Hi Readers,
So some of you may know that I went to Las Vegas for the first time this past week. It was a 4 day trip and I went with my labmate and some of his friends. This blog post will talk about some of my observations about the trip and Las Vegas.
Observation 1: California's Central Valley is boring as hell.
We decided to rent a car and to drive to Vegas. (Sub-observation here is that it is very affordable to rent a car through Enterprise at Stanford. It's only $58 a day and we don't get charged the over-25 surcharge or insurance because we are students!) Anyways, because I was the only one who had a valid American license out of the 4 of us, it was up to me to drive us all to and from Vegas. Oh boy, Interstate 5 through the Central Valley was as boring to drive through as most of the Illinois highways. It was pretty much all flat and everything was a brownish yellow color. Even with enough sleep, I had trouble staying alert on the road. Thanks Starbucks, for making Frappucinos. On a side note, 10 hours of driving after 4 hours of sleep is not a good idea, especially during the stretch from Bakersfield to Barstow where all you get on the radio are country music and people reading the Bible.
Observation 2: California drivers suck at basic driving etiquette.
Illinois and the Midwest has really spoiled my expectations of highway driving. In Illinois, if you are driving on highways, you mostly stay in the right lane and only move to the left in order to pass a slow vehicle in the right lane. In California this isn't true. People love staying in the left lane. It's fine if they are fast drivers, but when someone is driving below the flow-of-traffic speed and insists on staying in the left lane...let's just say I don't usually get mad, but this is one of the things that get me worked up. This is only the tip of the iceberg. I will talk about GPS systems in a later blog (one of my pet peeves).
Observation 3: Las Vegas feels like Disneyland.
That is, if Disneyland replaced Mickey Mouse with people soliciting sex and offering you free limo rides to strip clubs. Other than that, this description is pretty accurate. The architecture is so blatantly extravagant it's mind-boggling. Walking down the Strip, you are greeted by pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, a giant bronze lion, canals with gondolas, and pirate ships. You see people in costumes walking down the street and kids in strollers everywhere. There are a surprising number of kids in Vegas. A number of casinos have amusement parks with roller coaster rides. There are buffets literally everywhere you go. The entire place feels completely artificial. In a good way or bad way? That's debatable.
Observation 4: The recession hit Vegas hard.
We managed to get hotel rooms for $14 per room per night. This wasn't somewhere far away from the main area; it was at a casino on the strip, right next to Caesar's Palace and Bellagio and all the other casinos. Vegas has a huge oversupply of hotel rooms and the prices definitely show it. Every single thing costs money at the casinos. Internet's $5 an hour, there are no complimentary toiletries, and no free meals. It was even sort of hard to find cheap buffets, until we discovered the far-flung casinos that cater to the locals. Hello, $7 buffets!
Observation 5: Great architects. Horrible interior designers.
Every single casino we saw was an architectural masterpiece. Most casinos we went into felt like a crypt. Why would they make the casino floor so dark and gloomy? It was depressing just to walk through most casino floors. Why use carpeting when you KNOW everyone is smoking (so your carpet eternally smells like smoke)? Why put so many redundant steps? I saw so many people trip over little half-steps in front of the bathroom or bar or something similar.
Observation 6: Slot machines are a joke.
I initially wanted to try slot machines because I believe they were of the kind that you yank and the physical force you use would determine how much they spin. But I found out very quickly that everything was computer-determined. You press a button that said "Spin!" and the computer determined how much it spins and when it stops. What's the point of the spinning then?? The computer might as well just flash "Win!" or "Lose!" as soon as you press the button. We were baffled by the number of people we saw who were hooked on slot machines. For me the slot machine lost its appeal as soon as it went from being stochastic to deterministic.
Observation 7: Engineering guys and Vegas don't really mix well socially.
We went to Vegas as a group of 4 guys. 4 international citizens, 3 grad students in engineering, 2 Indians, and 1 gay guy = not a very good group for clubbing for either gay or straight clubs. I didn't press the gay clubs because I didn't think they would have fun there, and they didn't really want to go to the straight clubs because then we'd be either the 4 creepy dudes not dancing, or the 4 creepy dudes who are dancing with each other. It was nice to wake up early and without hangovers though!
That's really all the major observations. Overall Vegas was a fun experience! I lost a net total of $2 at the slot machines before I grew bored with them. Perhaps when I'm rich, I'll try my hand at some of the card games. For now I need to save the money for grad school first!
-FCDH
So some of you may know that I went to Las Vegas for the first time this past week. It was a 4 day trip and I went with my labmate and some of his friends. This blog post will talk about some of my observations about the trip and Las Vegas.
Observation 1: California's Central Valley is boring as hell.
We decided to rent a car and to drive to Vegas. (Sub-observation here is that it is very affordable to rent a car through Enterprise at Stanford. It's only $58 a day and we don't get charged the over-25 surcharge or insurance because we are students!) Anyways, because I was the only one who had a valid American license out of the 4 of us, it was up to me to drive us all to and from Vegas. Oh boy, Interstate 5 through the Central Valley was as boring to drive through as most of the Illinois highways. It was pretty much all flat and everything was a brownish yellow color. Even with enough sleep, I had trouble staying alert on the road. Thanks Starbucks, for making Frappucinos. On a side note, 10 hours of driving after 4 hours of sleep is not a good idea, especially during the stretch from Bakersfield to Barstow where all you get on the radio are country music and people reading the Bible.
Observation 2: California drivers suck at basic driving etiquette.
Illinois and the Midwest has really spoiled my expectations of highway driving. In Illinois, if you are driving on highways, you mostly stay in the right lane and only move to the left in order to pass a slow vehicle in the right lane. In California this isn't true. People love staying in the left lane. It's fine if they are fast drivers, but when someone is driving below the flow-of-traffic speed and insists on staying in the left lane...let's just say I don't usually get mad, but this is one of the things that get me worked up. This is only the tip of the iceberg. I will talk about GPS systems in a later blog (one of my pet peeves).
Observation 3: Las Vegas feels like Disneyland.
That is, if Disneyland replaced Mickey Mouse with people soliciting sex and offering you free limo rides to strip clubs. Other than that, this description is pretty accurate. The architecture is so blatantly extravagant it's mind-boggling. Walking down the Strip, you are greeted by pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, a giant bronze lion, canals with gondolas, and pirate ships. You see people in costumes walking down the street and kids in strollers everywhere. There are a surprising number of kids in Vegas. A number of casinos have amusement parks with roller coaster rides. There are buffets literally everywhere you go. The entire place feels completely artificial. In a good way or bad way? That's debatable.
Observation 4: The recession hit Vegas hard.
We managed to get hotel rooms for $14 per room per night. This wasn't somewhere far away from the main area; it was at a casino on the strip, right next to Caesar's Palace and Bellagio and all the other casinos. Vegas has a huge oversupply of hotel rooms and the prices definitely show it. Every single thing costs money at the casinos. Internet's $5 an hour, there are no complimentary toiletries, and no free meals. It was even sort of hard to find cheap buffets, until we discovered the far-flung casinos that cater to the locals. Hello, $7 buffets!
Observation 5: Great architects. Horrible interior designers.
Every single casino we saw was an architectural masterpiece. Most casinos we went into felt like a crypt. Why would they make the casino floor so dark and gloomy? It was depressing just to walk through most casino floors. Why use carpeting when you KNOW everyone is smoking (so your carpet eternally smells like smoke)? Why put so many redundant steps? I saw so many people trip over little half-steps in front of the bathroom or bar or something similar.
Observation 6: Slot machines are a joke.
I initially wanted to try slot machines because I believe they were of the kind that you yank and the physical force you use would determine how much they spin. But I found out very quickly that everything was computer-determined. You press a button that said "Spin!" and the computer determined how much it spins and when it stops. What's the point of the spinning then?? The computer might as well just flash "Win!" or "Lose!" as soon as you press the button. We were baffled by the number of people we saw who were hooked on slot machines. For me the slot machine lost its appeal as soon as it went from being stochastic to deterministic.
Observation 7: Engineering guys and Vegas don't really mix well socially.
We went to Vegas as a group of 4 guys. 4 international citizens, 3 grad students in engineering, 2 Indians, and 1 gay guy = not a very good group for clubbing for either gay or straight clubs. I didn't press the gay clubs because I didn't think they would have fun there, and they didn't really want to go to the straight clubs because then we'd be either the 4 creepy dudes not dancing, or the 4 creepy dudes who are dancing with each other. It was nice to wake up early and without hangovers though!
That's really all the major observations. Overall Vegas was a fun experience! I lost a net total of $2 at the slot machines before I grew bored with them. Perhaps when I'm rich, I'll try my hand at some of the card games. For now I need to save the money for grad school first!
-FCDH
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