Day....something

Ooooook. So I figured it out. It's day 3ish.

While I still haven't done anything super-useful at work, I still technically started doing THINGS yesterday. There was some big banquet thingy over at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts. This banquet was thrown by the Visitors Bureau, where I work. Now, as it turns out, the banquet was more of a intra-city political move than anything else. Basically, what the Bureau was doing...don't you love the word 'bureau'? Whenever I say that "I'm going to the Bureau." I feel like I'm going to the Bat Cave or something. Anyways, the Bureau was trying to bridge a little cross town rivalry by inviting all the owners of all the businesses in town to a party for a little yearly kick-off. I understand that it may seem a little late in the year but, as it turns out, this super-little town is also a HUGE tourist attraction and, therefore, their year begins when the first tourists start pouring in.
So yeah, there was this big banquet thrown by the Bureau. And I, being the only employee below the age of 55, was tasked with the transportation and set-up of...everything? yeah. mostly everything. So I did all that. Set up some stuff. Made some things pretty. I basically took care of everything but the cooking--which is a good thing. But yeah, I, at least, got to stretch both sets of muscles. I got to carry around all this food, pottery, flower arrangements, old people, and booze. And, quite geekily, I got to set up the sound system for the night, which was borrowed from the local middle school.
So, originally, I had been asked to simply arrive at the banquet at 5pm so that I could be introduced to some of the people there... I had no idea what the banquet was for, at the time. But I ended up coming in at 11am so that I could do all the set up and everything. No bigs. But then the party started and they were lacking a bar tender. So it was Steve-OH! to the rescue!
It was actually pretty fun. I served up about 4 liters of tequila, 16 bottles of wine, and a gallon of...more wine(we put a gallon of burgundy in the Sangria). All of this was between some 60-70 people. It was quite a jolly event.
So I'm working the bar and everyone files into the auditorium to hear the big speech by my boss, the head of the Bureau. While they're talking I'm still working the bar for any stragglers who are just wandering in. Eventually I turn to the a few people close to me in age, Julie and Victor(kids of employees at the Bureau) and tell them that I think they were going to introduce me sometime tonight. So they tell me to run into the auditorium in case I miss my big moment.
Wouldn't you know it? The boss was introducing me to a crowd of 200+ people JUST as I was walking in. It was so nice it appeared choreographed--Like I was some Pro sports player coming out at the beginning of the game. Timing is everything, I guess.
So everybody thinks I'm like...the coolest, now. And every drunk business owner to come up to the bar basically said the same thing "Hey barkeep...HEY!! you're that...Internet...dude!" And that was that.

I went home shortly after and watched the Wings game in a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt and ate some cheese-its. It was a glorious end. I might've gone out to a bar or something to watch the game, but I was afraid I would see some of the night's earlier patrons wandering the town.

Today I spend mostly just carrying and loading things OUT from the banquet and then I spend a few hours acquainting myself with the Bureau's website (Saugatuck.com). I then spent some time doing boring nerdy things with the boss, and telling her why I thought her wonderful, beautiful, brand-spanking-new website was trash. Upon reviving her, I told her what I thought she should do about it and what things her designer had been blatantly lying to her about.

All fun and games.

I'm still not sure exactly what she expects me to do all summer, but I'll start doing them at 10am tomorrow morning...I know what you're all asking yourselves right now..."Do businesses open that early?" and "Can people be expected to do QUALITY work with COMPUTERS that early in the morning?!?!"
Sadly, the answer to both of those is, most regrettably, a great resounding "uh huh..."
So I suppose that by tomorrow morning, I'll hopefully understand the kind of work that I'll be doing here.
In addition to that, I think that the next time I update, I'll share what ELSE CoolCities is asking me to do in this dainty little town. It's quite a gas, if you will.


Now, on to the important stuff--

For the first time, since I arrived here a few days ago, I visited the beach today.
I was on my way back from work (on my way here) and felt like getting a little lost...So I wound my way through some random neighborhoods and ended up pulling up to one of the most picturesque beaches I've ever seen. And what a perfect day for it, too. 81 degrees with a stiff breeze to cool us down. Not a cloud in the sky....(when I first wrote that sentence, I had spelled 'cloud' with an 'wn' so that the sentence read "Not a clown in the sky..." Needless to say, I felt I should share that with you). But yeah, it was wonderful. Didn't feel too hot - I'd guess that it was actually closer to 78 degrees...but who am I to say - and the breeze was just enough to play with my newly cropped hair and lift some of the dust that had accumulated over me while I sat on the computer for most of the day. It was fantastic. Nothing like looking out over the great Lake Michigan and seeing nothing but sand, topped with dark blue, topped with light blue.
It was like looking into a continuum of perfection...not seeing something that was perfect, but seeing something that was what perfect things were made of. It was awesome.
And there were kiteboarders...That was kinda cool too. (I helped found the MSU kiteboarding club at the Michigan State University campus).

So I think that is all for me, today. I'm going to take off and see if I can find myself a good place to check out the stars tonight. With such clear and warm weather, I'd hate to miss the opportunity at seeing just a little higher than that sand, blue, and blue.

Hope everyone reading this is doing just fine and I apologize to them for the excessive length of this entry.

Take care everybody!