Rockin' in New Orleans

As promised, I am going to dedicate this post to my recent experience in New Orleans. I had been there before but I was in high school at the time and was with my family...let's just say it was a little different this time around. The reason for my trip was the annual World Series of Sales event that is put on by Advisors Excel. It is where we recognize the top financial advisors that we work with for their hard work over the past year. I arrived in New Orleans last Wednesday along with a few others that I work with. The actual event didn't begin until Thursday night but we wanted to go a bit early to relax and also spend some time with a few advisors that we work with locally in New Orleans.

One of the things that New Orleans is known for is its food. Well it didn't take long for me to enjoy the cajun taste of the city. After checking in at the Ritz-Carlton, I joined Shawn Sparks and Brad Johnson for lunch with one of our agents and his staff. We visited a small cafe called New Orleans Food & Spirits. Among the things that we ate were fried eggplant, crawfish cakes, fried shrimp, fried fish, seafood gumbo and jambalaya. Needless to say, I was stuffed. After lunch I went back to the hotel and enjoyed the spa for a bit. It wasn't long after this that Shawn and I saw Luke Wilson at the hotel bar at the Ritz. We thought about asking him for a picture but eventually just said screw it. Later we met up with one of the advisors that we work with for dinner along with his staff. The restaurant we ate at was Mr. B's Bistro (http://www.bistro.com/) and I strongly recommend it if you are ever in New Orleans! It was a great atmosphere with great food. After dinner our whole group decided to hit up the famous Bourbon Street. We went to Pat O'Briens (http://www.patobriens.com/) piano bar and their famous Hurricanes took a toll on the group here as well.

The next day I slept in and when I eventually woke up I felt the need to hit up the spa again. About an hour and a half later I felt refreshed and was ready to begin my day. And by begin my day, I mean it was time to hit up the local favorite place for gumbo...The Gumbo Shop. (http://www.gumboshop.com/w.gumboshop.com/) This was one of my favorite places to eat..we started out with some chicken andouille gumbo, then creole jambalaya platter, and finished with hot bread pudding with whiskey sauce. It was simply amazing! Later that evening the World Series of Sales kicked off with a cocktail reception and then Terry Bradshaw spoke. You can't really tell on TV all that much, but Bradshaw is freakin' hilarious!! That guy literally had a room of 400 people in tears because they were laughing so hard. Unfortunately after he spoke, Terry had to leave immediately for Chicago because he was covering the Bears/Packers game so I wasn't able to get a picture with him either. Following the presentation by Terry Bradshaw was casino night and all of the proceeds were donated to Sean Payton's "Play it Forward" Foundation. I was able to meet Sean Payton and get a picture with him. I also got to hold the Lombardi Trophy from the Saints Super Bowl victory last year. They are still technically the current World Champions...for two more weeks anyway!!

Friday was a lot of business for the most part. We had several people speak including Cody Foster (One of Advisors Excel's Founders), Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints Head Coach), and Randy Schwantz (Author of The Wedge). That night however, was all play and no business! The owners did an amazing job preparing an evening that I will never forget. It started out with a authentic Mardi Gras parade. I'm not sure how much they paid to do this but they had Canal Street (the main street in downtown New Orleans) blocked off for over an hour so that Advisors Excel and all of our agents could have a huge parade. We had over 15 massive floats with amazing paintings and sculptures built on them. This was a surreal experience that I doubt I ever get to do again!! We rode on the floats for over 3 miles while throwing beads to the locals and tourists along the streets the whole way. It was a great start to the party.

The party did continue after we arrived at a place called Mardi Gras World. This is where we dropped off the floats and got to see exactly where and how they build them. We then walked to the Grand Oaks Mansion (http://www.kernstudios.com/) for cocktails and socializing for about an hour. After this everyone worked their way into a massive ballroom and this is where we had the awards ceremony and dinner. Much to everyones surprise, Cirque du Soleil was there to perform during our dinner. (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/) The show was amazing and everybody loved it! I had seen them once before in Las Vegas, but having them at a private party was a whole new experience!

The next day we did have a few more speakers before the conclusion of the event, Joe Calloway and Bob Fugate. The World Series of Sales was definitely a success this year. Everybody had a great time and much deserved credit was given to some of the top financial planners in the country!

I did stay one extra day to do some site seeing and to wind down from the weekend. I visited the St. Louis Cathedral which is breathtaking and also the French Market. However, I flew home on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 and we had some excitement on our return flight. I had a layover in Houston and that is where we were headed. About 30 minutes out, the flight attendant announced that the pilot was starting his descent toward the airport. Then about 5 minutes later the flight attendant came back on the speaker to ask everyone to remain calm and she wanted to inform us that the flaps on the wings of the plane were not working...therefore we couldn't slow down and were going to be landing at an extremely high speed! Well just my luck...of course I'm not sitting between 2 hot chicks that need support and comfort during this scary time...no, I'm sitting between 2 ladies that are in their mid-sixties. One of them is hyperventilating and has her vomit bag out and the other is tearing up and saying her prayers aloud! This....was a nightmare. Anyway, I was slightly worried myself so I buckled my seat belt as tight as it would go and I braced myself. The good news was that the fire department had been notified of the situation and fire trucks were lining the runway in case of emergency...awesome. After all this, I have to give the pilot props. He did a great job and landed the planed safely. I have never been so happy to have a layover and get on a NEW plane in my life!!

So that's what has been going on in my life this past week. Now it is time to root on the Kansas State Wildcats as they take on the Kansas Jayhawks this weekend!!! GO STATE!!!

The Way to See the City

Many times the way to get the best view of something is to position yourself so that you have a view from the top. Well this past Friday I did just that. I went to The Skies restaurant in Kansas City with three friends of mine. (http://www.skieskc.com/) The restaurant sits atop the Hyatt in the Crown Center district of KC and it offers an amazing view of downtown (Power & Light District), the Crown Center, Martini Corner, and the Plaza. You can even see Arrowhead Stadium and Kaufman Stadium. The restaurant also slowly revolves throughout the night, it takes about 90 minutes for one complete revolution. The ambience is second to none and there is a man playing the piano the whole time as well which makes it pretty relaxing. So guys, if you are planning a date soon then I definitely recommend The Skies!

After dinner at The Skies we went to Luna which is a club that was built to be reminiscent of clubs you would find in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami. (http://www.lunakc.com/) We didn't do any crazy dancing like some of the others there but we did get a table and had a blast sharing old stories of the stupid things we have done...some of these were college stories and some were from, well, a few weeks ago (I had no shortage of things to share!).

Saturday I played in a basketball tournament and I have to apologize. Turns out the camera man was at lunch during the game that I had all of my sweet dunks, so no footage is available for you. I know, it upset me too.

Anyway, Saturday night I joined a group of friends for a birthday party in Lawrence at a place called The Cave. (http://www.oreadcave.com/) It was an eventful evening that consisted of a lot of people-watching. I've always been a believer that airports are the best place to people-watch because you ALWAYS see crazy people at the airport, but The Cave is right up there. Although the obvious reason many people are so entertaining there is because they have had one too many! It is definitely a nice place though and is worth checking out. It is located below The Oread which is a hotel right by the Kansas University campus. They turned a three level parking garage into a night club. The top level is a wine bar, the middle level is a shot/martini bar and the bottom level is the main club with a dance floor and VIP bar. The entire building is made of limestone and it has granite countertops all over which gives the place a unique look.

I am now about to leave tomorrow for New Orleans. Advisors Excel hosts an event each year in January called the World Series of Sales. (http://www.theworldseriesofsales.com/) We have all of the top financial advisors that we work with get together for an awards ceremony and also to hear some well-known speakers. One of them is the New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and another is Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw. I'm excited to meet both of them and I will definitely be filling everyone in on the event when I return!

P.S. Congratulations to my best friend Travis VanVleck! Travis and his wife Beth had a baby boy this morning, welcome to the world Creighton!!

Yellow Snow

So it finally happened. We escaped the snow through the months of November and December but it has now caught up with us. We had our first big snow of the year and it was beautiful!! For about 5 hours. Now it would be great if we could get just one day where the temperature gets above freezing so it can melt. Oh and for you Northerners that are reading this, I call 3-6 inches a "big snow"...get over it!! Half of the reason that I'm not a big fan of snow is my fault. I deemed it unecessary to get a 4-Wheel Drive vehicle a few years back and now when we do get snow, my rear-wheel drive Envoy doesn't do so good. I know most of you have seen the movie Bambi, well I would say the part when Bambi is sliding around the frozen pond on his hooves would be a fair comparison to my Envoy on the frozen streets of Topeka...watch out!

Since we have had snow the past week I have spent a lot of time inside learning how to use my new iPad. I have fallen in love with the thing and I would definitely consider myself addicted. Some of the apps that I recommend you getting if you have or are getting an iPad are Flipboard (http://www.flipboard.com/), Fandango (http://www.fandango.com/), VEVO HD (http://www.vevo.com/), and OpenTable (http://www.opentable.com/). The Flipboard app allows you to have one central hub where you can access all of the latest updates from your Twitter connections, Facebook friends, or LinkedIn acquaintances. Another good use for Flipboard is to keep up-to-date with the latest news headlines and fashion trends. Flipboard was actually voted App of the Year in 2010. Fandango uses your current location and tells you exactly what movies are at the local theaters, the times they are showing and also movie reviews. VEVO is a great resource for all of the latest music videos and OpenTable is an app that allows you to set dinner reservations for nearly any nice restaurant.

So this past week I did manage to get out a bit despite the cold weather and visit some cool places. The first stop was at Nara last Friday night in Kansas City. (http://www.narakc.com/) This is a sushi place at 17th & Main St. I do recommend this place for any of you sushi-lovers out there. It has a great ambiance, the service is great and of course the sushi was delightful as well. We decided to stay conservative and ordered Spicy Tuna Rolls, Vegas Rolls and some Edamame. Later that night we met up with some friends at Sol Cantina in Martini Corner, ended up being a great night with great people!!

On Saturday I hung out with the guys and watched the NFL Playoffs and ordered some pizza. Later that night we had "guys night out" in KC. We started out at the 75th Street Brewery to watch the Colts/Jets game and eat dinner. (http://www.75thstreet.com/) Afterwards we decided to go to a new bar that none of us had been to. It's called The Well and is part of the Waldo neighborhood. (http://www.waldowell.com/) The main part of the bar is pretty big and has plenty of room for dancing and also to grab a table if you want. The rooftop part of the bar is still open in the winter, they just have a huge enclosed tent over the top and it's heated. It was definitely a fun place with a lively crowd, also recommended.




Now although this had already been a pretty jam-packed weekend, I wasn't done just yet. Sunday morning I met up with several friends and we headed to Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs/Ravens playoff game. We were stoked because we had tickets on the 50 yard line and had what was an unnecessary confidence that the Chiefs were going to take care of business! Well the Chiefs ended up getting their butts kicked by the Ravens, but it was still a great experience and I hope the Chiefs will be hosting another playoff game a year from now. (The cheerleaders still looked good although the Chiefs didn't)

Well folks, this is what has been going on in my life! If you have any questions regarding any of the things or places that I've mentioned then let me know. In the meantime, don't eat the yellow snow!!

Party Like It's 2011!!!

Happy New Year everybody! 2011 has kicked off and what do you know...the gym is full again!! Seriously though, a few weeks ago there was like six people at the gym every morning and now I can barely find a parking spot. The new years resolutions that everyone made has renewed their motivation and provided a new energy. Although, I know how this song and dance goes. The gym will be packed for about a month and then it's back to normal. In the college days it was always right after New Years and right before spring break that the gym was crowded. Everyone was looking to get those last workouts in to perfect their "beach bod" before taking off for a week of debauchery (I never did this..).

For my new years eve I decided to keep it low key this year. Instead of going to one of the clubs or hotel parties, I went to my buddy Josh Gall's house for a small get together. There was great people and great food and with those two things you can't go wrong! As far as my new years resolution, it is to buy a house this year and I plan on getting one on the west side of Lawrence. September is the target date and I can't wait! The thought of looking for my own house and then putting it all together inside is exciting to me. I know that there are some headaches in the process but it is what it is, I'm ready for it.

I do want to throw one thing out there for those that are analytical and are goal-oriented. Check out the site http://www.mindbloom.com/. You create a profile and then you develop your own "tree of life." You add branches to the tree and each branch represents a different area of your life where you add goals and track them. Examples of branches are Career, Money, Religion, Fitness, Health, Budget, etc... You will be able to add your goals to each branch and then you will receive an email from Mindbloom each morning and you can confirm whether or not you did what you needed to the day before. Based on how well you keep up with your goals, your leaves will turn colors. They will be green if you are doing everything right and achieving all of your marks. However it will be yellow, orange or brown if you don't keep up. It's pretty cool and you can also link together with friends so that you can be held accountable. You can choose to keep the information on certain branches private if you wish as well. And one of the best features is that you can link it to your Twitter account, Blog or Facebook. This way you are always reminded of what you want to accomplish!!

Last but certainly not least, make sure you tune in to the nfl playoffs this Sunday and root on the Chiefs!! I was at the game this past weekend against the Raiders and they didn't look so hot but they will be bringing their "A" game this weekend. I got tickets on the 50 yard line and can't wait to witness the beatdown of the Ravens!!!! Bahahaha!