Apachecon Day 1

Finally starting to pack at about 1:15 am Sunday morning. Plenty - o - Time.

Oh yea, by the way, this is my room. It's a mess, so don't judge me. And it's fairly spartan still, but it's getting there..

Ed, The West Wing, and Star Trek. You don't want to know how many more tapes I've got filed away.

And here's where I'm currently sitting.

And this picture is for me, while I'm away. Looking at the board makes me feel better when I'm down.

Anyway, after an hour and a half or so, and a nice long conversation with a slightly buzzing Tuuk, I finished packing, and was set to sleep for the night (after finishing this, obviously.)

Here's a shot out the window from my seat on the plane from GR to Detroit.

Here's a burry Brian, sitting next to me. He slept pretty much the whole time on both flights.

Here's me on the plane. I always seem pissed off when I take pictures of myself. Maybe I don't like having my picture taken, I don't know...

Here we are, shortly after takeoff, flying over Michigan.

Another shot from the plane. Having flown only a few times, I'm still fascinated by the idea that I'm floating way up above everything. It all seems fake.

They just shut the curtains to first class. They're now being served drinks and getting massages. We're slowly being overwhelmed by poison gas.

I spent almost the entire flight reading Harry Potter. I tried reading it when I was down in Florida during Spring Break last year, but I just slept on the beach instead. Having watched the 1st movie, I've decided to give it another shot. When it was time to get off the plane, I was covered in Florida beach sand.

Clouds. Lots of them.

More clouds.

See this cowboy? He was sitting by us on the plane, and I wanted to get a shot of him, but he kept moving around. And then when we were leaving, BDF knocked his hat off, and I laughed rather loudly. So now I'm trying to be sly and get a good shot of him. This was not a good shot.

We had a 2 hour layover in Detroit, and we had no clue where we were supposed to go anyway. We made our way over to this giant room.

Then we went downstairs, and there was this funky tunnel with kinda glowing/flashing neon lights. Imagine being on LSD, and you've got a decent idea of what it looked/felt like.

Here we are inside the tunnel.

Then it all turned green on us. It was really kewl, and now I want one in my room.

We made it onto the other side of the airport, and they had this funky fountain in there. Needless to say, I am easily entertained.

This TV was huge, and they had a bunch of them. With a 2 hour layover ahead of us, we were also quite greatful.

They had this tram/train dealie running from one end of the airport to the other, and it scared the hell out of me the first time it went passed.

We went to McDonalds in the airport for lunch, and there was another cowboy there. I'm telling you, they're taking over.

Remember that scene in Airplane, when the plane pokes it's nose right through the airport window? That was a great movie.

So we had our food, and we just crashed there and watched the Falcons/Saints game, which sucked.

Our gate (24) got switched to 20, but then got switched back to 24, and then they weren't sure if they were going to switch it back to 20 or not. Finally they decided on 24, and told everybody to sit down in a seat, and not stand by the gate, loading area, or in the walkways. So just about everyone stood in the walkway.

This escalator continued down forever. I'm fairly certain it's an down elevator in Australia. After I took this picture, the entire line behind us had to look down to see what was so interesting.... Sheep.

Here's a shot out my window on the plane to Vegas. I got a wing seat.

It's blurry, I know, but the row ahead of us was watching Scooby Doo on DVD... and these guys were in their 30's - 40's. Now that's just sad.

You can't really see it in the pictures, but there are mountains down there, and they looked spectacular.

After a few hours of reading, the book was starting to look pretty badly beaten up. Sorry Jeff & Rebecca.

Here's BDF, asleep.

Here's a shot of Vegas as we're getting cose to landing. It was one bright circle in a sea of black.

Another shot of Vegas from the plane.

We're just about to land, and we start to see some color. I saw the Eiffel Tower, but I don't think you can really see it in the picture.

Just inside the Las Vegas Airport, and we've already got the slots. Quality.

I guess Sigfried & Roy aren't considered a big joke down here. Which is actually very sad. Next thing you know, they'll be advertising Carrot Top live at the MGM..

Wecome to Las Vegas!

Here's the "living" area of our hotel room.

Here's the "bar" area. (The Fridge was empty :-( )

And here's the hotel Bedroom.

The Hard Rock Cafe, Hotel, and Casino was right accross the street. We were starving, so we headed there next.

Here's a closer shot of that sign.

Inside the Hard Rock Cafe. Plenty of TVs, Music memorabilia, and 80's music.

BDF is shying away from the camera, but I was really trying to get a shot of that waitress in the back. Sadly, she was not our waitress.

Ever wonder what happened to KISS? They're standing behind glass at the entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe.

The Counting Crows are coming December 6th. I need to find another conference that's meeting here then.

So this is why we came: Apachecon 2002.