What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas. And Then Eventually Show Up On A Blog

Spent a few days in Vegas this week with reporter Roy Wenzl to work on a story. Hadn't been there in nearly 10 years. Hardly looked like the same place. My stay in no way resembled the movie "The Hangover" except....

Most of you have probably have already seen this gem on Facebook or Twitter, but I had to put it on the blog. Roy and I, along with his friend Colleen Kenney and her husband Todd, were walking out of The Venetian when we spotted this flaming redhead to our right. Sure enough, it was the comedian Carrot Top, who stars in a Vegas show.

The point of the trip was to spend time with a Wichitan who now happens to be the owner of a Casino on the strip. He took us for a spin in his $500,000 Rolls Royce. I bet the monthly insurance is more than the value of my car.

Fun with slanted windows.

The windows were slanted because we stayed at this place. The Luxor. The only thing cool about it was that it's shaped like a pyramid. Other than that, it was kind of a dump.

I'm not a gambler. At all. I played $1 in a penny slot machine, and it wasn't even my dollar. At the end, I couldn't bear to lose everything, so I cashed out with a penny left. Colleen actually claimed the penny, and later claimed our Carrot Top encounter was due to the lucky penny.

I was still focused on the fact that I lost 99 cents.

Chase(ing) A Dream

This is Chase Kear.

I've blogged about him before because he was part of a pretty big project I did last year.

Chase nearly died on October 2, 2008 while practicing the pole vault at Hutchinson Community College. He bumped his head. Hard.

Chase had a large portion of his skull removed to relieve pressure on his swelling brain. His doctors gave him little hope, and that would be putting it mildly.

On Saturday, a year and a half after his accident, Chase was back in action.

His family, who I got to know over the process of making "The Miracle of Father Kapuan" were on hand to cheer him on. They're good people.

Not one person in Gowans Stadium on Saturday, minus Chase Kear, ever thought they'd see this again.

He cleared 10feet, 6 inches. It wasn't going to win him any medals, but given how far he's come, he might have just as well set a world record.

Yup. He's a big deal. Coincidentally, Chase was featured on ABC news the night before.

I love my job. Always have. Without a doubt, the best part about it is the people you get to meet and the stories you get to share. A lot of those stories just come and go. But some of them, and more importantly, some of the characters, really stick with you. Getting to know Chase and his family has been a great pleasure. Watching Chase Kear leap over that pole on Saturday reminds me that no matter how hard things get, you can overcome just about anything.