October 17-21, 2005 :: Las Vegas, NV & Los Angeles, CA

Virtually in Vegas...
When last we left our traveler he was just getting back from Cincinnati, OH in anticipation of his next grand adventure out west to Las Vegas.  Hehe :-)  This trip was also related to work as it was the location of the 2005 VMWorld Conference (sponsored by VMWare®).  The conference was a symposium of classroom lectures, interactive sessions, and labs centered around the VMWare products and their partners' products.  We were in sessions for 9-10 hours a day learning about all the possibilities and directions we could take these products in.  It was very exciting! (in a somewhat geeky way :-)

A slight detour on the way...
A couple weeks before I left on my trip, I found out that a friend of mine, Nick, was going to be in Los Angeles, CA for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.  Since this particular friend hails from sunny London, I figured this was an opportune time to go see him while we were only a couple hundred miles away.  Due to a scheduling error on VMWare's part, I ended up getting to Las Vegas on Mon afternoon but didn't have any sessions until the kick off dinner on Tues night!  "What better time to hop a puddle jumper to LA", I thought to myself.

Coming and then going...always on the run!
I arrived on Mon (10/17) at the Mandalay Bay Resort where the conference, and my hotel room, were located.  It's at the very end of "the strip", so I got to see most of the hotels/casinos on the way from the airport in the little shuttle.  The resort was mammoth sized and I was impressed when I entered.  The casino was quite large taking up most of the first floor, but for some reason it didn't feel as imposing as some of the other hotels.  It felt like a hotel with a casino instead of a casino with a hotel above it.  I liked that...

Shortly after checking into the hotel, I packed a small overnight bag, made a reservation with the hotel shuttle company to go back to the airport, and was on my way to LAS again.  After a minor delay (and a gate change), our little plane was in the air heading west once more for LA. 

"What do you mean where is it?  We just passed the hotel AGAIN!"
After landing in LA and phoning Nick for details on where to meet him, I hopped into a cab and we sped off towards...well I had no idea where we were going.  Apparently the cabbie didn't have much of a clue either.  After asking me for the address, he then asked me for directions.  How in the Heavens was I supposed to know how to get there?!?!?  He then asked for the phone number of the hotel.  Luckily I had taken down all of that information before I left just in case.  He talked to the person at the front desk for a while and eventually knew where he was going. 

When we got to the intersection that was supposed to be home of our destination, the cabbie proceeded through and kept driving.  I said how we had passed the hotel and how it was on the corner. He shrugged and turned back around.  Down the street and around the corner again, the cabbie kept driving.  I once again pointed out that we over shot our destination and he made another U-turn to head back in the opposite direction.  Finally, after the third pass, I asked him to pull over and let me out so I could walk across the bloody street without having him take another couple passes at it thus jacking up my fair and wasting my time.  The cabbie sped off after I got out and I was there.

A fun evening and then back to reality...
I had a great night hanging out with Nick and a friend of his who traveled with him.  It was nice to just kick back, relax, talk, eat some Domino's pizza, and have a quiet night.  I knew that the rest of the week wasn't going to offer that level of comfort so I took it in and was happy.  My flight didn't leave until noon on Tues so it wasn't a terribly early day for waking up (thankfully) but soon enough I was off in another taxi (this time a little less disconcerting) back towards LAX.  I got back in plenty of time to meet up with my coworkers who also came out for the conference and attend the opening night Solutions Exchange vendor show and dinner.  The week had officially started.

Gigadot Warriors...Let the games begin!
On Wed night the company put on a huge celebration.  One of the conference rooms was built into a large arena with several small bars and tables of endless food setup along the sides.  They also had old arcade-style video games, PlayStation games, and board games on tables surrounded by big couches for the attendees to play.  Inside the arena they had teams of people competing in various challenges that took place while driving mini circular go-karts with radio remote controls called Gigadots.  They were constructed specifically for that night...how cool!  I was chosen at random the night before to be one of the "Dot Rangers" as they called us.  My team didn't make it very far in the tournament, but it was a lot of fun!  Afterward they had an open floor in which people got to drive them around bumper cars style.  It was an awesome celebration!

A tour of Las Vegas, old and new...
After we messed around at the celebration for a while, we took the car that one of our contractor friends had rented and went for a little tour of the area.  My buddy Mike, who's been to Vegas numerous times, pointed out all of the hotel/casinos, attractions, and good restaurants in the area to us.  He also led us downtown to where "old Las Vegas" is.  In my mind this is the part that you always see on TV in movies with the neon cowboy and cowgirl signs etc.  It was a cool adventure, but unfortunately we didn't get back to the hotel until 2a PST which didn't allow much time for sleep before hitting another full day of classes.  It was worth it though!

_

Back again back again jiggity jig jig...
Thurs went by pretty fast and before we knew it, Mike and I were standing outside the Mandalay Bay Resort at 4:30a waiting for the airport shuttle to come and whisk us back to LAS.  The flight was uneventful and I got to read most of "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" (which I strongly recommend to everyone for a read...it's short but so touching that you'll most likely reevaluate your own life and how its lived).  (Note: sorry for the little diatribe here but I just wanted to mention also that on the way over to LAS from ATL I read a book called "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives" which is exactly like the sub-title describes.  This book was equally as amazing as the other one mentioned above and is a very recommended read!...OK now back to the show :)  After arriving in ATL, I met up with my friend Jason who had arrived just before I did to visit for the weekend.  He's one of my best friends from back home in NY who's since moved to New Zealand so I don't get to see him very often.  We had an awesome weekend...a great end to an awesome week.

Tune in next time kids!  That's all for now!

M@