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It Happened to Me

Las Vegas Travel Diary: Everything You Need for a Visit to Vegas

This vending machine in the men’s room in Accordion City’s Pearson Airport dispenses everything you need for the perfect weekend in Las Vegas:

"Travel store" vending machine featuring: Tylenol, condoms, Ice Drops breath mints and Body Play tattoos.

The offerings from the vending machine are outdone by the goodies awaiting guests of the Mandalay Bay hotel, where I’m staying. Miniature Snickers bars trump breath mints every time!

Cocktail shaker, can of Snickers miniatures, can of M&Ms, can of sour cream and chives Pringles, can of original Pringles, 3 boxes of assorted nuts, "The Love Box" and "The Travel Box"

Being the rather – ahem – “earthy” person that I am, I had to inspect “The Love Box”. Its contents are listed on the back of the box, which I photographed and posted below:

"Contents: two lubricated prophylactics, two personal lubricants, two obstectrical towelettes, two oral fixation mint packers, one massage oil, one feminine fresh wipe"

Is it me, or does the list of contents sound a bit…clinical?

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It Happened to Me Play

Las Vegas Travel Diary: The Gun Store!

It’s still here after all these years – the ad for The Gun Store, which greets you at the baggage carousels at Las Vegas’ McCarran airport. It’s far more memorable than a mere “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign:

Sign: "Try One! Shoot a real machinegun! MP5, Uzi, Thompson, MP40, AK-47, Sten, M16, Greasegun, M249 SAW. The Gun Store"

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It Happened to Me Play

Las Vegas Travel Diary: Anything Can Be a Slot Machine Theme

Case in point: the Sex and the City slot machine in Mandalay Bay…

"Sex and the City" slot machine with video screens featuring the women and "Mr. Big"

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Geek It Happened to Me Work

Back to Daylight Saving Time!

Photo: Penguin about to wake up a polar bear with a pair of cymbals.

I’m in Las Vegas to catch Microsoft’s MIX10 conference, where a lot of big announcements are being made. The combination of having just come from the Confoo conference in Montreal, flying to Vegas by way of Vancouver, and “springing forward” to daylight saving time has left me feeling like the bear pictured above.

More posts from Vegas and MIX10 to follow!

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music Play

Squeezin’ at the Society of the Secret Pickle

Photo by Jennifer Brown.

I did a fair bit of work massaging some presentations and software demos into shape last weekend, but there was also some downtime. The Ginger Ninja and I enjoyed dinner with the Accordion City foodie group/dinner club known as the Society of the Secret Pickle. The photo above shows me playing Happy Birthday to Pat, one of the guests at the event.

imagePhoto by Pat.

I’ll write more about the Society of the Secret Pickle and the lovely food we had later, but in the meantime, you might want to check out:

imagePhoto by Pat.

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It Happened to Me Work

Swamped

If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been posting as many articles to The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century lately, it’s because I’m swamped with work. I’m putting together three big presentations and gearing up for some business travel that will take me to Montreal, Las Vegas, Victoria, Kelowna, Moncton, Fredericton and London (Ontario, not the UK) over the next few weeks.

All the work I’ve been doing has kept me so busy that I’m looking forward to the MIX10 conference in Las Vegas and the two eight-hour, one-connecting-city flights, the latter of which is a “red eye” as a chance to relax.

I’ll post stuff whenever I can find the time, but if you really want to see where all my blogging energy has been going, go check out my work blogs:

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It Happened to Me Play

Names I Have Been Referred By at the Gym

"Hans and Franz" from Saturday Night Live

Names at the Old Gym (Mostly people in their 20s – 30s)

From summer 2005 to the start of 2009, I was a member at a gym located a ten-minute walk away from home. The crowd is made up mostly of people in their 20s and 30s, presumably students, singles and the “yummy mummy” crowd, with students and homemakers making the lion’s share of attendees during business hours.

Here are the ways I was addressed at that gym:

  • Joey
  • Mr. deVilla
  • Jose
  • “Joe-zay” (an attempt to pronounce “Jose”)
  • Accordion Guy
  • Dude
  • Dogg
  • Yo
  • Sir

Names at the Current Gym (“Newly wed or nearly dead”)

I switched to the new gym not because there was anything wrong with the old gym, but because:

  • It’s only a block away from home, making it more likely that I’d go more often, especially when the weather’s bad. So far, it’s worked; on average, I’m there every other day.
  • It has a swimming pool.

Before and after business hours, the crowd is made up of people from their 20s through 40s. During business hours, it’s the retiree crowd.

Here are the ways in which I’ve been addressed or referred to by my fellow gym members:

  • Joey
  • Jerry
  • Jimmy
  • Johnny
  • Young Man
  • Young Feller
  • That Microsoft Guy
  • The Computer Guy
  • The Accordion Player
  • Young Chinese Fella
  • “That young guy who’s always here in the middle of the day…why doesn’t he have a job?”