OH.MY.GOD.

The title/picture says it all. Tonight while working, a man came into the hotel with a hand grenade. He pulled the pin. And this is how it all went down:

So a couple of workers (who were not actually working, just visiting in the bar), and a couple of guests and I were just hanging out in the bar. We were laughing, joking around ..just having a good time! Things were running smoothly. Then from outside comes running in our manager, Mikki. She's screaming, " GET OUT!!! GET OUT NOW!! ". We are all pretty shocked so we stood there with a look on our faces like, " Are you for real? " She starts screaming, " A MAN HAS A GRENADE!! GET OUT NOW!!!!! THIS ISN'T A JOKE!!!" The next thing I remember is running down the hallway towards the front desk hearing Micki saying, " WRONG WAY TIANNA! HE'S RIGHT THERE! TURN AROUND!!! ". So I BOLT back the other way and run across the street. (while thinking that my smokes are inside. Great, Tianna. Way to have your head in the game.) After waiting for about five minutes and watching the man exit the building, we then walked to the valet area and saw all the cop cars swarming in and watched them pull their guns screaming, " Put your hands up!!! " He then went into the Hilton and I'm not quite sure what happened in there, but they got him.

Poor Micki. Apparently he had walked in to our front desk guy, Tim, and said, " Give me your money and nobody will get hurt. " Tim was confused and was like, " Wait, what? " He repeated it again and showed him the grenade. Tim said he couldn't get into the register without a manager and the man said he would wait while he called the manager. So Tim went into the back office and called the Restaurant and told Chris to call 911. Chris, a server, got the call and ran to get Micki. Mikki and Willie (a cook) then walked up to the front desk to see what was going on. At that point, when Mikki got up to the front desk, the man repeated what he had said and then pulled the pin from the grenade right in front of Mikki. (DEAR LORD!!!!!) She then bolts out the sliding doors and runs around to the other side of the hotel to come tell us to get out.

I'm still just in awe of what happened. We had detectives coming in and out, interviewing everyone. Apparently the man had gone to two other places and pulled the same thing. I'm just glad that everyone is ok. The front desk guy was pretty shaken up about it all. He couldn't stop crying...but who can blame him!?!? He just saw someone pull a hand grenade ....which you can only assume is live.

Wow.

Just.....wow.

Blue October

I'm here at work (DoubleTree) a little bit early today. I met with Andrea for lunch today at Guss's downtown. Great food. But I haven't seen Andrea in over a week (ACK!) and it was nice to finally catch up. I've been super busy with working both places. I guess I should feel blessed with the hours I'm getting because I do need the money. I'll be working 10 straight days here before I have a day off from here. And even then I'm not going to even really have it "off". We're heading to Kentucky for the TEAM seminar.

As I was driving by the DoubleTree on my way to meet Andrea, I noticed a bus. I love seeing a bus here and wondering exactly who is staying here. When I got in here I, of course, had to ask. And it was just the group I was hoping for.......Blue October. Nice. The front desk was like, " They're sleeping right now ....but if you catch them, I'm sure they'll put you on the list for the show tonight. " Hahaha. If only.

Well, its 2:27 right now and the "business center" here is getting a bit warm and a little full. I shouldn't really be on here anyway, but they were nice enough to let me....so I shouldn't take advantage of it. I can atleast go outside and cool off and take my sweet time getting ready.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the cool weather!

So here is a question

Alright. We all agree I need money, correct? Let's just say that its a known fact across the board. So I have two jobs right now and they are both going really well. I have the steady, mindless job at National Premium that is part time mornings. Then I have the night job at Double Tree. We recently had a bartender quit, leaving 3 bartenders which means more hours for me. I have been on the schedule at Double Tree as just opening shifts on the weekdays since I have to get up early. But that just leaves the other two bartenders (Nick and Corey) with pretty much all closing shifts. So I'm getting a lot of pressure to quit my morning job at National Premium so that I can work more closing and relieve Nick and Corey. I guess I'm just in a pickle. What do I do? Do I quit my morning job so that when I work the closing shifts and I get home at 1:30am, I'm not waking up 5 hours later to go to my part time job? Or do I pick up those closing shifts and quit my other job and hope that the tips involved in closing makes up for my pay at National Premium?

I hope this all makes sense and ANY advice will be welcomed!!

So.tired.

I figured I should update since I haven't in awhile. Not that my life is terribly exciting, because its not. But alas, things have happened since my last post.

Well, I started back up at National Premium this Monday. I decided to take on a part time job in the mornings, Monday through Friday, so that I can earn extra cash. I wasn't getting any closing shifts at work, which is where you make the money. So I figured I could off set that a little bit. But since doing that, I've been asked to work closing shifts twice now. Damn the luck! If I knew I didn't have to be up at the butt crack of dawn, I would be ALL over that. Of course...Murphy's Law. So now I just open at the bar and work mornings at National Premium. But of course, I'll most likely be working every weekend at the bar as well. (Working 7 days a week? Me?!?!)

The computer has been down for about two weeks now....but its back up and running like new!! Needed a new video card. But, I feel better now that I don't have to use Beaky's computer to do my surfing. I can now wake up and check PerezHilton.com (Its addicting!!!) I am saddened that I have to re-download 2,000 songs again. le sigh.

Other than that, not much else is new here. OH! Mikey is coming to town this weekend!!! I tried taking off on Saturday, but they had none of that. So I work the opening shift and hopefully I'll get to see him sometime Saturday night!!

Weekend recap

Hello, folks!

Just thought I would put out a weekend update! It wasn't a busy busy weekend...but had fun, nonetheless!

Friday was an awesome day. The weather was perfect. It was probably about 65 and sunny. The air had a crispness about it that only brings great memories. I love this time of year for just that. I can wear jeans, a sweatshirt, and flip flops and be comfortable. But anyway, mostly it reminds me of apple picking and taking a Sunday drive along the Mississippi with my family. So, to me, it was the perfect day.

Friday night we decided to go to Ryan's house. We had no alcohol so about quarter of nine we walked to the liquor store. (Literally a 3 minute walk. We are RIGHT next to it). We spent a lot of time deciding on what to get. We went there with a mindset of Malibu and Pineapple ...but left with Vodka Cranberry. Not bad, though. Aaron had never had it before and really liked it!

We then drove to Ryan's condo around 9:30. We didn't get there until about ten after ten. Let me tell you....that was a long long long long drive. He's on like 60th and Calumet....and we're in Waukesha. Wowsa. Anyhoo, we got there made drinks and Aaron helped Ryan move a couch into the living room while Beaky and I attacked the taco dip!! After several rounds of taco dip and refilling our drinks, we decided to watch a movie. Ryan has a projection TV (SO COOL!) so it was neat watching it on there!! They had rented Wild Hogs and Blades of Glory. Since Aaron and I had already seen Blades of Glory, we decided on Wild Hogs. There are some really funny moments in that movie! But once it was over, we decided that it was time to go. It was two o'clock in the morning!

Saturday I had to work. I was the opening shift so I got out of there at a decent time. Andrea had called and asked if we wanted to go to Boomers (bar in Pewaukee) .....why not!? We hadn't been there since we moved to Waukesha! So Aaron and I meet up with Andrea and later Jo Jo and her friend. It was a good night. Drank a Ro-Jo (Raspberry Stoli, tonic, and a splash of orange juice). So. Good. But the funniest part of the evening was when I was in the bathroom. Overheard a conversation:

Girl One: What does it mean to find yourself?
Girl Two: I don't know. I think it means when you figure out how many kids you want!
Girl One: Oh, ok. I get it.

*slaps head*

Sunday was a bit exciting. Not much happened, but the anticipation was all there. I had gotten to work around noon and saw a tour bus sitting outside. I was thinking, " What rock star is staying here?!?! " I get in and ask the front desk girl who that bus belongs to and ever so happily she says, " Carlton!!!!...You know, Alfonzo!! " How COOL is that!?!?!? So I was hoping that at one point I was going to run into him....but I never did. I missed him when I was outside smoking. STUPID STUPID HABBIT!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone was kind of stressed out yesterday. We had a wedding going on and we had our number one client in there, Harley. Harley Davidson has been with us for YEARS apparently and they are our number one client. And these guys were the "guys who signed the checks". So since we had two big things going on, everyone was just freaking out. They anticipated that the bar was going to be super busy so I, of course, start feaking out. Turns out that it was incredibly slow. We had Harley in the bar, but not everyone was drinking. Everything was calm and under control. So I left around 8:00PM. Nice solid 8 hours of work in ....but I only made $68 dollars. =(

Well, that's about all she wrote. Nothing terribly exciting happened ...but the anticipation for something extremely exciting was all there!! Which, I guess, at times can be just as good!

I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather!!

ho hum.

Ok, ok. I *may* have overstressed tonight a bit....... Ok, a lot.

When I got to work I noticed the bar PACKED. I mean, wall to wall people over flowing into the restaurant area. Noticed that I was not the only bartender working. Ryan was scheduled at 1PM (Whoops! Failed to notice that on the schedule!!). But it dramatically shifted from steady to ghost town USA. So he left around 7PM and we both made a dismal $50 each during that time.

The rest of the evening was worse. It was incredibly slow!!! Nobody was drinking at all. Which is good and bad. Left the place making an even $100. Booooo. =( BUT, bright side, I did make the best Chocolate Martini EVER. Dang that thing was goooooood!!!!! (I tried the left over from the shaker). Oh, and I got a bunch of compliments on my bartending tonight. Phew.

Anyhoo, long story short: I overstress things too much. I just need to take it slow, take it easy, take a rest. (Where is my Aunt Kathie for that one?) Haha!

Annnnndd....I'm out.



PS. Hi to Linda!!!

OH.MY.GOLLY

Miss Molly.....Ha!

I am so nervous for tonight. (read: one hour from now). I am the sole bartender for the bar tonight, as we have 5 or 6 banquets going on at the Double Tree tonight. Every other bartender is busy with a banquet....so I have the bar. By myself. All night. I will be swamped tonight with drunkoids and I just hope (REALLY HOPE) that I can do well for them. Please let this night pass quickly!!!!!

T minus 8 minutes until I leave....

ACK!!!!!!!!!!!

My feet hurt

$300 tonight in tips. Booooo-ya!

But alas, I was there for 12 1/2 hours.

Experience

Went out a couple of nights ago with some people from work. As we were closing up the bar on Friday, Corey asked if I wanted to go out for some drinks. Why not? So him and I head out to Miller Time Pub, which is pretty much right next door to the DoubleTree. Apparently everyone from DoubleTree pretty much knows everyone who works there so we ended up getting free beer while there. Had some good conversation and got a sudden itch to play shuffle board. (Yes, shuffle board) So him and I headed over to (I forget her name...I will call her front desk girl) 's apartment. We pick her up and we're off to Champions. While waiting for the shuffleboard at Champions (yes, waiting), we managed to fit a game of Connect Four in.


After playing two rounds of shuffleboard, Jason, who is the manager of the Avenue Restaurant in the DoubleTree, calls up Corey and says he's playing beer pong at a TKE house. So we, of course, ended up there. It was a pretty sad "party" but this was at bar time and I'm sure everyone had already done their keg stands and gone home. But hey, free beer and I got to manage the music that was being played so it was a waste of my time a lot of fun.


All in all, it was a good time. Not sure if I ever want to step foot into another house party that you have to question every one's age...including the people you came with (front desk girl? Really...you're 21?) But whatever. I'll just call it an experience.



Now I must get ready for work. I work 2-CL. That's a long effing time. *puts on crabby pants*

Long-duck-dong

Well, I have had two nights under my belt for work. Phew. Want to know how it has gone? Follow me! *motions camera to follow self to board*

The first night (last night) was pretty much getting to know where things are. Much appreciated. I also learned how to use a touch screen register!!! (have always wanted to use one of those). Everything went along really smooth and I felt really comfortable being there. The two guys who are training me have been there 3 years. So its nice to have someone who knows what they're doing do it. But what bugs me about one of the guys is that he just basically came right out and said, " Do as I say...not as I do. " Which I think is just poor leadership. Anyhoo, different day, different blog. But other than that, everyone there is uber nice! I think I'll like it there a lot.

See...now that's not a proper blog. SO much more happened in that time frame than just that...but I fail to complete trains of thought. I had planned on making this a long blog, but just that came out? I managed to put two days (15 hours of training) into a paragraph. Whats up with that? Let me try again:

Training? Blah. Money? Yay!

What the!? It just got shorter! le sigh.

Whatever. I'm just not meant to be a blogger, I guess.

Oh! One thing I "L, O, L, O, L O LO V E" about working at the Double Tree is the fact that I don't have to park my own car. EMPLOYEES HAVE VALET PARKING!!!! Funny thing happened today when I gave my ticket to the valet parking dude....he brings out a different car. Now, my car is a newer car ....but the car that he (valet parking dude) brought was a few pot holes away from falling apart. They honk the horns as they are bringing around the cars and I was thinking, " Hrm...that horn is pretty husky sounding ..." But didn't think much of it. Valet parking dude's face as he's pulling up is pretty much saying, " Crap. Not your car? " He gets out and says, " This isn't your car, is it? " Sure isn't. So he brings me into their office and says, " What keys are yours? " What the!?!?!?!? There are about a million and eight different keys hanging on the wall! How am I suppose to pick them out!? Luckily I can hear my keys from a mile away. I have a RENT key chain that clanks pretty loudly if even looked at the wrong way. So here I am running my hands over every key chain on the wall. *sigh* But I did notice that myhorn is pretty whimpy sounding. Perhaps I can work with my car on "beefing" it up a bit.

Other than that, things are going alright. I just can't believe that the summer is winding down ....and so quickly. What the!? Isn't it suppose to be the 4th of July right about now? I remember in drumcorps how summers seemed to be so long. (DCM is how far away!?) Where is the slow motion button!?!??!?!!?

PS. Had a dream last night that I worked at a tanning place with Dolly Parton. (Just saw her face in the dream.) Oh, and I was living on Talmadge Street again ...but we were moving out. Odd.

WEIRD. I decided to look up "Talmadge Street Eau Claire, WI" on Google and I found the house where I used to live. How EFFFFFING weird is that!?!?!??!!?!?!?!?! (there may have been sexual relations on that front porch at one time or another while locked out of the house one afternoon)

So there it is.My new place of employment. The Avenue bar at the DoubleTree hotel downtown Milwaukee. WOOT!

Andrea works there in the mornings on weekends for some extra cash and she heard about the need for bartenders ....and of course she thought of me so she told the manager that I am looking for a job! The manager, by the end of her shift this morning (this morning!), was chasing her down saying, " Don't forget to talk to your sister about the position! " So her and I went in this afternoon to talk to him and have lunch. I filled out an application and 1 hour later, I've already gotten a call back. So. nervous.

I've been a bartender before ....but nothing as classy as this. Well, how do you measure up to Bluebird Campground? Heck, most of the people there were running from the law. Bluebird Hideaway is what it should be called! But, I wouldn't have changed those people for anything. They were like a home away from home...and they treated everyone there like family. I worked with Beaky there (she actually got me the job) and I remember first starting thinking, " I don't know if I can do this...so much to do! " Of course I got over that fear after a couple days (read: weeks) After awhile..... man, you put Beaky and I on a Friday or Saturday night shift and we could rock the house. We worked so well together. I hope that when/if I work with someone we have each others backs like we did at Bluebird. I think a lot of it has to do with communication and listening. If I heard Beaky was taking an order from someone and she needed something that was by me.....I would grab it and throw/slide/hand it to her. I almost want Beaky to bartend with me! Hahaha.

So I guess I'm just nervous/excited to start. I can make a lot of money working there...and I just hope that I can let my inner bartender shine!