4D Summit 2013 Photos


Bundlings.com: [Main] [Contact Us] [Events] [Family] [Fun] [Garden] [Misc.] [Photos] [Search] [Site Index] [Travel]

4D Summit: [Schaumburg 1999] [San Diego 2000] [Vancouver 2002] [Santa Fe 2003] [New Orleans 2004] [San Francisco 2005] [Memphis 2007] [Long Beach 2008] [Atlanta 2009] [San Diego 2010] [Boston 2011] [San Jose 2012] [Las Vegas 2013] [San Antonio 2014] [Portland 2016] [Washington DC 2018]

Here is a collection of photos from the 4D Summit in Las Vegas, NV, October 14 - 18, 2013.

Monday, October 14, 2013: The Orchard crew arrived in Las Vegas before 10:00 AM. We had a limo and champagne on ice waiting for us.
Cheers!
A short time later, we arrived at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino with its famous Chandelier Bar. We split into smaller groups and I met Lo and Pete in the lobby.
This was one of two large shoes we found in the hotel. I may have been the only person who wasn't photographed in it.
A convenient skywalk connects the Cosmopolitan with Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops.
Yeah, baby, there's the Strip. We'll get out there soon enough.
But first, it was time for lunch, featuring extremely large (and delicious) burritos. It was great fun to catch up with Lo and Pete. Check out that Maersk shirt on Pete!
Back to the Cosmopolitan, ...
... and past the second shoe, I headed to check in.
I got an excellent room on the 59th floor of the tower nearest the conference center, which turned out to be very convenient later in the week.
Here's half of the huge bathroom, ...
... and here's the thought-provoking pattern of the toilet room's wallpaper. Those poor women! Will no one feed them?
Here's the best part of the room -- the view from the balcony.
Next, it was time to meet back at the bar with Lo, Pete, and Wayne.
We were joined by Drew, Bobby, Ryan, Thomas, and Brigette. Here's Drew showing Lo the hundred-dollar bill that he was ready to drop on a local Pai Gow table.
At 3:00, the Orchard team got our luggage from storage and took it to our rooms, then headed to the Bellagio.
The huge Chihuly glass flower display ("Fiori di Como") in the Bellagio entryway never fails to impress. We found a Pai Gow table, watched Drew win a bunch of hands in a row, and each joined him.
I headed back to the Cosmo and enjoyed the Bellagio water show as I stood on the moving walkways.
Back at the hotel, I was compelled to photograph this display of hundreds of old sewing machines that adorned the windows of the Allsaints suit shop.
I met up with Jeff who had gotten in later than the rest of us. When asked if he was celebrating his birthday, he answered "Yes," and was upgraded to this incredible suite on the 52nd floor in the northeast tower.
Here's the view from Jeff's corner balcony, ...
... and here's the view looking south the entire length of one side of his balcony. It stretched just as far to the west as well.
It was a pretty ideal location for taking in the Bellagio light show.
We met up with some folks at the Chandelier Bar, then Jeff and I invited Pete and Tom D. to join us for burgers and onion rings at Holstein's.
Back in my room, I took the first of several identically-framed photos from my balcony. Here's the south end of the Strip, with the Monte Carlo and the Luxor's iconic pyramid clearly visible.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013: Here's the same view the next morning.
Conference materials were on a cute poker chip-shaped thumb drive.
It was a packed house for JPR's pre-Summit class.
Even though he's an interesting speaker, there were still some jet lag issues and one of us needed a little boost to get through the morning.
Just like that, the day was over and the sun was going down again.
Post-class entertainment started with a few minutes in the Chandelier Bar with Tom, Stacy, Brian, and Pete, ...
... then the Orchard crew hit the town.
We bought bus tickets to Fremont Street and waited for the bus in front of Paris.
We saw exactly one Bellagio light show before the bus arrived, ...
... then we spent the next 20 minutes packed like sardines in a double-length bus.
We arrived at Fremont Street near the very end of the 7:00 PM Fremont Street Experience light show.
We were ready for dinner, so we tried the Paradise Buffet, but decided the wait would be too long.
Instead, we put our names on the list at Tony Roma's and played a little Pai Gow. I didn't take a single photo inside, so here's a photo I found online instead.
We came out of dinner just in time for the 9:00 light show.
It started out with Bon Jovi, and at one point it featured space ships from Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek flying by overhead. Why? Who knows? But it was awesome nonetheless.
Next up: The Time Warp, in keeping with the overall Halloween theme. It's just a jump to the left...
After the show ended, the lights came back up on the casinos, and we headed into Binion's for a few minutes.
I was ready to head back, so I took a quick peek into the Golden Nugget, then headed back to the bus stop where Jamie and Brian joined me.
The bus ride back was much less crowded and featured fewer stops, so we were back to the hotel in no time.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013: Alright, let's get this Summit started!
You're welcome.
The keynote opened with a hilarious spoof of the Hangover, starring Josh, Tom, Lyle, Add, and that guy who looks like Add (Omid).
Hmmm, things aren't looking good for the 4D keynote with Josh passed out and Lyle missing.
Fortunately, it all worked out with Lyle skydiving into the hotel with the Flying Elvises, ...
... and entering the conference hall at the end of the film.
Lyle introduced Tom M., who gave us an overview of 4D, including an updated photo of the US 4D staff.
The highlight of the conference was the opening keynote given by Josh and Lyle.
It was well-organized, fast-paced, and fascinating. Most of us walked out of there desperate to get our hands on a copy of 4D v14.
Here's the Orchard team between sessions, ...
... and here is the first successful attempt to get a photo of Bizarro Eric -- a fellow conference attendee who looks shockingly like our own Eric back at the office.
Afternoon sessions were given by Miyako, ...
... Wayne, ...
... and Walt N. (Guam).
Immediately following the last session was the opening reception, ...
... sponsored by none other than us!
Here are Christian, Pete, and my husband Tom, who had arrived earlier in the afternoon.
I finally got up the courage to meet Bizarro Eric, who turned out to be a very nice guy named Derek. Yeah, Derek. It was just too perfect.
Here are Jamie and Brian, ...
... and that's Ryan behind the beer.
Extra drink tickets appeared out of nowhere and we made good use of them.
Here are Ann and Brian, ...
... who were joined by Bob, Tom, Kirk, ...
... Christian, Pete, and Tom.
The Southern Hemisphere was represented this year by Damon, Wayne, and Pete. We missed you, Ant and Justin!
After the reception, Jeff attended the OEM dinner while the rest of the Orchard crew was off in search of adventure again.
We headed to Bally's ...
... and entered via what must have been a very cutting edge entrance back when the moving walkway still worked.
We had already heard the legend of the two dollar taco place, and here was proof that it existed! We found a couple of seats at the only open Pai Gow table, where I managed to push with a straight flush and blow the minds of the hardcore players at the table.
We made our way to Bally's Tequila Bar, ...
... where we ate those two dollar tacos ...
... and we drank those two dollar margaritas. Flat Orchy helped a little.
Back across the street, through the Bellagio, and a brief walk south, and we were home once again at the beautiful Cosmopolitan.

Thursday, October 17, 2013: Oh, happy day! My husband was now with me and he was willing to make a McDonald's run for breakfast!
Day Two of the Summit started with another keynote session.
4D honored the Community Stars in attendance by handing out t-shirts and thanking them for their participating on the 4D tech forum.
Jeff and I had a meeting with Jim and Tom M. How's this for a fancy meeting room?
My Tom and I used the lunch break to visit Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. across the street. In true Bubba fashion, I had shrimp cooked four ways.
Afterward, we snapped photos looking south, ...
... and looking north. Yes, that's Flat Orchy again, wedged between panes of glass.
We wanted to get a better look at the Shops at Crystals, ...
... so here it is. It was filled with mostly-empty high-end shops (seriously, who shops in them?).
This end of the mall leads to the Aria Resort and Casino but we didn't go that far.
Instead, we stopped dead in our tracks and stared at these awesome water tubes with mini-tornadoes inside.
There was more learning to be done in the afternoon, most notably about the hot topics of the conference: JSON and 4D objects.
We had waited all week and finally it was time ...
... to try the milkshakes at Holstein's. With flavors such as S'mores, Grasshopper, and Fat Boy, it was a whole lot of delicious.
I had a $10 credit I had to use at Bellagio's so Tom and I made a quick trip over there to lose it all, ...
... before heading to the Bamboo Pool on the 14th floor of the Cosmopolitan for the Evening with 4D party.
With a full moon and beautiful weather, it was a perfect night for an outdoor party.
Here's the view looking up.
There were gaming tables set up to teach us how to play games like blackjack, craps, ...
... and roulette.
Here are Warren, Phil, and Christian.
Lahav and Tom D. were brave enough to try the limbo.
Lyle showed us all how to do a hand stand.
It had been seven years since we had last seen Pete (during our 2006 New Zealand visit), so it was great fun to spend time with him.
After playing all the blackjack they could stand, the Orchard group gathered around a table by the bar where they could watch the latest game Drew had bet on and discuss exactly how the electronic candles worked.
Thomas was either kind enough to hold his wife's beer or two-fisting it at last call -- I don't remember which.
The dance floor was hopping.
Brian and I got in our yearly portrait, a tradition dating back to 2004, and then it was time to go, because I was losing my voice.
Back in our room, we could see the pool party still raging 45 floors below us.
We could also see planeloads of people waiting for their chance to come play in Vegas. Here are five planes on the descent to McCarran Airport.
We bid good night to the glittery Strip.

Friday, October 18, 2013: We had a leisurely pickup time of 8:00 AM. We checked out in the lobby with its ever changing electronic displays, this time featuring books instead of random computerized images or pretty people trapped behind the display.
My window seat paid off when I got this photo of the Strip, ...
... and this one.
Drew was right -- Hoover Dam isn't very impressive from way up here. It's barely visible in the upper left side of this photo.
Here's the place where the Colorado River meets Lake Mead. The big white sandy beach is where my family and I went swimming at the end of our last river trip, and the road a little further up is where we packed our river things onto a bus for the ride back to Vegas in 2006.
We tracked the Colorado River as it makes its way through the Grand Canyon. This is Grand Canyon West, home of the Hualapai Nation's Skywalk, which is just barely visible on the middle right side of this photo.
Here's the Grand Canyon proper, with the most famous part visible in the distance in this photo.
However, the best sight of all is our own Indianapolis Motor Speedway, because it means that we are home.

4D Summit: [Schaumburg 1999] [San Diego 2000] [Vancouver 2002] [Santa Fe 2003] [New Orleans 2004] [San Francisco 2005] [Memphis 2007] [Long Beach 2008] [Atlanta 2009] [San Diego 2010] [Boston 2011] [San Jose 2012] [Las Vegas 2013] [San Antonio 2014] [Portland 2016] [Washington DC 2018]

Bundlings.com: [Main] [Contact Us] [Events] [Family] [Fun] [Garden] [Misc.] [Photos] [Search] [Site Index] [Travel]

Copyright © Deborah Schilling/Thomas Bundy