I can't stand American Idol (called Britain's Got Talent in, er, Britain) but I'm gonna bet that when they coined the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover', they had something like this in mind.

6th trip to Vegas / 2nd mini-trip to California.

WHEN I TELL PEOPLE my brother lives in Las Vegas, they generally get a strange look on their face, as if they can't understand why anyone would want to live next to a casino. For the record, outside of the strip, Las Vegas basically looks like Boca Raton, with Palm trees everywhere and miles of modern highways separating shiny new gated communities with pools and southwestern style terra cotta roofs. Where they live, there are no casinos, no hookers, no neon lights, and no douchebags behaving badly at bachelor parties.

I was there last week for the 6th time. We took a little road trip to Palm Springs, California. It took about 5-6 hours each way in our ergonomically awkward silver minivan. I think it was a Chrysler Mediocre. Nice hotel. Good shopping. Great restaurants. My sister-in-law must have caught a bug and proceeded to line the walkway of our hotel room with not-quite-digested In-and-Out Burger. That's not an endorsement, either, by the way. We had to refill the oil in the car, and we did so simply by wringing out the top bun of one of the burgers. Anyway, I took around 200 pictures, mostly of my tiny niece discovering she actually has hands. Here's a few highlights from the trip.














Wean your toddler off of strained peas, and onto fast food
as soon as possible.


















Greasy much? Vacation... or lubrication?


















Hey, the cake says I'm 7, ok?.
















The 'rents, after 46 years.
















The Boy and I.

Sweet home Alabama

I'm not going cruising off the coast of Somalia anytime soon, but I'd say this is the last time four guys in a rubber boat go up against the U.S. Navy. Man, there is just something so satisfying about seeing these goons get their ass kicked so deservedly. Fellow Somali pirates are of course being defiant and vowing retaliation for the killing of their 'colleagues' as they call them. As if it's okay to hold people hostage at gunpoint and demand millions in ransom. But with a 1,900-mile-long coastline, even 250 nuclear destroyers like the U.S.S. Bainbridge couldn't spread themselves thin enough to effectively stop these maggots. I'm curious to see what happens next. Welcome home, Captain.

No Bain, no gain

Well, poor Bernie (literally) finally got his yacht and some other bare essentials taken away from him today. While I was crying over that, I found this great illustration, courtesy of the Associated Press. I just love this. Kinda reminds me of my first Manhattan apartment. Except I didn't have a 150-year lease. heh.