NTOA 2009

                  http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/2009/10/death-by-entertainment.html

Well, what can you really say about a two day show in Tulsa. Everything seems to be subjective, it just depends on who you talk to.

The 1st day for us was busy for the 1st few hours, then it seemed to turn into a standard vendor fest in the afternoon.

The 2nd day started slow, with a burst around lunch time, then a mandatory meeting for the attendees drained the hall to nothing for an hour or so. Why this had to be scheduled during the show hours was beyond me.

We were blessed with having some great vendors in our area, neat items to look at and super people to talk to, I just wish we had not spent all that money to do it!

I spoke with some vendors that thought it was a total waste of time and money, and a couple that said it was a great show for them.

Everyone across the board complained that the dept money was drying up, we knew that was coming though.

I spoke with a dept that was even disbanding their SWAT team due to the lack of a tax base.

I heard from one east coast PD that they have to cut back all training due to funds, now they will only be shooting once a year and all other times training with red guns only, that is hard times.

Will we do NTOA next year? I think our money would be better spent at ILETTA, time will tell.

Talking with a lot of long term vendors brought out that many companies are going to be cutting back on their shows next year. Times seem to be tough all over, it just took a little longer to get to us.

On the personal side, Tulsa was not bad, had a great hotel, had a great meal on Monday night with some wonderful people and most of the other time off was spent shopping for crap we forgot to bring.

The 22 hour trip out brought only one surprise, I was driving through Ashville NC and my truck started to fill with a dense white cloud, that had a unique smell. Having only 14000 miles on the truck, I was shocked and dismayed that this was happening. Pulling over rather quickly I bailed out of what I thought was a burning deathtrap.

I then bravely ventured back into the vehicle to save what I could of my possessions. I then heard a dying hissing noise, I reached into the back seat and found a can of Right Guard that I had placed in my last minute luggage bag (walmart shopping sack) had shifted and dumped the entire contents into the cab! Needless to say I felt a huge amount of relief (and a huge amount of being a dumbass)

During the last day of the show, the promoter came with some local PD and took Sam away from the booth, no, not to put him in a new pair of bracelets, but to show him that a truck had hit a pole in the parking garage and sent it thru the back window of his Tahoe! He then spent 5 hours waiting for the glass company to come and replace the window for his trip back to the shop in TX. I got to work the booth alone for the rest of the day, then break it down,( I had the easy job, waiting with the truck would have killed me) I think we were the last ones to load out.

The trip home was long, boring and uneventful, as much of it as I can remember. I think I slept thru half of it, even though I was the only one in the truck. I don't think that I will be driving to many shows that are over 12 hours away alone anymore, although I still feel 16 ( ya, right) time has taken a toll on the old body. Then again, flying the friendly skies sucks also, we will see how it goes.

I think we are done now for the year, show wise. Next will be SHOT 2010 back in "wonderful" LV

I will have some reviews up soon on some items that I picked up that might help at the shows and an update on the search for the ultimate "show boot"

Stayed tuned