Ed Buford - Just Another Geek

Keynote for Blackboard conference

Laura got me a spouse's pass for the Blackboard conference which includes Steve Wozniak's Keynote presentation. Looking forward to the presentation I hope I get more out of Wozniak's presentation than I did his iTunes :-)

Thinking of my friend

When I saw this car I couldn't help thinking of Jason Powell and how he should have a chance to play with a toy like this.  Just in case you don't know, his driving skilz are dope!

Las Vegas - we made it.

Yesterday we were tying up loose ends to make the trip to Las Vegas for Laura's BlackBoard Conference. Finally about 24 hours ago we headed out to Midway to catch our flight out. Since the Keynote doesn't start till tonight we were in no rush and just took it slowly; good thing because the plane was way late.

When it was time to board a very inebriated little man (I'm guessing in his fifties) got in line in front of us. You couldn't help smell the alcohol on him, and he held on tight to the wall up the gate ramp. 5 minutes after we were seated the Flight attendants asked him to come with them.... I was praying for him. I don't know what they did with him but as soon as they walked him off, the door closed and we backed out. I was glad to see he didn't put up a fight.

The flight was uneventful but long and the shuttle was painless enough. When we got to the hotel there was a problem getting us the king size bed we had confirmed, but after much effort we got a room on the strip with the same sq. footage but with two queen beds, we don't mind since we have a queen at home anyway. The hotel we're staying at is the Plazzo tower at the Venetian. The place is swank these pictures don't do justice.

here's our room:

This is out the window.... phone camera doesn't know what to do with all the lights

We finally got our room, it was 2:30 am our time. We walked through the casino floor to get to our elevators and there was a nasty stench of old cigar smoke, the people seemed as mechanical as the slot machines they were operating.

When we got to our room I was dehydrated and needed water; the hotel water was the worst I've tasted.... and I've had some bad water! I went down to get some at the closest coffee shop in the hotel and paid $4.50 for a liter of H2O... I was mad, I knew it was late and that I was over reacting, so I stuffed my madness down wherever madness goes when you try to put a good face on it and retreated to my room to drink my life's savings away.

We got up early vegas time and took showers and enjoyed the nice room. Then headed off to Denny's for breakfast.... lots O food, cheap prices. Also we stopped at a drugstore and bought a couple gallons of water on the way back.The walk down the strip left me feeling very sad for both the people who live here and those who are drawn here. The place is crass and there is something that seems to remove dignity from faces of the people I've seen.

Happy to be relaxing at the moment - More later.