Day 5 in Las Vegas

The Coffee Bean, near Red Rock Casino

I have discovered I like it here, so far. The area around Town Center and Summerlin Parkway is especially nice. Close your eyes and you could be in northern Tucson, Scottsdale, or any number of nice suburbs around the southwest. Out here, you can easily forget that The Strip is located a few miles east. Look west toward Red Rock Canyon and the mountains and forget you are in the world's biggest playground.

I've met a few locals, including a Keller Williams real estate broker, a entrepreneur who sells DVDs and books online and is a distributer for SendOutCards.com. I've met a photographer/mountain climber/trail guide from Seattle who has a Nikon D300 I covet. Plus a few business owners who I've met while looking for a job. Looking for work in this economic recession is a challenge, but one I enjoy. Looking for a job helps you learn the city, meet some locals, and you get a sense of what's happening in the local market and economy.

Whenever I've entered a new city, knowing that I'm going to stay awhile, I immediately begin looking for a job. In Las Vegas, as in many cities, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed. But jobs are still available; it just takes some footwork and patience to find them. If you haven't hit the job-hunting trail in a while, understand this: most companies now take applications online and it can be a real pain in the neck. Many sites use questionaires to test your personality type and work ethic, and these drawn out sessions border on the ridiculous.

I long for the old days when you could walk in for a job interview on the spot, fill out an application, get hired or not, then leave. While many small retail stores in shopping strips may post a Help Wanted sign, most franchise companies will simply send you to their web site.

I've been in Las Vegas before, but never for five days straight. I'm beginning to develop some impressions of the place and people who live here. It's no mystery that the health of Las Vegas is tied to the gaming industry.

For reasons I can't comprehend, many leaders in the casino industry were unable to see the current economic crisis coming. As a real estate broker, I attended meetings in 2000 that predicted this very situation. The signs were all there. A housing and credit crisis was coming. (We were told in our meetings in 2000/2001 that the crisis would hit in 2010. Evidently the 9/11 attacks pushed the timetable forward a bit.) So I'm really amazed when I read in the local press that no one saw this downturn coming, or that they are shocked to see a drastic decline in tourism and gaming. The old myth was that gaming and entertainment here was "recession proof."

The MGM Mirage, for example, is near bankruptcy. If it were to fail, the effects on the local economy would be devistating, says the newspaper. So here comes help, probably a bail out of some kind, to help a leading employer stay afloat. The MGM is developing a new complex, CityCenter, and the timing of such a project was always in question. Now with the current ecomomic atmosphere, the MGM is in trouble. But since they are "probably too big to fail", help is likely on the way.

Harrah's on the other hand, may have been the smart ones by holding off on developing their own new toy, the so-called "Epicenter." Back in 2006, they may have seen the writing on the wall and felt the timing wasn't right. They slowed down on their development plans. For MGM, however, it was "if we build it, they will come."

So now we find Las Vegas a little shaky, and more than a little nervous about the coming months. Signs are good that things will turn around, probably next year. But until then, I get the feeling the local business owners and residents are going to be holding their collective breaths to see what continues to happen on The Strip.

As for me, I'll keep pounding the pavement to see what job I can find.

Day One in Las Vegas

Day 1 in Las Vegas
Starbucks, near Red Rock Casino

Made a long drive to Las Vegas yesterday...525 miles. I don't think I've ever driven that far in one day without stopping before. I felt relieved it was over, but dog-tired. I left Carmel at 9:30 a.m. and arrived last night at sundown in Sin City, around 7:30 p.m. I made the drive with just two stops to stretch my legs and grab a Quarter Pounder.

Ten hours is just too long to stay on the road without a significant break. I was proud to average 52.5 miles an hour, though. Not bad when you consider the two-lane road across central California that slowed me up a bit. The drive across the Mojave Desert was maddening, too. When I see places like Mojave, it makes me wonder about the so-called overpopulated planet we live on. Looks like we have plenty of room to grow if you don't mind high winds, sand storms, and a hot blazing sun.

I'm hanging out mainly in the Red Rock Canyon area of west Las Vegas. The Spanish Trail area has an abundance of million-dollar homes, plus a very nice country club. Now if I could only come up with a million dollars.

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I visited the campus of UNLV today. But it's Spring Break so not much was happening. The Lied Library was all but empty, just a few students working on computers. The campus was a ghost town. I spoke with a nice girl in the Fine Arts Advisors office about the art department. She was just filling in for the regulars who were gone for the Break, so she didn't have much to say. She had a nice smile, though. (I know what you're thinking...but I'm old enough to be her father...which shouldn't be a problem now that I think about it.)

Day 279 on the Monterey Peninsula
Wild Goose Cafe, Carmel Valley

I'm packed and ready to go, and spending today saying good-bye and resting up for the road ahead that will lead me to Las Vegas. I'll be leaving in the morning, after exactly 280 days on the Monterey Peninsula. I'm sure I'll be back some day. The area is just too beautiful to ignore.

The beach at Carmel is among the most amazing sites in the country. Ed Weston and Ansel Adams lived here, as did hundreds of other artists and photographers caught up in the sheer beauty of the ragged coast and mountains. As an artist colony settled after the San Francisco fire at the turn of the last century, Carmel has now become a tourist destination for art lovers and beach-walkers. Of course Monterey is only a couple of miles from Carmel and is home to Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row. I love the area, but would have been more happy had I lived here in the early days when the peninsula was first being settled. Commercialization, over population, traffic, tourism, a state government gone wild burdening its citizens with taxes and restrictions, and a sense that an underlying class warfare is waging beneath the surface of paradise has made me long for simpler times.

The cost of housing and food is so severe, that the workers who support the economy of the Peninsula can 't afford to live there. Most laborers and medium-wage workers must drive or bus miles into the area in order to work. With most modest housing starting at $900 a month or more for a small apartment, no one making $10 an hour can afford to live within 15 miles of this paradise.

With all its beauty and offer of a wonderful lifestyle, Carmel and Monterey remains basically off limits to middle America.

I suppose it's the same across the country as the shrinking middle class gives way to the two-prong system of the Haves and the Have-nots. The widening of the classes between the rich and poor is becoming more pronounced. When a new resale shop opened near my studio I was amused at the name for the new business: "Rich Man, Poor Man." That pretty well sums it up. Resale shops are doing bang-up business during this economic crisis as middle America discovers how poor they are. The rich, of course, keep getting richer. They have their buyouts and government subsidies.

So it appears Paradise will remain the home of the rich. Middle America will discover there is no middle, only those who have money and those who do not.

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Speaking of the "Haves", it seems Facebook is having a wonderful year. They claim to have 200 million users now, doubling its userbase in the last seven months. Speculation is rampant about an IPO coming soon, perhaps by summer. But Mark Zuckerberg has stated "not so fast." Zuckerberg began Facebook in his college dorm and is another billionaire trying to figure out what to do with a company growing too fast. With 800 current employees, the Palo Alto juggernaut's worst case scenario is to be gobbled up by another company like Google for a few billion dollars. If I were Zuckerberg, I'd cash out and buy a house in Carmel.

Leaving the Village

I'm at the Starbucks in the Del Monte Center, Monterey, saying good-bye. I've spent a lot of time here over the last nine months. It's crowded as ever, being a Saturday. The weather is prime, just right, and people are enjoying sunning themselves as they walk their dogs and children along the outdoor retail shops. Seagulls land here and there, reminding me I'm near the ocean.

I'll miss the Monterey Peninsula's beauty and wonderful weather. But it's time for me to move on. The road is calling me back like an old friend. I'll travel to Las Vegas next week.

I travel light, so packing is really no big deal. I usually purchase what I need when staying in a place for more than a week or two. The nine months I've spent here is the longest period of time I've stayed in any one place. I've got art supplies and a few odds and ends I'll keep, but most of the junk I've collected threw the winter I'm donating to Goodwill.

The photo at left was taken just before I began packing. My small art studio served me just fine, though there were some drawbacks. Occasionally a rock band renting space down the hall would rehearse and drive me nuts. And once a week the cook in the market located downstairs would smoke meats out in the alley outside my window, blowing smoke into my office. But for the most part it was a pleasant nine months of concentrating on my art and my writing.

Fear and Loathing on the Way to Las Vegas

I'm about ready to leave the Monterey Peninsula. After 275 days enjoying paradise, it's time to get back to the real world. I'll be heading east toward Las Vegas, and should be there next week if all goes according to plan.

I've enjoyed my time here. But California just has too many problems. The state is all but broke, and they figure to get back in the black by adding more taxes on top of the mountain of taxes they've already heaped on the consumer. This is probably (since I'm not going to waste the time to try to prove it) the most taxed citizenry in the country. A recent "temporary" sales tax increase is just another example of a state government gone wild.

And it's no comfort that many of President Obama's advisers are from California. If you want to yourself in a few years, visit someone living in California. Overtaxed, underpaid, stressed and not able to afford the highest cost of living in the country. Unless, of course, your Paris Hilton.

I really want to spend some time in Las Vegas. After reading a lot of Hunter Thompson lately, I want to experience "Sin City" as an observer, an outsider looking in on the mayhem and weirdness of the city that never sleeps, and write about what I see. Plus I want to play some poker.

So, I'm packing up my small art studio, Sola Sendero, and taking my palette to Nevada.

The Wild Goose is crowded this morning. I can barely move my hands to work the keyboard on my laptop, kids running amuck like rats in a maze. One thing I love in life is a morning cup of coffee and a muffin, with some peace and quiet if I can find it. Not today. At times like this I'll stick the iPod in my ear, which helps.

I've arisen from three days of hell fighting one of the worst colds in recent memory. Luckily I had no nausea, just severe sinus pressure, runny nose, fever, and the usual body aches. No sleep and around-the-clock doses of NyQuil have made me a little cranky. I suppose that's one reason all these people at the Wild Goose are driving me nuts.

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Top 10 Goalies Gone Wild.

Thanks to Wil Wheaton (via puckdaddy) for the clip below. It seemed appropriate for describing the the way I've been feeling the last couple of days. I feel like I've been beaten by a hockey stick, thrown against the boards, and hit in the face by a puck or two.

A Visit to the Bay 101 and the WPT

Last week I drove to San Jose to check out the Bay 101 Casino. The final table of the World Poker Tour was to begin Friday afternoon, so I made sure to drop in to check it out. After leaving the Bay 1o1 I drove across town to the Garden City Casino and watched a final table there from a daily tournament.

The Bay 101 is a nice enough place, and certainly one of the larger card rooms you will see in California. The WPT Shooting Stars tournament was wrapping up that evening with the taping of the the final table for the GSN Network. Kathy Liebert was the only name I recognized on the final table list of players, so I decided it was not worth hanging around to see the taping. I'm glad I didn't stay. It turned out to be one of the longest final table matches in WPT history...I would have been there all night. Instead I walked around for a bit and then left. Kathy finished second, by the way, but still took home a nice $550,000.

The Garden City Casino is located in a retail shopping area of north San Jose. The building itself looks like it was built in the 1980s. Inside the decor was right out of 1985, heavily paneled with wood, comfortable soft lighting placed throughout. I was thinking it looked like a steak house that had been converted into a gaming establishment. A tournament was finishing up when I arrived, with three players left at the final table. I watched the match for a few minutes, then it quickly ended when the low stack went all in, the other two players called, and the low stack sucked out a win. Since this put all three players relatively even in chips, they decided to chop the prize. They each received about $3,000. I later read that professional Gabriel Thaler cut his chops there before moving on to Los Angeles, then Las Vegas.

On my way back to Monterey I stopped off at Mortimer's Card Room in Marina. I was disappointed. The room was very small, only four to six tables. Two tables were running spread games and the rest of the room was cluttered and messy. The room is actually a backroom attached to Mortimer's Bar. The neighborhood is old downtown Marina, a little scary, and probably not the safest place to be at midnight on a Saturday.