Confessions of a Jet-Setting Benny - Part One
Posted by Jennifer Burns on Fri, Jun 18, 2010
Its been a while since I posted a personal update and some of you have been asking for it...so here it goes.
As many of you know, we recently launched our new website. After many months of late nights, working weekends and a number of headaches along the way, I was overdue for a little R&R post launch...ok, maybe "a little" is an understatement.
The past few weekends, I have visited Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, Aruba, Long Beach Island and I am headed to Washington DC this weekend.
My husband and I spent Memorial Day Weekend in Pt. Pleasant, NJ with our close friends Rich, Peggy and Berkeley (their dog). The weekend was full of bloody marys, delicious seafood, lots of laughs and some seriously fun people watching. For those of you that don't know, I actually grew up near the Jersey Shore (Monmouth County) and spent my summers working at the beach clubs from the age of 13 through some of college. Post college, I moved to Hoboken and for the first time in my life, I became a benny.
Benny (n.) ben·ny [ bénnee ] - a derogatory term used by residents of the Jersey Shore to describe tourists from more northern cities, specifically New York City and its immediate suburbs. The term is predominantly used by year-round residents of the beachfront towns of Ocean County and Monmouth County.
As soon as the ground thaws from a harsh winter and accuweather promises a low of 65 degrees, myself and thousands of others brave horrendous traffic in an effort to enjoy the magical Jersey shore. Memorial Day weekend, there was a noticeable shift in the demographic and quantity of visitors. Pt. Pleasant has always been a hub of activity for families. It has a huge boardwalk, great restaurants and bars, and clean beaches. The weekend we were there, it was like every fan of the "Jersey Shore" TV show who couldn't rent a house in Seaside overflowed into Pt Pleasant. It was packed! I was in my typical cool weather shore attire of a pair of jeans, flip flops, a t shirt and sweater while the boardwalk and beached overflowed with girls in bikinis and high heels (yes, on the beaches).
It was really a great weekend. Everyone, tourists and locals alike, can't help but to be in a good mood at the shore. Highlights included...a Memorial Day barbecue, lunch on the bay with family, friends and Berkeley, a case of sunburn, fireworks we could hear (not see) and my first run at the beach for the summer with Peggy. Ok, it was a short run, I think Peggy left me at mile marker 1 while she ran another 9 miles. In my defense, she is training for the marathon and I hadn't ran since autumn.
Of course, in the midst of my dizziness and huffing my inhaler in an attempt to save my life, I was thinking of telecom expense management! That's why we have two webinars coming up. One entitled Key Performance Indicators for Telecom Expense Management ROI and one entitled Control Costs and Manage Change in a Wireless Enterprise which will be hosted out of our office in London featuring Mark Evans. More to come on that one.
I will write about our other trips in future posts. I have to get ready for our trip to Washington DC this weekend. The National Summit on Telecom Expense Management kicks off on Monday. I will definitely update you early next week. If you are headed there, let me know. I would love to see you!