The Barron Blog

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Las Vegas, The Hoover Dam and The Grand Canyon

A true Las Vegas vacation should contain more than "The Strip" with its numerous casinos.
I'm pleased that we found other exciting things do besides gambling.
We went out route 93 to the Hoover Dam where we got the best view possible from the new Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge. It took our breath away because we were practically on top of the dam.
Further down the road at a Colorado River observation area, we bought some native necklaces from local Navajo vendors.
On the road to the Grand Canyon (Highway 25), we went to the B & B diner in Dolan Springs where we had some lunch. Surprisingly, everyone(Irene, Leslie, Blair and me) liked their meal. This didn't happened at expensive buffets in Vegas.
The Grand Canyon West was awesome, of course, especially the Skywalk.
In Vegas, we all liked the Ellis Island Casino for its good returns on slots and its cheap/good food and beer ($2.00 for a 20 ounce glass).
Earlier in the week, I spent too much time playing blackjack at El Cortez, but I saved the week by winning at blackjack, craps, roulette and slots at the Riviera.
We saw two great shows Jubilee and American Superstars. Make sure you have two-for-one coupons to see these shows because they are expensive.
I put more photos of our vacation on my Facebook page.
P.S. The best discount coupon books are "Las Vegas Perks" and "The America Casino Guide".

Posted by qualteam at 8:56 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 2 February 2011 6:43 PM EST

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Sunday, 23 January 2011

We're Flying Out Of Canada

We're going to Las Vegas today. It's very cold here about minus 20C.
We'll spend a week down there and maybe we'll warm up a little. I plan to bring lots of souvenirs back for the dogs.
I'm looking forward to some Las Vegas buffets. I've heard they're much better than fish and whale blubber.

Posted by qualteam at 9:24 AM EST

Updated: Sunday, 23 January 2011 9:33 AM EST

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Wednesday, 19 January 2011

The Life And Death Of Sgt. Ryan Russell

I saw most of Ryan Russell's funeral yesterday. I was awed by the response to his death not just from different police forces, but from the public too.
All of sudden, he became like a personal friend that I had known for years.
This reminded me of "The Highway Of Heroes" where many Canadians greet soldiers who have fallen in Afghanistan.
You don't have to be a celebrity to be a hero in Canada. You just have to be a good person and do your duty.
Ryan always believed in being the first at a crime scene. He thought more of protecting others than himself. The world would be a better place if there were more people like him.
U.S. video on The Highway of Heroes:

Posted by qualteam at 10:42 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 19 January 2011 11:01 AM EST

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Saturday, 15 January 2011

The Church Of Elvis

It's hard to separate Elvis from the counterculture of the 1950's beatniks and 1960's hippies. Rock and Roll was revolutionary because it came from the gospel and blues music of African Americans. In the 1950s, it was only cool if you were a white guy singing black music. Pat Boone and Elvis started that way and they both had gospel roots.
The 1950s was an age of conformity where "the establishment" in politics, religion and culture dictated what people were suppose to believe in and follow.
The Christian religion hadn't seen a prophet in 1900 years and most sects were arguing over interpretations of the Bible. Into this mental and emotional straitjacket came the pulsating energy of rock and roll. A new age was born and Elvis was its king.
On the right side of this blog are my entries on these new age movements. The Christian Religion wasn't a canned belief system anymore. It seemed to point the way mystically to a higher spiritual life which wanted to communicate to us directly. This was more than the eternal life in Christ. It was "the eternal youthful life" in Christ.
At the same time, insights into life beyond Earth and before birth, began to explode. This expressed itself in alternate religions like Echankar, Scientology, Hare Krishna, Zen Buddism, etc.
Added to the above were the science fiction visions of Gene Roddenbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Matheson, George Lucas, JK Rowlings and Rod Sterling. The study of UFOs began to be taken seriously.
I would call this loosely connected "New Age Movement", Christianity without heavy baggage (i.e. The Church of Elvis).
We're now connecting to each other and "A New Universal Brotherhood" through the internet.
What do you think?

Posted by qualteam at 8:30 PM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 18 January 2011 9:01 AM EST

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Sunday, 9 January 2011

The Number One New Year's Resolution

Is to lose weight, of course. I'm no stranger to that resolution. Over the holidays, I gained five pounds. Over the last week, I managed to lose those five pounds.
There's no secret to my weight lost strategies I just decided to work harder in the gym and at certain Wii games.
In the gym, I did the treadmill for 30 minutes with at least a 6% incline. This worked up a pretty good sweat. With the Wii games, I concentrated on tennis, table tennis and bowling. This wasn't as good as the gym, but it got the heart rate up, improved my hand-eye coordination and kept my competitive gaming spirit going.
Eventually, I'll add Wii Fitness Plus routines to the game plan and then my weight will really start to decrease.
A healthy lifestyle and a weight loss program go hand and hand with each other. Fruits, grains, vegetables have to be a staple in one's diet. If you don't get enough of those, you have to take vitamin/mineral supplements to maintain a high nutritional level. There are places in one's diet for specialized supplements and foods like garlic, ginseng, acai, pomegranate, etc.
Exercise, game playing and eating nutritional foods can be fun. The reverse of this are "no fun situations" of an out of shape body that's prone to diseases, degeneration and early aging.

Posted by qualteam at 10:10 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 9 January 2011 11:07 PM EST

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Friday, 31 December 2010

My Personal Top Ten Memorable Events Of 2010

This was like a scene from "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Believe it or not I used to play Santa Claus in this terrible suit. This time it wasn't me.
I turned down the offer to play Santa again at Joe Noseworthy's Boxing Day reunion party. There were over 35 guests in attendance and "Santa" was one of them. It was the first and probably the last time we'll see St. Nick there. This party made my list of top ten memorable events during 2010 mainly because of the stupid looking Santa who appeared like he was on drugs.
Not all of the top ten events happened to me directly, but they did capture my attention and move me emotionally.
Canada won gold in hockey at the 2010 games. This seemed to be the perfect end to an Olympics that featured a record number of gold medals for Canada. I even got interested in curling at these games. Check out this Jamaican's view of Sidney Crosby's winning goal.
The Haitian earthquake happened when I was in Las Vegas. It seemed to contrast the fun and fantasy life of glitter city with the grim realities that people in other parts of the world have to live with. This event reinforced the idea that we are all each other keeper. During the year, we should contribute to charities and pray for the less fortunate. In the words of Marley in Dicken's Christmas Carol, "Humanity was my business".
For first time in four years, The Barron Family held a reunion at brother Bob's new house in Toronto. I sent a calender of the family picture to my sister (Linda) and two brothers (Ted and Bob).
In November, my wife (Irene) and I went to Nashville for the first time. Here is the blog entry link on this trip and the photos are located here.
The New Year's day party (2010) at Blair Noseworthy's place was especially memorable because it was the first time that I used the digital camera that I got for Christmas(2009). I snapped some good photos that day and the best ones are on Facebook. The girls look beautiful in these pictures and guys look handsome.
We went to Newfoundland for a month from the middle of July to the middle of August. I wrote many blog entries on our travels through the Avalon Peninsula. Here's one about our trip to Bell Island.
At the beginning of 2010, we went to Las Vegas and the weather was over 60F in the daytime while we were there. What we enjoyed the most is in my Las Vegas journal and The pictures are linked to here.
This is the "Boxing Day Special" starring Lawrie, Bryant and Joe Noseworthy above. Joe holds his Noseworthy reunion every year at his place. Usually about 35 relatives show up. What was special about this year's reunion was the appearance of Santa (Bryant Ho Ho Noseworthy) and "Gavin Richardson", the newest member of the Noseworthy clan. Please check out the pictures here.
Through prayer, we were able to handle a big problem with a department of The Canadian Government.
I sent a custom made calender from Vistaprint to Irene's brother(Clarence) and sister-in-law (Winnie) that contained 13 pictures from our vacations in 2010. They telephoned me to thank me personally for the calenders. It warms my heart when you can do something special for those who let us stay at their place while we were in Newfoundland.

Posted by qualteam at 12:15 AM EST

Updated: Friday, 31 December 2010 11:46 PM EST

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Friday, 24 December 2010

My Top Ten Funny Christmas Songs

These are my top ten funniest Christmas songs. At number one, is the hilarious Ray Steven's "Santa Claus Is Watching You". The guy has so many funny videos like "The Streak", "Surfing USSR" and "Sitting Up With The Dead".
Please enjoy the funny side of Christmas.
"Santa Clause Is Watching You"/Ray Stevens
"Jingle Bombs"/Achmed and Jeff Dunham
"Blue Christmas"/Porky Pig
"Chipmunks Roasting By An Open Fire"/Bob Rivers
"Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"/The Irish Rovers
"I Getting Nuttin For Christmas"/J. D. Delinquent
"Wearing Women's Underwear"/Weird Al
"Santa Baby"/Madonna
"The Mummers Song"/Simini (A Newfoundland Classic XMas Song)
"The Chipmunk Song"/The Chipmunks and David Seville
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

Posted by qualteam at 12:38 PM EST

Updated: Friday, 24 December 2010 1:07 PM EST

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Monday, 20 December 2010

Some Christmas Movies Are Real Treats

I've seen some very good Christmas movies over the last few weeks. The best one was "Borrowed Hearts". Like most Christmas movies, Borrowed Hearts is both heart-warming and inspirational. The child actress, Sarah Rosen Fruitman, steals every scene she's in and the chemistry between her and her borrowed father, Eric McCormach was just superb. Roma Downey does very well as Sarah's mother and Eric's borrowed wife, but the theme of the story revolved around the "father" and "daughter" finding each other and themselves. Four Stars.
Close behind "Borrowed Hearts" was Kevin Sorbo in "The Santa Suit". When Sorbo trys to get mall Santas to sell his toys, the real Santa steps in to make Sorbo appear like Santa Claus to others. The story is both hilarious and moving as Sorbo discovers the real meaning of Christmas. Four Stars.
In third place is the TV movie "Silent Night" starring Linda Hamilton. The story was somewhat similiar to the song "Christmas in the Trenches". This time it was World War Two and a couple of Germans and Americans shared a cottage with a German mother, Linda Hamilton and her son on Christmas Eve in 1944. While there was friction between the two enemy camps, a few Germans and a few Americans came to respect each other. Three Stars.
Of course, there's always the standard Christmas fare like "A Christmas Carol", "It's A Wonderful Life" , Home Alone (one and two)and "The Santa Clauses (one, two and three), but it's great discoverying film treats off the beaten path.

Posted by qualteam at 9:58 PM EST

Updated: Monday, 20 December 2010 11:02 PM EST

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Sunday, 12 December 2010

The Jeff Dunham Christmas Special

I'm a big fan of Jim Henson's Muppets and other ventriloquists like Senor Wences and Edgar Bergen, but the funniest ventriloquist that I've ever seen is Jeff Dunham.
Jeff has such a great sense of pure daffyness. Take a look at "Peanut" and "Jose Jalapeno" together. I almost rolled on the floor with laughter.
A character like "The Dead Terrorist Achmed" displays unique genius.
As the holiday season approaches, it would be excellent if Santa delivered some good laughs as well as presents.

Posted by qualteam at 10:19 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 12 December 2010 11:06 PM EST

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Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Santa, Please Bring Me A Wii Console For Christmas

I used to enjoy pinball games before video games. There was some skill connected with them and if you were lucky or skillful, you would win free games. Many a quarter went into these machines without good results.
Back in 1972, the first video game appeared called "Pong". It was a very primitive ping pong game with lousy graphics, but it was easier to play than complicated pinball games. I did ok at the slower, lower levels, but I was useless at the speeded up game.
In the 1980s, "Pacman" came along and I took to it like a duck to water. Then came "Missile Command", "Asteroids", "Space Invaders" and "Donkey Kong"". These games were simple and a lot of fun except they got repetitive after awhile. Try them on for size and see if you like them.
After that I got into board games like backgammon, chess, and trivial pursuit.
Needless to say when the casinos sprung up in Ontario, I started playing craps, blackjack and poker. Any of the above games can be played for fun without paying a cent.
More than board games, video games or card games, I've enjoyed sports since I was a kid and that's why I'm attracted to "The Wii Games". There's a lot territory that you can cover with Wii material.
Complex games like "Donky Kong" (Mario Brothers) or "Call Of Duty" are too difficult for me. 12-year old kids clobber me at those games. I've had better luck with Wii tennis, bowling, and boxing.
Then there's the problem of getting enough physical exercise. When you play lots of sports, you get lots of exercise. I don't do that now. I go to the gym and run like a hamster on a treadmill. This can be boring sometime. Why not diversify my routines with Wii sports and Wii fitness plus?
The youth package for human beings includes not only the right kind of food and vitamins, but games and sports/exercises that keeps the body functioning properly.

Posted by qualteam at 9:53 PM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 30 November 2010 11:31 PM EST

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