All that anticipation and suddenly...

It's over! The convention part of our trip, that is...and it went out with a BIG BANG.

I haven't had time to even THINK about blogging the past 2 days. We have literally been burning the candle at both ends and I am soooo jet lagged right now. I wake up at 6am here, which is 9am, and we are still going at midnight, which is 3am. We're learning a lot and having a blast!  The convention culminated with a concert by a quintessential Canadian band (who else would you expect in Vegas??!), the Bare Naked Ladies!

Here's a couple of photos from this evening, the first time I've had the camera out with me in the last few days, as a teaser with more to follow later 'cuz I gotta get some sleep. I'm a zombie right now.

MIX Lounge at the top of THEhotel

View of downtown Las Vegas through the glass before I convinced our waitress to let me out on the OPEN AIR balcony on the 64th floor which was closed due to high winds! 

Another view through the glass before sunset

After sunset is when the magic happens!

BNL Concert to close out the convention. Warming up the crowd with DJ & dancers.

Nice to see some good Canadian boys!

- Paula

R4 Official Kick Off Day!

It's Monday here in Vegas, day 3 of our trip and officially day 1 of the 2012 R4 RE/Max Convention. I didn't get the camera out until well into the afternoon, so I didn't take many photos today, but what I did do was shoot a lot of video.  I regret that I didn't get outside at all because it was incredible outside today. Do you have any idea what +24 feels like after coming from negative temperatures in the tingle digits only a couple of days before? It would be positively heavenly.  You can always tell the tourists from the locals here even if they aren't toting a gargantuan camera with them - the locals at in light jackets and zippered hoodies, the tourists are in shorts, sandals and driving rental convertibles with the top down on Las Vegas Blvd. :)

Our day really didn't get underway until after lunch. We had a late breakfast/early lunch at the restaurant in THE Hotel. (That's what it's called, seriously) which was excellent. We all ordered omlettes made with your choice of ingredients. Mine had spinach, asparagus & feta.

Dianna was off to her first course shortly after lunch. I went shopping and picked up a couple of gifts, spent half an hour in the casino donating some money, then went back to the room intending to have a nap until my course at 3pm (I'm suffering from serious jet lag) but that was not to be. Just a few minutes after I got back to the room, Ron came up and asked me if I wanted to go through the aquarium, which of course I had been hoping to do at some point, so I got everything together I would need for the remainder of the day so I could go from there straight to my course.

The Shark Reef aquarium is quite a site to see if you've never seen it. I came here on my own last time I was in Vegas. It doesn't take long to go through, but if you've got the time, you can sit inside a sunken ship for as long as you like and watch all manner of fish and sharks swimming all around, above and below you. Imagine a reverse fish tank, where the water and the fish are on the outside and you and air are on the inside and you'll get an idea of what it's like.  I took some video and I'll try to post it over the next couple of days. It takes some time to convert the files and I'm really tired, so it's not going to happen tonight. Here are a few still shots I took.

My first course was at 3pm on Video for Real Estate. Mostly basic stuff, but I did get one really AWESOME idea...now I only have to talk Dianna into it. No hints yet, but it'll set the local competition on it's ear if I can implement it - of that I have NO doubt :)

After the course, I met up with Dianna and we made our way to the opening general session in the auditorium; which was opened by surprise performers, Iluminate, from America's Got Talent.

RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly discusses the difference between the American & Canadian Real Estate markets.

Marie Osmond talks about the Children's Miracle Network, which she helped found 30 years ago and to which RE/Max has donated over $115,000,000 since joining in 20 years ago. 

 - Paula

p.s. Learning comes first...well...first after sleep...and I didn't get through all of the videos. Maybe tonight...

If I could sum up today in one word, that word would be...

View of THE Hotel (left) Luxor and Mandalay Bay from the Mandalay Bay Convention Centre

"****"

Well, not all of it was THAT bad...but some certainly sucked.  Like waking up with a pain in my back like I can't even begin to explain. However, I managed to MacGyver an ice pack for it and after resting a bit and some Advil, it was tolerable and got better as I moved around more through the morning.

The pool lobby at the Mandalay Bay

First things first this morning - we needed to find out where the convention is going to be and get registered. Everything is accessible indoors - you can walk from the hotel, to the casino, to the convention centre, and even between different hotels. Seeing the gorgeous day through all of the windows as we trekked to the convention centre was tempting, but we stayed on course and got that task out of the way. The convention centre is MASSIVE - and we only saw the concourse and the hallways. I can only imagine what the marketplace and auditoriums are going to look like.

Lower level of the Mandalay Bay Convention Centre

Outside the great hall at the Mandalay Bay Convention Centre

We finished off the morning at Starbucks in the shops that link the Mandalay Bay to the Luxor and people watched for about an hour before doing some shopping.  We visited Peter Lik's photographic gallery and talk about inspirational. Incredible!  I tell you, If I hit it big here, one of those pieces is DEFINITELY going home with me. Of course, my favourite is the most expensive one on display, naturally. I mean who has $130,000 to spend on a photographic print?? I dunno....but I sure wish I did. Don't know who Peter Lik is? Allow me to introduce you...CLICK HERE to visit his website & online gallery. Fair warning: have a tissue handy for the drool.

My companions are addicted to a realty show called "Pawn Stars", which I have never seen, so the hype was a bit lost on me, but the pawn shop where the show is shot is not far from where we are staying, so we all bundled into a cab and headed to "Gold & Silver Pawn Shop". I found it a little underwhelming, but was advised if you don't watch the show, you won't "get it" :)


What followed next was the second **** portion of the day. We had been advised that it's probably not the best idea to wander anywhere south of the Stratosphere. Well, the pawn shop was about 8 blocks south of the Stratosphere...we made it to the Stratosphere only being hit up for spare change 3 times & cursed at once...and continued walking, and walking, and walking... We walked just about to the Wynn....nearly 5km. Guess I don't have to worry too much about gaining weight on this trip. I'm only eating one actual meal a day and with all this extra exercise, I should actually lose. Let's hope that's the only kind of losing I do on this trip :)

Los Vegas Blvd looking south

Las Vegas Blvd looking north towards the Stratosphere

A rare sight in Vegas...no, not the wedding chapel, they are a dime a dozen...I'm talking about the grass!

The Stratosphere

Yup, GREAT part of town :o/

Close up of the previous image

 We finally flagged a cab and came back to the hotel. We were all absolutely ravenous. We went to every restaurant in the food court area of the casino and all but one was closed!! Apparently, they close between 4-5 daily to switch over from lunch to supper. Do they not realize there are people here from all over the world on different international internal clocks??? Sheesh!  Their loss ended up being out gain in the end. We ended up going to Fluer, which we probably wouldn't have chosen had there been other alternatives, and were very pleasantly surprised by the incredible food. Besides downing 2 large bottles of San Pelligrino water before the entrees arrived, we had chef' Hubert Keller's special which ended up being to die for...the multiple different margarita's weren't bad either. Who ever would have thought of a braised short rib lasagna? It was incredible!

Dinner was followed by a brief stint through the casino on the way to the room. I've been here since going through photos. Almost time to take a soak in the tub while I can still move pretty freely. If I sit here too much longer, my back will start seizing up and I'll be done for the night. It's already giving me the odd shooting spasm. Grrrr.

Darn! Just missed sunset when I returned to my room. One of the pitfalls of spending time in casinos with no windows or clocks...very easy to lose track of time...which I guess is kind of the point ;o)

Need to get a good night's sleep so my brain is ready for some edumacashun tomorrow...er...later today :)

- Paula

"What happens in Vegas..."

"...will be on Youtube in an hour".

My how times have changed!! It's been 4 years, almost to the day, since I've been in Sin City and the modification to the unofficial slogan isn't the only change. There's been some changes along the strip too. When we were last here, the skyline from our hotel room window was dominated by giant, hulking cranes working on a slew of new hotels and casinos. Now, those cranes are gone and the hotels are standing gleaming sharply in the harsh desert sun. These new hotels lack any of the character and appeal of the older existing casinos & hotels. They are steel and glass and smooth and BORING. I'll see if my opinion changes once we've had a chance to actually explore them - but I can pretty much bet none of them has a pirate ship in a moat out front, nor is there an Egyptian tomb reconstructed in the lobby...

I'm very much looking forward to exploring tomorrow with camera in hand.  You have to do the tour at least twice, once in the daylight, and once at night - despite each property having the same address both day and night, that is where their similarities end as it's a completely different world when the sun sets.

Today's been a VERY long day - it was a restless night last night as we slept fitfully with one ear tuned to the roaring winds threatening to suck the glass from our hotel room windows through the night and into the morning. We were up this morning before the crack of stupid (anything pre-5 a.m. is just ludicrous) to catch a shuttle to the Buffalo Airport, which I have to admit was kinda nice - quaint compared to Pearson International in Toronto - and easy to navigate.

We flew Southwest, also another first. While sitting on the tarmac waiting for the okay to take off, I, who was fortunate enough to score a window seat, watched the plane wing outside my window shuddering in the gusts of wind...and beyond that, the plane next to us at the terminal bobbing and bucking as the wind shook it.  I was decidedly green about the gills by the time we started away from the terminal.

The pilot confirmed my suspicions when he announced they were expecting a fair bit of turbulence throughout the majority of the 5+ hour flight. However, the warnings proved to be mostly unnecessary as the flight was one of the smoothest I have ever had with the wind even providing a generous tail wind that lopped 31 minutes off our flight.

We landed in Las Vegas at 9:29am local time where it was 45F with sunny blue skys and no wind. Of course, with such gorgeous weather welcome us, what do you think was the first thing we did? Yeap...hit the casino! En route to checking in, we tried our luck at a couple of slot machines as we passed through the casino.

My room was ready, so I checked in and we left all of the luggage in my room while we went for a bite of lunch. It was a unanimous order of Rubens all around which we excellent followed by several more hours in the casino which left me considerably lighter in the wallet than I had expected.  At 3pm, the second room was ready so we spent some time in our rooms unpacking for the week. To my surprise and delight, it doesn't appear that I forgot to pack anything!

After freshening up, we made our way to the Mirage Hotel to catch Terry Fator's show - you remember Terry - the fellow that plays with dolls that won season 2 of America's Got Talent? If not, look him up on Youtube, you'll enjoy it, trust me.  This was the second time I've seen him perform live. The first time was when I was here in Vegas 4 years ago and he performed at our convention's opening general session. My seats were so far from the stage I had to watch the video screens to see anything at all as Terry on the stage was a mere speck.  Not so tonight. We were close enough to see the sweat beading on his brow. He has added to his inventory both in puppets and material and the show was excellent.

Terry & Winston the Impersonation Turtle open the show with a number from Phantom of the Opera

Winston as the Phantom

Did I mention we had great seats?! And yes, you were ALLOWED to take photos during the show (just no video) so I wasn't bothered by the fact that Terry looked straight at me several times as I happily clicked away.

Terry and Johnny Vegas perform

Terry and Wrex the Crash Test Dummy

The View from my room (the window is VERY dirty)

- Paula

What a difference a year makes...

I recently had the opportunity to shoot a house for the second time with almost a year in between. And can I just say, what a difference a year makes!!

The original photos were shot with a Canon Rebel Xsi and Sigma DG500 flash.

Current photos were shot with a Canon 7D and a Canon Speedlight 580 flash and the house has been staged!

Girl's bedroom before...

Same bedroom after...

Painting was an absolute must for this room, and you can see what a dramatic improvement it made.

Master bedroom before...

Master bedroom after...

The staging changes in the master bedroom are much more subtle than in the girls bedroom above, but I feel these photos really show the progress over the year in the actual quality of the photography.

Family room before...

Family room after...

Again another more drastic change here, but what a change! This house shows infinitely better this time around.

It's scheduled to hit the MLS market tomorrow, so we'll see what the response is to the great changes this house has undergone!

- Paula