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Bill Brown

A complicated man.

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I just realized that I didn't blog about the recent Go Daddy holiday celebration. It took place on December 15th at the Camelback Inn, where, sadly, my last three or four annual company parties have been—though I was able to compare the events because of it.

We got to the party about a half hour before it was slated to begin and were given two tickets each for drinks. Since we were so early, there was hardly anyone there and the waiters outnumbered the employees for awhile. That was good for me because that meant that I was offered hors d'oeuvres constantly. They were quite delicious little appetizers and I never refused one of them.

Once seated, we were served a quite-tasty seafood Waldorf salad as an appetizer. Dinner consisted of chicken, tender steak, creamy mashed potatoes, and butter-slathered vegetables. There wasn't nearly enough of it, but it was a savory. Dessert was a simple crème brûlée with blueberries. The food was top-notch and quite an improvement over past events, which were great to begin with.

The highlight of the evening—at least for me since I didn't win squat—was Bob's rousing speech. He ran through the accomplishments of the last year in quick (and often deprecating) fashion. Any employee who had witnessed the quarterly speeches had heard this list several times, but the employee's guest hadn't and Bob's delivery made it entertaining. Bob then ran through a hilarious and farcical presentation of ten possible commercials for the next Super Bowl. The crowd was in stitches. Having sat through about eight or nine presidential speeches at company dinners where you wanted to shove bits of roll into your ears to make the dreary blather stop, this speech went quickly and hit home.

The most exciting part of the evening was the door prize giveaway. I had heard from my co-worker that plasma televisions were bestowed and I was salivating at the prospect. Little did I know that the prize level was going to be ratcheted up. Bob drew names from the whole of the company and gave away:

  • Two 42" plasma TVs
  • Two 23" plasma televisions
  • Two Bose stereo systems
  • Two digital cameras (I didn't catch the details)
  • One digital camcorder (again, didn't catch the brand)
  • Four iPod Nanos
  • One 60GB iPod Video
  • Two $500 Costco gift certificates
  • Two $500 Westcor gift certificates
  • Two $500 Best Buy gift certificates
  • Two flat screen monitors (19", I think)
  • One HP laptop
  • One portable DVD player
  • Twenty $100 American Express gift cards
  • Forty people got $500 in cash with taxes paid
  • Ten people got $1,000 in cash with taxes paid
  • Four people got $2,500 in cash with taxes paid
  • Two people got $5,000 in cash with taxes paid
  • One person got $10,000 in cash with taxes paid

Those are some serious door prizes and the excitement in the room was palpable. All in all, the event was memorable though not at all unusual by Go Daddy standards. It was truly Go Daddy-esque in the best sense of the word.

[The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Go Daddy Software, Inc.]