I am Lars Vargas

Blog

  • One More Goal For My Life

    It’s not often that I’m caught off guard, but today I was.

    Mrs. Vargas and I decided on a whim to go visit the Auto Collections at the Imperial Palace on the Las Vegas Strip today.

    I haven’t been there in nearly ten years, but I know the collection is far larger than what is on display, so every time you go, a different bunch of cars is available for viewing. The cars run the gamut from modest but impressive VW Beetles (one with 79 miles on it!) to multi-million dollar cars made by Rolls-Royce and Duesenberg. There were even a couple of custom-bodied Cadillacs that neared the million dollar range. (more…)

  • Check Your Stats, You Might Be Missing Something

    The say that Google page rank is everything on the Internet these days, and that getting it is somewhat of a black science. I don’t write these pages with any particular page ranking in mind. Since “Lars Vargas” is a fairly uncommon name, I tend to rank pretty high (usually at the top) when searched in Google. That’s nice, but expected. Getting into “Las Vegas Blogs” is a lot harder. I checked once, and I’m at around 700 or 800. Probably lower.

    One of the things I do check every so often is my site stats. It’s nice to see how much traffic this site gets (not much right now), where it’s coming from (mostly other pages on this site) and various other tidbits. One of those tidbits is what search terms landed visitors on your pages. All the things you would think would be there are: Lars Vargas, Mrs. Vargas, Luella the cat, etc. Many of those are my searches to see if I’m in certain search engines and such. (more…)

  • The Christmas Decorations Are Up

    That’s right, it’s a “Christmas” theme. Not a “Holiday” theme. I’m totally not into that politically correct crap, where we cannot possible offend anyone for any reason, or exclude them. Then again, I never did anything to exclude anyone. They pretty much excluded themselves. But this isn’t about PC blanding everything into a homogenous gray slurry. It’s about decorating for the holidays.

    I am not into decorating the house. That’s Mrs. Vargas’s venue. I am into decorating the site, since that’s my venue. The site was looking good after the recent makeover, but hey, you’ve got to put up lights and have a little fun for Christmas.

    And I promise to take it all down after the New Year. You won’t see this theme lingering on the site in mid-April.

  • Memphis Championship Barbecue: The Name Says It All

    Memphis Championship Barbecue
    2250 E. Warm Springs Road
    Las Vegas, NV 89119
    (702) 260-6909

    Since moving from Orlando, we haven’t ventured out into barbecue land. Orlando has lots of barbecue places (some not worth going into, some are excellent, most are OK). We weren’t sure what to expect in Vegas, which doesn’t have as many barbecue places. After narrowing down the choices, we decided to try Memphis Championship Barbecue. There are four locations. We chose the one near us at Warm Springs and Eastern.

    I love barbecue. For some folks, barbecue is a religion, and their own denomination is the only True Way for barbecue. I am not one of those people. I like barbecue no matter Texas style, Memphis style, Southern style, or some other style. Good barbecue is good barbecue. Memphis Championship Barbecue is really good barbecue. (more…)

  • Feeling Like a Flake? Draw one!

    I grew up in the snow. I had to shovel snow. I don’t like snow.

    Yet something draws me to it. I’m not sure what, but maybe it’s pining for some part of my youth that doesn’t’ involve a shovel.

    Anyway, drawn to snow or not, you can draw your own snow one flake at a time. The Make-A-Flake site lets you snip a virtual paper flake and see the results. With a little practice, you can make some really gorgeous flakes. (more…)

  • Whirlpool Customer Service: A Basket Case

    Our new home in Las Vegas came with new appliances. The builder made a big deal out of only supplying Whirlpool appliances. Whirlpool is a name I have always associated with quality, and the appliances in our home attest to that. We are happy with them except for one detail.

    The dishwasher’s silverware basket is simply too small. There are only two compartments to hold dirty silverware, and they only hold about one-half what they should. In fact, they are about one-half the size of any other dishwasher silverware baskets I have ever seen.

    I don’t think that Mrs. Vargas and I are use inordinate amounts of silverware. The plate to fork ratio is roughly 1:1, as is the bowl to spoon ratio. In fact, sometimes it’s two plates to one fork. (more…)

  • Drinking Scotch Can Save Your Marriage

    I was recently reminded of a party I attended last year. Some friends had invited Mrs. Vargas and I to their home, along with several of their other friends and neighbors. It was a typical holiday party with plenty of good stuff to eat and drink. The partygoers were all decked out in festive attire and a good mood prevailed throughout.

    Mrs. Vargas and I are not the kind of couple who has to cling to each other at a party. We’re free to mingle and talk independently. One of the other partygoers, whom I had never met before, had taken somewhat of an interest in me. She was a neighbor of the hosts and didn’t seem flirtatious when I first met her.

    As the evening went on, Ms. Neighbor Flirter had chosen a seat at the bar. And every time I went to freshen up my scotch, she was there, ready to chat, flirt, and carry on about the topic du jour. (more…)

  • Happy (belated) Birthday, Mr. Vin!

    Mr. Vin is my step father and today is his birthday. Well, as I write this it’s still technically his birthday for just over two hours here in Vegas. Where he lives on the east coast of the US, it’s past midnight.

    I missed posting his wish on the day.

    So this is the first official Lars Vargas belated birthday wish post. I did speak with Mr. Vin on the phone, so it’s not like I totally forgot. I simply didn’t post here for the entire world (or my 7 or 8 actual readers) to know.

    I know you spent the day working, Mr. Vin, but I hope you took a few minutes to simply celebrate you and enjoy life a bit. You’re a great guy and have been a huge part of my life. Thank you and happy birthday.

    Gee, maybe I can get away with saying this one was actually 364 days early.