What Happens in Vegas

Greetings from Las Vegas, where a person can...

• go a full week without breathing fresh air or seeing the sun,
• be greeted first thing in the morning off the elevator by grisly tourists still wearing out the nickel slots with a drink in their hand and a Marlboro Light in their mouth at 7:00am,
  
• have a conversation with an executive about software education for business partners only to be interrupted by blaring lights and music as a scantily-clad cocktail waitress hops atop a platform for a song & dance,
  
• same situation as above only with the shirtless Chippendale's dancers approaching ladies to have their take their picture taken with them.
  

Ah, Las Vegas. There is no place like it. And while I contend that Vegas is the most artificial, gaudy, plastic place on the planet, it is what brings 2,000 software consultants from IBM together every year for our technical conference.

This year has definitely been the best of the four conferences I have attended. I think the biggest plus for me is getting to meet people that I work with face-to-face after a year of laboring to get things accomplished via phone calls, web conferences, and email. Each year more and more contacts are made so it is that much more rewarding to connect with these people. So while I may grumble about the excessive cheesiness of this place, it has still been a productive week.

Cheers from Slot Machine land!