Las Vegas Travel Diary: Everything You Need for a Visit to Vegas

by Joey deVilla on March 14, 2010

This vending machine in the men’s room in Accordion City’s Pearson Airport dispenses everything you need for the perfect weekend in Las Vegas:

"Travel store" vending machine featuring: Tylenol, condoms, Ice Drops breath mints and Body Play tattoos.

The offerings from the vending machine are outdone by the goodies awaiting guests of the Mandalay Bay hotel, where I’m staying. Miniature Snickers bars trump breath mints every time!

Cocktail shaker, can of Snickers miniatures, can of M&Ms, can of sour cream and chives Pringles, can of original Pringles, 3 boxes of assorted nuts, "The Love Box" and "The Travel Box"

Being the rather – ahem – “earthy” person that I am, I had to inspect “The Love Box”. Its contents are listed on the back of the box, which I photographed and posted below:

"Contents: two lubricated prophylactics, two personal lubricants, two obstectrical towelettes, two oral fixation mint packers, one massage oil, one feminine fresh wipe"

Is it me, or does the list of contents sound a bit…clinical?

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Las Vegas Travel Diary: The Gun Store!

by Joey deVilla on March 14, 2010

It’s still here after all these years – the ad for The Gun Store, which greets you at the baggage carousels at Las Vegas’ McCarran airport. It’s far more memorable than a mere “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign:

Sign: "Try One! Shoot a real machinegun! MP5, Uzi, Thompson, MP40, AK-47, Sten, M16, Greasegun, M249 SAW. The Gun Store"

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Las Vegas Travel Diary: Anything Can Be a Slot Machine Theme

by Joey deVilla on March 14, 2010

Case in point: the Sex and the City slot machine in Mandalay Bay…

"Sex and the City" slot machine with video screens featuring the women and "Mr. Big"

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Back to Daylight Saving Time!

by Joey deVilla on March 14, 2010

Photo: Penguin about to wake up a polar bear with a pair of cymbals.

I’m in Las Vegas to catch Microsoft’s MIX10 conference, where a lot of big announcements are being made. The combination of having just come from the Confoo conference in Montreal, flying to Vegas by way of Vancouver, and “springing forward” to daylight saving time has left me feeling like the bear pictured above.

More posts from Vegas and MIX10 to follow!

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

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Squeezin’ at the Society of the Secret Pickle

by Joey deVilla on March 9, 2010

Photo by Jennifer Brown.

I did a fair bit of work massaging some presentations and software demos into shape last weekend, but there was also some downtime. The Ginger Ninja and I enjoyed dinner with the Accordion City foodie group/dinner club known as the Society of the Secret Pickle. The photo above shows me playing Happy Birthday to Pat, one of the guests at the event.

imagePhoto by Pat.

I’ll write more about the Society of the Secret Pickle and the lovely food we had later, but in the meantime, you might want to check out:

imagePhoto by Pat.

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Happy Women’s Day!

March 8, 2010

It’s March 8th — Women’s Day! I’d like to wish a very happy day to women everywhere (and especially the Ginger Ninja)!

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My Chair, My Enemy

March 8, 2010

“Your chair is your enemy,” starts the New York Times article Stand Up While You Read This!
To give you the thesis of the article, here are the next two paragraphs in the article:
It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest [...]

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Skates Like Teen Spirit

March 8, 2010

For your Monday entertainment: Scott Williams figure skating to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. This guy would’ve been a hero at Clark Hall Pub during my DJ years.

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Music Video of the Day

March 3, 2010

Some things defy description, and this Lawrence Welk-esque music video from the 1970s is one of them. You’re just going to have to watch it.
The gentleman in the video is one Edward Anatolevich Hill or Эдуард Хиль, and the song he’s performing is titled I am So Happy to Finally Be Back Home. The song [...]

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Swamped

March 2, 2010

If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been posting as many articles to The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century lately, it’s because I’m swamped with work. I’m putting together three big presentations and gearing up for some business travel that will take me to Montreal, Las Vegas, Victoria, Kelowna, Moncton, Fredericton and [...]

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Names I Have Been Referred By at the Gym

February 26, 2010

Names at the Old Gym (Mostly people in their 20s – 30s)
From summer 2005 to the start of 2009, I was a member at a gym located a ten-minute walk away from home. The crowd is made up mostly of people in their 20s and 30s, presumably students, singles and the “yummy mummy” crowd, with [...]

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“Honesty is the Best Poetry”

February 24, 2010

BlogTO points to this photo of some art done in the snow by the Gardiner Expressway near downtown Accordion City. It’s pretty cool. Wonder who made it.
(Click the photo to see it at full size.)

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If the Restaurant Industry was Like the Record Industry

February 24, 2010

Don’t get the reference? See the Wikipedia entry for “Home Taping is Killing Music”.

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Tom Brokaw Explains Canada to Americans

February 24, 2010
Canadian and American flags, side by side

At the start of every Olympic games, there’s always an extended news piece – if you can call anything under 10 minutes “extended” – describing the host country to the viewers. The 2010 Winter Olympics is no exception, and in this video, NBC’s Tom Brokaw introduces American viewers to us, their neighbours to the north. [...]

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Tavis Coburn’s Amazing Retro Program Covers for the 2010 BAFTA Awards

February 23, 2010
Tavis Coburn's early 1960s-stylize rendition of

Graphic designer Tavis Coburn designed the program covers for this year’s BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards, and they’re retro-cool! Each one features elements from the nominees for the Best Picture Award.
Here’s the cover featuring Up in the Air, with a very Mad Men-esque treatment of George Clooney:

This is the cover [...]

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