Q: What is the opposite of Venice?
A: The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

This is a hotel so large that I got agoraphobia when I walked in to it.

I arrived late last night to keynote the New Communications Forum this morning, and headed straight for the gambling area. Cocktail waitresses stroll the casino hangar in outfits that seem to have been designed forty years ago by horny thirteen year old boys.
Lose I did. I started on the quarter video poker, but the betting algorithm is too mechanical — hold onto the Jacks and higher, discard the rest — so I switched to a slot machine to eliminate any pretense of skill and get the whole thing over with. Six minutes later, I’d lost my entire bankroll. There’s ten dollars I’ll never see again.

I haven’t yet seen the Venetian’s mock canal (mockanal? nah, that doesn’t come out right), which I’m looking forward to because of how smug it will make me feel.

The truth is that I sort of like Vegas because it is what it is and nothing more, although I’m not crazy about what it is. And, yes, I do know how lucky I am that I get to go places. Truly.

Now, on to the conference, which promises to be interesting, although I can only stay for the morning. [Tags: travel vegas gambling venice new_communications_forum]

Categories: Uncategorized dw