2008 American Planning Association (APA) Conference in Las
Vegas, Nevada
In January of 2008, my friend and neighbor, Jill and I,
made plans to go to Las Vegas during the APA Conference. We were planning to
kill more than one bird with the same stone. The conference coincided with her
birthday, it might be the last trip we would be able to take together for a
while, and I needed to attend the conference because of my upcoming graduation from
the Regional and City Planning Program. We arrived in Las Vegas Sunday evening,
worn out from the flight and hungry. We got something to eat and went to bed. Bright
and somewhat early the next morning, I got out of bed, got ready, and decided
to go downstairs and navigate my way to registration and hopefully, some
sessions.
Once I was
downstairs, I was overwhelmed, as I generally am in Las Vegas if I don’t stay
in a hotel that is closer to human scale, which is definitely not the Paris,
where we were stationed for the next three days, while I was to concentrate on
networking and squeezing in a moderate amount of fun. I saw a guy wearing an
APA Conference name tag, so I asked if he knew where registration was. He
guided me through the Paris over to Bally’s where registration and the
exhibition were. I registered and then signed in with Job Connection. I scanned
the jobs and dropped off some resumes.
I ran into a guy who thought he knew me but that was
just his line…He didn’t know me from Adam. He did introduce me to several
people from Washington and Oregon but he also told me planners, especially the
females are boring and dress badly. He was going to an Urban Design oriented
session and I thought it was best to go it alone for a while.
I dropped in on a
session, Impact Fees and Exactions but decided I should probably hit the
exhibition. I walked around, looked at the different displays, and took
possession of any freebies that seemed worthy of taking up precious space in my
luggage. I was thinking of leaving, when I saw Jim Duncan, an alum, from the
University of Oklahoma (OU). I went to make my presence at the conference known
and visit for a minute, if he even remembered who I was from our previous
meeting in December, at the 60th Anniversary of the Regional and
City Planning Program at OU.
I introduced myself
and he did remember me. After that, I was sucked into a whirlwind. One of the
first things Jim Duncan said to me was, “Don’t take this wrong but you just
graduated at the worst possible time.” I felt like a deflated balloon after he
said that and didn’t think there was a right or wrong way to take his
statement. Jim told me he would take me around and introduce me to people and
see if it would help with my job quest since many cities are laying people off.
I met several people
and passed out cards. I didn’t feel on top of my game, which of course I rarely
ever do since I am mostly a walking ball of neurosis, because I was tired from
flying in to Vegas. After making some connections, Jim and I went down to the
bar in the Paris. He called Norm Standerfer, another OU alum, and I called my
friend, Jill. They joined us and we had a few drinks before going over to the APA
Opening Reception.
The food was
terrible, but thanks to Jim and Norm, I met more people and the reception was a
networking success. Jim’s marketing of me became rather funny to me and others
who lingered in our group. Anyone who spoke to Jim, was asked if he/she had met
me, and was told that I am graduating, and was asked if his/her city or
consulting firm was hiring. As I said, after a while Jim’s rather direct
approach became comical. Some of the people Jim had introduced me to earlier,
asked if he was my agent and laughed. I thought it was very kind of Jim and
Norm to introduce me to people and try to help me out.
After a while, we
all decided to go downstairs and gamble. Little did I know, we would end up
gambling until the wee hours of the night or morning depending on one’s
perspective. I was not doing all that well at Blackjack and mentioned Baccarat
several times; I finally persuaded them to try it with me. They didn’t really
care for it but I managed to win back the money I had lost over at the
Blackjack table. I probably would not have done that well but once Jim
suggested, in the way cheerleaders do, that I bet everything on the Banker. I
did and won. I think I played one or two more hands and we went to eat.
We ate and praised our
endurance; it was nearly four in the morning. We all decided it was time to
call it a day. When Jill and I got to our room, with a fresh beer for her in
hand, after all we were in Vegas; she decided we should go back downstairs. I
thought I should escort her because Norm had peeled her off the floor in the
restaurant already and I knew she was toasted. After watching her play
Blackjack for a bit I decided I could not hang with her anymore and if she fell
out of her chair due to the intake of a case of beer funded by her ability to
gamble endlessly that would just have to be what happened.
For the next few
hours I cat napped in between thoughts of God knows what Jim and Norm think of
us, no telling what Jill is doing, no telling what Jill is saying in her
drunken stupor, I hope no one at the conference is gambling at the same table
as Jill --It turned out a planner from Cleveland and his wife gambled next to
her. Thank God for small favors, I would never want to live and work in
Cleveland. She could have been drunk and chatty by someone from Corpus Christi
with whom I ended up interviewing -- I kept wondering when she was going to get
back to the room. Finally, about 8:30 a.m. I decided I better go check on her
because anything could have happened by then. Since my underlying personality
is paranoid, I had been having visions of her falling out her chair and hitting
her head, or maybe some big guy dragging her away, never to be seen or heard
from again, or even worse, in her drunken state she might leave with some guy.
I made myself
presentable and went downstairs, the whole time dreading the next half hour of
my life. When I got downstairs, Jill was
not at the Blackjack table where I had left her. I started looking around and
spotted her hair. When I got the table, I suggested it was time for her to go
to our room and go to bed. I don’t know if she heard me or not but the dealer
did and looked relieved, after all by this time it was 9:30 in the morning.
Jill kept on playing so I made my suggestion again. Then she tried to double
down on a twelve. The dealer questioned her so she changed her bet and then I
said in my best mother tone that I was taking her to the room. With her arm
over my shoulder, beer still in hand and my arm around her waist I escorted her
to our room while onlookers guffawed. Every one of them were thinking the same
thing, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
Since I didn’t get
much sleep, I don’t really remember what I did that morning but it seems like I
went to a Form-Based Codes Session or it may have been Zoning for Families, who
knows the content has since eluded me. Shortly, into the day, which I thought
would be very productive when I was planning all the things I was going to do
at the conference before my real agenda unfolded and I was enveloped in the
spontaneity of Vegas, I had to take a nap.
Revived, somewhat by
my nap, I went to the OU Alumni Reception, by myself since Jill was still
asleep. I was there for a brief time and Jim and Norm wanted to go to the
Clarion party over at the Flamingo. I was glad I went because the party was at
the pool, which is straight up out of a time long since gone and forgotten in
Vegas, thanks to Steve Wynn. The pool was surrounded by flamingos on pedestals
with the outline of a flamingo painted on the bottom of the pool. Elvis would
be proud.
One of the partners
in Clarion was quite a go getter and very interesting. He went with his wife to
India while she was working for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation so he
could write. While there he wrote, A
Better Way to Zone. He was a real firecracker and full of stories about
India, China, and such. I decided to check the book out at some point. I saw
him later at the APA President’s Party that Jill and I ended up attending with
Jim and Norm. He was a firecracker on the dance floor too; I think he even
entered the dance contest.
The APA Presidents Party
was a dud. I saw some people from the night before and met a guy who wants to
go to China with Dr. Shen. He and Norm said he had wanted to go before but Shen
didn’t get back with him so I got his card to give to Dr. Shen. The sole reason
he wants to go is the price, which may go up because of gas prices, who knows.
He goes to China but I don’t know for what. I have no idea what he does in
planning or anything but he had a drop dead gorgeous, extremely young Chinese
wife. I didn’t get the details of how they met or what their plans are or
anything but he hit the jackpot. They were a mismatched couple, he was older,
bald, and very nerdy looking; she was young, hot, and way out of his league… I
didn’t ask Norm and Jim what the deal was because I figure it was probably the
same deal as every other time some hot, young thing is with some old fart.
The party was so
boring Jim announced that it was time to go to the tables. We gambled again.
That night, all but Jill retired earlier, say one a.m., that’s early in Vegas.
I wanted to be half way awake for a job interview with Corpus Christi. Jim and
Norm, since they are around 70 don’t typically stay up till four a.m., like we
did the night before. I don’t think that they took naps, like I had and they
had risen at seven or eight 8 a.m. unable to sleep any more.
The next morning I
had my interview, which seemed to go somewhat well in spite of computer issues.
The city manager’s battery ran down in the middle of their entourage of
questions. I don’t even remember much of the interview. I do know they asked,
“Why they should hire me?” I don’t remember my spiel word for word, I’m sure I
said I’m a hard worker or some crap. I have decided it might be better to be
honest with people and tell them, I don’t know that I am the person for the job
that is for them to decide because they know the other personalities in the
office and if I would fit in.
After my interview I
went to some sessions and mingled with a few folks. I saw Mark House, who works
for the city of Las Vegas, he said the county may be hiring even if Vegas
isn’t. I ran into another guy from Tulsa, who Jim had introduced me to previously,
he said to send him my resume. After doing some more networking, I went back to
the room to revive Jill and make plans for dinner, thinking we might finally
make it to Hugo’s Cellar. We had made reservations for Monday, Jill’s birthday
from Oklahoma but once we got Vegas, plans and schedules were hard to keep.
We decided to eat in
the hotel so we went downstairs. As we got off the elevator I saw Billy Harless
so we visited with him for a beer or two or three and then had what was by far
the best meal I had in Vegas at the Italian restaurant in the Paris. After the
meal we went to the tables so Jill could gamble. I was bored so I roamed around
some. I ran into a planner from Canada, Paul Mallard, like the duck and his
brother, Paul, who lives in Shanghai. They were pretty interesting and we got
into a discussion about one of the sessions I went to earlier in the day,
Zoning for Sexually Oriented Businesses in the County.
Once those guys were
done being chatted up by me I was bored with the whole gambling thing and went
to bed so I could hit a couple of sessions the following morning. It turned out
to be a good decision. I went to a session about the historic signs in Vegas.
The main speaker was very passionate about the preservation of the signs and
what they represent, the Vegas she knew growing up in Fabulous Las Vegas. The
Vegas that has long since disappeared, the shows aren’t free, the food isn’t
cheap, and the bigger than life experience that Vegas used bestow on visitors
has morphed into an assembly line like experience in many ways.
After dropping in on
the Key Note temporarily because I was running short of time, I went back to my
room with a sandwich and woke Jill up so we could pack. I tried to get her to
eat because once again she had gambled all night and was hung over. I told her
it might be the last chance we would have to eat for while since our journey
back to Oklahoma was going to take the better part of the day. The trip home
seemed long, especially for Jill since she was still drunk when I woke her up.
Thought I didn’t get
to go to as many sessions as I planned, I feel like my trip was productive,
thanks to Jim and Norm marketing me to everyone we came across. I would not
have had the opportunity to network to the extent that I did if they had not
taken me under their wings for a couple of days. It reinforced my general
opinion of planners; they are genuinely nice and care about other people.Digression
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