I SEE WATER, I SEE FRANCE, I SEE TONI BRAXTON'S UNDERPANTS

Last Thursday morning, fidgetcub and I returned from a short vacation of four glamorous days and nights in Las Vegas.

It was a very fun yet slightly exhausting trip, graciously hosted by a very fun yet slightly exhausting host. We were invited to Sin City by our friends Arnie and Steve (aka npdxbear), as Arnie had booked a ginormous two-room suite at the Bellagio for a week of semi-decadent birthday revelry. A free room at the Bellagio? Sign us up! Along for the debauchery were some other friends of theirs who were staying down the street at the Monte Carlo.

( Click for the whole sordid Sin-City story... )

NEW ZOO CRUISE

Last Saturday, a colleague of mine from Chicago was in Anaheim to accept an industry award, and decided to celebrate before the evening's ceremony by hosting lunch aboard a lovely yacht in Newport Beach.

It was one of those picture-postcard-perfect SoCal days (a bunch of pix here) -- not a cloud in the sky, 75 degrees and sunny, and oh... don't forget to cue the dolphins and whales! As if that wasn't surreal enough, I met the two fine folks you see in the picture off to the right onboard the cruise, who introduced themselves as Doug & Emily.

They looked particularly familiar, but I couldn't quite place them. I asked Doug if we'd met before, and he chuckled and said I'd probably seen them on TV as a kid. Imagine my surprise when I find out that Doug & Emily (better known as Emmy Jo) were the creators and stars of New Zoo Review! I was completely floored. You remember the theme song, right?