And the continuing saga of "Will our intrepid blogger ever reach the present time or will we constantly be behind the times" rolls on. When last I wrote (earlier today, as a matter of fact), we had just finished the Waste Management Phoenix Open (in which Scottsdale native Phil Mickelson won handily). One thing I didn't mention was the fact that a record 190,000 people were at the course on the Saturday of the tournament. When we started the egress (pushing the people out) I was positioned by the 18th green and a bottleneck was created under the bridge leading out. My boss asked if I wanted to lend a hand and being the boisterous individual that I am, I waded right into the crowd, took up a position in the middle and proceeded to direct people out. After two hours my voice was shot, but we got everyone out without incident.
Next on the agenda was the Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson. Again I was chief cook and bottle washer, getting people signed in and posted, handling payroll, and dealing with the client. Once all the guards were posted, I pretty much had the grounds to myself...I went wherever I felt the need. I had a good conversation with the head of the Special Event Division that was running the tournament. My company has two Special Event Divisions. One handles Barrett Jackson and the US Open Tennis and the other deals with Major League Baseball and the PGA (among other events like rodeo, concerts, NCAA, to name a few). This particular boss and I worked several events in Tucson, the Schwab Cup Championship (Senior Tour) and the MLB Fanfest when the All-Star game was in Phoenix. He told me that if it wasn't busy in Phoenix that he would like my help with Fanfest at the All Star game this year. The All Star game is in New York at Citifield (the home of my beloved Mets) and the fanfest activities would be at the Javits Center in Manhattan. The game is the third week of July. Then he mentioned the PGA Championship (the fourth major tournament in golf) in August up in Rochester, New York followed by the Barclays (golf also) in Jersey City, New Jersey the next week. And then 3 weeks in Queens, New York for the US Open Tennis tournament at the end of August into September. My boss in Phoenix had no objections (it is our slow time) so if it happens then Security Man will be the road warrior this summer. Needless to say (does that ever apply to me?) I am very psyched that this may be the case.
The month of March went by in a blur...we were inundated with events at the Convention Center and I did an off site event at the Scottsdale Princess hotel (just a quick 90 hour week for a financial event). I was there every day and the client emailed our owner to sing the praises of the Phoenix branch...always nice to get some recognition. I got to meet Wayne Newton and the Dog Whisperer (not at the same time) at concert events and got to see the worst play ever in the history of plays. It was a parody of the book Fifty Shades of Gray and was painful to listen to...(at least I didn't have to WATCH it). People were walking out of the theater in the middle of it. It was as funny as Saturday Night Live after the original cast left...I've had more laughs at a funeral. Thank the Lord that Easter week was a slow one and I actually got to play some golf... The swing is intact, the putter is still a work in progress and play will pick when the prices come down in June. April would bring forth Country Thunder (the music festival) and several large conventions at the center... More to come.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Phoenix rises from the ashes... Part 2
My time management skills are in need of a complete rebuild...the "chicken running around with his head cut off" method that I employ now simply isn't working anymore (as if it ever did). With added responsibilities from the job, my leisure time has been reduced to sleeping and eating...not following the plan I had when I moved out here. The work-a-holic in me (damn that addictive personality!) has taken over and it's time to go back to the drawing board and repair "the Plan". But, first I must catch you up on what has been happening out here in the desert for the past four months...
The first four months of the year have been a busy time for Security Man. It started with the Barrett Jackson Car Auction. It was another successful event marked by the selling of the original Batmobile from the TV series back in the day...way back starring Adam West, who has since moved on to become the Mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island (Family Guy). I was the puppet master this year, deploying guards and briefing and handling payroll, but when the Batmobile was rolling up the entrance to the stage, I put on my security cape (figuratively speaking) and did crowd control around the car and kept the idiots (I mean patrons) from banging into the other cars in line also. It is the time when I can say "no" and mean it. The amazing thing was that the car was in a showcase tent all week for picture taking opportunities, but everyone HAD to have a picture NOW... I grabbed one guy (I mean assisted) whose keys were just about to scratch a 1939 Custom Built Cadillac (looked like a ZZ Top car). I told him to move before he scratched HIS new car and the owner was really grateful...especially when I ran out 3 other people who didn't belong there. My voice was gone after 30 minutes of barking, but it was worth every minute. I met the couple who eventually bought the Batmobile (for a cool 4.2 MILLION dollars) when I directed them to their seats in the bidding area. By the way, that Cadillac sold also and that story is continued further down.
From the Auction it was back to the convention center for a week of events and then my favorite, the Waste Management Phoenix Open... Once again I signed up as player security to walk with the golfers and as luck would have it I was assigned Bubba Watson again...(the 2012 Masters Champion). His caddie and I got reacquainted on Tuesday before a practice round. I heard a familiar sound in the parking lot around 10am...the grumbling of an engine I heard at Barrett Jackson. It was Bubba. Last year, he purchased the General Lee of Dukes of Hazzard fame and this year he bought another car. We went out to the parking lot and saw what he was driving...a 1939 Custom Built Cadillac, the same car I kept from being scratched and walked on during the auction. I remembered that engine because the owner fired it up after I cleared all the idiots (damn, patrons) away from his car. It was a convertible with a leather interior and was metallic battleship gray...absolutely gorgeous. So I got to walk with Bubba for six days including the Pro-Am on Wednesday when we had about 25 people in our group. Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, was in our foursome and they were filming the "Haney Project" TV series so we had a film crew, four golfers, 2 police officers, 2 security guards, several marshals, PGA people, media, and a Tiger-esque crowd following the group... Bubba had a so-so week but finished with a closing 64 on Sunday and he was gracious enough to autograph his game glove and give it to me. I told his caddie that I would probably see him in Tucson a couple of weeks down the road.
Okay...now that I am reliving the horror (I mean experiences) of the events I have covered, my creative juices are starting to flow again. This step back into the blog-o-sphere is one of the ways I will manage my time better. Boring you with (I mean telling you) my experiences helps me process all that's going on...and lets me let go of them and move on to the next. I will continue to catch you up in future blogs. I have a lot going on right now so I need to get a move on...Wish me luck and stay tuned...
The first four months of the year have been a busy time for Security Man. It started with the Barrett Jackson Car Auction. It was another successful event marked by the selling of the original Batmobile from the TV series back in the day...way back starring Adam West, who has since moved on to become the Mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island (Family Guy). I was the puppet master this year, deploying guards and briefing and handling payroll, but when the Batmobile was rolling up the entrance to the stage, I put on my security cape (figuratively speaking) and did crowd control around the car and kept the idiots (I mean patrons) from banging into the other cars in line also. It is the time when I can say "no" and mean it. The amazing thing was that the car was in a showcase tent all week for picture taking opportunities, but everyone HAD to have a picture NOW... I grabbed one guy (I mean assisted) whose keys were just about to scratch a 1939 Custom Built Cadillac (looked like a ZZ Top car). I told him to move before he scratched HIS new car and the owner was really grateful...especially when I ran out 3 other people who didn't belong there. My voice was gone after 30 minutes of barking, but it was worth every minute. I met the couple who eventually bought the Batmobile (for a cool 4.2 MILLION dollars) when I directed them to their seats in the bidding area. By the way, that Cadillac sold also and that story is continued further down.
From the Auction it was back to the convention center for a week of events and then my favorite, the Waste Management Phoenix Open... Once again I signed up as player security to walk with the golfers and as luck would have it I was assigned Bubba Watson again...(the 2012 Masters Champion). His caddie and I got reacquainted on Tuesday before a practice round. I heard a familiar sound in the parking lot around 10am...the grumbling of an engine I heard at Barrett Jackson. It was Bubba. Last year, he purchased the General Lee of Dukes of Hazzard fame and this year he bought another car. We went out to the parking lot and saw what he was driving...a 1939 Custom Built Cadillac, the same car I kept from being scratched and walked on during the auction. I remembered that engine because the owner fired it up after I cleared all the idiots (damn, patrons) away from his car. It was a convertible with a leather interior and was metallic battleship gray...absolutely gorgeous. So I got to walk with Bubba for six days including the Pro-Am on Wednesday when we had about 25 people in our group. Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, was in our foursome and they were filming the "Haney Project" TV series so we had a film crew, four golfers, 2 police officers, 2 security guards, several marshals, PGA people, media, and a Tiger-esque crowd following the group... Bubba had a so-so week but finished with a closing 64 on Sunday and he was gracious enough to autograph his game glove and give it to me. I told his caddie that I would probably see him in Tucson a couple of weeks down the road.
Okay...now that I am reliving the horror (I mean experiences) of the events I have covered, my creative juices are starting to flow again. This step back into the blog-o-sphere is one of the ways I will manage my time better. Boring you with (I mean telling you) my experiences helps me process all that's going on...and lets me let go of them and move on to the next. I will continue to catch you up in future blogs. I have a lot going on right now so I need to get a move on...Wish me luck and stay tuned...
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