It took us quite a while to get there, as there was a road-closing accident on 152 (Pacheco Pass) so we had to turn around and take 101 South down to Paso Robles and then take 46 East. We just barely made it to Mesa Grill on time for our reservation.

The Aladdin was really nice. When we got there, we found out that they upgraded us to a panoramic suite for free. The suite was great, especially because it faced the Bellagio, so Nicole could watch the fountains of Bellagio.

As far as food, Mesa Grill was a bit of a disappointment and Rosemary’s Restaurant, a little place 15 minutes off the strip, was excellent – one of the best meals we’ve ever had. Every course was excellent from the Parmesan soufflé with wild mushroom ragout to the roasted chestnut soup with white cheddar cheese, crispy prosciutto, and shaved chives to the veal tenderloin with french green lentils, sizzled leeks, apple smoked bacon, and sherry mustard butter sauce to the chocolate cream pie with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and caramel drizzles and the complimentary assortment of petitfours.

Avenue Q was a great show. Definitely recommended. The Wynn was OK although it was a bit too ritzy for my taste and was super hot and uncomfortable – I couldn’t wait to get out. The Terrace Pointe Cafe there was pretty good for an after-show bite, although all we had were soup and salad. Pretty good food and expensive but not outlandishly expensive.

As far as gambling, I think we lost only around $11. We really had very little luck at all, so after putting some money into the machine and getting almost no wins at all, we lost the inspiration and decided to cut our losses.

I got some work done on my widget (both in the car and in the hotel) and we also listened to a number of audiobooks that we’ve gotten recently including Freakonomics, The Tipping Point, and part of Blink.

You won’t see much activity here for a few days. My wife and I are heading to Vegas. We’re going to see Avenue Q and eat at Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay) and Rosemary’s (a recommendation from Todd at work).

Yahoo has certainly had a busy year of product releases and acquisitions, but I hadn’t realized just how mind-boggling the list of accomplishments was until I looked at the excellent list at Jeff Boulter’s blog.

Pretty formidable list if you ask me.

According to Weblog Tools Collection, WordPress 2.0 is out!

We’ve had bad luck with tires lately.

First, we got a flat in Nicole’s car when we were down in L.A. in August.

Then, in October I had a flat.

And then Thursday night, we noticed that my wife’s car had a flat tire. The bright side is if I’ve gotten fairly good at putting on the spare – yesterday it only took me 10 minutes to get the spare tire on. The service at Pep Boys this time was less than stellar. Even though we gave them our cell phone number, they kept calling us at home. And they didn’t even start on putting the new tire on until we came in and asked them if her car was done yet. Then they put the tire on while we waited in the waiting room and unbelievably, when the car was done they did not come and get us – even stranger, when we got home we realized that they called us and left a message, while we were waiting there in their waiting room!

So I lost my watch a month, maybe two months ago. I’ve been using the clock on my Treo to make sure I don’t go too long on interviews and such, but it seems rude to constantly look at my phone. I had hoped to find the watch, but since it had been many weeks, I resigned myself to buying another one.

The other day I wanted to check work email from home so I look for my RSA key fob. Can’t find it. I ask my wife and she says she thought she saw it on the couch. I go to the couch and it’s not there, but just in case, I pick up the cushions and low and behold, right next to a piece of stale popcorn, there is my watch! 🙂

Very satisfying. And yes, I found my RSA key fob, but not in the couch but in the previous day’s pants pocket. 🙂