Leaving Las Vegas

Some random Las Vegas thoughts.
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Security at the Consumer Electronics Show is a joke.  It began after 9/11 when they started checking all bags coming into the show.  While I suspect that's fully unnecessary, I understand why they do it, so fine if it either gives the perception of safety or the reality of it.  But the actually checking of bags is borderline meaningless.

One day, they looked in my bag and passed me through -- great, except the bag had three additional compartments.  None of which got checked.  Another day, the guard did look  in several of the compartments.  But in  one of these I had some hardware in a smaller bag, which was clearly there to see.  But whatever was in that bag -- obvious as it was -- wasn't checked.  Another day, I just walked it.  In fairness, it's a tough deal -- maybe 150,000 people attend during the week.  But surface checks to appear you're doing something is just silly.  So, they get an A for intent, and a D- for implementation.

Several years ago on his Diners, Drive-ins and Drives show on Food Network, Guy Fieri visited a pizza restaurant in Las Vegas, Naked City Pizza.  I marked down the name at the time and figured I'd try it on a trip to CES if it was convenient.  As it happens, I had a free day, and one of their three or four branches was somewhat nearby, so I went.  The pizza was fine -- fairly tasty but nothing special, a fairly bready dough, a thin but tasty sauce, and basic cheese.  To be clear, I didn't get the pizza he ate on the show.  That was a pretty loaded one, and it may have been delicious.  But since I had the foundational pizza that overlapped what the special pizza had, I have a good tasting of how it was made.  And...it was fine.  The toppings combination may have taken it to another level, but this was not special pizza.  It was -- well, you know -- fine.

For many years, I've said there are pretty much only two things I like about Las Vegas:  buffets and free self-parking at casino/hotels.  Last year, a few Las Vegas casinos started charging for self-parking.  Most people I talked to -- visitors and casino workers -- disliked the inroad.  This year, it got ratcheted up: almost every casino on the Strip now charges.  I understand the reasoning.  But it still seems counter-productive.  Casinos dearly want people to stay at the casino and do everything to attract them and not leave.  When you charge people and put a clock on when they'll owe more, that pretty much defeats the purpose.  So, we're down to there's one good thing in Las Vegas:  lots of buffets