St Louis...

Alright, this is the first chance I’ve really had to post in a few days, so I’m taking my opportunity and getting it out. This may be a little long, but I’ll try not to bore all (8) of you. Hahahahaha

I got here Sunday morning and only had an hour or so before things got started. This Ford GT was the first thing I saw when I arrived. It had just been valet parked. Yes I touched it. My fingerprints are on the car and I must say it felt good ;) I reconnected with a bunch of people I haven’t seen in a while which was fun and hung out some. Actually, let me start from the beginning and give a more detail. On the plane from Atlanta, I rode up with one of the reps I know that I haven’t seen in a year or two. Jennifer worked for another company the last time I saw her and she’s still in the industry and we caught up with each other and she invited me to their party they were throwing on Monday night. I go through the paces on Sunday, getting my Starbuck’s and saying hey to everyone and letting them know I was here. Haahaha Had a nice little reception on Sunday night, until about midnight, came up to the room and went to bed. Good Day, Good Night.

Monday – woke up at 6 ready to go. Went to some sessions and learned some things – the small group I was in was by far the best of the show (we all gelled within 20 minutes and it was over after that…hahah) – everyone commented on us and we all got on together really well. The Manf’s were eager to come to us and even the other small groups kept coming to our room to tell us to hold it down, they couldn’t hear because we were so loud. I’ll give you some insight into the members of the group and the dynamics…I mean really this group was soooooo much fun. When I describe these people to you, I am not kidding nor embellishing (I know I do that sometimes – but seriously…we became known to everyone as “the” group. We were so cool and fun we didn’t even need a name to describe us.) I need to say this, there were about 1200 people attending this conference and the 15 of us were all the “I” people in personality speak, or ENF’s whatever…. Anyway, here’s the breakdown of the group.

Auggie – An older Japanese man who was very Pat Morita-esque, except with hair. “Wax on, Wax off”
Brad – he was the token Canadian (think john candy, only the 150lb version)
Dino – I swear he looked and acted like Wayne Brady. No Lie.
Joseph – Again No Lie – he was an exact copy of Jim J Bullock. This guy was hilarious!
Alex & David – They were straight out of The Sopranos. No Joke – NYC and Jersey, the look, the accents – and they played it up too.
Preston – Warren Sapp without hair, and the wittiest consistent comebacks (with the exception of one by George) to Joseph “don’t call me joe”.
George – Think Jason Alexander as George Costanza. No joke.
Bernard – The evil corporate guy (seriously, a big dog from a seriously big company) that everyone picked on – and he ate it up and threw it around too (in a fun way).
Me – heh heh
And a couple of girls who stayed quiet most of the time – but laughed really hard.

This is really the makeup of the group – and I so wish I could type and tell the stories on here but I don’t have enough time and it’s almost a “had to be there” thing.

Monday wound up being pretty good. I ran into some other people who invited me to dinner and another party (3 things so far Monday night) and I said, sure I’ll go. Dinner was OK – the conversations were good. I can honestly say, I know all those people at dinner – I think every one of them I sat with told me their life stories and situations etc. I was like the bartender who hears it all…and oh my…I don’t want to put that stuff on here. So I go back to the hotel (I so wish I had more pictures) went to a party and hung out a while and then went to another one (Jennifer’s company) and closed it down [ the bartender at the party was a woman who looked like Tracy Lawrence with blond hair and there was another woman there who was so drunk, she started putting on her lipstick and it was all around her mouth – it was the funniest/saddest thing I had ever seen. And then we all went to the bar and hung out (and more life stories…no joke). In bed at 3a.

Tuesday was fun. Hung out with the group (see don’t even need a name). I just went walking around. I saw Colin Quinn and hung out with him for a bit, me and Syya got a picture with him. We brought back some “remote control” memories for him and he got a big kick out of that. And at the show, Leilani was there (race care driver) and I got a pic with her and got a pic with a couple of ram cheerleaders. Yesterday was also the big award party so I went to that and had a really good time, me some new people but hung out with my Canadian amigos and amigas. There was a fun after party and then we all got private invites to a party on the top floor (very swank – all big people there – good time) – closed it down and then about 6 of us went to the Canadians suite and hung out until about 3:30a. I am so tired it’s not even funny.

This morning they called and woke me up and I got to "the" group to hang and was about an hour late and got a full rousing applause when I came in. Seems I missed most of the morning session. Too funny. ;) hahahaha they missed me – they actually called to wake me up. It was neat. Then the big lunch reception and tonight I’m going to the game in the suites before I leave tomorrow.

I know this is long and not really too detailed, but it was a good time and oh yeah, I did get a lot of stuff done for work…not all play – a trip well worth it.