Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Las Vegas on someone else’s dime. My wife Denyse had gotten roped into a timeshare presentation, with one of the free gifts being 3 days in Vegas. So we figured what the hell.

I have only been to Vegas once, and it was about 12 years ago. I heard things were different but…

Turns out I am not a Vegas type of guy.

I don’t drink, gamble or smoke. So that doesn’t really leave me much except of course for the prostitutes.

Just kidding.

 
One of these guys is fake

I’m sure that there are some great things about Vegas (like the abundance of cool shows you can see) but for me it was just an illustration of  many of the weaknesses of Americans.

Here are just a few of my observations:

• Americans are too fat
• Drunk people are annoying
• Americans *still* smoke too much
• Buffets sound good but actually suck
• There is no reason for  a 4 story M&M store
• Some girls do not know there is a difference between sexy and slutty

I am actually ok with that last one.

I understand needing to take a weekend or week or whatever and escape it all.  I get that.  I REALLY get that. But some of the behaviors that are considered acceptable to me are just are not.

For example smoking is just not ok – ever. Every time someone smokes, they are shortening their life by 5 minutes (by conservative estimates).  Those 5 minutes add up- stealing time away from loved ones.  We do not have enough time on this planet as it is.  Don’t even get me started on parents who smoke…

Some of you probably think I need to just head back to my Mom’s basement and play Dungeons & Dragons.  Yeah, I’m a dork.  And people in glass houses should not through stones.

I am just ranting here  but I want Americans (hell everyone for that matter) to be healthy and happy.  And that will require better (and tougher) choices on many fronts.

It is easy to make the "easy" choices – but they have consequences.  We are facing tough times, and there are most likely more tough times ahead as well.

We can either face them head on or bury our heads in the sand.

Hey, tough times – F you.  I’m right here- come and get me.

Who’s with me?

Joshua Carter

PS:  And to be fair to the great city of Las Vegas, many of the same offenses can be observed at Disneyland. But I wasn’t in Disneyland.

PPS:  We did have fun in Vegas.  The scale and spectacle of everything was impressive to say the least.  We saw a cool show with Gerry McCambridge called " The Mentalist" that blew me away. But nothing is as close as you think: the hotel next door really isn’t. It’s at least a half a mile away.  It’s like the opposite of the side view mirrors: "Casinos are further away than the appear" My feet are still killing me.