As we had a lovely weekend ahead of us, Juan and I decided to take a side trip over to Austin, TX before going to San Antonio.
On the way we stopped in a town called Ozark? It apparently has a statue of Davey Crockett there. The statue was meant to go over to a town called Crockett not too far from Ozark, but someone got lost/lazy delivering it, so there in Ozark it lies!
We had lunch at some tiny little restaurant there. The wait-staff was pretty chill, but they kept on thinking Juan and me were a couple, probably becuase we joke around and bicker sooo much on the road.
The town was cute, but super small, still the Davey statue is worth mentioning I suppose.
We got in around 8ish to the city and checked into a spot right off 2nd street I believe...could've been first.
It was a little early for partying at the moment and it was raining ALOT, so Juan and I went to a Irish spot on 6th and had some dinner. I had some fish with a little HP sauce, which wasn't made in the UK but was made up in Canada (psh..), and Juan had some mini burgers or something.....
After eating we walked around for a bit up and down the strip. Soon we decided to just start bar hopping and taking shots and different spots. We must have had about 14 shots before the night was out...along the way we met some other marketing people that were promoting for some sports thing...it caught our eye becuase their signs said something about DIRECTV. We all got to talking and later on met up with them after work which was cool. You dont' really get to bump into a ton of marketing people while you're out on a marketing tour surprisingly, so it was nice to meet kindred spirits that evening.
The rain was still coming down though, and since it was getting really late Juan and I decided to bail from the bar we were all at and head back to the hotel.
The next day I woke up with quite a headache and made Juan drive us to San Antonio, but not before stopping at Freebirds for a tasty burrito for the journey :)
Saturday, September 26, 2009
On to El Paso
We left after our Paris, TX event for El Paso.
It was an okay drive, pretty long. The only thing I can really say was memorable about El Paso was that it's right next to the Mexican Border, and the alcohol over there is wicked cheap.
Juan and I had dinner with one of his friends at Cheddars and she was saying that there is a drink special every day of the weeknight. I thought this was crazy. I had never seen large margaritas and other mixed drinks for 4-5 dollars, that's sumthin'
We were thinking of going to hop over the border and have a drink in Mexico, but it was getting late and I think the drive pretty much took all our energy away.
The event here went pretty well. We were trying to see if we could get out of there early enough to go to Carlsbad Caverns. I'd been there once before and from what I can remember it's pretty much worth seeing. However, it closed at around 5 and we weren't outta work that day til around 6pm. On the way out of El Paso, we also saw the McDonald's Observatory, another awesome site to see and check out all the stars. I had also been there, but it was a very long time ago and i was super young so i barely remember anything, except wondering if i could get some french fries there.
We stopped in Fort Stockton that night, again there really wasn't much there..
on a side note, i just rememberd that at the call center in Paris, TX, I think we stayed at one of their first Hampton Inn hotels. One of the ladies at the call center was talking about where we were staying and saying how excited she was when the hotel first was built that she rented out a room there and stayed the night just to test it out...I thought this was alittle odd, but I suppose even small town folk need a small escape from small town living....
It was an okay drive, pretty long. The only thing I can really say was memorable about El Paso was that it's right next to the Mexican Border, and the alcohol over there is wicked cheap.
Juan and I had dinner with one of his friends at Cheddars and she was saying that there is a drink special every day of the weeknight. I thought this was crazy. I had never seen large margaritas and other mixed drinks for 4-5 dollars, that's sumthin'
We were thinking of going to hop over the border and have a drink in Mexico, but it was getting late and I think the drive pretty much took all our energy away.
The event here went pretty well. We were trying to see if we could get out of there early enough to go to Carlsbad Caverns. I'd been there once before and from what I can remember it's pretty much worth seeing. However, it closed at around 5 and we weren't outta work that day til around 6pm. On the way out of El Paso, we also saw the McDonald's Observatory, another awesome site to see and check out all the stars. I had also been there, but it was a very long time ago and i was super young so i barely remember anything, except wondering if i could get some french fries there.
We stopped in Fort Stockton that night, again there really wasn't much there..
on a side note, i just rememberd that at the call center in Paris, TX, I think we stayed at one of their first Hampton Inn hotels. One of the ladies at the call center was talking about where we were staying and saying how excited she was when the hotel first was built that she rented out a room there and stayed the night just to test it out...I thought this was alittle odd, but I suppose even small town folk need a small escape from small town living....
Thursday, September 24, 2009
DTV DOES DALLAS!...and Paris
There wasn't too much to see on the way to Dallas except for a Buccees. I've never seen a gas station that looks more like a theme park in my life aside from this place. They even had an electronical beaver to great you when you entered the store..soo weird.
When we finally got to Dallas, it was around 8pm. Cari,(my cousin), and I planned to meet up for a little bit since she lived near the area. It was good seeing her and nice to take a break from tour with family. She was telling me all about her wedding and her bachelorette party plans...i was getting a little bummed i wasn't going to be able to go to her bachelorette party because of tour. Financially though it was probably better for me to not attend.
Next morning Erin, Cari, and myself went to IHOP for breakfast. There wasn't too much to the rest of my visit aside from this.
We only really made a pit stop here before getting to Paris, TX later on that day.
When we arrived in Paris, we first went to the Eiffel Tower there. Of course, knowing Texas, they put a cowboy hat on top of the tower. Juan and I climbed it to take some pictures which was fun for a little bit. That was pretty much the extent of excitement we had in that town. Paris really doesn't have too much going on in the town.
Onward to El Paso!
When we finally got to Dallas, it was around 8pm. Cari,(my cousin), and I planned to meet up for a little bit since she lived near the area. It was good seeing her and nice to take a break from tour with family. She was telling me all about her wedding and her bachelorette party plans...i was getting a little bummed i wasn't going to be able to go to her bachelorette party because of tour. Financially though it was probably better for me to not attend.
Next morning Erin, Cari, and myself went to IHOP for breakfast. There wasn't too much to the rest of my visit aside from this.
We only really made a pit stop here before getting to Paris, TX later on that day.
When we arrived in Paris, we first went to the Eiffel Tower there. Of course, knowing Texas, they put a cowboy hat on top of the tower. Juan and I climbed it to take some pictures which was fun for a little bit. That was pretty much the extent of excitement we had in that town. Paris really doesn't have too much going on in the town.
Onward to El Paso!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Strike Force Tour: Week 1, Part 1- Norcross, GA to New Orleans, LA
After landing in Atlanta, I met Juan at baggage claim and we took the Marta to Norcross. Juan was the Tour Manager for the East Coast version of the tour I was on, so it was good to catch up with him and swap stories from both our time spent on the road.
Dougie soon scooped us from the Marta Station and we immediately went over to IMG Live to begin advancing our tour (ie booking hotel rooms, calling balloon locations etc). Juan and I pretty much couldn't stop laughing and joking around, which I've rarely been able to find in another person on the road, so I enjoyed it, eventually though we did get our work done for the day and checked into our hotel rooms that evening.
Friday was somewhat of the same. Juan went out to get us some food and one point and change the oil to the car, but aside from that we just stuffed balloons and prepped shipping them for Strike Force team 1 and 2.
Saturday we left for the road. Juan had never been to New Orleans so we decided to make a pit stop there for the evening. We got there around 4 in the afternoon, but had to walk around a bit until our rooms were ready. We started at Pat O'Briens (where else?) and got some hurricanes, then we slowly made our way down Bourbon street. Juan loved it. He said it reminded him of some part of Florida...I can't remember which though. We eventually stopped at the Gumbo Shop to get some dinner, it was okay, not the best cajun cuisine i'd had, but decent.
Our hotel room ended up being ready after dinner so we checked in. I was pretty beat from that day, and since there was a Gay Festival going on, which meant, alot more crazy people having lots of fun then i was willing to deal with, I opted out of returning to the streets past 10pm. Juan however went out and had a good time, which I'm happy about. I'm always glad when I break people in to New Orleans, makes me feel like I've done my duty as a local citizen :)
The next morning we were set to leave around 1ish. I got up early so I could have time to walk around Jackson Square and meet my friend, Kevin, for breakfast. I quickly took a stroll over to Cafe Du Monde to grab some Beignets and coffee, then power walked down to Poydras where Mother's is located to have some food.
It was good to see Kevin again, we basically caught up and he was telling me all about life in NOLA and how he'd got another job working for a TV Production company. He also told me that Dr. Dog had moved on to Epitaph which I thought was a little sad, but hey, suppose it had to happen, and that the Peekers were breaking up. I was really bummed out by this. They're such a great band, but when you problems that can't be fixed, I suppose that's how it goes...
After saying goodbye to Kevin, I headed on back to the hotel and met up with Juan. We said goodbye to the lovely Big Easy, and started to make our way north to Dallas, TX for another night to stop and say hello to friends before hitting out final destination in Paris, TX.
I'll report on Dallas a little later, now it's time to take a nap!
Dougie soon scooped us from the Marta Station and we immediately went over to IMG Live to begin advancing our tour (ie booking hotel rooms, calling balloon locations etc). Juan and I pretty much couldn't stop laughing and joking around, which I've rarely been able to find in another person on the road, so I enjoyed it, eventually though we did get our work done for the day and checked into our hotel rooms that evening.
Friday was somewhat of the same. Juan went out to get us some food and one point and change the oil to the car, but aside from that we just stuffed balloons and prepped shipping them for Strike Force team 1 and 2.
Saturday we left for the road. Juan had never been to New Orleans so we decided to make a pit stop there for the evening. We got there around 4 in the afternoon, but had to walk around a bit until our rooms were ready. We started at Pat O'Briens (where else?) and got some hurricanes, then we slowly made our way down Bourbon street. Juan loved it. He said it reminded him of some part of Florida...I can't remember which though. We eventually stopped at the Gumbo Shop to get some dinner, it was okay, not the best cajun cuisine i'd had, but decent.
Our hotel room ended up being ready after dinner so we checked in. I was pretty beat from that day, and since there was a Gay Festival going on, which meant, alot more crazy people having lots of fun then i was willing to deal with, I opted out of returning to the streets past 10pm. Juan however went out and had a good time, which I'm happy about. I'm always glad when I break people in to New Orleans, makes me feel like I've done my duty as a local citizen :)
The next morning we were set to leave around 1ish. I got up early so I could have time to walk around Jackson Square and meet my friend, Kevin, for breakfast. I quickly took a stroll over to Cafe Du Monde to grab some Beignets and coffee, then power walked down to Poydras where Mother's is located to have some food.
It was good to see Kevin again, we basically caught up and he was telling me all about life in NOLA and how he'd got another job working for a TV Production company. He also told me that Dr. Dog had moved on to Epitaph which I thought was a little sad, but hey, suppose it had to happen, and that the Peekers were breaking up. I was really bummed out by this. They're such a great band, but when you problems that can't be fixed, I suppose that's how it goes...
After saying goodbye to Kevin, I headed on back to the hotel and met up with Juan. We said goodbye to the lovely Big Easy, and started to make our way north to Dallas, TX for another night to stop and say hello to friends before hitting out final destination in Paris, TX.
I'll report on Dallas a little later, now it's time to take a nap!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Out with the Old and in with the New!
I landed in Dayton, OH later on that day...around 7pm. I thought that it would just be my mom and possible dad picking me up, but it turned out to be Laurean and Adam (bro by law) too!
I finally got to see my sister pregnant which was awesome! i was so sure i'd missed my chance earlier in July when I planned to see her after my two week training in Atlanta, GA on the way to my first event of the tour.
Anyways, it was evident that the baby was about ready to be born by the size of her stomach. I'll refrain from description because in case Laurean does read this, I wouldn't want to say anything that would make her feel sensitive about being pregnant, because it's a beautiful thing regardless of whether or not you feel that way when you are pregnant 100% of the time.
Not too much else happened on the ride from the airport back to West Chester, OH where my sister and bro by law live. The only thing of note was that past Monroe, OH, my sister and mom showed me the Touchdown Jesus! It is probably the most ridiculous thing to have in the middle of nowhere.
Take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Kings_(statue)
The only thing I wonder about this is if pilots point this out to passengers when they're flying overhead....hmmm...
when we finally got to West Chester, we stopped at a Roadhouse Ribs place for dinner. I was itching to grab a book to read for the car ride back to Philly the following day so after dinner I asked my parents if it was possible to drop everyone off and then one of them let me go over to barnes and noble real quick to pick up a book i had in mind.
Dad was completely against this, mom said no too. And of course neither of them wanted me driving alone in rural Ohio at night.....sooo weird. Adam pointed out the barnes and noble was literally a 2minute walk across the road from where we were. So i decided that while they were waiting for the bill I'd walk over there and get what I wanted. Mom again, started acting all crazy saying 'no i don't want you walking out there! you might get accosted!!!!....
Now folks, let it be noted this was one of those really nice shopping areas, not Compton, CA...so the idea that my mom thought i would get accosted exiting one building,and then walking two minutes to get to the next building is completely and utterly RIDICULOUS. And yes, i did call my mom crazy for this.....It's like she forgets I travel around for work and am hanging out in cities late at night on the regular by myself....geez....
Anyways, I still went across the street (by myself & no i didn't get accosted) to get my book. I wanted to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse books that are best known for inspiring the hit tv show Trueblood.
Next morning we set out bright and early to start back to philly. I read my book, listened to music, and slept most of the way. We also stopped somewhere in the morning to get some Coldstone. My mom and dad love ice cream, so that was our little treat for the day. I got a sorbet.
After getting home that evening, Tara came over and we go to catch up for a bit. We went out to have some dinner over at howl and the moon, but it was closed. AS we were making our way into Kennett Square though, we did see Darryl Brown! I hadn't seen him since i dunno, i guess graduation or something. It was nice to see how he was doing. I think he said he'll probably finish up working at the bike shop til winter up in Philly and then close that down to do the same thing in Key West. Sounds like a pretty good setup in my opinion, having consistency that varies here and there, however I also think he said he's probably not gonna return to Philly to do it next year though....
The next day I went out to lunch with Mrs. Buckwalter and my mom to Two Fat Guys. What made this outing sooo eventful was that we saw Fran Wildralaga there. I like him a bunch and even though there wasn't tons to talk about with him, it was still awesome to see his face!
Later on we heard from Laurean that she was in labor and started to await the birth of my new nephew/niece....oh the anticipation.....it took a little over 24 hours for Laurean to actually give birth, and in all that time we I watched Trueblood, hung out with some more of mom's friends for a chapagne lunch, we driving around with dad, and went to Lush and the Christiana mall....also saw mike Pesce there too!
Finally the kid was born in the evening. The hospital Laurean had the baby in was practically a resort! the pictures for the place were CRAZY! The baby ended up being a boy and was named Remy Alexander Leigh. I think mom was a little worried Laurean and Adam would name it something crazy, but they have good taste with those types of things, and the baby is half Broadbent, so it will have taste anyways :)
The remainder of my stay with the parents was good. I went out one more time with Chris Harne to see 'Inglorious Bastards' it was okay, not my fav Taratino film for sure. Thursday finally rolled around and I left early in the morning to start a new tour in Atlanta..and so it goes
I finally got to see my sister pregnant which was awesome! i was so sure i'd missed my chance earlier in July when I planned to see her after my two week training in Atlanta, GA on the way to my first event of the tour.
Anyways, it was evident that the baby was about ready to be born by the size of her stomach. I'll refrain from description because in case Laurean does read this, I wouldn't want to say anything that would make her feel sensitive about being pregnant, because it's a beautiful thing regardless of whether or not you feel that way when you are pregnant 100% of the time.
Not too much else happened on the ride from the airport back to West Chester, OH where my sister and bro by law live. The only thing of note was that past Monroe, OH, my sister and mom showed me the Touchdown Jesus! It is probably the most ridiculous thing to have in the middle of nowhere.
Take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Kings_(statue)
The only thing I wonder about this is if pilots point this out to passengers when they're flying overhead....hmmm...
when we finally got to West Chester, we stopped at a Roadhouse Ribs place for dinner. I was itching to grab a book to read for the car ride back to Philly the following day so after dinner I asked my parents if it was possible to drop everyone off and then one of them let me go over to barnes and noble real quick to pick up a book i had in mind.
Dad was completely against this, mom said no too. And of course neither of them wanted me driving alone in rural Ohio at night.....sooo weird. Adam pointed out the barnes and noble was literally a 2minute walk across the road from where we were. So i decided that while they were waiting for the bill I'd walk over there and get what I wanted. Mom again, started acting all crazy saying 'no i don't want you walking out there! you might get accosted!!!!....
Now folks, let it be noted this was one of those really nice shopping areas, not Compton, CA...so the idea that my mom thought i would get accosted exiting one building,and then walking two minutes to get to the next building is completely and utterly RIDICULOUS. And yes, i did call my mom crazy for this.....It's like she forgets I travel around for work and am hanging out in cities late at night on the regular by myself....geez....
Anyways, I still went across the street (by myself & no i didn't get accosted) to get my book. I wanted to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse books that are best known for inspiring the hit tv show Trueblood.
Next morning we set out bright and early to start back to philly. I read my book, listened to music, and slept most of the way. We also stopped somewhere in the morning to get some Coldstone. My mom and dad love ice cream, so that was our little treat for the day. I got a sorbet.
After getting home that evening, Tara came over and we go to catch up for a bit. We went out to have some dinner over at howl and the moon, but it was closed. AS we were making our way into Kennett Square though, we did see Darryl Brown! I hadn't seen him since i dunno, i guess graduation or something. It was nice to see how he was doing. I think he said he'll probably finish up working at the bike shop til winter up in Philly and then close that down to do the same thing in Key West. Sounds like a pretty good setup in my opinion, having consistency that varies here and there, however I also think he said he's probably not gonna return to Philly to do it next year though....
The next day I went out to lunch with Mrs. Buckwalter and my mom to Two Fat Guys. What made this outing sooo eventful was that we saw Fran Wildralaga there. I like him a bunch and even though there wasn't tons to talk about with him, it was still awesome to see his face!
Later on we heard from Laurean that she was in labor and started to await the birth of my new nephew/niece....oh the anticipation.....it took a little over 24 hours for Laurean to actually give birth, and in all that time we I watched Trueblood, hung out with some more of mom's friends for a chapagne lunch, we driving around with dad, and went to Lush and the Christiana mall....also saw mike Pesce there too!
Finally the kid was born in the evening. The hospital Laurean had the baby in was practically a resort! the pictures for the place were CRAZY! The baby ended up being a boy and was named Remy Alexander Leigh. I think mom was a little worried Laurean and Adam would name it something crazy, but they have good taste with those types of things, and the baby is half Broadbent, so it will have taste anyways :)
The remainder of my stay with the parents was good. I went out one more time with Chris Harne to see 'Inglorious Bastards' it was okay, not my fav Taratino film for sure. Thursday finally rolled around and I left early in the morning to start a new tour in Atlanta..and so it goes
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
End of Tour- DA WRAP UP!
So after dropping off Araceli at the airport I reported back to IMG Live for a day of work ahead.
It was raining alot that day, but i didn't mind working outside. A Californian (well, sort of) such as my self rarely gets the opportunity to relish in a day of gloom and thunder, so I enjoyed my labors outside. Dougie wanted me to tidy up all 3 trailers from the tours that had just finished. I started with Direct Sales East since that was the easiest. After doing inventory there, I moved on to the Sell and Save trailers which had alot more items in them. I can't believe they were able to fit all their luggage in there.
I was in the middle of figuring out how i was going organize the Sell and Save East's trailer when another IMG LIVE Tour celebrity appeared to help the cause! Jay Couch had been helping IMG Live out with Coke and other random errands in the office that week, so Dougie sent him out to help me too. With Jay there, everything went alot faster. I think the best part of the day though was when Smitty needed us to remove the brake governor boxes for the trailers from each of the vehicles.
It was easy to get the ones from the Expeditions out, but the 15 passenger vans were a completely different beast. First we tried twisting our hands deep inside the heart of the car where the cord was nestled/tangled through, then we decided to sort of 'disect' the car by unclipping the front console area and pulling it to the side. It was CRAZY to see the engine RIGHT THERE! then we figured that the cord twisted even higher up. Luckily Jay knew how to carefully disassemble the plastic that was around the audio/radio area. After he did so, we found the cord just chillin' there connected to the outlet. AFter this little dilemma it was easy to get the black box outta the other vehicle.
When this was all said and done, we still had to run the trailers all over to the warehouse, while getting oil changes and cars cleaned. Jay had to be out at 4 that day, so we were only able to get the car cleaned up...oil changes would have taken too long...
As we were somewhere along packing up the trailer, Dougie told me that my tour had been post-poned a week and that I would be able to fly home to see family for a bit. This was awesome because my sister was about to have her baby and I hadn't seen her pregnant yet, so the timing was too good.
Jay finally left at 4, and my last task of the day was to go down to the warehouse and chain up all the trailers, which I'll tell ya, was not an easy task. Those chains are heavy to wrap around 1, and 2, I thought I'd grabbed enough long chains the first time at Home Depot, but after getting back to the warehouse and realizing I didn't have enough chain, I had to drop work for a second, go back to Home Depot, and get more chains to tie around the trailers. But hey, at least I now know I can chain trailers together!
When i was done, i was going to try to meet up with Jay Finn for dinner, but our timing wasnt working for us that evening. So I just went back to my hotel room and chilled that evening.
The next day I ran errands in the morning, mailing Rod and ARaceli's things to them via UPS and making sure all the locks & keys were together for the right trailer. I also had time to grab some awesome Sushi and Publix. There was someone in the IMG office who had sushi and it tasted pretty good for grocery bought, so since I had no time for Happy Sumo, and still harbored the craving for some spicy tuna, I opted for this. It was good stuff.
Eventually it got around the time to leave and head to the Marta. The hotel called me their regular cab service which turned out to be a Lincoln Towncar...I was not thrilled about this...I think the last time i was in a towncar i was in New York, and probably tipped the guy as poorly as I did this one to the Marta. When I see fancy cars, and no meters telling me how much to pay, and someone just throws a number outta the air, I immediately feel ripped, and don't tip good.
I could have called a regular cab, refusing the towncars' service, but I was running outta time. The whole time though the driver kept on saying I should just take him straight to the airport and not bother with the Marta. I told him i'd take my chances, that i liked the train, and that cab fares are too expense & the Marta is cheap...he still tried, no result though...
After I paid him 18.00 for the ride (seriously, it was like 15mins away) and tipped him 2.00 (to which he said that was cheap..yeah i didn't care) I was off to ride the Marta and get to the airport.
Anyways, gotta jet for now, more tales to tell later!
MB
It was raining alot that day, but i didn't mind working outside. A Californian (well, sort of) such as my self rarely gets the opportunity to relish in a day of gloom and thunder, so I enjoyed my labors outside. Dougie wanted me to tidy up all 3 trailers from the tours that had just finished. I started with Direct Sales East since that was the easiest. After doing inventory there, I moved on to the Sell and Save trailers which had alot more items in them. I can't believe they were able to fit all their luggage in there.
I was in the middle of figuring out how i was going organize the Sell and Save East's trailer when another IMG LIVE Tour celebrity appeared to help the cause! Jay Couch had been helping IMG Live out with Coke and other random errands in the office that week, so Dougie sent him out to help me too. With Jay there, everything went alot faster. I think the best part of the day though was when Smitty needed us to remove the brake governor boxes for the trailers from each of the vehicles.
It was easy to get the ones from the Expeditions out, but the 15 passenger vans were a completely different beast. First we tried twisting our hands deep inside the heart of the car where the cord was nestled/tangled through, then we decided to sort of 'disect' the car by unclipping the front console area and pulling it to the side. It was CRAZY to see the engine RIGHT THERE! then we figured that the cord twisted even higher up. Luckily Jay knew how to carefully disassemble the plastic that was around the audio/radio area. After he did so, we found the cord just chillin' there connected to the outlet. AFter this little dilemma it was easy to get the black box outta the other vehicle.
When this was all said and done, we still had to run the trailers all over to the warehouse, while getting oil changes and cars cleaned. Jay had to be out at 4 that day, so we were only able to get the car cleaned up...oil changes would have taken too long...
As we were somewhere along packing up the trailer, Dougie told me that my tour had been post-poned a week and that I would be able to fly home to see family for a bit. This was awesome because my sister was about to have her baby and I hadn't seen her pregnant yet, so the timing was too good.
Jay finally left at 4, and my last task of the day was to go down to the warehouse and chain up all the trailers, which I'll tell ya, was not an easy task. Those chains are heavy to wrap around 1, and 2, I thought I'd grabbed enough long chains the first time at Home Depot, but after getting back to the warehouse and realizing I didn't have enough chain, I had to drop work for a second, go back to Home Depot, and get more chains to tie around the trailers. But hey, at least I now know I can chain trailers together!
When i was done, i was going to try to meet up with Jay Finn for dinner, but our timing wasnt working for us that evening. So I just went back to my hotel room and chilled that evening.
The next day I ran errands in the morning, mailing Rod and ARaceli's things to them via UPS and making sure all the locks & keys were together for the right trailer. I also had time to grab some awesome Sushi and Publix. There was someone in the IMG office who had sushi and it tasted pretty good for grocery bought, so since I had no time for Happy Sumo, and still harbored the craving for some spicy tuna, I opted for this. It was good stuff.
Eventually it got around the time to leave and head to the Marta. The hotel called me their regular cab service which turned out to be a Lincoln Towncar...I was not thrilled about this...I think the last time i was in a towncar i was in New York, and probably tipped the guy as poorly as I did this one to the Marta. When I see fancy cars, and no meters telling me how much to pay, and someone just throws a number outta the air, I immediately feel ripped, and don't tip good.
I could have called a regular cab, refusing the towncars' service, but I was running outta time. The whole time though the driver kept on saying I should just take him straight to the airport and not bother with the Marta. I told him i'd take my chances, that i liked the train, and that cab fares are too expense & the Marta is cheap...he still tried, no result though...
After I paid him 18.00 for the ride (seriously, it was like 15mins away) and tipped him 2.00 (to which he said that was cheap..yeah i didn't care) I was off to ride the Marta and get to the airport.
Anyways, gotta jet for now, more tales to tell later!
MB
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tour Part Three-Missouri Central
Alright, so after we ventured into Lee's Summit, MO, we settled into our hotel and rested up. It was good to be stationary for a day or so since we'd been roaming the roads of the America for a little while.
The following week and a half continued on as such. There isn't too much fun to be had in the rule areas of Missouri. I believe after our second event in Olivette, MO me and Araceli went to Massage Envy to spoil ourselves from all our hard work. Araceli had a good massage, mine sucked. I don't know why people think that when I tell them they need to put lots of pressure on my massage they always give me a cold fish massage. Oh well....Anyways after that we went to get sushi, but there was no place around the area for such. We settled on store bought sushi (or at least i did) but disappointed still, none the less.
That weekend we stayed in St Louis at the Hampton Inn. I'd been there a year ago, but the Hampton Inn changed it's location and moved closer to the heart of the city. It was super vamped up too which was great. Definately an improvement. Araceli and I walked around the Arch, the parks, we went to the zoo, art & history museum, and even had time to get lost in Forest Park because we forgot where we parked our vehicle. We also went out for sushi with Rod and one of his old tourmates which was fun and to the City Museum! The City Museum is a childrens museum during the day, but is open to everyone at night on the weekends. You can also get alcohol and run around through all the caves and jungle gyms they have set up there. It was the craziest thing and gave me more respect for the that city because we went there. They also had a wedding reception going on there which was pretty cool. I suppose if i lived in St Louis, that would be the location I'd want my wedding to be at :)
The only down side to this whole trip was that our car was broken into. It was annoying and could have been avoided if Hampton Inn's security guard wasn't on the interweb, but alas, that was the case and therefore we got our car broken into. They only stole our GPS and a car charger though, so that was good it wasn't something more valuable since all of us left at least one bag in the car.
The morning after this we all packed up and left for our last event in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was a cute little place, and the people there were super nice. I was happy it was our last stop, and extremely easy. The day was a little long, but went by soon enough. After the event Araceli and I said goodbye to Rod, who'd rented a car earlier that day so he could just drive home to Ohio after the gig. it was great having Rod on tour, he was a super helpful tourmate, hopefully I'll work with him again in the future. Araceli and I journeyed on to Norcross, GA and got in around 2am the next morning. The rooms we booked were awesome though, had nice little kitchens, a seperate bedroom, and a living room area. it was wonderful to see that after a long trip :)
The next day I went to the office and started unloading the my truck and the warehouse and doing the regular inventory. Then I went over to IMG Live to get another set of keys to Juan's trailer to do the same. As I was waiting for Dougie to finish up a meeting, I heard some familiar voices. The door soon opened and after Josh Pate low-fived me, out came Charlie and Adrian with hi-five's of their own! It was good seeing the two of them again, and most unexpected as their tour finished a week earlier. They however were out on another extension of their own. After catching up on how each other's tour went, and getting a few things out of trailers, I took Juan's trailer to the warehouse and Dougie drove Charlie and Adrian out to the airport for their flight to colorado for work.
I then went back to hang with Araceli for a bit, her and i scheduled another massage together and were planning on going to MAC again to get another good ole' discount on products. The girl at MAC wasn't as cool as the first one we went to in Chicago, but still fairly informed. AFter the massage, which was sooo freakin good! we went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.
In the morning, we nearly missed Araceli's flight because we both slept in, then after dropping her off, she realized her purse was still in the car! however all thoughts of missing the plane were averted and she got home safely.
alright, have to take a break writing now. I'll continue onward in a bit for a little taste of what I've been doing since then.
later
The following week and a half continued on as such. There isn't too much fun to be had in the rule areas of Missouri. I believe after our second event in Olivette, MO me and Araceli went to Massage Envy to spoil ourselves from all our hard work. Araceli had a good massage, mine sucked. I don't know why people think that when I tell them they need to put lots of pressure on my massage they always give me a cold fish massage. Oh well....Anyways after that we went to get sushi, but there was no place around the area for such. We settled on store bought sushi (or at least i did) but disappointed still, none the less.
That weekend we stayed in St Louis at the Hampton Inn. I'd been there a year ago, but the Hampton Inn changed it's location and moved closer to the heart of the city. It was super vamped up too which was great. Definately an improvement. Araceli and I walked around the Arch, the parks, we went to the zoo, art & history museum, and even had time to get lost in Forest Park because we forgot where we parked our vehicle. We also went out for sushi with Rod and one of his old tourmates which was fun and to the City Museum! The City Museum is a childrens museum during the day, but is open to everyone at night on the weekends. You can also get alcohol and run around through all the caves and jungle gyms they have set up there. It was the craziest thing and gave me more respect for the that city because we went there. They also had a wedding reception going on there which was pretty cool. I suppose if i lived in St Louis, that would be the location I'd want my wedding to be at :)
The only down side to this whole trip was that our car was broken into. It was annoying and could have been avoided if Hampton Inn's security guard wasn't on the interweb, but alas, that was the case and therefore we got our car broken into. They only stole our GPS and a car charger though, so that was good it wasn't something more valuable since all of us left at least one bag in the car.
The morning after this we all packed up and left for our last event in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was a cute little place, and the people there were super nice. I was happy it was our last stop, and extremely easy. The day was a little long, but went by soon enough. After the event Araceli and I said goodbye to Rod, who'd rented a car earlier that day so he could just drive home to Ohio after the gig. it was great having Rod on tour, he was a super helpful tourmate, hopefully I'll work with him again in the future. Araceli and I journeyed on to Norcross, GA and got in around 2am the next morning. The rooms we booked were awesome though, had nice little kitchens, a seperate bedroom, and a living room area. it was wonderful to see that after a long trip :)
The next day I went to the office and started unloading the my truck and the warehouse and doing the regular inventory. Then I went over to IMG Live to get another set of keys to Juan's trailer to do the same. As I was waiting for Dougie to finish up a meeting, I heard some familiar voices. The door soon opened and after Josh Pate low-fived me, out came Charlie and Adrian with hi-five's of their own! It was good seeing the two of them again, and most unexpected as their tour finished a week earlier. They however were out on another extension of their own. After catching up on how each other's tour went, and getting a few things out of trailers, I took Juan's trailer to the warehouse and Dougie drove Charlie and Adrian out to the airport for their flight to colorado for work.
I then went back to hang with Araceli for a bit, her and i scheduled another massage together and were planning on going to MAC again to get another good ole' discount on products. The girl at MAC wasn't as cool as the first one we went to in Chicago, but still fairly informed. AFter the massage, which was sooo freakin good! we went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.
In the morning, we nearly missed Araceli's flight because we both slept in, then after dropping her off, she realized her purse was still in the car! however all thoughts of missing the plane were averted and she got home safely.
alright, have to take a break writing now. I'll continue onward in a bit for a little taste of what I've been doing since then.
later
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