Good lord, I have been burning the candle at both ends....
Since the triathlon: Traveled to Minneapolis, MN to do a job at Target headquarters. Nice town. "Hamster tubes" connect the buildings, so you don't even have to go outside once you are downtown. Believe it or not - the only thing open was the Renaissance Hotel (Marriott of course :) ) but it was not connected by hamster tubes, so I had to drive 3 miles and park in a garage. Pay to park at night, pay to park in the day. I tried to get the Marriott that was literally one hamster tube away from Target, but it was sold out due to a Metallica concert (had I known they were in concert, I would have planned accordingly and gone to the concert :). It snowed, rained and was generally a normal October week in Minneapolis (so I am told).
Try to leave MN to get to KC for my 20th High School reunion, all flights cancelled due to a low ceiling...WTH? Had already dropped off the car, had I known I would have just kept it (NICE Mercury Sable). Alas, (do I get bonus points for using that word?) I wasted an hour bouncing between United and Us Airways as I purchased the tickets through US Airways, but the flight was operated by United. Pointless really – kinda ticked me off that US Airways sent me down to United, then United said go back to Us Airways. Get back to Us Airways and THEY tell me to go down to United…..at this point I said “the flight is cancelled, you knew this, they told me to come back down here…” Anyway, I finally had an agent help me and he told me they could credit my account with the ticket, but if I try to use it that would be another $150 for a change ticket fee…at this point I was like WTF? YOU cancel the flight and I get a change ticket fee? Anyway, I asked when the earliest I would get to KC would be – was told 9 am the next day – which just would not do….I had a very important meeting to get to (20th reunion Golf outing – more on that later) can I just get a refund on the ticket and get a car? Us Airways agent was pretty nice all in all – of course HE couldn’t refund the price of the ticket, but he did put in a request for refund….so off to part two of my Odyssey to get to KC….
I go back down to the Hertz counter and ask if they have any cars available (Remember the part where I said I just dropped one off? The nice Mercury Sable?) . Nope – no cars available. WTH? I told the lady I just dropped one off, I will take that one. It isn’t in the system we don’t have any cars. I notice a yellow reservation line and use it. Guess what? They have cars. PFFT! Gold Membership has benefits, as does talking to someone that gives a crap. So I get my Hyundai something or rather, and start driving the 6.5 hours to KC. BTW – it is freaking DARK in southern MN and pretty much all of Iowa. Not many lights out. Cool thing is, I probably got to Ty’s house quicker than if I had flown…..odd how that works.
Reunion! I wish Kelly could have been there to meet everyone, but it ws not to be. We will show her off next time :) I promise to NOT wait 20 years (I HAD A BLAST!) without seeing people from high school again…..Ty and Amy left the door open for me as Ty had to work an overnight shift at the hospital (he is an Anesthesiologist Assistant). I don’t think I woke anyone up…..Jansyn and Jaxson ended up getting sick while I was there- felt bad for them….and Amy as she had to miss out on the reunion frivolities…but I digress….On the way home from work, Ty picked up supplies for the golf outing. 24 balls (we came back with 2 – that is including all the ones we found-we aren’t very good golfers), a 12 pack of beer and a fifth of Jack Daniels. Let’s just say, the first two holes, we held our own. The last 16 went steadily downhill. I do have to admit, if the ball is within 6” of the hole, I am the master at draining those…..We had a great group: Me, Ty, Jim and Chad (thankfully they can play). We teamed up with Jacque and Lee as their third and Jim had to leave after the 9th hole. Thankfully we were playing best ball out of our group of four (we just started using Chad’s, Jacque’s or Lee’s as Ty and I started playing “where the hell did that go”…..mine was best once maybe twice on the front nine…..I should probably take a lesson. We held up the course – the golf police kept trying to get us to speed up. I did find out that I actually enjoy golf, probably because I don’t take it seriously. Nine am tee off, the fifth of Jack was gone by noon. Beer not much later…..I did to a stuntman barrel roll out of the cart trying to pick up a ball….no injuries to report, but I was sore from taking so many “practice” swings.
Since the triathlon: Traveled to Minneapolis, MN to do a job at Target headquarters. Nice town. "Hamster tubes" connect the buildings, so you don't even have to go outside once you are downtown. Believe it or not - the only thing open was the Renaissance Hotel (Marriott of course :) ) but it was not connected by hamster tubes, so I had to drive 3 miles and park in a garage. Pay to park at night, pay to park in the day. I tried to get the Marriott that was literally one hamster tube away from Target, but it was sold out due to a Metallica concert (had I known they were in concert, I would have planned accordingly and gone to the concert :). It snowed, rained and was generally a normal October week in Minneapolis (so I am told).
Try to leave MN to get to KC for my 20th High School reunion, all flights cancelled due to a low ceiling...WTH? Had already dropped off the car, had I known I would have just kept it (NICE Mercury Sable). Alas, (do I get bonus points for using that word?) I wasted an hour bouncing between United and Us Airways as I purchased the tickets through US Airways, but the flight was operated by United. Pointless really – kinda ticked me off that US Airways sent me down to United, then United said go back to Us Airways. Get back to Us Airways and THEY tell me to go down to United…..at this point I said “the flight is cancelled, you knew this, they told me to come back down here…” Anyway, I finally had an agent help me and he told me they could credit my account with the ticket, but if I try to use it that would be another $150 for a change ticket fee…at this point I was like WTF? YOU cancel the flight and I get a change ticket fee? Anyway, I asked when the earliest I would get to KC would be – was told 9 am the next day – which just would not do….I had a very important meeting to get to (20th reunion Golf outing – more on that later) can I just get a refund on the ticket and get a car? Us Airways agent was pretty nice all in all – of course HE couldn’t refund the price of the ticket, but he did put in a request for refund….so off to part two of my Odyssey to get to KC….
I go back down to the Hertz counter and ask if they have any cars available (Remember the part where I said I just dropped one off? The nice Mercury Sable?) . Nope – no cars available. WTH? I told the lady I just dropped one off, I will take that one. It isn’t in the system we don’t have any cars. I notice a yellow reservation line and use it. Guess what? They have cars. PFFT! Gold Membership has benefits, as does talking to someone that gives a crap. So I get my Hyundai something or rather, and start driving the 6.5 hours to KC. BTW – it is freaking DARK in southern MN and pretty much all of Iowa. Not many lights out. Cool thing is, I probably got to Ty’s house quicker than if I had flown…..odd how that works.
Reunion! I wish Kelly could have been there to meet everyone, but it ws not to be. We will show her off next time :) I promise to NOT wait 20 years (I HAD A BLAST!) without seeing people from high school again…..Ty and Amy left the door open for me as Ty had to work an overnight shift at the hospital (he is an Anesthesiologist Assistant). I don’t think I woke anyone up…..Jansyn and Jaxson ended up getting sick while I was there- felt bad for them….and Amy as she had to miss out on the reunion frivolities…but I digress….On the way home from work, Ty picked up supplies for the golf outing. 24 balls (we came back with 2 – that is including all the ones we found-we aren’t very good golfers), a 12 pack of beer and a fifth of Jack Daniels. Let’s just say, the first two holes, we held our own. The last 16 went steadily downhill. I do have to admit, if the ball is within 6” of the hole, I am the master at draining those…..We had a great group: Me, Ty, Jim and Chad (thankfully they can play). We teamed up with Jacque and Lee as their third and Jim had to leave after the 9th hole. Thankfully we were playing best ball out of our group of four (we just started using Chad’s, Jacque’s or Lee’s as Ty and I started playing “where the hell did that go”…..mine was best once maybe twice on the front nine…..I should probably take a lesson. We held up the course – the golf police kept trying to get us to speed up. I did find out that I actually enjoy golf, probably because I don’t take it seriously. Nine am tee off, the fifth of Jack was gone by noon. Beer not much later…..I did to a stuntman barrel roll out of the cart trying to pick up a ball….no injuries to report, but I was sore from taking so many “practice” swings.
Friday night we went to the Fox and Hound out on 103rd and something. Pretty cool bar. Saw MANY people I literally hadn’t seen in 20 years (or thereabouts). Ty and I were early, played a couple games of pool, then people started rolling in. There were fun times had by all! We closed down the bar. What else would you expect? Had a cigar, then went to Denny’s for breakfast. Got home around 330-4am-ish. Didn’t do much on Saturday during the day, Ty had to get ready for a trip EARLY Sunday morning. I did laundry and we did some errands. It was a nice relaxing day actually. One of my “talents” is I don’t often get hangovers. I have had a few – when I get them they are doozies.
Saturday night was at Nara’s in downtown KC. The Hannah Montana concert was that night too – I was wondering what all the little kids were doing downtown….Anyway, it was nice, not too dressy, not a dive. Food was decent, company was stellar! We danced a bit, caught up on the past, got to hang out with people I didn’t catch up with the night before. Really nice time. We closed down Nara’s – and ended up at the Power and light district (I think that is what it is called). Hung out with Keith, Tina, Jami and his wifeTy had to leave early because of his trip….wise idea as I didn’t get back to his place until 4am. I think he left at 5….
So Sunday, I was moving slow, woke up at 9am is, got myself packed, said goodbye to Amy, Jansyn and Jaxson, and made my way to the airport. I did drive by where the old house was, it is now a park. Also drove by the high school. Shipped a box of “cold weather” clothes back to MD as my luggage was overweight on the trip to MN. Made it to the airport with plenty of time. So I watched the CHIEFS ACTUALLY WIN! Woohoo! Then watched the end of the Ravens/Vikings game – what an incredible game. Ravens lost, but they came back from 21 down to go ahead, only to lose by two points on a missed field goal…..Stover would have made it.
I fly in to Orlando – land at 11:45 – get to the ginormous (I walked to the gym last night– should have called a cab, but I got my cardio done getting to and from – so I had that going for me) Marriott World Center around 1am and get to bed around 1:30 am……..Working weird hours now to get this done. Some of the machines cannot go down during the day, so we are doing them at night. Tonight I went to the largest retail humidor and got a cigar, and people watched in downtown Orlando. It was really relaxing. Downtown Orlando is actually pretty cool…..check it out if you ever go to Disney…While in the humidor, I noticed a display case of Prohibition era Whiskey. Original bottles. Only $5000. Wish I had that kind of disposable income……
So that’s what I have been up to for the past two weeks. I can't wait to get home and see Kelly, Rachel, Ashley and Sammi.....Mom and Dad will be there too.....
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