"Also, I played in (not as long as I would have liked) the convention Hold 'em tourney at the Palms and was wondering how to go about getting the commemorative chips that they mentioned"

Everyone that played in it has a set of the chips coming free.
They gave them out on Friday at the Club table.
Not sure who is handling mailing them to people that did not pick their set up. Ask the question on the Club BB.