Emma antics

DH is out of town so our morning routine is a little bit different. I usually get up and feed and potty the girls and then head out to the gym while the girls go back to bed. Today, they hung out with me. I had my core work on the workout schedule for today so I did that before going to spin class.

Hannah is aware that when I get on the floor to play with the balance ball and do crunches, etc., I am no fun. She comes and sniffs me from time to time to make sure that I am OK but otherwise, let's me get my workout done. Emma is very much a daddy's girl and if he is around, she focuses on him. This morning Emma kind of stood and watched me. When I got my obliques -- crunches with a twist -- Emma was pretty sure that I was suggesting that we play. She started to jump up and down and play bow and kiss me and left in a huff when I did not respond appropriately!

The Talk

I'm having lunch with my mom this week and I need to gather my thoughts for The Talk. I've been dreading it. My birthday is on December 25th which poses some problems challenges. My major issues have related to the guest list and menu.

The major challenge that I have is how to deal with my brother. He is about three years younger than I am, he is single. He is now in language school. He does not communicate with the family much at all. In fact, I have not heard from him since last December despite the fact that I have contacted him multiple times since then. He is coming to the area on December 24th and I strongly suspect it has more to do with school being closed than the fact that he wants to see any of us.

Last year, when he was at my house, he made faces at what I served for my birthday dinner and he sat and pouted. My father spent most of his time trying to get my brother out of his funk. My brother seemed to make it clear that he was there because he did not see not coming as an option, not because he wanted to be there or to celebrate my birthday. Unfortunately, this is par for the course and I really I do not care to experience this again.

What I want to talk about with my mom is options. What are some good options that will allow me to celebrate my birthday -- preferably on my birthday -- and not have to deal with my pouting brother.

It would be very helpful if I could figure out what I wanted from all of this. As it stands now, I don't see a way for everyone to be happy.

Any brilliant ideas out there?

Happy Thanksgiving

This year my family had our regular Thanksgiving hoo-ha at my parent's place, about 30 minute's drive from my house. I was discouraged from riding my bike there, so I road in the morning and arrived by car with DH for our 2:00 summons. The usual suspects were all there -- my mom and dad, my aunt and uncle from France (OK, so they're not Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd), my grandmother, DH and me.

This year we are opted to forgo Grandma's inedible pumpkin pie in favor of pumpkin pie cheesecake provided by moi. We'll have to see if this is a new tradition or not. I do think that we've seen the last of the rock hard pie crust though!

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 4 cookie sheets)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325°.

Coat an 8-inch springform pan with cooking spray, and sprinkle pan evenly with crumbs.

Combine sugars and cream cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add pumpkin and next 9 ingredients (through eggs), and beat well.

Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes or until center is just set. Turn oven off, and partially open oven door. Cool cheesecake in oven 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from oven, and cover. Chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

Source: Cooking Light, December 2005

Otherwise, we had our traditional Thanksgiving -- fresh turkey with mom's cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, baked sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, black olives, homemade dinner rolls, Grandma's fruit salad, green beans...

It was a really nice visit and I think that a good time was had by all. What a nice day!

Maiden Voyage

I decided to go ahead and get a mountain bike and I did settle on the Gary Fisher Caliber, a full suspension mountain bike with a nice level of components. This morning I took her out for her maiden voyage. DH introduced me to the trails at Harris Lake.

There are three trails there and we did all three -- some sections twice. The trials have very creative names: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. I "separated" from the bike twice on the advanced trail but did not fall. I skipped some "moguls" on the advance trail as well and DH advised that if it said Black Diamond, I should skip that too!

We started out with the beginner loop, of course. As we approached the intermediate loop, DH realized that he had not locked the car so he went back to do that while I continued on. We met up again where the trail crosses the road for the advanced section. DH asked if I wanted to continue and I said that I wanted to go on and if it got to be too difficult, I would turn back and meet up at the car. We each went at our own pace -- with me in the rear doing the slower, more cautious thing as I learned the bike -- and met up ever now and then. After doing the advanced loop, we went back and did more of the intermediate loop and then I played on the beginner loop a bit more. I enjoyed it and I'm glad that I got the bike and I'm also glad that I went with full suspension.

As we loaded up the bikes on the car, we were like Dr. Evil and Mini-Me -- DH with his green Caliber 29er and me with the standard 26-inch model.

Crash update

The cyclist that fell on Sunday morning has broken collarbone and a very large hematoma on her hip. No cycling or running for the next six weeks. I'm very sorry to hear that her injuries will keep her from the activities that she loves for that long. I am also relieved that it was not worse after seeing the damage to her helmet.

I'm definitely sending healing thoughts her way.

Poinsettias

DH and I went to the Poinsettia Open House yesterday. Homewood Nursery in Raleigh hosts and open house on the Saturday before Thanksgiving each year and we go there most years to see the amazing display of poinsettias in bloom. They have several greenhouses full of poinsettias and it can feel very festive. Homewood grows 96 varieties of poinsettias and claim to have 30,000 plants this year. Some families go to the open house to take photos for their Christmas cards. DH and I enjoy going and I think that it's just a fun thing to do.

Crash

This morning on the Sunday group ride that I typically join, a rider crashed. I have been on my road bike for well over 3000 mile this year and witness one accident where the rider fell down and got back on after adjusting her brakes and this accident.

A group of about twenty of us were riding down Jenks Road in a double pace line approaching an intersection about two miles into the ride. This group typically averages 18-19.5 mpg and the group was still taking it easy -- averaging 15 mph. The light was coming through the trees and we got to a small downhill section where we moved from light to shadow. Right at this point, the road had some wide cracks in in. The rider apparently lifted her hand off the handle bars to point out the hole in the road and hit the pothole just wrong. She went flying, apparently landing on her right shoulder/arm.

From where I was in the group, about two-thirds of the way back toward the center of the road, I saw riders scrambling here and there. No cars were within sight and I steered toward the yellow line. I heard someone moaning in pain behind me.

The group gathered around the downed rider. She was crumbled on the ground. It was determined that we did not have to call for an emergency vehicle and one of the group leaders went back to the start to get his car and came back for her. Two guys worked on her bike and determined that it was not very ride-able even if she wanted to get back on (she didn't). She sat up and pulled down her arm warmer and looked at her injured arm. It had scratches. Someone joked that she as a crash test dummy for Giro and mentioned the helmet company's crash replacement program. She smiled. The "support vehicle" came for her and her broken bike was loaded onto the car while she was helped inside.

We finished the ride but that was a scary start. In all of the miles that I've ridden, this is the first serious accident that I witnessed.

Bag lady, reuse me

I bring my own bags to the grocery store with me when I go to pick up a few things. I feel good about doing this and I would like to expand my use of byo bags but the stores themselves are holding me back. Retailers don't make it easy. If I hand them a bag, most clerks are either at a loss or they think that they need to jam everything into one bag regardless of size or weight. The cashiers seem to wonder why is this crazy person handing me a bag? You don't want this perfectly good plastic bag that I have here? Even at the Farmer's Market they want to put my produce in plastic! As a result, I tend to keep this to either small trips or self-check out trips.

The other problem that I have is me. I stopped in Staples the other day to pick up two things for DH's home office. I had a bag with me. The clerk put my purchases in a plastic bag before I had a chance to hand over my own bag. ARG!

In addition, I sometimes have a hard time remembering to bring them in, particularly when I am in a hurry. For example, today I ran an errand at lunch. The bags are in the car. I went into the store, found what I wanted, paid for it and only then, as the cashier was handing me a bag, did I recall that I should have brought a bag in with me. I need to continue to work on this even though I've beene at it for a while. In fact, it was one of my 2006 Goals (I don't do resolutions, I just set goals. My goal setting is not tied to the beginning or end of the year. It's more fluid than that.). What I wrote then:

I think that it would be good for me to start using reusable grocery and/or produce bags -- maybe not for my "big" shopping trip but for the little ones that I do between times. I think that would be something good for me to work on.

Paper versus plastic? That's a false dichotomy, the correct answer is neither! Both paper and plastic bags consume resources and will eventually end up in the landfill. Just the Thing to Carry Your Conscience In:

Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags a year, recycling less than 1 percent of them, according to the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research and advocacy group in Washington.

In addition, it is clear that recycling alone is not the answer. Most sources agree, only 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled each year and only about half of paper bags are recycled. Seldom recycled, plastic grocery bags face bans in S.F.:

Less than 1 percent of 100 billion plastic bags tossed each year get recycled.

Up next, working on bringing my own travel mug when I go for coffee.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Resources and References:

• What can be recycled in Apex?
• I have a set of bags from ReusableBags.com and two bags that I got free from Whole Foods.
• Paper vs. Plastic Bags
• Plastic bags are killing Us
• Where will my plastic bag be in 2507
  

Emma channels PW

Emma The Love Sponge had some complaints about the weather yesterday. She had been very very happy with the cooler temperatures and, in her humble opinion, 78 was just too warm. In the living room, watching the Hurricanes not do so well, she was laying on her back with her tummy exposed for maximum ventilation. When we went upstairs, though, it was another story. She got on the Big Bed and when DH ask her to get off the bed, she pulled a PW -- she scootched over.

The scene: [DH turns enters the bedroom and turns off the light. Emma is on the Big Bed and Hannah is on her dog bed.]

DH: Off

Emma: [Thinks ah ha! It's dark and he can't see me. Scootches over.]

DH: [Pushing Emma] Off

Emma: [Thinks fine. Whatever. Jumps off the Big Bed.]

Penny, aka PW, was a black lab that was in residence before Emma's time. Penny added a lot to the dogdom lore in our household. She taught many things to Hannah that will be passed down from dog-in-residence to dog-in-residence. Some of the her most important additions to the lore:

• The don't get on the furniture rule really means don't get on the furniture when the people are around.
• Off can sometimes mean scootch
• Black dogs cannot be seen in the dark

Emma has recently embraced the Don't Get On the Furniture rule with PW's modification -- blond hairs have been spotted on the navy blue sofa -- and she is attempting to use a combination of Off Means Scootch and Black Dogs Can't Be Seen rules. As you can tell, though, golden retrievers aren't black. That's gonna be more difficult for her to pull off.

PW, we miss you!

Dieting for Dogs

Someone recently posed a question to a a Labrador retriever related e-mail list that I follow. I'm finding the thread to be highly entertaining.

Q: My black lab male 4 yo and neutered is obese and I am searching for information how to lose weight. Any suggestions?

A: Easiest way to take weight off the dog is to feed less and give more exercise.

A2: I'd also like to add that you might consider using baby carrots as treats

A3: If you are certain there is no underlying medical issue (thyroid for instance) then simply reduce how much you are feeding.

It all sounds way too familiar to those of us who have changed our way of eating! Eighty pounds ago, that could have been me. Eat less, exercise more, have a carrot.

I wonder if the dog fixes his own meals?

Testing mountain bikes and getting a trainer

On Saturday morning, I went for a group ride. The person who leads the Wednesday night indoor cycling class encouraged (read, pressured) us to join a group ride that he leads from the store each Saturday. It was more or less the right distance for me so I went ahead and and gave it a try. The ride is nice and I'll probably go back fairly regularly until my mileage picks back up again in the spring. Since the bike shop is only two and a half miles from my house, I rode my bike there.

After the group ride, I test rode some mountain bikes. I looked at the Gary Fisher Caliber and the Trek Fuel Ex7. Both bikes were 2007 models priced significantly below MSRP. I also gave the 69er 3x9 a spin. I had expected to like the Fuel Ex7 the best but I actually thought that the 69er was just fun -- it's a hardtail with a 29-inch wheel up front and 26-inch wheel in the back but I liked the Caliber the best. I said that I wanted to seep on it and they said that it was the last 2007 Caliber that they had in stock and suggested that I put a deposit down on it. I went home and gave them a call. The orange Caliber awaits.

I feel a bit badly about the whole thing. I keep on going back and forth. I like mountain biking alright but I like road biking a whole lot more. I know that DH would like to vacation in DuPont or Tsali and that is definitely a factor but I've been feeling a bit pinched financially and we just got back from vacation which didn't help that situation any. DH is encouraging me to go ahead and get the mountain bike.

That afternoon, I was back at a bike store to get a trainer. Last week, I talked to Maya the Virtual Coach and she said to go with the fluid-type trainer. Trainers come in three basic types: wind, magnetic and fluid. Wind trainers create turning a fan thereby creating resistance while magnetic trainers use a series of magnets to create resistance and fluid trainers use liquid silicone to generate resistance. As the silicone heats, it gets more and more difficult. I solicited trainer recommendations from several sources and everyone agreed that CycleOps was the brand to get and everyone with an opinion suggested the fluid style, specifically, the Fluid2.

[Narrator: Local bike shop. A customer picks up a CycleOps Fluid2 box.]

Bike Shop Employee: Are you getting that for you?

Me: Yes

Bike Shop Employee: Well, my wife uses a trainer and she hated that one. Have you considered the Magneto?

ARG!

I did go ahead and get the Fluid2.

The Fig Newton Remedy

A friend of mine asked for information about the Fig Newton Remedy for her dogs. I thought that I'd post the information here for all to see.

Background

Hannah has a very unsavory habit -- coprophagia. Yes, our lovely labrador eats poop, causing cess pool breath. Her sister picked up the habit as well and that causes toxic vomit. Lovely.

We think that it stems from her life before moving in with us. She was in a home kennel for the first 10 months of her life. It was a very nice kennel and she came into the house with her human family during the day but it was still a kennel. There is also some thought that girl dogs have some instinct to do this because dog moms clean up after their puppies that way. At any rate, over the years we have tried to solve this problem using several different recommendations: meat tenderizer on food, Tabasco sauce on poop to try to train avoidance, For-Bid, Dis-taste and other products sold for this behavior issue, etc. And yes, of course we pick up the yard on a regular basis!

Hannah and Emma have been receiving Fig Newtons with their meals since January and our results have been very good with two exceptions. After starting the Fig Newton Remedy, we have noticed a significant improvement in their yard cleaning activity.

The first time we noticed a problem was back in July. I noticed Emma was rooting around in the grass. I said to myself, "Uh oh! The treatment may have been rendered ineffective!" The next time I let her out, I followed her. She was digging and eating and digging. I thought, "Grubs?" It reminded me of when Penny had a grub eating binge. Nope, not grubs. Pellets of rabbit scat. I'm not sure about giving Fig Newtons to the neighborhood rabbits.

The second time, it was definitely my fault. Hannah and Emma normally eat Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice. In September, I was asked to test a new food on the girls. We changed
foods and continued with the Fig Newton type addition. A few days latter I thought that I smelled "badness" on Hannah's breath. A day or two after that, Hannah had an upset stomach and vomited poop all over our bedroom in the middle of the night. The next morning, I put the girls back on their regular food.

Results so far.

Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice + Fig Newton type cookies* = no poop eating

OtherBrand Lamb and Rice + Fig Newton type cookie = Badness


* We have used Kroger brand, Harris Teeter brand, Nabisco, 365 and Newman's Own . We have used regular and fat free and whole wheat. All yield similar results. I just get whatever is on sale or I have a good coupon for.

Dosage

One Fig Newton type cookie per 25 pounds of dog.

Why it works

It was clear that something in the Fig Newton types treats makes the poop less appetizing. I looked into this a bit and it turns out that fig plants produce ficin, a protease enzyme that aids digestion by breaking down animo acids and works similarly to the enzymes in papayas (papain) and pineapple (bromelin). And yes, all three enzymes can be used as meat tenderizers. As it turns out, the item in the Fig Newtons that is at work is the figs themselves.

Interestingly, there are urban legends out there about feeding dogs pineapple to resolve this problem as well.

Indoor cycling

Last night I attended my first indoor cycling class and used a bicycle trainer for the first time other than for bike fitting. The class was held at Cycling Spoken Here in Apex. We moved the clothing racks out of the way and set up our trainers.

I've always thought that using a bike trainer would be pretty much the same as going to spin class at the gym. This summer, a friend of mine mentioned the indoor cycling classes to me when we were on our regular Wednesday evening group rides. Then the subject of trainers came up again during the MS150. After that I thought that I should give it a try. The trainer provided a good workout and it was definitely different than spin class at the gym. The resistance was different and some of the things that we worked on in class were quite different as well. For example, we worked on different riding positions specifically to our own road bike. After a warm up, we worked on spinups, climbing out of the saddle, one-leg training and cadence -- always cadence.

For last night's class, I asked to borrow a trainer. The next step is going to be buying one of my own. I have asked around a little bit and the consensus seems to be that CycleOps is the way to go. I used a Fluid2 model last night and I think that's probably what I'll end up getting, however, the Magneto is also a good model. It is also recommended to get a bike computer that goes on the rear wheel and has cadence.

Starbucks card update

I contacted Starbucks about the Starbucks card issues that I experienced when travelling. I pointed out that the stores in question are listed on their website and that there is no astrisk or anything indicating that they do not accept Starbucks cards. As expected, they logged my complaint and politely told me to go away.

The customer server rep. explained that the corporate stores have different machines and only those ones accept their cards. I said that everyone should have the machines. The CSR said that stores in airports, hotels and grocery stores may or may not accept the card. She also directed me to their FAQ:

Your Starbucks Card is accepted at most Starbucks locations in North America and in select countries internationally ... At this time, the Starbucks Card is not accepted at all airport, grocery, bookstore, casino, university, and hotel locations; nor at stores in Puerto Rico or Guam.

So don't ass-u-me that just because it says that it's a Starbucks that their card will work! Silly me!

I vented and although nothing was done, I feel better about letting off some steam.

Neon

I love Las Vegas at night. I think that the city is just beautiful and the neon is fun. Sometimes it's kitschy, sometimes it's gaudy, but I always think that it's fun.

Bike for Beer

After getting home at 1 am this morning, I met up with the Slow Spokes for a Bike for Beer event at the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs. I started with a group of six and ended up in a group of two but it's all good. I think that my legs were still on Las Vegas time! I rode just over 42 miles and averaged about 17.6 mph and then met up with DH who had been mountain biking at Harris Lake. He brought sandwiches and we had a bite before taking the Saturday tour and purchasing some winter porter for home consumption!

DH ran into our friend Stan out at Harris Lake. That was really unexpected since Stan is more of a road cyclist. Stan also came to the brewery for the tour. He said that he was giving mountain biking a whirl. He has a used mountain bike with no suspension at all. DH offered to meet up with Stan so he could try suspension.

In addition to meeting up with Stan, we had expected to see DH's friend Spook. He was on the Slow Spokes ride with a different pace group than I was in and we saw his car but we did not see him in the brewery. He must have skipped the tour which seems kind of silly since that was the more social part of the event. Oh well...

Viva Las Vegas - Part 5

The flight leaves at about 3 pm

I walked before breakfast again. DH suggested the buffet so we did that again. I still love those cheese blintzes!



The Plan: Park at Caesar's and us the Casino Royale $50 slots coupon. Find lunch and head to the airport.

Stupid trip to Casino Royale. No time to shop at Caesar's which is something that I kind of wanted to do. That was annoying since there I said that I wanted to (1) pastry and coffee at Bellagio, (2) browse at Caesar's and (3) chocolate banana at Mermaids. I skipped the banana which was my choice and I'm disappointed about the other two.

We had lunch at Spago. I wasn't hungry. DH apparently really wanted the pizza. He was somewhat disappointed that the four cheese pizza is no longer on the menu and that the mussels are gone too. He ordered a pepperoni pizza. Then he said that he wasn't that hungry -- which is understandable because I certainly wasn't hungry! -- and he offered to share some pizza with me. The service at Spago was very good, as was the pizza.


Final score
DH -$14.65
Me +8.50

Viva Las Vegas - Part 4

I walked from the Golden Nugget downtown to the Stratosphere before breakfast.


We passed this store several times and I kept on thinking about what an odd combo that was. Chinese food. Coffee. Donuts. Do they change the oil between the donuts and the Chinese? Inquiring minds want to know.

The Plan: Tix4Tonight and the do the Ethel M factory tour @ Mountain Vista and Sunset Way. The rest of the plan hinges on whether or not we see a show.

DH made an appointment for a massage at 4:00. That should help his shoulder. I'm going to use the gym while he's worked on.

We got tickets for Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. We went to Tix4Tonight on Freemont Street and got two tickets for the show in section A for half price. While we were waiting in line at Tix4Tonight, a party cut in line. We said something about the line starting back there and pointed. The party spokesperson said, rather rudely and in a snotty tone, "We're VIPs" and waived a yellow slip of paper at us. The lady in front of us was really annoyed. I asked, what is wrong with this picture? VIP? Discount tickets? If you're a VIP, shouldn't they be giving you tickets?

Well, what we we really purchased were vouchers for tickets. From there, it becomes a scavenger hunt. We had to go to the ticket office at Mandalay Bay to get the actual tickets and seats so off we went to Mandalay Bay. We secured our tickets and DH bet $20 on the Thrashers-Senators game.

After our trip to Mandalay Bay, we were off to Ethel M for the tour and gift shop. Ethel M has changed a lot and now they mostly have the new "Ethel" line -- still good, just different. They have really throttled back the tour sampling too. Bummer. Now they have the Sample of the Day and that's it.

After our mandadory Ethel M stop, it was time for lunch. We had our first In-N-Out Burger experience. In some ways, it reminded us of Char Grill in Raleigh. Your choices are single, double, cheese/no cheese, onion/no onion, soda/shake and fries/no fries.

We decided to go back to the hotel to "swim with the sharks" in The Tank and use the three story slide at the pool before DH's spa appointment.

We grabbed dinner at the hotel and then went to the show. Mamma Mia was good. I really enjoyed the show and we were very happy with the production level. The way the songs were used to weave together the story was really neat.

Score after 4 days
DH -$13.65
Me -$3.35

Viva Las Vegas - Part 3

The Plan: Badger Pass Loop at Cottonwood Canyon to Deadhorse Loop (keeping left the whole time) to the Tank -- view of Vegas and downhill back to the car at the NV 160 trailhead. May pass the turn to the car and do the beginner loop to add miles.

The MTB plan went slightly awry but turned out OK. We parked at the trailhead off NV160. The trailhead was labeled and there was a parking lot and ATV road. Based on the signage in the parking area, we thought that we were supposed to follow the road to the trail but no, apparently not. The unpaved road led to the same overlook as the mountain bike trail and we ended up taking what I will euphemistically call a road all the way to the overlook. We stopped at the overlook and took some pictures before taking Deadhorse Loop back. When we were actually on the trail, it was pretty well marked. Loose gravel in dry stream beds and loose, fist sized stones, not so nice. Good view of Vegas from the overlook.

Mileage = 10.77
Ride time = 2:40, few stops other than overlook


After the dropping off the bikes, we stopped at Hofbrahaus. DH had a half liter of the dunkle as practice for Bike for Beer on Saturday.

On our way to Las Vegas, we talked to someone who lived there and she recommended that we try the haunted themed thing at Circus Circus as a Halloween themed stop. We stopped there and it turned out that we had missed the haunted whatsit in the Adventuredome but I decided that I needed to bet on the Hurricanes (I had a bad feeling, I shouldn't have done it) so I placed a $5 bet and we decided to see the circus act while we were there. It was OK. The highlight was a woman being swung by her hair. Weird. I must say that the two women in the show had great abs. The hotel kind of smelled and DH thanked me for not having him stay there!

We cleaned up and had dinner at the Spice Market after doing reconnaissance at Mandalay Bay where Burger Bar and Border Grill looked like possibilities. The Spice Market was much more my speed that The Buffet at Wynn.

The Spice Market was good but we agreed that it was better in the past. Still, we'd go back. The Middle Eastern section of the buffet was fantastic and the bread pudding was great. My service at Spice Market was actually better than it was at the Wynn. I'm sure that if you're a big prime rib fan, Wynn would be better. The shrimp and crab legs were bigger at the Wynn and the pasta and breads were better there but I still think that I prefer Spice Market.

After eating, we did some Halloween people watching on the Strip. I don't have a "best costume" in mind but the most creative one was Dick Head. You figure it out.

DH -$22.00
Me -$3.35 (after the Hurricanes loss)

Viva Las Vegas - Part 2

The Plan: St. George, UT where we will ride Bearclaw Poppy and create a loop with some other trails.

On Tuesday morning, we drove to St. George, Utah, about two hours from Las Vegas. We rode the Bearclaw Poppy after a short detour to The Clavicles -- as, as in the bones. This section is apparently name for the bones that is has claimed. We got to this section by accident. The start of Bearclaw Poppy was not clearly marked. Another cyclist was starting and we followed him. We did a few very steep rollers and I spent a lot of time escorting my bike rather than riding this. (Please keep in mind that this is Day 2 of my mountain biking career!) I became increasingly frustrated and finally said, "I can't do this. We have to find another trail." After that, we did find a saner section and discovered that was Bearclaw Poppy, trail markings and all! We proceeded from there.

Of course, DH never said anything like, "I'm sorry that I took you on that bone breaking section on your second time out mountain biking." Nope. Nothing like that.

Anyway, we road Bearclaw Poppy out about 7.5 miles, mostly climbing. The grade wasn't that steep and the surface was good -- mostly packed gypsum. The views were very nice.

We tried to take the Bloomington Microloop back but it doesn't actually loop, from what we could tell. We ended up on a truly evil ATV access road. We went back and did some more of Bearclaw Poppy and eded up with a total of 15 miles or so. We spent about two hours and 45 minutes on the bikes with plenty of stops.

Once we got there, we found out that most of the locals start at a different trailhead and ride down Bearclaw Poppy; pedaling optional. Lazy butts. The climbing wasn't bad a tall.



After PB&J, DH wanted to look for the DQ symbol. We did and he had a Blizzard -- peanut butter cup, of course!

After heading back to the hotel and cleaning up, we elected to give Mr. Lucky's 24/7 at Hard Rock Casino a chance. I had heard that the Gambler's Special there was good as was the rest of the menu. We both ended up getting the Gambler's Special and it was good and kind of fun: salad, steak, three shrimp and mashed potatoes for $7.77.

After dinner we parked at Planet Hollywood and messed around on the Strip for while. Then we shared a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli's at the Harrah's Carnaval Court.

DH 1 fall -$22.00
Me 0 falls +$1.65

Viva Las Vegas - Part 1

DH and I went vacationed in Las Vegas last week. We arrived at our hotel, the Golden Nugget, on Sunday at about 10 pm Las Vegas time. Our plan was to mountain bike three days and maybe see a show. We also wanted to visit Ethel M and see some other things while in town.

On Monday morning, we wet to the hotel buffet for breakfast and discovered that the Starbucks in Las Vegas generally do not take Starbucks cards. That really sucked because I put extra money on my Starbucks card, knowing that there were tons and tons of Starbucks in Las Vegas. I really need to call them to ask about that. Yeah yeah. I understand that they coffee shop is owned by the hotel or whatever but it still posts the Starbucks logo! I mean, it's not like Barnes and Nobel when they say "serving Starbucks coffee" or whatever. To me, that's pretty clear. The are Barnes and Nobel and they are serving a certain brand of coffee at their store -- like Wendy's serves Millstone. What's worse, these locations are listed on the Starbucks website. They really should take the card! ARG!

After breakfast, we went very high class and stopped at Food4Less and picked up the makings for PB&J along with a Styrofoam cooler and some beverages. By then the bike shop was opened and we picked up our rental mountain bikes -- which were Cannondale Rushes and I think that they were 2007 Rush 6. The folks at McGhie's Bikes were really nice. They even put on a women's specific saddle without my asking.



DH and I then went to the Blue Diamond trailhead in Cottonwood Canyon. This was my first time on a mountain bike (not counting test rides). The terrain was interesting -- some loose gravel type rocks, some fist sized rocks (also loose), some sandy surface and some hard packed. We rode twelve miles, according to DH's ancient GPS and we messed around on the bikes for a total of about three hours. We spent a lot of time figuring out where we were on the trail system.

At one point, I saw a cloud of dust ahead of me -- DH had decided to take a jump, and here I had been viewing those as obstacles to be avoided. Anyway, he fell, landing heavily on his shoulder. He was a bit sore the rest of the trip. He didn't complain but I kept on seeing him messing with his shoulder throughout the trip.



We rode for a while longer after the fall and we got to a section with a steeper incline. We got to the top and stopped and an overlook. I said, "Is that Blue Diamond."

DH replied, "No."

"So if we went down there, our car wouldn't be there?"

"No." DH pointed another direction and said, "We need to go around that hill."

See the town in these pictures? Could it be???

We followed the trail around the hill, went downhill for quite a ways and the trail started to get deep in sandy soil. DH stopped and said, "You're going to kill me. That was Blue Diamond." So we turned around and rode back up the long hill!

We had PB&J back at the trailhead and then went into town to clean up.

We headed to the Wynn for dinner. DH wanted to try the highly recommended "The Buffet." As it turns out, it wasn't all that. I mean, it was good and all but not all that fancy or anything. We were not all that impressed and agree that we won't be back. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't awesome or anything. They had seafood, sushi (DH said the sushi at Whole Foods is better), Asian (pork potstickers, stir fried octopus, baby bok choy <- quite good). There was a carving station that specified "Tom" turkey and "hand rubbed" prime rib. There was also grilled corn (not good) and grilled asparagus (good but not great). The Italian section was excellent though. The pasta station had all fresh, hand made pastas and the pizza was good. The desert station wasn't as good as I expected but I did enjoy the bread pudding. Service was only so-so. My water was empty a lot of the time. Our favorites were the bread pudding, vegetables, prime rib and shrimp cocktail. The rabbit salad and shrimp ceviche were both interesting as well.

After dinner, we did some walking, people watching and saw the water show at the Bellagio. The water show was good but I think that it used to be more than one song. We saw "Viva Las Vegas."

Score after Day 1

DH 1 fall -$5.00
Me 0 falls +$2.65