A retrospective look at the trip to Vegas.
Enjoy!
MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2011
Off to Vegas!
http://emsworldexpo.com/
One more hour of work, then it's in the car to the airport!
I will hopefully be blogging from the site (if I can find my dang air card...)
Too much to see and do in 3 days, but I'm gonna try!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2011
vegas day one
After a LONG day of travel (our flight was 5.5 hours late) we
finally arrived in the sparkly city in the desert - the one that
really shouldn't be here. I love it. I love Vegas BECAUSE it's so
wrong.Maybe it's the geographer in me, but this place is just too
much to absorb.
Anyway, just spent the evening (ahem...morning...) with fruity
drinks, too much tequila, slot machines, and chatting with a guy
named Bill from Wenatchee. Long story short, I got to sleep around
0500 and up around 0900 for breakfast - still a bit tipsy. God I
luv Vegas.
Our EMS director met us for breakfast and we decided to go check
out the conference site. one monorail stop later we emerged into
the opressive heat (it is August in the desert, after all) and
walked to the convention center. The site is huge. We got a quick
peek into the vendor area - we could spend the entire three days
there, I think.
We toured around a bit more - mostly along the monorail line - and
saw the MGM lions sleeping, a baby lion being burped, poked around
NY NY a bit, and split up for the afternoon. Lloyd and Jessi went
to a Cirque show, the "Pit Boss" (our EMS director) and Joe went to
meet up with an old friend who works down here, and I headed back
to the hotel - ostensibly for a nap. Instead I spent the afternoon
and evening going through the conference schedule and watching some
network TV. Sushi for dinner, lost some cash on the craps table,
and now hitting the hay - 0815 start tomorrow!
I'm getting stoked. It's just after midnight and I can't wait to
see the action. Funny, I've never been as excited about a GIS
conference...
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2011
EMS World Expo - day 1
I slept thru the alarm this morning - I blame it on last night's
awesome sushi. And no, we were good and made it to bed relatively
early. Jessi and I are sitting in the food court area and I'm
attempting to touch-type on this tiny keyboard, so please forgive
the typos. The place is awash in EMS peeps - it's awesome! We're
attempting to connect to any wireless network that doesn't charge
$5 per hour for access and we are just hoping the social network
lounge will be free. Could not for the life of me find my stupid
air card before I left home, so we're at the mercy of public
networks...
Keeping an eye out for our bloggers in kilts - HappyMedic, AD, EMS
Newbie, etc. but with the bagpipers floating around there's a lot
of sporrin action on the convention floor. The rest of our guys
(Joe, the Pit Boss, and Lloyd) are at the keynote - the place was
so packed we couldn't even approach. Bummer.
So we're holding down a table and doing some serious people-
watching. Strange just being in such a large group of folks, not
really knowing any of them. The social network revolution, or
evolution has made us more friendly but also more anonymous. Its
hard for me to not want to go talk to some of my favorite bloggers
- I feel I know some of them pretty dang well, but we've never met!
Just ten more minutes until the vendor area opens - I have definite
goals (check out a ton of ambulances, meet with the Brady textbook
rep, spend a ton of time in the social media lounge, find the
person selling "RipShears", play with a lot of equipment, gather
the swag...) that AND I actually have somewhat of a schedule for
this afternon triage, ECG's, Trauma and emergency driving. It's
gonna be a great afternoon.
(LATER)
Bryan Bledsoe's talk is starting off well. Supposed to be pretty
controversial, but loving it so far. OK, a bit dry with the
statistical analyses, but hey - evidence-based EMS is where we are,
right?
Tried to get into another class but settled on the one on my list
with the least line (yup, you get to line up for each session and
get your badge scanned.) Stupidly slow, really.
Anyway, I'm in EKG's Made Easy by Larry Macy (from Rock Springs,
WY) and scored my good seat with a table from the last session, so
I'm OK. Apparently we "become" the heart in this session...and it
was great! Kept hte energy and interest level of the audience up
really well and gave us a great visual cue for 12+ of the rythms.
Really nice.
Dang netbook battery is down to 30% so I will have to charge up
soon - somewhere.
(LATER)
Confessions of an EMS Newbie podcast live in 20 mins, so I'm
literally blogging from the floor of the conference at the Pysio
Control Social Media Lounge (there's power here) Mass Casualty
Incident at 1815, so I should have a few minutes to hit the vendor
area again. Glad I get to stay through the entire conference
(Friday). I think it will be much less busy then. (?)
(LATER)
Finally found a chair in the Social Media Lounge - standing next to
the EMS Newbie and AD. Pretty kewl stuff. Podcast is running a
bit late, but have no idea where the rest of our crew is (she says
just as everyone walks up behind us) and we became the ersatz
audience for the "Confessions" micro podcast - weird.
Not many folks at the podcast - probably 'cause everyone was
jockying for position at the mass casualty. All good though. Got
to meet the kilted twins - Ron & Kelly and was on the front row for
their intro of the EMS Newbie essay contest winner.
The mass casualty went well, for what I could see from the ground
level. They really needed more bleachers so more of us could get
up high to see the action.
Dinner was lovely - went to The Sea at Bally's - the Thai was
excellent and I enjoyed myself despite the price. Lloyd, Ssej,
and I ordered an appetizer and entree each. They were awesome.
Joe and the Pit Boss joined us late and we had a great re-hash of
the day. Apparently I need to visit the SAM splint booth as well as
the Stryker booth tomorrow. And we're going ambulance shopping.
Lots of difficult choices as far as sessions go, but I'll probably
use the same logic as today - go to one of the ones I'm interested
in, but go for the shortest line.
Not even midnight and I'm back in the room. Dang I'm being a good
person this week!
Jessi is leaving in the morning 'cause she's gotta work on Friday,
so I'm losing my 'wing man' and I'm bummed. Oh well. Still have a
couple days of conference to enjoy!
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2011
EMSWorld Expo Day 2!
Day Two - Whew!
Spent the morning in sessions - then met Joe and the Pit Boss for
some ambulance shopping.Two guys and a gal out shopping for a
couple Type 1's and a very special Type 2 - one that is light
enough to have tracks attached in place of the wheels to travel
over groomed snow. Of the four salesmen who we spoke with, two
basically ignored me (one called me "hun") and only one seemed to
realize that I had input into our agency's decision with which
ambulance to go for. I hate that crap. I am not an idiot who is
scared away from the modern combustion engine and distracted by
pink, sparkly items. Please just treat me the same as another
potential customer. Okay?
I am sold on the Sprinter (which I just found out Dodge is no
longer a part of - just Mercedes and Freightliner now) I love the
way it looks, drives, feels after hard hours in the seat. It's
thoughtfully designed and a great rig. One small problem.
Apparently, they don't have an all-wheel drive version for sale
here in North America. Europe? You betcha. They've got them
going on over there. But apparently they are not certified for the
US and Canada. Lame.
Regardless, I have a lot to say about ambulances. I detest smarmy
salespeople who treat the ladies like morons. STOP IT!
OK, I'm done ranting now.
I have a few knocks for this place (Las Vegas Covention Center) - a
few technical difficulties in sessions, bad internet (either
extremely expensive or low quality), and no nap rooms :)
Can you tell I'm tired?
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
EMSWorld Expo Day 3 - the roundup
Fewer folks today, which was nice. Not such long lines to get into
sessions. The end of conferences are quite often like the end of
camp - new and old friends hug, promise to keep in touch. This one
was a bit different for me. As a GIS professional at a GIS
conference, I am 100% integrated. I know most of the stuff that's
going on and can really get into it.
This was very different. I am very new to the EMS camp and pretty
much everything is a mystery to me. As an EMR, I'm probably the
least qualified and least experienced person here. That's a
strange feeling for me. I didn't integrate well into this group.
Now that I think about it, I suppose it was the same for me in GIS.
The first few conferences I felt out of sync - like everyone else
knew each other and had some sort of inside track. They were
meeting for drinks, chatting, having intellectual debates over
dinner, the whole social aspect. Once Jessi left I really didn't
have anyone to talk to. Our guys are great, but they are guys and
this is Vegas.
The guys left this morning, so I am the only one still at the
conference. Guess thats a weird feeling as well. Hundreds of
people I don't know who are at least acquainted, or speak the same
language, and I don't fit in.
I don't know, maybe I'm just feeling melancholy because this whole
EMS thing is a strange new group for me. Or maybe because I'm such
a late-comer to this field. I'm 37 years old for crying out loud.
I'm great at making maps, doing spatial data analysis, so why do I
do this EMS thing? It's certainly not for the money. I guess
that's a question to answer another day
So I have a few hours until my flight leaves. My grandfather died
so I changed my ticket this week to fly back to my ancestral
homeland in Washington State for the funeral service. It will be
nice to visit with my family for the day. Maybe that's having an
effect on my mood as well. Who knows?
Hard to believe, but I'm at a loss for what to do at this point.
My bags are back at the hotel bell desk, I'm checked out of my
room, and I still have 6 hours to kill before my flight. Not
interested in gambling away more money, or sitting at the airport
for hours in an uncomfortable spot. But I'm ready to leave Vegas
now. Seriously ready.
Left my ECG and A&P books (ahem, and my nintendo) in my bags, have
no internet here, and it's emptying out. Guess I will bust out of
the convention center and head south. Pick up my bags, give away
my monorail pass, and get a taxi to the airport. Hopefully I can
find a semi-comfortable spot to settle in, plug in, and waste a few
hours. Wish me luck.
(LATER)
Gambled some more? Check
Picked up bags? Check
Gave away monorail pass with 2 more days on it? Check
Taxi to airport? Check
Lost my mini leatherman to McCarran security? (with teeny scissors & tweezers in it) Check
Still 3.5 hours early for my flight? Yup
Sigh
Can't wait to get out of this town.
