Jul 1, 2007

Irvine - Saturday PM - June 30, 2007

Well today was basically the last day of the conference. Tomorrow there is one session in the morning and then everyone bolts. A bunch of people left tonight, though. We decided that since the CD/DVD sales would be the highest today, that we would actually try to stay at our table all day to get some benefit from the increased traffic. The placement of the Exhibit Hall was really weird. Even with more people coming in, we maybe had 15 people come by our table. I spent most of the time talking to the the guy running the OneByOne group table. He was pretty frustrated too with the way everything had gone. He had decided not to man his table for the three days he was there because no one was coming by.

We hung around until about 3:15 - leaving only to eat lunch. Finally, it seemed a bit of a waste. We had to break down by five anyway, so we just closed up shop, mailed the boxes back to Orlando, and went to the mall. The conference was a mixed bag for sure. The testimonies were amazing. We enjoyed getting to know some great couples. The worship time was great. But the exhibit time was not very productive. And the Exodus staff themselves seemed a bit distant and uncooperative. That was the most troubling part of the event. I was hoping to forge some better professional relationships with this group or others. I never had a chance, and any efforts I made seemed to get smacked down like I didn't have a right or something. Maybe they all were stressed or worried about the flack that was apparently streaming in from groups opposed to Exodus' message. Either way, I'm not quite sure if we really gained much by coming.

Heather and I had a good time at the mall, though. This particular place was huge and had a ton of shops. Some of them were very upscale. Others were ones we don't have in Orlando. There also were some good sales going on in different stores (Disney, BabyGap). I also had the treat of having dinner at Wahoo's Fish Tacos. I want to submit a request that one of those stores arrive in Florida post haste. It was amazing. Heather had a Maui Bowl, which was teryiaki beef with rice and beanss. I had two tacos - one fish and one chicken. We also had some chips, salsa, and guacamole. And I ordered some Baja rolls. The whole thing was about 20 bucks, which is good for all of that. Plus they served Pepsi - which means there was MOUNTAIN DEW. That is always a topper for me. The food was incredible. It was very fresh and light and tasty. The Baja rolls were chicken, cream cheese, salsa, and spinach rolled up in a tortilla and cut into slices. Man o man was it good. The tacos were amazing, as was the teryiaki beef. I hope Wahoos expands back home soon. We also discovered Mrs. Beasley's cupcakes. They are ridiculously good with amazing flavored frosting. It was a nice ending to a good day.

Tomorrow we awake and head to San Diego. We are going to have lunch with David and Denise Rodriguez. I used to work with Denise at FBC Oviedo and they taught in the college group there. They moved to SD a few years ago. We plan on hanging out with them Sunday afternoon. I hope to post tomorrow night from the La Quinta. We look forward to several things on the last leg of this trip. 1 - AC in the hotel room. 2 - Beds that are not on stilts 3 - The San Diego Zoo 4 - Dinner at Ruth's Chris Sunday night (Gift Card) and 5 - Food that doesn't taste of Sterno. Next stop SD.

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