This much we know already

With the NRA show just hours away, certain truths about this year’s convention are piling up like used toothpicks at a sliced-pepperoni booth. Here’re some of the insights we’ve gleaned so far:

--The prize of choice for vendors using giveaways to draw a crowd is the iPad 2. Today brought several invitations to win the tablet by being one of the first 100 people to visit an event or booth on a particular day. Show up and you’re eligible for the drawing.

--One of the hot topics this year will be garbage—how to recycle it, compost it, dehydrate it, turn it into energy or otherwise reduce its volume. Attendees will hear about it the education sessions and on the exhibit halls’ floors.

--There’ll be more of a spotlight on green replacements for chemical cleaners and degreasers.

--The barriers of outrage continue to be extended. For instance, our staff was buzzing today about an invitation to come meet a new online uniform supplier that’ll be exhibiting, BreastaurantUniforms.com. It promises to turn any restaurant into a competitor of Hooters or Twin Peaks.

It’s hardly alone in trying to use an edgy name. I also came across a mention of an exhibitor that makes mats that go under urinals. It’s called WizKids.

Meanwhile, I’m really worried about the Restaurant Business staff. We’ve set a quest for ourselves of finding the booth that’ll be giving away cookies to tout its product, the urinal cookie, or the antiseptic, anti-odor cake that goes in a urinal.