Turning Japanese

My sister recently got back from a trip around the world, and she brought me some cool stuff from the last country she visited:

So far the only thing I have tried is the stump candy, which was quite yummy.

Next, I'm planning to have a Japanese-inspired bath with the "Dracule Mihawk" dandy bath salt and the Head and Shoulders:


Sadly, I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to use the map of all the Dairy Queens in Tokyo.

I also haven't quite decided when to use the Unique Beer Flavoring Straws, mostly because I am too embarrassed to ask the guys who work out our local beer store, which is very fancy, which beer would go best with some cherry flavoring.

There are six straws in there, so that's six tries. I kind of want to try one with a cherry coke, and see if the cherry flavorings are constructive or destructive.

Springtime in Philly

We live near an art school, and one of the signs that the weather is getting nicer is that the students start yarn bombing things. We just noticed a particularly tall one this weekend:

Technically, I think this one is actually some sort of ribbon bombing:

This also appeared, lest we forget that even in the spring, Philly is still Philly:

Viva Las Vegas

So you guys, I spent last week in Las Vegas for work. I know - totally my scene, right? However, I had three goals for my non-working time in Vegas, and I met all three of them:

1. Engage in one act of gambling: I spent $1 at the penny slots. I'm actually not really sure what happened - I just put in my dollar and mashed buttons for awhile, until the machine told me I was out of credit.
2. See the fountain show at the Bellagio (mostly because of how cool it looked in Ocean's 11). I ended up seeing it once from the ground, and once from the top of the "Eiffel Tower." The aerial view was cooler because you could see the various fountain mechanisms at work under the water, which my inner nerd found more interesting.
3. Drink something fancy at the Chandelier Bar, because I read about it recently in Arrive Magazine (the only magazine by conductors for conductors!) and it sounded neat. Also, it was the only thing I knew to do in Las Vegas besides the Bellagio fountain. Anyway, I got something called the "campfire delight," and it was basically s'mores in cocktail form. I actually had trouble finishing it, because it was so rich.

Alas, I was totally delinquent with my camera, and didn't really take any pictures the whole time I was there.  If I had been more on top of it, I would have taken some photos to illustrate the omnipresence of gambling, which was much more excessive than I had anticipated; seriously, as soon as you step off the airplane there are slots right there in the airport. There are slots in the gas stations. A lot of bars have video poker terminals at each seat, so you can play while you wait for and/or consume your drink. It was crazy.

My next work trip is to Indianapolis at the end of the month - I'll try to remember my camera, but I have a feeling there won't be too much that I'll want to take pictures of. Unless I somehow get to fly over the Grand Canyon again en route to Indiana, because that was probably the coolest part of my trip to Vegas.