Men In Uniform

Today I am in between trips to Orlando. I got back Wednesday from a business trip for my day job - it was a tradeshow for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. It was actually a really cool show - there were all kinds of things related to law enforcement, like guns, body armor, police cars with flashing lights (which got REAL annoying after a few days), SWAT vehicles and helicopters. Not to mention all the men in various uniforms - not only police officers, but military as well. and FBI and DEA agencies. It was quite enjoyable, all those men (and many women too) walking around, looking official and damn sexy! I do love men in uniform, not to mention a good many of them were carrying handcuffs! ;) LOL!

One highlight was an exhibitor's booth for a company that makes a license plate recognition system for things like remote ticketing. It so happens that we've been trying to sell our cameras into this company for some time, as we market the component cameras for many other companies with similar systems. This company though had a celebrity on hand to promote their products:

Anybody remember him? Yep, it's Erik Estrada, the star of CHiPs, from the 1970's. I think he looks pretty good, doesn't he? I look like hell, long days on the floor and being a little nervous will do that to you. It was a delight to meet him, sadly, he ran out of pictures to autograph, so I grabbed the first thing I could find in my bag - the pad I had made with the cover of In The Devil's Arms! He was quite interested in that, so we talked about it for a few minutes before I got my hug and picture. He really was quite charming. And I also left him with a page from the pad and urged him to buy the book! LOL! Definitely the highlight of the trip.

But now I am frantic, as I am heading back to Orlando, this time for a well-deserved Disney vacation. Traveling alone is much easier, I have one checked bag, my carry-on and my purse. This will be an interesting test of my organization skills. I think we're in good shape, though I could use another day or so to prepare. The only other issue is I am losing the first three days of NaNoWritMo, so I'll have to work extra hard next weekend to catch up.