Still can’t get the pictures to post correctly from my portable netbook. Will have to wait until I get home and then add pictures to the post.

The Wellness Center is probably worth the cost of conference registration by itself. Screening blood tests, burnout assessment, flu shot and dTAP booster all for $20. I’m not doing the damn body fat testing any more. They said that my body fat went from 4% last year to 8% this year. I think their machine is broken.

I was fortunate to get a deal at the 24 hour store in the hotel. A bottle of Gatorade and a banana were “on sale” for $6 – according to the cashier.

I get texts throughout the day from my kids which is nice. The only thing is that the content of the texts has changed. When I got here, they were some iteration of “we love you and miss you dad.” Now they have changed over to “what did you get us?”

So I walked around the exhibits groveling for beach balls, flash lights, and back packs. It used to be grown men in suits fighting over pens. Now it’s deteriorated into grown men in suits fighting over foam rubber models of the Statue of Liberty.

I stopped back at the Boehringer Ingelheim exhibit looking for their sign about people who were not allowed to eat the root beer floats being given to the attendees. The big sign was gone, but there was a smaller sign telling people from Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont to get lost. Took a picture of it that I will post when I get home.

The ultrasound courses are outstanding. Went to two of them today. Very impressed.

Organization is another issue. In the hallways between exhibits, it is like New Years Eve in Time’s Square. Wall to wall people who can’t move anywhere.

Got a chance to walk along Las Vegas Boulevard this evening and take pictures. Definitely an interesting experience. I got propositioned several times. I walked through about 8-10 gauntlets of people wearing T-shirts guaranteeing a girl in my room in 20 minutes who were flicking cards on their hands and then trying to get you to take the cards. I took a few for souvenirs. Then I started walking by them flicking the cards on my hands and trying to get them to take them back. Got some strange looks. I also started videoing the gauntlets as I walked down the street. That got me some curses, but kept them away when they saw the camera.

There were a lot of street performers along the way. Some were pretty good, some were tone deaf. Most were entertaining. Except the strange guy wearing a clown mask sitting on a tricycle and ringing the tricycle bell. Yeah, bud, that makes me want to whip out my wallet to give you some money.

It’s 2:30 AM Las Vegas time which is 4:30 AM Central time. I just got back to the hotel. But it is nice when you leave Las Vegas with more money than you brought to Las Vegas. Craps tables were good to everyone I was with. One doc’s wife had a 20 minute roll. That roll substantially increased the $50 I put on the table.

Thanks to Ramona for letting us know about GruntDoc’s tweeting frenzy about the Scientific Assembly.

Only have about 5 hours until the next lecture starts and about 12 hours until I’m on my way back home.

At the ACEP Scientific Assembly for day 1 of the event in Las Vegas. It is the most attended Scientific Assembly in the history of the College.

Lots of good lectures. The faculty here is top-notch.

I kept a pad with me and took notes as the day progressed. Things I jotted down are below.

Temperature is 105 degrees outside. If what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, that’s a good thing. Keep the weather. And don’t even go there about the “dry heat” thing. If you stick your head inside of a dryer, that’s dry heat, too. Doesn’t make the air any less hot, does it?

The hotel – Mandalay Bay – is literally bigger than my home town. It takes me 10-15 minutes to walk to the conference rooms walking at a brisk pace – well, except when going by the windows overlooking the swimming pool – but it’s still a damn big hotel.

Worked out in the hotel gym and, on the way back, sat down to play slots. Put in $20 on a 25 cent machine. Won maybe twelve cents out of the first 20 spins. A husband and wife sat down at the two machines next to me. Husband wins $300 in first 2 minutes, wife wins $100 2 minutes after that. I just sat there with my jaw on the floor. Should have just handed them my twenty and walked away. I’d have been a lot less ticked. Then I checked my biorhythms on the smart phone – emotional and intellectual are both at their low points for the next two days. I’m staying the hell away from the craps tables.

Was at a lecture about pediatric sedation. The lecturer discussed sedation for reducing fractures and noted the following: “Hey when the orthopedists learned how to spell ‘ketamine’, it was a milestone. They could get to the gym an hour earlier each day.”

Seven dollar draft beers – I thought that was only in New York City. But it was at a bar in which you were given a parka so that you could drink in 5 degree below zero atmosphere. Don’t know which is worse – being too hot, being too cold, having to wear a fleece, or being fleeced.

Overheard a story about William Shakespeare: They recently opened his tomb and found that he was inside erasing all of the things he had ever written. When they asked him what he was doing, he replied “Decomposing.”

Tonight, we had an EM blogger summit with GruntDoc, Shadowfax, Graham Walker, and Nick Genes. Lots of fun stories and laughs. Also got to meet Mrs. GruntDoc who is going to do a guest post on this blog about some spice cabinet issue she had with her hubby. More on that later. Don’t even bother asking any of the other bloggers what I look like. I was wearing a carefully crafted disguise.

Will try to add pictures with tomorrow’s post. Currently having an equipment malfunction.

If you’re in Vegas, stop by the EP Monthly display in the 1900 section and say “Hi”.