shaky knee in Vegas
Hi,
Am writing this fine eveing from upon high in the Las Vegas Hilton, home of the Barry Manilow's Music & Passion show! Everyone working here greets you with that information. This is also the hotel that hosted Elvis Pressley for record-breaking engagements in the 70's, and where he lived in the penthouse until his last performance in 1976. Check out other famous hotel "facts" (* from Wikipedia).
I'm travelling with some co-workers attending a vendor trade-show. We've attended this same show in years past, in Orlando, San Diego, New Orleans and Chicago. It starts tomorrow when all of the network-nerds descend on the LV Convention Center. The attendees, ourselves included, are quite a unique demographic, and quite a site to behold.
Today we took a guided tour to Hoover Dam, which was spectacular. These kind of things never look the same in person, but are no less impressive. The scale is just something pictures and video just can't convey.
One interesting project observed was the Hoover Dam Bypass being built across a gorge. Interesting is that a 20 foot-high wall is included to block the view of the dam from the bypass in order to keep traffic moving.
Our half-day tour was early Sunday morning (today). Judging by the heavy traffic even before our return before noon, the bypass seems completely necessary. The high-suspension bridge will be quite a drive when completed even without the dam view.
That was the joke of our retired tour guide, Tom; everything at Hoover Dam is the dam tour, dam road, dam traffic, (dam jokes). Tom did an excellent job and I'd recommend him to anyone. I especially enjoyed his take on who the players were in Vegas (Harrahs, MGM, Steve Wynn...)
Most impressive was the turbine room where the electricity was generated. Everything built in the 1930's is still pretty much in tact today, including liberal use of terrazo floors (1.5 - 3.5" thick), aluminum (first time used in a large-scale engineering proejct), the prevalent art-deco style throughout, and again the scale of everything. Definately a must-see.
In the afternoon we tromped around the strip, seeing such mega-resorts as MGM Grand, where a live lion exhibit was a real treat. The lions are about a year old and are playful just like domestic kitties (only 200 lbs). The Hagen-Das shake (Belgian chocolate & strawberry cheesecake ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup & sprinkles) in the cavernous basement was another enjoyable treat.
We then tromped through the heat, across the many pedestrian bridges, to the Excalibur, the Luxor (very impressive), and Mandalay Bay (to see the Sharks Reef exhibit we'd thought was free but wasn't and so didn't see it), and then back through New York New York & the MGM Grand again, to the monorail back to the LVHilton. The heat was 100 degrees plus, and we walked alot outside. Quite the workout.
I extended my workout by jogging back to The Wynn where there is a Ferrari/Maserati dealership in the lobby. I ran because they said they closed at 6:00pm on Sundays, and I'd called at 5:30pm in the mile-plus away LVHilton.
I arrived at 5:55pm and they were just closing the doors. I asked the gentleman if they were closing early, and he just said yes. A nice clerk in the adjacent Ferrari gift shop saw this, went over and talked to the dealership museum guy and came back to say he could get me in, but the $10 admission (charged for non-Ferrari owners) would still apply for the five minues they were still open. I thanked him but declined. The view of the Enzo on display through the gift shop windows sated me for the moment.
I walked through the still high-90's heat back to LVHilton, joined our cadre, and headed for old downtown Vegas. Very different from the glitzy, overdone strip, it is a real throwback to the old days of vegas you picture from movies. The Golden Nugget & Binions, and the giant neon cowboy were all there, plus the fantastic Freemont street overhead light show. A fun night.
Best of all, I bet my first dollar on the slots, drawing down $0.25 per turn. At the $0.75 cents mark it paid! I got $6.75! Well I cashed out right then and there.
Tomorrow the conference begins and I'm looking forward to the many sessions I've picked out. Will try to get back to the ole blog here to report any more happenings that might be of interest, like House of Blues, the Ringo Starr & his All-Star band tour in town (Sheila E, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter among others!), and the Stratosphere.
Oh, and the reward for making it this far through the blog is the explanation of this post's title: shaky knee. I got a couple of good workouts in before leaving for Vegas that, unfortunately, stressed my one knee that has had problems in the past. Today I wore my knee brace & preemptively took Aleve as it's really been quite painful when left in the same position for very long. Hopefully the rest of the week will go easier for it.
Am writing this fine eveing from upon high in the Las Vegas Hilton, home of the Barry Manilow's Music & Passion show! Everyone working here greets you with that information. This is also the hotel that hosted Elvis Pressley for record-breaking engagements in the 70's, and where he lived in the penthouse until his last performance in 1976. Check out other famous hotel "facts" (* from Wikipedia).
I'm travelling with some co-workers attending a vendor trade-show. We've attended this same show in years past, in Orlando, San Diego, New Orleans and Chicago. It starts tomorrow when all of the network-nerds descend on the LV Convention Center. The attendees, ourselves included, are quite a unique demographic, and quite a site to behold.
Today we took a guided tour to Hoover Dam, which was spectacular. These kind of things never look the same in person, but are no less impressive. The scale is just something pictures and video just can't convey.
One interesting project observed was the Hoover Dam Bypass being built across a gorge. Interesting is that a 20 foot-high wall is included to block the view of the dam from the bypass in order to keep traffic moving.
Our half-day tour was early Sunday morning (today). Judging by the heavy traffic even before our return before noon, the bypass seems completely necessary. The high-suspension bridge will be quite a drive when completed even without the dam view.
That was the joke of our retired tour guide, Tom; everything at Hoover Dam is the dam tour, dam road, dam traffic, (dam jokes). Tom did an excellent job and I'd recommend him to anyone. I especially enjoyed his take on who the players were in Vegas (Harrahs, MGM, Steve Wynn...)
Most impressive was the turbine room where the electricity was generated. Everything built in the 1930's is still pretty much in tact today, including liberal use of terrazo floors (1.5 - 3.5" thick), aluminum (first time used in a large-scale engineering proejct), the prevalent art-deco style throughout, and again the scale of everything. Definately a must-see.
In the afternoon we tromped around the strip, seeing such mega-resorts as MGM Grand, where a live lion exhibit was a real treat. The lions are about a year old and are playful just like domestic kitties (only 200 lbs). The Hagen-Das shake (Belgian chocolate & strawberry cheesecake ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup & sprinkles) in the cavernous basement was another enjoyable treat.
We then tromped through the heat, across the many pedestrian bridges, to the Excalibur, the Luxor (very impressive), and Mandalay Bay (to see the Sharks Reef exhibit we'd thought was free but wasn't and so didn't see it), and then back through New York New York & the MGM Grand again, to the monorail back to the LVHilton. The heat was 100 degrees plus, and we walked alot outside. Quite the workout.
I extended my workout by jogging back to The Wynn where there is a Ferrari/Maserati dealership in the lobby. I ran because they said they closed at 6:00pm on Sundays, and I'd called at 5:30pm in the mile-plus away LVHilton.
I arrived at 5:55pm and they were just closing the doors. I asked the gentleman if they were closing early, and he just said yes. A nice clerk in the adjacent Ferrari gift shop saw this, went over and talked to the dealership museum guy and came back to say he could get me in, but the $10 admission (charged for non-Ferrari owners) would still apply for the five minues they were still open. I thanked him but declined. The view of the Enzo on display through the gift shop windows sated me for the moment.
I walked through the still high-90's heat back to LVHilton, joined our cadre, and headed for old downtown Vegas. Very different from the glitzy, overdone strip, it is a real throwback to the old days of vegas you picture from movies. The Golden Nugget & Binions, and the giant neon cowboy were all there, plus the fantastic Freemont street overhead light show. A fun night.
Best of all, I bet my first dollar on the slots, drawing down $0.25 per turn. At the $0.75 cents mark it paid! I got $6.75! Well I cashed out right then and there.
Tomorrow the conference begins and I'm looking forward to the many sessions I've picked out. Will try to get back to the ole blog here to report any more happenings that might be of interest, like House of Blues, the Ringo Starr & his All-Star band tour in town (Sheila E, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter among others!), and the Stratosphere.
Oh, and the reward for making it this far through the blog is the explanation of this post's title: shaky knee. I got a couple of good workouts in before leaving for Vegas that, unfortunately, stressed my one knee that has had problems in the past. Today I wore my knee brace & preemptively took Aleve as it's really been quite painful when left in the same position for very long. Hopefully the rest of the week will go easier for it.
posted by Swell Foop at 1:23 AM
1 Comments:
Good to see a new post from one of my favorite writers!!!
Take it easy out there in the heat and maybe we can see some of your pictures from the trip sometime.
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