Weekend in Words
Friday: I finished my laundry and went to work on a the first client to buy into my Thanksgiving Special (25% off two-hour sessions booked for November). After that, I came back home and played WoW for a little while before my friend Wiley came and picked me up at 7pm to drive up to Guerneville for a retreat with Team Bear Steering Committee and the PrideWorks Board of Directors. We arrived at the Russian River Resort, got checked in and met with the board who had been up there since Thursday evening.
We had a few cocktails and sang some Karaoke, and I found a new song to add to my song list when doing Karaoke: kd lang’s “I’m Down To My Last Cigarette,” which went over well and suits my voice pretty well.
Saturday: the day was full of meetings. But first, I woke up, showered, walked to Coffee Bazaar for a big cup of coffee, a bagel with lox, cream cheese, onion and tomato, and some free wi-fi. I met up with Wiley’s partner, Michael, and we talked while I checked email and booked an appointment with some guy from Bear411 who’ll be visiting San Francisco around New Year’s Day.
We walked back to the Triple-R, where he helped Pete and Tommi get breakfast ready for our first meeting of the day. At 09:30, the board and the steering committee dined together and had some fundamental info passed out, including what PrideWorks does, a discussion of the recent history of Team Bear and how it came to pass that PrideWorks took the team on as a project.
Then we had some brainstorming session, talked about the team survey we conducted back in July/August, as well as the all-hands team meeting we had after the ride, to talk about what sorts of things people brought up during those de-briefings. After that, we walked up to the River Grill for lunch, and headed over to the old railroad bridge/pedestrian bridge to talk about some upcoming events PrideWorks wants to do in the next year.
From there, the two groups split up and while the board met about their stuff, the steering committee met separately to discuss broad ideas for fund raising, timeline planning for social and training and other events, how to use technology to get our message out better, and other things. It was a pretty productive meeting.
Saturday night, we had a supper that was kinda horrible – my duck breast was raw in the middle, and quite unpleasant. Similar things could be said about the corned beef and prime rib, too.
But Tommi’s performance as MC of the three women comediennes was the highlight of the day – he’s a real professional and it shows. He handles the crowd well, sings like a dream, and does the glamour cabaret drag like he was born in greasepaint. The comics were funny, too, and I got the contact info of one of them who is interested in helping Team Bear do some fund raising events.
Sunday: low key. another trip to Coffee Bazaar, another breakfast meeting, then we lounged by the pool for a while, took in the hot tub, then finally Wiley and I drove in a caravan with Michael home with a stop at the Petaluma Outlet Stores where I picked up new socks and a couple of pieces of work out clothes. Very inexpensive!
Finally, got back home and into bed. My own comfy bed.
chipper