Well, I arrived safely in Las Vegas yesterday to attend Comdex. Yesterday was my first flight since 9/11 and everything went reasonably well. I was advised to arrive at least 2 hours before the flight but passed through security without any problems so had to nap for a couple of hours before the flight finally showed up. The connecting plane in Portland was also late so had to nap some more. Alaska Airlines did serve a sandwich and cookie for lunch so the rumors about no more food service are apparently false. Of course you don't have to use any utensils with a sandwich. Maybe that is the consession to security.

The Aladdin Hotel is nicely appointed and I was able to get a ticket to the final performance of the Broadway musical "Beauty and the Beast" last night. It was held right here in the Aladdin's own Theater for the Performing Arts. The play was good but I thought all of the musical numbers by the enchanted household utensils sort of overwhelmed the production. I would have preferred more scenes between Beauty and the Beast. Gaston, of course, was wonderfully outrageous. I wish the play didn't include so much "punching" between Gaston and his comic relief sidekick though. The Beast was very good too but didn't seem to be able to project his singing as well as long as he was in the Beast makeup. Once he transformed into the prince I could hear him better. Of course Belle was not only pretty to look at but had a beautiful voice as well.

I was also pleased to note that a branch of the Guggenheim Museum has opened in The Venetian so I hope to take it in while I am here. There is also an exhibit of Faberge items from Russia across the street at the Bellagio's Museum of Art that I hope to see as well. People usually look at me skeptically when I tell them I have attended Comdex in Las Vegas four times and have always found interesting things to do without gambling.

I was disappointed that Sony will not have an exhibit this year as their booth always included some cutting edge technology works in progress. They say Comdex is about half its usual size and they are making an effort to make it less chaotic. We shall see! If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!