Vegas Bound

Like lots of people who travel often, I’ve been to Vegas many, many times. The first time I was there I hated it, really, really didn’t like it one bit. Second time, still not crazy about it, third time, OK, it’s growing on me a bit. Today, I’m not sure how many times I’ve been there (I know it’s a double-digit figure), but I’ve grown to find the city somewhat enjoyable. Please note, I said somewhat. I’m not a gambler by any stretch, but I do enjoy the nice restaurants and the fabulous shopping. I’m also rather fond of the architecture specifically, the glass.

Few hotels, casinos or condos along the Las Vegas strip (and even those off the strip) are without an eye-catching glazing display. I mean really … Vegas would just not be Vegas without shiny, shimmering, colorful glass, right? Ya’ll know this; Vegas was made for the glass industry.

So it’s with great excitement that I will be returning to Las Vegas next week to take part in GANA’s Glass Fabrication 2008 conference. While the presentations and speakers are always top-notch, I’m particularly looking forward to the high-rise construction tour on Monday afternoon. This special event will allow those of us on the tour to really take in the current Vegas construction boom. And I am sure that my glass mentor, the great C. Gregory Carney, will be there to guide us along the way, sharing his insight and knowledge. Indeed, the tour will be fun and the conference educational.

In addition to Glass Fabrication, GANA’s Contract Glazing Educational Conference will also be taking part concurrently. A hot presentation topic that will be new this year is a discussion on Google Sketch-Up, imaging modeling software. If you’re not too familiar with this, it’s something you’ll be hearing a lot about in the near future. If you’ve not yet read your April USGlass, check out this article I wrote about BIM: http://www.usglassmag.com/USGlass/2008/April/modelapproach.htm. BIM may take a while to catch on, but the consensus seems to be it’s definitely here to stay.