Las Vegas Day 3

Hi all:

After leaving the "press room" at Couture, I caught up with "Gina" from a PR firm representing Zenith watches, which Gina pronounces like the zen like Zen Buddhism. I tell her I've never heard it pronounced like that, but she says that's the way the Swiss pronounce it to distinguish it from Zenith TV and radio, and I immediately dismiss this as bullshit, but it isn't her fault because that's the way her client told her to pronounce it. Anyway, she gives me her canned spiel about the current product line, and I am most interested in their new line of Pilot heritage watches. She says that Zenith is the only watch company allowed to print "Pilot" on the dials of watches. Hmmm. Well anyway, they are beautiful watches, and of the all the watches I've seen at the show, these are the ones I most covet for myself. They start at about $4,250 on the Internet, but we'll see if I can snag a preowned one on ebay or somewhere.

From the Zenith booth, I stopped at Business Services and send all my brochures, catalogs, and misc. swag from the exhibitors home in a UPS pack for $32. I couldn't stuff it in my backpack, and I sure as hell didn't want to continue dragging it around the rest of the day and for the rest of my trip. I lost 14 pounds of body weight before coming to the show because I didn't want to drag it around the show. So why would I want to  carry most of that weight around in a tote bag? So after that, I caught a complimentary inter-hotel shuttle and I hot-footed it over to the Mandalay Bay to pick up my press badge and drop in for a surprise visit to my fourth and final exhibitor, Tavannes. True to form, the badge pickup for press members was at the opposite end of the convention center from the entrance. I guess these show promoters figure that we journalists are fleet of foot, so they make us walk a god-damned Bataan Death March to obtain our press credentials. The one nice thing about it was that the badge pickup station was also the entrance to the press lounge, and I must say it was heads and tails above in cushiness from the Couture's press room. I'll be doing a fair amount of hanging around there tomorrow.

After securing my badge, I located the exhibit for Tavannes and dropped in on my contact, Bruce Cummings, for a surprise visit. I also got to meet his son, Marc, who is taking over the business after Bruce retires, if that ever happens. (Bruce is a workaholic.) I also got to meet one of the company's Swiss designers, Nicholas Jeansen, who has done a fair amount of work on the company's re-creation of the "Le Captive" watch, which is a "transformer watch" of sorts. It can be worn as a belt buckle, a wristwatch, a desk clock, or a car clock. It was introduced in 1928 as a golfer's watch per the personal request of King Edward the VIII of Great Britain. The watch caught on, and was eventually distributed through Dunhill and Hermes. Tavannes is now reintroducing the watch in an improved case. I got to see a prototype, and I'll be taking some photos of it tomorrow.

I was getting quite hungry by then, so I said my goodbyes and headed to a Tex-Mex place along the Mandalay promenade between the casino and convention center. I swear the place used to be a "Senor Frog" but now it is called the Border Café and has a celebrity chef pedigree, two females who've been featured on Food Network and Bravo and thus they have parlayed this into an empire of sorts. I ordered a Margarita ($11) and got a comp bowl of tortilla chips and three different salsas for dipping. All very good. I ordered the chicken Poblano enchiladas, which is a featured menu item.

I had to send it back because the corn tortillas were tough as leather, and I know this thing was sitting under a heat lamp for quite some time. My replacement meal was fresh and tender and delicious, but I had to wonder why they would even let the first meal out of the kitchen. It's not the like place was empty, either. It was full of people, so you'd think dishes would not even have a chance to sit around. But this indiscretion had obviously taken place, and I wasn't going to let it slide, especially at $26!

After the Mexican food, I was hungry for cheesecake, and there was nothing at the Mandalay to scratch the itch, so I caught an Uber ride over to the Mirage where I knew there was a Carnegie Deli. I really like this Uber thing. It's been well received in Las Vegas to the point where the casinos' overhead signs even direct you to the Uber pickup points! So far, I've never waited more than five minutes for a driver, and the price is very reasonable. Anyway, over at the Mirage I went to the deli and ordered their supersized slice of NY Cheesecake topped with strawberries, and a coffee for $17 and change.

I ate half and took the other half to go and will make a partial breakfast out of it tomorrow. From there, I Ubered back to the Four Queens and rested for just a bit. Man, I've put a lot of distance on these feet today. I changed into shorts and a T-shirt and walked down to the El Cortez and lost $55 playing craps and single-deck blackjack. Walked back to the 4Q, watched a little TV, and went to bed. Fell quickly asleep with all the walking.

Tuesday June 6

Up at 6 a.m. on my own, no alarm. Showered and shaved, got into my "business outfit." Breakfast at McDonald's this a.m. to save some bucks, and also I incorporated the leftover cheesecake into my breakfast. Yummy. Spent a grand total of $3.45 on breakfast. Back in the hotel room updating the blog, and soon I'll be off to Mandalay where I will have free Internet access to post these notes to the blog and send it to all my contacts. Things are going very well here, and I'm having a great time.

OK, I'm in the Press Lounge now, and they are feeding us. Here's a late a.m. snack of breakfast sandwich, yogurt with fruit, champagne, and coffee.

I stopped in to see my posse at Tavannes, and the head guy (Bruce Cummings) and the prototype "Le Captive" watch are both "out" on a high-level meeting with some guy who owns four shops at the Venetian Market. Good for Bruce C., crap for me. I have to hang around here at the press lounge until about noon when Bruce C. and prototype watch will be back. Oh well, not the worst place to hang out. Here is the view out the window of the press lounge:




Well, that's all for now.

Bruce