Hello world

Welcome to The Scorched Pig, Squeals from the Desert.

About me (the short version).

My name is Paul and I make my home in the Northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley. Originally born in New England, I moved to Fabulous Las Vegas some 14 years ago. Although I have been in 'high-tech' for a few decades, I was chewed up and spit out of corporate America about 3 years ago. But enough of that for now.

I moved here before the city saw a huge explosion of new residents, when Vegas was still a honky-tonk town pickup trucks, hound dogs, saloons and faux western boots and ten gallon hats.

I live in a 'good' neighborhood of single family homes in a 'well-to-do' part of Northwest part of town that was once all desert when I first moved here with a good view of the mountains, but now I am surrounded by strip malls and relentless development, but on the good side have an assortment of restaurants and other services, as well as tree-lined streets, walking paths, golf courses and small parks. At an elevation of 3000 feet which makes for a cooler climate, ie, it is only 108 degrees in July as opposed to 114 degrees on the Strip which is about 12 miles away. I still love it here, despite an increase in crime, traffic and other urban ills. That's the downside of hyper growth.

I was never one to jump on the technology bandwagon simply because its there, although I was one of the first to have a PC at home and I was surfing the web long before the words 'e-commerce' was added to the dictionary. But I feel now is the time to jump into my own blog because I feel alternative voices need to be heard amidst all the extremists on both sides of the political dial. I hold Libertarian view, some of which might be construed as 'liberal' in that I do feel that government can and should be used as a tool to better the lot of the 'average Joe' but government should butt out in matters of a personal nature. On the other hand, I have been known to espouse views that take on a more conservative vein, such as balancing government budgets and I take a strong view on the need for ethics in government and the corporate world. I will rant on, despite the fact that some of these views may (and often will) go against the political tide. All topics - about life, the universe and everything are fair game. All views are welcome, Feel free to contact me at wogman@infionline.net or post your own comments.

I was going to create my own website, but I find the software I have to be too limiting. That's why I have turned to blogger.com.

I'll start off on something arcane to get things rolling:

The new ride called 'Insanity' opened on top of the Stratosphere Tower about a month ago. While it seems like fun, I haven't exactly rushed to go on it. Last Wednesday, two young girls got on it as the last ride of the night. Spring is our windy season here in the Valley and the ride is normally shut down when windspeeds reach 31 mph. But last Wednesday, wind speeds clocked 61 mph and the 'wind computer' shut down the ride. Those girls were left hanging, 905 feet above the Strip for an hour. (It's normally a 3 minute ride). Fortunately, one of them had a cellphone and she called 911.

In a recent Fox poll, 70% of people felt the Stratosphere did the right thing in handling the situation. I'm not so sure. Where were the employees who usually strap riders into their seats? How can someone 'forget' that there are riders out there before taking off? It boggles the mind.

On Thursday morning at midnight, Steve Wynn's fabulous Wynn Resorts opens to the public. Like a shoe sale at Nordstrom's (100,000 visited Nordstrom's when it opened here), I expect hordes of people at the door being part of Vegas' latest history. I hope to been one of them.

On Friday morning the Today show will be broadcasting live from the Resort. It will be a resort worthy of the name, as I for one, have always been a fan of Steve Wynn's previous properties including the Golden Nugget and the Belaggio.

Chiao, for now.