CES 2007: Day One!

January 8, 2007

Well, it’s 2:00pm in Las Vegas and I’m still running on Missouri time so that makes it 4:00pm. That means that I’m feeling like it’s already 4 instead of ONLY 2…Thanks to Kim at the Plantronics Blogger and Podcaster Lounge, I have a quiet place to gather my thoughts and share them with you on how I’m faring the first day.

The flights to get here were OK. We were a little worried about being stuck in Denver with all the snow that’s been piling up there but we didn’t have any problem. it wasn’t real fun hanging out in the airport for 3 hours but when we finally left, we got lucky with our seatmate, a guy named Mike from AMD who was also headed to CES. This is his first trip to CES and to Las Vegas. He had to hurry to the convention center when he got in to help set up the AMD booth. We dropped by earlier but couldn’t find him. Oh, well, we’ll try again later.

I won’t say we’re staying in Motel Hell but it’s about as close as you can get. One of the requirements I had for a hotel was wireless Internet and wouldn’t ya know it, our hotel greeted me with a sign letting me know they have been having trouble with their wireless network (Trouble? How about IT DOESN’T WORK AT ALL sound????) and apologized for any inconvenience. At least we’re right across the street from the MGM Grand where we caught the shuttle to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

OK, so I can’t check e-mail or blog from the hotel. Thank goodness for Plantronics and the lovely Kim and Kristen, who are hosting the blogger/podcaster lounge. As a matter of fact, I’m the first official blogger to stop in and visit. That means I have the place to myself and all those other bloggers don’t know what they’re missing. Yuo can bet I’ll make this a regular stop every day I’m here.

I was so excited when I picked up my press goodies this morning. Toshiba supplies the press bags which are backpacks this year (and they’re ORANGE…is that cool, or what?) My badge holder is purple so it looks like CES was ready for me this year since my official company colors for 2 Smart Chix/Views from the Coop are purple and orange. I’m also glad to have a backpack this year, too. It makes it so much easier to carry my stuff around.

What kinda cool stuff have I seen so far? Geez, there’s just so much that I hardly know where to start. Rick and I decided to just get a general “lay of the land” today since we’ll be here Tuesday and Wednesday so I haven’t spent a lot of time in any particular place. We did have a great lunch in the Press Room (Rick is representing BX Media since Peter wasn’t able to make it). One of the fellows we had lunch with has been to the show for the last 27 years in a row. Wow!

After lunch, we dropped by the Gibson tent and registered for a new Les Paul electric guitar they’re giving away today at 4pm so I’m sure we’ll be going back there for the drawing since you have to be present to win. I’ll let you know tomorrow if we got lucky.

My next big event is Showstoppers tonight at the Wynn. I’m really looking forward to that, too. It’s a great way to get up close and personal with the companies who are introducing the coolest products at CES. I’ll be telling you more as the week goes on so check this blog out tomorrow!

Posted in Views From The Coop