Big Sandy joined forces with Los Straitjackets last week at the Continental Club.
Los Straitjackets did their usual thing with Big Sandy joining them a few times during the night to sing some songs.
There’s just something compelling about an instrumental band that plays surf music while wearing Mexican wrestling masks.
Last night, in the back room of the Continental Club, I was asked by Trisha to take a picture or her, her sister Becky and David Beebe. I pulled out the camera and popped the flash and shot one shot. I forgot I had it in program mode and set to black and white.
Here is the result:
I like it.
The serious look on the face of The Colonel (David Beebe) is contrasted by the playful smiles of The Dancing Sisters and the whole picture is sent into a bit of a tailspin by the perpendicular “Where’s Waldo” cameo appearance of Conn in the lower right corner.
More pictures of the evening’s festivities coming soon.
Last day here so I had to get some shots of the ducks lounging in the lobby fountain.
Shot with the 1.4 50mm
Peabody Duck Quackros!
These corporates sales events are chock-a-block full of information during the day and I am sure the sales staff is learning a lot. The night time is not so much about the learning as it is cutting loose a little during a work week.
Tonight was given over to letting the directors take their teams out for a big posh dinner. Since I am here in support of the event I had my choice of which team event I wanted to attend. I chose to go with the services group which contains the highest percentage of our Irish employees, most of whom are officed overseas with the exception of Owen (pictured to the right) who has moved over here. You might recall me mentioning him before.
The services team was having their dinner at Tommy Bahama’s Tropical Cafe. Overall it was a quiet affair with no one getting out of hand. After the meal some comments were made about how my blog featured a relative stranger and some lizards but failed to mention any of my co-workers. The comments were coming from one the Irish contingent who was also working in cahoots with Owen, trying to convince me to go to the bar and “have a few.” I knew this was a recipe for absolute disaster as I have to be up at 6:00 am to work the event.
I assume many of them are, even now, getting their groove on at some local drinking establishment. When they find their way back to the hotel and eventually cruise by this site I wanted to make sure there was something for them. I now present The Irish Contingent:
The photograph, not surprisingly, was taken at the hotel bar a few nights ago. They’re all stand up blokes (except for Sinead who is obviously not a bloke and should not be held responsible for the company she has to keep).
Part of me sort of regrets retiring early and missing out on the evening’s shenanigans, but it’s a small and very tired part that is about to go to sleep.
There have been some requests *cough*cynthia*cough* for more duck parade photos.
Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to sneak away and get a few more.
In the meantime, FLORIDA LIZARD MACROS!
The lizards here are quite cool. Very shy, though. I shot this with the 300mm fully extended.
The hotel they have us shacked up in is for this event is the Peabody Orlando.
It’s pretty posh, but not exquisite or anything. Convention rates put the rooms at $200 a night (company is paying) so I am sure they’re more expensive for the average visitor.
The “mascot” of this hotel is the Peabody Duck and since opening its doors on November 1, 1986, The Peabody Orlando has continued, in unbroken sequence, the traditional March of The Peabody Ducks which began at its sister property, The Peabody Memphis, many, many years ago.
Each morning, promptly at 11 a.m. the ducks ride in a special elevator that descends from their $100,000 penthouse Royal Duck Palace.
When the elevator doors open, The Peabody Ducks, accompanied by their crimson-and-gold-braid-jacketed Duck Masterâ„¢, take up their positions on a plush red carpet and begin The March of The Peabody Orlando Ducks to the strident tones of John Philip Souza’s King Cotton March.
I have been dispatched to Orlando, FL to support the companies annual sales rally. It the one time each year all of our sales critters are brought together to be educated and hyped on the corporate sales strategy.
Overall, it’s not a bad gig for me. Good food and a luxury hotel combined with an endless stream of sale people who each owe me a drink, or WILL owe me a drink so let’s just get it out of the way thankyouverymuch.
My Internet friend Suzanne lives out on the coast in nearby Melbourne. She and her husband recently moved there from Lansing, Michigan. Since I was in the neighborhood I dropped her a line and we arranged to meet up for lunch at a pretty cool tiki bar and grill called Bonefish Willies. Great place!
From there went by her art gallery and checked out some of her painting and then moved on to a local park where you can go out on this small pier and actually pet a manatee. When we arrived there were around 6 or 7 of these odd creatures milling about.
Apparently they’re quite common around these parts. Regardless, I was very excited to see them for the first time and to actually get to pet one on his grizzly little manatee head.
Thanks Suzanne for showing me a little slice of life in Florida I would not have otherwise seen on this business trip!
I was pretty beat after I got back to the hotel but I snapped this from my hotel room window before crawling into bed and getting some sleep.
