10/19/05
8:30am
--a few small handfuls of cashews
--a few small handfuls of M&M's
--1 SB bar
I decided to take a leisurely morning today. DH had to be at his sessions at 8:00, but I had nowhere to be until lunch at 12:30. So, I slept it, read, and took a nice long bath in the soaking tub.
I finally got around and went to check out the hotel spa. It looked nice, but it was outrageous! They wanted $110 for a 25 minute massage and $175 for a facial. I don't think so! I did see the pool while I was down that way. It looked nice--I think I'll head there tomorrow morning. Eventually I started making my way to the conference center at Mandalay Bay. I checked out a few of the shops along the way and explored a little of the hotel. All in all it was a very relaxing morning.
12:00pm
--1 1/2 cups tossed salad w/ranch
--1 1/2 medium pieces cornbread
--1 pkt butter
--2 T bean salad
--5 roasted potato wedges
--1 sm cob of corn
--1/3 cup green beans
--2 bites pecan pie
--1/2 cup apricot peach cobbler w/vanilla ice cream
This looks like a heck of a lot more than it really was! While everything was tasty, you may notice I'm missing an actual meal here. There as some kind of snafu with the meal request and they weren't notified they'd need any vegetarian meals. D'oh! I made do, but this didn't stay with me for long. I did enjoy chatting with some of the other conference attendees. I really appreciate the kind of people who can strike up friendly conversations with strangers. They really add a lot of joy to the world, in my opinon.
After lunch I caught a cab to Bally's and got my ticket for the Behind the Scenes tour for the Jubilee stage show. The tour was really pretty cool. We were escorted by one of the dancers--our guide was a man named John who'd been in the show for about 4 1/2 years. They took us up on stage and showed us some of the props and the big moving elevators that make up most of the show stage. Then they walked us back to see the quick change rooms which are about the size of a walk-in closet. At any given time there are three performers and dressing assistants in there getting everyone in and out of their costumes. We got to see the costumes--they're certainly something else! They kind of look like what would happen if you let a 6 year old loose with a Bedazzler. They were nothing if not eye catching!
We also got to see the dressing rooms, tailoring rooms, and the headgear storage. The heaviest of the headpieces weighs 35 lbs. The woman who wears it has to run off stage, down 2 flights of stairs, change her costume, don that monster of a headpiece, and then run back up 2 flights of stairs in high heels to get back on stage for her number! The most interesting thing I found out is that the starting pay for one of the chorus members is only about $30,000 per year! They put on 2 shows a night, 6 night per week, plus rehearsals, fittings, and public appearances. It's kind of jarring to realize that to most of the dancers it's just a job to pay the rent. I mean, I'm sure they like to dance and are happy to be doing it, but it's still a clock-in, clock-out kind of thing to them.
3:30pm
--buffet at Paris
This really wasn't supposed to happen. I was pretty hungry by the time the tour ended and I figured I'd walk around Paris and find a snack while enjoying the scenery. I came up on the buffet and their crepe stand, which are directly across from each other. I took a look at the buffet offerings and I thought I saw that it was $12.95 for lunch. The crepes were $7 each plus another $2.50 or so for a drink. So, I figured that I'd spend almost as much on a crepe and soda as I would for the whole buffet and I'd heard the buffet was good so I decided to try it. Oops!
It turns out I must have read the sign incorrectly as the buffet was $17.95. Ouch! Also there really wasn't much in the way of veggie offerings. I did really well navigating the buffet. I only took one or two bites of things I was interested in and I stopped eating them if I didn't enjoy the first bite. I had a few bites of assorted potato dishes, some broccolini, spinach au gratin, a few bites of pasta and pasta salad, some marinated mozzarella and tomatoes and most of a spinach and cheese crepe. I splurged most on 3 thin slices of fresh french bread and butter--it was awesome!
I took a look at all of the desserts, but nothing really jumped out at me as a must-have, which was odd because it was practically an orgy of different desserts and each was prettier than the next. I did sample a yummy cookie, a medium blueberry muffin, and taste of some kind of crisp pastry. I might have gone back for more, but my attention was diverted by the gentlemen sitting next to me. They asked me if the crepes were good and we got to talking. The one was from Baltimore and the other from Poland. It was his first visit to the US and he's here for a month and pretty much doing a crash-course on the US. They'd explored the northeast, spent a week in Chicago, were now here in Vegas and were planning on going to the Grand Canyon and Orlando. It was fun comparing notes on their travels and experiences here in Vegas. We passed several pleasant minutes talking and by the time we were done I didn't really feel compelled to get back to the dessert offerings.
I left Paris and headed across the street to the Bellagio. As luck would have it I arrived just in time to catch the water ballet. This one was to "All that Jazz" and was lots of fun! After the show I went into the hotel and went to check out the Conservatory. It was quite an explosion of fall! They had made a water mill and a cottage out of plants and flowers and had other large displays in the most lush, intense fall colors. It really is quite a work of art! After that I made it back outside to catch the next water ballet. This one was to Rodeo, which has been ruined by commercials and is now know as the "Beef. It's what's for dinner" song. You know exactly the one I'm talking about. Again, the show was amazing!
I was pretty tired by then so I hopped a cab back to the Luxor. I didn't really want to just sit around the room until the party started, so I bought a ticket to see the Wild Safari 3D IMAX film. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. The frame of the film was that we were going on a game drive through 4 game reserves in South Africa to see elephants, water buffalo, rhinos, leopards, and lions. Unfortunately, they seemed to do a lot of the filming by strapping the IMAX camera into a Land Rover with a driver and filming from that perspective. The combination of the bouncing and the 3D images caused a lot of people, myself included, to get pretty nauseated. I had to take off my glasses during the motion parts or I seriously would have booted my lunch there in the theater! The still shots of the animals were pretty neat. They were able to get really close to the elephants and it was really interesting to watch their behavior. Their trunks are so fascinating! They managed to catch up with a pair of leopards that had met up for mating. Did you know that when leopards get together to mate they will do the deed up to 100 times over 3 days! They don't hunt, eat, or sleep while they're together. Talk about devotion to duty! Watching the lions and leopards really made me miss my kitty beasts. I can't wait to get home to see them!
Once the show was over I went back to the room to get ready for the party. I had brought along a cute black top and a nice pair of jeans. I did my eye makeup pretty dark and blew out my hair so I had kind of a dramatic look going on. The piece de resistance, though, was my cranberry colored Mary Kay gloss. It's the perfect red for me--intense without making me look like a clown. I felt pretty good about myself as I left for the party!
7:45pm
--1/4 cup mashed potatoes
--1/4 cup white rice
--1 small white roll
--1 6" tortilla
--1/2 cup shredded cheddar
--2 T sour cream
--1 T salsa
--1 cup ice cream w/strawberry sauce and crushed heath
--4oz of a amaretto stone sour
I hate to say it, but the party wound up being an exercise in bad event planning. They had plenty of food and beverage stations, and the food looked wonderful, but the only veggie options were plain rice, mashed potatoes, bread, and some of the condiments! There wasn't a single entree! The funny thing is was they had an Asian station with a dish of stir-fried bok choy, but they did it in beef broth!!! How hard would it have been to offer one veggie option? They asked about it ahead of time and DH did indicate I was a vegetarian. What gives? I did not wind up eating a very healthy selection of foods.
Aside from the food, their main event, the Gigadrome challenge, was not well planned or executed. They spent tons of time promoting the event. They had Jamie from Mythbusters design and build these "Gigadrome" machines and there was supposed to be some kind of contest between them at the party. They encouraged people to sign up to be part of it--the implication was you could drive or control the machines.
So fast forward to the party. There are 3700 attendees to this conference. It turns out only 16 people, chosen at random, were going to be allowed to drive the Gigadromes. Another 80 people were chosen to be "crew", but didn't really have anything to do. So, of all these people and all the hype, less than 3% actually get to participate in any way. They had set up an arena in the event space with stadium seating for maybe 800 people, tops. So, of course it was a madhouse of people pushing and shoving and squeezing in everywhere while trying to balance their drinks and food. Once they've squashed as many people as they could in the arena, they bring out the Gigadromes. These things looks just like those rounded fiberglass bumper cars they have at carnivals.
There was absolutely no "wow" about them.
The "challenge" was the last straw. It turns out the cars were supposed to race through a series of 8 cones without knocking them over. Wow. That's a real nail-biter. But even worse was these things had a top speed of 4mph. It took about about 90 seconds for each car to run the 40 foot course. So, you know, it was super exciting. Most people gave up at that point--there was a huge exodus from the arena after the first match, DH and I included.
I know the event planners tried--the food did look delicious, the lines weren't too bad, the open bar was generous, and they set up a bunch of seating areas with games and other fun things. It was just a big disappointment for this hardcore geek crowd for the main event to be so...lame, for lack of a better word. We didn't stay for more than about 45 minutes.
9:00pm
--1 veggie burger on whole wheat w/mozzarella
--2/3 serving zucchini fries
We went back to that Burger Bar we tried yesterday. I'm really in love with their veggie burger! The zucchini fries were great as well, though I'm sure I could have done without them. They had a wonderfully spiced crumb breading, and tasted a lot like my beloved cheese sticks. It was a great meal!
We made a beeline back to the room once dinner was over. DH is now fast asleep and I'm about to join him!
I know for me it is not about a person's size but their confidence and comfortability in their own skin. If a fat person is comfortable and confident I can find them attractive, but if they are obviously not happy and uncomfortable, not so much. 
