Last Day in NY

Ahh this is it, my last day in NY. Being a Sunday Claire and I decided that to start things off right we should go to church. I haven't gone to church in a while but thats more because I don't like the churches in South Florida compared to the North East. What better church to go to when you're in NY than to hit up St. Patricks Cathedral. Now this is what I call a church! It's huge, its the seat of the NY Arch Diocese, and its historical. I actually did sit through an entire Mass and went and looked at all the different alters where I could light candles for loved ones. Claire and I lit two candles and went to the store to get a souvanir. The only thing that I didn't like were all the people taking pictures indoors. I don't agree with people doing that inside a church, it seems disrespectful. I'll give them that its a beautiful church but don't interfere with the Mass by taking flash photography. Well thats my gripe about St. Patricks but over all I enjoyed the experience (especially because no one held my hand like they do in the South).

One thing that we did miss out on was our planned brunch in Brooklyn. At this point we were just too tired to go anymore and we also decided we wouldn't have enough time to get there and back and also catch our plane. Instead we ended our stay in NY the way it began, by hitting up Penang for some good eats that will have to last a long time. I don't know when I'm going to be in NY again but I do know that I'm going to remember the food, the sights, and the good times with old friends and of course Claire.

One of the more memorable moments of my final day in NY was actually at the airport. Now I was using reward tickets from Delta Airlines but since I got them so early I was actually upgraded to First Class. It doesn't mean all that much on domestic but it lets you use the short security line, get all the drinks you want, have a bigger seat and more leg room.... you get the idea! I also happen to be a Gold Medallion member with Delta so that lets me use the short security line anyway but I don't normally get First Class. Anyway,Claire and I have our tickets in hand and we head on over to the short line for First Class and Gold and Platinum Medallion members. As we walk towards the line a security agent blocks our way and tries and directs us to the regular line which is decently long. We try and push through and she insists that we should go to the regular line. We proceed to tell her that we're First Class so we can go through the line and that I'm a Gold Medalliion member so even on those merits I can go through the line. She takes our boarding passes and inspects them and just waves us through, no appology or anything like that. How RUDE! I'm sure it was the way I was dressed or how old I look that threw her off. I can sort of understand that. I look young for my age and so does Claire so she wouldn't expect us to be riding around in First Class but at least check and not be rude about it.

After zipping through Security, no thanks to that dumb bitch at the First Class line we found out that our flight was delayed because of storms in other parts of the country. There were a lot of other flights canceled or delayed as well so the terminal was quite busy. I considered going to the Crown Club room but since the delay was so short we skipped it in favor of sitting with the people and getting some grub. This is where Claire and I experience our second run in with people that think we're not entitled to boarding with Zone 1 (basically First Class). When flights run late they normally try and board the plane really quick so they were calling zones pretty quick. When they called Zone 1 (the Zone I was in) I headed to the gate like everyone else and went through the Breezeway Lane. Some woman who was in the regular lane had the gall to ask the gate agent what zone they were boarding since I was walking up to show my pass. The gate agent turned to the woman and said something like this in a snotty tone "Ma'am we're seating Zone 1 and he's Zone 1". That put a smile on my face, take that! I may not look it or dress like it when I'm on vacation but I know I have status and First Class tickets and damn it I'll use it to my advantage! The rest of the trip home was pretty un-eventful. We slept a little on the plane and got some extra drinks but the ride was smooth and pretty plush. Thats the way to end a vacation. I should have taken another couple of days off, that would have been a nice little night cap to it all.

Birthday Surprise!

It's July 26 so its around 4 days past my 30th birthday. On this day I decided to head to CT for a little bit just to take in some of the sites that I haven't seen in a good long time because I was feeling a bit of nostalgia. There were two things on my agenda, Fairfield Prep where I went to High School many years ago and to go to Stew Leonards which is the most awesome grocery store in the entire world.

I started the day like always, breakfast at the Waldorf and then a train ride up to Greenwich. Claire and I took a nice walk on Greenwich Ave which I haven't done in ages. There were quite a few new stores that I haven't been to lately and so we took the opportunity to do a little window shopping. We didn't buy anything because we can't afford Greenwich at this point in the trip. We had spent the better part of the week in the city and my budget was running low (I lie of course I had no budget :)).

First stop on my tour was of course Stew Leonards. This place is simply awesome and even though I was only there for a day, Claire and I actually bought stuff to eat just because we could and it was Stewies after all!! They still have all the great animatronic stuff all over the store, there are a few departments that are new (how the cram all that stuff into the same floor space they had in 1988 I have no idea but its being done!), and of course I had to head on over to the little petting zoo that the keep around for the kids. Lots of pics there which I would post but right now I'm too lazy to try and put it into my blog post (blogger doesn't have the best editor on the planet for this task).

The next stop that I made was to my old high school of Fairfield Prep. I haven't seen my old High School in a very long time. Since then they have built a new section of the school for a bigger library and to eliminate the need to walk out doors in the snow or the rain. Claire took pics of me here as well. The old buildings were there but there was a new alumni hall across the street which was kind of weird to me. I don't think I like the new design. The old design of the school made it more open by having the separation of the two buildings. Claire took a bunch of pictures of me here which was nice because I don't have that many pics from my Prep days in highschool. I wish I had some older pics so I could show the differences between then and now but oh well.

After visiting the ole FP, I headed back down to Greenwich to await pickup from my friend Tiny aka Johnson for dinner. I thought that it was only going to be dinner with Claire, myself, and Tiny. As it turns out Claire planned a surprise party for me at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants called Kujaku. There were a whole slew of people that I haven't seen in a couple of years and they came from all over the North East from as far away as Philadelphia PA and Amherst MA. There are pics of course but its easier to see them on my Picasa Web Albums. Needless to say it was a very good evening so far with all my friends around wishing me a happy 30th while eating kick ass Japanese food. There were so many people that we took up two Hibachi tables, now thats very impressive in my eyes. Afterwards a bunch of us headed out to a bar, some of my friends that lived a bit further away had to head home because of the very long drive but thats alright, it was just great to see them after so long. We didn't stay at the bar too long and it was a new bar that I had never heard of. I think they took over the restaurant that used to be at the corner or something. Anyway, we had a few shots just because we could and it was a night to celebrate not only my birthday but also Claire's since she had the party on her birthday. I'll make it up to her for her 30th. After that another smaller set of us decided to head over to 9 Ball to play pool. This is something that I haven't done since I lived in CT and it cemented the fact that I can not play pool to save my life. We stayed and played for a while, at least an hour or two but it was a lot of fun. Luu was nice enough to drive us back into the city since he has to head that way anyway. The next day would be our last day on vacation but thats for the next blog post!

For pics of my party click the link! Jason's 30th Birthday Party

Sightseeing in NY

Today was a day that Claire and I spent going sightseeing in NY. I wanted to see the Falls of New York display which are a series of man made water falls that were put in the East River by some artist. The best way to see this of course is from the water so I booked us some tickets on the Water Taxi in South Street Seaport. The actual challenge was getting TO South Street Seaport. The Seaport is all the way downtown near city hall and I got a little lost. On the way there, we did end up running into Pace University New York where Claire picked up a t-shirt. That stop was totally not planned but it was cool to actually go and Claire also was able to get a student discount even though she hasn’t been a student in a while now.

After getting my bearings we made it to South Street Seaport just fine. For those of you unfamiliar with South Street Seaport, it’s a mall on Pier 17 on the island of Manhattan. The area used to be a major market place for getting fresh fish. This recently changed and most of the actual fish market has left and gone to the Bronx or something like that. There has always been a shopping center there and I also used to enjoy the food too so I was hoping that this experience would be no different. Well anyway I digress, I did get the tickets to the NY Water Taxi since not only would they show the Falls of NY but it would also go right up to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty so I could get some good pictures of that. For me the next part is the funny part in this little adventure. I didn’t expect to see a lot of people going sightseeing on Friday morning, it is Friday morning after all! Well lo and behold, Claire and I get sucked into a tourist group. And this isn’t just any tourist group it’s a tourist group from China! I haven’t seen so many Asians in one group in a long time and the fact that they were Chinese made it all the funnier to me. You can tell that some of these guys were from the motherland, they brought out their best 1970’s era polyester and up to your man boobs pants just for the trip to NY. I guess it was fine because I was able to blend in with everyone else there and for once not be in the minority.

I got some really good pictures of the Statue of Liberty, some decent ones of Ellis Island and a lot of good ones of each of the falls and the 3 different bridges that we went under while on the NY Water Taxi. The cool part is that I didn’t get sea sick and throw up over the edge. I have a little bit of sea sickness so I’m not big on boats but this was one of the experiences that you just had to have while in NYC. It was funny to see all the little Chinese people running around the boat with their cameras taking pictures of just about everything. I know I was right there with them so I didn’t feel like a dork doing it as well. We stayed out on the water for about an hour or so and I have lots of pictures as proof. After we got off the boat we headed into the mall. One of the reasons that I love NY is that I can actually get raw clams on the half shell. For some reason I can’t get this down in Florida so I have no choice but to go northward in order to have one of my favorite foods. I of course had Claire take a picture of me eating them. I only had half a dozen but that was more than enough to sate my appetite. Claire had a bubble drink which is a drink we first encountered in Hawaii and we have been lucky enough to find it in other places.

Well that takes care of Friday morning, but it was Friday afternoon that was going to be special. One of the events that I think every visitor should do is High Tea at the Plaza Hotel. I consider this one of the high points of our trip. We even got all dressed up for it and walked the 10 blocks or so to the Plaza. Now the Waldorf is a nice hotel but the Plaza just totally kicks its ass in almost every way. Too bad its not a Hilton property, I would have totally stayed there instead of the Waldorf. You couldn’t even take pictures with the flash on your camera so as not to damage environment and the mood in the hotel. Now that’s classy! LOL! OK, now on to the tea part. There is a specific area where tea is held and we read that you should dress up a bit for it. So of course I’m in my business attire minus jacket and Claire is looking awesome in her dress. The chairs were nice and comfy, the china looked totally expensive, and there was even a harp player in the middle of the room. Some of the people weren’t dressed all that well so we put on our CT snooty noses and made fun of them for being so craptacular in such a fabulous setting. The neat thing about high tea is that the only thing you really need to choose is the actual tea blend that you want to sip on. The rest of the food is included in the price that you’re paying. The tea is brewed in a lovely china pot and they give you lots of cream and sugar to flavor it further if you so choose. I chose to only add sugar to mine but I did try it cream, just to give it that British zing. I can’t remember what the food was that we had but it was at least 3-4 different courses. It wasn’t a meal really, it was all finger food but since Claire and I got two different pots of tea, we each got our own trays of finger foods. I didn’t know how long tea would actually last but from the time we started to the time we finished, it took over two hours to finish all the tea and all the finger foods that came our way. The service was excellent, the man was attentive without being overly so. He would probably take glances of us to make sure everything as ok and cleared up plates and everything when we were just about done but also had some time to have some conversation and such between ourselves. Overall, a grand experience which I wouldn’t mind doing again in 10 years or so, maybe by then the menu would have changed.

The final spot that we did our sightseeing was at the lovely Empire State Building (which we walked to since we had to burn some calories after having high tea). In all my years of living up north in CT I never once went to the top of the Empire State building. It was just one of those things that you sort of take for granted when you’re living so close to NY. The building is there so I don’t really need to see it any time soon but when you move away you start to think of all the little touristy things that you should have done just to experience them. I bought the tickets to go to the Empire State Building before we even embarked on our trip to NYC so I was well prepared to go to the top. What was kind of surprising was the number of lines that we had to pass through and these lines weren’t short by any means. There is the security line, then the ticket line, then the line to go all the way up the elevator to the 86^th floor which is where the observation deck is. Now this is the part that slightly annoyed me and Claire about this part of the trip, we actually got stuck with another group of freakin tourists and this time they were French. CRAP! I have found during my time waiting in lines at various amusement parks and other major tourist attractions that people from Europe and people from North America have very different concepts of “personal space”. There was a family of four behind us in line and they were literally right up my ass. The father of the group kept on hitting my sneakers with his feet. His wife was no different to me and kept on trying to push us forward. The kids were alright, I assumed they were in their teens. The son I thought was hilarious, he looked like a girl! Well since they kept on bumping me, I shielded Claire as best I could from them and we started to play a little game to make sure they didn’t progress as fast as they wanted. Whenever we had to make a turn in the line, I would take the inside track and Claire would take the outside one to prevent them from coming right beside us in line or attempt to cut. To top it off we did it EXTRA slow so there was a nice gap in front of us so we had some breathing space. I know this annoyed our little friends and they kept on trying to push and we would just stand there and do nothing. Ahh how I love annoying tourists from the European continent. My major point about personal space is that we’re all in the same freakin line, no matter how much you try and push and force others to go forward, there is a shit load of people before me and we’re not going to get there any faster, so rather than ride up my ass and make me mad, back off a little, talk to the family and enjoy the wonders that is the line to get to the top of the Empire State Building. We got to the top of the building and we were able to take some pretty good pictures from the top of the building. We decided to stay there till dusk so we could get some sunset shots as well. Overall I think we spent about 2 hours roaming the deck and taking different pictures of different areas of the city. We had every intention of going to a comedy club that night but we were just too tired and instead of taking the subway back we thought, to hell with it lets just try and walk it. Man that wasn’t the best idea we’ve had to date but even though we missed the comedy club, the next day would be awesome since it would be our day in CT.

Broadway Night

It's been a little while since I've blogged but I need to finish chronicling my trip to NY. Some of the details are getting a bit hazy already since it was over two weeks ago but I'll try my best to get things going.

First off my wife and I decided to do a bit more exploring in Central Park and take things a little easier for the day. Even though we did do a lot of Central Park a couple of days ago, we decided to go back and see what else we missed. I personally wanted to go to the Central Park Zoo simply because I've never been there before. Of course I had to see things like penguins and birds and all manner of critters. I thought it was a good experience. In all the years that I've lived in the North East I don't think I've ever really been to Central Park itself. In true New York fashion the wife and I had to have a pretzel in the park and naturally I took some pics.

This one is of the gate to the Central Park Zoo, I thought this was appropriate to take a pic of it while I had the chance.

Now the rest of the day was pretty relaxing since we didn't do anything to make us too tired, we had a Broadway show to attend! But naturally, I remember events based on meals so we had to make the night extra special by heading over to one of Bobby Flay's restaurants before we could go and see Spring Awakening.

Bar Americain was an excellent place for us to eat our dinner out. Originally we were going to try and hit up the Mesa Grill but it was way too far downtown near the Flat Iron district and would have required two subway trips. By no means do I think the choice we made was a mistake. I dont' even remember what my entre was personally but I do know that the dessert was so good that my wife cant' even remember what she had for dinner. Too bad I probably should have taken a picture of it.

OK now on to the show! I haven't been to Broadway since I think the 1980's (I know I'm old right?). I won't give away the plot or anything but the show was really good. The theater wasn't as big as I thought it would be and for some really weird reason there were tons of little high schoolers going to the show. This didn't really annoy me that much and we had decent seats to watch. The good thing was that no one tall was in front of us. I still have the PlayBills at home but haven't really looked at them since the show. I would recommend anyone going to see a Broadway show to check this one out. I wouldn't mind going to see Avenue Q, I hear that show is also good if a little on the crude side, but being me I know I would enjoy that.

After the show we were just wiped out so we ended up heading home afterwards. I did take one more picture that night that was pretty cool and it was of Times Square. I could have stayed at a hotel there instead of at the Waldorf but it's way too loud there so I'm pleased with my choice.

Yankee Game Day

Day 3 of my vacation almost started badly because I was supposed to go to a NY Yankee Game with my wife at Yankee stadium. This was going to be special because it was one of the last games that would be played at Yankee Stadium until the new one is completed for the 2009 season.

In order to kick things off we decided to have some breakfast and checked the weather to make sure that it wouldn’t rain. This part was important since we would have to take the subway all the way up to the Bronx in order to get to Yankee Stadium. Breakfast was the same and afterwards we did another little walk up 5^th Avenue to go into some stores that we didn’t before. My wife was wearing my Yankee hat that I always keep around and I wore the new batting jersey that she bought for me before we left Florida. We were fortunate that the subway that we needed to take was very close to the hotel. Nothing like taking the Number 6 express all the way to the Bronx!

The Yankee game was against the Twins and the game itself was awesome. To have the true baseball experience my wife and I had some hot dogs and cracker jacks from one of the concession stands. I know that’s really expensive but we wanted the true ball park experience. The game was very good I do say so myself. Not only did the Yankee’s win but it was a close enough game that they had to bring out Mariano Rivera. I didn’t think they would bring him in but when the 9^th inning hit with We took quite a few pictures while we were there at the ball park, we wanted to go to Monument Park but the park is closed on game day so I didn’t get to see it. We tried again at the end of the game but the line was so long it wouldn’t have been worth it. It was also going to start raining soon and we didn’t want to get caught since I didn’t have an umbrella with me. I also got a good pic of the new stadium that the Yankee’s are building right next door to the current stadium. You can see it in the pic of myself and my wife earlier in this post. The new stadium looks pretty awesome, I can’t wait to see a game there one day. Maybe if I’m lucky enough I’ll be able to go there during its opening season although I suspect everyone in the Tri-State area that loves the Yankees and even people beyond will be rushing to get a good glimpse and share the new experience.

After we were done with the game and getting some souvenir’s (OK I was the only one to get anything, I picked up a final season patch for a Jersey I want to get and a t-shirt that looked uber cool) we hopped back on the subway to find some dinner. I was supposed to go out with a family friend but because of some mis-communication we didn’t end up going out to dinner together. The original plan was to go to Little Italy or Chinatown but that was no longer in the cards because just as we got to midtown Manhattan it started to rain. This normally would not present a problem but we were looking for some Chinese food and Chinatown seemed too far away and the smell of wet garbage also wasn’t very appealing. Before I set out on the trip to NY I made sure to send away for an official NY Visitor’s guide and found a nice Chinese place called The Peking Duck. I have never heard of this place before but I guess it had to be good if its mentioned in the guide. After getting cleaned up after the game we decided to walk over to The Peking Duck for dinner. This place looked pretty nice from outward appearances if a bit fancier than we thought by the description. As the name implies, this place specializes in Peking Duck so of course that’s what we ordered. I have to say that the duck was awesome. My wife and I split an entire duck for dinner and to top everything off we also had some friend flounder since its hard to find in Florida. The flounder was also excellent and we both over ate by a lot but we were quite content with the meal. I do know that I’m going to be heading to that place again.

Oh and one last thing, on our way to dinner, we saw the new Japanese trade ambassador on 5^th Ave. It was kind of funny so of course I took a picture J

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.

Preppy Look Unleashed!

My wife decided that for the cruise I needed some new shoes so behold... the Sperry Docksider! This is like the ultimate addition to any preppy wardrobe. Just to be funny and to complete the look I also bought some flat front khaki shorts and some polo shirts from Tommy Hilfiger this weekend.

I gotta say that I have that New Canaan/Greenwich look pretty down when I'm sporting these bad boys. If I take some pics of myself with this stuff on I'll post it on my blog or something. The only thing I didn't add to the outfit was a sweater. Seeing that I live in Floriduh it doesn't make much sense.

I hate US Airways

This week I had to travel to Pittsburgh PA on business instead of Memphis TN. In order to get there I had to take my most hated airline.... US Airways. So far they haven't disappointed me in terms of delaying my flights to my final destination. First off, since I booked my flight really late I had to get middle seat which totally sucked on so many levels. Next I get to Charlotte for my connection and learn that my flight is delayed. Well like that is a surprise! So instead of getting to work at around 11AM I didn't get to work for around 12:15PM.

I'm hoping that I don't have to fly US Airways often since this should be my only trip to Pittsburgh for this client I'm currently on. I've learned my lesson and won't be flying them for leisure travel any time soon.

Cruise to the Bahamas

This 4th of July I'm taking a 3 day cruise on the Carnival Fascination to the Bahamas where I will be enjoying myself at the Atlantis resort. I've already started my packing list but I haven't actually packed anything yet. The challenging part of all this will be having enough clothes that are clean that I can pack for the trip. I'm getting home late on July 3 and have to leave the morning of July 4. That doesn't leave me a lot of time to gather up clean clothes and throw them in my suite case.

I also hope that I have enough room in my rollerboard. I can fit 4 days worth of clothes in it for work but I have considerably more clothes for leisure than I do for work. I am indeed looking forward to some rest and relaxation for this trip and as a little tune up for another trip that I'm going to take this year.

I need to update my wishlist on Amazon, the 30th birthday is coming up and I need to find something I truly want so I always remember it.

New Asics for me

Today my wife was kind enough to get me some new sneakers so that I can start running again. Right now I still can't go running for about 3 weeks and my left foot still hurts so I'm taking it easy. I saw these Asics online on Runners World and it got one of the better reviews for Motion Control running shoes which is what I need.

Right now I'm still using my New Balance 473's while I'm here at work but depending on how good these sneakers are I might buy another pair and bring them on the road with me. I'll end up taking them with me on the cruise I'm taking for the 4th of July so I have something to exercise with. I can't wait to get these suckers in.

Fixed my sunglasses

I currently own a pair of Bolle Meanstreak sunglasses which I was looking to replace this summer if at all possible. Unfortunately all the sunglasses I've tried, I'm unable to use because my eyesight is so bad. My lenses basically have to be straight and not curved. What I may try and do is get new lenses since I fixed them or buy a backup set of frames. The nose piece on this pair were falling off but you'd be surprised what a little crazy glue can do.

It looks like I'll have a pair of sunglasses to sport on the cruise and in NY :) SWEET!

New Footware Required

This week I went to a Sports Medicine doctor because I've been having some pain in my foot in the past few months. After talking to him for a bit he prescribed for me some insoles for my shoes and some new running sneakers since the ones that I've been using aren't good for my feet at all. The insoles that I got feel a little bit funny but it releaves pressure from my heel which is a good thing since thats whats causing me the most pain at the moment. The doctor also took a look at my sneakers and said that I would probably need to get some new ones.

The ones that he suggested are by a company named Brooks. I personally have never heard of them but supposedly they are famous for making excellent running shoes. The name of the shoes is the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8 which is a Runners World Best Buy.
I saw this shoe at the store where I got my shoe inserts for my dress shoes but I didn't buy them because I wanted to shop around online a bit first to see if I could get a better deal and to see if there were a few more colors available. The picture to the left shoes the shoe I will probably get even though I don't have anything yellow to wear with it but it looked the best out of the selection that was available. However there are other sneakers that I am considering and I might buy them and take them on the road with me to try out.

The Asics GT2130 is another option that I am interested in because I know the brand much better than Brooks. I might decide to buy these using some gift cards of mine so it doesn't really cost me anything. They look just like the Brooks sneakers above which is nice.

Right now as things stand I'm not allowed to go running so I can rest my left foot which is the one that is injured right now. I can do very low impact stuff so that I can keep on exercising and trying to lose weight, but I have to wait at least 3 weeks before I can start some light running again. So I'm going to wait till then to buy my sneakers, maybe by that time I would have picked a shoe that I like and will get two pairs so I can have one on the road and one at home.

So much for getting my Nike's! I have a gift card for them already but my wife can use it :)

MS Project..... How I loathe thee!

Being a Consultant a lot of my work is tracked and entered in a little tool called Microsoft Project. For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, thats ok because most of us that use the tool see little value in it as well, at least I do. A lot of projects I've been on have tried tracking what we are supposed to do in MS Project and to a certain degree we are successful. The only thing I don't like about it is that projects are fluid, they change from day to day or even hour to hour so it almost makes everything impossible to track. I had the fun duty of creating a project plan and made it nice and high level so that it will be easy to track stuff. Now whether or not people want to do it that way is not my problem yet. I just know that after I create this project plan, a few updates will be made and then I won't touch it ever again until maybe the end of the project.

I just know that its going to get worse as my career progresses because I will be the one making the updates or requesting others to create project plans. People just love seeing these things with all the fun lines and what not. The one I created in Excel is prettier than anything you can get in Project, it just can't give you reports and what not. If I'm lucky, Microsoft will come up with a more automated or simple tool that I can use. That would be the ultimate! For now I guess I'll suffer along and curse the program as I continue to use it throughout my career.

I wish I could think of what my next rant will be but my brain is kinda turned off today. Till the next blog post!

Summer Travel is Gonna Suck!

If this past week was any indication, this summer is going to totally suck for flying. I had to fly home early this past week due to some personal stuff happening here at home but I scheduled out my normal flights and all that jazz. Getting to Memphis didn't pose any problem at all, just the regular Monday crap that I go through. The way back was an entirely different story.

Wednesday there were all these storms that were rolling through Atlanta and thats the main hub for Delta Airlines who is my current preferred carrier since they have a big presence in Ft. Lauderdale. Well I get on the flight no problem and so far things look like its only going to be delayed for about 5-10 minutes or so which is not even long enough to record on most tracking systems. Of course my wait wasn't that long, I ended up boarding the plane, taxiing to the tarmac and sitting there for about an hour because Atlanta wouldn't let in incoming traffic due to the storms. Oh lovely!! After we take off the pilots make up some time by flying a bit faster, I mean they've already burned a fair amount of fuel just sitting on the tarmac so burning a bit more by going faster isn't going to change things. Ahh here's where the trouble starts to begin.

Just like one of my flights that I took in Detroit, I land but then I have to wait to taxi to the gate. Of course we make all these stops along the way so that jets can take off and land since there are quite a few runways in our path to the terminal. I can almost see my gate and continually check the flight status of my flight home and notice that it says its delayed till 10PM. OK not bad I think I'm alright in terms of time but either way I hot foot it to Terminal A from Terminal B. I get to my gate and see that its deserted which isn't a good sign. I decide to see what zones have boarded and all of them have! Crap! I hate checking my bag but I wasn't the only one late so there was a few spaces still in the overhead bins. I was in Row 12 but my bag was in Row 25 so de-planeing will definitely be interesting.

Just to add a little insult on my trip home, I'm delayed a bit again because of the storms in Atlanta that affected my flight from Memphis. The plane is taxiing to the runway and the pilot informs us that we are currently number 19 for take off.... this just gets better and better! After about 20 more minutes, another small problem arises. The east bound flights can't take off because the storms are rolling in with a vengeance so they have to find a way to get the east bound flights out of our way so we can take off. Overall another hour was wasted taxiing until take off.

If that is a harbinger of what is to come this summer, I know I'm going to be in for quite a few nights in Atlanta this summer which would totally suck! Gotta stay positive though, if I'm lucky I'll always make it home on the weeks I'm flying away for work.

200 Games for Us

Last weekend I went bowling with my wife and for the first time ever we both achieved 200 games. I only got a regular 200, she got a 204 or something. Thats pretty bad ass. It shows that both of us are getting better. She's getting used to her new ball and so am I. If I get a new ball, I'm probably just going to be buy the exact same one that I have now because I'm bowling pretty well right now. I'm probably going to skip bowling this week so that I can catch some sleep. *yawn* Oh well, I just gotta say that its nice to be home for the weekend.

Damn gas prices

Gas prices don't seem to be getting any cheaper. I can understand that there is more demand for it and less people turning it out. Thats why I'm thankful for the job that I have which doesn't require a daily commute using my car. When I used to work in Miami it used to be a 30 mile trek one way to the office. Thats a crap load of gas no matter how you slice it and you use a lot more because you're always stuck in rush hour traffic as well.

Right now my family has two cars. An SUV that my wife drives and my personal car that I drive to the airport. My car is also the weekend car so that we can drive around and get some decent gas mileage. I've watched as gas goes over $4.00 a gallon so my venturing out on the weekends might become even more limited than it is now. Depending on how long my wife's car lasts, we might get her a hybrid of some sort. She loves her big SUV's but its no longer pratcical. If it wasn't so dangerous I'd let her get a Vespa or something but in FL, thats just asking for death right there. The small hybrids are just eh, kinda weak in power and not much to look at. I would be more inclined to get her the Toyota Camry hybrid since that looks pretty nice and 34 MPG is a huge improvement over the 15 MPG she gets now. If Lexus makes an affordable hybrid, I'd get her that.

I'm almost out of gas in my car thats currently sitting at the airport but you won't catch me waiting until that light goes on. No matter what the price of gas, I'm still filling up that tank, I just have to make it last longer while staying safe on the roads. The stories of complete morons running their cars on the highway till it sputters and dies is just nuts, that endangers everyone around them including themselves. $60 is chump change when you compare it to getting nailed by another car at over 70MPH and possibly dying in the process.

Ok enough ranting and raving for now. Time to get back to work.

Getting up late

This past Monday I made a slight boo boo. I had a 6am flight to Atlanta and I got up at 5am. Totally not good! I have never showered and dressed so fast in my life. It was a good thing that I
packed all my stuff up the night before and put it downstairs near the garage door so that I could just pick it up and throw it in my car. I didn’t even get to say good bye to my cats. I did kiss my wife good bye though since that’s more important. I basically raced out of my housing community and booked it straight for the airport. The airport is normally 30 minutes away but I
did it in about 20 without excessively speeding. The excellent part was that there was no line
at security so I breezed through. I had Zone 2 on my boarding pass and they were seating Zone 5 which wasn’t bad. I was able to get all my crap into the over head near my seat and having exit row as well made the trip a bit better.

After all the drama of rushing to the airport, the plane I
was on had a generator problem so we had to taxi back to the gate to have it
inspected. They then decided to switch
on the backup generator which guzzles more fuel so they also had to put in
another 2000 pounds of fuel on the plane to make sure we got there in one
piece. The benefit was that I didn’t
have to wait as long for my connecting flight but I guess that will teach me to
get a good night sleep the night before I have to leave for a 6am flight.