11/30/22: Travel report, Day 6 in Las Vegas

A few weeks ago, I signed up for the company 5k down here. I picked up my bib and not super impressive t-shirt after ponying up $45 to have the privilege of running. At least the $$ went to a good cause, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The event started at 6:30, with some pre-race activities at 6. I set my alarm for 5 and went to bed, only I was lucky to wake up at 5:20 because I set my alarm for Tuesday, not Wednesday! I got up, got dressed, and headed to the shuttle.

I brought shorts, a t-shirt, a fleece and my hat. I forgot to bring gloves, as well as my spandex as I thought it would be in the high 50s today. And it was, only not at 6:30. At 6:30, it was like 38°, so quite cool.

I got on the shuttle and we made our way to the Mandalay Bay, where the race congregated in the stadium. Apparently there were around 900 participants, and they had us corralled on the floor of the stadium. There was a DJ and he did his best to get us "pumped up" by having us do some warm up dances and moves. Overall, it was pretty dorky.

Riding in on the shuttle

In the stadium at the start

Queuing to get started

After a bit of that, we made our way outside the stadium, then got started on our run. The route was down Frank Sinatra Blvd for 2.5km, and then back, so really boring. I did like running with all the runners, though, because I felt pretty fast, was passing fools left and right.

At the end, I saw I crossed the line just over 30:00, officially finishing at 30:07, which is faster than my usual pace. They handed me a pair of re:Invent socks at the end of it and that was that. Back to the shuttle and back to the hotel to chill and shower before work.

I got to the team room in time for breakfast, brought Brittany and Heather some food as they couldn't come to the room, then got stationed in the registration area at the Venetian. I chatted with Jalea for a bit and basically just hung around trying to stay busy (not really). Luckily, the World Cup was being broadcast on the giant LED screens, so I was able to watch Poland vs Argentina (AR with the win) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia vs Mexico (MX with the win). It was actually pretty cool.

Lunch happened, and then it was back to the reg room. The rest of the afternoon was pretty boring; there aren't many attendees needing much, so it was more chatting and stuff. There was one guy I got thrown out as he was being weird and once security came by, they determined that he was high on something, so he got the boot. That was the excitement of that.

The [C] Squad planned dinner out tonight, so me, Heather, Audrey, Marisa and Brittany all met in the Palazzo lobby and walked over to Ceasar's whatever for dinner. After getting lost in the mall, we regrouped and headed over to the Water Grill, where we talked and talked and ate and celebrated Marisa's fake birthday (free dessert cookie!).

Walking to dinner with Heather and Audrey

Random picture

I have really enjoyed getting to know these ladies this week. We have gotten to know each other at some other events (Audrey, Marisa and Heather at DC; Marisa and Brittany at Boston; Heather and Brittany in Seattle; all of them in LV), and I have grown fond of each of them. Our Slack chat is good times and if they weren't here, I'd be really bored and trying to fend for myself. One other colleague, Marta, has been cool to hang with as well, but other than a dinner the other night, we haven't spent much time with each other.

Brittany is a no-BS kind of person. She lives in Alaska and is always too hot, even when it's relatively not hot. Though in Boston and Seattle in the summer, she was miserable and it was always funny. She gets her job done and has been an integral part of the reg team throughout her contract.

I met both Audrey and Marisa in DC initially. I think Marisa's first week was that DC trip. Audrey was earlier but when we met, it was pretty low key. I did spend some time with Audrey and liked her, but we didn't get to know each other much. I got to know Marisa a little in Boston and liked her a lot. Her and I were in similar boats as we weren't super sure what we were doing in our roles. But she had a lot of event experience and wasn't being properly utilized.

With Audrey, it's been this trip that I've really gotten to know her. She is low key super funny, and despite her demure appearance, apparently she's quite the social butterfly. I saw it a bit yesterday when she knew a bunch of event booth staff from previous gigs. Tonight we got some dirt from Marisa (they've worked together for years), and Audrey would be tearing up the scene while Marisa was ready to call it a night. She's been cracking me up.

And then with Heather, she's been my home girl this trip. Really enjoying talking to her, as I really got to know her in DC, then in Seattle, and have kept in constant contact with ever since. She really cares about others and is really dialed into their feelings. We've had some heart to hearts and I hope her upcoming wedding is great for her.

Dinner was a good time. I got a steak and we had great conversation and got to know each other a little more. Brittany went to WWU, so I might pick her brain for Haley's sake. We all ate too much and possibly spent too much. Expense report will tell next week.

We walked out of Ceasar's and hit up Walgreens, headed back into the hotel and went our separate ways. I've hit over 20000 steps today and I am tired. Tomorrow is our last day, and the re:Play at night. I get to spend the shift with Audrey at the Venetian, and that should be a fun time. I hope the [C] Squad is enjoying hanging with me as much as I'm enjoying hanging with them. It's been a blast.

11/27-29/22: Travel report! Days 3, 4, 5 in Vegas

Haven't posted the past few days because I had some later nights. Let's see what I can remember.

Sunday I had a late shift so I slept in a bit. Because I'm on the 38th floor, I didn't want to go to floor 2, walk to our team room, eat/grab breakfast, come back to the room and hang for several more hours. So I ordered room service instead.

Stuffed french toast and a carafe of coffee and it was super tasty but a little more than I expected to spend. But I hope it's OK to expense anyway.

I ended up hanging in the room until I had to go to the team room and the main floor at the Venetian. I didn't take many pix, but imagine a giant room with a giant LED panel screen and a bunch of people and you'll get the idea.

After a little of that, I walked across the street to the Wynn / Encore hotel to find my colleagues to do some testing. I got lost in one of them, but finally found who I was supposed to find and got to work. Testing was fairly quick and easy, got to connect for a few minutes with Ryan M. and then came back to the Venetian to then get over to the airport for my shift there.

Airport shift was nothing exciting. The crews were all dialed in at the reg and help desks, needing minimal support from me. Easy but long and boring, reminded me of my retail days closing the store at the mall. I just walked around a lot and tried to stay occupied.

At the airport

so artistic

When my shift was over, I had to catch a Lyft back to the hotel. That took an hour due to all the nerds flying into town. It was a mess. And then, of course, I had to stay up to watch the recording of the Raiders vs Seahawks and, though it was an entertaining overtime game, they blew it in the end and the game was over. Need to get some D and run the ball way better!

Monday was another late start for me, so slept in, went to the gym and ran a 5k, then did some budgeting and plane ticketing for Riley's trip for winter break. Headed to team room and ate later, then did some "support" at the Venetian reg/help desks. We have been so well-staffed that there is not much for me to do. I suppose I could seek out tasks and jobs, but as me and the [C] squad are all short timing, well, there's not a lot of incentive to do so. We have tons of volunteers and staff and they are firing on all cylinders.

Later that afternoon I had to go to the MGM, where I helped set up on Saturday, to support the help desk. This was more exciting than the airport, as we actually had people to help. I also got to meet and work with a few new people, Malia (who I met this summer), Tonya (new to AWS and really cool) and Morgan (from Denver, young, and also with AWS).

Great time working with them, supporting the customers, and just chatting. At 9pm, we finally closed up and I Lyfted back to the hotel, at which point I met up with Marta, and she and I grabbed a late pizza before turning in for the night.

Before my run

Stats of run

F this guy

Today was an early start, with a 5am wake up. I met Heather at 6 and we Lyfted over to the MGM, where I was again supporting help desk. Only this was even slower than last night and we basically just monitored and talked about work for a few hours. Fairly uneventful, but we did take a shuttle back to the Palazzo and it wasn't as bad as I heard it was.

Once here, we went to the team room and reunited with the rest of the squad, had some lunch, then did a walk through the Expo floor. Audrey met up with some old coworkers and we participated in her friend's booth. I won a hat and gave it to Audrey, but I did get a t-shirt.

Heather and I walked to Walgreens to buy some odds and ends, and then it was back to our rooms to chill and relax. I tried to sleep but couldn't get there, so I just messed around on the computer and phone for a few hours. We are all headed to a team dinner in a few minutes so we'll see how that goes. None of us are super excited to go, but it'll probably be fine once we get there.

No pictures worth posting today. Apparently it snowed back at home, but it probably won't stick around too long. Three more nights and then we're outta here. Looking forward to going home, will miss the squad mates as they are all a treat to know.

Tomorrow I'm running the 5k, which will be my first event, which should be a cakewalk; it's basically two points on Frank Sinatra Blvd. The hardest part will be getting up and shuttling to the venue. The run will be fine and maybe sort of cool, in the dark on the Strip. Maybe I'll take some pix of that tomorrow.

11/26/22: Travel report! Day 2 in Las Vegas

Got up at 7 today and lazed around for a few while I waited for my squad to let me know if we should be in the team room at 8 or 9. Turns out, 9 was fine. Took a shower, got ready and headed downstairs. Didn't have any Starbucks as there was food (so-so) and coffee (it was coffee) in the room. I was able to reunite with my mates Marta, Marisa, Audrey and Amanda, as well as some other cool folks I've met over the past few months, like Ed, Perry and Jane.

We did some walking around the facility to look at the rooms and then headed to some different locations to do some testing. Spent some time at the MGM Grand, headed later to Ceasars Forum (really nice bathrooms there). Headed back to MGM Grand and had to walk through the casino area, which was just as crazy as the Palazzo.

I got to spend some quality time with the Contractor Squad. Several of us were brought on as [C], which is how we're designated in our systems, and we have been hanging and working together ever since. All of them are women and they are all really good at what they do; it's a pleasure to work with them. Here we are in an Uber or Lyft heading to the MGM.

A lot of our time was spent waiting for another team to get stuff set up, so we hung out and tried to get stuff done. Rather than boring myself with tales of work, here's pictures of things I saw today.

The view from the 38th floor

One of the LED walls I'll be working by sometime

Outside the MGM Grand. Or Ceasars, I can't remember

In the Uber at the end of the day

New York, New York

Outside the Palazzo/Venetian

Inside by the restaurant

Inside the TAO restaurant

Sushi dinner for me!

11/25/22: Travel report! Day 1 in Las Vegas

I started working for a Very Large E-Commerce Company in February this year. Brought on as a contractor, I traveled to several events around the country. First up was San Francisco in April, followed by Washington DC in May, then Boston in July, and finally, Las Vegas in November.

This event here in Las Vegas means for the first time in my life, I will have visited Las Vegas. The flight in was uneventful enough. 2.5 hrs from Seattle, easy peasy. The LV airport was a bit mall-like, really glitzy, and with gambling games throughout. I made my way through, got my Uber with Larry, a really aggressive minivan driver, and got to my hotel after a 20 minute ride through traffic.

Everything my teammates have told me about Las Vegas and what we'll be doing here has been a little extra. Like, "Bring 5 pairs of shoes," or, "Fill your tub with water because the air is dry," to, "You can rent a second fridge because the one in the rooms is weighted." Huh?

Anyway, I got here to the Palazzo at the Venetian (or maybe it's the other way around) and checked in. Room on the 20th floor, head through the smoky casino to get to the elevators. First, I passed by the high-end watch stores (after all, if you hit a jackpot, you can buy a $32,000 IWC watch (that's what the sales lady said the price was)) and headed over to my floor.

When I got to my room, I saw a DND sign on the door. "Weird," I thought, maybe the cleaners forgot it? I did give a courtesy knock and a shouted, "Hello?" at the door before trying my key. The door opened and I noticed the lights were on... and a dead body was on the hallway floor.

Not really.

There was an open door to the right, leading to the bathroom. On the counter that I could see was a paper wrapper of some sort. And then I saw a towel rack with a clearly rehung towel, so I quickly backed out and headed back downstairs.

Check-in "made things right" by getting me another room, this time on the 38th floor, accessible only by the private elevator bank. Though 38th floor is higher than the other floors, in the private elevator side, it's only higher than the 37th floor, which is the lowest of the private side. Maybe if I had found a dead body, I'd be on the 50th floor.

I got to the new room and it was a little gaudy, but really nice. Walk in and immediately to the left is the double-door bathroom with shower, tub, double sink, private toilet room and vanity. More than I need, but I'm not complaining. Just past the bathroom to the left is the king size bed, which faces a six drawer dresser, with a large LG tv hanging above it.

Keep going and there's the "downstairs," as my colleague, Brittany, called it (she has the same style room). Down a couple stairs is more of a sunken living room, with a L-shaped couch, a round table, a desk in the corner, and another TV over a cabinet. The floor to ceiling windows offer a nice view, of which direction I know not, but sadly, no view of the street below as all I can see is the rooftops of the Palazzo below.

I got unpacked and did some budgeting, did some actual work, and waited for another colleague to show up from her flight. Since she was taking a while to get in, I decided to go downstairs and get the lay of the land.

Tomorrow we start testing for our big event and everyone has said to plan about 30 minutes to get from your rooms to the conference rooms below. I don't think I'll need 30 minutes, but considering elevator traffic, it's a good estimate. I got down to the 2nd floor and jumped off the elevator, as that floor has the little indoor Italy, complete with gondolas. Lots of restaurants, tourist shops, high-end shops (more watches), a rare book shop (again, where are you gonna spend your jackpot winnings?), and did I mention restaurants?

Tons of people about, all sorts, nationalities, body types, financial status. Crazy. I know Marci wouldn't want to vacation here and I don't know if I would either, but man, there are plenty of families that do and did. Really interesting to see, and the people watching here is next level!

Heather finally showed up and then her, Brittany and I met up and headed to one of the first restaurants we saw, Tony V's something or other. Italian, and I had a something something carbonara, along with garlic bread and it was super tasty. The server/bartender was a nice dude and his wife was doing a singalong with a guitarist as the night's entertainment. She was good, but just about as cheesy as the garlic bread we got. They weren't super loud, but man, with my hearing issues and the music, it was so hard to converse with the girls.

We finished eating and headed to our rooms. We have a 9am call time tomorrow and Heather is on EST, so she was pretty wiped out. I came back here and chatted with Marci, watched an episode of the White Lotus and now, I'm hitting the sack as well.

Las Vegas airport

Again in the airport. I'll be there supporting on Sunday

Driving to the hotel

Don't mind that pile of shit on the left

Upgraded to the private elevators

Low on the private side (38), still private

One watch in the store was $32,000!

Gondoliers in the mall

Gig Report: 11/12/2022 Sunset Grooves at the Brick

Minor road trip east of the mountains for this gig, about 70 miles from home. The rest of the band had to come from Ballard, adding an additional 30 minutes to the ride. Luckily, we carpooled, so I got picked up and sat in the back of the SUV with the gear.

It was a gorgeous sunny day for us here, west of the mountains, and the night was going to be clear over the mountains, but likely about 5-10 degrees cooler. It was cold when we left home and as we headed over the pass, it just got colder.

About an hour or so later, we arrived in the small town of Roslyn, WA, to play the Brick, a legendary old bar out there (also made famous by the old TV show, "Northern Exposure"). It was in the high 20s and this old man was cold. We got in the club and started loading in.

I'd never been to the Brick before, but upon walking in, was pleasantly surprised to see it full of diners. It's an old building, with it split down the middle. The side we entered on was the restaurant/bar side, and through a doorway about halfway in was more dining area, but with a stage on one end and a dance floor adjacent. We got our stuff on stage and started the setup process.

Since this was an actual place and not a private party, they had a PA and backline in place, so there was no need for my in-ears or bass rig. The owner, Lucky, was also the sound guy and a musician in his own right. He was sharply dressed, with stovepipe jeans, a henley shirt, and a leather vest. He fit the Western feel of the town, with his handlebar mustache, grey hair, and small gun attached to his belt on the small of his back. He reminded me a bit of my brother-in-law, Todd, manly handsome and charismatic.

As mentioned, Lucky had gear and on stage for my bass was a GK 212 combo, brand new. For a 212 cabinet and amp, it was really small. About the size (or smaller) of my Avatar 210. I picked up the GK and it was super light, too. Lucky said it was 42 pounds. I moved it to my side of the stage and started the setup process.

GK 212 Neo Combo amp

Controls up top

I ended up zeroing out all the controls and EQ, basically relying on it for stage sound. I had my pedals up front to sculpt the sound. Overall, that 212 sounded really great and could be an option down the road if/when I get tired of dragging around my big Avatar 212. Though, to be fair, I have not gigged with it but the one time (and I haven't gigged with my Orange yet), so we'll see how it goes. Good to know the GK is out there, though.

The trusty L1k and the pedalboard

Soundchecking in front of the TV (hidden after the game)

After getting dialed in with some difficulty (and to be honest, it was troublesome all night), we were comped a meal from the bar. I got brisket quesadillas, which were tasty. Super hot and greasy, the brisket could've used some more salt, but it hit the spot.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea

Above the kitchen opposite the stage is an upstairs portion called the apartment. Which is pretty much what it is. You go up the stairs and to the left is a kitchenette, a seating area (occupied by a bed), with a bedroom attached that has a window that overlooks the floor below. Opposite to the kitchenette are windows that look out on the main street that the bar is on. On the other side of the stairs is a bathroom/laundry room combo. All the employees have access to these rooms and use it as a break room. It acts as a green room for the bands, too.

Fridge in the kitchenette

After getting changed, we took the stage to start at 9pm but due to some sound issues, we had to wait for Lucky to get us dialed in. He was super nice, but seemingly unfazed by being late. We had a nice crowd hanging around for us, and after about 15 minutes, we hit the first notes for Steal Away (Robbie Dupree).

As far as my monitor mix went, I could barely hear myself (was using my head voice to listen to my singing instead), I couldn't hear Dusty's vocals or Patrick's guitar. I could hear Jen through her wedge and I could hear Eric's keys from his monitor next to me. So it wasn't ideal but understanding that Lucky was a one-man show, we rolled with it. He was eventually able to get me some semblance of monitors and I was able to make my way through things.

Crowd-wise, there was a nice amount of people there. We were expecting an older, retiree type crowd, but were pleasantly surprised to see most people appeared to be in their mid-20's to early 30's. We played through Come And Get Your Love (Redbone) and Listen to the Music (Doobie Bros) before we finally got some dancers on song #4, My Life (Billy Joel).

From there, folks really started getting on the dance floor. We had a nice high stage, so no one was bumping into us or getting in our faces. Despite the cold temps outside, it started off pretty hot on stage, but soon met a happy medium where we weren't sweating too bad. Pretty comfortable, actually.

Music continued with a few new ones for us, Reelin' in the Years (Steely Dan), Swingtown (Steve Miller Band) and You're No Good (Linda Ronstadt). People loved the tunes, but strangely, the floor cleared out during Misunderstanding (Genesis). We made our way to the end of 15 songs and then stopped for a quick break. Since we started a little later than we would have liked, we kept the break short and got back to work.

From the bedroom upstairs, after our first set

The setlist

We got to work with set 2 and the people were back on the floor. Another surprise was, as young as the crowd was, they knew many of the words to these "older" songs. No Matter What (Badfinger) was one of those songs; lots of the youngsters knew it. It was another one of our "new to us" songs and one we play really well. Love Will Keep Us Together (Captain and Tennille) is one for me that is super tricky. I play it with a pick and there are some wicked syncopated backing vocals on it. And we're not doing all the crazy background singer vox; we simplify it a bit, but wow, still tricky.

About 2/3rds of the way through this set, I started getting tired. We do our little disco set, with Jive Talkin' (Bee Gees) and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy (Rod Stewart) and especially with that second song, the octaves kill my fretting hand. It's a long song and I'm pretty much playing octaves for all 5:34 of it. It's brutal.

We finished the second set and just stayed out there. By now, it was likely after 11:00 and if we took a break, we'd probably lose the people that were still there. We did end up skipping down to Maggie May (Rod Stewart/Faces) to keep the tunes flowing. That song was tricky to learn, with the original recorded version having bass that just goes all over the place. There isn't really a way to play this one note for note, so once I got the structure and chords down, it's pretty much just go for it. I try to stay true to the tune's original feel, but definitely do open things up for myself a bit. It's a good time.

We wound down the rest of the night with 4 more songs and finally got cut off by Lucky. By that time, we had about 10 people left, 6 of whom were some cougars celebrating a 40th birthday. They were nice enough to stick around to listen.

The rest of the night was us tearing down and loading out in the clear cold night. Overall, the Brick was a success and Lucky wants us to come back. He is booked out until next year and our feeling is we'd like to try coming back in the summer, with some promotion behind it. Hopefully get out there, get some private party bookings, etc.

With that, I have no more gigs this year. Overall, it's been the most lucrative gigging year I've ever had. I don't know if it is the most number of gigs I've had in a year but, I wish I had more!

Next up, Planets on 1/6 at, of all places, The Central.

YouTube Rabbit Hole

I went down a YouTube rabbit hole last night. Here's how it started.

Working on cover tunes for Sunset Grooves, playing along to Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson. That reminded me of a band that covered that song on YouTube, so I looked them up. The Pet Rock Band is what they are called and they did a great version of Thunder Island.

After watching that, I remembered that at one of our previous SG rehearsals, since we are doing Somebody's Baby by Jackson Browne, we should also do Boulevard, which led to a search that found a house band in Hollywood called Soundcheck doing that song.

It took me a minute to realize that this was actually Jackson Browne playing it, but, whatever. And it made me jealous that they have 3 guitar players covering all the bases. I did a deeper dive on the Soundcheck page, where they have a ton of videos, and looked up some songs we also do (Easy Lover, Maggie May, some others).

On Maggie May, a bassist named Julia Lage played and at first, I didn't think she was all that great, but the more I watched, the more I realized that she could really play. A search on her stuff led me to her and a singer named Gabbie Rae playing Heart's Barracuda on a cruise ship, and dang, they were great!

I then watched a few of Gabbie's videos, learning that she's now all of 24 and really great frontwoman. She did some videos with Soundcheck at 18 and was killing it then. Seems like she's doing hard rock and metal these days, but wow, what a voice!

From there, YouTube suggested (or I searched, I can't remember) Noelle Leblanc, who was the singer for a band I loved years ago, Damone, from Boston. I wrote about them a few times in the blog, but I dove into their videos from the 2006-2012 era. Sadly, there's not much, and what there is was shot with potato cameras, but they have a few documentary shorts of their recording of "Out Here All Night," which I found to be cool.

This video and the part 2 video kept me up way too late (12:30am), as well as some great live footage from when Damone reunited in 2019. They were so tight and Noelle is pretty great at guitar, check it out.

Loving that the bassist, Mike Vasquez, is playing a white Gibby Thunderbird, just like Butterfly!

This morning, I did more searching and found that Noelle has been putting out songs ever since Damone disbanded. I know she did the Organ Beats and some solo stuff, but she has stuff as recent as April of this year. It is less rock and more pop/singer-songwriter, but I love her voice so I'll check it out.

I also did a search with Damone, the Crocodile Cafe and a date of 5/15/2006, when I saw them play. That led to an article about Jim Anderson, the sound guy from the Croc back then. When he left the Croc and/or retired, he donated all the shows he recorded there to the University of Washington, where they archived it all!

Of course, having played there back then, I looked for Lund Bros., of which there are 2 shows. There's a Scheme show, but I don't think I played it with them. There is an Ethyl show from 2003, which I'll have to check out. There's a Shake Some Action! show, but I don't think I was with them either. Lots of stuff by Robb with Cass. There's Juliana Hatfield (I was there), Damone (I was there), the Hold Steady (I was not there) and so much more. Trouble is, it is only accessible in person and not online, due to intellectual property mumbo jumbo.

Looks like I'm gonna have to take a field trip one of these days, back to Suzzalo Library to take a listen.