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WETPIXEL HAPPY HOUR
November 2, 2007 - 8:00PM to 2:30AM

In the last few years, the Wetpixel Happy Hour has sort of become a DEMA tradition (at least, for the photo/video crowd). Special thanks to INON, Reef Photo & Video, and Backscatter for splitting the first 120 drink orders or so with Wetpixel.

We had a big turnout this year, and thanks to James the bar manager, we had a nice little private area roped off for just down the lobby from the main bar at the Rosen Center. In fact, so many people came that we overflowed out of our reserved space and ended up halfway into the lobby itself. Behind the bar, James consistently poured double shots of Grey Goose vodka, and not long into the party, I could already see people stumbling around. The Rosen Center shut us down after a couple of hours, and we continued the evening by packing ourselves into the main bar area.

At a more official party just down the hall, David Doubilet was presented with DEMA's Reaching Out Award, and was also one of the recipients of the Wyland Icon award. Luckily, David stopped by to hang out for awhile after the award ceremony. We also had representatives from quite a few underwater photo and video equipment companies, as well as dive destination operators from all around the world. Check out the images below to see a selection of attendees!

One thing that was entertaining was the confusion I caused by inviting other Asian people. Christopher Chin and Fisheye's Kenji Ohmura were both called "Eric" throughout the evening, and Kenji and I tried hard to confuse more people the next day while hanging out at the Fisheye booth:

Kenji: "Hey, Kenji! How are you?"
Eric: "Great! It's good to see you, Eric!"

Next year, we're all going to have the same haircut and wear the same thing. You guys won't have a chance. :)