Working Hard

I don't know how I'm ever going to catch up on all my blog stories if I keep skipping out of town for days on end. No sooner did I get back from New Jersey, but I had to take off for scenic downtown Hartford. Of course it didn't much matter how scenic Hartford is or isn't. From Tuesday afternoon until Saturday morning I only spent approximately 10 cumulative minutes outside the walls of the Marriott. It was just a long grueling week . . .

The days were spent in actual business meetings and those flew by. We had over 150 resellers from all over the world in attendance and, of course, they have all sorts of agendas that include talking to the corporate staff. You truly don't get a moment of free time. Even after the business meetings, you never really stop working. It's all work talk, all the time. Of course, the environment for these talks did get a little more interesting. And Karlo might have gotten a little carried away with the constant talking to everyone . . .

 

I got to spend a little time with my buddies from North Carolina. After all, it's been over 3 weeks since we saw each other last and we had a lot of catching up to do. They are trying hard to get me to "embrace my inner redneck" and they were responsible for the Bourbon drinks I was consuming. uuugh.

 

OK, maybe we did get a little break from all the "work." Karlo tried his hand at some downhill skiing.

 

And we even got some swing dancing in.

 

I know it's starting to look like one big party, but some of us actually did some real work . . .

That was my buddy Robin who used to be my neighbor and my co-worker before she broke our hearts and moved away. How cool was it that she got to 'officially' attend the meeting?

After the second night's event (where Robin was busy working while the corporate staff was busy eating and drinking) we attended some after hour parties in the hospitality suites of the hotel. Flash back to college. You walk into the hotel room and are greeting with this:

It was a self-service bar, but good luck if you actually had to 'use' the bathroom . . .

 The best party was the one hosted by the Candians. They always know how to have a good time. I'm just glad I was the one taking the photos ;-)

It started to get harder and harder to get out of bed in the mornings. I think I'm out of practice for these types of events. Our last night was coined the "Fun Night" and it entailed a lot of this:

As you can see it was an exhausting week of work!