HostingCon 2006 – Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas was Awesome! Don’t think for a minute that the PLETH guys didn’t work, because we did, we met with every vendor attending HostingCon and sat through a big majority of the panel discussions and seminars they had this year and learned a lot… Not only did we learn a lot but we also left feeling pretty good about our company and where we are at as a service provider…

Even though we worked hard the entire trip we still found time to take in the sites and sounds of Vegas. Thankfully Kegal had been out to Vegas several times, while wearing his other hat as a corporate pilot, and he knew all of the places to go and things to do because I would have been lost. I think that you could probably take the Tunica, MS casinos and set them inside the lobby at some of the bigger casinos in Vegas. Their size was surprising. I couldn’t get past the size long enough to really appreciate the architecture that was all around on the strip. 

We stayed at the Mirage, where the conference was being held and it was unreal. You could literally get lost on your way to your room. Inside the casino there are numerous restaurants and buffets as well as shops all over the place. There is a Rolex, DKNY, Swim, etc. all inside the Mirage lobby. Every evening on an hourly schedule the Mirage has a special blast of their Volcano outside. We timed it just right and were able to check this out one night before heading out for Dinner.

Also, just down the strip at Treasure Island, they have an hourly showing of the TI Sirens, which is a realistic battle between two pirate ships. You might have seen this in the movie Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock. We made it down to see the show but due to all of the pyro involved they were forced to cancel because of high winds that had blown in. I was a little dissapointed but seeing the Fountains in front of the Bellagio go off while they played “Fly me to the Moon” made the whole trip worthwhile… (These are the same fountains that are shown at the end of the Movie ‘Oceans Eleven’) Since my wife and I are both Sinatra fans I really want to take her back there sometime soon to see this.

We really didn’t make it to any of the big shows there in town, not because we didn’t try… Alot of the ones we wanted to see were already booked, off the night we had time to go, or we were just too pooped to move. The Mirage, where we stayed, had Jerry Seinfeld, Wayne Brady, and Jay Leno signs up the whole time we were there. It is definitely a show town, and they are all big time shows.

The food was also pretty good, I don’t think that we at anything we didn’t like the whole time we were there. Even the omelet’s and biscuits & gravy from the buffett downstairs was good. Probably the best food was the last night we were there when we went to a Brazilian restaurant where it is pretty much all you can eat and they bring you an assortment of cooked meat. It was great and you guessed it I am now on a diet!