Oh my here we go

"Another loose cannon gone bi-poloar". I have this song stuck in my head....

The count down begins. I'm off all next week for my big event. We have room for 210 participants and as of right now, we're at 205ish. I'm excited, relieved, terrified all at the same time. This community is pretty small and word travels fast if I do a shitty job. No pressure.

I had envisioned this going one of 2 ways. Because we're a newish venue and therefore an "unknown". people could have taken a "wait and see" stance. See how the first year goes and jump on board for the next. Or people would turn out in force. Looks like it's the latter.

Things will probably start off relatively slow. I'm running all around the State Saturday gathering things. Sunday we start assembling the first of 9 "stages". By this time next week though, I should be a complete wreck, running around with hair on fire, in dire need of valium and vodka. Sooo I've got that going for me :) Oh yeah... maybe I'll get to participate and MAYBE I'll have my head on enough to do ok.

Elsewhere in Pluff land, it's hard hard HARD to stay away from Stacy. I'm trying. She isn't making it easy. After our lunch and subsequent striking off the list, she sent me a txt inviting me out for a beer and a bite over the weekend.

The old Pluff would have come up with some excuse. And I have plenty. "Honey I need to run to X to pick up something, then I need to swing by Y's house to go over event stuff" freeing me up for hours of mischief. But I stood my ground and said I was slammed and couldn't. In my world chalk up a win.

I haven't txt'd or IM'd etc. since. Then yesterday I get a txt tugging at my nice guy string (no not THAT string pervs). She said she was going to have minor surgery and was scared and needed "support". I'm thinking maybe she didn't realize who she sent it to. I mean, that's a little forward for someone I barely know. Then again, she's new in town. Doesn't have a lot of friends.

I tried to stay neutral and said "I hope all is well. I'll be thinking about you and a speedy recovery".

Maybe I should've ignored her. But I'm going to call that a win for not offering to hold her hand, perhaps give her drugs (maybe with an alcohol chaser)... kidding kidding.. I do have some boundaries.

It IS tough tho... she is stupid hot. Fortunately, between my event, vendor visits, anniversary, after hour planned downtimes etc. I'm slammed for the next 3 weeks. I have great reasons to blow her off.

Aight.. ramble off.. time to git 'er done. Talk to everyone soon.

Happy Easter!

"He is risen" has an entirely different meaning in my world.

I'm so gonna burn. Happy Easter!

Dude! My sock is like... on the door knob!

Establishments need some kind of clever sign to let people know they are a gay bar. Or... I need to learn whatever that sign is. Not that I have a problem with being in one. But it's kinda like getting in line for a roller coaster only to find out you're actually in the line for the carousel.

I went to a new sushi "lounge" last night for my final night of bachelordom. I really just wanted sushi. It was a very trendy kind of place. The bar was made of this luminescent faux marble with lighting inside making it glow (as I write this, that's probably clue number 1).

There were 2 hot blonde nurses sitting at one end of the bar. It looked promising. The bartender was a blonde version of Wanda Sikes (perhaps clue #2??).

I ordered a Sapporo and massive amounts of sushi. Then the first "dude" walked in. He sat a few chairs down from me. Had a college, getting away with a fake id, kinda vibe to him. Maybe tried to be too hip and too cool. He was a punk but at this point my gaydar was all clear.

Then a parade of people came in. First there was a guy in his 50s sporting a blonde hipster meets Charlie Sheen look. He reminded me of a blonde Greg Proops from the Drew Carey improv show. Then college dude was joined by a clearly metro buddy. Lastly, a couple sat next to me. The guy had bathed in cologne (the smell was really familiar, like something from high school but I can't quite put my finger on the name). I was close enough to catch tidbits of their conversation. Clearly this was a co-worker/friend/platonic relationship.

The girl ordered some custom dish not on the menu. It was evidently pretty spicy. The bartender was really interested in whatever the concoction was. Some kind of seaweed salad with spicy tuna somethingerother. She offered a bite to the bartender. She accepted. Then she looked at the guy and said "You really should try that". He said something about sensitive stomach. She replied "You need to put your big boy panties on". He shot back with "Big GIRL panties".

Captain we have a contact. About that time 5 or 6 really smoking hot chicks walked in and sidled up to the college dude and his metro buddy. As I glanced around the room I noticed another group of guys sitting in a booth. They were relatively young, at first glance just a few roomates out for dinner. One was sporting the off kilter trucker hat and plaid shirt. But there was the effeminate laugh and hand on the friend's arm.

The light bulb was going from a dim faux candle flicker to a 100 watt eye searing "oh yeah!", captain we have multiple contacts, the college dudes and girls are all a bunch of chicks having dinner, big girl panties couple, middle age hipster, holy shit I'm in a gay bar!

Not that I have a problem with that. But it's just my fucking luck, the last night of my bachelor weekend and where do I end up??? Yeah do I know how to party or what??!

Okay then...

STACY

WOW... we went to lunch. We talked a lot. The basic gist is a) she has a live-in boyfriend b) she is evidently a free spirit and perhaps has an "open" relationship whether the BF wants one or not c) someone other than me propositioned her in WI (no it wasn't me.. never had a chance because of the cock blocker.. wasn't him either).. not sure if she took accepted or not d) she is being run out of here e) perhaps there's merit, perhaps not. It felt to me as if she were looking for an ally.

Points a through e smack of bad kitty/Sandy/any other woman in my life the last 2 years. So I'm back to it's best not to shit where you eat. NOTHING good can come from it AT ALL.

Well well...

I got and IM from Stacy. She wants to get together "like Wisconsin". Hmmm ;)

Springin

The count down is over. The girls are packed. By the time I get home they should be away.

I shouldn't be so excited. But honestly, I really enjoy having some alone time. Sure it would be great if I could manage a little mischief. But mostly, I'm going to enjoy the quiet silence. The freedom to not have to check in with someone, watch how I behave around the little impressionable one, or even not wearing clothes ;)

Things are starting to fall into place with my event. I got word last night we are only about 20 people short of sold out. Lori has been out of town running another event. She believes she has 10ish applications sitting at her house that is not in her count right now. I finished building most everything I needed to build over the weekend. I have 1 small project next weekend. But things are starting to fall into place.

Soooo... back to the important stuff... I need a beer, a samich, and a hottie STAT!

Bachin' it

Looks like I will be a bachelor next week. Mrs and C are going to a beach resort for spring break. Sadly, I'm on-call and have a billion things going on so I won't be going.

I could've made arrangements to be able to go. But it's all about choices. My event is looming in just a few weeks. It would not be a good idea to take a week off for spring break followed by another a couple of weeks later. And, aside from it being spring break, my on-call schedule is falling at a perfect time. My 10th Anniversary with Mrs is the weekend following my event. If I trade with anyone it will end up during one of these times. So I have to suck it up, stay at home and do my duty to work.

But I'll have a WHOLE WEEK alone.. by myself. I was hoping to be able to work on some mischief with the girl I met on my trip. I'll call her Stacy. I certainly thought the vibe was there for sure.

When I got back I "friended" a few of the people I met on the trip including Stacy. We work in wildly different parts of the company. While we will be on the same project. Our roles will not really ever cross. Facebook seemed to be one of those non-committal ice breakers.

The other people I met responded immediately. It took several days for Stacy to respond. I didn't really think about it. Some people only check every once in a while. Of course once she did, I casually checked out her profile. Nothing. No posts. No friend lists. Just a couple of generic pictures. So I thought Ok, clearly she doesn't "do" facebook. But then I noticed my suggested friend list had a bunch of people pop up with 1 friend in common. So I clicked one just to see. The "common" friend is Stacy.

So clearly she uses facebook. At least enough to have a bunch of friends. She set her security such that I have almost zero access to her profile. So does that mean she is steering clear of me specifically? Or is it a general security thing?

I get limiting access. I have my own account set up to allow just the basic information and posts to all but my closest friends. I don't publish my address or phone. Not even my family relationships. You can see pictures and videos. I don't post anything I wouldn't want anyone to know like, "I'm out of town so feel free to rob me". Anything that can be used for identity theft like, childrens names, or mother (and her maiden name) etc. etc. I have hidden for 95% of my "friends".

Anyway, it basically means I've had no other contact with her. And sadly, no prospects for next week :(

I'm seeing some happy hours in my future :)

It's All Good

I need to be a little more optimistic. Everything is working out. Food guy showed up Wed. Night and that's all taken care of. The hotel is still pleased with our business and comp'ed us a meeting room so Lori can do registration. Hopefully, I can get down to the nitty gritty, build some stuff, and make this match happen.

It'd be nice to win something too... But that's probably too much to ask.

Why why why...

Did I agree to do this damned event?! I'm talking about the championship I'm running.

Yesterday was not a good day. I got an email from someone helping me. He was responsible for negotiating a discounted rate for shooters and meeting room at a hotel for us to do registration for the event. The block of rooms the hotel set aside expires tomorrow. It's not a huge deal. It just means they held X number of rooms for us. They're still honoring the rate. But they aren't holding the rooms just for us any more.

But I asked him how many of the block of 50 rooms did we fill. 20. Less than half. Perfect we're not even booking the rooms we promised.

On top of that, we booked a suite for Lori with an adjacent meeting room on the first floor near the lobby. This is an arrangement she has always had when the event was in her city. She stayed in the room and held registration in the adjacent room. We're at a point where we need to secure the room with a credit card. So we double checked with her as to how she wanted to handle payment. She told us "No, I've already booked a room at another hotel". So not only are we -1 in the count of rooms we told the hotel, BUT now we don't have a place to register. Did she TELL us she wasn't using the hotel?? Who else is she telling not to use the hotel?

But that was the end of the night. LEMME back up. The banquet hall and banquet has been a complete clusterfuck. I really didn't want to do this. No one wants it but Lori. Several months ago she drove down to scout out locations etc. I thought "perfect, she wants this thing she can take care of it". Then 3 months later in a conversation she said "Oh.. I didn't book the room". Why in the HELL did she drive down, spend the night, and go through all that crap if she wasn't going to book it. Normally I wouldn't care. I'd say fuck it and no banquet. EXCEPT we've been charging money for this thing. So it fell into my lap with less than 90 days to find a place to host a banquet. This is a tourist town. NOTHING happens with less than 90 days. Fortunately, my boss is a member of a private club with a HUGE banquet hall. He hooked me up and in short order I booked the hall. AND it was under budget.

Last night, the food guy wanted to meet to see the hall and get a deposit from me. Now because this club is private, I can't just stroll in there. So I asked my boss if he would mind running by to meet this guy. It's really convenient for us to go by there after we work out (he and I work out together.. I'll get to that some other time). We got there. Waited... waited... waited... called... called... called... no show.

So we left. I was fuming. And I had a wicked headache. The guy finally called about 40 minutes later and said "You called?"... Uh yeah.. WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?! He wrote down 7pm. We said 6pm. So I still don't have food "locked" in.

We're going to try again tonight. If this dude no shows tonight... I may have to hunt him down.

Is it so wrong

A couple of years have gone by since my brief experience with the Company From Hell. I'll give a brief recap. I left my job of 17 years to go to a startup. The principles had serious credentials. In fact most people reading this are using or have recently used products from one of their previous startups. They sold it and made out with $65M. So I may a leap. Immediatley, the President and I butted heads. It affected me financially so I talked to my old boss, got my job back, and told the CFH to fuck off.

Since then, one of the Principles pops up on either Facebook or chat. Usually the conversation goes something like "dude, thngs are going great!! We just got a truckload of money from investors!!". The after some time it turns out they ran out of money and closed shop. Not long after, a local technology company "bought them". Basically the buyout was giving them jobs in exchange of the intellectual property. So then I get on chat "dude you should come work here!! We're having so much fun!!"

Last week, after griping repeatedly on facebook about the snow in Wi., I thought it would be funny to post I got a job offer in Wi. I'm a southern boy. I need warmth. Not snow. Most people got it. The Principle however, initially seemed to get it, then maybe not so much. There was an awkward "if it's real congrats and I have peeps in the area". Of course I posted another status saying yes it was April fools.

Today, I he IM'd me again asking if it was real or a joke. I reaffirmed it was a joke. Then he said "Friday I got fired and it was no April fools".

Is it wrong to gloat just a little??

Then again..

Cockblocked. So I guess in Pluffland it's par for the course and I am back.

There is no doubt in my mind if it weren't for a very persistent manager and friend following me everywhere we would've hooked up. She and I were alone at the bar. Vibes were definitely strong. Then here he came. She actually pouted. Then after an hour, she gave me a big hug and left. I was stuck with this guy going on and on about how bad upper mgt had it in or him blah blah blah.

Eh well. Probably for the best. Dont shit where you eat and all.