dlv Feedback continues ...

[External Poster]

This is the general Diva Las Vegas 2002 mailing list.
List removal instructions are below.
Replies to this message will be forwarded to: dlv@geekbabe.com
Submissions/questions should be sent to: dlv@geekbabe.com
Abuse/complaints should be sent to: abuse@omahug.org
. . . . .
In this mailing:

The feedback continues
Elaine writes
Sahara comments
DLV 2002 Thoughts
Restrooms
Fun at DLV2002
Administrivia
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The feedback continues:

I was going to hold this for a mid-week Wednesday mailing, but stuff
came in so fast and so much that I'm flushing the queue now. There are
still 1-2 items holding in the pre-queue, and those will be sent out
next mailing, so if you don't see yours here, we're not ignoring you.

Thanks to everybody who provided feedback. It lets everybody know what a
great time everybody really had, tells us what we're doing right, and
lets us know of any rough spots.

We'll (hopefully) have the formal survey on line this weekend.

A couple notes here ...

E-mail directory: A number of entries have some in already. We'll plan
on sending this out this coming weekend. If you want to be included in
the DLV 2002 e-mail directory, please send the following items into
dlv@geekbabe.com with "e-mail directory" in the subject:

1. Your name, the way you want it to be listed.

2. e-mail address.

3. Web site url (optional).

Photos:

More photos are now on line:

http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/dlv2002/staging.html

Thanks to everybody who took these and sent them in. There are still
more waiting to be placed on line.

Three people have now sent in photos to the list address, which reaches
a special mail processor and not a mailbox from which binary files can
be extracted. In all cases I've written back asking to resend to
annie@annie.net and explained why, but in all three cases nobody has
resent. :(

Please, if you sent photos to the list address, please take a minute to
resend them to annie@annie.net as everybody would sure like to see them.
Thanks, gang. :)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Elaine writes:

>THANKS!!! to Annie, Monique, Leah, Mindy and Dianne and Aiko [all of
>whom I met and can put a face to] and LeeAnna,Cindy,Yvonne, Tina and
>Michelle [who I must have met but need photo reminders] for organising
>such a fun and event filled week.

>I'd also like to thank my Toronto friends, Laura for organising the trip
>and being our chaufeuse for the week, Katherine for being supportive and
>encouraging to all, and Celia, Timberlee and Samantha for some good
>laughs during the week.

Chaufeuse? :) (Is that a word?)

>My week started in Toronto and my first event was having my very first
>manicure and pedicure at La Rue's salon where I first met the lovely
>Aiko as I was leaving in boy mode and she was arriving in girl mode
>from Salt Lake.

>By the limo tour, where Aiko bravely joined the "Canadian" limo, Aiko
>was already an honorary Canadian which has its disadvantages but she is
>used to the snow! Limo tour was the most fun and we discussed even
>organising an additional tour next year on our own. Then we saw some
>classic cars for rent and thought it would be a hoot to hire half a
>dozen for the night and tour Las Vegas!!

>Mindy and Dianne's pool party was fun and was the first time I had worn
>a swimsuit in "Public" ..thanks again.

>I enjoyed both shows for what they were plus having the opportunity to
>wander around the MGM, sit in the theatre and order champagne[!] and
>feel comfortable rather than self-conscious which is certainly how I
>would have felt on my own. Being met by the valet parking attendant
>with "Good evening, ladies, welcome to the MGM" certainly got the
>evening off to a good start!

>We stayed at the IP which was fine as a base. The bar staff were OK
>[one guy being pleasant, the other did not seem particularly friendly
>but not just to CD's!]. I did not eat there en femme so can't comment
>on the restaurant staff attitudes.

>Sasha's was a great place as were Goodtimes, Gypsy, Icon and Hamburger
>Mary's [except my starter came after my main course!].

>I agree with Gina about the smoking but would put up with it with no
>complaints to have such a good time again!

>I have to say I was stunned to hear from Aiko that about half the
>attendees were going out dressed for the first time....I say this
>because everyone seemed so relaxed and confident, which is perhaps a
>compliment to both the organisers and the more experienced attendees
>who helped the less experienced feel comfortable.

>On one hand I like the idea of all attendees being in one hotel but it
>could, as one of our party pointed out, become just a larger closet for
>some. Having said that, I would like to be able to meet up with more
>girls so may chose a different hotel where there are more attendees
>next year. There were only about five or six of us at the IP for most
>of the week.

>I met a lot of girls and will be keeping in touch with many. If anyone
>is coming to Toronto or London, England let me know. If not, I hope to
>see you next year. Looking forward to reviewing more photos, Annie
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sahara comments:

Densie writes:

>Last year I had thought that the Sahara was OK, but I was not at all
>impressed this year. I left a nice long complaint card.

>Biggest problems were maid service (maids smoking in our room,
>bursting in on us without knocking, and basically being rude), the
>condition of the room, and the Nascar thing...there were unattended
>children running around, yelling and screaming, and we had to wade
>through them to get to the buffet.

One morning I heard a knock on the door. I asked who it was, and a voice
said "housekeeping". I thought I had put up the DND sign, so I cracked
the door open to check, and sure enough it was there. I very sternly
asked the person "what part of do not disturb do you not understand?"
and she apologized. It was early, I was tired, and I know I was not Miss
Mary Sunshine. :) It did not happen again.

Having worked in hotels back in another life, the policy in all three
hotels in which I worked was the same, if the DND sign was on the door,
you do not enter and do not knock except in case of dire necessity.
First rule in the hotel industry is to keep the guest happy!

As for smoking in the room, even back in the 70's, when smoking was
cool, policy was the same in all three places I worked, you did not
smoke in a guest room, period. This was before nonsmoking floors. A
quick phone call to a housekeeping supervisor would have resulted in
a major @$$-chewing, possibly worse, for whoever did that.

>There was even a child playing a
>slot machine for quite a while before anyone noticed.

Hmmmm ...

>Last year, there was a door that could get us directly into the buffet
>without enduring all of that. Unless they want to open that door back
>up and start dealing with their housekeeping and security staff, I'm
>going to look for another place to stay next year.

I kinda looked for that door (hmmm, secret passage to kitchen, isn't
that from CLUE?), and I was gonna ask you where it was, but I spaced it
off. I assume is was somewhere back behind the elevators by the
restroom, but I couldn't find it.

I didn't think the kid situation (at the Sahara) was any worse or better
than last year. The place I found the most congestion seemed to be right
up front, right where the front lobby meets the Nascar thing.

So far we've had mixed reports about the Sahara. If anybody else has
anything good or bad to say about it or any other facility, please let
us know.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DLV 2002 Thoughts:

Tina writes:

>I've been back from DLV for a week now and suffered through the usual
>post-DLV depression. Even dressing up and going out here at home is
>boring by comparison to the glitz of the nightly DLV fun. Only NYC and
>San Francisco seem to offer the same non-stop t* action. Guess I am
>really an adrenaline junkie. :-)

>Pictures:

>I uploaded the last of the DLV pictures I took yesterday (5/11). None
>were edited at all before uploading, per my understanding of a request
>from Annie. We think that it is very important that every girl (who
>wants one) come away from DLV with a picture of herself. That is why I
>and several other DLV girls make such a big deal out of going around
>and taking lots of pictures. If you see a picture of yourself that
>you want to save, but you don't like something about it (lighting,
>wrinkles on your face, background, who's in the picture with you,
>etc.), please recognize that we can do amazing things (not miracles,
>but pretty darn amazing) with digital editing. Just drop me a
>personal note at tinatdre@swbell.net and I'll see what I can do for
>you on a particular picture (even if it's one I didn't take).

>I want to extend my personal thanks to each and every DLV girl and SO
>who lugged around cameras and took pictures during DLV. Cameras aren't
>generally considered a fashion accessory and don't usually fit inside
>cocktail purses. All of you went to a great deal of effort to do this
>and we all appreciate it.

>Also, thanks to everyone for cooperating so well to get group pictures
>over with so quickly this year. Although our group shots were far
>larger than ever, we definitely got group pictures done much faster
>than any previous year I have attended. Yes, with a group this large,
>individual faces do often look like pinpoints in a Matisse painting,
>which is why we took all those small group shots (3s, 4s, and 5s, which
>have also just been uploaded) afterwards at Goodtimes on Friday nights.

>I know I had to be a little brisk in moving people around to get that
>accomplished on a timely basis (I was ready to go dancing too), but I
>hope you think that the results of the small group shots are worth it.
>I certainly do.

>Blonde Hair Day:

>My special thanks to every girl who went blonde for Blonde Hair Day.

>Yes, some of you found the transition a little shocking (I warned
>you!!) and said to me that you thought you looked stupid, but really
>each and every one of you looked fabulous. I was glad that we were
>able to come up with a daily theme that was so simple and fun and
>relatively inexpensive. I hope there will be support for something
>similar next year. Maybe "Red Shoe Day"? :-)

>Shows:

>I loved the Showgirls of Magic show at the San Remo. Thanks to Annie
>for arranging it and to Steve/Bubbles for getting us the discount.

>Can't wait to see those pictures of us with the cast go up.

Look in staging gallery s7. :)

>I think we should always pay top dollar to have the best seats in the
>house. I was very disappointed with 'balcony' seating for LaFemme.

I didn't think the seat I had was "bad", but it was obviously not the
best in the house. There were several people seated to my left, and I
would expect the view degraded the farther off-center the seats are.

The show was more artsy and less bawdy than I expected. I did find it
entertaining and classy. I laughed until I hurt at "Micro Jackson." :)

>However, it is incredibly hard to make arrangements for a block of
>reserved seats like that on the day of the show. Hats off to Monique
>for doing all that work to even make attendance possible at all.

Yes, I agree Monique did a dynamite job on stepping in and organizing
that one. :)

>This is the 3rd time I have seen LaCage in the last 4 years. (I still
>like Kenny Kerr better, but he isn't in LV right now, boo hoo.) I had
>expected to be totally bored (Frank never changes costumes or lines
>from year to year), but instead I just loved it. I especially loved
>the tongue-in-cheek Celine impersonator and the way she winked at the
>audience while taking Celine over the top.

>Karaoke:

>An experience always enjoyed by afficianados. Like someone already
>said: who knew Monique could sing? And anyone who didn't hang in late
>to hear Densie's performance of Sweet Transvestite missed a real treat.

What kind of a mechanic? :)

>Bravo to all the DLV singers. I heard a rumor that there is video of
>some of these performances?

Yes, there is a video. Densie may be able to make some reasonably-sized
clips out of it. If not, I know one of the people at work has a capture
card so I'll try to make that happen if Densie does not.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Restrooms:

Tina writes:

>I was saddened to hear that some girls had problems with security this
>year at major and minor hotels while using the ladies room. It was
>especially disheartening to hear that these incidents occurred at 2
>hotels we were using as recommended DLV hotels.

>I don't want to embarrass anybody, but I think that it would be
>appropriate to have an online discussion here in the newsletter over
>the next couple of weeks about the details of these incidents and any
>follow-up discussions we've had with the hotels.

>The best way to clear up the misinformation and confusion about these
>incidents is to get things out in the open here in the general list.

Here's what I know. Anybody please feel free to jump in if I'm
incorrect, or if you have anything to add.

The two restroom incidents that I know of occurred at the Sahara and at
the Boardwalk.

In the incident at the Sahara, the person in question was not a
registered DLV participant, but a drop-in or tag-along who really did
not do much at all with our group. From what I understand, this person
got rude and confrontive with the bar staff and with security at the
Sahara, and did not behave appropriately in the restroom. I was told
that one of our other organizers smoothed things over with security and
gave the person in question a very stern talking-to.

I also understand that one of our people, who was nowhere near the scene
of the crime, was confronted by security regarding this.

At the Boardwalk, things are unclear to me, I've heard several versions,
but have not talked to the person involved yet. I was told that one of
our people was confronted by security, and that another was followed
around the casino by security.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fun at DLV2002:

Aiko writes:

>Last year, at DLV2001, was the first time I was able to be in my
>preferred gender for an extended period of time. And, as with most
>newbies, after I was dressed up for the first evening, it took me 2
>hours to build the courage to walk out of my hotel room.

>But this year was so different. I had looked forward to this DLV so
>much, that after I was ready, I didn't hesitate at the door, but
>confidently performed my best girl walk in heels to my car to get my
>nails and hair done. After a very enjoyable visit to LaRues, now my
>favorite beauty salon, it was time to meet the other girls at Milano's.

>It is such a wonderful feeling to see the girlfriends from last year,
>and to meet the new girls attending this year.

>All the venues were wonderful, but I must say I had particular fun at
>one event - The Limo Tour.

>The Limo Tour.

>At 10:20, I went to the limo line in front of the MGM and saw a limo
>driver holding a DLV sign. I strolled up to him and in my most
>feminine voice said, "Hi, are all of the limos here"? It just came out
>about as masculine as anything I have ever said before, because he
>started to wrinkle the sign in disbelief. I had talked with the
>General Manager of the limo company twice about who his clients would
>be that evening. It must have slipped his mind to inform the drivers
>about us. All the driver could say is "Maam, this is Las Vegas. We've
>seen it all". With that said, I knew we would have a very enjoyable
>time with them.

>It started out about normal for 30 girls trying to ride with their
>friends (naturally that was normally an odd number), but eventually the
>limos were loaded and rolling. Off to the liquor store.

>I was privileged to ride with our Canadian girls. After the first
>three minutes, the first empty cup was thrown. I knew I had picked the
>right limo to ride in. I radioed Limo 5 and said they were behind in
>party time. Monique radioed back in two minutes and said they had
>caught up.

>Caesars Palace:

>Pictures in front of the fountain. Just held my breath that no one
>would fall in.

>Mirage Volcano:

>Annie, with all of her wisdom, was adamant that we would not be able to
>see the volcano erupt. Chances were slim and none. Well, we lucked
>out. Look at the wonderful photos of the girls in front of the
>volcano. After the picture taking at the volcano, I noticed the driver
>who looked like Danny Glover standing and staring, not really wanting
>to be near us, let alone breathing the same air. So naturally, I took
>his arm and began walking with him back toward the limos. Annie joined
>up and took his other arm. "Danny" was tensing as I took his arm, and
>when Annie took his other arm, he began to shake. As we were walking
>toward the limos, he was walking similar to Frankenstein. When we
>approached the limos, the other drivers noticed him and his unusual
>walk. They turned away and you could tell they were laughing,
>primarily due to the leaning over and fist pounding on the limo hood.

>When we arrived at the limos, our polite escort (now turning blue from
>not breathing) turned, gave a forced smile and hurried off to hide
>somewhere.

>The DelMar:

>All I can say about this Limo Tour and DelMar is that we had to be
>the first girls to ever be kicked out of the DelMar Motel.

>Fremont Street:

>On the way to Fremont Street, we were privileged to have a police
>escort. The only strange thing was that the squad cars were following
>us instead of leading us. Oh, well.

>Four Queens:

>When we arrived at the Four Queens, someone yelled "POTTIE STOP!" It
>was similar to watching the old movie about the Oklahoma Land Rush.
>Limo doors flying open and 26 trannys along with 3 GG's assaulting the
>Four Queens ladies room. Anyone standing in a doorway was going to be
>high heeled to death during the stampede. One of our girls did not
>want to wait for the line, so she proceeded to the men's room. Once
>inside, she did her thing standing next to this gentleman who just
>inherited a permanent look of bewilderment on his face. He then kind
>of wandered out, probably without zipping up. The only problem I
>noticed was Annie kept wandering around, as if she were looking for
>someone. She also took her glasses off.

>On the way back to the MGM, we lost one of the limos. Found out later,
>they stopped at a Mexican take-out for tacos. What a great idea. Wish
>I would have thought of that. Maybe next year.

>DLV 2002 was the best event on this planet.

>Thank you Annie.

You're very welcome, and thank you, Aiko and Yvonne for hostessing the
limo tour, which again was one of my most memorable memories of DLV 2002.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Administrivia:

This is the Diva Las Vegas 2002 mailing list.

One address for all items regarding this list, additions, removals,
changes, submissions, questions, etc.:

dlv@geekbabe.com <--- NOTE: all lower case

Please do not send binary attachments (photos, etc.) directly to the
list, as the list processor will not properly handle them. If you want
to send photos and the like, mail to: annie@annie.net

Archives of this list appear on the web at:

http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlv02arc/

To unsubscribe: Simply reply to this message with the word UNSUBSCRIBE
in either the Subject: field or the first line of an OTHERWISE BLANK
message body. The word "unsubscribe" (case is insignificant) should be
the only item in the subject field or the first line of the message,
justified to the left.

NOTE: WHEN UNSUBSCRIBING, THE FROM: LINE OF YOUR UNSUBSCRIBE MESSAGE
>>MUST<< HAVE THE SAME ADDRESS AS WHAT WE USE TO SEND TO YOU. IF IT
DOES NOT, THE UNSUBSCRIBE WILL FAIL, AND YOU MAY NOT GET A FAILURE
NOTICE. SPELLING COUNTS.

Please pay attention to the above. Many automated unsubscribe requests
fail for this reason.

Note that this will unsubscribe you from the main DLV list only. If you
are on any secondary lists (DLVORG, DLVGOLF) you must unsubscribe from
them in addition.

To send material to this list: Send submission as regular e-mail to
the address: dlv@geekbabe.com
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .