Anaheim - Day 3

Tuesday was the first day of the show. I arrived at the booth at 8:30 to relieve security, set up the demos, and sign for the catering at the meeting suite. As it turns out, our security guard works for Green Day when they go on tour!

The show went really smoothly. There was a LOT of standing! Afterwards we went to an NBDL basketball game. The NBDL is the NBA development league and we were watching the last and second to last teams in the division! But where else are you going to see a 7'2" Korean guy play basketball? You know someone is tall when they make the 6"6" guys look short. Plus, one of my coworkers knows the event manager at the arena so we were set up courtside with an all-you-can-eat buffet and an open bar!

After the game a couple of the guys really wanted to go out. The only place we could think of close by was the House of Blues in Downtown Disney so we crammed seven of us into a cab and headed down. Unfortunately when we got there we were informed by a couple of security guards that there was a private party going on. Most of us were ready to turn away and find somewhere else to go but Babak started telling the security guards that we were on the list! Another group who was ACTUALLY on the list walked up and one of them was trying to get all of us in. But then the party-pooper of the group said "well WE'RE on the list, not these guys". So we were left out in the cold, but then Babak starts telling the security that we know so-and-so who works for such-and-such company, etc... and they let us in!!

Turns out it was this company's decade anniversary! They had a Blues Brothers cover band playing and everyone was dressed up in hats and sunglasses. Then the CEO got up on stage to do a raffle, but a lot of people must have left so he decided to give the gifts away to those who cheered the loudest. So Mark and I started yelling and Mark ended up winning a $45 bottle of wine! They also gave away tickets to the Beijing Olympics, tickets to Disney, etc. All in all it wasn't a very good party, I think a lot of people had left by the time we showed up - although it was funny watching the drunk people dance!

As we were leaving Richard grabbed a "gift bag" which was really a satchel bag that turned out to be filled with all sorts of goodies including mini bottles of champagne. So of course we all had to run back and grab one! Meanwhile, Babak asks the security guards where there's a good salsa club and discovers there's one called Tia Juanas. We all pile into a cab again with Ron protesting that he doesn't want to drive to Tia Juana. Turns out the salsa club was too far away but the cab driver suggested he drive us to another club not too far away. Kim, Richard, and Ron are stuck in the stifling hot back of the van, I'm up front with the cab driver who's hacking up a lung. Meanwhile, the cab driver is telling us about how he's in a business laying fiber and solar panels across Africa. When we finally got to the club it turns out to be a strip club - with all these seedy looking guys standing outside! So we headed back to the hotel for another night of not enough sleep before another early morning!