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.

Car woes

This past week hasn't been a good week. My wife's car decided to die on her and wouldn't start at all come Tuesday morning when she had to go to work. That was a real bummer because no matter what she did and no matter what suggestions I made to her over the phone the car just wouldn't start. When I got home this past Thursday I decided to give it the old college try but no dice. So this past Friday I had to have the Xterra towed to Nissan to get examined. My wife's car isn't a spring chicken anymore, its 9 years old and we really haven't had any major work done to it but its about due to have it. I got a call from Nissan yesterday afternoon and its quite a doozey on what needs to be accomplished.

• Both cables that hook up to the battery
• Timing belt
• Water Pump
• Fuel Pump
• tensioner for the timing belt
• Oil Change

I think thats it, at least thats what they said they were doing. I'm hoping to pick up the car today and that everything will be alright.

My car had the Check Engine light flash a few times in the past week or so and I was going to bring it in today but it suddenly stopped flashing so maybe it was just a glitch. My car is also kinda old, maybe 6 years old. The cool thing is that my car doesn't have a timing belt but the chain will probably need some adjustments soon as it gets older and I drive it more. All I know is that my wife is due for a new car next. That Lexus 400h is looking pretty good and I might want to get something like the new Audi TT or the 350Z. I just know that any car I buy has to run on regular unleaded gas, with the way things are going with oil and gas prices I can't afford something that takes premium.

Airlines to Charge for Second Bag

I read this article on the NY Times today about airlines starting to charge people for checking in a second bag. I personally don't check bags in when I'm flying if I can help it but this will make things a bit worse as people try and carry things on the plane. I read quite a few of the comments that were posted on the article and people seem to think this is a bad idea. I tend to agree if this makes all the over head bins full. As long as I'm flying Delta or United I don't have a problem with this because I have status on both airlines and can board first.

When I'm flying other airlines this becomes a problem. As a business traveler, I don't want to check in my bags because it slows me down at the airport to wait for baggage claim and also forces me to take more time at the airport to check bags on to my flight. This gets especially complicated because I always have to connect in large hub airports like Atlanta and the risk of my bags being lost increases by a lot. I also have massive distrust of baggage handlers. I've watched these people just toss crap onto the conveyor belt to go into the plane or just toss them onto the baggage cart without a care in the world.

One last thing, I have a problem paying for something with no assurances that my bag will be there when I get to my destination. I had a bad experience a few years ago when I went to NY with my wife (she was my fiance then) where the NY bag handlers totally destroyed my bag. I also don't trust them not to rummage through it and unlock my bag because they have to be checked before they go on the plane and they can unlock my TSA approved locks.

I think it would benefit a lot of people if they started to open things up to foreign carriers that are part of the same frequent flyer alliances that are currently in place. This would give people more choices on who they can fly, better services over all (at least I think this will improve things), and increase competition for customer's (maybe lower prices too?) and offer services that we used to have (like food that doesn't totally suck). Alright, thats my rant for the day. I'm out for now! I'll have a new one for tomorrow I'm sure.

Courtyard Marriott Collierville near Memphis

I am near Memphis working at my client and I'm staying that the Courtyard Marriott Collierville. This is a brand new hotel (as in 3 months old) and its totally awesome. It's situated right in the middle of an outdoor mall. There is a Macy's and Dillards as the anchor stores and all the other types of stores you could expect in a regular mall. I can go and walk around after work and/or dinner and browse. I decided to take a quick walk around just to see what was here.

I already ate a place called Crepe Makers and I tried the Raspberry Chicken Crepe which was pretty awesome. I'll probably get that again sometime while I'm here. I'm only here for 8 weeks give or take so I should be able to fit it in. I'm going to try a few other places here that are unique to Memphis and maybe take in some blues. I have a guide and I hope I have time to experience some of the nicer places here. Maybe see Elvis' house! That would be sweet. OK, I'm done with this post of awesomeness, I'm gonna publish this and write a gripe now :)

Conan on HBO Family?

This is especially weird. I got my TV back after the storm in Dallas passed and as I was flipping through the channels I saw an old classic, Conan! I don't know which movie it is, I think its the one after the original but the fact that its on HBO Family is just weird. Oh well....

Hail in Dallas

I'm still here in Dallas, I'm not going home until tomorrow and I'm going to wake up super early to try and get on the 5:35PM flight home to Ft. Lauderdale since I'm booked on the 6:40PM flight. It's only an hour difference but at least I'll be back a bit earlier.

Anyway, there is a huge hail storm in Dallas this evening. It's all over the news and everything and the Weather Underground site shows this huge swath of purple (thats a bad thing) on the radar map. I can even hear the hail hitting the windows of my hotel room which is pretty neat. To the south, the hail is supposed to be the size of golf balls which is pretty impressive in my book. I don't think I'll see any come this way and if I do it'll probably be because it smashed my windows in or something.

Unfortunately,the storm killed my TV so I have nothing to watch right now. The free internet that I'm borrowing from some fool that didn't secure his network is super slow so I can't even watch stuff online right now either. I am downloading a new IM client thats supposed to be super slick. If its slick enough, it might have a home on my computer in my office. I'm going to test it on my work computer and see how things go.

Anyway, hopefully the storm passes quickly and my cable is restored. I'm getting kinda bored just sitting here with nothing to listen to or watch......

I forgot something in the last post...

OK I forgot one more reason why I've got a hate on for Marriott right now. I have no access to Comedy Central. This is very a very important channel for me to have. They have Futurama, Lil Bush, and most important of all, SOUTH PARK!! I'm hoping that they have it in Memphis when I get there. If they don't I'll be mighty disappointed.

Marriotts Suck!

I'm in Dallas this week meeting with my boss to get some back ground information on my new client. I'm staying at the Marriott Las Colinas, one of the newer Marriott properties around this area I guess, at least thats what the website tells me. I have Silver status with Marriott which is pretty easy to get but it nets you next to nothing. Anyway, I'm at a regular Marriott while I'm here, not one of the Courtyard Marriott's but so far I have the impression that you get so much more at the lower level Marriotts tthan you do at a regular one.

For example..... at this particular Marriott, I don't get free internet (pah the gall!), no free breakfast (I have Diamond status at Hilton so I used to having that), and no free waters (boo!!). Also the towels feel like sand paper against my skin, bleh!!!! These reasons alone make me hate going to Marriott's. I have been assured that at my client site in Memphis, I'll at least get my free breakfast which is what I miss the most and that the property is brand new and the staff will take care of me because there are so many people from my company staying there. I may get Platinum status but thats little consolation considering Hilton's give me more perks (like double points,my waters, and free breakfast).

Oh well, I only have to suck it up for about six weeks unless I'm extended which may be likely,but who knows! Maybe I'll be lucky and they'll build a Hilton right next to the Marriott.

Off to Memphis

I've left Houston for the last time in 2008 this past Thursday which also signaled that it was the end of my project. I've spent the past few days trying to get on a new client. With the help of a few friends I'm going off to Memphis in coming weeks. Next week I have to go to Dallas which shouldn't be so bad but then its off to Memphis. I'm hoping that I'll be able to see some of the sites like Elvis' house, and maybe hear some blues music in a bar.

I know that the entire place is going to be in an uproar since Memphis just won the NCAA basketball championship so things should be very festive. The only bad part is that I won't be getting any Hilton points while I'm on this job but its only 8 weeks so I should be OK as long as I can get to another Hilton property on my next client.

I'll take my camera of course and take some pics of Memphis if I have the time. Ahh to finally be staffed once a again!

Flying First Class Rules

This week is awesome because I am flying first class on Continental Airlines to Houston. Normally I'm supposed to be flying in coach but this week was a little unusual. first off I booked my flight super late so there was limited availability. Second the flight I tried to book myself on had a connecting flight and would have gotten me into Hosuton later than I would have liked. And third, the first class ticket was actually cheaper than coach! Strange!

Besides lounging in an over sized seat, I get tons of extra leg room and I also get breakfast (Honey nut Cherrios, fresh fruit, cinamon roll, and juice) which is awesome in itself. I'm flying in a 757 which means that first class is pretty far from the engines so I don't hear the rumble or all the noise.

I have an upcoming vacation in July and I think on the way home I'll be flying first class but this time on Delta. I hope their first class is as good as Continental. Now this is what I call flying!

Am I at Yankee Stadium?

This past Friday the wife and I went to Dolphin Stadium to catch a Yankees v Marlins game. Our seats were pretty good, on the second tier just below the luxery boxes. Unfortunately the Yankees lost the game but thats not the point of this post. The really weird thing about the game was that it felt like Yankee Stadium rather than Dolphin Stadium.

Sounds strange doesn't it? Heres a bit of evidence for ya! First clue was the parking attendant. I was wearing my blue batters jersey and my wife wore a blue Yankee hat. The parking attendent made this comment that so far he had only seen 3 Marlins fans pull in. OK kinda odd, so I pull into the parking lot and see quite a few people tailgating which isn't unusual except they were all wearing Yankee shirts. HA! Going towards our seating area, its just a sea of Jeter and Rodriguez shirts and jerseys. Am I really in Florida right now??? Then during the game just hearing the cheering for the Yankees drown out the pitiful attempts by Marlin fans is just too hysterical. The amount of cheers for Jeter alone were just overwhelming. I didn't hear one Marlin get that sort of cheer the whole game.

So the Yankees lost but not a big deal, it was spring training and they won the day after against the Marlins anyway. Even exiting the stadium was funny. There were Marlin (go fish! LOL) fans here and there in the rolling sea of Yankee blue......

Farewell Houston!

Today I learned that my time in Houston is at an end. I'll admit that I've had a pretty good time here. I've made a few more friends, attended my first rodeo, and eaten more tex mex than I ever want to again. While I would like to stick around and stay staffed, I'll have to join my colleagues on the bench and wait for a new assignment. All this stuff is exciting or course because I'll be going to a new city and jumping into some new work and of course learning more about my craft.

I'll be back one day Houston, there are is still a few things I need to see before I'm done with ya!

Someone needs to put a stop to American Idol

Of all the shows that shouldn't be on TV I think American Idol ran its course after Season 1 and even then I thought it was a terrible show. Year after year we hear people singing crap and then America votes to see who stays or goes. The sad thing is that this crud keeps on making headlines in places like CNN and the NY Times on who got booted. Is that really news? Do people care that much?

Not only is the show kinda crappy with all their supposed "cliff hangers", it takes up the time slots of really good shows like House or Bones and who knows what else. I think I've complained about this horrid show before but that was probably about 300 blog posts ago. Anyway, thats the rant for tonight. Gotta finish up some emails and watch South Park.