Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas....
Mar. 21st, 2004 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaelieOk, there was no fear (but some loathing) while I was there. Nor was I in search of The American Dream. It was an interesting book, though, and I had a cool t-shirt of it that got lost at some point. Hm. It was probably my brother's t-shirt, now that I think on it....
Yep. It's that time of year again, and we went to Vegas for the GAMA convention, a time of much schmoozing, socializing, and networking.
Matt, myself and Mir landed in Vegas at around 6pm on the 13th, with the rest of the crew coming in on Sunday and Al bringing up the rear on Tuesday. Saturday itself was pretty sedate - we landed, had dinner and retired to our respective rooms to vegetate. I forgot some stuff, so I called my good friend Carol to overnight 'em to me. She did, thank goodness. She's awesome.
Sunday was also quite relaxing. Mir and I had a long, mellow day at the hotel spa. We spent some time in the hot tub and then split up for our massages. I enjoyed 80 minutes of aromatherapy massage and then a 25 minute scalp massage. The hilarious thing is that the man doing the massage also happened to be a gamer, although his game of preference was Legend of the Five Rings. On Thursday, the last day of the convention, he swung by our booth and gave both Mir and I a quick neck and shoulder massage for the road. So nice! I'm going to have to remember to send him some swag stuff....
While I was off at the spa, Matt explored the strip and came up with some things for us to do during the week nights. And Sunday night we got to catch the last Ray Stevens show. That man is hilarous, just as I thought he would be.
Monday was set up. That went relatively quickly and amazingly smoothly. We did have a brief scare that our stuff didn't make it in time, but after calling the shop and having our shipping manager yell at some people, our stuff showed up at the booth roughly an hour after everyone else's. It could have been worse. Last year certainly was worse, heh.
Monday night we tried to see the Treasure Island show called Sirens but it was way too crowded. We looked around inside, then headed across the street to explore the Venetian. The Venetian was really beautiful, with their canal and gondole. It just had a really neat atmosphere.
Tuesday was the first day of the show. I don't know how many people I talked to, but it was a lot. I made new contacts in the industry and met with old ones. Wednesday and Thursday were very similar.
The fun really started when the show closed and we could wander and sight-see.
Tuesday night again we tried to catch Sirens with out luck, so we checked out the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. The Bellagio is really ritzy and high class, with shops like Tiffany's, Armani, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Prada, etc. However, the only thing that really impressed me was the conservatory. They packed so many beautiful, fragrant flowers in one room it truly was awe inspiring. On the path to the butterflies, there was some cool water stream arches over the pathway, and in the back part of the conservatory they had a huge butterfly hatchery. That was beautiful, too. To be honest, over all, I liked Caesar's Palace better. They've had fifty years to perfect the casino, and it's really nice. All I could think while in the Bellagio's shops was Hm. I could never shop here. Whereas Caesar's, while having nice, classy restaurants and shops, also kept it in my price range. A little higher than normal, but still what I would consider affordable. Also I totally love the Roman theme.
Wednesday night we showed up at Treasure Island like an hour early and finally saw Sirens. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. /sigh. We were wanting to see sword fighting and cannons exploding, yet it was a typical Vegas show with half nekkid girls and such. /yawn. The pirate's ship, The Bull Ship, got sunk by a song and a dance. Wimps.
Thursday was take-down, then we headed out to see Excalibur and pick up some souvenirs. Excalibur actually struck me as a kind of "family" type hotel/casino. Downstairs they had all the carnival type games that award tickets to be turned in for prizes like stuffed animals and the like. Upstairs was the normal type gambling. After we finished up exploring Excalibur, we walked over to the Luxor, but all the shops were closed. /cry. Next year I really want to check those shops out. I mean, Egyptian stuff! So cool! Even the touristy stuff. ;)
Friday morning we ran around and picked up some last minute souvenirs for friends, then waited around at the airport for a long time, then flew home and hit the hay.
Next year I definitely want to see the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I heard that it is awesome. I think we're going to catch the show and dinner at the Excalibur next year, too. I imagine it's quite a bit like the Medieval Times, but it still should be fun.
In all, it was a good trip.
Monday, however, all the craziness begins as I try to catch up on all the work that I didn't get done at the shop. I have over 200 emails just waiting for me, not to mention all the piles of paperwork to process, and follow-ups from the show. Heh.
Yep. It's that time of year again, and we went to Vegas for the GAMA convention, a time of much schmoozing, socializing, and networking.
Matt, myself and Mir landed in Vegas at around 6pm on the 13th, with the rest of the crew coming in on Sunday and Al bringing up the rear on Tuesday. Saturday itself was pretty sedate - we landed, had dinner and retired to our respective rooms to vegetate. I forgot some stuff, so I called my good friend Carol to overnight 'em to me. She did, thank goodness. She's awesome.
Sunday was also quite relaxing. Mir and I had a long, mellow day at the hotel spa. We spent some time in the hot tub and then split up for our massages. I enjoyed 80 minutes of aromatherapy massage and then a 25 minute scalp massage. The hilarious thing is that the man doing the massage also happened to be a gamer, although his game of preference was Legend of the Five Rings. On Thursday, the last day of the convention, he swung by our booth and gave both Mir and I a quick neck and shoulder massage for the road. So nice! I'm going to have to remember to send him some swag stuff....
While I was off at the spa, Matt explored the strip and came up with some things for us to do during the week nights. And Sunday night we got to catch the last Ray Stevens show. That man is hilarous, just as I thought he would be.
Monday was set up. That went relatively quickly and amazingly smoothly. We did have a brief scare that our stuff didn't make it in time, but after calling the shop and having our shipping manager yell at some people, our stuff showed up at the booth roughly an hour after everyone else's. It could have been worse. Last year certainly was worse, heh.
Monday night we tried to see the Treasure Island show called Sirens but it was way too crowded. We looked around inside, then headed across the street to explore the Venetian. The Venetian was really beautiful, with their canal and gondole. It just had a really neat atmosphere.
Tuesday was the first day of the show. I don't know how many people I talked to, but it was a lot. I made new contacts in the industry and met with old ones. Wednesday and Thursday were very similar.
The fun really started when the show closed and we could wander and sight-see.
Tuesday night again we tried to catch Sirens with out luck, so we checked out the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. The Bellagio is really ritzy and high class, with shops like Tiffany's, Armani, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Prada, etc. However, the only thing that really impressed me was the conservatory. They packed so many beautiful, fragrant flowers in one room it truly was awe inspiring. On the path to the butterflies, there was some cool water stream arches over the pathway, and in the back part of the conservatory they had a huge butterfly hatchery. That was beautiful, too. To be honest, over all, I liked Caesar's Palace better. They've had fifty years to perfect the casino, and it's really nice. All I could think while in the Bellagio's shops was Hm. I could never shop here. Whereas Caesar's, while having nice, classy restaurants and shops, also kept it in my price range. A little higher than normal, but still what I would consider affordable. Also I totally love the Roman theme.
Wednesday night we showed up at Treasure Island like an hour early and finally saw Sirens. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. /sigh. We were wanting to see sword fighting and cannons exploding, yet it was a typical Vegas show with half nekkid girls and such. /yawn. The pirate's ship, The Bull Ship, got sunk by a song and a dance. Wimps.
Thursday was take-down, then we headed out to see Excalibur and pick up some souvenirs. Excalibur actually struck me as a kind of "family" type hotel/casino. Downstairs they had all the carnival type games that award tickets to be turned in for prizes like stuffed animals and the like. Upstairs was the normal type gambling. After we finished up exploring Excalibur, we walked over to the Luxor, but all the shops were closed. /cry. Next year I really want to check those shops out. I mean, Egyptian stuff! So cool! Even the touristy stuff. ;)
Friday morning we ran around and picked up some last minute souvenirs for friends, then waited around at the airport for a long time, then flew home and hit the hay.
Next year I definitely want to see the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I heard that it is awesome. I think we're going to catch the show and dinner at the Excalibur next year, too. I imagine it's quite a bit like the Medieval Times, but it still should be fun.
In all, it was a good trip.
Monday, however, all the craziness begins as I try to catch up on all the work that I didn't get done at the shop. I have over 200 emails just waiting for me, not to mention all the piles of paperwork to process, and follow-ups from the show. Heh.
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Date: 2004-03-21 10:21 pm (UTC)