Vegas is smokin’, literally.

I was in Las Vegas this week for a convention in Caesar’s Palace. I had an outstanding room, ate great food, and had an enjoyable conference. I even got to meet Joe Montana. Tough to beat that.

I stayed in the brand new “Augustus Tower” of Caesars. It is on the southern most end of the complex (Caesar’s Palace is ginormous) with a beautiful view overlooking the fountains at the Bellagio.

The walk from the Augustus Tower to the convention ball rooms on the other end of the complex is a good 10 minute walk. On the first day of the conference I was walking toward the convention when a seedy looking guy started walking towards me smoking a cigarette. You can’t smoke cigarettes inside was the first thing that went through my mind (quickly followed by, why is this guy staring at me). I passed the guy and continued on to the convention, but I couldn’t shake the site of the cigarette in his hand.

I’m probably spoiled from living in cities with full indoor smoking bans. With all we know about the harm first and second hand smoke cause, I can’t believe people still smoke, period. Seeing people smoke indoors is entirely more foreign. Certain parts of Caesars (which I loved in whole) have very low ceilings, and you can feel the smoke burrowing into your pores. I’m also interested in if when people sit down and light up right beside someone obviously not smoking, do they feel self-conscience of their habit, or vindictive towards non-smokers who have taken over the rest of the nation?

Would a casino that disallowed smoking completely recognize a net gain or loss in gaming and food? I wonder if anyone has done this study? I would certainly sit longer and spend more if I was thinking about gaming and not about the sore throat I was getting from ingesting their bad habit.

Sound off below. Can casinos and other similar entities successfully market a non-smoking environment?

Picture credits: Superfantastic on Flickr

Inspired by my friend Lauren’s Website about Books I wanted to list a few of the books I am reading now. I’m typically a nonfiction book reader, but every once in a while I’ll pick up a classic. Mostly because it makes me feel smart. I also have a habit of reading more than one book at a time. So here is what’s in my “library” currently:

I’m on page 150 of 900! of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. This is one of those books that I’ve always wanted to read, and had heard great things about, but have never taken the time to pick it up. The story is great so far, the lessons (at least 1/6 of the way through) are timely and the characters well-developed. I’m looking forward to knocking this one off, as it was one of my New Years Resolutions to finish it.

Another one of my resolutions was to read the Bible. You can read my adventures of purchasing a Bible here. Instead of plowing through it from page 1, I found a great website that guides you through it depending on your interests. Go to Bible Gateway.com to choose your path. I am using this one.

I recently finished Glenn Beck’s Arguing with Idiots. Regardless of how you feel about Beck’s politics, his books are always humorous and well written. This book shines a very bright, conservative light, at subjects such as the economy, unions and the public school system. I believe it’s a strong read for folks on both sides of the aisle.

And, with only a week or two to spare, I’m reading Caveman’s Guide to Baby’s First Year: Early Fatherhood for the Modern Hunter-Gatherer. I’m only a quarter of the way through this book, but it is very informative and entertaining. It leans a little too much on the caveman history side, but the baby-content is very useful and friendly.

Lots to read, and coming soon, probably very little time or energy to read.

Always put down the arm rests.

Seriously?

In all fairness, I’m not skinny. I have to be cognizant of staying on my side of the seat and have a tendency to take up more leg room than I really should. I understand it sucks to be heavy and I get how hard it is to lose weight. Therefor, if you sit beside me on the plane, make sure you follow these rules:

I strongly suggest, before anyone sits down beside you, you immediately put the arm rests to their lowered and locked position. Here’s why:

On a recent trip back from San Diego, I got stuck in the middle seat. This is never a good thing, even if two members of the Swedish Bikini Team are on both sides. You can’t stick your feet in the aisle, and you can’t lean or look out of the window. It’s just bad.

In this case, I was stuck between a self-proclaimed “big man” coworker and a gentleman who was no less than 400 pounds. I’m not kidding, this guy was not only in his seat, the aisle, and my seat, but he was also taking up all of the leg room in my section of the “under-seat area.” It was so bad the flight attendant felt bad for me and asked me several times if I needed any extra water, a pillow, and shot me the knowing – I’m glad I’m not you – glance.

Normally, I’m a pretty easy to get along with nice guy. But seriously, this guy was 100% invading my space, no matter how many times I huffed, sighed, elbowed him, wiggled or moaned. When he wasn’t snoring loud enough that the people around me were laughing, he was bouncing his leg hard enough to cause the people in the aisle across from us shoot me dirty looks.

About two hours into the flight, I decided my only defense was to put down the arm rest and at least get him kind of off of my side. I looked down at the arm rest but there was absolutely no way I could lower it on to this guy’s leg which was nearly 50% under the arm rest. I did the only thing a self-respecting business person could do, I lied about work.

When the guy woke up and noticed me kicking his leg to get to my computer stowed beneath the seat, I said warmly, “Hey, sorry to bother you but I need to get this report done before we land. I don’t want to elbow you so I’m going to lower the arm rest.”

Scales in the terminal?

The dude literally had to move completely off the seat to give me room to put down the arm rest. When the arm rest finally reached the full down position, it was like I moved directly to First Class. I could feel my legs again, I could reach the magazine pocket and my lungs could fully expand.

The guy got mad.

To rub it in, I powered up my computer, opened a Word document, sighed a big loud sigh, closed the laptop and muttered, “I guess this can wait until my layover” closed the computer, spread out in the seat, and drifted off to a warm nap, comforted of the rhythmic leg-bouncing all the way to Atlanta.

I probably should have known. A 7.5 hour road trip to see a band of 60 year olds is a bad idea. Not to mention it was on the same night as UFC 100, arguably the best UFC card in the history of the sport.

There was no way I could say no – it was on my wife’s bucket list, and she rarely asks for anything.

As I was closing up shop at work, a co-worker who knew I was going to the show pointed out that Aerosmith had canceled several of the last shows because of an “undisclosed injury to a band member.” I surfed the web before we left and found several sites that said, “Aerosmith confirms they will definitely have the Tampa show.”

I left work early, set my new GPS for Tampa, FL and started the 7.5 hour road trip. Of all the trips on the whereisjohnwilson.com Summer Tour, this was one I was looking forward to.

Upon arriving at the Holiday Inn Express in Tampa, the desk attendant guy says, “Hey, you guys going to the Aerosmith Concert? They canceled about two hours ago (insert evil laugh).” Mind you, they said, “we are definitely playing tomorrow night.” After doing a little research from the hotel room, Joe Perry called into some random local radio show and announced the cancellation. Nice. Don’t you think they probably knew early that morning. Wouldn’t you think they’d imagine people would be traveling to see them?

We did get to visit the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino where neither of us gambled a dime (the place was packed and the lowest blackjack table was $25 a hand). We didn’t really find much to do in Tampa, though we didn’t look very hard. We drove back the 7.5 hour trip to Charleston just in time for UFC 100.

Update: Three weeks later and Live Nation still hasn’t refunded our tickets. They state they can’t give us our money back until the band reschedules the show. This makes no sense to me. No service, no pay. The way I see it, Live Nation is sitting on an interest free loan from the Bank of Wilson.

Update: see here for instructions on how to get a refund

Lessons learned:

• Never trust a rock star over 55
• Never travel more than four hours for a concert
• Tampa does a bad job of being appealing on the Internet
• Live Nation will hold your money hostage

WWTT is my new section called “What Were They Thinking.” I love to ask (typically out loud):

Were there 10 people sitting around a boardroom congratulating each other because they all thought this was a good idea?

In preparation for UFC 100, possibly the most excited I’ve been for a fight in a long time, I’ve been watching Spike’s “Top 100 Fights of All time.” About every other block of commercials they show one in particular for UTI.edu. The Universal Technical Institute is:

a nationwide provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians.

Excuse me? I was thinking UTI “universally” stood for something else? Pretty much every human from an English-speaking industrialized nation (most likely UTI.edu’s main market) understands UTI as a Urinary Tract Infection.

So, assuming this wasn’t a strange ploy like Aciphex to get attention, how many intelligent people did it take to sit around that board room and say… “Our offering is Technical… wait wait, and we’re an instittute…” I still follow them there… but what about the Universal part?

The definition of “universal” is so generic that it offers nothing to the name of the company. This is where they had the opportunity to bail themselves out and save face. I can understand if your name is “John Wilson” then you don’t have much choice but to name the college JWI.edu. But they chose to use “universal” which completes the UTI trifecta.

It almost makes me think that the name was a ploy to get people like me, watching Spike TV, with the humor level of a 12 year old, to laugh, talk about them and even go to their website. It worked, but this is still a really stupid name.

I hate to check bags. I never think they’ll make it to my destination, I’ve heard the horror stories from friends and coworkers. All I imagine is some TSA agent shuffling through my underwear. I especially dislike the buzz-kill that is arriving at a fun new location and standing around for 30 minutes waiting on your bag.

This week’s site is great for frequent travelers and those of us who pack way too much. One Bag.com is about “the art and science of packing light.” Written and maintained by Doug Dyment, the site is primarily about packing for any trip using only one bag. Doug’s introduction lists the following purposes of the site:

1. What To Pack, avoiding the temptation of lugging around too much stuff;
2. What To Pack It In, understanding what to look for in efficient & effective luggage; and
3. How To Pack It, particularly the management of clothing so that it doesn’t get wrinkled.

The site has numerous awards and has been featured on Expedia.com, PC Magazine, Britannica’s Internet Guide and several others.

If you only have time for one page of the site, check out the One Page Checklist.

If you’re the curious type, check out the interesting folding method the site offers. I’m looking forward to my next plane trip to see if I can get away with just the things listed.

Though text heavy at times, this site is definitely worth your time if you are a frequent traveler who hates to check luggage.

The whereisjohnwilson.com Summer Tour was off this weekend, but I have an interesting and quick tip to pass along.

“You should worry if there are free ear plugs left by the hotel on your pillow.”

A friend of mine is staying (as we speak) in a moderately nice hotel in the north east. When he entered the fancily decorated room he noticed Oreo cookies and ear plugs on his pillow case. I would typically expect to see an Andes mint or even a peppermint.

He probably should have known right then and there to turn around, and walk quietly back to the reception desk. Instead he went to free dinner (it was National Fried Chicken Day).

When he came back he discovered the reason for the “free” ear plugs. There was a bar just out his window blasting horrible country music. Now I’m a Kenny Rodgers fan just like you, but having Hank Williams rock me to sleep on the front end of a five day business trip is not my idea of fun. Between The Dixie Chicks and the crazy cowboy-hat wearin’, mini-van drivin’ drunks breaking bottles in the parking lot, the Oreos are probably not going to make the difference.

Moral of the story: If an otherwise nice hotel leaves you free anything out of the ordinary (earplugs, water-buckets, bug spray) it’s probably a good idea to switch rooms or switch hotels.

Yee Haw!

The CD entitled, “Heartbreak Motel” has received great reviews so far. It includes 10 songs with future radio hits like Savannah, Let Me Let You Go and Love is the Hardest Thing. The music is probably categorized as a Country-Rock blend (Crock?) – but I’m not much of a music guy.

Songs from the band’s previous albums, Coney Island EP and Phonography will most likely also be on tap.

To get your copy of the CD autographed by the lead singer, Matt Megrue, be sure to contact the band via their MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/countylinestrangers
See you at the show!

Seriously?

I saw this sign at a friend of mine’s son’s t-ball game today (Go Red Sox!). The sign sits about chair height right beside the normal metal bleachers typical to community baseball fields.

These bleachers are the ONLY place to sit on the whole field, leaving tons of room for lawn chairs, wheel chairs, or whatever…

I have a few questions:

• Is the view disabled?
• Do you need to have disabled viewing to sit here?
• Is the view disabled because there is a sign right where the game is going on?
• Is the word “disabled” politically correct? Do you thing the viewing area is offended?
• On a normal sized community baseball field, with only enough bleachers for 15 people, is a “disabled viewing section” really necessary?

Photograph by John Wilson

Tonight, a friend of mine saw a commercial for Bing - Microsoft’s new search engine. I was tweaking the new design of my blog and thought I should search “John Wilson” to see where I was. PAGE TWO! This begs the question – how could the number one blog in the world get it right and Bing get it wrong?

Great question. I was playing around with Bing and searched the word “search”. You’d think (at least if I was Product Manager) that Bing would be the number one result. Not so:

Where is Bing? Or Google?

Yahoo? Dogpile (I didn’t even know they still existed)? AOL? Seriously?

I thought this was weird until I ran the same search at Google…

Where is Google, Google?

Where is Product Management? This is either an example of the most pure product management or the silliest thing I’ve seen.