Right now, I am sitting at my desk in our spacious Media Relations office at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The walls that surround me were not here when I came to visit in December. The transformations that our crews do to these buildings continue to amaze me year after year. In fact, a guy just walked by my office saying that he's taken care of this building for 14 years and can't believe what we've done to it. Parts of the venue are unrecognizable, and he's even had trouble distinguishing between the new walls and the previously existing ones. Also, between the colors and the Adobe design, the setup really says Albuquerque.
Aside from my office being nearly completed, this week has been like one big reunion. Tournament managers and supervisors have been arriving in town all week, and many of our travelers will be here next week. So far, I've seen Steven (Day Manager) from Kansas, Rita (MOD) from Oklahoma, Kevin (Registration Manager) from Milwaukee, Gabe and Lon (Tournament Services) from Florida, Steve (Employment Source) and Merri (Tournament Services) from Montana, Jerry (Bowlers Journal) from Colorado, Danny (Scale Room) and Jeff (Center Desk) from Alabama, Horse (Lane Maintenance) from New York, Jen (Tournament Services) from California, Big John (Scale Room) from Ohio and Daniel (BBE) and David (Lane Monitor/Maintenance) from Reno.
This group is in addition to Tournament Director Brian Lewis and his family, Associate Tournament Director Mindy Corr and Chris and Shannon Chartier and their family, who all spend a year in each city and move from one tournament site to the next.
And then the computer guys, Mike from Colorado, Dave and his wife Madonna from Florida, Mike from New York and Gary from Headquarters in Milwaukee have been in and out since Dec. 16 to set up the computer nextworks and more than six miles of wiring.
It's amazing to see people of all ages and points in their careers come together from all corners of the country to help run this prestigious event. Each person has his/her area of expertise, but all share a love of the sport and the dedication to make this event bigger and better each year. Of course, it's difficult to pack and move every six months, but the rewards far out-weigh the stresses.
Anyway, it's great to be back and see everyone again.
