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Friday, December 28, 2007

Frisky on my lap, on the 2 seater, after his nightly walk


Protector OF Frisky & Trustingly Snug Frisky



One fav position of Frisky...Madhu's corner.


an addendum to my earlier post

I had forgotten to add one thing in my post...musings, the other day...

I have had to relegate my position on our sofa to Frisky....Earlier, Madhu used to occupy the left most corner, near the arm rest( to slouch on), and i used to sit next to him, while eating, or watching TV. Now, frisky has the place.

When he couldn't jump up, Madhu used to pick him up and place him next to him. Now that Frisky has learnt to jump up on his own, I am banished from my spot. !!!!!Frisky now has the centre place,and I am pushed to to the right hand corner.

Frisky usually wants to sleep on the sofa, in between both oif us, just like a kid..wanting Mom n dad next to him/her. If Madhu is sprawled on the sofa, like vishnu on adisesha, Frisky is usually in my corner, and I have to be content with sitting on the two seater.....

Why I don't push him down and reclaim my spot?? Looking at a cherubic face, ears down, giving occasional snores of contentment,(yup...dogs snore too!!!) peacefully sleeping Frisky, I just don't have the heart to disturb him!!!!!!!


Frisky loves to sleep on Madhu's chest...I suspect its because it feels like a large cushiony bed to him..:) :) .Being lulled to sleep listening to Madhu's heartbeat is the ultimate joy for Frisky, and Madhu too. .Frisky likes those cosy corners..his favorite places are, the carpet under the office table, under the side table in summers, sofa arm rests, and by our feet.....

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Lay off's in job market

Everyone knows that in America, its a hire-fire policy as far as the job market is concerned.
Now the economy is nor doing too well,and people are losing their jobs, and job security has drastically come down.

Just last week, 30 people were laid off from Red Cross, due to organization re-structuring. I came to know that there weren't sufficient funds, and by laying off 30 people, the red cross was able to save up to $ 1 million. Two whole departments have been disbanded,and 7 new positions were created in the re-structuring...It was so hard on the people.

The Friday before the news broke,an employee party was held,and one of them actually received an award for her good work in reaching out, and making partnerships for the Red Cross. Come Monday, she is one of the 30 people who have been laid off!!!! It was tough luck...

Those who had been laid off, continued to be on the payroll till 31st December, and were given reference letters to apply elsewhere. Some of the more emotionally affected were sent for psychological counselling. The CEO held a meeting, in which he quoted statistics saying that 41% less people had decided to contribute to non profit organizations than last year. I thought Americans were very community oriented people...they begin volunteering at a very young age, and teach their kids to do so too, and donate generously....however, they are also like us, i guess...I mezn, Indians aren't too much into volunteering, donating etc, apart from religious causes.

Well, any thoughts on this???????

Birds and chilly weather

I am feeling very sad...For the past three days, i.e 24th, 25th and 26th of December, I have had to come across dead baby pigeons.

I was taking Frisky out on his walk, inside our apartment complex, when on all three occasions, Frisky, who had just been sniffing around, grabbed something in his mouth. I bent down to inspect what it was, and it turns out to be a dead baby pigeon, apparently fallen off the tree due to strong wsnds and cold weather.

I made Frisky drop those birds, and took them into little plastic bags, and put them inside the trash can. the best thing I could do for them, under the circumstances.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

eddie izzard on supermarkets and trolleys...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jSE3JANx14

Eddie Izzard-----and learning French

For those of you who learnt french, here are a few tips on how to include what you learnt in the course of everyday conversation.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY
Others who don't know French, bitte verstehen sie!.....a lil bit komplazion!!!!

enjoy!!!!!

Gabriel iglesisas

hey ppl, chk this link out for his comedy....really nice...
we enjoyed it a lot...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcQlz1mt1kQ

Monday, December 24, 2007

Musings of a girl

Well,the year 2007 is going to end soon.And somehow, over the past few days, I find myself slipping into musings about the past, and how I have changed now, or what changes have come into my life.

The first thingf I have noticed about me, is that I am more responsible these days. I mean, for household related work...washing, folding dry clothes, cooking, vacuuming..everything has to be done on time. In India, i used to slip into blissful slumber for atleast 2 hours in the afternoons. A few months into coming to US, this continued. But stopped from June or July onwards. I simply wasn't able to sleep in the afternoons. Now a days, since i am so exhausted from my Red Cross work, housework, etc, I sleep sometimes, though now the maximum duration would be half an hour or 45 minutes. even when Madhu tells me to relax, forget all the work pending, n sleep, I am not able to. Thoughts of pending work keep dogging me at the back of my mind.

So, the conclusion being, I have become more responsible in taking care of things. And possibly, an insomniac. !!!!!

Secondly, Frisky!!!!of course, how can I not mention the little bundle of joy, on four legs. He has brought Madhu and me so much happiness,and taken away our tensions and worries. Thanks to him, we are getting trained in parenting, in many ways...For example, when in the cold mornings, I want to snuggle back under the covers, after switching my alarm clock off, I am reminded of Frisky, how he would be waiting for us to take him out for a walk, so that he can "do his business"...If we don't wake up and take him out, he would come and lick our hands, or jump to the edge of the bed,and try to wake us up, if he is in great urgency...Once or twice, our laziness, or lack of understanding, resulted in Frisky doing it inside itself ....But to his credit, he knows when he has done something bad, something he is not supposed to...he would go and hide under the office table, or under the bed, and not come out. Other dogs are not like that, from what we have heard from the dog owners we meet.
Again,As I hacve mentioned earlier in my posts, Frisky ios scared of the vacuum cleaner sound...be it the large one we have,m or the small hand vacuum. Similarly, mixie sounds. So when I am vacuuming the house( its susally me..."designated Evil Vacuum Lady") and Frisky would go scampering off to find some safe spot to hide from the vacuum. If I am alone at home, he is tied to his leash in the patio. Otherwise, I plop him down next to Madhu. Madhu keeps a protective arm around him, and soothingly talks to him while I am vacuuming. { For those among myfamily/ in-laws reading this, believe me, 90% of the time, its Madhu telling Frisky" Don't worry. the Evil Vacuum lady won't come near you. I am there da kutty". And if by chance I am in the same room, he tells Frisky, "Don't worry, its only Mommy....":) :)

However, Frisky lying on Madhu's arm, on the sofa, is the cutest picture...Hai, meri hi nazar na lag jaaye.!!!!!!Madhu has been showering Frisky with toys, n a nice comfy little bed of his own, one in the car, and one in the home.

For my part, Frisky never used to listen to me that much, even though Madhu and I said the same commands.Amnd I used to complain to Madhu about it. For the past 2 weeks, since winetr chill started, I have been taking Frisky out day n night. So he apparently got more attached to me. When Madhu and I both enter the house after having been away, or having left him and gone, he runs and greets me much more thsn he greets Madhu. He jumps up, wags his tail, puts his paws up to my knees,and generally shows his happiness seeing me back. And in case, Madhu is inside the house,and I am still outside (picking up grocery bags or something), Frisky will come outside, and wait for me to step inside..And then he will follow me in. :) :)

Isn't that positively Sweeeet of him???/ Madhu is already plotting revenge. Come summertime, he is going to take Frisky out on walks, not me, he says.


Another thing I have done is, prepared food on trips we have been on. My mother used to cook everytime we travelled via train to chennai, or pudukkottai. So in my mind, it was always amma who would do such things, not me. Now the time came for me to do them, and it was a learning experience.

Our California trip was such that all the women coming along said, they weren't going to waste time and money in eating in restaurants. So we all agreed on who would make what, and generally shared the burden of cooking for lunch n dinner. Each person cooked enough for 10 people, so we had a variety of food to eat. Similarly, on our Vegas trip too, I cooked chole, and pav bhaji and took it along. Though this time there were bitter argumnets with Madhu about this, I realsied how this was a very good idea on reaching Vegas.

Prices there are so high...Petrol itself was 25 cents higher than Phoeniz prices per gallon. And the menu in any restaurant had nothing to offer for vegetarians...Since Madhu also didn't eat non veg or egg or Saturdays, we were saved the expense of having to spend on burgers for breakfast lunch and dinner... and had chole n pav bhaji instead. Those hotels didn't even have a coffee machine in the room, and I was deprived of early morning coffee in the sanctuary of the bedroom. They want to extract as much money as they can out of you, I guess.
So in this way, I guess I have become like other housewives, learning to save on unnecessary expense in hotels etc.

I know some of my friends wouldn' t agree with me. But my school friend who is also vegetarian, told me there is nothing for vegetarians to eat unless you go to an Indian restaurant. There, in spite of paying dearly, you end up getting a frozen-heated samosa on your plate....I am inclined to sympathise with her, as she is a home science student,and knows her stuff.

Telephone conversations with my college friends, during navaratri, and Diwali, centered around exchanging recipes, and sharing ideas on what to do with leftovers, what new dish had someone tried out, etc. Online chats with my mother consisted of asking her the rates of Sona rice in Chennai, as in Phoenix, they had increased by $4.00 for a 10 pound bag. This led to my sister teasing my mom, "what, you are now discussing grocery prices over chat with ur daughter in USA?"

I also find myself eager to dispel doubts of my American friends/acquaintences, about India, and Indians in general. Many of them have seen, heard, or been acquainted with North Indians, and hence find my surname astonishingly long. At Red cross, when they were trying to make my ID, they designated me as " the girl with the long name"..Clearly, they do not know Indians specialise in having long names, esp South Indians. Our names can be tongue twisters for the Americans. To their credit, they try to pronounce it correctly as much as possible. It does sounds funny however, when you hear your name being pronounced in a sing song way....However, when recently someone asked me about this long surname, I countered them with a joke about Polish names .

Many people are eager to know about Indian cuisine. So I made vegetable pulav one day,and distributed it to those who had expressed an interest. Another day, I made kesari,and gave it to them. Both these dishes were much appreciated. I have been questioned in detail about arranged marriages, wearing of the thaali, sarees, mehendi, kumkum pottu, to name a few. I try my best to explain it to them. However, as one American girl pointed out, " If i were getting married, the only person I would want arranging it is ME!!!!. "

Similarly, some peopel think that Indians also speak "Indian"...like Chinese speak Chinese, British and Americans speak English...I have told them that though Hindi is the national language, many states have their own regional langauge. India has many langauges, with dialects,and sub dialects. So there are many people in India who still do not know Hindi. One person actually though that Telugu was some tribal langauge, that's why I was referring to it as my mother tongue!!!!! :)

Again here tehre are two sides of the coin. I see and hear people ask me questions like this. On the other side, when Madhu and I watch Cash Cab,on Discovery, we see people here know many amazing facts that both of us had no clue about. We are left speechless when we see peope answer such difficult, obscure questions about contemporary world events, or Greek / Roman history....As in, a former President of US made the Latin phrase meaning "something in return for something" very famous? what is the phrase? Madhu and i were searching our minds for answers, coming up with vice versa, vis a vis...when the answer turned out to be "quid pro quo"...We both were berating ourselves the minute we heard it.,...


OOOOOOOOOOOH... i have just seen the clock, and its 8:20 p.m....I have been on a roll ...typing away since 6:45 p.m....Well, stomach rumbles, and grumbles...so gotta go. tata. Ciao...Those of u reading this...u must have spent atleast 15 minutes in reading this....Better make it worth my while, n respond back, ASAP.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Cousins and Kudos

Here, I would like to mention my cousin Bharathi, who is at presnt in Delaware, on an on site assignment. Both of us haven't interacted much in childhood, with me having grown up in Delhi,
and she being in Madras(Chennai). The only contact was in the summer vacation, when we used to come to chennai/pudukkottai to visit all our family members for a month.

Though she knew I wrote poems,and had won prizes in school for my creative writing, she had never actually seen any of my writing. The other source who told her I wrote was my sister Gayathri, whom I helped with her English school work, and assignments. ...dictating formal letters to her on the way to school/college, editing her articles, writing opening speeches for her college functions etc..

Hence it came as a pleasant surprise to me when , talking to Bharathi the other day, she told me she had read my blog,and liked what I wrote, and my writing style. She said, "You write as if you are talking to the other person..as if the person was right in front of you, not some reader in some remote place..., .its not as formal as a report or anything...I can really visualise what you are writng."....

Not to mention, I am really happy......It feels nice to know there's one other person interested in reading what you write, what you share via your medium of expression.

Bharathi, I hope you read this too..otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of this post!!!!

Parties,Madhu, and Dumb C!!!!

Well, HEELOOOOOOO friends and family,

I really appreciate those of you who take time to read my blog,and also let me know your comments.....There has been a lot going on recently, all of which I am bursting to share with you. However, I will commence by sharing the most recent happy incidents.....

Firstly, last weekend, we had a dinner invitation, pot luck, at my cousin's place. We met two new couples there...one of whom Madhu already knew from Salt Lake City, Utah.(Vijay and Meena). The other couple were my cousin's friends from the Sai Bhajan group.(Senthil and Lakshmi).. new to everybody else.

So dinner got over, and we all agreed to play Dumb Charades, movie names. Those who had been present at the Diwali party hosted by us, knew about Madhu's fantastic ability to figure out English movie names. So this time, it was decided to have Tamil. Since I am not that familiar with tamil movie names, I wasn't able to participate much. However, we had a blast. Girls vs. boys...and I should tell you..Balaji, a friend of ours, proved to be too good at guessing the correct tamil movie, and also managed to give the girls team some tough ones to crack.

With Madhu acting, and Balaji guessing, the guys were all about whooping war cries, shouts of victory,and hugging each other in every turn they got.

In the end, one of the ladies present, (I don't remember who...got lost in the general excitement), declared, "Next time, we play Dumb C, both Madhu and Balaji, should be excluded...They know too much!!!!!"
So, wasn't that a good game, worth pulling up my collar for??? :) :)

Then yesterday, Dec 21st, we all met again for Sruthi's birthday party..daughter of Muthu and Bala. It was a thoughtfully arranged pizza party, plus sodas,and some pasta ravioli. Turn American when you don't have time to cook up Indian fare!!!!!And with one baby to look after,putting up all decorations, balloons, cleaning, arranging, Bala certainly had her hands full. .
So anyway, the same group, this time, more comfortable around each other, more leg pulling, and stories got passed around. We found out Senthil's family was based in Pudukkottai. To top it off, Senthil's dad had been a manager in various branches of Indian Bank.( untill recently) So my connection, pudukkottai, Madhu's connection, Indian Bank.


So after the kids playing a round of pin-the tail- on -the -donkey, (in which Madhu also participated...he claims he is a BIG little kid), general confusion,and consensus decided that this time, Dumb C, would be a mixed group, girls and boys mixed teams, and similarly, both English and tamil movie names would be given. All odd numbers were in one team, all even numbers in another. Coincidentally, Madhu and I were in one team,having drawn odd numbers, and so were Uma and Balu anna, both having even numbers. Madhu was the only guy in our team....The team was like this,...Madhu, me, Anusha, Meena, and Lakshmi. The other side was, Senthil, Balu anna, Uma, Bala, and Muthu(again a couple).

Anusha's and Meena's husbands, Balaji and Vijay,resp, arrived a bit late. On being apprised of the situation, Balaji said, "I am on the team opposite to my wife's". When he found out that Madhu and Anusha were on the same team, he promptly declared, "I am on Madhu's team". So vijay was on the other team. This time, Madhu and I cracked movie names together..with Anusha and Balaji guessing correctly...like Apocalypto, Bridge on the River Kwai, and One who flew over the Cuckoo's nest. ...in a matter of seconds.

So again vociferous protests ensued, and the opposite team demaded that Madhu and I be seperated. So Vijay and I switched places.

This time, too, we did a good job. I was able to crack a couple of movie names, or atleast guess correctly, though we didn't get the name on time. Of course, it was Madhu giving the names most of the time.

One particularly difficult name had come to us, and all of us were trying to guess what was being acted out....Uma, standing next to me, got so excited, that she began to hit my elbow, urging me, "Nithya, do you know this, do you know this?"..when I was trying hard to guess. I mean, it was that much fun. Ultimately it turns out to be a tongue twister of a movie name, and Madhu claimed he and I had seen it together here in USA.

The thing with me is, I see movies, and I forget them soon after, unlike Madhu, who remembers the names, actors, dialogues et al. be it Tamil, English, or Hindi. He knows the lyrics of Hindi songs I have all but forgotten. Meena was astounded at Madhu's retention power....

Reminiscing about the whole thing, Madhu and I realised we wouldn't have been able to meet so many people, so frequently, in India. Balu Anna met another of his school classmates yesterday at the birthday party, Satish Jayaraman, who happens to be Madhu'and Muthu's colleague at office. So I told Balu anna, "Sitting in Maine, would you have thought you would be meeting your old classmates in Phoenix?"Anyway, Satish didn't stay long. So back to topic. All people in IT industry are working hard Monday to Saturday, coming home late at nights, with no time for socialisation. Here, thanks to the "weekends off" policy followed by companies, people are able to meet often,travel, and the friends circle keeps growing.

Well, I am having a good time.!!!!!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Some places in US with Spanish names

Spanish Place Names
Hispanic heritage from coast to coast
by Holly Hartman

Alcatraz Island, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, draws over a million visitors each yearThe Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore what is now the United States, and the first to found a permanent settlement here (St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565). From Alaska's Madre de Dios Island to Mexico, Maine, the United States is dotted with Spanish place names. Here are a few.

Alamo: "poplar." This tall softwood tree gave its name to a number of U.S. places, including the memorable chapel-fort in Texas and the town of Los Alamos in New Mexico, where atomic bombs were produced.

Alcatraz Island (California): from "álcatraces," pelican. A sizable pelican population once lived on this rocky island in the San Francisco Bay.

Boca Raton (Florida): from "boca de ratónes," a Spanish term applied to nearby inlets. It translates as "mouth of the mouse" (not "rat," which is "rata") and may refer to the jagged rocks at these inlets. It has also been suggested that "ratónes" was a term used for the pirates who might hide in such a place.

California: The state was named for a mythical land described in a popular Spanish novel from around 1500, Las sergas de Esplandián (The exploits of Esplandián) by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo.

Cape Canaveral (Florida): from "cañaveral," canebrake. The promontory NASA made famous takes its name from the thickets of cane that grow in sandy areas.

Colorado: "reddish." The state is named for the reddish color of mud found in the Colorado River.
In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured the Mexican village of Yerba Buena and renamed it San Francisco.

El Paso (Texas): "passage." The border city of El Paso lies at a small gap between the Rockies and the Juarez Mountains of Mexico. This narrow passage has made the city a hub for both north-south and east-west travel.

Florida: "Flowery." Some say that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon named the land for the Spanish term for Easter, Pascua de Florida (Flowery Feast), because he first saw the land during the Easter season. Others believe he named it for the area's lush flowers.

Fresno (California): "ash tree." The central Californian city and county are named for their abundant ash trees. La Brea (California): "tar." The tar pits in this famous part of Los Angeles have yielded amazing fossils for more than 100 years.

Las Cruces (New Mexico): "crosses." The city is named for the burial ground of some 40 travelers who were killed by Apaches in 1830.

RELATED LINKS
Where Spanish is SpokenSpanish LanguageOrigin of State Names

Las Vegas (Nevada): "meadows." Before casinos and neon lights defined Las Vegas, the area was noteworthy as a desert oasis with artesian springs.

Los Angeles (California): "angels." In 1781 Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula). It became known as La Ciudad de los Angeles (City of Angels), and then just as Los Angeles.

Los Gatos (California): "cats." At the time this western California city was founded, many wildcats roamed the area.
Montana: from "montaña," mountain. Representative James M. Ashley of Ohio suggested using the Spanish word in honor of the territory's mountainous western part.

Nevada: "snow-covered." The mountains in this western state are often capped with snow.

San Antonio (Texas): "Saint Anthony" (of Padua). On the feast day of St. Anthony in 1691, Spanish explorers found and named the eponymous river. Later the name was given to the city, which was founded in 1718.


San Francisco (California): "Saint Francis" (of Assisi). The city by the bay was once a Mexican village named Yerba Buena (Good Grass). In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured and renamed the settlement for its San Francisco de Asís mission (better known as Mission Dolores), which was founded in 1776.

Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Colorado and New Mexico): "blood of Christ." This mountain range was named for the red glow cast on it by the setting sun.

Santa Fe (New Mexico): "holy faith." Spanish settlers founded this oldest U.S. capital nearly 400 years ago, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís (The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis).

More Hispanic Heritage Month features!
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Info on Vegas I didnt know earlier

Las Vegas
A tourist economy and federal largesse made Las Vegas, Nevada, the only American metropolitan area founded in the twentieth century to reach one million in population. Yet its past and present are more complex and connected than its "sin city" image suggests.
Before the Neon
Native Americans lived in southern Nevada for thousands of years. Southern Paiutes were the only residents when Rafael Rivera, scouting for Mexican traders, became the first non-Native visitor in January 1830. In May 1844, John Frémont's mapmaking expedition named the area "Las Vegas," Spanish for "the Meadows," for its water and grass.
Aware of Frémont's description, the Mormon leader Brigham Young chose Las Vegas for a mission. Arriving on 14 June 1855, missionaries built a fort, part of which still stands. They left within three years. The miner Octavius Gass started buying land in 1865 and eventually owned nearly 1,000 acres, until old debts cost him his holdings. After the new owner, Archibald Stewart, died in a gunfight in 1884, his widow, Helen, ran the ranch until 1902, selling all but 160 acres to Senator William Clark, a Montana copper baron planning a Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake railroad. When the Union Pacific threatened to compete, they became partners.
After Clark auctioned land on 15 May 1905, Las Vegas became a railroad town, serving passengers and servicing trains. A railroad subsidiary, the Las Vegas Land and Water Company, controlled municipal improvements while limiting growth. Named Clark County seat in 1909 and incorporated as a city in 1911, Las Vegas catered to sin with the red-light district known as Block 16, which offered drinking, gambling, and prostitution despite laws to the contrary.
The Prewar and Postwar Boom
Hoover Dam construction, begun in March 1931, changed Las Vegas forever. Depression victims poured in, seeking jobs. The federal government built Boulder City to house workers, whose trips downtown boosted the economy—as did the dam's visitors, prompting Las Vegas to market itself as a tourist venue with the annual Helldorado, with parade and rodeo. The New Deal promoted growth: Nevada led the nation in per capita federal spending, and Las Vegas received such projects as a school and parks.
Democratic control of the presidency and Congress aided Las Vegas. Nevada Senator Pat McCarran, elected in 1932, used his seniority and power to obtain federal projects, thereby infusing payroll and attracting new residents. An Army Air Corps gunnery school opened in 1941 and became Nellis Air Force Base, still a key source of jobs and spending. To the southeast, the Basic Magnesium plant refined manganese for the war; the surrounding town, Henderson, housed southern Nevada's only heavy industry as the plant moved into chemical production and research. Northwest of town, the Nevada Test Site opened in 1951 and began conducting aboveground (later underground) atomic tests; while testing was discontinued, the site still supported research at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Las Vegas increasingly relied on gambling, which the state legalized in 1931. The downtown area benefited, especially in the late 1930s, and many illegal gamblers driven out of California relocated to Las Vegas. During World War II, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, representing gangster Meyer Lansky, invested in downtown casinos and took over construction of the Flamingo on the nascent "strip." The El Rancho Vegas became the Las Vegas Strip's first resort in 1941, followed in 1942 by the Hotel Last Frontier—both were ranch-style. The Flamingo, Las Vegas's first luxury resort, opened late in 1946, but proved unprofitable. Its turnaround came too late for Siegel, who was killed in July 1947.
The Flamingo's profits inspired more organized crime investment, while for their part gamblers relished practicing their trade legally. A spate of hotel-casinos opened in the 1950s and 1960s, often with loans from the Teamsters and the Bank of Las Vegas, the first bank to loan to casinos; most lenders disdained gambling and feared that mobsters would refuse to repay loans. A disproportionate number of casino owners were Jewish, expanding an already thriving Jewish community.
Las Vegas's image suffered not only for its criminal connections but also for its reputation as the "Mississippi of the West." Banned from patronizing resorts where they performed, black entertainers stayed in segregated West Las Vegas until the late 1950s. While a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter formed in the late 1920s, it was not until the 1950s and 1960s—by which time the black population had grown larger and had gained an organized, educated leadership—that discrimination was overcome. Thus, Las Vegas reflected the national civil rights movement, complete with unrest and lawsuits.
The Age of Legitimacy?
The last third of the century brought corporatization to Las Vegas and casinos to new jurisdictions. State laws passed in 1967 and 1969 enabled publicly traded companies to buy casinos; previously, every stockholder would have been licensed. Thus, Kirk Kerkorian built the International, bought the Flamingo, and sold both to Hilton; he subsequently built the MGM Grand. Steve Wynn parlayed a Bank of Las Vegas loan and a small piece of Strip property into ownership of the Golden Nugget. Aided by junk bond trader Michael Milken, Wynn built the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Bellagio, and owned other properties outside Las Vegas, before Kerkorian took over his Mirage Resorts in 2000. Local operators such as the Boyd Group, Station Casinos, and Harrah's became publicly traded, invested elsewhere, or teamed with Indian reservations operating casinos.
Las Vegas also reinvented itself. "Theming" went back to the 1930s, when operators patterned casinos on the Old West; Caesars Palace's Roman statuary restored the idea in the 1960s. Megaresort builders in the 1990s imploded old resorts, often replaced by replicas—the Luxor (Egypt), Excalibur (medieval castles), Paris, and New York, New York—and enormous properties that were almost cities unto themselves, such as the 5,000-plus-room MGM Grand and the Venetian. By 2001, Las Vegas boasted more than 120,000 hotel rooms, filled annually by millions of tourists.
The city fueled and benefited from this growth. Each census revealed Las Vegas as one of the fastest-growing American cities, if not the fastest, with the population doubling or nearly doubling every decade. The once physically small city expanded as the Howard Hughes Corporation developed Summerlin to the northwest. Green Valley helped Henderson evolve from an industrial city into a suburb. Three Sun City communities attracted "snowbirds" escaping cold winters or retirees seeking an active lifestyle and moderate cost of living. Latinos grew in influence and topped 20 percent of the population in the 2000 census. That same census showed Las Vegas to be home to 1,375,765 of Nevada's 1,998,257 residents, and more ethnically diverse than the rest of the state.
Understandably, problems accompanied growth. Growing suburban communities prompted white flight from the inner city. Schools were overcrowded. Newcomers understandably lacked a sense of community and history, prompting apathy about local affairs and difficulties in developing a cultural community—no performing arts center and classical music companies beset by financial troubles. Downtown declined and redevelopment proved difficult, while the county government controlled prime land, including the Strip. Gaming and other businesses sometimes clashed over economic diversification, yet shared ample political power. Las Vegas enjoyed a large majority in the state legislature, but its delegation voted more by party than region.
While obtaining water from Arizona's allotment from the Colorado River appeared to ease concern over Las Vegas's ability to maintain an adequate water supply, debates still raged over air quality, education, traffic, the tax structure, and concentrated political power. Neither Las Vegas's success, nor its troubles, seemed likely to abate as the twenty-first century began.
Bibliography
Denton, Sally, and Roger Morris. The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947–2000. New York: Knopf, 2001.

Our first wedding Anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had sent the following as a mail to many ppl. Reproducing it here again.


Madhu and I are back to Phoenix, after a fun filled week long trip to Las Vegas, celebrating our first wedding Anniversary. :) :) We left on Nov. 30th afternoon, driving for 5 hrs, braving the rains that chose the very day to pour down on the parched Arizona earth. !!!Reached hotel by 8:30 p.m., ate dinner, n just slipped into slumber.

Saturday morning was spent in exploring our hotel itself, casinos et al, Madhu had booked a show ticket for both of us for the evening, being held in our hotel, the Stratosphere. Its called American Superstars, and look a-likes of famous stars like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Along with Tim McGraw, a country music star here in US, perform on stage.After this we were whisked up 107 floors in a matter of 36 seconds, to the Top of the World restaurant, located in our hotel itself,and had a candle light dinner there.As usual, vegetarian choices were limited, but what ever I ate, was quite filling, so much that I had to skip my fav part of any meal...the dessert!!!!And they were simply delicious looking chocolate cakes, an ice cream designed as the stratosphere tower..and much more. .Aaaah. By the time we got back, it was 11:30p.m., and tht was the end of a lovely anniversary day for us.


Sunday, was spent in exploring Hoover Dam....named after Herbert Hoover, the Secretary of State in the early decades of the 20th century, who proposed the construction of this dam, to tame the mighty Colorado river. .

Lil Bit of intersting Info....This dam was earlier named Boulder Dam, for Boulder city, Nevada, the place where it is actually built. The artificial lake created by this dam is called Lake Mead, and they have a boat cruise on Lake Mead too. .Interestingly, the Hoover dam cuts across the border lines of Arizona and Nevada( where Las Vegas is located)If one walks across the dam, they have two different clocks showing...u guessed it...two different timings...Nevada is one hour behind Arizona time. .And unlike India, they actually opened the dam to visitors and tourists. This was a very interesting tour,and we spent almost half a day there.

On our way back, we decided to see Red Rock Casino, which had been highly praised by another dinner guest seated next to us on Saturday evening. It was a long drive, but definitely worth it. The casino and hotel is so beautifully decorated...we were speechless.


Monday we spent in exploring the usual tourist attractions along the famous Las Vegas Strip...a 5 mile stretch where all the big hotels are located,along with not so well known ones. The biggies include, the Bellagio, The Venetian, the Luxor, Caesars Palace( where Celine Dion has been doing a show for 3 yrs continuously) The Paris, the New York, MGM Grand....

On this one stretch of land, u can have a world tour itself. The Venetian with its hotel built and decorated as Venice, Caesars Palace, with its Roman looks,n decor, the Paris, has an Eiffel tower right outside, the New York similarly, has a Statue of Liberty, the Luxor has the Pharaoh. Since this took up the whole day, we dragged our weary feet upto our room,and the next day, Tuesday,we left Las Vegas with happy memories of a wonderful vacation.

FOR ALL THOSE WHO PATIENTLY READ THROUGH THIS LONG MAIL....MANY THANKS.


FRISKY ON THE OTHER HAND, didn't do so well. He was feeling lonely,n missing us probably. The pet sitter told us he had neither eaten well, nor drank water. And he hadn't done his loo business for four days...That's why, on seeing us, he was so happy we were back, that he pooped every 4 feet on his way to the park.!!!! He had been saving it all up for us.!!!!Our "Welcome Back" present from Frisky.:)


FOR MORE INFO, PLS VISIT:

www.stratospherehotel.com

www.vegas.com/hooverdam