Hey gang,

What with Labor Day and the ensuing Photoshop World — which takes place this very week in the world’s capital of elegance and culture, Las Vegas — I couldn’t squeeze in one of my mostly weekly dekeStuff articles. So instead, I wanted you to be the first to know exactly what I have planned for this week, at Photoshop World.

Here’s my top-secret, classified, for-internal-purposes only schedule:

—Tuesday: Check into the Mandalay Bay hotel, unpack in my typical obsessive fashion. Hook up with the brainy and capable Colleen Wheeler for dinner and drinks. (Yes, we actually talk to each other on rare occasion.) Formulate future plans for dekeOnline. Then, after no fewer than one and no more than seven martinis, we take a first sloppy attack at two dekePods that are thus far unwritten.

(Okay, so Tuesday is over. CW and I hooked up at a restaurant called Red Square, which you’ll know by its decapitated statue of Lenin. No progress on dekepods, but we consumed several appetizers and sampled a flight of four top-of-the-line Russian Vodkas. One tasted like liquid bread. The second was fruity. After tasting the third, CW and I agreed it was most likely rubbing alcohol and would be just the thing if you desired a drink and you also happened to have an open wound. The fourth was again fruity but with a bit more body than the second. Winner? The first, Zyr. Damn fine beverage! And thus it came to pass that we had more.)

—Wednesday: Wake up. No time to review the dekePod drafts (apropos given than we didn’t get around to writing any). Instead, prepare for my sold-out “Photoshop Channels and Masks” preconference session. During the session, hand out a four-hour-plus DVD — which covers the exact content I show on stage, complete with sample files — to each and every attendee. (I hasten to mention, the DVD was produced, replicated, and shipped entirely for free by lynda.com. Damn fine people!)

—Wednesday night: Speakers dinner. First time seeing most of the inner circle since putting myself out there with the 101 Tips video. For some reason, nervous.

—Thursday: Two sessions. Smart Objects in the morning, Sharpening in the evening. Plus we plan to give away 50 really smart looking dekePod T-shirts at the O’Reilly booth. Mark my words, these Tees will be collectors items one day. Plus, the T-shirt artwork includes special lucky gambling runes. Will they work? Only time will tell.

—Thursday night: House of Blues party. O’Reilly staff members have agreed to serve as my posse. Damn fine publisher!

—Friday: Day off. Look for me wandering hapless in my underwear shouting, “I’m free! For one day and one day only, I’m free!” Or, more likely, this might be a good day to write the dekePod scripts. I’m supposed to film them the following Tuesday. Yoiks!

—Friday night: Drinks with GridIron Software, developers of one of the most exciting (tho still prospective) software releases of this year, Flow. If Flow comes thru on its promises, it could be that one non-Adobe app that catches fire with every creative pro, designer, and asset manager in the business. HUGE (if for now a big IF).

—Saturday: An 11am session on the myriad ways to exploit and over-exploit transparency in Adobe Illustrator. Sweet!

Oh, and in case this wasn’t evident from the title and early paragraphs, my co-conspirator Colleen is at the event and has taken it upon herself to report back any newsworthy info and/or daring deeds. What to expect: Major announcements from Adobe, Gridiron, and the great gaseous planet of Uranus.

(Kidding about Uranus. It’s from an old joke: Adobe, Gridiron, and the great gaseous planet of Uranus walk into a bar. Adobe says, “What’s that smell?” Gridiron says, “I believe that’s Uranus.” And so it goes . . . )

Opening photo ©28 Tom Young.