Back in Vegas after a great trip!

Sam gave me a wakeup call this morning at 5:10 am London time. I was pretty out of it after just two hours of sleep, and it took me awhile to realize that a) the phone was ringing and b) I had to do something about it.

But once I was up I had a fun journey. I took the train from the Penguin UK warehouse to Paddington Station, The Underground to Victoria Station, and the Gatwick Express to London Gatwick. I was listening to a Ray Kurzweil interview on my iPod during the train rides, but my batteries ran out just as I got to the airport.

At first I was bummed because I had downloaded a bunch of new books to listen to on the plane. But I found a great bookstore at the last minute that more than made up for it.

I bought four books:

1. It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be: The world's best-selling book by Paul Arden - Paul Arden is the former executive creative director of UK based ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. This is an EXTREMELY fast read, and it's a great read (especially if you love great quotes like I do, Cow Said Moo). It's such a fast read that I managed to sleep most of the way and still read it cover to cover. My favorite part is the opening...

"Nearly all rich and powerful people are not notably talented, educated, charming, or good-looking. They become rich and powerful by wanting to be rich and powerful. Your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset you have." -- Paul Arden

2. Whatever You Think Think The Opposite by Paul Arden - The inside cover screamed out at me: "This book explains the benefits of making bad decisions. It shows how risk is your security in life. And why unreason is better than reason. It's about having the confidence to roll the dice." I'm fantastic at making bad decisions, and I'm looking forward to this little book.

3. Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas - I'm a HUGE Bono fan, so I had to get this one. I only got about 50 pages into it on the plane, but it's already great. My favorite part is when Michka asks Bono what his dad expected he would end up doing for a living:

"Hmm... I think... either join the civil service, like he did, which was a safe job, which you couldn't be fired from... or a traveling salesman. A lot of our family were traveling salesmen. And of course that is what I have become!"

Michka says: "In a way possibly."

Bono continues:

"Oh no, in more than just a way. I am sure of it. I am very much a traveling salesman. And that, if you really want to know, is how I see myself. I sell songs from door to door, from town to town. I sell melodies and words. And for me, in my political work, I sell ideas. In the commercial world that I'm entering into, I'm also selling ideas."

4. "NLP At Work: The Difference that Makes a Difference in Business" by Sue Knight. I haven't even opened this one yet, but I'm sure there's something in here that will resonate with me. I read a few books about NLP back in college, and they fascinated me. That reminds me, a few years back NJ magician Brett Amazing did a hilarious demonstration of NLP on me in a little restaurant in Colon, MI during the Colon Magic Festival.

My flight was VS043, direct from London to Las Vegas. This is the flight Acar and I always take back and forth. Virgin is a great airline, and I highly recommend this flight in particular. It's laid back and a lot of fun. Virgin has the best food and flight attendants (after I saw the flight attendants get picked up at the Vegas airport by a black party-bus with tinted windows I'm tempted to apply for a job at Virgin). Other hi-lights from my journey included the veggie ravioli and Acar pulling up in his truck to pick me up from the Airport in Vegas. As many of you already know, Acar is also a musician, and that dude looks more like a rock star every day. Right now he's growing out his hair and soul patch.