yeah, paintballs hurt! What a blast though! We had great fun,lots of run and gun fun! Took friendly-fire at point blank from warwagon, LOL....plotting revenge now!

I think this needs to be added to the "Best of" section.

anyone have any news about the other o-reviewers ? Dann ?

did Rick get a lot of " friendly" fire ?

Well, like me, I think a lot of the reviewers were waiting until the final game to light Rick up, and he conveniently opted out of the last go 'round. Dann looked come out fairly unscathed, I accidentally shot Matt dead center of the back at 5ft. Ooops (evil grin). I took a nice shot to the melon and someone shot me square in the ass which left quite a nice mark! Good times, good times...

I don't follow to many threads lately; been pretty busy. But when I have come home from working at my O store the past couple of days, it's great to sit here and read about how much fun u guys, and girls, are having out there. Honestly Oakley is standing by Oakley as they take care of the lucky people that have stood by Oakley all these years.
keep it coming guys... what else did you guys get in those bags lol

Hint: Michael Jordan

Hint: Michael Jordan

a pair of OO's?

m thinking mars

even cooler and more rare!

Day 4 - Saturday, March 21
10:03pm PST

Over 12 hours later, I finally have time for a entry. We were really stretched thin today.

So we played paintball for a good 4 hours, and it was a blast! Rick tried in vain to light it up like a rockstar, but most of us had to carry his candy-ass off the field. It was quite embarassing.

We played a variety of games from VIP, to capture the flag to an all out two-team deathmatch. At the end, we just took the remaining ammo and lit up the field. Joanne had pizza and drinks for us when we got back.

After paintball, we were hearded back into the buses to clean up at the hotel for dinner, games and socializing at Dave & Busters. Unfortunately, poor Dann and a few others were left behind and one of the coaches had to turn around and head back. But they made it back in time, and everyone managed to hit D&B.

Dinner was awesome, and afterwards, they had us all sign a huge poster they made from a picture they took of all the Co-Pilots in front of HQ. Later, a bunch of us hit the O Store in the mall. Poor employees didn't know what hit them. When we got back to D&B, they had this beautiful Factory Co-Pilot cake for us, adorned with the symbol of the contest right in the center. A good time was had by all.

At this point, Dawn and I are just chilling in the hotel lobby with a bunch of our friends, just talking about the last few days. Truly this will be an event none of us will ever forget. Every last minute was packed with excitement and fun, and it's a true honor to have been able to come out here. Honestly, I'm lovin it.

There is nothing... And I have never seen anything... Like 20-30 O fanatics descending on an O store all at once. It was mad and scary. The Employees did well - the normal customers had no idea what was happening. It was truly an awesome sight.

We really tore that store apart but it was handled really well.

It was like the entire NRA showing up at a small gunstore after just winning the lottery. Awesome!

Luckily a few of the HQ O guys with us stepped in to help the poor sales people we were hammering for service.

Never, I imagine, will I ever see something like that again.

lol-man that sounds awesome-im so excited for you guys!

Must have been quite a site at the O-Store, good stuff guys, cant wait to talk to you about it Nik.

Day 5 - Sunday, March 22
4:39pm PST

That which was the birthplace of many a warm greeting and joyus hellos had today become something a bit more somber and slightly sadening.
Many of us were downstairs early for breakfast and goodbyes as we all reminisced about the weekend's events. As Co-Pilots left in small groups, handshakes & hugs were shared amongst each other as we all echoed each other's sentiments that we hope this could be done again.
At one point, it was down to about 6 of us and Joanne in the lobby as we awaited our rides. After a couple others including Josh had left, Tony, Paul, Dawn and I were the next to leave.
When we dropped off Paul and Tony at John Wayne, the last goodbyes were had and we were on our way to LAX.
Unfortumately, we missed Rick, Mike, Nik and a few others, but managed a couple goodbyes via phone.
As I sit here with Dawn, still in disbelief of all that has occured, I find that even though I am quite sad to leave, I cannot wait to get home so I can go through my photos to edit and post them on the O-R.

I, as with all the others, am so eternally greatful to Oakley for all they have done, and will always remember these past few days for the rest of my life.

Nik said it best; we may all be gone, but none of us forgotten.

Thanks for an awesome weekend, everyone.

Hey all.... sitting here at the Hotel waiting for the ride to LAX with my fellow Aussie Anthony, we are the last to leave.
The past few days have been beyond what i ever thought could ever been arranged for us. Oakley went above and beyong to give us the time of our lives, and i can't thank them enough.
Meeting all the members and other winners was awesome, and a true pleasure to meet you all. I 'll be back in Perth soon....20hrs of flying ahead and then i'll share some more thoughts and heaps of photos.
Dawn & Yukio.... it was great hanging out and I'm so sorry to miss you both at the end, but we'll be in contact soon. Safe flight guys

Ok.. off to LAX we go!

Some of you guys know that my 1:09 pm flight was canceled so I had to be seated on a later flight at 7:40pm. I am happy to report that I was able to make it on the 3:04 pm flight that I was on standby for. Paul and I were dropped off at John Wayne airport about 2:25pm. I ran to the United counter and asked if I can be placed on standby for the 3:04pm flight. So I got my standby ticket and only had about 25 mins. left to get through the security check. I made it through security and had about 15 minutes before the flight was going to leave. They then started calling the standby people. 2 people were called and then they called the 3rd person but no one answered. Then she call "Lam" and I just about jump up and screamed "Right here". I looked at my ticket and it said my seat was 6C. That was great As I sat down and the doors closed and we were ready for take off. I made it!

It was a pleasure and honor to meet my fellow OR members. I will never forget this trip.

Hello everyone, this is my first posting but certainly not my last. It was a real treat to meet all of you and put a face to a profile. OAKLEY went all out with a top notch program that was 1st class all the way!!! Great meeting you all and we will talk soon.

Peace

Glad to see you joined Rich! I've finally made it home...what a trip, no words can justly describe it, but "religious experience" comes close...meeting all the O-reviewers was such a treat, and all the events and people at HQ were amazing...I can only dream there will be a Co-Pilot event II!!!

Congrats everyone on what sounds like a dream experience!! I look forward to more stories and pics.

Yes, well done guys and thanks for taking the time to keep us posted. Fair play to you!

Tony, so glad to hear you made the early flight yesterday. *whew*

Taken as a whole, there are hardly the words to describe this thing. Three months of contestants and entries and videos and photos and Loop'd chaos. Two weeks of evaluating and deciding upon winners. Another month of anticipation, speculation and emails. 4 days dedicated to the experience. 1 day of pure Oakley at HQ. 1 day of paintball madness and chill time.

Honestly, the enjoyment and emotions of the whole event were split into two major arenas.

The Oakley side - where we scored sweet backpacks, shirts, hoodies, beanies, flak jackets, scars, wood, co-pilot badges, boots, gloves, Q&A prizes, tours, bbq, rc races where Josh wins with his eyes close, discount shopping sprees, chilling with staff while drooling over their unkown eyewear (stealth time tank, lime green sideways, bright orange hijinx, etc.).

The o-review side - where we get to meet n' greet with each other. Time wise, the actual Oakleycentric events weren't as great as the opportunity to hang out with your fellow copilots. The opportunity to get to know many on the o-review really enhanced the whole experience. For myself, I know that I would have merely been a fly on the wall during most of the time there if I hadn't already had that comfort level with over half of the group. The chance to just jump right in and have it feel like catching up with old friends made it really special.

The challenge of keeping up with Rick has left me tired. I'm not sure I have any more bitches to light up at this point.

Woo Hoo! Light that sh!t up! I definitely got some big wood!

It was really awesome to meet everyone and as different as we all are - I think we meshed extremely well. There were some great non and soon to be members as well.

Rick, well, Rick was even more humourous in person than I imagined. I haven't had that much fun since the 90's.

The paintball was new for me, and a lot of us but I think it got a lot of us out of our comfort zone and helped bring us together as a group even more. We all left the field tired and happy.

I can honestly say that I am humbled and honored to have been a part of this event. Meeting everyone, O-Reviews AND non-O-Reviewers, was awesome. I think I have about 6 or 7 man-crushes! Aside from all the fun stuff and gear, having the opportunity to shake hands and shoot the shit with you all is something I will cherish forever.

(I bet some of you didn't think I could be so tender, did you?)

A few pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rich5150/

03.23.2009 - 3.10p : I am sad. Sad that I didn't post in this thread at all. Sad that the event is over. Sad to be on the East Coast instead of the West. And, sad that Rick is no longer at my side.