Footprints on the Moon

In Vegas, we stayed at the Imperial Palace. The price was right, and the reviews we found online were fairly decent, so that’s where we went. Now, none of us were expecting a fabulous hotel, but I don’t think anyone was quite prepared for an experience in which the bathroom sink was the only thing that was “right.”
First thing out of the gate is that we’d requested rooms that were next to each other, adjoining if possible. Colleen even called ahead and had them add that to the reservation, and we all waited for each other at the airport to check in at the same time. When we got upstairs we were across the hall from each other, and they refused to allow us to move, despite the fact that the party who DID have an adjoining room with us had not checked in (nor had they requested the room they were in).
Then we discovered that there were 2 double beds in the room, even though we’d paid for Queens. The hotel staff maintained until the end that they were Queens, but since I have a double bed, and Cass has a Queen, that was clearly not the case.
Cass called 4 times on Wednesday night for more towels (there were 2 towels, plus the handtowels and washcloths available for 4 people), and extra pillows. We did not get those items until she called back Thursday morning and someone new answered the phone and talked to a supervisor.
The tub backed up, and was slow to drain… I deal with this at home, but I don’t pay nearly as much to stay in my apartment every night! There was no lid on the toilet seat– where the heck do you put stuff when you’re in the shower? I’d never been in a hotel like that before. The volume buttons on the TV remote didn’t work. Cass and I both paid $10 for 24 hours of wireless internet service that worked only when it wanted to. Oh yeah, and their breakfast buffet left quite a bit to be desired.
Nothing completely awful, but it adds up. It was still a great experience, but we definitely realized that you get what you pay for. The next time I’m in Vegas, I think I’d like to put up a little more money to stay some place nicer.

Those of you who followed my twitters during the Vegas trip will already know this. Saturday was PostieCon and they gave out raffle tickets at the door. They then used those tickets to draw prizes between all of the sessions. They gave away everything from Roombas, GPS systems, Ipods, gift cards, and stereos! The very first prize, though, was a Roomba.
They started reading off the numbers. 311, yeah… 2, yeah… 6, yeah… 8!! YEAH!! I won!!! Holy cow! If you’re anything like my mom, your first response is “What the heck is a roomba?” Well, a Roomba is a vacuuming robot made by iRobot. I’ve linked there to the exact model that I won. I’m seriously excited for it to show up here so I can set it to work on the cat hair embedded into my carpet.
You might be wondering why I’m waiting for it to show up if I’m already at home. Well, that is due to the awesomeness of my friend Julie. I was trying to figure out how in the WORLD I was going to get this large, heavy roomba home. It wasn’t going to fit in my suitcase… I didn’t trust it to come off of the turnstile at baggage claim. Julie was completely fabulous enough to offer to ship it to me. So my Roomba is currently in Las Vegas, Nevada waiting on FedEx to come pick it up. Soon it will arrive here, and I will have to clean. I’ve been told you have to get everything up off the floor before you can run the vacuum. Yeah, I’d say I’ve got a lot to do before I can use it!

… ends up on the internet!
I’m going to have to get a t-shirt that says that or something. They’re selling them in the Allegiant Airlines “catalog” for $20 but I think I’ll search the internet! It’s kind of been the theme of the week—“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Unless you’re traveling with a group of bloggers.”
Last night was the BCAs at the TAO night club at the Venetian. There was an open bar until 9pm, and let me tell you, we had a good time partying with the Izea guys. I can’t count how many times someone said the words “Please don’t blog about that!” or “Don’t put that picture on the internet!” It will be interesting to see what surfaces, that’s for sure.
The TAO was pretty great though, the obscene amount of alcohol we consumed not withstanding. It looked like a pretty neat venue anyways, but the were also decorated for their 2 year anniversary party which was set to begin when our party ended. We were told there were going to be celebrities in attendance – Janet Jackson, Jamie Foxx, and Wayne Brady were the names I heard. I don’t know who was there or not because I think I had left by the point that the “elite invitation” listers would have been showing up. Alli said there was a TV star outside getting in when she arrived, but for the life of me, I can’t remember who it was now. But, what happens in Vegas ends up on the internet, so I’m sure I’ll be able to find out!!

This picture was taken at Tao, before I consumed my share of the obscene amounts of alcohol lol The waitress immediately asked if I wanted her to take my picture, and she looked at me kind of funny when I told her it was for a Self Portrait project.

I’m currently on the plane on the way home from Vegas. Obviously, I don’t have internet connection up in the sky, so I’m writing this in a word document to post when I’m back on the ground. It’s currently 12:25pm at home, and 9:25 in Vegas. It was an interesting experience this morning, headed out of the hotel and to the airport all by my lonesome.
It was really difficult to leave this morning though. I got everything together, gave Alli one last hug, and then headed out the door. I had to do it in a hurry though because I was starting to cry. So I stood in the hallway, cried a little bit, pulled myself together and headed downstairs.
The cab driver kept trying to talk to me, but I could not understand a single word she said, so that made for an interesting ride to the airport. I’m flying Allegiant, and I was surprised to find out that they don’t have a desk inside—you check in outside. It took about 45 minutes to make it all the way through security and to the gate.
When I got to the gate they were doing preboarding. Shortly after they started priority boarding. Since I chose to select my own seat during the reservation process, I boarded priority. I handed the lady my boarding pass, and I heard one attendant tell the one in front of me, “Make sure everyone is for this flight, and not the next one.” So the lady looks at me, looks at my boarding pass and says “South Bend?” I say yes, and she tears off my stub and I get on the plane. But then I get seated and I look at the clock on my cell phone, and I’m thinking hmm… this seems awfully early to be on the plane. So I ask the guy next to me “What time does this flight take off?” and he says “6:25” So I ask, and where is it going? At this point, I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m crazy, but he answers me “Sioux Falls” CRAP. I’m on the wrong plane! Though, I’m kind of ticked that the lady at the desk didn’t catch that. It wasn’t a big deal, I got off, waited and got on the correct flight. But it was like, hmm… where do I live again?!
We were late boarding—by about 20 minutes probably, and then we waited while maintenance changed some light bulbs. But the pilot said that he’s moving a little faster than planned, with good tail winds, and he was trying to get a more direct route so that we’d not be late arriving. We’ll have to see how that works out. Right now, we have an hour left before our projected landing. I have Ratatouille playing in the background, so I’m going to end this here, and focus on the movie. Also going to see what food I might have in my carryon. I don’t have money to buy food on the flight, but I *think* I might have moved beyond the unsettled stomach and into hungry. Hard to tell.

I’m currently sitting in the convention center conference room, freezing. Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for– PostieCon 2007! I keep saying it, but I’ll say it again– I promise I will blog in more depth at some point.
I’ve found that I’ve gotten quite a lot out of the sessions today. I hope those of you who are at home are following along on the live feeds, if you can. The meebo chat was neat for awhile, and no offense to those who are not at PostieCon and chatting, but it kind of fell apart. As more and more people joined, less and less people remembered that they were being broadcast live on large flat screen monitors in the conference room.
Right now there seems to be a lot of antsy people in the conference room. This probably has something to do with the fact that the big Argus reveal is now only 15 minutes away. Trust me, during that time, Ted will have my rapt attention, so I won’t be blogging about it!
Blogger’s Choice Awards at Tao tonight from 6-9 pm, and Tao’s 2 year anniversary party after that! Alli and I are hoping to sneak out and catch the Treasure Island show at 11:30. Flying out of here early tomorrow morning. Allegiant wants me to be at the airport 2.5 hours before my flight, so you’ll probably see me when I’m in the airport waiting!

(OH, and can’t forget before I go– Happy Birthday Marcus!)

The internet connection is being dicey, but I wanted to at least touch base today (and not break the NaBloPoMo streak ). Let me tell you, after day number three of walking, walking, walking through Las Vegas, my feet are not feeling so hot. That’s actually quite a large understatement– they are very, very painful. Earlier I likened the feeling in my heels to walking on steak knives. It’s totally worth it though! But if I have more than mush below my ankles by the end of this trip, I’ll be shocked!

Today consisted of heading back to the convention center to the Blog World Expo, and visiting all of the vendors that we didn’t quite make it around to yesterday. Found out about some interesting companies that I’m looking forward to really investigating once I get home.
McDonalds for lunch, and then Alli and I walked down to Treasure Island to look around… hopefully we’ll be heading back tomorrow night to catch the show. Then we met Colleen and Jim at Caesar’s Palace for some gambling… after losing our money, we did Chipotle for dinner, and then went to meet everyone at the Bellagio for the group shot. We gambled a little bit first, and I won my money back– I’m up by a dime now, woohoo! Not as great as Ted’s win, but I don’t have as much to put up first either! You’ll have to wait on the group shot as I didn’t get one with my camera, but several other people did.
For now, here’s a picture of Ted and I at the Izea booth yesterday.

I’m sitting in the Las Vegas Convention Center using the free wireless at Blog World Expo. This trip has been amazing so far. I’m twittering, and uploading photos to flickr as I can, so make sure you check those out if you want to see what we’re all up to.
I was going to make this long play by play post, but I’m finding that I just don’t have the motivation to do so right now! It was an absolute blast meeting everyone, and sitting around In-N-Out last night. It was great to just get to hug these amazing people!! I feel like I’ve known everyone forever…

We’re looking over the BWE schedule at the moment and talking about finding lunch.

Good morning! I’m all packed, except for the laptop in the carryon. I’m trying to choke down some breakfast at the moment, and my mom will be here to pick me up in about 10 minutes. I’m excited, but I’m SOOO nervous! I get like this every time I travel. I’ll be trying to twitter as I can, so you can check on me over there. Oops, my ride’s here… guess I better find my shoes and pack up the computer!