Here here... and here... and... here... oh yeah, here too

I had a black-tie event to attend this evening. Mostly it was hand shaking, toasting (LOTS OF TOASTING), speeches, and a fancy-ish dinner. But there were a few laughs as well. Okay, quite a few laughs, but it was also VERY long. Like four and a half hours.

I would not have gone at all, but the company spent a good deal of money on a table, had the room for me to join the more important folks from the office, and of course, it was an opportunity to reduce the total cost of ownership of the tuxedo I purchased years ago. I've had that thing for ten years and it still fits! Though I do think I'm just a few pounds from needing to have the pants altered or replaced.

So it was a who's who of the Oklahoma military industrial complex in attendance. Commanders from every major unit in the area. I've been in plenty of rooms with colonels and generals, but not so many at once. I'm pretty sure every military rank was represented. I know I personally saw one, two, and four star generals. I think the Lt. Governor was there, though I didn't see her.

Shortly after getting there a little after six, I jokingly stated that it would probably be 8:30 before we ate. I had no idea I'd only be off by nine minutes. It would have helped if my office mates that attended last year would have let me know they intended to eat BEFORE the event also. Good thing I wasn't drinking. I put water in my wine glass for the toasts, so I was well hydrated at least, if not well fed (at first). I lost count of how many toasts there were, but it was enough to make me need to use the waste disposal facilities. The dinner was actually decent, though I couldn't eat the almost raw steak, and the desert was definitely the best part.

It was AFTER 10:30 when I got out of there, which I thought was a little crazy, and I'm not even sure it was over when I left. I just couldn't take it anymore. I'm wondering if I should have waited, though, because I had to fight a serious downpour on the way home. At least it didn't downpour on the way there. It would have sucked to have had to sit in a wet tux for four hours.