Viva, Las Vegas – my stay in Vegas Baby!

So I got out of the airport with relative ease and got a taxi, I learned my lesson on the shuttle bus and decided I would just pay the 15 bucks plus tip. I get to the MGM Grand, the hotel of choice when attending a conference at the MGM Grand convention center. The very first year I went to this conference I stayed at a hotel called the San Remo, it is across the street and was a reasonable place in price and amenity. The next year I was going to book there again and I found that it was now called the Hooter Casino Hotel. Well there was NO WAY I was going to Vegas by myself and staying in the hooter hotel, my Bride would not have approved and I did not even need to ask. I then stayed at the Excalibur one year, wow it looks like it is right across the street. Well it is but that added an additional 20-25 minutes to the walk in each direction. Ever since then I have stayed at the MGM Grand, it is still a 10-15 minute walk from the room to the convention center depending on Casino and Studio Walk traffic.

Day one was pretty uneventful, got a hot dog at a Nathan’s hot dog stand, it was late and I did not want anything heavy. A few minutes planning which sessions I was going to attend and then it was off to bed. Day two started with a breakfast at the Grand Buffet, not bad for 18 bucks but they used to be a lot cheaper. Then off to conference registration and sessions basically all day long. At 6:30pm I was invited to a dinner hosted by PBS at the Sea Blue and I had not been there before. They had invited about 20 of us that were instrumental in testing a new delivery system as a way to thank us for the time we spent helping them. It was FANTASTIC!! It was also open bar, and although I do not drink some of my colleagues were enjoying some pretty expensive drinks and wines – good for them too. I wished for just a bit that I still drank because I could have easily had a few. We wrapped up after 10pm and I crashed, the 3 hour time difference was already kicking my ass.

Day 2 started with me watching the window washers, I wondered how much they made and I wondered if they stayed busy. Seemed to me that the MGM Grand had enough windows to keep a whole team busy cleaning them. On the way to the convention center I followed a family down an escalator, a kid (8 or 9) was facing back up the escalator talking to his parents and when they hit the bottom, he did not even look and landed right on his ass. His parents did not even warn him that the end was near – dumbasses is what I was thinking as I walked around them. The rest of the day was as busy as the first and it was also the day I presented on a panel discussion about combined master control operations in the Florida PBS group. I am not as convinced as some that the economics will work out but we are studying it very hard so we shall see. I was nervous leading up to when I started speaking but then I just get to it, pontificating like I knew what I was talking about. I always feel more pressure speaking to my engineering peers, cant bullshit them like you can some others. Hahaha. I got to reconnect and chat with several guys I only see when I go out there, that was nice. It is always nice to sit around and listen to their problems and realize that we are all facing the same issues. On the way to the convention center I also saw the life guard for the pool, nothing exciting about that huh? Well they were dressed in sweat pants and hoodies.

On the way back to the room to get ready for dinner I came across an amusing site, the door opens and a guy is laying on the floor, apparently passed out. I can’t see but his buddy nudges him with his foot and says lets go. The guy leaps up like he was shocked and bam, out the door they went in a bolt. I get ready for dinner with one of my Great friends Garrett. He was bringing a couple of other guys from his company and we met up at Emeril’s. The first time I tried that place was at Universal in Orlando with my Sister and her husband. We ordered, rib eye’s for all four of us and they came with a celery puree that was magnificent. We had a great time, Terry was in the Air Force and with me in the Navy we told many a funny story from our days in the service of our Great Country. As we were leaving I noticed a family eating dinner, all I will say is that more than one of them had on camouflaged hats and it seemed out of place in Emeril Lagasse's restaurant – I say BAM, and out they go!

On the way back to the room, this is like 8-8:30, I pass a woman who looked like hell, mascara all smeared, hair disheveled and barefooted. She was playing the hell out of a slot machine and yelling at everyone who walked close to her. She wanted more to drink and I assured her I would bring her one right away. I walked away laughing, at her. It makes me laugh to see people smoking inside, in Florida one ca’t smoke inside buildings anymore. Out there, you can pretty much smoke anywhere you want to, along with drinking just about anywhere as well.

Day three was busy and ended on the 64th floor of Mandalay Bay watching the sunset and ya know what, I went ahead and had that drink – Crown and Seven. Then I had another and it felt good, which is why I stopped drinking 20 some years ago. I liked drinking WAY too much and still have one or two per year just to say I did. It was a very nice ending to the busy trip, the plane was leaving at 7am in the morning so I turned in early as I knew the 4am wakeup would come early.