Vegas, Philly, Vancouver, and sexy McDonald's ads?!

I'm going to be flying 7,500 miles this week. (well, 8 days) First Vegas last weekend, then Philly yesterday, and Vancouver tomorrow. I think I should get some sort of prize for this. Yes, on top of frequent flyer miles. I'm so tired. Here's the last week or so in a series of incoherent bullets:

-Vegas. Tao. Temple at Tao (the club). Eat dinner there. Get the sea bass satay. Ask for the line stamp. Bypass stupid long club lines.

-Ditto at Mix. But no stamp needed.

-Note to the guys: it helps to have ladies with you.

-Blue Man Group needs to upgrade to HD graphics. But I still love the streaming crepe paper.

-Wynn. Fabulous. Housekeeping there. Not so much.

-Calling for room service on your way back to the hotel so that you can have a hot cheeseburger at 3am when you arrive = brilliant. (See bullet point about Wynn above.)

-Philly. Cheesesteak. Yum.

-Scoop DeVille. Now in Houston Hall @ Penn. They even deliver. Life is unfair, eh?

-US Airways = ghetto. (Captain: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have to go back to the gate. It appears that our aircraft is leaking fuel.")

-McDonald's "sexy" ads in China for the Quarter Pounder. Utterly disturbing.

Philly nostalgia

So for the second time in two months, I'm back in the City of Brotherly Love. This time I'm actually on campus doing recruiting at the Undergrad Career Fair tomorrow. Just walked around campus for about half an hour, grabbed a steak at Abner's (that's a cheesesteak, in case you were confused), and took a quick swing through the Penn Bookstore--only to realize that in my 4 years here, I've never bought a piece of Penn apparel. (I quickly and sheepishly picked up a pair of grey shorts ;-)) I stopped by KCEH (Kings Court English House) and snapped a photo of the outside of my freshman year dorm window...if only I can figure out how to get the damn pic off my camera and on to my computer.

And you thought white rabbit candy were the only weird instance of edible paper...

Check out what this crazy Chicago restaurant's doing with food-flavoured ink...mmmm...this menu sure tastes good?

(And in case you're confused, read more about white rabbit candy here.)

American girl(s) in Chicago

(I wrote this right when I got back from Chicago, hence the date stamp...but just never around to posting it, so here it is...)

Just got back last night from our latest "excellent adventure" in Chicago. Regina and I spent three days in the Windy City and even managed to drive down to Indianapolis on Saturday for her friend's wedding. More on the trip later on our trip blog...

What I *do* have to mention, is my introduction in Chicago to a very scary non-even-tween-aged phenomenon--otherwise known as American Girl. Right off Michigan Avenue, there is a temple...uh, palace, dedicated to the franchise known as American Girl. Regina tells me that the brand actually started off as doing books about girls in American from historical (but fictional) heroines, to modern day girls. In reality--it's a money-printing, marketing MACHINE. Three floors dedicated to dressing, indulging, grooming (yes, a doll hair salon) a 18-inch tall doll that looks "just like you". It was the scariest thing I've ever seen. And as for the doll that looks "just like me"? Why she's doll number GT25H (complete with black hair and brown highlights, and side part, of course), and my chosen outfit has *got* to be the sparkly tunic and jeans. HAHAHA! Told you it was scary...

Anyhow--more on Chicago another time. Pics can be found here:

Labour Day Weekend - September 2006