Hi Guys

Hey, I know I owe a lot you you email, but I wanted to update you on what is going on.  Mom, Dad, and Helen are here for the week and we have been having a good time!  Eric and I picked them up from the airport in San Diego on Christmas Day.  We got lost on the way home from the airport a few times, especially while looking for a McDonald's, which wasn't open anyway!  I took them to Vista Point overlooking the valley at sunset.  It was really pretty.  We ate here with Naomi because Thomas was working and we didn't burn anything this time!

Tuesday we rode the Tram to the top of Mount San Jacinto.  Mom, Eric, and I took one of the desert view trails around the top of the mountain and saw some spectacular views.  I started getting dizzy on one of the trails because it is such a sheer drop off.  I kept thinking about vertigo, which our tour guide at the Grand Canyon told us happens when you look down and lose your depth perception.  I got away from that precipice real quick!  Anyway, the Tram rotates 360 degrees on the way up and down,  which if it doesn't make you sick, is really fun!  We went out to dinner at Wally's Desert Turtle, which was owned by a guy who had a chain called the Velvet Turtle.  I really didn't want to know what his fascination with turtles was!

Wednesday we went to the Palm Springs Air Museum.  My Dad is a nut about war planes, and they had a very nice collection, which they actually fly at least twice a month.  Then we went to the Palm Springs Desert Museum, which had this cool exhibit by Duane Hanson.  He sculpted live subjects out of fiberglass and acrylic and they looked so real I expected them to start breathing!  We went to eat at the Elephant Bar, which has a safari motif, and has these cool elephant ear shaped fans above the bar that swish back and forth.  I wish I had a pic of them!

Anyway, today I took them to the Living Desert, which I think I've talked about already.  It's a wildlife and botanical park.  We went to see the animals mostly, and actually got to see the cheetah this time!  I found out that the Disney illustrators came to the Living Desert to sketch the meerkats and warthogs, then drew Timon and Pumba from them for the Lion King!  Pretty cool, eh?  We went to Eric's restaurant and had the most exquisite meal, and to our surprise it was all free!  There's a fire pit outside the restaurant where you can warm your toes after dinner, if you ever decide to go.  It was so good!

Well, I will write more about my adventures with my parents later.  I am about to kill both of them but it is also nice to have them here!  Helen is staying with me, so at least she gets a break!  Hope your holidays are wonderful!

Pics from Vegas

hello again

Hello to all!  Last week was really busy.  Eric was taking a management class for the Marriott all week and I was at the hospital every day but Tuesday.  We did get to have dinner together, though, which was nice.  We went to see Proof of Life Friday.  It was pretty good.... the shots of Ecuador were beautiful!  I can't wait to see Auda and Jared's pics from their honeymoon there!  Just wanted to let you all know that Eric and I will be coming home February 22-28.  I'll be home the whole time and he will be there about three days, maybe four.  Mardi Gras is the 27th this year and I can't wait!

In other news... I went to Vegas this past weekend with Karla and her friend Sarah.  It was a blast!  It is a desert town, except it's considered high desert (whereas we are in the low desert).  The difference is the weather.  Vegas is surrounded by four mountain ranges, like we are, but they actually have four seasons.  It was cool when we were there and actually rained!  They shut down everything for the rain too.  The Eiffel Tower at Paris shut down for a drizzle.  It's funny what they think rain is, and what it actually is!

Anyway, we went to see the Blue Man show at Luxor the first night.  The guys on the Pentium 3 commercial have their own show and it was interesting, but I wouldn't say hilarious like they advertised.  The Luxor is the one with the pyramid and the sphinx out front.  It is a cool hotel, but the only business I think they get is from the show because no one was gambling there.  Afterward we went to see a 3D Imax film starring the Simpsons.  It was interesting wearing space goggles for the film!

Monday we took a bus tour to the Grand Canyon.  We stopped at Hoover Dam, which is prettier at night.  Our guide, Rocky, told us how the first scaler to die there during construction died April 13 and the last died the same day, thirteen years later.  What was really freaky was they they were father and son.  It was very interesting driving through the mountains in that bus.  He kept talking about smacking mirrors with the truckers, which thankfully never happened.  We stopped at a Mobil station that sold old Route 66 memorabilia.  It was nice, but i wasn't paying $5.99 for a magnet!

Needless to say, that Grand Canyon is beautiful.  We went to the South Rim where you can see most of the colors.  There is a ranch at the bottom what you can take a mule ride down to.  The canyon is six thousand feet deep, and I don't think pictures do it justice.  It is something that you have to see.  There are trails along the South Rim and most of them have guardrails.  Supposedly they lose more people where there are rails than where there are not because they lean over to take pictures and slip.  Sarah and I liked going out to where there were no rails because it was a better view.  Karla was so funny... she kept flipping out about it and finally left us on one of the trails.  I'll scan the picture of me on the edge when I develop them!  It was good to see the canyon, but the bus trip was fourteen hours.  It was a little tiring.

We stated at the Alladin hotel, which has its own bazaar, sort of.  It's really a row of stores made to look that way.  There are these little guys who wheel you around in their carts too.  Tuesday we went to see Paris, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Harrah's, and the Venetian.  They weren't doing the gondola rides outside so we didn't go, but the singing was pretty good.  Supposedly the best places to gamble are the casinos that are paid for.  Harrah's is one of them but I lost my $1.20.  Paris is the prettiest inside because it has the smallest casino and the rest is devoted to parisian sights.  Bellagio is the prettiest outside because the pools all have blue and green tile at the bottom in these cool designs.  We saw a massive statue of David at Caesar's Palace, but I'll spare you the jokes.  He does have a nice butt though!

I had to leave Tuesday to go back to work, but I saw the prettiest sunset I have ever seen.  You drive through the mountains until about ninety miles from L.A.  The desert sunsets are pretty, but this one lasted about an hour and had every color you can imagine.  Alas, I was out of film.  In news of the weird, I passed an exit for Zzyzx Road.  I wonder who named it!  And I had to go through an agricultural inspection since i was coming from another state.  You can't bring fruit or vegetables into California unless they are inspected!  It takes bout four and a half hours to drive from here to Vegas.  All in all it was fun.  I didn't want to leave!

Other than that, not much else is going on.  Work has been hell because people are always really sick around the holidays.  But I'm sticking to stress relief measures and doing Ok.  I can't wait for my week off when Mom, Dad, and Helen are here!  I will write more later... until then Happy Holidays!

Hello, Hello, Hello

Time for a new update!  I forgot to tell y'all that we have been having fun.  Just kidding.  We went to Mikado's (a Japanese restaurant at the hotel) the other night with the manager from Tuscany's.  We sat at the sushi bar and the chef got us drunk on saki.  There was one that looked like milk.  It was all so good!

Sunday we went to Tom and Naomi's and watched the Sixth Sense again.  But before we did that Tom cooked and we drank red wine and solved all the problems of the world.  I feel like a real adult now!  I always couldn't understand how my parents could do that but it is definitely more interesting when we get to talk!  That was the first night since we've been here that we were out all night.  It was fun!

Thursday night we went to a restaurant called Tommy Bahamas with the manager from Tuscany's (again) and a server from Mikados (we helped set them up).  The food was good, but expensive.  A few people from my work met us there including my supervisor, who is really nice.  She told us we could get the same food at Spago's in L.A. for cheaper.  The thing is that here they cater to seasonal residents who have more money.  Her fiance is the make-up artist for Mimi on the Drew Carey show.  Very interesting!  Everyone that came was straight except one, if you're wondering.  They boys are leaving for Hawaii soon, and they recruited one of the other travelers that I work with to come with them.  Anyway, most of the conversation was about Drew Carey, so I won't bore you with that.

Eric and I went hiking Friday on the Pacific Crest Trail.  It runs along the mountain ranges from Canada to Mexico.  It's basically like the Appalachian trail on the East Coast.  It was nice, but it seems that every time we go hiking it's cloudy.  That makes it a little cooler than we would like... oh well!  It was fun anyway.  I think our next trip will be to L.A. after the holidays.  I am going to Vegas with Karla in two weeks!  I can't wait!

Other than that, life is boring.  Just kidding!  I am getting ready for Christmas and my parents and Helen are coming up... planning things to do while they're here.  It will be nice to see them.  It will also be nice when I finally get to go home again!  Well I will write more soon!  Take care!