I've been gone a little while. Last Thursday, the First of October, I drove eight hours from the coast, where I live, through the desert to Las Vegas. I really enjoy long drives. I like navigating and keeping up a good pace. Its fun for me to pick an arrival time well before I leave home and then make it to my destination at the designated time, right on the minute. I pick waypoints on my route and try to nail those on time as well. Don't care what others may think - its fun to me.

My trip to Las Vegas wasn't for fun, however. I drove there to officiate at the last AMA National Superbike Road Racing Championship event of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. My job was to supervise the pit lane; verifying bikes are registered and have passed tech inspection before allowing them to compete, checking riders and teams for safety gear, controlling all pit lane traffic, and controlling access to the race track. During the races (i.e. after two days of practice and qualifying) I moved down to the turn one chicane as the official there to enforce a penalty on any motorcycles that took the short cut escape road around the chicane, thereby gaining position in the race.

The racing went well, with only a few injury crashes (including one helicopter crash out in the parking area!). The weather was also cooperative. I was expecting temps over 100 while wearing my dark, heavy material uniform, without any hope of finding shade. As it was, the temps were only in the high 80s with a good wind blowing. The track is located right next to Nellis Air Force Base, so we all enjoyed a perpetual air show of F-15s, F-16s, and various transports throughout the day. Two years ago we even got to see a pair of Stealth Fighters land. On top of good racing, nice weather, and cool jets, I enjoyed the preponderance of cute, shirtless guys that always flock to races!

Thursday night I stayed at the Treasure Island hotel. Friday and Saturday the room rates on the Las Vegas strip double in price so I moved to a Super 8 Motel next to the track. The move also shortened my commute time to work by twenty minutes. Sunday, after the race events were over, I moved back to the strip and stayed at the Excalibur hotel. I thought Treasure Island was much better. The room was a little nicer, the service better, even the buffet was better. Excalibur's theme is that of King Arthur and the Round Table which seems to attract more families with young children. I enjoy kids, but not en' masse running around underfoot constantly.

On Friday night I visited the Las Vegas Hilton to check out ' The Star Trek Experience '. Non geeks would not be interested and may skip the remainder of this paragraph. The 'Experience' is a whole wing of the hotel's casino which has been designed to look like a generic Star Trek location and has a functional replica of Quark's Bar. There are even Klingons and Ferengis in the area, drinking at the bar, and perusing the gift shops! If you pay $14 you can visit a Star Trek exhibit which takes you along a historical time line of the Star Trek universe with costumes and props from major events in all of the ST shows and movies. The exhibit culminates in a motion simulator ride. The whole thing is definitely worth the $14 - I know the same amount of money wouldn't have lasted nearly as long at the craps table!

Speaking of craps, I wasn't going to gamble on this trip, but Sunday night the bug bit me. I was walking through the casino at the Excalibur on my way back to my room after going to the IMAX theater at the hotel next door (Luxor, my favorite in LV) feeling disappointed as they didn't have the IMAX movie about climbing Mt. Everest there, when I found a $3 minimum bet craps table. Most games in Las Vegas are $5 minimum so I was really happy to find a game I could afford for a while. I decided to play $60 until I lost it all or until I doubled it. I was lucky. When midnight arrived I was up $68 and quit. One of my rules of gambling is this: In order to walk away a winner, you must walk away a winner. Its hard to do. They've got lots of incentives to keep you gambling, and of course gambling is at its most fun when you are ahead. But if you play long enough they will eventually clean you out. Its simple statistics and probabilities. My winnings were more than enough to cover my room for the night and a meal. I really do enjoy craps, even when I loose. It takes concentration and knowledge of the rules to get close to even odds at craps. There's a lot of chatter and action too. You can practically see a swirl of probabilities whirling around above the table!

Las Vegas is an interesting place to me. It is located in the middle of a vast, empty nowhere. It features one of the most extreme climates in the US. There really isn't any reason for a large city to exist there. It's only purpose is to amuse it's visitors while painlessly separating them from a large portion of their money. They do it well. Las Vegas opens up a new billion dollar facility every year. In a way, its all so pointless; The booze, the topless girls, the gambling, the vast themed hotels, the buffets that measure daily food output by the ton. All these things in a remote, infertile, desert location that could never support anything but a fantasy. It is a great achievement of human imagination of no value at all.

I want to say something about the murder of Matt Shepard. The trouble is I don't know what to say. I'm feeling sadness, outrage, and even guilt about what happened in Wyoming this week. I'm just not sure what to say about it, other than to express my feelings.

I'm very sad for his loss. Although I didn't know him, he seemed like a nice guy and could have easily been one of many queer youth I know. He had potential to contribute a lot to many people's lives, I'm sure at 21 he must have already touched a few. I'm sad for his parents too. All the joy he must have brought them only to end so horrifically.

I'm outraged that any countryman of mine could so brutally kill anyone for any reason, but the fact that it was done out of pure, blind hate for gay people enrages me more. I just can't believe that in 21st Century America ignorant barbarians are still permitted to exist. Americans should be doing something to eradicate our country of lowlifes like the two Wyoming murderers. How 'bout stricter education demands and some cultural education? And for those we can't educate, we need hate-crime legislation so we can lock 'em up and throw away the key. The damage that unabated ignorant hate and prejudice does to our country demands special weight be given cases of hate-crimes.

I also feel guilty about what happened. I was home having a nice dinner when Matt Shepard was dying, tied to a fence. We could have been in opposite places just as easily. What did I do to save Matt? Nothing. I haven't written to my congressman. I haven't donated to GLAAD. I didn't even speak up the last time I heard an anti-gay comment. No more. I'm not going to hear about the death of one more person at the hands of bigots knowing I did nothing to change the national climate. I will take a hard stand every time I hear another disparaging remark against any minority, but especially against gay people.