Yesterday I cut out of work a bit early, hopped on a Hawker 800 with my girlfriend and her family, and flew to Las Vegas to catch Cirque Du Soleil’s “O” at the Bellagio. Except for a quick trip to the Green Valley Ranch last year, this was actually my first trip to Vegas since I moved to LA. (We ate at Michael Mina’s — I had the lobster pot pie; it was incredible.) We goofed, though … dinner ran until almost 8 so we missed “O” — we thought it started at 8 but it really started at 7:30. Rather than cry over spilled milk, we decided to make the most of it and just played in the casino for a few hours. Then we jumped on a Citation XL and got home by 11:30. I had a great time; Vegas is pretty cool. Someday I’m going to have to go for a long weekend or something.

Even though they allow for high-volume servicing and back-in-a-flash trips to the john, the point-and-shoot-a-stinky-deodorizer-cake oddity known as the men’s restroom urinal has been, for women, a constant enigma. But nothing will prepare you for the men’s room in the newly-designed Virgin Airways Clubhouse in New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, terminal 4: Urinals shaped like a woman’s mouth, dolled up with red lipstick, wide open and ready for business.

Forget what you may have heard elsewhere — the best breakfast in San Francisco is served at Caffe Delucchi Italian Resaurant. And if you’re trying to find a good steak in the city by the bay, look no further than MacArthur Park. I had a mouth-watering NY Strip that forced me to go into the kitchen and compliment the chef. You can’t go wrong at either of these establishments.

I can’t remember where I found this one, but Checking Out the Checkpoints - The curious irrationality of airport security is a great editorial.

I finally managed to finish all my Christmas cards last night. It figures that I would run out of stamps with three left - mom, dad, and Nana Rainy’s. People should start getting my Christmas cards around the first week of January, so that’s always pleasant. And of course I haven’t mailed any gifts yet. Oh well. I’ll try to do better next year. 2001 was pretty whacked for me all around anyway, so this is all par for the ‘01 course.
I’m off to Chris’ in San Diego to watch the Bucs game. While I’m gone, try out the new “dark” theme. I like it. And hey, look! Only about 1200 more entries to put in the correct category and I’ll be all caught up here. w00t!

The airlines are dropping prices like mad lately. I can hardly believe that Delta Web Fares is offering round trip tickets from LAX to Rome, Italy for only $314. That ticket would’ve been triple that a few months ago. I saw a commercial yesterday advertising $99 - $199 one-way tickets on American to anywhere in the continental US. I’ve flown twice since September 11 - well, four times, actually, since they were round trip - but after the most recent New York crash I’m pretty wary of flying. I just don’t trust security at the airports, and I don’t know that it’s going to get any better any time soon. I’m going to have to fly for the holidays, of course. What are you gonna do?

The airlines need to play an especially ruthless game of chicken with their customers since a seat on Flight 3206 from Miami to Chicago, unlike a washing machine, becomes worthless if it isn’t sold in time. So as every flight gets nearer, the airline is willing to accept less and less at the very time some of its passengers are willing to pay more and more. The infuriating rules about Saturday night stayovers and so on are a crude alternative to administering truth serum and asking, “So how much are you really willing to pay?”

This is an excerpt from Consuming Gets Complicated, a link I discovered on the consistently excellent blog Follow Me Here …. The essay makes a reference to how capitalism equates to a game of chicken between the consumer and the seller. A wealth of information on this type of situation, and how often it occurs in everyday life, can be found by reading Prisoner’s Dilemma by William Poundstone. It’s really a fascinating book and I highly recommend it.

Can we just talk for a second about how much I hate United Airlines? I would really like to buy a ticket from them. And I want to do it right now. They send me personalized eMails with special discount rates because I’m a “Mileage Plus” member. But y’know what? I can’t. Do you know why I can’t? I can’t because I don’t know my “Mileage Plus” account number. That is just idiotic.

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Orbitz is having a Fall Getaway Sale with fares from $68-$178 r/t. There have been all kinds of great deals lately on airfare, but this is definitely the time to be buying tickets …

So did anyone miss me last week? I have the feeling that nobody even noticed I wasn’t here. It’s okay. As much as I kid, it’s a feeling I know well. Whatever. While I was gone - and my week away from the keyboard was probably the longest I’ve gone without posting anything in almost year - I visited my family in New England. It was more fun than you could possibly imagine. My parents got divorced way back in the mists of time and my mom and my little sister and I moved to Daytona Beach, Florida. That’s where I was raised. (reared? brought up? nurtured? developed?) My dad had visitation rights (or something like that) for a few weeks every summer and Jenny and I would always spend a few weeks there. As I’ve gotten older (and months-long summer vacations disappeared) I haven’t been able to visit as often as I wish I could. (I’m sure there’s all kinds of grammatical problems with that sentence, but I just don’t feel like fixin’ it. I’m sure you know what I’m sayin’. Know what I’m sayin’?) So it was great to see my dad and the rest of my New England relatives. Here’s a quick review:

• Tuesday and Wednesday: Took at 10:30pm pst flight from LAX to JFK, then a shuttle to Logan. Dad was there at 9am est Wednesday and we went to his house in Portsmouth, RI and dropped off the bags and then jumped on the Ferry Schamonchi to Martha’s Vineyard. We had never been to the island and rented mopeds to tour. I’d never ridden a moped before, either! I think it made me itch a little for a motorcycle. It was really cool. We went back to Dad’s house and got some much-needed sleep.
• Thursday: We got up early and drove to visit my little brother Michael. He’s in the Coast Guard stationed in Gloucester, MA. That was quite the exciting trip! We got to ride on a 47′ mega-super-duper rescue boat all around the bay. Mike gave us a tour of the base and we had a terrific lunch at The Gloucester House. Then we returned to Portsmouth for an old-fashioned lobster and clam dinner that was faboo.
• Friday: We visited Newport, RI and some of my dad’s favorite lighthouses, which was hip. Then we packed our stuff and drove to pick up Nana Rainy in Somerville, MA and headed to Uncle Richie’s lake house in Acton, Maine. We stayed at the Mousam Valley Motel.
• Saturday: We spent the day water-skiing and tubing and playing at Uncle Richie’s house. (Here’s an awesome shot of my little sister Michelle tubing.) Most of the family came to visit! It was like a mini-reunion. At night we had a bonfire and my dad played guitar and we all sat around singing Irish drinking songs and talking about … well … everything that’s been happening in the two years since I was last there.
• Sunday: We goofed around some more at Uncle Richie’s and then returned to Portsmouth.
• Monday: I spent the morning uploading all the pictures from my dad’s new digital camera and then packed up and headed to Boston. We met Mike at Nana Rainy’s and then tried to go to the Coast Guard base in Boston so I could buy a cap with “Gloucester Coast Guard” on it, but they were closed for Labor Day. My dad got a great shot of me and Mike in front of one of the big Coast Guard cutters, though. We got to tool around Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall a bit, and then jumped on a 6pm est flight back to LAX. Got in around 9:30pm pst.

Did you know that if you have an extra $35,000 in your pocket you can visit the Titanic with National Geographic? How cool would that be?

“By 1,000 feet, all traces of sunlight will be gone and you will be immersed in total darkness. To conserve power, the MIR submersibles run without external lights, however, the pilot will occasionally switch on the lights to observe passing marine life.”

I got a chance to dine at the Rock Bottom Restaurant in La Jolla last weekend. I had the fish n’ chips and was surprised to be served a super salmon instead of the usual, generic ‘whitefish’ you get with that dish. I don’t normally go for the micro-brew, made-at-the-bar beers served at places like that, but the ale I had was pretty good. Chris, his girlfriend, and I had a good time. (And speaking of Rock Bottom … I wonder if anyone’s ever tried anything like this in the LA area.)

Visiting Chris in San Diego was fun. We had a great time. Plenty of margaritas, video games, bloody marys, sun, sports, and beer … This was his last weekend in California. He’ll be moving to Florida to live until he leaves to work on his PhD. I only made it down to La Jolla a few times, but I’m going to miss having that yutz on the left coast with me. It was comforting to know that I had a friend so close. Fairly soon I’ll be a loner again. Maybe this means I’ll finally start making it up to San Francisco to do some gallivanting with Jason. And, of course, lately I’m racking up tons of SkyMiles so you never know when I’ll be in your town …

I just have to do this:

Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC
Didn’t get to bed last night …

Actually it was National Airlines, but it’s still great to be back in LA.

Grrr … and, even though I can access GreyMatter to post, for some reason the folks at AT&T have determined that davidgagne.net is a porn site or something. The Public Phone 2000i won’t let me view my own page. So. I guess I’ll go read Rolling Stone. The paper, handheld, old-fashioned version. In a chair. At the airport. Bah.