It Didn't Stay There
Last Thursday and Friday, I traveled from NYC to Las Vegas for the wild world of CES. Here are a couple quick hits from the journey.
- - The trip started out with a pretty epic run in with the TSA: Rock, Paper, Pat Down
- - When CES is in town, there is a pretty good chance that if you're traveling on a last minute schedule you're not going to find a hotel room to write home about available. But, since I barely see my hotel rooms when I am traveling for work, it is not a big deal. The most perplexing part of this hotel complex experience was their position on WiFi. There was none. Not in the rooms, not in a business center. None. The only place to find WiFi was in front of Krispy Kreme. So, at 7am on Friday morning, I headed that direction. Not for a fresh donut, but for some access. While sitting in front of a Krispy Kreme inside a casino, strange things happen. While looking up from an email, I watch as a gentleman, who had obviously not gone to bed and still had a half drank Bud Lite in his hand, make advances towards another man. That other man happened to be an old fat hotel cop. And the advances weren't welcome. The drunk guy got laid out by the old fat cop and I got some early morning entertainment with my coffee.
- - When your day starts of with drunk guy vs. old fat guy wrestling matches, it is tough to predict what will happen next. I was contemplating exactly that as I stood in the elevator heading back up to my room and heard "Hold the door!" Amazing sight to be seen number two of the morning wandered through the elevator doors. Now, let me say this, I have seen the walk of shame before, but this took the definition if shame to a whole new level. Being the polite gentleman that I strive to be, I kept my eyes forward. It was hard mind you, it is not everyday that you see that much mascara caked on someones cheek. But Miss Shame wanted to make sure that I knew it wasn't as bad as it looked. In the 24 floors that we shared that elevator, she told me no less than 3 times that she really was a classy girl and that this was who she really was.
- - My final meeting of the terribly entertaining day was pretty close to the CES mad house. As I walked up, I saw the eternal taxi line that had already formed. As my meeting went on, I could just imagine the line getting longer and longer as more and more folks wrapped up their days and tried to get back to the Strip to buy overpriced drinks and lose money on games they've played before but only on their iPad. On the sage advice of one of the gentleman I was meeting with, I waited less than five minutes to hop a cab to the airport instead of the over hour and half that others waited. I casually stood near the front of the line and checked my phone. When I heard the bell man holler at the cabbie that the next group of three woman were headed to the airport, I told the ladies I'd pay for their cab ride if I could join them in the front seat. I didn't really wait to hear their answer, but tossed my bags in the cab with theirs and made it to LAS in time to see kick off for the Cotton Bowl.
As a wise man once said, "What happens in Vegas staying in Vegas is so last millennium."