It’s Wednesday morning and I’m back to work. I’ve not had a full work week since mid-December, and still won’t until the end of this month. That says something, considering we are on a 4/10 schedule. It’ll be odd when things finally get back to normal.
For the past week, I’ve been in Las Vegas, NV helping OverclockersClub.com cover the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. If you have not seen OCC’s coverage, the guys did a heck of a job covering things related to the PC enthusiast market. I say the guys did a heck of a job, because truthfully I did very little by comparison. Sure, I was there to talk to people, and help out as needed but the pictures, writing, and hard work was pretty well covered by the other staff and not me. I feel bad for not doing as much work as the rest of the gang, but I did warn them ahead of time that I had neither a laptop nor a decent digital camera and yet somehow I was still asked to come.
The last time I was in Las Vegas was 2002 or 2003 (I forget) when I went with the former owner of OCC to cover COMDEX. Sure, it was fun that time too, but being there with nearly a dozen other people makes for an interesting time.
I really enjoyed getting to finally meet some of the people that I had known through OCC for years Dave, Andrew, Kevin, and Kashaf as well as the people that I’ve only recently come to know through the site Frank, Alan, Justin, Jack, Ben, and Mark. Working with these people for a while now without ever getting to meet face-to-face you develop your own ideas of what these people look and sound like. Most of my preconceived notions were wrong, except for Dave who is indeed a midget in a wheelchair. 
The big thing this year was 3D this and 3D that, which while interesting I’m not a huge fan of. Aside from all of the 3D stuff, I did get to see a bit of the iLounge and all of the companies that were showing off new iPhone and iPod paraphernalia and accessories. I also had a chance to stop by the Griffin Tech booth and meet Dave who I had talked with a few times via Twitter. OCC staffer Kash actually scored a Threadless iPhone case from the Griffin Tech crew.
Back on the PC side of the house I got to meet with people from Intel, AMD, nVidia, Gigabyte, Kingston, ThermalTake, Corsair, PowerColor, and others. While everyone was great to meet, Ramsom from ThermalTake and Robert from Corsair were absolutely great to hang around… those two could definitely be trouble if I lived on the west coast.
Of course, not everything was sunshine and bubbles in Vegas. There were a few people around two that I have always thought were douches, and they didn’t disappoint. Every one of them showed their true douchiness. But to protect their identities (not that I really give a crap) I’ll not list the names, though at least one knows who I’m referring to.
As I mentioned before, I didn’t have a laptop with me. Thus everything I did Internet related relied on my iPhone and AT&T’s network. With so many people in Vegas, the network was extremely congested. Calls often failed and internet speeds were slow. That didn’t stop me and others from relying on my phone to look up info, check web sites, and preform other tasks. I even managed to upload a video to YouTube and send a few pics to friends and Facebook. I must have used AT&T’s “mark the spot” app a dozen times at least.
Thankfully, we were able to use the hotel low-speed WiFi at Circus Circus where staying. At $14 (I think that was the price) per system it was a rip off, but it was pretty much the only option available. Though thanks to trickery and Windows 7 we were able to share the connection. Shhh!
My flights to Vegas weren’t bad. Just a bit on the cramped side. Coach seats aboard the Northwest Airlines were not meant for the tall or the fat… I could handle it for the two hours between Knoxville and Detroit, but the 4+ hour flights between Detroit and Las Vegas were excruciating. I don’t know how people can stand being cramped like that on a regular basis.
On the flip side, the flights home were all delayed. We landed in Detroit just as my flight to Knoxville was scheduled to leave. Thankfully, they held my flight, but I had to run in my hiking boots from Terminal A, down the escalator, through the tunnel, and back up another escalator all while carrying a 25+ pound bag and a laptop bag full of extra crap. The door closed just a minute after I boarded, and then we preceded to sit around for another 30 minutes or so waiting of push crews and ice crews. My flight finally landed in Knoxville over an hour after I was suppose to be home. I was starving and not at all happy with the airlines, but at least I was home.
While it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun. I’ve got plenty of stories that I could tell, but as the saying goes, “what happens in Vegas…”.
It’s over with now, and I’m happy to be back home. A soft bed, warm blankets, hot water, quilted toilet paper, my dogs, and of course my wife who I missed greatly. We’ve been married for almost 6 years now, and this was the longest we’ve ever been apart.
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Tags: 2010, AMD, AT&T, CES, Circus Circus, COMDEX, consumer electronics show, Corsair, Detroit, Intel, iPhone, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Northwest Airlines, OCC, Overclockers Club, ThermalTake