Viva Las Vegas

I attended a business conference from Sunday all the way through Thursday. The conference was in Las Vegas, & I admit to being someone over the excited about the idea of meeting people that I haven't interacted with in a long time. (And no, it's not at Golden Nugget.  I just like that casino.)

I was completely packed well ahead of time, and I had my clothes set out for an easy TSA walk through. I also had subscribed to the NEXUS program, and I tested that with flying colors (later).

By the way, this is what I look like right out of bed:

There was a time when I could simply walk out of the house never having touched any part of my head.  An ex girlfriend would get upset at me for having such fortune.  But those days are long since past I fear.

My packing skills remain peerless.  6 days worth of clothes, underclothes, toiletries, and assorteds, in a bag this size.  I thought I should include a DVD so you can get a sense of how not-big the bag is.

To help the matter, I got some McDonalds Bacon, Egg (White) and Cheese Biscuits, a large coffee and a small orange juice.  That gave me enough energy for the next 4 hours.

I breezed through TSA Pre-Check in 2-3 minutes.  In fact, they order you not to take your shoes off or to take anything out of the bag.  I found that rather interesting.  (more to this story on the trip back, though.)

In case you've never seen SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport), once you get past TSA, this is what you're confronted with.  Quite visually appealing.

 Since I was terribly early, as usual, I figured I would prepare my system with the elixir that keeps me forever young: Starbucks' Shaken Iced Green Tea, Unsweetened.  No matter how hot it may be, you will be refreshed.  I AM straightedge, after all.

Once on board the plane it was a different ball game.  

Rather than local shots at the airport, I got to capture what I'm 98.76% sure is Mount Rainier, as the plane reached altitude.  I included the normal shot as well as one that was post-processed by the Nexus 7 (I didn't want to pull out the Galaxy S4 and have the flight attendant start yelling about phones on the plane).

I got asked more often than I care to admit why I would pay $50 to upgrade to first class on a 2 hour flight.  The answer is simple.  I come from the old school when airplane tickets were over $500 a piece, but with that you got roomy, comfortable seats, REAL meals, and a much more pleasant flying experience.  That's back when you had airlines like Northwest, Pan Am and TWA.  But I digress: I am one of those who is willing to pay for a comfortable experience, especially on shorter flights.  $50 is a small price to pay for that experience and I really wish they would consider doing it upfront at that price.  I mean look.

REAL glasses.  Clean trays.  A very well prepared veggie wrap.  This kind of stuff used to be standard on planes and I'm sad to see people settling for the garbage they put out now.  I on the other hand am more than willing to pay for this.

Anyway, I arrived fine, and National Car Rental as always took good care of me.  I'm an Emerald Club member, and under Alaska's Mileage Plan saved quite a bit of money.  The way it works: you rent a midsize car but can pick any of the cars currently on the Emerald Aisle, which include full size and SUVs.  Look at what they had waiting for me.  A Ford Fusion Titanium (non-Hybrid).  I got to feel right at home, although the car ran rather rough given it only had like 8,500 miles on it.  I'm assuming that's the EcoBoost engine; compared to Aston Marcus which purrs like a kitten, I wasn't impressed, but at least it was a familiar overall experience.

Here I am, approaching the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.  More on this scam hotel later.

My hotel reservation was very nearly messed up.  I had to pay out of pocket to at least stay the night.  Fortunately it got sorted Monday morning.  But I didn't like having to pay money.  I then proceeded to settle in and relax for the conference.  I did go to the local stores to get some food though; I wasn't paying the ripoff prices for snacks (more on that later).

Here are some shots from the event.

My tweet even made it up on their ticker.  How cool is that?

I also got to visit a past co-worker which was refreshing, and despite the nonsense traffic from the Mayweather/Canelo fight crowds, I did enjoy the fight itself.

Before leaving, I had to make sure to get a couple of shots from my hotel room window.  It was facing the strip, so I took full advantage.  First, a small panorama in the daytime (and unfortunately, since Mandalay Bay doesn't believe in washing their windows, it wasn't a very clear shot).

Then, I caught this rather appealing shot the night before I headed home.

 At the Las Vegas Airport, after turning in my car (which consisted of simply parking it and walking away, mind you), I then patiently awaited my flight home, capturing some of the signage (aka, a bunch of TVs slapped together in a crooked pattern).

All in all a great week.  I learned a lot and got quite a bit of useful information from the trip which I'm eager to share with the team.  This was the first time I'd gotten to attend one of these particular conferences though I'd helped others go, so it was enlightening.  A bit overkill with some of the fluff, but a great event nonetheless.

Tune in later for my review (aka REAMview) of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.