One week's worth

I've been out of town.

The NAB convention is a week worth of broadcasting geek heaven - if there is such a thing. This year I was able to relax and enjoy getting the Hard Sell from vendors, for the most part.

Here are a few things that I will share with you, in no particular order:

1. If you are invited into a meeting room at a convention to discuss "solutions," sit near the door and be ready to fake a nosebleed if things start getting out of hand. I found myself lured in by the promise of a chair and a bottle of water but then had to suffer through two hours in a stuffy little room listening to other people's so-called "strategic vision." (Translated, that means "being shown Powerpoint slides of boxes with lines between them.") With a halogen light pointed right at my face. I would have confessed to being Osama bin Laden to get out of there. I hope they all* caught my cold.

2. If you haven't flown much lately, be forewarned that it does take longer to clear security nowadays. Make that "arrive an hour before your flight" into "an hour and a half" and you'll be fine. Don't make it "forty minutes" or you'll be practically running to the gate to have the honor of being the last guy they let on the plane. Not that I would know from first hand experience or anything...

3. When you check "specify and purchase," you get invited to better parties than when you only check "specify." Even if you never actually make the purchase.

4. Las Vegas is no place to get over a cold. If you aren't eating dinner until after midnight, well, you aren't taking very good care of yourself, are you?

5. The corned beef hash in the cafe at the Mirage is pretty darned good.

It is nice to be home.

* my boss excepted