Las Vegas

In November I got the chance to go to a conference for work. The conference was related to one of the software vendors we use for designing changes to our electrical system including dams, substations and transmission lines. Now that I've explained what the conference was about I should probably mention that it was in Las Vegas. It may seem odd to have a work conference in a location like Las Vegas but it actually makes a lot of sense. In the off season there is a lot of hotel space and they have some excellent conference facilities.

My room was a bit over the top however it was in the hotel where the conference was and it was a very good deal. It seems all the rooms in the Palazzo are laid out like this. It was definitely nice enough to want to bring the family back at some time since they've offered me a 3 nights for the price of 2 deal for a future visit. The room had two levels with a full living room area. The bathroom had both a shower and a tub and even had a makeup area separate from the double sink.  Definitely more room than I needed but I wasn't complaining.

The hotel is relatively new to the Las Vegas strip so everything was very well thought out. The  pool area was amazing and was a string of five or six pools on the fourth floor roof. It was November so it was only about 20 degrees at the peak of the day but the hot tub was warm enough for me to spend a bit of time in. It was obvious I came from the north since I was the only one out there. Apparently 20 degrees just isn't warm enough for people in Las Vegas. 

The conference was a great learning opportunity for the work items I was there for and it was also fun for my outside of work interests as well. They had whole sections on 3D printing and manufacturing as well as CNC mill's demoing the creation of parts out of solid aluminum. The most interesting cross over was the use of artificial intelligence to create a piece of furniture. They use the computer to come up with thousands of variations of a chair and then they picked one that looked good and used the software to print the parts in metal. It was a nice looking chair. Not too long before people are not involved in the process at all.

I did do a bit of gambling at the slot machines however Las Vegas isn't as interesting a town as a place like New Orleans or San Francisco. I did get to enjoy some music at the Rock and Roll Marathon that was happening on the first night I was there. I also got the chance to go on the 'High Roller' which is a giant Ferris wheel that gives great views of the strips. It takes about 40 minutes to go all the way around and you are in a car about the size of your living room with a dozen other guests. It was all part of the conference because they had rented out an entire street including pubs and restaurants for the evening. Some great food was available including Kobe Beef Sliders and some excellent Mexican food. It was a great trip.