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Well...I'm back. Conference was so-so...although I have to say I only went to a few sessons. The information from the sessions I did go to seemed a bit dated and contained info we had 2+ years ago.
I will say this though...Gartner's got a nice little scam going. You sit in these hour long sessions, and to their credit they try and make the sessions interactive by polling you several times. They talk about what they think the trends mean because all the polling and collating of the results is done real time.
But, here's where the cynic in me comes out: you pay $2,000 to attend, poll the hell out of you during the sessions, at which point they'll repackage the polling data to sell you in their next $8,000 report. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
But anyways...on to the more fun stuff: I think I nearly died at some point during the last week.
You all remember reading about the Korean dude who had a massive heart attack after playing for like 48 hours straight with no sleep or some such about a month or two ago??? Well, I was the gambling fool this week. In fact, in 3 days or so I became the proud new member of the Rio's Diamond Club racking up over 18,000 points. I began my journey last Saturday innocently enough by checking into the hotel and going to see a movie over at The Palms. My choice was Rent and Aeon Flux - I chose AF because I think Charlize Theron is mega hot - even if her commie pinko politics is a major turn off and the fact that she dated David Arquette at one point. I'm not sure which is worse...
But I digress, AF was okay although a bit weird and probably 20 minutes too long. After the movie, I headed back to The Rio...and well started to gamble. About 5-6 years ago I swore off craps and switched pretty exclusively to Blackjack. This is due to the nature of craps which is: when its good, its REALLY good...but when the dice are cold you will lose your shirt. With Blackjack, I feel in more control of the game and my ability to walk away, but I'd grown tired of it so I switched back to craps after getting myself into a bit of whole by thinking foolishly that the Bruins would at least cover the spread against SC since they had the number one rated pass defense in the PAC-10. Boy, was I wrong...good bye $50. Next, I figured I could get a bit of drink session in on the Roulette table as I have had some luck in the past with this game....boy was I wrong...good bye $100. So here I am...out $150 the first night I'm in Vegas.
It's going to be a long week.
So I take the last $300 bucks over the next 3-4 days and play the hell out of the craps tables reaching my zenith Tuesday night up about 2 large....but I should really say Wednesday morning since I didn't quit until 5 AM.
<< dbakke - get to the point you said you almost died....>>
Oh yeah, well the session started a little after noon on Tuesday and proceeded with about 30 vodka and redbulls until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
<< dbakke - we have kids and minds who can be influenced on these boards...>>
Oh yeah, don't do that. Seriously...don't drink that much red bull. Its not good for you. Honestly, I think I was a hairs breath or another Vodka and Red Bull away from my own heart attack. The FIRST time I've felt right since Wednesday morning is this afternoon. At most I got 16-18 hours of sleep the entire trip and my sleep schedule got all kinds of messed up.
Oh, and a final thought....walk away if you quadruple your money. I wanted to buy a new laptop and won the money for a nice HP laptop...but didn't have the sense to walk away. So all I left Vegas with is $200 in comps, $200 less in my bank account, a lesson about Red Bull, a renewed appreciation for craps, 10 pounds, and a Diamond card from The Rio.
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