New Years Eve Party

January 1, 2008 · Filed Under Partying · Comments 

It’s been a long standing tradition that on New Years Eve, rather than go out and brave the wild and crazy parties, instead we invite over some friends for some games. This year was no exception.

Yesterday started with me returning to work after 9 days off. It ended up being a half-day and we were let go at 11 AM. That gave me enough time to deal with approximately 1000 emails I had received over the past week. The funny part was, out of all of them, there were less than 10 that I actually had to reply to or deal with in some way. After work a small group of us went over to Buffalo Wild Wings for some lunch and a few beers.

We did a little bit of shopping for the party and then came home to straighten up the house. I then took a 2 hour nap in preparation for staying up late. I don’t know if there is anything I enjoy more than a nice mid-afternoon nap.

People started showing up shortly after 7:00. We had some snacks and then I made a batch of Strawberry Margaritas. I haven’t made them in quite a while, but I sure do enjoy them! I normally add a little bit of sugar, but forgot in the first batch. I was reminded of that fact and fixed the situation for batch #2.

When Sarah showed up, she had brought a bottle of Jager and also some banana flavoredMalibu rum, which I had never had before. She mixed a drink for Chris with some rum and OJ. Wow was that good! I’m talking DANGEROUS good. Tastes like candy, but puts you on your butt after you realize you’ve had 3 glasses.

Another drink that I tried last night for the first time was Tequiza. It’s beer made with blue agave. It has a hint of lime flavor as well. I may just have to pick up some of those for the next poker night. It was really good!

The group had a good time playing Rock Band. We all took turns on drums, guitar, bass and vocals. Rock Band is the ultimate party game. Several times we had 4 players playing and a group of people watching and singing along in the background. They even let me butcher a few songs on vocals. I may not be able to sing, but I was still able to get a 98% score singing Radiohead’s Creep. I was pretty stoked on that!

We also played a game called Taboo. I found out something quite interesting about that game. I am way better at playing that game after having a few drinks. I have played the game before and have NEVER done so well.

Thanks to those of you who came over to share in the fun of counting down the end of 2007! I had a great time. I look forward to many more opportunities to get together with you all again in 2008!!

Before I go, here’s a video of Paxton on Guitar, Me on Drums, Craig on Bass and Ashley & Marcia on Vocals playing the Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I go. Enjoy

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Cheers.

Tags: , ,

Holiday Party Hangover

December 16, 2007 · Filed Under Partying · Comments 

Last night was our company holiday party. 10 years ago the Christmas party was Me, the boss and our wives having dinner at TGI Fridays. Our party is now held at Mandalay Bay, has over 500 guests and requires months of planning. I’d say we’ve come a long way.

We started out having a few cocktails and then everybody was called to their seats for dinner. Before dinner was served they showed a pretty cool presentation of some accomplishments the company has had this year. Our CEO and President then took turns congratulating different teams and departments for some more specific projects and accomplishments.

The dinner was quite tasty. It was the first time I had ever had lobster bisque. It was excellent. I’m always amazed at how dinner can be served for over 500 guests and the food comes out hot and doesn’t taste like cardboard. I tip my hat to the people who make that happen.

After dinner they had some drawings for gift cards and an iPod Nano. Then a live band took the stage. They are apparently a lounge act from Caeser’s Palace. Taking nothing away from them as a band, I think it would have been better to have a DJ instead. We tried to tip the band $15 to play some Twisted Sister. They handed us our money back.

We had some more cocktails and then had more cocktails. After that, I think we may have had a couple more cocktails. As the party started to thin out, we headed up to a suite where about 20 of us hung out and had some more cocktails and a few shots of tequila.

Around 1 AM we left the party and stopped by the Forty Deuce night club to try and find some more folks from work who were hosting a get together. There was a line to get in, but I was able to talk my way past the line. I was pretty happy with myself about that. Unfortunately, once we got inside, the place was JAM PACKED and we weren’t able to find who we were looking for. We decided to call it a night and we headed back to our hotel room. I passed out almost instantly.

We woke up this morning around 8:30. I had a pounding headache and my stomach was doing cartwheels. I was in that weird spot where I thought I would feel better if I threw up. Instead we got dressed and headed home. I had a little bit to eat and took some Advil. thankfully, I started feeling better right away.

I spent some time going through all the photos I took at the party. You can see most of them on Flickr.

I had a great time at the party. I don’t even mind the hangover.

John & Chris Chris & Sarah Nita & John John Joe, John & James Sean, Chris & Lisa

Tags: , ,

How NOT to tie a bow tie

December 14, 2007 · Filed Under Ranting · Comments 

Tomorrow night is my company’s holiday party at Mandalay Bay on the Las Vegas Strip. I plan on wearing my tuxedo, but wanted to jazz it up a bit for the party. We went to the store to look for either a red tie, vest or shirt. What I found was a candy-cane striped bow tie. So the outfit would have been: black shoes, black pants, black shirt, black vest and a candy-cane striped bow tie. Perfect! One minor detail. I don’t know how to tie a bow tie. We asked every sales person in Dillards if they could show me how. Not a single one of them knew how. “That’s OK”, I said, “I’ve got access to the internet.”

An hour or so and a great deal of frustration later, we went back to the mall. I returned the bow tie and bought an all red standard tie. One day I will learn how to tie a bow tie. This will not be that day.

If you need to learn how to tie a bow tie, this video appears to do a good job of showing how it’s done. I have no excuse on why I wasn’t able to learn how.

Tags: ,