alright, so now that you've read about the physical accommodations of my trip-- let me tell you about the fun that me and my cohorts had in colorado springs. i had heard that these kids knew how to party but i didn't really have any idea about it. now, remember, this was a national sales meeting so we had folks from new york, chicago, denver, and los angeles all stuck in colorado springs for training and FUN.

i don't know about the people that you guys work with but i almost seemed like hanging out with this crew took me back in time-- back to college where every night was a big fraternity party. (and i'm not talking an APO party either). after the first night of cocktails, dinner and a ceremonial roast, where every member of the sales team "roasted" their secret roast partner, we hit an old-time bar within the broadmoor. i'm not sure who usually frequents this establishment but it was pretty clear when we arrived that the old-timers read: rednecks who were in the bar would be no competition to us.

the unique thing about this bar was that it wasn't your ordinary dispensary of libations-- it was an ragtime piano bar. what did this mean? essentially we were in an old-school karoake bar with lyric books and a piano man playing tunes. our group, loosening up by the minute, jumped into various songs ranging from new york, new york to brown eyed girl to my personal favorite, baby got back. it got so ugly at one point that two senior sales directors started dancing as if they were in "A Chorus Line" with full on kicking.

oh... for your information-- the name of the bar was the golden bee and the waitresses have little bee stickers that they toss onto patrons. i probably didn't have to explain this but lots of bees ended up being placed on strategic parts of various bods.

before you knew it, the piano guy had abandoned his station and i was helping belt out bon jovi lyrics. (for some reason, i don't think i'm going to have a difficult time fitting in with this crowd). after shutting down the joint, we piled into the shuttle bus and safely returned to the hotel. my damage for the evening? 1 jack/coke and beer during cocktails. 1 beer and 2 glasses of wine at dinner. 3 beers at the ragtime bar. and this was only day 1.

after getting to bed at about 2:30 i was hating life when i had to be up for a 7:30 meeting. (this is why i was complaining). i'm going to jump to the fun stuff because the work stuff was pretty much mundane training information that you don't want to read about. we finished up our meetings at about 6 o'clock and we were giving a homework project that would have to be presented the next morning at 7:30-- no problem, right? well, it was a slight problem because we still had a couple of things on our agenda-- cocktails, a dinner show and sleep-- if that one could be fit in!

the dinner theater was a total disaster. again, another event held within the confines of the broadmoor, the winter holiday show seemed to have the makings of a fun time. maybe some dancers, maybe some caroling... the ticket was $50 so it had to be good, right? the performance was the most godawful thing that i have ever had the unfortunate luck to sit though. we're talking worse than a 2 hour session with a dentist. completely and utterly brutal. essentially what it was was this-- a collection of the whitest people on the fast of the earth but together together in a corny skit straight out of the '50's with christmas music and themes mixed throughout.

ok, so i admit it-- maybe this show wasn't made for our group of multicultural, internationally trained professional staff. maybe it didn't seem completely odd to have a person in a snowman's outfit dancing on stage during "Frosty the Snowman." all i know is that no one in the audience was clapping loudly during any part of the presentation. personally, i took great joy in the continued reaction of my coworkers, one of whom walked out halfway though and another pair who simply tried to sarcastically enjoy the show.

me? i kept pouring the wine and trading comments with the senior vice president of the group. i think it was safe to say that he was mortified by the performance as well-- here's hoping that we got a chance to bond that evening! =p

anyways, after the show was over we all shared lots of good laughs about how brutal it was and we adjourned to a more social setting-- the bar adjacent our hotel, named Stars! now this place seemed to be pretty happening when we got in it with its swanky tile floors and jazz band in the corner. as we started to settle in though we noticed something a bit peculiar-- the high number of bluehairs who were frequenting the place.

our group started to get pretty active on the dance floor with various members of our team strutting their skills to various swing tunes. we were all doing just fine with the dancing and our drinks until this other bar guest (read old ass geezer invited one of the admins to dance). now this was a classic moment... a guy who was about 85 dancing with a woman no older than 40. what a hoot. there was another guy who entered the bar with a mobile respirator until-- i wish i was joking about that. although we had a couple of girls who wanted to dance with him, we figured we didn't have the insurance for such an incident and left well enough alone.

anyways, the international channel team was in full force, shaking tail feathers, drinking cosmos and smoking stogies... i'm not sure you can have much more fun than that and still remain on the good side of the law. i turned in for the night relatively early-- about 1 in the morning because i still had to complete my homework-- and pack up my room, and get online for the first time in 3 days. my damage for the evening? 1 pre-dinner jack/coke, 3+ glasses of wine during the dinner theater, 2 cosmos and a jack/coke during dancing. oh, i don't think my liver could take much more of this.