Lost Wages
It wouldn't be a trip unless I blogged from the airport, I suppose...so here I am. But to be honest, if I were feeling the way I do right now at any other point, I would probably refrain from blogging so as not to come off as a cranky ass. Who would have thought that there would be long lines at the airport at 5:40 in the morning? And well after the holiday season? I'm also always amused when I encounter people in the security lines who are surprised by these "new" rules: "Oh, they still search people? Oh, you have to check my bag? No, that's just my drink...what do you mean, I can't have that in my bag?" I would have been irritated, but frankly, the girl was around my age and cute (and she was behind me, so she didn't delay my forward momentum). If only the world was mostly made up of cute 26 year old girls (I said, understanding that that would probably make the world awful and wouldn't necessarily help me get a girlfriend).
So here I sit, waiting for them to board my short flight to Las Vegas so that I can begin my CES adventure...ugh. Yesterday at work was strange...I had to get used to being back at my desk and doing work, but then I had to prepare to leave for a week and say goodbye to everyone again. Plus, I'm a bit unnerved by everyone's apparent trust in me...my team had our weekly meeting yesterday and my boss was like, "So, how are things going for CES?" Like, he wasn't even thinking about it and just trusted that I had things well in hand. Flattering, yes, but oh my God am I nervous. Of course, it didn't help that I started getting e-mails from people on the show floor asking whether or not we needed remote controls (seriously?).
But I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to be...it's just difficult to really determine how prepared I am, as everything from before the break is sort of a blur. Going back yesterday, it was hard to remember what other projects I had brewing or what someone had said that one day three weeks ago. And even though CES has been such a critical part of my work experience for at least the last month, I just have to trust (there's that horrible word again) that I settled all of my affairs before the break. I mean, I think I did, but it's not like I can say for certain that there isn't some loose end that's just slipped my mind.
That's not a positive attitude, though (well, the trusting myself is, but not the assumption that I left something up in the air). I just have to believe that I covered all of my bases, both in terms of content and the booth itself (not to mention the overall CES schedule that they had me do and the hotels and travel arrangements for me and my boss). And either way, I guess I'll find out today: I head directly from the Las Vegas airport to the convention center and the show floor, where I meet the booth organizers and proceed to set up our part of the booth (for those unfamiliar with this sort of thing: we have a Blu-ray specific section of the overall massive company booth...and when I say "booth," I really mean "immense area that's about the size of a football field").
Anyway...I'm pretty sleepy at the moment, so that may be all for now. I guess I can't say that yesterday was a bad day, but it was just stressful and wasn't quite as "back to routine" as I thought it was going to be, given that I'm away again. But it was nice to see Jamie and some of my other co-workers, and while I can't totally say that it was nice to get back to civilization, I guess it hasn't been horrible, either...so far. But then, Las Vegas is hardly civilization, so I suppose I can't judge the world against that particular yardstick.
