Las Vegas 2000 - Prelude Another robot, another Battlebots competition. #3 for me, and it's to be televised again. This time things were a little different for me, to say the least. This was to be the first competition where I would attend while still in school. Also I would be going by myself, and flying (!). Luckily though, I had Charles Carns come from Maryland to help me and the robot out in the pits, and I knew lots of people there to hang out with -- as we were all staying in the same hotel (thank you Battlebots!). The night before I was to leave, I had to paint the robot, and build crates to fly it to Las Vegas. I managed to get 3 hours sleep, which was pretty good. So begins the story of my trip to Las Vegas for Battlebots Series 2.0 on Comedy Central.

		Tragedy strikes a week before I was to leave for LV. While returning from the states on a parts run, I managed to ram my 510 into the back of a Tahoe, crunching in the front corner and splitting open the rad.
		It looks much more crooked from this angle. My car was out of commission, and this presented my first hurdle as I was to drive it to SeaTac airport. Luckily, my roommate Doug pitched in and drove me the 3 hour trip in his Pathfinder.
		Crazy fountain in SeaTac, it makes water noises from the speaker when you use it. This trip made me never want to fly with a robot by myself again - ever. I had a ton of trouble getting my Hawker batteries on the plane. After a futile attempt to convince the check in clerk to allow me to send them in the wheelchair battery box, I stuffed them in my backpack and cruised through security. They pulled me aside (obv), and did an explosives swab in my backpack, and then asked "Are these batteries?", to which I replied, "yes", and I was waved through. Major hurdle 2 crossed, and I was on the plane.
		Stop over in the biggest little city in the world. I have never been to Nevada before, so I didn't know what to expect. I was surprised to see snow however.
		Free 72oz Steak!! (An ad from the in-flight magazine) Oddity: Under the title "SHIPPED COMPLETE WITH:", it lists "Rules"...?
		Immediately off the plane I saw the start of the popular trend of "gambling seniors blowing their pensions"... This was seriously 20 feet from the gate.
		Las Vegas == Buffets.. In the end I didn't eat at a single buffet, but I think we hit Denny's and Jack in the Box 3 times each.
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