Day 10 (bis) Give Me Google

Day 10 (bis) Friday, Oct. 24, 2008

We are taking it easy today for a number of reasons.

We have to get up early tomorrow to do all the tasks listed on the check out list. That “Protocol” French woman (perhaps redundant) is our check out person. They are holding us hostage with a 250 Euro “deposit.”

The drive back to Paris is over nine hours and driving our usual 12 today would be stupid.

For those not accustomed to exchanges through RCI, most don’t have a deposit of any kind, nor do they have a detailed list of “cleaning chores”. This one was VERY lengthy. Do dishes and put them back where you found them. Un-make all beds and put dirty linens in stack at specific location. Vacuum all rooms. Clean off and dust all counters. Clean the stove, microwave or oven, toaster, coffee pot or any other kitchen gadget you might have used. Well, why didn’t they just say to get it ready for the next clients? But there is that 250 Euros, so when in Rome….

We have finally decided to eat right here in Jausiers. We tried two restaurants that had quite a nice “Menu” but at one of them the woman came to the door (it looked like a house not a restaurant) and said they were “full”. The next restaurant we found said that 12:45 was already too late to start “le déjeuner”! So, you either make it in time or starve. But we kept searching. We ended up in a little café/Snack Bar. They were actually serving and it was already OMG 12:52. Like wow.



Ted ordered le “plat du jour” which consisted of “moules et Frites” (Clams and French Fries, ((Patriot Fries, or Belgian Fries whatever). His sounded very good, but a whole meal of clams made me clammy. But the price was less than many plat du jour at 9,50 Euros but the coca was 2,30. I had entrecote (steak) with sauce beurre de Maître d’hôte (butter, garlic mmmm) and salade verte (green salade) 13,50 Euros. We still didn’t know about the Service business so we left a generous “tip”.

Wish I had access to Google or my cell phone to call Ange.

You have heard me say this a few times about Google or my cell phone. If I really told you in each day how many times I thought it or said it out loud, you would understand why I will never leave home again without a phone and access to the internet.

A quick story about Ange and the use of cell phones that has both good parts and bad parts to it.

Ange, a very intelligent (22 at the time) woman, moved bag and baggage from Minnesota/Wisconsin to San Diego. That is 1900 mile trek. She loaded up the Mazda 626 (whose name is Charlie) so full that you could not see out of the back window and the trunk barely closed. Everything she owned (that she could get in that car) was stuffed in there.



Unlike the car at the left, Charlie was young then, and he worked like a new car. No problems there. It was August and I was still on summer break from school,

so Ange would call me every few cities to talk as she was bored and I wasn’t doin’ much anyway.

When she got to Las Vegas (which was her first time there), she called again.

“Mom, I am approaching Las Vegas. I want to see the sights! You can be the “guia”.”

“Sounds like a stitch to me.”





So I went to Google maps and watched where she said she was (exactly) and then gave her a guided tour of the strip. It was a running dialogue with me “the guide on a tour bus” (guessing from time and reaction how fast she was driving and what was coming up.)
Here is an example of the patter…

“Here coming up on your left is The Mandalay Bay. It is considered by many as the best resort in Las Vegas. The best restaurants, easily the finest pool, a spacious casino and great service can all be found at the Mandalay Bay. Stay at THE hotel at Mandalay Bay and you will realize what Heaven looks and feels like.

A huge roller coaster, a freakish Cirque du Soleil show and a great location on one of the busiest corners in Las Vegas is coming up. Did you get there yet?

Caesars Palace is old school Las Vegas with all the fixings of the modern era. Whatever you need - you can get at Caesars Palace.

Paris Las Vegas Oh la la…. It’s pretty… but it is fake. Don’t stop, Ange, unlike your 12 times to France, this Paris has no REAL cheese, so forget it.

If you need to shop there is no better place to have a complete shopping experience like the Forum shops. Eat at Spago, Boa, Sushi Roku or the Cheesecake Factory. Buy toys at Fao, pants at Banana Republic or underwear at Victoria secret.


You can also always just people watch and gawk at all the people who spend all their winnings at the Forum Shops.

The Mirage was the first mega-resort and while others have built places that are bigger and more elaborate the Mirage still retains a touch of class and elegance.

It’s a good thing you don’t have Zach with you. The Gameworks arcade located near the corner of Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd is right there. There it is, see it? Right next to the MGM Grand, across the street from New York/New York and the Monte Carlo. Home to the world's tallest indoor climbing wall as well as countless arcade games. You’d never get out of there if your man were along.

We travelled through Las Vegas that way and she was on her way out of the city when I hung up. The last thing I remembered her saying is that she had better get gas before leaving town as she was nearly on empty.

The next phone call I got was about two hours later and it didn’t even sound like Ange on the phone. “Hell oo, mom?”

“What’s the matter, Jelly?” She sounded spooked or trembly or weird.

“Well, ya know, I was gonna’ get the gas before I left Las Vegas?”

“Yah.”

“Well, I was looking for a good deal (like we trained her to) and I ran out of gas stations. I thought, well maybe just out of town there would be some more, and a little cheaper, ya know.”

“Yah.”

“Well, there weren’t any. And then my empty gas tank light went on.”

“Yah.”

“Did you know it is all down hill to Barstow, California from Las Vegas, Nevada?”

“No…”

“Well, it was a good thing because I coasted to Barstow. I didn’t get a good deal on gas there mom. It was $2.50 a gallon (at that time that was about double that charged at any other gas station.) It cost me 30 bucks to fill the tank.

But I ain’t complainin’ cuz’ I am not stuck between Las Vegas and Barstow with a car splitting at the seams with my “goods”, and obsessing about the movie – Oh I can’t remember the name – where the guy is in a quandary about leaving his car but ends up with a truck driver who makes him take out his life savings or die.”



“Yeah, I remember that movie and there were these other bad guys….

“Mom, I am already obsessing over this, forget the ------ movie. Just wanted you to know I am alright and on my way again.”

As you can see, we are a movie family, so we do a lot of quotes and story relating to the myriad movies we have enjoyed or “enjoyed” (using the term loosely) together.

We most often share our thoughts on the Crux of the movie.







It is my theory that even in the worst movie you have ever seen, there is a message - and the message can have a personal significance, or an Everyman message that can be useful.

Such as in "Signs", the message there? - maybe nothing is a coincidence....








The movie in the Las Vegas/no gas case – and I don’t remember its name either – was a lot like “The Net” with Sandra Bullock.

In either movie, no matter what the good guy/gal does, it’s a mistake - and it only drives the protagonist further down the rabbit hole, or from the frying pan into the fire.





In this case, Ange was blessed with DeM (Deus ex Machina) where God came down and made a hill for her to float down.

Ange didn’t have to make the no win decision of staying with her car on a dessert road ‘til morning OR leaving her car out for the vultures, or taking a ride from a demon.

But then there was the hill...
maybe nothing is a coincidence...



Ange didn’t use her technology the way I would have. I would have called back (my mother) and asked her to Google the nearest gas station or potentially call a service truck to get me some gas.

But Ange is and always has been an independent being. She was going to solve this problem herself. And she did. (Just like Sandra Bullock, errr Angela Bennett/Ruth Marx in The Net. )

However, I, personally, wouldn’t consider it “saying uncle” to use whatever resources I had to make any experience less harrowing.
Okay, I am a chicken shit, I admit it.

I won't leave home again without a GPS, a cell phone, and the Internet.

Give me Google, Don’t give me Death.

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