Luckie Marietta District

Not sure if any of our followers are big UFC fans, but yesterday I attended the UFC 145 press conference at Ventanas (an event facility located in the Luckie Marietta District). I have to say, if you are a UFC fan this is something you should DEFINITELY keep on your radar for future fights!

The press conference started out with Jon Jones coming out to meet his fans and sign autographs; many of whom had been waiting for over 4 hours. In my opinion Jon Jones was definitely the crowd favorite there. After this both Rashad Evans and Jon Jones walked onto the podium, and the press conference started.

The president of the UFC, Dana White, spoke briefly and addressed some questions from the media. Later Evans and Jones responded to questions as well, and from here it was apparent this is going to be an excellent fight. 

In case you aren’t aware, Jones and Evans have a long standing history together. Both men used to train under the same roof, and shared Greg Jackson as their coach. However, the tides have turned over the course of a couple years and now both men are bitter rivals. Let’s just say neither fighter was discreet about his hatred for his opponent.

After all of this was said and done, suffice it to say I was so excited for this event that I went out and bought tickets. In my humble opinion, the event should be one of the best UFC fights in a long time. 

Fall is finally here in the LMD!!!! Today we went out and snapped a couple pictures so everyone could see how beautiful it is in the park. While we were out today we saw a couple people getting ready for a City Segway Tour, and others were just out enjoying the crisp weather! Also worth mentioning, the Christmas decorations and ice skating rink are being set up once again in Centennial Olympic Park! I am glad to see that it is turning into that time of the year again, because the holidays are definitely one of my favorite times of the year!

Watch our LMD Video!

Yay!!! Luckie Marietta District is the proud winner of the 2011 Tourism Champion Partnership Award. The LMD traveled to Macon to accept the award from Governor Nathan Deal. Wonderful recognition to a great memership synergy!! Congratulations LMD members!

So if you didn’t believe me that the LMD has cool stuff going on…trust these celebs….be a BELIEBER!!

So of course I’m running late—what’s news!? But manage to get to the Ocean Voyager desk at 9:59 (not late—what’s up!!) and Ryan is there to meet us. My adrenalin started rushing seeing the kids dart from River Scout to Tropical Diver. I started asking Ryan five million questions about what I was getting myself into and he, like the other 399 Aquarium employees, was a never-ending ocean of knowledge—belugas are found in subarctic regions, they range from 1600 to 3000 pounds depending on sex and age, oh and they feed on a wide variety of fishes as well as crabs, clams, octopus, squid and the list goes on and on. After being escorted to a private information room, I learned all about the belugas and what the Georgia Aquarium is doing to help the worldwide population (one aspect that really stood out about every employee involved with the Beluga and Friends interactive experience was the bigger purpose of helping the entire beluga population). Then came those—yeah right, you’ve got to be kidding, you think I can fit in that thing? Not a chance…wet suit time! I mean I couldn’t feel my right arm—ok I’m exaggerating, but that thing was like Britney Spears’ red cat suit in Oops I did it again—and not going to lie, I kind of felt like Britney Spears walking around in a Georgia Aquarium wet suit might as well have had paparazzi following me to the top of the Coldwater Quest gallery. There, I met Mackenzie, the trainer, and the other six or seven staff members who help feed the belugas three times a day.

Then came time for the action. I’d been warned about the water—but it was chillllllly!!! Maybe I’m a fool, but didn’t realize the water comes INTO the wet suit and then warms up so those first few steps were yup, uh huh…oh boy. But after a couple of minutes I didn’t really notice it again because we started playing with the whale (yes I was in a tank with real, breathing, swimming whales—I needed that water to remind me I wasn’t dreaming). Don’t really know what I expected their skin to feel like, but Grayson came over first and Mackenzie showed me how to pet her (rough life getting massaged all day!) and how Grayson is learning to lie straight. Qinu kept swimming over, wanting his turn to show off his mad skills (and of course get a fish or two). I really felt like a trainer for the day—petting Beethoven’s tongue, directing Qinu to spin around, asking Grayson to jump, teasing Qinu into splashing a mouthful of water at me, and having him suck on my fingers. It was insane!!! There was even an extra bonus of petting the harbor otters after the whales (is this real life?) The staffs’ passion is contagious and the whales’ playfulness is exhilarating.  I love animals, don’t get me wrong, but I am pretty average on the animal lovers scale, and it was a complete out of body experience.

Amazing to know that anyone can do this right in the LMD’s backyard. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve been showing off the picture of Grayson and me to anyone and everyone and the response is always, “how did you do that?” Well it’s easy, and anyone can do it. Just click here or call (404)581-4000 and sign up—there’s no way you’ll leave without telling the entire world about how the Beluga and Friends Interactive experience is completely out of this world!

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/explore-the-aquarium/events-and-programs/belugainteractive.aspx