January and February Update
January was so busy for me…four trips. I’ve been on one trip this month, but I’ve spent a LOT of time at our venues that are currently running in Atlanta. I haven’t had much time to update my blog. Sorry.
The last time I updated was January 3. I left for Nashville TN on January 4. My boss and I drove there in Tink, my new Hummer. It is such a comfortable vehicle. It got 18 MPG going there and back. Not too bad for a Hummer, I guess. We had to take a physical inventory of all of our retail merchandise currently warehoused there. We were there for three days and stayed at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. It was really nice: 3.5 star for $55/night. One more recommendation: Pancake Pantry near Vanderbilt. OH MY GAWD!
We drove back to Atlanta on January 6 and I had to leave for San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 8. I had to go there to do a site evaluation and also deal with some managerial issues we were having. The trip was great, and just like the first time I was there, the weather was consistently in the 80’s and sunny. Sorry I don’t have any pictures. When I go to San Juan, I don’t rent a car, so the only pictures I could snap would be from a speeding taxi…zipping in and out of San Juan traffic while I sit in the back praying that I arrive alive. My San Juan recommendations: (1) Sheraton Old San Juan on Brumbaugh Street in Old San Juan. It’s right across the street from the cruiseship docks and houses a casino for all you gamblers, and (2) The Chicago Burger Company. YUM. I flew back home on January 11 and the Atlanta temperatures were in the teens, which was a far cry from the 80’s I had just experienced.
We closed our Bodies exhibition in Honolulu on January 18, so on January 17, me and Jimmy headed for Oahu. I typically only go to a closing for 4 days, but my boss let me take a few extra days for a vacation, so we enjoyed paradise for eight days. We arrived in Honolulu late on Saturday, January 17. By the time we got a car and checked in the hotel, it was almost midnight. On Sunday the 18th, I went to the venue. Since it was the last day of the exhibition, and my management staff there had done most of the packing and move preparation, there wasn’t much for me to do. Since we had rented a convertible, we decided to get in it and just drive around the island.
We headed East on H-1 and our first stop was a park at the North end of Waikiki Beach:
We continued to head East and happened across [what we now know] was Diamond Head Beach:
We continued East, which eventually headed North and then West (since we were driving around an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We made a turn to the South and ended up at Pearl Harbor:
I don’t know how we did it, but after Pearl Harbor, we ended up at the Dole Plantation:
We both thought pineapples grew on tall trees, like coconuts, but they actually grow on small bushes about 2′ tall.
We rode the train around the plantation, watched a demonstration on how to cut a pineapple, and ate some pineapple ice cream. YUMMY!
After the Dole Plantation, we went to the North Shore and took some awesome wave pictures! What a beautiful area of Oahu:
On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I worked at the venue while Jimmy walked around the Waikiki area of Honolulu. and hung out at the hotel pool. My crew finally moved the last fixture out of the exhibition space and cleaned it up…leaving Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to just me and Jimmy. We checked out of the hotel Saturday morning, the 24th. Our flight wasn’t until 11pm, and we bought tickets to a whale watching cruise, so we hopped in the convertible and drove to Pier 34.
Sidebar: The Captain of the cruiseship was Hottie McHot!
We went out into the Pacific Ocean and saw SEVERAL whales. I took almost 200 pictures, trying to catch a whale, but by the time I got the pictures snapped, they were gone. In this pic, you can see the splash after one went back into the water:
After the cruise, we wanted to see Diamond Head before heading to the airport. I also had to get some sand for a good friend who collects it (hey Jessica), so we headed to the Diamond Head Beach.
Me stealing sand:
…and watching a sunset from Waikiki…all in one evening:
As I mentioned before, our flight left Honolulu around 11pm, heading for Los Angeles. From LAX, Jimmy set out for home in Atlanta and I headed to Indianapolis for that venue’s closing on January 25. Temperatures in Hawaii were consistently in the 80’s. When I arrived in Indianapolis one day later, the temperature was 8 degrees.
As usual, I was dressed in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. In fact, the attire in the picture above of me getting Jessica’s sand is the same attire I was wearing when I stepped off the plane in Indianapolis. The following Tuesday, I believe that would have been January 27, it snowed 12″ overnight:
Needless to say, I was happy to leave Indianapolis and head for home on Thursday, January 29. Two days later, on Saturday, I found out I was being sent to San Juan again in a couple days. On Monday, February 2, I headed back to San Juan, Puerto Rico. This time, a management “change” had to happen.
While I sat in the ATL airport awaiting my departure to San Juan, I noticed ex-Atlanta Braves catcher, Javy Lopez, waiting to board my flight. When I boarded the plane, he was already seated in Business Class, so I asked him for a picture for my son. LOL…yeah, right, for my son:
When I got to San Juan, I made the management “change”, if you know what I mean, and welcomed the new management with a lunch at Senor Frogs:
I left San Juan on Febuary 4 and headed back home. Whew! What a busy beginning to 2009!
