From the monthly archives:

September 2009


The Photos That Got Me Banned From Excalibur Las Vegas (You Know, ‘Homeland Security’!)

by John P.

ExcaliburAs I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, this week is the Photoshop World convention in Las Vegas and I’m here for a week of fun and learning! But after only a few hours in town, I’ve already got a whopper of a story to tell! Screw the whole “what happens in Vegas…” crap.

So Photoshop World is at the Mandalay Bay and thousands of photographers will be converging there from all over the world. In fact they’re sold out. So I had to stay next door at Luxor.

Well, I checked in and dropped off my stuff in my room, then grabbed my camera to go walk and take some photos on the strip. Of course, the Excalibur is the first hotel on the way down the strip, and I’ve taken photos of it literally every time I’ve been in Las Vegas. But this time I took some photos OUTSIDE the hotel, and as I was going to walk through the hotel to get something to eat, a security guard stopped me before I could enter.

He wanted to know my name, where I was staying, and my room number! He told me it was because I was taking photos of the outside of the building! And claimed it was for “homeland security”.
[Click here to read more…]


The Luxor’s “High Speed Internet” is a JOKE!

September 29, 2009

Unbelievable as it may seem, the Luxor in Las Vegas offers high-speed internet access – but there’s a catch! In order to get it, you need to stretch a wire all the way across the room, and it won’t even reach the desk for you to actually work at it. The cost for this little [...]

John P. Updates for All!

September 28, 2009

Howdy gang! I’ve been a little slow in updating the blog lately. Sorry for my lack of entertaining everyone as usual. Hope to get back to the fun stuff soon. However, in the meantime here are some updates: Alex Terehoff, a Russian blogger, interviewed me recently, and posted the whole thing in both English and [...]

My Entry for Kyle Cease’s Stand Up Comedy Bootcamp

September 25, 2009
Thumbnail image for My Entry for Kyle Cease’s Stand Up Comedy Bootcamp

So, one of my favorite comedians, Kyle Cease, is having a course where they teach standup comedy to new and aspiring… um, comedians. Make no mistake about it, I NEVER want to be a comedian. Ever. But I would like to go hang with Kyle and the rest of the folks and just experience what [...]

SOLVED: 10 Hot Dogs to a Package vs. 8 Hot Dog Buns to a Package!

September 24, 2009
Thumbnail image for SOLVED: 10 Hot Dogs to a Package vs. 8 Hot Dog Buns to a Package!

MUCH thanks to Terry G for forwarding this video on to me. Before I saw this, my stomach was all tied up in knots and I was just an anxious mess. I mean the fact that there are always too many hot dogs, and not enough buns, has been clearly unacceptable! Come on people! Why [...]

Chad Vader Hits on Cali Lewis in the Blog World Commercial

September 22, 2009

This is the greatest commercial that anyone has ever done for an event that I’ve seen. You’ve got Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogen, and Cali Lewis… oh, and Chad Vader. :-) Incidentally, I’ll be attending Blog World in Las Vegas as well, and I’ll be lecturing at the WordCamp Las Vegas event that will be happening [...]

The New Twitter Game – FabriTweet!

September 17, 2009

Ok everyone, I’m making up a new Twitter / Facebook game. You can use it in either place (or as I plan to do since I use TweetDeck, both). This little game is called FabriTweet. And here is how it goes: You fabricate the most outrageous story that you possibly can fit into 140 characters [...]

Google Wave – It’s New! You’re Gonna Want it! But What Is It?

September 17, 2009
Thumbnail image for Google Wave – It’s New! You’re Gonna Want it! But What Is It?

First of all, before you even watch the video you should go to the Google Wave home page and request access. You’re going to have to wait in line, but like all other Google stuff, you know you’re gonna want it. According to Google: What is a wave? A wave is equal parts conversation and [...]

Introducing the World’s First 640GB Notebook (It’s a MacBook Pro)!

September 14, 2009
Thumbnail image for Introducing the World’s First 640GB Notebook (It’s a MacBook Pro)!

I’ve been doing a lot of photography with my Canon 5D Mark II 21MP camera, and each image taken in RAW format is about 25MB! So, needless to say, I’ve been using up a whole lot of hard drive space. Even though I upgraded my MacBook Pro to a 500GB drive a month ago, it’s [...]