I apologize for the long time between now and my last post. Just turned 21 last weekend so my friends and I bolted to Vegas for the weekend. I'm also on spring break and have probably spent about 1 hour in front of a computer all week, so give me a break.

There's not another place on Earth even remotely like Las Vegas. Where else would a city feature an ad campaign that encourages cheating on your wife, sharks and wild cats in casinos, and Louie Anderson and an Australian male strip show in the same theater? It just doesn't get any better than Vegas. Now that I've been able to experience them legally, here are my reviews of the hotels we spent some time in:

1) Excalibur - B-
This is where we stayed. The rooms are very nice: clean, good view, 40 inch plasmas. The food was pretty average though, and so was the gambling. The pool was also closed due to construction, which meant we had to walk over to use the Luxor pool. Major bummer. Shows featured the Tournament of Kings (poor man's Medieval Times), and the aforementioned Louie Anderson and the Thunder from Down Under.
2) Luxor - D
This hotel looks great from the outside, but inside it's crap. The dealers are unfriendly, the service is slow, and hasn't the whole Egyptian thing worn off by now? If it weren't right between Excalibur and Mandalay Bay, I don't think I'd ever pass through here again. Btw, their headline show is Carrot Top. Nuff said.
3) Mandalay Bay - B+ - This is a very nice hotel. Good food, large casino with good looking waitresses, and a friggin' shark reef. What more could you ask for? The only gripe I have is (and I heard this from friends) the excruciatingly long walk we had to take to the pool, only to be told that it was for guests only and we had to use the Luxor pool even though all three hotels are under the same ownership. Makes no sense, but it didn't happen to me. Oh well.
4) Hooters - C+
It seems like the perfect storm: Las Vegas, and Hooters girls. And it was ok, except for a few things. One, we didn't actually get to eat at the Hooters in there cuz the line was too long. Two, the building seems a lot older than it is and the elevators sucked. But overall, people are friendly and you can gamble while being dealt to and served by Hooters girls. Good stuff.
5) Caesar's Palace - A
This, in my eyes, is still the grandaddy of all Vegas hotels. It's got the big mall, great dining, fabulous rooms, and a fantastic casino. Caesar's is what all other Vegas hotels should strive to be. The guys walking around in Roman suits are also pretty funny.
6) Monte Carlo - A
We didn't get a chance to catch the legendary Bellagio buffet, but this one at Monte Carlo was pretty damn good, and cheap too. Maybe I'm a little biased about this place since this is where I usually stay when I've come here in the past. But how can you not like a place that features Lance Burton, Master Magician? Btw, we saw about 32841384 Lance Burton billboards on the highway.
7) Golden Nugget - B -
Probably the best hotel/casino in downtown. The have a shark tank in the middle of their pool which you can swim around, and there's even a waters slide tube that goes right through the tank. Which brings me to the following: What's with people having sharks as luxury pets these days? Swimming around sharks in the middle of the desert just doesn't seem to make much sense to me. I also saw some rapper on TV the other day who had a shark tank in his Escalade. I am truly befuddled by this. Anyway, the Golden Nugget is a quality place. Definitely stop by if you hit up downtown.

I have to say this about Mamba: The other day Kobe failed to score at least 40 points for the first time in his last six games and the Lakers lost to the Grizzlies. Considering the Grizz are Oden/Durant bound, this does not bode well for the Lakers. This also proves that Kobe absolutely has to get off for them to win. And by get off I mean score a lot of points. Not like ... having sex ... by raping any white girls ... or anything like that.