I was waiting in line outside the Atlantic City Deli at the Hilton to hear Bill Gates's keynote on Wednesday night. It was loud, and I tried to get the attention of one of the other Backstage crew guys, and a guy ahead of me in line said, "They could hear [me] all the way back to 40th Street." (Ha ha, you're sooooo funny, Chuckles.)

Well, after briefly chatting with pop singer and trivia question answer Deborah Gibson, now you really can hear me all the way to 40th Street. Deborah (don't call her Debbie!) is the spokesperson for Leadsinger, a company that makes karaoke machines that keep all the important bits inside the microphone. It just plugs into your TV via RCA inputs, as you would a video game console, and away you go. The base model comes with 300 songs preinstalled, and you can buy extra memory chips with different genres of songs and a wireless mic adapter so you and a friend can duet.

Aside from a new way to torture my friends at parties (and several rainforests' worth of product information sheets), the thing I'm going to take home with me from CES is that there's so much more technology out there than what you or I might ever see in the real world. It almost makes me sad, really, that these awesome cell phones and PDAs and big, sexy, flat-screen TVs will probably never make it to my house. I mean, I was talking with a CNET editor who told me about the 67-inch Samsung DLP that costs "only $6,000." Come on! I'm a writer! (Confidential to Samsung: If you want to send one of those babies my way, CNET has my address.)

But even if the hot technology never gets to my house, the experience of visiting CES is one of those things I'll remember for a long time. The booth babes, the lame-ish freebies (lip balm? Hooray!), it's all a trip.

But right now, though, I need the booth that's handing out the aspirin.

When I entered CNET's "Three I can't live without" CES contest, I thought maybe I'd get to go to Las Vegas for a fun whirlwind weekend of cell phones, celebs, and champagne.

What the hell was I thinking? This is work. I'm thirsty, and my feet hurt.

On the other hand, I got to play with some of the coolest new MP3 players, personal video players, and just plain toys you might not see for months.

Here's some of the hot items I found today and what I'll be asking for when my birthday rolls around in April:

• A cubicle-size MP3, WAV, and FM radio player from Philips. It has a sleek form factor and an easy-to-use interface. The lovely people at Philips were kind enough to demo it for me, and I can tell you it's perfect for a desk or a beach blanket.
• If you read my "Three I can't live without" profile, you'd know that I love handbags. So when I saw this wall of great phone cases and bags from Finnish company Golla, I just had to stop and drool a little. (They were also handing out awesome little chocolates filled with vodka. Delicious!)
• Here's the next logical iteration of the Discman: the DVD-man. This product is from Coby, and there's a 2.5-inch screen in the lid of the device. It plays DVDs, CDs, MP3 CDs, and more.
• What do you do when you're in Death Valley and your cell phone dies? Make sure you have some water, you're not in a Gus van Sant movie, and you've got the Evercell solar cell phone charger. Plug in your cell and let Mr. Sun do the rest. (The company's literature about the device says it's "fully waterproof," too.)
• Finally, here's the Samsung YH-999, a fab little portable media device: It does photos, video, and music, and it does them all nicely. It uses Windows Media Center to sync to a PC or home theater, and I'd like to know what the battery life is on a device like this, though. (P.S. Please excuse my big man hands.)

Fashion-obsessed flower shop manager ISO sweet, hot technology. Recent college grad seeks intelligent, thrifty, stylish mate to share road trips to Las Vegas, karaoke, dinners at Nobu. Turnoffs: an underdeveloped sense of humor, anything beige. Reply to box #GR8WRITR.

If I had to submit your "Three I can't live without" profile in the form of a personal ad, this is what mine would say. Unfortunately for me, that's not the format, otherwise I might have gotten a date out of this along with a sweet-ass trip to Sin City. I'm Clare Perretta, one of CNET's Backstage Crew for the 2005 CES. I'm a gadget freak, Las Vegas is my favorite city in the world, and I could not possibly be happier to be reporting on CES.

So what will I be tirelessly researching (between my pilgrimages to the nickel slots and talking my way into any and all Apple events) for those of you playing along at home? My two beats are personal audio and video and accessories. Those categories cover everything from iPods and their ilk to peripherals both chic (like these gorgeous handmade speakers built into PVC pipes) and kitschy (a USB-powered keyboard vacuum shaped like a pink bunny rabbit--where do I sign up?!).