Vegas.

I was looking through some recent blogs and it appears that I never mentioned I'm going to Vegas.

Yep, Vegas.

Leaving on Saturday. Staying until Thursday.

Sweet, right? Gambling? Partying? Boozing? Hookers and blow?

Not quite. I'm going for a conference for work. A few days of how awesome Help Desks are. Seminars and lectures and company booths and free stuff like pens and hats and refrigerator magnets. (OK, and maybe a little gambling, partying, and boozing.) The conference doesn't start until Monday, so I have the second half of Saturday and all of Sunday to do whatever. I can register for the conference on Sunday, but that should only take a few minutes, and more importantly, I don't have to get up early to do it.

But check these perks out. It's a work-related trip so the 'B pays for airfare, hotel, and food. That's a sweet way to see Vegas, (or anyplace really.) And we're not talking some shitbag, flea-ridden hotel. No sir. We'll be staying at Mandalay Bay. And I just found out that since we're traveling on a Saturday, that's also considered work-related, so we'll be getting paid for that as well. Getting paid overtime rates to fly to Vegas. America, what a country!

So, yeah, all I'm paying for is any gambling, drinking, and entertainment. Unfortunately the Bunny Ranch is a 7 hour drive, so that's probably out.

Another side perk is what I will NOT be doing. The 'B is introducing a new piece of infrastructure to our WEB environment next week. One that could potentially knock out a bunch of companies. As such, we alerted all the companies over a month ago, and asked them to particiapte in a connectivity test we set up for them so that they could transition smoothly. To date, about 1/3 of the companies have tested, most with issues. So come May 1st, when this box goes in, predictions around the help desk is that the shit is euphemistically going to hit the fan. And I won't have to be here to deal with it. Likely what will happen is that the box will get pulled, and we'll return to our regular environment early that day, but this will be after the phones ring off the hook for a while and angry customers complain.

Personally, my respone would be "Fuck 'em". We gave you a month and multiple notifications to test and you didn't do it, but this type of customer unfriendly attitude is probably why I'm not running the company. And really, it doesn't matter because....well, I'll be in Vegas!