2018 Sep 30 | Vision Expo West in Las Vegas



Driving to Las Vegas after work on Friday for Vision Expo around 10pm. There are a fair number of trucks on highway 58 and also lots of hills, so sometimes you have to wait for them to pass each other slowly.



Now headed north on I-15 and some cars but we don't have to slow down too much.



Ogii sleeping in the car.



We got to our hotel, the Lucky Dragon, around 1:00am.



They had tried to develop it but it had slowly died and was now about to close.



They had a casino for a while,



but that was already closed.



Lots of carpet and chairs stacked up.



They had an amazing chandelier.



Nobody at the front desk that late, although he came out soon.



A big bottle of wine.



We got upgraded to a junior suite. It had floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides.



Nice bed.



Looking down at the pool.



Two sinks in the bathroom.



Robes by the shower.



The one weird thing is the windows are tinted pink, so everything outside looks pink.



The strip.



Southwest.



This hotel is just south of the Stratosphere.



Pretty empty at the check in for Vision Expo at 6:30am.



Five hours of CE today.



Breakfast outside the meeting room.



Robert Maloney giving a talk. I loved going to his CE meetings in Los Angeles; he seems like a great surgeon.



He's also very self-sufficient. They were having audio problems and the A/V guy wasn't around, so Dr. Maloney went back there and fixed it himself.



Another CE on keratoconus.



There are two openings, one for trash and one for recycling, but there's no divider inside, so everything goes into the same bin.



The exhibit hall.



Frames off to the right.



And devices to the left.



Lots of expensive machines.



Always pretty displays.



A place to check Transitions.



They came out with different colors this year.



CareCredit always has these ducks.



So I have to get one for Ogii.



Lots of frames.



A fishing game.



A racing game.



Lots of debris in this lens cutter.



Cool Ray-Ban frames that really glow in the light.



It's fun to check out the new frames.



Although I didn't see anything too amazing this year.



I like the ones on the left display.



These are very colorful.



All of the cheaper Asian frames are back here.



Getting my shoes shined.



While I was at meetings, Ogii was checking out houses, just in case we'd want to buy one and rent it out.



Nice sinks.



Some big trees in the back.



Another one.



Open front.



A little balcony.



It's pretty hot out.



Not sure how the Vegas housing market it, so we're not planning on buying now, but good to get an idea in person. Especially considering we're definitely not buying in Salinas.



Reserving a hotel for another upcoming CE; why is the hotel charging $0.10 in fees?



A little working area.



With phone chargers built into the table.



A champagne toast later in the day.



Onto another meeting. This one was interesting because the speakers put their cell phone numbers on the screen for people to ask them questions, and people continuously asked them questions the entire time, so they didn't even get to their presentation. Still lots of useful info, though.



We got some free entry to a few different clubs, although I don't know if it also lets you skip the line. That's the main problem with these clubs later at night, so if not, these aren't really that valuable.



Back to the hotel in the late afternoon to hang out by the pool.



The metal handles on the doors got so hot they put tape on them. Ugly, but effective.



Up to the room for a little nap.



Up at sunset.



To head back to the Venetian.



Although first Ogii chatted with her brother.



Nice display at the Palazzo.



At the front.



In front of Love.



To the poker room.



We played $1/$2 and watched some MMA fights. Ogii has a funny look on her face because the dealer is yelling at me to not take pictures.



Some good old-school fighters on the Bellator 206 card.



Some grappling.



And punching.



More grappling.



And punching. It's interesting to see if the old legends still have it.



Some nasty ground and pound.



Dinner. It was OK, and we shared the chocolate-chip cookies with the other people at the table.



What's this near the cage?



Ah, it's an iris scanner. Unfortunately Ogii's iris doesn't let her in to get all the money.



Walking near the front. The line for Tao doesn't seem very bad.



Oh, it comes way out here.



Checking out the Peter Lik gallery.



A holograph certificate of authenticity.



All of his pictures are limited editions of 30.



Walking around the rest of the Venetian.



A little waterway with gondolas.



One going under a bridge.



I still wish I would have thought of this. I like that's it in a dispensing machine, too.



Some neat lights at a store.



A giant metal Predator statue.



A little out of our price range, even at 50% off.



We got back to the hotel at 12:34am.



Ogii is going to sleep.



But I have another set of MMA fights to watch. This time with Rizin, which has some crazy fights in Japan.



They also use ropes, and the fighters often end up getting pushed nearly out. So the people on the sides come and pull the ropes.



Bob Sapp, another guy who hasn't been around for a while.



And his opponent is a former sumo wrestler.



Who has never been in an MMA fight. They're both huge guys, though.



Some punching.



Some groundwork.



Although by the second round they were both completely exausted. They'd stand like this, staring at each other. The ref would yell at them to fight and they'll very slowly hobble towards each other, hit each other a few times, and then stop in exhaustion again until the ref yelled at them some more.



Both are very happy to finally be done.



It wasn't a good fight in the traditional sense, but it was definitely entertaining.



Cro Cop is still scary.



Big elbow.



That cut his opponent's forehead. Normally they'd take a while to see if they could get it to stop bleeding, but since there was a typhoon on the way in and they were about to shut down all of the trains out of the arena, they stopped the fight.



A woman who came in dancing to and dressed as Michael Jackson.



Although her opponent handled her easily.



Some punches, too.



They hugged each other and were both very emotional after the fight.



The loser had recently lost her father and the winner had recently lost her brother.



He was a huge MMA fighter in Japan and passed away pretty young from cancer.



Then, in typical Japanese craziness, they brought out some video game players.



And set up some matches in the middle of the ring.



Exchanging out the MMA commentators for some video game commentators.



And they played a few matches of Tekken.



Winner of the match.



Korea won the series of three fights.



And now time for me to sleep at 4:20am.



A guy washing the glass on an overhead walkway early in the morning.



Ratt and Sebastian Bach do not seem like a good match.



Back to the Venetian for breakfast at Grand Lux.



It's a small buffet.



But the food is really good.



Ready to dig in.



Nice decor.



It was hot and sunny on the drive back home so Ogii covered up with a hoodie.



These people who just got married were at our hotel.



Time for me to get some sleep on the drive.



Back in California.