I had every intention of blogging daily from M2009 and PBLS, but I never found a free moment yesterday to write down anything. I don’t like to think about it because it makes me exhausted, but I think I stayed awake for 24 hours yesterday. After a delay in Dallas, I landed in Las Vegas at about 4 p.m. West Coast time, and after getting over the fact that I am on the 24th floor at Caesar’s Palace, I hit the ground running.

The highlight of last night was not, unfortunately, my big win at the poker table (because that didn’t happen). It was the Penn and Teller show at the Rio. As you probably know, they are master illusionists who let the audience in on some of the secrets of their “magic.” I was fortunate enough to be called on stage to participate in an illusion, which I thought was thrilling (and I got my picture taken with both of them - see me with Penn on the right).

This morning it was back to work as my SAS Publishing colleague Chuck London and I set up the publications booth in the exhibit hall (look for photos in tomorrow’s blog post). The space we have there is huge. We have a nice couch and comfy chairs, which give the whole space a welcoming vibe. As a bonus, we were able to meet a couple of M2009 attendees this morning. This year the organizers of M2009 offered an “early bird” special, which was a choice of two SAS Press books, to those who registered early. I believe those who signed up early numbered about 120, so I expect we’ll have brisk traffic tomorrow in the booth, which will be great. I love interacting with our customers, and I hope to meet some very interesting people this week.

Tonight we’re heading to Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grille for dinner, and I bet $20 on the Giants, who had better win tonight. Otherwise my gambling days are going to be over before the conferences even begin!

Vegas is a great city, and Caesar’s is a great place to host a conference. I look forward to a great week!