Have I come to Las Vegas too late and married? I mean, when you get down to it, there is not much here if you do not gamble or smoke. It’s Hot, with temps into the triple digits, no clouds and very little (unaided) green to be seen.

Not counting money of course….

It isn’t a family destination, that’s for sure. If you come with family (as I have) you will spend a lot of time in your hotel room or just walking around looking at the pretty lights. That is because of the lack of family activities in the area. The alternative is walking your kids in and out of smoke filled gambling Casinos filled with barely clothed girls, serving drinks to old men, who are glued to a slot machines, waiting for it to spit out all of “his” money he already put in, plus the coins of all of the suckers who were in the spot before him. This is even more pathetic because these men are sitting in front of the “penny” slots! This scene is played out 24 hours a day in hundreds of casinos across this “oven” of a town. “Daddy, is grandpa dead? Will the shiny machine eat him?”

We can hope son, we can hope.

Still, it is possible to find a few things to do here, even for a jaded latecomer like myself.  Yes, other than sit in front of the wide screen TV in your air conditioned hotel room, or joining the “mature” set at the “penny” slots waiting for the sun to drop out of the sky.

You can rent a car, and head off to see some the sights around the area. But be warned, out here and pretty much the Southern California area everything is spread out and what the “locals” consider “close by” would easily mean “major road trip” to anyone born on the east coast! The 3+-hour trip to LA by car is reduced to “nearby” and the 2+ hours to the closet Grand Canyon rim is a “short drive.” this is important to know because you really do not want to be in a little sub-compact car, with kids and wife, riding in a desert in 100+ degree heat, all asking, “are we there yet”

While I’m on the subject of the locals, they really do not seem to be a happy lot. My cab driver, who like me, way beyond the desire to drink copious amounts of booze, and spread his manly “seed” without restraint, Both vices are needed to have any fun in this town! Spent his few minutes with me complaining while driving to my hotel (the long way around by the way! I’m just doing my part in this consumer driven economy!) Of how the value of his Condo has dropped so much that he cannot do what he desires, move back to what he now knows what’s important, his birthplace back east.

Me: I thought I could hear the “east” in your voice
Cab driver: Yea, I’m from Wisconsin and it is time to go back after 30 years and spend some time with my Grandchildren.
Me: Well, there’s no place like home
Cab Driver: I know that now, but you could not have told me that 30 years ago

Here we find the classic late life U turn, when one starts to add up the not so good years with the good years and upon finding a deficit will make a prodigal turn to correct the balance no matter the odds. I tipped him five dollars at the end of the ride even if he did take the long way around, my contribution towards his trying to right a life of bad decisions, I guess.

Up till now, I really could not see Vegas like that cabbie did thirty years ago I never heard the promise that was whispered in his ear. “Stay here and you can be forever young and strong, you will not want for anything, and you will never be lonely or cold.”

They got the cold part down. Still a lot of work for the rest…

Later in another cab on the way to the “strip” (we were on our way to “M&M World” (don’t get me started, I flew 3000 miles just to buy a potholder with an M&M cartoon on the front!). I met a driver who had spent some time back east living in Virginia Beach.

Cab Driver: So where you guys from?
Me: DC
Cab Driver: Really! I lived there, for a while!
Me: Really, where? (I expected someplace in the DC suburbs)
Cab Driver: Virginia Beach!

As you may know, Virginia Beach is a 3 hour drive from DC! Proving my earlier point about the locals! “I have been here for about 12 years, I gamble, and I have not made any money!”

Me: Why not go back to Virginia Beach?
CD: Family! They like it here, I don’t, and it is too hot!

All I could do is concur, turn my head, to watch as small desert animals spontaneously combust from the cab’s barely air-conditioned window.

Next Up: Part 2: Ravenous Rotund Revelers, Routinely, Rout the buffets regularly!

Hey! Boys and Girls, Once again its time for another installment of “Uncle J’s Primer” where we can learn how to survive in a world full of stupid people! (of course you are excepted because you read this blog!)

 Today on the Primer, we are going to learn how to identify one of the most brain dead critters out there;  The Jock Sniffer! So named because of an inordinate love of Sports and/ or Sport figures. In our first installment we will look at the Jock Sniffer’s habitat and habits! (H & H)

Physical Characteristics’

The Jock Sniffer can come in various shapes and sizes, but tends to be at either end of the human scale. the large version may have played some kind of team sports in high school or college. This are usually of the “Could have been a Contender” Caste.

 Most will tell you that they played in school but may  have to be pressed to get out of them what they did or at what level (quarterback or water boy, JV or varsity) This is not true if they played with winning teams however. (“It was a sacred trust. Bro, to be able to be the water boy for that team! Yes sir, not everyone could do it!”) Then you will not be able to shut them up.

 Usually the bigger they are, the less grey matter is left in the brain cavity. This is due to the aforementioned team sports and the position they held. As a practical matter you will not come across a 250-300 lb Jock sniffer that was a quarterback.  So beware girls, of the lies.  At the lower end of the scale you will find the “Wannabes” or the “Neverweres” Jocks.

 The “Pilot Fish” of the breed. This is where a lot of Sportswriters come from.

Habitat

 Can be found at Sporting events, primarily Football and Basketball to a lesser extent Baseball and Hockey. Sports bars, the bigger JS’s serve as “Bouncers” at college bars! Or UPS drivers or plastic sliding salesmen. The smaller ones are Wal-mart dept mangers, Fast Food managers, Sportswriters, CPA’s and perversely, most of today’s Political caste, all the way up to the President of the United States.

While they can live anywhere, they prefer cities with Winning Teams! There is a sub set, “Bodybuilder” that prefers California because of the prevalence of Gyms, drugs, and big busted women.

Next: The Jock Sniffer speech patterns, and how to fit in a conversation with one. (If you must)

My nine-year-old is crossing over. I have been informed by both her brother (who minced no words by the way) and her mother, who just cannot bring herself to say (to me at least) “Jordann is starting to have cramps” See how simple that is? She instead will use “Well, when she complains of stomach pain, you know what it’s really is?” Sure, I say, “It means that her stomach hurts”… Right?

I think that they are dealing with it by telling me, I on the other hand have no one to tell it to. Unless I tell my 85 year old mom, I can see it now.. “Mom? My nine-year-old is on the rag! What do you think I should do? That would go over great with my Mom and Sister.

Really, I have feared this day from the moment I watched the doctors free her as a newborn from her mothers womb, early on. The cord that was once her lifeline was slowly choking her as she began her trip down the birth canal. I remember sitting in the hospital by her incubator completely scrubbed down unable to touch her. I had a job at that time which kept me behind the wheel of a truck for most of the day. So unknown to her mother (Or my employer) I would stop by the hospital during the day just to sit by that little plastic box that held my first little girl.

Sons are harder to raise, but because we share not only chromosomes but gender as well, I had a road map to go by. I could look at him and see his brain start to cook up some trouble. Look at him and see myself at his age and as result can pretty much say what he might think or do in some cases.

With my girls, I don’t have a clue. Now that Jordann is starting her singular journey into womanhood, I have even less to work with. How can you be distressed and panicky and hopeful at the same time?

I have already endured the first of many changes, they may be slight in other’s eyes but to a father, it means much. A recent “bring your parent’s to class” event she chose not to mention it to me at all, but invited her mother instead. (My baby girl, however did invite me to hers, thankfully) 

I chose the title “Crossing Macedonia” Because of what Macedonia represents, a place that is full of unknowns and yet holds promise for all who go there. That was what it meant to those who were invited there in Peter’s day, and I need to believe that is what it means to Jordann and me.

Ipod song: “I think it’s going to rain today”… Randy Newman

Now that the so-called stimulus package has been signed, the only thing left is to wait to see if it will work. As I have mentioned in my posts, I have some doubt, but I’m hopeful but with a lot of trepidation.

first off, everyone has to know that we will not be returning to the glory days of the past.  If all boats rise in good times, they all will lower or sink in bad. So expectations have to be adjusted for this new world we are entering.  It’s times like these that brings me back to the following song on of my favorite by Simon

American Tune

Words & music by Paul Simon

Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

As of this moment all economic models are suspect, it seems that we have to build one that is a anagram of most the major ones (capitalism, socialism) and in fact, that work has already started.  Do not waste your time on the finer points of goverance, what is or what is not socialism or capitalism. The fact is,  if I can get money from the goverment to help pay for my house and buy food.. It’s socialism at it’s purest form.   Now I have no opinion (or preference for that matter) either way,  other than to say that as a child of the post war boom, to find us at this point, has a lot of irony to say the least.

Can you redefine “The American Way”? are we in fact “So far away from home”?  over the years ”The American Way” has become a slogan that celebrates plenty (if not excess) and less about how Americans do things as opposed to everyone else on the planet. Can it now be something that at last we all can embrace? Even in decline? Are we at the end of  the American Ascension? Until these things are answered, and agreed upon in unity we will not be prepared for the future

 And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it’s all right, it’s all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help but wonder, what’s gone wrong

most, if not all of us are battered, retirement for many of us is now either non-existing or as Simon writes… “driven to It’s  knees.  What can any of us do? but hope that it is going to be “all right” At the time this song was written we had no idea what was wrong for us and the country. We could not, or would not, look that far ahead.  Simon was singing about a loss of  innocence  as we stumbled through the late sixties. Even then, we were unknowingly marching towards this point where we are starting to pay the price for a consumerism that was unbounded by any thing approaching American values of hard work.

Why must we think that we can go forth on what went before us? Why must we love something that can’t be true? Health care (or lack of )is a perfect example of our inability to move forward. Basic health care should be something that is a Right. Will we have the guts to dismantle the present system? I think not, too many have too much to lose if we do the right thing and the right thing is a major reseting of the health care systems, trashing whole companies, killing a lot of jobs because the amount of care we provide per dollar is very high and inefficient. 

We have one political party that wants too much it seems and another that wants nothing at all… and all we can do is hope that they can reach a middle.. We will See

I wrote this a few years back when I got my first dog for our family… since then the dog did exactly what the Vet said she might do, If I had to do it all over again I still would not get the “chip” but I have to say.. I miss my doggie

Our new family member is a handful!

 As I have mentioned, we now have a Dog in the house! I knew that it would mean some changes but boy, all I can say is, no one should take on a responsibility of a dog if they can’t take care of it.

Even after reading everything I could read about the breed of dog I have and about dogs in general (I waited until my dog was six months old before I acquired her so to get around the chewing stage)

 Still, it takes not a little planning to meet her needs!

Yesterday, for an example I took her to get her first round of shots…

“Mr. Fivej, when will you be able to bring her back for her second round of shots?” The young vet aide, asked me with the same tone of voice you would use to ask someone to “Pass the Butter”
“Second round? I just gave you eighty eight dollars for these shots and now I learn that I have more to go?”

 I asked with a lot of incredulity.

“Well, for these shots to work the dog has to have another set.” She said, using that same monotone voice.”

 “This is a dog” I reply, Not a heroin addict, why can’t he get everything at once? Ignoring me and my snappy retort she snorts out a laugh of sorts and says, “by the way, (she added, quickly before I could protest further about this latest grab for my wallet) does your dog have any allergies or has trouble sleeping?”

She hasn’t mentioned anything to me! Maybe she mentioned something to my wife.

 Let’s get back to the shots if you don’t mind” (As I was talking I could see my wallet opening up and disgorging all of its content.)

As she talked I saw her mouth move, but all I heard was “this is a stickup! Give me all of your money or we won’t shoot your dog!

 That dog is just one bug bite away from a slow and painful death! Can you live with that!”

She did not use those exact words but that’s what it amounted to, I was beaten…

Now that we have dealt with the shots, Mr. Fivej.

 I need to ask you a question.
Sure, I replied weakly. “Would you consider having your dog get a microchip imbedded in her skin?”
“For what?”

“If your dog runs away, we can find him by radio signal!” The voice this time was not unlike the one you would use if one would find that green cheese was in fact what the moon was made of!

Why would she do that? I ask.

 Do what? she replied, with a slight turn of her head

“Run away of course”

Sometimes dogs have been known to do that  Sir, she sarcastically intoned

Before I answer you, can I tell you something? Sure, Mr. Fivej, we here only want your satisfaction!

I get up at five AM every morning, not because I want to, mind you, but because I have this forty pound plus ball of fur licking me like I was some kind all day meat lollipop.

I get up and feed her not only dry food but the best canned food that I can afford, plus she gets human food as well! and then and only then do I dare try to do something for myself like humm…….I don’t know… shower a nights worth of dog drool and hair off of my body.
Wait it gets better… I have to shower and shave and dress all within a limited about of time because the food I foolishly gave her is now racing to the other hole at the opposing end of her body if you get my drift, and if I do not want to have my house closed down by the health department or even worse incur the wrath of the lady of the house, we need to take a walk! At 5: freaking 45 in the morning!

So do you think I want to really “Id” a dog that is stupid enough to leave 3 meals and day and free medical care?

 Not to mention the world’s biggest chew toy right next to him at night???? She looks at me and answers…
The Doctor will see your dog now ,Sir…..

We all have foods that we know are bad for us, but we love them nonetheless… I have two weaknesses, Hotdogs and the king of blood clots;
Ice Cream!

I know, I know, that neither one of them cares a lick (no pun intended) about me. I have tried to cast them both out of my life,
but to no avail.

Let’s start with Hot dogs. I freaking love them! Skinless, of course. I prefer them grilled but will take them any way I can. I’m a real snob about them however; I will only eat beef dogs.
I can’t stand chicken or turkey dogs. Let me ask you this? If you had a time machine and could go back a correct any one horrible sin of humanity, what would you do?
Waste your wish and do something like making sure that Little Adolf Hitler got more valentine cards in elementary school?

Or making sure that Pam Anderson got accepted at Vassar? I’m thinking bigger than that! I would have the guy who came up with chicken dogs, effaced from the time line.
It would be simple enough, stop by his future parents house and give them movie tickets or something on the night that conception was to have occurred I would knock of the door and say “You have just won two tickets to see “Gone with the Wind”!
Yes, The world would be a better place.
Unable to do that I can only make it personal and say; No thanks, I just will not eat any old hot dog
If I must sin then let me sin with the real thing!
From time to time I will meet the occasional person who will intone while holding the nose so high in the air that it’s leaving a skin oil mark on my white ceiling..
“You wouldn’t like them so much if you knew what was in them”
By the way, everyone who’s ever said this to me thinks that they are the first to try to save me from the evils to hot dogs.
My pat answer for them is, No, I do not know what’s in them, and even if I did… Yum!
So spare me please,
and by all means, enjoy that cigarette.

Of the two, Ice crème is by far the bigger addiction; again I’m a snob and will not eat any that is below Eddy’s or Bryers. And on that note I’m going to digress for a moment and talk about off brand products

My wife likes getting cleaning supplies from the dollar store, and will shop at these off brand stores like Save a Lot and Aldi’s or that heinous creation called a “Dollar Store”

Drives me crazy,
I have no problem with an off brand can of peas or corn even tomato paste! I can even accept bread from time to time. Off brand mixed nuts (another weakness by the way) but anything else… No, No, No! If your choice is down to a pocket issue, meaning, I can have the dollar can of fake “Spam” or nothing
then I can understand the reasoning. After all very few of us have the means to get everything we want and have to go to an alternative or do without and I have been on that road.

I remember going to the store to pick up items and have had to put some back because of low funds. I have also looked longingly at the candy rack near the checkout counter and could not buy a single stick of gum without throwing the whole month’s budget into shambles.
So I have been there believe me.
I just feel that if you have room for it you should not be afraid of treating yourself with the best you can afford every now and then. The world will not go down in flames because you had a dish of high fat content diary rather than some water downed frozen chemical laden glop.
For a few minutes, you will have the pleasure of enjoying one of the few things that mankind has gotten right the first time out of the box!

Enjoy!

Hard to believe that we are into February and this is my first entry into my blog! That’s the way to build readership, you bet… A lot has happened since I last posted, not only in life, but in the world as well.

However, the blogspere is full of comments about that, (the world, not my life!) So I will not be adding to the hot air that is currently blowing across the city. This blog will be about the upcoming Star Trek movie and about “Trek” in general.

Like many of you (at least those of us who have some sanity when it comes to “Trek”) I figured that they (Paramount Studios) pretty much sucked the last bit of life out of the franchise. I did not bother to see the last movie (the tenth) after the critics ravaged it. Now that in of itself would not stop me from dropping down my cash, but when no one I know saw it, or bothered to tell me they saw it, I know that it is pretty much radioactive waste. Examples of how that rule has paid off for me over the years are “Daredevil” The last two pre-reconned Batman movies, the last terminator, and the 3rd and Fourth Alien movies. I jumped the gun on the last 007 flick because I had some time to kill and so went to see it during the day. And saw that while it was not quite at the “waste level. It was a “wait for the DVD” if that.

So when I got the news about the retooling of the Trek franicise I was lukewarm at best. Why? Because when Star Trek is at it’s best, it is operatic and ironic in scope and that strenth brings out the other strenth it has, ensamble casting, that is simply if not the best, It’s darn close. That is why the first TV show holds up after all of these years of repeats despite the now cheap looking sets and primary colors of the casts clothing. (Mini skirted military uniforms?) For a non-fan to appreciate I can use the example of a show that if it did not become a hit, there never would have been a Star Trek. That show is of course,
“I Love Lucy” As hard as that is to fathom “Lucy” and most of the later shows “the Lucy Show,” etc, was made at the Desilu Studios that were owned by Lucy and her husband Desi. Hence the name “DESI” for him and LU for her. When they broke up, she got the studio and later sold it, and in time TV shows that were in production at the time of the sale wound up with Paramount Studios. (The couple sold “Lucy” rights early on and s a result have missed out on millions of residual monies from that show)

I digress, back to the point, I Love Lucy will be with us forever and one of the reasons is that the casting works! So well in fact that we find it hard not to think of the Ricardo’s and the Mertz’s as real people. Star Trek was able to do this despite the outlandish premise (for it’s time) of a space ship wandering all over the cosmos with women, Vulcan’s,  black folks, and what have you. Reminds me of the joke about Ginger Rogers who should be remembered as a better dancer than Fred Astair because she did every dance move he did, but backwards and in heels!

William Shatner and others will forever be seen as those space faring beings we came to know on that first show. Shatner went on to 3 other hit shows over the years all doing little to change our first and most lasting impression of him

 that has been Trek’s cross as well as it crown for 6 TV shows and 10 movies. Until now that is… and that will be in the next post.

I could not have timed it better, it seems. I wrote yesterday about the two reasons why we are on the road to economic disaster, and just in time to prove my point… The Government steps in and rescues the second biggest bank in the country. (after Bank of America) by giving them a big ole sack of money. As I have said all along, I really do not think that we are on the road to “Damascus” here. I know that no one (including our newly elected President) is going to do the things and make the real choices that have to be made to right this sinking ship. But as reported in this morning’s Washington Post, “The New Dealers were right all along” How so? They were right in placing hard walls between banks and investment houses. Now after losing sight of that fact, and because of nothing less than greed, we are unable to tell the difference between the chicken and the egg!

This is exactly what I meant when I wrote that we have screwed with the system so badly that no one can now tell you how it runs. They will apply what they learned in school, such things as “supply and demand” but outmoded rules like those are worthless in times like these. Why? Because the fools have, in order to make a quick buck, started playing with the system and causing, for an example, with fuel, adding on new ways to profit on the ups and downs of that commodity. by selling shares based on what they think will be the case in 6 months. It was not enough to just have lots of money nooo.. They wanted to have even more. Then they go out and encourage you and me to buy such products like mutual funds based on oil and land. The money is coming in from both ends of the monster! The banks, selling you the (now) worthless paper and the investment house using the same money thinking of even more ways to get more profit for their pockets and shareholders Is it no wonder that the monster is now eating itself?

Now the government has no choice (and by the way, it was the government that changed the laws that created this monster and many others like it) Of course, they will have news conferences to say that “It’s easy to place blame, we need solutions” but in the end it will be you and me (thru the government) to not only clean up after this “creation” but to continue to feed it!

I will leave it to all of you to wonder if anything is truly to “big to die” and that goes for banks or Automobile companies. It may in fact, be as they say.

The truth is this.. We have to start back at One…. If any of us are going to survive long term. We cannot continue “Living for the Citi”

Perfect Storm Part One

If you are wondering if anyone is going to be able to fix this economy, you are in good company, because at this point any and all bets are off!

I wonder myself if it really can be fixed. I know that it can be “tinkered” with, so it can again move along and give the appearance of health, not unlike, a sick man, who has been given some stablelizing drug to stop the bleeding, but does not fix the problem. But long term? Please!,  the changes that have to made, by not just us, but the other entire world economies simply will not be made until events do it for them. By that time a lot of us will either be in breadlines, battle lines, or dead

Why so gloomy? It’s the nature of the beast, rather than make the hard choices now; mankind will always opt to push it to the next generation hoping that by that time science or luck will provide an answer. Our leaders are empowered by us to just maintain the status qoe.  If they do anything other than that, they can be sure of being swiftly removed from whatever elected office they are holding. So instead of leading, they end up following

Why are at this place anyway?  It is because we have allowed the monetary system to control us rather than the other way around. How so? By ignoring two absolute truths, Limited resources’ and the reason we have a monetary system in the first place.

When I was young I had in the kitchen, just like many of you a “cookie Jar” that my mom would buy cookies for and fill it. Now as you might guess, if it was left up to me and my siblings, we would keep reaching for cookies until the jar was empty. But my mom saw to it that (by putting the jar out of reach as well as warning us of the trouble that would come our way if we even touched that jar) it always had something in it. Even with this system in place the cookie jar soon was empty and had to wait until the next pay day to be refilled. So even at that young age we knew three unchangeable facts:  the jar only had what mom put in, if we took any cookies without permission we had a price to pay, Conservation can only forestall the day of reckoning.

We, the society at large, are those cookie thieves, by not remembering what we knew way back in our childhoods, that nothing is inexhauseable and if we were not careful at some point we would have nothing. We only have so much oil, trees, water or whatever before we use it all up. From the industrial revolution forward, we have pretty much acted like this is not the case. If we ran low in this country, then we would go and buy or “take” what resources we need from other countries.

If we have limited resources, then it follows that, we have a limit to growth, it makes no difference what government you live under or what god you serve or if you like hot butter on your breakfast toast! In order for any of us to survive (barring divine intervention) we have to understand this

That does not mean that we should not have a system for exchanging goods and services, Some kind of system will always be needed. The problem is that we have enlarged and screwed the system to the point that it has taken on a life of it’s own. It does mean however, that our leaders across the board have to convince us to put on the “breaks” and move us toward being a self sustaining model rather than a system that just consumes resources without replacing them. A model that will be unable to produce a Bill Gates or 36 billion dollars a year in pet food sales in this country, but cannot seem to keep food banks stocked year around.

This is not a question of rich vs. poor but rather a sober consideration of the path that we are on and the logical terminus of that path… until this is done we will never solve the system of its inherent flaws. It will mean hard work for all of us; we will really be taking charge of our destinies as we move forward.

As I wrote in my first post at WordPress I will be putting up some of my last post with easyjournal.

This one is from last year and has to do with just what is needed for a perfect Bar (or “Pub” if you prefer) I got a lot of responces on just what is needed… Enjoy!

The Perfect Bar

A few years back a friend and former co-worker of mine had a little ritual that we would indulge ourselves with twice a month. We would go out after work and have a drink.

I’m what you might call a “social drinker” I rarely drink by myself. In fact, I keep a goodly amount of booze in my study, which I might touch 4 times a month at best. I do drink wine from time to time usually with dinner. I love beer, but mostly in the summer. To give you an idea of my drinking, I went out and got a cooler for the back of the van to keep drinks in including beer for the summer to drink after sweating on the tarmac at the airport in 100 degree heat. I got two 12 packs. After a month and a fortune in ice, I still have 12 bottles left, nice and warm in that 20.00 cooler. Right now I’m slowly moving them to the fridge two at a time.

So, I’m really not a big drinker by any means. One of the reasons is, after a few drinks I really do not feel that great to be honest, after the 3rd drink. no matter what kind it is. I just do not want anymore to drink. Further, I’m not a fan of drinks with more that one booze in them, most of the drinks I like are with coke. (Jack and coke, Rum and coke)  The only time I drink “neat” is when I need to be knocked out if I cannot sleep. No Singapore Slings for me. I do like Manhattans in a chilled glass with no ice.
Anyway, over time, our after work pastime turned into a quest. To find the perfect bar, our “Cheers” as it were. So if you want to start on your own quest, here are a few things that any perfect bar will not contain…

1. It (with exceptions) will not be a “chain bar” or be located in a Hotel

Hotel bars look good, but are staffed with people who used to work in the kitchen and as a result do not know that a “watering hole” does more than just furnish high-priced drinks to lonely people.

2.  It won’t be “trendy”
     
Not far from me is a bar that is a beauty to look at. Wood everywhere, all of the employees dressed in black. The female employees drop dead gorgeous. Big wide leather seats and polished tables.

I went one time only. It was just too much to take

3. The bartender has to at least look like he is enjoying his/her job

After you get off work, you do not want to see someone else working in a place they hate. After all you came to the bar to get away from someplace you hate!

4. No Live Music (a jukebox is acceptable however or if live,  Jazz

5. It will have HD TV (low sound)

I have found only one close to the ideal… I will keep you posted