to offer his thoughts on the program from the CSA ’ S perspective. He was a little nervous. I could tell, and perhaps others could too, because he insisted on holding his notes in his hands. The paper was vibrating in his trembling fingers with enough amplitude to fan the front row of reporters. Okay, I exaggerate. But his hands were shaking. He got through his remarks in French and English and threw to Martine Juneau, who would fly with the winning Canadian citizen. Gracious, self-deprecating, bilingual, funny, and above all, authoritative, Martine was a star. How could she be anything but, with a PhD in aeronautical engineering and a Master’s in philosophy? The media ate it up.
Much to my surprise, there actually weren’t that many questions when Kelly opened the floor. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the concept and rules of the contest were nothard to grasp. They’d been explained very well. And the media kits provided complete details. As well, the vidcam shooters in particular went rushing out the door as soon as the Q&A wound down. They were clearly trying to get back to their stations to cut and produce their stories in time for their noon newscasts. It had been a slam dunk. Diane had watched quietly from the back and gave me a thumbs-up when it was all over.
“Well, we’re out of the gate, and I don’t see how it could have gone any better,” I said as I raised my glass to Amanda.
She’d stuck her head over top of my cubicle divider on her way out at about 8:30 that night and asked if I wanted to join her for a drink to celebrate. I figured yes was the right call. We walked to a bar down the street from the office. She drank three big glasses of Chardonnay in about forty minutes while I nursed a beer. I wasn’t really much of a drinker, but I didn’t want to piss her off by ordering a ginger ale when she was clearly in the mood to celebrate.
“I’m just so relieved that we made it through today without any disasters,” she said before dissolving into giggles. “And I didn’t fall off the stage! Yay!”
“Here’s to not falling off the stage!” I said, offering up yet another toast.
Clink
went our glasses. Some of her wine sloshed over the edge of her glass onto the floor – probably not a bad place for it at that stage. I’d never really seen this side of Amanda. She was actuallysmiling quite consistently and had not looked at her BlackBerry for several minutes. Finally, she could restrain herself no longer and she stole a glance at her BB .
“Oh my god,” she started. “It’s from Crawford Blake. It says ‘Amanda, congratulations on what I’m told was a fantastic news conference today up north in Toronto. I knew with you in charge, we were in good hands.’ Oh my god!”
She was practically trembling in ecstasy and guzzled another huge mouthful of wine. As she stood up too quickly, hoisting her wine glass high above her, both her knees became better acquainted with the small table between us. It was tipping towards my crotch when I caught it and returned it to its normal upright position. I hadn’t caught the beer, but my lap had. She didn’t even notice.
“A toast to David Stewart for coming up with this insane idea in the first place, for working so hard to make today a success, and for not trying to take over my job in the process,” she intoned.
Then she wobbled a bit and took a few steps to keep her balance.
“Uh-oh. All of a good I don’t feel so sudden …” she said, swaying a bit.
With that, she promptly sat back down. Too bad her chair wasn’t beneath her.
I was happy to help her up and escort her out the door. She leaned most of her weight on me. With right my arm around her, I did my best to keep her upright.
CHAPTER 5
The media coverage over the coming week or so was quite simply off the charts. In the three days following the launch news conference, we had over five hundred stories in print, on radio and TV , online, and in
Much to my surprise, there actually weren’t that many questions when Kelly opened the floor. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the concept and rules of the contest were nothard to grasp. They’d been explained very well. And the media kits provided complete details. As well, the vidcam shooters in particular went rushing out the door as soon as the Q&A wound down. They were clearly trying to get back to their stations to cut and produce their stories in time for their noon newscasts. It had been a slam dunk. Diane had watched quietly from the back and gave me a thumbs-up when it was all over.
“Well, we’re out of the gate, and I don’t see how it could have gone any better,” I said as I raised my glass to Amanda.
She’d stuck her head over top of my cubicle divider on her way out at about 8:30 that night and asked if I wanted to join her for a drink to celebrate. I figured yes was the right call. We walked to a bar down the street from the office. She drank three big glasses of Chardonnay in about forty minutes while I nursed a beer. I wasn’t really much of a drinker, but I didn’t want to piss her off by ordering a ginger ale when she was clearly in the mood to celebrate.
“I’m just so relieved that we made it through today without any disasters,” she said before dissolving into giggles. “And I didn’t fall off the stage! Yay!”
“Here’s to not falling off the stage!” I said, offering up yet another toast.
Clink
went our glasses. Some of her wine sloshed over the edge of her glass onto the floor – probably not a bad place for it at that stage. I’d never really seen this side of Amanda. She was actuallysmiling quite consistently and had not looked at her BlackBerry for several minutes. Finally, she could restrain herself no longer and she stole a glance at her BB .
“Oh my god,” she started. “It’s from Crawford Blake. It says ‘Amanda, congratulations on what I’m told was a fantastic news conference today up north in Toronto. I knew with you in charge, we were in good hands.’ Oh my god!”
She was practically trembling in ecstasy and guzzled another huge mouthful of wine. As she stood up too quickly, hoisting her wine glass high above her, both her knees became better acquainted with the small table between us. It was tipping towards my crotch when I caught it and returned it to its normal upright position. I hadn’t caught the beer, but my lap had. She didn’t even notice.
“A toast to David Stewart for coming up with this insane idea in the first place, for working so hard to make today a success, and for not trying to take over my job in the process,” she intoned.
Then she wobbled a bit and took a few steps to keep her balance.
“Uh-oh. All of a good I don’t feel so sudden …” she said, swaying a bit.
With that, she promptly sat back down. Too bad her chair wasn’t beneath her.
I was happy to help her up and escort her out the door. She leaned most of her weight on me. With right my arm around her, I did my best to keep her upright.
CHAPTER 5
The media coverage over the coming week or so was quite simply off the charts. In the three days following the launch news conference, we had over five hundred stories in print, on radio and TV , online, and in
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