CT Christmas Trip

This past Christmas my wife and I decided to head up to CT. I'm not going to chronicle everything because it wasn't all that exciting. What was exciting was trying to actually get TO Connecticut. We flew out on Dec 19th and it just so happens that there was a huge winter storm front going through the NY area. I had signed up for email alerts to make sure we don't go to the airport too early in case our flight was delayed. Since the plane going to NY was coming from NY, it was delayed because the FAA decided to slow down traffic in the NY Metro area.

We were originally slated to leave at around 6PM which would have gotten us to NY at around 10PM or 11PM. The snow storm decided to push our departure time all the way back to 1:20AM which is totally crazy. Most airlines would have canceled but not JetBlue!

We decided to go to the airport a little early just in case and waited around for a bit for our flight to come in from NY so we could leave. There was one other flight that was going to Syracuse and they kept on getting pushed back as well. There were these "Valley" girls that kept on pestering the gate agent because what he was saying wasn't what the call center people were saying. They brought out a manager that decided it would be best to give people some stuff to eat which I thought was a nice touch since it really doesn't cost them much.

Now here's the interesting part. The flight crew coming from NY Metro was slated to fly the Syracuse plane which had been sitting at the gate since 7PM, but since JetBlue isn't as big as Delta they don't just have stand by flight crews in the area that can fly the plane so they have to wait for crews to come in from other flights. The flight that we took touched down and the crew filed out and they boarded a new crew for NY Metro. Now the crew from NY Metro that was supposed to go to Syracuse just gathered up their stuff and walked out of the airport. This incited a mini riot because now Syracuse wasn't going to fly at all. I can understand why the Syracuse flight wasn't going out, there are FAA rules that say if a crew has been working 10 hours its time for them to go home for the safety of the passengers because they might be too tired by that point.

JetBlue boarded the NY Metro flight pretty quickly and I think a lot of people canceled their reservations so we practically had the whole plane to ourselves which was nice. The rest of the trip I may blog about but I doubt it, the creative juices aren't flowing that well right now.

TomTom 720 for me!

I am now a proud owner of a TomTom 720 GPS system for my car. I lost my Bluetooth GPS receiver for my Palm Treo a few weeks ago so I've been without GPS for a little bit. I decided that instead of getting another GPS receiver, it might be better just to get the whole unit this time around. I went with TomTom because I know how it works already since I have TomTom 5 software. This particular GPS has TomTom 8 which isn't a huge difference from TomTom 5 but it does have updated maps which is totally awesome.

The only thing that I have a gripe with is the battery life. But I guess its something that I can forgive because it's supposed to be hooked into a charger while using it in a car. I can also get online map updates when I hook it up to my computer which is awesome for corrections and such.

I'll be testing this out over the next few weeks to see how it works. There were a ton of features on my old TomTom 5 that I never used because it might mess up my phone but now I should be alright with the new TomTom 720 since its a totally enclosed unit. Gotta love it!

Thumper's New Trick

My older cat Thumper has a new trick. Actually its an old trick that he forgot about but has recently remembered. About 2-3 years ago Thumper figured out how I was opening doors by twisting the door knob. I have a picture of him trying this because my wife took a picture of him trying. Well the door handles in the townhouse are not knobs and recently he figured out that if he pushes it down and then pushes on the door, it magically opens!

I know he's opening the office door downstairs because I close the door at night and so does my wife and the next morning its open with both of my cats sleeping in there. The office is their favorite room I suspect because I'm always in there when I'm at home and it has a nice window to look out of when I open the blinds. I've had to put tape on the door handles for now to prevent Thumper from trying to open the doors. Cats don't like sticky things on their paws and so far so good. I might need to find another solution if this doesn't work but its the cheapest solution I know of besides buying another scat mat which I use for another door in the house.

I wish I could catch him in the act, it would make a good YouTube video.

Date Night

Every now and then my wife and I go on a date night. It's just a way for us to get out of the house and enjoy some of the things that are around the area. Last night we decided to have a date night and go to dinner and a comedy show that was playing in Miami.

We decided on some Japanese food for the evening and stayed local by going to a place called Ra. I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this place before so I won't bore people with the details of the place. It was a nice dinner that wasn't too expensive and it helped that we also got the California rolls for free. I like having the new mall near the house, it gives us some nice dining options without being too far away and because we went early we didn't even have to wait for a table. SWEET!

To top the night off, we decided to see one of our favorite comedians Gabriel Iglesias. Check out the cheesy picture that we took with my wife's phone.

The great thing about his act is that he keeps on changing it up so what you see on TV, you won't hear the same thing when you see him live on stage. This is the second time that we have seen him live. The first time was a couple of years ago at the Hard Rock near Ft. Lauderdale and this time we went to see him at the Miami Improv. Carlos Mencia is going to be in town this coming week but he's here on Wednesday and I'm going to be in Atlanta for work so I won't get to see him. Too bad that would have been awesome!

Well thats all that happened on date night, can't wait to do it again.

Black Friday Maddness

This past Friday I partook in the lovely ritual that is Black Friday. This year was a bit different beacuse instead of going super early in the morning, sales started at midnight at the Sawgrass Outlet mall near my sister in laws house. My wife convinced her family to go in order to avoid having to wake up super early on Friday. I was all about that because I really didn't want to wake up early on Friday anyway.

Little did I know how crazy it was going to be. We had to take I-75 just to get to the mall and man was it busy! I even decided to skip the normal exit because it was so crowded for a different one off of the toll road. Once there it was a mad house just to get parking. I haven't seen the parking lot this busy in a long time, probably not since last Christmas and certainly not at night. We decided to park near the outdoor shops just in case we could go there but that wasn't such a hot idea. There was a HUGE line just to get to the Coach store so we all decided it was best not to go there. We headed inside and proceeded to shop around, holy cow there were people everywhere looking for bargains. It didn't look like there was an economic crisis to me.

I would say that the deals were pretty decent but I didn't find anything there that I wanted to buy personally. My wife and her sisters ended up buying a ton of stuff and I think they got a good amount of their shopping done. I think we finally left there at 3AM or something like that I was too tired to even really notice.

Not only did I go to the mall that night, I even went out on Black Friday itself to get more stuff! I know I'm crazy but I did get at least 5 hours worth of sleep. There was some crazy woman that I over heard talking to the cashier that said she was up since midnight and was still going strong buying stuff. To me thats just plain crazy. I was quickly running out of steam by the afternoon but we didn't buy that much more stuff. Now its all a matter of wrapping everything up and playing Santa to each other. If I need more Christmas gifts, I'm just buying that stuff online and having it delivered. It should make my life much easier.

Christmas is coming

The holidays are upon us once again and Black Friday is approaching pretty quick. I'm actually at home this week because its Thanksgiving this week and no one wants to fly out for only 2 days just to go back home. So here I am writing my blog and doing some work at the same time.

The only thing that's really hard about Christmas is that I never know what I want. I have one goal from my wife this year, letting her know what I want and what I need this year. Now this really shouldn't be all that hard because every body has a little list somewhere of what they want and what they need. My problem with that currently is that I have everything I want (within reason, I certainly can't ask for a $40,000 car for Christmas unless we won the lottery or something in the next few days) and everything that I need for home and for work so this is a bit challenging.

I have been looking around on Amazon for stuff that I want and need but so far I'm coming up blank. I don't have a lot of time but I need to find something that I want. Black Friday is coming up quick so thats when all the good sales are going to be too. I'm going to be getting up at the crack of dawn, I probably won't be buying anything for myself but eh, my wife enjoys the experience.

Overage Charges

If there is one thing that really stinks its going over my minutes on my cell phone. I think this is the second time in only 3 years that I've ever done it but it still surprised me when I got the bill on my phone (the emails get sent to me and its all auto payed). I think the last time this happened was when I had my wedding in Tampa and I had to keep calling people to see where they were. This month I don't know where all the minutes went but I suspect its from calling my mom and my aunt during October since I was in CT this past month. I was also working from home and people call me on my cell rather than my office or home phone.

I should consider getting more minutes but seeing how this is only the second time this has really happened I probably won't end up doing it. Family plans are out of the question, I need a new phone every two years and so does my wife. I'm just waiting for the day that I can expense this stuff in with my company. Maybe they'll let me do the data plan too and I'll get work email on my personal phone. We'll see! For now I'll gladly pay the money because I really have no choice. Haha

Airport Security Principle

I recently went to Atlanta for business and it was cool to see a frequent and a leisure security line. In Ft. Lauderdale there is no such thing which at times is frustrating because frequent flyers know about the Airport Security Principle: Get out of the way!!

All too often I see people trying to put on their crap at the end of the conveyor belt or load their stuff into their bags. These people seem to forget that more crap is coming their way and they're holding up the process for everyone else.

The frequent traveler understands this principle and promptly moves out of the way and puts their stuff on at the nice benches the TSA provides. Holiday travelers are the worst because there are so damn many of them and they are trying to bring too much through. I'm not looking forward to flying in the coming weeks, you can bet that the airport is going to be jam packed even though the ecomony is in the crapper.

Beware the wrath of the TWEEN!

High School Musical 3!
Originally uploaded by l980's_chick

Before I went to Disney this past weekend, I took my wife to see the movie High School Musical 3. She's a fan of the movies so I thought I would take her to the midnight showing. I didn't expect to see so many little tweens running all over the place. Don't these kids have parents? Didn't they have school the next day? Geez!

Anyway, the movie was going just fine until maybe the last 1/3 of the movie when all of a sudden the video flipped and the audio got all messed up. There was a near riot by the little tweens in the theater! So funny! Then some of the little punks started singing the songs *truly annoying really* and we had to wait around 30 minutes to fix the film. They finally fixed it and we were able to watch it just fine and on top of that we got free movie passes too. I will remember this night as being absolutely hysterical. Remember, never get in the way of a tween and their Disney movie....

Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween and I'm actually home for it. I won't be really be home per se, I'm going to my sister-in-laws place. I am going to dress up sort of. I am going to be going full out with my Yankee gear. This will make it so that I don't have to hand out candy to the neighborhood kids.

I'm not that into Halloween anymore, I used to have some fun at the office with it but I don't really go to the office all that often since I am trying to enjoy working from home. It gives me time to enjoy my home since I'm away from it for so much of the time.

To my friends and family that are enjoying dressing up, Happy Halloween!

Halloween Horror Nights Orlando!

In addition to doing the 13K race at Disney, my wife and I decided to go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. This was a pretty scary night to say the least but I think it ranks up there with Howl-O-Scream that Busch Gardens does in Tampa. We hit up a few of the haunted houses and were thoroughly scared and of course we had to go through the various scare zones in order to get from place to place.

There were a few rides open too and one of the rides that really stands out is the new Simpson's Ride. This ride took the place of Back to the Future (I doubt the current generation even remembers the movie). This was a 4D ride and it was done very well. I liked that as you waited in line you could watch old episodes of the Simpson's. Just for the hell of it we also did the Men in Black Ride and some other cheesy ride that escapes me right now.

The Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure show was awesome. It was really funny and had cameo's of all the presidential candidates and a lot of popular music that they play on stations like Z100 (for you NY'ers you'll know what that is). I think that show made my night and made the whole trip worth it for Halloween Horror Nights. I probably won't go again, Disney is just way more fun over all!

Oh and one last note, my wife and I were walking through one of the scare zones and this girl was probably walking with her boyfriend. One of the "scary" people walked right up to her and growled in her face, she damn near wet herself when he did that! LOL She basically threw her boyfriends hand away which she had been holding and made a bee line in the opposite direction. That was hysterical, I wish I was able to catch that on video.

Tower of Terror 13K

This past weekend I ran the Tower of Terror 13K race in Orlando FL. Roughly thats a bit over 8 miles in total distance. The route wasn't so bad, being FL it was basically a flat race the entire way. The experience was pretty good. I did only 8 miles once before and I ended hurting my leg for 2 weeks. My doctor said I shouldn't run the race but it seemed a shame not to after paying for the entrance fee and they said I could also walk the race too which wasn't bad.

I ended up walking about 4 miles and running 4 miles. I couldn't run the whole race because I'm just not that fit. My wife on the other hand smoked me because she was able to run the whole thing. My time was 1:56 which isn't bad but it isn't great either. It's around a 14 minute mile which isn't all that bad. I might do the race again next year but we'll see. I also never ever thought a banana could taste so good. They gave us a snack at the finish line and my wife was waiting there for me to cross.

Oh and the best part! There was an after partywards where they opened up some of Hollywood Studios for the participants. I rode on the Aerosmith ride (I actually had my glasses on too so I could see what the heck is going on in the ride) and of course I went on the Tower of Terror. There was a new Pixar section to the park and a new Toy Story ride. That ride was totally awesome. It was very interactive and had you shooting all sorts of stuff like if you were at a carnival with a small gun. I wanted to go on the ride again but they were closing the park.

I also picked up some good swag while at the race. I got the commemorative pin, a finishers medal, a short sleeve shirt, and a long sleeve shirt. Not a bad haul if I do say so myself. There are tons of other running events at Disney throughout the year but I think I'm going to switch back to the eliptical until my legs get better. My feet could also use a rest.

The ever falling gas price

I've been home for the past few weeks and I haven't had to drive much but I always pass this particular Shell station that has the cheapest gas in the area. I know this because I check gas prices online to look for the lowest one in a 3 mile radius of my home. This Shell station has been dropping its gas price almost every day for the past few days. It was around $2.80 on Monday and just today its around $2.69. Thats a pretty big deal in my book.

There was a time when I would have considered $2.69 as expensive but no longer which is a bit sad. I do enjoy looking at the news and seeing that oil has dropped to around $70.00 a barrel for oil. There are all these oil exporting countries that depend on high oil prices but that don't like America that depend on the world buying oil at a high price. Take that!! Muahahaha! I'm hoping that prices continue to fall so that people will be able to buy gas and afford heating oil. There are large disparities depending on where you live but as long as prices continue to fall it will be good for all.

CT in the fall

Cheesed out HDR of apartment view
Originally uploaded by mcbill

I personally didn't take this picture but its a great picture of CT in the fall. I think I know why I like being up in Stamford so much, its all the unique things that are up that way to the city streets, all the different types of houses, and all the trees and hills that are in the area.

Maybe thats the thing that I don't like about Floriduh. It's all so cookie cutter and dull. Everywhere you go there are cookie cutter houses and strip malls. There are some unique places I must admit but they are few and far between. It doesn't really leave an impression in my mind except to tell my inner compass where to go when I need something.

Even though I haven't been to CT in a little while, I still know where everything is and how to get there. There are still places up there that I will also go to and remember when I take a trip (Stewies being one of these places) and who knows, maybe I'll call that area home again (they're going to have to lower income and property taxes to make it even somewhat affordable to people like me).

Granted I doubt I would retire there, my old bones wouldn't be able to take doing all that yard work but maybe a small vacation home for when I want to go and visit where I grew up. The area is changing, no doubt about that (I think the Trump tower was a bad idea btw) but at least there are some un-touched areas that make it feel like New England.

No 13K Tower of Terror Race for Me

All the way back in April, Claire and I decided that we would do the 13K Tower of Terror race in Orlando FL. This race takes place at night and you run through the Disney Hollywood Studios theme park. About 2 weeks ago to ensure that we would be able to actually run the entire race we decided to at least try and run that distance on Saturday morning. I felt fine actually running that distance although near the end I totally ran out of gas and had to walk it.

The next day I started limping but I thought nothing of it because I thought it was just my legs being tired or something. Monday things didn't improve so I started to get a bit concerned but still shrugged it off and went about my week and my trip to CT thinking that I should be ready by this weekend. I went and saw the sports medicine doctor that's been helping me with my heel pain in my left foot and the diagnosis that he gave me was that I either have tendinitis or I have a pinched nerve and should be running for the next 3 weeks. That's a real bummer since I was looking forward to running the race with Claire and also because the race is non-refundable. My doctor did say that if I'm feeling about 95% better I could still run it but he still advised against it so I don't injure myself further. Total bummer! Now I'm going to have to do stuff like use the bike or something instead of running. I wouldn't mind swimming if there was a lap pool somewhere close by or something so I can get in some exercise.

I guess I'll have to settle for cheering on Claire as she runs the race this weekend. We'll be doing a host of other things and maybe one day I'll be able to keep up with her on distance running. I can still outrun her in sprints though.

Trip to CT

This past weekend I went up to CT to see my mom for her birthday. It was very nice up in CT during this time of year with all the leaves turning into fall colors with lots of yellows, oranges, and reds. I have numerous pictures of trees from my trip. I was able to rent a car for this trip because I had some free rental coupons from Avis. The rental wasn't totally free but it was close enough. I was able to get a Man Wagon aka The Dodge Magnum. The car wasn't bad but it could have been better if there was a bit more power behind it.

I arrived late Friday night so I didn't do much on Friday. Saturday was the day that I arranged to go to New Jersey to see some of my mom's family. I saw my cousin, his 4 kids, my aunt and uncle and their grand daughter. We ended up eating at Penang which had a branch near Princeton NJ. It was nice to have everyone around for the lunch and the food was excellent as well. Afterwards we spent the rest of the day in NJ with the family. I ended up going home really late and I could hardly stay awake on the trip back. Personally I don't even remember the last 1/3 of the trip home and it was on my favorite highway too.

Sunday was a really late day for me. There's something about my old bedroom that just puts me to sleep. I didn't get up till almost 11am which is highly unusual for me these days. I had planned to go to the mall or something but I got up too late and my mom wanted to go to the 4:15PM Mass too which totally cuts into the day. One of the things that my mom wanted me to try and do is setup the digital boxes so she can get TV past February. The only problem is that the antenna on top of the house is pointed towards the World Trade Center. In order to try and correct this problem my mom had me climb up to the top of the house to see if I can move the antenna. Unfortunately I was unable to move the antenna because there's about 50 years of rust on it and I was afraid that if I moved it, it might just break or something which wouldn't be a good thing at all. I did bring my camera up with me so I was able to take some pictures while I was on the roof of the house. I also ended up going to EMS but I couldn't find a jacket that I liked enough to buy. I also wanted to look at the camel back backpacks that hold water but after today's doctors appointment I don't think I'll be needing it. I also had just enough time to head on over to Stew Leonards, no CT trip is complete without a trip to Stewies! I went there specifically to buy some food to bring home (which is currently sitting in my fridge).

Mass at my old church was pretty uneventful. There are a lot of new people and the priest is also different. I noticed some sublte differences like the stations of the cross being a bit different since they are carvings now intead of paintings, and the chairs up on the alter are different from the ones that I used to sit in when I used to be an alter boy. I kind of miss some of the old stuff since some of the pieces in the church go back to when the old church was still functioning instead of just being the school. Just to indluge myself I decided to have some Garden Catering for dinner. This also saved my mom from having to wash dishes that evening too. Well those were the major highlights of my trip. I should be up there next year for my mom's birthday or for some other reason. We'll see.

Returning to CT

Stamford Welcomes You
Originally uploaded by Bob the Astorian

This coming weekend I'm going to be returning to my hometown of Stamford CT. Next week it's my mom's birthday but it falls on a Tuesday which is kind of weird so I'm just heading up for the weekend to help her celebrate. I'm going to be heading to New Jersey to see family that still lives in the area (not like there was a lot to begin with) but it should be nice. I won't have time to see my friends this time around but it will be nice to go back to where I grew up. If I'm ever rich enough, I should just buy a vacation place there (most people would consider that weird but I live in a tropical area so some cold would be nice).

I'm going to bring my camera with me and if I'm lucky I'll be able to take some nice photo's while I'm there. I don't have a lot of photo's from Stamford itself even though I've lived there during my formative years. The digital camera is a wonderful thing! If anything I'll get some shots of New Jersey since thats where I'm basically spending my entire Saturday.

Stamford here I come, ready or not!! Booyah!

Xbox360 Update

Well I just paid to get my damn console repaired. The only good thing that came out of it is that I have another year to see if the thing will die on me because with the $99.00 fee I get an extended warranty.

This is still bull crap. All of my other consoles still work. My Sega Master System (circa 1989) is still WORKING. I should write an email to Microsoft complaining about this.... HUMBUG!

My Xbox360 is busted again!

OK now I'm getting a little miffed at Microsoft. I own the original Xbox and that bad boy was solid. I had one of the first production units since I bought the thing when it came out in Christmas of 2001 or something like that. It's back in its box because I don't play it much but my Xbox 360 has died 3 times now.

I tried calling Xbox 360 support and they're telling me that I need to shell out $99.00 to fix it. From the term "fix it" I'm guessing that they're going to send me another refurb unit. My original Xbox 360 was just fine until I experienced the 3 red rings of death. It lasted for 3 years chugging along just fine. I am on my second refurb unit and the same DVD drive problems continue to occur. I've had the current Xbox for a little less than 3 months.

I have tried looking online to see if there are Xbox's that are refurbs at stores for cheaper but there aren't any. The cheapest ones are for almost $180 which is too much. I'd much rather pay the $99.00 but I think Microsoft should just give me a new box anyway since this one didn't even last half a year. I'll try calling them again and see if I get another support specialist who will be willing to let this slide and get me into another Xbox without a charge. In the mean time, I gotta do more role searching so I can get my butt off the bench.

The Storm Cometh!!

Coming soon to Verizon is a new phone to take on the iPhone, namely the BlackBerry Storm. I personally am not the biggest fan of BlackBerry but they might be on to something here. The interface looks pretty awesome and the fact that its totally touch screen also helps. It doesn't have a lot of the innovative stuff that Apple has done for its iPhone but it does have one interesting feature, a flexible touch screen! It basically flexes so that you can "feel" that you've done something. This is quite the contrast to the iPhone. Now the only thing that they need to improve is the overall software and it will be a killer!

I'm still going to get my Treo because I like having physical keys on my phone and my company is moving everyone away from BlackBerry and heading towards iPhones and WM devices. After having an iPod Touch for a little bit I can see the appeal of the iPhone. If they bring that bad boy out for Verizon, it will be totally HUGE! Especially if they make it to work on CDMA and GSM at the same time.

My wife will probably be getting one of these unless there is something new and improved from BB to come out in the next year. I'll be checking this out in the store if I get the chance, just to see how it is.