my true love gave to me … another dream come true, and I met Pete.

And also several other warm, delightful, witty people, whose names will be mentioned later in this account. But I did not know they were all going to be there, and many of them were not there until later anyway, and so when I headed over to the convention center on Friday, It was Pete I was going to see. Or PETE, as Jenn says, but she won’t tell us why. It was another of those instant recognition meetings that I find so disjointed; surreal and satisfying at the same time. I mean, I totally knew everyone I saw with few exceptions, but it still surprised me that they all knew me. Let me just say that there is no anonymity on the internet, at least when your mouth is as big as mine. And perhaps having my picture up all over the place also helps.

Having had that nasty breakfast on Thursday, we’d asked Alli to bring us danishes on Friday morning. Starbucks cheese danishes are marvelous. Divine. Incredible. That doesn’t even begin to describe the goodness that is the Starbucks danish, but it is the closest I can come.

Back to the people. We (Ang. and I –and yes, I will get around to blogging Ang., but not yet) hung out at the convention center until about 2 and then left. We confirmed plans for the staff and the bloggers to meet up at the Bellagio before we left. And I am almost sure that I met more of the dev team before we left there, I’m thinking it was Priscilla and Scott/Scooter but I don’t remember actually interacting with any of them until later Friday evening. Can I just say that they are such a cool and warm group of people that meeting them was …. like picking up where you left off last time you saw them, and as soon as names were confirmed, they were all friends? Does that make sense? Dang, I digress.

Ok, we were leaving, yes, and we planned to go back to the room for just a bit and then leave to go shopping. We had to pass through Harrah’s and that meant we passed Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill, and we both wanted to eat there, so in we popped and we ate. It was at this point, roughly 4pm, that I finally had my morning coffee. This may account for my memory issues. And also the lack of pictures to accompany this post up until this point. Just sayin’

These would be Toby’s guitars, and let me interject here that when you round the corner of Harrah’s to the right as you face the strip, there is a several-times-more-than-lifesize billboard of Toby right in front of you. It’s very pretty. That’s all.

Ok, so, after we ate, we no longer had time to go shopping, but hey, I’d finally had coffee, so we decided to go on to the Bellagio for our meet up. Here’s what it looks like if you look up as you are walking through on your way to meet up at the Caramel. I should have changed the batteries before we left, because as you can see from the blurry pictures, the camera was developing quite a lag.

So, there was meeting, there was greeting, there was a little gambling-so-they-will-bring-free-drinks.

There was also more serious gambling of the I-plan-to-win type for Jim, Ted and VCDan. Sorry, no pictures of that, because somehow, I just could not see whipping out the ol’ camcam at the roulette table, yk? I maybe country come to city and all, but I try not to drool on myself in public. By the way, thanks to Colleen and VC Dan for explaining the game to me.

Brett had suggested this meetup, for the express purpose of having our pictures made in front of the Bellagio fountains. We did that, but my camera missed out on the action, since I was gasping over the fountains, and talking to all my new friends, which now included (chicken Hat) Dan (and he is like 2 or 3 feet taller than me. Frealz.) and Magical Trevor. But! here is what teh ceiling loks like as you pass out to the fountains

and here are the fountains themselves. I was almost late for the picture, too, gawking as I was at that ceiling.

After that, we went to the Paris, where VCDan and I actually talked for a bit. Honesty compels me to say that we circled around for quite a bit before speaking to one another. VCDan and I have disagreed vehemently on the boards, and I think both of us were prepared to … well, I’m not quite sure exactly. But I did enjoy meeting and talking to Dan, and he’s quite a bit different in person. Or my perception is different. Or I am different. Or something. I think when people are truly passionate about things, even if it is the same things, it can get hard to understand different points of view. Of all the people I met this weekend, he is the one who’s words I will read a bit differently. Oh, btw, he used to live here in North Carolina.

So, Paris.
Outside and Inside.

See the Eiffel Tower?? Pretty wild, huh?

After Paris, there is nothing. Just Kidding! Those of us who were still ready to party (not Ted, not VCDan, LOL) went to assorted gambling areas. Scooter and I watched Pete mop up at electronic roulette, and then Colleen and Jim came and played as well. The dealers in that pit were all dressed as singers, and it was difficult not to get my groove on to Elvis, but I figured it was just as well to save all that for Saturday, which you may hear about tomorrow. Or I may make you all wait until Monday!

Technorati Tags: Starbucks cheese danishes, Toby Keith, Las Vegas, PostieCon07