More Thoughts on Vegas

One of my friends commented to me privately that she thought that my last post had been pretty negative and harsh about Vegas. Ant that could be true, and reflective of my mood at the time. Conference was not yet in full swing, and my comments reflected many of the comments I heard about the site.

Here are a couple of positive things:

• People watching (especially outside the conference) is absolutely fascinating
• There is an incredible mix of people just to judge the externals: ages, ethnicity, groupings mixed and not
• People are often pretty happy-looking when they are not being amazed at the sites
• Las Vegas is like no other place in the world
• Here is (generally) an escape from reality
• The Monorail is pretty amazing and wonderfully clean
• Actually, given the volume of people and the activities they are engaged in, Vegas is a pretty clean city in terms of trash (at least on the Strip)

One part of Conference which helps to invigorate me, is meeting up with colleagues. That is a huge part of the experience. I get to see folks I have not seen in quite awhile (sometimes only a year, other times longer). It is also a chance to meet IRL (In Real Life) folks with whom I more often interact using technology.

Yesterday morning I was looking for breakfast and had that kind of experience. I was walking through a hotel/casino when someone called my name. It was someone who is a Facebook friend and with whom I had had some conversations, but had not ever met in person. We wound up going to breakfast -- Serendipity was the appropriate name of the restaurant -- which gave me a great beginning to the day.