What Happens in Vegas! During SuperZoo:
What Happens in Vegas!
In my previous life I climbed aboard a 737 nearly every week as we forged the Microcyn™ Technology into fantastic topical animal products, second to none. It was a key component in my job description. And I loved it. We had an unparalleled technology (HOCl) that successfully treated hot spots, open wounds and ulcers, skin rashes and even eye/ear infections…and that was just in animals. Our human division was also delivering impressive results in their myriad spaces as well. Customers, both two- and four-legged, loved the outcomes!
But as my down-to-earth father sometimes reminded me, all things must come to pass. And suddenly it was time for me to retire (where’d those years go?) So in my retirement I decided to open Sasha’s Pet Resort in Redmond, Washington (better known as Bill Gates backyard). And I haven’t climbed on a plane since. That was over five years ago! I really had no reason to travel. After all, most of my daycare/boarding customers live within 15 miles of our palace!
What most people heading to Vegas need the most is luck (and maybe a few drinks along with 99 cent shrimp cocktails)! Now I’ve heard told that luck is the residue of design! And I firmly believe that somehow there was an element of design in my favor as the early warning signs eventually coalesced into some very good things.
First off, SuperZoo was Aug. 13-15 this year at the Mandalay Bay. Beautiful facility with surf pool and all the Vegas amenities. I had attended SuperZoo for over the past 10 years, but missed the past five. In May, seeing that my passport was about to expire, I decided to plan ahead using “Rush Passport” a partnership between FedEx and the state department. With such high-level names and participants, I would have imagined my passport would certainly have arrived by June.
No such luck and in that I didn’t have a REAL ID Washington State driver’s license, I couldn’t board the plane to Vegas. I was flying on Aug. 13 and received my new passport on August 12! Talk about serendipity since I was planning on arm wrestling the TSA supervisor. Didn’t have to as I stowed my biceps in my carry-on and landed at Harry Reid airport in 100 degrees plus temperatures.
If you know me, you’re aware I’m not much of a gambler. Except on occasion in the stock market, which has not always been kind to me (I invested heavily in United Airlines when they went insolvent decades ago!). And in my younger years at Longacres horse racing track in Seattle, where if I maintained a $2 a race bet, the most I could lose in a day was $20). Now I had a chance to lose that much in about two minutes!
I attended the remainder of SuperZoo Wednesday and that night at the Excalibur (I used to stay there 25 years ago when attending COMDEX in my propeller head days!) $17 a night plus resort fees and taxes. Nightly $71. Back in the frenetic COMDEX days that would be upgraded to a $300-$400 a night room…and you had hand-to-hand combat by attendees for the privilege of paying that high-tech ransom. Found me a lonely 8-foot Wolf slot machine back in a corner (whatever happened to the breadbox-sized machines that didn’t provide a multimedia show with each spin?)
Nonetheless, I took a seat like a nervous partaker and slid a crisp $20 bill into its gleaming jaws. I identified my bet as a nickel. I didn’t realize what my bet was going to be was actually $4 a spin (or 80 nickels). Of course, that didn’t really matter since the money-gobbling machine took off without me and started howling at the moon as it spit up gold coins. I thought all that activity would invite some curious onlookers. But no one stopped. Not a single soul, as the machine granted me a dozen free spins, each of which had more rewards with wild cards. After about five minutes it finally ran out of steam and noise and I was wondering if I had won anything. Rather confusing with credits and all. So when I cashed out and read my ticket: $1240! I was beyond thrilled, as was my gambler wife when I sent her a photo of the ticket. I brought $1200 of it home and we started a date-night fund!
So two Las Vegas shockers in less than a day! (And the Excalibur rooms are relatively nice and clean and quiet).
So how about SuperZoo itself you ask?
As always a truly first-class collection of individuals, technologies and pets! After five years, it was a delight to catch up with industry folks that I hadn’t seen in years. Other than a few wrinkles and new products, not much had changed with them. BUT the highlight of the show for me (beyond all the adorable pups that parade through) and the magic man who amazes me as he reveals what somebody just read in one of many books. Difficult to explain, but if you’ve seen him, you know what I mean.
My goal in attending, besides playing catch-up with my peers, was to discover new technologies and products we could invite onto our ecommerce site (store.sashaspr.com). The new products section of SuperZoo is massive and must span a couple acres of space. While I’m not going to disclose all here since we are still in discussions with these many entrepreneurs, I suspect if you visit our site in the next few weeks, you’ll see many of these products in our “New Arrivals” section. But just as a tease, think donuts for dogs and a dog food making machine! And as always, had the same number of landings as take-offs on the flight home! The only way to fly!
Best Dan