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| Half the fun is getting there, right? |
Feb. 2nd, 2005 |
It was a chilly night when I got off the plane, almost as cold as the day I left behind in New York. Though, after almost 6 hours sitting like cattle in the back of a 757 it felt good. I was thinking I would hop into a cab and be on my way to meet Hobbes at the hotel we were staying at for CES. However, Las Vegas had something different in mind for me, which was a line. A very, very, long line of people waiting for cabs. The good news is the cabs were coming at a steady clip, but when you have a line of several hundred people, it takes time. Forty-five minutes to be exact, which was 45 minutes too long. You see, the local time was 1:00am, except to me it was 4:00am, and I was tired.
Eventually I made it to the hotel, and had to wonder, “Where the hell am I?” Seems that since we waited until only a month ago to book the room, we were staying “near” the strip, not on it. Notice the “” around near. Turns out that “near” is a very relative term. Sure, compared to New York, Arizona Charlie’s was “near” the strip, but is 5 miles and a $20 cab ride really “near”?
So here I am in the middle of nowhere Las Vegas and there is Hobbes waiting for me. See, he had his Stormbringer case sponsored by Intel and they loved it so much they wanted to showcase it at their booth. So they invited Hobbes to the show and he had been in Vegas for 2 days already. The hotel was nice, the casino small and apparently a favorite of the locals, and the bed was calling to me. So I wasted no time answering it. |
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| Is Hell Freezing Over? |
| After a decent night sleep we hit the breakfast buffet and go out front to catch a cab. First thing we noticed is that it was snowing. Yes, snow in Las Vegas. I quietly wondered if I would see pigs fly and if Hell was indeed freezing over. It was funny to hear the locals, and Hobbes, get all excited about some wet snow that was melting as soon as it hit the ground. It was even funnier to see them standing on the steps at the hotel taking pictures of the snow. But I guess if you never seen it, it is quite exciting. |
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| Back to the cab, and our first big problem. Since we are “near” the strip, and not on the strip, the cabs don’t come out here much. Heck, they don’t come out here unless they have to, and even then it takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes for them to get here after you call for a cab. And, to make matters worse, there were about 8 people who had been waiting for 40 minutes already in front of us to get a cab. Eventually a cab shows up, and takes us and 2 other people to the Las Vegas Convention Center. A cab with a crazy driver who isn’t paying attention and a busted heater so we are all freezing ‘cause he keeps opening the windows to defog the windshield. Thankfully, after some hair raising moves we arrive in one piece. |
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| Friday @ CES |
| The first thing we do is hit the Intel booth so I can get a personal look at the masterpiece that is Stormbringer. I have to tell you, the pictures suck. Either Hobbes has a really crappy camera, or he is the one of the world’s worst photographers. The case is simply amazing, really, and I am not the only one that thinks so. When we arrived there was a crowd of people standing around the case and poor Alex from Intel trying to answer their questions about the case and what was done to it. After checking out some of the stuff Intel had on display, which to be honest was nothing groundbreaking, but some interesting stuff, we left a small stack of my GruntvillE business cards with the case and hit the show floor. |
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