The 2010 Die-cast Super Convention was held in Las Vegas In February. Our own HWC Chris tripped to the show with a little help from “Lady Luck”… If you ever wondered what really happens in Vegas, here’s your chance to find out!

Tuesday, 2/16:

Came into work to make sure everything would be okay while I was gone. Made sure everyone knew what was coming in and going out. It helps when you have a good team and you can trust what you do to them. I spoke with my wife the night before to make sure that she was going to have everything packed up and set to go after we picked up the rental car. Wishful thinking... Got the car at 1:00 PM, left the house at 5:30 PM. I guess we are not getting there early... Arrival time in Vegas 11:30 PM with a sleeping navigator. Now I know how Bryan felt when we were on the road trip in 2008.

Wednesday, 2/17:

Jump up to get ready to start a good day. Spent the night at my sister's house in Henderson, and she told me about this little casino around the corner. They complain in L.A. about liquor stores on every corner; in Vegas, you have a casino on every corner. So before we go to check in, my wife and I went to the casino. I gave her $20 to put in the dollar slots and, if she lost it, we would go check in. The first thing she hits is three 7s. Two hundred bucks!!! I give her my $20 and have her cash out that ticket. She puts it in and plays twice and gets three flaming 7s... Three hundred more -- NICE!!! I have her pull that out and give her a few more bucks to keep playing while I go cash the tickets in. She had about $15 in, and she was down to her last $6, when she hit three more 7s for another two hundred bucks! I pulled that ticket out, told her to finish up, and we were out of there...

We went to Circus Circus to check in. I am pulling my luggage, and I see a few people that I know: Frank from DCS and Mike Zarnock. Now, I know I have changed a little since the October convention but -- you know -- you just can't change ugly, right? So Mike Zarnock sees my wife, yells out “There is Loretta,” looks right at me, and whizzes on by at break-neck speed. I thought to myself, “He probably didn't see me; he probably needs a new prescription for his glasses.” So I keep moving on. I see Frank coming toward me. I look him in the eye, say, “Hey, Frank,” and… what do I get? The chin. It was like, “Hey, buddy -- you look familiar, but kind of ugly, so I am moving on.” So I turn around and tell both of them, "Thanks." Like I said, I didn't think you could change ugly that much...

At least BJ Grammy recognized me when I saw her that night. There is someone that can see past the hair and see the ugly...

Thursday, 2/18:

It is time for getting the vending machine ready -- but wait, why in the world do we have more product than we ordered for the vending machine? We were sent items that were supposed to go directly to L.A., but there was no indication of what was what. We had to sort through all of the product to make sure what we were doing were the right items... Sorry about being so late, but we wanted to make sure it was right. We started the vending machine and, to Bryan’s surprise, I have a couple of new items for the vending machine that I thought would be cool to have for it: a nice loud horn and a little megaphone. Oh, what joy!!! Noise, noise, noise... “WINNER! WINNER!” could be heard throughout the casino. I am looking forward to bringing them to St. Louis so we can “blow it out” the right way. It is going to be fun. Went through it pretty quick. We had a lot of winners, but one wasn't picked. Lucky people tomorrow get an extra prize.

It looks like some of my family are showing up. My pops, mom, sister, brothers, aunt, uncle and kid. If you thought I was loud, you have to see my brothers after celebrating for a while... Went to dinner with them and Bryan. Felt sorry for Bryan -- I don't think he will ever be the same again.

Friday, 2/19:

We start another vending round, and Bryan is his usual cheerful self... “Debbie Downer” was his name on the road trip. I am going to have to get a name tag for him. We had another good round of vending, and the prizes lasted to the very end. After seeing how tired I was, Bryan finally grinned with satisfaction...

Cruised around and saw a bunch of collectors. We had a good time hanging out and being able to have some fun with each other and to talk about Hot Wheels®. Too bad all of my answers always end with “Ask Marketing.”

We went to the Hall of Fame dinner. It is cool that they inducted Phil Riehlman and Ira Gilford. Larry was there to accept the honor for Ira. Good to see Dan "my name is Jan" Spaulding and Jim Lombardi get it as well. It was really cool that they gave me a shout out in their speeches. I could tell Dan was nervous and could only see one thing -- too bad it was me. It was also cool to have C.J. save the “best for last” when he thanked me for the things that I do. That was too cool... I just like having fun, and you know shows and Hot Wheels® are about fun...

Cruised around looking for the Zarnocks. Found “Kickstand” and “The wife” and the Zarnock's son “Useless” at the after-party upstairs. The name is so him... His dad says, though, that he gets a good cup of coffee... Getting tired, so the party is going to go on, but I am out. Kiss the prince goodnight -- he is going to bed...

Saturday, 2/20:

We roll the vending machine out in the hall to have it out there. Boy, oh, boy -- I am going to echo like crazy in here... It should be fun. Went out of the way to be extra loud, and it worked. I got Erin Moran (Joanie from Happy Days) to come out and take a picture with me...

Cruised around the hotel trying not to cause too much trouble -- which is close to impossible -- and saw everyone that I could. It is Vegas, and I know I didn't see a lot of people because we all know Vegas is an adult playground -- we are still kids at heart that need a good little playground like this. Went to the other events and saw things that showed me that this event is going to keep going and is going to get better and better.

Sunday, 2/21:

Loaded up all of the items in the truck and made sure Bryan had everything ready to go. Tried to get Bryan to do an interview with Mike Zarnock. Everyone knows my ugly face; it is about time we all get to know Bryan a little better, right? He is “The guy.” I lost the coin flip and did the interview. Went around the toy show and told everyone “Thanks for coming,” and “Hope everyone had a good time,” and “See you soon.” Had to say goodbye to Dan as well. He is being called to Afghanistan to serve this month... Good luck, buddy -- and keep your head on a swivel...

As everyone is checking out and leaving, I am getting reports that the 15 freeway is backed up all the way to Stateline. It looks like it is going to be a while… might as well go spend some of the casino's money before we leave... Woo hoo!!!

See you all next year...