Vegas plans, and the danger of assumptions

I saw five bluebirds at our heated bird bath today! They and the other birds seem to love it in the wintertime, and I see the bluebirds more in the winter than I do in the summer. They're so pretty.

I got something done today that I really needed to get done. Now that we got the tree up and the bins of wrapping paper out, I got the presents wrapped and packaged to send to our friends Kimberley and Steve (we're meeting up with them in Vegas). The question is, will I be able to get out to the Post Office tomorrow? It's snowing fairly heavily at the moment, and Ken leaves for Kansas City (They got some crazy little women there, you know...anyone who gets that reference gets the gold star for today!) tomorrow afternoon. So if I get stuck in the driveway, I'm stuck until Ken gets back, or until I'm melted out, whichever comes first!

I also had fun today researching our Vegas trip. I'm not trying to be our group travel agent, and I'm very flexible about where we go, but I always like having a few ideas in mind before we go, and I've got the time to do the research. We love going to downtown Vegas, and I read that the seafood buffet at the Fremont got excellent reviews from travelers, and is half the price of places on the Strip. So that's a definite possibility. Ken and I loved the Golden Gate (also downtown, and the first hotel in Vegas!) and plan on playing some blackjack there, as well as picking up one (or three) of their shrimp cocktails--they're the ones who originated the cheap Vegas shrimp cocktail. They have a neat little restaurant there called the Bay City Diner, so that's another possibility. Our Cirque show is at the Mirage, and it turns out they have a Brazilian barbecue restaurant there, a carnivore's delight! So that's a maybe before the show. There's a place called the Peppermill Inn, a lounge across from where the Stardust used to be (RIP Stardust). The review said that the ambiance was 70's era Dean Martin...! I wanna go there!

But the best bit of news came late this afternoon, when I got an email from my contact at the Neon Museum. They have restored a handful of classic Vegas signs (including the original Aladdin's Lamp at the Aladdin) and those can be seen downtown. However, they also have what is called the Boneyard, a few acres outside where they keep all the signs that haven't been restored yet. They are open for tours by appointment only, and they were unsure of their hours after Christmas. Erin emailed me that they had a couple of tours both Tuesday and Wednesday, and which tour would I like? Happy happy joy joy! I'd resigned myself to not getting to see it this time, but I was pleasantly surprised! I've written about my love of signage...this place has some of the Vegas icons, like the light-bulbed slipper from the Silver Slipper. I'm as happy as a little girl!

Another topic. I've mentioned before that if someone tells me that I have to do something, I'm more than likely to not do it...just because I'm ornery that way. Mark says he's kind of the same way, and calls himself a "contrarian." I like that. I think I'm a contrarian, too. But if there's anything I like less than being told what to do, it's being told that I would feel or think a certain way in certain circumstances.

Fair warning: don't make assumptions about me. I have many different opinions and many different viewpoints, and some might surprise you. If, after reading my blog for a short time, or even at length, you think you know everything about me...my feelings, my thoughts, my opinions, and my reactions...you are mistaken. If we read each other for a while, I believe we get a pretty good idea of how we feel about certain things, but to assume that I think a certain way about a particular topic is not only presumptuous, it is patronizing.

A person's thought processes and psyche cannot be summed up by a blog. There is always more than meets the eye. If you really want to hear my opinion on something, email me at Luvrte66@aol.com. No promises that I'll share my opinion, although I have plenty, but that would be the place to start. Assuming that you know what I would feel or how I would react is foolish, and telling me, not asking me, what my thoughts would be is condescending. I may be as happy as a little girl, but I'm not one, and don't need to be told that I would or should behave or think in a particular way.

Life is much more complex than that, as are people.