Team events are generally a rarity these days.  I mean, who has the time to squeeze them in-between all the madness that is “work”?  Well, we were fortunate enough to make one happen.  Two of our colleagues were moving on to new projects, so we decided it was a good enough excuse to throw a shindig and send them off properly.  The evening would also double as a team-building event, so business was casually discussed early in the festivities. 

We actually had a team gathering back in September, but it was only a subset of the larger team and was kind of thrown together at the last minute.  It was a decent enough time, but sometimes these types of events just don’t fire on all cylinders.  I can say with confidence that this event clicked in every way.  It was put together by my colleague and friend, Meghna, and held at the Papillon Bistro & Bar in Mid-Town Manhattan.  An open bar, a nice selection of hors d’oeuvres and a very private area to mingle amongst the group made for a spectacular evening. 

A rather reserved group early on quickly lossened up as drinks of all shapes and sizes percolated through the crowd.  You know it’s a good sign when people smile a little longer and laugh a little louder at these types of events.  Pictures were taken pretty steadily throughout the evening.  The obligatory team pose was popular and no surprise.  Smaller groups of co-workers flashed their pearly whites, and we even managed to squeeze out a few silly candid photos. 

My buddy Derrick has this uncanny ability (no doubt skillfully honed over the years) to work himself into most photos, so you’ll see alot of him.  However, there was one shot of him in particular that I’ll like to draw your attention to:  It’s the photo of him surrounded by seven female co-workers with his arms raised, shoulders shrugged, and a grin that screams either confidence or pomposity (can’t tell which) of the highest caliber.  It’s priceless…Several moments after I took the photo, I was summoned to take Derrick’s spot and strike an equally hammy pose for the camera.  I obliged and later thought to myself, hmmm, this might be a fun photo to post as my new Facebook profile photo.  I mean, how often do photo-ops like that come along?  Am I right???

So I uploaded the photo, knowing full well that comments would be sure to stream in and probably be at my expense.  I would expect nothing less.  Sure enough, they did so in dramatic fashion, which was extremely entertaining.  However, what I didn’t expect was the creative ingenuity of an old friend of mine, Javier, who altered the original photo and reposted it.  He carefully removed my head and replaced it with that of the bust of the now infamous Tiger Woods.  I’m sure that kind of irony will be immediately understood by all.  I spent a solid 15 minutes laughing at the photo and another 2hrs subsequently laughing randomly at my friend’s demented sense of humor.  I placed the original and revised photo side by side so all could have a good laugh.  It was all done in the spirit of fun, so I really hope no one takes offense. 

As far as “team outings” go, this one rated pretty high on my all-time list.  Below are some select team photos, the Tiger Woods sighting and a photo gallery of the entire event:   

Below is a photo gallery of all the photos taken at the event: