Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Surprised to be Alive
The National BBQ Championships (aka meetapalooza) were on the weekend at Dusty’s in Creekside. The event brought BBQ’ers from as far away as Flordia to show off their grill skill. Myers and I were asked to be table captain and help run the judgeing for this years event.
Friday night we welcomed the new judges with lots of booze. The Hairfarmers were playing and at some point turned into Big Up. The guys at Krrisdale Lumber were putting on a show of their own with some after hours BBQ. I was already amazed at the number of smoking hot girls that were attracted to this years event. We had a great start to the weekend and it was only Friday of the long weekend.
Saturday morning came fast, my head hurt a little from the night before but there was no time to worry about that, had to get to the show. I arrived at Dusty’s and received a $100 bar tab and a VIP pass for the weekend. Mark took off to go ATVing
first thing in the morning with Tif and some of his buds from the city, I put in the call telling him to move his ass as stuff was just about to start and I had a bar tab and VIP pass for him as well. Jeremy and me were allowed to do the meet inspection for the event, something neither of us had ever done but after a quick training session we were ready for the inspection.
The days events went by fast, not a lot of judging but Berger, Anything Goes, and Chili. Kind of like a warm up to the main event on Sunday. I sampled some of the Berger and Anything goes but left the chili alone this year.
The Dadio of the Patio Guitar Doug was playing, the sun was shinning and we had $100 in beer to drink. After a few and table hopping meeting and greeting old friends we had not seen since last year.
We were called in to judge the grand marnier drink competition. That’s right, bartenders entered in to make any kind of drink they like using Grand Marnier. Some of the drinks were good some were bad, but the whole environment was crazy.. 4 tables of judges sampled a few different drinks. They came in a little taster glass ( better then last year when everone at the table had to sip from the same glass) and also had a presentation drink for an appearance score.. we took the opportunity to sample that drink as well..
When the event was over a few of the guys had taken all of the ‘appearance’ drinks and mixed them into 1 bucket and were doing shots of the swamp water.
Unfortunately my evening was briefly messed up with some jackass yelling racial comments at a judge. I tried to talk some sense into the Ignorant Bastard, but had to walk away some people you just can’t reach..
When I got back to the patio the drinks were just starting to kick in.. Mark tried to step it up by ordering beer every time he walked by the bar. (not sure what time he pulled the pin, but I’m sure it was before 11).. I checked out the bad inside for a bit.. looked crazy Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz Burlesque Dancers. I have heard stories of some girl yelling at me in the bar, and someone else defending me, but I have no recollection.
I do remember leaving the bar and being asked by someone if I knew first aid.. I do and advised them that I had been drinking all night and they should try and find someone else. They wanted me to took at a finger that was cut into and bleeding badly. With pressure and time that had passed I recommended that she go to the clinic and have her fingure looked at but as an American with no insurance she was happy to let me bandage her up. I taped it up after disinfecting it and told her that if she bleed though the bandage she would have to go to the clinic and should take a cab. I hung out at the tent for a bit, and another beer. Then was escorted home by an old friend, who made sure I got home ok….
Mark burst into my room on Sunday morning at 10am telling me to get dressed it was time for the big event. Sunday is the day that all the big meets get turned in. We got to Dusty’s just in time for the judges to take their oath.
Ill fill in the rest of the day later.. and I think we have some photos? But we forgot our (Raj’s) camera or just forgot to use it..
Friday night we welcomed the new judges with lots of booze. The Hairfarmers were playing and at some point turned into Big Up. The guys at Krrisdale Lumber were putting on a show of their own with some after hours BBQ. I was already amazed at the number of smoking hot girls that were attracted to this years event. We had a great start to the weekend and it was only Friday of the long weekend.
Saturday morning came fast, my head hurt a little from the night before but there was no time to worry about that, had to get to the show. I arrived at Dusty’s and received a $100 bar tab and a VIP pass for the weekend. Mark took off to go ATVing
first thing in the morning with Tif and some of his buds from the city, I put in the call telling him to move his ass as stuff was just about to start and I had a bar tab and VIP pass for him as well. Jeremy and me were allowed to do the meet inspection for the event, something neither of us had ever done but after a quick training session we were ready for the inspection. The days events went by fast, not a lot of judging but Berger, Anything Goes, and Chili. Kind of like a warm up to the main event on Sunday. I sampled some of the Berger and Anything goes but left the chili alone this year.
The Dadio of the Patio Guitar Doug was playing, the sun was shinning and we had $100 in beer to drink. After a few and table hopping meeting and greeting old friends we had not seen since last year.
We were called in to judge the grand marnier drink competition. That’s right, bartenders entered in to make any kind of drink they like using Grand Marnier. Some of the drinks were good some were bad, but the whole environment was crazy.. 4 tables of judges sampled a few different drinks. They came in a little taster glass ( better then last year when everone at the table had to sip from the same glass) and also had a presentation drink for an appearance score.. we took the opportunity to sample that drink as well..
When the event was over a few of the guys had taken all of the ‘appearance’ drinks and mixed them into 1 bucket and were doing shots of the swamp water.
Unfortunately my evening was briefly messed up with some jackass yelling racial comments at a judge. I tried to talk some sense into the Ignorant Bastard, but had to walk away some people you just can’t reach..
When I got back to the patio the drinks were just starting to kick in.. Mark tried to step it up by ordering beer every time he walked by the bar. (not sure what time he pulled the pin, but I’m sure it was before 11).. I checked out the bad inside for a bit.. looked crazy Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz Burlesque Dancers. I have heard stories of some girl yelling at me in the bar, and someone else defending me, but I have no recollection.
I do remember leaving the bar and being asked by someone if I knew first aid.. I do and advised them that I had been drinking all night and they should try and find someone else. They wanted me to took at a finger that was cut into and bleeding badly. With pressure and time that had passed I recommended that she go to the clinic and have her fingure looked at but as an American with no insurance she was happy to let me bandage her up. I taped it up after disinfecting it and told her that if she bleed though the bandage she would have to go to the clinic and should take a cab. I hung out at the tent for a bit, and another beer. Then was escorted home by an old friend, who made sure I got home ok….
Mark burst into my room on Sunday morning at 10am telling me to get dressed it was time for the big event. Sunday is the day that all the big meets get turned in. We got to Dusty’s just in time for the judges to take their oath.
Ill fill in the rest of the day later.. and I think we have some photos? But we forgot our (Raj’s) camera or just forgot to use it..