Ok, so business travel can be cool

Check this out. I just returned from Las Vegas, where I spent a day and a half marketing for my job. Now before I hear the collective groans of "oh, Las Vegas.." and put up with the "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...", rest assured that 1) Vegas is a soleless berg in the middle of the desert, and 2) the day began at 4am when I woke up to catch my flight from Denver, so it can be reasonably determined that I was exhausted by the time this story happened.

So Andy and I are standing in line at the Palms hotel, well maybe it wasn't quite a line, but a gaggle of people waiting to see the next check-in helper, and Andy is called forward to receive the key for his room. I am hailed down by the next attendant, when some other guest (who obviously had his head too far up his own ass to notice), walks in front of me and is helped. With a look of "oh well" because, really, the day was over, and I was happy just to be close to changing out of a suit, I join my business partner at the counter. I look up to find that the hotel manager is the person checking us in - he comments on the rudeness of the other guest, and says that they [the Palms] as the "nicest rooms in Vegas" and that he would get us "a nice one for our troubles". Now tuck this away for later use - my inconvienance time was about 15 seconds.

We are provided with keys and are told that we are on the 50th and 51st floor respectively. Having traveled a lot, and stayed in a number of hotel rooms, this isn't a big deal to me. As we get off the elevator, it still hasn't hit us yet. So we part ways and state to each other that we will call to rendezvous later for Memphis Championship BBQ (a whole different story).

As I put my key in the lock and open the door, I am greeted with a sense of shock and awe that was probably along the lines of what Georgie Bush was looking for in his recent crusade. There is no bed in sight. In front of me lies was we conservatively estimated at 1,500 - 2,000 sqaure feet of Vegas hotel real estate! Walking into the penthouse suite that I am to call my "room" for the night, a feeling of "is this right?" swells inside me, at which point I beat it into submission and remind myself that it is, in fact a Monday night in Vegas - not exactly a high day for room demand.

Andy rings me, and of course his corner penthouse is just as cool as mine, with a jaccuzi that is filled from the ceiling, three plasma tv's and a sitting room! As I don my terricloth robe and flip through the television, I recall the lesson of the day, which is that event for a couple of non-gambling businessmen in town for one night, Vegas can still impress you. Oh, and don't cut in line!

Some stats from the Palms website:


View the Vegas skyline at eye level from our Penthouse Suites. High atop the Palms & Fantasy Towers, these suites are custom designed to party with LCD and plasma screen TVs, Jacuzzi® tubs and, of course, wet bars.

* Up to 3,000 square feet
* Jacuzzi Tub
* LCDs and Plasma Screens
* iPod® Hi-Fi Equipped
* Full Wet Bar
* Living Room
* Walk-in Closet
* Capacity: 65

Published Rack Rate: $3,000
Chris' Rate: $79.00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Being partially Irish (Grandma's name was Conners after all), I feel obliged to post a short note about our day and evening. Having spent the day on Friday learning to ski (don't worry, a descriptive post about this will be forthcoming), I rolled out of bed, sore to the bone, to spend the day with my fiancee and our dog Maggie. Liz set us up to be part of one of the largest St. Patrick's day parades in the country! Maggie and 19 other greyhounds, all rescues from the track, walked down revelers who were already more drunk than I even plan on being at all this evening. Walking down the street, we realised that this was the place for us - but after a well deserved nap.

We are up from the nap and are on our way out. We are sporting our green, and are ready to go to what I am sure is the least authentic Irish pub in all of Denver - there won't be nearly enough 80's music to make it like the real thing.

Jannelle Fuller is CUTE

I may be 2 weeks behind here, but I thought that this picture deserved to live forever on the internet. Hopefully, in 20 years when Jannelle types...pardon me, thinks, her name into Google (we'll all be employees by that time), this picture of her at Valentines Day 2007 will emerge.

Funny Picture of the Day

So I know that I am a terrible blogger. I never seem to have time to upload the funny things that I find in my daily life. And when I do, I usually find that my fiancee has the ability to make it funnier. Period. So with that, I am resorting to launching a new service - Funny photo of the day. My one rule is that it can't be lifted from fark.com (which if you haven't been to, its a fantasitic news aggregator with snarky commentary.

Today's offering comes to us from some Belizian travel site that I have since forgotton.



I think it is funny. What do you think?