2006 Meet & Greet in Sin City - Las Vegas
Jun 23 '06
The Bottom Line Las Vegas was the perfect spot for the 2006 Summer Meet and Greet. There was no excuse not to be there!!
When I found out that the next Epinions Meet & Greet would be held in my favorite city of Las Vegas, I responded with my RSVP immediately. It so happened I had a wedding photography job planned for Las Vegas on Saturday June 17th so it worked out perfectly.
A few years ago I attended the Orange County Epinions Meet & Greet. I remember that day clearly because I was so nervous I almost turned around and went home. I am painfully shy and if I do not know anyone, I can be content sitting in the back just observing people. But in this case we know each other by our Epinions ID.
MANDALAY BAY HOTEL & CASINO – House of Blues
Being a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, I am very familiar with the hotel/casinos up and down the Strip. I have photographed many corporate parties and a wedding at the Mandalay Hotel in the last few years so I knew where to park and where the House of Blues was. The Epinions banner was plain to see and one could not miss it unless you forgot to put in your contact lenses that day!
The casino wasn’t that busy for a Saturday late afternoon. But the traffic on Las Vegas Blvd. was crazy. The wedding I photographed was at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino down the street. That 2-3 mile stretch took me almost 35 minutes where normally the drive would have been 10 minutes tops.
This shy guy (ME) walks into the House of Blues and became nervous because the only person I recognized was Crystal. I met Crystal at the Orange County Meet and Greet.
PHOTOGRAPHER POPS INTO ACTION
After signing in and receiving my ID badge, I assembled my Canon EOS 30D digital camera to start taking photos. For a moment there I forgot this was NOT a job and told myself, “Hey, get out there and introduce yourself!” I didn’t know who was who because the name tags was quite small to read especially when I didn’t wear my glasses or contacts that day. Unlike the Orange County Meet & Greet, the attendees seemed to congregate in small pockets of 2-3 people or per table. I walked further down the aisle and that is when I really started to get to meet my fellow Epinionators.
KCFoxy – Casey is the lady whom I consider my mentor on Epinions. It was her Epinion review that coaxed me into joining Epinions in December of 1999. Every day I would check on her profile to see what she wrote. I was attracted by her writing style which reflected honesty and compassion. Her photograph eluded warmth, a cherubic smile and friendship. Casey’s reviews on recipes and medical advice was always one of my first reads.
MrsFritts – Pam, like Casey, is almost always the first to read my reviews. Pam and I share a common thread as we both used to work for the K-MART Corporation in our younger days.
Ramsfan - Richard is Casey’s significant other. A quiet bearded man who loves the Los Angeles Rams (sorry, make that St. Louis Rams). I was formerly a Los Angeles Rams fan from 1970-1995 when they decided to head for greener pastures. On this day, Richard wore a #13 Rams football jersey that brought back some terrible memories of that fateful day when the Rams packed their gear and left town for good. Richard is built like a Mack truck. Let’s put it this way, if I was facing him on the opposing defensive line, I’d be shaking!
Krissieliz – I just found out that Krissie was at the Meet and Greet and we didn’t even say hello to one another! Hey, Krissie, I am the guy who took your photo. I just checked my digital camera’s flash card and you are in two of the photographs! Krissie invited me to my first write off a few years ago and I have followed her law school reviews for the last several years too. She wrote a hilariously funny review about a trip she took to Las Vegas where she stayed at the San Remo Hotel & Casino and described how she found a pubic hair in the shower! Krissie won the iPod raffle. I remember seeing an attractive blonde but didn’t even go up to her to introduce myself. I was one number away from winning that iPod. Oh well!
I still owe Krissie some Epinion dolls I had promised her from the Orange County Meet & Greet. That package I sent her was returned because I forgot to put in the correct address. Then I lost the package and contents.
AdrienneFoster – I met Adrienne at the Orange County Meet & Greet. Adrienne was one of the first people there I recognized so I was relieved a bit. As with the previous Meet & Greet, I should have followed Adrienne’s advice and brought a small tablet to write the names of the people I met but I was so nervous, I didn’t even think about bringing a tablet.
Lynus – Lynus and I met at the Orange County Meet & Greet as well. The last time he brought his wife but unfortunately, his wife was under the weather for this event.
EPINIONS, eBAY and UBid
A contingent of Epinions and eBay employees were on hand to answer any questions regarding their respective fields.
Tomiko Roman (Epinions) – She is the lady holding that iPOD in the Member’s Center Meet & Greet promo. When I saw Tomiko walk by I had to introduce myself. One, she shares her first name with my late mother and two, she is like Crystal, very attractive! Let me use some adjectives describing Tomiko. Pretty, gorgeous eyes, fantastic tan and cute. I would go on and say more but then you folks will think I am flirting with Tomiko!!
Crystal - You cannot miss Crystal as she is very pretty and cute too! OK, Crystal if you are reading this I am not flirting. Guys, Crystal is a hottie!! Unfortunately, my shyness prevented me from talking more with the Epinion ladies.
I met another lady from eBay from Utah and I am sorry but her name eludes me at this time but she too was very pretty.
OK, I will stop with all these flirtatious comments but ALL the women there were absolutely drop dead pretty! I had to make sure I didn’t drool like Homer Simpson when he sees a donut! Yes, I had to pop my eyeballs back into their sockets a few times!!
WHO I MISSED
Marie (Dragonfire88) is one of my great online friends from Ohio. She and I chit chat on a daily basis to say hello or to tease each other. I tried to urge her to travel to Las Vegas so that we could meet. So I told her I would give her the Epinion dolls I collect.
Prior to going to Las Vegas, I emailed Suzy (Suzer) to see if she was planning on going to the Las Vegas Meet & Greet. I didn’t have a chance to talk to her much at the last meeting. I also wanted to meet Gaelkm and was hoping she would make the trip. Gael wrote some awesome reviews on her trip to Ireland and I wanted to pique her mind about her travels.
Another family I wanted to meet was Kathy (Kamle622), Michael (Payso) her husband and Melissa (Chalanthra) their daughter. Both Kathy and Michael moved from California to Wisconsin a few years ago and we periodically send each other emails. Recently when my father passed away, they sent their condolences which was very heart warming.
Helen (Pogomom) is a lady that I consider top tier with KCFoxy and Mrsfritts. I love her writing style too.
Kirsten (Kirstenafh) is another lady I wanted to meet too. It seemed she traveled to the other Meet and Greets and I am curious about her. Not only is she a popular writer, she appears to have a great sense of humor too.
Howard (Howard Creech) is the man who holds the top billing in Electronics. I would have loved to pick his mind about photography. I have been working in the industry for over 25 years so like two gunslingers, I was hoping to have a great Camera Debate with him about cameras, digital cameras, lenses, flashes, flash cards, smart cards, readers, calibration software, merits of firewire verses USB connections and so forth.
What happened to BadkittyM (Marcy)? Petra? And the great Jim (29th Candidate)? Last Meet & Greet Marcy was surrounded by all the guys so I didn’t get a chance to talk with her a lot. Marcy was a guy magnet and rightfully so. I loved her tattoos and gorgeous auburn hair!
Petra was another person I wanted to have a longer conversation with. She was hilarious. And Jim reminded me of rocker Jim Morrison but had a fantastic sense of humor.
Bonniesayers is another long time favorite Epinionator of mine. Her reviews always pique my mind.
MEET & GREETS
I highly recommend all Epinionators to attend at least one Meet & Greet event. Looking at Epinionators ID picture is one thing BUT actually meeting them is a totally awesome experience. All of the Epinionators I have met are very professional and their writing styles match their demeanor too.
We old timers like KCFoxy, MrsFritts, Adrienne Foster and others have been around a long time so it is like a college fraternity. We have seen a lot of changes from the beginnings of Epinions to this day. There have been a lot of copy cats but they have all since gone out of business.
If you are shy like me, email the veteran Epinionators and ask them for advice. Pick a few to be your mentors. Believe it or not, my mentors here on Epinions have helped me break out of my shell. I used to worry about getting anything less than Very Helpful then I realized it is not a perfect world and you will get disagreements. But that is OK and that is what makes Epinions fun.
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Epinions.com ID:
viper1963
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Steve
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 147
Trusted by: 228 members
About Me:
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka‘aina I Ka Pono
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