Debrief

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This posting is from: Denise McCracken
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I told Annie that I wasn't going to post my summary this year because
I didn't have a very good time, and I thought that by telling the truth,
I would step on some toes and hurt people's feelings. But, she asked me
to do it anyway, so here goes. The best thing about the trip was seeing
a few good friends again.

6:00pm Happy Hour (Hamburger Mary's - MV)
7:00pm Dinner (Hamburger Mary's - MV)

We skipped these, went to another place and got some really good prime
rib.

8:30pm Welcome Celebration (Zingers - SV)

IIRC, we did do this. A bar, some drinks...

Monday, April 25:
11:00am Valley Of Fire side trip (VOF State Park - MS)

This was fun. The scenery up there was beautiful. I had a chance to
do some rock climbing, get some exercise and meet some nice people.
There was plenty of room for everyone who attended.

8:30pm Alternative option - Karaoke with Eric (Flex - SV)

Was fun, at first. Randi (sp?) dared me to do "Rappers Delight", and
ended up buying me a drink. Then Eric made some ignorantassed comment
about my "plumbing". I wasn't too happy with him until I thought about
it...we were in a place where people spend too much time thinking about
"plumbing", and where we really didn't belong. Our first mistake was
walking in the door.

Tuesday, April 26:
5:00pm Night Of The Soiled Doves II (CR - MV)

Last year, a small group of us went out there, enjoyed complimentary
champagne, talked to the girls and took some photos, and got some free
souvenirs. It was fun.

This year, it was crowded. A caterer brought some food that was
lousy even by grocery store standards...cold pizza and mushy lasagna.
We were sequestered behind the brothel by the pool. Tony took a few
pictures until someone complained that he wasn't taking enough, and took
the camera from him. He said that if anyone asks him to take pictures
in the future, he's going to photograph useless sh*t like trash cans,
just to teach them a lesson.

Someone was following me around giving me sh*t about the limo tour
arrangements. One organizer was agreeable and wanted to be helpful, the
other wanted to start trouble and be a pain in the a$$. If you can
guess which is which, then don't blame me, because I'm not telling you
anything new. I just sat in a pool chair, talked to Anhya for a while,
couldn't wait to leave.

Wednesday, April 27:
8:00am Air Tours (Airport - MS)

Cancelled, no airplane. Our regular mechanic couldn't find the
problem with the airspeed indication. I was going to look at it
Saturday, but we had an emergency at work.

Ev Eating Out Night (Several - MS)
6:00pm Happy Hour and Dinner (Freezone Milanos - MS)

A total crusterfluck. To put this in perspective, you have to
understand why we originally chose Milano's. In 98 (?), our small group
went there and found that the food and service was excellent. This
year, we packed the place to capacity and people were being turned away.
I had hoped that with three other options to choose from, the group at
Milano's would be manageable, but it didn't work out that way. The food
was still good, but it took a long time to get there, and with a crowd
that size, packed in so small a place, it didn't matter. It wasn't an
enjoyable experience.

9:30pm Karaoke with Eric (Goodtimes)

He wasn't there. That was probably for the best.

10:00pm Showgirls Of Magic (San Remo - MS)

Tony did this, got to be on stage and won us some tickets to V. I
heard that a good time was had, but I didn't go because the last time I
was there, we were packed in like sardines.

Thursday, April 28:
9:20pm Limo Tour (Vegas, baby! - MS)

I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. We had a major problem
with the registration. People who mailed their checks in and did their
registrations far in advance were getting bumped onto the waiting list.
Some of them didn't make it, and I'm not sure that they got their money
back. Randi (sp?) gave one person her money back and was going to try
to get a refund for both of them. Annie had to get mean and nasty to
get Tony and me into the tour and onto the limo that we had asked for
when I sent my registration and money in back in February. I said the
hell with it and asked for my money back, and was refused.

Despite this, though, Annie came through and got it straightened out,
and we did the tour. Overall, it was enjoyable, but not as much as
previous years. The Del-Mar had already been removed from the tour, and
this year, we didn't get to do the four Queens.

Tony went to the Charles Bar. I didn't.

Friday, April 29:
11:00am Secret Garden / Dolphin Habitat (Mirage - MS)

I think I was supposed to host this, but by this time, I didn't give a
sh*t. We didn't go.

1:00pm Bellagio Lunch (Bellagio Buffet - MS)

Was good as always.

7:00pm Michael Cagle Show (Steven Davids - MV)

Didn't go. Heard it was "the same".

10:00pm Lou Martinez Revue (Zingers - SV)

This was great, for the first hour. Lou is a great entertainer as
well as a musician. Then Karen Denise showed up, and the show went to
hell. She is obviously used to performing for a larger audience, and in
this venue, she came across as "plastic". The show was much better
without her.

Saturday, April 30:
6:00pm Dinner (Carluccio's - MS)

I didn't go, can't stomach the place, but my name was on the list, so
I may have accidentally signed up for it. If someone lost money because
of me, please let me know and I'll mail it to you. I don't feel like
looking it up and messing with it, just email me or whatever.

9:00 pm V Show.

Fantastic show. We had been there once before, but many of the acts
and the emcee were different. If you're looking for it on the DLV
schedule, it's not there.

11:59pm Rocky Horror Picture Show (Paradise Theater - SV)

A great show, as always. The film broke and they didn't get to finish
it, but it didn't matter. We had fun anyway.

In summary:

DLV has become much too large for me. The fun things that I did with
small groups of friends are not so much fun with so many people
involved.

While I know that Annie worked hard on it, and it may be necessary for
some things, the registration system is a pain in the a$$, and has
caused some major problems. Trying to straighten out the limo tour
thing was more like dealing with a government agency than with friends.

I'm bored with the things that we have done year after year, and if I
were to organize anything new, I would have to mess around with
electronic registration, crowds, etc., instead of just suggesting
something to do.

As hard as we tried to fight it, it's a convention, not a vacation.
I've done every year since 1998, but I don't care about doing it
anymore. Tony wants to go back next year, but we may have to compromise
or something.

-densie

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(This posting was entered by Denise McCracken, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Gina
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Quick Synopsis

NSDII was fun, a little weird but fun, I can't believe some one would
drive that far to get laid for money, but hey... I drive 1000 miles to
drive trails in the Hummer, so I guess its all relative. We had a few
great conversations with the manager, and the food was plentiful, Aiko,
you're a goddess.

Bertolini's EON a great idea. Michele's hard work and planning on this
one really paid off (all 10 minutes of it). I love the mainstream
events and this one was great. Good food, great conversation, no
hassles from the unwashed masses.

What did we do afterwards? I'm sure it involved alcohol, but I can't
remember. Yes, I remember Showgirls of Magic, Tony was great. The show
is always fun, a little repetitive, but very enjoyable. (Thanks to the
sweetheart from England for doing this for us!) The San Remo as always
was unremarkable. The air conditioning was dead in the bar area and the
smoke level in the Remo is always mostly unbearable.

Wednesday night in the best interests of the entire DLV group, I made
the ultimate sacrifice and went and visited Charles at his bar to make
sure everything was as planned. As expected, things were found to be in
order, but nevertheless an extreme level of alcohol sampling (for
poisons, etc.) was conducted in the best interests of the group.

Thursday during Golf, Gina went to Red Rock Canyon and found a truly
excellent washed out impassable 4x4 road, it was great. It was a first
for me to four wheel in Gina mode, felt natural, what a surprise. Got
home, slept... changed for the BIG NIGHT!!

Folies Bergere, all I can say is where do all those beautiful tall tiny
(skinny) girls come from? The envy level again was incredibly high. Of
course as much as we'd all love the body, I bet we'd hate the
maintenance package. I loved the show, I really liked Wally Eastwood
(in "V" last year?) the dance numbers were great, but the early covered
show?? (It was actually fine) The Tropicana was okay. I had a moment
of a few words with a smallish smart-ass college student, but he got his
attitude straight by the time we parted ways.

Limo Tour. It seemed to start off a bit slow, but as always, the
highlight of the week. (Thanks Jamie Ranae) The highpoint was Four
Queens and Ceasar's Palace and mixing with the white bread (unwashed
masses), we met some fun people and did a lot of education. The
burritos and drop off were great, our driver, Eugene seemed a bit taken
aback at the beginning, but at the Four Queens he had a ball with us!

Charles' Bar, as always the man did not disappoint. He made a real
effort to comp people (who were playing) on drinks this year and I hope
we made a real effort to reward his efforts, he won't comment on his
tips, but I think we took care of him. He promises to be there next
year, and we are invited back. His boss (a lady) once again made the
Charlie's Angels comment. The closure of the "O" restroom and an old
midwestern lady in the restroom caused a restroom incident, but we
didn't have any issues with the hotel staff on the incident. (Sorry
Tina)

Friday Night, after succuming to some unspecified pressure to attend
Stephen David's club and the Micheal Ceglie show, I was pleased with the
club and Stephen David's show, the Band of Usual Suspects (they were
good). I was glad I went, the food was better than average not
overpriced and I had a great time. As for Micheal Ceglie, one set would
have been fine and another jazz set would have been better. Entertainer
of the year possibly Stephen David. (or the Low Martinez Revue). Very
classy place. We need to visit again.

Zingers, nice place, a little tight, air was smoky but okay with the
doors open. The entertainment was great. Drinks good. Service okay+,
much classier place than in previous years. We need to visit again.
Good crowd of just people, not gay people, not just T's. I liked it.

Saturday, I had to do boymode and do a Hummer run, Michele (NZ) and
Susan went with me. Great day, a little long. We had an awesome dinner
at Smith and Wollensky with Ginger and Kaye. (Thanks for putting up
with Rick). I heard some really bad issues concerning Carlucci's but I
wasn't there, so I won't comment more.

Sunday, I parted company with my roomies, and went to teach a class for
the Hummer Club. The saddest part of the trip (not the class dummy, the
parting with my roomies!)

This year had a unique feature (and I do mean feature), I got to hang
out with all of my usual friends Especially Aiko, Yvonne, Michele,
Ginger, Tootsye, Annie, Tony (da Man!), Densie, etc. oh hell,
everybody... but the special feature was Susan and Kaye, the spouses of
Michele and Ginger. Wow, what great ladies. You two will hold a
special place in my heart for a long, long time.

My thanks to Michele and Susan for helping me be able to attend this
year by sharing some space in the condo with me.

And as always, Thanks Annie for making it happen.

I love you all,

Gina

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(This posting was entered by Gina, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Jamie Renae
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Densie, it is too bad that you had such a rotten time. I just have to
claify one of your statements. All of the people that signed up early go
to go on the Limo tour. I am so sorry that you did not find it
enjoyable. So many others did.

Jamie R

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(This posting was entered by Jamie Renae, an external user of MyDLV.)