continuation of vegas

so i last stopped at friday night. i can't really remember what we did...oh! that's the night that mcdonald's declined my debit card. yes, i caved in and ate at mcdonalds. three times on this trip. i'm so ashamed of myself, i had done so well up until we came back from england. but i promise to not eat there again.

that was not a fun time for me, because i was upset it wouldn't take it. i didn't have any cash, because i was clearly thinking ahead about that part. but it did work out pretty well. after we left mcdonalds, we--we being erika, laura and i--went to the bellagio and watched the water in front. it was so cool, it totally made my day. i was happy after that, and it made me think of oceans eleven. we went back to the hotel, where we were the only sober people. (excluding josh, who is perpetually sober). after everyone had their fair share of alcohol, we went back to the bellagio where i won 25¢ off of a nickel. then i stopped, because i wanted to keep the ticket as a souvenir. i also took pictures in the casino, which is apparanlty not legal for security reasons. i didn't find this out until saturday night at like 2am. eh.

we walked around some more, legally carrying open containers outside.

saturday morning the crowd was somewhat thinner at the conference. my first session was "stories we're missing on our campus." which i don't really remember much. i think laura took notes on that one. then the next one was the photo ethics. at first, i didn't want to go because of the day before, but i actually enjoyed that one. it was more interactive, and even though annoying guy was there, i didn't want to throttle him as much. we looked at photos that could be considered disturbing, and discussed whether or not we would run them. it was definitely interesting to consider.

then was the keynote speaker, don bartletti. he's a photojournalist who won a pulitzer prize. i enjoyed his presentation much, but it was long and not everyone did like it. it really made me want to go out there and DO something, though.

after lunch, my last two sessions were "covering the presidential election" and "april fool's issues: who gets the last laugh." the presidential election one i wasn't sure why i was there, since we don't really cover national issues, and i was shocked at the idea of endorsing a candidate, i did take a lot of notes. and the april fools one turned into one guys story about what not to do. for example, run really rascist stuff and not put a disclaimer. somehow, that doesn't seem so difficult to me.

after buying some souvenirs, we went to the hotel and hung out and drunk for awhile. we ate at the espnzone because josh really wanted to go, and hung out in new york new york before we got our table. i was a little tipsy by dinner. afterwards, we hung out with a couple of guys from a school in new york, and they talked about their trials and tribulations trying to restart their paper, and got some ideas for things from us. it was kinda cool, but i really wanted to go to the luxor and take pictures, and nobody was going anywhere. it was finally about 2am, and i was about to leave, but derek waslike, i don't want you go to alone. thanks, dad. so i waited for 20 minutes (not patiently, i might add) for him to put his shoes on so i could leave. really, i was just going across the street, so i don't know what he was being so protective about. i went around london by myself at night. i know it's not the same as las vegas, but the idea is the same. gah. so i finally got to go to bed at like 3am.

sunday morning was even more sparse than saturday. it was one session, laura and i went to one about blogging. it was...so much fun...haha. then it was the keynote speaker, harlan cohen. he was pretty funny, actually. when it was all over, we had our luggage at the alexis with us, and we just hung out by the pool for like three hours before we took a taxi to the airport. i got a serious sunburn, and i'm now peeling like mad. the flight was almost an hour late in taking off because of nascar, and all the private jets. so we thought we would miss our flight to chicago. but it turns out they held it for us, disgruntling other passengers already on that flight. after a mishap in the public transportation to liz's, we got into our cars at about 2am and started for our drive back to mt. vernon. we pulled in at around 6:30 am, and i got to go to bed at 7. it was a very long night. and derek wasn't much help in his incoherent state. where is a tape recorder when you need one? : )

that's a (not so) brief description of the trip to vegas.