Vegas and Back

Four guys traveling to Vegas... I'm so glad that this trip did not turn into something out of The Hangover. Left for Vegas last week Wednesday for 6 days of fun at the CES and AEE. Came back this past Monday, and I still wish I was on vacation in Vegas. I think this is a message to myself...

So the drive out there was nice, even though I felt like I was on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland at times. Left around noon and got into Vegas around 7pm, making a pit stop to eat in Barstow and to shop at the CA/NV border. Had to buy a much needed new pair of pants to go with my blazer. Tried to make it to the badge pickup areas before they closed, but missed the AEE one by an hour. So we just went to check into our rooms at The Cal in downtown and eat at the buffet in the Main Street Station. We left our main luggage in the car and took overnight bags to the rooms. Didn't want to lug all our luggage up, since we were only staying at the hotel for one night. The rest our stay in Vegas would be at the Palazzo.

On Thursday we couldn't check into our room at the Palazzo until 3pm, so we hit the AEE at the Sands Expo Center first. Distributors only on the first day. One member in our group is a distributor, so he got the passes ahead of time. Spent the entire day there until it closed and then checked into our room. Concierge Level package = complimentary breakfast, afternoon presentation, evening hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, dessert and open bar. Luckily the sofa in the sunken living room was an L-shape and two of us were the right height to sleep on that.

Friday was spent at CES. 3D really is the emerging technology at this year's show. Lots of that stuff being shown around. Try playing Rock Band and COD in 3D... Wow! Show was smaller than last year with a lot less swag being given out. Microsoft and Sony seem to have the bigger booth areas with huge crowds in them. Lego Universe is a nice idea, but I'd wait a year to see how it expands. Got to play a demo version of the new Star Trek MMO at Microsoft. The girl that was demonstrating the game didn't really know how to play the game, but I was able to figure it out pretty easily. Played for almost 2 hours and lost my friends in the hall. AT&T's phone network was horrible there. Got call failed message, text not going through and could not use the internet on my iPhone. Took almost the rest of the day until we were able to get in touch with each other.

Saturday some of us spent half the day at CES while the others went to AEE. Sunday was all fan day at AEE, so that's where we all went. Ate a lot of food, planned to go to some of the clubs and got invited to some of the parties happening around town, made some money on the slots at the Palazzo and bought 3 new Uglydolls from FAO at the Forum Shops. That's just some of the stuff we did in Vegas, but you know what they say about Vegas too... what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. I usually don't drink, but I did on this trip and it made me feel a bit more relaxed.

Drive back on Monday was really quick. Left Vegas at 11am and made it back to L.A. by 3pm. Although I did get car sick during the drive back, which is a bit unusual for me. Got some pics from the trip on my Facebook. I just wish the vacation was a bit longer... didn't really want to go back to work.