Being delayed at an airport seems a perfect time to write a blog entry.

I want to talk briefly about my time at night in Vegas, but first, a follow-up to yesterday’s entry.

I was talking with one of my professors today, and he pretty much seconded the theory I gave yesterday about Avid. When I mentioned the HD-DVD comparison, he said, “There you go.” So, I would not be surprised if they’re bought out or closed within the next couple years.

Nightlife time.

Vegas is the place to go for nightlife, but you already knew that. I’ll talk about the two big things I did in Vegas.

The first was seeing Love, by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage. Set to Beatles songs, the acrobats fly around the stage, dance, flip, and more. I highly recommend it, but even if you don’t see that, you have to see a show. However, expect to drop at least $100, even for the cheap seats.

The next thing was what I did last night. I went to Tryst at the Wynn hotel. It’s a nightclub, and one of the hoppingest (invented a word there) clubs in Vegas. I don’t necessarily recommend you do what I did and go VIP, but if you do, make sure you have at least $800 to drop on the two bottle minimum.

We were told that the bottles were included in the $80 cover, but that wasn’t the case. Luckily, we got the minimum down to one bottle at $495. Still, if you can do the VIP option at Tryst, do it, because it’s totally worth it.

I also went to the casinos, and and went to a club at the Hard Rock cafe. All in all, the nightlife for me in Vegas was fun, and totally worth the money.

I’m a little disappointed right now. I was hoping to sign up for an Avid training session today, only to come to the convention center and find out that they’re not here.

They also didn’t come to NAB, but neither did Apple; yet, they decided to show up for BEA. I hate conspiracy theories, but when you fail to show up for two conventions in a row, that’s not good.

It’s probably best compared to when the HD-DVD guys didn’t show up for CES. About a month later, HD-DVD was officially discontinued. Now, I’m not saying this is Avid’s fate, but not coming to a convention like BEA is a poor choice, I think, especially when they were already set to come.

That’s how it’s also like the HD-DVD case. They were all set to appear at CES, then canceled at the last minute.

I wanted to learn more about Avid here, but now I guess it won’t happen.

Oh well. There’s still the Apple session in a bit.

I’m beginning to understand how being in Vegas can prevent one from doing blogging.

I never talked about the Lost producers interview.  Very quickly, it was pretty cool.  Cynthia Littleton from Variety interviewed Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about producing the show.  Basically, it was all about the challenges of producing a show such as Lost, about working on an actual island.

Afterward, I did a lot of walking around the exhibits.  They have some awesome stuff here; everything from editing software to storage units and more.  I attended a couple sessions that day.  The first was about the challenges of working with new media.  There were some big names attending that, including Scott Dinsdale, Exec. VP of the digital division of Sony BMG.  I also attended a session on making money from services like YouTube.  We’re doing a news package on the convention, and so we interviewed one of the presenters at that session.  We also interviewed a rep from Google about their radio services.  They have a software which automates the operations of a radio station.  It can bring up songs, commercials, and more.

Yesterday, I attended the job fair they had.  To be honest, it sort of sucked.  The reps there either wanted something sent online (which I could of done from my hotel room), or they weren’t even hiring editors.  One company was there hiring IT people.  I was like, "Come on, at a television convention???"  I understand they too need IT people but it seemed out of place.

After the job fair, I attended a session of professors and students talking about student run television stations, and then came back to the hotel.

Got to get back to the convention, but the next entry will be about the nightlife in Vegas.

Well, I’m finally here. After not being able to check in early (which is obvious), we headed to the convention (photos later). I don’t know what I liked more: the massive amount of vendors there, or getting free lunch.

I’ll have to say free lunch, because any free lunch is a good lunch. We had to sit through a discussion on direct-to-person marketing for digital entities, but it was kind of interesting.

Anyway, I’m not going to dwell. The photos I post later and throughout the week will tell all.

Pool time…

As promised, an entry from the airport.  This one a sunrise shot from my home airport.  The photo doesn’t do it justice.  It was more beautiful in person.

Oh early flights…

Back later.

As you can see from above, I am packing for the trip. In a little over 5 hours from now, I will be heading across campus to board the van taking the group of us to the airport.

I must say, though, packing is and always will be a pain. You’re constantly have a list running through your head and are always worried about missing something essential. I think I’m pretty okay at this point, though. I have all the clothes I need, including any dress clothes. In my carry-on is all the essentials, including my meds, the resumes I’ll be handing out to prospective employers, some chargers, and my laptop.

The carry-on is neat enough. It’s one of those bags you can sling around your shoulder and carry fairly easily. It’s pretty comfortable, too, and is a lot better option for my laptop than my old case, which always seemed to get too heavy after a while of carrying it. It’ll work. Though at first I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to fit everything I wanted in there, it seems to all have worked out in the end.

Alright, can’t stick around too long. Final packing to do, and then a little cleaning around the common areas of my room, since I won’t be here next week for room inspections.

I’ll try and make another entry from the airport, perhaps before if I’m lucky.