Well, let's see...
Sunday and Monday were cloudy in fine Miami Beach, but still 75-80 degrees, so it was nice. And not too humid either. That was cool. I stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which was sucky compared to the hotel the conference was at and that I might have been able to stay at, but I was fine with the Fairfield anyway. Plus, it was the Fairfield Inn on the ocean or whatever it was called, exactly. So, it had a boardwalk connection to the beach.
Sunday I got in and got settled, then attended the Oscar-themed opening reception and dinner. They did a good job, setting up the entrance to the ballroom with a red carpet, studio lights and "fake" cameras. They also had celebrity impersonators greeting you and taking photos. I did not "get to" take any photos, although Lucy and Ricky, Arnold and Charlie Chaplain met me at the door. So that was cool. Each buffet table also had a movie-themed impersonator. The funniest/coolest one was the Pirates of the Carribbean one, where the guy was totally into the pirate thing, and actually was made up pretty well to where he looked like Johnny Depp in that movie. And he was hitting on a bunch of the women, as pirates might do. :) Or something.
We sat, drank and ate fine food and watched the Oscars on Jumbotrons set up in the room. It was pretty cool, even though I hadn't seen most of the movies this year. Plus, a bunch of us were tired from the day of traveling, so I actually went back to my hotel and went to bed before the major awards were given out. No loss, really. :)
Monday was sessions galore. Some interesting, some boring. They gave out their awards in the evening at a formal banquet, which was nice. David Spade was on the schedule to perform at 8:30, and I told my coworkers who were there with me that I was leaving prior to 9pm (ET) to watch "24," because it wasn't worth missing for Spade. After staying the first 15 minutes of Spade, I continue to stand by my statement. He really wasn't very funny. Plus, he actually recycled a bunch of "Tommy Boy" jokes and then regaled a story or two about Chris Farley. Hello, coattails? I convinced 2 of my coworkers (of 3) that we should go out for drinks after "24," and that I'd meet them somewhere. They gave me their room key and said to just watch it up there and when it was over, we'd leave. Their room/hotel was much better than mine, that's for sure. In the meantime, they worked on the third coworker and convinced her to come out too. So it was fun. The cabbies we had were great, having to deal with our general goofiness and stupidity. We went to an Irish pub in South Beach and shot pool and just chatted. I barely knew two of the three, and vice versa, so it was a good coworker icebreaking session, or something.
Tuesday, the skies cleared and it was marginally cooler--72 degrees. Perfect. Me and two of the coworkers walked the boardwalk around 11, in between sessions and lunch, and then lunch was actually outside, which is where I got sunburned, totally unprepared for it. We strolled around the pool/garden area, which was sweeeeeeet. Lunch, actually, was in that courtyard area too. I so badly wanted to swim in their pool and ride on an inner tube in their lazy river, alas, I could not, as they were leaving soon. Oh well. The Fairfield's pool, by comparison, was a freakin' bathtub, tile included. After the sessions were all over, I was the only one left, b/c the coworkers caught flights out that evening. So I decided to walk the beach and get my feet wet in the process. I had to have walked a mile or two up and down the beach. I was also trying to even out my sunburn/tan. It worked a little.
After returning to the hotel, I decided to walk the three to four miles down to South Beach in search of dinner. I went to a place called Fox Cafe on Ocean Drive. I had homemade linguine with half lobster, some shellfish of some sort and seafood mixed in. It was pretty good, and it had better been, because it was the special, and thus I didn't find out it was $36 until I got the bill. But hey, you have to splurge every now and then, plus my meals had been free the previous two days. I was going to stop at one of the bars or clubs, but after all that walking, I just said, "Eh," stopped at a souvenir clothing shop, bought Gina a nice South Beach t-shirt and hopped a cab home, figuring five to six miles of walking was plenty that evening. :)
So that's Miami Beach. I certainly would like to vacation down there sometime in a better hotel and a more fun situation. And I do go back, this time to Ft. Lauderdale/Aventura, a week from Saturday. Maybe I can even out the tan then. We'll see. I'll probably be more busy that trip, though.
