Comments by Orebell

Lotsoffun201...sorry to say but you are nuts. The rooms were not cheap at all. Not sure where you are getting your info from, but I did not find any cheap rooms. Even 5 star hotels are not taking Priceline bids of $170 a night. If anything they are just as expensive as usual. I am seeing quite the opposite as in less deals being given. As far as shows go, my point was not that they are expensive cause they are, but that they were close to full and no deals being made. Machines being squeezed tight eh. Hello, how do you think they pay for all that darn places. The odds are not in our favor. Got any evidence to support them being squeezed tight. Where are these discounted meals you are talking about. I ate at the Rio and Bellagio and got no such discount. If anything, the prices were the highest I have seen them. I did notice the construction. How can you miss it in Vegas. People seem to be working on all the construction sites I saw. I cannot argue about what might be happening in the medical field. However it is a well known fact that medical insurance is super insanely high priced and so are medical services. I think our entire medical system needs a revamping from top to bottom. We simply pay too much for it all. Maybe you guys in the medical field ought to try some discounting to bring in customers. Buy one Colonoscopy get a second one for free. According to the numbers, our economy grew 1.9%. Now that is not all that exciting, but it is still growth. I am not saying there are not real things out there impacting our economy. There certainly are. Gas prices and food prices are huge impacts. One of the major gas companies just reports earnings. Record profits was the headline. Companies are making money out there. My view is people need to get creative. About a month ago, a local HVAC vendor was going door to door offering a $50 special to come and change filters and inspect the heating/cooling system. Brilliant idea. I would bet that their business increased a lot. Cheap price to come and service my HVAC unit. I even set him for another appointment in 3 months. I applaud that sort of competitive spirit. On the flip side, I had an HVAC vendor who services my businesses. He changed his payment due date from 30 days to being due in 10 days. Mind you we averaged 14 days when paying him before he changed his policy. I asked him if he was gonna hold to that due in 10 days. He said he would not budge. I said ok I will find another vendor. He lost a customer that he had been doing business with for 20 years. Pretty foolish if you ask me. You say all is not what it appears and I say all is not what the mainstream media or alternative conspiracy theory media feel they need to tell us.

I agree, if businesses are having help wanted signs in the window that usually means people are working and the labor pool is short. If the economy is so bad, which I do not believe it is, why would people not be out looking for work. I am in the restaurant business and business is going well. I do see less people leaving the job than I used to and I think it is because people are keeping their jobs because there are less of them out there right now. Can someone define for me what the economy is? As I said, I am in the restaurant business and it is going well. I am sure other sectors of the economy are going well. On the flip side, parts of the economy are not doing as well. I think the gas price/oil price bubble has impacted people spending more on luxury things. No question about that. I think this is a cycle we are going through right now. I think with all cycles people have to adjust and be more competitive. It does not make sense to me that in a strip club that the girls would be offering less "extras" when the economy is slower. If anything they should be upping the ante a bit. I mean, offering less in a club is not going to put more money in their pocket. So if that is what happening, they are poor business people. As for Vegas, I was just there 2 weeks ago. Went to 2 shows. They charge an arm and a leg for them. One show was 90% full the other had to be close to full if not full. Went to eat a few times and had to wait a long time. In fact one place was was busy, we left and went somewhere else cause the wait was over an hour to get in. I was there mid-week so I am sure the hotel was not packed, but I could not get a view of the strip from my hotel cause all those rooms were full. And when I left on a Friday, there were 8 to 10 lines 7 to 8 people deep waiting to check in. So it did not appear that Vegas was hurting too badly. Now, I did not gamble once at all and not because I cannot afford to, but because the odds sort of suck. I would rather spend my money on a show that stick in a slot machine or blow it a table. Vegas got my money no matter which way you look at it. As far as cheap hotel rates in Vegas being offered that is a crock. During the Summer and during the week is not their busiest time of year. Maybe some deals are being offered then. Come Friday, rates go up and ya get screwed over from the hotels. Changing gears here for a sec. Housing market. It sucks right now. Can you say greed. No one was complaining when the housing market in a lot of areas were rapidly rising. Houses double and triple in their value in a very short time. What goes up fast will come down even faster. Sorry for the folks who got caught at the top. Banks were giving loans left and right to people who were beyond their means. IN fact banks helped contribute to this housing problem. My opinion is the banking system is corrupt and unregulated. And in the end, when the banks fail, you, me and others are who get screwed. My opinion is we need banking reform in this country. Get the crooks out of it. That is my take on things.

Hey Shadow, I was just in Rio in June 2007. I doubt much has changed since then. I am not sure what you are concerned about. Is it the crime? If so, yeah it is there and the stats prove it. I am not saying it cannot happen to me or anyone, but I say be smart. I stayed in a heavily populated area and in the day time, I stayed on major streets and did not venture too far on foot. At night, it was a taxi everywhere and the taxi was right outside the hotel. When I was out in the day time, I kept minimal valuables on me. Hid my money in a pocket hidden pocket in my shorts and kept a little in my pocket in case I got hijacked that they could have. No jewelry, no camera taken with me. I think the key thing is be aware of your surroundings and do not get drunk while out in public. Also, do as best as one can to blend in. No fancy clothes or anything like that. I never felt threatened at all. Lots of guys go down there and never have a problem. The key is planning, planning and planning. Or were you talking about Yellow Fever? If so, not much I can really say about that. I do not think it is that prevalent. As far as Costa Rica, I agree that it does get high marks. But Rio is tops. It was a blast.

Thanks for all the comments. I think the thread got hijacked a little bit. I am not getting my hopes up too high of hooking up with this girl OTC and having anything happen between us. The more and more I think about it, it really might be a waste of time. Nothing personal against her, but I am looking for someone who I can date and have a relationship with. What would be nice would be to spend an evening with her, have a little fun, and screw each others brains out. Actually I am setting my sights on getting back to Rio de Janeiro. Was there about a year ago and it was off the charts incredible. Imagine going into your favorite strip club except for there maybe being 10 to 20 girls, there are 100 to 125. And all of them are on the menu to take back to a room and have some fun. Not only that, if you are interested in a girl, all you have to do is look her way and make some eye contact and she will be over to you in a flash. Usually you can hang out in the bar area and if you and her can communicate some, have some conversation. If you like her and she likes you, within minutes she will be kissing you and you two can play around a little bit before going to a room. Sometimes if it is really busy and rooms are taken you get to play a little longer waiting for a room and it does not cost you a dime. The girl for an hour in a room, entry in to the club, a drink or two will run you about $125. After you are done, you can shower, shave, brush your teeth, sit in the steam room or just relax and watch some TV. Then when you are recharged, you can go back into the bar area and do it all over again with a different girl if you so choose. And since many of these clubs are closed on the weekends, many of these girls will hook up with you for an all nighter for what many girls charge for an hour here in the states. Trust me, going there will ruin you as far as expectations. And believe it or not, there are many of these clubs all over Rio. None as big as my favorite, but some of the smaller ones maybe have anywhere from 15 to 30 girls. It really is a place like no other. And do not worry about it if you do not speak the language. Sure, it helps but it is not necessary. Thanks again for the advice. No matter what happens with me and this girl, her dances were the most sensual I have ever had in a club. She really got into it and seemed to enjoy it. From reading some of the reviews for the club, other guys have experienced the same thing. She had me in lala land. Hopefully I can hook up with her OTC. Either way, I am back to Brazil in 6 months.