Day 0 in Vegas for a Trade Show

Phoenix/Vegas Trip log #3
In my hotel room - Tue, 3 Oct 2023. 7am

I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday. I'm in town for 3 days of a trade show. The flight from Phoenix was quick and uneventful. Once on the ground a colleague and I made a pit stop at Walmart for a few supplies (I bought a 6-pack of sodas but now realize I should've gotten some snacks, too) then on to the Cosmopolitan hotel on the Strip.

At the Cosmo I took one look at the long line for check-in and decided to check in with the elites in the elite lounge. Mistake. There were only 4 or 5 people in front of me (and 2 check-in agents) but every single one of them demanded bespoke hand-holding. I did get an upgrade for my elite status— but at dinner I learned that a colleague with no status got an upgrade at the hoi polloi check-in desk just by asking.



My upgrade is to a studio. "Studio" means it has that sofa and sitting area on the far end. Oh, and a terrace balcony. I have a view over the South Strip.



Events in Vegas are always at risk of turning into tough cycles of staying up late each night, socializing, partying, and doing everything else Vegas is known for, then still having to get up early the next morning and do a full day of work.

I aimed not to start that cycle the first evening. I joined colleagues for a lengthy dinner but begged off when they went to a fancy bar afterwards. I got back to my room at 9:30. I was going to make it an early evening. That makes sense since I was up at 6 and had a long day with 2 flights and a high-level client meeting.

Well, I tried to make it an early evening. I couldn't get to sleep until midnight, then I awoke, wide awake, at 6am. Ugh, it's going to be a long day.

What Happened to the Blue Ridge Mountains?

Now that I've posted 3 blogs about my trip to Phoenix and Vegas in the past 24 hours you might wonder what happened to my vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Oh, it's still on! I mean, the trip finished 9 days ago but my blogging about it is still on. 😂 I aim to publish another journal entry from that trip later today and then post about one a day this week while I'm on this other trip.

Lanning Ridge Road to Tom's Spring Falls

North Carolina Travelog #23
Near Brevard, NC - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 6pm

There are a number of reasons you might pick one trail to hike over another. One reason is you prefer the scenery on that trail. That was the case with the trail to Tom's Spring Falls; we wanted to see a waterfall. I'd proposed another trail, to the top of a peak near the Blue Ridge Parkway, but Hawk shot that down. "There's no waterfall there, is there? This trip is all about waterfalls." 🤣

So we're on this trail to see a waterfall. And we're also on this trail because, frankly, it's short and easy. We've had a long day today, spending a bit longer on driving between places than we had estimated, plus also adding in some unplanned stops when we learned about— or saw trail signs for— waterfalls along the way. For example, our visit to Silver Run Falls fits that description. The hours of the day passed leaving not long before sunset.



Even around 5:40 when we started it was already getting into the golden hour. That's the time when the sun is low in the sky and casts a more golden colored light on things. Dusk comes soon after that here as the Blue Ridge Mountain rises 2,000 - 3,000 feet above us just to the west.

We parked at the trailhead for the Lanning Ridge Road, an old fire road. We crunched across its gravel surface 100 yards before crossing a planked bridge over a stream (photo above), then returned to crunching on gravel the rest of the way.



Just because it's getting late in the day doesn't mean we don't stop to smell the roses... or check out the butterflies pollinating the flowers. Butterflies seem to like this purple flower that I'm to tired to look up the name of. 😅



Toms Spring Falls is one of those waterfalls that falls over a huge, sloped rock face, in this case at least 60 feet tall, but doesn't have enough water flow to be a gusher. Instead of forms a number of smaller plunges and cascades.



We spent a while at the base of the falls. We climbed up from the main trail on a narrow use trail then scrambled over some downed trees and rocks to get close. We saw a few other hikers pass by; they only snapped photos from down on the main trail before continuing on to points unknown. Why rush it? In beauty I walk.

Working from the Ironing Board

Phoenix/Vegas Trip log #4
In my hotel room - Tue, 3 Oct 2023. 1pm

When I got my room at the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas last night they told me they had an upgrade for me (hooray!) but it'd have to be a mobility accessible room (boo?). I accepted it because I figured I could make it work, but really I should have refused it. The main way hotels make rooms accessible to wheelchair users is by removing furniture. Sometimes it's a sofa or an armchair. This time it was a desk. There was no table or desk I could work at.



Now, I need to do work at this conference. I have a few deliverables my boss is demanding, plus I have a few Zoom meetings to attend. I need a place to work at my computer— and it can't be sprawled out across the bed. So I improvised this morning... by setting up the ironing board to sub in as a computer desk!

I've noted before that working remotely isn't just "work from home" (WFH) but work from anywhere. Now I know I can work from an ironing board. 🤣

Though there was still the problem that there were no electrical sockets within reach of my computers. 😡

This worked for a while, but I was pretty pissed about it. Finally I called down to the front desk to tell them I needed a room change. They agreed to swap my room but said it'd be a while as we needed to wait for housekeeping to clean one. They called me back around noon. I was already downstairs working at the show, but I made time to come back up to my room to repack my bag, trundle it to my new room, and re-unpack it.



My new room is the same size as the old one but with a different layout. The position of the bed area and sitting area is reversed; the bed is next to the balcony door/windows. And, most importantly, there's a wide (though not very deep) table at desk height in the sitting area, along with an appropriately shaped task chair.

Trade Show Day 1: Not Too Bad

Phoenix/Vegas Trip log #5
In my hotel room - Tue, 3 Oct 2023. 8pm

I'm wrapping up Day 1 of a trade show in Las Vegas. It hasn't been too bad. ...Yes, part of that is the early timestamp you'll notice in the header above. I was back in my room, shoes and jacket off, door shut for the night, before 8pm. Surviving trade shows in Las Vegas requires pacing oneself carefully... unless one is still in one's 20s or early 30s. My early 30s are old enough to vote, so yeah, I'm pacing myself on these trips.

A few goods and bads from across the day:

— This morning my work setup in my room was pretty bad. I was working from an ironing board! After an hour I decided that was bullshit and was unsustainable for 3 more days so I called down to request a room change.

— I went down to the booth early. It was good that I went to help out before the opening at 10:30 even though my shift didn't start until 1:30 because the booth was in bad shape at the start. Our event coordinator was nowhere to be found. I initially had uncharitable thoughts about her diligence as she offended me with some ridiculous demands and a dismissive attitude when she started months ago... but it turned out she wasn't slacking, she was chasing down some boxes that hadn't been delivered properly. Meanwhile I helped open and sort the boxes that had been delivered. Then when she returned to the booth and had to work on some other stuff I set up the computer and worked with the A/V techs to fix the large display. No one else who was scheduled to start at 10:30 was stepping up to take responsibility. 🙄

— I came back up to my room for a short rest after lunch; sitting down for 30 minutes was good. It rejuvenated me to work the afternoon shift.

— Similarly, coming back up to my room for an hour between the afternoon and evening shifts was a good rest. A few of my colleagues went to the bar to have it up for an hour. Starting at 4:30. Ugh. 😣

— I knocked back a few cocktails at the evening reception... which may be good or bad. I'll know in the morning. I'm leaning (hoping) toward good as I carefully didn't drink so much that I'd have trouble sleeping or feel ill overnight.

BTW, along the lines of "I'm getting to old for this shit", I observed that most people staff booths at the trade show are younger than me. Except at the IBM booth across from us. There almost everyone is 50+. 😂