palmer house - part II (the outcome)

date: may 16, 2007
bet: at an "industry event," will either olive or mason introduce the other as their "lover"?
stakes: bragging rights (lunch is free), potentially massive embarrassment
winner: none
loser: both?
location: palmer house (17 east monroe)
cost: free!

olive: i've been dreading this outcome entry, so i'll just come out and say it. there is no winner for us to announce and lunch was crap.

what a couple of sorry saps. i mean, i was already counting on being a sorry sap, knowing that it would take me a lot of guts and a brief lapse in judgement to call mason my lover in front of colleagues or superiors. but mason? he should've had this one in the bag. i was even rooting for him. but opportunity eluded us both. we both arrived late to the pre-lunch cocktail reception leaving us only moments before being ushered to our tables on opposite sides of the banquet room.

the event organizers didn't waste any time starting the award ceremony, which was sort of like a graduation -- names were called in quick succession as people filed across the stage to collect their earnings. it soon became clear that the only way either of us could win the bet would be to abandon our respective tables and co-workers, traverse the crowded room to find the other, draw attention away from the ceremony and risk missing our own names being called so that we too could walk across the stage and procure a nifty glass sculpture.

mason: quite right. it was bogus. i really don't blame us, though. as olive already explained, there just wasn't an opportunity. i was poised and ready to win this one, as i have little to no regard for how big of an idiot i look like in front of my colleagues, and as far as olive's colleagues are concerned, i could care even less.

but alas, we barely had time to say hi, let alone embarrass one another. and as olive so eloquently put it, the food sucked. it was some dried out stuffed chicken concoction with veggies and rice on the side. suffice it to say that i was forced to purchase a real lunch immediately following the event.

at least we got to meet robin robinson and bill zwecker, who were the hosts for the evening. robin was funny and bill was kind of blah, but overall they made an otherwise boring as hell event somewhat tolerable.

so it was a long wait for nothing. sorry readers. we promise the next bet and lunch will be much more interesting. in fact, because this outcome was so lame, i will tell you that the bet has already been lost by yours truly and the destination to be reviewed is one that olive and i have both been clamoring to add to our roster of restaurants blogged about.

until then, i'll leave you with a sad, but somewhat hilarious explanation (beyond the huge crowd and terrible smell) on why this was probably the last year olive and i will attend mayfest.