My second gig

My second gig was in December, 2007.

Every year, my company (QuadTech) has a holiday party. It's always the last day before Holiday break. Everyone brings a little something to eat, and pretty much everyone brings a little something to drink. We are instructed that we must work at least until 11:00 that day.

Many teams go all out for the cubical decorating contest. My team, not to be outdone, brought in one string of lights AND a green garland. I added to the festivities by writing on the board the equation of the catenary that described the shape of our hanging garland. I suppose the judges felt sorry for the teams that had worked until three in the morning for a week to set up the Elvis Workshop (or wait, was it "elves"?) and the "Christmas on Battlestar Galactica" cubicals.

As for me, while everyone was noshing and sloshing, I set up my full set of karaoke gear for the first time. I had literally been painting the subwoofers the previous day, so this was a maiden voyage. I came with a book of about 2,500 songs.

My car, by the way, was not all that happy with me. the night before, while I was packing, I started thinking seriously about going out to buy a larger car. Please don't tell Url, my car. It was only a fleeting thought. I still love ya, guy!

The engineers came by to critique the equipment and laugh about my lack of woodworking skills. They were jealous. Or, maybe they were just engineers?

But eventually, people became lubricated enough to get up and sing. I was completely floored by one ringer who got up to sing. I hadn't known that the guy was a professional. He goes by the name of "Downtown Harrison". Check out his website - he has some clips. Whether you want Elvis or James Brown or Nat King Cole, or Cher, he has it!

There were a few other surprises for the day. The biggest surprise was my office mate, Mike. Not only does he know some country songs, but he could sing! Not bad, actually. Here I thought he was just good for a bit of trivia now and then. The picture shows my wife, Gypsy, myself (drinking as usual) (it was soda) (honest) (would I lie on the internet?) (everyone knows that everything on the internet is true), and Mike.

I should also mention Paul. I love to listen to Paul sing. He has been in bands and he puts everything into his singing. Keep it up! (Sorry, I don't have a pic of him gettin' into it!)

Although the party was going on throughout the building, the karaoke just kept getting more and more popular as the crew got more and more liquored up. By the way, did I mention that QuadTech is a great place to work?

Other than a bit of constipation, I had a fabulous time.

I will end this blog with the endorsement that I got from Karl, the company president:

John the Revelator helped to make our Christmas Party a blast! He helped break the ice in the early stages and slowly made everyone feel comfortable singing and performing with their friends. It's a great way to get people to interact with each other in a fun environment!

Karl