A brief recap and a respite-

So... We all know that Yours Truly has been dragging hapless Help Desk minions around the country, installing doo-dads and knick-knacks in various and sundry arenas about the US of A and Can-a-Da.

It started in February- Las Vegas to Anaheim, Nashville, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Calgary, Detroit, Dallas, San Jose, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Minnesota, New York and then home...
Then there was that little bump in the road called The Masters, 8 days of fun and Cazadores tequila in Augusta, then I was off again- Jax to Dallas, Anaheim, San Jose, Vancouver, Detroit, New York (Islanders), then back to Anaheim, then to Detroit, then Anaheim one last time.
And then it was the NBA Finals... San Antonio for a week, then Cleveland (Ghod help me).

After that schedule, is it any wonder I went to hide on Loggerhead Key for a month?
Cubans and Turtles and Crabs- Oh My!

And a day or two after I left Loggerhead I was back in the saddle.

So... I went to:
Boston, where JR *thought* he knew what he was doing.
Philly, where Hector & I came, saw, and kicked ass. And ate Crabcakes.
Denver, where Sean and JR danced a two-step in a Mexican Restaurant.
Phoenix, which is a 14 hour drive from Denver, and was 101 degrees (at night).
Montreal, where Luc dangled Hot Boy in front of the NHL office girls like a carrot.
Edmonton, who screwed the pooch.
Calgary, who was ready to go...big kudos to the IT boys there.
and
St Louis, which has been the best prepared so far. Even bigger kudos to them!

So we came home to rest over the holiday weekend.

Alas, there is no rest for the wicked.

While I was home, the NHL Boys were in my town, Jacksonville Beach, for a training session.
I got off the plane at 4:30pm, and by 6:00 I was up to my elbows in the open bar at the hotel... There was some tequila, there was much Captain...

In all fairness, I like to bring up the end of the line when eating with coworkers and clients. I like to give them first shot at the victuals... A big mistake with this crowd.
By the time Ned and I got to the head of the chow line all the food was gone.
(Those boys were hongry! The hit the chafing dishes with the gusto of a hound dog. You'd think they'd never seen meat before.)

They did replenish the feed trough before things got out of hand...

Oh, there was more drinking...

There was some dancing, and some fighting.

Someone found a deck or two of cards and a game of Asshole started...
You remember Asshole...
From the January post Math Help and Drinking Games.

Well...

It was not my best night...
Once again, I was drinking straight rum, while everyone else was drinking beer.
(Not very smart)


Obscene finger gestures for the guys trying to drape me with a shroud

And later after the game had deteriorated (and I had fallen over backward with a crash that set off seismographs around the Southeast United States) and broken up...
The debts were paid, the dead counted... and a number of us (number unknown- my ability to count was temporarily impaired) wound up in the ocean...

Now.. If you were to ask me: "Hey, Big Guy- Is it safe to swim in the ocean off Jax Beach after, oh, say, 1:00AM?" I would tell you not only 'NO' but 'HELL NO!'.

And what were we doing?
Swimming 50 yards offshore.
Inebriated.
In the dark.
For an extended period.

I think we were in the water for a good 30 to 45 minutes.

Long enough for me to sober up quite a bit... I think.

Well... We exited the water.
I had gone in wearing my jeans and a t-shirt.
At one point I was wearing my shirt as a turban on my head, presumably to protect me from jellyfish...or maybe KY Jellyfish. I don't recall right now.
I lost the t-shirt- I still had my jeans... I had found it cumbersome to swim with them on, so I removed them and slung them over my shoulder... Fortunately I was still in possession of them when I exited the water.
I did lose my sunglasses in addition to the shirt.
I did have enough presence of mind to leave my car keys, wallet and my Blackberry on the beach when we took the dip, so no loss there.

We went back up to the hotel... I strolled through the lobby of the Comfort Inn at 2:30 in the morning, Hawaiian shirt over one shoulder, my pants over the other shoulder, clad only in my underwear and flip flops.

One of the SSMs (Scoring System Managers) from the NHL had a camera.


Going back to the hotel


Heading out the front door

Look- If I can post shots of JR and Hot Boy and Ned and Ben and Pete and everyone else, you know I can poke a little fun at myself... At least I wasn't wearing stained tighty-whiteys, like someone else I know...


JR, Chuck and DanO.

Well...
I'm off again.

Nashville, LA, San Jose (again), Edmonton (again), Calgary (again), New York (again), Minnesota (again), and Atlanta (again)... Then off to London.

This should just about cover it. For this month.

TBG out-