Famous last words in Las Vegas..Give me the money I told you not to give me!

A month or so ago I had planned on going to Vegas for a few days to hang out for a little while and until just a couple of days ago I wasn't sure if I would end up going. The plans I originally made changed a bit, especially in light of a new potential job coming up, however it was still a good opportunity to enjoy some of the activities I had planned and maybe have a surprisingly relaxing time (as much as one can in a city that doesn't sleep and only turns out the lights for 5 minutes during Earth Day). After getting to the airport, my travel companion and I had to wait what seemed to be the longest amount of time I can ever recall for the bags to start showing up. After what seemed like 30 minutes, I finally decided to take the transport to the car rental agency and let my travel partner grab the bags so that I could deal with the paperwork and selection of the car in order to reduce total waiting time. Timing worked out well since just as I finished my travel companion arrived with the bags and we were ready to go. We headed to the Monte Carlo where a room had been booked as part of my friend's business trip, dropped off the bags, and then headed for a quick bite to eat on the strip. The last time I was in Vegas it was over 100 degrees out, so the cool weather was a nice change. After dinner and a few drinks, I decided to head out for a few hours to take in the sights and do some photography and play with some of the setting on the camera. I headed over the Bellagio to watch the fountain show and then over to the Luxor for a few shots, taking time to sneak into one of the hotel elevators so I could get a nice few of the inside of the pyramid structure.

Since I only planned to be in town for a few days, I didn't want to drastically change my sleep cycle so I turned in relatively early so I could get a fresh start in the morning and dome some hiking before it got too hot.

My machine isn't old, the relays still do the job.

This was the weekend for the annual American Cancer Society 'Relay for Life' event in Temple Terrace. The hashers have had a team for a long time and worked hard to raise money this year with the auction, fundraisers, and team meetings. The event usually involves a 16 hour walk where one person from the team has to be on the track at all times. I wasn't involved with the team much outside of assisting last weekend with construction of the pirate ship for their pirate theme and also in providing transportation for a few supplies. I did decide to hang around for a while and check out the festivities and different events. I wasn't much in the mood or energy level to stay up the entire evening, but did somewhat enjoy seeing some out-of-town friends and watching the overall chaos.

Team Go-Go, and as part of that Kristen, was extremely active in every event held and was competing in about everything possible including scavenger hunts, hula-hoop contests, and costumed laps around the track. Besides raising the most money, over $15,800, they also won for the umpteenth time in a row, the coveted 'Spirit Award', which is a pretty big deal in consideration of all the hard work that went into it all. I did end up going home Friday evening and returned Saturday to sign-up for my own lap and help break down and transport the supplies. The team donated the pirate ship to a nearby community theater for an upcoming children's production of 'Peter Pan', so that just add to the overall generosity of all those involved.

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

Does pirate software come with a treasure map?

Several of the folks from Team Go-Go came over the house this weekend to use the garage space and tools to construct and put together a pirate ship for the 'Relay for Life' event next weekend. Other than helping to do some cutting and pulling out tools, I really wasn't much involved in the construction, however Kristen did do much of the concept design and outlining for the prop. After the team was finished Sunday they put the pieces up so the paint could dry, so I spent a little time today doing some touch-up and building the framing support so it would be free standing. It took a few hours, but it was kind of fun to be able to work on a project like this since all i had to do was put a few pieces together like a large-piece puzzle.

Every new project requires a tool that you don't have.

Today was a day of working on some home projects and catching up on overall tasks. Kristen decided to repaint the bird cage for Zoey and to pressure wash the bird stand while I worked on a few things. I finally got the backyard fence readjusted since a corner of it was over the property line and the neighbor behind the house recently decided to put up a privacy fence and thus needed to be moved, which was fine.

I'll trade you two red M&Ms for one green one!

On a last minute decision, we decided to hit the annual hash green dress run that was set for the downtown Tampa area. It was a pretty hustling day as there was no only a big art street fair, but also some kind of running scavenger hunt going on at the same time. C-Artist did a great job setting it up and after a while we had a pretty decent turn-out. Like usual, it was kind of fun walking around being noticeable as part of the group, though most people seemed to be good-natured about it. Overall it was a pretty decent time.