Well this marks two non-travel related posts in a row but oh well (and it might be a month or so before another post as my travel plate looks clean for a while).
It is nearly 2 a.m. on Monday morning and my good friend Ray Lindewirth will be buried in about 9 hours from now. I have been asked to deliver the eulogy at his funeral mass and while I know what I want to say I have been having trouble sleeping lately because a) I don't want to mess up my talk, and b) I hope to give him the respect and honor that is due to him.
The visitation was Sunday and it was good to meet up with a bunch of friends and fellow Knights beforehand for dinner and to share Ray stories, I know he was with us as we laughed and remembered him, that was the kind of stuff that Ray loved most, just hanging out with friends and visiting.
Drop me a line to say hello (kevins@betonsports.com) and have a happy holidays and a happy New Year.
Next travel posts will likely be New York-related, but more info on that after the first of the year.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
An Up and Down Day
Wow, what a 30 minute span I had last night.
First the good:
Long story short, at about 8:20 I get a call that I have FREE VIP tickets to go see U2 on one of their final shows of the Vertigo tour in STL.
Then the bad:
My excitement of getting to go see one of my favorite bands (for free none the less) was brought down in a hurry as while I was driving to pickup my gal for the concert (and my hookup for the tickets) I got a call that one of my dear friends Ray Lindewirth had passed away that evening. I was going to not go to the concert but was encouraged by my friend to go and see the show since there was nothing much I could do that evening.
I will miss Ray dearly, as he was a great friend and was my first captain when I started throwing darts years ago and he was my mentor of sorts, as I took over the reigns of being the captain as he hung up his darts a few years ago.
First the good:
Long story short, at about 8:20 I get a call that I have FREE VIP tickets to go see U2 on one of their final shows of the Vertigo tour in STL.
Then the bad:
My excitement of getting to go see one of my favorite bands (for free none the less) was brought down in a hurry as while I was driving to pickup my gal for the concert (and my hookup for the tickets) I got a call that one of my dear friends Ray Lindewirth had passed away that evening. I was going to not go to the concert but was encouraged by my friend to go and see the show since there was nothing much I could do that evening.
I will miss Ray dearly, as he was a great friend and was my first captain when I started throwing darts years ago and he was my mentor of sorts, as I took over the reigns of being the captain as he hung up his darts a few years ago.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Wave Runners Rock
Well I am back from the Bahamas and the cold weather in STL has put me right back in my place.
The conference was good and getting to see everyone was a big plus. Had a wonderful evening out with one of my favorite people I used to work with (Dawn) and her husband Dave, who came down to the Bahamas for some R&R with his honey! The three of us and Sue (my former boss at RCG) went to a local hangout in the Bahamas (The Fish Fry) and had a decent dinner and then found a local bar that had a live band that no run down would do justice, you would have to see them to believe them, but needless to say that was a highlight of the trip.
The night out was after my one day at the beach to sit back and chill. Sue and I managed to take some wave runners out for an hour or so (I took mine out for longer than I was supposed to), and I have to say riding wave runners is one of my favorite things. It was amazing how much smoother the ride was in the ocean than it is at the Lake of the Ozarks.
The trip also included a stop at the Atlantis resort which has a great marina and aquarium. Pictures will be posted soon of that stuff, in the meantime, there are a few of the view I had from my room (and the beach) here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/smittyk17/slideshow?.dir=/410d&.src=ph
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Crazy Travel Day
Well it was a crazy travel day today.
Not sure if you heard on the news or not, but there was a crazy dude running around the airport in Miami saying stuff like he was going to blow up the plane and the airport, guess what?, they don't mess around with that kind of stuff, and the dude was shot and killed in the jetway outside the gate. The gate just happen to be 41 at terminal D in Miami.
The shooting happened a few hours after I was through Miami en route to the Bahamas, but I just happened to land at gate D43 from STL and was sent to gate D35 for my connecting flight, just gives you pause to how close things can be in life.
River City Group, my former employer, is putting on a two-day, heavy intensive conferecne about the online poker industry, which is what has brought me here, I am looking forward to seeing a lot of my friends in the business, hopefully learning some new stuff, and of course, hitting the beach.
Not sure if you heard on the news or not, but there was a crazy dude running around the airport in Miami saying stuff like he was going to blow up the plane and the airport, guess what?, they don't mess around with that kind of stuff, and the dude was shot and killed in the jetway outside the gate. The gate just happen to be 41 at terminal D in Miami.
The shooting happened a few hours after I was through Miami en route to the Bahamas, but I just happened to land at gate D43 from STL and was sent to gate D35 for my connecting flight, just gives you pause to how close things can be in life.
River City Group, my former employer, is putting on a two-day, heavy intensive conferecne about the online poker industry, which is what has brought me here, I am looking forward to seeing a lot of my friends in the business, hopefully learning some new stuff, and of course, hitting the beach.
Friday, December 2, 2005
Bahamas Bound
Well the gig continues to get tougher and tougher every day.
I found out yesterday that I will be leaving for Nassua, the Bahamas on Wed. to speak at an online poker conference. Some of the industry's leading operators and companies will be there and they needed someone from our company to come and talk about affilaite marketing, we just launched a new affiliate site so they were keen to have someone from our team come and speak. I am certainly not the expert in this field, but the guys who are from BoS couldn't make it so we agreed that I will go on their behalf and basically give their presentation for them, just "sucks" that it has to be in the Bahamas I know!!
Hopefully will have lots of cool pics and other stuff to post from the show.
Next week was going to be busy without the show, as we are planning a huge media blitz to be held in conjunction with the draw for the 2006 World Cup, which will be held in Germany (the draw is on Friday Dec. 9) and we are still doing the blitz, I will just have to do my part with it from the hotel.
Cheers
I found out yesterday that I will be leaving for Nassua, the Bahamas on Wed. to speak at an online poker conference. Some of the industry's leading operators and companies will be there and they needed someone from our company to come and talk about affilaite marketing, we just launched a new affiliate site so they were keen to have someone from our team come and speak. I am certainly not the expert in this field, but the guys who are from BoS couldn't make it so we agreed that I will go on their behalf and basically give their presentation for them, just "sucks" that it has to be in the Bahamas I know!!
Hopefully will have lots of cool pics and other stuff to post from the show.
Next week was going to be busy without the show, as we are planning a huge media blitz to be held in conjunction with the draw for the 2006 World Cup, which will be held in Germany (the draw is on Friday Dec. 9) and we are still doing the blitz, I will just have to do my part with it from the hotel.
Cheers
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Back in Miami
Well I was back in Miami and what a heck of a weekend, where do I start:
We (BetOnSports) had about 30 guests in a luxury suit for the final race of the NASCAR season, everyone had a great time, you can check out some of the photos here:
http://www.gambling911.com/2005-Nextel-Cup-Photos.html
If you heard on the news of a terrible helicopter crash obviously I wasn't involved, but the crash did happen about 10 minutes after I had taken off with two others in a choper to leave the track, some of our people were still waiting for theirs and saw the crash happen, pretty crazy stuff.
The job is going well and it appears, with the possible exception of a one or two day trip for meetings my travel for 2005 is done, which means I can at least get settled in at the home office before the holidays.
We (BetOnSports) had about 30 guests in a luxury suit for the final race of the NASCAR season, everyone had a great time, you can check out some of the photos here:
http://www.gambling911.com/2005-Nextel-Cup-Photos.html
If you heard on the news of a terrible helicopter crash obviously I wasn't involved, but the crash did happen about 10 minutes after I had taken off with two others in a choper to leave the track, some of our people were still waiting for theirs and saw the crash happen, pretty crazy stuff.
The job is going well and it appears, with the possible exception of a one or two day trip for meetings my travel for 2005 is done, which means I can at least get settled in at the home office before the holidays.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
No Hunger Holiday
Well taking a break from the craziness for a day and trading it in for the craziness of No Hunger Holiday.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, you can check out our web site here:
www.nohungerholiday.com
To be brief, the event was founded by a fellow Harvester Knight of Columbus and his wife 15 years ago and provides complete Thanksgiving Day meals to needy families throughout the St. Charles County and surrounding areas. This year was a record event for us as we fed more than 1,400 families (about 5,000) people.
I play a very small part in this event as a communications director if you will, trying to drum up publicity for the event through the local press and media. This year was a great one for us as we got good coverage in both the Post Dispacth and Journal but also had coverage from KTVI Fox 2 (it was brief video and they called it the wrong thing, but progress comes in small steps).
Here is a photo album from the event if you want to check it out:
Happy Thanksgiving!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, you can check out our web site here:
www.nohungerholiday.com
To be brief, the event was founded by a fellow Harvester Knight of Columbus and his wife 15 years ago and provides complete Thanksgiving Day meals to needy families throughout the St. Charles County and surrounding areas. This year was a record event for us as we fed more than 1,400 families (about 5,000) people.
I play a very small part in this event as a communications director if you will, trying to drum up publicity for the event through the local press and media. This year was a great one for us as we got good coverage in both the Post Dispacth and Journal but also had coverage from KTVI Fox 2 (it was brief video and they called it the wrong thing, but progress comes in small steps).
Here is a photo album from the event if you want to check it out:
Happy Thanksgiving!
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