I don't like Las Vegas

I finished up a week of meetings in Las Vegas, as part of some software standards activity that is part of my job. Mostly, these meetings involve spending a long day in a conference room, so I don't get to see much of whatever city we're in - except for the evenings which are usually open. Usually these are place I haven't been, so there is some exploring to do. I've been to Las Vegas before, though, so not as much to do that's new - not to mention the various other problems with the current marketing of the city. A few reasons that I especially don't like travel to Vegas:

1) The city is focused on separating you from your money, in lots of unbiblical ways. Gambling is everywhere. You have to walk through a casino to get from the hotel entrance to the elevators. I'm sitting in the airport right now, and there is a huge bank of slot machines 20 feet away. Shows are incredibly expensive - at least $50, for bad seats in a show with a 'nobody' - want to see Better Midler in good seats? Get ready to cough up $400 per person...

2) After gambling, sex seems to be the primary business. You can't walk down the street (at least 'The Strip" - Las Vegas Boulevard) without having a huge number of cards for 'girls' pushed at you. About half of the shows involve dancing girls, with or without all the normal clothing. Billboards and advertising trucks are everywhere hyping strip clubs. I'm not intereseting in this stuff, but would rather not have to see it constantly.

3) There are earthquakes here. Last night, about 8:18 there was an earthquake in Lowell California, which was felt in Vegas. I noticed it mostly from feeling the building swaying back and forth, about 4 inches or so based on seeing the curtains swinging. It felt generally like I was really dizzy. Not dangerous, but a little disturbing and I try to avoid earthquakes.

4) I'm away from my awesom family, and not in a place where I can have as much seeing new things...

That's enough of my rant. I'm on my way home, they've announced that the plane will be boarding in a few minutes, so I'm getting free of Sin City.

The joys of business travel

This week I've been in Lisbon for a weeks worth of standards meetings with the MIPI alliance - a group establishing microprocessor interfaces (terribly geeky, nerdy stuff to most of you, I'm sure...). There are some good things and some annoying things about these trips (and this one in particular).

Good -

• I get to see some new cities that I otherwise probably wouldn't for quite a while. The meetings don't take all day, so I get to spend a little bit of time looking around and playing tourist, and sometimes finding places I'd like to come back to with my family. Look here for some pictures I took in Lisbon.
• I'm not paying for the trip
• I get to keep lots of airline miles for making the trip
• The work is generally interesting and exciting

Bad -

• I'm away from my family, and never sleep as well when I'm not with my dear wife...
• Most of the time is spent in meeting rooms - the inside of one conference room is pretty much like any other, so it isn't all that glamorous...
• Lisbon does dinner like Spain - really late. Of course the meeting schedule is pretty much like a normal business day everywhere else - no time for a siesta in the afternoon. So I'm up at 6:30 to get ready for the meetings at 8:30, but awake until midnight getting dinner. I don't do well on 6 hours of sleep...
• Europe especially has some jet-lag issues for me coming over, so I'm pretty much tired and messed up for most of the time that I'm here...
  

I have at least two more trips this year, but one will be within the US. Will I be interested in coming back to Lisbon? Probably not - the city, at least what I've seen, isn't all that interesting, and it doesn't feel particularly safe - more pickpocket problems than I've heard in other cities, and more of the businesses seem to be out to rip off the tourists.

If you're interested in seeing where I've been, I have an application on my Facebook page to show the cities I've been to, so become my friend and you can see the full list. I have been to a bunch of places...