Tami and I got back from Las Vegas today, and are crashing out, catching up on television recorded over the week with the DVR. We were in Las Vegas Sunday through today, staying at The MGM Grand Hotel. I was attending a Microsoft-Sponsored conference, Mix06 at The Venetian Hotel.
Sunday
We left Sunday afternoon. Tami and I took separate flights there and home as Avenue A | Razorfish was sending me to the conference. Tami came down, though, and stayed with me, and was able to attend most of the non-conference events with our co-workers (she works at Avenue A | Razorfish, too).
As there was 5 of us that arrived at the same time, we grabbed a limo and headed into town. It really was amazing to roll down the strip for that first time, in a limo, taking in all the sights. We checked in to our hotel, freshened up, and met everyone for dinner at Canatello at The Venitian. We all learned about Laura Porto’s wonderful new handbag and had a fine time. Dinner was great, and it was fantastic to have such a great group all together.
Monday
The first day of the conference was excellent. We saw some really interesting demos of Internet Explorer 7, and Expression (Avenue A | Razorfish did the package / graphic design). I can certainly see us getting deeper into Expression and doing some good work.
While we were at the conference, keynoted by Bill Gates, Tami walked around and went to New York, New York and some of the other casinos. She found the Lions at The MGM Grand, where we were staying, and took some fun photos.
During our break from the conference, Jonah, Ethan, Gannon, Kate, Laura, and I went to Canyon Ranch Cafe in The Venetian Spa for lunch, which was quite good. I had crabcakes and a bison & blue cheese wrap.
Later that evening, after the conference wrapped up for the day, Microsoft held a "social" at Tao Restaurant. Tami couldn’t get in as she wasn’t an official attendee of the conference, so she and I ate downstairs. I stopped by upstairs, where the rest of our crew was hanging out, and — apparently — taking full advantage of the open bar. After dinner Tami and I walked around and took a look at some of the other casinos, Bellagio, Cesar’s Palace, and Paris. We did a *little* gambling, but won nothing and decided to call it a little early and headed back to our room at around midnight or so.
Tuesday
The second day of the conference was good. Again, we spent a lot of time learning about Expression (code, how to use it, capabilities, etc …). At the beginning of the day, they presented a demo that we created here at work, and it went really well. Our team used Expression to put it together, and they did a *great* job. Our boss, Darrin Brown gave a small talk on Interactive Advertising, and it was well-received.
One of the highlights was a presentation by Microsoft Research on a new type of input "paradigm". It’s basically a new type of interactive grid system to allow users to input text, numbers, or control navigation using one finger. Really, it’s pretty amazing, and I believe will be the standard in a few years, especially for handheld and mobile devices.
After the day’s events, we met up with the rest of the crew at Circo @ The Bellagio. It was awesome.
We had to leave just a little early, though, as we had bought tickets for Ka, starting at 10:30. The show was *amazing*. I hadn’t really ever seen anything like that before. Tami, Jonah, Gannon, Kate, and our friend Dan from Microsoft all went, and were totally blown away.
After the show, we all headed to the West End Bar at The MGM Grand, where we were staying. We had a few drinks, and Kate called it a night.
After a few drinks, we headed to Teatro, which was nuts: girls dancing on the tables, waitresses in stockings and garters, a great DJ, and a *lot* of really potent drinks. Tami and I ended up calling it a night around 3:30, leaving Jonah, Gannon, and Dan to rock out for the rest of the night.
Wednesday
Apparently I started cursing in my sleep as the hangover set in. It was a miserable morning. Thank god for Tami, who helped pack me up for the trip home. She left around 9:30 to catch her plane. I eventually made it downstairs and grabbed some coffee and a croissant, which I then proceeded to lose into the porcelain god as soon as I returned to my room. Gannon called to make arrangements to meet to catch a taxi to the airport, and I had to get off the phone to return to my stance on my knees in the bathroom. Horrible.
I met the boys downstairs. The line for cabs was about 30 minutes long, so we ended up grabbing another limo for the trip back to the airport. After some Chili’s chicken strips and a Bloody Mary, I felt *much* better. Somehow we ended up getting bumped up to First Class, which made the hazy flight home a lot more comfortable.
Tami had arrived a few hours before me, so was able to pick me up and drive home … which leads me back to the beginning of this blog. All-in-all, the trip was *great* and I feel really fortunate to have been able to go. I learned a *lot*, had a great time, and was able to get to know my co-workers a lot better. They’re a great group, and I’m proud to work with them.
That’s the brief. Make sure you check the photos.
Related Links
notstatic.com | Commentary, demo and slides
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