Now I can't help it if I have to stay at a hotel in downtown San Diego, that's 2 blocks from Karl Strauss, and I have to take a co-worker to dinner, can I? After all, how hard could that decision be? 2 blocks, good food, good beer? Yes, it was time to break this person of his Texas Bud Light habit and introduce him to more beer. He's the new to the team and last week in St. Louis he got the introduction to St. Louis Amber Lager, so this week was Karl Strauss Amber Lager. It worked! My hotel is the Westin San Diego, which is the one with the emerald green UFO pads. I’ve always wondered what it was like inside and it is a nice hotel. The lobby is green-glass décor and the rooms are better than my usual budget hotels. But, I am right on Broadway so in the last 20 minutes, I’ve heard two ambulances go by. Hopefully I’ll sleep through any additional sirens tonight.
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Monday brings another round of hotel nights but at least this time all the travel is in So Cal. I get to wrap up my b-day weekend to a relatively calm week at work. (Anything can happen but so far, the week should behave) I have to say that Saturday's dinner was one of the best! It's been forever since the whole gang was available at one time to hang out together. Thank-you everyone for making my birthday special! Well back to reality. It's time to finish up packing the suitcase and taking care of today's work to-do list. 9:18 am - edit. I take it back. Monday just went crazy. It only takes one phone call to turn the work week into craziness once again.
Life is good when you can enjoy the all-you-can-eat feast at a Brazilian steakhouse with friends! Rei do Gado in San Diego is one of the better ones with non-stop skewers of beef, chicken, sausage, lamb, and meats galore headed to the table. Add in a cold and hot buffet of salads, seafood, and the best baked bananas, well it's a eat and roll time! Not all of the pictures came out but here's a sample of our fun. This is post-food. We were too busy eating to take photos of the food. Karen, Sherry, Shawn, & Yellow Monkey Serious meat eaters, Shawn & Scott OB & Lorie. You'll have to check Homer's blog for the photo of him and LJ.
Home at last. I've had 5 different hotels in 12 days. Yesterday morning I woke up and turned over in the bed to look out the window, only to realize the window view was from Chicago's hotel, not the St. Louis hotel. I have 54 hotel nights so far this year and nearly 70,000 air miles logged in. Tonight and through the weekend I get to sleep in my own home once again!
Live Long and Prosper! Well this was the best Trek I could come up with at the last minute of a challenge! I am in St. Louis, it's an Irish Pub, and the luck of the Vulcans was with me. Oh, not a Guinness. The beer is a Dubliner Amber Ale. Channeling the spirit of Lt. O'Reilly from Classic Trek tonight.
Wednesday has arrived and I'm now in St. Louis. I left Chicago right before the rain turned bad. Upon entering the St. Louis airport, I had to wade through a crowd of people who were upset their Chicago bound flight was canceled and that many of them were about to miss European connections. Turns out that sometime in the 45 minute flight, the low clouds moved in and no one moved out of the Chicago airport. So St. Louis, where I'd normally be cold at 65F is warm compared to the 48F and winds that I left behind. That and a good 20 minute uphill trek from the Metro station to my hotel warmed me up so St. Louis is slightly less annoying than usual.
So my last two days in Chicago have been dedicated to learning more about the Halal food certification process for Malaysia. You'd think that since I do this for the Middle East, I would know what's going on. Well, no one Muslim group or country can agree on a standard, so Halal is different in each country of the world. The Middle East is easy to the scientific details that are examined on each food specification sheet when getting Malaysian certification! During one session, there was an impromptu debate between Malaysia, Singapore, and the UK team all stating why yes there should be a standard, and that it should be theirs. The New Zealand guy looked on in amazement that they couldn't agree and the Egyptian guy sort of dismissed the conversation. The group that attended was mostly comprised of scientists for food companies that have to make sure their formulas are Halal. No alcohol, no gelatin, no pork, no by-products of any disguised as enzymes or mono-diglycerides...
Most of my Chicago experience has involved the airport with limited hours in the city. This week I'm in Chicago for a couple of days and I still haven't seen anything worth returning for. I guess that the Windy City isn't my style. I am in the suburbs instead of downtown so that might be part of my lack of interest. Luckily, the days have been sunny and there's not a hint of snow in the air.
All Vegas trams lead to Quarks. At least when Trekkies are in town! I'm getting ready to board but first I must walk through the Trek universe timeline exhibit. Andorian and friends. They don't have blog names so they shall be known as M & L. Karen & Khan. I finally had a drink at Quarks! I have the Bolian Sunset and Kahn has a Mind Meld.
To explain the picture below: This was the dessert at last night's dinner. The party was Roman themed so Happy Star is at the Colosseum and the rest is a chocolate tray. I only had my cell phone so the dessert didn't photograph well. Now I'm out of Vegas but still in a hotel with a local business trip to take care of before heading off to Chicago.
What's a Trekkie to do? You're in Vegas, you have a free night, hmmmm...Dinner at Quarks and go through the Star Trek experience of course! The Star Trek show is up to $40 now so find a coupon booklet and get $10 off. This year we had a group of 11 to enjoy the ride. Nothing has really changed but the price and for some reason you have to do the Borg Encounter and the Klingon Invasion as two separate events. That's a hassle to have to go back through the line and start over again but luckily we didn't have to wait too long. The experiences were running on every other half hour track so you had to go in order. Oh well. It was fun and gave us something to do. Afterwards we once again feasted on the Holy Rings of Betazed and Hamborgers. Of course I'll go back again.
24 hours later and I have done nothing. No shows, no sightseeing, not one coin in a slot machine. I think this is a first. I do feel tired for doing so little. Last night we had a poolside reception where I spend 3 hours getting caught up with people that I haven't seen in a couple of years. At 11:00 pm when the parties started, I decided to run for the safety of my room since we had an early day. I didn't sleep well so I might as well have gone out. Today was a 3 hour meeting followed by a quick lunch and another 3 hour meeting. I did a coffee run (no in-room coffee here) and am now getting new caffiene motivation before the banquet. Conference weeks are the strangest routine of scheduled meetings and activities, and then all the informal meetings and activities that happen as schedules permit. I've hid in my room for the last hour and I feel caught up on work-work enough that I can relax for the next hour.
As I left the house for the airport, I wondered what I had forgotten at home. It turned out to be the camera cable so there is no photo to post from my hotel room window. I'm staying at Caesar's Palace and have a partial view of the strip obstructed only by a myraid of phone and power cables. As usual, Vegas in April is windy and dry and my allergies are going crazy. At least the cigarette smoke hasn't overwhelmed me. Even the airport has non-smoking areas now. I guess change has come to Vegas at last.
The suitcase is packed once again and I'm ready for Vegas. It never fails to amaze me that I have to use the same size bag for a 4 day conference that I use for 3 weeks overseas. For some unknown reason, the work conferences require 2-3 outfit changes per day. The rooms are always overly cold and sweaters and jackets are needed to stay warm. Even Vegas isn't warm right now. One of the rules of the event planners is to never do a Spring conference in the North or Northeast and have they got that right. I feel sorry for all those people who are in the worst spring storm in years and trying to travel through that mess right now. I'm happy to be off to Vegas for a short flight and an easy trip.
Sometimes the best Saturdays are the ones where nothing happens. Today's non-events included a trip to Michael's to pick up a picture, a coffee stop, time wandering at Barnes & Noble, the usual beachwalk, and of course, the daily beach ball bounce. I think today was meant to be a day of procrastination before Monday. I'm enjoying my time at home before the road trip routine begins again. I have to say that Mondo's recent observation to me about how many people don't observe sidewalk etiquette is true. Going from my car to the beach boardwalk today, I noticed that I had to shift to the left several times to avoid wrong-side walkers. Mondo would have been mumbling away at all of them but she's right. Also if Ms. Kitty has turned me into a human barometer by the power of suggestion, I will be annoyed. I broke my foot over 25 years ago and today it feels as if the break was new. The weather is cold and cloudy and my foot hurts. This had better be a moment...
This is one of the crazy work weeks that makes overseas travel look desirable. On Monday, I had a day trip to Oakland. It was up at 4:00 am and out the door at 5:15 to go to the airport. 2 hours to drive to LA to get to the airport 2 hours before the flight. Once in, I had a morning conference call and then it was time to hop on the plane for the 1 hour flight to Oakland. Once there it was 30 minutes for the rental car and a 45 minute drive. This was 6 hours of my day before I arrived at the meeting destination for a 3 hour meeting and then I got to repeat the same but in reverse. Luckily I cleared airport security just in time to get on stand-by for the earlier flight home. Point to point, it was 15 hour day. Follow this up with two intense office days and then I had another long one yesterday. This was slightly easier though. Out the door at 6:30 am to go to a 3 hour meeting in Santa Barbara. Luckily I had a carpool to join mid-drive. But, meetings never go as planned so by t...
The gopher made an appearance yesterday morning. I couldn't believe it! He was right there in plain sight scouting out the fenceline. As soon as he saw me he darted back under the fence. Now I know why the cat has her favorite spot by the fence. On the other side is the main entry to the gopher's home. One mystery solved. I promptly buried that entrance in cat litter and mothballs. Neither cat nor gopher have been sighted today. I might have to buy stock in the mothball industry though if this keeps up.
This year's Easter dinner was a return to the Priness Pub in Little Italy for fish & chips and Stella Artois. The plan worked out well at first until the pub ran of Stella. It must have been the Easter beer of choice. Ms. Kitty joined us for the outing. I guess more people realized that this pub is open on Easter. Last time we were there the place was nearly empty, this year it was full of people seeking fish & chips and beer. Ms. Kitty passed on the Stella tradition and stuck with Guinness.
After the flower fields, we went to Hennessey's for lunch. Being an Irish Pub, our talk turned to Ireland and last years trip. I'm not quite sure how the conversation went to ghosts and orbs but it did. We had the debate over orbs as ghosts, or matters of lighting. I decided to check for orbs at Hennesseys since it was all the same lighting. No orbs on Mondo or Ms. Kitty No orbs on the two guys by the door But there is an orb right in the middle of this photo. It's centered on the crossbeam. It really showed up in the larger image but on this reduced file size, it's hard to see. Same bar, same lighting, but something is hovering over us.
It's flower field time. Today was the best day to go since the cloudy weather seemed to keep people away. At this time of year it's almost impossible to navigate the intersection and even find a parking space. Close up of the flowers. The blooms really came in great this year. Almost all of the fields were still open. In a week or two, the flowers will get chopped off and the bulbs harvested for sale overseas. This field is set up to be an American Flag. It looks great from the road or the sky but it's hard to see from ground level.
Today I learned that function + F2 disables the wireless on a computer and function + F2 brings it back. Too bad I didn't know this two weeks ago when I accidently disabled my wireless when trying to connect to an overhead and then needed the wireless but so it goes. For as busy as yesterday was at work today's pace is dragging so slow that I'm starting to bounce out of my chair. It must be the 3 day weekend coming up that should be here now!
Some days are long. It's 6:11 pm and I have finished up a day that started at 6:45 am. Those morning meetings that I thought would last the morning went until mid-afternoon and then there was still the drive home, plus sorting through the e-mail of the day. Add the fact that many people are off on Friday and there was no time left to slack off. If it doesn't get done in the next 24 hours then it's Monday before anything happens again. Yesterday this seemed like a great concept. Now that it's here everything is piling up in a rush as people all over realize that there is an early deadline. After playing corporate entity all day, I came home to a street of children who had set up tricycle camp in the road. This makes a nice transition out of work mode and into neighbor mode. The children (those that have sense) go running into their driveway becauses they know the ball bounce is about to occur. (The slow one couldn't quite figure it out that there was him in a ki...
I had two goals for the weekend. One was to buy Round-up to kill the weeds and I forgot that was a goal so the weeds are still thriving. The other goal was to get all pictures off the floor and counters and onto walls. To do that, I had to make a trip to Aaron Brothers and two trips to Michaels to find frames and mats. I have had unframed pictures sitting around for almost two years and some even longer than that. I need to remind myself never to buy an unframed picture again because I am never inspired to finish the process once home. Somehow I persevered and not only are the pictures on the walls but there are even some new ones added in the mix. The walls still look empty but at least the art gallery is no longer on the floor. Now all I need to do is find a TV stand for the guest bedroom and furnish my office and the house will look like someone lives here. That is a goal for some other month though.
Blades of Glory
Two movies in one weekend! Life could almost seem normal again! Will Ferrell stas in Blades of Glory , an ice skaking comedy which should tell you everything that you need to know. If you like Will Ferrell movies then you will like Blades of Glory. You'll like it even better if you've ever watched hours of ice skating because there are added jokes and cameos that some people get and others don't. A lack of knowing who's who does not detract from the movie though. Blades of Glory is the story of two male singles skaters who have a bitter rivalry. One is a sex addict rocker (Ferrell) and the other is a classic skating star who lives in a world of rainbows. (Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite) The two get in a fight, are banned from singles skating, and find a loophole where they can skate as the first male-male pair. Again, if you are a Will Ferrell fan, you will enjoy the movie. At 93 mintues, the timing is just right. I found myself laughing for most of those 93...