It rained for a little while yesterday. Not as much as I would have liked, but a decent amount. I am definitely feeling sick. My throat this morning is killing me. Yesterday it was the sinuses with a headache, today they throat. I did try to relax a bit yesterday including taking some dayquil and a decent nap. I got some work stuff done, but not as much as I would have liked. I was having trouble focusing.
We had leftover Indian for dinner. I put together a menu for the week and am trying to minimize how much we spend on groceries as we leave in one week. We will be gone for 8 days and I don't want to have things go bad while we're out of town.
Didn't do much of anything else. I got an email from the concert venue I am going to in October. Lineup confirmations with stage and times. With the exception of two bands, we shouldn't have any issues going from one location to the other or to being at the rail. We'll see how that goes.
Today I think we are going to the cider mill. I promised B this like 2 months ago and this is the only day I have free to do it. It's about a 2.5 hour drive so I want to leave fairly early. Hopefully I can wake her up in time.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Friday, September 29, 2017
Y9 D126
I think I am catching a cold and this fucking sucks. I have one week to get over it before we leave for Vegas. My throat hurts, can't breathe out of my right nostril, have the pressure in my head. Not cool man, not cool. This is what happens when you spend you days in tiny tubes.
My day was long but not very exciting. My first flight was no big deal. Went from JAX to DFW. On time. Had breakfast one. Had about an hour to kill in between flights so I headed to terminal A and relaxed in the Admiral's Club. My departure gate was right outside the door and I didn't have to rush.
Boarded flight two and was a little frustrated to see a baby sitting with his parents and sibling right in row 3. I knew what was about to come in 3 hours and I was right. For the last hour of the flight all of us up front got to listen to a screaming child. Lovely. Thank god for loud music and good headphones.
Landed around 11, took the train, got home around 12:30. Did laundry. Opened the present B got for me which was unexpected and nice. The weather was way too hot for my taste yesterday but it is supposed to cool down and start raining today. Let's see if it lives up to the promise.
We went and had Indian food for dinner giving us leftovers for a couple of days at least. We leave Saturday morning and we need about 5 days of food in the house. I need to go see what we have so I can go shopping if needed.
Went to bed around 10. Both of us. B had a long day as well and we were both exhausted. Today is an admin kind of day. I have classes T-Thurs next week which will fill things in nicely. For this weekend, if I am up to it tomorrow, we might drive to WA and go to the cider mill. We'll see how we're feeling.
My day was long but not very exciting. My first flight was no big deal. Went from JAX to DFW. On time. Had breakfast one. Had about an hour to kill in between flights so I headed to terminal A and relaxed in the Admiral's Club. My departure gate was right outside the door and I didn't have to rush.
Boarded flight two and was a little frustrated to see a baby sitting with his parents and sibling right in row 3. I knew what was about to come in 3 hours and I was right. For the last hour of the flight all of us up front got to listen to a screaming child. Lovely. Thank god for loud music and good headphones.
Landed around 11, took the train, got home around 12:30. Did laundry. Opened the present B got for me which was unexpected and nice. The weather was way too hot for my taste yesterday but it is supposed to cool down and start raining today. Let's see if it lives up to the promise.
We went and had Indian food for dinner giving us leftovers for a couple of days at least. We leave Saturday morning and we need about 5 days of food in the house. I need to go see what we have so I can go shopping if needed.
Went to bed around 10. Both of us. B had a long day as well and we were both exhausted. Today is an admin kind of day. I have classes T-Thurs next week which will fill things in nicely. For this weekend, if I am up to it tomorrow, we might drive to WA and go to the cider mill. We'll see how we're feeling.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Y9 D125
I don't think I missed any posts on this trip but this is another one of those pre-written ones which won't get posted until after 3am EST. Currently 1:23am.
Taught my class. Only a half day session. The guy who hated me was back again in full force. He just didn't like someone from the outside pointing out all the flaws in his work. Look buddy, the way you did it 15 years ago is not how you do things today. Sorry, it just isn't. Don't shoot the messenger. Don't blame me because your company doesn't give you adequate time or resources to fix things. Blame your bosses, not me.
Got out of there as fast as I could. Got back to the hotel, watched some tv, had dinner, went to be around 8. Not much else going on.
Leave here at 2:30, fly out at 5, home around noon. Full day of travel ahead of me.
EDIT - It's now 3:06am. At airport. Security opens in an hour. I have confirmed upgrades on both flights today so no stress there. Only have an hour between flights which means no long waits. But it's plenty of time for them to change gates/terminals on me because, well it's DFW. So yeah. I should get home today around 1pm PST. Like in 13 hours. Such fun.
Next trip is in one week. Vegas. That will be fun even if I have to kill someone.
Taught my class. Only a half day session. The guy who hated me was back again in full force. He just didn't like someone from the outside pointing out all the flaws in his work. Look buddy, the way you did it 15 years ago is not how you do things today. Sorry, it just isn't. Don't shoot the messenger. Don't blame me because your company doesn't give you adequate time or resources to fix things. Blame your bosses, not me.
Got out of there as fast as I could. Got back to the hotel, watched some tv, had dinner, went to be around 8. Not much else going on.
Leave here at 2:30, fly out at 5, home around noon. Full day of travel ahead of me.
EDIT - It's now 3:06am. At airport. Security opens in an hour. I have confirmed upgrades on both flights today so no stress there. Only have an hour between flights which means no long waits. But it's plenty of time for them to change gates/terminals on me because, well it's DFW. So yeah. I should get home today around 1pm PST. Like in 13 hours. Such fun.
Next trip is in one week. Vegas. That will be fun even if I have to kill someone.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Y9 D124
I have been kind of worried about hitting my status numbers for this year due to losing the one trip a couple of weeks ago to here because of the hurricane. I was right on the edge of hitting everything based on that trip. A few thousand miles short on AA, 2 nights short at Hilton, etc. Well those fears are pretty much gone. I will be going back to NJ in November. To teach a class as a guest lecturer at Princeton. Yeah, that Princeton. You never think about the random places your life is going to take you and then one day you wake up and find yourself being invited to teach professors and people with much higher degrees of learning than you at fucking Princeton University. Not too shabby. Plus I will get 4 hotel nights, 5000 miles of flight, and one more car rental.
Speaking of car rentals, I tried calling to see if I could exchange the van of doom and all six locations in this area are sold out of vehicles. WTF? What a joke. I hate this state.
Taught my class. Pissed off one of my students. I was making suggestions for improvements and he took it personally since he built all of the stuff. But as I tried to gently point out, he built much of it 10+ years ago and sorry dude, it needs some clean up. Stop being a whiny bitch.
Finished around 4:30, headed back to the hotel. Had dinner at Bob Evans, relaxed in the room, went to bed around 10.
Leave tomorrow. One upgrade confirmed, one not. Oh well. I can sleep on the second flight then. Then it's off to Vegas in a week and we get to see Britney!
Speaking of car rentals, I tried calling to see if I could exchange the van of doom and all six locations in this area are sold out of vehicles. WTF? What a joke. I hate this state.
Taught my class. Pissed off one of my students. I was making suggestions for improvements and he took it personally since he built all of the stuff. But as I tried to gently point out, he built much of it 10+ years ago and sorry dude, it needs some clean up. Stop being a whiny bitch.
Finished around 4:30, headed back to the hotel. Had dinner at Bob Evans, relaxed in the room, went to bed around 10.
Leave tomorrow. One upgrade confirmed, one not. Oh well. I can sleep on the second flight then. Then it's off to Vegas in a week and we get to see Britney!
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Y9 D123
Why is it too much to ask to get a place with decent internet? Fucking hate AT&T. Man, there's so many things that drive me nuts, it's just another in a long ass list. So why should I even be surprised any more?
Unrelated, I am glad I have been keeping this blog. I was thinking last night when I went to bed (and then laid there for two hours tossing and turning) about all the little things we forget in our life. It's so many memories and trying to remember the minutia of every day is almost impossible. It's al locked in our heads, but it's so much it would make you explode trying to remember everything. At least I have written down a lot of it. I wish I had started doing this when I was a kid. I finally get why people do this when they are younger. Not that I really want to remember yesterday...
Oh where to start. How about with my rental 'car'? I say car that way because I actually have a 12 person transit van. Yep. I am driving a fucking shuttle bus because Avis ran out of cars. All they had was about a dozen vans left. With no ETA on when they would have more cars. What a fucking joke. I had already waited an hour when this announcement was made. My hotel and client are too far from the airport for me to have nothing so I had to suck it up and take what I could. I am driving around Florida looking like a fucking shuttle driver. Lovely.
Then of course there was the standard DFW gate change bullshit. I wouldn't mind if the gates were a few over. Oh no. They have to change TERMINALS too. Hey it's 20 minutes before your flight, let's make you go from C to A. Not a problem, right? Just run rabbit, run.
My flight in was without issue. Just too goddamn early. I was up from 1am to 12am (PST to EST) yesterday. Loads of fun.
It's hot here. There's too many old people and it smells. I figured out I will travel 30 hours for 12 hours of teaching. What a load of shit.
Unrelated, I am glad I have been keeping this blog. I was thinking last night when I went to bed (and then laid there for two hours tossing and turning) about all the little things we forget in our life. It's so many memories and trying to remember the minutia of every day is almost impossible. It's al locked in our heads, but it's so much it would make you explode trying to remember everything. At least I have written down a lot of it. I wish I had started doing this when I was a kid. I finally get why people do this when they are younger. Not that I really want to remember yesterday...
Oh where to start. How about with my rental 'car'? I say car that way because I actually have a 12 person transit van. Yep. I am driving a fucking shuttle bus because Avis ran out of cars. All they had was about a dozen vans left. With no ETA on when they would have more cars. What a fucking joke. I had already waited an hour when this announcement was made. My hotel and client are too far from the airport for me to have nothing so I had to suck it up and take what I could. I am driving around Florida looking like a fucking shuttle driver. Lovely.
Then of course there was the standard DFW gate change bullshit. I wouldn't mind if the gates were a few over. Oh no. They have to change TERMINALS too. Hey it's 20 minutes before your flight, let's make you go from C to A. Not a problem, right? Just run rabbit, run.
My flight in was without issue. Just too goddamn early. I was up from 1am to 12am (PST to EST) yesterday. Loads of fun.
It's hot here. There's too many old people and it smells. I figured out I will travel 30 hours for 12 hours of teaching. What a load of shit.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Y9 D122
We stayed out until 3:30pm yesterday to avoid that fucking airshow but it wasn't enough. Poor B got the last 5 minutes of it and it was enough to drive her into the closet with a pillow over her head. Can you imagine someone not knowing this was going on and with today's political climate freaking out? I know I would. I read about cheeto instigating tiny spoiled man and the dick waving is going to get us all killed. Imagine jets flying over your house right now and you didn't know why. You'd shit your pants wouldn't you? That's what it's like for her. So fuck any of you who criticize. It's hard and I tried my best to keep her out of the house. I could handle five minutes, I couldn't have handled an entire weekend.
We got up, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel around 11. Stopped at this little smoked fish place on the way out (which I need to bring with me this morning if I can), then we drove home slowly. Hit the mall, grabbed subs on the way home for dinner, and then got home as aforementioned. I unpacked everything while she freaked.
All that done, I went to bed at 8. I just had 5 hours of sleep and it was better than the sleep I had all weekend. I love our bed. Best investment ever. We also got a message from a friend in the bay area who just bought one this weekend and used us as a reference so we will be getting a $100 gift card. I will believe it when I see it, but if we do, that's nice.
Off to the airport in 2 hours, land in FL 6:30pm EST. What a fun day ahead for me.
We got up, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel around 11. Stopped at this little smoked fish place on the way out (which I need to bring with me this morning if I can), then we drove home slowly. Hit the mall, grabbed subs on the way home for dinner, and then got home as aforementioned. I unpacked everything while she freaked.
All that done, I went to bed at 8. I just had 5 hours of sleep and it was better than the sleep I had all weekend. I love our bed. Best investment ever. We also got a message from a friend in the bay area who just bought one this weekend and used us as a reference so we will be getting a $100 gift card. I will believe it when I see it, but if we do, that's nice.
Off to the airport in 2 hours, land in FL 6:30pm EST. What a fun day ahead for me.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Y9 D121
I slept so bad last night it's not even funny. I can't breathe at all right now. We don't have the air on but it's so dry in this room. I am sure I caused B to have a rough night too but there's not a whole lot I could do.
We had a fun day yesterday. Had breakfast then headed out around 10 for Seaside. Went to the aquarium where we fed seals, then had a nice lunch, wandered the shops and headed back around 2. We took a nap, then went for a drive. We have been considering this area for a home purchase for quite a while and we may have found one that we could actually qualify for that meets all of our needs. It's a 3/3 and because it has a finished basement, it's 3100 sq ft. Garage/shop. But the best part? It's on an acre of land away from everyone. No immediate neighbor, private driveway. It's $300k which is right on the cusp of what I believe I can qualify for with the bank. The only issue is the commute to the airport. That's the only thing we'd have to figure out. But it's nice to have possibilities.
We had pig n pancake for dinner which was great. Then we came back and I fired up the whirlpool tub in the room. Dropped in a bath bomb and boom. Nice nice.
Went to bed around 10 but again, tossed and turned and slept like shit.
We are taking our time getting home today. Want to avoid being around for the air show at all costs. It's over some time this afternoon. Hopefully we will miss the whole thing.
We had a fun day yesterday. Had breakfast then headed out around 10 for Seaside. Went to the aquarium where we fed seals, then had a nice lunch, wandered the shops and headed back around 2. We took a nap, then went for a drive. We have been considering this area for a home purchase for quite a while and we may have found one that we could actually qualify for that meets all of our needs. It's a 3/3 and because it has a finished basement, it's 3100 sq ft. Garage/shop. But the best part? It's on an acre of land away from everyone. No immediate neighbor, private driveway. It's $300k which is right on the cusp of what I believe I can qualify for with the bank. The only issue is the commute to the airport. That's the only thing we'd have to figure out. But it's nice to have possibilities.
We had pig n pancake for dinner which was great. Then we came back and I fired up the whirlpool tub in the room. Dropped in a bath bomb and boom. Nice nice.
Went to bed around 10 but again, tossed and turned and slept like shit.
We are taking our time getting home today. Want to avoid being around for the air show at all costs. It's over some time this afternoon. Hopefully we will miss the whole thing.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Y9 D120
We are in one of the nicest hotel rooms I have had in a long time. This room reminds me of the really nice one we had in Canada. It's a corner room with a giant whirlpool tube, excellent view of the river, and away from most humans. We had some issues with people above us, but a quick phone call ended that.
Got up yesterday and took my car in for service. They wanted to charge me $235 for a '15k' service which included 'computer updates'. When I pushed on what that meant no one could answer me. I decided to do things a la carte. Things I actually knew what they were. Like an oil change, tire rotation, and air filter. I spent $100 thank you very much. On the list of 'recommended procedures' they gave me when I checked out, they had change cabin air filter with an estimate of $53. I looked it up on Amazon. $9. Yeah, screw you.
I was also unhappy that my car sat for 23 minutes before anyone told me it was done. I was watching it and they pulled it over but no one came for me. I was cranky about that. I got home around 10 and we headed out around 11.
Stopped at Tillamook for some lunch and got to Astoria at 3. Checked in, took a nap, then went and had sushi for dinner. They changed up the restaurant and we weren't 100% happy with the service. The food was okay, but our waitress sucked. I left a 10% tip which I very rarely do.
Got back, relaxed, and went to bed around 10.
Today we are driving to Seaside after breakfast and feeding seals. Yay seals! All this so we don't have to be in town and hear the fucking planes. That's why we're out of town this weekend you know. Not because we needed a vacation or anything. Nope. This is airplane weekend and we didn't want to suffer through another incident like last year. We are hoping they will be done by the time we get home tomorrow. It's going to be close for sure. Stupid planes.
Got up yesterday and took my car in for service. They wanted to charge me $235 for a '15k' service which included 'computer updates'. When I pushed on what that meant no one could answer me. I decided to do things a la carte. Things I actually knew what they were. Like an oil change, tire rotation, and air filter. I spent $100 thank you very much. On the list of 'recommended procedures' they gave me when I checked out, they had change cabin air filter with an estimate of $53. I looked it up on Amazon. $9. Yeah, screw you.
I was also unhappy that my car sat for 23 minutes before anyone told me it was done. I was watching it and they pulled it over but no one came for me. I was cranky about that. I got home around 10 and we headed out around 11.
Stopped at Tillamook for some lunch and got to Astoria at 3. Checked in, took a nap, then went and had sushi for dinner. They changed up the restaurant and we weren't 100% happy with the service. The food was okay, but our waitress sucked. I left a 10% tip which I very rarely do.
Got back, relaxed, and went to bed around 10.
Today we are driving to Seaside after breakfast and feeding seals. Yay seals! All this so we don't have to be in town and hear the fucking planes. That's why we're out of town this weekend you know. Not because we needed a vacation or anything. Nope. This is airplane weekend and we didn't want to suffer through another incident like last year. We are hoping they will be done by the time we get home tomorrow. It's going to be close for sure. Stupid planes.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Y9 D119
Okay, look, I am in the right time zone now, today is Friday, and this post is on time. I don't know how I missed the other day. And I could have technically avoided it had I posted the original one from yesterday when I wrote it. Fucking idiot I am. I did rectify the situation with an additional post so at least the day count is correct.
Here we go:
2:30am EST - Left hotel
3:00am EST - Arrive at airport, deal with snotty ass security person who didn't feel that Priority or Pre should be able to have their own line until her boss came down and told her off. Went from 20th in line to 2nd. Fucking bitch.
4:30am EST - Board first flight. Land in Charlotte at 6:44am, have 15 minutes to go 12 gates. Make it with 4 to spare.
7am EST - Board second flight. Have a nice breakfast. Try to drown out the four women surrounding me who WON'T FUCKING SHUT UP. Seriously. I had woman in the two seats in front, 2 seats behind, and one next to me. It was like a fucking nail salon up in this bitch. I just wanted to eat and sleep.
9:40am PST - Land, get on train, get home around 11.
Do laundry, check in for today's hotel, ran to the store for an errand, got pizza for dinner, fell asleep at 9:30. Excitement abounds.
Today I am taking the car in for service and then we are headed to Astoria for the weekend. This is the weekend of the air show here and we do not want to be anywhere near. If you don't remember, last year when this hit, B lost it. She was a mess. It's costing me $500 for this hotel stay, but it will be worth it. I can't have another incident like last year.
Here we go:
2:30am EST - Left hotel
3:00am EST - Arrive at airport, deal with snotty ass security person who didn't feel that Priority or Pre should be able to have their own line until her boss came down and told her off. Went from 20th in line to 2nd. Fucking bitch.
4:30am EST - Board first flight. Land in Charlotte at 6:44am, have 15 minutes to go 12 gates. Make it with 4 to spare.
7am EST - Board second flight. Have a nice breakfast. Try to drown out the four women surrounding me who WON'T FUCKING SHUT UP. Seriously. I had woman in the two seats in front, 2 seats behind, and one next to me. It was like a fucking nail salon up in this bitch. I just wanted to eat and sleep.
9:40am PST - Land, get on train, get home around 11.
Do laundry, check in for today's hotel, ran to the store for an errand, got pizza for dinner, fell asleep at 9:30. Excitement abounds.
Today I am taking the car in for service and then we are headed to Astoria for the weekend. This is the weekend of the air show here and we do not want to be anywhere near. If you don't remember, last year when this hit, B lost it. She was a mess. It's costing me $500 for this hotel stay, but it will be worth it. I can't have another incident like last year.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Y9 D118
Well apparently I missed a day for the first time in 9 years. Shit. Nothing exciting happened on Monday except that I paid $42 for a room service sandwich and dealt with all day Tuesday. They tried to give me points to make me happy. Still not happy. Taught class all day, got back to hotel at 5pm, had dinner at a spanish place with really good rabbit. This second post is just to make the day count right. Deal with it.
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