When you go to Vegas...

... make sure you check to see if your hotel offers a shuttle to/from the airport. The cab was fine, & not like I was paying for it anyway thanks to petty cash, but the friggin line for cabs at the airport was ridiculous. It's not even that there were many people in line.... just that you had to hike through a mile of chained-off barriers to get to the front. And when you're dragging a 40-pound duffel bag (because your mondo wheeled suitcase that's a dream to roll around was waaay too big to take on a 4-day trip) and hauling a 50-pound laptop bag (because your cell phone "new every two" deal doesn't kick in until December so the fancy smart-phone you want has to wait, and until then the only way to access your daily dose of myspace is to take your Toshiba Brick with you... and really, the guy on the plane with the brand-friggin-new Macbook Air was just rubbing it in!), walking becomes painful very quickly.

*sigh*

Otherwise, if you DO ever go to Vegas and have beau-coup bucks to blow on a hotel stay, go for the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa in Henderson. It's a ways from the strip but not away from civilization (surrounded by high-end shopping, whoo hoo! Do you think I could get a Pottery Barn sofa home with me?), and it's gorgeous. It's only been here for about 3 years, and the pool area is straight off CSI: Miami with the fancy cabanas, palms, waterfalls & stuff. Too bad (a) I look fat in a bikini now and (b) I forgot to bring it anyway... oh and (c) I'm here on a work related trip. Gah.

And why put Grey Goose vodka out on the tabletop where it's staring me in the face? Why not put it in a cabinet where it's $30-something price tag isn't making me want to throw the half-sized bottle out the window?

I have a massage scheduled for Thursday evening after the conference is over... but I'll probably need another one after hauling my bag back through the maze that is the airport here. I've heard that they make the casinos in Vegas big & hard to navigate on purpose so you're compelled to gamble when you get lost, but seriously, in the airport? That's a bit of overkill.

Kind of like the Army...

... in that my new job today consisted of somewhat long periods of boredom interspersed with brief spurts of intense activity.

I spent most of today reading & sorting through some documents that my boss had collected over the past few years. Most of it was outdated & promptly went into my recycle box. Some of what I read was interesting, but this one magazine, while full of good information, was boring as hell! My cube location isn't bad, except my neighbor is the noisiest typer ever, with her 3-inch long talons (and I'm not exaggerating!) clickity-clacking away. Otherwise, I think I'm going to like this... I just need to focus on one thing at a time. There are limits to my multi-tasking abilities, and absorbing so much new information is going to be a challenge. But if I take it one subject at a time I think I'll do alright.

Travel is in my future too, which is always fun! Vegas (technically, Henderson) next month for a Green Hotel Developer's Conference at a fancy resort, Chicago in April for a seminar on Sustainable Procurement, plus a drive up to Ann Arbor with B for Earth Day to see the Dalai Lama speak on sustainability! Vegas again in May for the big HD Trade Show and our annual sales meeting, then Chicago again in June for NeoCon. Boston later in the fall, and maybe DC too. Whee! I'm excited. I'm hoping that B might be able to join me on some of these, not only would he benefit from the networking but he's good at explaining some of the technical jargon that I'm not always good at.

On another note, I had the best sandwich ever today at lunch! Grilled cheese, with cheddar, swiss, cream cheese, bacon & tomatoes on garlic bread. OMG, I wolfed that thing down like a starving kid from Ethiopia. (That was so un-P.C. it's not even funny, but yet a good metaphor.)