This thing just looks foreign to me. The whole interface of it all. The title - what the heck is a Stizl? Stupid name regardless of what it izl.
In a hotel in Chicago. Stuffed from a nice Italian dinner at Piccolo Sogno, thanks to our agency friend. A little bored, but happy with the day's progress (took beautiful photographs of giant cookies - really). Wasn't bored over the weekend. Flew out here late Friday night and had some fun with bro-and-sis-in-laws. Drank a few too many beers, ate a ton of food in restaurants (which continues), and probably gained a pound or twelve.
This hotel has a fitness center, but I don't feel motivated to use it. I'm ready to get tomorrow done, hit a little Miracle Mile shopping for my wife, and go home Wednesday to see the family and get ready for some Thanksgiving fun. Only the best of holidays would roll an invitation to overeat and watch tons of football all into one.
I learned something Friday night. People still don't understand the letter/number system for Southwest Airlines' boarding process. I'm amazed at the impatience and inability of people to do these two simple things: LISTEN and LOOK. That's all it takes. (The above is maybe the most creatively written blog post, by me on this blog, and it was nearly 2 years ago after waking up in the middle of the night with this revelation that we use letter/number combos ALL THE TIME with no trouble, yet getting on a plane with it is nearly impossible. It still makes me laugh.)
I take too many things for granted in life, but not this: my ability to listen and absorb knowledge, information, and even the random bit of useless trivia now and again.
By the way, I highly recommend the book A Painted House by John Grisham. Hadn't read his work before, and this must be a great departure from his courtroom/lawyer dramas as it's written from the perspective of a 7-year-old boy in the cotton fields. It's about family, sacrifice, life lessons, and hope for something better. I also finished 'Tis by Frank McCourt and Born Standing Up by Steve Martin and am halfway through Slam by Nick Hornby, just on my flight out here. (Slam, not the others. That would be some type of record).
That's all I feel like writing about for now. Glad to have typed a few strokes again.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Vacation pics and tidbits
Annie, the kids and I flew to Chicago on 7/31, drove to Hudsonville on 8/2, drove to Big Rapids (Cottage) on 8/5, drove back to Chicago on 8/8, and flew home to SLC (minus kids) on 8/9, our 1-year anniversary. All that time on seats of moving vehicles left me thinking, "Why do men wear wallets in their back pockets, anyway? My left arse cheek kills!"
Happy Anniversary baby! I did exactly what I wanted to do this year: set the bar low. I only get better from here, trust me.
Some of my favorite highlights from the trip:
- Zoey left the other 3 of us in stitches at the SLC airport restaurant. She started doing this weird "duh, du-huh" sound to Preston, and for whatever reason we all started giggling as she just kept doing it, without breaking. It was like one of those uncomfortably long Family Guy jokes. She just kept making that noise.
- The waiter looked like a creepy, ashy-faced version of Michael McDonald from MAD TV.
- I'm not going to compare every anecdote to a TV show, sorry about that.
- Nicknaming the Willis Tower the "What you talkin' 'bout-Willis Tower", and then hearing the kids try to say it fast. TV reference again, dang.
- Preston methodically cleaned out the appetizer plates at Giordano's.
- Zoey played a game at a street fair where you had to throw a ping pong ball into these tiny glass jars, to win a goldfish in a bag. You got 5 tries. These games are designed to be nearly impossible, right? She nailed it on the first try. We won a fish. It lived for 3 days. We tried.
- My Dad unwittingly ego-slapped me while we put together a new trampoline at his house. I just couldn't pull the last few sections of springs far enough to hook them. My hands were blistered, nearly bloody by then (slight exaggeration). He just kept pulling them 'til it was done.
- I saw my cousin Emily for the first time in well over a year, maybe two years? She went and married a man named Steve. Good job, cousin!
- I met my niece Elizabeth finally. She was crying within 30 seconds when I picked her up. We made up and became buddies later in the week.
- Zoey walking through Meijer in one flip flop, having lost the other one at AJ's house.
- Preston deciding to do lots of unpredictable things: Choosing an afternoon with Grandpa John and Grandma Terry instead of taking the train to Heidi's neighborhood with me and Annie and Dave and Heidi for the street fest; Going grocery shopping with Grandma Carol instead of hitting the G.R. Children's Museum with my Dad and Annie; Waking up super early on his own, at my parents' house, to play Gotham Racing on the X-Box. Well, that last one isn't so unexpected.
- Josh Pepper singing - screaming - "Beat It" in falsetto at the top of his lungs on Guitar Hero World Tour at AJ's house.
- Preston and Zoey arguing over the controls of the slowest, least entertaining type of water vehicle: the paddleboat. "I want to push the little handle forward and back!" "No, you suck at turning left while pedaling!"
- Seeing 3-yr old Danny by the campfire with his pants down. He was standing there with a marshmallow roasting stick in his hand, and suddenly his pants were at his ankles. It seemed like no great surprise to his parents.
- On my 2nd ski run of Thursday, catching an edge and going shoulder/face first into the water at full cutting speed. I hadn't fallen in a long time, and it's a trip. In half a second these thoughts occurred: "I am killing this run OH NO GOING DOWN. I think my shoulder just punched my clavicle. Am I upside down? I wonder if this looks cool to the kids. My teeth hurt?"
- Something about vacation makes my wife actually okay with a real, full arms and body hug. With an extended embrace. I know that's really sappy but I'm treasuring it. It was our anniversary after all. And I hadn't showered in like 3 days at the cottage and she was still in for it. That's love, baby.
I'm omitting a few things, surely, but I'm also very tired and this is taking forever. Plus I took the time to put those clever, HI-larious captions on all the photos above, so don't skimp on those. Thanks to Terry and John for letting me drive the Kia Sportage with the "One Hot Grandma!" license plate frame -- very awesome -- and for letting us crash at our favorite downtown Chicago condo. And thanks to Mom & Dad for hosting us at your home and the cottage for a week. It was a lot of running around, but something about the Midwest always makes it feel easy to enjoy.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
CORRECTION:
Alas, the famous Wendy will not be accompanying my parents on the vacation. For those of you who know her well, you'll appreciate that the primary reason for her remaining in Michigan is her routine. Clearly, hotel-based vacations don't rightly lend themselves to daily viewing of The Price is Right, a microwaved hot dog lunch, and mid-afternoon naps followed by cheering the winners and booing the losers of Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy!. At least not this vacation, sadly.
She would also hate the taste of the water in the hotel.
She would also think the zoo smells funny and they wouldn't have good foods to eat.
She would also find the water waaay too cold.
She would also think P & Z should never take things from people, it's rude.
I think I quite miss having her around.
That being said, we can turn our focus to my parents actually spending time with me, my wife, and my stepkids. It's strange to have my own family here in SLC and consider that my parents can measure their time spent with them in hours.
Goal for Mom & Dad: help me teach Annie to play Euchre! Seriously, I haven't met a soul in this town who really knows the game yet. I wonder if I can actually play still...
She would also hate the taste of the water in the hotel.
She would also think the zoo smells funny and they wouldn't have good foods to eat.
She would also find the water waaay too cold.
She would also think P & Z should never take things from people, it's rude.
I think I quite miss having her around.
That being said, we can turn our focus to my parents actually spending time with me, my wife, and my stepkids. It's strange to have my own family here in SLC and consider that my parents can measure their time spent with them in hours.
Goal for Mom & Dad: help me teach Annie to play Euchre! Seriously, I haven't met a soul in this town who really knows the game yet. I wonder if I can actually play still...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Agree to disagree
It's getaway week, and I'm counting down the hours, minutes, and pre-trip tasks before our departure to sunny San Diego on Friday! We are taking the kids on our first family destination vacation. We've traveled together with the kids to Chicago and Michigan before, and a road trip to planet Moab, but nothing fully vacationy like this one.
The bonus is that my parents and sister, Wendy, are flying out to meet us there! I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, and they haven't seen the kids since the wedding back in August. So it's an extended family destination vacation. We also may get to see some of my Mom's-side California cousins and aunts and uncles, which would be sweet. Last time I got together with them, we caught some fish. Let's see... what type of fish were they again... oh, that's it: BARRACUDA!
As you know, San Diego means lots of things to lots of people. Some people point out the name is simply the Spanish translation of Saint Diego. Others believe it to be a German translation, meaning...something else. Hey, we're staying classy here in Stizl's blog. Still, so many memorable names and places! Like Tony Gwynn, Dan Fouts, and LaDainian Tomlinson in sports; that one season of the Real World with all those intellectual, fascinating characters; Shamu (the predecessor to their latest killer whale show, Sham-Wow); and of course, Ron Burgundy, the greatest San Diego-an (San Diegan?) of them all. What I wouldn't give to pop into Tino's night club and hear some jazz flute! We'll also be celebrating Annie's b-day on 4/7. Her new age will be Twenty-Eleven, or Tweleventy. I only wish I had that sort of depth and endurance in my life.
Been a restful few days, that's for sure--what, with all the primer and paint and adhesive fumes floating around the master suite, one kid's coughing, the other kid's ralphing. P's been hacking his lungs out since Sat. night, with nighttime sleep-yelling occasionally thrown in for good measure. Seriously, we couldn't tell if he was having nightmares or practicing to be a hog caller. Z put on an impressive show early Mon. morning, from bedroom to bathroom, and Mom had to stay home with both of them that day. Thank goodness I had all those "meetings" and "important cookie-related briefings" to attend.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and you stay classy, San Diego.
The bonus is that my parents and sister, Wendy, are flying out to meet us there! I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, and they haven't seen the kids since the wedding back in August. So it's an extended family destination vacation. We also may get to see some of my Mom's-side California cousins and aunts and uncles, which would be sweet. Last time I got together with them, we caught some fish. Let's see... what type of fish were they again... oh, that's it: BARRACUDA!
As you know, San Diego means lots of things to lots of people. Some people point out the name is simply the Spanish translation of Saint Diego. Others believe it to be a German translation, meaning...something else. Hey, we're staying classy here in Stizl's blog. Still, so many memorable names and places! Like Tony Gwynn, Dan Fouts, and LaDainian Tomlinson in sports; that one season of the Real World with all those intellectual, fascinating characters; Shamu (the predecessor to their latest killer whale show, Sham-Wow); and of course, Ron Burgundy, the greatest San Diego-an (San Diegan?) of them all. What I wouldn't give to pop into Tino's night club and hear some jazz flute! We'll also be celebrating Annie's b-day on 4/7. Her new age will be Twenty-Eleven, or Tweleventy. I only wish I had that sort of depth and endurance in my life.
Been a restful few days, that's for sure--what, with all the primer and paint and adhesive fumes floating around the master suite, one kid's coughing, the other kid's ralphing. P's been hacking his lungs out since Sat. night, with nighttime sleep-yelling occasionally thrown in for good measure. Seriously, we couldn't tell if he was having nightmares or practicing to be a hog caller. Z put on an impressive show early Mon. morning, from bedroom to bathroom, and Mom had to stay home with both of them that day. Thank goodness I had all those "meetings" and "important cookie-related briefings" to attend.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and you stay classy, San Diego.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas2Christmas Review
Many writers, bloggers, and entertainment news shows do a Year In Review, which I'm essentially doing now. But since I really need to start at last Christmas to get the big story in, I'm doing a year in review from NOW. This is no 2008 calendar review. And so I present my first annual Christmas2Christmas Review!
I'm calling it the Christmas2Christmas Review because I really wanted to use a title incorporating a number which acts as a word. See, the "2" acts as "to" and connects last Christmas to this Christmas in a really neat way. Additionally it gives me a little visual trick - I can use the 2 with no spaces around it. If I tried it with the word, it would look like ChristmastoChristmas, and then people would ask me if I'm celebrating the new Greek holiday "Christmasto" (kris-MAS-toh) and that would be uncomfortable. My other title ideas were "52 Week Pickup", which is a takeoff on an hilarious card game my parents used to trick us with when we were kids; "My 30th Year: What Have I Done?", which has a more reflective quality and a cute double meaning; and my last choice was "Read My Last 33 Posts", which is just rude.
LAST CHRISTMAS I GAVE YOU MY HEART...
Let's start there. It's been one year since I proposed (SBBEYAS nominee), and in that time you could say...I've been busy. I maintained the engagement, got married, and now have two wonderful children, 9 and 7. It took some real parenting to raise rapidly aging kids in just one year, but we did fine and they seem to have a well adjusted life. After the new year, we're shopping for colleges!
Weddings were a theme of the past year, and they helped me rack up the frequent flier miles: Matt Murray's wedding in Northampton, MA in March; Josh Pepper's wedding in June back home in G.R., which ended with a lost wallet (SBBEYAS nominee); my cousin Beth Ann's wedding in G.R. a few weeks later over the 4th of July weekend, which gave Annie and me our only cottage trip of the year; and finally, our wedding in Chicago. Of the 4 weddings, mine was the best because I got to go on the Honeymoon.
We visited Chicago multiple times this year, including an early wedding planning session in January where we tried to get some amateur engagement photos. Problem was, it was -93 degrees (with the windchill) that weekend and smiling for pictures meant your face would freeze that way. But we picked our reception site and surveyed a couple other locations. We also hit Chicago in May, in August for our wedding, and at the end of October for a mini-vacation with Annie, after I finished nearly 3 straight weeks of travel for work, which included a stop in Chicago.
I turned 30 this year (5 months and 5 days after my wife did). In related stories, my company went bankrupt and emerged, and our house started falling apart. Seriously, as I'm writing this, I'm waiting for the plumber to come to fix our 2nd faulty shower of the year. The past two nights I spent time Gorilla Gluing pieces of our stone tile countertop back together, which involved moving the dishwasher out - not something I do every day. Last week I spider-bombed our basement, and in order to safely fill your basement with toxic fog blasters, you have to turn off things called "pilots". Apparently, both our water heater and furnace have them. Luckily I read that instruction before I did the fog thingy, so our house didn't explode. I have to admit though, that whole process caused me incredible anxiety. First, I had to deal with the fear that I would improperly stop/start the gas pilot functions. They put very strong wording on those labels that say "IF YOU SMELL ANY GAS WHATSOEVER IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE PREMISES AND DO NOT LIGHT A MATCH LIKE YOU DO WHEN YOU SMELL GAS IN YOUR BATHROOM". Secondly, my brain envisioned legions of spiders sensing their impending doom and scrambling from all corners and cracks in the basement to jump on my head and neck as I ran upstairs to let the killer fog do its work. Blessedly, I saw not a single arachnid and haven't since. In summary, turning 30 for me meant a lot more housework, and our house is certainly obliging. My body actually feels fine, and I'm in decent shape after spending more time in the gym the past 2 months than I had in the past year. That's not a cry for help, right? "Hey, after 29 years without a single shred of desire to lift heavy metal bars, I think I'll start lifting heavy metal bars and grunting more!"
ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT SPORTS?
Well, duh. The best moment was clearly Lloyd Carr's final game with Michigan. A high scoring battle with Florida, a bowl win, lots of winged helmets in the air - a great way to start 2008! Little did we know it would be the only positive Michigan football story of the entire year, and maybe the next few. I made my first attempt at a Super Bowl ad review on my blog in February, revealing the fact that since I never have a team to care about in the Super Bowl, I'm now in that group of people that finds the commercials more interesting than the game. The Pistons won a whole bunch of games again, and ran out of gas in the playoffs again. They seem to be poised to repeat the feat this season, even with the addition of Allen "Practice?" Iverson, who is the reason Detroit traded my favorite dude of this era, Chauncey Billups. I'm further ticked because I have a t-shirt with Chauncey's name/# on it, and I don't want to have to buy new team gear for those days when I really, really need to show how much I love my home teams by wearing shirts. What if we showed our loyalty to, say, hair care products in the same way? "Dude, nice Suave shirt. You jumping off the Dep bandwagon?"
Let's see, what else? The Tigers added a bunch of dudes you've sort of heard of, then did much, much worse. I'm pretty sure the Wings won the Stanley "Stan" Cup but I maybe watched 2 periods of hockey all year, and they were the last 2 periods of the Cup-clinching game. Some fan! If you're in Michigan, the cold and prevalence of ponds just sort of makes you watch more hockey. Here in Utah, hockey takes a major backseat to skiing, the Jazz, and producing children. And back around to Michigan Football which, as we all know, lost to their 3 major rivals (Utah, Toledo, Northwestern) during their worst season EVER. But hey, the basketball team is back, baby! We owe West Virginia half a thank you.
STIZL, WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT WORDS AND PHRASES YOU WISH WOULD DIE, SINCE NO OTHER PEOPLE THINK TO WRITE ABOUT THAT
Actually, a surprising few columns were available on this subject. Lake Superior Sate University apparently has this topic locked up. Really? We can't do better than that? Harvard, Yale, and Davenport were too busy to put one of these together? [Note: When I researched this, LSSU had their 2008 word list - today, it shows the 2007 version...not sure why. Check back maybe.] Anyway, a few phrases have been bugging the crap out of me, so now I will talk about them, proliferating their existence on the interweb for eternity:
1. "We overcame a lot of adversity" Alternate misuse: "We've had lots of adversity" (generally in sports): Athletes and media love to talk about the momentous hurdles facing teams and individuals in sport, like "the opponent also likes to win" and "sometimes you get owies". I heard a QB from a football-factory powerhouse, who was 11-1 at the time, talk about the "great adversities" they "overcame" to "get to where they were at". Aside from the poor grammar, what great adversity did you face? Losing one game? Injury? Those things affect every single team/individual in all sports in all corners of the earth for all time. Those things are normal, not unusually challenging or contrary or even unlucky!
2. "From Wall Street to Main Street" (politics/media): Uh, yeah - let's go ahead and group all companies, all people, all communities into two convenient groups (which happen to make a clever, poetic phrase). On one hand, "Wall Street" - an actual place, but the idea of which has become completely un-relatable and, frankly, disreputable to most Americans; and on the other hand, "Main Street" - a quaint reference to small town, middle-American communities which is myopic if not condescending. Thanks for this one, Economy!
And the best one of the bunch from LSSU's 2008 list:
3. "It is what it is": This vague phrase is often used when someone totally under qualified is asked to comment on a very specific issue. I'd explain it further but it's just, well, it is...
STIZL'S BLOG BLOG ENTRY OF THE YEAR AS AWARDED BY STIZL
Thanks to all those who commented on their favorite posts, lines, or topics this year. I received over 3 suggestions for the SBBEYAS, a new record! Several posts discussed pants, and those seemed popular. But the runaway winner, and the reason to start this review at Christmas, is...
Ring A Ling.
(wild applause, awwwws from the ladies, groans from the guys...)
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
Don't invite Sue to a surprise party.
Also, you absolutely do NOT have to enter microwave times in :05 increments! I don't know why this unwritten law seems to control our actions, but it does. And you don't even have to use only :15 or :30 multiples either. What, like if your oatmeal is set for 1:30 it will be perfect, but 1:26 it's lukewarm soup, and at 1:48 it's burning oat-paste? And think about this: Every time you enter, say, ":30" on the microwave, you waste a ton of energy by moving your finger from the 3 at the top to the 0 at the bottom. Next time, just try hitting ":33". If you're not big into saving fractions of seconds on finger motions, then just do random #s that are near enough to your target time - :47 to reheat your coffee, maybe. It's fun - trust me, you'll feel like you're doing something naughty. And we all know, in today's depressing economy, we need to find elements of fun in the little things, like microwaving or putting on seatbelts (SBBEYAS nominee).
I'm calling it the Christmas2Christmas Review because I really wanted to use a title incorporating a number which acts as a word. See, the "2" acts as "to" and connects last Christmas to this Christmas in a really neat way. Additionally it gives me a little visual trick - I can use the 2 with no spaces around it. If I tried it with the word, it would look like ChristmastoChristmas, and then people would ask me if I'm celebrating the new Greek holiday "Christmasto" (kris-MAS-toh) and that would be uncomfortable. My other title ideas were "52 Week Pickup", which is a takeoff on an hilarious card game my parents used to trick us with when we were kids; "My 30th Year: What Have I Done?", which has a more reflective quality and a cute double meaning; and my last choice was "Read My Last 33 Posts", which is just rude.
LAST CHRISTMAS I GAVE YOU MY HEART...
Let's start there. It's been one year since I proposed (SBBEYAS nominee), and in that time you could say...I've been busy. I maintained the engagement, got married, and now have two wonderful children, 9 and 7. It took some real parenting to raise rapidly aging kids in just one year, but we did fine and they seem to have a well adjusted life. After the new year, we're shopping for colleges!
Weddings were a theme of the past year, and they helped me rack up the frequent flier miles: Matt Murray's wedding in Northampton, MA in March; Josh Pepper's wedding in June back home in G.R., which ended with a lost wallet (SBBEYAS nominee); my cousin Beth Ann's wedding in G.R. a few weeks later over the 4th of July weekend, which gave Annie and me our only cottage trip of the year; and finally, our wedding in Chicago. Of the 4 weddings, mine was the best because I got to go on the Honeymoon.
We visited Chicago multiple times this year, including an early wedding planning session in January where we tried to get some amateur engagement photos. Problem was, it was -93 degrees (with the windchill) that weekend and smiling for pictures meant your face would freeze that way. But we picked our reception site and surveyed a couple other locations. We also hit Chicago in May, in August for our wedding, and at the end of October for a mini-vacation with Annie, after I finished nearly 3 straight weeks of travel for work, which included a stop in Chicago.
I turned 30 this year (5 months and 5 days after my wife did). In related stories, my company went bankrupt and emerged, and our house started falling apart. Seriously, as I'm writing this, I'm waiting for the plumber to come to fix our 2nd faulty shower of the year. The past two nights I spent time Gorilla Gluing pieces of our stone tile countertop back together, which involved moving the dishwasher out - not something I do every day. Last week I spider-bombed our basement, and in order to safely fill your basement with toxic fog blasters, you have to turn off things called "pilots". Apparently, both our water heater and furnace have them. Luckily I read that instruction before I did the fog thingy, so our house didn't explode. I have to admit though, that whole process caused me incredible anxiety. First, I had to deal with the fear that I would improperly stop/start the gas pilot functions. They put very strong wording on those labels that say "IF YOU SMELL ANY GAS WHATSOEVER IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE PREMISES AND DO NOT LIGHT A MATCH LIKE YOU DO WHEN YOU SMELL GAS IN YOUR BATHROOM". Secondly, my brain envisioned legions of spiders sensing their impending doom and scrambling from all corners and cracks in the basement to jump on my head and neck as I ran upstairs to let the killer fog do its work. Blessedly, I saw not a single arachnid and haven't since. In summary, turning 30 for me meant a lot more housework, and our house is certainly obliging. My body actually feels fine, and I'm in decent shape after spending more time in the gym the past 2 months than I had in the past year. That's not a cry for help, right? "Hey, after 29 years without a single shred of desire to lift heavy metal bars, I think I'll start lifting heavy metal bars and grunting more!"
ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT SPORTS?
Well, duh. The best moment was clearly Lloyd Carr's final game with Michigan. A high scoring battle with Florida, a bowl win, lots of winged helmets in the air - a great way to start 2008! Little did we know it would be the only positive Michigan football story of the entire year, and maybe the next few. I made my first attempt at a Super Bowl ad review on my blog in February, revealing the fact that since I never have a team to care about in the Super Bowl, I'm now in that group of people that finds the commercials more interesting than the game. The Pistons won a whole bunch of games again, and ran out of gas in the playoffs again. They seem to be poised to repeat the feat this season, even with the addition of Allen "Practice?" Iverson, who is the reason Detroit traded my favorite dude of this era, Chauncey Billups. I'm further ticked because I have a t-shirt with Chauncey's name/# on it, and I don't want to have to buy new team gear for those days when I really, really need to show how much I love my home teams by wearing shirts. What if we showed our loyalty to, say, hair care products in the same way? "Dude, nice Suave shirt. You jumping off the Dep bandwagon?"
Let's see, what else? The Tigers added a bunch of dudes you've sort of heard of, then did much, much worse. I'm pretty sure the Wings won the Stanley "Stan" Cup but I maybe watched 2 periods of hockey all year, and they were the last 2 periods of the Cup-clinching game. Some fan! If you're in Michigan, the cold and prevalence of ponds just sort of makes you watch more hockey. Here in Utah, hockey takes a major backseat to skiing, the Jazz, and producing children. And back around to Michigan Football which, as we all know, lost to their 3 major rivals (Utah, Toledo, Northwestern) during their worst season EVER. But hey, the basketball team is back, baby! We owe West Virginia half a thank you.
STIZL, WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT WORDS AND PHRASES YOU WISH WOULD DIE, SINCE NO OTHER PEOPLE THINK TO WRITE ABOUT THAT
Actually, a surprising few columns were available on this subject. Lake Superior Sate University apparently has this topic locked up. Really? We can't do better than that? Harvard, Yale, and Davenport were too busy to put one of these together? [Note: When I researched this, LSSU had their 2008 word list - today, it shows the 2007 version...not sure why. Check back maybe.] Anyway, a few phrases have been bugging the crap out of me, so now I will talk about them, proliferating their existence on the interweb for eternity:
1. "We overcame a lot of adversity" Alternate misuse: "We've had lots of adversity" (generally in sports): Athletes and media love to talk about the momentous hurdles facing teams and individuals in sport, like "the opponent also likes to win" and "sometimes you get owies". I heard a QB from a football-factory powerhouse, who was 11-1 at the time, talk about the "great adversities" they "overcame" to "get to where they were at". Aside from the poor grammar, what great adversity did you face? Losing one game? Injury? Those things affect every single team/individual in all sports in all corners of the earth for all time. Those things are normal, not unusually challenging or contrary or even unlucky!
2. "From Wall Street to Main Street" (politics/media): Uh, yeah - let's go ahead and group all companies, all people, all communities into two convenient groups (which happen to make a clever, poetic phrase). On one hand, "Wall Street" - an actual place, but the idea of which has become completely un-relatable and, frankly, disreputable to most Americans; and on the other hand, "Main Street" - a quaint reference to small town, middle-American communities which is myopic if not condescending. Thanks for this one, Economy!
And the best one of the bunch from LSSU's 2008 list:
3. "It is what it is": This vague phrase is often used when someone totally under qualified is asked to comment on a very specific issue. I'd explain it further but it's just, well, it is...
STIZL'S BLOG BLOG ENTRY OF THE YEAR AS AWARDED BY STIZL
Thanks to all those who commented on their favorite posts, lines, or topics this year. I received over 3 suggestions for the SBBEYAS, a new record! Several posts discussed pants, and those seemed popular. But the runaway winner, and the reason to start this review at Christmas, is...
Ring A Ling.
(wild applause, awwwws from the ladies, groans from the guys...)
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
Don't invite Sue to a surprise party.
Also, you absolutely do NOT have to enter microwave times in :05 increments! I don't know why this unwritten law seems to control our actions, but it does. And you don't even have to use only :15 or :30 multiples either. What, like if your oatmeal is set for 1:30 it will be perfect, but 1:26 it's lukewarm soup, and at 1:48 it's burning oat-paste? And think about this: Every time you enter, say, ":30" on the microwave, you waste a ton of energy by moving your finger from the 3 at the top to the 0 at the bottom. Next time, just try hitting ":33". If you're not big into saving fractions of seconds on finger motions, then just do random #s that are near enough to your target time - :47 to reheat your coffee, maybe. It's fun - trust me, you'll feel like you're doing something naughty. And we all know, in today's depressing economy, we need to find elements of fun in the little things, like microwaving or putting on seatbelts (SBBEYAS nominee).
Speaking of the depressing economy, hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Waiting, Wondering, Watching
I'm waiting to get out of here, basically. The Thanksgiving traditions are calling me, competing: "OVEREAT!", "TAKE A NAP!". Annie and I are flying to Grand Rapids on turkey day, but the kids are staying back in SLC with their Grandma. I'm starting to regret not getting them to MI with us. But they'll have fun. We will too.
I'm wondering, however, what air travel will be like on Thursday. Hopefully the weather cooperates, for one. But holidays generally mean Family Travel, and I'm much more fond of Business Travel. Business Travel days usually include a few obnoxious bluetooth wearing loud-talkers, but mostly quiet laptop tapping and USA Today "reading" (looking at the colorful graphs), along with fairly efficient movement through the airport. Now, I have a family and I enjoy travelling with them, but I don't necessarily like travelling with other families on Family Travel days. No offense to you, other families - I've heard you have a fantastic game night - but the chaos of many, many children and inexperienced airport security victims frazzles my nerves and tests my patience. Hopefully, I'll be too tired to notice since we'll be leaving the house at about 4:30 am.
What I won't be watching this Thursday is the Lions game. I know, I read the Free Press and it is not blacked out. Mercifully, I will still be on the plane until about the 3rd quarter, and by the time I make it to the parents' house it'll be all over but the Turducken eating. Maybe it's because I've been in central Illinois on most Thanksgivings in my life, but I'm not that excited about the whole Lions game tradition this year. Sure, in the past I'd find the TV to catch a bit of Barry Sanders or Herman Moore or... uh... that other Lions player who scored so many touchgoals. Or maybe it's because my Michigan Wolverines are done before Thanksgiving for the first time in my life and the football buzz is gone. Wait, Grand Valley is still undefeated and playing on Saturday - that may be just the ticket for me. Or maybe it's an event of an entirely different sort that will make the weekend memorable. But now I'm just rambling. Either way, I'm happy to be heading home to Michigan.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and don't skimp on the mashed potatoes.
I'm wondering, however, what air travel will be like on Thursday. Hopefully the weather cooperates, for one. But holidays generally mean Family Travel, and I'm much more fond of Business Travel. Business Travel days usually include a few obnoxious bluetooth wearing loud-talkers, but mostly quiet laptop tapping and USA Today "reading" (looking at the colorful graphs), along with fairly efficient movement through the airport. Now, I have a family and I enjoy travelling with them, but I don't necessarily like travelling with other families on Family Travel days. No offense to you, other families - I've heard you have a fantastic game night - but the chaos of many, many children and inexperienced airport security victims frazzles my nerves and tests my patience. Hopefully, I'll be too tired to notice since we'll be leaving the house at about 4:30 am.
What I won't be watching this Thursday is the Lions game. I know, I read the Free Press and it is not blacked out. Mercifully, I will still be on the plane until about the 3rd quarter, and by the time I make it to the parents' house it'll be all over but the Turducken eating. Maybe it's because I've been in central Illinois on most Thanksgivings in my life, but I'm not that excited about the whole Lions game tradition this year. Sure, in the past I'd find the TV to catch a bit of Barry Sanders or Herman Moore or... uh... that other Lions player who scored so many touchgoals. Or maybe it's because my Michigan Wolverines are done before Thanksgiving for the first time in my life and the football buzz is gone. Wait, Grand Valley is still undefeated and playing on Saturday - that may be just the ticket for me. Or maybe it's an event of an entirely different sort that will make the weekend memorable. But now I'm just rambling. Either way, I'm happy to be heading home to Michigan.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and don't skimp on the mashed potatoes.
Friday, November 7, 2008
A segway [sic] to class discrimination
Whilst travelling for work last month, I viewed a story on CNN about a man whose condo complex was going to deny him the use of his Segway! (If you didn't know, I love dudes riding Segways, especially cops.) Fortunately for all of us, they came to their senses. Initially, the condo management claimed the rolling wonder of physics "endangered lives", but they "failed to prove their case". Apparently, their attempts to throw people in front of the old dude's ride caused nothing but tread burns and husky apologies. Stanley Blumenthal: Jubilant!
In other news, I had several funny moments on a Continental flight from Newark to Chicago a few weeks ago (air travel story...big surprise). Most of you know that many airlines are charging $15 for any checked bag now. And most of the airlines that are charging $15 for a checked bag call it the "first checked bag charge", or simply "checked bag charge". We get it - we're being charged to give you the suitcase which, by law, cannot be taken on the plane with us. Fine.
But not Continental. Continental Airlines not only takes your $15, but they cause you to examine your life and all its mistakes and confusion. The official name for the charge?
"Excess Baggage Fee"
I am not making this up. This fee is not for your 2nd, 3rd, or eleventeenth bag. For your first bag. Your one and only suitcase, maybe. But you should pay for that one suitcase, as it is clearly and in all contrast to proper travel decorum, excessive. And you should be reminded of that fact in print.
"How's that new passenger, Continental? Your relationship growing?"
"Yeah, Delta, I guess so. He's pretty great - sits where he's assigned, always finds an efficient space for his carryon in the overhead compartment, keeps his iPod volume at a respectful level. But he's got some...baggage."
If you peruse Continental's website, the "excess baggage" term simply applied to heavy/oversize bags in the past, and the fine was much more for those indiscretions. But the gadget in their system that applies fees and prints your receipt for you wasn't worth changing, I guess, so your check-in screen and receipt are there to remind you of all the burdens and toiletries you're lugging along in this crazy, mixed up world.
As if this wasn't enough, I then had to endure an actual case of class discrimination by Continental's award winning cabin staff, North America's best. Maybe I was more sensitive to the situation than normal. I was, after all, engrossed in Sinclair's The Jungle, empathetic to Jurgis's unending struggle against the corporate machine and all its political and social injustice. It came down to the one simple amenity that even airlines haven't chopped: The Lavatory. I had patiently waited through some turbulence, and finally the seat belt sign was off. I looked back to the tail of the airplane (I was in row 7, just 5 rows back from the small First Class section) to see a small line gathered near the lavatories - both occupied - as well as the clattering beverage carts being prepared for service. Earlier at the airport, I had downed an afternoon coffee as well as a bottle of water, but was in a hurry-up mode once I reached the gate, and boarded without making a pit stop.
Boldly, I stepped through the curtain separating Coach from the First Class section. And really - do airlines need to patronize us by calling our section "Coach"? Like we're duped into thinking our rigid, leg-roomless, disease-carrying fabric-wrapped seats are some sort of hired transport in the olden days? Anyway, the forward lavatory is clearly empty, and I'm clearly going to use it.
The forward attendant, a foot shorter than I, literally steps in front of me and says, "Sir, would you mind using the rear lavatories?"
"Yes, I would. It's busy and the carts are going to block me anyway."
"No, I see that the carts are still being prepared. You'll have time to get back to your seat."
I really wanted to come up with a smart, sure, even aggressive statement to get by her, but all I mustered was a roll of the eyes and a quick turn. At this point, I noticed my surroundings - a grand total of EIGHT people in this section, all occupied in the Wall Street Journal or sleeping, and one lavatory, vacant. My churning brain did some quick 737 math, and realized there were about 140 people in Coach for the two lavatories there. 8:1 vs. 70:1. This operation would've taken me no more than a minute, and not one of the people would've even noticed!
I shuffled my way down to the rear and, of course, had to step into a vacant seat (whose occupant was in line for the lavatory) to let the beverage cart by. GRRRRRR! And more of coursely, upon my return, had to ask the beverage cart wranglers to push it up a few rows so I could get into my seat. As I was standing there, I shot that forward attendant's eyes the nastiest glance I could generate, which unfortunately appeared to her as nothing but a calming field of blue ice. (nothing I can do about that, right ladies?)
All the fees, fares, taxes, and leg cramps in the world can be explained and even understood by this traveller. But lavatory restrictions based on your seat assignment when all logic and circumstance show a better solution? Sheer madness.
I'd like to apologize for the overuse of links in the first paragraph, especially for a silly story about a Segway, a vehicle which I have never commandeered, despite my distant fascination.
In other news, I had several funny moments on a Continental flight from Newark to Chicago a few weeks ago (air travel story...big surprise). Most of you know that many airlines are charging $15 for any checked bag now. And most of the airlines that are charging $15 for a checked bag call it the "first checked bag charge", or simply "checked bag charge". We get it - we're being charged to give you the suitcase which, by law, cannot be taken on the plane with us. Fine.
But not Continental. Continental Airlines not only takes your $15, but they cause you to examine your life and all its mistakes and confusion. The official name for the charge?
"Excess Baggage Fee"
I am not making this up. This fee is not for your 2nd, 3rd, or eleventeenth bag. For your first bag. Your one and only suitcase, maybe. But you should pay for that one suitcase, as it is clearly and in all contrast to proper travel decorum, excessive. And you should be reminded of that fact in print.
"How's that new passenger, Continental? Your relationship growing?"
"Yeah, Delta, I guess so. He's pretty great - sits where he's assigned, always finds an efficient space for his carryon in the overhead compartment, keeps his iPod volume at a respectful level. But he's got some...baggage."
If you peruse Continental's website, the "excess baggage" term simply applied to heavy/oversize bags in the past, and the fine was much more for those indiscretions. But the gadget in their system that applies fees and prints your receipt for you wasn't worth changing, I guess, so your check-in screen and receipt are there to remind you of all the burdens and toiletries you're lugging along in this crazy, mixed up world.
As if this wasn't enough, I then had to endure an actual case of class discrimination by Continental's award winning cabin staff, North America's best. Maybe I was more sensitive to the situation than normal. I was, after all, engrossed in Sinclair's The Jungle, empathetic to Jurgis's unending struggle against the corporate machine and all its political and social injustice. It came down to the one simple amenity that even airlines haven't chopped: The Lavatory. I had patiently waited through some turbulence, and finally the seat belt sign was off. I looked back to the tail of the airplane (I was in row 7, just 5 rows back from the small First Class section) to see a small line gathered near the lavatories - both occupied - as well as the clattering beverage carts being prepared for service. Earlier at the airport, I had downed an afternoon coffee as well as a bottle of water, but was in a hurry-up mode once I reached the gate, and boarded without making a pit stop.
Boldly, I stepped through the curtain separating Coach from the First Class section. And really - do airlines need to patronize us by calling our section "Coach"? Like we're duped into thinking our rigid, leg-roomless, disease-carrying fabric-wrapped seats are some sort of hired transport in the olden days? Anyway, the forward lavatory is clearly empty, and I'm clearly going to use it.
The forward attendant, a foot shorter than I, literally steps in front of me and says, "Sir, would you mind using the rear lavatories?"
"Yes, I would. It's busy and the carts are going to block me anyway."
"No, I see that the carts are still being prepared. You'll have time to get back to your seat."
I really wanted to come up with a smart, sure, even aggressive statement to get by her, but all I mustered was a roll of the eyes and a quick turn. At this point, I noticed my surroundings - a grand total of EIGHT people in this section, all occupied in the Wall Street Journal or sleeping, and one lavatory, vacant. My churning brain did some quick 737 math, and realized there were about 140 people in Coach for the two lavatories there. 8:1 vs. 70:1. This operation would've taken me no more than a minute, and not one of the people would've even noticed!
I shuffled my way down to the rear and, of course, had to step into a vacant seat (whose occupant was in line for the lavatory) to let the beverage cart by. GRRRRRR! And more of coursely, upon my return, had to ask the beverage cart wranglers to push it up a few rows so I could get into my seat. As I was standing there, I shot that forward attendant's eyes the nastiest glance I could generate, which unfortunately appeared to her as nothing but a calming field of blue ice. (nothing I can do about that, right ladies?)
All the fees, fares, taxes, and leg cramps in the world can be explained and even understood by this traveller. But lavatory restrictions based on your seat assignment when all logic and circumstance show a better solution? Sheer madness.
I'd like to apologize for the overuse of links in the first paragraph, especially for a silly story about a Segway, a vehicle which I have never commandeered, despite my distant fascination.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Where's Stizl?
Well, I'm in Orlando now, and leave for Baltimore tomorrow. But first a little rewind. As predicted, last week ended much better than it began. Chicago proved a fantastic host in many ways, and ORD couldn't even dampen the trip. We had a large group from corporate for the Chicago meeting on Thursday, so Wednesday was Big Dinner time. Went to Gibson's, near ORD. AWESOME steak. Plus, one of our field personnel swore up and down that Martin Scorsese was in the restaurant. It was totally not him, but it was funny watching her talk herself into it. Something about that Wednesday dinner and socializing led us into a great meeting on Thursday. Chicago's franchisees can be a tough crowd for our company, but we handled them well. I really hit my stride as a presenter/facilitator during my hour of the meeting, even dropping a personal anecdote about my wedding (awwww). Seriously though, just chatting about anything other than the content of the meeting helps me relax, and then I cover the content better, too.
[aside]
I haven't watched much of the MLB playoffs, but with only a few highlights last night and currently glancing at the 1st inning of the ALCS, I have seen nothing but Tampa Bay Rays' batters smashing huge home runs over the Green Monster. What happened to home field advantage, Chowds?
[end]
Thursday night provided a new Chicago experience of EPIC proportions. Dave & Heidi (my bro- and sis-in-law) -- well, mostly Dave -- decided it was time to welcome me to the world of Gene & Jude's, a strangely famous hot dog stand. Yes, hot dog stand. I can't consider it a restaurant, even though it had 4 walls and a ceiling. This place was a tin can with a neon sign, a potato cutter, and a line of 8 fryers. It is nothing but those skinny Vienna hot dogs & fries (well, tamales too, but I wasn't in the mood). And NO ketchup. For each ketchup you ask for, they kill you.
On Dave's advice, I went with 2 double dogs with everything and a Coke. This is the great part: the dogs come piled with the fries on top. So you order 2 dogs, and you also get 2 orders of fries! This should be standard in any restaurant! And you must eat them all together, the fries essentially a condiment for the hot dogs, smashed into the bun. I started picking fries off the top of the first one, and Dave almost backhanded me for insulting the G&J culture. I guess it's like ordering philly cheese steaks in Philly - you gotta know the culture. So I crushed those 2 double dogs, standing at the counter like a champ.
I just realized that I had 2 distinct dinners in Chicago, and I spent 200 more words on the hot dog stand than on the critically adored steakhouse. Such is life.
Orlando hasn't been that interesting - hot & muggy & rainy. So-so meeting, sort of dull. But the biggest thing is it's only Tuesday, and it feels like I've been gone a week again already. The weekend was nice (time with the wife, beers with the boys, didn't watch Michigan lose to the Toledo Rocket-football team), but it flew by, and heading to the airport again early Monday was miserable. I just want this week to be done, so I can go home for the weekend...again...and leave on Monday again...
[aside]
I haven't watched much of the MLB playoffs, but with only a few highlights last night and currently glancing at the 1st inning of the ALCS, I have seen nothing but Tampa Bay Rays' batters smashing huge home runs over the Green Monster. What happened to home field advantage, Chowds?
[end]
Thursday night provided a new Chicago experience of EPIC proportions. Dave & Heidi (my bro- and sis-in-law) -- well, mostly Dave -- decided it was time to welcome me to the world of Gene & Jude's, a strangely famous hot dog stand. Yes, hot dog stand. I can't consider it a restaurant, even though it had 4 walls and a ceiling. This place was a tin can with a neon sign, a potato cutter, and a line of 8 fryers. It is nothing but those skinny Vienna hot dogs & fries (well, tamales too, but I wasn't in the mood). And NO ketchup. For each ketchup you ask for, they kill you.
On Dave's advice, I went with 2 double dogs with everything and a Coke. This is the great part: the dogs come piled with the fries on top. So you order 2 dogs, and you also get 2 orders of fries! This should be standard in any restaurant! And you must eat them all together, the fries essentially a condiment for the hot dogs, smashed into the bun. I started picking fries off the top of the first one, and Dave almost backhanded me for insulting the G&J culture. I guess it's like ordering philly cheese steaks in Philly - you gotta know the culture. So I crushed those 2 double dogs, standing at the counter like a champ.
I just realized that I had 2 distinct dinners in Chicago, and I spent 200 more words on the hot dog stand than on the critically adored steakhouse. Such is life.
Orlando hasn't been that interesting - hot & muggy & rainy. So-so meeting, sort of dull. But the biggest thing is it's only Tuesday, and it feels like I've been gone a week again already. The weekend was nice (time with the wife, beers with the boys, didn't watch Michigan lose to the Toledo Rocket-football team), but it flew by, and heading to the airport again early Monday was miserable. I just want this week to be done, so I can go home for the weekend...again...and leave on Monday again...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Schmotel
How can the littlest amenities become wondrous luxuries? When a hotel fails to meet even the most basic of those needs and lets you walk across the street to another hotel! We held our meeting at a hotel in Romulus, near DTW (Detroit airport). I think its exact location was Runway B3. Anyway, this hotel worked out very well last April, and it has a great banquet room. Unfortunately, within 5 minutes of checking in I had deduced that about 80% of the TV channels were blank and their free internet service was down. We were assured it would be fixed, and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner -- a group of 6 of us. Apparently they were only expecting 4 patrons for the entire night, because they ran out of french fries and turkey - on just our table. And only 1 guy ordered turkey.
This hotel was operating on fumes.
Fortunately, the Courtyard by Marriott across the way had rooms, and that's where things got back to good. Functioning television, immediate internet connection, smiling front desk staff who provided chilled bottled water (fancy!), those great Speakman shower heads, a comfortable bed and pillows, on and on. Are these things necessities? No, but I'm a business traveller this week, and when all the fun and games are done, I need to check email and watch stuff. That's it. That's all.
To the other hotel's credit, our meeting room was accommodating, functioning, and lunch was actually quite good. They even had sliced turkey. Maybe it was because we gave them a dinner tab or had a banquet room booked, but we were alarmed at how casually they let us check out and move to another hotel last night -- no questions, no attempt at concession, no timetable for hiring a network controller. Oh well.
Off to Chi-town tomorrow. Better hotel and better food culture. I'm expecting improvement...at least until O'Hare gets involved. Good night then!
This hotel was operating on fumes.
Fortunately, the Courtyard by Marriott across the way had rooms, and that's where things got back to good. Functioning television, immediate internet connection, smiling front desk staff who provided chilled bottled water (fancy!), those great Speakman shower heads, a comfortable bed and pillows, on and on. Are these things necessities? No, but I'm a business traveller this week, and when all the fun and games are done, I need to check email and watch stuff. That's it. That's all.
To the other hotel's credit, our meeting room was accommodating, functioning, and lunch was actually quite good. They even had sliced turkey. Maybe it was because we gave them a dinner tab or had a banquet room booked, but we were alarmed at how casually they let us check out and move to another hotel last night -- no questions, no attempt at concession, no timetable for hiring a network controller. Oh well.
Off to Chi-town tomorrow. Better hotel and better food culture. I'm expecting improvement...at least until O'Hare gets involved. Good night then!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
6 Cities in 18 Days
Time to hit the road again. This time I'll be facing groups of franchisees who will be demanding answers and explanations for our company's bankruptcy (which they are emerging from...), and who are facing a bleak retail season. Can't wait! Should be nothing but laughs and hugs. I'm also not looking forward to the extended time away from the wife and kids (I love saying that). At least I have the weekends, and a regular trip to Chicago for fun/family time at the end of it all.
Just for kicks, and since I have already scheduled some visits for friends in various cities, here's a glance at my itinerary:
Mon. Oct. 6: Detroit...
Wed. Oct. 8: ...to Chicago
Fri. Oct. 10: Back home
Mon. Oct. 13: Orlando...
Wed. Oct. 15: ...to Baltimore
Fri. Oct. 17: Back home
Mon. Oct. 20: Cleveland...
Wed. Oct. 22: ...to Newark...
Thurs. Oct. 23: ...to Chicago again (for fun, not work!)
We're not regionally assigned at the corporate office, but due to scheduling needs, my marketing co-worker has San Fran, Phoenix, St. Louis, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle. I'm not complaining though, I mean, I get way more frequent flier miles.
I'm hoping a few good stories are dropped in my lap as I will have some time to blog in the various hotels and airports. My Stepdad-themed blog has yet to get off the ground as I couldn't figure out how to attach the URL I bought to the blogger format. I also haven't had time to design it. So that's going really well.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I am an Idiot
It's been almost a month and I have plenty to blog about, but the reason I'm up at 12:24 am EST (I'm in Michigan) is because I just now realized I lost my wallet, and I have an 8:30 flight scheduled for tomorrow morning to get me back home. This morning, I packed up the rental tux I wore on Saturday for Josh's wedding, dropped it off to AJ's house, since the store wouldn't open until later, and I was off to the cottage with my sister and parents. I had no need for my wallet, and it never came into my consciousness today. I simply grabbed a swimsuit and book and planned to sleep in the back of the car on the way up - I got in at 1:30 am Sunday morning after a phenomenal party-bus ride, reception, and after hours night cap at C-Pub (woo woo!) And no, I did not leave the wallet there or anywhere else yesterday. It has to be in that stupid tux bag. Here's the rub: they don't open until 10 am, don't have a 24-hr hotline, and who knows if the bag is still even in that location. I imagine they whisk them away to a dry cleaner on the seedier side of town, and encourage the staff to rummage around, since I likely signed away any responsibility to the store on some stupid waiver. Needless to say, I cannot get on a plane without an ID, and I cannot make an 8:30 flight when the store opens at 10. If they actually have my wallet, that is.
Tune in next time to see what the heck happens!
Tune in next time to see what the heck happens!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Wake Up Call
I'm in Dallas, and not for the reason you might think (finding out who shot JR). For work. I'm in one of those hotels that will make you an expert in various fields just by staying there. But it hasn't made me an expert in anything. It has, however, made me very frustrated.
Last night, a gas line broke next to the hotel, in front of a Waffle House - seriously. Naturally, this caused the water to go out in the entire hotel. Huh? I did not realize we had no water pressure until immediately after I had used the, um, toilet. So that was an interesting discovery. The polite person at the front desk was busy handing out bottles of water, and explaining it would surely be back on in the morning. Which it was.
BUT -- the water did not come with the most important feature for morning usage, heat. So after a night where I used bottled water for tooth brushing, and couldn't flush the toilet, I had to endure a freezing cold shower. Then - and as far as I can tell, this is not the hotel's fault - as I was carrying a case of thawed beverage mix to the meeting room (part of some training/sampling we're doing), the condensation inside the box somehow poured through a crack and ran all down my dress pants. Fortunately, the hotel room did have a functioning hair dryer. For pants. I can't wait to see what DFW has in store for me tonight, what with my scheduled American Airlines flight on an MD-80 plane - safety & peace of mind! OK, off to the meeting...
Last night, a gas line broke next to the hotel, in front of a Waffle House - seriously. Naturally, this caused the water to go out in the entire hotel. Huh? I did not realize we had no water pressure until immediately after I had used the, um, toilet. So that was an interesting discovery. The polite person at the front desk was busy handing out bottles of water, and explaining it would surely be back on in the morning. Which it was.
BUT -- the water did not come with the most important feature for morning usage, heat. So after a night where I used bottled water for tooth brushing, and couldn't flush the toilet, I had to endure a freezing cold shower. Then - and as far as I can tell, this is not the hotel's fault - as I was carrying a case of thawed beverage mix to the meeting room (part of some training/sampling we're doing), the condensation inside the box somehow poured through a crack and ran all down my dress pants. Fortunately, the hotel room did have a functioning hair dryer. For pants. I can't wait to see what DFW has in store for me tonight, what with my scheduled American Airlines flight on an MD-80 plane - safety & peace of mind! OK, off to the meeting...
Friday, April 4, 2008
Would you light my candle?
I've been in 3 states outside of this one since my last blog: Nevada, Connecticut, and Massachusetts - each progressively newer to me and harder to spell. It's late, and I can only really summarize one of the states. My Nevada experience occurred in Las Vegas, and per Las Vegas CVA mandate, my story has not left the city limits. Connecticut was nothing but a pass thru on the way to Northampton, MA, site of Murray-Esener wedding activities.
Before I get to that, I've also been to another planet recently. Moab. It took a second trip to that place for me to understand that it cannot simply be a part of Utah, United States, Earth. The Slick Rock Recreation area - where dudes in Jeeps compete for knobbiest tires - is one of my new favorite places. We hope to camp there and ride some mountain bikes, or just climb around the strange rocky mounds. Here are some pics. And a video that my lady will enjoy seeing on the Interweb. Yes, we are jamming to the Rent soundtrack.
Murray's wedding was an excellent reason to descend upon the unique town of Northampton, MA - home of Smith College, a naked sculpture park, a beer can hall of fame, and tons of boutiques and gift shops that are WAY more enlightened and clever than you, Mister Man. It was my first trip to what my brain imagines to be the typical "northeast" town. The weather cooperated by being primarily cloudy & rainy, but as often occurs, gave way to sunshine on Saturday, the big day. St. Mary's cathedral and the Hotel Northampton made excellent backdrops to a fun and memorable time with lots of my friends from childhood, high school, and college. A few pics here, and I'll refer you to my friend Megan's blog for more detail and better pics. We did pretty much all the same stuff as her, except the red eye and yoga.
Now that I think of it, something awesome DID occur in the great state of Connecticut. It involved salad, a state trooper, an awkward glance or two, and... well, I don't know if I should share the rest. But I could write a new entry: "Something came up on the way to Hartford Bradley airport"...
Before I get to that, I've also been to another planet recently. Moab. It took a second trip to that place for me to understand that it cannot simply be a part of Utah, United States, Earth. The Slick Rock Recreation area - where dudes in Jeeps compete for knobbiest tires - is one of my new favorite places. We hope to camp there and ride some mountain bikes, or just climb around the strange rocky mounds. Here are some pics. And a video that my lady will enjoy seeing on the Interweb. Yes, we are jamming to the Rent soundtrack.
Murray's wedding was an excellent reason to descend upon the unique town of Northampton, MA - home of Smith College, a naked sculpture park, a beer can hall of fame, and tons of boutiques and gift shops that are WAY more enlightened and clever than you, Mister Man. It was my first trip to what my brain imagines to be the typical "northeast" town. The weather cooperated by being primarily cloudy & rainy, but as often occurs, gave way to sunshine on Saturday, the big day. St. Mary's cathedral and the Hotel Northampton made excellent backdrops to a fun and memorable time with lots of my friends from childhood, high school, and college. A few pics here, and I'll refer you to my friend Megan's blog for more detail and better pics. We did pretty much all the same stuff as her, except the red eye and yoga.
Now that I think of it, something awesome DID occur in the great state of Connecticut. It involved salad, a state trooper, an awkward glance or two, and... well, I don't know if I should share the rest. But I could write a new entry: "Something came up on the way to Hartford Bradley airport"...
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
A smooth and gunky trip to Michigan
I wrote a review on Super Bowl ads in my previous post. It's really long, and you may be totally uninterested, but feel free to check it out and maybe comment on what the best/worst ads were.
I was lucky enough to spend this past weekend back home in Grand Rapids, so my family could see my fiance's new ring, and my roguish goatee. But getting there and back was half the fun! Northwest had the pleasure of being our discourteous carrier, canceling our connector from MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul), re-routing us through DTW (Detroit), and being generally rude and unhelpful. On the way back to SLC yesterday, our brand new and modern looking CRJ-900 left the gate, taxied out, but then got called back to the gate for being "overweight for MSP". So the plane was perfectly fine to take off from GRR, but would have been too heavy to land in MSP after burning off thousands of pounds of fuel? Shouldn't they, like, check this before booking/loading/taxiing? Instead, they asked 6 people to leave the plane and get on another plane bound for MSP, which was fortuitously sitting in the adjacent gate due to being late.
After hearing the landing gear drop on the approach to MSP, we suddenly bolted back up in the air and circled around. Once on the ground, our plane took a painfully long route to the gate, and then sat there, waiting for some alien breed known as "jetway operators" to actually connect us to the walkway. Our friendly captain informed us that "When it rains, it pours", explaining that we couldn't land the first time because we were approaching too fast (maybe due to the lack of weight?), and then there were no jetway operators because we were so late (DUUUUUHHHH!) Throughout the ordeal, flight attendants and friendly captains continued to "sincerely apologize" for their complete lack of planning- er, for the unfortunate weather and airport circumstances which were nearly unavoidable.
After all this, our 1 hour and 20 minute layover had been reduced to 0 hours and 2 minutes! We followed the MSP signs to the tram, which was to take us to gate C9, only the tram's digital marquee informed us it was "OUT OF SERVICE - PLEASE USE MOVING WALKWAYS ---->" Somehow, we made the connection (because it was late departing) and arrived back in SLC safe and sound. Our luggage even made it.
It was great spending time with family and friends back home. On Saturday, Annie and I had lunch with my old work buddy JJ McSparty at a new downtown joint called HopCat - pretty cool place and a wild beer menu. Then we checked out his condo at Union Square and sat chatting with him and his wife Jujube. Onward to my nephew's 2nd birthday party at my sister's place. We had burgers on the grill and some tasty ribs. Later that night, we hit up Jr P's place for some awesome Wii action (my first!) and to catch up with friends. Annie killed me at Wii boxing, but I did well at bowling and tennis. My arms still hurt today.
Then I got pink eye, again, in my left eye. Seriously, it happened while sitting in front of the computer watching funny videos with the guys at Jr P's house. Disinfect your mouse, Yoshii! And don't rub your eye...
Sunday was spent cleaning my gross eye and putting tons of eye drops in. I blame my predisposition for this ailment on all the people telling me how pretty my eyes are all my life. If I'm going to get a big ego about this eye thing, well, God'll show me what some mucus and dry irritation will do! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!
At least we got to watch a super-entertaining Super Bowl, and some more cousins and friends came by to my parent's house for food and fun. Monday, we caught a great lunch at Rose's in EGR with Bradley, and then headed to the airport for all the fun and excitement of cross country travel.
This morning, I woke up with pink eye in my right eye, and both eyes extremely red (pink?) So I'm going to the doctor this afternoon, which means I'm now home writing blogs. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up from the weekend. And yes, I'll make sure to use the red-eye reduction feature.
I was lucky enough to spend this past weekend back home in Grand Rapids, so my family could see my fiance's new ring, and my roguish goatee. But getting there and back was half the fun! Northwest had the pleasure of being our discourteous carrier, canceling our connector from MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul), re-routing us through DTW (Detroit), and being generally rude and unhelpful. On the way back to SLC yesterday, our brand new and modern looking CRJ-900 left the gate, taxied out, but then got called back to the gate for being "overweight for MSP". So the plane was perfectly fine to take off from GRR, but would have been too heavy to land in MSP after burning off thousands of pounds of fuel? Shouldn't they, like, check this before booking/loading/taxiing? Instead, they asked 6 people to leave the plane and get on another plane bound for MSP, which was fortuitously sitting in the adjacent gate due to being late.
After hearing the landing gear drop on the approach to MSP, we suddenly bolted back up in the air and circled around. Once on the ground, our plane took a painfully long route to the gate, and then sat there, waiting for some alien breed known as "jetway operators" to actually connect us to the walkway. Our friendly captain informed us that "When it rains, it pours", explaining that we couldn't land the first time because we were approaching too fast (maybe due to the lack of weight?), and then there were no jetway operators because we were so late (DUUUUUHHHH!) Throughout the ordeal, flight attendants and friendly captains continued to "sincerely apologize" for their complete lack of planning- er, for the unfortunate weather and airport circumstances which were nearly unavoidable.
After all this, our 1 hour and 20 minute layover had been reduced to 0 hours and 2 minutes! We followed the MSP signs to the tram, which was to take us to gate C9, only the tram's digital marquee informed us it was "OUT OF SERVICE - PLEASE USE MOVING WALKWAYS ---->" Somehow, we made the connection (because it was late departing) and arrived back in SLC safe and sound. Our luggage even made it.
It was great spending time with family and friends back home. On Saturday, Annie and I had lunch with my old work buddy JJ McSparty at a new downtown joint called HopCat - pretty cool place and a wild beer menu. Then we checked out his condo at Union Square and sat chatting with him and his wife Jujube. Onward to my nephew's 2nd birthday party at my sister's place. We had burgers on the grill and some tasty ribs. Later that night, we hit up Jr P's place for some awesome Wii action (my first!) and to catch up with friends. Annie killed me at Wii boxing, but I did well at bowling and tennis. My arms still hurt today.
Then I got pink eye, again, in my left eye. Seriously, it happened while sitting in front of the computer watching funny videos with the guys at Jr P's house. Disinfect your mouse, Yoshii! And don't rub your eye...
Sunday was spent cleaning my gross eye and putting tons of eye drops in. I blame my predisposition for this ailment on all the people telling me how pretty my eyes are all my life. If I'm going to get a big ego about this eye thing, well, God'll show me what some mucus and dry irritation will do! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!
At least we got to watch a super-entertaining Super Bowl, and some more cousins and friends came by to my parent's house for food and fun. Monday, we caught a great lunch at Rose's in EGR with Bradley, and then headed to the airport for all the fun and excitement of cross country travel.
This morning, I woke up with pink eye in my right eye, and both eyes extremely red (pink?) So I'm going to the doctor this afternoon, which means I'm now home writing blogs. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up from the weekend. And yes, I'll make sure to use the red-eye reduction feature.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Luke would have asked R2D2 where to sit
Southwest Airlines is flying for the everyman. No snobby first class section, no dehumanizing 'assigned' seating, personable flight attendants, $1-cheaper adult beverages than other airlines, and planes with Earl Scheib paint jobs. If you haven't flown the purple and orange, it's important to note that until about a month ago, Southwest gave you boarding passes with nothing more than a single letter on it: A, B, or - you guessed it - C! Those 3 simple designations let you know what boarding group you were with, and gave you the incentive to arrive earlier so you could be first in line in your respective group. You would literally stand or sit in a line, cleverly marked with one of those 3 letters. Once your group was called, you filed onto the aircraft, and chose any seat you wished! Freedom is a beautiful thing.
However, some genius at SWA (probably a marketing executive) decided that this unique, effective system was giving us civilians a little too much leash. (It also apparently provoked several line skirmishes at DTW last Thanksgiving.) Rather than just skip the quirkiness and revert to assigned seating like every other carrier, they decided to subdivide the letter groups into letter-number combinations. So now your boarding pass may say something like "A39". This means that you're the 39th person to board the aircraft, with the A group, but you still get to choose your seat. Instead of getting to the airport earliest to nab the coveted "A1" position, you are now encouraged to check in online earlier. You still have seat-picking freedom, but your spot in line is now binding. I think someone once said the same thing about leather pants.
During my first experience with this new system, I realized that it had somehow turned otherwise normal, intelligent human beings into raving lunatics. Let me lay the crowd control logistics: Southwest gates now have handy letter-number signage on poles, both denoting the line positions, and recommending where your spot in those lines should be. For example, the head of the first line says "A 1-30", and down the line there are supplemental signs suggesting "1-5; 6-10" etc... Your job as passenger is to find your spot, comparing with the other humans around you to make sure you're in the right order.
I had ticket A39, so I was in the "A 31-60" line, and someone with A40 was right behind me. For efficiency, they clear the 2 "A" lines first, then magically flip the head-of-line signs to "B" and, voila, the "B"s can assemble! As I waited, I noticed several people with "B" or "C" passes milling about our lines before we boarded, oblivious to the frequent PA announcements and actual SWA staffers helping them out. Actual arguments broke out about what the strange letters and numbers meant. One bold B-er just barged to the gate as the "A"s started moving. Our friendly gate guide politely informed him he had to wait, much to his surprise. Exasperated, he flung his arms in the air and asked if this whole deal could get any more complicated?!
It made me wonder - how does this guy even get to the correct gate in the first place? Which section is his car in at the economy lot? When he was informed his flight left from gate C18, did he stop to ask for directions? Does his head spin when he peers up at the overhead signage, pointing him to any of 5 lettered terminals, each with multiple numbered gates? Was he ever able to remember his wife's 'dimensions' for that special Valentine's gift? How does he choose which B vitamin to buy? What if his future includes games of Bingo or Battleship? WHAT SORT OF CRAZY ALPHA-NUMERIC NIGHTMARE IS HE LIVING IN?
Finally, the "B"s are called and he is ready to find his super special seat. BUT WAIT - each row is still numbered, each seat still lettered! Not to worry, the ever friendly SWA attendant reminds him those are simply relics of a long forgotten system, and he may sit where he pleases. Relieved, he buckles in, takes a deep breath, and gazes in awe at the newest Sharper Image nose hair trimmer in Skymall magazine. Prompted by the safety announcement, he casually pulls out the plane's emergeny instructions from the seat back, only to be slapped in the face with the reality that he is flying in an A-320* aircraft! (queue Psycho screech sound effects).
Look people, air travel is stressful and often exhausting. Take a minute to examine your surroundings, prepare your route, and for all our sakes - fly Delta and SIT WHERE YOU'RE TOLD.
(*Southwest flies only 737s, but that would have killed the gag)
However, some genius at SWA (probably a marketing executive) decided that this unique, effective system was giving us civilians a little too much leash. (It also apparently provoked several line skirmishes at DTW last Thanksgiving.) Rather than just skip the quirkiness and revert to assigned seating like every other carrier, they decided to subdivide the letter groups into letter-number combinations. So now your boarding pass may say something like "A39". This means that you're the 39th person to board the aircraft, with the A group, but you still get to choose your seat. Instead of getting to the airport earliest to nab the coveted "A1" position, you are now encouraged to check in online earlier. You still have seat-picking freedom, but your spot in line is now binding. I think someone once said the same thing about leather pants.
During my first experience with this new system, I realized that it had somehow turned otherwise normal, intelligent human beings into raving lunatics. Let me lay the crowd control logistics: Southwest gates now have handy letter-number signage on poles, both denoting the line positions, and recommending where your spot in those lines should be. For example, the head of the first line says "A 1-30", and down the line there are supplemental signs suggesting "1-5; 6-10" etc... Your job as passenger is to find your spot, comparing with the other humans around you to make sure you're in the right order.
I had ticket A39, so I was in the "A 31-60" line, and someone with A40 was right behind me. For efficiency, they clear the 2 "A" lines first, then magically flip the head-of-line signs to "B" and, voila, the "B"s can assemble! As I waited, I noticed several people with "B" or "C" passes milling about our lines before we boarded, oblivious to the frequent PA announcements and actual SWA staffers helping them out. Actual arguments broke out about what the strange letters and numbers meant. One bold B-er just barged to the gate as the "A"s started moving. Our friendly gate guide politely informed him he had to wait, much to his surprise. Exasperated, he flung his arms in the air and asked if this whole deal could get any more complicated?!It made me wonder - how does this guy even get to the correct gate in the first place? Which section is his car in at the economy lot? When he was informed his flight left from gate C18, did he stop to ask for directions? Does his head spin when he peers up at the overhead signage, pointing him to any of 5 lettered terminals, each with multiple numbered gates? Was he ever able to remember his wife's 'dimensions' for that special Valentine's gift? How does he choose which B vitamin to buy? What if his future includes games of Bingo or Battleship? WHAT SORT OF CRAZY ALPHA-NUMERIC NIGHTMARE IS HE LIVING IN?
Finally, the "B"s are called and he is ready to find his super special seat. BUT WAIT - each row is still numbered, each seat still lettered! Not to worry, the ever friendly SWA attendant reminds him those are simply relics of a long forgotten system, and he may sit where he pleases. Relieved, he buckles in, takes a deep breath, and gazes in awe at the newest Sharper Image nose hair trimmer in Skymall magazine. Prompted by the safety announcement, he casually pulls out the plane's emergeny instructions from the seat back, only to be slapped in the face with the reality that he is flying in an A-320* aircraft! (queue Psycho screech sound effects).
Look people, air travel is stressful and often exhausting. Take a minute to examine your surroundings, prepare your route, and for all our sakes - fly Delta and SIT WHERE YOU'RE TOLD.
(*Southwest flies only 737s, but that would have killed the gag)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Malihalikaliapuaa'a'aa
It only took me a month to post a Hawaii recap! Here's the short: Kauai is incredibly beautiful. We were very fortunate to stay in a timeshare in Princeville (mahalo, Dr S.!), which is on the north, and best, side of the island. If you ever go to Kauai, you must get the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed, by Wizard Publications. Just call it the "Blue Book" and use it to find activities, remote beaches, hiking trails, and rely on its restaurant ratings. Every place they recommended was right on. My recommendations: find Secret Beach, do a Na Pali boat tour (or helicopter tour, which we did not do), eat at Scotty's Beachside BBQ, snorkel anywhere, eat lots of fresh fish and fruit, and if you happen to need to watch a sporting event but are checked out of your room... go to Kalypso in Hanalei (I watched the UM-MSU game there!)
Instead of trying to summarize everything, we just captioned our photos. Check them out HERE.
Aloha!
Instead of trying to summarize everything, we just captioned our photos. Check them out HERE.
Aloha!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
So my woman took me to the doctor...
The Michigan - Ohio State game literally made me sick. I happened to be in Foster City, CA with my lovely pals Bradfo and Megs on Saturday, watched the "game", and immediately felt a prickly flu-like pain, fever, and a bit of a sore throat. No biggie right? With just a few hours left with my friends, I stuck it out for a late lunch before driving down to San Jose for the flight home. Sitting in the SJC, I chugged Odwalla (from Half Moon Bay!) and prayed I wouldn't pass out. My head was in a sickly cloud and my body was screaming at me to sleep. I finally made it home to SLC around 10:45 PM MST (via LAS), took some ibuprofin, and passed out. Woke up around 3 AM, t-shirt soaked with sweat and throat swollen and sore.
Thankfully, my attentive and concerned (sick of me whining) girlfriend practically forced me to an urgent care center by Sunday afternoon, where the doctor took all of 3 nanoseconds to declare, "You have strep - who gave it to ya?"
Deftly, I replied, "I don't know, evil throat gnomes from Columbus, OH?" I did not say that, exactly. More like, "Oun no." (I don't know.)
Anyhoo, I'm finally recovered-ish. Only missed 1 day of work due to continued pain, night sweats, and potential contagiousness. The night sweats thing is weird. Sort of an adult bed-wetting, if you think about it. Oh - Brad & Megs - if you get a sore throat, sorry, and go to the doc.
I'm just at lunch right now, trying to work the last day before Thanksgiving. I have some amazing rants brewing about the stupidity of people and my distaste for retail environments, and a great slide show/recap of our Hawaii trip that's long overdue, so I hope to be back soon.
Quickly: My Dad sent me a text message that I thought was amusing enough to share. I don't know if he heard this somewhere, or is just a master of wordplay. Some of you will get this, some won't. Don't worry about it. Upon leaving the UM-OSU game:
"Worst game ever... Need New Carr, Les Miles"
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Thankfully, my attentive and concerned (sick of me whining) girlfriend practically forced me to an urgent care center by Sunday afternoon, where the doctor took all of 3 nanoseconds to declare, "You have strep - who gave it to ya?"
Deftly, I replied, "I don't know, evil throat gnomes from Columbus, OH?" I did not say that, exactly. More like, "Oun no." (I don't know.)
Anyhoo, I'm finally recovered-ish. Only missed 1 day of work due to continued pain, night sweats, and potential contagiousness. The night sweats thing is weird. Sort of an adult bed-wetting, if you think about it. Oh - Brad & Megs - if you get a sore throat, sorry, and go to the doc.
I'm just at lunch right now, trying to work the last day before Thanksgiving. I have some amazing rants brewing about the stupidity of people and my distaste for retail environments, and a great slide show/recap of our Hawaii trip that's long overdue, so I hope to be back soon.
Quickly: My Dad sent me a text message that I thought was amusing enough to share. I don't know if he heard this somewhere, or is just a master of wordplay. Some of you will get this, some won't. Don't worry about it. Upon leaving the UM-OSU game:
"Worst game ever... Need New Carr, Les Miles"
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Musings from the ORD
Oh wow - I'm in a hotel room again, big shock. This time a plush Comfort Inn within range of approaching 747s just outside of O'Hare airport, or ORD as we travellers like to say. Annie and I take unusual pride in our knowledge of 3-letter airport codes and use them frequently to refer to cities, even when the airport has no bearing. LIH baby! It's like text message codes for grownups, LOL.
Work doesn't provide me a laptop yet, so I decided to take Annie's home laptop for this trip to get some work done, and it was the best decision ever. Not only can I get work done, but I can download recent episodes of Rescue Me, write this, and watch Monday Night Football all from the relative Comfort of my Inn. I'm always late to embrace the convenience of certain technologies, but I always really appreciate them once I do.
It seems like I write about sports in just about every blog...well, it ain't changing here. The kids are on a parks & rec soccer team, and I've been able to see several of their games. They're in that 6-8 age group so they either follow the ball around in a confusing mob, or stand in one place because someone told them to play a 'position'. It's fun. I can't sit still during these games. I want to coach them up with my limited knowledge of soccer (2 yrs in H.S., woo-hoo!) but they're not ready for skill-specific coaching yet. I want to encourage them to 'compete' and 'win', but they don't really care yet. And I want to yell at the team parent-coach sometimes because the assigned parent-coach doesn't do any coaching. Parent-coach's strength is in choosing who brings snacks each game. I don't have much of a point to this paragraph yet, so... I should probably coach one of the kids' sports someday.
I miss home and especially my core group of guy friends a lot lately. Fall is the best in Michigan, and I always looked forward to busting out the hoodies and jeans and sweaters, going to tailgates at GVSU and watching the Wolverines every Saturday. I can do most of that stuff here (hoodies are outlawed), but not with the same friends. Fall is the time where we always find more excuses to get together with friends, I think because from childhood through college we're accustomed to a new school year starting and it feels like a sort of reunion. I haven't gone to school in 6 years, but I still get that feeling. Anyway, friends: A shout-out to you, and you know who you are. My inner circle of testosterone-laden, bad joke making, mini-muffin tossing, horrible poker playing buds. The Dudes. You're all fatter, balder, and uglier than last time I saw you, but I still love ya just the same.
I finished reading High Fidelity, and I'll give it 2.5 out of 4. I never could separate the characters from their Hollywood film counterparts. Imagine a quasi-British John Cusack, drifting in and out of accent with sometimes moppy black hair and other times spiky blonde hair and ruddy complexion. It doesn't quite work. I'm reading non-fiction again, Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. Where religion goes wrong, and how! It's actually not funny, and rather disturbing. Speaking of, I was reminded of the power of religious emotion and selfish extremism when my company was accused of "banning" Christmas by a powerful political action group. Not caring that their claim was false, many of my colleagues and I received hateful emails and voice mails from people around the country claiming to be Christians and patriotic Americans. I don't want to tell the story here, but call or email me and I'll fill you in and send some entertaining links. I also received some understanding and thoughtful emails from others whom I personally know to be Christians - we're not all nutty, arrogant judgers - whew! Either way, it reminded me that as humans, we all fail miserably and frequently, but I have a lot of respect for people who maintain religious faith and do so with class and perception and grace.
How did I get on that topic? Anyway, I'm tired and this laptop is burning my legs through my dungarees. Good night now!
Work doesn't provide me a laptop yet, so I decided to take Annie's home laptop for this trip to get some work done, and it was the best decision ever. Not only can I get work done, but I can download recent episodes of Rescue Me, write this, and watch Monday Night Football all from the relative Comfort of my Inn. I'm always late to embrace the convenience of certain technologies, but I always really appreciate them once I do.
It seems like I write about sports in just about every blog...well, it ain't changing here. The kids are on a parks & rec soccer team, and I've been able to see several of their games. They're in that 6-8 age group so they either follow the ball around in a confusing mob, or stand in one place because someone told them to play a 'position'. It's fun. I can't sit still during these games. I want to coach them up with my limited knowledge of soccer (2 yrs in H.S., woo-hoo!) but they're not ready for skill-specific coaching yet. I want to encourage them to 'compete' and 'win', but they don't really care yet. And I want to yell at the team parent-coach sometimes because the assigned parent-coach doesn't do any coaching. Parent-coach's strength is in choosing who brings snacks each game. I don't have much of a point to this paragraph yet, so... I should probably coach one of the kids' sports someday.
I miss home and especially my core group of guy friends a lot lately. Fall is the best in Michigan, and I always looked forward to busting out the hoodies and jeans and sweaters, going to tailgates at GVSU and watching the Wolverines every Saturday. I can do most of that stuff here (hoodies are outlawed), but not with the same friends. Fall is the time where we always find more excuses to get together with friends, I think because from childhood through college we're accustomed to a new school year starting and it feels like a sort of reunion. I haven't gone to school in 6 years, but I still get that feeling. Anyway, friends: A shout-out to you, and you know who you are. My inner circle of testosterone-laden, bad joke making, mini-muffin tossing, horrible poker playing buds. The Dudes. You're all fatter, balder, and uglier than last time I saw you, but I still love ya just the same.
I finished reading High Fidelity, and I'll give it 2.5 out of 4. I never could separate the characters from their Hollywood film counterparts. Imagine a quasi-British John Cusack, drifting in and out of accent with sometimes moppy black hair and other times spiky blonde hair and ruddy complexion. It doesn't quite work. I'm reading non-fiction again, Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. Where religion goes wrong, and how! It's actually not funny, and rather disturbing. Speaking of, I was reminded of the power of religious emotion and selfish extremism when my company was accused of "banning" Christmas by a powerful political action group. Not caring that their claim was false, many of my colleagues and I received hateful emails and voice mails from people around the country claiming to be Christians and patriotic Americans. I don't want to tell the story here, but call or email me and I'll fill you in and send some entertaining links. I also received some understanding and thoughtful emails from others whom I personally know to be Christians - we're not all nutty, arrogant judgers - whew! Either way, it reminded me that as humans, we all fail miserably and frequently, but I have a lot of respect for people who maintain religious faith and do so with class and perception and grace.
How did I get on that topic? Anyway, I'm tired and this laptop is burning my legs through my dungarees. Good night now!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
I should write more, too
It's been a while, and so much has changed. I've been to Orlando (via Denver), Salt Lake City (via Memphis, then Denver), Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Denver and Salt Lake City in the past two weeks (...I've been ev-ery-where man, I've been ev-ery-where...). Travelling by plane is the best time to catch up on a growing favorite activity of mine: Reading. Nerd Alert! Joking. All the cool people I know read, and they read more than me, and probably better books than me. In the past few months I've read, and recommend based on x out of 4 stars, the following books: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (4 stars) - I can't believe this part of American history is not more well known; Skeleton Coast by Clive Cussler with Jack DuBrul (3 stars) - Cussler weaves another tale of shipwrecks, political unrest, unbelievably diabolical plots to cause harm, and the heroes who prevent it; The Meaning of Sports by Michael Mandelbaum (2.5 stars) - recommended by a brilliant sports/political journalist, Gregg Easterbrook (Tuesday Morning QB), this book compares the defining traits of the 3 major American sports - Baseball, Football, and Basketball - to 3 distinct social eras in our history: Agrarian, Industrial Revolution, and post-Industrial Revolution. I gave it 2.5 because I knew a lot of the factoids already, but LOVED the section about baseball's history - that alone makes it worth the read for any baseball fan - and found the comparisons interesting. I'm currently reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (incomplete) - easy, fun read but difficult to separate the book's British setting and characters from the Cusack/Hjejle/Black cast of the US movie.
I was travelling for work, doing a marketing presentation to groups of franchisees as part of day-long regional meetings. As small as 4 in our own Salt Lake market, to a group of 50+ in L.A. My portion was about an hour and a half of presenting, discussion, and answering questions. Tiring, frustrating at times, but rewarding. I probably learned more from them than they from me. (Charon - was that an acceptable sentence structure? Sounded weird.) I also ate a lot of cookies and catered lunches, which is one of two reasons my dress pants have been, well, not exactly 'fitting' lately.
Annie and I find it difficult to be separated when we travel for business, which is ironic considering we 'dated' from a distance greater than the entire Central time zone for a couple years. I'm home now for a week, then I leave for a Chicago-St. Paul leg of the same meetings. 3 weeks from now, I'll be in Hawaii for my first time! A much needed vacation that Annie has been diligently planning in my absence thanks to The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook (TBD stars). Time to stop donating money to the local 24-Hour Fitness (the other reason for the tight pants) and start getting in beach shape.
Let's see, what else... Oh - since I last wrote, Michigan got Duck-waxed by Oregon, then rebounded for 4 straight wins. Speaking of 4 straight, I'm the only 4-0 team in my Fantasy Football League. Double Nerd Alert!! Hey guys - remember how I won the league last year and how much of a fluke it was? Check yourselves before you wriggedy-wreck yourselves. Tommy Brady just hit for another TD pass...it's going to be a great Sunday.
And the big news? (drum roll please...)
We bought a new car! Gotcha, suckers. We leased it, actually. I say 'we' only in the sense that I was present for some signatures. Annie did all the work, since it is her need for new, shiny things with satellite radio and 3rd row seating that led to this decision. Nissan Pathfinder - gray, leather, loaded. Bu-bye to the Jetta, hello to extra space for soccer gear and trips to Costco (48-pack of TP? No problem.) Babe - we've finally made it! New TV, furniture, the car, and nearly unmanageable debt. We're so 21st century.
I was travelling for work, doing a marketing presentation to groups of franchisees as part of day-long regional meetings. As small as 4 in our own Salt Lake market, to a group of 50+ in L.A. My portion was about an hour and a half of presenting, discussion, and answering questions. Tiring, frustrating at times, but rewarding. I probably learned more from them than they from me. (Charon - was that an acceptable sentence structure? Sounded weird.) I also ate a lot of cookies and catered lunches, which is one of two reasons my dress pants have been, well, not exactly 'fitting' lately.
Annie and I find it difficult to be separated when we travel for business, which is ironic considering we 'dated' from a distance greater than the entire Central time zone for a couple years. I'm home now for a week, then I leave for a Chicago-St. Paul leg of the same meetings. 3 weeks from now, I'll be in Hawaii for my first time! A much needed vacation that Annie has been diligently planning in my absence thanks to The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook (TBD stars). Time to stop donating money to the local 24-Hour Fitness (the other reason for the tight pants) and start getting in beach shape.
Let's see, what else... Oh - since I last wrote, Michigan got Duck-waxed by Oregon, then rebounded for 4 straight wins. Speaking of 4 straight, I'm the only 4-0 team in my Fantasy Football League. Double Nerd Alert!! Hey guys - remember how I won the league last year and how much of a fluke it was? Check yourselves before you wriggedy-wreck yourselves. Tommy Brady just hit for another TD pass...it's going to be a great Sunday.
And the big news? (drum roll please...)
We bought a new car! Gotcha, suckers. We leased it, actually. I say 'we' only in the sense that I was present for some signatures. Annie did all the work, since it is her need for new, shiny things with satellite radio and 3rd row seating that led to this decision. Nissan Pathfinder - gray, leather, loaded. Bu-bye to the Jetta, hello to extra space for soccer gear and trips to Costco (48-pack of TP? No problem.) Babe - we've finally made it! New TV, furniture, the car, and nearly unmanageable debt. We're so 21st century.
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