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Las Vegas is Closed for Business

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I haven't posted anything in quite some time.  But, it turns out I have some free time these days. Like everyone else in America - and it seems the world - we are affected by the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.  Last night, Nevada followed the examples of New York, New Jersey, Washington, and other states announcing immediate closure of all non-essential businesses for the next 30 days .  Prior to that, some businesses had voluntarily closed or reduced hours, including some of the largest casinos in the world - all MGM properties on the Las Vegas Strip . So, this is weird.  I mean, it is weird everywhere, but it particularly weird in Las Vegas.  We are literally the city that never closes.  Before today (or maybe more accurately, before Sunday when things started shutting down), I could go out at any time of the day or night and find someone to serve me a five-star meal, find a shop that would sell me a Rolex, or purchase a luxury car.  Some might argue that you could do that
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Customer Service Fail

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I've had some "not great" customer service experiences in my life. Today may be the first all out fail.  So bad, that I feel it necessary to call them out for their terrible service. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you - Avis (the car rental agency). This morning, my husband texted to tell me that he'd accidentally left his keys (car, house, etc.) in his rental car, which he'd just returned to the Little Rock Airport.  He knew this because the Avis agent called him, but he was already on the plane and didn't get the message until he landed for his layover. He was having trouble with cell service, so he asked me to call. No problem.  Right? Wrong. I called about a dozen times, but was never able to get through.  I got service errors, busy signals, and a couple of times, it almost seemed like someone picked up the phone and then hung up on me.  I tried hunting for an online chat feature or an email address.  No luck.  I even tried the Avis online Lo
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#EnoughisEnough

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I haven't written anything in almost six months.  After I wrote about the tragic shooting that rocked Las Vegas on October 1, 2017, I truly hoped we as Americans could have a honest discussion about common sense gun reform.  As well all know, that didn't happen.  Instead, the country screamed conspiracy theories, how this must be an act of Islamic terrorism, and how casino security should be increased to prevent this sort of thing from happening. 59 people died, nearly 600 more were treated for injuries serious enough for emergency treatment, and thousands more sought treatment elsewhere, or patched themselves up with first aid.  I don't know that we will ever really know how many people were injured.  Needless to say, it was hundreds, if not thousands. The fact that nothing happened, and our own Nevada Senator Dean Heller voted against common sense gun restrictions just days after the shooting was so unbelievable.  I was saddened by the realization that all of those peop
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Fight the good Fight - not the pretty one

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Every year, October really irritates me... for a number of reasons.  Partially because of all of the pumpkin spice nonsense... Seriously.  I think they are terrible.  So terrible.  They taste like sugar and regret.  A little bit like coffee. Anyway, that's not what this is about.  There's another reason that I don't like October. (Sexy Twizzlers, in case you didn't catch it) <sigh>  Make that a two reasons...  Yup -- the pink ribbon.  I HATE the pink ribbon.  And I hear you all screaming right now.  "What?!  Breast Cancer is BAD.  How can you be against breast cancer awareness?!  Are you FOR breast cancer?  Are you a MONSTER??" Short answer - no.  Not a monster, not pro-cancer.  Cancer = bad.  That's a pretty easy side of the fence to be on. As a matter of fact, I have a personal history of breast cancer.  One day about 10 years ago I was attempting to wrestle my boobs into a sports bra (all women understand this
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Dear America: a letter from Las Vegas

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Dear America, I am writing to you today with a heavy heart and a conflicted mind.  As you know, last weekend, we were rocked by an unimaginable tragedy that has affected all of our two million citizens.  Most people don't realize there are two million of us. Here's a map for context: (Source: NASA image, circa 2010) To orient you, the red areas are parks and golf courses; the grey areas are buildings; the brown is undeveloped desert.  In total, the metro area covers about 600 square miles.  It is massive.  However, most people don't think of much beyond the casinos and the Las Vegas Strip - which, for reference is that darker grey swath that cuts kind of diagonally through the lower center, with the airport slightly to its east.  For the past week, all of us have been trying to grapple with the idea of someone - for whatever reason - opening fire on a crowd of innocent people, as if it was the opening scene of the latest Hollywood action film pitting a hero
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Why teachers stop teaching - part 2

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A few days ago, I got in my first ever Twitter scuffle (I won't call it an all-out Twitter war, because let's be honest, I'm not that important) with a local journalist.  He wrote about the contract dispute between the teachers and the local school district, blaming teachers and labor unions for the school district's budgetary problems.  I disagreed.  A lot.  I also felt the facts he used in his article were misleading, and in some places outright incorrect.  So I responded to him directly and wrote a fairly lengthy blog post airing my opinion. OMG!  Kermit is using the wrong your/you're! If you haven't read the first part of this post, it's fairly lengthy.  In short, I talk about how teachers are educated professionals that deserve to be treated with respect and deserve to be paid a reasonable salary.  Eventually, teachers leave the profession for lack of money. I shared it on social media and got quite a bit of feedback - much more than usual.  
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Why teachers stop teaching

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Today, my local newspaper published an article blaming teachers for the shortcomings of our schools.    Not teachers' skills,  or dedication, or knowledge in their subject areas, but their paychecks.  Basically, the TL;DR version of the article, and to be very honest, there's no actual reason to read the article because the "journalist" (and I use the term very loosely) just made up a lot of crap, is that the school district is having massive financial problems (true) which is a direct result of teachers fighting for pay raises. So. Yeah. Let me just start with some basic facts, because this is not going to be pretty. I started teaching in 2007.  My base salary was just under $30,000.00 per year in a large urban area.  I made so little money that as a single person, I qualified for county housing assistance for two years. Let that sink in for a moment. I was a full time teacher.  The county subsidized my housing.  More amazingly, the county had a
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