Chamber event

Fascinating evening with nearly 500 of my closest friends. Grace Carpenter won the Paul Goodlowe McIntire Award for Citizenship (in case you too were on the edge of your seat). She is clearly deserving, even though I havent had the opportunity to meet her.

The food was not that good- Salad course- spinach with grilled(?) onions and two or three diced red peppers (that is to say, not much)- honestly I enjoyed the salad very much. My friend laughs at me because I came up with a great answer to the question "why do you eat so much salad?" I know you may not encounter this question a lot, but she does. The correct answer "because I can" plain and simple.

The entree was this random combination of miscellaneous fish (with every one having the exact same grill marks) that had absolutely no flavor, delicious red meat thing (very tender) with a scoop of mashed potatoes with no flavor and mixed vegetables that included eggplant and zucchini and virtually...you guessed it, no flavor. Overall, I am happy if the meat is good and it was.

The dessert- imagine a cantalope shaped like a three dimensional triangle placed upside down on your plate- then imagine it being a raspberry thing. I, along with my tablemates, were confused- it was good, but not great. I eat at the Omni regularly because of Rotary Club- the chefs make some delicious desserts (pecan pie, apple pie, chocolate cake) and usually I enjoy the food a lot (think green beans, sald, chicken, meat, veggie lasagna, fish and some starch, usually roasted pototoes). So I am somewhat surprised by the lackluster food, then again for 500 it was tolerable.

I had a great opportunity to sit with the folks from Photoworks, BB&T, Doubleplay Investments, First Settlement Title & of course my law partner.

The Embarq commercial and band (who played the jingles of Embarq) was pretty funny I have to admit (one woman at the table said it was fantastic, she believes the jingle has been underused of late and that jingles are a good tool marketing). Hantzman Weibel had this great little video on the life of Paul Goodlowe McIntire- which explained why all the things in this town are named after him. The swag included a bottle of wine/embarq wine glass and a huge thing of post its that hold a pen too from Hantzman.

Finally, Senator John Warner spoke- really extraordinary speaker so natural, good transitions from topic to topic, made the audience feel special, dealt diplomatically with Iraq and the future hearings for Defense Department Head (Bob Gates), he also mentioned Jim Webb fondly (the two have a very similar path with respect to service to their country). He didnt mention whether he would run again, he does NOT look his age at all.

The evening ended three hours later and when I got home, the Christmas tree was up! If you know me, that is a very positive thing. Thanks Chris!