By the time this blog reaches the five people who are probably reading it (four of those being my wife and three dogs), the ASA booth will have been packed up and the staff has gotten the heck out of Dodge. In the interest of wrapping things up (and to cover the fact that I’ve run out of ideas), here are personal highlights from the inaugural ASRW.

(Cue twinkly music)

I survived. Having heard stories from past trips to NACE and CARS and the challenges that an undertaking like this brings, my main thought coming into this was, “How am I going to do this?” I don’t know why I was worried. This is a great staff that works well together, and this week was no exception.

Somehow, I managed to eat healthy in the land of buffets that could feed a mid-sized country. Kind of. A little. OK, I had oatmeal for breakfast one morning, ate the celery that came with an order of Buffalo wings and walked by a salad bar. Close enough.

As the week went on, I found I was making deals with myself on sleep: “OK, if I go to bed at midnight, I can still get about five hours of sleep. Yeah, that sounds good. Wait, why am I talking to myself? And why are all those people giving me weird looks?”

I really wish I could tell you that I was staying up so late because I was out soaking up The Strip, taking up residence in bars, causing mayhem and doing things that should stay in Vegas. As with most parts of my life, the truth is actually pretty mundane.

Since I’m out here doing quite a bit of photography, our marketing manager and the editor of AutoInc. magazine, who are both wonderful people, asked me to grab a few shots of Las Vegas Boulevard, only if I “ … can make time for it. Really, don’t go out of your way.” Which, in my mind, translates to, “OK, Photo Boy, get our shots or don’t bother getting on the plane to come home.”

I’m happy to report that I got the shots and can leave Las Vegas. In addition, I got to meet really great ASA members that were previously a photo on a page, a name in an e-mail or a voice on the phone. Best of all, I can start to relax and stop being neurotic about getting everything right. At least until I get into the office on Monday.