This year we are where we were last year, at The Venetian, in Las Vegas. The other night a few of us walked down the strip to the The Bellagio for some steak at Prime Steakhouse. I could see the famous fountains outside the window, but did not get outside to see them up close. That’s my first film reference for this post – of course to Ocean’s Eleven. Unfortunately, even though I bought a new phone that has a camera built into it, I forgot to take any pictures of the fountains, hence the web-grab image above. (btw, the rare fillet mingon with a bearnaise sauce was exquisite! Much better even than the excellent steak frites I had the day before at Bouchon – which has become one of my fave eateries.)

Also, Chris Gardner spoke to our sales team (about 2,000+ headcount), which was kinda cool. Just in case you didn’t make the connection, he wrote the book that became the film The Pursuit of Happyness. Now I have to say that his story is remarkable and inspiring, and his message is a good one. But I also have to say that I found him rather full of himself and in need of making sure we knew about his successes (like just how many copies his book sold, etc.). I would rather have had Will Smith as our guest speaker, but I did enjoy Chris Gardner. Again, I forgot to get any pics. Anyway, that’s my other film reference for this post.