So many ways to have good clean fun…

Christmas as the holiday has always been about giving.  Be it presents, or the spirit itself, the point has always been (supposedly) to make others feel warm at heart.  Well, what I am going to talk about here is a complete perversion of the entire principle of the season.

  Here in our beautiful city of Las Vegas we have (as most cities do) an area where the obscenely rich (and those who like to pretend they are) live.  This area goes by the name “Spanish Trail”. 

 Now, Spanish Trail is a gated community housing some 700+ residents.  The Median price of a home there is well above 1 million dollars, and it has a golf course in the center of the place. 

  Unfortunately, much like the apple that Snow White in her naivety consumed, this jewel also seems to have a poisoned center.  The H.O.A.  (Home Owners Association) regulates the properties throughout Spanish Trail.  The purpose of this organization is to maintain/improve property values, cover maintainance throughout the grounds, and maintain a security force to protect the residents.

  Now, during the Christmas season, one of the things that is very nice to get (as I am sure everyone will agree)  is a Christmas bonus.  Its not a necessity, but it certainly does warm the cockles of one’s heart.  Anyway, it has come to my attention that…. how should I put this… “The distribution of bonuses throughout the Spanish Trail staff employed by the HOA would appear to be a bit… unfair”

Basically, what it comes down to is the office staff all recieved at the minimum 500 dollars in bonus money.  The guards who keep the community safe recieved….. A very nice card thanking them for thier hard work, and an expired 2 for 1 coupon……

  Does it get any more crass then that?  I mean seriously, how low can you possibly go?  “Thank you so much for your service, to show our appreciation we are going to spit on you, and you had better like it”.  Personally I am appalled that ANYONE could be so pathetically lacking in basic human compassion or their fellow man.  It gets worse though.

   So, listen to this.  Several of the residents of Spanish Trail personally brought Christmas bonus money to the HOA for the guards, and yet…. they never got it.  There were presents brought for the guards….. They disappeared as well.  

Its strange to think that there could be a wolf in sheeps clothing stalking along and pocketing anything that they care to in a season of giving… Sadly it seems to be true.  

When questioned about the bonus money for the guards I heard the captain reply that “the residents only brought about 500 dollars… if I split it amongst you that would only be about 10 bucks apiece” (on a side note there are aproximately 33 guards 500 divided by 33=10?  I must have failed basic math).  He also said in regards to the office giving them a bonus ”had they worked as a team they would have gotten one, if I felt they deserved it”.  The interesting thing is…. He got a hefty bonus himself.  Mabye its my military days getting back to me, but isn’t the captain responisble for those beneath him?  Bah, hogwash.

 Now, im not one to make crazy accusations like… Thievery, Embezzlement, Stealing, Lack of professionalism, and other crazy big words like that….. Then again, mabye someone should?

  Happy New Year!

This has been an interesting year for weather in Las Vegas.  In early March right after the movie “The Mist” came out Vegas was enveloped by the worst fog I have seen in my entire life,  I realize that by English standards this might have paled, but when you are used to a humidity of 2% its really something.  My girlfriend and I went to the top of the Stratosphere(casino) and when we looked out we literally could not see the strip, no lights, no buildings, no ground.  It was a surreal experience to say the least.

Then, last Sunday I was told we were going to be getting snow this week.  I scoffed in my smugly superior manner, and was totally certain that if we did indeed get snow it would be approximately 17 flakes… total.  Then, to my amazement on Monday it ACTUALLY snowed… a little, we got about a quarter inch on some parts of the city and it was really something.  My girlfriend (who had never seen snowfall) begged me to go to the park and play in it.  The only problem, was that by the time got there it was raining (rain falling on snow, at 33 degrees isint pleasant).

Then, Yesterday it actually snowed.  Im not talking about a half inch here and there, it was an actual snowstorm that was as bad as any I saw in Korea.  Traffic stopped moving, buissnesses shut down, cars tried to stop and kept right on going, the freeway top speed was about 40.  It was total chaos, and it occured to me.  Vegas is completely unprepared for anything like this.  We have no plows, no salt, no provisions in place, no planning at all.  The funny thing is… can you really blame us?  I mean… this is like a tidal wave in Colorado, or a tornado in Hawaii, its like the rain storm we had about 12 years ago when houses literally washed down creeks which were swollen to rivers.  I wonder what sort of emergency proceedures will be put into place after this?