One Week Ago Today: Thursday

I wanted to try and make it to the gym this morning. I haven't worked out all week, but I HAVE been doing a lot of walking, so I roll over and try to go back to sleep. But I can't. I keep thinking about KA. I thumb through my program before getting ready and heading downstairs. I don't think I can do McDonald's again this morning. As I head up the stairs to the food court I see some fruit in one of the gift shops. FRUIT! I immediately make a pit stop and get two banannas and one apple. This is nice.

I eat my fruit as I wait for the guys to come straggling in. I meet up with Tony (a volunteer on the media team) and he tells me he went to the gym this morning. He was 30 minutes into his work out when someone from the spa came in and told him it was $20.00 a day to work out in the gym. He said forget it, and walked out. I can't believe it. $20.00 a DAY! That's what most people pay for a MONTH! By this time I'm ready to come home. Everything here is so freakin' expensive. I hate being a tourist. You're ripped off everywhere you go. I'm glad I didn't go to the gym, though.

The only left to see at NAB today is the audio room. Mark says, "We shouldn't be too long. I just want to breeze through and see what's new." Yeah right. When it comes to audio, Mark and "breeze through" don't belong in the same sentence.

This is the smallest and least crowded room of all, but yet we stay there for the whole day. Mark and Dustin talk with Chris (the Yamaha rep that took us out to dinner on Monday, the same Yamaha rep that goes to our church, the same Yamaha rep they can talk to at anytime) for three hours. And the Yamaha booth was at the beginning. It's very easy to get lost in a place like this. Time just gets away from you.

By this time, I've run out of ceral bars and I'm now onto a bag of toasted almonds my wife packed for me. That is lunch.

Hours later, Dustin and I head off to go to the NAB store to look for a shirt. We eventually meet back up with Mark and John at the hotel.

We get in the van and head down the strip to Outback. We park for free (amazing) and have a nice dinner. After that we decide to make our way down to Steve Wynn's lastest dream resort, Wynn Las Vegas, the newest and grandest casino. One of the media guys was telling us about it. "What kind of theme does it have?" I ask. "It's a casino" he says. "Yes, but what style is it?"(all the casinos here have their own theme: Caesar's Palace is like Rome, Excalibur is like medieval knights, The Venitian is a take on Venice, Luxor is themed after Egypt--but apparently not everyone cares about that.) "It's a BIG casino" he says with a dead-pan look. Realizing I'm not getting through I figure I will just find out for myself.

It is unbelievable. It took 800 million dollars to build. Here are some pictures that I found on the internet. They aren't the best quality, but you get a sense of what it's like. Very whimsical and phantasy-esque. Lots of art and color everywhere. This is definately the artist's hotel.

After we take a look around, Mark and I decide to walk back. It's probably about 2 miles back to Excalibur. We decide to take a look into every casino on the way back. He hit Treasure Island, Paris, Bellagio, and MGM Grand before calling it a night.

I head up to my room to pack and make sure I'm still under the 50 pound limit. I'll find out tomorrow.