Need to start off with a qualifying admission. Maybe I do not understand. Have never been a real gambler. Enjoy the competitive aspect of a good game of chance. And playing for money makes the game better. But the adrenaline rush of a one-armed bandit does not draw me. And when the odds start out against me and my hard-earned money, that seems like a no-brainer. Deep in my heart, I know I will never beat the house.

One strong impression of Las Vegas is, as soon as you pass the Nevada border, the casinos start. There must be a million of them. And each one is wall to wall machines. There are blank-eyed people slouched in front of them with their credit cards plugging in all hours of the day and night. Not a late night type person but passed through at the wee hours and there were few empty seats. And the question that kept coming to me was – why?

The bright lights and glitch are interesting. They are more than balanced by the sordid underbelly, however. The glitch must be tremendously expensive – paid for by ordinary folks gambling losses. I appreciate their paying for my being able to see all the lights but would rather they did not. A walk down The Strip means literally dozens of Hispanic men and women handing out cards advertising prostitution.The bright lights and glitch are interesting, but the cost is too great.

Blackjack, roulette, craps, sports betting, etc., are not as big an area of the casino floors and seemed more fun to the participants. At least they seemd to be enjoying themselves – bright eyed and alert. The odds are even stronger in the casino's favor, however. I will stick to my kitchen with some buddies.

What am I missing? Can someone please help me in my ignorance?

It certainly is nice to be home. Despite some truly memorable events this past month, home is home.

A trip to The Big City for a couple of weeks to dogsit and for a bridal shower for our little baby girl. Our Laura's Callie is a smart and loveable mutt and we always enjoy taking care of her. And to enjoy the attributes we do not have out here in The Sticks. Aunt Nancy gave a great shower for our Mary. A great afternoon.

Then a flight all the way across the U.S. Of A to see my wife's sister, Rosemary, and her husband Mike. We flew over the Rockies, Great Basin, Grand Canyon, Sierra Nevadas. Fascinating. The sky was clear over the West and we saw it all.

San Diego is certainly different from Virginia's Eastern Shore. The jacarandas, roses, everything full of color. Picture postcard of Calfornia. We saw the harbor, old town, drank huge magaritas, ate delicious Mexican, shopped, took in all the charisma.

Mike drove us all to Las Vegas and back. The high desert is a trip! We were not in Exmore any more. Lived in West Bygawd Texas but the high desert of California and Nevada is different. It was another geographic experience of monumental proportions.

Saw Las Vegas. It was a memorable experience. Lots to enjoy. Like the fountains at the Bellagio, Luxor, etc. But the sordid underbelly definitely made itself obvious. Been there, done that. Perhaps another blog post on Las Vegas

Our baby, Mary, got married at sunset in The Valley of Fire. Absolutely beautiful and truly spectacular. Too much to tell about in a brief overview.

Back to The Big City for a birthday party Laura gave for my beautiful Annie. Great party, great time.

And now home. So much to think about and post blogs about. So many pictures, so little time.

And back to blogging. Missed it and all of you all.

Tall Pockets (http://tallpocketsforprez08.blogstream.com/) asked about my being AWOL for a bit. An extended trip to The Big City to see our three daughters, Nancy, Laura, and Mary, and some friends. All the activities have interrupted the habits, like blogging, that are the foundation of a septuagenarian (had to look that one up) way of life. Started getting blogging dt's. Wish I had the writing ability that Anexplorer (http://anexplorer.blogstream.com/) has to describe all that is going on. We came up to Laura's just before the end of April to take care of Callie while Laura went to the Indian wedding in Florida. Also helped with her basement where Nancy has built a new entertainment center, put in new flooring, floor and ceiling trim, etc. She does beautiful work. Our Mary is in the admissions office at the Art Institute of Washington. Visited her a couple of times, including one where we got to have a dinner prepared by the culinary school. Mary's intended was with us. Like him a lot. Got to go to a dress rehearsal of "Sound of Music" where Nancy plays The Countess. This past weekend, we went to a friend's house who gave a beautiful wedding shower for our Mary. A special day. We stayed there for a few days. And saw the real performance of "Sound of Music". Spectacular. In a couple of days, we fly off to San Diego to see my wife's sister and then we all drive to Las Vegas for Mary's wedding. Too much to describe. Watch for details and pictures.

Why is it that I keep rolling off these pearls of wisdom and the news anchors and politicians do not listen to me? Well, at least one of the talking heads did. There was a quote on the Sunday morning show "Rev. Wright is for Rev. Wright." The purpose of a preacher and of the church is to increase its congregation and therefore its income and power. Where did we ever get the idea that Rev. Wright was giving us God's honest truth? He is an actor, for God's sake! Well, not for God's sake, for his own sake. He gives a self serving sermon and gets applause and money. We have met the enemy.... Well, I am not part of that group but a bunch of people are.

Do not hold Obama to blame for the assinine comments of a toady like Rev. Wright. The motivations for Obama for the moment seem good and above this stuff. Wright is a thorn for him. But wait, this is a politician we are talking about here. Why do I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall. And fall on my head.

My 'puter at home is just an old Dell Optiplex with only a couple of gigawhizzes. Everything runs slow. I play a lot of spider solitaire waiting for stuff to come up on the screen. Visiting my daughter's home and using her whizbang computer, it is VERY obvious when something is slow. And blogstream is slow. Still play spider. Someone wrote a blog posting a while ago but could not find it to give it a refernce. I have a mirror blog on blogger (http://sinannblog.blogspot.com/) and it loads up considerably faster than blogstream.

Appreciate the fact that we are pretty much getting something for nothing. Blogstream gives us a nice service and we do not pay a plugged nickel for it. If all the blogging sites charged something, would pay as long as it is not much. Blogging is enough of a joy to be worth it. We get TV shows for nothing except the pain of watching really stupid efforts to rip us off. Blogstream's ads could be a lot worse.

But the fact is still there. Blogstream is slow. Two minutes for a page to load is really slow.

p.s. The blog post that I referred to above is in Whit's comment below. Thanks, Whit.