Tracy Calabrese

After spending almost 9 hours in the Las Vegas airport last weekend, I was pretty pissed. I went standby on a flight to get out the city earlier and home to get some sleep. The plane I flew standby on had mechanical issues. Something about a malfunctioning alarm. 

They kept pushing back the flight, so I called my travel agent and she rebooked me on the next available flight…which was 6:15pm the next day! Talk about unhappy. American Airlines finally found another plane to fly everyone back to Dallas. The bad news was that it left at 9:30pm, landing in Dallas at 2am. I know shit happens so I didn’t complain to American Airlines. I just rolled with the punches.

Today, I got a surprise in my inbox. American Airlines gave me 5,000 miles on my account! Kudos to them.

• Experienced my first Las Vegas buffet at Wynn. Delicious, but I needed to prepare better for it. I ate too much during the day and wasn’t as hungry as I could have been.
• Gambled with $50 on a $5 Blackjack table. Played for two hours, drank $1 Michelob Lights and met some interesting people. After the last two times in Las Vegas, Casino Royale is my favorite place to gamble.
• Fabulous dinners at Botero (Encore), Blossom (Aria) and LAVO (Palazzo).
• Spent Friday shopping and sight seeing during the day and went to dinner, dancing and gambling Friday night until 6am. That was my latest night out in Las Vegas in all of the last five years since I started traveling there.

Good times.

S - Shopping

P - Packing

L - Laundry

I need a few new things - shoes, maybe a couple shirts, a new iPod, makeup and this new bag I have been eyeing.

I am off to Las Vegas (again) for work and a couple of days of pleasure, so I have to drag out the big suitcase and start packing.

And last, laundry. At least two loads.

I am trying to decide if I need to go to a doc-in-the-box tomorrow morning.

I started to feel crappy during my CES trip to Las Vegas, but just thought it was the dry, desert air making my nose feel like it had grown like Pinocchio and my eyes puffy like I had been crying for hours.

I continued to feel crappy Monday and Tuesday, but thought it was just my body catching up and recovering from the long days on my feet, junk food, OD’ing on 5-Hour Energy and drinking too much.

Now it is Wednesday and I woke up with a lump in my throat. It’s been there all day. A couple of Advil help and tea helps a little more, but it doesn’t seem to be going away. If I still feel crappy in the AM, I might have to make a trip to the City Doc for strep test.

I haven’t been sick in years, so I am hoping that this is a cold or simply just a sore throat. I am going to drug up and pass out early tonight.

This year’s CES was officially a beat down. My feet hurt, my back hurts and I may have slept for 12 hours in the past 6 days.

I can’t wait to go home.

I spent the last week at CTIA in Las Vegas and today at the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Here are some highlights.

In Las Vegas:

• Executed a successful press conference. Even the media agree.
• Ate steak, Italian, Asian and some bad, greasy American, including fries with gooey cheese.
• Gained about 10 lbs.
• Won $200 bucks playing Blackjack. Thanks, Larry (the dealer).
• Got kicked out of a club and mouthed off to some big bouncers, which I don’t remember. I do know that I will never go back there again.
• Hung my head in embarrassment the next morning when I saw all the people who were with me when I got kicked out of the club.
• Saw my first show in Las Vegas - KA by Cirque du Soleil - which was amazing.

At Texas Motor Speedway:

• Watched some rednecks (sorry, it is true) in their race jackets drink Coors Light and drive around in the pick-up trucks.
• Froze my ass off in the grandstand.
• Wore some stylish orange earplugs, but only stayed for the first 100 miles.
• Watched the rest of the race on TV when I got home.

On Tuesday, I am leaving for Las Vegas for the 2009 International CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics show.

What does that mean?

Six long days in Sin City, hurting feet, aching back, blisters, 12 hour work days, events, dinners, Red Bull, a few good meals and a bunch of crappy meals (AKA boxed lunches and Nathan’s Hot Dogs), lots of drinks, lots of Advil and Aleve, a huge suitcase, getting annoyed at someone or a lot of people, good times with my team all while running on empty.

I haven’t left yet and I already want to come home.