Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

As you may have heard, I spent my last few days in the US in San Diego with my friend Lewis (shipitonetime on blonde).  About a 5 hour drive and such a beautiful city.

Our first hotel was in a suburb called Del Mar which was very very posh.  On the beach tho they had this

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Next day we got into the city in a hotel in Downtown and decided to walk to Balboa park.  On the way tho we walked past this....also you may notice the huge bridge on the background:

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It was a homeless camp for Veterans set up on a school/college baseball pitch, so so many people there (both homeless and quite a lot of volunteers handing out food/water and medical supplies) and tonnes of tents, mattresses and cardboard beds on the side of the road too.  America is so amazing in some ways and so utterly shocking in others.

In Balboa park it had a huge array of things to do...a zoo, art galleries, museums and lots of kids attractions too.  We went to the Air and Space museum, pretty sure you could spend the whole day in there - next door to this they had an Automotive museum which I'm sure woulda been filled with some incred American cars but sadly had no time to go look.  Some pics:

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This is a replica of a Ferrari F50 I think that some guy made.  It's actually a working boat and the guy uses it in Venice where he lives.  Has an engine in and everything!

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An old Honda Civic (beautiful car) with its entire bodywork covered in dimes....for what reason have no idea but some guy cleared spent a long time on this project

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Found out I had a plane manufacturer with the same name

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They also had a wall of 'heroes' of all things to do with aeroplanes.  This man popped up:

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Reminds me...did you enjoy my gift to you at Gatwick?!?!

Terrific set of photos, thanks Ryan. Yes please, post the rest.

Also, if you have any REALLY interesting stuff - how long it takes to boil a kettle, end-caps, 2 feet of copper tube, that sort of stuff - post it on the gnat-bite Diary.  

The Gatwick gift? A book by Richard Branson, about how to be the world's greatest businessman? I really appreciated the gesture, thank you. I did try to read it, & there are not many books I start & don't finish, but he genuinely made me feel ill after a few chapters, he is so up his own arse. Sort of bloke who would say, just pop your signature here. Ugh.

[tikay]

Note in this photo the extraordinary fact - that track has wooden railway sleepers. So much better than concrete sleepers, give a beter ride, with more "feel".

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[tikay]

The car photos were something else.

I suppose they look at us, playing poker, & think we are mad. But coating a car in dimes?

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[hector62]

I have stolen a couple of photos that I thought you may like from a thread on 2+2 that I follow.

Click to see full-size image.

I love this one of Winston Churchill

This one is taken the day after 911.

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[tikay]

You seem to come back from LV and slip seamlessly into your old routine.

Do you not suffer from jet-lag or do you simply ignore it?

I feel like a right old wimp as it usually takes me the best part of a week to get over it.

Well no, not as such. I think jet-lag is like 'flu, if you give in to it, you immediately feel much worse. Work through it, imo, & it disappears.

I do prepare for it though, especially as I had been away for over a month, so the body-clock had adjusted to USA time.

Starting 4 days before returning home, I adjusted my watch 2 hours per day (Vegas is 8 hours behind), & also adjusted all my other body functions by the same 2 hours, including eating, sleeping, & BE. I slept most of the flight home, too.

I was bright as a button when I landed at Gatters on Sunday morning, a little tired, but I rested up on Sunday & Monday, & have been fine since, in fact I have done 2 x 5 hour Live TV shows since.

Returning to my daily work routine next door was a little harder. Like an ageing sportsman, it gets tougher each year. I enjoy most of it, but my tolerance levels to some stuff is wearing painfully thin. I get insulted every single day (on behalf of the business) by players who have never seen what it is like to run an Online Gaming business, & have, literally, no idea of the complexities involved. I understand their frustration, of course I do, but some of the comments, here & next door, are daft beyond belief. They say them in the full knowledge that we cannot reply in kind, of course.

"You are stupid running that Promo three times in a year, it is ridiculous how stupid & bad it is".

Umm......believe me, if the Promo did not stimulate extra margin, & uniques, & numerous other criteria, they would not repeat it.  It comes from individuals who have never worked in Online Gaming (or anywhere in some cases) but they are experts on how to run a business? I don't think so..... 

What they really mean is not it is bad, but it does not suit me.

Quite a difference.

And I have to turn the other cheek, & say nothing, & my tolerance to that sort of stuff is wearing quite thin now.

Sky Bet announced a big sponsorship deal yesterday, & the Forum next door was full of negative remarks about it. And yet anyone who has even the most cursory & basic understanding of how the Business works would snap know it can ONLY be good for the Poker Site. So I'm not sure whether to reply to them, & explain ABC Online gaming business basics, or just bite my tongue. I mean, it is SO black & white, so simple.

Anyway, ignore me, the hot weather must be making me tetchy.

I'll retire soon enough, & boy oh boy, I'll have my say then......

Will have a short day today, go home, & pop the telly on.

Honest to God, the next time some condescending so & so tells me to pop this or that, I'm so gonna pop then on the conk. 

[RED-DOG]

There is a lump of cast iron which connects the rail line to the sleeper. It's called a "Chair".

Weighed about 4 stone each they did. I used to buy them for scrap occasionally, although why they would ever need replacing I can't imagine.

Sometimes I would buy them with the old sleepers still attached. Sleepers were always good sellers, even back then, and even more so now, so chairs with sleepers were a double profit whammy.

I wonder how many trees you would need to sleeperise a 100 miles of track.

[tikay]

I have stolen a couple of photos that I thought you may like from a thread on 2+2 that I follow.

Click to see full-size image.

I love this one of Winston Churchill

This one is taken the day after 911.

Click to see full-size image.

Fantastic photos hector, thank you.

Can you give me a link to that thread, please? I try to spend as little time as possible on 2+2, parts of it damage your senses, (note how ill-mannered many regular 2+2 users become) but it does have some excellent stuff.

What airport was that, do you know? Extraordinary photo, ditto that whopping great tree.

[tikay]

There is a lump of cast iron which connects the rail line to the sleeper. It's called a "Chair".

Weighed about 4 stone each they did. I used to buy them for scrap occasionally, although why they would ever need replacing I can't imagine.

Sometimes I would buy them with the old sleepers still attached. Sleepers were always good sellers, even back then, and even more so now, so chairs with sleepers were a double profit whammy.

I wonder how many trees you would need to sleeperise a 100 miles of track.

Yes, "chairs" is the name I knew them by, but in this photo they describe them as "steel chocks".

Those fishplates must have weighed a pound or two, too. 





My dad used to buy used timber sleepers (I'm going back 55 years, when I was a kid), & I'd chop it up, to make "starter" wood to light the fire at home. It would be impregnated with years of oil, & smell absolutely wonderful when it burned.

Many years later, I found many uses for retired railway sleepers in my business activities, & used to buy them from Wards in Derby for a tenner each, & I could sell them for £30 a time. Nice business, that...... simple, straightforward, & no moany woany punters complaining.

[hector62]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34/other-other-topics/pictures-say-1000-words-some-pretty-disturbing-599916/

That is the link but beware it is almost as long as TFT thread, but does have some quite amazing pics within it.

The url for the plane photo says halifax airport, so I am guessing Canada.

[Tal]

I was subject of a trolling on a pool forum last year. Much less severe but persistent and personal, essentially picking on the only member of our team who wouldn't have an immediate reaction to knock him out. He got one of his mates/hangers on to join in with the odd "lol" or reinforcement.

Singularly one of the most pathetic things you could imagine in the clear light of day but utterly horrible over the course of a few weeks on a forum I used every day. I knew who the guy was but had no reason to have deserved what he did. He obviously found it funny, even when others chirped up in my defence.

I played in an opposing team a couple of times since but found one way or another to avoid contact with him.

Then, about a month ago, our team played his again. I won my game and played pretty well by my standards. At the end of the match, during the customary exchange of handshakes, he came over and said "well played, Simon", offering his hand.

I did something very unlike me. All I did was look completely confused, deep into his eyes. I gave him a look that left him under no illusions, a year on, that I hadn't forgotten.

The look on his face was quite a picture.

I spoke to a member of their team afterwards to apologise for any unpleasantness (I know - I apologised!) and he said the fellow was apoplectic with rage (not his exact words) but was then reminded by his teammates what he did.

Very much not my style, but I've left it in no uncertain terms that I am prepared to forgive on receipt of an apology, but not to forget.

I can't help thinking if I'd just clocked him at the time he wouldn't have been this upset a year on. Nevertheless, it probably would have felt better

It isn't comparable to you, Tikay, really, other than to confirm that there are some aunts out there and it's infrequently as personal as it seems.

[tikay]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34/other-other-topics/pictures-say-1000-words-some-pretty-disturbing-599916/

That is the link but beware it is almost as long as TFT thread, but does have some quite amazing pics within it.

The url for the plane photo says halifax airport, so I am guessing Canada.

Oh my oh my.

Damn you hector, that's my weekend gone!

Some of those are simply breathtaking.

[RED-DOG]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34/other-other-topics/pictures-say-1000-words-some-pretty-disturbing-599916/

That is the link but beware it is almost as long as TFT thread, but does have some quite amazing pics within it.

The url for the plane photo says halifax airport, so I am guessing Canada.

Oh my oh my.

Damn you hector, that's my weekend gone!

Some of those are simply breathtaking.

Yeah, but answer me this, where are the Shakespeare tea towels?

[hector62]

Over a million views- well deserved.

[tikay]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34/other-other-topics/pictures-say-1000-words-some-pretty-disturbing-599916/

That is the link but beware it is almost as long as TFT thread, but does have some quite amazing pics within it.

The url for the plane photo says halifax airport, so I am guessing Canada.

Oh my oh my.

Damn you hector, that's my weekend gone!

Some of those are simply breathtaking.

Yeah, but answer me this, where are the Shakespeare tea towels?

....and photos of gnat bites.

[tikay]

I was listening to the wireless yesterday, & heard the most odd thing - an advert called The Underwear Rule.

Intrigued, I looked it up, & it really exists.

Look.....


http://www.underwearrule.org/underwear_en.asp


I don't really know what to think about that. Good, bad?

Good, I suppose, though surely any responsible parent would teach their kids that sort of stuff anyway.

I actually think the problem was probably a LOT worse half a century ago. At least, I hope it was.

People crave children, feet, cross-dressing, being locked up & whipped, encased in bubble wrap, "fake" suffocation, all sorts.   

The human mind, & the addictions we have, is just the weirdest (& most fascinating) thing ever.

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