Still Laughing

Once a year we do a team building fun trip with our guys to blow off steam from the busy fall and to celebrate the accomplishments of the year before. When we get a top ten award we try to do a little extra. This year we achieved top ten again, which really isn't that astounding since we were all on allocation (meaning we got this year what we got last...) But, they still worked like crazy to get everyone installed as quickly as possible so the feeling is there.

We went to a Bruins game.
When the limo pulled up big smiles appeared all around and the tone was set. We climbed in and broke out the bubbly. We had a great ride down to Boston to our secret dinner destination.

The Cheesecake factory at the Prudential Center. A couple of our Canadian suppliers had flown in to join us and they met us at the restaurant. We walked around a bit before dinner. Snowballs and laughs were flying.
More beverages and lots of food. The menu is a little daunting, but everything is delicious. If you have eaten there before you say things like, "the tuna on page 19 is very good, or the chicken wings on page six are spicy and fabulous..." A couple of guys tried to downshift into work talk and were rewarded with double drinks.

Then we all piled back in the limo to go to the Garden (gah-den). The traffic was wicked bad, so we all piled out and walked the last couple of blocks. It was a very Bostonian moment to walk into the Garden in the shadow of the Zakim Bridge.

The place was packed. Our seats were a little high, but the view was amazing. We had a lot of characters around us. We had a lot of characters with us for that matter. One of our Canadian friends Paul is a long time Bruins fan, and one was a Habs fan. He wisely did not wear Canadien's logo wear. We heckled a bit, but we were winning so we were pretty gentle. Paul even caught a Bruins shirt that the Bruin's girls were throwing out. Very proud!

The game was everything you would hope for. Fights, checks, pucks flying, and then there was the hockey! LOL! At one point there was a all out brawl going on behind and to the right of us, with the most vocal guy declaring in an unmistakably Southie accent that ALL of row 13 sucked!

Yesterday was a great day. I smiled so hard my teeth hurt, and laughed so much I nearly ran out of breath a few times. Life is Good :)
At the same time sticks were flying on the ice and there was a wad of players duking it out on the ice.

Bruins won 3-1. My voice is a little hoarse today and I can think several others who may not have a voice for days. Good times! One of our guys even talked one especially inebriated fellow into going down to "flirt" with another of our guys. Too funny. I almost cried I was laughing so hard. Poor Sean.

Afterward we walked over to Sully's for a beer. We had one under age person with us so we decided not to stay. Unfortunately, someone ordered six pints before the word spread. A Boston ladder truck and (fire) engine were also active up the street. We had five fire fighters with us so they all went off down the street while the others went in to finish the pints. We then headed off to Cheer's on the Boston Common. It was pretty late at this point so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

We wrapped up at last call, dropped our Canadian friends off at their hotel and headed back North. We poured a couple of guys into the passenger seats of the designated drivers and home we went.