bah, humbug?

Only two months 'til Christmas! At Ye Olde Day Jobbe, that means it's time to start planning our annual staff get-together. Being a very small company you might think it would be easy to organize a once-a-year festive event, but consider that the eight of us, perpetually beset by deadlines, work in three different locations, 100 to 200 kilometres apart. The logistics begin to get a bit dicey. Oh, and let's not forget the likelihood of snow to make the driving dicey, too. (This is Canada, after all.) But driving and distance pale in comparison to our real dilemma this year: great expectations.

You see, somewhere along the line we moved beyond the simple 'lunch at a good restaurant'. Last year, for instance, we met at Langdon Hall in Cambridge, where the women in our group indulged in a decadent morning at the spa. (I had the Indian Head Massage and it was soooooooo relaxing and wonderful ... I still get all fuzzy and mellow, just thinking about it.) Afterwards, we met up with the men for a delicious lunch in Chef Gushue's award-winning dining room. Hard to beat!

Sure, we could do it all over again but for some reason the men among us don't wish to partake of the spa — no amount of coaxing will convince them — and it doesn't seem fair for the three of them to be left out again. As a result, we've spent entirely too much time this week researching possibilities. We came up with a few interesting (and elegant) potential destinations for lunch but, apparently, once the fun bar has been raised "just lunch" is ... well, just boring.

And then we discovered TryThat{!}: The Experience Company Need an adventure? This might be the place to start. For instance, "Zipline Extreme - Spend a unique and exciting day at the Elora Gorge. Get ready to propel yourself from the edge of an 80 foot cliff. Zipline and then rappel from mid-air down to the riverbed. No experience necessary."

Um.

I don't think so!

On the other hand, the 'Flight Simulator' and 'Mission Impossible' sound pretty darned cool.

On yet another hand, concensus among the eight of us might prove elusive with so much fun on the menu — everything from wine tasting, to Formula 2000 racing, to ... pole dancing{!}?

Y'know, maybe "just lunch" isn't such a bad idea after all.