November 1, 2000
Dear Everyone:
My visit to
Las Vegas would
definitely have been more fun if “Jeannie” had been with me.
Together, we can get into lots more trouble than when alone.
Nevertheless, I did have a pretty good time.
I did the
Star Trek:
The Experience thing on Sunday (open daily 11:00 a.m. to
11:00 p.m.). It is
conveniently located on the first floor of the hotel.
The Experience consists
of a fairly large
museum
about Star Trek,
with many props supplied by
Paramount
Studios. There is a long
time-line, beginning with early space exploration, and including the
birth dates of all significant characters from all the series and
movies, plus various important incidents.
This time-line, along with assorted display windows, goes through
a series of switchbacks that wend their way through a large circle
(overlooking the restaurant area) until you finally find yourself in a
corridor leading up to the actual “ride”.
I’m guessing that when the attraction first opened,
the museum was really a two-hour long line leading up to the “ride”.
The museum gave people something to look at while they waited in
line. These days, you can
get through the museum part in about 90 minutes, after which the line
for the “ride” lasts only about 15 minutes.
I put “ride” in quotes because there’s a lot more
to it than just sitting in a
flight
simulator. The whole
“experience” is much more interactive and uses quite a large number of
actors (they keep rotating the actors so you don’t accidentally see the
same person more than once).
For a young actor, looking for experience, this would be a gold mine.
They have a set script, but have to be able to adlib, within the
framework, any time someone in the audience decides to ask a question,
or make some comment. There
are also actors, made up as
Klingons,
Ferengi and
Starfleet officers,
wandering around the museum and other areas.
The “other areas” are
Quark’s
Restaurant (where you can get a triangular-shaped hamburger) and a
series of shops selling Star Trek related apparel, toys, games, key
rings, coffee mugs and incredibly priced, limited edition, full-size
Klingon battle armor. What
home would be complete without one?
As for the Conference (you remember, the real
reason for going to Las Vegas?)…
They changed the format from the last time I
attended one of these conferences.
This time all day Monday was devoted to educational sessions.
Tuesday through Thursday featured keynote speakers in the
morning, followed by a single educational session, then lunch, and then
more sessions. (Could this
be because they discovered that people who party all night have trouble
staying awake during morning sessions?)
The conference was very well attended, with about
2100 pre-registered and around 700 “walk-ins”.
The general consensus was that the location contributed to the
number of people who decided at the “last minute” to come.
Consequently, there weren’t always enough handouts.
Sometimes there weren’t any handouts.
Sometimes there were more than enough handouts, only they had
been delivered to the wrong location.
In other words:
Situation normal.
For myself, I focused on sessions that were of more
interest to me as a systems administrator and trainer, rather than on
the more mundane records management stuff.
Been there, done that.
I did run into quite a few people that I actually knew.
There is a saying in ARMA
circles: “You get out of
ARMA what you put into it.”
In other words, the more involved you are, the better the chance that
you’ll find stuff useful, and see more people you know.
Anyway.
About gambling…
Monday afternoon, I was persuaded by a few friends
to try one of the gaming machines that inhabit most of the ground floor
space in the hotel. I bet a
quarter. I won a dollar.
I quit while I was ahead.
However, since the Conference actually ended at
noon on Thursday, and I wasn’t going home until Friday, I decided to
allocate five dollars to gambling.
I got $5.00 worth of quarters.
I went to the “Space Arcade” (which coincidentally opened into
the Star Trek area) because it was less crowded.
I bet five dollars. I
lost five dollars. I won
$2.50. I quit while I was
halfway ahead. (Elapsed
time: about 20 minutes.)
Finally, at the airport, I had some time to kill,
having already obtained my precious
Southwest
Airlines boarding pass numbered 25.
Southwest, if you’ve never flown with them, utilizes what they
call “accelerated boarding” by dividing passengers into groups of 30.
The people with boarding passes between 1 and 30 get to board
first, followed by 31-60, followed by 61-90, followed by the people
allowed to cling to the wings.
They call it “accelerated boarding”.
The passengers call it “every man for himself”.
Nevertheless, I had at least half an hour before I
needed to get into the 1-30 line, more than enough time to lose (or even
win) some more quarters so I located $3.75 in quarters in my wallet.
I bet $3.75. I lost
$3.75. My purse was
noticeably lighter. I quit
while I was ahead.
Love, as always.
Pete
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