Honeys I'm home.
I've already said my piece on Las Vegas as experienced by someone there on business rather than pleasure, which is that it sucks. Gambling in your face everywhere you turn, pre-fab indoor "streets," "village squares" and "neighborhoods" with an international orgy of restaurants -- some of them admittedly quite good, hello Rumjungle, but still -- you get to them without going outdoors, and the windows look out only on what is essentially a high-ceilinged, slot-machine-littered mall.
Or, if you're really lucky, you get a restaurant with a view of the resort's landscaping and swimming pools.
Day One was a bust because my flight was delayed and I got in too late to attend the scientific sessions that afternoon. I also had a murderous headache, and even with both Tylenol and aspirin, tossed and turned all night long. I woke up feeling worse than when I went to bed.
The hotel was an unalloyed pleasure though. It was the Marriot Courtyard South, part of a Marriott-owned cluster of non-gaming hotels (plus one Holiday Inn Express). I guess a lot of conventions use these hotels for their attendees like me who don't want to sleep in a casino, in both the English and Italian senses of the word, LOL.
I had a great impression of Marriotts in the past, from when Raven had her leg amputated. This didn't rise to those levels because I hadn't sunk to those levels, either. But the staff was uniformly helpful and friendly, from the front desk folks to the waitress who gave me my morning coffee to the guy who drove me to the airport. The room was beautiful and quiet, the bathtub was big, the hotel had computers and printers in the lobby as well as free broadband in the rooms and free wifi in the public areas of the hotel. And, you know -- no slot machines or big animated signs telling me to go see Mamma Mia.
The conference was fantastic, of course -- well organized, full of interesting information, and most of the best minds in veterinary medicine under one roof. I got to catch up with old friends, saw some people I'd only "met" online or over the phone, heard some fascinating scientific presentations, talked in the halls with a lot of vets, and realized Pet Connection's profile has exploded in the last year, since virtually everyone I spoke to knew who we were (a first for me, and apparently going on down at Global Pet Expo, where Gina was, as well).
I did a few interviews I'm very excited about, saw some advances in veterinary medicine that excited me a lot for their potential for improving quality of life in our pets, and was struck, not for the first time but possibly the most profoundly, with the commercialized nature of science in this country.
The drug companies were omnipresent -- banners and ads everywhere you turned, their logos on every single piece of swag and the bags in which it came, on our lanyards, on the programs. The rooms where the presentations were held were branded with their sponsors' logos, and virtually everyone who spoke had financial ties to industry, even though few of them disclosed those ties.
I'll save more thoughts on that for Pet Connection.
So, guess who was the first person to call me when I got home? My editor from AfterElton.com. He always dangles little bits of political content in the entertainment coverage, knowing I'm like a poor innocent fish about to get caught on his hook. If you're reading this, Michael, I love ya man. But don't think I don't know you're playing me.
I left today a little light so I could catch up and rest and take the dogs for a long, long walk, then I have to buckle down as I have one deadline on Friday and another on Monday. Remember this when you start thinking you'd like to be a writer when you retire.
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