Share Your Favorite 'Do Stories!
 

We have a lot of people new to our forum that may be confused at to what is a 'Do and, more importantly, what do you do at a 'Do? As such, I thought it would be great for everyone to share their fun memories from the first three events, whether it be on the amazing tours or the fun events at night.

Let the stories begin......

:D

Wow....what kind of rating can we use here? I guess I will use my own judgement and self-censor.

To start, [ ]. That was really funny, but you should have heard [ ]. :D :D :D I ain't telling anyone! ^ Then [ ] saw [ ] and boy howdy, that one went down in the books. Finally, to top it off, [ ]. HAHAHA! Looking forward to continuing the tomfoolery in February!

:cool:

:eek: Just don't mention that little train! :eek:

I have a handful fun memories....

...showing up at the first event late on Friday evening exhausted from a long week and unsure as to what to expect. I found a great group of people enjoying themselves in the Marriott ballroom, many of which became close friends to this day...

...being given a ride to my hotel by none other than Jim Compton, CO's SVP of Marketing. He noticed me shuffling over to the cab stand and offered a ride, which was graciously accepted...

...experiencing a blizzard autoland in the 777 simulator...

...the bright smile of our dear friend Vincom, who had an amazing outlook on life prior to his passing...

...the amazement of seeing Mr. Kellner spend hours answering questions honestly, listening intently to valuable feedback...

...the night that [censored] did [censored] with [censored]....

Passing through the TSA screening station at IAH in black tie, with my wife in a gown, on our way to the Presidents Club for the grand finale party at DO III was rather awesome.

And the friends made throughout the weekend are something that cannot really be replicated in any other format, IMO.

Which brings me to a question: is the Saturday night event assumed to be a formal?

And, my own story:

Heard secondhand, but reliably so: during the poker tournament last year, Cigarman crushed my non-poker-knowledgeable mother, TravelBossLady. She thought she was doing OK with IIRC trip 9's, only to have Cigar turn over quad 2's.

No. Last year's party in the PC was dressy, but you saw everything from black tie and formal gowns to a nice dress shirt, shoes, and slacks with no tie, and everything in between. There certainly were people there in formal wear, but most attendees were not.

Correct. Especially the locals who come for the tours. Most don't have time (or gas money) to go home to change.

Aside from all the friends that have been made over the years, the one memory that stands out is the missing blue carpet from the first DO.

That blue carpet rumor flew around for years. <<sigh>> Think vincom took it with him after all ;) He was the first fun FTer that I met and hit it off with.

Anyhoo, my #1 best memory is meeting the *fabulous* Mrs. Xyzzy at one of the functions on the top floor of the IAH E PClub. There were trips and visits to follow, and more than a few FT get-togethers...

On the bus ride back to IAH from downtown last year we had a great time. The CO employees who were running the tours ran a trivia contest (RNE beat me :mad: ;)), I got to meet TravelBossLady, cruisr and a bunch more folks, and we had a whole bunch of leftovers from the dessert tray in the test kitchen as that was our last stop on the tour. :D

I also have a photo sitting in Larry's chair with my feet almost on his desk (they really aren't but from the angle of the photo you can't really tell that).

Good times!!

DO #1 awesome experience was the baggage tour. Not only did we get to see the overhead "superhighway" of baggage belts, but the trays, sensors, and tag readers dumping the baggage into the appropriate bins was really unimaginable until seen in person. The baggage belt control room was personally inspiring for me, solely due to the amount of technology that was involved in monitoring and managing the number of arrival/departure sorting belts. Most important lesson taken away: SHOULDER STRAPS, especially on garment bags, can HANG and JAM the BELTS.

DO #2 awesome experience BF kitchen during the HQ tour. Does yummy cover it? The New Delhi route cuisine, some of the other Asian routes, and a little taste of champagne. Didn't want to leave. This trip I was in a leg brace due to a skiing accident but thanks to the gracious suggestion of Cigarman I wound up taking this tour and it was the absolute finest. No regrets.

DO #3 awesome experience the (emergency) Bunker. You can read ad nauseum elsewhere exactly what this tour was about (so I won't bore you), but I was very glad that CO was able to switch over (seamlessly, I hope) during the last hurricane. This was a very long tour and not for the faint of heart, but thanks to the peanut stash of the *fabulous* Mrs. Xyzzy I was able to complete the tour without dying of hunger.

Only been to DO III.

Friday party getting buzzed by some 747-F.

Getting to use a overwing exit, plug style.

Getting to put on a life vest and inflating it.

Seeing more noise cancelling headphones that were left on board in the past month than any Best Buy keeps on stock.

About the classy part of the Saturday, I remember at one time walking down the stairs from the upper level of the PC and the music was just perfect for walking down the stairs in a suit. The stairs were also perfect for that too.

Some of my favorite memories:

• Flying the 757 simulator at Do II. Landing it flawlessly on the first attempt. Then later being tossed around the back of the thing while MBM3 crashed it into the ground "landing" it. :)
• Meeting far too many of my friends from here in person to list.
• Shutting down the fabulous outdoor party at the DoubleTree on Friday night last year at Do III.
• The bunker tour at Do III.
• Presidents Club Saturday night party at Do III, which we shut down as well.
• Hanging out in the after-hours poker room at Do II. Didn't play poker, but had a great time visiting with people.
• Walking into the Friday night party at Do II at the Marriott and discovering a friend from college I hadn't seen in years was there.
• The CO barbecue team's 777 smoker at Do II.

Too many "once in a lifetime" (or so I thought at the time) experiences to distinguish in a single post.

My personsal favorite may be at DO II. I got up during the Q&A in the Hangar and boarded the 757-200 that was there for us to play on. I was the only person on the plane and I sat in the Captain's seat and read through the maintenance log for 10 minutes or so.

After 3 IAH Do's, 4 (or more) NYC Do's, and 2 CLE Do's, I now have a group of great friends scattered all over the country that I never would have met without Flyertalk or Continental.

Then there was that time in EWR climbing into the newly installed crew bunks on the 777 and climbing on the wheels and engine cowling, but I don't think I'm allowed to discuss that! :D