I have been down here in Florida for almost 2 weeks now and I can finally say that I am loving the weather. The first week I was down here, it almost felt like I never left Ohio. It got down into the 20's some nights and even got a little snow over night on one occasion. But, over the past few days, the weather has got much better. It is 62 degrees right now and as I write this blog I have my window open feelin the nice January breeze, hahaha...have I pissed everyone off up North yet?
Anyways, I have been extremely busy since the last blog I posted. I began workin at the Forum last Monday and have worked nearly every day, usually putting in 12 hour days. At times it can get tiresome, but I really can't complain about anything, life is treating me well right now.
The first day of work I met a couple of the other interns and kind of got an overview of what to expect from my boss. She gave us a tour of the Arena and it was kind of overwhelming because the place is so big. I felt like I was just doing circles and after the tour I still wouldn't of been able to tell you where anything was. After a week of working there, I am still working on remembering where everything is located in the arena, but I am starting to get the hang of it. What makes it so difficult is there are several elevators, but they dont all go to every floor and not all the stairwells go to every floor either. So let me tell ya, it has been fun figuring that one out. Getting lost several times a day has actually really helped me learn where things are.
Day 2 was a very busy day and I met a ton of people. I got to work around 10:30 and saw that I had an e-mail from our boss asking all the interns from every department to go help out marketing with some mailings for the, "Glitz and Sticks" charity event. Even with all the interns helping out, this took a very long time to complete, but it had to be done. It was also a game day so we had many other jobs we had to do to prepare for the game that night.
On game days, the Event Ops interns are responsible for doing the suite walks. For each event we are given a list of which suites are going to be filled and who is going to be in each one. We have to then go around and make sure all suites are in good condition and place a copy of the St. Pete Times newspaper and the game notes in each occupied suite. Depending on how many suites are filled and how many interns are working, this usually takes around 1 to 2 hours to do.
After the suite walks are done, we all usually go get some lunch and relax for a little bit. The lost and found line and the employee phone line are all forwarded through our office, so we run those lines. So during our down time, we usually keep ourselves busy with all the phone calls and messages. It really boggles my mind how people lose certain things. Twice we have had people call in saying they were missing one shoe...now how in the hell do you lose one shoe? Don't you think that would be something you would notice when you are leaving the arena? We also have several phones that are turned in to us. One of the phones that was left in our office kept ringing and the caller ID said, "KiKi." I am still not sure who KiKi is but I was very interested in finding out. Unfortunately, the owner of the phone called to come pick it up so I never found out, sigh...
When we dont have any of that going on, we have been known to partake in games of putt-putt golf, butts up, paper football or mini-basketball to help pass the time. What? Everyone deserves to slack off at some point, right?
When it gets closer to gates opening up, we have our supervisors meeting, which is basically just a briefing to all the supervisors about the events going on that night and where certain things, like autograph sessions, will be taking place. After that, we have our call time and all the event employees meet and get a similar briefing that the supervisors got. Once that is complete, everyone gets ready for gates to open. During events, the interns split up duties and shift around so that we don't get bored doing the same thing. Some of us help out at the ADA entrance with anyone that needs wheel chair assistance and the rest of us shadow one of our two bosses.
Last Tuesday, the Lightning played the Capitals and it was probably one of the greatest hockey games I have ever seen. It was a very physical and high scoring game and made me wonder why I never became a big fan of hockey. Click the link above to see the highlights from the game, it was a good one...
Last week, there were 2 hockey games, a lingerie football game, winter jam concert and Lipizzaner Stallions show. So the arena was pretty busy this week and I learned a lot already. Probably the most important thing I learned this week was that the Lingerie Football League is hands down the greatest league ever created. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this league, please check out this website. What is so great about my job is that I get to spend the whole day leading up to events in the arena and get to see everything that the teams are doing. This includes watching out my office door as the Lingerie teams walk back and forth throughout the day. I also got to watch some of their practice while I was doing suite walks. I tried to snap some pictures for the fellas back home, but the closest I was willing to take pictures was up in the suites. Mainly because I enjoy my job and wouldn't want to risk losing it after the first week for creeping the girls out.
So, I am sorry guys, this is the best picture I could get from their practice.Aside from work, I have found some time to get out and have some fun outside of work. I went to the aquarium downtown, the West Virginia vs. USF basketball game and have had the chance to check out a few bars in the area.
I met a few of my roommates friends and they are all pretty cool. That night consisted of doing some stupidly random things like trying everything in our power to break a large rubber band. I have a pretty funny video of this, but for whatever reason my computer wont upload it.
Saturday night, I went to Lakeland to party with Josh. He had a hideously awesome hawaiin shirt party. It was pretty hideous to say the least...I believe this picture does the night justice...
Anyways, so far I am lovin it down here. Everyone I work with is really cool and we have a good time at our job. I have been lucky to meet many really cool people so far. I am sure these blogs will get more entertaining once we start having concerts and other events like that. I miss everyone back in Ohio and definitely miss the nights out with the guys. GET YOUR ASS' DOWN HERE HOMIES!
Signin off from sunny Florida :)
Nick
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