It’s been almost a decade but the ice is back at Robson Square. After a cross continent trip it was an early morning call at the revitalized Robson Square. The venue has never looked better. Many a Vancouverite can recall skating on the choppy, dingy, square patch of ice under Robson Street (and have fun doing it as we are Canadians). This new rink, sponsored in part by GE, is very different than the old rink. It is bright, larger and sparkling clean. PRP helped launch this rink with a Countdown Ceremony that featured Catriona LeMay Doan as MC and a fabulous performance by Olympic Figure Skating medalist, Jeffrey Buttle. The rink was then opened for all to enjoy. it’s safe to say the youngest attendee was four day old, Jericho Bond, who came down to visit friends and see Quatchi, Miga and Sumi skating up a storm. By the afternoon when I returned it is clear the city had already embraced the rink as it was full of people having fun. This venue will definitely be a centre point of activities during the Olympics and for years to come.

Jericho with his Proud Parents

i have continued on to Orlando for a quick two day visit to the LDI Conference. This event is a fantastic opportunity to see what’s new in the lighting industry and catch up with folks who are as busy as us. We arrived late Friday night from Las Vegas and spent the evening (and part of the morning) sitting in the lobby bar of the Peabody sharing stories with old friends and new friends. Hearing about the video for the U2 360 tour first hand from Marcel at XL Video was fascinating. Today was an extremely busy day full of meetings including a trip to the PRG shop.  Some of the highlights on the Trade Floor were at Wireless Solution and Doug Fleenor Design. We ended the evening with the Annual Lighting Designer Dinner hosted by Epic and LDI at Norman’s. It was a great group of people and many stories and laughs were shared.

It’s time to head home to Vancouver and the monsoons and snow on the mountains.

Being at the IAAPA Conference has given us a chance to connect with many familiar faces and friends including Nick Deluca of Big Events who provides us all our inflatables for shows as well as our former PRP colleague, Randall Plitt, now from Prime Play as well as all the folks from the Pacific National Exhibition who are right above us back in Vancouver. After being at the IAAPA Asian event the last three years we now see many of the many fine people from the industry here at the much larger US event.

In terms of new friends I was able to bring over three of our original Vancouver 2010 Mascot performers (Jordan/Quatchi, Jyla/Miga. and Heather/Sumi) to meet the creator from International Mascots.

It’s been 12 years since I last ventured to Las Vegas.

I’ve been told that many a great PRP production have been conceptualized and developed in this city, so I guess it is safe to say that we all have a soft spot for this place.  We are all down here for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo exhibiting our fantastic Halloween Musical Adventure - The Great Big Boo! Nik and Rob did a fantastic job on the booth - The Boo! never looked so good.

As with any PRP trip, it wouldn’t be complete without great food and tons of fun!  Last night, we all went to Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine for my first foray into the fine art of sake and an amazingly delectable meal…lobster potstickers anyone?  After a visit from their chef, a bunch of us made our way down to the Strip for some entertainment at the Roulette tables.  Let’s go Black 20!

Last year it was Donny and Marie, this year it’s Bette Midler. From a distance, the show at Caesar’s Coloseum, was quite entertaining. Although, the highlight of the night was eating at Bobby Flay’s, Mesa Grill. The south western cuisine paired with classic vodka martinis was a perfect match for the end of a long day of travel and work at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Just like Christmas comes around once a year so does our trip to Von’s in Seattle. Over the years I’ve spent many a night enjoying the atmosphere in Von’s. Not only are there excellent selections but there is always the excitement of ’spinning the wheel’ and Heather and the cherries.

The major lesson we learned while in Torino was you always must ‘eat well’. Although, I’m sure there are many great restaurants in Torino we didn’t have time or use our resources to find them. Since then we’ve changed priorities and have had many great meals in places such as Bangkok, Whitehorse, Beijing, Toronto, Seoul and now in Seattle. On Monday night we feasted at the Crab Pot. Any meal where you get a mallet is an experience not be missed. Last night, we relaxed in the Capitol Hill area at Poppy Restaurant. It was amazing. It features a unique format where you are served an Indian style Thali platter with amazing Pacific Northwest style food. All we could say was - wow!

It’s that time of year again where we meet up with our friends from the world of Microsoft SQL Server and help produce the Professional Association of SQL Server Summit. This is year # 3 for Heather, Jeff Scales and myself. This year, Diane is the rookie on our team. We’ll keep her hopping and candy shopping.

As last night was Halloween, Heather got into the spirit and joined us at the Dragonfish as Little Red Riding Hood. Sadly, no Big Bad Wolf was found.

http://summit2009.sqlpass.org/

http://www.dragonfishcafe.com/