Get dinner at Pad Thai. Food is okay, not outstanding. Get into discussion with Charlotte which she then takes as a personal attack and so I try to end the discussion. Ugly.

John, Charlotte, Amy and me go off to Dad's Garage for some improv comedy. Hilarious action.

Then to Cyberia. Continue drinking. Craziness.

Home to sleep.

2 March

Rosalie D'Angelo's birthday

Amy and I have brunch with Matt and Lauren at Radial.

Go home and start a game of Scrabble with Charlotte. Sarah and Alice call and then come over with some beers. We watch movies on TV, play Scrabble, drink more. I go out ot rent Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back but it is all out so I just go ahead and buy it. I also rent Quills. We watch the latter, get food, then the crwod turns up and we watch Jay and Silent Bob. Who's there? In addition to those already mentioned, Lauren and Matt, Shawn and his new girl, Eric, Sarah. Everyone (except Amy and Sarah and Alice) seem to get really drunk. We definitely run out of vodka and whiskey. Madness.

3 March

Brunch with Amy, John, Charlotte, Sarah, Alice, Lauren, Matt, Craig at Virginia's. Stop off at Sarah and Alice's afterwards and hang out for a while. Then back to the apartment. John, Amy and I play Scrabble. Amy plays her last letter and ends up winning by one point.

Pick up Lauren and Matt to take Amy and Matt to the airport. Watch TV. Go to bed.

4 March

Up early to catch my flight to Vegas.

Get food at the buffet in the hotel. Very hungry, the food seems kinda dodgy, though. Eat it anyway.

Rest up.

Jim and I wander over to New York, New York for dinner. Eat at the Italian place. Very tasty.

Back to the hotel to sleep.

5 March

The first birthday of Kees Burgess

6 March

Meet Jim for breakfast at the buffet and then off to the show to complete the set up.

The scene isn't yet complete but we have much work to do anyway so we stick around and things eventually reach completion. Brad and George arrive and then also does Greg.

For dinner the five of us head to Monte Carlo. The steakhouse is full so we go to the Italian restaurant.

After dinner, Brad and I stick around to do some gambling. Can't find a $5 table so we hit the $10 table. I lay $20 and after some ups and downs end out of pocket. So I lay another $20 and from that I end at $95. Time to call it quits for the night and off to bed I go.

7 March

Breakfast at the buffet.

Then meet up with George and Brad and others and off to show.

Long day. No lunch. Then back to hotel.

We head off to Venetian to meet with Hans for dinner. I don't feel so good. We wander around for a while and head up to Canal level and decide on Canaletto. Have a beer. Really not feeling so good. Order a vodka and much on some bread and then decide that it's time to hit the bathroom. There goes the stomach contents. From both ends. Not good.

Feeling a bit better return to the table and have some more bread and water. But things are not good down on the farm. Cold sweats, and apparently white as a ghost. There is no great surprise that I excuse myself and head for home without touching my main course.

back at the hotel cannot sleep and make several visits to the bathroom. It is after three before sleep finally arrives and even then it is choppy.

8 March

Happy birthday, mum

Up early to get George and Jim and booth set up for TV interview. Then catch a cab back to hotel and spend the day in bed. Midafternoon go downstairs and get peptobismol (no Imodium at hotel shop) and powerade. This helps.

Meet up with everyone and go to Paris for dinner. Eat at french-carribean restaurant. Very tasty. Jim and Greg head back to hotel after dinner.

Table area in Paris is very cool - late afternoon sky, with leg of Eiffel Tower. Play some Blackjack, lose $80 in short time. Waitresses have very sexy outfits.

Back to Boardwalk. Lose another $40. Oh well. Off to bed.

Early morning phone calls from Amy.

9 March

Julia Keeling's birthday

Show day from 9am to 2:30. We get there a little late as Greg seems to have overslept. No matter, though, as the show is very slow.

After the show we start the clean up and are out of there by 3.30.

Back to the hotel for a nap and so forth.

then meet up with Brad to meet his friends.

Go to New York New York. Craps. Caroline sits down at slot and gets a beer. Beer.

Photos of strip, excaliber

Go to MGM. Elvis. Lions.

Photos of NYNY

Go to Tropicana. Coupon book and cards. $1 margarita. Lounge bar. Scary singer. Two for one drinks. Showgirl SPin and Win. Lose $20 at BlackJack,

Cab to Hard Rock. Check out cool memorabilia.

Eat dinner. Decidedly boring steak.

Lose $100 at Blackjack.

Photo of Nikki Sixx's harley.

Get cab back to hotel

Get online for a bit and then sleep.

10 March

Justin Somerville's 30th birthday

I awoke, pretty well refreshed, around 10am. After a few minutes of laying in bed, I got up and showered and then spent the remainder of the morning working on emails that needed to be delivered Monday morning.

Around 11:30 I finished packing and headed downstairs to check out. Having been unsuccessful in trying to get hold of Brad, I stored my luggage with the belldesk, and headed across the road to look for breakfast. Food at the Boardwalk was definitely NOT on my agenda.

I decided to check out the Gameworks Grille. This, located conveniently underneath the World of Coke and M&M World, was co-located with a rather well equipped video arcade. I ordered a mango smoothie, potato skins and a burger with fries. The food was all very good, but prepared in a slightly haphazard fashion. I couldn't finish everything (no great surprise really), but was quite satisfied.

I wandered back outside and found that Brad had tried to call me. Cellular signal strength is not so good underground...

Anyways, Brad was in the casino at Boardwalk with Caroline and A__, so I wandered back to meet them, and then we grabbed the car and drove down to Bellagio to meet up with Demer and Daisy. Then we went off to the Hilton so we could do the Star Trek Experience.

The Star Trek Experience was rather enjoyable. There was memoribilia from the show and a timeline of events that made up all the series. I actually found it rather interesting (I always enjoyed Star Trek but never considered myself a Trekkie, or Trekker as they now appear to be called). At the end of the main part of the exhibit there was a photo opportunity that could be later incorporated into the crew photo of your choosing.

Next was some detailed information about the Romulans, Vulcans, xx, and Borg and then there was the Star Trek ride. This was entertaining in a silly sort of way, but had a goodish simulator type thing at the end.

After the ride we met up again with Caroline, who didn't join us but had instead played nickel slots (and had three beers in five dollars of expenditure). The others were a little ungry so we stopped and got some food (I just had water) and then we headed back to the strip.

We dropped Demer and Daisy off at The Mirage, Caroline and A__ at the Monte Carlo, and then we went back to the Boardwalk. Brad was feeling ill, so he went in to sleep it off, and I went across the road to M&M World. This was dealt with fairly quickly and feeling little enthusiasm for hanging round the strip, I collected my bags and got a cab to the airport.

Checking in was straight forward, and security, while busy, didn't take terribly long. Now I had five hours to kill...

So I sat at the window by my gate and read the latest issue of Harpers. Some interesting articles. I might have to review one of them and follow it up with some research. I had conversations with Lauren. When I had finished the Harpers, I headed over to the bar for a drink. I sat at the bar and started "Reading Eco." Amy called and we talked for a bit but the coverage in the airport was pretty crap and I didn't really have a lot of exciting stories, so we didn't talk for long.

There was a 50ish man with a thirty-something woman and another woman in her early thirties having a discussion. The younger of the women left and another, mid-twenties woman sat down. Soon, we were all embroiled in conversation.

It turned out that the man (Ken) and the woman (sorry, name got lost) were in town from Indianapolis and had just gotten married in Vegas. The girl that had joined us (Erin) was a prosecuting attorney from Orlando who was in town with another friend.. The former were Republicans; the last, a Democrat. It made for some lively conversation, especially as the drinks continued. The original woman of the group also later rejoined us (her name is also forgotten, but she was from Atlanta), and a final member of the team was a guy from New York City. Between us we talked politics, NZ, and experiences. It was really rather fun.

At one point, the New York guy was showing he other some photos he had from 9-11 and a red head girl wandered uup for a Bailey's. She, Barb, was also on my flight to atlanta, but she was going on to West Virginia. We chatted briefly and then she went off to catch a nap before the flight.

When it came time for me and Erin to go to the plane (she and her friend were going to Orlando via Atlanta), the six of us had an impromptu photo and business card swap session. Since I'm going to be in Orlando next week for another trade show, I said I'd give Erin a call.

The flight is delayed after a person is removed from the plane (was that Erin's friend?) and (due to new regulations since 9/11) the airline has to locate and remove her luggage from the plane. All good fun. Time can be used to write some journal stuff. Thirty-forty minutes later we get to take off. Yippee. Once in the air can fill in more details and then catch some shut eye. G'night.

11 March

Paul William's 31st birthday

My flight got in around 5:30am. After collecting my bags I really couldn't deal with MARTA, so I got some cash and grabbed a cab home. This was such a good idea. I got home and took two trips to get my bags up the stairs. Then I left two bags in the laundry and just went straight to bed.

While sleep did take its fair time coming, it did eventually arrive and I slept until around midday. I got up, had a shower, and got my computers online. There was much to catch up on, for work and home.

12 March

Scott McDaniel's birthday

I had planned to be at work early today, but last night's difficulty in sleeping led to me not being as bright and shiny as I had hoped. Oh well.

Work was rather busy. Jumping from conference call to meeting to conference call. Jumping out of meetings to handle another conference call. Requests for me to be in three different places at the same time. The stress shall continue to rise.

Came home, started working, popped out to grab a burger, came home and continued to work. It's coming up 10pm, so it's time to stop work for the day. Ugh.

13 March

Today was hard to get out of bed, and then it was followed by a long day at work. We took Karla out to lunch since she is leaving on Friday.

I got out of work a little after 7pm and headed directly for the Local for Trivia. It was just John and I for the Power Puff Drunks tonight, and you cuold say that it showed. At the end of the first half of the game we were in 8th place. Wer made a good comeback, and at the end of the second half, prior to the final question we were in fourth place. We nailed the final question quite nicely and ended in second. Me and John rock, just in case you hadn't realised.

During the after win celebrations Vanessa joined us and we talked about loads of things. There was a long conversation about the whole Israel-Palestine issue. I'm not afraid to state that I think Ariel Sharon is an evil man and has more responsibility for the violence in the last six months than any other person involved in the crisis. As far as the overall situation goes, sure, Arafat has a large burden on his shoulders, and while I wouldn't want to be the one who has to try to bring both Hamas and Hisbollah to peace terms with Israel, it does has to be recognised that the PLO was once (emphasis on once) one of the key terrorist agencies in the region. At least there are attempts and calls from the PLO to bring things to a close. If only Israel would do their bit to attempt peace. And get out of Palestine.

As I was about to leave, I bumped into Jen. Woohoo!! Jen rocks. As she reminded me, we must get together for dinner some time soon. It shall be aranged.

No MJQ for me tonight. Must get up in the morning, even though it will still be a late night for me. Weehee. So much to do.

I called Amy but not home and couldn't get her cellphone. Oh well. Tomorrow.

14 March

Long day at work, meeting from 1:30 until 6:30, came home and did more work

15 March

Work was busy but I think mostly successful. After work went to the Local. Played Mexicans with Lauren, Jenn, Clair, John. Listened to $10 worth of jukebox selections.

Went back to Lauren's place. Pete came over. Had a beer and went to sleep on the couch.

16 March

Lauren and I picked up my car and then we went to Radial for Brunch. Yay for Radial! Then we went to the Sears outlet store in Marietta to get Lauren a washer and drier.

Then I came home with the intent of shaving my head, having a shower and then going to get my taxes sorted out. That didn't quite happen. The shave and the shower did, but Civ III won out the day.

In the evening, John and I decided to get some dinner at The Imperial Pint. We couldn't find anywhere to park so we headed over to Hand In Hand. The food was okay (I had shephard's pie) and the beer was right temperature and our waitress was quite cute. John said she reminded him of his first girlfriend. She reminded me of someone, too, but I'm not sure who.

From there we headed to the Local, but on seeing Charlotte's car we decided that it might be best to try again at the Imperial Pint. So off we went and bumped into Tim and Brooke and their respective "other halfs." This was really cool, talking about all sorts of fun things.

We then headed back to the Local for a little while and then home. It was a good night out.

17 March

Packed. Went to Orlando. Left phone at home. Got to the hotel in time to see Simpsons, Malcolm, X Files. No Comedy Central. Bah. Worked. Went to bed.

18 March

Woke up. Cleared email. Had breakfast. Went to show. Really interesting. Went to two panel discussions.

Came back to hotel and did more work. Some frustrations. Went out for dinner. Ate at Uno's Italian Grill. Very disappointing. Need to find somewhere good tomorrow.

Came back to hotel and did more work. Also watched 2/3rds of Urban Legends. Main chick was cute.

Didn't sleep well.

19 March

Awoke not rested at all. Spent the morning clearing email and phone messages. Several issues to cover. Then went to show.

Had a bad lamb gyros. Wandered the show tracking down two or three people that I needed to discuss a few things with. Spent a fair amount of time in the Nokia booth. Some very cute Scandanavian girls there. Had a long product discussion with a Finnish bloke. Much work to be done. Went to a panel discussion on migration paths to GPRS/EDGE.

I had planned on going to a similar panel discussion on CDMA-1X, but several things were needing my attention that I had to deal with from the hotel. Got back and dealt with emails, but was unable to contact anyone I needed to speak to by phone. Very frustrating.

Need to decide on where to eat tonight. Getting up early tomorrow to get on standby on the earliest flight I can make back to Atlanta. It won't be the earliest flight that leaves, because I can't get up that early.

20 March

Home. Work. Local. .

21 March

22 March

Work. Local. Lauren's. Mexicans. Club. Lauren's.

23 March

Jenny Asumaa's birthday

Sleep. Radial with John. Taxes. Imperial Pint. Tim, Lisa, Ashe. John and Ashe sharing some love...

24 March

Tired. Brunch at Apres Diem with Lauren, Craig, others.

Relax. Read Economist.

Went to Funker Vogt at The Riviera. Had fun. Came home. Went to bed.