We awoke on Friday morning to another muggy day on Marco Island.  The clouds we low and heavy, threatening rain; it was going to be a very wet day.

After breakfast, John and I changed into our swimwear and made our way down to the beach, so that we could be there in time for our catamaran tour.  We were scheduled to do the Shelling Excursion, where we would be taken, on a 40-person catamaran, to an island out on the gulf.  There, we would have the chance to look for beautiful seashells.  The excursion would last about three or four hours.

When we arrived at the meeting place, we found that we were the only person there, except for the man at the kiosk.  He immediately explained to us that the weather conditions were not conducive to taking the catamaran out on the open water.  The forecast called for more rain and high winds, so the company decided to cut all of their tours, just to be on the safe side.

John and I were disappointed at first, but then we thought, why not make our couples massage our one free special amenity?  We were certainly allowed to do that; so we immediately went to the spa to change our reservations, to make that part of John's prize instead.

Once that was done, we returned to our room to change clothes to go for a walk; if we couldn't go on the shelling excursion, we were going to go on an excursion of our own.  There were still more geocaches to be found on the island, and we now had lots of time to do it.

From the resort, we started out on Collier Boulevard and headed north on foot.  John pulled up the closest cache on the GPS and indicated that there were two along Collier, but he wasn't sure if we would be able to find one of the two.  According to the description, the cache was only accessible if you had a boat - and, even if you had a boat, you could only retrieve the cache when the tide was right.  John wanted to take a look at the cache site, to see if there was a way for him to get the cache as a pedestrian; but when he saw the location, he realized that there was no way to get the cache without a boat.  We would have to skip over that one.

The next cache was located at a pond next to the Winn-Dixie supermarket, at the corner of Collier and Bald Eagle Drive.  We did manage to find that one, making it only our second Florida find. 

From there, we continued along Bald Eagle Drive to look for the next cache - a virtual cache, so we were guaranteed a find.  To claim this cache, we had to retrieve a piece of information about an archeological dig off of an historical marker...but we had to walk to the other end of the island to find the marker.  Good thing the island wasn't that large!

Once we found the cache, we turned around and started back down Bald Eagle Drive, towards Collier.  Along the way, we stopped to use the facilities at a gas station, where we discovered the world's nastiest restroom.  In all of our travels, we had never seen a restroom worse than this!  I won't even go into detail, because it was just that gross.

We also passed by a bar along the way.  True, we passed by a lot of businesses on our walk that day, but this one in particular stuck out in my mind.  It was called Porky's Last Stand...

When we arrived at Collier Boulevard, we decided to keep going straight on Bald Eagle Drive, to search for another geocache.  There was another cache located in a gazebo - behind a cemetery, next to a church.  By the time we reached the gazebo, the rain had started to fall, so we were grateful to be under a shelter while looking for the cache.  We spent about twenty minutes looking for the cache while the rain came down outside.  Although we didn't find the cache, we did at least wait out the rain!

We kept walking along Bald Eagle Drive, through the intermittent rain.  At one point, we decided to stop at a convenience store so that John could by an umbrella, because the rain was becoming bothersome.  As heavy as it was at times, we were kind of glad that we weren't on that catamaran tour, because we would have been pretty wet and miserable.

We soon found ourselves back on San Marcos Road, at the intersection where we had found the geocache the day before (the one at the clinic).  We turned there and made our way west, towards Collier Boulevard, to complete a nine-mile loop.  We completed that loop in just under four hours - a feat that we had not done in a long time! 

Upon returning to the hotel, we immediately went to lunch at 400 Pazzis, the pizza and panini shop near the Tiki Bar.  By that time, the rain clouds had gone away (for the time being) and the sun was out, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the afternoon.

We were soon joined by John's co-worker, Ram, who had just returned from the spa.  The three of us wandered over to the Tiki Bar, where John was introduced to another ACS executive - Mark - and his wife Brenda.  (Mark was three levels above John in the management hierarchy; he was his boss' boss' boss.)  The five of us spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and shooting the breeze; it was a lot of fun!

And that was only the beginning of the networking.  There would be plenty more networking to do at the Black and White Gala, starting at 6:00 p.m. sharp.  John was hoping that, by networking with enough people throughout the organization, he would be able to secure a new position within the company after the first of the year.  John had learned that his client was pulling their contract because they had been acquired by a company that did their payroll in-house; that meant that John was going to be laid off at the end of February...unless, of course, he was able to find another job soon.  That meant that he had to get his name out there...

Since the theme of the Gala was "Black and White", John and I selected appropriate apparel for the event.  I wore a little black dress, and John wore his tuxedo.  We both looked hot...very hot...

At 6:00, we went down to the lobby for the LOB (Line of Business) Receptions. Each LOB met in a different conference room, where there were appetizers and drinks and a photographer.  When we arrived, we met up with Ram again, who introduced us to several people, including one executive in particular who John needed to meet.  This manager was looking for a payroll manager for his client, so John needed to network with him, in hopes that he could join his team.

After the reception, we were all instructed to head to the ballroom for dinner and the awards ceremony.  Once everyone had been seated and dinner had been served, the top ACS executives approached the podium and began their speeches.  Then, they presented the President's Club Awards, by LOB, to each recipient.  They didn't actually receive their plaques, though; their glass plaques would arrive by mail in a few weeks.

At the end of the awards ceremony, it was time to dance.  A live band took the stage, and funky disco music filled the ballroom.  John and I danced and danced until we couldn't dance anymore...and then we danced some more.

The dancing star of the night was one eight year-old girl, who was attending the reception with her mother - an ACS manager from Texas.  This little girl tore up the dance floor; she was absolutely amazing! 

A bit later, we met up with Ram again, who introduced us to more people he felt John should meet.  We ended up going out to the bar - Porky's Last Stand - with one group of managers and their spouses. 

Oh yeah...the same place we had seen during our nine-mile walk!

We danced the night away at Porky's Last Stand, where there was a retro 80's band.  At 2:00 a.m., as the bar was closing, John and I caught a cab back to the hotel; we were completely exhausted and fell asleep as soon as we hit our pillows...

Whew!  That networking stuff was hard work!

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