First Batch of Australia Pics Posted

Didn't have a lot of time to work on these, just uploaded them for folks to see, there are some that need work I know, but there are others that are some pretty good pics (if I don't say so myself). The bridge pics will give you an idea of how much climbing I did (the pics of the flags are zoomed in from the harbor and you can also see them from a distance, but the point of it is that one of the "official" pics were taken with me standing right under that flag, pretty cock I must say.

To see pics of the famous Sydney Opera House, click on the headline above:

I am trying to arrange a tour tomorrow that will take me to the Blue Mountains where not only would I get to see some pretty cool rock formations, but also kangaroos, and other wildlife, hopefully with lots of pics to share too, stay tuned for more updates.

1,400 Stairs, but You Can't Beat the View

Well after some slight deliberation, and spending most of my morning sorting out e-mail issues with the hotel and the server room in Costa Rica, I was able to see some of the sites of Sydney Australia today. I am "Down Under" to speak at a conference which begins next week in Melbourne so I am in Sydney getting adjusting to the time difference and seeing as much of the sites as I can in the two days of "personal" time I have before I get hunkered down next week in Melbourne.

The only deliberation that was going on with me was whether or not to do the walk today or on Saturday when I knew I had more time. I went down to the harbor around lunchtime (after getting e-mail issues taken care long enough to get three days worth of e-mail openeded before it crashed again), and the weather was so wonderful that I decided today was the day to do the climb.

For those fo you who don't know you can pay($165 Aussie dollars) to climb a tone of stairs (1,340 they tell me), to go to the top of the famouse Syndey Harbor bridge. The draw back is they make you wear these silly ass outfits and won't let you bring your own camera and stuff, which I can understand, so I only have a few "official" pictures from the event, but I can tell you that the view from the top of the bridge was most spectatular and well worth the money.

To view some more of the "official" photos taken during the bridge climb, click on the headline above.

I ended up getting a lot in today as on my way back to the hotel I swung by the famous Syndey Opera House and was able to get in on the last tour of the day. I will have more photos to share tomrw.

Truck Drivin' Man

Well it wasn't exactly a "trip" but the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series was in town last week and that meant I had the chance to meet up with driver Mike Skinner. Mike drove the BETonSPORTS Nextel Cup car for the last five races of the 2005 season last year and was a joy to work with from a sponsor's prospective.

It just so happened that the truck race was the same weekend of Mike's wife's b-day, so on Friday night Kelly and I treated them to dinner and then Saturday they hooked us up with pit passes for the day.

Below are the photos from the race. Mike was running great in the first 50-60 laps and was in contention to win until he blew a tire and hit the wall and was done for the day (you can see the extensive damage that was done to his truck in the photos as well.

To see the photos click here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/celticcommunications/album?.dir=/ced2scd&.src=ph

Playboy Pics Posted

Finally got the CD in the mail containing the high quality digital pics from the Playboy party, thanks to our photographer Bo Bridges (yes that is his real name, or at least the "real" name he does business by), for sending me the CD.
To check out all the photos (there are tons of them, but many of you wanted more of the painted lady, and they are up now, so enjoy), go here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/celticcommunications/slideshow?.dir=/241f&.src=ph

First Visit to "The Garden"

Well they call it the "world's most famous sports arena" and while I am not a big fan of any New York sports team I found myself back in the Big Apple for a day's worth of business meetings, and it just so happened that the Knicks were playing that night at Madison Square Garden against the Boston Celtics.
Another plus of working for an online sports betting company is that you can pretty much get tickets to any sporting event you want with 24 hours notice, so I was able to score two very good seats for the Knicks game (it probably had more to do with the fact both the Knicks and Celtics suck right now), but it was nice to get to sit in the Garden.
As both a sports fan and a sports history junkie, it was cool to sit in the garden and just think of all the historic moments and famous athletes that toiled in the old building. Louis, Ali, just to name a few. Probably would have rather seen a Rangers game there, but it was still cool to sit in the Garden and take it all in. To see a slideshow from my MSG visit click here (some of the photos are dark, but that was due to sucky lighting at MSG):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/celticcommunications/slideshow2?.dir=fc90&.beg=3&.src=ph

Kickin It at the Mansion -- THE PLAYBOY MANSION

I've always been told that I am somewhat of a "playboy" (OK maybe not, but it sounds good doesn't it?), well once again this job has perks that don't come with most other jobs, and this week I was informed that I was needed in LA to help publicize a party BETonSPORTS was sponsoring at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills (yes that Playboy Mansion).
The party was held in conjunction with the first round of the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament and was complete with a poolside casino, sponsored by BoSCASINO. We had a large number of our top cusomters from the east coast as well as a handful of b-list celebrities.
It was a great time and all of our customers were blown away by the event. To be honest I was too, but I had to play it cool like it was old hat for me.
I did get to see the famous grotto as well as tons and tons of very good looking women.
What I didn't get to see, since everyone keeps asking me, is there was no sighting of Mr. Hefner, nor did we get to go inside the Mansion, but just the outside of the facility is something to behold.
I rubbed elbows with a guy from a band called Snow Patrol as well as Tyler Hicks (the gray haired dude on American Idol this season), some guy from CSI New York (a show I never watch), and some singer called Ryan Caberra.
BETonSPORTS made two great moves the night of the party: 1)we sponsored the body-painted playmate (pictures in the slideshow below), and she was clearly the most popular girl on hand and 2) arranged for a big screen TV to be wired outside near the casino, UCLA ended up beating Gonzoga in the Sweet 16, and the game came down to the wire so a huge crowd gathered around the TV as the game drew to a close. The TV was flanked with BETonSPORTS signage, so that was a big bonus for us.
To see a slideshow from the event (something tells me this link will get more hits than any other on my blog before), you can go here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/celticcommunications/slideshow?.dir=/241f&.src=ph

Back in Costa Rica -- For a Week

Back to the BETonSPORTS campus in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Not sure if it is the 14-hour days, being confined to the Mall of San Pedro, or just knowing that there is so much more to this country to see that I am not getting to even scratch the service on, but for some reason I am dredding my time down here more and more, but at least this time I am only down here for a week, and considering all the upsides to this job, that is a small price to pay in the longrun, and I realize it.