Well Dom now knows and I saved one long rant about how big of a twat I am for trying to surprise him only to end up pissing him off.

So before I left for Vegas after much discussion with Dom, who gave pretty good advice, I decided on Archstone Redmond Campus for their last 1 bedroom apartment which was on the top floor. I called up the girl, Tracy, and gave her my details and gave her my email address to send me the PDF’s so I could FedEx the paperwork over before I had to try and get some sleep that night (I even printed the label). Waited till 5 minutes before 6 and still no email, called again and spelled out my email once more and she confirmed that she had it right and that she’d send it straight away. Still nothing. Called back 10 minutes later and they were now closed so I left a message.

Left at about 5AM the next morning for Vegas in the pouring rain. It didn’t stop raining once while I was driving. At one point when Alex’s Belkin GPS software running on his PPC Phone said we were off road we were driving through snow at about 75mph. That was fun. Alex and Sam fell asleep on and off and I having only slept about 30 minutes since waking up the day before at about 11AM was still going strong. At some point along the I5 we stopped at Starbucks and had Alex’s famous quad espresso. Still going strong. Went through hundreds of tumbleweeds then at some point finally decided to switch with Alex and let him drive my 2 door Accord. I don’t really remember falling asleep but I’d guess I got about an hours rest.

We get in, condo is great, nice, better than my dinky 1 bedroom apartment in San Jose. After having a quick break and changing we hit the show floor with the exhibitor passes that MS graciously provided MVP’s. Tony Hynes was there which was slightly unexpected but awesome. Susan Leiter, who I’d met a number of times before at previous events was also there. Sam was worried the entire time about whether or not she’d get in and whether she’d also get to be another brilliant exhibitor . All was fine as usual when you’re in the hands of the MVP peeps.

DMD MVP shindig and I’m exhausted. I don’t remember anything at all except that Zeb and Matt were bugging me about only having 1 drink even though I was driving us back to the condo and still had had very little to eat that day and even less sleep.

Bright and early on Saturday (?) had a semi decent brunch buffet at can’t remember where then back to the show floor. Parking was crap. Tram was crap (the bloody thing ran on wheels) and it cost $3 each trip with a day pass being $10, RIP OFF! Felt sick the entire time on the show floor from the excess amounts of caffine from the previous day. Candice Pederson and Susan saved us again with water and some Aleve. What a difference that made, we were actually able to walk around now. Starbucks queue was ridiculous so we passed. Didn’t see ANY other MVP’s on the show floor which was odd. That night the MVP meet up was nice at the foundation room of the House of Blues. Chris Hassler was there from Idaho, forgot he was going. Got to meet with Amir Majidmehr and argue briefly with Pirillo about whether or not it was really likely some person would download a random WMA/V with the “DRM exploit”, etc. Not to mention some other WMP annoyances like the lack of quick access to any track via a Jump hot key. Went for food after with Joel, Kasey, Matt, Zeb, Alex, Chris, and Ponzi, and “her/she” aka Sam. Sam and I sat with Chris and Ponzi and had a nice chat about the entire woman vs. beast type thing. I decided geeks really can get laid. Went home, fell asleep, don’t remember anything after that (obviously because I wasn’t awake).

Left condo at 10AM, had breakfast at Bellagio (?). Better than the day before, but still bad. Alex was working on a Home Screen plugin for the SMT5600 for some WA based company and needed it finished like 2 days ago so went to work on it in the car to send it out via the SmartPhone… All that just to convince Attgular to keep offering the SMT5600. Oh well, what he was doing seemed cool and hopefully Cingular will like it. Started the drive back which ended up being like 2 iirc. Yet more rain. At some point before the I5 I switch with Alex and the rain just stops! WTH!? Stop at Starbucks and grab a Subway at the same time. We sit at this small table and Sam places her bag under the table without me noticing, so when we leave I never think to ask her if she grabbed it. We were all extremely tired. Alex gets us back at some point before midnight and takes off in his Jeep. Then Sam’s Dad calls to tell her that a guy from Starbucks called him on her mobile to say that she’s left the bag. Sam freaks, I laugh, and say oh well, don’t worry about it. Immediately I figure it’s too far to drive. Like 8 hours, an entire day lost, ~$30 worth of gas. Cuddle her to say it’s okay and not to worry because her geek boyfriend will take care of it without even leaving the house. Call up FedEx give them my account number and say that I need a purse picked up from Starbucks in Buttonwillow. So that’s all taken care of. Call up Starbucks at 12:45AM and tell them to expect FedEx and to make sure the bag is safe along with a note explaining to whoever will be working there later.

Monday morning and I check for my email from Archstone and nothing. Call up and find out that she didn’t send the email and that they’ve leased the place to someone who actually came in on Saturday or Sunday. Now looking for another place in Redmond or Bellevue, tired, annoyed, and totally out of it. Then later I notice a SMS from Jon and he’s said that he was feeling ill last night and is now on the way to the hospital. The, uh, oh crap, moment happens, tell Dom, call Jon’s cell, of course it’s off being in a hospital and all (stupid stupid stupid rules). Send him a SMS from Messenger. Call his home number and talk to his Mom who’s said she’s in the “emerg” with his Dad and that it’s probably appendicitis. So I guess we’ll find out how that and my apartment end up tomorrow morning.

Tags: Friends, Microsoft, Outside