Today was opening day for Cincinnati Reds. In honour of the day, I wore a red suit. I blended in well with the rest of the client who wore Reds Jerseys or anything Red. This was the first time I actually saw downtown Cinci with people all over. Stores were even open later it seemed. The weather was misty and rainy which was terrible for the parade. It did not stop anyone, people still congregated to see the floats, dancers and marching bands.
At night, fountain square was set up with a very loud band. Don't know who they were and don't care. It's the first time this year that I also saw the fountain turned on. It was quite nice. Graeter's ice cream - Toffee chip was delicious. It was a nice ending to a long day.
5 more nights until I leave for Mexico!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
VIP Suite
Two weeks ago, I stayed in room 1404. It was okay if a bit small. It was the first time I was on the other side of the building in a while.
Last week was better. I was in room 2026-2030. Yup. I had THREE rooms. It was the VIP suite I guess. My bedroom was a king bed in room 2030. Room 26/28 was actually a dining room seating 6 people and a living room with a couch and 2 arm chairs. Funny enough, the TV was still small. There was a nice wet bar area with a full fridge. The full fridge was very nice to store my fruits. Paula and Anna were so nice and gave me a huge fruit bowl again.
Kathy S. also received a large 3 room. So we had dinner one night for all of us in the room. We didn't purchase any alcohol. Next time . . . Kathy S and I found a corner market. Now we just need to figure out how late it is open until.
This week, I am in 1528. It is like a deluxe room. It has a mini fridge was is great for my fruit bowl again. Strawberries this week! Plenty of fruit for the rest of the week. I can not wait for this week to end. 6 more nights before we go to Mexico!
http://www.palaceresorts.com/resorts/aventuraspapalace/index.asp
The part of the spa I am interested in other than their lagoon and swimming area . . .
A lap pool welcomes serious swimmers. A range of facilities designed with relaxation in mind include a yoga Hut , meditation garden, indoor pool with sound therapy, and a labyrinth Zen path modeled after the one at France's Chartre Cathedral. For true heart-pumping fun, you can try out the 100-foot climbing tower, the 14-obstacle fitness trail, the virtual spinning room or the wide range of classes offered in the full-service aerobic studio . The fully equipped fitness center offers everything from free weights, to treadmills, to stair and weight machines. Come evening, you are swept up in lively entertainment extravaganzas presented nightly at the resort.
Beach coves
2 outdoor freestyle pools w/ 7 Jacuzzis
2 swim-up bars
Cross current pool
Lap pool
Indoor liquid sound pool w/2 Jacuzzis
Waterfalls
Fitness center
Sauna/steam room
Aerobic room
Spinning room
Yoga hut
Meditation pond
Labyrinth Zen path
Obstacle course
Climbing tower
3 lit tennis courts
Bicycles
I will try all of these and report each day.
Last week was better. I was in room 2026-2030. Yup. I had THREE rooms. It was the VIP suite I guess. My bedroom was a king bed in room 2030. Room 26/28 was actually a dining room seating 6 people and a living room with a couch and 2 arm chairs. Funny enough, the TV was still small. There was a nice wet bar area with a full fridge. The full fridge was very nice to store my fruits. Paula and Anna were so nice and gave me a huge fruit bowl again.
Kathy S. also received a large 3 room. So we had dinner one night for all of us in the room. We didn't purchase any alcohol. Next time . . . Kathy S and I found a corner market. Now we just need to figure out how late it is open until.
This week, I am in 1528. It is like a deluxe room. It has a mini fridge was is great for my fruit bowl again. Strawberries this week! Plenty of fruit for the rest of the week. I can not wait for this week to end. 6 more nights before we go to Mexico!
http://www.palaceresorts.com/resorts/aventuraspapalace/index.asp
The part of the spa I am interested in other than their lagoon and swimming area . . .
A lap pool welcomes serious swimmers. A range of facilities designed with relaxation in mind include a yoga Hut , meditation garden, indoor pool with sound therapy, and a labyrinth Zen path modeled after the one at France's Chartre Cathedral. For true heart-pumping fun, you can try out the 100-foot climbing tower, the 14-obstacle fitness trail, the virtual spinning room or the wide range of classes offered in the full-service aerobic studio . The fully equipped fitness center offers everything from free weights, to treadmills, to stair and weight machines. Come evening, you are swept up in lively entertainment extravaganzas presented nightly at the resort.
Beach coves
2 outdoor freestyle pools w/ 7 Jacuzzis
2 swim-up bars
Cross current pool
Lap pool
Indoor liquid sound pool w/2 Jacuzzis
Waterfalls
Fitness center
Sauna/steam room
Aerobic room
Spinning room
Yoga hut
Meditation pond
Labyrinth Zen path
Obstacle course
Climbing tower
3 lit tennis courts
Bicycles
I will try all of these and report each day.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Hyatt Stay
The Hyatt has been a pretty good stay in the past 4 stays. The service is wonderful as always. There has been some interesting things happening though. First impression was good when I found a wonderful fruit plate in my room. My first stay in February turned bad on the first night. While in bed, a little bug ran across my body. It looked like a bed bug that I looked up and cross referenced on the internet. I barely held back my scream. I caught it, killed it and stuffed it in a plastic bag as "evidence". Note to all, AVOID the 12th floor, especially room 1212.
I immediately called downstairs to have them switch me to another room. They did and I was put into the deluxe room. The new room was lovely. Deluxe rooms come with a fridge AND starbucks coffee bags.
The second week I was put in a standard room on the 8the floor that was okay. No fruit plate. :(
Last week, I was in 2232. It was a corner room. The layout was roomy. The bathroom was freezing. Turns out, there is no heat in the bathrooms ending in 32. The bed was the best so far. I asked about it and they told me that the beds were slowly being replaced by new pillow top beds. I have to say, they are wonderful. And surprise, surprise, I received another plate of fruit! Yummy. The odd thing about this room was that during my shower, my shower head fell off. DOH! I tried to put it back on. It didn't work so I left it. When I came back, a new shower nicer shower head was installed. YAY!
This week I am in room 2032. Same layout and the bathroom was a bit warmer. This time the heater/air conditioner was breaking. I was awaken several times with a loud noise sounding like an alarm. Then there was an annoying hum. I had to get maintenance come up and fix it. I figure, with my current streak, each room I stay in, something will need to be replaced. I am helping Hyatt speed up their renovations. :)
This week, Chris is in. We are going to Montgomery Inn - Boathouse. I will be able to rate it later this week. Tonight's dinner was at Wahmee, Chinese restaurant next to the Hyatt. It was a big disappointment. I wouldn't go back and don't recommend it.
I immediately called downstairs to have them switch me to another room. They did and I was put into the deluxe room. The new room was lovely. Deluxe rooms come with a fridge AND starbucks coffee bags.
The second week I was put in a standard room on the 8the floor that was okay. No fruit plate. :(
Last week, I was in 2232. It was a corner room. The layout was roomy. The bathroom was freezing. Turns out, there is no heat in the bathrooms ending in 32. The bed was the best so far. I asked about it and they told me that the beds were slowly being replaced by new pillow top beds. I have to say, they are wonderful. And surprise, surprise, I received another plate of fruit! Yummy. The odd thing about this room was that during my shower, my shower head fell off. DOH! I tried to put it back on. It didn't work so I left it. When I came back, a new shower nicer shower head was installed. YAY!
This week I am in room 2032. Same layout and the bathroom was a bit warmer. This time the heater/air conditioner was breaking. I was awaken several times with a loud noise sounding like an alarm. Then there was an annoying hum. I had to get maintenance come up and fix it. I figure, with my current streak, each room I stay in, something will need to be replaced. I am helping Hyatt speed up their renovations. :)
This week, Chris is in. We are going to Montgomery Inn - Boathouse. I will be able to rate it later this week. Tonight's dinner was at Wahmee, Chinese restaurant next to the Hyatt. It was a big disappointment. I wouldn't go back and don't recommend it.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Miami Ink
I get into Cinci with a drill sergent for a flight attendant. Fortunately, I followed the rules and only brought 1 baggage with me. All the people with a laptop bag AND a purse, shame on you! It was rather amusing listening to the fights about the baggage.
The highlight of the trip was when I exited the plane and went to buy dinner at Quiznos Sub. I saw Ami James! I was so startled, I did a double take. And first he was startled too. He looked at me, then looked behind him to see if I was looking at him or someone else. I stared at him and then asked, are you the guy from Miami Ink? He smiled and nodded.
I then cursed myself for not bringing my travel camera like I wanted too. Instead I had to take a picture via the camera phone which is a crappy camera. Sigh. I find out later that there is a V-Twin (?) convention in downtown Cinci. And wow were the bikes cool. The men walking around also helped improve the view in Cinci this week.
We finally went to a nice place to eat for dinner. Chris came into town and took us to Teak. (1049 51 St. Gregory) It was in a quaint part of town. The food was Thai and Sushi. Right, when does sushi go with Thai? I have no clue. All I know was that the food was good. I had mainly sashmi. Large consumption of alcohol followed. Unfortunately, it was one of those nights. The alcohol didn't work on me at all. After the first martini, the following 4 had no affect on me whatsoever. Sigh.
There were quite a few hurt puppies the next morning getting into work. I was amazed that I was the first one in, just before 8 AM. I even had to put on cosmetics and check out before I walked to work. Ah well, I guess those consulting days were put to good use.
The highlight of the trip was when I exited the plane and went to buy dinner at Quiznos Sub. I saw Ami James! I was so startled, I did a double take. And first he was startled too. He looked at me, then looked behind him to see if I was looking at him or someone else. I stared at him and then asked, are you the guy from Miami Ink? He smiled and nodded.
I then cursed myself for not bringing my travel camera like I wanted too. Instead I had to take a picture via the camera phone which is a crappy camera. Sigh. I find out later that there is a V-Twin (?) convention in downtown Cinci. And wow were the bikes cool. The men walking around also helped improve the view in Cinci this week.
We finally went to a nice place to eat for dinner. Chris came into town and took us to Teak. (1049 51 St. Gregory) It was in a quaint part of town. The food was Thai and Sushi. Right, when does sushi go with Thai? I have no clue. All I know was that the food was good. I had mainly sashmi. Large consumption of alcohol followed. Unfortunately, it was one of those nights. The alcohol didn't work on me at all. After the first martini, the following 4 had no affect on me whatsoever. Sigh.
There were quite a few hurt puppies the next morning getting into work. I was amazed that I was the first one in, just before 8 AM. I even had to put on cosmetics and check out before I walked to work. Ah well, I guess those consulting days were put to good use.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Ian from southern London
My short weekend home (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) was relaxing. Didn't get many of my Honey Do list items completed. Darn it. I have higher hopes for this coming weekend when I return home on Thursday. Top of the list is to close the books on my Creative Memories and ensure I am ready to do my taxes. It will be a fun one this year. 6 State taxes, standard married fed taxes and my small business taxes.
My cab ride to the airport wasn't looking good. The driver was 12 minutes late. Fortunately, I have been ordering the car a bit earlier in preparation for this. We make it to the airport smoothly. The driver was not my favourite driver, Sher. And the Lincoln (whatever model) did not have heated seats/back in the back. I was disappointed since I really wanted to warm my freezing back.
Security was a breeze. The poor young guy in front of me was harassed by the TSA agent. The older TSA agent was sweet as can be with me. No waiting! :) I get to the gate. Thank goodness it is at C12 instead of C34 or C36 where it has been for the past couple of weeks. Less walk. Yes, I know walking is good exercise. I don't care. I get enough exercise at the gym.
The flight is delayed. So it begins. It isn't too delayed, only about 7 minutes. They said it could be up to 11 minutes late. That isn't too bad. I figure w/ the wind pushing us, we'd get there on time still. Make up the time in the air. To my surprise we land EARLY. We get there 25 minutes before we were supposed to.
The flight attendant, Pat was a stitch. She couldn't remember where we were flying to, when she paused to check w/ the pilots, everyone yelled, CINCINNATI!. She had the entire Safety procedure memorized. That is a pleasant change. Many of the last dozen flights, the flight attendants were all reading it from a script. Pat interjected some humour in her "presentation".
Now to Ian. Ian was a older gentleman from the UK. He had travelled from Southern England to Amsterdam to Detroit and then end up in Cinci. Ugh. The worst part, he was only going to be in Cinci for a day. He is to fly back the day after. Double UGH! His company partners with another company in OH that manufactures equipment for the Petroleum industry. . . machinery for Oil Rigs for example. His company makes the software for this company. Not sure what the software does.
We had a lovely conversation and of course, when speaking to a British gent, my slight continental accent started to creep back in my tone and my vocabulary switch to more British English than American English. Ian is apparently a brilliant Physicist in his area. Pretty impressive. We bonded a bit over the love of Sciences. My father was also passionate about Physics. It was amusing that his oldest daughter had issues for the first time in electromagnetics @ Univ. That was when my physics grades started to fail. Up until then, Physics was super easy. After EM Physics in Adv. Physics in High school, I decided being a physicist was not for me. This young lady is studying to be an astrophysicist. Sigh. More power to her.
Ian and I also discussed the trials of the youth now a days. I am not sure if it is a sign of me getting older or if this has been a problem that is becoming quite bad. No matter where I go, there is always some one older than me tell me that problems with the young coming out of college. Unfortunately, I do agree with many of the ones disparaging the up and coming work force. The best way I can say it is, this 12 rules I found on the Internet.
TWELVE RULES FOR RAISING DELINQUENT CHILDREN
1. Begin with infancy to give the child everything he wants. In this way he will grow up to believe the world owes him a living.
2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. This will make him think he's cute. It will also encourage him to pick up "cuter phrases" that will blow off the top of your head later.
3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait until he is 21, and then let him "decide for himself."
4. Avoid the use of the word "wrong." It may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe later, when he is arrested for stealing a car, that society is against him and he is being persecuted.
5. Pick up everything he leaves lying around - books, shoes, clothes. Do everything for him so that he will be experienced in throwing all responsibility on others.
6. Let him read any printed matter he can get his hands on. Be careful that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but don't worry about his mind feasting on garbage.
7. Quarrel frequently in the presence of your children. In this way they will not be too shocked when the home is broken up later.
8. Give the child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his. Why should he have things as tough as you did?
9. Satisfy his every craving for food, drink, and comfort. See that every sensual desire is gratified. Denial may lead to harmful frustration.
10. Take his part against neighbors, teachers, policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child.
11. When he gets into real trouble, apologize to yourself by saying, "I never could do anything with him!"
12. Prepare yourself for a life of grief. You'll surely have it.
My cab ride to the airport wasn't looking good. The driver was 12 minutes late. Fortunately, I have been ordering the car a bit earlier in preparation for this. We make it to the airport smoothly. The driver was not my favourite driver, Sher. And the Lincoln (whatever model) did not have heated seats/back in the back. I was disappointed since I really wanted to warm my freezing back.
Security was a breeze. The poor young guy in front of me was harassed by the TSA agent. The older TSA agent was sweet as can be with me. No waiting! :) I get to the gate. Thank goodness it is at C12 instead of C34 or C36 where it has been for the past couple of weeks. Less walk. Yes, I know walking is good exercise. I don't care. I get enough exercise at the gym.
The flight is delayed. So it begins. It isn't too delayed, only about 7 minutes. They said it could be up to 11 minutes late. That isn't too bad. I figure w/ the wind pushing us, we'd get there on time still. Make up the time in the air. To my surprise we land EARLY. We get there 25 minutes before we were supposed to.
The flight attendant, Pat was a stitch. She couldn't remember where we were flying to, when she paused to check w/ the pilots, everyone yelled, CINCINNATI!. She had the entire Safety procedure memorized. That is a pleasant change. Many of the last dozen flights, the flight attendants were all reading it from a script. Pat interjected some humour in her "presentation".
Now to Ian. Ian was a older gentleman from the UK. He had travelled from Southern England to Amsterdam to Detroit and then end up in Cinci. Ugh. The worst part, he was only going to be in Cinci for a day. He is to fly back the day after. Double UGH! His company partners with another company in OH that manufactures equipment for the Petroleum industry. . . machinery for Oil Rigs for example. His company makes the software for this company. Not sure what the software does.
We had a lovely conversation and of course, when speaking to a British gent, my slight continental accent started to creep back in my tone and my vocabulary switch to more British English than American English. Ian is apparently a brilliant Physicist in his area. Pretty impressive. We bonded a bit over the love of Sciences. My father was also passionate about Physics. It was amusing that his oldest daughter had issues for the first time in electromagnetics @ Univ. That was when my physics grades started to fail. Up until then, Physics was super easy. After EM Physics in Adv. Physics in High school, I decided being a physicist was not for me. This young lady is studying to be an astrophysicist. Sigh. More power to her.
Ian and I also discussed the trials of the youth now a days. I am not sure if it is a sign of me getting older or if this has been a problem that is becoming quite bad. No matter where I go, there is always some one older than me tell me that problems with the young coming out of college. Unfortunately, I do agree with many of the ones disparaging the up and coming work force. The best way I can say it is, this 12 rules I found on the Internet.
TWELVE RULES FOR RAISING DELINQUENT CHILDREN
1. Begin with infancy to give the child everything he wants. In this way he will grow up to believe the world owes him a living.
2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. This will make him think he's cute. It will also encourage him to pick up "cuter phrases" that will blow off the top of your head later.
3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait until he is 21, and then let him "decide for himself."
4. Avoid the use of the word "wrong." It may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe later, when he is arrested for stealing a car, that society is against him and he is being persecuted.
5. Pick up everything he leaves lying around - books, shoes, clothes. Do everything for him so that he will be experienced in throwing all responsibility on others.
6. Let him read any printed matter he can get his hands on. Be careful that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but don't worry about his mind feasting on garbage.
7. Quarrel frequently in the presence of your children. In this way they will not be too shocked when the home is broken up later.
8. Give the child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his. Why should he have things as tough as you did?
9. Satisfy his every craving for food, drink, and comfort. See that every sensual desire is gratified. Denial may lead to harmful frustration.
10. Take his part against neighbors, teachers, policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child.
11. When he gets into real trouble, apologize to yourself by saying, "I never could do anything with him!"
12. Prepare yourself for a life of grief. You'll surely have it.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Westin stay 2
I have now stayed at the Westin Twice in a row. I find that the house keeping is rather sporadic. Some days, I receive a refill on my coffee filters. Some days I receive new toiletries. The oddest is this week, where all my toiletries are used just one night and then they take it away and replace with new! I am not sure what is exactly going on.
On a positive note, the fruits provided in the 5-7 hour were huge Asian pears! Very tasty. There were some very tasty red pears too. The work out room was also quite empty so it was nice. Met a nice guy, Nick who is a branch manager at Proctor and Gamble. He recommended trying out the Precinct and Jeff Ruby's. This is the 4th person to recommend both these places. I guess a trip to these restaurants are definitely on the list.
I hope my flight tomorrow will be okay. There is some talk of snow. Coming here this week was odd. We pulled away from the gate and waited for an hour, then they pulled us back and let people off. Two women left the plane and claimed that they had no baggage on board. I kept thinking, GOD I hope there isn't a bomb. I would be very pissed to be blown out of the sky. Fortunately, no issues. Whew.
On a positive note, the fruits provided in the 5-7 hour were huge Asian pears! Very tasty. There were some very tasty red pears too. The work out room was also quite empty so it was nice. Met a nice guy, Nick who is a branch manager at Proctor and Gamble. He recommended trying out the Precinct and Jeff Ruby's. This is the 4th person to recommend both these places. I guess a trip to these restaurants are definitely on the list.
I hope my flight tomorrow will be okay. There is some talk of snow. Coming here this week was odd. We pulled away from the gate and waited for an hour, then they pulled us back and let people off. Two women left the plane and claimed that they had no baggage on board. I kept thinking, GOD I hope there isn't a bomb. I would be very pissed to be blown out of the sky. Fortunately, no issues. Whew.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
First Travel in the New Year
My first flight out for the year didn't start off well. My limo was late and we barely made it to the airport in time. When I got to the airport, security was interesting due to all the traveling students.
Luckily my flight was delayed. The delay was kind of amusing. The woman didn't know how to operate the gate correctly. Apparently, she knocked into the plane. She looked pretty tired and didn't want to be there. She was slow enough that the 3 pilots catching a flight back after work were all grumbling about her.
The only good thing was that the flight was pretty empty. I got to sit by myself. A pleasure. Hope I will be as lucky for the rest of my flights - half empty.
Executive coach taking me to the hotel was interesting. The driver had very decided ideas on politics. He went on for a while about the history of Cincinnati too. Fortunately it was a short ride.
Checking into the Westin was a dream. I was impressed with the room. The decor is definitely my style. The furniture was dark wood. The lines are nice and clean. The lounge chair is nice and square. I didn't think it would be so comfortable. The leather ottoman, hmm, very interesting.
After another week here, I will do a comparison of the hotels I have stayed at in Cinci. I am trying to decide which one would be the one I want to stay at long term. It is more difficult than I thought.
Luckily my flight was delayed. The delay was kind of amusing. The woman didn't know how to operate the gate correctly. Apparently, she knocked into the plane. She looked pretty tired and didn't want to be there. She was slow enough that the 3 pilots catching a flight back after work were all grumbling about her.
The only good thing was that the flight was pretty empty. I got to sit by myself. A pleasure. Hope I will be as lucky for the rest of my flights - half empty.
Executive coach taking me to the hotel was interesting. The driver had very decided ideas on politics. He went on for a while about the history of Cincinnati too. Fortunately it was a short ride.
Checking into the Westin was a dream. I was impressed with the room. The decor is definitely my style. The furniture was dark wood. The lines are nice and clean. The lounge chair is nice and square. I didn't think it would be so comfortable. The leather ottoman, hmm, very interesting.
After another week here, I will do a comparison of the hotels I have stayed at in Cinci. I am trying to decide which one would be the one I want to stay at long term. It is more difficult than I thought.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Upcoming Vacations
As many of you know, I am a bit of a planner. I have 2008, 2009 and 2010 all planned out. No, there is no medication for my "problem".
For this New Year, we only have 1 big vacation due to B's work. We are going to Mexico in April. I can not wait. We are going to a Palace all inclusive resort so it should be a blast. We are going to relax, ready, sleep and do what couples do . . .
For 2009, I have my Galapagos Island Diving already all booked. Depending on finances, we might be able to do St. Lucia in April 2009. That would be awesome. St. Lucia in April and Galapagos in June/July. 2010 is reserved specifically for our Australia and New Zealand tour. I believe I might be able to get 4 weeks off. We'll see how my new boss to be feels about it.
Now why am I bringing this up now? Well, it is because B sent me an email that kind of freaked me out. As you may know, I am an avid scuba diver. I love to scuba dive. I want to go diving every year multiple times. Well, B sent me a little something that would give me more than a panic attack.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505753&in_page_id=1770
For this New Year, we only have 1 big vacation due to B's work. We are going to Mexico in April. I can not wait. We are going to a Palace all inclusive resort so it should be a blast. We are going to relax, ready, sleep and do what couples do . . .
For 2009, I have my Galapagos Island Diving already all booked. Depending on finances, we might be able to do St. Lucia in April 2009. That would be awesome. St. Lucia in April and Galapagos in June/July. 2010 is reserved specifically for our Australia and New Zealand tour. I believe I might be able to get 4 weeks off. We'll see how my new boss to be feels about it.
Now why am I bringing this up now? Well, it is because B sent me an email that kind of freaked me out. As you may know, I am an avid scuba diver. I love to scuba dive. I want to go diving every year multiple times. Well, B sent me a little something that would give me more than a panic attack.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505753&in_page_id=1770
ARRGGHHH!!!! SO the things running through my mind are, SHARK! SHARK! SHARK! Then I think, oh God I hope the shark doesn't like Chinese food. Because this is one Chinese delivery I hope not to make. Then I think what is wrong with this dumb ass person? When he is going to start paddling like they do in the cartoons? Would he have a huge stream of water shooting out from the back of his canoe as he is madly paddling away?
Then I think, who is this photographer? How the HELL did he take this shot. I wish I could take a shot like that! Read the article, it is a bit incredible. You know those academic types, totally out of touch with reality. Crazy buggers.
SO needlessly to say, South Africa is NOT on my list of vacation spots. I do not want to dive with great whites. They freak me out. Of course the debate is that there are Great Whites in Australia too. And that there are famous shark spots in the Galapagos. I am not going to think about that. Ignorance is bliss.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Christmas Visit home
Well, I am finally back again to write about my travel to my parents home. The weather cooperated and we made it to my parents home easily the Saturday before Christmas. Not to my hubby's surprise, we made it before both my sisters, even though they have only a 2 hour drive while we have a 4.5 hour drive.
We packed up everything into the car with no issues. Looked like we were going to move in for a month!
Air mattress - Check!
Luggage - Check!
Food - Check!
Gifts - Check!
And then we get there and I realize I didn't bring enough blankets or the portable heater. And I forgot a couple of pairs of underwear. DOH! Oh well, we were actually warm enough this year. Must be because we keep our house colder this past year. It is 67 when we are up and about. 60 when we are not supposed to be at home. And it drops to 57 when we are sleeping. Thank goodness for heated mattress pads! And people wonder why I prefer to work in the office rather than remote from home.
B really wanted to bring his entire HD system with him so that we can watch HD movies, but we decided not to. Instead, he brought his xbox 360, guitar hero, many games and my DDR. DDR and Guitar hero were a hit. I would have to say that my sisters liked DDR. Al decided to work out for an hour on DDR. I forgot to mention to her that she might be sore the next day. Well . . . as it turns out, she was pretty sore for a couple of days. Her poor new hubby. All I heard was, "I need a massage. A, massage my legs!"
J played guitar hero more. Good for her. No sore legs. She was very good at it. We believe it is because she used to play the violin. Mes parents also tried the video games. Where was the video camera when this was happening?? Sigh.
We tried something new this year. We each were responsible for a meal. It all went pretty well. This was our trial year. Next year we will do better. Hopefully, we will get our quantity right. A, we are NOT a family of 12. There are only 7 of us and 4 of the people eat very little. Three of us are more vegetarians. 2 Mountains of red meat twice in a row is quite a bit. J, your crock pot cooks for a church congregation. WAY too much food.
We ended up just relaxing and playing video games the entire break. I snuck some time in to do work. I received some glares here and there. The big thing I did was complete most of AL and A's wedding album. It was all digital and has been sent off to the presses! I hope to receive in back in a couple of weeks. Generally it only takes 1 week, but with the rush of Christmas, I am sure that there is a huge backlog.
We traveled back on Thursday before New Years instead of Friday due to the weather again. Fortunately we did make it back before the storm. It was pretty nasty driving weather in Michigan on Friday. I get one week left at home and then I am on the road again. I wonder how many delays I will have on Sunday.
We packed up everything into the car with no issues. Looked like we were going to move in for a month!
Air mattress - Check!
Luggage - Check!
Food - Check!
Gifts - Check!
And then we get there and I realize I didn't bring enough blankets or the portable heater. And I forgot a couple of pairs of underwear. DOH! Oh well, we were actually warm enough this year. Must be because we keep our house colder this past year. It is 67 when we are up and about. 60 when we are not supposed to be at home. And it drops to 57 when we are sleeping. Thank goodness for heated mattress pads! And people wonder why I prefer to work in the office rather than remote from home.
B really wanted to bring his entire HD system with him so that we can watch HD movies, but we decided not to. Instead, he brought his xbox 360, guitar hero, many games and my DDR. DDR and Guitar hero were a hit. I would have to say that my sisters liked DDR. Al decided to work out for an hour on DDR. I forgot to mention to her that she might be sore the next day. Well . . . as it turns out, she was pretty sore for a couple of days. Her poor new hubby. All I heard was, "I need a massage. A, massage my legs!"
J played guitar hero more. Good for her. No sore legs. She was very good at it. We believe it is because she used to play the violin. Mes parents also tried the video games. Where was the video camera when this was happening?? Sigh.
We tried something new this year. We each were responsible for a meal. It all went pretty well. This was our trial year. Next year we will do better. Hopefully, we will get our quantity right. A, we are NOT a family of 12. There are only 7 of us and 4 of the people eat very little. Three of us are more vegetarians. 2 Mountains of red meat twice in a row is quite a bit. J, your crock pot cooks for a church congregation. WAY too much food.
We ended up just relaxing and playing video games the entire break. I snuck some time in to do work. I received some glares here and there. The big thing I did was complete most of AL and A's wedding album. It was all digital and has been sent off to the presses! I hope to receive in back in a couple of weeks. Generally it only takes 1 week, but with the rush of Christmas, I am sure that there is a huge backlog.
We traveled back on Thursday before New Years instead of Friday due to the weather again. Fortunately we did make it back before the storm. It was pretty nasty driving weather in Michigan on Friday. I get one week left at home and then I am on the road again. I wonder how many delays I will have on Sunday.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Blind
Kathy, a person I work with told me a sad story about her experience w/ United this week. She is a Red Carpet member. Sunday was terrible with delays and cancellation. While she was waiting in the Red Carpet club, a blind man came in to ask if he could just sit in a chair out of the way. His flight had been cancelled.
The Red Carpet lady asked if he was a member. Because this was a members only club. He replied no. He just wanted to be out of the busy terminal. She said no, he had to leave. Kathy let the woman know that he could come in as a guest of her. That really pissed the woman off. She said that he still couldn't come in because the Club was designed to keep certain people out.
This begs the question, who are these people? The poor? (who can't afford plane tickets?) The rif raff who can't get through security anymore w/o a ticket. Or the disabled? Well, Kathy was very irritated and still insisted to let the blind man sit down and rest a bit. The woman finally relented when she noticed that the other customers looked appalled and disgusted with her.
The old man sat down and promptly fell asleep. The seeing eye dog curled up under his legs and proceeded to sleep.
While I understand that the worker was just doing her job, but it begs the question, during this holiday season, could she not have had a bit of heart?
The Red Carpet lady asked if he was a member. Because this was a members only club. He replied no. He just wanted to be out of the busy terminal. She said no, he had to leave. Kathy let the woman know that he could come in as a guest of her. That really pissed the woman off. She said that he still couldn't come in because the Club was designed to keep certain people out.
This begs the question, who are these people? The poor? (who can't afford plane tickets?) The rif raff who can't get through security anymore w/o a ticket. Or the disabled? Well, Kathy was very irritated and still insisted to let the blind man sit down and rest a bit. The woman finally relented when she noticed that the other customers looked appalled and disgusted with her.
The old man sat down and promptly fell asleep. The seeing eye dog curled up under his legs and proceeded to sleep.
While I understand that the worker was just doing her job, but it begs the question, during this holiday season, could she not have had a bit of heart?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Make up my mind!
First real snow fall in Ann Arbor this week. It was a trip. The snow looked great. We received at least 12 inches. I watched the Husky across the street enjoying the snow. She pranced and pounced and danced all over the front year. After she did her business, she returned back to the front door and basically barked, "Let me in! It's windy out here!"
I knew it was going to be a challenging travel week when the limo company called to say that they couldn't pick me up in the afternoon. Apparently, their limo drivers had totalled a couple of the cars and they didn't want to risk having any more drivers out on the road.
I checked the flights and noticed that the first 2 flights out were cancelled. Not a good sign. Eventually, mine was cancelled too. I was booked on the first flight out on Monday instead. Not a big deal. I couldn't get out of my driveway anyway. Another night w/ the mate, YAY!
Getting to the airport was easy Monday morning. I breezed through security. The plane loaded ahead of schedule. This wasn't going to bad after all. DOH! The captain came on and announced that he had good news and bad news. Being the person I am, I hoped for bad news first. I can't even remember what the good news was. The bad news was that the plane was fueled for a flight that is longer distance than where we were going. This meant that we were too heavy. Instead of kicking 9 people off the plane, they were going to switch us to a new plane.
Several passengers who were trying to make connections were not pleased. So we got off the plane and went to the next plane. I smiled at the flight attendant again and said, "Deja Vu!" She laughed and waved me to my seat.
We are all on, the luggage has been transferred. We wait for a bit as all the paperwork is filled out. The pilot comes on again to let us know that somehow, we were given a plane that maintenance grounded it. We were asked to deplane again. Sigh. The couple behind me were not pleased. They had been trying since the day before to reach Oklahoma from Appleton WI. As I left the plane, the flight attendant said, "Don't say Deja vu!". So I replied, "There is a glitch in the Matrix." She shooed me out the door.
We finally got to a 3rd plane. We left at a bit after 11 o'clock. The flight was supposed to leave at 7:15 AM. The 9 AM flight left and landed before we even left. Sigh. This does not forebode well for the upcoming winter travels.
I knew it was going to be a challenging travel week when the limo company called to say that they couldn't pick me up in the afternoon. Apparently, their limo drivers had totalled a couple of the cars and they didn't want to risk having any more drivers out on the road.
I checked the flights and noticed that the first 2 flights out were cancelled. Not a good sign. Eventually, mine was cancelled too. I was booked on the first flight out on Monday instead. Not a big deal. I couldn't get out of my driveway anyway. Another night w/ the mate, YAY!
Getting to the airport was easy Monday morning. I breezed through security. The plane loaded ahead of schedule. This wasn't going to bad after all. DOH! The captain came on and announced that he had good news and bad news. Being the person I am, I hoped for bad news first. I can't even remember what the good news was. The bad news was that the plane was fueled for a flight that is longer distance than where we were going. This meant that we were too heavy. Instead of kicking 9 people off the plane, they were going to switch us to a new plane.
Several passengers who were trying to make connections were not pleased. So we got off the plane and went to the next plane. I smiled at the flight attendant again and said, "Deja Vu!" She laughed and waved me to my seat.
We are all on, the luggage has been transferred. We wait for a bit as all the paperwork is filled out. The pilot comes on again to let us know that somehow, we were given a plane that maintenance grounded it. We were asked to deplane again. Sigh. The couple behind me were not pleased. They had been trying since the day before to reach Oklahoma from Appleton WI. As I left the plane, the flight attendant said, "Don't say Deja vu!". So I replied, "There is a glitch in the Matrix." She shooed me out the door.
We finally got to a 3rd plane. We left at a bit after 11 o'clock. The flight was supposed to leave at 7:15 AM. The 9 AM flight left and landed before we even left. Sigh. This does not forebode well for the upcoming winter travels.
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