One of the things that I never really expected coming out here was how much it would be in a living-the-life style. Let me see if I can give you an example of what I mean. A couple weeks ago, one of the co-presidents of the company was leaving the company to focus on other things in his life, so we had a huge farewell party for him. The entire company was invited out to a Cuban-themed bar called Floridita which the company had booked entirely. In addition to the canapés that were distributed to us throughout the evening, the event was open-bar to a dazzling array of some pretty fancy cocktails. It was a pretty fun night, filled with many mojitos. We found our way home via taxi cab at 4 in the morning, and slept in for a little while, but not for too long ...

The very next night, we were invited to the other company president's house for a bit of a smaller party. I'm not entirely sure why I got an invite actually, but I was happy to go. There we were treated to some appetizers prepared by the company's chef, Allan, as well as a fridge full of beer and other drinks. The appetizers were something else ... they were visually stunning, and amazingly tasty. The highlight though was the mini-burgers. These were the most incredible things I have tasted in quite some time. They were freshly prepared burgers with freshly ground beef -- which meant they could be cooked rare, which they were. These were the juiciest, tastiest burgers I think I've ever had.

After a relatively quiet week or so, the server team went out for a dinner last night. We started at a Tapas restaurant where we proceeded to order one of everything off of the extensive menu. Loads of tasty food were delivered to our table which we enjoyed immensely with a couple of bottles of wine. After the meal we proceeded over to a bar where we met up with some coworkers and proceeded to have even more drinks.

This has all been fun, but I understand the company Christmas party is supposed to be something else. We just got the news of what will be going on there, and it looks sweet! The entire company (some 300+ employees) and their spouses will be taking over an Irish town for a night. Since the company is so large, we'll be scattered across the town's several hotels, and be shuttled in to the main event where we have a black-tie affair with fine food, drink, and prizes. It sounds like an amazing time.

I knew that the company was generous, and concentrated on making the employees enjoy their time, but I never quite expected the treatment we're getting. Frankly, we're getting really spoiled -- and it's pretty incredible.

Morgan