Las Vegas

All I Did For My Birthday is Go To The Grocery Store

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Yes, you read that correctly: the main activity for my birthday was a trip to a grocery store called Omega Mart.

So while the title is technically true, it needs some context. For a milestone birthday (let’s leave the number out of this), we planned a long weekend in Las Vegas. Hopefully, I’ll write more about that trip later. Including M and myself, there were about eight of us. I had a pretty solid plan for the evenings—this is Vegas, after all. Plenty of speakeasies for good cocktails and amazing food. But I hadn’t put much thought into daytime activities for our few days there.

While running through ideas with a friend who’s been living in Vegas since college, he suggested Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart. I had no clue what it was, but the group was up for it. The group we had in total was eight people, though our numbers shifted throughout the weekend as some people arrived early and left early, while others came later and stayed longer. Initially, we planned to visit Omega Mart the day before my birthday with 6 of us that was there, but between scheduling issues and a downpour, we couldn’t make it. Thankfully, one of my friends managed to reschedule usfor the next day, which worked out well because two friends who were arriving that night could join us, too. That made it a full house.

On the day, I discovered that Omega Mart is… a supermarket disguised as an interactive art exhibit. Or maybe it’s an interactive art exhibit disguised as a supermarket? I’m still not sure. After spending hours there, I’m not entirely certain of much about Omega Mart.

Omega Mart is located in a warehouse-like complex called Area15. You enter the store as you would any regular grocery store. There are aisles stocked with products you can actually buy—each one weirder than the last. I wanted to take home half of them! (See photos for some truly bizarre examples.) After a few minutes of browsing the aisles, I was really enjoying myself, and then things got weird—in the best way possible. I noticed a hidden passageway through one of the freezer doors. A friend suggested waiting until everyone was ready before going in, but after a minute or two, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went in anyway.

What awaited us on the other side felt like stepping into another universe. I think that’s actually how they describe it. Almost on cue, a friend who we were waiting for outside in the freezer aisle wandered in from a different passageway, saying, “Oh, you found this place too!” Glad we didn’t wait for them!

We spent the next few hours exploring this alternate universe, with the occasional detour back to the grocery store. Everyone had a blast. What I didn’t realise at the time was that there were interactive storylines and mysteries woven throughout the place. One of my friends texted his teenage son about it, and his son immediately told us to check out the freezer. Apparently, he was already familiar with Omega Mart. Until two days prior, I had no idea this place even existed.

Honestly, describing the alternate universe we explored is hard to do justice here. I recommend checking out their website and reading some reviews. I’ll post a few photos, but it was visually captivating enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to return if I were in Vegas again.

When we’d seen enough, we exited Omega Mart and headed to a bar in the middle of Area15, right by Omega Mart’s entrance. I ordered an old-fashioned, smoked right in front of me, while a friend ordered some crazy drink that was lit on fire and bubbled up with a massive bubble before he drank it. Yes, we took several photos and videos—it was awesome.

We did other things too. Before Omega Mart, we had a fantastic dim sum lunch. Later that evening, we went for an amazing steak dinner. Living in London while most of my friends live around New York, I was genuinely touched that so many made the effort to come out and celebrate with me.

If you asked me to describe my perfect birthday, it probably wouldn’t have included a place like Omega Mart. And yet, I had a fantastic time. A solid reminder to always keep an open mind!

Cisco Networkers 2006

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It is weird, for months you are preparing yourself (mentally if not physically) for some event. And then it is over and it is like OK what now? I am back from Las Vegas. I had a great time, and I learned allot at Networkers. And now it is like what’s next? I know that answer but it is just a bit different with this big event over with.

In the short term I have to focus on my office move, and a few other issues. The next few weeks will probably be a bit hectic while we transition into the new place.

As for what I took away from Networkers, I learned allot. I got insight on what’s next for IPCC (UCC I guess now). Upgrade options for Call Manager, and a ton of great disaster recovery and disaster resiliency ideas. I have to start laying the ground work for going to California for Networkers 2007!

Bite

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Last night we went to the show Bite at the Stratosphere. Joe did nothing but talk about this show for months before we came to Vegas. He was all into the fact that there was topless dancing, but in a tasteful way. So we all decided to give the show a try. It was interesting. It was a vampire theme thing, and there was allot of topless dancing and biting. The songs they danced to where really good and the dancers where great so the show overall turned out to be really good.

The only down side was the really long walk from the monorail station to the Stratosphere. We ended up taking a cab back to the hotel after the show because we didn’t want to walk that trip again at 1AM.

I was just glad that I made the show at all. I got a migraine from sitting in the sun all day, and ended up skipping the buffet dinner everyone else went to. I took a Butabital and went back to the hotel room to rest for a while before the show. Thankfully the medication kicked in and I was fine for the show.

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Sunday Resting

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The convention doesn’t really start until tomorrow, so today is resting. We headed over to Joe’s hotel (Flamingo Grand Vacation something or other) to hang in his pool. We relaxed and hung out. I got really hot and tried to nap in the nice shade area with the misting system. Man those things rock. Not much went on today besides lying at the pool. It is nice to relax before the hectic week of juggling conferences and staying on top of work at the office begins.

Jayson and Gretchen also moved into their own room for most of the remaining week. We share a room again on Friday when the convention is over for one more night! At least I don’t have to wait for the bathroom for a few more days!

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Vegas Baby, Again!

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I am off to one of my favorate spots right now, Las Vegas. I am on my way to Cisco Networkers. I personally can’t stand conventions but because of what I do and my personal interests Networks is not like other conventions. I had a great time last year so I am going back. This year Jayson is coming with me, and we are meeting our friend Joe there. Right now I am on my Jetblue flight out there. I like jetblue. They have yet to do something to piss me off. I have my 36 channels of TV with nothing on, so I write a bit.

We will get to Vegas and check into the hotel and then meet up with Joe and Karen for dinner. By the time we land we will be able to go straight to the hotel. I don’t know if I will gamble much, but I will try do it a little. I want to work on my tan a bit tomorrow. I am going to Vegas for work, but the reason I am heading out a bit early is to get some recreation in also!

Right now we are over Missouri and I have already set my watch to Vegas time. I am going to sit back and relax a bit.

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I’m Back Home

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I got home late last night, actually by the time I got to my apartment it was today. The flight home was uneventful. Jetblue is still aces in my book. I listened to music on my Powerbook for about 30 minutes and spent the rest of the flight watching the History & Sci-Fi channels. Mind numbing TV to calm the masses on long flights, hmm why didn’t anyone else think of that? Man it worked. I got ticked off every time the interrupted the TV to make an announcement. Who cares if we hit some chop, or a wing fell off, etc. I want to get back to my modern marvel’s, and this week in history!

I got to the airport early enough to catch some food. I like a flight when everything goes according to plan, and you have time to relax and not rush. I even caught a cab with less than 5 minutes wait to and from the airport. Why can’t all travel be like this.

I even unpacked already. That is a feat for me, since I normally leave the luggage sitting around for days (weeks) before I put it away and do laundry. I am so proud of myself!

Cisco Networkers 2005

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Today was the first full day of Cisco Networkers. Allot of cool stuff going on. Way too much for me to go into too much detail. In a recap yesterday I learned what will be happening in the new version of IPCC. Some cool stuff there. I ate not enough food at the expo Cisco threw. I wasn’t hungry for that kind of fare, but it was awesome stuff. I got some information on some products I was interested in. I got some follow up reading to do. Then I got some answers from some engineers at Cisco about some products. I also got some free software that I need to try out. I could have used it a few weeks ago, but what can you do?

After that I meet up with my friend Joe. he is also out in Vegas for the same conference. We met up with his girlfriend and parents (they all came out to hang while he did his conference thing). They wanted to do the Star Trek Experience in the Hilton, but thankfully we just browsed the gift shop. They ended up eating the buffet at the hilton instead of eating at the Star Trek Theme restaurant. I ended up at a little cafe in the Paris. I am not a Vegas buffet person. I NEVER get my moneys worth at one of those. I don’t eat enough. Money wasn’t the reason I didn’t go though. I just don’t like those things. Even the nicest ones seem skeevy to me. Maybe it is memories of the Circus Circus buffet when I was 14?

Today’s keynote by John Chambers was good. He is a really good speaker. This was the second time I got the opportunity to hear him speak.

The first session I went to was overkill for me. They were talking about really high end network design of Data Centers. Cool to be sure, but I won’t be needing to apply those theories for a while. The next 2 sessions were on IPCC. What you can do with VOIP is amazing. I already drank the cool-ade on that stuff a while ago, but it is truly amazing what you can do with VOIP. Video, Soft-phone, Call Routing, Etc.

Tomorrow hopefully I will learn some other cool network stuff. I get to do a class on SNMP. I use it a bit now, but a better understanding of it would be very helpful.

Cisco Networkers

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I am off to the Cisco Networkers conference in Las Vegas. I plan on doing allot of reading, watching and learning of new networking “stuff”. I also plan on meeting up with with Joe and Karen for a while. Joe is out in Vegas for the same conference. And yes since it is Vegas I will be relaxing a bit also.

My first stop (even before the hotel) is to Sean’s house. I will get to see baby Scott, and hang with Sean and Kelly for a while. I think we are going to BBQ, but I am not sure.

I am staying at a new hotel (for me), the Paris. I heard it was nice, and I got a decent deal. From what I hear I can take the monorail from the hotel right to the convention center. I will see how things go tomorrow. I hope the hotel has WIFI, but from what I hear the conference will have it everywhere.

More news as the trip develops.

Clean Up

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I got a bunch of misc. items done today and yesterday in anticipation of my week in Vegas next week. I will be out at the Cisco Networkers conference. Unfortunately they hold it in Las Vegas:) So I will have to suffer.

I sat with Bob yesterday and discussed the project plan for our major new site redesign. It sounds super interesting. It will be just stressful for me and my team. I keep telling myself I will be bored if we were not as busy as we are. It is still hard having a queue of stuff to get to, and some of it won’t get worked on for months.

Kai and I are both out next week. he is on vacation and totally unavailable. I will be reachable, so that is good, but the team will be short handed by 2 next week.

James was off today so I ended up doing some grunt phone configuratin work. That meant besides working on the Definity I had to go under desks doing some wireing. Not fun, but I got everything that needed to be done taken care of. I have to repeat what I have said before, working on the Call Manager is so much easier and straight forward than working on the Avaya Definity or any other Avaya switch I have worked on.

Still Recovering

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I thought I had recovered from my reverse (nights awake, days sleeping) schedule of last week. That was until I had to stay up late again monday night. My body clock is all screwed up. I can’t goto sleep, but then I can’t get up in the morning. Just cant win this week. For that reason and because I have had a crazy week at work I haven’t written much. I am just tired. I need to get ready for my trip to Vegas next week. I haven’t even seen if I have my luggage or if I lent it to my parents. I realized this weekend that my flight is early on Fathers Day. that means I don’t get to see dad. Of course that also means he doesn’t need to pay for me when he takes everyone out to dinner that night!