I’ve really been wanting to write about Vegas here for a while. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I’ve wanted Vegas to get written about here, but not actually wanted to do it. That’s why it hasn’t actually gotten done. But now it finally will…

I’ll start right where I left off… Barstow. Andrew and I ate at the In-n-Out and then started back out on the road towards Vegas. Well, after playing with the cantenna a bit trying (and failing) to get online. I was able to see several different wireless networks, but not able to connect to any of them. We made pretty good time, and got in before 2. Most of the group we were meeting had split up for the night, so I just played with the cantenna from the hotel room in the Sahara, trying to get online. Again, failure. Same thing that happened in Barstow. I was able to see a bunch of different wireless networks (and certainly more than I could without the can attached), but not able to connect to any of them. Oh well. I didn’t really miss being online during the weekend… probably mostly because I was still on AIM the whole time with my Treo. After failing to get online, I went to sleep.

Woke up the next day around ten. We finally managed to get the whole group together around 11:30 or so, and walked to the Hilton for lunch and the Star Trek Experience. We all signed up for the Hilton’s players cards, so we got two for one prices on the buffet and the ST:E ride. As we were walking from the food to the ride, one of us won $500 at a slot machine, and he decided to pay for the ride for all of us (Thanks, Charlie!). The ride was very cool. First off, I think it was possibly the first ride I’ve ever been on where waiting in line didn’t involve just standing around doing nothing. The whole way up to the ride entrance has lots of cool Trek related stuff to read and look at, and we actually had to slow down to look at all of it. The ride itself was a lot of fun, and at the end they let you buy a picture of yourself with the crew of your favorite Star Trek series. Mine turned out awful, otherwise I might have actually gotten one. We all decided that Wil should go there and get one of himself with the TNG cast, since he’s not in the picture. We also were going to send him a postcard with himself on it, but never got around to it.

I don’t really remember what we did the rest of that day. Well, I don’t remember what we did for the next few hours, anyway. After that, I played some Caribbean Stud for about an hour, and then went to see Billy Joel and Elton John. It was a great concert, and I’m glad I finally got to see the two of them together, but now I actually know (instead of just assuming) that I like Billy Joel alone better. Still, it was well worth the cost of the ticket, and good to see Billy Joel live again. The concert ended fairly late, so we had a quick meal afterwards, and then went back to the hotel to get some sleep.

Sunday we just relaxed and wandered around, pretty much. I met up with Brian, a friend from New York who happened to be in Vegas working that weekend, and we gambled a bit. Other than that, I don’t really remember much of interest happening. It was fun just walking the strip and seeing the different hotels. We stayed there until around 2am, and then started the drive back to LA. We made pretty good time, until we hit the LA morning traffic, but still got back with plenty of time for Andrew to get to class, and me to drive back to Santa Barbara to get to work on time.

I was planning to write about some of the stuff I’ve done since Vegas here, but this entry is kinda long, so that’ll have to wait.

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