brent: a blog.: Almich in Vegas

Sunday, July 15, 2007 0 comments

Hey y'all! Just got back from my Firm's 15th Anniversary in Vegas. It was quite a good time. Yeah, it's possible without getting drunk, going to strip clubs, and losing $100s-$1000s on gambling. Who knew?

I flew out Thursday morning with a bunch of other people from my Firm. Our flight was delayed an hour. Way to go America West. You're 0-for-2 with me. It's okay tho, I got to Vegas aroung 130 and didn't need to be to the dinner until 630. Krysti picked me up and we went over to her place to chill and get ready.

The dinner was at this place called Smith & Wollensky's. I guess it's a pretty famous steakhouse if you're into that stuff. They only have like 5 locations in the U.S., most of them in New England. I'm sure it was super expensive when we had hors d'oeuvres shoved in our collective face before we even finished putting the other one in our mouth. Open bar all night. A bottomless wine glass. The best filet mignon I've ever had. Ever. Myself and Randy, the guy sitting across from us, were going to get the halibut, but the waiter convinced us to go with the filet. "We are a steakhouse, afterall." Randy and I were both glad we made the choice.

The best part about all of this food at an event like this is that there is so much time between courses, I don't even feel stuffed at the end of the night. When you're eating from 7-10, what do you expect? Nice.

I haven't had a chance really to talk to one of my bosses since I started (the one who hired me) so it was good to be able to chat with him for a few minutes. I also got to meet the named partner finally. I'm looking forward to getting to know him better, too. There was a presentation of awards for people who had been with the Firm since the beginning. They talked about how, in our industry (career colleges, mainly), we are known as the best in the country at what we do. Some clients are afraid to hire us because they know how good we are. A few of the partners actually influence policy-making in Washington D.C. with the Department of Education. I mean, I'm sure the partner telling us this is biased, he owns the Firm. But, at the same time, he can't be too far off the mark. The industry we work in is pretty specialized, and not a lot of CPA firms deal with it. It was very cool to find that stuff out and know that I am now a part of that.

Anyways, enough of that. Our guests got to participate in trivia about 1992. My guest, Krysti, won the first question. "Who won the Super Bowl in 1992?" John asked. "Redskins, Krysti. Say Redskins!" I said. "Redskins!" Krysti shouted. $25 Bellagio chip was hers.

We decided to cash it in and split it. Daring as we are, we played the nickel slots for awhile. After my first $2, I was up $23.15. So I cashed out. The next day, at Planet Hollywood, I was playing the penny slots with $1. I doubled that, but then got greedy and lost it all. $2, down the drain.

Because of a nice monetary gift from the Firm, this trip was really completely free. I know, the room and airfare were free, but now I didn't even spend the spending money I brought with. How cool!

My room at the Bellagio was completely awesome. You walk in, and there are buttons on the wall (and next to the beds) to open and close the drapes. I opened them. WHOA! Spectacular view of Paris across the street, with Planet Hollywood to its' right, Bally's and the Flamingo to its' left and half of Caesar's Palace. It's not too bad being able to look out your window and see Toni Braxton sprawled across the side of the Flamingo.

The mini-bar in my room was motion-sensitive. So if you even pick up something from it, you get charged. You don't even have to use it. How lame. The $8 bottle of Fiji and the $4.50 bag of peanut M&Ms had never been so tempting, but yet so unappetizing sounding.

What follows are a few pictures I took. I know everyone takes pictures of stuff on the Strip, so I stay pretty modest with the amount I take. The first one is actually a leftover from the 4th that I forgot to post. Ok.