... unless you're addicted to blogging :-) I spent the last week in Vegas at a conference for work. The conference was great - I learned a lot and am excited to implement some of the ideas I saw into our student system. The nice thing about the conference is that sessions are only held during the day, so I had all night to party! I won't post everything, but here are some of my trip highlights:
I won big... Okay, maybe not at the slots (I only spent $3 and cashed out when I had two cents left), but I did win a $100 gift certificate from one of the conference vendors! So I like to think that I won $97.02 in Vegas :-) Oh, and in case you're wondering, that was my first and last time of playing the slots. I thought it was pretty boring... probably because I didn't win!
We got on the VIP list at Studio 54 in the MGM Grand and we partied the night away. Okay, maybe I only partied for like an hour and a half because I'm definitely not a night owl. I was the first in my group to leave the club that night at 11:40! Here's a pic of me and my co-workers from the Registrar's Office - Diana, Ross, me, and Mark. It was funny trying to order a virgin drink from the bar. I tried a virgin margarita and thought it was disgusting - SO sour. The bartender was nice and made me a fruit punch replacement drink and didn't even charge me :-)
I also took time to go up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. The tower is a 1/2 size replica of the original Eiffel Tower. From the top I had a great view of the strip and the rest of the city.
I love seafood, so of course I have to post a picture of my first plate of food at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Mmmmm..... all-you-can-eat crab, shrimp, prime rib, etc. Oh, and don't forget dessert!
The water show at the Bellagio was beautiful! I'm totally bummed because I had a gorgeous picture of the water show with the hotel behind it, but I think I accidentally deleted it from my camera :-( Oh well, here's a picture I stole off the internet!
And last but not least, I went on the coolest roller coaster. I absolutely love roller coasters, and this was no exception. The roller coaster is on top of the New York New York hotel. It has speeds up to 67 mph, drops 144 feet, all the while doing these crazy loops and barrel-rolls. Wahoo! Here's a pic of me and my co-worker Willie.
Scott Hamilton was one of the keynote speakers at the conference. I was so inspired listening to his story - from his adoption to health problems when he was a kid to his mom dying to getting cancer to his dad dying to getting a brain tumor... all the while he kept a positive attitude. I loved how he thought at first that each time something good would happen in his life, that something bad would then happen, but he realized it was the other way around. In reality, each time something bad happened, something good happened in return. Here are some of my other favorites from his speech:
