What a week it was...

What a week this is turning out to be... a couple of days of automatic pilot and just plain old survival instinct. As I have explained, in the security business you need to strike while the iron is hot and my iron is set on "molten lava" right now. Last week was a reminder of how much work I can get if I want it. After working Sunday (13.5 hrs), Monday (12.5 hrs) and Tuesday (15 hrs) at the Convention Center, I drove down to Florence, Arizona Wednesday morning and did a 15 hour shift at Country Thunder until 2am Thursday morning! Just writing about this stretch is making me tired again, but I survived and the rest of the week was easy... (Thurs. 12hr., Fri. 8 hrs., Sat. 8 hrs. and Sun. 12.5 hrs.). Total days--12 in a row. Total hours worked--109.5 hrs. So here I am enjoying two days off before heading back to the convention center on Wed. (15hr.) and Thurs. (15hr.)before my "visitors" come on Friday... They are staying from the 15th until the 23rd and I am so excited to have them visit my "hood". I am sure it will be busier than my work schedule (I wonder why) but they are on vacation and I'm just glad to be tagging along. The apartment is cleaner than it has been in a long time (although still a work in progress), but it's a guy's apartment (not filthy but cluttered with stuff). Country Thunder was fantastic! Being a huge country fan myself just added to the enjoyment. I even saw some people who remembered me from the previous year (favorably). I spent my days posting people and check id's and working the camping entrance... (those clever fans always try to sneak alcohol in, but I caught most). Wednesday I spent at the gates keeping people out because set-up was still going on. Thursday was the actual start of the event and I saw Sawyer Brown play for the second time that week (they played at the Indian Gaming Association convention also). Friday the acts moved to the huge main stage and Jason Aldean rocked the house with a great show. Then came Saturday... I woke up Saturday morning and was greeted outside with steady rain and cold (Arizona cold not normal cold) temperatures (high 40's). I was scheduled to work from 11am to 7pm and would have stayed later (Martina McBride was the headliner) but the venue was a mess. The road leading into the venue (there is only one way in and out) was sloppy and rutted and potholed (thank you Jeep for making my truck) and the venue itself was a sea of mud... (bad day for khaki). I wondered how we would distinguish between the staggering drunks and people just trying to walk... it was a cold, wet mess but the fans came out and braved it and so did I. The sun finally made an appearance around 6pm and I hightailed it out at 7pm... Sunday was a beautiful day... (mid 60's, sunny but still muddy) and Toby Keith ended the festival with a great show. My four day friends and I made plans to meet there again next year (country fans ROCK!) and I got outta Dodge (Florence) around 11:30pm and made it back to Tempe around 1:30am. It will take a few washings to clean the khakis but the memories made (thanks to all the fans who behaved most of the time) will last a lifetime. Great music, great people and paid to be there...it doesn't get any better than that.