Bryan Rahn – Life in the Blue

EVERYONE SHOULD TAKE AN RV TRIP FOR A FOOTBALL GAME — You have to read this article first. Put the two articles up side by side on your computer.

Then you may continue to read below. Striking Similarities.

EVERYONE SHOULD TAKE IN A VEGAS TRIP FOR A FOOTBALL GAME

by Bryan Rahn

Everyone should do it. Take in a Vegas trip to an away football game. That’s what I did for the Nevada game this year.

Good friend Brant had the hotel room. Because it was a night game on Friday in Reno, we decided to leave Columbia at noon on Thursday.

It was a great weekend for travel. The Vegas lights were spectacular. The best colors of all though, to be honest, were in the white pants sported for the game.

On the way, we played ‘Finger Noodle’ while flying over the Grand Canyon. When we got around Vegas, John could no longer take the beating he was getting from Brant and had to stop the game.

We got to Vegas around 6:00 p.m. We followed directions to Ra. We pulled up in a cab. Much to our surprise, there was no charge to walk in the door! Usually that can be an expensive item – like cover charge with bottle service.

We did not have tickets when we started the trip, so we went to the beer pong bar. Face value of all Mizzou home Big 12 games are 85-dollars. We talked with numerous Tiger fans around Vegas. I asked them why the ticket prices were so expensive and they said they have to help pay for the new stadium. I said I thought Brock and Brant Bukowsky paid for the improvements. They said they did, but also mentioned the fund had some problems. Anyway, the parking was free.

About that time, a waitress walked up and asked if we were looking for beers. I said yes. She said she had two buckets for 50-dollars a piece. Done!

About that time another group of beer pongers pulled up next to ours. It was a freshman Tri Delt. We had a nice conversation. She told us about all the big names we should recruit. She said she chose Mizzou because she liked her chances to party, and liked the school. She said she went on a trip to Columbia and fell in love with a guy named Kaleb while she was there, and Columbia. She said she like the party atmosphere that surrounds the Mizzou tailgate program.

At 7:00 p.m. we decided to start walking to the bar for the game. We were about six blocks away from Bleachers. The bar us usually a plain-Jane type bar. With this crew, it is gorgeous on the inside and out. We walked all around the bar, inside and out. Private boxes and private suites now ring the bar, although a number of them were not sold out.

There is about 15 feet from the first row of tables and the tv’s. The seats in this bar are close to the action. The site-lines are great.

It was our homecoming. At halftime, they inducted Brant and I into the Studio 54 Hall of Fame. We were there. What took them so long to get us in their Hall of Fame? The club played the smash hit “I’m on a Boat.” The entire club sang along. I was among friends.

Ben Choi and the wives made the trip and they performed at halftime as well. Having them at road games is a real bonus.

You know how the game went. That’s all I have to say about that.

When the game was over, we were all off to the Bank. We wanted to sample the local night life. Judging by the time we got back to the rooms, we may have sampled too much local night life.

We did encounter one equipment problem. We forgot the Too-Bada Nevada buttons. Not to worry though. John had a candle in his drink. We polished off one large bottle of Vodka. Okay, two. Okay, it was a long nite in the club.

Brant and I got up at 7:00 a.m. and got ready for another day on the town. Our other friends spent the first three hours of the day sleeping in the back of the RV. They all commented how great a Vegas trip is because you can sit in the sports book and watch TV.

We got back to Columbia at about 2:45 p.m. Ten guys, minimal personal hygiene. I needed a shower and some rest, but I lost one of Farmer’s shoes.

A great trip. Everyone should do an Vegas trip to an away game at least once.

The trip is better when you win though. See more pictures here.

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As many of you know, I recently hitched my wagon to the steed of Josh Kayser. We wanted to do something fun together, and apparently we settled on throwing a speed dating event.

We had the first of what we hope to be many events last night. It went, as I like to think, about as well as it possibly could have. After expenses, we raised $400 for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We had a turnout of 30 people, twice as many girls as guys. Generally speaking, a good problem to have.

So, what did we learn from this? I think we have some good take aways, and, when combined with everything I learned in Vegas, I think there are some life lessons here:

Aim Big. Our goal should never have been to fill Quinton’s with 200 people. Then, you get 50 people and you are disappointed. Our goal should have been to fill Faurot Field with 2,000 people. Then, if we got 500, that would be big.

Wisely hitch your wagon to good people’s steed. You can’t under estimate the value of knowing people. This event could never have been pulled off with a connection at Big Brothers Big Sisters, knowing Mike McClung from the Big Thinker Meet Up, having a connection with Tak at Columbia’s number 1 hit music station, and the help of Katie Olson, the best wedding planner in the business. Networking is valuable. So get your nose out of the laptop every once in a while and say hello to a new friend.

Understand your talents. I have many talents. Well, ok, maybe two or three. But one of them is definitely not ‘event throwing.’ In fact, I had never even been to a speed dating event before. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to try new things. But if you are going to sink your teeth into a large project, it tends to go better if you are one of the world’s foremost experts in said area. So, for future events I will probably stick to pay per click competitions, college football betting, and being the world’s most eligible statistician.

It’s better to have tried than done nothing at all. We had fun, and learned some lessons on the way. It’s great to stay busy and stay challenged. It’s what keeps your mind sharp and body guessing. Sure, there were people who thought sure we’d fail. To them, I say in the words of my good friend Blue Jay, “Hey, how’s the view from the cheap seats?” Challenge yourself to do something you never thought you could.

I have to admit, there was a time I thought we might have 5 tables. I thought we might have 5 people. I had to tell Mike I thought we’d have 5 tables, which was embarrassing, but not nearly as embarrassing as it would have been to actually have only 5 tables. Even so, I would have still been happy we stepped out on a limb and tried something differet.

So the million dollar question is, should we throw another event? Who knows. Columbia is a relationship town once you reach a certain age. People grab on to the closest thing and stick to it as soon as college is over. Maybe, Columbia just isn’t ready for speed dating. Better yet, maybe Columbia just isn’t ready for me.

I’d rather see someone else take what we started and run with it. It was fun getting it started, now it is time to pass the torch. If you want to take it on, it’s yours. I have to warn you though, it’s risky. You win some and you lose some in the high stakes world of speed dating.

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Getting Taco Belled might be the new Rick Roll.

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As many of you may already know, Plus 1 Marketing was ranked number 226 in the Inc 500 this year as one of the fastest growing companies in the US. We were ranked number 1 in the state of Missouri. Since many people ask about how we got the name, I submit for you, this email from Brant on how it came to be.

The other one is from the idea I have been talking about recently. It is based on the fact that we should have the goal to get better every day, regardless of how small of an improvement. And it is something I used to talk about during the ShowMe days. We should not strive to beat the competition; we should strive to be unbeatable. That basically took the idea many others have talked about in the past – Don’t focus on being better than others, focus on being better than you. So I came up with Plus1.

Probably a good decision, since some of the other names in consideration were:

• Hungry Fools
• Studio 97
• Junior Mint Marketing
• Drunk Poets
• Assman Marketing
• Brain Showers

So, in offering proper reflection on our times at Plus 1, I present to you what everyone will leave, for the ones who are left behind. Without any further adieu: The Last Will and Testament of Plus 1 Marketing.

Kate leaves the walk of shame thru the hotel in Kal’s boxers and Leah’s shoes. She leaves her Diet Coke, Marlboro lites and man voice. She leaves the parking lot at the tailgate. She leaves the note that she left for Mike.

B-rye leaves getting lost in his hair. He leaves being a Viking. He leaves getting kicked out of piano bars with soup. He leaves the international symbol for dick in mouth.

Kayser leaves his advice on how women should be. He leaves his Tommy Bahama sandals. He leaves all of the unsavory people he deals with. He leaves ladder racks and getting his mind right. He leaves his fishing boat and riding lawnmower.

Mike leaves Gerald. He leaves Tigasland. He leaves introducing us to Hooka at the Blue Fuege. He leaves showing up for work at 2. He leaves switching majors 3 times, 5 plus years of college, and his 1.3 GPA.

Dipps leaves at 3:30.

Tiny Tim leaves crazy reactor field. He also leaves all of his used Kleenex.

Brock leaves refusing to sit in chairs during meetings.

Brittany leaves her abbreviations. STSSC. She leaves Sally O Mally.

Mitch leaves Scott. He leaves passing out on his front lawn after tailgates.

Lane..well…Lane just leaves.

Scotty leaves Perche Thursday and Mitch’s wet bed.

Donkey leaves getting in a car accident with a cop and smashing Nate’s car. He leaves being the best wheel man in the business. He leaves refusing to wear shoes in the office and the Roast of Gringo D Mule. He leaves being bathed in change.

HeavyT leaves sleeping in his car, putting a tarp over his car for fear of hail and his blow up chair from Special Olympiks. He leaves jumping from a moving car. He leaves being the only employee to get arrested at the office. He leaves McLovin.

Phil leaves Blackie and Brown Billie. He leaves sex with his wife. He leaves inexplicably dumping a full beer on his head at flip cup at the Blues game. He leaves “The Hump Day Review.”

Ken Woo leaves wars between him and cooked meats. He leaves the mixed tape he made for Katie.

Leah leaves filling the printer with paper. She leaves her Cheeseburger swimming in Sprite. And her sexy boyfriend.

Katie leaves her gumby shirt.

Burcheck leaves showing up for work at 11am…at Bangkok. He leaves his boyfriend from Ghostbar. He leaves sleeping in the parking garage. He leaves running behind Nate as his ‘gay trainer.’ He leaves Casey at the bat. He leaves the Ben and Jerry’s sign. He leaves waking up in his boxers with everyone working around him.

Jarad leaves planning his own birthday party. He leaves throwing the Chinquapin chairs into the lake, and retrieving them.

Cullen leaves lolcats. He leaves spoiling the end of Harry Potter to Elise.

Elise leaves the most unsuccessful tenure of any Plus 1 employee. She leaves getting banged at the utopia.

Rob leaves the limo and the dork bin. He leaves Cancerslug.

From leaves his white sport coat, VIP wristband, and ipod for Carl. He leaves his interrogations of every new female employee. He leaves ‘working’ on 24 for 24. He leaves Armashirts and Chipnotic. He leaves his insufferable sunglasses crew from tailgates and his game day pants. He leaves being Lit up Like a Birthday Cake and Fucked up Like a Pile of Coathangers. He leaves ‘banging it out.’

Nathaniel leaves the second sexiest guy in Columbia award. He leaves his beloved Ottawa senators. He leaves Das Boot. He leaves Special Olympics. He leaves SEO Thursday, The Great Success and Interview with a Friend. He leaves Spin the Bottle, Hockey Night in America and Narf. He leaves the Central West End, his beloved Metro link and eating weed. He leaves the East Coast vs West coast rapper poster set up. He leaves Crestwood Lane and Pita Pit. He leaves NHL 97 on Sega and his bachelor party in Amsterdam. He leaves the Breakfast club. He leaves his fashion advice and Main Squeeze. He leaves planning the Christmas parties and announcing the boxing match. He leaves Bob and Tom. He leaves his boombox.

Brant leaves his Christmas Music. He leaves Brains Abroad. He leaves ‘Key Lime Pie, Jimmy Buffett and Dave Matthews. He leaves Movie Thursdays, his tailgate trailer, and the Bus! He leaves his playlists, coolers and utopian society. He leaves his cowboy hat and the boxing title. He leaves the phrase ‘getting banged.’ He leaves spending an entire weekend in St Louis only to miss Nate’s wedding. Oh, and Rob’s. He leaves hitting an inside the park home run at Special O, only to immediately run to his car because his wife came to pick him up. He leaves counting leads with an abacus. He leaves passing out instructions in Boston while I go take a shot. He leaves Carpe Diem.

All of Plus 1 leaves our disdain for Koko the Monkey, and our love for acoustic renditions of Good Bye Earl. We leave the Bean Counter. We leave Soda Pop Sherry. We leave that 5 day turned 3 day trip to Lake of the Ozarks. We leave the palm tree and the fish tank. We leave having our entire workspace be just a hallway. We leave moving downstairs, downstairs again, and then upstairs. We leave the LakeRentals banner. We leave the slip and slide at the golf outing. We leave coloring days. We leave flip cup and trips to Vegas, Blues games, Cardinals games and bowling matches. Finally, we leave the better part of a decade, our youth, and our livers. We leave our playgirl lifestyle and bank account to back it. We leave the fish we buried behind the building. We leave hard work, integrity, and results. Finally, we leave our passion for life, our desire to be the best, and most importantly, we leave our unwavering love for each other.

See the rest of the pictures of the Plus1 Era here.

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The path between Columbia, Missouri and Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin is not a well travelled one, but I couldn’t be more satisfied with the results. Awards below.

Awards for Clint’s wedding –

Best post golf shot comment – Joey Bear for “Okey Dokey”
Best conversation starter – Bryan for “I’m just enjoying this beautiful webber.”
Best pick up line – Josh for “Hey!…You in the Green Dress”
Most Irrational Fear – Joey Bear for brandishing a butter knife as he walked through the streets of Sturgeon Bay alone.
Best food order – Joey Bear for his 4am omelet, then adding an appetizer sampler on the side.
Best name – Kelli with an i.
Best Contest – The color check. “Correct. Correct. Borderline. Eerrrrr.”
Best Introduction – “Hi Molly, I’m Duncan”
Best comment on attire – “Whatever grey pants.”
Best accessory – Schaber for showing up for golf in shin guards.
Best dance move – Joe getting stuck break dancing. Mike in Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy is a close second.
Most Well Bathed – Joey Bear for his two baths
Best ‘That’s what she Said’ – “Did I just hear fivesome?”

My only regret is Schaber didn’t thank us all for coming 10 plus times. View more pictures here. Stay classy.

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These two photographs were taken almost exactly 10 years apart.

One is from Wayzata High School 1999 and the other Sturgeon Bay 2009. Here is hoping the better part of a decade in Columbia has been good to me.

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Would like to make a quick post to welcome my sister, Laura, to the internet blogosphere. Seems her blog will address the life and times of someone living the Quarter Life Crisis in Alexandria, Minnesota. Stay with this blog and throw it in your reader. After all, this is the same person who wrote a Christmas Letter to the extended family which included this gem -

“Bryan spends all of his time with his stupid friends – Jay, Joe, Clint etc. But that is fine because no one around here likes him much anyway. Laura, continues to be successful at everything she does. There is nothing more to say about her except that she is our favorite child.”

So you should get some laughs about out of it.

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I am sure everyone is glad to see I am putting my Journalism degree to use. At least it’s one more article than most of my fellow grads ever had published…Oh Snap.

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I recently returned from yet another Vegas bachelor party. Clint waved goodbye to his single lifestyle of living the dream in Minneapolis. No more will he be held up in a one bedroom apartment in Chicago, where the microwave sits adjacent to the couch. No more will he wake up at noon on a Saturday and head straight to Williams for a day of college football and keg beer. He will no longer survive off Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice and Champs Nachos. Soon, he will forget how sweet beer tastes in the wee hours of the morning while taking in Gophers – Badgers on the Duece.

We have had a good history of sending those who are leaving the single lifestyle off in honor, and this was no exception. However, it got me thinking. At the tender young age of 28, I have been to Vegas several times in life. While the hours of booze and cigars have likely shaved a few years off my life and the late night gambling sessions have sped up the receding hair line, I have taken a lot from Vegas as well. I’m not talking about a few bucks from the blackjack tables or complementary buffets, but rather lessons for life. You learn little tidbits of advice in Vegas that can be applied to your life as a whole. Without further adieu, I believe that everything I needed to know in life I learned from Vegas:

Wash your hands before you eat. After handling casino chips and money, your hands are a breeding ground for disease second only to the three month old editions of Good Housekeeping they have at the doctor’s office. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your Vegas trip praying to the porcelain gods in your bedroom, wash your hands before you stick them in your eyes, ears, mouth or nose. It only takes a second, and I promise the crab legs will still be at the buffet when you get back. Wash your hands, don’t get sick.

There is no substitute for a good nights rest. The ‘just because you are in a different zip code’ theory doesn’t apply to your body. Your body always needs things like sleep, food and water. And vegetables.

Watch for Traffic. It only takes one angry cabbie who just got a 35 cent tip from four, 21-year-old dudes wearing $150 jeans and flip flops to not see your drunk self stumbling into the crosswalk. Let’s keep our stick on the ice out there.

One is enough for everyone. Or in other words, if one of something is good, it doesn’t mean 10 of that thing is better. This can be best illustrated by the oft abused Vegas drink, the vodka red bull. This is a concoction invented by the drinking industry to mix an overpriced ‘energy’ mixer to cover up the gut wrenching taste of well vodka. While on a 20 hour gambling/clubbing binge, one of these can really give you the extra energy to feel like you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Two is maybe doable. But three or more and you are likely to wake up in your bathtub with your heart pounding on your chest with the force of Carlos Zambrano haymaker. One will do nicely.

Set Goals. And stick to them. Everybody needs goals in life. In Vegas, you aren’t going to win $1 million playing $10 hands of blackjack. If you think this you fall into category A (see below). Set an achievable goal, and once you get it, time to move on.

Set limitations. And stick to them. No more than one ATM trip per day. Take out what you can afford to lose, and that’s it. If it’s still early and you are out of money it means one of two things. A)You suck at gambling and you should quit, or B)You have no concept of budgeting or money, quit now. Either way the best plan from here out is to take $20, give your wallet to your buddy and go check out the pool and sip on a Red Stripe. Never compound ignorance with stubbornness.

Always warm up. Sometimes you have to start slow. In baseball, if you don’t warm up you will have a pitching career that resembles Kip Wells or Byung Hyun Kim. In Vegas, don’t blow all your money in the VIP pit before checking out some of the smaller tables and getting some of the casino’s bank roll. If you don’t you could see yourself relegated to the bullpen for the rest of the trip. Just like you heard in the backseat of a ’97 Ford Taurus after prom, ‘Let’s take things slow to start.’

Be nice. Don’t hit people, and leave your guns at home, son. For those of you who missed the Pacman Jones entourage treating Vegas as their own personal shooting range on NBA All-Star weekend, just be advised Vegas is no place to play tough guy. For that matter, playing tough guy all the time won’t get you very far either.

Play fair. If you don’t know what I mean by this, check out the movie Casino. You don’t want to be the one they catch marking cards, or you could end up in a hole in the desert.

Karma is King. Have fun at the tables, tip your waitresses and dealers and be friendly. Even Earl figured out karma. You’d be surprised how much better it will be when you are having fun instead of trying out your new ‘system’ at the tables. In life, what goes around comes around.

There is no such thing as a system. The casinos love the systems. They were built on people with systems. You think you have one? I don’t even have to hear it and I can tell you it will work for about as long as America was in love with Hanson. No one ‘earns’ money gabling. If a stranger tells you this, stay away from him. If it is a friend, do him a favor and take his wallet.

Smile. Good things happen to happy people. Even if you got punked at the tables for three straight days, smile. Have a good time, be happy, and make the best of it. No use crying over spilt milk.

There is no such think as luck. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. There are no lucky people. People who are perceived to be lucky simply see opportunities and seize them.

There is more to life than money. There’s a lot more to do in Vegas than hit the tables. Check out a show, hit the pool, do some shopping or hit a club. Most importantly, spend time with the people you went with. That is the reason you went in the first place, and when you leave the lost city in the desert, they are probably all you will have left anyway. See more pictures here.

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Some of you may remember my post on a day in the life of Mike Redmond. It becomes all the more true now, after he said this.

Looks like Mikie won’t be going deep for a while. And speaking of, did anyone see Morneau hit one off the right field baggie last night, coast into second and almost get thrown out? I bet he told the second baseman that he didn’t get all of it.

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