Las Vegas's attempt to join the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest toast fell far, far short of it's goal new Year's Eve. Looking for more than 11,000 people (to beat the previous record set in Tokyo of 10,079 people toasting with sake), less than 8,500 people registered for the official event with Mayor Goodman. However, organizers said more than 15,000 people paid to be downtown, and they will review security tapes with Guinness officials to see if the entire downtown area (including unregistered participants) will be accepted for a midnight toast.

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Las Vegas residents are potential scalpers, according to the momorail officials. The reduced $1 one-way rate will only be made available via 20-ride passes, to prevent people from buying the discounted tickets, selling them to tourists for less than the $5 tourists would pay, and pocketing the difference. Geez Louise, that's a lot of f'in work for $2 or $3 bucks! Once all stations are manned, this may change, but currently, most are unmanned.

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After hearing some negatives about the newly reopened Sunset Station dinner buffet, I headed over there myself to check out the place. Other than being very bland, I thought the buffet was pretty good. It looks quite a bit like the GVR buffet, with the same set-up (though the food stations are reversed), the same dinnerware, and the same fake-fruit display in the front. It looks very out-of-place with the rest of the casino's decor, but it attractive enough in its own right.

I tried a little bit of almost everything, but I was simply too full to partake of the Asian fare. I had some BBQ ribs, flank steak (very tender and cooked to a perfect medium), and a type of beef stew (not what they called it, but that's what it was). All were cooked well, but with little to no flavor. Even the BBQ sauce was bland - not sweet, not tangy, just blah. Mushrooms are everywhere - in the veal, as a side dish, with the steaks, and in the stew. I tried both the garlic and hoseradish mashed potatoes, and somehow, the buffet managed to take most of the flavor out of those, too! The small new potatoes were cooked perfectly (most buffets overcook them to mush), the green beans amandine were very tasty, and they had what could be very tasty butternut squash ravioli, if not for the heavy cream sauce that it simply didn't need. For dessert, I had a sampling of the hand-packed ice cream, and found the chocolate too overwhelming, the strawberry very fruitful and tasty, and the vanilla was actually a vanilla bean flavor, very rich and yummy. Of course, I'm no food critic, and bland food in a buffet may be to their benefit, but I was pretty disappointed overall. I'd go back (with a salt shaker), though, since I'm not actually paying cash for it.

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Finally, not quite Vegas-related, but close enough (Mesquite), the Oasis Resort played host to the first-ever World Series of Beer Pong last week. Been awhile since you went to college? Beer pong is played without a paddle, using your arms and chest to get the ball back across the table and, hopefully, into one of your competitor's cups so that they have to drink. Played as a two-person team, you lose when all four of your cups are empty.

An Ann Arbor, MI team of two guys (yes, there were some women) won the event, beating out 162 other players to take home $10,000 in prize money. I think I would have enjoyed watching this, as many teams dressed up in unusual ways (the half-naked S&M partners), shaved their heads (just the front half, of course), or otherwise tried to distract their opponents, and generally kept themselves drunk (though all teams had the option of playing with water, none did, and most used breathalyzers to maintain a certain BAC, as they felt that's how they played optimally). Hopefully, the 3-day event will be back next year, which could be good for some giggles.

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Finally, continuing my post on the ever-changing nature of Las Vegas below, Castaways (formerly Showboat) was imploded this morning to make room for a Boulder Strip high-rise.

Anyway, that's the news for this week. Have a great Wednesday!

Vegas Bettie