. A little political rant. But it was just an itsy-bitsy one.

Happy Labor Day, y’all!

Wait a minute...isn’t that also some communist, socialist holiday? The wingnuts will find some crazy way to blame Barack Obama for the atrocity of having a holiday too.

Dang it! I just can’t help myself, can I?

I shut up now.

To Boldly Go No More

The home page of Star Trek: The Experience's web site (www.startrekexp.com), which has already been taken down.

One of many things we did over the Labor Day weekend was trying to squeeze in one last visit to the “Star Trek: The Experience (STE) attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton. George’s brother was also in town visiting us over the long Labor Day weekend, so us three space cadets ventured out to encounter some Klingons and being invaded by the Borg.

“Star Trek: The Experience” (STE) is closed now. It’s last day was on September 1st, after a 11-year mission to explore a strange new world, called Planet Vegas. Then reality and greed of corporate America has put a screeching halt to the exploration of the final frontiers of space. Due to some disputes of the leasing agreements of the attraction between Paramount Pictures, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company and the Las Vegas Hilton, it was decided to cease operations altogether. All the outcry and pleas of thousands of Star Trek fans to reconsider and keeping this mecca for Trekkies open, went unheard. The attraction also had seen better days and it’s visitor numbers plummeted over the last few years, which also helped to set all phasers on stun.

Although I like “Star Trek,” I’m certainly not a Trekkie. Neither is George and his brother. I do not know the registry numbers of the various Star Fleet vessels or each and every single alien species ever introduced in the Star Trek universe. However, I did enjoy STE, the Deep Space Nine Promenade with it’s stores, Quark’s Restaurant and all the actors who got into character as Klingons, Ferengis or Andorians.


This is me with an Andorian.


A model of the U.S.S. Voyager hovers above the dining guests of Quark's Restaurant & Bar.

The ultimate reason for STE’s existence were it’s two rides. The older one was a flight simulator type ride, called the “Klingon Encounter.” The other, more recently added ride was “Borg Invasion,” a so-called 4-D attraction.

Before boarding either one of the rides, guest would walk through an expansive exhibit of original Star Trek costumes, props and artifacts which were used in all the four television series and the ten motion pictures. People could also pass the time by reading very extensive historical time lines of Star Fleet, their starships and missions and their encounters of intergalactic species and other worldly places. It’s always been quiet interesting and fun. The massive models of two versions of the U.S.S. Enterpise, Voyager and a Klingon Bird of Prey, all suspended from a massive black, starlit space ceiling, were quite impressive.


One of two giant models of the starship Enterprise.
This one is Enterprise-D from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."


While people were waiting in line for the rides, they could look at hundreds of Star Trek artifacts being displayed in a impressive exhibition.

Since this would be the last weekend of operation, STE was drawing a huge attendance. People from literally the whole world were coming to help sent off STE on it’s last few missions. Some people were dressed up as Star Fleet Officers, Borg and other curious characters. And there was a long waiting line to get on these two rides. Even though we got there early in the day, we still had to wait over an hour for the more popular Klingon Encounter ride.

We’ve never been on the “Borg Invasion 4-D” attraction before and the line for it wasn’t as long. And now we know why. This ride was just lame. The pre-show was more exciting, with real-live actors playing the Borg as they are trying to “assimilate” the Star Fleet crew and the guests who just happen to be right in the middle of a Borg attack. The 3-D film was surprisingly unimpressive and the simulator itself barely noticeable. In the end I couldn’t believe that millions of dollars were invested into such a boring ride. It was utterly disappointing.

On the other hand, the original ride called “Klingon Encounter,” was still a lot of fun. The waiting line for this one was way over one hour long. Once it was finally our turn, we and a small group of other guests were “beamed” aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and after being led through some corridors, ended up on the all too familiar and “fully functioning” bridge of the Enterprise. This still being part of the pre-show, we then ended up on the actual ride which was essentially a flight simulator, environed by a giant movie screen.


This was taken from the STE web site before it was decommissioned.
The bridge of Enterprise-D, part of the "Klingon Encounter" attraction.

The story line for this ride goes like this. We were accidently “beamed” through time and space to the 24th century and ended up on the Enterprise. One person in our group of riders is a descendant of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Klingons are attacking to kill that one descendant. So we are put on a runabout shuttle to be “time-warped” back into the past and hopefully safety. Of course, the Klingons are after us, attacking and shooting at us and we all end up in present-day Las Vegas. Which, by the looks of the film, is still sometime in the mid 1990’s. When our vessel flies over the nightly Las Vegas “Strip,” one can still see the long-gone Sands Hotel & Casino (now the Venetian), the Holiday Casino (now Harrah’s) and the old neon marquee of Caesars Place, promoting the Moody Blues, where now the ever popular Forum Shops mall stands. Hilarious!

Anyway, we all somehow make it back to the Las Vegas Hilton safe and sound. Good thing too because now we can continue to feed the slot machines or whatever else visitors do when visiting Las Vegas these days. After our brief intergalactic stunt, George, his brother and I decided to head on over the Planet Hollywood Casino, formerly the Aladdin, to enjoy a nice dinner at their Planet Dailies coffee shop.



Thomas' new girl friend, a Klingon beauty. K'plah!

It’s kind of sad to see “Star Trek: The Experience” close down. But I guess, that’s the sign of the times. The Disneyfication of a highly themed Las Vegas had it’s heydays in the 1990s and nowadays Las Vegas re-inventing itself again as an adult Disneyland. And the nerd factor of Star Trek doesn’t fit the bill of Las Vegas’ new vision of trendy clubs, sophisticated restaurants and high-end shopping.

Oh well, live long and prosper. Just not in this century.

And most definitely not on this planet...called Vegas.




Both photos above show the Space Quest Casino inside the Las Vegas Hilton, which leads into the "Star Trek: The Experience" attraction.