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Musings: Las Vegas and free WiFi

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Drove out to Las Vegas for ApacheCon with Scott and Amanda on Friday evening. That’s a long drive from the Bay Area. I feel like I’ve learned a few new things about traveling in general, and Vegas in particular, over the few days we’ve been here so far:

  • There are few things worse for a geek/internet addict than the promise of free broadband that fails to deliver. Such is the case at the Alexis Park (where we’re staying and ApacheCon is being held). Lot’s of infrastructure in the rooms for broadband, but no love for us.
  • Sometimes you are hungry and/or drunk and/or broke. If two or more of those describe you, and you’re in Las Vegas, you should stop by the Bourbon Street Casino and eat some $3.49 Steak & Eggs.
  • Sometimes you feel like eating some really good food for not much money. In that case you should go to the Le Village Buffet at the Paris Casino. It was great, relatively deserted and they had a wide variety of food for right around $20. We also went to the Bellagio Buffet last night. It wasn’t as good, cost more and there were more people…
  • Coffee shops that offer free wifi are truly excellent! Without really looking we stumbled across The CoffeeBean on Paradise Ave. Free (fast) WiFi, good coffee and big tables. Good stuff.
  • The $5 Blackjack game at the Barbary Coast was kind to me, I’m sure that will change in time, but they had cheap table games on a Saturday night and gave me back the money they took from me at the Roulette table.
  • Always bring a (self-contained, not stovetop or french press) coffee maker when you travel. At least if you’re a total coffee junkie. Note: This only really applies if you have broadband in the room, the Alexis Park has precluded the need for a coffee maker by not having broadband, thereby necessitating that we leave the room to find BOTH (see Coffee Shop entry above)…
    I’m sure I’ll have more “quality observations” after going to ApacheCon (and hopefully Comdex).
  • Written by jthurber

    November 17th, 2003 at 6:48 am

    Posted in review-lite