BMW’s Performance Center delivery program provides buyers of new BMWs a more interesting alternative than picking the car up at a local dealership. To add value to the experience (and to give people some reason to travel to the Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina area), BMW provides a one night hotel stay including dinner and breakfast, followed by a day at the factory and test track, where several events take place. Following instruction from a professional performance driving instructor, participating owners get a plant tour, and, finally, delivery of their new vehicles. What follows, in several installments, is the onging story of my personal BMW Performance Center delivery experience.
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Archives for 2005
Mr. Romero Builds His Dream House
Internationally renowned casino marketing guru John Romero and his wife Robin are building a rather amazing house in the woods. 
John sent me to his Web site for a look at it, and I was seriously impressed. The forest estate, which has been dubbed Longtree and depicted at right in an architect’s drawing, is nestled among the Ponderosa pines on 37 acres south of Denver. The location is inspiring and to say that the architecture is unique doesn’t do it justice. Neither does my tiny picture. This 8,000 square foot home was designed by architect Robert A. Armon of Denver. It was the subject of a presentation named “The Geometry of Order and Beauty,” at the American Institute of Architects national convention in San Diego, CA, in 2002. Construction was initiated on January 14, 2005.
Longtree will be a veritable showcase–a self-contained home show. (Home equipment and building materials manufacturers take note: sponsorship opportunities are available.). Have a look for yourself at the Longtree Web site, which is impressive in itself. How many houses have their own Web sites?
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Was $100 Million Worth It?
I met Monty Hundley (pictured at right) when I working as assistant controller at Loews Paradise Island Hotel and Villas in the Bahamas. Monty was a dynamic young guy, about the same age as I, who was at the time interviewing for the open position of Managing Director. Already a talented resort manager well before age 30, he began his working career as a CPA and later gained significant management experience in Nevada’s gaming resorts. Interviewing well, Monty easily won the managing director job at Paradise Island at the age of 29.
That was back in 1974. Hundley quickly gained the respect and admiration of the resort’s staff, the islanders, and Loews Corporation executives. He was a man on the way up. Some might have considered him brash, flamboyant, and cocksure, but they could never argue with his results. Personally, I enjoyed working with him and for him for two years. Yeah, we had our share of disagreements, including one that impelled him to offer to “take [me] down to the beach and kick [my] ass.” Whatever inspired that was fleeting, but probably justifed in view of my confrontational nature. We got over it. I never lost respect for Monty, his achievements, and his ability. Since last seeing Monty in 1976, I have had no further contact with him; nevertheless, I was certain that Monty would succeed in whatever he undertook—I knew that he would always be on top of the heap.
With that in mind, it was inconceivable to me that Monty’s life would ever turn sour. Accordingly, it was with shocked dismay that I learned of his indictment for bank fraud sometime in 2003. I followed his case as closely as I could from what I could piece together on the Web. Ultimately, I was further saddened to learn that in 2005, Monty was sentenced to eight years in prison for bank fraud and tax evasion. The heap he was on top of was a heap of trouble.
Alas, this is the story of a good life gone bad.
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