Hurricane Season is almost here again

It's the end of May and that means Hurricane Season will be in full swing shortly. I haven't even stocked up on any hurricane supplies yet so that should probably go to the top of the shopping list in the next few weeks.

I survived last season without a scratch because no hurricanes came by South Florida. I don't know if that will be the case this year but I hope it will be since that sort of things makes things disruptive for my job and my family life. I already have a generator which should be sufficient for powering at least my fridge and a few other things, and I have shutters to protect my windows from being blown in. The big thing I need is probably batteries and food. I have a grill that uses gasas well as a backup camping grill plus some gas canisters for that. I've lived in Florida for 5 years and I've survived my share of hurricanes already but I just want to continue seeing them pass me by and leave me alone. Less headaches are good because it means less gray hair. Ha!

Joining the Bluetooth Age

Today is the day my new Bluetooth headset is going to be delivered. I have come to realize that I talk a great deal on my cell phone and I'm getting a bit tired of always holding it to my ear. So I have decided to get a new headset that I'll take with me on the road. This should make things a bit easier when I call home or if I have to wait on hold for something.

I used my sister in laws Bluetooth headset on and off for a bit but I couldn't take it with me because of the color. I liked how it worked while I was here at home. I picked Motorola since they have worked with my Treo 700p in the past and I have no reason to doubt that it will work again. Will this mean I'm going to spend more time on the phone? Probably not because it eats my minutes but I'll now be in compliance with the law by using a hands free device while driving. I might give my opinion on how it works later next week after I've had it with me for a bit. Hurry up and deliver my shit UPS!!

New template

After I think 6 years, I'm getting a bit tired of the old template so I picked a new one. The color is still blue but the design is a bit different. The cool thing is that I didn't lose any of my links or anything like that. The only thing that Blogger lacks which I wish they would finally do is a way to save my entries without plopping in a new template and then saving the web page. I have years of entries on this thing and I don't want to try and save them all to one file. Thats also the main reason I haven't changed blogging services or tried to use MySpace or Facebook for it.

If they come out with some snazzy new templates I might change it again but we'll see. This one will do for now.

The great sunglasses search

I've been looking for a new pair of sunglasses recently and I must say that it has been quite the challenge. By any measure, my eyesight really sucks. Without my glasses I can barely read what I'm typing on my computer without getting within maybe 6 inches from the screen. I decided to try and get some Oakley sunglasses (see picture above) during my lunch break today because I know that Oakley makes prescription sunglasses. The ones I picked out are called the Flack Jacket and it even comes in Asian Fit (look it up, its pretty interesting how they tailor glasses to fit an Asian face at Oakley). The person who assisted me was going to order them for me because they don't carry that kind of stuff in stock and Oakley makes special lenses and everything. I come to find out that my eyesight is so bad that Oakley can't make lenses that would be of any use to me. The problem is that the lenses can't be curved, they have to be straight. I have the thinnest lenses possible for a pair of glasses and they still look a bit thick for me. I saw what regular plastic lenses looked like and I could have sworn they were almost a centimeter thick.

The advice I received was to just get a regular pair of frames from anywhere and just put in some sun glass lenses. I don't mind doing that but I'm probably going to need to get something sporty or that can stand up to a measurable amount of abuse. The frames also need to be made of titanium because me and cheap metal don't mesh well together. It sounds like its going to be another $500 purchase but we'll see if I find anything that I like before my mini vacation in July and my big one in July.

New License Plate

I've been living in FL for around 5 years now and I changed my car registration when I moved to Tampa and got some new plates for my car. I know I read this somewhere when I registered my car, every 5 years or so they give you new plates because the reflective sheen on the plate wears off or something stupid like that. Personally my plates are fine and I like the license plate number that they gave me. It even still says Hillsborough County on it which is sweet.

Yesterday I went and checked the mail and was a little surprised to find a new license plate in the mail. When I read about them giving me a new license plate every 5 years or so when I moved to Tampa I thought that they would just give me a duplicate of my current plate. This doesn't seem to be the case because I have a totally different license plate now. I really liked my old one and I'm not anxious to put the new one on. I also have to memorize a completely new license plate number and I just finished memorizing my old one. When I lived in CT and had my car registered in NY, it didn't matter how old your plates were, they just gave you a little sticker to stick in the corner and that was that for the most part. I know somewhere in NY there are still some people driving around with the classic orange license plate or even the one that features the Statue of Liberty

If I'm feeling up to it I'll put my new license plate on this weekend but I won't be happy about it. I will wash my old plate and keep it.

It's all f'ed up in ATL

I'm writing this post from ATL airport and something just isn't right. There are people everywhere rushing to their connections. I come here fairly frequently and I've never seen this place like this. He line to get to Terminals T-B was HUGE, there had to be at least 100 people waiting to get on the escalator to the train.

I've seen this once before in Detroit and that was when everything was backed up which seems to be the case this time as well. I know I bumped a few people out of my way to get to my gate but I am not missing my flighthome no matter what. It looks like I'll be getting home around midnight but at least I won't be traveling next week. SWEET!

Home for my Anniversary

I was originally going to be home this entire week but circumstances at work had me out at my client site. I was able to negotiate a way to come home in time for my 3rd Wedding Anniversary. I'm all about the Work/Life balance and there are some dates that I will always take off no matter what and my anniversary is one of those dates.

Anyway... I made it home by Wednesday afternoon just in time for dinner. Unfortunately my wife had to work late so we were a little behind in eating. I did go over budget this year but I actually succeeded in getting her gifts that she actually wanted and not something that was really cheesy. I got her a kick ass bracelet from Swarovski and sneakers from Coach.

For me, my wife got me some Swarovski crystal bears that I'm going to add to my growing collection. One day I'll put them in a nice glass case to display.

The best part was that my wife made my favorite food for dinner and also baked us a cake that was the same flavor as our wedding cake that we had 3 years ago. She's big on baking now and makes a pretty good cake. I'll have to get her a Kitchenaid stand mixer one of these days. OK, still bored but I don't want to blog anymore. Thats it!

US Airlines Suck

As I'm writing my latest rant I'm sitting in the 45th row on an 757 Delta Airlines plane going from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale. As the title implies I am quite dis-satisfied with American air carriers. I had a sweet ass seat in row 21 which is close to the exit yet far from the bathroom and not in the ass end of the plane. Do to some prime idiocy by the gate agents, my sweet ass seat was probably given to some schmuck with no status. I've flown nearly 100K miles with Delta and have Gold status which gives me first pick of seats. Sitting me in the ass end of the plane is not the way to treat a frequent flyer.

In the past I've flown some international carriers like KLM, SAS, Singapore Air, and British Airways. From what I've heard their services far outstrip anything the American carriers offer. I would like an opportunity to fly United Arab Emirates, I hear their service is fantastic and they know how to treat their passengers well. It seems that with American carriers, we're all just cattle to haul while constantly charging for crap that used to be free or included with the price of the fare. I have noticed also a shift in attitude by air carriers that they just don't care because they have no one to compete against but each other in the US market. They can continue to fleece the consumer while whining they are losing money so they have to increase fares or start charging for stuff like FOOD. Bullshit! I think that the way to save the consumer is to let the international carriers into the market and let them compete. I'm sure that things will get better. If it gets worse they can be kicked out of the market again or people will just refuse to fly them.

So to the whores at Delta, learn to treat your frequent flyers well, we're the ones that are keeping you in business. If not for my Gold status I'd be giving my business to Air Tran and they used to be Value Jet! Now that's kinda scary when you consider their saftey record but at least they know how to treat the consumer a bit better than you old codgers.

Bring me Continental! At least they still give me food!!!

Ok that's the rant for now. We'll see if these turds upgrade me next week or not.