the Luxor, because it's so damned Illuminatus.

Heh. I love it because it's so creepy. I love Caesar's Palace for the kitsch factor though, so I'm clearly not to be trusted. I do steer far away from Circus Circus and Excalibur or whatever the knight one is. Too many kidlets.

Actually, thinking about? Quite a few of the hotels creep me. That fake Camelot thing sends me metaphorically screaming into the night in search of a pox-ridden hooker, just to offset the cutesy factor. And Paris - no. First time we went inside as for a friend's wedding, and we'd just got back from the real Paris a week earlier. We walked into the casino, stopped, and found ourselves staring in complete horror at a stunted single fake leg of the Eiffel Tower, stretching toward a blue-painted ceilig - and being snipped off a few feet shy.

Nic looked at me, I looked at him. He said, "Listen. Just back out slowly, and whatever you do, don't make eye contact with anyone."

But the Monte Carlo is neat, and the Venetian, and the lions at the MGM. Kitties!

I stayed at the Rio last time I was there, which is just off the strip and home to Penn & Teller's show. Comfy, nice, lagoon pool and some good restaurants.

Gold plated bathroom fixtures creep me out. So "Cribs" so "I have too much money and need to show it off gratuitously so what can I stick gold on NOW."

Luxury is neat and all and not every penny a person earns needs to save the world. Exquisite craftsmanship is certainly worth doing and enjoying. Billion count sheets feel wonderful. Amazing food, travelling the world...those seem worth their pretty pennies. But once you're randomly finding stuff to gold-plate you've surely got a few starving babies somewhere on your soul.

Google news is reporting West Nile and Elephantisis in Las Vegas. They don't think it will spread to humans, but ...

edited for spelling

But once you're randomly finding stuff to gold-plate you've surely got a few starving babies somewhere on your soul.

How to answer this carefully, and keep it disengaged...

Okay.

Stuff on your soul? Maybe you do. As a member of AI since long before it became fashionable, and as one half of a married couple who've fostered 18 kids around the world since 1981, I don't. I just don't happen to think that sourness over enjoying the occasional luxury negates what I do with the rest of my the disposable income, which, to a large degree, would be traditionally defined as "good works."

But, whatever pegs the meters. Not sure what that particular jeremiad has to do with organising a face to face, either, and really don't much feel the need to know.

As a member of AI since long before it became fashionable... etc

Well, then I guess I wasn't talking about you then, was I? I guess it wasn't about you at all. There is no need to be disengaged or engaged or anything else.

But, whatever pegs the meters. Not sure what that particular jeremiad has to do with organising a face to face, either, and really don't much feel the need to know.

The conversation moves in and out of strictly organizing, doesn't it? People said they did or did not like this or that and I expressed a distaste for a skillless (as opposed to craftsmanship) gratuitous display of wealth.

So, quick review: 1. Nothing to do with you 2. Lots of opinons expressed. 3. This one just happened to be mine.

I think that, personal feelings aside, neither gold-plated bathroom fixtures nor gaggles of small children are requirements for the F2F. I mean, what hope would Phoenix have?

Cabana boys, though...

Now, gold-plating a cabana boy...

t morphs into Bond villain

Cabana boys, though...

Don't forget the cabana girls, Abi - why should the girls get all the perqs?