7/20/2006 01:51:00 AM|||NormMonkey||| From the sin-city department:
I'm writing this from McCarran Int'l airport, Vegas, at too-bloody-late at night. So I'm keepin' it brief. Shut up, AZROLB, before you even say anything. I got a whole bag of "shh" right here!
*pinky to evil grin*
So,
SUNDAY
* Taxi to airport carrying monster booth along with all my other stuff
* Make my way through security and meet up with my colleagues on the other side of US Customs
* Hrm, there's a bar right across from our gate. How convenient!
* US Airways flight to Philly. Short flight, read book
* Philly: there's a bar that serves lunch. How convenient!
* 5 1/2 hour flight to Vegas. Ate some snacks I bought at the airport, read some book, watched U-571 on the laptop
* Checked in. Colleagues went off for dinner. I decided to chill out. Later, wandered up and down the strip, grabbed some dinner, a milkshake. Surprisingly non-alcoholic. Will make up for that later.
MONDAY
* Grabbed some breakfast at Carib Cafe, where the food is so fresh they fly up to Canada, kill the pig and ship the Canadian Bacon back. Two hours later, we left the restaurant.
* Went to Fry's electronics emporium. J got himself some satellite radio goodness. I picked up a USB key and a DVD: Minority Report
* Back to the hotel. Set up the booth. For a short day at the exhibition hall, surprisingly busy WRT visitors
* Finished up and headed to Jet club for the cPanel party. Got drunk.
At some point during the party, J managed to score us some passes to get back into Jet after the cPanel party closed and they booted everybody. I don't know how he does this shit. He talks his magic talk and people listen.
* cPanel ended, they kicked us out. At this point I am fairly drunk, so I remember only a few bits and pieces:
* Buddy from the club gives Jason back the money he used to score the passes, as if to say, "Go away, no party for you"
* Some guy who may or may not be as drunk as we are is talking with us and flashing an FBI business card
* Smooth-talking sales guru J manages to talk us back into the bar. Ahead of some guy in line with half a grand. I remember the words, "Hey, if you want me to stand here, I'll stand here. You want me there, I'm there. I'll go wherever you need me to be." Or something like that. I still don't know how J does this shit, but we're back in the bar.
* Hung out with two hot chicks named (get this) Alex and Mallory. Yeah.
* I was really quite drunk at this point and all I really remember are knocking over a beer at some point and at some other point, drinking something that really wasn't my drink, but it was good anyways. I'm gonna call that one, "One too many". As a matter of fact, I don't know where all the drinks came from. I owe somebody some money.
* I remember getting back to my room and sending J a quick "I apologize for everything stupid I may or may not have done" text message
* I drank lots and lots of water. I already knew that this is good for preventing hangovers, but I learned that it is also good for making the puking more tolerable. Ah, praying at the porcelain throne. I have not worshipped there in many moons.
*** UPDATE: I'm now writing from Chicago O'Hare waiting for my final 2hr flight to Ottawa. Weather was horrible, our flight was in a holding pattern for some time. I have no idea how long 'cause I was asleep. I do remember waking up for the nice bright flashes of purple lightning. Light show, courtesy of Vegas. Finally the weather went above minimums long enough for us to get on the ground. This was the best rough-weather landing I have ever experienced. More smooth than most normal landings. Probably a combination of good luck and an excellent pilot. Anyways, the weather delays mean a less lengthy stay courtesy of Chicago Department of Aviation, so I will drink my Starbucks, eat my danish and continue the tale:
TUESDAY
* Buffet for breakfast. I was operating quite slowly at this point
* Back to the booth for a full day of show. Not as busy as the previous day
* S won an X-Box 360 by kicking ass in Gotham Racing. He also won over half a grand while he was gambling drunk last night, after I'd gone back to my room to pass out. He's hiding a horseshoe somewhere.
* After the show, headed to Caesar's Palace and had some crappy Chinese just before going to see Elton John.
That's right, Elton John. At Caesar's Palace. In Las Vegas. This concert was awesome. Awesome, I say! The sound system was incredibly good. It was as if they were playing his songs from CD, but yet the band is clearly rockin' it live. The video work, by David Lachapelle, was a little warped in the head, at least from my perspective. This is why I'm a computer techie and not a gay artist, I guess.
(I'm not being derogative, here. D.L. is an excellent artist, world reknowned. From the imagery, clearly he is as gay as a flamingo in a rainbow)
* Anyways, one concert and two buckets o' beer later ("How much for a bottle of wine?" "Right. One bucket o' Bud, please"), we are done here. Time to go hang out in the casino for a bit of drinking and gambling and talking to two chicks from Leftbridge which I learn is 2hr south of Calgary. They say they're sisters, but it's S's guess that they're a mother-daughter pair.
* J scores some passes to Pure, a nearby nightclub. He got 'em from the casino bartender. I was standing right there and I *still* don't know how he does this shit.
* We wandered over to Shadow for a bit more drinkin'.
* Then we headed over to Pure. J does his magic smooth talkin' again with the bouncers up front, and gets us in right away, ahead of the monster line. I have to head back to the hotel room and change shoes 'cause of the dress code, but I got right back in. J's magic was still in effect.
What can I say, I spend a lot more time in my life sittin' in front of computers, bein' outdoors and chilling informally with friends. Dressin' up and all this Vegas shit is not my lifestyle. Still, stick me in a room where there's beers and hot girls all over, and I will have fun. And get drunk.
* We met up with those two "sisters" from south of Calgary again
* I mostly drank, danced and wandered around the bar. Hitting on girls is also not the norm for this shy techie, but I did get a little practice in. As S says, all it takes is a "So where are you from?" to get things started.
* At some point it is around 02h30 or so. J, wandering around the bar, finds me. We wander around the bar but fail to find S. We find out later that some girl yanked him off to the dance floor for awhile.
* J and I head back to the Mirage. I am mostly drunk. J apparently doesn't remember going back to the hotel. We stopped by Carib to get some late night food, and met up with S there. At 03h00 we called it a night.
WEDNESDAY
* I get up at 08h00 to shower and pack and head to the airport
* All kinds of crap happens at the airport that you can read about in my earlier post. I end up heading back to Mirage, dump my stuff in J's room, and it's back to the booth.
* We pack up the booth and head over to the fashion mall for some shoppin'. I'm not used t all this drinking and no sleepin' so I'm kind of in zombie mode. Still, we managed to find some electronics stores to wander through. Oh, and by the way, this mall is full of teh hot chicks wearing teh not much clothes. Good exercise for teh eyeballs.
* We head to some cafe for some burger action.
* Then back to the hotel. The guys head for a nap. I have no room, and in any event I need to stay awake now so I can sleep on my red-eye, so I head down to the pool.
The pool is awesome. The water seems cold when you get in, but that's just 'cause lying outside in the sun warms you up in this Nevada heat. The water is colder around the edges where it's pumped in, and warmer in the center where the heat has had a chance to work its mojo. This is the only pool I know where the water is *cooled*. Oh, and when you get out, the air is so warm you just lie in the sun and dry off (which is what I normally do in any event, but up in Canuckland it's not nearly so warm to do it).
* I come this close to falling asleep out at poolside, but J gives me a call 'cause he wants back in his room and I have his room key.
* I head on back to the airport for more waiting. The guys are heading to Old Vegas to see what the acction is like over there.
And here the tale ends. My flight boards in 15 minutes, so I'm gonna post, pack up and get ready to head to the office. I managed to sleep some on the last flight, though it was not restful despite the emergency exit row. It's Thursday morning, I'm now running on maybe 7 or 8 hours of sleep since Tuesday, and I'm heading to the office. I will have words with the coffee maker there. I do not want to go home and sleep 'cause then my schedule will be even more messed up.
This afternoon will be ... challenging.
Vegas, baby!!|||115337668880581317|||Vegas, baby!