I Just Want to Go Home...

It's official...I am sick and tired of traveling. After the events of today, if I could find some way to avoid airports, planes, rental cars, and hotels for the next year I would be thrilled.

Murphy's Law put the smackdown on me big time, starting at 8:45 AM yesterday. I was at my friendly neighborhood Starbucks getting my morning dose of caffeine and breakfast sandwich, and left my phone in the car. Five minutes later, I had not one, but TWO voice mails. The first was a lovely automated message from Southwest Airlines telling me my flight to Phoenix was cancelled. The second was from my friend and co-worker Tammy, who I was heading out to pick up since we were traveling to Phoenix together today -on the same flight.

She offered to call Southwest on behalf of both of us, and was advised we were placed on "protected standby" on the 3:50 PM flight. Of course, this would make us late for a group dinner tonight, but what can you do? So I headed into my office to get a couple of hours of work done before I left to pick her up.

When I arrived, I logged on to the Southwest website, thinking it would be a good plan to print the boarding pass for my new flight. Lo and behold, my cancelled flight was still showing. So I called Southwest, and was told I could be put on standby for the 3:50 but would not be confirmed since the flight was full. WHAT!!!!! I could only be guaranteed a seat at 5:20 PM. This was starting to feel a little bit like a game of Musical Chairs and I was afraid of losing my seat. So I got confirmed on the 5:20, and called Tammy. We decided to head out for a late lunch and get to the airport 1 1/2 hours or so before the 3:50 and see if everything worked out OK.

After getting 3 ticketing agents involved, we were both finally confirmed for 3:50, boarding passes in hand. How two employees of the very same company can look at the computer screen and see two different things is beyond me! Nonetheless, we were over the big hurdle. Then the damn 1/4" piece of metal struck again! The same crappy 15 cent barrette that caused all the drama for me at LAX a few months ago turned up in my head again!! You're kidding me!

The flight itself was uneventful, and we even made it in time for our group dinner if we went straight there from the airport (do not pass go, do no collect $200). So we picked up Tammy's rental and headed to the restaurant. No complaints about the company, because I love my co-workers. The food was another story.

I won't mention the name of the restaurant, because our company does a lot of dinners with them, and their regular menu is actually quite good. But due to the number of people attending, they did one of those "3 choices of entrees with the restaurant choice of salad and sides" kind of thing. Basic salad....but who gives you a choice of something else besides the house vinaigrette, and says "We're not offering that...." when you ask for Bleu Cheese? And more importantly, who chooses spaghetti squash as the "vegetable" on your plate when the other side is mashed potatoes? Visually unappealing, for starters. More importantly, more than half the people in the room had no idea what it was! Of course, I did, because my Dad grew a bunch one summer as a little garden "experiment." Another vodka-tonic, please.....

We're staying at the Hyatt Place here in Scottsdale, which is your typical business travelers hotel. Although I gotta admit, paying $10 more per night for less room than we got at the Bellagio last week seems a little like a rip off. Does everyone really LOVE baseball that much (It's Spring Training here right now)?

Then this morning, the shower was the straw that broke the camel's back. So little water pressure it took 15 minutes just to wash my hair, and I'm still not sure all the shampoo is out of it. The shower itself is so slippery, shaving my legs was like an exercise in shaving with ice skates on and trying not to do a Cirque de Soleil-style split while pulling a groin muscle. Plus the hotel soap smells weird...and I can't pinpoint why.

To top it all off, I have a huge zit brewing on the right side of my chin...one of those ugly under-the-skin things that itches, and you just wish you could pop it, but you can't because it doesn't really have a head on it? OK, probably more info than you needed, but I'm all about sharing.

Someone rescue me please....

Back To The Grind

Today was my first day back in my actual "office" after more than a week, and my first office day since the "Rock The Red Tour" ended. And finally time for my portable acrylic Alex Ovechkin model to settle into his new home on my desk. Like the great competitor he is, he got right down to business and challenged my Kings Bailey bobble head to a little game of desktop hockey. Bailey controlled the puck on the face off, but just barely....



Unfortunately this little desk face off was the happiest moment in my hockey day today. The Kings lost a rough one to the Nashville Predators tonight....arguably a team we should have beaten with only half our guys using sticks. It got physical and we had trouble controlling the puck. Here's just one of Drew's more physical moments....



And to make matters worse, the Caps lost! The hockey gods have forsaken me! And now the Kings are gone on an extended road trip, so I don't get to see another home game until March 31, coincidentally the day I get back from Mayercraft Carrier 2. Oh yeah, guess I should start packing for that...

But first I'm off to Phoenix tomorrow for meetings until Friday. Note to self - work pays the bills. At least tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, or as I'm now calling it, "St. Patty O'Sullivan Day."



Miss ya Sully!

Messing Around

I'm still gradually discovering all the cool things my MacBook can do, and my latest adventure was playing around with the Photo Booth application. What better way to waste time when you're bored and traveling? Here are a few of my favorite shots...






What do you think?

I Hope I Never Get Rear-Ended....

This inspection made me think about my car. And not in a good way.

Granted, this car is much nicer than mine. But seeing it made me realize just how much repair is involved when you get rear-ended with the convertible hard top IN the trunk at impact. Ouch!





This one ended up being a total loss, in large part due to the $16,000 price tag on the top assembly. Probably a good thing...with that many moving parts, I don't know where you even start to repair it. It took the shop a whole day just to figure out how to get it open that far.

Message to anyone riding my bumper - back off!

Things That Make You Go HMMMM...

A ride along is always more fun when I run across something that makes me laugh. By that standard, today was a banner day. Thanks to the boys at Maximum Collision for their hospitality AND sense of humor.



I was REALLY tempted to try one of these, but sadly didn't have change....and maybe that's a good thing. I think I'm hyper enough most of the time.




I wonder if Starbucks knows about this...

Upgrades

After a restless nights sleep owing to jet lag and too many time changes in too few days, I turned right back around and got on another Southwest flight this afternoon, headed for Las Vegas to work for the rest of the week. During our crazy class schedule in January, we had trainers from the other West zone states help us out in California, so we owed them a favor. As a result, I'm in Vegas to ride along with field reps and help them with shop negotiations. No rest for the weary, I'm afraid.

I rent from Hertz every time I travel for work, and lately they've been putting my car in the farthest parking spot possible. Now, if I have to make a hike but the car is cool, it's not so bad. Then again, my last run of car seleections hasn't exactly wowed me either. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this Infiniti with my name on it....nice!



One big upside to this trip is my hotel accommodations. Since the economy is so bad, and hotels are practically giving away rooms, I'm living in luxury at the Bellagio this week. Normally rooms in this place hover around $300 a night, far in excess of Progressive's approved rate for business travel. But since Vegas is really hurting for business right now, Tammy and I got in for $159 a night. I love a good bargain!

Walking into the lobby reminded me of my trip to Venice last year. The ceiling is covered with the most amazing art glass.





And just off the lobby is a conservatory covered in spring flowers.



And the newest feature in the conservatory is a greenhouse filled with mammoth butterflies.



On to the room, and here again there was plenty to enjoy. Nice view, good sized room, and a tub designed for soaking away stress! Just what the doctor ordered...





And you gotta love all the little extras, including motorized curtains, an armoire style closet complete with shoe cubbies (my fave!), and a hidden safe for all those Blackjack bucks!





And I have to give special props to the mini bar. I highly recommend the Bellagio signature kettle chips...the perfect snack while I get settled in.






Now if I can just get some decent sleep tonight, the day will be perfect. Wish me luck...

"Rock The Red Tour" - The Long Journey Home

With an exciting Caps game over, and final goodbyes exchanged with my DC area buddies, the end of the "Rock the Red Tour" began.

After the game, Denie and I decided the end of a great weekend was a good reason for high calorie intake. Dinner at Gordon Biersch, which happened to be in our hotel, fit the bill nicely. This mega slice of chocolate cake proved to be too much for us, but we had a great time attempting to make a dent.



Then it was time to try and get a good nights sleep in anticipation of a long travel day Monday, followed by an appearance at Staples Center for the Kings vs Canucks. Because we can just never get enough hockey! So we left DC and transferred again through Chicago, where we unfortunately got delayed, the first snag in an otherwise perfect trip. We were cutting it close anyway getting to the game on time, and now I was getting irritated because we were probably going to be late.

At least a visit with Jake and Elwood Blues made me feel a little better....



So after about an hour delay, we started the LONG flight back to LA. The pilots fought 120 mph headwinds most of the way back, so we made up no time at all. At that point, I was resigned to missing the puck drop but hoping not to be too late. Unfortunately, by the time we hit LAX, Nadine was feeling sick, and I decided it was the right thing to do to get her home first and likely skip the game.

So we got back to Casa Donat just as the game was starting. I decided to head towards Staples anyway, figuring if the traffic was horrible I could just go home. But the hockey gods smiled, the traffic was clear, and I listened to the first period in the car on the radio, arriving at the arena just in time for the start of the second period.

The Kings played a terrific game against an always difficult Canucks squad, winning a nail-biter 3-2 and pulling within 3 points of the 8th spot in the Western Conference. Since I arrived late, I didn't get my usual "Hottie of the Night" photos, etc. But to celebrate Kevin Westgarth being back up from Manchester and in the lineup, I thought I'd throw in a short video clip. Welcome back Westie!



And in traffic downtown on the ride home, I spotted the perfect photo op to close out the perfect girls hockey weekend....



Couldn't have said it better myself.