While the shows are a lot of work, they are a very important part of my job. We don't get to have a lot of free time to ourselves, but there are moments where we get to unwind a bit. It is not uncommon for there to be some celebrities in attendance at these shows. Former NFL star Darren Woodson was at one booth for a couple hours, but unfortunately our schedule that day was such that I could not stop for an autograph. I did, however, have the opportunity to stop by the Hunt Brothers Pizza booth to shake hands and have my picture taken with NASCAR legend Richard Petty.
Our days are spent walking the shows and visiting the booths. Then we usually spend our evenings at dinner with some of the vendors we do business with. These dinners usually last at least three hours as we have a lot of business to discuss. Thursday night we went to a fantastic steakhouse in Buckhead called Bone's. While we were eating, one of my coworkers came back from the restroom and said he thought he saw actor Lou Diamond Phillips. I walked by him and thought that it could be him.
I pulled out my BlackBerry and searched for Phillips on Twitter. I found a verified listing for him under @LouDPhillips. I looked at a few of his tweets and saw that he had arrived in Atlanta a couple days before, so at that point I was convinced. I considered saying hello to him, but decided to let him enjoy his meal in peace. I did, however, send him a tweet asking if he had been at Bones Restaurant on Thursday night. To my surprise, I received a reply back from him the next morning, "@dickster1961 Yup. Great steak that I couldn't finish & outstanding service. Grit Fritters? Yowza. Ya shoulda said hi." I thought that was pretty cool of him. Maybe next time I won't be so reticent to approach someone.
Richard Petty has always been my favorite NASCAR driver. I hate his fake cowboys hats, however. Well, at least those feather headdress hatbands he so adores. Nope, you ain't going to see anything like that on the head of a real cowpoke.
ReplyDeleteI will say this about Richard Petty. This is the second time that I have seen him at one of these trade shows. He is one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. Definitely a class act
ReplyDeleteOh, I have no doubts about that, and I do feel a little stupid for spouting of about his hat. For I know that he is not trying to act like a cowboy, but those headbands just look so ridiculous, which does reflect upon the culture.
ReplyDeletenot a big fan of the feathers on the hats either, but to each his own.
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