Woka woka

We are just packing to move on to San Francisco this morning. We did Penn and Teller, and they were a bit old school. The show was not as slick as they appear on TV, but they had some clever tricks and interspersed the act with their usual humour.
Yesterday we took a helicopter to the Grand Canyon and were surprised when we landed near the bottom for a champagne picnic. I will post some pictures when I find a fast WiFi connection. Our pay as you go is working well but is painfully slow.

I last visited the Canyon with Dodgy after our West coast rugby tour in the late nineties and we drove to the South rim via the Hoover dam. That view gave a better aspect of the size of it all, but being in the gorge showed the power of the water and the scale of the Colorado river compared to the depth of the gorge.

We had a good scoff in the evening, watched the Bellagio water show and caught the Mirage volcanic eruption on the way back.

Only down side was the roulette table bet minimum which was $15 so managed to keep our losses to $30. With the minimum bet it just meant we didn't play too long..... probably no bad thing!

Our newest grandchild arrived Monday just as we were taxiing at Heathrow, so more about her once she has a name, poor thing.

Viva Las Vegas

Actually it should be called Viva Las Vegas,as that's where we are so have changed it!. Day 1 was a ten hour flight and a fairly smooth passage through homeland security. Amusingly IBM have a kick off meeting here this week so there were a couple of ex-colleagues on the flight. They were a bit green when I outlined out travel plans!
I should check in with Ginny Rometty, the CEO, now that IBM has lost the latest court battle concerning the pension closures of the early noughties. It would probably ruin my chances of an invite to Augusta now she is a member.
The hotel has a golf course but I don't really have time to play during this short stay. Today we started with a full on American breakfast, then walked the strip from end to end. Paris won the best design award and the Bellagio won best Chinese New Year décor prize. The IBM crew are staying in the Hard Rock so well away from us.
Tonight is cabaret night with Penn and Teller then off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Latest gambling position, I am $10 up.

Talking 'bout my Generation

I saw a trailer for a new film last night. Its call 'The Bucket List' and features two old guys working out what they still had to do in life before they popped their clogs. It got me wondering.

I had a list when I was at school identifying bands I wanted to see, and sporting events to go to, and much of that list was successfully ticked off. I got to see The Stones, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel and Led Zep, and went to an England International at Wembley, and the League Cup Final, under whatever guise it was called then.

I never saw Cream, although I have seen the sum of its parts separately since they disbanded, and I have not been to an FA Cup Final as I vowed only to go when Spurs or Argyle actually made it there.

So if I started a new list, what would I put on it?

Well the Cup Final would be a carry over, although I have seen Argyle win at Wembley in the playoffs some years ago, Spurs getting there is a bit out of my hands though, so it would be sensible to include events over which i have some control.

I decided to start learning the piano when I was 40, with a view to being able to go into a pub, lift the lid on the beer stained Joanna and bash out a tune before I was 50. I missed that deadline big time, but am still persevering. I will be able to do it one day.

All golfers want to shoot a score lower than their age, on current form I would need to live into my eighties to do that. It could happen though, check this interesting article out about age expectancy.

Holidays have started to be linked with the bucket list. I want to cruise to Alaska while there is still ice up there, and visit the Indian sub-continent, probably to watch some cricket. Seeing Aussie play in Aus would be good too, although whether they would better the Windies in St Lucia for atmosphere, I am not sure.

I have done an Olympics, and seen the All Blacks in Auckland and attended a Rugby World Cup or two. The kids are all reasonable settled so there is not anything I particularly need to do for them over and above the usual parental bit. It would be good, though, to see a grandchild play or perform on a major stage or sporting arena, something else over which I have no control though.

Culturally, I have done the last night of the Proms a couple of times, but never been to a ballet or opera, Paris or Rome seem good venues to do that in. I have stared in wonder at the Grand Canyon and taken the tram to the top of the Peak in Hong Kong.

So it looks like I need to spend some time getting my top ten together, and then hope I don't find a bucket where a footie should be, in the foreseeable future!