Asia woke up wanting to go to this resort we found on a huge lake that is a good 2 hours away, which looks a lot like a dream because it is so unreal, isolated, and it only has a small community of just a few hundred folks nearby... And despite telling her I didn't feel like a 2 hour drive and didn't know what the road conditions were up in the mountains to go that direction... Seeing that look in her eye, being let down by someone who never lets her down (I know, I'm a sucker), I hopped on the phone and called to see how the weather was and if there were any vacanies. The person manning the phones said, "The weather is perfect," and, "we'd love to have you for our Thanksgiving feast!" Oh boy, thinking about how much my wife wanted to return there before the bad weather hit, I booked a room for the night and we will spend our holiday here... So Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope yours was as fun as ours...
November 14, 2005
We got into Vegas Thursday afternoon and while Asia gambled, I met with my message board members "Vishus" and his girlfriend April for a drink and dinner. After that, I pretty much chilled in the room with Catalina while the wife gambled. We did have a nice walk down the strip but we couldn't really enjoy things due to how bad the air has gotten. I have never, ever, smelled smog as thick as it has become in Vegas. We were popping sinus medication every other hour and trying to stay indoors as much as possible. But it was good to see the town I sent nearly a decade living in...
Friday morning, I met Vishus, April, another board member Jeffrey (aka FireFish) & his wife Elida at the Aladdin to shoot the breeze over the Spice Market Buffet breakfast. April had a donut at breakfast, gotta love it.... Around noon, the group went to the Calypso diner at the Tropicana Casino where Aileen007 (board member from Northern Cali) and VaughanMan (Q, my buddy from L.A. - a yoga instructor) joined us for coffee, a snack, and a cab ride to a fitness club.
While we were at the gym, my wife Asia hung out with Renee, another board member who has also wrote articles for my magazine once or twice. Catty took to her like cookie batter, it was a wonderful thing to see... And while the club was great, we trained for about an hour trying to cover as many bases as possible including seeing me leg press nearly 1000 pounds for 20 reps without a warmup, the "on staff" trainers there are still the same....
What a bunch of sissies. We come to the gym, pay a day's fee for passes, then are told we can't take pictures without a release form (which isn't true, and I explained this to the very cool manager who let us go ahead anyhow) and all we want to do is work out. But no... The insecure trainers who see a new face on the floor with 6 people following him and taking training advice makes them nervous.
These child-like girlie-men actually ran crying to the manager that it isn't fair I am training so many people at once and getting attention. Apparently their clients wanted to know who I was and how I got to be good enough to have 6 people pay for one training session... Well guess again dorks, it was FREE.... Laughs... I am really let down to see the plaza this club is located has fallen apart but I am thrilled to death my favorite gym still stands, despite sniveling wankers working there.
Once the drama ended and we got a cab to take us back, we headed to the MGM Casino for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's. This is when board member and syndicated radio show host Wyatt Cox and our other friend SeaJayEss showed up with her son (adopted by flying to Russia to get him, what a story...). And what a great dinner... Our server, David Harley, well, just ask for him to run your table if the chance arrives, what a guy... He did say he had never sold so much tequila in one night before... Hey, it is Vegas, enjoy yourself! One of three sheets officially thrown to the wind!
After dinner, which was diced chicken and steamed veggies for me, we began doing several rounds of shots before getting a limo and heading to see Crazy Girls courtesy of Wyatt's connections at the Riviera Casino, which was cool, but I couldn't sit still. I had my drinking shirt on, laughs... While the show went on, VaughanMan and I went downstairs to the bar and had a few more drinks, took a few photos with random strangers and threw the second of our three sheets to the wind.
Whew, this is getting wordy... Once deciding it was time to head back to my wife and daughter, calling it a night, we got a cab, dropped VaughanMan off at a nightclub, and I stumbled across the MGM to my room. This trip was a load of fun but getting to the hotel at 1 a.m. sloshed unfortunately kept me passed out until 2 p.m. the next day so I missed the final schedule breakfast gathering with the group. At some point I think Asia and I, or just myself, failed to mention we were leaving after breakfast as well.
That is ok, it all worked out, besides, I know a couple other people who had a few too many along with me. Laughs, I am not sure if they made it to breakfast either... Either way, the day we spent in Vegas was fun, I do not regret a moment of it and I look forward to recovering at some point between now and Monday and doing it all again with less boozing somewhere else!
I want to point out that we had a great group in Vegas and I am honored that these stunning people came to meet me. I discovered things about each of them that I hadn't planned on but will pursue as soon as we all settle back into regular life.... One, that Wyatt and I need to do a radio show together. Aileen needs to be one of the first people we get to talk about the program on Nation wide radio; her story is great. Jeffrey should be in charge of entertainment at the resort we are building in Tennessee and his wife should be in charge of security... She's a good woman...
Renee should be our Nanny (Catty loves that lady), Vishus and I need to get to work on building a serious network of websites, VaughanMan and I will work together training celebrity clients in L.A. (or he will so I don't have to), and, SeaJayEss (C.J.S. get it?) will be our idea consultant... Bottom line, if you were there, thanks for coming! If you were not, you should have been and if you want to attend the next gathering, join the message board and place your vote for where to hold it as you check out the photos we have posted from the trip! Go to our message board
November 4, 2005
Catty has discovered crawling around Daddy's weight set makes Mommy nervous this week. This week also marks the anniversary of Don Lemmon's KNOW HOW. Having been online for 8 full years now, all I can say is, WOW. I post something along those lines each passing November but holy cow, has it really been that long? Eight years into it and no end in sight, thank you one and all for making that happen. I started off with $20 in my pocket, a print out of my 40 page book (which is now 300 pages and has 3 other companion books of the same size), a dream and a trip to the local printer.
Each passing week from that point forward called for more and more copies to be made and I eventually got from there to here with the time flying by so fast... My head spins! Seems like yesterday, doesn't it? Don Lemmon's KNOW HOW books made their online debut in November of 1997. What also feels like yesterday was planning to have a number of my clients fly to Las Vegas for a little but of a get together.
The idea or plan for the gathering is to personally train these people so they can go home, apply the new knowledge and present their results via this website, or maybe their own. We also want to see what it is that people find confusing while grocery shopping, eating out and what needs better explained so that success is grasped by all who come to me for advice. Face to face interaction with my readers seems like the best way to tackle these issues.
I should also probably take a moment to confirm the fact we are definitely headed back to Los Angeles again for part of the year to work in the entertainment industry. No, my wife is not going back to the biz, her husband and daughter are instead. Asia and I have voted to toss out the birth control for good this time and go for baby #2 while following up on some offers I have had and Catalina is getting interest in.
In case you haven't kept up with my wife, she was offered a promising opportunity for a comeback sometime ago between today and the last time we mentioned having a second child. She made up her mind. Retired is what she is and what she wants to remain (which is fine by me) so off we go to talk to the stork one more time. Hey, you know what? It is actually Asia 's 2 year anniversary of being retired this week too! November is a month of thanks for so many reasons. More coming soon, folks. Have a good week.
November 1, 2005
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