Back from Vegas
Long nights, too much alcohol, a bit of gambling, and a lot of gadgets – Welcome to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Las Vegas was exactly as I expected – completely over the top. The whole city is geared around mass consumption; be it food, smoking, alcohol, sex, drugs, gambling or shopping. If you can spend money on it, it’s available. Each hotel is a completely self-contained oasis of adult entertainment; complete with a range or restaurants, shopping malls, performance theaters, casinos, roller-coasters, etc. The idea is that you stay there and never leave. Of course I didn’t stay put, and I ended up checking out a variety of them. I’d say my personal favorite was The Venetian – it was the only one I walked into and actually said “holy shit”… A technical form of measurement indeed.
I suppose the highlight of each night was dinner. I honestly never considered the culinary options in Vegas – I just assumed you ate foot-long hot dogs while wondering from casino to casino. Oh, how wrong I was. My culinary adventures unfolded as such:
- Bouchon at The Venetian on Wednesday
- Postrio at The Venetian on Thrusday
- SW Steakhouse on Friday at the Wynn
- Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House on Saturday at the MGM.
Beyond the excesses of Vegas itself, I spent the rest of my time at CES. For those who aren’t aware, CES is the Consumer Electronics Show that takes place every year in which 150,000 people descend upon Las Vegas. TVs, cellphones, mobile video players, mp3 players, videogame consoles, DVD players and car stereos. Microsoft, Sony, Motorola, Intel, Samsung and Pioneer. It’s a geek paradise. Every gadget from every company in the electronics space was there – with the exception of Apple. We have to wait until tomorrow morning to see what new stuff they’ve got for us.
I suppose I should have expected this, but I just spent 5 days in Las Vegas taking in everything the electronics industry has to offer, and all I really want to do is sit at my desk tomorrow morning and watch the webcast following Steve Job’s Keynote
