We had no particular agenda this morning, so Meghan and Donna went out to the beach in the morning. They both wake up early, and it gave them a chance to lay out together and catch up on things. I slept in until a normal hour, as time changes have no effect on me, and joined them. The beach here is amazing, and it's no coincidence the Four Seasons built their property here. We all had the choice to either go golfing or get a massage. Steve had chosen golfing, so he was on the course. Meghan, Donna, and I relaxed on the beach for awhile until it was time for Donna's massage, when she left. It was about lunchtime at that point, so Meghan and I went over to the restaurant that overlooks the ocean and had a nice lunch and a dessert of delicious piña colada popsicle.
After that, we went to our massages. Meghan chose the reflexology, which apparently involves mostly massaging your feet, and I went with the deep tissue massage. After that we had free time until our luau. Meghan took a nap, while I went down to the adults pool to read. On a previous vacation I found a book in one of those give-a-book/take-a-book things that looked interesting. It was called Pursuit of Honor, by Vince Flynn. I really liked it. It was a lot like my all-time favorite show, 24. So for this vacation I decided I would read another book in that series (the Mitch Rapp series), so I went with the one that is chronologically first in the series, American Assassin. I bought it on the Kindle (the soon-to-be-kids' Kindle), so it's been nice to read that on the plane and whenever else I've had time. Not too long after I went down to the pool, it started to rain, so I took cover under a large umbrella and continued to read (you can see a couple people in the pool who also didn't let the rain affect their plans). It was actually really pleasant to read while hearing the rain fall. In the distance you can see some orange spheres. Those were part of the decorations for our luau tonight that was supposed to be out on the beautiful lawn at sunset. Unfortunately the rain didn't stop, and when I saw them take down the decorations, I knew it was a bad sign. When I got back to the room, Meghan said we had gotten a notification that, as expected, the luau was being moved indoors.
The reason I was able to go on this trip in the first place is because I have a great sales rep. As the Sales Engineer, I contribute to the sales process a fair amount, but without my sales rep doing his part to drive and close business, nothing else would matter. I almost always work with multiple sales reps, but it's been a constant for the last 7 of my 8 total years as an SE that I've worked with Jim. He's great. He's an outstanding salesman in the way that he's such a nice guy and everyone likes him, but he always drives business and gets results. Personally, I like him a lot, as we have similar interests and get along well. He has qualified for Club three times, which are the three times I have gotten to go (The Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas in 2009, Red Rock in Vegas in 2011, and the Four Seasons in Maui this year). So I'm very thankful to have him. His wife Theresa is also really nice and is super funny and had our table in stitches with her stories. Here Meghan and I pose with Jim and Theresa, and then also with Steve and Donna.
Here are Meghan, Theresa, and Donna, and then me with Stu, Benton, Pierre, and Jim.
Meghan felt sick at the end of the night, and may have gotten the flu. But here she was earlier in the evening much happier and much less sick.
The luau itself was pretty good. We had a fixed menu for the food. It was good, but it wasn't as good as the luau food we had last time we were in Maui, which was outstanding. The dancers did a great job, but they seemed like they were a little crowded on the small stage they had to work with. I think it probably would have been quite a bit better in the original outdoor setting.
No luau is complete without the fire guys. This luau only had one, but he was pretty good. It was a really good evening, except for Meghan not feeling well at the very end. It's too bad we couldn't have done it outside, as I think that would have been really nice, but it was still a really fun thing to see and do.
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