Well, let’s see. It’s been about five days since my wife and I returned from our WPPI 2010 trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, so I think it’s safe now to recap the week. I’m going to try to hit the highlights and the not-so-highlights of our adventure in the desert.

First, our room at the New York New York Casino and Hotel was nice, and the environment (though scaled down from the buzz and grandeur of the MGM) was fantastic. The first night we had some great Irish beer, ate some authentic Irish food, and got to listen to the sounds of Irish punk on the patio of  “Nine Fine Irishmen” inside NYNY. It was a great ending to a long day of traveling.

On Sunday, we set up the Design House booth on the trade show floor, and we couldn’t have done it without our friends at Vegas Indoor Skydiving and our new Vegas friend and NoBS Forums member, Lory Fabi.  Lory was kind enough to run us out to pick up our shipped packages at Vegas Indoor Skydiving and over to Target to purchase a 32″ flat-screen TV for the booth (and yes, it costs less to purchase a 32″ TV than it does to RENT a 26″ TV for three days in Vegas).

Sunday night I hung out with my friends from the NoBS forums. What a blast to see everyone again and meet some new folks. We started at the West Wing Bar, moved to Coyote Ugly, and decided to call it quits shortly after a member of our group decided to eat a lime off the floor. LOL.

Suffice to say that the next three days are a blur. We handed out brochures, talked to thousands of people, and worked our butts off on the trade show floor at my Design House booth. To say that my wife and I were exhausted would be the biggest understatement of the year. After dinner naps turned into all night sleeps.

We had a free day on Thursday, so we rolled out of the hotel room early and played tourist in Vegas.  We window shopped in Caesar’s Forum Shop (who knew heels could cost $2000?). We ate Joe’s Stone Crab (I got my favorite peanut butter pie). We bought Haut Chocolat from Vanges (bacon and sea salt in chocolate – wow). We walked to a Don Pablos for cigars, and 22,0000 steps later, we decided to go back over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains at night. It was fun.

On Friday, we packed it all up and headed to the Airport. Our flight back to Nashville had a four-hour layover in Denver, so we had some time kill. Who knew that’s exactly what we were going to want to do by the end of it.

About an hour before we boarded, a woman with a two-year old showed up about two gates down from ours.  That’s when we first heard what could easily be described as the “banshee shriek.” Yes, it was somewhere between a cry and a growl coming from the two-year old.

I wish I could say that that was the last I heard of the banshee shriek, but it wasn’t. For a  solid hour, this demon child continued to shriek over and over again while the mother did nothing. Even at two gates down, the shriek was so loud that Jolynn and I put in our earphones to block out the noise, and we were never happier to hear that a flight was boarding than when they began seating our flight. Of course, that was until the Banshee family got up and got in line with the rest of us.

Yes, the shriek continued through boarding and through all three hours of the flight from Denver to Nashville. I turned my iPod up until my ears were about to bleed, but you could still hear this child shrieking over the entire plane.

Now, let me make sure you understand. This child was not sick. This child wasn’t physically or mentally impaired, and there was no excuse for her behavior other than the fact that her mother was an idiot who had no clue how to parent.

I think the only word that can adequately describe the events of flight 742 is terrorism. That’s right. Terrorism.

At one point, a group of us grabbed the drink cart and formed a plan to take out the banshee, but we figured there had to be an air marshal on the plane that would handle the issue long before we landed… there wasn’t.

The only joy of flight 742 was that at baggage claim, the banshee started to fall asleep peacefully in her stroller, and her father woke her up.

Thanks, Vegas. See you again next year (hopefully without the banshee).