Sorry, it’s such big news locally that I can’t help but think everyone cares about Boston’s new center and the MacWorld/SAP events that are going on there now. There were two good articles in today’s Globe about it:

Opening to Mixed Reviews

Convention Facility Draws Praise, Quibbles

And another article on how rooms blocked in Boston’s suburban hotels aren’t getting picked up. So, if you’re coming to town around the last week in July, I’m guessing there will be some serious deals to be had outside the Dem zone.

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Too dumb to be true, but a guy in Minneapolis expressed his opinion on airport screeners by dropping trou–sans underwear. “Miller then said, ‘There, how do you like your job,’ thus ending the screening, according to the police report.”

Hope he brought his “get out of jail” card in his carry-on luggage. What a dope.

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I’ve never bought anything on eBay (the shame, the horror! I still don’t know how to use all the options on my cellphone, either—-pity me), but a press release I got today made me want to check out to see what the bidding might be on today’s eBay auction for the Millennium Resort Scottsdale (Ariz.), McCormick Ranch. According to the P.R.:

The ten-day auction begins on July 14, 2004, at just $1, with a minimum selling bid of $100,000. The winning bid will then gain exclusive use of Scottsdale’s only lakeside boutique resort from August 27, 2004, - August 30, 2004.

The winning bidder will receive a complete run of the property’s 125 deluxe guestrooms, plus the Presidential Suite; unlimited food and beverage for up to 250 guests, plus alcohol (state liquor laws will apply) and private use of the resort’s facilities, including 8,000 square feet of banquet and meeting space such as its ballroom, Lakeside Pavilion for banquets and dining, tennis court, sand volleyball court, swimming pool, Cabana Bar, and award-winning restaurant, the Piñon Grill. Alternative dates could be available, on request, for the successful bidder.

Talk about commoditizing the hotel end of the meetings industry!! I’d be curious to know if it generates the “buzz” they’re hoping it will.

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That’s the headline of this article from Special Events:
“Demonstrating once again that ‘reality TV’ is a questionable term, two professional event planners lost out to a planner who had never staged a wedding in [Sunday] night’s primetime special ‘The Great Domestic Showdown’ on ABC.”

I didn’t watch it, but it doesn’t sound right to me. Then again, nothing about reality TV sounds right to me (except Extreme Home Makeover, and I’m getting pretty sick of that one, too).

Hey, that’d be a fun idea for a new show-—Extreme Meeting Makeover, where you give the boringest, snoringest meetings to some professionals with unlimited budgets and let ‘em rip. Know anyone at CBS?

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The Harrah’s look, that is. Reminds me of back in the dark ages when I was a bartender at a disco and had to wear, well, we’ll just call it a harem costume and let it go at that. According to the article, cocktail waitresses have to audition for the job in bathing suits (uh uh, no way). Then:

Once hired, they would be required to wear makeup, mascara, lipstick, heels, and have their hair styled a particular way.

If they got pregnant, they would have six months after giving birth to fit back into their pre-pregnancy uniforms.

Sounds like the courts say they can do this because they’re an “at will” employer (of course, an employee sued). Guess I’ll never be a Harrah’s gal–no way would I let my boss tell me what color lipstick to wear–or make me wear lipstick at all, thank you very much! I’m with Cathy Raynor, president of the union that represents most workers at Newport (R.I.) Grand, who says in the article, “I think it is extremely insulting to any person to be told that they have to wear makeup. . . What you put on your face in no way enhances your job performance.”