2006 McPherson Beach Year in Review

 

Good ole 2006.  While similar to most years in having 12 months and 365 days, it’s the only year that falls between 2005 & 2007.  It’s also the only year in which all of the following occurred.  Here is your step-by-step guide to what went down at Mac Beach in easy-to-follow chronological order.

 

In Jan, the Poker Night at MGR Open Championship was held.  I didn’t win.

 

In April, I went to Fort Walton Beach for my friends Matt & Abbie’s wedding.  They had the ceremony right out on the beach and the weather was perfect.  I then drove over to Biloxi for one night to play some cards and see the results of Katrina.  Wow, it largely looked like the hurricane hit the previous week, not 6 months earlier.  The casino I stayed at was packed though, so as the old joke goes, I guess they got gambling money.

 

Later in April, the McPherson Beach Volleyball League started up for another year.  Once again, volleyball was played most Saturdays thru mid October.  47 players came out for some fun in the sand and sun.

 

In May, the Poker Night at MGR Heads Up Championship was held.  I didn’t win.

 

Later in May, the Summer Kick Off Party was held.  I was drinking heavily that day so I don’t remember many details.  I think we played some volleyball, swam in the pool, ate some food, had a bonfire, sang some karaoke, and relaxed in the hot tub.

 

In July, my friends Frank, Dave, and I took a trip to Philly & Atlantic City.  The plan was to fly into Philly, catch the Braves/Philly game, then drive out to AC for gambling and debauchery.  We got to the stadium about an hour before the game, the teams warmed up, I got Greg Luzinski’s autograph, the national anthem was sung, then…it started raining.  2 hours later they finally cancelled the game.  We failed the baseball part of trip but passed the gambling and debauchery sections.

 

In Aug, I spent a weekend in Isle of Palms, SC.  My friends rented a beach house for a week and, by the end of the week, they were about 12 or 14 of us staying at the house.  I spent the days hanging out on the beach and nights in Charleston and local bars.

 

I hold poker tournaments in Mac’s Game Room every 3-4 weeks and take a portion of the buy-in and donate it to charity.  In Aug, we passed the $5000 mark in contributions and the total amount now is over $5600.  This has been done a little over 2 years.

 

In Sept, the End of Summer Party was held.  See the previous party description and add horseshoes and even more binge drinking by me.

 

In Oct, the Poker Night at MGR Tournament of Champions was held.  I didn’t win.

 

Later in Oct, I took my annual trip to Vegas.  Since my attempts to coordinate this trip with others went astray, this was a solo excursion.  This resulted in the trip being 4 days of poker, eating, sleeping, and little else.

 

Later in the month I went to the Tech game at Clemson.  My seats were approximately 1.3 miles from field.  We were so far up, it started snowing late in the game (o.k. maybe not).  As an unfortunate foreshadowing of things to come, Tech lost.

 

In the first weekend of Nov, my siblings and I threw my parents a 50th Wedding Anniversary party.  Considering I was barely involved in the actual planning of the event, it went surprisingly well.  Hey, I’m just kidding!  About 100 family & friends showed up for the festivities which included a buffet dinner and a DJ playing some tunes.   The “after” party was held back at the Bamboo Lounge.  

 

The next weekend, I attended my friends Pat & Jessica’s wedding.  I really had no choice to attend since it took place at my house!  For one day only, Mac’s Game Room turned into Mac’s Wedding Chapel.  After the ceremony, a blues band played a few sets in the Bamboo Lounge and then some really bad karaoke was sung by me & the Delisle clan.

 

In mid-November, 5 fellow GT alumnus and I spent a week in Hawaii.  We used the fact that GT was playing in the Maui Invitational basketball tournament as an excuse to go.  We stayed 3 nights in Oahu on Waikiki Beach and 3 nights in Maui in Wailea.   Highlights included eating breakfast and watching college football at 8:00 in the morning at a bar on the beach, spending an entire day in bed sick from food poisoning, seeing Tech win 2 out of 3 in a gym that seats about 2000, and snorkeling and surfing for the 1st time.  To be fair, it is difficult to call what I did surfing.  It was more like bobbing on surfboards in 1 to 2 foot waves for 2 hours.  I did, however, manage to ride one wave for about ½ second and another one for a whopping 4 or 5 seconds… with no training at all!       

 

The day after getting back from Hawaii, I went to the Tech game at UGA.  The best part of the day was getting the unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden.  Yes, Tech lost again.

In early Dec, I traveled to Jacksonville to watch GT play in the ACC Championship game.  The result of this game is that I won’t be spending New Years in Miami attending the Orange Bowl.  As a bonus, it also rained during most the game.  Unlike last year when GT won both road games I attended, they were a big, fat 0-3 this year.

 

The Bamboo Lounge is featured in this year’s photo.  The Lounge has been created in various stages over the last year and a half or so.  First, the karaoke stage was built (back right corner in the picture).  Next, 2 sets of triple windows were put in (as seen behind the bar).  Then, the bar was built.  Also, sheetrock went up, walls were painted, and ceiling fans were installed.  Rolling Stone magazine recently named the Bamboo Lounge as one of the 10 hippest places to be scene in America (or so I heard...). 

 

On tap for Mac Beach in 2007 include continuing poker tournaments, monthly movie nights, volleyball starting back up in April, beach parties currently scheduled for Sat May 19th and Sat Aug 25th, more improvements to the Bamboo Lounge, a new roof for the Cabanas, and whatever other wackiness pops into my head. 

 

 

Waiting for global warming to really kick in,

    The McPherson Beach Staff (a.k.a. Dave)