Freebies FTW!!  

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I love the term FTW!! I can't help it..I'm a video game junkie and that's just a popular comment... For The Win, for those of you not involved in all the new abbreviations out there...

That being said I was invited to a year end sales meeting this weekend in Santa Barbara. It was being held at the Biltmore which is a Four Seasons Resort...I have seen these places on TV and always thought how cool it would be, but never figured I would have the money to enjoy one. Well that all changed with this little trip.

The rooms are rather pricy...I was told that off season the upstairs rooms run around $450 a night...I spent less than that on a weekend in Monterey with dinner...
But it's a freebie, so hell yes I took it.

It was a bit surreal for a country boy like me. I'm well enough versed in how to act. I am told I clean up fairly well. I'm pretty sure that compared to some of the other rednecks that came with us I didnt' look to hillbillyish (that just became a word). The concierge treated me like I was royalty. They apologized about 100 times, because a vehicle had blocked their front entrance and we had to drive around to the back parking lot and walk. The poor guy that hauled all the luggage was the one that got the short end of that stick. He smiled the whole way and told us all about the things we could see in the town. Where we should try and get to. We also learned that he is in his 3rd year of college and working towards his pilot license. Nice guy. The room was amazing. The closet alone is as big as our other bedrooms in our home. It had as much hanger space as two of our closets as well. The shower had a seat and it took me about an hour to figure out all the places the water would come out in that damn thing. The tub was just as phenomenal. I had never seen an old fashioned free standing tub that had hidden jets in it...Until this weekend. Amazing as it was I never even got the chance to try it out. Three swimming pools and 3 hot tubs, a full service spa and gym. Guided tours, a putting green and crockett.

The food is where i encountered some discomfort. I am a meat eater. I'm a meat and potatoes kinda guy. They were making funky salads with names that I'm quite sure were made up. I love seafood, so that was a plus. Sea Bass, and salmon, crab cakes, and lobster (drooling a little). All I had to do for all of this was sit through an 8 hour sales meeting. I slugged down about 8 or 9 cups of coffee and smiled through my 8 hour punishment.

The last night there we had an awards banquet and I found out this was the real reason for me being invited. It turns out that our facility was 1 of only 3 that went then entire year without an accident. I guess I should mention that we have about 900 facilities nationwide. So we accepted our award and I patted myself on the back and managed a few drinks in celebration as well. (everything was free!!!)

I loved the weather and the scenery of that little town. I could do without the snobby people living there, but other than that this was 4 days to remember. I can hardly wait for next year. My boss told me that we might get to try that one in Hawaii.... Keeping my fingers crossed...

This entry was posted at Sunday, February 28, 2010 and is filed under , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

11 comments

Sounds fab - I'm very jealous! Kitty x

March 1, 2010 at 2:21 AM

Santa Barbara is a nice town, I am glad you had the chance to go and have a good time!

March 1, 2010 at 7:22 AM

Congrats on getting to spend a great weekend in such a posh place. No wonder the rich and famous are so skinny eating all that salad and seafood. Sure sounds like a beautiful place. I can't imagine being able to afford that, but free is always good.
BTW- I am closing in on the age of 60 and I am a gamer too. I am probably the only grandma that hangs out at Game Stop searching for new games for myself instead of for my grandkids.

March 1, 2010 at 8:04 AM

RAE FTW!!!!

March 1, 2010 at 8:13 AM

I'm drooling right now, you know that? seriously, Bendigo, WOOOOWWWW! I'm so happy you had fun during those four days in paradise! It's such a great opportunity and it completely stands out of the ordinary! So cool! Everything free...I would have gone insane trying everything they offered ;)!

And for FTW, I'm glad you finally explained it, because I've seen it several times on blogs. Never knew what it meant until now! :P (I'm not too bad at the beginner's level in Guitar Hero--I've played once at my friend's house!--does that count as a video game?)

March 1, 2010 at 3:25 PM

What a nice surprise! Congrats on your award, and your cushy digs. I'm a little jealous of all these vacations people are taking lately... but more importantly, where are the pictures?

March 1, 2010 at 6:00 PM

Wow!! Sounds like a very posh place! would have loved it, even though I too, am a bit uncomfortable around the snobby kind :)

I am crossing my fingers that you get that one in Hawaii as well!!

March 3, 2010 at 2:02 PM

Kato...I'm crossing everything humanly possible on that one..lol

Now that would be worth anything they throw at me in order to go there for a week!

March 3, 2010 at 9:01 PM

Congratulations on the award!!!! Santa Barbara FTW!

March 4, 2010 at 11:11 AM

Oh yeah FTW!!! it's contagious...We will all be saying it very very soon I hope!!

March 4, 2010 at 8:08 PM

I love free stuff, especially food. Thanks for explaining FTW, I felt like I was the only one that didn't know what it meant.

http://reviewsyoucantuse.blogspot.com

March 6, 2010 at 3:01 AM

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