I've been busy the past few days touring Las Vegas. Yesterday I had my whole day free so I walked up and down the Strip and stopped in most of the casinos. After you've seen one, you've seen them all. They've all got something different to offer, and those individual attractions are interesting, but the gaming floors are always the same: same people, same games, same waitresses, etc. So they try to draw you in with the rides or themes and keep you there for the gaming. I liked the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace and the white tiger habitat at the Mirage, and I didn't get to see the pirate ship battle at Treasure Island or the fountains at the Bellagio because of high winds. Hopefully today they'll be running those; if not, there's still Monday. Tonight Liz and I are going to see George Carlin at the MGM Grand. Liz is a huge fan of his, and I like him well enough to see him live, so it should be fun.

On Friday afternoon, after setting up the booth for Liz's show, she and I went through the Star Trek Experience. It was amazing. There's a museum of Trek props and costumes, and a timeline of the "history of the future" taking you through today up until the end of the Voyager TV show, and everything in between. Then you go through the main attraction, which starts out as what looks like a generic motion simulator ride. But there's a problem and they have to beam you aboard the Enterprise, through some really cool effect where they take a square waiting room, turn off the lights, turn on a fan, and when the lights come up, you're in a round transporter room. Then they take you onto the Enterprise bridge, where Commander Riker tells you that you may be one of Capt. Picard's ancestors and you need to return to your time or he'll be gone forever. Then they herd you into a turbolift, then a "shuttlecraft," where you escape from the Klingons back into your own time. We rode it twice and I still can't figure out exactly how they do the beaming effect. We really enjoyed it.