NursesPTO Making our time off, pay off.

While my buddy @nursewendy is terrified of blogworld I have just the opposite thoughts. I am stoked!!! I am by no means a computer wiz, I get excited if I send an email with an attached picture correctly. All I know is I’m going to be in Vegas with my best friends and, am going gain some awesome knowledge and, meet a ton of intelligent people. My biggest fear will be the hangovers and trying to absorb what is being said while in that state of mind. Here’s what I plan to do while I’m there.

I will order a vodka/redbull for @nursewendy on the flight to vegas. She is scared to fly so I figure I’ll just get her drunk to settle her nerves. Of course being the wonderful friends that we are @lipodoc and I will also have to drink in order to support @nursewendy. I know, I know, we are so selfless.

We will continue to order vodka/redbulls while in flight until @nursewendy is not nervous. Then we shall drink as much water as possible because we will have a long night of power drinking, dancing, laughing, gambling and debauchery ahead. So we must pace ourselves.

Arrive at the hotel, unpack and put on some well…….”hey we are here” clothes!

I have to immediately hit the craps table just to see what happens before we head out for the evening. What can I say, I have all the vices.

Then we will set off for fine dining and entertainment followed by: more adult beverages and more adult beverages. Who knows what time we shall return to the hotel. Seeing as how we will have to get up early in the morning to attend blogworld maybe we will be in by 4 or 5 am. All I can say is thank God for bloody Marys because that’s what I will be drinking to recover.

First thing the next morning blogworld starts, I can’t wait!! There will be so many awesome people there, that are amazing bloggers and computer wizzes. I am looking forward to picking their brains, in hopes that I can learn as much as possible. I am not shy so, I have no problem at all asking someone I don’t know about something I want to learn. I just hope these are nice people because if I run into someone who is rude or mean I will probably cry and then have to punch them in the face. Just kidding about the punching thing, I have never been in a fight in my life. Ohhhhh Wednesday is almost here….I’m sooooo excited!! All this drinking talk got me thinking about writing a super short blog on hangover tips. Make sure you watch for that post because my liver is a trained professional and I have some good advice.

So nurseWendy’s kind’ve scared of the techies and I fear for the hosts of the “unlimited vodka party” (details here) since nurseJennifer’s liver is wired for vodka-sound. But I’ve been to Vegas many times (this year alone) and I’m neither scared of flying nor searching for the ultimate hang-over cure. What’s a cynical Vegas veteran such as myself to do when not attending the admittedly fabulous Blogworld talks?

(1) Assuming that the talks will be over by about 6pm every day, that leaves between 4-6 hours of shopping to be had. One of the many great things about the LV strip is that the stores within the big casino hotels stay open LATE to capture that I’m-so-drunk-and-just-hit-the-jackpot crowd. So I can actually go to all the medical track lectures and then luxuriate in the heavenly trifecta that is Barney’s NY/ Jimmy Choo/ Christian Louboutin over at the Venetian. Salespeople are also exponentially nicer in Vegas than elsewhere (where they can be asshat snobs, but that’s for a different post) since anybody could have just won big at the tables. Jeans and a gimme cap do not automatically mean you get snubbed at Chanel like you would in NYC.

(2) Get rubbed with aromatic oils. The spas in Vegas are (not to abuse a cliche) world-class. There is a just-remodeled Canyon Ranch Spa branch at the Venetian, a fairly new massive spa complex at Caeser’s (Qua), and the Bellagio and THEHotel (their capital letters, not mine) host stunning hot bath rooms you’ll want to haunt after death.

(3) Get my ass kicked by the machine of death. The last time nurseWendy and I worked out in Vegas, she got on the assisted pull-up machine and promptly went crashing to the ground (she’s a great runner, but at the time had sorta weak lats). We lovingly christened the machine “the machine of death” and she has feared it ever since. At each of the faboo spas, there’s a faboo gym with every machine/cable/weight rack you could ever want. Canyon Ranch even has a rock wall to climb.

(4) Craps. Craps. Craps. My many trips to LV this year ending each day at the craps table is why their local economy has not completely failed despite the recession. I’m a terrible if very enthusiastic player

(5) Eat gobs of stinky cheese. There are an amazing number of divine restaurants on the strip, many of which have cheese plates or cheese boards which is one of my all time favorite indulgences. I gained 10 lbs on my 10 day honeymoon in France from cheese and bread alone. There is also a lot of wonderful wines to go with the cheese as LV is home to more master sommeliers than even LA. Since cheese and adult beverage cover two of the three essential food groups, that leaves…..

(6) Chocolate. On the ground floor of the Forum shops sits Vosges chocolate shop, a company run by a female chocolatier who was one of the first wide-spread artisan chocolate makers to combine unique ingredients to make ambrosia like truffles and bars. NurseWendy likes the milk chocolate/Goji berry/sea-salt combination, I like the Naga bar with coconut milk and curry. There’s everything from dark chocolate + bacon to dark chocolate + ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds. This is heaven on earth and a great place to sit and rest your tired, aching tootsies that have been strolling around on the 4″ Jimmy Choo heels.

What are your favorites? I’m always looking for new indulgences in Sin City?

I am a bit nervous about my upcoming Blogworld experience….

7. There is a flight involved in getting there. I am so very scared about flying…this will only be my 3rd trip in a plane…I just don’t believe it will ever seem ok to be that high up in the air…

6. It is in Las Vegas. There are so many wonderful things to do in Vegas, so many shopping opportunities, so many bright lights, so much to distract from the Blogworld experience….

5. There will be sooo many people there. I am not one to be comfortable in a packed room with hundreds of people. This will make me incredibly nervous and paranoid….are you looking at me?

4. These super smart people might try to talk to me. You may not believe this, but I am very shy around groups of strange people I do not know, especially really smart computer people that know so much more about the topics of Blogworld than I do.

3. I may be expected to know something about computer stuff… This is very scary to me. I know how to turn on a computer and get to the internet…anything else I need technical support team and a few hours to spend on the phone to get anywhere.

2. Just looked at the online schedule…sooo much information and it starts soooo early for Vegas. There is a lot of information to be covered at Blogworld….how will we get it all in?? And all the big computer words about marketing and such? I am going to be really lost…I see myself sitting in a conference room staring blankly at a pretty floral pattern on the far wall…..just over the speaker’s head…

1. Oh yeah, gotta get back on a plane to get home… Dang!!