Weird Wednesdays - Honey I'm Home from Las Vegas

For many of you a trip to our home of Las Vegas is filled with benders on the craps tables, over-indulgent nightclub tabs, and a few strangers that might have followed you back to your hotel room for the night. That's all fun and games while you're here but if you have a spouse or a significant other to return home to you may have some issues explaining some of your extravagant expenditures.

Mad About Music Mondays - Sin City Sinners

Todd Kerns, Brent Muscat, Rob Cournoyer & Dr. Ellis
are the Sin City Sinners of Las Vegas, NV. 

Local music is a fickled thing. Many arguments go back and forth as to who's the best and why. Last year the Sin City Sinners placed second in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's annual Vegas' Best awards. Second to a band that not only doesn't make Las Vegas home, only one band member considers Las Vegas to be his home, they don't play any local shows with the exception of their annual stop-through on their nationwide tour. Well this year's poll comes out in two weeks and hopefully Vegas will get it right this time around. Without a doubt in our minds the Sin City Sinners are thee #1 band calling Las Vegas home. You may have noticed our players on both the right sidebar (go ahead and click play) as well as a rather large one at the bottom of each post and the homepage.

Tuesday Brewsday - Las Vegas Beer Festival "Brew's Best"

This Saturday at the MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas the Buckbean Brewing Company is producing a special beer festival of local Nevada breweries as well as notable breweries from the region. Buckbean Brewing Company, located in Reno, NV, is Nevada's longest operating bottler in Nevada. Granted it's only been two years that they've been operating their business but that doesn't discredit their claim. Also, it's important to note that while they do package and distribute their beer to other markets they don't in fact bottle, they can. That's right they can, and cans are the best way to have your beer reach your customers with the closest to tap quality brew. Cans are 100% protective against oxygen and light, the #1 enemy of quality beer, and provide you to carry your beer where it might be otherwise prohibited: beaches, campgrounds, concerts and more.

Streaming Sundays - Terry Fator: Live in Las Vegas

The newest headliner on the Las Vegas Strip is the unbelievable ventriloquist Terry Fator. He was the winner of the second season of America's Got Talent in 2007. As a result he got the $1 million prize and was due to have a short stint in the Jubilee show at the Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas. Bally's pulled out of the deal at the last minute. He then scheduled two shows in October 2007 that sold-out almost immediately. He then had to add an addtional show in December to meet the overwhelming demand for his tickets.

The Las Vegas Hilton then resigned Terry to a five-month long, three shows a month headlining gig for the sum of $1.5 million. In March of 2008 Terry was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show along with Simon Cowell. After his performance Simon Cowell referred to Terry as one of the, "two most talented people on the planet." As we all know that type of praise does not come easy from some like Simon Cowell.

In May 2008 Terry signed a $100 million, five-year deal to be the headliner at The Mirage casino/hotel in Las Vegas. Ever since he began his gig at The Mirage, Terry has received rave reviews as a performer on the Las Vegas Strip. He recently released a DVD featuring his many talents. I have that entire performance for you below. So sit back and get ready to laugh as you watch TERRY FATOR: LIVE IN LAS VEGAS:

NOT ALL FEATURE VISABLE ON FACEBOOK - TO VIEW CLICK HERE!

Guest Blogger Thursday- Szwejbbie's Blower Beatdown

Ever wonder how any yard work can be accomplished when you see people taking a glorified hair dryer to their yard debris? Everyday to and from work I see numerous landscapers and occasionally homeowners working hard, or hardly working, blowing leaves and soil into a whirling dust devil. How can this be accomplishing anything in the way of picking up landscape debris? While I've never actually used one, I do know that any equipment requiring personal protective gear may have a more viable alternative available (aka broom). Many city's across the country have pondered this exact question at their city council's determining that this obtrusive piece of equipment was better left on store shelves. There have been 100 cities that have banned the use of leaf blowers, while Hawaii, Arizona & New Jersey have all considered bans at the state level as well.

Memphis Championship Barbecue

Jen and I are headed to Memphis BBQ tonight for their Tax Day Special. All April long they have a Special Menu featuring our favorite Blue Ribbon Two Meat Special for only $10.99 including ribs. We love Memphis BBQ and are happy to spend some hard earned money there tonight.

Here is its founder Mike Mills talking about his recipes and his original restaurant the 17th Street Grill in Murphysboro, Illinois.

TO VIEW THIS AND MORE CLICK HERE!

Poor Air Quality Persists in Casino Restaurants Despite Indoor Air Act

From the Green Lodging News - 01/11/2009

LAS VEGAS—More than two years after Nevada voters passed legislation banning smoking in a majority of the state’s indoor public places and all of its restaurants, researchers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the University of Kentucky have found that restaurants in some Southern Nevada casinos still contain unsafe levels of secondhand smoke.

With the close proximity of nonsmoking restaurants to smoking-allowed gaming areas, UNLV assistant professor of nursing Nancy York and Kiyoung Lee, associate professor of public health at the University of Kentucky, measured air quality samples from 16 casinos in Southern Nevada to gauge the relationship between overall indoor air quality and restaurant air quality.

Researchers tested eight on-Strip and eight off-Strip casino restaurant and gaming areas in Henderson and Las Vegas between November 2007 and March 2008. While all tested casino restaurant areas had less secondhand smoke pollution than casino gaming areas, 12 of 16 restaurants tested contained air pollution levels exceeding the annual U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendation for air quality. Three of these 12 restaurants exceeded levels recommended by the EPA as safe for children, the elderly and those with heart or lung diseases.

Secondhand Smoke Migrates

“Even though casino restaurants are supposed to be nonsmoking by state law, the open air floor plan of casinos creates a shared air space, resulting in secondhand smoke migrating from the gaming floor into the restaurants and creating health hazards of secondhand smoke exposure to those present, whether it is workers or patrons,” said Nancy York, UNLV assistant professor of nursing and lead investigator on the study. “Secondhand smoke naturally drifts in the air currents and ventilation systems can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building.”

Air quality in gaming areas of all casinos tested exceeded levels the EPA recommends as safe, confirming previous studies showing that the majority of casino gaming areas have unsafe levels of air pollution.

“These findings have serious life-threatening consequences for casino employees and patrons,” said York. “Previous research has found smoke-filled casinos can have up to 50 times more cancer-causing particles in the air than highways and city streets during rush hour traffic. Our research helps to confirm this.”

Risk of DNA Damage

Chris Pritsos, a University of Nevada, Reno professor, found in his previous research that casino employees exposed to secondhand smoke at work suffer from increased DNA damage, which can lead to greater risks of developing cancers and heart disease.

York plans to expand the study to include additional nonsmoking areas in casinos such as daycare areas, movie theaters, arcades and bowling alleys.

The Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act was enacted in December 2006 and prohibits smoking in all indoor spaces in Nevada with the exception of areas typically off-limits to children, including casino gaming areas.

Go to UNLV.

Jen's Vegas B-Day

For those of you who don't know, Jenny and I don't buy gifts for each other for Christmas, Valentine's, Easter, or any other odd reason you can think of. Instead what we do is go over-the-top for birthdays.
We feel that its the only holiday that truly matters. A holiday celebrating simply the fact that you exist. You're here, alive another year, and it's time for those around you to thank you for your precense and for all the things you do. So finally, after tossing around several ideas it seems as though Jenny and I have decided on what to do for her birthday. On what is likely to be her last birthday in Vegas we're going to go all out with a Vegas birthday.

We start the day checking into our new remodeled Widescreen View Room at the Excalibur. Hopefully we'll receive a Strip view and not the classic Vegas mountain/rooftop view. With our hotel check-in we get lots of free perks: 2 VIP Admissions to ROK Vegas AND LAX Nightclubs, 2 Free Pints at the Monte Carlo Brew Pub, a Free Appetizer at Dick's Last Resort AND Company American Bistro, 2-for-1 Breakfast at Il Fornaio, and 2-for-1 tickets to the Tournament of Kings Dinner Show. Not to mention the 25-30% off at Criss Angel's Believe, Lance Burton's Magic, and the Zumanity shows.
Then we'll gamble and drink some more before heading over to the Tropicana where a Mizuno's reservation will be waiting for us. Eating over Hibachi-style grills and classic Japanese Teppan tableside cooking we'll fill our stomachs.

Then if all that wasn't enough we're going to the Comedy Stop at the Trop to catch some up and coming comedians on the Las Vegas Strip. And I can't forget to mention the free drinks we get with our tickets there too!

Finally we'll walk back over to the Excalibur and if we still have any ounce of energy left we'll hit up ROK Vegas, LAX Nightclub or our favorite, Dick's Last Resort. A crash and rude bar, Dick's is an awesome place to grab a fun drink while hammered late night. Don't forget to ask for your paper hat, customized to each recipient, they have bold statements describing the fun faults of the wearer.

Hopefully we can make it back to the room before sun-up and bare witness to the Las Vegas Strip aglow. It looks good in the planning stage, lets see if it can all pan out!