The Non Political Thread-For Those Who Want to Chat and Say Hello

The Non-Political Thread - For Those Who Want to Chat and Say Hello

Hello LVA Foum Members,
What's new. I'm planning my 1st trip to NOLA. Any suggestions, please scroll down and post,
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=14&threadid=314492

Hope we see more of these type threads on this Las Vegas form. It's a long way to November.

I was in New Orleans about 18 months ago and have a few suggestions.

1) Go in May if possible for the Jazz fest - some great entertainment at the horse race track. This year I believe they have Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Eddie Vedder, and the beach boys among many bands over two weekends:
New Orleans Jazz Fest

2) The Drury Inn Hotel is a great value - it is about 3 block from Bourbon Street, but the price includes breakfast and appetizers / drinks at night. The rooftop pool is also nice.
Drury Inn New Orleans

3) New Orleans is NOT all Jazz Music - it seems like each bar tends to cater to a different decade - 70's 80's 90's --- enjoy them all

4) The food is AMAZING - even a fried chicken convenience store (Brothers Chicken) was outstanding

5) Big Ass Beer - Need I say more

jphelan, thanks!

Love to chat and say hello, especially to some of my favorite people!

Already shared on New Orleans so thought would share something else.

As some of you know our two boys are both from Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid Florida, a group we now volunteer with. Week and a half ago we went to the annual reunion at a wonderful park on a lake in Lakeland (just down the street from the Detroit Tigers spring baseball facility for those who have been there). Was fantastic! About 100 Goldens of all sizes shapes and ages with almost all of them rescues. It gives the volunteers who transport them and foster them a chance to see how they turned out. Also a chance for the folks who represent the group at rescue and educational venues as well as those who screen applications, do the home visits and evaluate the final application a chance to see their hard work pay off.

By far our favorite activity was the wet t-shirt contest for the Goldens! Side splitting and only hope someone got a video of it and will post on YouTube.

A very non-political Marc

I learned yesterday that About.com Guide selected my Seattle underground piece as one of the best American travel articles of 2011!

Nice piece Ken, and congrats !

Thanks, Lee!

Lisa, thanks for the thread, too.

So what happened? It's perhaps regrettable yet certainly understandable why things took such a big turn here. I now check in in little bundles, I guess hoping to see some change. Not. There are many contributing factors.

1. POL: The POL stuff is simply out of hand, and I will admit to derailing a few times over the years. Sure, folks need not click on the obviously delusional POL threads. That doesn't negate the fact that the threads themselves, and a few of the most ardent delusionalists, largely have sucked the life out of this place. And to what end? Let's leave conversion to the missionaries, where it might possibly work. For at least in the spiritual realm we are dealing with more concrete realities than some of the POL aficionados cling to so ardently and desperately. The simple fix is to kick it to the curb, permanently. Easy enough to do.

2. Quality of the site 1: What's left for we long-time subscribers to discuss, Vegas-wise? Shows come and go, a new resort opens every now and again. But we're all still doing Vegas the same way we've always done it. And after years of participation, taking Vegas trips, reading stuff about Vegas, it's largely mundane now for many.

3. Quality of the site 2: We've lost a lot of people here owing to chagrin/boredom over the quality of the site and product from the perspective of performance, customer service and/or content.

4. Time and interests: There was a huge core here of frequent contributors bound together by a love for Vegas. How central is Vegas now? For us, far less so. Take away the commonality, add in life's other demands, and the chatter subsides. I'm sure all of us maintain active contact with lotsa folks via other social media, however.

5. The FFA: Like it or not, there's far more life on the free side. There's a regrettable LCD "quality" over there that consumes some of the oxygen, but at least some of that LCD is something other than figuring out for the 1,345,845th time who has the best $3.00 buffet in town or how to chisel two bucks off the price of a crappy 17 buck room. But there are some characters there, and a good number of folks who once burned brightly on the paid side.

I will NEVER trust about.com again... jk!

Congrats Ken!!! Well deserved.

For all of the political venting on this board, I doubt that even one reader has been converted to an opposing view. So her's one for this thread .