SINdustry Freedom

So last night we had a great time at the Pink Taco in the Hard Rock Casino. Tom Wilkinson (no, we are not making his name up out our two last names, but it makes it easy to remember!) hosts these networking events to promote his website, Vegas4Locals.com. That was a wonderful idea because, frankly, we never would have found his website if he hadn't offered us free margaritas! One of the great things about living in Vegas is the free stuff.

We investigated his website this morning (only a little foggy from the margaritas). It is well worth the visit: Two of our favorite things -- freebies and coupons -- along with some valuable info on things to do in Vegas and things about Vegas that rock!

This was our second networking event. Last month we went to a St. Pattie's Day party at the Hard Rock Cafe (the other building at the Hard Rock), hosted by another cool website, The LINK, hosted by Joel Jarvis, which is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive Las Vegas Networking Calendar he can muster.

At the St. Pattie's Day party, we met Andrea Dixon, Executive Meeting Manager at the Platinum Hotel, Lounge and Spa and cat diva extraordinaire. We, of course, love cat people and especially cat people who take in disabled cats like our little Anawim.

We ran into Andrea again last night and had a great discussion about the Las Vegas business culture. We concluded unanimously that the best thing about doing business in Vegas is that it is straightforward. You don't have to pretend to be something you're not in order to achieve your goals. The toleration of all sorts of businesses and the understanding that businesses, like people, are diverse and serve many different markets, creates an atmosphere that accepts making money as a natural goal for one's activities. You don't have to pretend that you don't want to make money in order to make money.

This freedom is why we decided to start a blog about our SINdustry CITY. There is so much more to Las Vegas than casinos. We plan to explore it!

Two more evening events of mention:

1. Congratulations to Brooke Siebel who won our makeshift, on-the-spot contest to see who could name all the buildings represented on the SINdustry CITY logo. We are sending her a SINdustry CITY t-shirt from our SINdustry CITY Gift Shop (modeled here by our own Carl Wilkerson). Now that we figured out how much fun it is to have people stare at our chests and name the strip, we are thinking about playing similar games at each event we attend. More on that as it develops.

2. And finally, the highlight of the evening: Pattie played "Casino War" for money! Okay, with non-negotiable chips offered by the casino as a promotion. But it was fun!