A 4-day insurance seminar held at the La Quinta Conference Center in Virginia Beach was considered a modest success by most of the attendees, including Teman Road resident Wally Almarode (Left), who remarked that he had not intently studied so many inconsequential insurance-related bullet points in his 14-year career with Almarode & sons benefits brokerage.
“I almost forgot there was a sunny sandy beach outside these walls,” he said, pointing toward the beach beyond the blank wall in conference room 8-D as the Hotel staff broke down the Powerpoint projection system and set up an easel with a fresh 18x36 newsprint pad and both a green and red pen for the next speaker. “because I was so engrossed in our last speaker’s extremely thorough explanations in changes to adverse selection requirements for the 2010 plan year.”
“After break we discussed ethics considerations with viatical settlements,” said Almarode as he prepared his La Quinta Inn pen and notepad, squaring them perfectly with the formica desktop. “Then later on the last night, but not too late, watch out Virginia Beach! The sleeves rolled up, the dress shoes get loosened and these Insurance adjustors and brokers hit the town!”
Almarode claims that many of the conference attendees “let their comb-overs down” as they walked Atlantic Avenue in search of fun and frivolity after a brain-numbing final day of adjustments and statistics. “Last year our conference was at the Radisson in Cleveland, Ohio, and a bunch of us went to a wax museum after imbibing on several Coors lights at the cash-only after-class reception at the Tally Ho Lounge. Well, Bob – who’s the zaniest MetLife actuary you ever met – stepped over the velvet ropes when the guard wasn’t looking and did some comical and suggestive poses with the wax figures. It was a hoot! Janice with TransAmerica never stopped laughing. I didn’t get back to my room until after 10. It was crazy, I tell ya! Cleveland has never been the same since!”
But both Almarode and other attendees admit there wasn’t much time for craziness this time around. “They had us in classes from 7:30 until 5, and then a working dinner in the atrium cafeteria until 7, then there was a program called ‘Account Transfers and reinstatements After Hours” until 9. Virginia Beach had to get along without the hedonism of over 200 L&H and P&C brokers before 9, but from 9 until 10 – anything went! MetLife Bob bought a t-shirt that had a drawing of Michael Jackson and Barack Obama looking at each other, with a heavenly Martin Luther King looking down at them. It said 'MJ & PBO & MLK forever'. He said it was for a friend. Then it was back to the motel to relax with a bucket of free ice, a cold soda from the vending nook and a rerun of Seinfeld before hitting the hay.”
