Endless Capacity for Useless Information

Pet Peeve

2008-10-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

i like to think i'm pretty easygoing...but there are a few things that really tick me off. actually, one. so karee's dad, bob, thinks cars should come without cupholders in them. similarly, i think cars should come without horns. i swear...they are the most horrific sound to me. they put me in a bad mood. they ruin my day. every time.

a few nights ago, a car alarm went off in front of my house for 20 minutes. at three am. it was a honking car alarm. i was pissed off for a full 24 hours after that.

another irrational (yes, i can admit that its ridiculous...see how mature i am?) peeve i have is motorcycles revving.

i dont think i was sensitive to either of these sounds until i lived in San Francisco right by the Broadway tunnel and would listen to motorcycle gangs roaring through it all night. god, that was miserable.

Things you dont want to hear on a plane...

2008-10-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

so this is an old story, and I bet some of you (ie - my dad) have heard it before...and likely re-told it...but for some of you, it will be brand new.

I flew to DC about a year ago...I dont know what for, but I think it was when we had a family reunion in Baltimore, then i took the train up to Delaware for work. Either way...i was flying from DEN to Reagan National.

So about 3 hours into the flight, the pilot comes on the speakers and says that due to "Extreme Winds", we are running out of fuel and will have to stop in Pittsburg to refuel before we get to DC. People start mumbling and grumbling but we all figure "hey...it would be really terrible to run out of fuel and plummet to our deaths". So we accept this, and i keep reading my educational, historical novel (read: UsWeekly).

A few minutes later, pilot comes back on the radio and says "ok - we've been cleared for landing in Pittsburg...we're going to land, re-fuel, then be back in the air within about 20 minutes. we should make up some time in the air, so probably only be a few minutes late". Everyone sighs a little bit in relief.

A few minutes later, pilot comes back on and says "Folks, we're gonna scrap the re-fueling landing in Pittsburg and just try to make it to DC on this tank". There was a millisecond of dead silence, then people started flipppppppping out. i mean, what kind of idiot pilot was this? telling us we dont have enough fuel (like 5 times), then saying 'were gonna give it a shot"

So....we made it (apprently...coasting in on fumes, if the pilot was to be believed). It was a mildly stressful hour, let me tell you.

That's all for now.

ps - this post was a blatant way for me to avoid doing homework. you're welcome.

6 week break!!

2008-10-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

so...since Thailand, i have still had a LOT of trips. more than i really planned on.

I flew to Denver for chris & erin's wedding, which was So much fun...even with the freak windstorm that blew into the reception. no really...it was like a movie. wine glasses toppling, tableclothes flying up and around in the wind.

I flew to Dallas (then drove to Wichita Falls) for my cousin Colin's wedding. Wichita Falls (full disclaimer...it's pronouced "Witch-i-tah" with the emphasis on the Witch....though me and my siblings and Dan kept pronouncing it "wi-cheetah" with the emphasis on the cheetah....we think we're hilarious, dont we??). anyway....WF is not so happening. i think i can check it off my life-list. CHECK! but the dallas airport was the same as always. only negative was the dude playing music on his cell phone at full volume. even though i gave him the stink eye in the waiting area (for litearlly like 20 minutes)....then politely asked him to put in earphones (really....i was nice)...and he still didn't. ugh...very rude.

I flew to San Antonio this past weekend to help celebrate my mom's big award (YAY MOM!!!!). so apparently they haven't updated this yet...but keep your eyes peeled for the winner in 2008...it will be her! http://som.uthscsa.edu/Alumni/distinguishedalum.asp The best part of the event was that they gave Katy (my sister) an MD (on her nametag). so i guess she gets to skip the next few years of her life.....she's already a doctor. Congratulations Katy!! no-one deserves it more than you! you make us proud!

highlights of the SA trip were:
1. Rick bayless was on my flight to SA. there was apparently a Latin American Cooking symposium in SA, which would make sense.
2. las Palapas (see previous entries on SA)
3. nice, on time flights
4. upgrades both ways

Lets see - now...i am a full time student! studying hard...making new friends...and spending way more money than i really should be.

Eveeryone make sure to wish karee a happy (late) birthday...it was yesterday, but we're celebrating tomorrow....

next flight is in 6 weeks for thanksgiving, when i'm flying back to TX. Who is going to be there!

any ideas for what i should post about in the next 6 weeks? business school shenanigans? recruiting? classes? new brown-nosing friends?

Thailand!!!

2008-09-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

HI guys!!! Well, if i thought the travel would subside after quitting my job, I was wrong.

I went to Thailand for a week with 15 new friends (a school organized trip). Yes, it was basically like the Real World. We all met at the gate at Ohare...so litearlly we were complete strangers.

Anyway - a 3rd party had booked all of this travel for us (TravelMBA) so we had no say on the airlines or anything...but lo and behold, we were on United. Obviously, I was thrilled. So i cashed in some of my systemwide (intl) upgrades and flew business class the whole way. which was SO nice.

Now, as we've discussed several times on here...International upgrades are not all that fabulous on a domestic carrier (ie - United). if we'd been on on eof the partner airlines, i'm sure the business class would have been so much nicer, but it was decent. at least the seats reclined more than in coach. but i didn't have a personalized entertainment station. the food was ok. not fabulous, but ok.

we flew from Ohare to Tokyo (12-13 hour flight), then had a 2 hour layover in Tokyo, then flew from Tokyo to Bangkok (6 hour flight). needless to say, this was a LONG LONG day. we arrived in Bangkok about 11pm or so, and then headed out for the night. We spent a few days in Bangkok, then a few days in Pattaya (um...look it up...crazy), then back to Bangkok for 2 days, then flew home.

The trip was awesome, I met some fun new friends, and saw some BEAUTIFUL stuff there. I would like to go back without a party of 16 (i mean...it makes EVERYTHING difficult), and to see some different parts of the country. We didn't get to some of the southern beaches (the really famous gorgeous ones), and we didn't get to the northern part of the country (chang mai, in particular). So now i have a reason to go back! Preferably not during the HOT HOT HOT humid humid humid monsoon season :)

Lets see - what else. Last weekend I flew to Denver for Chris & Erin's wedding (Congratulations!!!!). Flew on American since United was crazy expensive. The flights were delayed in both directions (clearly not AA's fault, but because of the monster thunderstorms that sat on top of chicago all weekend). I have to say, AA wasn't my favorite. Maybe bc i'm so used to Economy Plus on United, but the seats were TINY, the planes are smaller too. so for example, the seat config is 2-3. so on the 2 side of the plane (seats A&B), there isn't space for roller bags because the bins are too shallow. meaning....there isn't really room on the plan for all the luggage. poor design, if i say so :) what else....they had a nice variety of snack packs for purchase (I didn't). otherwise, pretty much the same as any other airline.

I'm flying United again next week to go to Dallas for my cousin's wedding, but that's a quick trip (24 hours) so hopefully no delays!!!

Once the travel slows down (should be another few weeks), then I"ll start posting about obnoxious business school trends and peopls (dont worry, there's tons)

bye!!!

also - SHOUT OUT. my dear friends Steve & Amanda are studying abroad (they're in law school) in Madrid this fall. I put their blog link on the right!!!

Tulsa, Oklahoma

2008-08-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

TULSA is quite the metropolitan destination and the airport fit right in. I arrived right on time (yay) and quickly met up with keli's parents. we had about 30 minutes to kill until keli landed, so we wandered around and quickly stumbled across this vending machine. i had to take a picture of course....have you EVER seen this? it delivers piping hot food right to you?! i didn't know whether to be grossed out or totally in love.

has anyone tried one of these before? i'm curious how they heat it all up and deliver it at the perfect temperature? i would have tried myself, but this one was out of order, and i didn't discover there was another one there until too late. sad. maybe next year i'll try it!

the week in oklahoma (at keli's family lakehouse) was great! lots of sun, reading, relaxing, beerade, and fun.

let's fast forward to the departure from tulsa....

so...we were flying out on monday afternoon (keli to DC, and me to Chicago). when we came in from the lake to shower and clean up, i notice i have like 3 missed calls and voicemails from united. bad sign. the first one says my flight is delayed, the 2nd one says my flight is actually cancelled, and the 3rd one is a nice friendly man at the tulsa airport telling me my options. he has rebooked me on a 2pm flight (my flight was at 5 originally), and says the 2pm is already so delayed that even if i arrive at 4...i'll get on it fine. so...ok. nothing to worry about? sounds like i'm all set! great!

we arrive at the airport, keli leaves right on time, and i realize my flight (the 2pm) is now delayed until 7-something. so i go have some food (not the tyson machine), and hang out and read. then i notice its delayed more. apparently (i had no idea) the worst storm in years was pummeling chicago (ie - when i was talking to my friend on the phone...the tornado sirens were all going off downtown, they evacuated wrigley field, trees blowing down all over town, etc....very bad). needless to say, total ground stop in effect.

i honestly have no idea how i killed time - i think i have purged this memory from my mind. all of a sudden, it's 9. we board the plane, back up, and start taxiing. ohhhhhhhhhhh wait...not so fast....captain comes on the horn says ground stop is back in effect, we're going back to the gate. at this point, i would have rather just sat on the plane, as tiny and squished as it was. but that wasn't an option. so back to the gate we go....back to the bar i go. i needed a beer. badly.

finally, we end up leaving at like 1130 or so. the flight was so scary...i have never seen lightning like that. it was just constant. not flashes, but like the lights were on up in the sky. spooky!

so...we land, the cab line is of course a total hell hole (and sorry...i know i'm trying to be fiscally responsible here, but....im not taking the el home at 2am...no way jose). so the cabbie turns onto my street, and it's like we're staring straight into hell. there are trees (big ones...whole entire trees, not little wimpy branches) all in my street...and not a light in sight. that's right folks, no power. (note - the power didn't come back on until WEDNESDAY...which for those of you who can add well....that's 3 days of no power). so i have to use my cell phone like a flashlight to go up my stairs (and most of you know that i'm like the biggest scaredy cat wussy in the WORLD about the dark). then i walk into my spooky pitch dark apartment and crash. the cabbie nicely offered to walk me up to my place....um, pass.

so tulsa....you were good to me during my delay. i think it's pretty weak that your only food-serving establishment closes at 630, but hey...i dont make the decisions. your bar stayed open later, which i appreciated. and your magazine store didn't dissapoint, even if the girl had no idea what she was doing and asked if 'details' was a book. and yes, i know details is for closeted gay men, but i wanted to read about james mcevoy. no dice.

Boston!

2008-08-15T07:29:00.001-07:00

overdue post alert! well, i promised you guys some good blogs about my airport experiences, and im finally here to deliver. and lucky you...you're going to get a load of posts today.

first off...boston!

so my flight to boston was pretty uneventful except that it was about 5 hours late due to weather in boston. i was on a 6pm flight, and was supposed to land at like 9 or so but ended up getting more and more and more delayed as the night went on. there were about 5 flights from ohare to boston all delayed...so i at least felt better that i wasn't on the 2pm flight...which was also still there. (sidenote - several days after the flight, i got a 'personal' email from united apologizing for the delay, which i thought was a nice, if generic, touch.)

the interesting part of the story is that there was a huge group of travelers with a lot of kids on my flight....and the kids were all laying on the seats sleeping. each kid taking up 2 seats. so essentially, there is nowhere for any of the adults to sit. i found this to be pretttty unacceptable that the gate agents would allow this, so i just went and sat at another gate, but was kind of fired up about it.

when i arrived in boston, it was pretty late, so i booked it to the cab line and got outta dodge.

however, when i was leaving boston, i had some more time to explore. we got to Logan at about 5am... first thing i notice, the easy check-in kiosks (for united) are all broken. well, that's not true....out of a clump of 5 of them, 2 work. so there is a long line of people to use them. and what i absolutely will never understand is people who take like 20 minutes to check in with a kiosk. i mean....once you scan your credit card, you dont really have anything else to do (except maybe pick a seat). how on earth are people so slow at these???

once we were int he terminal, i got to explore. theres about 3 places to eat (this is the united terminal, which is clearly the stepchild of logan). first weird thing is that this rinky dinky little cafe had one of the most impressive airport salad bars i've ever seen. i even took a photo it was so impressive. lucky you.

pretty hot, huh!?

second thing....you know how some airports (primarily in the south....think charleston, charlotte, atlanta) try to up the charm-factor by having rocking chairs in the waiting areas? well, boston is certainly not trying to charm anyone....all the seats were your standard waiting area seats, except for one random stray rocking chair. how on earth do you think it got there? did someone fly it in and leave it? did it come through security? i thought this was totally bizarre...so again...i took a picture. (note - these were taken with my phone, so the quality is probably not so good - you can deal)

other weird thing about the boston airport was that there was a dunkin donuts right next to my gate, and the lady working the counter....had a voice volume of 8 million. as did most of the customers. so i got to hear a LOT of people bitching and moaning about how you can't get good coffee anywhere these days (except dunkin donuts, naturally). one guy had the nerve to scream "I was in San Antonio last week and wouldnt you know it....no dunkins there....those people must DIE". i was too tired to assault him, but i think karma is probably not on his side.

anyway - boston was wonderful. had a blast and would love to go back. i've heard great things about the other terminals there, but didn't have the chance to see them...so now i have an excuse to go back!

Charleston, SC

2008-07-21T08:17:00.001-07:00

Hi my loyal readers!

I just returned from a week of family vacation and got to experience a brand new airport (new to me)! CHS - charleston, SC.

Before i get into the details, a comment. When i flew out of ohare, the flights for charleston, SC (CHS) and charleston, WV (CRW) were right next to eachother, and the flights were leaving at right around the same time. talk about confusing. i can't believe they dont have more people accidentally 1) book the wrong city, 2) get on the wrong plane. if i was gate control at Ohare, I would probably put a little space between those gates, but i guess they have a method to their madness.

Now, the airport.

Overall - I arrived and had about 30 minutes until my family arrived, so i got to explore the airport a little. um, 30 minutes was about 25 minutes too long. the airport is lovely, but pretty teeny. I think there were 5 gates in my terminal (term A). Within Terminal A, there was a magazine shop, a sam adams bar, and attached to the bar, a bagel cafe. i pretty much just bolted to baggage when i landed, so i didn't really explore. dont worry - i had plenty of time to explore when i departed. we'll get to that

Baggage - Slow. i know, i know...shocking. It was slow and it was small. there were 2 carousels for the whole airport, and the area around them was very cramped. lots of crazy behavior exhibited at baggage claim (the crazies who canNOT bear to wait 10 extra seconds and must push and shove to access their bag rather than waiting for it to circle to them).

Car Rental - EXCELLENT. not ONLY have they not implemented the dreaded 'rental car center' shuttle....but they dont even have rental car buses. the cars are literally parked like 10 feet outside the terminal. so you just stroll right over with your luggage and load on up! the Avis man was very nice and friendly and gave us a nice big car. 2 thumbs up!

Distance to City - Excellent. Just about 10 minutes to drive downtown. Even in the rain. EVEN including a small detour (aka - getting lost).

Now, we spent a week in South Carolina, then I was flying out of CHS back to ORD (on a direct flight, thankfully). So I get the helpful email from United that we're already running an hour behind, so i time my arrival appropriately. Then i sit and wait. I have a nice seat where I can see the plane at our gate...and there are some mechanics working on the door of the plane. After awhile, a mechanic walks out with a ROLL OF DUCT TAPE and all the passengers (who are staring out the window) start stirring nervously. they cancel the flight within like 2 minutes. mass panic ensues.

**Now, I have to think that many of these people have been reading this oh-so-widely-read blog, because some of them had the United Reservations # in their cell phone (a tip i recommended a while back). So they start calling all around me, and they've all been rebooked on the 545am flight the next morning. So...then i finally talk to the lady on the phone, and turns out I have been rebooked on a flight that same night to IAD then continuing on to ORD. i waved goodbye to all my new friends, as they left to go back home, and settled in for my flight in just about an hour. i was very excited to hear I'd be getting home that night, but a little confused as to why noone else was on this flight? curious, huh?

So....finally I board to DC, fly there (no problems whatsoever), then in DC i get to my gate, and it's completely packed to the gills. DC has the helpful screens with lots of info about your flight (ie - arrival time, list of standby passengers, list of upgrades available, etc). So i can quickly tell that there are 81 people on the standby list. EIGHTY-ONE. and united had just rebooked me on there and given me a seat.

now i know i bitch and moan about united, but come on....how can i possibly break up with them when they treat me THIS well? i can't. i cut a line of 81 people and had an aisle seat in economy plus. woo!!!

once i arrived back in chicago (late late late), i go to claim my luggage...and...nothing. i suspected my luggage might not be onboard, but the lady at the counter was just so incredibly stupid, i have to comment. She says 'your bag was checked onto flight XXX (whatever my original flight from charleston was), that flight landed several hours ago, so its here somewhere!" now you brilliant readers will recall that this flight was cancelled. so i tell her this. she reiterates "the flight landed and your bag is here". i say 'Maam, the flight never left, it's sitting on the ground in South Carolina". "oooooooooooohhhhh, well then yes, your bag is not here"

Fast Forward to Saturday about 5pm....my bag arrives at my house in Chicago. This actually wasn't that big of an issue, since i was at home (where i have lots of other clothes & toiletries) and not on the road. however, i did get an important tip out of the experience - pack your glasses in your carry -on, not your checked bag. those of you who dont wear glasses/contacts - i'm jealous...and in the words of katy's hilarious friend heston, "you are so lucky to have the gift of sight". haha

Next up - I'm flying to Boston on Thursday evening, so I am excited to see that airport too. I know its going to be big and exciting :)

SERIOUSLY overdue update

2008-07-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hi my (hopefully) loyal readers!

It's been a long break, I know. Here's the update.

After we got back from Eastern Europe, I flew to San Antonio for walker's (my brother) high school graduation! Then I was back in Chicago, and very excited to get back to my forbidden fruit cotton apparel. In fact, I dont think i've worn any of my wickaway clothes from the trip once since i got back. I have moved into an apartment in Chicago and am enjoying living alone and getting to know my new city - which has been easy since i was unstaffed for the 5 weeks after i got back! So basically, I've been getting paid to not work. It's a rough life, I know. Unfortunately, the employment gods have turned against me once more and I am back on a project (but only for the next few weeks....and it's local).

I have visited several new airports since my last update, so i'll give you my thoughts on those. i know i know - you've been DYING to know.

Istanbul, Turkey (IST) - The Istanbul airport was pretty crazy. Our flight home to the US was at like 5am so we had to get there at the crack of dawn, which obviously was so much fun. To even enter the airport, you have to go through security, which we hadn't seen before. They have huge xray machines for the bags (since you have to run your checked baggage also) and then once through, you're in the main check in lobby. This raised several questions.

First, I think you're allowed to check weapons (guns, knives, etc), aren't you? So what's the point of security to get into the airport if you can still bring a gun inside and then check it later? Maybe these xray machines weren't looking for guns, but more for bombs and chemicals? I dont know - i didn't really want to get into that conversation with the charming non-english speaking man carrying a machine gun (although i'm sure he knew "gun" and "bomb" and i would have gotten the special turkish treatment for even saying those words)

Second, this airport is pretty nice (considering). They had an incredible lounge that we hung out in (thanks Lufty) pre-flight, and the breakfast buffet in that joint was just riduculous. Really everything you could ever want - including a close replica of the insanely yummy doughy cheese balls from the Zagreb train station. We downed some liquids, grabbed some rolls & mini-nutellas, and parked it. The rest of the airport was very modern and clean (granted there was hardly anyone there it was so effing early).

Third, not sure if this was a poor translation or a cultural difference, but there were some signs in the restrooms that were extremely strange. They said (in Turkish, with an English translation below). "Please help us conserve water, flush twice". Anyone??

Split, Croatia (SPU) - Not TOO much to see here - but still an interesting experience. We took basically every available form of transportation in and out of Split while we were there since we were there twice (train in, bus out, ferry in, plane out). The airport is REALLY far from the city, but Croatian airlines offers a bus service 1 hour before each flight (and you pay the equiv of like....well i can't remember but it was less than $10.00 US). The bus takes about 30 minutes (so of course you're freaking out that you are going to miss your flight, then you remember that everyone on your flight is on the bus with you....so doubtful they'll let the plane take off empty). Anyway - once you arrive at the airport, you check in, check your luggage, then go through security and you're....well, that's pretty much it. Once you go through security you're in a space with like 10 chairs (literally.....), and then a door outside (where you have to walk to the plane and go up the roller stairs). there's no water fountains, there's no shops, there's no cafe, there's no banos. The airport was pretty modern otherwise. very clean and everyone was very nice. although the security lady gave me a hard time when i had to leave the secure area to use the restroom before we boarded. i mean, what do they expect? They trick everyone into waiting in this empty room and then keep you there for like an hour. it was very crowded and we were seated near a couple that was....VERY in love. like as in all over eachother. charming.

For those of you who want out other thoughts on Croatia - you should check the other blog...we had lots of wonderful experiences there!!! There are also some thoughts on the FRA airport, and Budapest airport (even though we didn't ever get past the main lobby there....long story), and probably Dulles (though i can't remember much since i'd been flying for like 23+ hours at that point).

Hmm - otherwise...since i've been back, I've spent time in the DFW airport, the PHX airport, SAT airport, ORD airport, and BWI airport. All places i've blogged about before, from what i can recall.

Next up - several new airports for me!! I fly to CHS (Charleston, SC) on friday and will be there for a week. After that - BOS (Boston) airport (which i've been to but it's been years), and then TUL (Tulsa airport) whcih i go to every year and highly doubt i've blogged about despite it's exotic locale, then I'm goign to Thailand for a week, so i'm sure you'll get some good tales out of that adventure!

After that - I start school and will have to start traveling on Miles instead of with real money - thankfully i have a lot of those to tide me over until i start making a paycheck again. :)

So - I've had some questions of what I should blog about while i'm in Business School (since i wont have the exciting traveling lifestyle anymore - yay). Any ideas??????

The Trip!!!

2008-05-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

Hi all my faithful readers!! I am SO sorry...i meant to post the link to our Trip blog on here before i left,but slipped my mind...SOOOOOOOOO here it is now. this should give you plenty of reading material as i compose my next brilliant airport observation (of which i have MANY from the trip!!!)

http://caraandabbyineurope.blogspot.com

Major updates

2008-04-09T12:41:00.001-07:00

I've been MIA for awhile. Here are the highlights.

1. I've moved! (yes, again) I'm now living in Chicago. yay. due mainly to....

2. I'm going back to school in the fall. yay! More info to come...

3. Me & Cara leave for our big trip in precisely 12 days. Melissa will be accompanying us on the first 1.5 weeks or so, and Jac will be meeting up with us in Krakow (roughly days #5-8). Cara & I will be blogging while we're there (WAY more often than i do now...). And i'll definitely update before we leave!!

4. Travel Comment of the day...Ohare bathroom doors go all the way to the floor, which is unusual. Also - they have those plastic toilet seat covers (the kind that swirl around to cover the seat...not the paper kind you take out of the dispenser and place on the seat yourself). i enjoy this. however, ohare has a major lack of both electrical plugs & water fountains.

5. Also - i know i have spoken about the bathroom facilities in the PHL airport. well, there is a long hallway that goes between terminals that has a neat bathroom feature. its by the ABP and the Express Spa, for those of you familiar with PHL. The bathroom stalls are roughly 4x size of regular stall, and has a step (like a 1 foot tall step up) for you to rest your things on. now, its still made of tile, so its kind of still the floor, but its raised up, so i feel like its' LESS dirty than the floor. logical? or am i just convincing myself.....anyway - i place my computer bag and my rollerbag on the step, and feel like they're staying cleaner. also - these huge stalls have individual sinks & mirrors. whic means you can wash your hands & face & brush teeth, reapply makeup and fuss over your hair in relaxing solitude. :)

6. General Comment of the day...why why why do men insist on wearing leather jackets???? ok i know some of you will disagree with me here...but hear me out. There are definitely some leather jackets that are LESS awful than others. see this guy (below). the blazer cut is infinitely more flattering than the bomber cut. now, i think foreign men, trendy metrosexual men, and gay men can pull this off. Regular frat-guy types cannot and should not try to wear leather jackets.

But then there are the plan...potato sack...awful ones. like...below. WHO thinks this is flattering?? (hint - no girls do).
Women out there - lets try to get the word out. I know i dont have many readers, but i think if we put out minds to it, we can rid the world of these crimes against fashion...starting with bombers.

**My apologies to these lovely male models. i'm sure you're nice people, but perhaps you should think twice before agreeing to wear something disgusting when you know it will be put online.

What a wonderful gift!!!

2008-03-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

SO has anyone read "the Secret"? you know, that ridiculous theory of 'if you put it out there, it will come back to you'? I've kind of always thought it was a joke. but apparently I was wrong.

THis morning I logged into my Smith Barney Account (which is only used for my Accenture shares), and guess what i found? A lovely gift waiting for me. Smith Barney felt like I deserved some kindness and love, and nicely transferred $577, 366,234.25 into my account! Just for fun! Becuase I deserve it!

Any suggestions on how we should spend our new money???

I'm gonna fly like an Eagle? (Guest Blog - Jackie)

2008-02-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

First off, let me say that I everytime I fly the American Eagle puddle jumper from DC to Boston, it's as if the travel gods take all frustrations out on me.

My first AE experience included this crazy flight attendant who I SWEAR was fired by the airline right before this flight. She was slamming things in the galley, spilling drinks all over the place, and had locked the bathroom because it was broken (ok, this is not technically her fault), but I ask you, is it even legal to fly a plane with a broken toilet?! Regardless, this first round with AE was enough to make me vow never to take them again.... until, that is, US Air decided to price gouge.

So.. enter my second experience... I head to DCA (Ronald Reagan airport) last night around 5pm (flying Sunday night b/c of multiple morning meetings today). I check in for my flight and am told by the automatic machine that I need to speak with a gate agent for a seat assignment (not unheard of). When I get to the gate agent I'm told they "appear to me in an oversold situation... and they will be asking for volunteers to give up a seat and, only then, they MAY have room for me. Well.. after 6 loudspeaker attempts to get 2 people to give up their seat to Boston, I'm called up to the podium. Thinking I'm being called up to pick up my new boarding pass, I'm STOKED... this, however, was not the case.

Things play out as such:

AE Guy: So... we're not getting people to volunteer, and you're the last one to book this flight (5 days in advance, but whatever). We're going to have to bump you unless you volunteer.

Me: What does this mean?.... do you mean that if I volunteer to give up a seat I TECHNICALLY do not yet have, I get the $200 voucher?

AE Guy: If I bump you, it's $100, if you volunteer, it's $200.

Me: What flights do you have to get me out of here?

AE Guy: Do you live here?

Me: Yes

AE Guy: 8:05am tomorrow?

Me: Uhm... no, I have morning meetings which is why I planned on flying tonight in the first place...

AE: Guy: 10:10am, 3pm, 6pm, 7:15pm, but you connect at LaGuardia...

Me: No connecting. Let me make a call and I'll be right back. *** I call my manager and leave, on his VM, my plan to fly Monday night ***

Me: OK

AE Guy - let's do it. Book me on the 6pm tomorrow night..... and.... who's paying for my parking

AE Guy: ***shakes head to indicate no***

Me: I sure as shit don't think I should have to pay for my parking (yes, verbatim)

AE Guy: How about this... I'll give you $250 in vouchers and $10 meal ticket for the airport - that should cover your $10 in parking

Me: Done.

Post signing away on the voucher and what not, I have this brilliant plan that I will grab some food at the airport and take it home with me to enjoy while watching the Oscars. As you know, however, airport food is less than awesome. I wasn't in the mood to sit down and a have a meal at the airport (hello, I had Oscar fashions to view), so I hop in line at the fail safe "Panda Express." Don't act like you don't also love their Orange Chicken. It's delicious. Anyway, so my total is $9.85, and I had the woman my shiny, new, $10 food voucher.

Things go as such:

PE Lady: You can't use this here, it's good for this airport only.

Me: I know... I just got it at the American Airlines counter...

PE Lady: No, you can't use it here. You can use it in Jacksonville only.

Me: Jacksonville?! I JUST got this voucher here! Why Jacksonville?P

E Lady: Because that's what it says, Jacksonville.

Me: WHERE DOES IT SAY JACKSONVILLE?!?!

PE Lady: Right here ***pointing at text on the voucher***

Me: That says "JACQUELINE"... it's my name

Man in Line: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA

PE Lady: Where does it say Washington?!!?*** I scan the crap out of this voucher and find it... it's SO small***

Me: Right there...P

E Lady: Oh.

So... in short, I hate American Eagle and would advise no one to fly them.

I have no good stories left

2008-02-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

so i was in Delaware last week. It was boring and it snowed a lot. and (like an idiot) i packed my tall side-buckled black wedge-heeled boots (they are basically the sassiest thing i can get away with at work...any hotter and i'd be looked at suspiciously). I did not count on having to walk roughly 2 miles a day in them. my feet (needless to say) hurt. but i looked hot, so it's a fair trade.

the buildings i work in in downtown Wilmington are actualy about 4 huge buildings (each a city block) that are all connected via 2nd floor walkways. so you can see all the street activity every time you walk around. but all the things we do are in different buildings, so i did a lot of walking. anyway - i dont think i'll have to go back for a while, which is exciting. I've just finished a 7-week traveling stint to multiple cities and have a little break for a few weeks. i know i shouldn't rub it in...most of my friends that travel are still going every single week, so i feel lucky to have my schedule, although in my defense, it's way harder to go to a different city every week than to go back and forth to one each week. anyway - moving on.

i'm back in denver now - just spent a lovely weekend with the fam. i saw atonement this weekend and gotta say....not TOTALLY impressed. i haven't read the book so i can't provide too much brilliant analysis, but i didn't really think it deserved all the critical acclain it's gotten.

also - i just (finally...i know) saw Juno. i liked it. but...(i hope what i'm about to say doesn't earn me eternal hatred and scorn from those Juno crazies out there)...i thought some of the writing was straight up ANNOYING. like...the writer was trying a LITTLE bit too hard to make the dialogue sound young and hip. but hey, what do i know...i'm not a 16 year old....anyway - she won the Oscar and flashed all of us home-viewers her undies. I guess that's not unexpected from a former stripper...

Anyway - in MAJOR exciting news. Jackie is going to be a guest poster on our blog here to discuss her recent airport delay and triumphant win over the evil workers at DCA.

SA & TV

2008-02-14T10:00:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! Happy Valentine's Day (and Happy Birthday to our little romance-baby Jackie...who is currently celebrating her bday in Brussels after a mad dash around Europe for the past 2 weeks for work - poor baby)

Anyway - i'm in Denver, having just spent a week & a half in San Antonio with the fam. Here is the rundown of being in SA for 10 days.

Highlights:
Saw 5 concerts at the rodeo.
Wore my boots more than I ever have (and they're finally comfy!)
Ate delicoius rodeo food (corn dogs, lone star light on TAP)
Spent mucho QT with the fam
Had an unhealthy amount of tacos
Went on nice healthy, relaxing walks more days than i was expecting
IT was betwen 60-80 degrees every day

Lowlights:
I lost my camera
I gained 30 pounds

Now i'm back in denver for the rest of the week, and going back to Delaware next week (exciting).

I dont have a ton of new information to share with you all, but thought i would leave you with some new Television Show recs (based on my excellent taste). Maybe next time i'll discuss old tv faves (the ones i've been watching for more than the past 2 months or so)

- Make me a Supermodel (no explanation needed - this is basically a re-tooled version of ANTM, but with more realistic modeling scenarios & it happens essentially in real time. All of the action on the show takes place about a week behind when they air it. So the show tonight will feature everything that happened in the past week or so. At the end of each show, the judges pick the bottom 3 contestants, and you (the public) get to vote online or via text (like Idol) for who gets the boot. then next week, that person gets booted at the start of the episode, and the cycle repeats. Bonuses are that 1) it's co-ed, 2) it's realistic - ie they tell them they're fat, etc, 3) tyson beckford is a host. this show is on Bravo on Thursdays

- Rock of Love (season 2). Ok i admit i never watched the first season, but i saw an ep of this one in a hotel in phoenix and OMG i'm addicted. these women are absolutely insane. Its genius. They're basically trying to out-trash eachother and win the (oh so worthy) heart of Poison's Bret Michaels. There are some chicks on this show that are just wayyyyy out there in crazy town and he eats it right up. There is also some extremely entertaining fashion and hairstyles on the show. it's basically an x-rated version of the 'bachelor' (which had gotten boring anyway). this one is oh VH1 on sundays.

- How to look good Naked. This sounds like porn, but it's not. it's hosted by Carson Kressley (of Queer Eye fame). He takes a different girl/lady every episode. Usually she's a little overweight (but not always) and has major body-image issues. He spends a week with them making them realize they aren't fat and disgusting and are beautiful and wonderful and perfect. by the end of the week, he's convinced them of their hotness and they usualy agree to a nude (tastefully nude...and strategically covered) photo shoot. really, a great feel-good show. also - often times he takes them for a bra-fitting (bc most of them are squeezed into the WRONG bra) and he calls the woman at the bra place the 'bra whisperer', which i find hilarious. This show is on Lifetime (not sure of the day)

- Millionaire Matchmaker. Full disclosure - i've only seen this once and i didn't even see the whole episode, BUT it was pretty entertaining. I need to watch a little more before i give a review. but it's on Bravo also if you want to check it out.

that's all for now!!!!!!

over-organized....but still chaos

2008-01-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

So I arrived at the Philadelphia airport on monday night...to go out to wilmington, DE for the week for work. My coworker, Jessica, and I...we stay downtown in wilmington...and usually just walk to work in the morning (it's about 4 blocks). anyway - so we dont usually get a rental car in Delaware. meaning....we get a car service to take us from phl airport to delaware (about 30 minutes or so).

Anyway - I haven't been to PHL in a while, so i must have forgotten about the way their airport is run. But this time...i was paying close atention so i could tell all of you what a mess it is. I'm going to make it a step-by-step reenactment.

1. so...you have to call the car service in advance and make a reservation. i typically use 'delaware express', and they've been great every time. so i called on monday morning (when i was still in denver) and made a reservation for that evening. 2 ppl (jessica was flying in separately), gave them my flight # and time.

2. When you arrive, you walk all the way down to baggage claim. there is a booth with a grumpy old man sitting there. there is also a phone with a list of #'s (you know...for the courtyard marriot...just dial 11, for the delaware expres...just dial 24, etc). you pick up the phone and the man hollers at you....WAIT!!!! YOURE NOT DOING IT RIGHT.

3. so you hang up the phone. the man says 'did you get your luggage??" (n/a), 'are you ready to go?' (yes), 'did you make a reservation?' (yes). ok...then he gives you a carnival ticket (or a raffle ticket....you know what i mean....the ones that have a 6 digit number on the side.

4. THEN...you can pick up the phone and call #24. Delaware express answers.....they say 'where are you....what terminal....do you have your luggage....are you ready...... (yes, same questions. also...why did i give you my flight # if you have to ask me again what terminal i'm in). then you have to give them your raffle ticket #.

5. THEN...you stand around for 15 minutes (i timed it), all the while getting solicited by illegal cab drivers and such. you're in the baggage claim chaos so it's really crowded and annoying. then....the drivers pull up outside (in a separate line from the cabs). they come in....and go talk to the grumpy man....they say 'i'm here for #210989' or whatever your raffle ticket says.

6. THEN....the grumpy man gets on his intercom and screams out the number.....even while he's STARING STRAIGHT AT ME. so he clearly knows who i am....and i'm the one waiting for the car.

7. then the driver approaches you and takes your stuff and confirms AGAIN your name and raffle #.

anyone else see the ridiculousness in all of this. it's like the grumpy old man is someone's relative and can't lose his job. his position is ENTIRELY useless. it adds like 4 steps to the process and is completely skip-able. why couldn't i call Delaware Express on the phone, tell them i'm here...then when they come in they holler out my name? or call my cell? it was ridiculous.

although (in old man's defense) - during my 15 minute waiting period...a girl about 20 years old walked up to his booth and completely broke down into tears. she was exhausted and frustrated (i've been there) and needed directions. he was really nice and helpful with her...so maybe that's why they keep him around????

Some non-travel Thoughts....

2007-12-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well, after the overwhelming response to the post about our Eastern Europe trip...i'm going to switch gears here. After all, I originally intended this blog to be about random general knowledge, and not about travel exclusively...and since that's all I did for a few years, that's all you ever heard about. no more!!!

1. My Fan - as you know, I work from home usually...when i'm not traveling, that is. I sit in my bedroom at my desk. MY ceiling fan is squeaky...and i'm not sure how to fix this. I think it was Dan (my sister's boyf) who told me a story about how he once tried to put WD40 on his fan to fix it...and (you know where this is going...) when he turned it back on, it was a WD40 shower in his room. i would prefer if that didn't happen. so usually i can just tune the squeaky out....but no more. it's driving me crazy.

2. My New Favorite Drink - Pisco Sour. it's peruvian, apparently. We went to a Peruvian restaurant the other day and I tried this. WOW it's delicious. I think the ingredients are too complex and weird to buy them for making at home, so I'll have to stick to ordering in restaurants. Please dont get grossed out by the fact that there is an egg in tehre....i promise you couldn't even tell.

3. Keli sent me a link to an online geography quiz which i have been ROCKING on. Seriously, I would recommend not clicking this link as it will directly impact your work productivity...in a negative way. i'm serious...dont do it. http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq

4. Monogrammed Correspondence Cards - I decided i was an adult and needed to get these (well, i got them to write some thank you notes after some recent interviews). i bought some online from Neiman Marcus and they were VERY discounted and are very beautiful and lovely. They're on cream colored paper & have my name written in navy block letters. ooh la la.

5. Netflix - I'm the WORST netflix member. well, actually if you work for netflix, you probably love me bc i'm the person who keeps her movies for like 2 months at a time...so they make lots of money off me. this is one of my new years resolutions...to be better about returning my netflix on time and getting new ones.

that's all - more travel commentary next time. happy holidays!!!!

Eastern Europe...ideas?

2007-12-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

So...I haven't had to travel at all lately!! I almost went down to Phoenix this week, but decided at the last minute that I didn't really need to go and I'd rather stay at home this week...especially since I'm leaving on Saturday morning to fly to San Antonio for the holidays!

Let's see - since I dont have an airport update, why dont I tell you all about an upcoming adventure I have! In late April, me & my roommate are heading to Eastern Europe for about a month to explore and have a little adventure! I'll tell you our plans then yall can give us ideas on where to go, eat, stay, tour, etc. We're open to any/all suggestions. We're flying into Prague & out of Istanbul...and the whole rest of the trip is still open! Our tentative schedule is:

Prague
Krakow
Vienna
Budapest
Croatia
Montenegro
Bucharest
Istanbul

What you got? Lets hear em!

Raleigh!!!

2007-12-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovely readers who have probably all vanished by now. I haven't had to travel too much recently, but did go to the RDU (Raleigh-Durham) airport about 2 weeks ago and realized I hadn't graced you with my review just yet. so here goes!!!

So there is a daily NonStop from DEN-RDU, but it's in the middle of the day, which I couldn't swing...so I had to take the connection through ORD. my 1st flight was uneventful, BUT....my 2nd was not. It was one of those tiny planes (where you have to walk outside to board...no jetway). Anyway -it's windy and cold at ORD, so the pilot annouces we're 35th in line for take0ff. all of a sudden the man behind me rings his call button and asks the stewardess for the pilot. He is transporting a bone marrow donation from Germany to a patient in Chapel Hill, NC (about 20 minutes from RDU). He had been flying for over a day already, had missed 2 connections, and was (i guess) running out of time to get the donation to the patient. So.....all of a sudden, we were FIRST in line for takeoff, and we were on our merry way. it was very exciting.

Anyway - the Airport. Very nice and clean (looked very new). Baggage was INCREDIBLY speedy (again, my bag was 1st off the carousel). The Hertz bus was independent (not part of the "rental car center" we've previously discussed). There seemed to be great dining options (including Jersey Mikes), although since I landed at midnight, they were all closed.

On my outbound flight a few days later, I saw even more of the airport. There's an Express Spa (the hot new airport amenity - there's also one in Philly), several good food options, book/magazine options, and a bagel place. Overall, I was very impressed with the RDU airport.

That's all for now. I am only flying to/from San Antonio for th rest of the year, so i'l probably go back to 'things that happen on planes' type of posts, hope that's ok with you all (all 1 of you!)

Washington Reagan & Baltimore

2007-11-12T09:44:00.001-08:00

Have been a busy little bee since I last updated. Flew back from Geneva to Denver (via Frankfurt). Had possibly the worst flight of my entire life (and lucky for me...it lasted 10.5 hours). Anyway - that flight was so awful I dont even want to think about it.

Then...I flew from Denver to Washington (DCA)...then took the train up to WIlmington for work, then flew out of Baltimore after spending the weekend up there for a wedding (complex trip, but very worth it).

Airport Observations:

DCA - Washington Reagan
Pros:
1. Great Location, nice and close to the DC and NOVA areas.
2. Metro Accessible
3. There is a "Potbelly Sandwiches" in the airport, and the smell wafts around, so it smells great everywhere
4. 800 million miles closer to the DC area than Dulles.
5. Nice and Clean and relatively new ( i believe?), so everything is shiny and relatively well designed (ie - hallways are very wide)

Cons:
1. Luggage took forever
2. I didn't fly out of DCA, but previous experiences have had horrible security lines and no status shortcuts (boo)
3. Terrible shopping options (only 1 book/magazine store)

BWI - Baltimore
Pros:
1. The security line (while long) moved VERY quickly.
2. It's the only airport I've ever been in where the ID checking woman actually took the time to look closely at my ticket/id/face.

Cons:
1. Far away
2. When i used to live in DC, we would sometimes fly out of BWI to save money. on weekdays, you can take the metro, to the train and get to BWI for less than $10. however, when you come back...the trains dont seem to run on the weekends (unless my memory is wrong) and then you have to take a $100 cab ride home. non ideal.
3. the security is LONG. I flew out of Terminal D and the security line was approx 500 people long. (see Pro #1, however)

That's all i got people!!! FLying into RDU (Raleigh Durham) on Thursday, so expect thoughts on that one soon!!!

More from Geneva!!!

2007-10-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Was planning to wait until I got home to update you all on Geneva, but I have a few free minutes here so thought I may as well get to it!

My stay here has been so awesome so far. Those of you who know Jac know that she's so fun and we've had a great time. Let's see if i can do it justice!

Thursday: I arrived in Geneva after a stopover in Frankfurt. Frankfurt airport was pretty good, from what I saw of it. Actually, there was one weird thing.... so i deplane from my inbound flight from Denver, i walk around for a little to stretch my legs, then i camp out in the Lufthansa Gold lounge for an hour or so. Then i try to find a water fountain (with no luck), so i buy a huge bottle of water. (those of you who know me will remember that idrink an obscene amount of water.....what can i say?? my body requires a lot of fluid i guess??). anyway - it's huge. so i walk to my gate and notice there is a security check directly in front of my gate. JUST my gate...no other gates. the woman sees my huge water and tells me i can't take it in...so i step back and drink the whole thing. i was pretty dehydrated after my long flight and just chugged the whole thing. actually, it kind of hurt. haha. but....the real qustion is....WHY was there an additional security check in front of my gate? I was still in the secure terminal? the gates on either side of me weren't being checked? it was very odd. Anyway - on my Frankfurt-Geneva flight, we were served a little cheese sandwich and a mini-twix, both of which i basically swallowed whole. i guess i was hungrier than i thought? arrived in Geneva and claimed luggage, then walked to Jac's office (approx 5 mins walking from the airport - the airport is litearlly right in the middle of an office park...weird!!!). then jac luckily was able to take the rest of the day off and we took the bus home together!!! great start to the trip! we then went to drop off her laundry at the laundromat, and visited the grocery store. i dont know about you, but i think it's totally fascinating to grocery shop in other countries. like....i can't stop looking at all the options. the produce is way fresher looking than in the US, for one thing. the cheese department (karee...i'm talking to you!!!) is like.....the size of china. i swear, it's enormous. and they have a Weight Watchers variety for EVERY cheese. they have WW brie. i'm not kidding. i think i want to move here. any country where WW can see fit to sponsor a triple cream cheese is a-ok with me!!!

ANyway - we made raclette (i took pics and will post when i arrive home tomorrow) and drank wine and it was fab!

Friday - jac worked all day and i worked on my B School apps. 2 submitted friday so that was exciting!!! then around....6pm, she came home, we went to go feed her friend's cats (jac was cat-sitting this weekend) around the corner, then stopped at a cute bar by their house for happy hour. had 2 drinks then went back home bc Allison was arriving!!! Allison went to college with us also and was coming down from Strasbourg, France, where she's lived for the past 5+ years since college. me and Jac took train to airport to meet her and her dog (Belle) and we all came home and had fondue and drank wine and chatted and had lots of fun.

Saturday - went wine tasting in Dardegny (i hope i spelled that right), a small town outside of Geneva. Jac has blogged about it before so you can read about that on her site. Had lots of delicious swiss wines and met up with Jac's friends. Had a delicious lunch at a tiny little cute restaurant, then came home and took a much-needed power nap. Then we went to a little neighborhood pizza place where we were seated next to a lunatic family. Really. Crazy people. the woman was kissing everyone in the restaurant and i was terrified she was coming to me next. allison kept translating everything for me though, so i was relatively safe. in any case, very eventful. apparently (thank you Jac) the waiters in Switz get really offended if you dont eat all your food. YET they make you order an entire pizza all for yourself. since i couldn't finish mine, the waiter didn't come to clear our table for like.....an hour. literally. that was interesting......how is everyone here not WAY fatter??

Sunday - we toured around Geneva, went to see the Jet d'eau, (sp?), went to starbucks (allison was in need since they dont have them in strasbourg), then went to the big cathedral. jac & i thought it would be fun to 'climb the tower'. which......yes, it was fun. but let's just say it's several days later and my dogs are still barking. our legs were like jelly when we finished that, but i got some great pics!!! stay tuned for those!! Allison had to leave sunday late afternoon, so me & jac came home and cooked dinner, had some wine, and sat on her porch and people watched.

Monday - decided to take a little day trip to Yveron Les Baines, a small town about 50 minutes away (via train) from Geneva. THey're known for their thermal springs, and we decided to go for the Thermal Hot Springs Spa there, which sounded Super fun. Anyway - since it's freezing, i obviously didn't pack a bathing suit. and i def wont fit into Jac's, so we debated whether i should 1) buy one, 2) wear a black bra/undies and pretend it was a suit, 3) acclimate to euro and join the nudefest. we were both pretty nervous about this, since we're shy americans and dont really want to prance around in our birthday suits often. ANyway - as luck would have it, there was a sporting goods store right in town when we arrived and i bought a suit. phew. and Oh my god thankfully, because there was NO nudity at this place, so i would have stood out pretttttttttttttttttty obviously. hahah. the thermal spa was really cool, and we somehow managed to go upstairs and enjoy the japanese baths and the really really hot tub (most of the 'hot' tubs weren't really all that hot). when we were leaving we discovered we were supposed to have paid more for that, but didn't. oooooooooops. anyway - we took the train back, then both worked for a little, then went to dinner at this cute little place in the old town. we sat next to a couple speaking english and jac & i played the "are they on a date? if so, what # date?" game about them. we determined it mush have NOT been a great date since at 1 point they were both on their cell phones. didn't their mothers ever teach them it's rude to talk on the phone at the table? apparently not. we also spent about 10 mins trying to guess her accent. we decided she was from a non-english speaking country, but had been taught english by a south african. her accent was so weird!

anyway - now i'm at jac's apartment, about to run out then she & i are meeting for dinner in a few hours. i leave tomorrow morning. i'm so sad to leave her - i've had such a great time, and geneva is such a cute, charming city. its' pretty easy to get around and navigate, which is another bonus.

also - i've now spoken to 8 french people on my own. EIGHT!! huge accomplishment. please, just indulge me here :)

ok more to come later. bye!

Some thoughts on my Flight to Switz

2007-10-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

1. bring your star alliance card wherever you go - they give you major perks. hahaha. i had to like....beg the guy at the lufthansa lounge to let me in.....he didn't believe me when i said i was qualified. he eventually called united to verify. and WOOO HOO thank god he did....there is a smorgasbord of free stuff. beer/wine/cocktails/snacks/etc.

2. drinks in econ are free on lufthansa (damn you united.....i'm so breaking up with you)

3. there were major issues with my ticket. like, there was no ticket #, they kept asking me where my hard copy was....which i obvs didn't have, bc WHAT YEAR IS THIS??? E-TICKETS baby.

4. the woman on the plane next to me brought MCDONALDS on board with her - before a transatlantic flight. do you know how badly that smells? yes, you do. like total ass. it was gross. GROSS.

5. there was a cute guy in the middle section of seats next to me. he made eyes at me a few times, then i noticed he was laughing hysterically at the movie....which was Mr. Bean's Holiday.....so my crush was instantly over.

6. did i mention...the movie was MR BEANS HOLIDAY. ugh.

7. there are no water fountains in the frankfurt airport. none. i even asked. so i had to buy water :(

more to come!!!!

Puro San Antonio!!!

2007-10-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

So there is a bumper sticker that a lot of cars in SA have that says "Puro San Antonio" and it always makes me laugh. Anytime me or one of my friends from SA does something worth getting excited about, we scream that at eachother. It's fun.

Anyway - I was in San Antonio this weekend for a wedding. My friend Carrie from High School got hitched to her now-hubby, Alex, and it was so fun! We had a blast and stayed up way too late with all the other guests, but it was worth it.

I also ate (i'm not exaggerating) like 15 tacos over the course of 4 days. this is unacceptable. but those of you who are familiar with Taco Cabana, Taco House, and Las Palapas will understand that it's not gluttony, just me wisely storing up until my next trip home :)

Ok - SA Airport. I've posted about this one before, but here is some more info. They are currently doing an etensive renovation and building a brand new terminal, which is quite exciting. Here is a brochure for those of you who are curious. I think everyone who reads this has either been there or will go at some point (like to visit me!) - http://www.sanantonio.gov/aviation/images/SAAIRBiz-Journ-half-pg-ad_f.jpg

So flight in was fairly uneventful. I managed to make an earlier standby flight from DEN and katy nicely picked me up and drove me home. Nothing eventful on this flight, except that my bag was the VERY FIRST one off the baggage claim (simple pleasures, i know...)

Flight out on Sunday was more painful. As mentioned above, we stayed up WAY too late at the wedding, so Sunday was pretty rough. My momma took me to the airport and when i arrived...i learned my flight was already 2 hours delayed (i should have checked status....my bad). Anyway - the lines were totally insane at the United Check in (while at SWA, Delta, etc...there is litearlly multiple workers and not a single passenger...come on United get with the program!!!). Anyway - i check in, go through security, then go sit at the airport Las Palapas (the only one in SA open on Sundays...bonus!!!), where i had tacos #14 & #15, a diet coke, and my bill was only $4.00....gotta love that! I sat and read my book for 2 hours, then wandered down to my gate, where i run into 5 guys who I'd met at the wedding. Their flight was already several hours late, and there was no end in sight. Therefore, my flight was also delayed. So the 6 of us sat there and chatted for the next hour or so...United only has 2 gates at SAT, and there were 5 flights of people waiting....so it wasn't looking good. The guys were all on a flight to Dulles, and the story with their flight was this....The pilot realized his manual was out of date, so another airport was FAXING a 200+ page manual to the SAT airport so their flight could take off. i'm not kidding. we all thought this was 1) totally ridiculuos...have they not heard of, email, pulling it off some central server, taking the manual off another plane in SAT and photocopying it....or worst case, continuing to fly with the old one as he's obviously been doing for years??? we thought this was so bizarre. 2) pretty embarassing that they're announcing this to the terminal. i mean, this makes united look pretty ridiculous, right??

anyway - we thought that was very odd.

so then their flight left, then mine boarded about 10 minutes later, so i didn't have to hang out alone too long.

but...when i arrived in DEN....my bag was the VERY FIRST ONE on the baggage claim again. this is incredibly exciting. i think my impending breakup with United airlines has just been delayed a little... i mean if they keep treating me like a VIP with the baggage, i can't very well dump them, can i? however, if they keep dragging me along with their ridiculous delays, charges, and schedule changes...i might dump them anyway. they're like a boyfriend who treats me really bad but i can't leave because i'm way too invested in the relationship. can i transfer my status & miles elsewhere without losing them??? although - who would i transfer to? is the grass just greener? I think so - the amount i fly would cause me to be disenchanted with any airline, right? someone...please tell me i'm right here.... :)

ok bye!!! Next up - i fly to Switzerland tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Ohare & the pleasure of flying with United......

2007-10-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

so i have lots of updates. since my last post, i've flown from Detroit-Chicago, then CHicago-Denver.

First, Ohare. I have flown in and out of Ohare a ton of times, so i have lots of thoughts. First, it's extremely inconvenient to get there from the city (probably no more than in SF or Denver, but there was WAY more traffic). I hear you can take the El, but that it's super slow and pretty ghetto....AND it takes you to a part of the airport that's not terribly close to any of the terminals. although i haven't ever tried that way...maybe next time?

Security: Hit or miss. this time, it was super fast. i go through the priority lines 99% of the time, so they're usually much shorter. but this was exceptionally fast. like.....5 minutes total. although the woman ahead of me (god knows how she got in the 'fast' line bc she had NO idea how to go through security) - she didn't take off her shoes, jacket, jewels, or really prepare at all. she tries to walk through fully decked out in all her clothes & carying her yappy dog. so the security guard says 'maam, take off your shoes, your jacket, your jewels, etc'. so she sets down the dog, takes off shoes. picks up the dog to cuddle it, then sets down the dog again, takes off jacket. etc. it took....awhile. it was irrirtating.

Bathrooms; 2 good things about the bathrooms. the doors go all the way down to the floor. this is great, bc you can put your purse down o nthe gruond and not be afraid it will get snatched up. very convenient. second good thing about the bathroom is they have the auto seat-cover dispenser. you know....the plastic cover that swirls around to make sure your bum has a nice clean surface to sit on! this is great.

Electrical outlets: OMG don't get me started. there is an outlet ROUGHLY every 2-3 gates. and there are people fighting over them. it's totally uncceptable. my mother has also expressed her frustration wtih this at ohare, so i know it's not me being picky (unless that's an inherited trait...)

Internet access: not free. bad.

Delays: bad. very bad.

So those were my preliminary thoughts on ohare. note that this was ohare generically, not United. I am very very very mad at united right now.....so this is biased. i just think they're terrible. i can't get into it right now so maybe next time.

until then, adios!!!

Detroit!

2007-10-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

So i flew into Detroit a few days ago......although i'm sad to say I dont have much intel on the airport, since i was in a remote terminal. i HEAR the northwest terminal is awesome, but i didn't see that one. just the United Terminal. My thoughts include:
1. I dont understand the concept of wearing sunglasses at midnight. Inside. When you're not a celebrity. Anyone??
2. The Detroit passengers were more aggressive at the baggage claim than in other airports? Significantly more aggressive.
3. The bathroom was extremely small. I dont understand airports where the bathroom has like.....3 stalls.
4. They were't super strict with the parking rules. Eugene was able to sit outside in his car for like 20 minutes and they never asked him to move. Compare this to my experiences at DEN when i pick up friends. man...they're all over you after about 10 seconds. I guess they dont really care if someone blows up the Detroit Airport? What's the deal here?

OK that's all - flyign to Ohare in a few hours, and i dont think i've ever posted about that one....so i'll take notes.

Bye!

Fishing Pics

2007-09-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Also - meant to post this earlier. Pictures of me and Katy fly fishing with our catches :)

DC, Baltimore & Philadelphia

2007-09-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!!

It's been a while...sorry. Here's what you missed!

Flew to DC (Dulles....ick) for 2 days. Keli unfortunately wasn't there, but she nicely let me stay in her apartment - thanks! I met up with some high school friends for dinner one day, and i met up with Benet (our frequent-commenting travel guru) for lunch one day!!! it was so nice to finally meet you...and i'm already getting lots of use out of the cute travel mouse you gave me. thanks!!!

Then i took the train up to Baltimore for a family weekend...which was a ton of fun also.

Then i took the train to Wilmington for work...

THen i flew home from Philly a few days later.

So here is the travel part of the post.....

First of all - Dulles is Ghetto. i dont enjoy that airport. it's incredibly far away....and it's just nasty. that people mover (jackie called it a 'moon vehicle') is very inconvenient, hot, unstable, and just not a pleasant way to move people around. Basically, you have to ride this shuttle bus thing to the main terminal. they pack like 300 people into it (and there's no air flow) and then drive you around the tarmac and you're swaying everywhere...bumping into people....sweating....it's gross.

Then i rode the metro for a few days, and i have to say....i really miss living in a city with good, reliable public transportation. the metro isn't expensive, it's pretty reliable, and it's pretty clean. in San Francisco, i rode the bus everywhere....and absolutely loved it. now, buses dont run all night (nor does the metro), but i think living in a city with 24/7 transport (ie - nyc) would be really exciting and fun. sorry for the side bar.

Train - THEN...i got to take 2 trains (DC to Baltimore, and Baltimore to Wilmington). i had forgotten how much i love train travel. it's SO convenient, much more pleasant than airplane travel. i realize it's not practical to support train travel for the whole USA, but i wish it was. So i took the metro from keli's apartment to Union Station (in DC), arrived there and went to the kiosk and saw there was a train leaving in 15 mins...bought my ticket, bought a bagel, and boarded! No security, no sitting aruond for an hour waiting for my flight, no crowded seats (although i'm sure it's not always so empty), and just a very pleasant experience overall!!!

On my 2nd train ride (Baltimore - Wilmington) I was sitting in front of a woman who was on the phone the whole time (ugh) but it was only an hour so not so terrible. ALTHOUGH her conversation was incredibly interesting so i just eavesdropped the whole time. (what??? she was the one yelling...not me) anyway - she was apparnetly going to wilmington to meet her INTERNET BOYFRIEND who she had never met before. she was talking to her friends on the phone about how nervous she was...it was their first in-person meeting. then she was talking to HIM on the phone and saying how she was going to give him a big ol' smooch when she sees him and she can't wait to meet the love of her life, and blah blah blah. so.....i did what any curious eavesdropper would do.....i strategically followed her off the train to see what this dude looked like.....he was decent looking. and she was really cute, actually..... so that was a surprising little adventure for me.

Then...the PHL airport takes me home. it's still gross. the security line wasn't as horrendous as usual, but otherwise....eh? kind of unimpressive to be honest.

i dont have to travel this week or next, so that's exciting. then i go to Chicago for training for a week (and to visit Karee!!!). then i go to San Antonio for a wedding, then i go to switzerland to visit Jac & Allison!!!!! a very very very exciting month for me :)

ok that's it. more later. have to work.

Aspen Part 2

2007-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! Just got back from Aspen yesterday, and now am trying to force myself to work....obviously that's not going well and I'd rather blog instead :)

The rest of the week was awesome - we had so much fun. Hiking, Fly fishing, eating, drinking, shopping, etc. it was a great vacation...and I managed to get my brother hooked on Top Chef also (thanks Bravo for running that marathon!) so now i have a fellow fan in the house.

Flying to Phoenix on Sunday night...i'm sure it will be relatively uneventful, thankfully.

As for the previous post and my question about Katy's ticket - i must not have explained myself well...oops!! she didn't end up buying a R/T ticket, it was still a 1-way, but it was a 1-way from Aspen to Denver, and then from Denver to San Antonio. so it still wasn't a symmetrical ticket, and it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than buying JUST an Aspen-Denver ticket....just very bizarre and strange, overall!!

Hmm - not much else goign on. Have a work dinner tonight that Cara & Jackie helped plan, so they assure me it will be fun. Then me & Catherine are going camping tomorrow with her dog Otto (leaving her hubby at home). I'll let you all know how that goes :)

that's it - more travel updates next week. i'm going to try not to check a bag to PHX, since we all know how i feel about their apalling baggage claim......

Aspen

2007-08-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

hello my loyal readers!

I haven't had much to blog about since I haven't been traveling too much lately, but that will pick up again very soon, dont you worry!! I'm currently in Aspen with the family for a week...we've rented a house and are having a great time so far. lots of eating, walking, shopping, hiking, etc. More adventures to come...

Anyway - here is my airport news....Katy (my sister, for those of you not in the know) has to fly back to San Antonio early for school....so we're trying to figure out how to get her back to teh Denver airport... the rest of the family isn't flying out until 2 days after her... so here are the choices.
1. Katy drives the rental car back to the DEN airport and I drive the rest of the family in my car a few days later.
2. Katy takes a van shuttle from Aspen to the DEN airport
3. Katy buys a 1-way airplane ticket from Aspen to DEN.

Those of you who know Katy wont be surprised to hear that she vetoed #2 in about .5 seconds. So she looked online to see how much a 1-way ticket would cost.

Get this:
To buy a 1-way ticket from Aspen to DEN is like 400 dollars. (the plan was that she'd fly to DEN, then pick up her DEN-SAT leg that she'd already booked).

HOWEVER, to buy a 1-way ticket from Aspen-DEN-SAT is $280 (and she'd get a partial credit back for her orig DEN-SAT leg that she would cancel).

Isn't that crazy? Why does that happen? Why is it cheaper to book all the way through to SA? Anyone know?

Sorry for the boring post - my confirmed travel plans in the next few months include....Phoenix, Baltimore, DC, Delaware, Baltimore (again), Switzerland, Chicago, and 3 Trips to San Antonio. I suspect I'll have to add another 1-2 trips each to Phoenix & Delaware in there.... So there you go...my nice relaxing travel-free lifestyle is quickly coming to an end. Sad for me...but ultimately, more exicting for you guys...since i'll have more tales to tell :)

Baggage Claim

2007-07-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

I know I vaguely refer to my hatred for the baggage claim a lot....but I'm going to get into it today.

Setup:
Most baggage claims are located near the passenger pick up zone of an airport. So, for example, in Denver, you take a tram between the main (ticketing/baggage) area...and the gate areas. So when you deplane, you have about 15 minutes of transport before you even arrive at baggage claim. This is an interesting idea...and i can see why they thought to do it this way. Obviously, the longer you're in transport, the less time you're sitting there thinking 'omg where the hell is my stuff'.

However, when you arrive in Denver, spend 15-20 minutes in transport....then sit there for 40 minutes waiting for your stuff...it's a little less charming a lot more annoying.

I realize the industry is going through some tough times, and I imagine it's diffucult to find reliable people to be baggage handlers (especially when you factor in that they aren't well paid AND have to pass security checks). i know they're short staffed. But why can't newer airports have built in conveyers that will literally transport your stuff from gate to carousel (thus eliminating the need for someone to drive the cart back and forth...they'd be freed up to unload more bags from other planes. Granted, it would be tricky and expensive to build a system of hundreds of individual conveyer belts (and a NIGHTMARE to maintain them) but it would work.

Something else that drives me crazy is when they unload 12 planes of luggage onto 1 carousel. This is particularly an issue at the Phoenix airport. In terminal 4, there are 8 luggage carousels, and usually 4 of them are barren...while the other 4 are crowded with literally....hundreds of bags pouring out, stacking, crushing, toppling, collapsing, and just a huge mess. The carousels are each 'claimed' by an airline...so for example if there happen to be 12 Southwest flights landing at the same time...and only 4 Southwest carousels...they'll triple-load each of them, while the Delta & USAir carousels are totally empty. Aren't airports sophisticated enough to have some sort of load-balancing software for their baggage? the PHX terminal literally has 2 ladies that sit at a podium and make all the decisions manually. they have a list of all incoming filghts, and they get walkie-talkied every time 1 lands. they make an announcement overhead about which carousel it will go on! it's completely manual! can you believe that!!

Anyway - i didn't realize that airlines were so territorial about their luggage carousels. Does anyone know why this is? Why cant' they share?

People:
Completely independant of the setup of Luggage Claim is the ridiculous behavior that people exhibit while AT luggage claim. My favorite 3 examples are:

1. The Lone Wolf
This is the guy who has been sent by his whole group (usually....10 people are standing behind way far away and they have sent their 1 representative). now, let me start by saying that i APPLAUD this behavior. this is smart. you dont need the whole family there to get everyone's luggage. you send a representative, then you use the kids as 'shuttles'. so when some bags come off, the kids run and grab them and take them back to the rest of the herd. then there's lots of space, no stray luggage is lounging around...THIS IS GOOD. what's NOT good...is when the kids (or other members of the party) dont do their job and the lone person just stacks the stuff behind them....basically surrounding themselves with a huge luggage FORT. then noone within 10 feet of the guy can get to the carousel! then....it takes the poor guy a year to clear out the fort, because noone is his family will help him! this is a frustrating experience for not only the other passengers, but this poor sucker whose family is lazy.

**the lone wolf scenario also works well if people rotate in & out of the 'hot seat'. realizing that not everyone in the gruop will recognize everyone else'e bags, of course.

2. The Family Reunion
This case is basically the total opposite of the above. when someone has come back from overseas....from a long trip....etc, usually the whole family greets them and then they tromp over to get luggage all together. Now...we're typically only awaiting 1 (maybe 2) bags here...yet there are approximately 45 people herding around the belt...basically preventing anyone else from getting their bags and getting on with their day. i dislike this behavior. if you have THAT much to catch up on that you can't split up for 10 minutes (ok...30 minutes), then you and your crew should retreat to the back of the area....have your catchup session..then when everyone else has gotten their bags and left, you can stroll up, easily ID your bag, and skedaddle! easy! and way easier for everyone else.

3. The overzealous chute guy
My favorite of the three (well, the fort-builder might be my favorite). This is the guy who stands literally 1 inch from the chute. although...you dont know which direction the belt is going to rotate, so it's a 50/50 gamble for him. but..you better believe that when the siren wails, the red lights flash, and that belt gets going, he's going to tackle you down to get that #1 spot. usually...he lines his children, wife, co-workers, or (the worst) his briefcase and other roller bag...right up next to him, so noone else can get too close. then other annoying people just snuggle up right next to him and they become the 2nd closest person. making a totally impenetrable barrier between you (and all the other normal, sane, patient passengers) and your luggage. so while you might be able to SEE your bag...you wont be able to go get it for about 50 yards, becuase you have to keep walking until you find a tiny opening.

however, the plus side of this overagressive guy is that 99.99% of the time, his bag is the last one out. so it's ok :)

that's all i got. i'm sure you guys have a lot of comments on baggage claims. it seems to be a popular source of frustration at airports around the world. I will say, ( and i think i've commented on this before). some of the terminals at DFW have individual baggage carousels for each gate, which is just phenomenal. you walk out of the plane, across the hall, there's a door...and there you go. you can see it from the plane. no sharing, no endless walking, and it's nice and convenient. i bet they even have conveyer belts taking the bags most of the way there :)

Plane Crush!

2007-07-26T07:07:00.001-07:00

So, I was kind of out of blogging ideas, but have been re-inspired by my dear friend IV. Thanks!

The idea of a 'plane crush' is something that i'm sure came from the movies. It's all very glamorous and exotic to think that while trapped in a flying pressurized tube at 35,000 feet, you could lock eyes with someone from across the aisle, and live happily ever after. I'm here to tell you that it's NOT made up....it's true!!!

Ok, maybe it's not TRUE, so much. but plane crushes are much more commonplace than you would think. Usually when i board a plane, there's at least 1 remotely attractive person in the crowd. if not, then that's when prison vision kicks in and you force the most attractive person (even if in real life, you wouldn't find him attractive) to be the 'hot one'. (note - this 'prison vision' phenomenon also happens at work, but that's another post for another time). Anyway - usually there is a very small chance you will end up sitting next to your plane crush, so it's pretty short lived, and dies when you board. although if you're lucky you can have a short resurgence relationship at baggage claim.

however, there are times when the plane crush sits near/next to you, and the whole dynamic shifts for the trip. let me explain.

a few times (less than 3) i have been lucky enough to be seated NEXT to plane crush. even more fortuitous, 2 of those were in First Class. Nothing fuels an unrequited crush quite like free booze, let me tell you.... anyway - when you can actually speak to PC (plane crush), then the flight is a much more pleasant experience! I've never actually gone out with a PC after the plane, but numbers & emails have been exchanged. It's like having a captive audience (literally) for 1-5 hours, and they're forced to talk to you! unless of course, they're totally boring and that's when you pull out the book, ipod, sleep mask, etc. but when they're interesting, it's a real treat.

another case of PC: When Jackie was flying back and forth to PHL every week....there was a SUPER cute guy who was always in 1st class with her. (i rode on this flight once or twice, so can attest to his hotness). anyway - when you have a flight schedule and you see the same people every week (or twice a week), you begin to make up little stories about them. (i'm sure those of you who ride the train/bus to work know the drill). anyway - jackie would always text me 'hot dude is on my flight again...' or something similar. it was a nice little form of entertainment for us and our otherwise boring lives.

when i was flying back and forth to phx every week (for 2.5 years), there were a lot of familiar faces on the plane by the end of my stint. 1 in particular - this extremely bitchy girl who would always run on the plane late....then complain about how there was no room for her bag, and she did this EVERY week. she was about my age, had a HUGE 'i'm a consultant' chip on her shoulder (*) and seemed really obnoxious. anyway - i had made up a little story about her - it wasn't nice.

so - back to the point. iv was asking me if there are 'rules' for PCs? like, what if you hit it off...do you email or call? do you stop for a drink in the arriving airport (assuming neither of you are connecting?). some people might think it's ok to make out on board...others would opt out. i mean...it's kind of trashy, and those pillows & blankets are SO not clean, no matter what the flight attendants tell you.

(*note - i want this tshirt BAD http://www.glarkware.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=3&idproduct=2177)

No Airport News!!!

2007-07-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

So I've been asked to work from home for a little while becuase my client is out of money. Reassuring, right? I thought so. I've also been asked to stop working so much Overtime...to which my response is, 'then stop giving me so much work'. Anyway - I've been at home, which is a real thrill. I dont know that i could work from home ALL the time, but it's been a nice week, and it looks like i'll scale back my travel to just 1 or 2 weeks a month!!! YAY!!!

What else? Me and Cara have an exciting night planned of....going to Happy Hour at this tapas place by our house, then goign to see Hairspray. I loved loved loved this movie growing up, and was so excited when I heard they were remaking it. I love all the actors in this movie - Amanda Bynes, Michelle Pfieffer, James Marsden, etc etc. Also the 'hunk' is Zac Efron, from High School Musical. Does this all further prove that me (and Karee) are like....15 year old girls pretending to live our lives as adults? Haha. The nice thing about our place in Denver is that we live right on the bike path that runs ALL the way through town, so we can actually walk to the restaurant (to a whole cute AREA of restaurants) and then to the movies. and there's really no traffic since we're on the path which means we avoid roads. so convenient!!!

Last night we made a delicious dinner then played Wii for a good while. i think it's safe to say that the more wine we drank, the worst at Wii tennis we both got. i guess that's not a huge surprise. She is MUCH better at Wii Tennis (and real tennis) than i am, but we had fun. yay!

What else - I saw Harry Potter (ehh...not my favorite movie of the series) with some friends the other day. Looking forward to Cara gettign her new HP book tomorrow in the mail (the smart girl preordered it!).

I'll leave you with this...my mom sent me this story yesterday and i immediately fwded it to Karee. Her response: "were there any crackers handy????". hahahah.
http://www.centredaily.com/news/weird_news/story/156703.html

4th of july!

2007-07-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hi Hi Hi!

Last week was pretty tragic in terms of work, so sorry for the disapearance (again). Was in Phoenix all week. I have been lucky and been at home in Denver all of this week, which has been fabulous.

Movies Seen:
1. Ratatoille - super cute. dont go if you're hungry.
2. License to Wed - umm...pretty terrible. but i do like Jim (from the Office) so it was ok.
3. Transformers - was taken to this by Cara (roommate) and Dan (her boyfriend). Jackie joined us (thankfully). it was...interesting. Funnier than i was expecting, but WAY too long. also, i didn't watch this as a child, so I didn't enjoy it as much as i think some people will.

We also had Catherine's Bachelorette Party last weekend, which was great great great. Catherine & I also took a cooking class last weekend, so now we're prepared to make fancy brunch items, which is OH-so-useful.

I'm flying to San Francisco this evening for a few days, then to Dallas for a few days, then back to Denver. Then i'm picking up lots of our friends at the airport then driving up to the mountains for Catherine & Phil's wedding. VERY exciting!!!

Ok I Promised you a write up on Charlotte's Airport, and here goes.
Pros:
1. cute southern boys
2. cute rocking chairs everywhere
3. Charlotte is adorable (this is not airport-specific, but the airport is also cute, so i'll leave it)
4. They have specific rental car company buses (vs. the generic 'rental car shuttle' system that i despise)
5. Airport is close & convenient to town
6. Baggage claim area is very confusing.

Cons:
1. No status line for security
2. General sense of chaos in the check-in, baggage check, security line area
3. Lots of NASCAR apparel & signs everywhere.
4. When i was there at 9am, nothing was open. this was odd to me- 9am isn't early...???

Celebrity Spottings:
None

I'm back!

2007-06-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well since all 2 of you are just clamoring for my return, here I am!

The past month has been compeltely insane, sorry for my missing in action!!! I have been in Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Denver, San Antonio, Charlotte, Denver, Delaware, and am now back in Denver!! Flying to Phoenix again tomorrow night, but i do have a nice few days of rest between trips, which is always good. However, after Phoenix, i get to be home for 7 whole days!!! We'll have Catherine's Bachelorette party, then the 4th of july, then i fly to San Francisco, then Dallas, then up to Crested Butte for Catherine & Phil's wedding. So exciting!

I also have spent the past 6 months stressing about the GMAT (note - i said 'stressing', not 'studying'...big difference). I took the GMAT a few days ago, and considering i studied a total of about 8 hours (over the past 6 months), i did pretty well! not great, but good enough. i'm happy with it, dont plan to take it again, and feel confident that i can get accepted into business school with my score. YAY!!! now i have a few months to relax, then i will have to stress again about essays, recommendations, etc. The relaxing started on Friday afternoon (after the test) and continues all weekend....some friends are coming over for a pool party in a little bit and we're goign to get some sun and lounge by the pool. VERY exciting.

My roommate, Cara, and her mom are currently doing the Avon Breast Cancer walk in denver...they walked 26 miles yesterday (!!!!) and are doing 13 more today. Needless to say, she was just exhausted last night. so we made her a delicious pasta extravaganza & some rotisseried pork loin and hopefully gave her some more energy for today! Yay Cara!!!

Cara requested a post about the Charlotte airport, and that will be next...hopefully it wont be a month between posts this time!

Week at home & DFW

2007-05-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

I'm working from home all of this week, which is nice. I have been lucky and able to work from home quite a lot over the past month or so, which I'm enjoying. Obviously I get to work in my pajamas and sit in my own living room all day, but there are some downsides also. I have to get up EARLY, I dont take any breaks (so end up working much more than i normally do), I get distracted and eat a lot, and I dont have any interaction with other people. basically, I'm a shut in. ha!

Last night, Jackie (who is also working from home this week) delivered me 10 cupcakes. while this was obviously super nice of her, now i'm going to be eating cupcakes all day. great! :(

Next week I'm flying to Phoenix for a few days, which should be nice bc i will get to hang out with some old friends that i haven't seen in almost a year! It's already pretty hot there, but i only will be there for 3 days. Then I fly back to Denver for 24 hours, then to TX for the weekend, then to Charlotte for about a week. Cara and I are staying in Charlotte for a weekend, so if anyone has any suggestions for activities, lets hear them! we're planning on driving to Chapel Hill to visit UNC, but dont really have a whole lot else planned. What should we do??

So i looked back through my old posts and realized that I didnt ever write an entry on DFW airport, so i can go ahead and do that now!

Pros:
1. the international terminal is super nice and has huge bathrooms with a shelf for your stuff (i posted a picture of this some time ago)
2. the airtram system is much better than it used to be (I remember the old ones where you went down into a scary tunnel thing). now it's all elevated and very nice.
3. lots of cute TX boys in cowboy hats and they say 'excuse me maam' when they bump into you. manners = good. although to be honest, being called 'maam' makes me feel old....but i'll take what i can get
4. one of the bars in the United terminal sells Zeigenbach (one of my favorite beers...and you can only find it in tx)
5. luggage carousels very convenient and close to the gates

Cons:
1. dont even think about trying to get a cab if you arrive after 9pm.
2. as previously discussed, the security checkpoint is designed terribly.
3. rental car center is like 40 miles away
4. there is a tollbooth when you drive to the airport. i know it's a private road, but this bugs me. you shouldn't have to pay a toll to pick someone up at the airport
5. the terminals all share airlines, which is confusing. for example, american goes to multiple terminals, meaning you need to know which letter terminal you're in before you get there. A, B, C, D or E. Otherwise you have to take the AirTram, which isn't bad, but it can take some time.
6. the "chili's too" in terminal B doesn't have nachos (big thumbs down)
7. wireless isn't free
8. Major lack of electrical outlets. (this is a common problem in airports, i've noticed)
9. Terrible bathroom setup (except in the intl terminal). each bathroom has like 4 stalls, which just isn't enough. there's always a line.
10. the guy who is the ID checker at Terminal B security is (not lying) roughly 90 years old. i wonder how secure that is.....

that's all!

Dallas!

2007-05-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

So this past week I was in Dallas for work and i know i've already discussed the Dallas Airport, at least i think i have..... anyway, i wanted to reiterate one thing that i LOVE about the Dallas Airport (at least in the B terminal, where united goes). Each gate has it's OWN BAGGAGE CLAIM area!!! (well, maybe every 2-3 gates share a claim carousel). as you can imagine this is awesome for about a million reasons. When you deplane, you walk directly across the hallway (approx 20 yards) and there is your claim carousel. Now when you compare this to the Denver airport it's like a dream come true. I have been able to go carry-on only since i moved, but the baggage claim in Denver is notorious for taking like 45 minutes (plus you have to ride a tram to get to anything). so the moral of the story is....when i got off my plane in Dallas, i literally walked 20 yards and there was the street (with one of my coworkers waiting for me) and i left immediately. it was awesome - i felt like a movie star. i mean....a low-paid, non-famous movie star. but i had been upgraded on my flight, which just added to my movie star feeling :)

One thing that i DISLIKE about Dallas (again, speaking only about Terminal B) is the security line (which i experienced on Wednesday evening). the way it's set up is just terrible. You stand in line, then you get to the tables & bins area (where you unpack all your stuff). now most airports have a steady line of tables, so you can just push your bins all in a row down towards the xray machine. however, dallas has this set up in 2 separate rooms. so you unpack all your crap and fill up the bins, take off yoru shoes, etc. then you have to carry all your crap to another room to put the bins in the machine. so since i have a lot of stuff (i carry 2 laptops, i have a baggie of liquids, shoes, jacket, phone, etc etc etc), i end up making like 2 or 3 trips back and forth. it's just a bad system. they need to just build a ledge or something so you can slide your stuff down and not have to pick it all up and move it.

last thing - i was originally supposed to fly back from DFW to DEN on thurs afternoon. then weds morning i got a call from United saying my flight was already so oversold that they were looking to rebook passengers on other flights. they gave me a few options, and i took the same flight but 1 day earlier. so my question is....how come they did this? usually dont they just wait and see who checks in then start dealing with oversold situation? i guess i should have bartered with her for some miles or something (to offset my huge inconvenience), but i really didn't care and i'm happy to go home a day early. i got to watch the 'lost' finale on my own couch, so that was good.

speaking of lost....if this turns out to be some alternate reality BS, i'm going to be pissed. also - when did juliet and jack start kissing? that was news to me...

that's all!! i'm home next week (MAY have to go down to phoenix for a day or two, but not sure yet). after that i have a hectic few weeks. have a great memorial day!!!

Boarding an Airplane

2007-05-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, because it's one of those things that drives me crazy EVERY single time i get on a plane.

First of all, i hate the 'mad rush' hoard to board. I think it's incredibly annoying when they say 'first class only', and then like 50 people run up to the front. That bugs me.

Second, I hate when (on the occasion that i DO get upgraded) older business travelers try to push me out of the way bc they dont think i should be boarding with them. I've had lots of people say 'excuse me sweetheart (or 'honey'), this is only first class boarding', and i just say "yes, i'm aware, i'm in first class", then they scoff at their little friends like 'who is this little chippie'. now i realize i'm young(ish), but COME ON. be a bigger sexist asshole, will ya? jeez. also, i have to say that i feel worse for cara (my dear roommate) bc she looks like she's about 12 and she gets upgraded all the time and deals with this crap way more than i do (becuase i look much more mature....ha!). everytime i go anywhere with cara, she gets carded and i dont. which makes me feel like i'm about 90, but oh well. she's blessed with young-looking genes. and...she wears pajamas and a sweatshirt all the time, so they probably think i'm her babysitter. great.

third, this is my favorite thing to watch when people are boarding. i highly recommend that you try it out. it's serious entertainment. so when you board and are seated (this works particularly well if you're seated RIGHT behind the 1st class bulkhead - like in the first few rows of coach). people will look at their ticket to see their seat assignment, then look up at the numbers above the rows. they say (out loud), "ok honey we're in 24E & F". they look up and see that they're standing at row 5. then they walk towards the back of the plane and glance at the numbers above EVERY SEAT and then look back at their ticket. like, oh we're only at 6! oh this is 7! here's 8! i always want to just scream "THE NUMBERS ARE SEQUENTIAL!!! YOU ARENT THERE YET!! NO NEED TO LOOK AT THE NUMBER ABOVE EVERY SINGLE ROW!!!" anyway - this cracks me up. without fail....people do this on every flight i'm ever on.

fourth, i usually try to fall asleep before this one happens because it makes me angry with people. so you inevitably have the business travelers who board at the very last second. and they get ANGRY ANGRY when there is no room for their rollerbag. they roll their eyes and act all annoyed and really mean to the flight attendants. unfortunately, 99% of the time, it's a young-ish woman being a total biatch, which makes me HOPE that i dont ever do that (although i dont think i do) and i hope none of my friends do that.

finally, the broken reclining seat. so have you ever gotten to your seat and you sit down and realize that your chair is broken and doesn't have any tension left in the recline function? meaning, you sit and the chair flies backwards into 'reclining position'? this has happened to me twice now. and both times, the flight attendant comes by pre-take off and says 'sweetheard, put your seatback up', and i say 'its broken, it wont stay up', and they said 'ok well can you just keep it up for taxi and takeoff'? so the first time....i didn't really think much about it. but basically they're asking you to do an extended (um...10 minute) sit up. you have to sit upright (despite takeoff which always throws you backwards) and its TOUGH. the 2nd time i kind of ignored her and just relaxed (of course forcing the seat to lean back) and i got yelled at. i'm sure other people are posting on their blogs about how this annoying girl couldn't follow simple instructions, but that's fine. they're entitled to their opinions :)

flying to dallas on sunday - i will have more tales for you then. i'm sure they will involve the inhumanly long trek to the rental car facility in dallas. i mean...just bc you have lots of space in tx..doesn't mean you need to use it ALL.......

bye!!!

SAT Airport

2007-05-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

I just returned home from a quick weekend in San Antonio. It was a last minute trip, but I had a great time. i can't remember if i have previously discussed the SA Airport, but i will do so here and you can all just ignore it if you've read it before.

Pros:
1. Las Palapas IN THE AIRPORT. Wow. For those of you who dont know. Las Palapas is the only real competition (in most of our minds) to Taco Cabana when you want some tacos. It's a local chain. I guess there is also Taco House, which is phenom, but is not a chain. Anyway, there is a Las Palapas in the airport (Term 2) which is just great and really makes my day. This same spot in the terminal used to have a Fuddruckers (phenomenal! they even had the pump cheese!).

2. Pretty Small, meaning you never have to like.....walk on 12 miles of moving walkways to get where you're going

3. not too far from our house

4. you can fly directly to lots of places in mexico. and from my experience, mexican airlines have GREAT food.

Cons: (take a seat....theres a few)
1. See #2 above. SMALL. while sometimes this is nice, it's usually pretty annoying. There are very few cities that fly directly to SA, so there is almost always a connection involved.

2. baggage takes forever. i think this is just a constant problem....no need to explain

3. terminal 1 REEKS of cinnabonn. it's really overwhelming.

4. terminal 1 has a looooooooong uphill ramp that you have to walk up to get to the gates (this is the round terminal for those of you who are in the know)

5. no premier lines for security. i know this is a particular pet peeve of mine. my mother actually said he hates standing in line with people (like me) who bitch about having to stand with the 'commoners'. so if you're ever in line with my mom, dont complain about the lack of status lanes :)

6. they are doing some work on the baggage area for term 1 and the passenger pick up lines are a MESS. you wont even believe it, so i wont try to explain.

7. i think they've been 'expanding' the airport for roughly 20 years. improvements are visible, but you really have to look.

Celebrity Spottings:
well there aren't a whole lot of celebs who live in SA (and i would assume that most of them would take private planes if at ALL possible). but i did see 1 once. this is so embarassing i can't beleive i'm even counting it. did anyone watch that show on MTV about 'little people'? and there was the blonde one who was kind of skanky but pretty attractive and watned to be an actress? yeah, i saw her. later i found out she performed at carmen electra's bachelorette party as a 'little person stripper'. so yeah, that's all i got for SA celebs seen at airport.

Trivia Answers!

2007-05-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

1. 99.8%
2. 5.6%
3. Ulaan Baatar
4. Yap - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap
5. Katharine Hepburn holds the record for winning the most Oscar awards for acting (at 4). However, Walt Disney holds the record for receiving as well as being nominated for the most Academy Awards. He won 22 competitive awards and received four honorary awards
6. 20%

Air Puffer Machine, Movies, Trivia

2007-04-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

Air Puffer
I got to go through the air puffer machine again at DEN. I’m totally saving up for my own. I didn’t realize they would be 3 million dollars, but I’ll just have to save for a little longer than I was planning. Although for that amount, I could get a REAL massage every single day for the next 136 years. So maybe I’ll just stick with the regular massages.

Anyway – my car’s Air Conditioner is on the fritz and today was about 90 degrees in Denver. So…..my drive to the airport was less than comfortable. I had the windows open for most of it, but then my boss called and I had to roll them up for about 15 minutes while we chatted, and I swear I nearly had a heart attack it was so hot in there. When I arrived at the airport, it looked like I had just taken a shower. NOT attractive.

Movies
I saw ‘Fracture’ this weekend by myself while waiting for Catherine & Phil to meet me up in Keystone (I was up visiting Karee…who was there for a work conference). The movie was EXCELLENT and I highly recommend it. Ryan Gosling is great in it, and Anthony Hopkins is just as creepy as ever. I really like seeing movies alone….although this one was definitely a little ‘scarier’ than my usual. As most of you know, I’m afraid of basically everything, and I do not see scary movies…but this was a legal thriller, so it was ok. But you’d basically have to drug me and kidnap me if you wanted me to sit through “Saw” or “Hostel” or one of those types of movies. I really wanted to see ‘In the Land of Women’, but it wasn’t on during the time it needed to be. Anyway – if anyone has seen it, I would like your review J and….Karee and I happened to catch “High School Musical” on Friday night, which I had heard lots about, but hadn’t seen. So we regressed about 10 years and watched. And it was ADORABLE. And the best part was, it was a special on the Disney channel where they had replaced all the commercials (yay) with an instructional ‘dance-a-long’ starring all the kids from the movie. So basically every 15 minutes, there would be a 5 minute segment where they would teach you all the moves to the dances in the movie. All leading up to (of Course) the grand dance finale in the school gym. The 2 main characters (who are totally cute) are totally in love with each other, and Karee and I were betting during the whole movie if they were going to kiss at the end. I thought they would HAVE to….since the movie basically tells you they’re soul mates. Karee said ‘no way they’ll kiss…its Disney”. Anyway – for those of you who are curious, they do NOT share a special smooch at the end…so Karee won that one J

Trivia
So two years ago for Christmas, I received one of those ‘page-a-day’ calendars with Trivia for every day. And I took it to work and would play Trivia with my cube mate every day. We got ridiculously competitive and ended up going through the whole calendar by like….May. So we bought another one (from another year….purchased on eBay) and continued. Then we made it more complicated by introducing the concept of ‘wagering’ your bet before you answer. Like Jeopardy…so you could easily get way ahead or way behind. So…at the end of the year, we had done something like 700 trivia questions and I ended up winning by only ONE point, which I just think is totally bizarre. We were pretty evenly matched at trivia. And yes, everyone else at work thought we were the biggest nerds. Whatever. Ok so here is some good trivia that you guys can play. Don’t cheat!

What percentage of the total mass of our Solar System does the Sun comprise?
What percentage of the world speaks Spanish as their first language?
What is the capitol of Mongolia?
What country uses the largest form of currency (I mean…physically size-wise, not value-wise)?
Who is the person with the most Academy Award wins? How many?
What percentage of the world's fresh water is in the Great Lakes?

Good luck! I’ll post the answers tomorrow!!!

Lots of random snippets

2007-04-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

I have SO much to update. I’m sorry for the delay. I have lots of excuses, but they’re not as entertaining as my stories.

1. Crazy lady in DEN security line.
So a few weeks ago, I was behind a lady in the security line at the Denver airport. She takes out her quart-size ziplock baggie and puts in the bin.
Security lady (SL) - “Sorry maam, one of these bottles is 5 oz…that’s over the limit”.
Passenger lady (PL) - “yeah but there is barely any liquid left…definitely under the limit”.
SL - “sorry…can’t take it…that’s the rule. You can go check it…or you can throw the whole bottle out”.
PL - FREAKS OUT. She takes her bottles (I couldn’t tell what exactly it was…but I think it was face wash, or face lotion or something). She squirts it all over the security lady, then THROWS THE BOTTLE at her.
SL – maam…I’m going to have to ask you to step aside.
PL – “I fly ALL THE TIME….i should have priority!!!” (meanwhile, she is waving around her boarding pass with a huge “boarding group 4” printed on it. Um….step off you must not fly ALL the time little lady….

Anyway – after she got interrogated (for like 2 mins), they let her go! Can you believe they let her travel after that outburst! Totally insane. My parents were aghast….as was i. I mean I’ve seen temper tantrums, but not by middle aged women. It was awesome (if not a little embarrassing)

(Jac – this totally reminds me of the “I HAVE FORTY THOUSAND MILES!!!!!” girl. Hahaha)

2. My Crazy Crazy Crazy Work
I am not going into details bc I don’t want to get fired…but I work for serious lunatics. Not my bosses so much, but the client is totally crazy. I am currently listening to the tail end of a 14-hour conference call (my 2nd in two days….needless to say I have gotten NO work done….so I’m way behind). I have another 7am-9pm call tomorrow…and Thursday…and Friday. Please please please don’t be jealous. Anyway – this woman I work for says the most INSANE comments you have ever heard. She’s a loony. I fear for my life on a daily basis. And I’m not kidding. I’ve had to go to our client partner to discuss this a few times now. She alone is driving me to the point of near-quitting. I wish I could post an audioclip of her ranting on this call right now….Anyway...Jackie is a MAJOR doll and is en-route to my hotel in the middle of nowhere Delaware with a bottle of wine. She is SUCH a great same-sex non-lesbian date!

3. Weekend in Chicago
After training all of last week, was in Chicago last weekend with Cara and Karee and Loren. It was so fun…K&L’s new place is awesome and I want to move in. But preferably not into the room where you get locked in/out every time the door closes. J We had some fabulous meals, a lot of delicious cheese (the trip to the cheese shop included some hilarious comments from the cheese dude, a ‘checking-out’ by the wine guy, and more). We tried to watch ‘click’ on dvd…but it was AWFUL. Although, I am pretty sick, so I may have just been too sick/tired to stay awake…and it wasn’t actually boredom. But I’m pretty sure it was. Anyway – I was supposed to be working from home this week…but got a call last minute that I was needed in Delaware instead…so here I am.

4. Air puffer security machines
I want one. Does anyone know where I can get one? It feels so good – like an air massage? I would totally buy this….ebay? I feel Benet would be my inside source on this one....

5. ANTM
Please tell me that someone who reads this (granted, I have very few readers) is a fan of “Americas next top model”. It’s totally genius. I mean it’s the 8th season, so basically these girls aren’t even attractive anymore…they’re just crazy. Even my 17 year old brother thinks its funny…and he has a very mature sense of humor (uhhh…hahah). Anyway – I highly recommend it. You will die when you see how seriously Tyra (who seriously thinks she is Oprah reborn) takes herself. Anyway – you will thank me. It’s pure comedy.

6. Mom & daughter ORD Adventure
So in Chicago last weekend I had to fly out of O’Hare…since Cara’s flight was about an hour before mine…I had some time to kill. Anyway – I went to Chili’s and had some nachos (so much for my diet...but the nachos at Chili's are made with their awesome queso dip...and you know i can't resist that stuff) and met a mother/daughter next to me. They had been on standby flights all day and were killing time by having a margarita at every bar in O’Hare and comparing. Hahahaha. I can't imagine how many bars are in O'Hare, but i'm going to venture to guess that it's more than 20. This was the most genius thing I’d heard in a while and I loved it. Mom/Katy….do you want to do this for our next mom/daughter weekend? It would be fun…although wine is usually pretty fun on its own!!!

Next time….I’m going to post some trivia. Because I love trivia and haven’t gotten to share my love with you all yet. Get ready!!!!!!!

Seriously Gross...this is why I'm not an MD

2007-03-27T20:09:00.001-07:00

Please take a look at my sister's blog (see links to the right). UGH. Foot nipples? i'll pass, thanks.

$1.00 Oysters? Scary or Delicious?

2007-03-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

So Jackie and I (Jackie is my only friend in Delaware) have started a tradition of going to this place on Tuesday nights that has $1.00 Oysters. Some people I work with seem totally grossed out by this super-cheap seafood, but i say....why not? Until one of us gets ill, we're goign to keep doing it. Or....until it's not oyster season anymore, but i think we have another 5 weeks of it. Perfect! Delicious and cheap.

In other news....I keep hearing more and more about this "Clear" card....the membership that lets you zip through security. I've already talked about it a little bit on this site, but I've heard a lot more about it since. I have some major doubts about the program. 1st of all, it's a private company that owns it (rather than a government agency). I'm not sure why, but this seems strange to me. I know the FAA and the other agencies who run Airport Security are government-run, so it's odd they would let a contractor come in and basically change the rules? I have to wonder 1) how much Clear paid for this, and 2) how long they'll be allowed to operate? I'm sure Benet has some answers and I would like to hear them. :)

My second problem with this is that they are really advertising this program very strangely. I mean i cannot believe they advertised wtih Daily Candy (i know i know it's not technically advertising since they didn't pay for the writeup). BUt if they are targeting that kind of audience (basically yuppies) then it's the same thing in the end. If they're encouraging people who dont typically fly that much (but still find airport lines annoying), then the Clear program will make a lot of money from people who will hardly use the system.....and people who DO fly a lot and join the program...will end up waiting in longer lines than they probably already do, becuase they'll be sharing the speedy line with girls in juicy tracksuits heading to vegas!!! Am i explaining this clearly? Sometimes i get all worked up and dont make sense.

NOTE - that rant sounded a bit angry....it wasn't meant to be. i am a yuppie. i admit it. and i like DailyCandy, even though i cannot stand their writing style sometimes. And i fully admit that i love flying to vegas. However, I can't cop to ever having worn or owned a Juicy tracksuit though :)

For those of you who are following....Jac (in Switzerland) has been on a major blog updating spree, so go check her out bc shes' hilarious.

Lastly, I'm having some issues with the hotel i stay in each week. Last week, the shower was broken. The knob that you pull (to make the water come out of the showerhead instead of the tub faucet) was broken and kept falling mid-shower. I nicely asked the front desk to fix this on my way to work, and they said they would. The next morning, the same thing happened. So i was a little firmer the next day. I know it seems small, but that's REALLY annoying to have to lean backwards and hold up the peg while you shower. Especially at 6am.... So the concierge sent up a fruit and cheese platter to my room that night, which was nice.

Anyway - this week I checked in Sunday night and my bathroom was FILTHY. Like, there was someone else's hair and soap scum in the tub, which is just inexcusably gross. I dont usually pull the 'Excuse me i'm a platinum member who LIVES HERE...please clean the tub before i arrive', but i was seriously grossed out. I know i'm not alone here. Anyway - any tips on how to raise a stink without being a total and complete B???

Ta Ta!!!!

Frequent traveller Program?

2007-03-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

A few things to start off with.

I have been seriously delinquent in posting regularly. I'm very very sorry about that. there are a few reasons. 1) I work all the time. and i dont really want to get on the computer after hours. 2) i dont know what to write about. if you have any suggestions to get me over hump #2 (bc hump #1 involves quitting) then let me know!

Another funny thing: one of my best readers (and most frequent commenters) always addresses me as 'Endless', which makes me laugh. i know it's the title. but it's obviously not my real name. i guess i asked for it when i opted to keep this impersonal and quasi-anonymous. not becuase i dont love you all....but becuase i'd rather not get fired. anyway...

So Benet (the frequent traveler guru) asked about those 'registered traveler' programs, which i've heard a lot about, but honestly dont know all that much about them. from what i understand, you pay a fee (well, hopefully your company pays it) then you go through some kind of initial screening process (to make sure you're not a crazy terrorist) then you can zip through security every time you fly (only from the airports that support this....correct?). i dont know how into that i would be. i mean...i typically fly only United...so i can always take the 'short lines' both for check in and for security. So while i know i bitch and moan about the lines, they're usually actually not that bad. and they're only really annoying in cities that dont have 'status' lines (ie - certain terminals which shall remain unnamed at PHL). not to mention that i haven't yet had the opportunity to fly out of DEN on a frequent basis (i moved last weekend and worked from home this week), so i'm not sure how much of a horrible pain in the ass it is. i'll tell you sunday, when i fly to philly. so in summary - i dont know if i would be willing to do the program....i would need to hear a bit more about it. now if they had a program where they would deliver your luggage to you the second you exit the plane....then i would do that. no doubt.

what else. very exciting that Vandy kicked GW ass in the 1st round of the tournament...i have to say that while i always root for them....they typically end up dissapointing me. (see Loren's blog for more ranting about how frustrating vandy athletics are) so they play again tomorrow and i'm not going to say anything for fear of jinxing us. zip!

what else...if anyone is going to be in denver next weekend....let me know. it's both melissa's birthday and my birthday. and we usually celebrate in vegas (for the past 3 or 4 years) but this year decided not to do the whole vegas/ncaa/birthday combo weekend not only bc it's ttoally exhausting but its a bit expensive. :) anyway - we're having a party here if anyone wants to attend. also cara and i are having a housewarming party at our new pad on 4/14 if anyone wants to attend.

also if anyone has any wonderful dining/attraction suggestions for denver, let me know. i got some great ones from Aaron (thanks!!! - i'm going to that sushi place tonight!) and am always looking for more!!

more adventures

2007-03-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

So of course my flight was delayed again last night. and of course it was annoying. and to top it off, my flight from Philly to SF contained the entire penn state women's softball team. i hope none of my readers are offended when i say this but DEAR GOD they were so annoying. they were playing 'mafia' (you know that game where you all close your eyes and basically scream at eachother to try to figure out who is the mafia?), they were yelling at top volume, they were braiding hair, bragging about how good the team is, etc. this lasted for approximately 3 hours. it was SO annoying.

Good things that happened:
1. the nice steward (is that what he's called? a male flight attendant?) gave me a free mini-bottle of red wine. a small price to pay for having to sit with the irritating team.
2. the movie was the new james bond. which i can watch over and over and not get tired of.
3. they now offer ANTM (americas next top model) for download on itunes, so i watched that
4. the usair terminal at PHL is way nicer than the united terminal.

Lets see - I am in SF now, leaving around lunchtime to begin my drive!!! for those of you who dont know, i'm moving to denver. today. ha. it was a very spur of the moment decision, so dont ask me any deep philosophical questions about my decision, because i wont have an answer. i'll be living with Cara in a cute little apartment. i'll still be travelling, so i bet my life wont be all that different (except that i'll be going to/from denver instead of SFO)

also - please see this. amazing!! it's all gummi bears!!! http://www.yayachou.com/sculptures/gummi_chandelier.htm

anything else? then let the list continue.
#6 - people who have rollerbags that are the size of a lunchbox. i'm serious. COME ON...PICK IT UP. must you roll that dinky little thing around the terminal and get in everyone's way?

#8 - Sweet Sleeper?? um, whatever you say...

2007-03-04T08:13:00.000-08:00

Hi!!! I'm back - last week wasn't nearly as free as i was hoping it would be, so i'm sorry about the lack of updates :)

#8 - The Sweet Sleeper Bed (from Sheraton).
I'm sure you've all seen the commercials and know that Sheraton (well, the whole Starwood brand) has their own trademarked kind of beds. The Westin has the 'Heavenly'. The Sheraton has 'the Sweet Sleeper'. Anyway, I lived in the Sheraton for 1 year in Phoenix, and have been living in the Sheraton in Wilmington for a few months also now. Let me tell you...i think the Sweet Sleeper is a major crock.
First of all, i dont like the pillows very much. They're super thick, which means your neck ends up hurting all night (becuase it's at a 90 degree angle to the rest of your body). I know you can request different types of pillows....but that never seems to work. Anyway - i usually just end up sleeping with no pillows, so that's not great.
Second, (and this is what really kills me) they use 2 flat sheets to make the bed (instead of 1 fitted and 1 flat). Now, if you move around a lot or if you roll over in your sleep, the sheets get all messed up and you end up sleeping on the bare mattress, which grosses me out. is it so much to ask that they use a fitted sheet? i think not, but maybe that's why i dont work in housekeeping.

So i'm currently in SF. flying to Philly in a few hours. Since i waited too late to buy my ticket...i am on USAir today (instead of my usual United). I'm hoping this means that I'll have a nice surprise for the movie...very exciting!!

Top 10 - #10 & 9

2007-02-27T15:09:00.000-08:00

Things about travelling that never bothered me initially...but bug the hell out of me now. I was planning on doing 1 a day, but i'll kick things off with 2. lucky you!!!

#10 - Hotel Room Hangers

So they're connected to the rod. I mean, you can remove them, but the hook stays in the closet. so you're left with a hanger with a nub instead of a hook. How in the world are you supposed to steam clothes in the shower if you can't hang them anywhere. this bugs me. a lot. it means i have to wake up earlier and actually iron.

#9 - Hotel Room Televisions

When you turn on the TV in a hotel room, it's usually defualted to the in-house channel (where you can buy movies, etc). However, it's also usually defaulted to volume 8 million. TOP VOLUME. it's very annoying. i dislike this a lot.

Sidenote: One of my loyal readers Benet has noted that we are living parallel lives. And i think that's really exciting. Where in SA do your parents live? Where are your favorite restaurants in SA? Most of my other readers are either from there or have been there to visit, so this is so exciting. I have read that they're planning an expansion to the SAT airport, but haven't heard much detail about it. Have you?

also - IV sent me this link. www.rap-cat.com i've already discussed my love for cat-related humor. please enjoy. and turn up the volume.

24 hour Adventure

2007-02-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

So I actually have been thinking about this in advance and compiling a list of 'things that drive me totally crazy about traveling', but i have an even better story to tell you. so i've decided i'll tell you my tale, then will drag out posting the 'list' at all at once and just give you 1 a day. and since i'm working from home this week, i can do this and not get fired for blogging while at the client. everybody wins!!!

So on Thursday, I was scheduled to fly from PHL to San Antonio (I went home for my dad's bday...). Since there are no direct flights, I was connecting in DC (Dulles). Anyway - when i check in in Philly, the security line is LONG and takes forever and i am stuck with a very talkative thug behind me in line who insists on telling me how he's going to Phoenix to party with some friends because (and I quote), "My dad just died and settling his estate was kind of a bummer and I'm ready to party". wow. ok to each his own. anyway - he talked to me the whole time I was in line (about 45 mins). So i get to the gate and they're saying we're going to be delayed and if you're connecting in DC then go talk to the gate agent. So i get in line. What follows is our interaction:

Me: Hi, You said to come up here if i'm connecting in DC. I am.
Gate Agent: Ok, where is your final destination.
Me: SAT
GA: Ok we'll just rebook you then! (while wearing a smiling, friendly face)
Me: Great!
GA: Wait, did you check a bag
Me: Yes (in my defense, i dont have w/d in my apt in SF, so i brought about a month's worth home with me. yes i know that's lazy but i dont care)
GA: Ok, i can't rebook you. you're going to have to go back to the ticket agent.
Me: You mean the one outside of security?
GA: Yes
Me: If i do that i'll miss this flight bc i'll be in line for another hour
GA: Sorry (he doesn't look sorry at all, i should tell you)
Me: listen, i dont want to be a huge B here, but i fly all the time, and i know for a fact that you can rebook me at the gate. do you not know how? do you not have access? (in hindsight....this was a mistake to say...he got a little offended)
GA: GO TO THE TICKET AGENT (yelling)
Me: Ok well, i'm not doing that. i'll just call United. thanks.

So i leave the line, go sit in the gate waiting area and call the Status Number for United. They answer and i explain situation and the nice lady says "He must be new, he definitely can rebook you there." (so at least i felt vindicated in my quasi-bitchiness). she tells me to sit where i am, take the flight to DC - which at this point isn't scheduled to be so late that i'll miss my connection - and worst case, when i arrive she'll rebook me on AA flight. very easy. i'm not stressing at all.

Sidenote: as i hangup, the crazy Anna Nicole verdict was being annouced, and the gate agent at the next gate over is making the longest PA announcement in history. and people actually asked her to pause her announcement so they could hear the verdict. isn't that crazy!?! i felt a little sad for our country.

Anyway....arrive in DC. late. i run off the plane, have missed my SA Connection by about 5 minutes. no sweat. i call United back and they tell me my options.
a) they can put me on AA flight to SA in about an hour, but it's oversold and since i dont have status on AA i prob wont get on.
b) they can put me on AA flight to Austin in 2 hours, but it's also oversold and running about 4 hours late. so i would arrive in austin about 3 am then have to drive to SA. not good option.
c) they can put me on first United flight to SA in the morning, which goes through Chicago (obvs on the way...?) but i wont get home until about 6pm
d) they can put me on first AA flight to SA in the morning (connecting in Dallas) and i'll get home at 11am. yay!

So i call keli (thank GOD i have a friend who lives in DC) and she comes to get me and all was fine. they did hold my luggage hostage overnight so that wasn't ideal, but no sweat. i borrowed pj's from her. we went to jaleo (my fave restaurant in dc...besides brooklyn bagel) and watched grey's anatomy. then i woke up at 3am to go back to airport. this sucked. what sucked even more was that since i had a one-way ticket that had been purchased approx 1 hour in advance, i got the EXTRA special security search. every square inch of every pocket of my computer bag and purse were searched and wiped with those TNT-detection pads. she was totally suspicious of the fact that i have 2 laptops (tell me about it) and kept asking questions like....do they both work? are they both necessary? i mean....i wouldn't really volunteer to haul around 90 pounds if it wasn't needed. thanks. but i got to go through the air puffer machine, and as i think i've said before, i love it. it's like an air massage. i want to get one for my house.

Flight from DC to DFW is delayed and i MISS my connection to SA. now is when i'm really feeling the tired. so i sit in DFW for about 4 hours until another flight to SA is leaving. The only benefit of this was that they unloaded a 777 charter jet full of soldiers returning from Iraq at my gate and the entire airport stopped and gave them a 10-minute standing ovation. it was incredible. so neat!!!

ALSO - since i was in the nice new shiny intl terminal at DFW, they have great bathrooms!!! with a nice marble shelf to hold your stuff against the wall. i took a picture with my camera phone...i know that's sad, but its really handy and i was pretty excited. :)

Story is almost over. when i finally arrive in SA, i now have to tromp over to the next terminal to claim my bag. my sister got there first and said the bag was just sitting out. apparently all night. and all day. just sitting out with no guard. great. very secure.

Lessons:
1. For being so delayed, i was in a surprisingly good mood the whole time. After traveling every week for 3 years, that was only the 2nd time i've been delayed overnight. which i think is pretty remarkable.
2. It's not wise to go for 16 hours and eat only a bag of sun chips and a diet pepsi. that's when i got really cranky.
3. save the Airlines Reservations numbers in your cell phone. you never know when you will need them. and the line for the customer service counter is ALWAYS 20 people long.

i can't think of any others right now, but i'm sure i will.

next time: the list begins! :)

Introducing a special guest!!!

2007-02-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys -

my dear friend Cara has written a little something about an airport that she has the pleasure of flying in/out of every week. beautiful Columbus, OH!!! i personally haven't been there...but after reading her notes... i'm on the first plane! :) as for me, i'm in SF right now...flying to Philly tomorrow morning. i know you were curious.

here she is....and here are her thoughts!!!

CMH aka Columbus, OH airport.
A typical thursday

1. Airport Access- a mess. There is one road and a gazillon stop lights. A pain in the ass, especially when President Georgey Porgey is in town and wants the entire road to himself.

2. Car rental return- not bad. You can walk to the terminal in about 5 min if you aren’t too lazy, can bear the cold and willing to dodge some hotel vans, or you can take the moving beltway that is a bit longer, but indoors. The Hertz ppl give you your receipt quickly and always ask if you filled the tank with gas.. and then look if you really did. Why even ask? In Cbus, Hertz does NOT have their magic board with your name on it when you are picking up your car. This can totally suck cause it means you actually have to talk to someone at 11pm on Sunday night when you are super tired and cranky. However, given the mood, this has great potential for getting an upgraded vehicle. Best cars so far at CMH hertz gold counter: Volvo S40 and Volkswagen Jetta.

3. Checking in. Normally very quick and painless even when checking bags. Normal wait time at the United ticket counter is approx 5-10 min or you can use those Easy Check-in Kiosks if youre not checking bags with no wait. They also have a premier/first class line, but normally that line is longer during business travel hours, but ppl stand in them anyway. I don’t understand this—is this “my line is better than your line” deal? or “I have to prove to everyone in the world that I have status.”?

I HAVE 35,000 miles dammit!! Do you know who my father is??!! (Abby- this incident might need to be added to the PHX airport review)

4. Terminal B Corridor After checking in you walk past several restaurants, shops and of course a bath and body works. (which I think is odd considering this is BEFORE security and the stupid 3oz liquid rule). I like that this corridor to the terminal B has many ATM choices, so you don’t get raped by the $2 surcharges from both your bank and the ATMs.

5. The dreaded Security line- the variable. Terminal B does have a premier/first class line, but again.. it tends to be longer than the “low rent” line at times. The TSA ppl are very strict about the 2 bag rule, unless you chat them up, and then they don’t care. Sometimes security will take 5 min, other times it will take 15-20.. which makes it hard to cut it close.. I have built in a 30 minute buffer for this, which basically means I go to the gift shop to get a water and read USWeekly (but not buying it!) for the remaining 15-20 minutes.

Terminal B in general: Not bad. It just sucks if you are at the furthest gate, and it is literally a ½ mile walk without moving beltways. Quiznos, Bar (where you are ALWAYS asked if you want a shot of jack for just $3.00 more), 2 gift shops/news stands, and then another bar with service that may take 5 min or 20 to get a quesadilla.. another variable.. so I tend to just go for the drink.

Flight availability/ Service: The downfall of flying in/out of Columbus- not very many direct flights except to Ohare (barf). Also since Cbus is a small hub, the aircrafts tend to be smaller, which means you have to gate check your roller bag. However, there tends to be less people on the flights and I’ve always been upgraded when I request it. BALLA!

philadephia in duress...

2007-02-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

So, we're coming to you from PHL. Yes, i said "we". Jackie and i have been sitting in the philadelphia airport for several hours now. Our flight to San Francisco has been delayed a lot of hours. Apparently, many flights have been delayed. This massive storm system has really made a mess of air travel. I was in Wilmington, Delaware all week for work and it was VERY VERY cold. i like cold, dont get me wrong, but i was SO not prepared for this.
hat? no.
scarf? no.
gloves? no.
coat? no.
i had.....a blazer. that was my protection against the 10 degree weather with the hail, sleet, raining ice, major snow, etc. A BLAZER!!!! i clearly didn't check the weather.com site very well. oh well, live and learn.

anyway - jackie and i are waiting here and decide to hit the bar with the delicoius cuban sandwich (which i've previously discussed). we sit down about 615. the waitress tells us they are about to close the kitchen because they're out of almost everything bc it's so crowded. so we ordered quickly and then waited 1.5 hours for our food. NOT KIDDING!!!! it took a long time. however, we had a seat by the window and watched a dude driving a baggage cart do doughnuts on the icy tarmac for about 30 minutes....no kidding. it was awesome!!! forwards doughnuts, backwards doughnuts...the guy was having a ball.

anyway - the restaurant is out of fries....so when i ordered my sandwich, i got the 'other' option. you know...'upgrade to curly fries, onion rings, etc for just .50 more!!!". the lady charged us for this!!!! i complained. i mean....hello they didn't have fries!!! they can't charge us for ordering 'other'. she was PISSED and said 'are yall kidding its only a dollar!!!". well, i would have let it slide til you pulled the attitude. man!

ok here is my story of the day. while going through security, the lady 2 people behind me pulls out the largest ziplock bag ive ever seen. (think....the size bag you would use to marinate an entire turkey). she has her toiletries in there. my mouth is hanging open staring at her. she's about.....30? traveling alone. quite bitchy. tells the security guy 'I'm carrying the toiletries for my whole family....including my kids!!!". no kids visible within 100 yards. not to mention, the bag is full of normal-sized shampoo, conditioner, perfume, makeup, facewash, etc. definitely adult woman toiletries, not childrens stuff. i couldn't believe the nerve of this lady...but i have to give her credit. nice try!!!! i dont know what happened bc i got my stuff together and left the area, but i was still laughing inside. :)

next time.....a guest author!!! Cara has written her thoughts about the Columbus, OH airport.....a frequent destination for her. i know you are all dying to hear about it.....i sure am.

bye!
-A&J

RENO!!!

2007-02-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hi kids -

I'm sitting in Dallas. Flying back to SF tomorrow. Last weekend I was in Tahoe with some friends for a long weekend of skiing. We flew into Reno, then took a shuttle to our condo in Tahoe. Anyway, we all met in the Denver airport (we had about a 2 hour layover), then flew to Reno together. there were 7 of us on the plane, which was fun. Anyway, on my flight from PHL to DEN, i had decided to watch some dvds on the plane. foolishly, i brought nip/tuck. i guess i had a major memory lapse, bc i didnt' remember that nip/tuck is VERY graphic and full of sex scenes, so i felt TOTALLY filthy when the 1st one started and i was on the plane and i quickly stopped the dvd and watched 'The Office' instead. anyway - Reno.

when we arrived in Reno, we had to wait a while for luggage, since everyone had skis, snowboards, etc. it was about 9pm. and you'll never guess what happens at 9pm in the Reno airport. BARS CLOSE!!! i couldn't believe it!!! you can play slot machines, you can gamble your little heart out, but no cocktails. no good. i DID see an ipod vending machine, and that made me laugh out loud (and only cara understood why). Anyway - i dont have a lot of commentary about the airport, sadly. since i wasn't there for long. their luggage was relatively speedy, which is a major plus. and then i drove back to SF with a friend after the weekend, so i didn't even go back to the airport so i only had the 1 experience.

RENO EVALUATION

Pros:

1. Short wait for luggage

2. slot Machines

3. Ipod vending

Cons:

1. bar was closed unacceptably early

Celeb Spottings: None

Distance to City: FAR. our shuttle took a while to get us up to Tahoe.

NOTE: I didn't use any of the usual services i use in airports. food, rental cars, check in, security, etc. that's probably why my review is so positive. :)

The weekend was great. We skiied, gambled in the casinos, met some strange and hilarious locals (1 in particular who will go down in history as the weirdest person any of us have ever met), ate lots of good food, and had a wonderful time. Anyway - after driving back to San Francisco, I had about 2 hours at home to unpack, repack, pay bills, then go to the airport to fly to Dallas! And here I am.

SFO Airport - yes, they're now ushering the Global Services people to the front of the line, but i'm 99.99% sure they've always done that in SFO. They always had a special 'red' line for GS and Intl 1st class. I'm not sure, i'm not GS so i usually dont pay much attention to their special treats bc it makes me insanely jealous :)

Note - is anyone else loving the SNL "Laser Cats" sketches as much as I am? I think they're hilarious. Maybe i just really like cat-related humor? Katy sends me links all the time. Most of you know i love the 'huge cat' picture where the girl is holding the cat like a baby and it is the size of a tiger. anyway i have a new favorite 'huge cat' picture. it's probably fake, but i dont care, it makes me laugh. why do i have this obsession with giant animals? rmember the huge bunny picture? awesome.

Phillydelphia

2007-02-05T16:33:00.000-08:00

HI! So there was actual work to be done last week - sorry for the dissapearance. Just got back from a long weekend in Tahoe (expect some serious commentary on the Reno airport soon - i did see with my own eyes an ipod vending machine there - major excitement!!!). Anyway - heading to the airport in a few minutes to fly to beautiful exciting (meaning...near good mexican food) DALLAS!! As a native Texan, it's always exciting to be flying to the motherland, even if it's not to my actual hometown. I'm sure some of my loyal readers will understand and agree...i'm looking at you kolitz. :)

So, last weekend I flew into PHL on Sunday evening. Then i rented a car from Hertz then drove down to Wilmington (about 30 minutes or so? not too bad). I didn't check a bag, so I was trying to be super efficient. Anyway - here is what happened. I arrive (we land about 3 minutes late...). I deplane. I walk alllll the way to where the Hertz bus comes to get me, and see it already waiting there! awesome. what great luck i'm having!!! then i board the bus, shoot over to the hertz lot, and get off the bus and go read the board (where it says your last name and your car parking spot #). my name isn't there! annoying. so i go in the little hut where there is a line of 5 people ahead of me. more annoying. there is no one working. EXTREME annoying. i can hear about 3 women in the backroom gossiping and chatting. INSERT MAJOR RAGE HERE. anyway - they eventually see the huge line forming and come out (acting very annoyed, i might add) to help us. Once its my turn, i explain that i have rented a car online and my name isn't on the board. (Note - i do this all the time. i rent a car every single week. i never have problems. hertz is usually very good). she says 'yeah your name isn't on there because you are late and we remove your name once you are late'. um, how am i late? when you reserve a car online you give them your flight #, so even if you are majorly late, they should know. she explains that "in Philly, we dont do that". so it's basically like total chaos and there are no rules. anyway - i found this annoying. especially since my airport experience had been relatively good until then. how on earth could i have been ANY faster to arrive at hertz!? unless i had teleported myself? or worn those shoes with roller skates attached!? i was so confused. anyway - major shout out to katy for being on the receiving end of my phone call rant to her at 11pm that night on the drive down to delaware.

also - katy has started blogging again. you can check her out here!!! - http://www.xanga.com/sanantoniogirl

ALSO!!! One of my loyal readers Benet asked about the United SFO ticketing area recently. it's still in construction, so i can't give a full update. but i will say that in my experience, their interim solution totally sucks. the lines are really long, and they've made a fake security area way down by the international terminal (it spits you out right by gate 75...by the gordon biersch). and they no longer have a 'status' security line during construction, so it's pretty congested and the business people complain and stand in line bitching (as far as i can tell, these men just stand in line and talk loudly about how much they fly...is this supposed to impress people? it doesn't.). however, i was there like the 1st or 2nd day of their plan, so maybe things are better after a week and today will be less confusing. i'll let you know.

So - let's discuss the Philly airport. I will refrain from judging based on the hertz experience above. :)

PHILADELPHIA!!!!!
PROS:
1. the bar/grille by the SFO gate makes a killer cuban sandwich.
2. the bathrooms in Terminal D have about 90 stalls, which is great bc you never have to wait. the stalls are still about 4 cubic feet big, but at least you can get in there quickly.
3. they have a food hut called the 'king of pizza', and the pizza is pretty tasty. (see below for the king of pizza negative)

CONS:
1. the rental car return is a complete nightmare. basically they have a loop that you're forced to drive in to get to your company. now, when the bus is driving you back to the terminal, it has to make the loop TWICE bc their driveway is juuuuuuust a little too far to make the turn off (it's a one way). this is difficult to explain, but trust me it's horrific. if it's not too cold, and i'm not wearing super high heels, AND my bag isn't full of bricks and concrete, then i usuallly just walk to the terminal. it's through a parking garage and takes about 1/10th the time of the bus.
2. it's a LONG flight to SFO from here. this isn't so much an airport gripe i guess. but there is also only 1 direct flight in the evenings....so my options are quite limited.
3. the security line for terminal D is insane. i've never been able to get through there in less than 40 minutes - no joke.
4. the luggage takes foreverrr (notice a theme...someone really needs to revolutionalize the luggage reclamation process)
5. King of Pizza sold me a bottle of water where the plastic lid was like....melted shut. so the bottle was totally useless. there was no perforation between the lid and the plastic ring that stays on the bottle when you remove the lid. so the bottle wouldn't open bc they were just 1 piece...not separateable. i didn't notice until i was on the plane suffering from major thirst.
6. Maybe it's the proximety to Delaware (the credit card capital of the US) but there are no less than 3 airline credit card stands where people are hollering at you to sign up for a credit card and get a free t-shirt. There's always a Southwest, a United, and an AirTran stand. They get really vocal and yell loudly. i dont like it - it's offensive. and they act all miffed if you dont go sign up. they scream 'THIS IS A FREE FLIGHT...WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THAT YOU DONT WANT ONE!?!??!!" well, because almost everyone in that terminal has enough miles for a few lifetimes (at least i do) and i dont want some piece of crap airtran shirt. or a stuffed airplane doll.

note to my readers - dont sign up for these. credit cards are bad. pay them off. they're making a killing off of you if you dont. if you desperately need a tshirt that badly, i'll send you one. and i wont leave you saddled in debt.

ok off to SFO. adios!!!

2007-01-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have had three great meals since I last posted. Without going into too much detail, here goes.

Thursday night - had dinner at www.scotthowardsf.com with my friend Alex, who was in town for work. It was fantastic!!! Alex is a great non-date date, he even let me order the wine, which was nice of him! ) Here is a pic of me and Alex from the last time he was in town...this was taken at the Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel, which is super posh and fancy. I am obviously underdressed and look somewhat like a hippie...which I usually do not.

Friday night - had dinner with 3 girlfriends at www.umamisf.com. I wasn't aware that this place turns into a crazy nightlife scene bar about 10pm, so that was not so great. We were getting bumped and jostled around all night, which wasn't fun. Also we were sitting near the door so every time the door opened (about every 12 seconds, since you can't smoke inside in California), it was like sitting at the North Pole. BUT...they had delicious sake cocktails, which were really fun. One in particular called the "Hello Kitty". Now i'm not a fan of the Sanrio crap, but this drink was GREAT!!! After dinner, my friend Alexandra and I sat at the bar for a drink and chatted and people watched. There was a young girl flirting very heavily with an OLD man, so we were totally entranced and decided he must be some kind of mogul.

Saturday night - had dinner with Kami and a bunch of her friends for someone's birthday at www.himerestaurant.com. Actually, it was 3 people's birthdays, one of whom was named "Dawg Nutz". I didn't really get the full story there. Kami is a good friend from college...I hadn't seen her in an inexcusably long time, so it was good to catch up with her!

This afternoon I am flying to to Philadelphia, then driving into Delaware. I find it hard to believe that there isn't a commercial airport in Delaware, but that's what I've been told. I saw a private airport there once, but nothing big enough for large planes. I can't believe we have states in the USA that dont have an airport. This seems surprising to me.

Also, I will be in Delaware all week with all the project Partner big-dogs (not to be confused with Dawg Nutz...) so I have to be on my best behavior. Hopefully this also means that there are some free dinners in my future. :)

More to come later. thanks for the comments/questions, they are great and wonderful.

ALSO - my great friend Jac from college moved to Switzerland (from Chicago) a few months ago and is blogging about her experiences there. Link is to the right - many of you know her so go read about her new life!!

2007-01-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

So my week of overindulgence continues. Yesterday I had lunch with my college friend Emily. Since I know you’re curious (and since it’s a funny picture), I’m pasting a pic of Emily below. She’s the one not dressed like Marilyn Monroe. Ha!

Anyway, not only did I have a great meal, BUT I heard a great story! Emily and her friends were in Park City last week for Sundance, and happened to see Mandy Moore and DJAM (hot – but weird – new rumored celebrity couple) making out!! So they take a quick picture with their camera and think nothing of it. A few days later, someone overheard them talking about it and says ‘The paparazzi don’t have any pictures of them kissing…I bet you could sell it!” SO…they called all the trashy magazines up and ended up selling the picture to TMZ for $1500.00. wow! I’m so impressed. So those of you who live in celeb-full cities, keep your eyes peeled. That’s the easiest way to make money I’ve ever heard!

And I give you…..the pic. http://www.tmz.com/2007/01/23/mandy-and-am-swap-spit-in-public/

In other news. Today’s airport for discussion is….Phoenix! As many of you know, I spent quite a bit of time in the PHX airport over the last few years. Most of this time was in Terminal 2 (The United and Continental terminal – also used to be the USAir Terminal, but that was moved over with AmWest when they merged). Anyway – Terminal 2 is horrendous. Terminal 4 (Am West, Southwest, USAir, etc) is better though. Let’s discuss.

Pros:
1. Free wireless internet. This is huge. I really appreciate and love this about the PHX airport.
2. Terminal 2 has very short security lines. Probably because that terminal only has like 10 gates and I’ve only ever seen 5 of them used before.
3. Terminal 4 has some decent food options. Paradise Bakery, CPK, Starbucks. Yes I realize those are actually terrible options, but as compared to Terminal 2, that’s heaven
4. Parking is very convenient. The garage is somehow built INTO the airport…so when you park, walk to elevator, then you arrive right in the middle of the airport! So you can walk to the ticket counters or straight to security. Very convenient
5. I saw Nick Lachey there once.
6. A nice young male gate agent almost upgraded me and Cara on our flight to Switzerland because we were flirting with him. But then he realized there were no seats left in 1st or Business. So he didn’t. Actually this maybe should be a ‘con’, but it’s the thought that counts, so I’ll keep it as a pro.

Cons:
1. Food selection in Terminal 2 is as follows. A pizza place. THAT’S ALL!!! They used to have a sandwich place, a hot dog place, and a pizza place. Then they started renovating and closed up everything. Pizza is your only option.
2. Magazine store has very limited selection.
3. For a terminal with only 3 retail spots, it seems odd that they would let a Native American art/jewelry store rent one of them. I have been at that airport probably 200 times (not exaggerating) and I’ve never seen a single person in that store.
4. The regional jets depart from a ‘side’ terminal that branches off Terminal 2. You have to walk about 100 yards outside then into another building. Outside in Phoenix in the summer with luggage and wearing work clothes. Not fun.
5. They close the airport when the temperature reaches 120 F. Something to do with the plane tires melting. Thankfully I’ve only experienced this once.
6. On a flight from PHX home to SFO once, I had to sit next to a man on the flight who insisted on reading ‘Playboy’ the whole time. It was uncomfortable.
7. On a flight from PHX home to SFO once, I sat next to a 20 year old girl with a baby. She said she was pissed she couldn’t go out and get drunk for her upcoming 21st birthday because of the kid. Then she talked about how hot Kevin Federline was and he was her ultimate man. This conversation made me terrified for the future of our country.
8. 25% of the men walking around the PHX airport at any given time are wearing cowboy hats. I don’t understand. I’m from TX and I’ve never seen as many cowboy hats as at the PHX airport.
9. OH WOW how did I not make this the #1 Con. The Rental Car Shuttle. PHX used to have a separate bus for each Rental Car Company (ie – Hertz, Avis, etc…each had their own bus/van). THEN…about a year ago, they built a massive new complex for all the rental car companies to share. They got rid of all the independent shuttles and just had 1 called ‘Rental Car Shuttle’, which you take to the big complex, then go to your company of choice). Anyway – the old way…there were buses like every 5 minutes, very speedy, and the lots were really close. However, with the new shuttle…the buses are more spread out, they’re always uncomfortably full, and the lot is like 10+ minute drive away. Actually, that’s not the bad part. It’s when you return your car and go back to the airport. I used to allocate about 15 minutes for ‘car return, bus to airport’, and that was always more than enough. Once they switched, I had to increase my time to 45-60 minutes. It’s terrible. Once you drop your car off, you walk through a huge burning hot parking garage, then up an escalator, then down a looong hallway, then to the busses. But the busses only show up about every 15 minutes (Terminal 2….again getting the shaft). So I wasn’t a fan of this new process. And I think this new ‘consolidated’ rental car complex thing is becoming more popular. I’ve seen it now at a few airports (DFW has it, for example) and I’m sure it’s more cost effective for the airport, and for some of the smaller regional rental car companies, but in my experience it’s just a pain.

Ok that’s it.

2007-01-25T09:27:00.000-08:00

My sister sent me this link this morning and again, i'm totally intrigued. http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe
I can't stop playing around on this website. It's hilarious. And i love the faces the guy keeps making. I bet he would be really fun to hang out with - his commentary when the barbies finish blending is great. See, now aren't you interested? Go look!

My week of being at home continues. It's everything I wanted and more. I leave on Sunday afternoon to fly to Philadelphia for a few days for work, then am flying directly to Tahoe for a long weekend of skiing and Super Bowl watching at the casinos. Then I'll be back in SF for about 12 hours, then I fly to Dallas for a few days for work. I'll definitely be stopping at Taco Cabana. In fact, a guy I work with (in Dallas) insists on IMing me every day (when i'm not in Dallas) right about lunchtime and saying "Hey, going to run to TC...want anything?". It's very cruel. He knows it's torture for me to be denied and then have it rubbed in my face.

So went to dinner last night (www.perbaccosf.com) with my friend Melissa, and 2 of her friends Jennie and Karen, who are wonderful. We had some hilarious storytelling and had a great meal. They decided they didn't care what we did, so basically I ordered all the wine and all the food and we just shared everything. It was a great way to do it, bc the waiter just focused on ME ME ME all night, which of course I just hated. :)

So I know you're all dying to hear what we ate.
-We started with the "Salumi Misto", which was a platter of cured meats. Yum!! They were all really good, except for one that was basically huge chunks of fat.
-Then we had the pear and endive salad. This was a dissspointment. Not very good.
-Tajarin (Tagliatelle, pork sauce, and mushrooms)
-Butternut Squash Pasta
-Steak
-Garlic Broccoli

I have lunch AND dinner plans with friends today, so expect more food-related posts later!

Today I am so bored at work that I've set my itunes to only play songs that have never played before. There are a lot more than I was expecting. Then i realize why. My sister must have uploaded her complete and extensive collection of "Queen" albums onto my computer at some point. I hate Queen. So my plan backfired.

Ok my airport list will continue in my next post - as I sadly have to do some real work now. Please vote on which airport you want to hear about next. If you want something I'm not that familiar with I'll do it...but it will be 99% made up. Just warning you.

SFO and Something cool!!!

2007-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

I found this online and I am totally intrigued. www.dinnerinthesky.com

seriously - how cool is that? It looks like they only do it in Belgium...i'm sure insurance would have a coronary if you tried to do that here. but I am totally going to do that when i have lots of money to burn. Although there are some obvious logistical questions...like, all the food is obviously premade, right? What if you have to use the restroom? They mention that there is room for an 'entertainer', but what would you have? a comedian? a magician? but the person would be totally surrounded by guests? and obviously in the way of the chef and the waiter. i just dont understand. i need more information. has anyone done this??

So one of the things that is interesting about being away from home so much is that when you are actually home for more than 48 hours, social invitataions are just flying in. Since i've been home since last Thursday...I've had quite the busy week of dinners and meeting up with friends. Last night I had dinner with my friend Diane and we went to see 'the Painted Veil', which was pretty good, but a little slow and depressing. Also, it's not nominated for any Oscars, so it was totally not helping me in my goal to see all the nominated movies before the ceremony (this gives me about a month). I have seen a lot of them, but not all. Although i have little to no interest in some of them, so if anything slips through the cracks, it's probably goign to be 'venus' and/or 'letters from iwo jima'.

Note: I have a lot of fun dinners at exciting restaurants in the next few days, so i'll keep you posted. although last night me and D ate at (shame) Tony Roma's, since it was right next to the theatre. i had chicken fingers. not glamorous.

I had a request for another Airport-specific post. I have lots of airport knowledge so i'll do 1 a day and give you comments on each.

So today I give you my home airport - SFO. The website is really good.
http://www.flysfo.com/guide_nonflash/index.html

Pros -
1. United Hub
2. Gateway to Asia (this is nice bc united generally flies huge planes to SFO bc they will then be used for flights west. so if you fly to sfo from den or ord, you usually get a monstrous plane, which is tons more comfortable than a regular plane)
3. Huge magazine/book store right after security (where i once ran into Sean Penn).
4. Great food court. Italian, mexican, Tacos, Sushi, Noodles, Gourmet Pizza, etc. Although this is only in the United Terminal. If you fly America West (USAir), the food in that terminal is disgusting.
5. Allegedly there is a vending machine that sells ipods in the International terminal at SFO, but i've never seen it.
6. Beauty Salon in International terminal called "The Hairport", which is a hilarious name.
7. Moving Walkways everywhere.
8. DVD Rental Store (iv, i dont use this....i agree that its kind of silly. BUT...the kiosk is always full - and i could see myself needing to use it in a pinch)
9. Body Shop Store right next to the gate for PHL flights
10. Gordon Biersch right next to the Phoenix gate.

Cons -
1. $50 cab ride to my house
2. They're renovating the Premier+ Status Check in Area, so it's a total mess
3. It takes 900 years to get your luggage
4. Most of the shops close early so when i take a red-eye, there's nothing to do while i wait.
5. Bathrooms are gross. And they close 2 of the front ones at like 9pm, so you have to hike like 1/2 mile to the big ones if you're there late at night.
6. Sometimes hard to get a cab that takes credit cards

That's about it for now. I'm still taking comments and suggestions for more stuff to talk about. Although i have lots of ideas now!!!

Airports: Some Thoughts

2007-01-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know me know that I travel a lot for my job. I have come to be an expert (self-named, of course) in airport layouts. I'm certain that whoever designed most of the airports in the US has never actually packed a bag. Or been ON a plane. Actually, I'm going to include London's Heathrow airport in that category too. Let's discuss:

1. Airport Bathrooms - The only way you can use an airport restroom is to use the handicapped stall. Since I'm not actually handicapped, I usually feel really guilty when doing this. However, anyone who has ever tried to use a regular (is that wrong to call non-handicapped stuff 'regular'? that seems mean) stall knows that it's physically impossible to carry in a laptop bag AND a rolling suitcase AND yourself. And I'm not particularly obese either, I can't imagine how anyone larger than me would ever be able to get in there and close the door! So I usually end up leaving my rolling bag outside the door (just sitting there waiting to be stolen) and that frees up a little room. Now, I have never used a men's room, but I hear that it's much more disgusting because you basically have to leave all your stuff on the floor right next to the urinal where there is pee splashing all over the place. And your bag is now soaked in pee. Also disgusting. Why can't they just make the stalls bigger? Or have a shelf you can put your stuff on when using the urinal? Or some kind of splash guard? Anyway this is gross and I'm done discussing it.

2. Airport Food Options - Appalling. SFO has good food, but I think it's because our airport is usually totally full of Asian tourists and they dont eat pizza and Subway (from what I can tell, at least). I'm usually running kind of late to the airport and run through security and then find out that my food options include greasy pizza, a disgusting pre-made sandwich wrapped in saran wrap (and I'm sorry - but who buys pre-made egg salad that's all squished up through the saran? sick), and other gross options. Ok sometimes there's also a Chili's Too, which in this situation would be my 1st choice. But they're not very fast, so that's sometimes not an option. So i'm embarassed to say that in this case (meaning....twice a week) I usually buy a bottle of water and a large (bc they always offer to upsell you, and i always say yes) Bud Light and consider that my dinner. And now I understand why I cannot lose weight. Oh well. And I think that selling your customers those little snack boxes is seriously gross.

3. Magazines - I usually buy a few magazines before my flight. Yes, I read real books too. But on my ~6 hour plane rides (twice a week) sometimes you just want to veg. And i love trashy magazines, so sue me. So I can get away with watching movie or tv shows on my computer for about 2 hours until the battery dies (assuming i dont have real work to do, which i usually do). then i sometimes watch the in-flight movie (but i absolutely cannot watch freaking "gridiron gang" anymore, and that's all they're showing on united these days), then i read, then i want trashy magazines. So i have purchased them in advance for this very moment. BUT...you can read Us Weekly in about 30 minutes (less if you just look at the pics like some people i know....). Then i'm always hit with guilt...like, i cannot believe i just spent $4.00 for this. Even worse if you've been tricked into buying multiple (ie - USW, In Touch, Star, OK, etc). Because they all have the same pictures. So it's kind of a waste. Not saying I haven't done it, but it's a waste. So I usually offer them to women sitting around me (this isn't sexist, but men usually dont want them...). Then i just shove them in the seat back pocket for some lucky person to find on the next flight. BUT....there should be a magazine exchange program (they have this for books....but who can seriously finish a whole book then comes back to the airport to return it for 50% of the price!??!). I would totally do that for magazines. Can we start this program?

*disclaimer - I recognize that most airports (and most planes, for that matter) were designed and built long before any of the current security measures were put into effect. That would explain some of the inconveniences I mentioned above. However, every airport I go through is having expansions, renovations, etc...how can they not fix these things? Weird.

Ok that's all my commentary for now. More to come. Leave comments!!