Viva Las Vegas!

As part of my work, I'm in Vegas for a Symantec Technical Conference for a few days.

Getting off the plane, there is a 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign, which is nice:
Just out of view is a set of signs that say "Vegas is a tourist destination and tips are not included in basic prices that you purchase." Then it shows you a list of suitable tips and categories which is about a US Letter size piece of laminated paper, and has about 20 categories of tips, thresholds and how to caluclate them. Of course "Tipping is entirely optional" (but necessary if you want to not be frowned upon)

It's between 35 and 42°C in the day, and about 25-33°C in the evenings. I think I'll stay inside during the day.

Here's the gold MGM lion in the main lobby of the hotel. It's big! and shiny!

That's how they fund the hotel and facilities. Those are poker machines. At least they don't collect taxes from the people. Actually, they do, but not through the tax system. These machines are so tempting: bright, colourful, and making noises to attract people. It is obviously easy to start (with small coins) and quickly graduate to much larger amounts, backed by one's credit card (which ends up very depleted when one loses).

Here's my room! It's decorated in 80's style beigy brown with no overhead lighting. It's all mood lighting with lamps. The bathroom (not shown) is lots of black and white marble with gold fixtures. I'm on a non-smoking floor, but it's hopeless. The strong waft of cigarette smoke is stinging my eyes and making me cough.

The view from the room is nice, though, with blue skies, some mountain in the background and lots of tall buildings.

I have to go and register for the conference now!