6 years is a long time to keep anything going. Especially an annual event. True, by the time the next year rolls around, you’ve forgotten how much work it was, but when you’ve got something like the Food & Spirits, it becomes with it each time.

I learned some interesting things this time around:

• My friends are incredibly diverse. Two of them ran out to get a breaker for the hot tub @ 9:45 and installed it themselves.
• My wife is mischievous. When said hot tub failed for the last time, and people got in anyways. She offered a bottle of Jamaican rum to the person who would last the longest. No jets. No heater. It was ~30 degrees outside. Neil won by lasting for 3 hours.
• You can’t get rid of alcohol by throwing a party. You just accumulate more.
• My friends are willing to drive 8+ hours just to come to the party. We had visitors from Kansas City, Tulsa and Austin. Just for this soiree.

Congrats to the winners! This year, we settled ties by having a “Duck Off”. (Pick random duck with a number on it. Highest number wins. Pure awesome.)

This is the point where I would say that I can’t wait till next year. But I’m hoping to have a new floor by then. That way I’m not embarrassed by statements like, “New Rule: If you make a stain. You have to sign it.”

Till next year!

–Snoopykiss