March 3, 2008


As I sit here in my hotel room and watch the sun set behind the skyscrapers of New York, I find it astonishing that I have only to turn my head to the right to see the very same sun glinting off the Eiffel tower, and, if I wait a little longer and turn my head to the left, I can see the brilliant beam of light emitting from the peak of a Pharaohs temple. Ah...Las Vegas...how can you not love it??

In my wandering the last couple of days, I've been delighted to discover THREE Starbucks inside the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. I haven't begun to try to count all of the restaurants - only one of which I've been to thus far as I seem to have left my appetite in Canada - which suits me just fine!

This morning, I awoke at 5:30am and decided to stay up. I spent some time online with my office this morning checking in on things. Dianna and Ron stopped in around 7:30 on their way down to Dianna's class. I took my time getting dressed and finally left my room around 9am.

I took a stroll through the hotel's main gift shop and bought (Darryl, skip this next bit) a beanie baby named "Aces" who holds a replica of the famous Las Vegas sign in his arms.


I tried my luck at the slots and donated more money to the casino (thank goodness I made a budget and I've almost managed to stick to it).

Around 10am, I took a cab to the Luxor hotel. This is one I have been wanting to see since I first heard that it had opened - I am fascinated by Egyptian history and artifacts. I was greatly disappointed in the hotel. I didn't have time to go through their display of King Tut's tomb - perhaps that might change my mind. I will try later this week to go again.





As long as I am up and moving, my feet don't hurt too badly, so I kept walking. There is a mall that connects the Luxor to the next hotel on the strip, Mandalay Bay, so I wandered through there and to their SharkReef Aquarium, where I spent $15 to go on a self-guided 30 minute tour. Due to the glass, not many of my photos turned out, but I also took a fair bit of video, some of which looks promising; I have posted 2 videos at the end of this entry.






At noon, I caught another cab back to the MGM Grand to get changed and over to the Convention Centre for my afternoon of courses.

My first course was on E-Marketing - a very enlightening hour that gave me pages and pages of notes and ideas. That was followed by a panel discussion with 2 top agents who use social networking/blogging as an integral component of their marketing plan. Again, lots of ideas.

My courses finished up around 4, so I had time to go through the RE/Max Market place and picked up a few little things.





While walking back to the hotel from the convention centre, I was pleasantly surprised to spot Dianna's boss and his wife having a late lunch in one of the restaurants so I had a brief visit with them and agreed to meet up with them later.

At 5, I came back to the room to freshen up and get ready for the Welcome Reception.

The Welcome Reception was themed around the 70's as RE/Max this year is celebrating 35 years. There were Go-Go dancers, funky light shows and a really amazing live band. There was plenty to eat and drink but the event was over all too soon.

Dianna and Ron decided to head out on the strip while I opted for a quiet night in. It's 9:30pm here now, but by the time I upload some of today's photos, it will be going on 11, if not 12, so that's it for today's narrative.

Until tomorrow....'night.