I'm baaaack!

Hello fans, your favorite dork has returned. Thanks to the Rock On store at St. Louis' Union Station, now I even have the sticker to prove it. "I am a dork". I got one for D that says "I (heart) dorks". Truth in advertising. Both of my boys got spoiled. It was an awful lot of fun to shop for them.

St. Louis' Union Station is AWESOME! They have tons of stores, from the generic teeny-bopper salons and obligatory sports stores, to some high line art and creature comfort stores. Even though they didn't deserve it, I gave the Bud Shop $5.00 for a golf ball. The attendant was rude, too. Jerk. The ladies running Hats Galore, though, were really nice. I wish I could have bought all the hats I wanted. They were really nice.

Oh yeah, I was actually there for a fraud conference. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency within the train station. That was AWESOME x3!!! Can you tell I like old railroad stations? The business was mainly held in the newer banquet facilities. But one of the presentations I went to was in the older wing. The conference rooms were named after the rail lines! There were even little pictures of the rail lines on a marquee above the door. They were the cutest things! The Station Grille restaurant and Grand Hall were just amazing. The Grand Hall, omg, SO beautiful. My associates said there was an informational show about the station renovation on the room TV. I missed it, since we were out shopping or in the bars after being trapped in presentations all day.

Neal/Neil/Kneel at Key West wins Best Bartender or Waiter award. We went there the first night, since we arrived to the hotel late (8:00 p.m.) By the time we traprised (sic, you know what I mean) all over creation trying to get to our room, it was 9:00 p.m. The very confused front desk attendants first told us they were upgrading us to a suite, as our reserved room was not available. Ok, bonus. But when we get to the "suite", it looks like a standard room on the older wing of the hotel. And there's only one king bed. There are two adult women, me and my boss. I like the girl fine, but I'm not that desperate for a raise. Besides, I'd just scare her. Anyway, we get situated, and find out the front desk has struck again. Our SRS counterpart has been moved to another room, but hasn't been told. Nor has she been given any different room keys. When the bellman arrives to help her into the room she has the keys for, it's occupied. Lord, we needed a drink.

So Neal baby was our hero. He hooked us up with fine food and drink. Let me highly recommend the Caribbean Martinis. Yummity yum yum. They (read: multiple) went down mighty easy. Bit of a headache the next morning. Thankfully, the conference provided free meals and drink all day long. For a free conference, it totally rocked! Which helped us out a whole lot, so we could spend more of our daily expense budget on drinks!

Our token male associate (TMA) friend arrived for the conference the next morning. I love ya, man. You took a lot of abuse from us. (He's had lots of training, so we didn't feel too bad). We ate at Hard Rock Cafe the next night. Pretty good food, you should order a Riders in the Storm cocktail. Peachy, fruity, yet you could tell there was alcohol in it. The staff was gregarious, though a bit too much. We had "The One" as our waiter. He was maybe not "the one" we will want next time. All in all though, it was cool.

We walked from the station down to the Arch and river after dinner. Our justification was that we could walk back and go to Hooters for a drink. Upon returning, and me finding out they only serve beer, I don't know if it was worth it. The service was slow, and *slow*. Our token male was not too impressed. After being ignored for another round, we called it a night.

Second day, much of the same. We got to eat lunch in the station's Grand Hall. Freaking spectacular!!! Tuxedoed wait staff, all the table settings, first class. A girl can get used to this. We were let loose early on the second day, so we shopped in the station. My colleagues were a bit bored after waiting for me in the Rock On store. But, but, there were decisions to be made!

After a change for dinner, we went to the hotel lobby for cocktails. The least the front desk could do for all the hassle at check-in. Oh yeah, apparently the Chicago Cubs ball team checked in during the day. There were signs all over the property "please do not solicit autographs or photo opportunities on the premises." I know, it's not fair to disappoint my fans like such. But a girl only has so many hours in the day! It also started to rain around dinner time. Darn, means we have to drink another round! PS: White Russians from a hotel lobby bar cost $7.00.....each!

After the rain delay, we walked across the street to Maggie O'Brien's pub. Highly recommended by the super nice clock man. Really good food! The waitress was cute, but in a grumpy mood. Or maybe she's just a bitch all the time. Disappointing if so, she was pretty cute. Do these people NEVER think to ask if diners want separate checks? Especially if they don't look like they are "together"? She thought it was our responsibility to tell her that ahead of time. The pub is across from a convention hall. Want to wager on their ratio of local to tourist clientele? For crying out loud! She didn't deserve the respectable tips left for her.

TMA was saving himself for Hooters hot wings. So we made a return trip. My brother from another mother (another Holt boy, but from KCMO) was already there. And we had just talked to him at the Irish pub?!?!? The boy moves fast, apparently. He has to be one of us. After joining their group, TMA was rewarded with outstanding staff scenery. It was all he could do to string a sentence together. And this boy is an attorney! All the more for us to tease him about.

He did come in handy to have around, though. We got him to take a magazine I brought home for D to all the girls to sign. They were not the brightest bulbs in the pack, since they couldn't spell D's name right. But they were game enough to sign a couple things, so I'm not complaining. We could barely keep TMA on his bar stool once the girls started wrestling. I heard the official reason was ice down the shirt. Let's let the boys believe that.

That was as much excitement as we could take. We were itching to get out of there after the third morning. Six hours on the road, and we're back home. Everyone is happy with their gifts, and momma is happy to be home. I've been a good girl and given an update. So now I'm off to find out how much D loves dorks. cya!