HP Tech Forum - Day 1

So....I am in Vegas....again....for another work event. This time it is with my new job - I'm at HP Technology Forum being held at Mandalay Bay. I got here this morning, got checked in (my room was ready when I got here -yay!!!) and got to registration. This is where my mini chaotic freak out of the day started.

Turns out that I was signed up for the wrong one of the two conferences!!! Ugh!!! Well...I'll make a long afternoon of boring stories short...but it took a few hours to get it straightened out. Funny side note during check-in though, I actually knew one of the people working. He had worked all the ManageFusion shows I'd been at. He was a little shocked to see me at an HP event too....since the 4 other ones I was there working for Dell....such a small world. ;)

I attended the StorageWorks opening session.....where while waiting for it to start, there were 4 scantily clad women playing violins on stage.....guess HP knows how to keep the 90% of attendees happy (men!), but it was actually pretty cool. :)


After that, I managed to meet up with a few of the folks from my company that were attending, and we went to the expo. This was the most impressive expo that I'd ever seen...it was CRAZY big, and so well put together. I would have been stressed out if I was one of the folks managing one of the booths (like I had to in my previous job). I ran into a few folks that I knew, ate some really good snacks, stopped by to see Lora's baby (the new HP Mobile Workstation), and then drove a little race car at the Intel booth. Those things are so much harder than they look, but just as much fun! :) I did one lap in under 2 minutes, which got me a 'good job' from the guy running the fun...but think he was just trying to make me feel good about my performance. Ha!!





For the evening activities...I got to do something that I have been wanting to do! There were 5 of us that went over to the Stratosphere to do the rides on the top of the hotel. We did the Insanity ride....a structure with 5 arms that moves out to the side of the building, 108 stories up, and then it spins, really fast, for a few minutes. It was such a cool view....to see the strip from way up there at night! We then headed up to the Big Shot....one of those things that you sit.....wait....and then all of the sudden it shoots you straight up a few more stories. It was awesome, and I lifted up so high out of my seat. I was so glad that I got to do that while I was here.....and the company was awesome too.






Can't believe I'm in bed before midnight in Vegas.....but we headed back home, and called it an early night in preparation for tomorrow's activities. :)