So. Las Vegas. The most un-EWB place on the planet hosted the 10th Annual EWB International Conference. It really happened! And I was even there to accept an award with my co-volunteer Bob on behalf of our chapter. It was pretty strange, as you might imagine.
Aside: did you know some Southwest flights have wifi now, and you can turn your smartphone into a location tracker? Pretty neat!! Also I didn't realize that flying to Las Vegas from Pittsburgh meant we almost went over the Grand Canyon. Topography from a plane is awesome.
The resort we stayed in had about a million rooms, all too cold, but it was quite impressive. They even had a popcorn machine in the convention hall, so swanky. It reminded me a lot of the AAAR conference, with hangar-sized rooms and expensive food, except this time a lot of the rooms had people at gambling machines. I'm pretty sure every spare space in Vegas is required to have machines, because there are even some in the airport! The weird thing is, no one ever really looks that happy sitting at a slot machine. Even later, when I saw craps tables with dancing women above them, no one seemed to be appropriately entertained by the women and instead were focused on the game. More on how weird being female in Vegas is in a bit; but yeah, I didn't gamble, as you might imagine.
The conference itself was a blast. I took tons of notes during the workshop sessions, and there was one night where, if you talked to all the sponsors, you were entered to win an iPad. Odds weren't terrible so I made the rounds, even though I didn't actually have a voice - on Wednesday I could feel myself coming down with something, and took a bunch of meds with me on the trip, but nothing really helped. It's funny to think all the people I met have no idea what I really sound like. I mean, I felt mostly fine, but I was coughing all of the time, which was annoying. Anyway I did meet several sponsors that could potentially be very important to my career, which was very exciting. And I got swag (though not an iPad, boohoo)! All good conference-y things.
We had some pretty talented a capella to cap off the awards dinner, but if they were trying to defray the nerdy engineer stereotype it didn't quite work. I was able to meet up with the EWB-international contingent - turns out it's like five people...I guess they aren't well established yet, but Nationals can say it's an international conference, kind of strange. Anyway I hung out with one of the guys from Holland especially and we walked from the Stratosphere (we got to ride the Big Shot, where it shoots you up in the sky and there's an incredible view of the Strip, freaking awesome) down to Mandelay Bay, which is a few miles. It took us a while, longer than it looks, but there's a lot to duck in and see on the way so it wasn't too bad.
Courtesy of that Strip walk, and the one I had taken with Bob (including riding the NY, NY rollercoaster around the building, which was also awesome), I present things that don't usually happen every day but probably do in Vegas:
>> being in an elevator with a couple who, just minutes ago, did their proposal on top of the Stratosphere, super sparkly ring and super tanned faces and all
>> coming out of that elevator to see a dude puking in a trash can
>> passing a male hobo elaborately dressed in part with a ladies' bikini
>> all the goddamn malls, curved escalators, and full size statue replicas your heart desires
>> indoor freaking gondola rides in a city that shouldn't have water
>> seeing Walgreens get equal billing on a sign as Barneys New York
It was really an unbelievable part of the country, and I'm glad I wasn't walking it alone. So many of the girls we passed were in dresses that barely covered anything - all of them seemed to end right at the same length, right under their asses. And with huge heels! I try not to judge people's choice of dress normally but that kind of makes you prey, and it was really weird. It doesn't help that are smut peddlers that circulate little cards of their call girls; a lot of the cards end up tossed on the ground like confetti with fake boobs, it's totally bizarre to walk through.
So I can't really say that I will ever feel the need to visit Las Vegas ever again, but I do have to hand it to the resort; on the last day, I spent quite a bit of time sitting on the pool chairs and reading, and that was very relaxing. I could have even ordered a drink poolside, which was novel, but I didn't bother. I did get to walk through their gardens, which have bushes of actual rosemary - so jealous!! It smelled really nice. Additionally I came across some lizards in my wanderings, but I'm not so jealous of those...
Aside: did you know some Southwest flights have wifi now, and you can turn your smartphone into a location tracker? Pretty neat!! Also I didn't realize that flying to Las Vegas from Pittsburgh meant we almost went over the Grand Canyon. Topography from a plane is awesome.
The resort we stayed in had about a million rooms, all too cold, but it was quite impressive. They even had a popcorn machine in the convention hall, so swanky. It reminded me a lot of the AAAR conference, with hangar-sized rooms and expensive food, except this time a lot of the rooms had people at gambling machines. I'm pretty sure every spare space in Vegas is required to have machines, because there are even some in the airport! The weird thing is, no one ever really looks that happy sitting at a slot machine. Even later, when I saw craps tables with dancing women above them, no one seemed to be appropriately entertained by the women and instead were focused on the game. More on how weird being female in Vegas is in a bit; but yeah, I didn't gamble, as you might imagine.
The conference itself was a blast. I took tons of notes during the workshop sessions, and there was one night where, if you talked to all the sponsors, you were entered to win an iPad. Odds weren't terrible so I made the rounds, even though I didn't actually have a voice - on Wednesday I could feel myself coming down with something, and took a bunch of meds with me on the trip, but nothing really helped. It's funny to think all the people I met have no idea what I really sound like. I mean, I felt mostly fine, but I was coughing all of the time, which was annoying. Anyway I did meet several sponsors that could potentially be very important to my career, which was very exciting. And I got swag (though not an iPad, boohoo)! All good conference-y things.
We had some pretty talented a capella to cap off the awards dinner, but if they were trying to defray the nerdy engineer stereotype it didn't quite work. I was able to meet up with the EWB-international contingent - turns out it's like five people...I guess they aren't well established yet, but Nationals can say it's an international conference, kind of strange. Anyway I hung out with one of the guys from Holland especially and we walked from the Stratosphere (we got to ride the Big Shot, where it shoots you up in the sky and there's an incredible view of the Strip, freaking awesome) down to Mandelay Bay, which is a few miles. It took us a while, longer than it looks, but there's a lot to duck in and see on the way so it wasn't too bad.
Courtesy of that Strip walk, and the one I had taken with Bob (including riding the NY, NY rollercoaster around the building, which was also awesome), I present things that don't usually happen every day but probably do in Vegas:
>> being in an elevator with a couple who, just minutes ago, did their proposal on top of the Stratosphere, super sparkly ring and super tanned faces and all
>> coming out of that elevator to see a dude puking in a trash can
>> passing a male hobo elaborately dressed in part with a ladies' bikini
>> all the goddamn malls, curved escalators, and full size statue replicas your heart desires
>> indoor freaking gondola rides in a city that shouldn't have water
>> seeing Walgreens get equal billing on a sign as Barneys New York
It was really an unbelievable part of the country, and I'm glad I wasn't walking it alone. So many of the girls we passed were in dresses that barely covered anything - all of them seemed to end right at the same length, right under their asses. And with huge heels! I try not to judge people's choice of dress normally but that kind of makes you prey, and it was really weird. It doesn't help that are smut peddlers that circulate little cards of their call girls; a lot of the cards end up tossed on the ground like confetti with fake boobs, it's totally bizarre to walk through.
So I can't really say that I will ever feel the need to visit Las Vegas ever again, but I do have to hand it to the resort; on the last day, I spent quite a bit of time sitting on the pool chairs and reading, and that was very relaxing. I could have even ordered a drink poolside, which was novel, but I didn't bother. I did get to walk through their gardens, which have bushes of actual rosemary - so jealous!! It smelled really nice. Additionally I came across some lizards in my wanderings, but I'm not so jealous of those...
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