The week prior to Easter '01 was a boring one. Eric Poppleton and I sat in our cushy Nortel cubicles and longed to get away. Then it hit us - easter weekend has a day off. With friday off there was definitely time for a quick road trip. Now you must realize that we were very bored. So for the rest of the week we tried to plan something. By the time thursday after work came, the plan was settled. Since there was snow on the ground and a cool breeze, it was time to hit the beach.

So Eric, Brian and I jumped in the car and started driving south. We drove all the way into the night. We stopped only for gas then it was driving, driving, and more driving. Friday noon rolls around and we pull into Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It is above 30 degrees and it is smokin' hot baby!!! So we hit the beach for the rest of the day. We treated ourselves to beachware shopping and seafood buffet. Then we slept in the car on friday night.

Saturday is another sweet day at the beach. Saturday night, however, was not so fun. It was time to start driving back. We hiked it all through the night with a quick stop in Washington DC to see the White House (5 AM) and finally made it back to Ottawa mid afternoon on Sunday. The next morning, the boys at the office could not understand why Eric and I were red as lobsters. They thought we'd gone mad when we told them why.

Steve + Eric and the V*enna girls

I still don't know how you get 2 early 20's guys into a concert full of teeny bopper girls. But let me explain... there was a progression to get to this point. CHRI radio in Ottawa was pretty much all we listened to in the car. It didn't take long before we knew all the new songs. It is especially difficult not to get hooked on some tastes of music that may not be as cool - ie. contemporary light music or hip hop. Anyway, they overplayed this promo for the V*Enna concert so much that the girls' music was in our heads all the time. We just couldn't pass up this concert.

So we went there and it was Eric and I with a bunch of girls. We waited in line for a couple hours and just as we got to the front of the line, they closed the doors because they were sold out. Everyone started to go home but we persisted. We just sat down and wouldn't budge, even when they got more stern and told us to go home. After several sessions of puppy dog looks and weeping, this one lady had compassion on us. She motioned for us to sneak around back. She let us into the backdoor and told us to shut up. We went along with it and bingo! We handed her some cash (for the price of the tickets - this was a christian concert) and we were in just as V*Enna went on to the stage.

That is about the time that we realized we were some of the few guys there and definitely the only ones our age. Nevertheless, we sucked up our pride and got in there and had quite a good time.