Sorry, Charlie.

Las Vegas is in a valley, completely surrounded by mountains. Some would say that it's a "melting pot", though "cesspool" would be a more accurate word. And when I say "cesspool", I say that with love. This is the view of the Big Lots on Charleston from across the street. I'm standing at a bus stop in front of the Wal-Mart. The sad part of using the cellphone to take these pictures is that it doesn't capture all the real detail of the mountains...it was quite a beautiful scene. At some point in the future I'll be switching to an actual digital camera, since the only way I can get pictures from this phone is to send them to myself in a pic message. Rip off!


Ah. Arizona Charlie's on Boulder Highway at Indios. What can I say? It's a place to gamble in more places than one. If you've ever eaten here you know what I mean.


The close-up of the Charlie's sign. Again, it was a much better shot than this phone would allow me to take. Stupid phone! You are the source of all my problems!


Arizona Charlie's is a place mostly frequented by locals...it's far enough off the strip and out of the way that it's not really what you think of when you think Las Vegas. Not glamorous, not ritzy, and not at all sexy. Also, obviously, not a hell of a lot of fun.


Who is that handsome stud in the mirrored door? Yours truly...the resident Vegas tourist, malcontent, and idiot.


My. Well, this is probably my second and final meal at Arizona Charlie's. Why did the waiter start talking to me in a language other than English? Was that supposed to be gravy? Why was the meat loaf round? Why didn't the food have any actual taste? Couldn't I have just spent the $7 on a copy of Juggs magazine and had a better time? When water is the most flavorful part of your meal, you're eating at the wrong place.


In the parking garage. It gets to be 120 degrees at times in Las Vegas. I'll still take that over the -40 you sometimes get in Minneapolis. Give me the heat every time. Besides, the hotter it gets, the fewer clothes women can wear. And while this isn't always a good thing, it can be.


Next to the trash can in the parking lot of Sportsman's Royal Manor. Unloved and abandoned. It's wearing a shirt and i was curious what it said, but I didn't want to touch it to find out. Later it was gone. Hopefully it was adopted by homeless urchins and they're playing with it right now. Or maybe a dog ran away with it. Who can really say? Me thinking about it that much gives it more attention that it ever deserved.