I see that quite a few hotels are hiring for pool season. Any idea when it starts? I have a trip planned at the end of March and am hoping to hit the pool.

Every day I hear about another arena in Las Vegas – how many are actually proposed? Could this decade’s arenas match last decade’s high rise condos?

Do you have an update as to activities for Chinese New Year?

Do you know which casinos will be selling the Chinese New Years chips ($8) like last year? I will be in Vegas next week and would very much like to purchase some. Thanks.

A few years ago we were at the Hoover Dam gift store and we were talking to someone who worked there. She told us that a new water pipe was being built at Lake Mead because the water level was going down in Lake Mead and within a few years the old pipe would be above the water level. Is this true and what is the status of the new pipe?

With all of the visitors to Las Vegas each year, is there any idea of how many are "First Timers"?

I’ve always thought that the most likely days for casino patronage to be very low and very high to be one week apart: Namely, Christmas for the low and New Year’s Eve for the high. How close am I to being right?

I flew into Vegas on Mon., Oct. 21, and saw something that appeared to be a little creepy. There was a small black plane flying with a larger plane almost touching the wingtips (went on for many hours). Any idea what this was? Neither plane had any identifying marks or numbers. Could it have been from Area 51 for training?

I was driving east on Fremont and saw about three blocks of "heritage" motels on the north side all boarded up and fenced off. Is this part of some project to restore them or are they all just going to be torn down?

What do you think about all of the new shopping malls that have been announced and/or are under construction on the Strip? I count five new malls (at Treasure Island, the Linq, Bally’s Grand Bazaar, the new "urban park" next to New York-New York, and the remodel of the Tropicana). I come to Las Vegas to gamble, not to shop, but maybe I’m in the minority now. Has shopping replaced night/day clubbing as the latest trend for Strip casinos?