Ped o meter

I walk a lot in Las Vegas. The new Nintendo 3ds has a built in pedometer that rewards me for walking by giving me in-game money. I wish I had it this week, but it comes out next week. Ah well. I have the usual blisters on my pinky toes and heels, but also had an unusual one on the ball of my foot. I think it was the slip-on shoes I was wearing (makes airport security easier).

Vegas show number 2

Another night with nothing to do. Didn't want to horn in on another group's trip to the pinball museum. So I'm seeing Jubilee here at Ballys. 10:30 show, wakeup call 6:45am for my flight home.

The show

Going to see Blue Man Group tonight. I haven't seen them here since they moved from the Luxor.

Luggage is slow

Sitting at the front of the plane gets you off fast, but doesn't make your bag arrive any faster

Vegas bound

Off to Vegas once again, this time on a business trip. I expect 12+ hour days during the show. I am going to have(what turns out to be) two days before the show starts, or one evening and one daytime.
Going to the big knife store on Monday is too far to walk (12 miles), and I don't have a vehicle. I'm planning on checking out the north end of the strip, with the 'new' Wynn being my destination. My travels will be watch centered, but I'm currently real happy with my Omega Ti SMP. Since I got it back it's running +/-1sec/day. It's light, it glows well, fits nicely (now that I added a 1/2 link), easy to read, unusual (grey dial special edition). It's making all my other watches seem superfluous. It may cause a sell off now that's I've found THE watch. Only a ti SBGA031 Grand Seiko has any hope of dethroning it as my EDC watch.

Anyway, back to Vegas: It'll be in the 70s during the day, so pleasant to walk around. Gonna try and do a show Sunday night.

Christmas 2010 Indy watch and retail notes

Retail seems to be down from last Christmas. Many stores I remember from last year are gone. Replacements seem sub-par vs what was there (e.g. Sony left, replaced by a Toys R Us outlet).

Big shakeup in watch stores. Many brands I'm used to seeing are gone, especially when two stores carried the same brands, now just one. Is it possible contracts came up in 2010 and weren't renewed?
Reis Nichols didn't lose anything, but I don't remember seeing Breitling, so maybe that. A remodel at Reis in the watch area means a lot less Rolex on display / less stock.
Hoffmeister lost Rolex, their main watch brand, so their displays were sad. They even covered wall displays with wrapping paper to look like presents to hide the empty shelves. I wonder what they'll do once the season is over.
Barrangton was about the same, shuffling a few brands in/out. Maybe a little less Tutuma, which never felt current.
Went to Moyers up in Carmel for the first time. They had Breitling, Tag, Bell & Ross, Victorinox, Carl Bucherer, and a few others. Stock levels very good. they had some rarer Tags- 2Silverstones, 2 Grand Carreras. The Breitling Super Ocean is BIG, and I liked the brown dial and LOVE mesh band (with removable links). The blue dial wasn't bad either. Used, they had a Deep Sea, a 2-tone Sub, and an IWC Chrono in yellow.
Midwest Jewelry had used Baum & Mercer Capeland S Chrono at $1200. The butterfly clasp wasn't working correctly- the buttons had to be pushed to close the clasp, as well as release it.
Aronstam lost Breitling and had no sport brand to replace it, so nothing for me.

Indianapolis Auto Show 2010 Notes

Every year after Christmas I head downtown to check out the Indy Auto Show. It's squeezed between LA and Detroit, so there's no reveals and few concepts, save pre-production models. The Indiana Convention Center work is just about done, and this year we entered on the west side; the last few years we entered from the south into the GM wing. To the notes:
The new Dodge Durango was there, but up on a display with the doors open, so you couldn't get close. From what I read/saw, it's a longer version of the new Grand Cherokee. It has a third row seat.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee seems big, bigger than the Explorer. Both high trim models have dial up terrain. Didn't see ride height adjustment on the model I sat in, but and interesting feature (or is that the Ford feature?). Nicer than the current GC, but I don't think as nice as the Ford Explorer.
The Ford Explorer is super high tech, with a touch screen center stack and two displays flanking the speedo. There are various screens for the center stack, including Audio, Climate, Phone. These are cool to play with, but I wonder if removing the tactile buttons and knobs will lead to drivers needing to spend more attention looking at the center stack rather than the road. Heated and Cooled seats were a idea I can endorse. Has a 3rd row seat, is almost a foot longer than the Jeep, but weighs the same, costs the same, gets the same mileage. Still need to read some comparisons between these two.
The freshened Dodge Charger looks better from the front, worse from the back. The interior is totally different, I don't like it.
The Nissan Juke is a strange looking crossover, based off the Versa. Available AWD, great mileage of 25/30, interesting interior I would judge average, but a review I just read mentioned a changing lower center stack, which I couldn't see with no power to the vehicle. The AWD is only available with the CVT.
The Mini Countryman, the AWD 4 door Mini is bigger in every way to the other Minis, but still looks and feels like a Mini. As good mileage 23/30 as the Juke. The interior has a center rail system that you can attach different modules to.
Chevy Volt looks OK, but again, it was up on a dais so I couldn't look/touch it.
Chevy Cruise WOW! I first sat in the LTZ, $22K version, and was very impressed. Wanted to sit in the entry model LS ($17K) and see the differences. Still very, very nice. MUCH better than the outgoing Cobalt.
Strangely, the Subaru Legacy can have better mileage than the smaller Impreza. They need to put the 2.5 from the Legacy in the Impreza for even better fuel economy.
Suzuki was a no-show. Toyota Land Crusier and Matrix were no-shows.