Hooray its my Birthday!

Last Tuesday was my vaunted 30th birthday. I have turned a corner and entered the next decade of my life and I'm leaving my 20's behind. Being 30 doesn't feel any different from being 29 really but just the fact that I know I'm 30 is kind of weird. Anyway, I digress as usual.

My birthday started off with my wife giving me my birthday gift (no you won't know what it is on this blog) and of course she took some pictures of my smiling face. We did the usual breakfast thing downstairs in order to gear up for the coming day. We decided to stroll towards the 5th Avenue area and did a few neat things.

First stop on the list was actually an accident, we ended up walking a bit too far and ended up in the Rockafeller Center in NY. The reason for the stop was to see the Nintendo Store and to hit up the NBC Studio shop. The Nintendo store was pretty awesome. It was much smaller than I would have thought it would be (only 2 floors) but it was all Wii'ed out. There were Wii's all over the place and the big thing that people were playing with was of course the new Wii Balance Board. They had Wii fit playing on both levels which I thought was pretty cool and I was able to play Wii Skiing for the first time. It's not as easy as it looks but I think the Balance Board needed a bit of calibration and the batteries were dying too so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Either way I think I did pretty well. They also had a really cool display case with the history of the Nintendo systems and I was able to see all the classics from the original Gameboy to the NES and Rob. There were clothes there too but I didn't buy anything although I did take an awesome picture with my friend Pikachu! HA!

After leaving World of Nintendo my wife and I headed over to Rockafeller Center and picked up some drinks. I had an Italian soda which totally rocked and while we were just walking around we stopped in the NBC Studio store. Originally my wife was going to get something from the show The Office but there wasn't anything there that she liked or thought was worth the money. I found some cool pins and shirts for the Beijing Olympics but they didn't have my shirt size so I ended up getting a pin instead just for the hell of it. Another little momento to add to my small collection that I have.

From there it was up 5th Ave once again. We did stop in a couple of stores including Tiffany's (I mean you just have to stop that place is awesome) and made our way to Central Park. The original agenda that I laid out had us going to the Metrolpolitan Museum of Art which is right near Central Park. Since it was a pretty nice day we decided to walk it instead of taking the subway. I will admit that I got a little lost in the park. The MET is straight north, past the Central Park Zoo but somehow we got side tracked and ended up heading West towards Tavern on the Green. After picking up a map we were able to make it to the MET without too much trouble (the dumb guide at the Central Park said we could make the MET in less than 30 minutes, what a liar it took closer to 45!).

The MET was pretty cool. We primarily went to see some exhibit that had super hero fashion and some sculptures that were on the roof of the MET. For a museum it was quite loud and there were tons of people roaming around as well looking at the various exhibits. We hit up the two exhibits that we planned on seeing but we also went to see Arms and Armor and a lot of the Chinese exhibits that were there as well. Overall we spent about 2 hours roaming around looking at exhibits and getting lost in the museum since its just so large. I was really impressed with the Arms and Armor exhibit because it detailed all the different types of full body armor used in the middle ages, different types of fire arms, and lots of swords. SWEET!!

We could have spent a whole day at the MET but the wife and I had dinner reservations with some friends to celebrate my birthday at Nobu 57 which is pretty close to the Waldorf. We met up with our friends for dinner and had a pretty good time. The stuff they served was great and it was a nice atmosphere. I got some cool presents too but I'm not gonna say what they are here, that would be indecent of me! The day didn't end too late. Since we have been walking around all day, we called it an early day, besides Day 3 was going to be especially exciting because of the Yankee game!! WooHoo!!!

New York in July for my 30th - Part 1

This year I turned the big 30 and decided to celebrate it with a little trip to NYC. The awesome part was that I used a bunch of reward points that I gathered throughout all of last year to pay for the flights and the hotel and of course I brought my wife along with me :) I'm hoping that I can do the same thing with my vacation next year but only time will tell if I can accomplish this.

The flight to NY was pretty un-eventful, just the normal hub bub of flying on Delta (I love having Gold status) up to LGA. I decided to splurge a bit and used the limo service that my company has a contract with to take us to the hotel. I trust them more than I do the run of the mill NY taxi and the rate was pretty decent in comparrison. The first thing to hit my nose when I exited was the lovely smell of NYC trash heated to perfection by the summer heat. HA! It's a smell that I don't think I'll ever forget in my lifetime because its just so familiar to me. Anyway the limo brought me over to the Waldorf=Astoria where I booked my room for the week. I burned every Hilton point I had to stay there but I would say it was worth it. Now the cool part about having insane amount of points with Hilton is the Diamond status I have. We arrived at the hotel in the afternoon and there were a ton of people waiting for reception, now with Diamond status I didn't even care because there was a special Diamond Reception desk that I was allowed to use. Not only did I check in faster than the people already in line, I got an upgraded room and an early check in.... SWEET!!

I think at about this time we were getting a bit on the hungry side (I might get these events mixed up a bit since it was a week ago already), but I really wanted to eat some Malaysian food at Penang which is one of my favorite spots in NY. When we were in NY last time, my wife and I went to the one near Washington Square Park so thinking it was still there we took the subway down to get some food. Much to our dismay, Penang was no longer in Washington Square Park. After using Google Maps on my phone, I found out that the one on 82nd and 2nd Ave was still open but it was quite a hike even by subway. Of course we went to 82nd and 2nd Ave for food! The food was excellent and I had all of my favorites. By the end of the meal I was fully stuffed!

After eating we decided to do a little exploring up 5th Ave. 5th Ave has all the high end shops and what not but also some spots that we wanted to visit. 2 places that stick out in my mind are World of Disney and FAO Schwartz. World of Disney was pretty cool. I have a few pictures from there and the art work that they were selling in the gallery upstairs was very cool, I was quite tempted to buy something but would have no way of taking it home. My wife took a silly picture of me in a Mickey Mouse "I Love NY" hat and I took one of her in an apron. After playing around in there for a bit we move further up 5th Ave to FAO Schwartz. My wife and I have some pretty fond memories of FAO when we were younger. It was the premier toy store back in the day but it looked like the shell of its former self after the hard economic times that have been around for the past decade. The huge clock in the entrance way was missing as well as all of the Gund stuffed animals. We primarily went there for some ice cream but was sad to note that it was replaced by a candy store. We didn't stay all that long because we were so sad about the changes.

Outside of FAO is the new Apple Store (the big glass cube one) and noticed that there was a line. I took a pic of both the store and the line just for kicks. I originally thought that the line was to get into the store but my friend Luan told me that the line was for getting an iPhone. I didn't think that people were STILL waiting in line for that phone but I guess I was wrong so looking at that picture amuses me when I see it side by side with the picture of the store.

The rest of the evening was taken up by un-packing our luggage and resting from all the walking and the flight that we took to get to NY. The next day was more exciting since it was my big birthday! So far being 30 isn't so bad, its like being in my 20's but I just can't say I'm in my 20's anymore. Well, I'll blog tomorrow if I have the time with a chronicle of July 22nd's events.

Finally in Memphis

Ahhh Monday! The ATL was all messed up today because of storms that rolled in yesterday and disrupted air travel. I was affected because my flight from Ft. Lauderdale was late which caused me to miss my connection to Memphis. There were people everywhere trying to get on any flight out to their ultimate destination.

I was already rebooked for the 5:30PM flight to Memphis but that's reallly late for a Monday. Luckily when I was in Ft. Lauderdale I asked the gate agent about available flights and they were nice enough to put me on the 10:50AM on Stand By. With my super awesome Gold status with Delta I was first on the Stand By list. I almost didn't make it because the entire plane had boarded and I was one of maybe three people on Stand By that got on.

Now I'm here in Memphis waiting for my boss to get off his plane so we can get to work. I hope the entire summer isn't like this for travel. I'll be mighty sore if it is. I can't wait to see what happens later this year when everyone cuts capacity. If the planes were full before, its going to be chaos come 2009.

On a side note, I'm happy that I have been inspired to write more on my blog. My wife is probably the only one that reads it now but at least someone is. So thank you my lovely wife for reading my rants and to any of my friends or anyone else that may come across my blog.

Flight Delay Update

The gate agent here in Ft. Lauderdale just gave an update on why the flight is delayed. Seems that there were quite a few weather delays last night so a lot of the crews got in late. I can forgive that because the last thing I want is a sleepy pilot flying me to Atlanta. I know what its like driving a little drowsy and having a pilot do that is totally not cool at all.

I'll sit here patiently and wait for them to start boarding. There are more and more people checking into the flight that have higher status than me so I'm getting pushed down the upgrade list. I'm currently number 10 but I have a little hope that I can still snag one of those upgraded first class seats. If I can't make my flights I'm going to ask my boss if I can charge in internet access (ATL doesn't give it to you for free like FTL does) so that I can kinda do some work while I'm at the airport. The trick will also be finding a place to recharge my laptop but if I'm stuck there for a LOONG time I don't think it will matter, someone always gets up ;)

29+1

In only 8 more days I'm going to be 29+1 years old. I can't bring myself to say I'm going to be turning 30 just yet. I guess we'll cross that bridge at midnight on July 21st when I actually turn 30 years old. I guess its not all bad, the only thing I'm doing is leaving my 20's behind although I can say that I did enjoy being in my 20's.

I have most of my day planned out for my birthday but I won't reveal what I'm going to be doing on my blog just yet. Suffice it to say that next week I'm taking the entire week off from work because I can and its also to celebrate my 30th birthday in a nice relaxed atmosphere.

I'm just curious what my wife is going to get me for my birthday. She has already gotten me a NY Yankee batting jersey yesterday (no numbers on it though so I don't have to worry about people leaving the team and wearing a number belonging to someone else i.e. my Tino Martinez jerseys) HA I just gave away the answer to one of my Facebook questions that no one has answered yet.

Anyway, I might have a few more blog posts in me this morning as I wait for my flight to leave. Just gotta think of something to write about.....

Crappy start to my Monday

Well well well, here I am sitting my ass in Ft. Lauderdale already delayed in going to Atlanta on my fabulous Delta Airlines flight (hence the picture). The excuse is that the crew is going to be delayed which kinda stinks because its going to force me to miss my connecting flight to Memphis. That really isn't a good thing at all because I don't want to be stuck at Atlanta.

My flight is supposed to be at 6:00AM but its been pushed back to 7:17AM. The arrival time which is now past 9:00AM means I will miss my connection. I spoke to the gate agent here in Atlanta and he was nice enough to put me at the top of the Stand By list for the 10:50AM flight. There are a bunch of flights after that but they're all booked up and the next one that has a confirmed seat is the 5:00PM. Now that is WAY late to be getting to my client site. I would have to rent my own car and what not and there is NO WAY that my butt is staying until Friday this week.

Last week I stayed until Friday and I didn't see the value of me actually staying there since the person I was working with was busy the entire day leaving me to kinda just sit around and try and get some stuff done but not really accomplishing anything. I would suspect that this week would be the same if I stayed till Friday and it would make me extra pissed because I am going on vacation next week and could use the extra day at home to prepare.

I'm looking at the Upgrade list and I'm currently number 9. It wouldn't be so bad if I could get a First Class upgrade for this flight. It would make my life a bit better just for today.

iPhone 3G Mania and waiting for the Treo 800W

Well here it is, the 3G iPhone has finally arrived today and from all the different things I've been seeing on the internet, people have been lining up for days if not weeks for this little baby to be released. I think that's nuts personally just to get your hands on a cell phone but I guess people are just crazy that way.

Anyway, there are supposed to be some much improved stuff with this new release most importantly connection to AT&T's 3G network as opposed to EDGE which runs on 1xRTT. From other things I've heard, people with the original iPhone shouldn't be all that upset anyway because most of the cool software tweaks that the new iPhone has is available to everyone else as a software upgrade. I guess good ole Steve Jobs is keeping his promise that the device doesn't matter nearly as much as the software that runs the thing.

With this fun new release is a new release of iTunes (which I won't be upgrading to any time soon unless it improves the functionality of my iPod or something) because I just don't feel like downloading it and the new iPhone application thingie doesn't do me a shred of good. My good old iPod classis is working just fine for now but I want a Nano so I have some tunes when I go running or something while I'm out on the road.



I know that sometime in the near future Verizon is going to be releasing the Palm Treo 800W for us suckers stuck on CDMA networks (iPhone is GSM in case you didn't know). Sprint is already selling the sucker before its "official" launch date which no one really knows yet except for Sprint. But from some of what I'm reading, EVDO Rev A (thats CDMA 3G) is totally bad ass and kicks the crap out of AT&T's 3G network in sheer speed. Granted I love my Palm OS but I think its time to move on to Windows Mobile unless by some act of God or Palm moving their collective butts the new Linux based OS is released and is completely compatible with all my old programs. I'll have to start buying software instead of using freeware (although there is some good stuff out there) and there is a cool program called StyleTap that will let me run my Palm OS programs on Windows Mobile.

That leaves on more player that I haven't mentioned yet (no its not Symbian). Andriod (the Google phone thingie) that people are all excited about. Android is going to be tied quite heavily to all the online Google goodies that abound these days but I'm kind of wary of first gen software but it has a lot of backing from vendors. Only time will tell where this is going.

Alas, since I am on CDMA it appears that I will be sticking with my good ole Treo (whether I get the 755 or the 800W depends on mood and if WM pisses me off enough to go back to Palm OS for another 2 years). I'm up in January so we'll see what happens in 6 more months.

Verizon Wireless isn't giving me love

I watch a good amount of TV in the evening and I constantly see commercials from Alltel and Cingular offering stuff like roll over minute or a top 5 which lets you call people and not burn minutes. I've been with Verizon before they were even Verizon and the only thing that they've offered over the years is the New Every Two program. You used to get $100 bucks towards a new phone every two years when you renewed your contract but recently that was reduced to around $50. Personally I like the service I've been getting from Verizon both network wise and from their customer service department who seems willing to help me out when purchasing phones.

While thats all fine and dandy I do envy some of my peers that have roll over minutes or Unlimited Plans that include anytime minutes, text messaging, and internet where Verizon is only providing unlimited minutes. Verizon's phone selection also isn't the best but what keeps me rooted to them is the network. At some point, Verizon is going to have to change something about their strategy to offer new phones and better plans to their customer base. I want to see some bad ass phones and be able to use it overseas and throw in SIM chips. But most of all I need a way to cut down on the number of minutes I use because my cell phone has become my lifeline with my new job.

If Verizon can give me something like My Circle or Roll Over minutes, I'll be totally golden and remain a loyal customer for a long time to come.

Quaker Steak and Lube

Tonight I went to yet another Pittsburgh, a place called Quaker Steak and Lube. This place is decked out like a gas station which is pretty neat and the Quaker State oil symbol is on everything. They even have dummy cars inside the place too. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't bring my camera along but the wings there are really good.

Coraopolis is actually a pretty nice place in the summer time. It's about 80 degrees with no humidity and its quite hilly which is a plus in my book. This is my last week here but that may change depending on what my client wants. So long Pittsburgh, its been sweet!

Work/Life Balance

Ahh the perennial argument for working folks is how to strike a balance between the life you have at work and the life outside of work. As technology enables us to be connected all the time there seems to be an expectation that no matter where you are or what you're doing you'll answer the mighty call from your employer and do a bit of work.

As a Consultant there is a certain expectation that I'll be available but that's because my cell phone is basically my office even though my company doesn't pay for it. So far I haven't gotten too many calls but I've seen examples of people getting calls or emails after hours, on vacation, and on the weekends. I know that in Europe and maybe even pockets of Asia (maybe) there are limits and sometimes I think they actually live a better life than I do. To me there is one precious commodity that is in very limited supply and that is time.

So far I've been pretty happy that my managers are trying to keep me to the 40 hours a week deal but every so often it bleeds over into after hours. Although as a whole, I think that the fine line between work and leisure are getting blurred. I'll even admit myself that I sometimes check my work email from time to time but I've gotten better at turning it off and being truly AWAY.

I do know that when I get into a management position I will be one of the big advocates of work life balance. All this work doesn't really net you anything except stress and a paycheck. It's the ability to do things outside of work that count like spending time with family and friends and doing the things that really matter. Maybe I'll do some crazy thing like go to Europe and bask in the glory of the 35 hours work week. Then again I like being in the US too much so maybe not. Only time will tell.

Something funny is going on at Marriott

I'm here staying at a full service Marriott (there are many levels but I won't get into that) in Pittsburgh and a curious thing happened when I got into my room. The bed wasn't made and all the shit I threw around it was still there. Well thats not good at all is it? So I call down and tell the front desk who apologizes and asks if I want anything. I just say give me towels and everything will be fine.

I wait a few minutes and someone with a cleaning cart comes to clean up my room. To me thats a bit weird because I only wanted towels. I politely tell her I don't want her to clean my room (in my head I'm really saying why are you going to bother when I'm going to mess it up again in 4 hours) and ask her for some towels. She at least gives me the towels which I asked for. I'm hoping that my room will be made up tomorrow.

Now if they would only give me free internet access like they do at their lesser brands (I don't know WHY they don't at the top of the line hotel, just plain stupid in my view because business travelers are always online). I can safely say that for my next client I will pray that I get to stay in a Hilton so I can gain some massive amounts of points with my super awesome Diamond status.

Back from the cruise!

Today is my first day back at work after spending 3 days on a cruise with my wife's family. There were at least 15 people including me on the cruise and we took the Carnival Fascination and headed over to Paradise Island in the Bahama's.

Me and the wife have been to Paradise Island before so we knew what to expect when we got there. A few things have changed over time but a lot of the changes were good. The biggest change that I saw was the expansion of the water park. Since my wife and I aren't big on going to the beach, we decided to try out the water park since so many things there were new. The best part was the Lazy River which had rapids and stuff like that thrown in. It was great that it had little breaks here and there so you didn't have to walk to the different attractions. Some of the slides were really steep and we didn't know they were steep till we actually went on the ride. Some of the more memorable points were hearing people say "OH SHIT" as they went down a slide.

We only spent the day there since it was a 3 day cruise and we needed one day to get to the Bahama's and one day to get back to the Port of Miami. The ship was a smaller one compared to the one me and the wife took about 3 years ago when we went on our honeymoon. My wife's parents seemed to enjoy the cruise so if there is another family outing it will probably involve a cruise of some sort. However since we've had a chance to try Carnival I think we're going to go back to Royal Caribbean since we enjoyed almost every aspect of Royal Caribbean more than Carnival. I'm hoping for an Alaska cruise or something but the Western Caribbean will be awesome. Most likely we'll also book a cabin that has a window, waking up at 7AM and it being pitch black in the room is just kinda creepy and doesn't really motivate you to get out of bed.

Pictures of the cruise will follow in a few days after I get back home from work. It's going to be a short weekend this week because I'm staying in Pittsburgh till Friday but I did take most of Monday off so I guess everything balances. Until tomorrow most likely, another blog post will most definitely appear!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July people. Just showing some love for the red, white, and blue! Booyah!

Downtown Pittsburgh

Here is a photo I took today when I decided to see what downtown Pittsburgh is like. I really didn't venture out of my car but I loved how there are hills everywhere to race my rental car up and down on. I wish I could have taken this photo at night but it doesn't get dark here until around 9PM and I have a flight to get on early tomorrow morning.

I bought a hat too as a souvenir and it looks pretty sweet. I don't know when I'll be back so I thought I'd get a memento. I only bought a memento at one other place so far out of all my clients but that's because I went to a game. I didn't like anything in Houston or Memphis enough to get a hat but the Penguin's are a decent team so I picked up a hat. I won't wear it often but it didn't cost a lot anyway so its all good.

It's time for bed, I have more pics of Pittsburgh but its mostly just city scape pics. I begin my 4th of July vacation on Friday and there will be quite a few pics from that when I come back on Monday.

Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh

Since I'm staying in Pittsburgh I decided to try some of the local cuisine. I have a couple of friends from work who are from Pittsburgh and they told me that I must try Primanti Bros. for some sandwiches. So for dinner tonight I decided to go and have one of their signature sandwiches, the Pittsburgh Cheese Steak.

Primanti Bros. makes their sandwiches with fries and cole slaw. I'm not a big fan of cole slaw so I had mine on the side. I did try the sandwich with it and it wasn't bad but I ate the rest kind of plain. All in all it was pretty neat to go there. Since I'm here for another day, I'll see where else I can go for dinner and if I have thetime I'll blog about it as well.