We kicked off the final week of rehearsals for SNL today. The last week is known as “tech week” because it’s when the tech crews join the rehearsals. During tech week, we fine tune the performances, lighting, sound and multimedia. Needless to say, it can be a challenging week.
Rehearsals ran long tonight, and I was left with a large number of action items to complete before tomorrow. It’s 3 am now, so I’m cutting the blog short and sharing some special “behind the scenes” rehearsal pictures…enjoy!
The Stages are Set
Gary Peeking Out
The Church Lady and her Special Guest
The Roxbury Guys?
Our Favorite Creekwood Bible Church Board Members Are Back
Saturday Night Life premieres this Friday at 7:30, and the Spartan Cheerleaders showed up at ALC today to promote the event. Enjoy!
Afterwards, we concluded the “Game Time” sermon series with a tailgate party at the church. They grilled burgers and hotdogs, then everyone watched the Cowboys game together. How cool is that? I absolutely love my church!
Home. It doesn’t matter where I go, there’s something special about the moment when the captain comes on the intercom and announces, “We will be landing in Dallas in about 15 minutes.” I look out the window and begin to see familiar sights — lake Lewisville, highway 121, Grapevine Mills. I feel excitement rising. I know I’ll be home home soon.
That’s how I felt tonight as I arrived from San Diego. It was a stressful, but successful week, and I’m glad it’s over. I’m sitting on the couch feeling like I have nothing left to give. These events exhaust me. I should be working on Saturday Night Life (it’s next week, wow!), but instead I indulge myself and take a vacation for the remainder of the evening.
I bask in the familiar sights and sounds of home. There’s nothing else like it. I can’t believe I’m going to quote Dr. Phil, but he says “home should be your safe place to fall” and for me, it is. I can relax there. I am greeted with happy faces, hugs, and wagging tails. I know I’ve been missed, and it’s a nice feeling.
Day two of the launch activities continued with a series of meetings and presentations for the analysts and consultants at the US Grant Hotel. Our partners had a separate presentation track at the Hard Rock Hotel a few blocks away.
It was a long day in a very cold ballroom, but the presentations went well and the attendees were pleased — for the most part.
The highlight of the day was dinner. We went to the San Diego Air and Space Museum for a private event. Hors D’oeuvres were served while we toured through the exhibits. The WWII planes were my favorites, but they had a wide variety of aircraft to observe — WWI planes, barnstormers from the ’20s, and spacecrafts.
During dinner, one of the docents from the museum welcomed the group and shared with us the history of the museum. All in all, I enjoyed the experience. I have spent most of the week locked inside the hotel. It was a nice treat to get away for a few hours and see a small piece of San Diego.
I arrived in San Diego yesterday, the day before the launch of our new collaboration portfolio. More than 600 partners, employees, analysts and consultants converged on this location to be the first to hear the announcements and participate in various conferences being held throughout the week. Thousands more participated via live Webcasts. Over a 24-hour period, we hosted TelePresence sessions in more than 30 cities across the United States and Canada, Europe, Emerging Markets, Japan, and Asia Pacific. It’s been a crazy couple of days.
Now that the launch has occurred and the press announcements have been made, the pressure is off for me. I am able to participate in the sessions and network with the attendees now. It’s still work, but it’s not as stressful as what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks.
The event opened with a welcome reception at the hotel last night. Afterwards, my team went to dinner together at the Indigo Grill in Little Italy. Since most of the people I work with are not located in Texas, it’s nice to get together, relax and hang out as a team. It was a late night, but we had a good time — anytime you get 35 “type A” marketing people together you will have lots of fun and great conversation.
I’m staying at the US Grant hotel in downtown San Diego. It’s a lovely hotel, ranked as one of the Top 128 Hotels in the World by Conde Naste Traveler. They are also the winner of “Best Luxury Guestroom Design” at HotelWorld’s International Design Competition. I can see why. Their rooms, lobby, and meeting facilities are outstanding. If you plan to visit San Diego, I highly recommend it. See pictures below.
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Day two of the launch activities continued with a series of meetings and presentations for the analysts and consultants at the US Grant Hotel. Our partners had a separate presentation track at the Hard Rock Hotel a few blocks away.
