On the road again: Las Vegas, day 1

Each year around this time, a group of us journeys here to Las Vegas to celebrate Kyle's birthday with him.  Today's trip began after 2.75 hours of sleep, which is just too damn little.  I ended up dozing through most of the first flight, which made it a fine time.

I expected to have to sprint between gates in DFW, but instead we got off the plane, waited half an hour, and got back on it.  Would that every connection were so simple.

The second leg of the trip went as smoothly as the first, with the added bonus that I was able to get and stay current with work thanks to the plane's bandwidth.  After getting luggage and checking into the hotel, I passed most of the daylight hours in work.

The evening, though, brought one of my all-time favorite Cirque du Soleil shows, Love.  Marrying Cirque's trademark magic with the songs of the greatest band of all time, The Beatles, Love is an amazing, uplifting, wonderful ninety minutes.  I spent much of it smiling without even meaning to.

Afterward, we headed to the MGM Grand's Emeril's restaurant.  I had a salad and some delicious macaroni and cheese with ham, but the real treat was the banana cream pie, which remains the best I've ever tasted.

Though work filled the day and the hours after this evening interlude, the evening was wonderful indeed.

I wish I could take every person I know to see Love.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 1

The purpose of this trip is to have fun while belatedly celebrating Kyle's birthday. Today certainly featured many fun events, including lunch and gelato in the Bellagio, dinner at L'Atelier Robuchon, the Cirque show, Ka, and banana cream pie at Emeril's.

Unfortunately, the day also included a 5:30 a.m. wake-up after two hours of sleep, a long, cramped airplane ride, and many, many hours of work. So, a mixed day, but overall, a good one.

I'd go into more details, but I'm exhausted and still must work more, so perhaps additional information tomorrow.

On the road again: Las Vegas/CES, day 1

So it's 10:10 p.m. local time, which your body believes is really 1:10 a.m. where it woke up after three hours and fifteen minutes of sleep, you're in Las Vegas, you've been working solid for a good while, and you're staring at a big lump of work still awaiting your attention. What do you do?

Why, go out for pie, of course.

Not just any pie, mind you; oh, no. This is very special pie, and you can find it in your hotel, the MGM Grand, only a couple of blocks walk (no exaggeration) from your room. This is the Emeril's version of banana cream pie, and it is the best BCP on the planet.

It is from this very line of fine reasoning that I found myself sitting at the bar of the Emeril's restaurant here savoring a piece of this most delightful pie and sipping a cold glass of water as a trio of seriously drunk, CES-bound, marketing women a few stools away provided free entertainment. The cute Indian woman with the British accent rarely spoke as the pale, paunchy blonde and the trim brunette fought for the coveted Mary role in front of three geeks they would never have noticed had they not been so far into the bottle. People-watching is at its best in Vegas.

Having moved my tired self across the country, spent way too many hours on a plane, had a good dinner at Fix, and done a ton of work, I think it's time for me to finish the final pending tasks and fall into my bed.

Tomorrow, Bill and I begin our walking tour of CES.

Viva, Las Vegas, day 1

Today was a travel day that culminated in a dinner that ended with the best banana cream pie I've ever tasted. (Can you spot my priorities?) Believe it or not, that wonderful treat comes from the Emeril's Fish House in the MGM Grand. Jennie's BCP is a very close second, but in this one area, Emeril's rules the roost.

I worked a good chunk of the day, then played rat in the maze, airport style. The kids took the travel well, and they didn't even gripe when I lost ten minutes dealing with the TSA agent at RDU who didn't want to believe one person might be carrying two notebooks, a spare battery, and an external DVD drive.

The goal of this winter-break trip is to show Sarah and Scott all four normal (i.e., not R-rated) Cirque du Soleil shows--and in four nights! I've seen them all before, but I'm as excited as always to get to see them again. Cirque comes as close as any organization I've ever known to creating magic night in and night out on stages all over the world. I'd love to collaborate with them on something, though on what I have no clue.

Oh, yeah: remind me sometime soon, and I'll announce two new projects.

Hey, a guy can tease from time to time!