"You are going to Las Vegas!" Greg left this voice message when I was in the mountains at Seattle on my vacation. So again, I am back to the west coast. After five-hour of flight, the window views changed from the green to the dessert and from the houses to the canyons, then to "Welcome to Las Vegas!" - the sign with neon light. 
Four huge sculptures of desser animals lying on the corners of the airport, grand TV screens advertising various shows and night clubs, tens of slot machines sitting next to the baggage claims - "a City of Entertainment" - the airport is just the starting point of all these fantacy and luxury.
The two-day conferences and the over 100 degrees desert weather did not allow me to fully explore the city. At night, Las Vegas is like a miniature of Tokyo or New York - roller coaster beween the buildings, Disney castles, and the Statue of Liberty. You can also find the Great Sphinx becomes the entrance of a hotel with casino, the Eiffel Tower becomes a restaurant with city view, and many more. Another must-see is the music fountain show in front of the Bellagio hotel where Ocean's 11 remake was filmed - it can be over 20-story high.Surprisingly, there are many Asian visitors and almost 90% of the black-jack table traders are Chinese as well. I don't really like Chinese to be associated with gambling though. That said, I only played slot machines and almost got break-even with 8-dollar back - I know what's in your mind - only spent 8 dollars? - My answer is - I'd rather go shopping. Speaking of shopping, the malls are filled with brand-name stores and luxurious decorations. We also met Wolfgang Puck at the mall conducting a TV interview at his restaurant.
Lastly, the business trip - the seminars went well although there is too much time leaving for networking, which I was totally not good at. The participants seem to focus more on techy sides of marketing but not many companies have strategies around E-mail List Build and managing e-mail database. It is my first time interacting with email marketers from different companies - not ideal but a good exposure to know many people caring about the similar issues as you do.
I flied the red-eye back to Charlotte - my eyes could barely open when the flight landed at Charlotte at 6:30. I caught up a 6:50 bus back home with 20 minutes of sleep and went to work at 9 am. Thanks to two smoothies with engry boost, I survived through three meetings but crashed into bed with a 12-hour sleep that night. I think I got enough of the west coast. Interestingly, I started to find Charlotte a very nice city to live after all these travels.
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