Absolutely Anything Else

While we were at it, hubby took my BIL and MIL to Las Vegas. I needed a few days alone , 6 weeks was a bit much for me to have house quests who were with me just about 24/7.
Sadly they returned the same evening as the day they set off. My MIL lost her mind in Vegas.
She was crying her eyes out seeing my husband gambling and refused to take any money to play with herself.
She hated Las Vegas so they drove home so as to not upset her any longer.Didn't even stay at their hotel, now talk about wasting money!
Back in the old days women retired in Hungary at age 55, guess my husband was a real "mama's boy, he wanted him mom to be as comfortable as possible so we brought my BIL with her so she wouldn't be alone on the plane. Wish my son showed me have that respect, OH, well, I guess I created a little monster.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

On a totally different topic,
Is there such a thing as ATM bank machine etiquette?
I get very uncomfortable when using the ATM machines when the bank is closed, you know when you just swipe your bank card and go into the front of the bank with the door closing behind you.
In the US we always either walk into the bank during banking hours and use their machine or sit in the car and do the drive through window.
No such option as a drive through here in Hungary and probably not in many places in Europe. takes allot of space to have several drive through lanes in a bank parking lot area.
....

There is a drive through ATM machine at the CB bank branch in Torokbalint - from the main highway, it's on the left as you head towards Torokbalint centre, somewhat before the Tesco Expressz.   It's a bit useless as you probably have to get out of the car to actually reach it.  I've tried it and I had to get out because it's just an ordinary ATM and the angles were totally wrong to see the screen. 

I don't think there's etiquette specifically for ATMs although there's general politeness to allow people to complete their transactions with some privacy.  I usually stand back and look in another direction so I cannot see what they are doing.  In other countries I've seen the same kind of situation with all the machines in the same room with a swipe on the door or even just press a button.  Obviously some level of caution is required to enter that space to see who is there. The crime rate is lower in Europe and the chances of being robbed at gunpoint are almost zero (but you knew that anyway).

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....
Back in the old days women retired in Hungary at age 55....

I met an guy from UAE yesterday and he told me he wanted a new job with the government there because he can retire at 44 (he's just shy of that) and so long as he's a civil servant at age 44, he'll retire on 100% of his government salary, regardless of how many years he's put in before!   Hard to believe really.  Unsurprisingly, post-40, everyone wants a government job!

Was a bit surprised yesterday at the city park in Budapest.
We drove over and noticed they no longer offer free parking in the park.
Drove into the lot and noticed it was almost empty, never seen it so empty before.
We parked on the st. and walked over to read the meters, no info on hourly rates posted on the meter. We asked a man who was going into his car about the cost to park in the park. You put in 1,050 for the day. Not sure if a day is 8 or 10 hours. If you leave before the day rate the machine will give back a portion of the money first put in.
Sort of sad to see that in the park, many families may find this a real issue, a surprise when they take the kids over to ride their bikes etc.
As long as we can find st. parking, it doesn't matter much to me but the idea of it sort of is upsetting.
We go there often for walks or to play table tennis.

Couldn't tell if it is free on the weekends or not... Pave paradise and put up a parking lot....

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Was a bit surprised yesterday at the city park in Budapest.
We drove over and noticed they no longer offer free parking in the park.

When it comes to the government milking the population in Hungary for revenue, I, for one, am no longer surprised by such things other than that they did not do it sooner. 

Its not only the city park that was metered. Everything until Örs Vezért tere, and some streets even beyond that, are metered. you know the area behind Ikea and Sugár? Metered.
http://www.napi.hu/magyar_gazdasag/oria … 35707.html

I believe the aim is to push out commuters. A P+R was built at Örs, for example.

Rawlee wrote:

I believe the aim is to push out commuters.

You may be correct. But the "normal" way to deal with commuters without inconveniencing short term users is to post a parking time limit, mark tires tread side, and ticket those that overstay the posted time limit.

Seems like if enough "ex-pats" move to Hungary we will change the world...Not sure if that's a good thing or not ...
Just saying there are many ways to solve parking issues etc. without taking it out on the poor.
Guess coming from the SW in the US we have more space then we know what to do with, there would be riots if they charged for parking in a normal park.
Maybe a National Park can get away with overcharging but a city park , no way.
Of course our voices do not count as we are not citizens...
I really don't care because it is a short 15 to 20 min away from home and i love walking, just the thought of some poor young father with 2 or 3 little kids taking them to the park to learn to ride their bikes and not being able to bring the bikes and kids with him because of parking fees, is a bit sad.
As ex-pats we can all afford a few bucks to park but my mind is always on the average working man. Once a week to the park at 1,050 a shot is a pair of children's shoes in a month of once a week bike riding on the weekends.
I know I do go off on the small stuff, coming from a large family I side with people trying their best to just get through it all.

A poor hungarian father doesnt have a car. If he has a car, why does it matter if he takes the child to the city park or to Népliget, or to the gazillion other parks? Weekend parking is free everywhere, so what is the point? Poor working fathers dont take the child out to learn how to ride a bike, because the child has homework, and he just worked 9 hours.

Sad, really sad,at least this poor dad didn't have to work a free day for his comrades in Vietnam like his grandparents did.Those 10 hour work days 6 days a week, no wonder we hardly see many older men around town, they are all in their final resting place from over work.
I am so working class down to my core, proud of it too. Although I hardly ever really held down a job in my life, my spirit is with the masses.

In a similar vein, I was charged 115 Ft as a fee when I used my mobile phone to pay for 20mins street parking worth 55 Ft. 

A total ripoff!!

In the future we may have to pay to be allowed to leave our homes, sidewalk tax...
Like the Beatles wrote in "Taxman" ...Tax your feet.
I sometimes do seem like a old Fa**...Once upon a time , when people were free...
On the bright side, I am trying to get my lazy hubby over to city hall to apply for his FREE Hungarian passport. Over age 65 Hungarians can get a passport for no charge.
Guess they know not a ton of "older people" can or are willing to travel, probably they don't get many takers.
His US passport needs to be renewed , that is not free.

Rawlee wrote:

A poor hungarian father doesnt have a car. If he has a car, why does it matter if he takes the child to the city park or to Népliget, or to the gazillion other parks? Weekend parking is free everywhere, so what is the point? Poor working fathers dont take the child out to learn how to ride a bike, because the child has homework, and he just worked 9 hours.

Missing the point. That the government is too incompetent to deal with issues here without inconvenience of the forgotten population that this may indeed affect. Such as: The poor stay at home mother/grandparents who may have an old broken down Trabant. They are now less likely to drive to the park to give their pre-school children some time outside, at the park, because of the parking fees. Or the retired who went to the park to socialize, who have a car, but would rather not spend the fee for parking. People are funny, and not always rational. They may spend 10,000 HUF a month on gasoline, but not want to pay 120 HUF for parking and their social life will suffer. A thousand and one real human issues and behaviors to consider here, which the government bureaucrats don't. Not one.

It's true we can't make judgements about what people earn or what they choose to spend their money on.  We can't even assume what they like to do with their families in their free time Everything is personalised. It's also not necessarily true that Hungarians are on a low income. I know Hungarian families who are a lot better off than I am and incomers who are really struggling.

klsallee wrote:

Missing the point. That the government is too incompetent to deal with issues here without inconvenience of the forgotten population that this may indeed affect.

Am I ? What about the locals, who cant find a parking spot, because the streets are full with visitors? What about the locals who cant open their windows because of the high traffic of visitors? The city administration's job (as the government has nothing to do with this, not everything is Orban's fault) is to satisfy the local needs. If the local need is to deny entry to visitors, so be it.

I live in the XVIth district, and work in the XVth. I go to my workplace by bike, or I walk, as 2 kms is not much. Half of my travel time is waiting at Rákospalotai határút, waiting for a break in the line of cars, so that I can cross. It is quite frustrating when the people, who dont even live in the city, deny me the oppotrunity to cross the local road!

So the solution that the whole city should be a metered parking area, and free parking would only be a possibility for the people living on that block, is very attractive to me. Use public transport, or pay the "inconvinience fee" to the locals. The usage of cars inside city limits should be discouraged at all costs. Cars pollute a lot, both in the form of air and noise pollution.

Well the city welcomes the tourist industry and it brings great wealth to Budapest. However future planners could create more car free areas.

Rawlee wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Missing the point. That the government is too incompetent to deal with issues here without inconvenience of the forgotten population that this may indeed affect.

Am I ? What about the locals, who cant find a parking spot, because the streets are full with visitors? What about the locals who cant open their windows because of the high traffic of visitors?

Show me the data and actual proof that "visitors" are filling up parking space and causing the traffic problems as you claim.

From  the very little I really know, I noticed most cars in the city parking lot had HU plates on them. In the summertime there were several plates from other countries, those mostly being those RV style mobile homes on wheels which take at least 2 spaces to park. Noticed at least a dozen at a time sitting in the lot.
Think overall it was either HU plates or HU people who worked near the park in those office buildings. The lot was usually 3/4th packed during the weekdays with cars and the park wasn't all that super busy, guessing  allot of those office workers are now using the side sts. to park.
Not sure what to say, today while looking out my window while on my exercise machine I saw a guy park in such a manner that I was actually  was praying he would get a ticket. He parked backwards and 1/3 up on the curb, there was plenty of space for him to park in a normal manner.I usually am the "idiot" who yells out their window to people to move their cars to avoid a ticket. Hardly get much thanks out of it though...
He was about 50 years old, very overweight and actually wobbling on the sidewalk, I wouldn't call it walking.
He was lucky, was there for about one hour without any tickets or boots on his car. The scary thing is someone so "out of it" is driving!!!
Funny thing was since they now have meters for the park the lot was just about empty, no idea where these office workers are parking now days.Perhaps their jobs give them a parking sticker for the st., No idea really.
I tend to notice the "small things" guess being in the "hospitality business' makes me see the little details. Believe me, I wish I never saw or noticed half the stuff I do!

klsallee wrote:

Show me the data and actual proof that "visitors" are filling up parking space and causing the traffic problems as you claim.

Here's one:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Funny thing was since they now have meters for the park the lot was just about empty, no idea where these office workers are parking now days.

Since the residents park free, who else would have left the parking lot empty?

By vsitors I mean anybody who does not live on the block.
http://budapest.hu/Documents/varosfejle … uktura.pdf
page 18:

A városhatárt budapesti tartózkodási céllal naponta átlépő forgalom mintegy 250.000 szgk/nap értékre becsülhető

Page 19: there were about 600000 cars in the city in 2009.
So about every 3rd car was from outside the city (29,41% of the traffic!!). So lets assume people who own cars in the city, use them. Then who the hell parks in the parking spots, if Marilyn saw the parking lot empty after a meter was placed? The residents sold the cars?

Rawlee wrote:

....So about every 3rd car was from outside the city (29,41% of the traffic!!). So lets assume people who own cars in the city, use them. Then who the hell parks in the parking spots, if Marilyn saw the parking lot empty after a meter was placed? The residents sold the cars?

That's a non-sequitur.   Just because the parking place was empty doesn't mean there are less cars nor does it mean they use them.  It could mean they parked elsewhere, possibly further away, at their own building (i.e. rules on min number parking spaces per apartment building etc) or even they are possibly in motion.  Back in 1995 or so, there were various statements around here that 1 in every 10 or 11 moving cars was actually looking for a parking space. 

I can personally attest to road hell in the mid-90s. Crossing the river was a total nightmare.  Since then we have the newer southern bridge (I'm not calling it Rákóczi Bridge) and the "Colbert" Bridge north of the city.  Oh yes, and while I'm on these subjects: a) when will they finally join up the ring motorway we've been promised forever? and; (b) Mrs Fluffy and I still call it Moscow Square - when are they going to name it back? 

What surprised me from the report quoted was that there was under a 10% increase in car ownership between 2000 and 2011 (graph on page 19).   That's not particularly a large growth.  Almost static I'd say.

What would be more interesting would be to see the time line include overlays where there was:

a) Reduction in free parking available;
b) Line showing the increase in electric vehicles;
c) Correlation with average disposable income.
d) New car sales figures (average cost per car)

"Someone's" homework if they feel like it.

Me, I've got some gardening to do, some painting and maybe bit of welding on some metal brackets.  And those TV super cool shows (Tin Star, Fear The Walking Dead etc) don't watch themselves.

I personally wouldn't mind if they opened up the old tram lines down more sts. and had less city traffic.
We have a car which we park on our st. and during bad weather it may not be moved for weeks, we just start it up once in awhile.
I love walking in the city.
We only use the car for big shopping once a week or so.
Summertime is usually when the car is out and about.
I usually walk to the park too, only a 20 min. walk from our apt. but sometimes the old bones just don't feel like walking and then playing a few rounds of table tennis and then walking home again.
If they restricted the use of cars in the city limits, the air quality would improve.
Could even open up larger bike lanes so the pedestrians wouldn't fear being run over by riders on the sidewalks.
I would even use the public transportation for big shopping if there was no cars allowed in the city, there would be more buses and trams running if there were limited amounts of cars.
I know you can get home delivery on groceries but I like to shop in person.
Could open up a few large parking lots outside the city limits and take riders into the city .
If they lowered the monthly fees on transportation, I think allot more people wouldn't use their cars in the city.
It seems like it is not too expensive but for some families shelling out for every family member monthly is allot of money, having the whole family in one car is cheaper overall.
The problem with limited  traffic is who can drive and when would be a issue.Every other day would not do it either.
In the "old days"  not many people could afford to own a car, I know my in-laws had several cars over the years which they had to pay for 5 years in advance, they came off a truck and whatever color car came down the ramp was yours, no choice even in the color of your car.
My husband paid for lessons to learn to drive because he wanted to experience driving , the feeling of going anywhere when he wanted to. He got a professional license to drive in HU. His father had a car before the war, a rare thing back then but that side of the family had a few bucks and even had a private driver on the house staff when he was growing up. Sort of common in the 20's and 30's for well to do people to have their own driver, my grandmother was dating the chauffeur while she was the cook in the US back in the early 1930's.

It was expensive back then too for lessons and he worked full time 10 hours 6 days a week at his factory job. Hard to figure when he found the time to learn to drive.
He drove trucks, delivery vans, private driver and lastly a taxi cab in Budapest in the late 1960's.
Hardly much traffic back then though, only high up officials , doctors and cabs and vans for delivery services were on the roads.
Hate to go backwards but there should be some limits on how many cars are on the st. Huge tourist buses are all over our area, they are too much at times, seem some going by mistake down narrow roads and blocking all traffic while they figure out how to get out of there.
We need to put our heads together and see what would work best for everyone.
Really we are guessing but from the years we have been going to the city park, it really seemed like mostly the office workers were parked there all day long, after working hours were done the lot was cleared. Some broken down cars had been left in the lot too.
Then again, who would benefit from large parking lots? Would they be privately owned or gov. owned?
Back in the 1970's my older sister was dating some guy who's father owned nearly all the parking lots in downtown Los Angeles, Ca. Super wealthy( sort of a big jerky nerd too from what she said, she dropped him after a few dates, money never impressed her much, he was so boring that there was no amount of money in the world to put up with his attitude)
Even now with the parking meters for the park, where will that money go? Would be nice if they fixed up the walkways in the park and redid the surfaces of the table tennis tables. Think there is never enough money for everything.

While reading posts about the insane shootings in Las Vegas, I noticed a post about Hungary.
A 53 year old man was found dead on the sidewalk yesterday and left there for hours before help arrived.
That sounds like perhaps he was mistaken as being drunk?
Really sad because if help came sooner, he may of been saved.
Once we noticed a scruffy man laying out cold on the sidewalk, I had my husband get a bit closer to see if he was alive or not, he was drunk obviously.
Some people can pass out in the strangest manner, they look like there is no life in them at all.
I wonder if this deceased man was homeless or not, that would tend to put some people off as far as getting close to him.
I once aided a strange older man who passed out outside a shop in Ca. Gave him CPR, not a  nice experience for me.Thankfully a nurse came over to take over before the bile poured out of his mouth, gross.
Things they don't tell you about in CPR classes with the Red Cross...
He died on us, seemed he had a heart attack while in the store and just walked out and went down.
My German friend said when she was young and living in Munich she went to the doc for some sort of shots.
She left the office and all of a sudden she had a bad reaction to the medication. She passed out, came to but her speech was slurred and she was walking all wobbly, her legs were weak.
Since she was in the subway station at the time people just walked past her, she said they probably thought she was on drugs, st. drugs not drugs from her doctor. A older women went over to see how she was, realized she was no junkie and took her to sit in a cafe with a drink until she felt better.
I almost passed out cold in the DMV in Ca. when I was a few months pregnant, somehow I was able to leave the long line and sit outside, felt better and just went home that day.I didn't tell anyone I was feeling badly.
Never know when you may need help from strangers, sad when everyone is so afraid of each other.
I almost didn't try to help that man out with CPR, it just felt odd and so many people were just looking at him doing nothing at all to help. He was scruffy, had not shaved and was a bit on the messy side, I really didn't want to help out let alone put my lips on his, the thought of him being someone's son, father, husband was my motivation to give aid.
Guess all the Brad Pitts in the world are not the ones who pass out and need aid. Never thought I'd be aided some dirty old man when I learn CPR... Guess all the young handsome people usually don't go down in the street.
To tell the honest truth, I am not so sure I would be willing to give mouth to mouth to a scruffy,smelly homeless person these days...My strength is not what it used to be either is my gag reflexes.
It was a horrible experience for a non professional medical lay person. I will never forget the far off look in that man's eyes...
I only learned CPR because my son's little from from Iran almost drowned in our apt. complex pool one Sat. I wasn't there at the time but it shocked me to find that out. We all used to sit by the pool all day long and have our kids swim, silly of us with so many mom's around and no one knew CPR.
Thankfully little Bobbie was OK, his mom was  in shock though.
Told my husband to never leave the house looking like a bum, just in case he should go down and everyone was afraid to approach him.

Rawlee wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Show me the data and actual proof that "visitors" are filling up parking space and causing the traffic problems as you claim.

Here's one:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Funny thing was since they now have meters for the park the lot was just about empty, no idea where these office workers are parking now days.

Sighs... 

That is anecdotal commentary. Not data.

fluffy2560 has already adequately addressed the rest of your comment.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

A 53 year old man was found dead on the sidewalk yesterday and left there for hours before help arrived.
That sounds like perhaps he was mistaken as being drunk?
Really sad because if help came sooner, he may of been saved.

Had the opposite happen here a few year ago. While out driving came across a man lying on the side of the road, his bicycle nearby. We stopped. Thought he had been hit by a car in a hit and run. I got out the alert triangle. And I directed traffic to slow down. My wife called the ambulance and police, who both arrived. Turned out he was just drunk, passed out, and fell off his bike.

What was really weird is when he came too, he just got on his bike and rode away. And the police did not stop him. Even being on a bike intoxicated is a crime. I was agog at that. He was not sober enough to be doing that. Chances were good that he would either pass out again, or worse, swerve into traffic. Yet the police did nothing.

So while its seems cruel, I do not wonder why people just walk by a body thinking they are just drunk. What is "sad" is the social conditioning caused by those "authorities" who are suppose to be there to prevent such and are in the power to act but don't.

klsallee wrote:

....So while its seems cruel, I do not wonder why people just walk by a body thinking they are just drunk. What is "sad" is the social conditioning caused by those "authorities" who are suppose to be there to prevent such and are in the power to act but don't.

I should say something about diabetes and blood glucose (BG) (erroneously called blood sugar). 

Low BG can produce similar symptoms to being drunk or unconscious.  Being "ordinarily" drunk is unlikely to be fatal but low BG will definitely be fatal if not addressed. It's a medical emergency.  It can be brought on just by over-estimating insulin doses or missing meals etc.  People with low BG lose their thinking abilities and get confused. The brain runs on glucose and eventually  the person will pass out.  Searching the person for a Glucagon dose/pen or other indicator of diabetes is necessary. 

Like wise high BG can bring on similar symptoms- again a medical emergency.    The person's breath will smell very sweet, like pears. This needs hospital treatment as soon as possible.

All so tragic, I noticed the death toll in Vegas has gone up since this morning, so sad.My son has friends that work near there.Many worked in the MB casino, I even know some people who work there.
This is going to hit Vegas hard I think, bad enough what happened to our income after 9/11.
Tokes/tips went down over 50% and stayed that way.
I am madder then hell to find out this shooter was some 64 year old man.,
OK, he had his time on earth, why the heck take so many young people out with him?
Just so horrible, yes, Vegas is a "strange" city but there are real people living and working there, all neighborhoods off the Vegas strip have real families living there, this is going to be a bad event for the locals in Vegas.
Yes, it is very odd to let a totally drunk person go off on their bicycle.
Reminds me allot of our ex- neighbor in Erd. he was a serious Palinka drinker who slipped while alone in his house next door to us, he stumbled to our door because his shoulder had a total dislocation.
My husband and I took him to the local medical clinic and called up his wife who worked in a grocery store in Erd. She out right refused to come with us, she couldn't handle being in public with a drunk husband.
My husband and I took him in, they ( got to him first because it was such a serious dislocation.  ( his arm was  hanging as  low as his  knee caps, yuck!)The very next day we saw him riding his bicycle drunker then a skunk with his arm in a sling.... Odd for sure.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I am madder then hell to find out this shooter was some 64 year old man.,
....

IS has claimed responsibility but that seems rather unlikely. 

Is this just a nutter or a terrorist or both?

No doubt we'll find out soon enough.

World has gone crazy on us! Sad really, makes me semi- glad to not have any grandchildren, isn't that a sad statement?!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I am madder then hell to find out this shooter was some 64 year old man.,
....

IS has claimed responsibility but that seems rather unlikely. 

Is this just a nutter or a terrorist or both?

No doubt we'll find out soon enough.

In the current rubber necking, 24/7, gotta know now, instantaneous on demand world, a lot of misinformation is spilled, spread and propagated.

So, yes, let us wait for the facts.

British Monarch Airlines collapsed in bankruptcy today. Following Air Berlin and Alitalia into insolvency this year.

klsallee wrote:

British Monarch Airlines collapsed in bankruptcy today. Following Air Berlin and Alitalia into insolvency this year.

Monarch had been in trouble for years - losses of £291M last year.  Nobbled by terrorists.

I have my suspicions about Ryanair as well as the low cost driver is unsustainable.  However, their profits were north of £1B last year so they must have considerable reserves.  They also own 25% of Alitalia which Ryanair was possibly going to take over - now canned.  Ryanair was looking to buy some assets of Air Berlin with a split deal involving Easyjet.  I think the market must be saturated by now.  Not the same for Norwegian which is now doing longer hauls.

I know when Malev went bust the planes were out of Budapest in a flash (same day) and taken directly to Shannon Airport in Ireland for onward disposal.   That's because - I suppose - all the planes were leased from Irish leasing companies.  Strangely enough the main leasing company  (I think worldwide) mid-1990s was GPA which was founded by Tony Ryan, who - maybe unsurprisingly - was the guy who set up Ryanair.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

World has gone crazy on us! Sad really, makes me semi- glad to not have any grandchildren, isn't that a sad statement?!

The guy was really tooled up - 10 rifles! I could mention gun control at this point but I won't.

I am wondering if he was simply a fall guy for some other thing, but what?

Toys R Us also went bankrupt...
I had never heard of Monarch before today.

Vicces1 wrote:

Toys R Us also went bankrupt...
I had never heard of Monarch before today.

Toys R Us also operates in Germany and Austria and of course, the UK.

Monarch was a charter airline for holidaymakers although they did some scheduled services.  Used to fly out of Luton Airport (one of London's airports, mainly serviced by the low-cost carriers).  I flew with them a couple of times and they were ok.

Tooled up with 10 rifles is "child's play" with many gun owners in the US. My 82 year old ex neighbor from Texas had at least 4 rifles just for her own protection, my mom had tons of hand guns and rifles in the house,"just in case", if old ladies are carrying you can bet these young ex military men are packing some heat.
They may be after people's guns but they will never get them all no matter what.
I personally don't like them much, I have fired many different types of handguns and machine guns, fun to shoot out in the desert sands but I doubt I could actually aim at a living thing.
Last trip to Vegas we worked for a friend at the gun show, Helped with registration of buyers, people were there from all over the world, not just Americans at that show, big gun dealers from the middle east and from Europe. Store owners or people who were buying large amounts of fire power, scary and very odd that they called me up to help out since I am not really into guns at all.
I felt very badly yesterday about those shootings, after all Vegas was a good town for us. Made more money dealing cards then I ever did doing hair in 4 different states.
Lots of very nice people living and working there even though the media makes it seem like everyone is a hooker or con man, not true.
What I really found interesting living there was so many people had the "strangest" jobs you can imagine, very interesting.
My yoga teachers were all ex professional dancers, Before our yoga classes we often just watched people practicing a acrobatic act, made our yoga moves like pretty sad...
So many ex dancers, ex circus performers etc. very interesting, one of my many yoga teachers was the "Elephant women" the pretty lady that gets picked up by the elephant and is sitting on it's back.
Loved these interesting people.

Toys R Us , spent a small fortune in there with my boy, must of cleaned up all the Lego sets sold there ourselves.
Loved Malev airlines, best service , too bad they went under. We always wished they had direct flights to the US because they were so good.

Side note on the the word guns, when we worked those 4 days at the Convention  center inside a major hotel in Vegas 2 years back,we were not allowed to use the word,"gun" it was "firearms" so PC!
They also issued us bright orange colored shirts to wear, hmmm, nice targets!!
Never got to go into the large rooms where the "big guns" and new items were on display, had to pay a huge amount to get into that show, forgot the amount but it was in the hundreds per day to attend the show. We just helped direct people to the proper rooms and halls to see the wares.
Some of the attendees were from gov. agencies and some were just large shop owners.
This was not open to the general public.
That's what I do love about Vegas, they have some of the oddest jobs ever and they pay too.
When I was still in card dealing school, I was recruited to work at one of the many gaming conventions. I worked at a blackjack table  with a display of very nice gaming cards for a Japanese co. They hired a translator and myself to show their playing cards to buyers. I was there incase anyone wanted to play a hand or two of cards to get the "feel" of them.
Had to first register at a talent agents office and get my photo taken, mostly that agent had beautiful young models running around getting photos taken for part-time show girl jobs at different casinos, working display etc. I was the only "old lady" aged 43 in the office. Guess everyone got a cut of the "action" from that card co. hiring me. I know I got cash $25. a hour for doing nearly nothing more then smiling and be friendly.This was 20 years ago and I was still learning to deal cards, didn't even really know what I was doing... I love Vegas!
Not sure why out of all the students at my school, the owners set me up with that good short job. If you act the part and always know you are on stage all the time in public it helps with these sorts of jobs.
Vegas is all about being a actor at all times. Once your in and excepted it is super easy to find a decent job there if you have the energy and a smile.

Transfer from credit card thread. Just to say....all those nationality mixes must make for some unusual family get- togethers.

I was musing the past week on the revelation my great-great-grandfather appears to have been born on the island of Ireland.  Way back then, made no difference to his British nationality (i.e. citizen of the Empire - no difference with Ireland and UK then -  we were all British then).  If he'd have been a grandparent, then I'd almost certainly have been Irish as well as British.  Quite a surprise.

It is a bit strange to find out the family roots and "dark secrets".
One of my cousins from the US took on learning Polish and did most of the letter translations , he and a guy another cousin hired to go through about 40 or so old letters of communication from my grandfather to his old aunt.
Weird things came out, such honest letters, sort of felt bad for reading them, sticking our noses into their private thoughts etc.
Don't be surprised if one of your kids has a red head baby someday.
Just kidding, my son was born with bright orange/ red hair and we do not have a drop of Irish in us, well maybe we do? We have some English blood which may be Irish after all?
One of my step dads was half Irish and the other was Irish and something else from the UK, he was a real red head.
My grandmother on my dad's side was Ruysn to the core from old Galicia lands... She had red hair and most of my male cousins are reds, my husband is Hungarian to the core and when he was young his beard was red and his hard had allot of strawberry blonde stands. His brother is a typical redhead with the full head of strong thick red.
I sometimes
wished I had a daughter as well as a son just so I could grow her hair out in long red braids.
Growing up my mother told us to tell everyone we were French, just easier then explaining our mixed up roots, not a good thing in the 50's and 60's to be from eastern Europe and also have German and native blood, too much teasing from other kids, Guess everyone loves the French? At least they seem neutral. Not loved or disliked.
Come to think of it, my MIL was also a redheaded women. Saw old photos of her from the 1930's when she used to attend big fancy dress balls, man, I could hardy see she was the same person I knew.She was so pretty when she was young, really tall, 5'8" slim with beautiful red hair, very athletic looking, all the tragic events in her life took a toll on her looks....
Ok, let's hear it for redheads, poor Gingers always have it rough.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

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Growing up my mother told us to tell everyone we were French, just easier then explaining our mixed up roots, not a good thing in the 50's and 60's to be from eastern Europe and also have German and native blood, too much teasing from other kids, Guess everyone loves the French? At least they seem neutral. Not loved or disliked.....
Ok, let's hear it for redheads, poor Gingers always have it rough.

Love the French?  Great food and wine and "pretty" language.  On the other hand, the Simpsons have a lot to answer for in the form of Groundskeeper Willie with his "cheese eating surrender monkey" epithet. Wasn't George Dubya as I had originally thought!  UK and France always had a kind of strange relationship due to proximity. 

I noticed there are a lot of red haired or blonde people in Syria. I don't mean they coloured their hair - some Islamic types dye their hair with henna.  These red/blondes are very noticeable as they do not appear to be Middle Eastern, more European.  My local colleagues told me they were a special group and said they originally came from an area of Russia which probably links in with your Rusyn roots!

Yes, I read that the Ruysn's had roots in the middle east and in Scandinavia ... Odd really. So far apart .
I heard there was allot of red headed people here in Hungary ages ago before many people mixed with immigrants to Hungary, not sure but that's what I heard.
They also found ancient burial sites in China with redheaded remains inside.
The Mohawks were also known to dye their hair red with henna made from berries etc....
Everyone wants to be a red head... Just kidding, I have red hair as did my one sister, thanks to Miss Clairol!!
My father had jet black, blue /black straight hair and the palest skin ever, very striking really.