Hungry
I feel like I am complaining a lot today. More on the internet situation at RTNDA in an upcoming post. This morning was off to a hungry start. I was up early, as I often am. I had my coffee and drank some milk first thing looking forward to the RTNDA Business Breakfast. A nice helping of eggs, maybe some toast and some orange juice, right? Well, not exactly. It was a continental breakfast. That’s fine, but it wasn’t advertised that way! I would have eaten first if I had known. The meeting itself was great and I got to meet several of the candidates running for office to serve RTNDA. Really nice, quality, folk.
The other problem with the food here is the price! My goodness. I was hoping for a real dinner tonight. It’s going to run me around $25 minimum for a “real” dinner. I guess I can have a personal pan pizza for about $8 or a deli wrap for $7 like I did for lunch. It’s getting late, I better eat something.
I will get into the problem with the internet at RTNDA a little later.
Tim Robbins
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Dude. Tim Robbins was one of the speakers at this morning’s “All Industry Opening Ceremony.” By all industry they mean the RTNDA Radio and Television folk and the NAB Radio and Television folk. Initially, Robbins was going to be interviewed by a guy from NPR in a question answer type format. Right away, Robbins started talking about a speech he prepared but wasn’t going to give, and the NPR guy starts talking about how he read the speech and it’s great. We’ll I wasn’t alone in thinking, “Just give the speech already.” After several shouts from the audience, he did.
Boy was I kicking myself for a) not rolling video on the first 3-5 minutes and b) for not having my firewire to post above mentioned video. I am convinced that if I did and if I had that it would be on tonight’s Hannity and Colmes. It was basically a very partisan assessment of how the war in Iraq was a mistake and how he told us so. Now that previous statement does not give his comments justice. They were very sarcastic, and at times pretty funny. However, from my point of view, not well reasoned at all. Of course, as a Christian Conservative, I do feel like a minority at the convention.
Judging from the reaction to Robbins speech, it was well received by the majority in attendance. He went on to defend Former President Clinton. Saying basically that his impeachment was just a sex scandal that got so much attention because of the salacious details. Well no. It was about lying under oath. The sex scandal ploy is the usual smoke screen thrown up by Clinton defenders. Lying under oath is a big deal if you are the law enforcer in chief. Robbins also seemed to be coming out solidly behind the equal time rule, which could kill Christian Radio if implemented. Again, my comments are not doing his speech justice. He was taking the opposite view, but his comments were dripping with sarcasm. For the most part, the crowd loved it! I guess if I was a liberal partisan, I would have too. You can read much more about the speech here and hear it too. I will warn you. There is some very crude language including the F-bomb and a reference to a sexual act that is very crude.
Now, I will give Tim Robbins credit. He did end with some good points. There IS too much reporting on celebrities. There IS too much attention paid to the car wreck and the sensational, but mostly empty, stories. Robbins asks, why don’t we have more reporting that builds people up? What if we consider more points of view and respect each other? He says our country is great, and it is. He says we are divided, and we are. I didn’t see his speech as a starting point to uniting us though. For some reason I was left with the impression that when he said as broadcasters we have a wonderful opportunity to educate and be a catalyst for change, he meant in a liberal, progressive sort of way.
Good Morning Las Vegas
Really nice sunrise this morning. My room faces east and I was up early enough to take a pic out the window. It would have been even better if the window had been cleaner. I imagine it’s not easy cleaning windows on the 16th floor!
Breakfast meeting in less than an hour. I’ll check in later!
Things I Forgot
Can I ever take a trip and remember everything??? I’m not sure it’s possible.
I went to the opening reception for RTNDA and right off the bat they want you to put your business card in a fish bowl for a drawing. I put in my card and I have like two left! Duh. How could I forget to bring like 100 business cards???! It’s not like I didn’t have a nice reminder. I was packing my leather laptop case with all the stuff I needed this morning before I left. Well, I won that nice leather laptop case at the Lubbock Business Expo about 10 years ago by putting my business card in a fish bowl :-) NAB has a HUGE exhibit hall here full of stuff to win. Not only that, but it’s harder to network without trading business cards. Great.
The next thing I forgot was my cable to download video into the computer from my camcorder. I shot some video at the reception (Sponsored by Disney) and I thought maybe I’d make a video tonight and put it on YouTube and then embed it here. Oops. I did have my picture made with Mickey Mouse and another with the Toy Story guy. The cowboy. Voiced by Tom Hanks. You know! Anyway, I can’t think of his name.
Not sure what else I forgot. My brain maybe :-)
Vegas Room
OK. Last post until I have to get to the activities. I have to register at the hotel next door and attend the opening reception. (I guess I could skip it, but there is supposed to be food!)
The hotel room is outstanding! You would expect for $200 a night. All the comforts of home. A sink! Microwave, fridge, coffee maker (full size!), a toaster even! There’s a couch (where I’m sitting now) and a nice king bed. I’m on the 16th floor. Although there is no view of the strip, there is a golf course below and some mountains. I could Google it and tell what, but I don’t have time right now :-)
Here are some pics and I’m off to the Hilton next door. Actually it looks like a good 10 minute walk. I’m bringin’ my camera and video camera. Maybe there will be something interesting to talk about by then!
Vegas Impressions
I have arrived! An uneventful flight (those are the best!) and I found the right shuttle and all that. It’s funny the airports in Nevada. They are full of one arm bandits. Called bandits, I guess, because they steal your $$! People play them though. I did on a lay over in Reno a long time ago. Something to pass the time and lose a little loose change.
As soon as we were taxiing at the airport you could see the Luxor. Big ol’ pyramid (is that how you spell it? My spell check doesn’t appear to be working.) On the shuttle drive here, we went by Trump Tower, Some place that looked like Disneyland, and a bunch of other places I can’t name. There were a LOT of nice cars on the freeway and more than normal the amount of limo’s. I wonder where all that $$ comes from :-)
Me? I’m not anti-gambling per se’. I sure don’t get legalistic about it, but I do need to be careful. The Bible doesn’t address gambling specifically, but it is clear on being a good steward with your money. (Something I am still growing in. Buying this laptop might be a good example) If I have $20 entertainment money and I want to spend an hour playing blackjack (or until the $20 is gone. Whichever comes first.) then that would be entertainment. The problem comes when you start betting the rent! However, there is more to it. What if my brother DOES have a problem with gambling and he sees me at the black jack table? I could cause him to stumble and that would be bad.
I say black jack because I grew up playing it. My grandpa and my brother and I always played since I was a little kid. I’m talking probably 8, maybe younger. Grandpa loved Vegas and of course I enjoyed playing with grandpa. We would all start with 25 chips or pennies and he would show us when to hit and when to stay when to split ‘em and when to double down.
So, you can see why I have fond memories of the game. I probably will check it out, but I may not play.
Wacky TIA
Kinda cool. I’m actually blogging from the airport! Unfortunately I have some extra time as my plane is late. I’m pretty excited that I can blog from the airport!!! Then I am reminded of when you score a touchdown. Act like you’ve been there before :-) So, I guess I’ll try to keep my excitement to myself !
I was having my $6 burger and listening to the announcements over the speakers and it hit me kinda oddly. We are almost 7 years after 911. It just seems like we are used to, “threat level orange,” etc. etc. It struck me odd. There are people that want to kill us. No reason really. Their messed up religion tells ‘em to do it. After listening to a couple of guest speakers at work, I am convinced that it is the devil himself that is directing Islam. When you have former Muslims saying that one of the names for “Allah” is “Deceiver,” I don’t need to hear much else. Combine that with, “you will know them by their fruit” and I think I’m on solid ground with my assessment.
That’s one reason why I am so excited about what God is doing in the Middle East and what He is doing through the Joshua Fund. God is saving Muslims in record numbers! Here is an interview with Joel Rosenberg for a taste. I pray that God protects us from radical Muslims even as He saves many many more!
In other wacky TIA news. The service here is terrible! At least at the Southwest terminal (can we change the name from “terminal” please?) :-) The burger took forever to get. They had a new chef, so it’s understandable. Still, while I was waiting, I heard the new chef say he forgot something on a burger from a previous customer. “Don’t worry about it unless she brings it back” I heard. Hmmmm.
So then I bring my burger into the bar so I can watch some basketball and hockey. They asked me to leave unless I was gonna order. Reserved for customers. No problem, but it was pretty empty in there and they have a lot of seats! Still. The only complaining I did was here. Not that big a deal really.
So, my flight is a half hour late. We board in 15 minutes. Next entry will be from Vegas, Lord willing!
