Haphazard Ramblings

Time for the harvest

2006-11-20T09:20:00.000-06:00

Here we are again, another Thanksgiving week is here. In my opinion, this is one of the best weeks of the year, the weather, food, friends, and a bit of downtime.

We held our annual Thanksgiving dinner with friends on Saturday. It was a smaller group than previous years, but it was one of the most interesting evenings due to the several rounds of shots that were done throughout the night.

After dinner we played boys vs girls in Catch-Phrase with the losers doing shots of the winners' choosing. I pity those poor ladies that just could not keep up with the combined prowess of the men in the room. Final score: Men -4, Women - 1.

On Friday night we attended Mason's 4th birthday party of which one of the benefits was getting to play with Legos. It's been years and I forgot how much I loved those things. Julie's Christmas list is now complete, Legos and one of those furry bears with the fiber optics inside that changes colors.

Surprise!

2006-10-17T07:18:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty cool weekend thanks to my beautiful wife. On Saturday evening I walked into a house full of people there for my very own surprise birthday party. How awesome is that? Apparently the planning started before Labor Day and culminated in one hell of an evening this past weekend.

I woke up on Saturday expecting a day like any other. I had some inkling that stuff was going on in the background, but nothing definitive. I met up with Tim at Chevy's around 4:30 and we watched the second half of the Mizzou game (ouch!) and the Detroit-Oakland game over a couple of pitchers of beer.

Tim had talked about playing poker that night and I was skeptical, but he absolutely sold it. I asked him point blank, "So you're going to play poker tonight?"

Yeah

You're going to play poker tonight. Are you sure?

Yeah, why? You want to come?

Hmmmm......

No flinching, looking away, etc. Later I found out that he was about to bust out laughing but he held it together long enough.

We went over to his house for a bit so that I could help direct a small tree away from the neighbor's house while he cut it down. Probably not the brightest thing to get out a chainsaw after drinking. The idea of the poker game was sold even more when the neighbor ran out of propane and had to finish cooking the meal for the poker game on Tim's grill. Strange, I thought, maybe I'm imagining things.

I left Tim's and started the 10 minute drive home. In my head, I was imagining all of the last minute activity that occurs at surprise parties when people know the person is on the way. Lights are turned off, blinds shut, music turned down, and people are rounded up into a room.

I get near the house and see heads through the back windows and my thoughts are confirmed. I pull into the garage, and open the door about 6 inches and peek inside.

Yep, I've got a house full of people. It's my birthday party and I'm going to damn well enjoy it. I loved the entire affair. I got to catch up with so many people, some of whom that I had not seen since college. Friends were there from Hannibal, Iowa, and even Florida. It reminded me of the final scene in It's a Wonderful Life when everyone comes to George's Bailey's aid, if that makes sense.

The party didn't stop until after 3 by which time I was ready for bed. Sunday was a combination of cleanup and catch up on some of the new shows that we've been recording, but that's an entire post in itself.

The fun continued last night with the Breaking Benjamin concert at the Pageant.

This morning I catch a flight for a quick trip to California and then get back on Wednesday night just in time for my actual 30th birthday of Thursday.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

2006-10-06T21:33:00.000-05:00

By the way, we stayed at Robard's Mansion Bed and Breakfast in Hannibal.

And the skylift, well, it's on the way back. Check it out!

Recap continues

2006-10-04T21:35:00.000-05:00

So the weekend after the run of our lives, we decided to tone it down a bit. We had an unused B&B gift certificate in Hannibal that we had booked months in advance with just that thought in mind.

We decided to take the scenic route up Highway 79 to Hannibal. As luck would have it, Crowne Valley winery had just opened a new tasting room along the way in Clarksville. Perfect, it definitely warranted a stop.

7 tastings each later, we were scrambling to make it to Hannibal for our 3 pm ghost tour. Wow, what a strange experience, divining rods and the whole ball of wax. A bit of a skeptic, but it was still an enjoyable time.

We went to the B&B to check in and upon arrival received blank looks from the owners. Not a good start. They had switched over computers and forgot to transfer over our reservation. Our suite was not available so we took the downstairs room with the semi-private bath. Not ideal, but no big deal.

Dinner, an awesome Notre Dame football comeback, and a very filling breakfast. The place just grew on us. It was nice to get away for a weekend.

Welcome to October

2006-10-03T20:05:00.000-05:00

Well, summer has come and gone and here we are in October again.

Summer Recap:

July and August was filled with work and not much more than that, 14 different cities in 8 weeks, some of them multiple times. What little spare time existed was filled with training for the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon. Oh, there was also that couples baby shower where the keg ran dry and people were jumping into the pool fully clothed during a thunderstorm...

We opened September with a day at the St Louis County Fair and Air show, which turned out to be really cool, and then moved into the next weekend at the Clayton Art Fair where we ran into Vern Yip from Trading Spaces.

Then the morning of September 17 finally arrived, the day of our 13.1 mile run. I woke up way to early and had already watched most of Rocky and had a cup of coffee by the time we were ready to leave the house. We arrived at the Family Arena just shy of 6 a.m. for a 7 o'clock start.

Wow! What an impressive atmosphere. Music blaring, people pumped up, and everyone out to do something good for themselves. I've never experienced anything like it.

The starting gun went off and it was time to run. The run itself was mostly a blur. It's really cool to have people alongside the road cheering your name. The adrenaline kicks in when you hear that cheering.

I started off too fast but got into my groove around the 5 mile mark. My goal was to complete the run in under 2 hours, and to accomplish that, I had to keep moving.

6 miles - I'm feeling good

7 miles - This isn't so bad

8 miles - Okay, where is that energy drink

9 miles - Ahh, got the drink, waiting it to kick in

10 miles - How long is this thing?

11 miles - If I make it past that hill at the 12 mile mark, I'm in good shape

12 miles - I left my lungs on the hill, can someone retrieve them for me

13 miles - I hear my name, I've got enough left for an all-out sprint

13.1 miles - I DID IT!

Final time - 1:54:59, I smashed my goal. Wow, what a feeling!

Julie was chugging along behind me. She was going to push herself to finish in 2:45 so I was thrilled to see her coming down the road well before that. She finished in 2:27, now that's awesome!

I can't describe how cool the entire event was. We're probably going to do it again if we can commit the time for training.

Anyway, I've been away, but now I'm back.

Hmmm...

2006-09-22T15:05:00.000-05:00

Wow, over a month since my last post. I'm not dead...things have been out of control lately and I just stepped away from the blog when I really should have been using it as an outlet.

I'll be back soon to update you on the missing month. Stay tuned...

Let's play the waiting game

2006-08-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. to catch a 6:20 flight out of San Jose. I quickly showered, dressed and was out the door of the hotel without turning on the TV.

Arriving at the airport, I was faced with the new terror warnings and news of the latest plot out of London. No liquids of any kind allowed in your carry-ons. The wine that I bought would have to be checked. I quickly packed the wine box with newspaper, emptied my laptop bag of lotion, mouth freshener, chapstick, etc and stashed it into my checked luggage.

What waited next was the longest line that I've ever seen in an airport. It wrapped around the terminal into a tight circle that resemembled a line of dominoes. One push and everyone would have been down. Keep in mind that it was already like this at 5 a.m. I can only imagine what the rest of the day holds.

Finally made it through security and confirmed with the gate that I had some time because of the delays. I bought a sandwich and a cup of coffee and sat down at the gate to eat when they told me to board. I had to throw out my full cup of coffee without even taking a sip because no liquids are allowed on board.

This was over an hour ago. We're sitting on the plane waiting for the late arrivers to make it through security. I hate airports!

Time to go, we're actually getting ready to leave.

Do I detect a hint of cherry?

2006-08-09T23:34:00.000-05:00

I had a couple hours of free time the other day while out on business and visited the wineries of Livermore, CA.

I've never been to the hills of Northern California, but the view is stunning. I had a chance to visit 3 separate wineries and do tastings at each one. While the wineries of Missouri are always a great way to spend the day, they just can't compare to the real thing in California. I had a chance to taste some excellent wines and learn a little bit about the town.

Wente Vineyards is California's oldest family owned and continuously operated winery. John Madden actually owns some vines in the area and sells grapes to Wente. For his football Hall of Fame induction ceremony last weekend, he enlisted Wente to produce 32 cases of wine with handpainted labels. Many of the storage tanks contain ripples and indentations from the 1989 earthquake. Very neat place and some great wines to boot.

Concannon Vineyard was also a very nice place with an interesting history. They actually continued to produce wine during Prohibition that was used for sacramental wines. They also produced the country's first petite sirah in 1961.

It was nice to actually get out for a couple of hours and see some of the area because things have been so hectic lately that I can barely remember what city I'm in. Now I've got some goodies to take home as well.

Searching for a meaning

2006-08-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in a hotel lobby listening to a guy do his spiel on how to get rich in real estate. I'm not actually part of the discussion. I was just sitting here minding my own business when the conference let out of one of the hotel's ballrooms and descended into the bar.

This guy is an absolute master at spin. He has this eager audience that is soaking up his bag of lies. It's all I can do to not jump up and ask these people if they are idiots.

"By the third year, you'll be making half a million guaranteed."

"I'll humble myself to someone that is greater to me"

"That's a mental orgasm"

My God, these people are searching for a way out. They want something to believe in and this guy in the pinstripe pimpdaddy suit is throwing out a great tale.

Despicable! This is a guy preying on the weak in another one of those MLM scams.

On a wing and a prayer

2006-08-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to catch a break these days. Last week while traveling home, the plane started to make some stranges noises shortly after takeoff. There was a lot of turbulence and movement when the captain finally came on the intercom.

"Folks, we're going to have to turn around and head back to the airport. We can't get the landing gear up. At this rate, we'd run out of gas before making it to St Louis."

What's the deal, our plane has erectile dysfunction? Get it, can't get the landing gear up...I know, that's bad.

We land uneventfully and American ends up borrowing a plane from U.S. Airways. We have to get re-ticketed, switch terminals, and go through security again before finally taking off several hours later.

The Plane Is Baroque

Flash forward to yesterday morning and a 6:30 a.m. United flight out. We boarded the plane shortly after six and were ready to leave when again the captain comes over the speakers.

"Folks, I have some bad news to report. The plane is baroque."

Come again? It would have been funny if it hadn't been so early. We were forced to de-plane and left in limbo again. The gate agent did provide some comedic relief, however, as he talked about the carrier's ongoing problems.

I quickly rebooked myself on Southwest and made it out of Dodge just a couple of hours later. I hope my next flight goes a little bit smoother.

8-Ball says

2006-08-03T16:23:00.000-05:00

The magic 8-ball says:

Stay close to your inner self

You will benefit in all ways

Lucky Numbers

3 24 39 42 44 22

Courtesy of lunch at P.F. Chang's.

Hurts so good

2006-08-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm making progress, did 10 miles total tonight and 8 in a row without stopping. I've never run that much continuously before in my life. Sure my legs are screaming at me now, but it felt awesome doing it.

Anyone else a Stephen King fan and been watching the Nightmares and Dreamscapes on TNT? I've been a huge fan of his since I picked up Salem's Lot off my parent's bookshelf as a kid and started reading it. Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a book of short stories and TNT has put together 8 separate 1 hour long shows each representing a different tale.

My favorite story from the book was on tonight, Autopsy Room Four. Basically it's about a guy laying on an autopsy table that isn't really dead. Everyone thinks he's dead, but he's been paralyzed by a snake bite while searching for his ball in the woods next to a golf course. He can hear the people making jokes about cutting into him, but he is helpless to do anything at all. It's King at his best and they did a good job representing it on the small screen.

If you've been watching them, you know what I'm talking about. If not, maybe you can catch them the second time around.

Off topic, what's going on with Blogger lately (as if I've been blogging enough to really mention it). I haven't been able to upload any pictures lately. It's moving so slow!

Looks line another banner night for the Cardinals. They better get it out of their system because we've got tickets for tomorrow. I've already seen enough drubbings this year to last me the rest of the season.

Is summer over?

2006-07-31T22:08:00.000-05:00

It seems kind of strange to ask the question of whether summer is over when it's 100 degrees outside. As we turn the calendar page to August however, I see another full calendar with not enough time to complete all of those projects that were slated for this summer.

Plenty of fun activities scheduled for the month ahead, baseball games, baby shower with a keg (sounds redneck, doesn't it?), birthdays, and more trips across the country. Pretty soon Labor Day will be here and the school buses will be running again and yet another summer will have passed.

Until then, let's enjoy the next month and savor the times ahead.

It's a Wisconsin thing

2006-07-30T15:57:00.000-05:00

Wow, who knew Madison, Wisconsin, was such a beautiful city? We're traveling home now after spending the weekend up North for the last of the Turner weddings.

We got a headstart on the trip by spending Thursday night with a coworker in Bloomington, IL. Jay is in a band and the group was just finishing up practice when we arrived. His basement could easily be mistaken for a sound stage with all of the instruments and amplifiers. After we finished a presentation a meeting the next day, we sat around and watched concert videos and drank. Jay and I are both huge Sammy Hagar and Van Halen fans and he surprised me with an empty bottle of Cabo Wabo tequila that Sammy had drank at one of his concerts. Jay had been next to the stage and a crewmember gave him a couple of the empty bottles after the show. Now I have one of them for myself!

Friday morning, we made the trip up to Madison and got into town just as my conference call was starting. I pulled over the car and ran my monthly meeting from the side of the road while Julie walked up to the next block and checked into the hotel.

We stayed at the site of the reception, a hotel just a block from the state capitol building and right next to the city's State Street, a long stretch of bars, restaurants and other ecletic shops leading to the nearby college campus.

On Friday night, we had drinks at the Terrace, a spot at the University's Memorial Union overlooking a large lake filled with sailboats and people taking advantage of the cool water on an unusually hot day in Wisconsin. We listened to the live music and shared a couple of rounds of beer with other friends in town for the wedding before all of us went to the Tornado Room for dinner.

The Tornado Room is not much to look at, but the food was excellent. I had a large strip steak while Julie enjoyed a filet, and overall it was a wonderful meal.

Julie wandered around the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning looking for breakfast while I did my long training run for the week in preparation for the upcoming half-marathon. Julie was smart and finished her run earlier in the week.

Both the wedding and reception were memorable affairs as a large number of people traveled long distances to wish Gwen and Jake best wishes for the future.

If nothing else, the drive home offered me the opportunity to blog about the weekend since I haven't been able to find the time elsewhere.

The last few weeks have seen visits to Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Milwaukee and now Madison. Julie took a roadtrip with the girls to Cedar Point, the amusement park in Ohio. We went to the Journey/Def Lepard and Sammy Hagar concerts and the miles we've run have been adding up as we attempt to get ready for our race.

Finally a moment worth remembering

2006-07-14T22:31:00.000-05:00

We had tickets for Thursday's Cardinals game, but I wasn't particularly interested in going. I had just finished up a rough day, storms were threatening to delay the game, and the Cardinals' play hasn't exactly been inspiring lately.

We headed downtown and got as far as the corner gas station before we realized we forgot the tickets. Things weren't off to a good start, but what the hell, it was nice to get away from a computer for awhile.

It was early in the game that the rains came and we headed under shelter after trying to stick it out for about 5 minutes. Eventually things cleared up and we got to see a pretty nice effort by the home team.

This was our 4th trip to the new Busch Stadium and while I liked the facility, it didn't feel like anything special to me. It was lacking those magical moments that come only after years of tough, hard-fought wins with late-inning heroics. It also didn't help that all of the previous games had been losses.

As the game went on and we went into extra innings, it seemed like no one wanted to win. It was getting late and Julie had to drive all day the next day (today), but we didn't want to leave. It had the feeling that something special was going to happen.

Finally in the 14th inning, Albert sent us home with a smile on our face and a little extra hop in our step with a high arching homerun to left field.

Cards win! Cards win!

Suddenly Busch Stadium feels just a little bit more like home. More magical moments to come in the future!

Just trying to fill a post

2006-07-10T20:50:00.000-05:00

Lots of stuff going on these days and not a lot of time to blog about it. It's like a snowball rolling down a hill that keeps getting bigger and bigger. You intend to blog about something and something else happens and before you know it, there's a ton of stuff that has happened.

I need to write about Kelly's bachelorette party and their awesome driver, but a whole week and the wedding has already passed. I'll get to it in the next day or so though.

Bear with me, I'll catch up soon!

Brotherly love or something more?

2006-06-27T17:19:00.000-05:00

According to a recent survey, having several older brothers leads to greater chances of man being gay. In light of this revelation, does Philadelphia want to rethink the "City of Brotherly Love" name, or is that really code for the San Franciso of the East? Either way, I'm only here for a night so I'll leave it to the locals to ponder.

Anyway, the baseball games last night completely sucked. I've been to 3 games this year and I've seen 3 losses. We are horrible right now!

I think American Airlines most closely resembles the airline in Meet the Parents. You know, the famous lady typing away on the computer, bombardier, take it down to the guy in the earmuffs scene. At times they are like robots with the scripts they read. I think that's part of the reason why I like the fact the Southwest's employees aren't afraid to mix it up every now and then.

"If you would like to like smoke, please step out onto the wing where we will be showing the movie Gone With the Wind."

The 12-week training program for the half-marathon officially started yesterday. Today was a rest day, but I need to run in the morning. Right now I'm debating between hitting the streets of downtown Philly or the treadmill in the fitness room. We'll see what I think at 6 a.m.

Cardinal Nation in search of a win

2006-06-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

I knew interleague play against the American League Central was going to be tough, but 0-6 on the recent road trip???

We're headed to the game tomorrow night against the Indians and I hope the Cards can pull one out for us. We've been to 2 games so far this year, and both have big bad losses.

California Dreams

2006-06-21T01:12:00.000-05:00

A quick, easy trip to San Jose has turned into quite a bit of unexpected work as the site I was visiting was not to the level I thought it would be. I was hoping to see a Giants baseball game while I was here, but alas, duty calls...

Strange night last night in the hotel, I got up, went into the bathroom and was almost in the shower before it dawned on me that something was off. I went back and looked at the clock and saw that it was only 2:55 a.m. I think that there had been an alarm clock in my dream and that is why I got out of bed.

Awesome! I've still got a whole night's sleep in front of me, or so I thought. The next several hours consisted of waking up, looking at the clock, rolling over and repeating.

I'm off to see if tonight goes a little bit better...

Another sign the apocalypse is upon us

2006-06-19T08:56:00.000-05:00

I just signed up for the Lewis & Clark half marathon.

I must be nuts!

The 12 week training program starts on June 26. Not sure why I insist on spreading myself so thin, but it's another one of the goals that I wanted to complete this year. Well, actually the goal was to do a 5K, but why stop there when you can do 13.1 miles?

I also bought some golf clubs over the weekend so I can finally go out and start learning the wacky game of golf. See my note above about stretching myself too thin...

"Your bed is shit-free"

2006-06-16T09:16:00.000-05:00

The title of this post is an actual quote from my sister to me last weekend. I left this part out of my vacation recap because I didn't want to get into it at the time, but it's just to good to pass up.

Setting the stage for you, we asked my sister to watch our kids (cat and dog) while we were in Florida last week. My sister, God love her, graduated from college last year and is a full-fledged member of the workforce, but she is the youngest and the baby of the family. What is it about the youngest that makes them so unaware at times?

Julie was nervous about leaving the house to my sister because she's not a dog person and our dog is our baby. I assured her time and time again that it would be fine and it would be a good experience for my sister. 'Nuff said.

So we're sitting at the wedding reception last Saturday night and I get a text message from my sister, "All animals still breathing?"

What does that mean? I thought about it for a minute and then replied that the dolphins were and that we would be home the next afternoon.

SHIT!

It had just hit me, she thought we were home!

Frantic call to her, WTF! What's going on up there?

"I thought you guys were coming home on Saturday."

"When was the last time you let Daisy out?"

"Last night, but I'm in the area so I'll go let her out again."

Click

At this point Julie has got the gist of my conversation and is seriously pissed off. We both have this image in our head of Daisy, the perfectly behaved dog (ha!), squirming for who knows how many hours trying not to go to the bathroom inside so she won't disappoint her owners.

The topic of the dinner table turns to our affair and everyone is waiting to hear the outcome. About 15 minutes pass and I can't wait anymore, I place another call to my sister.

"Are you there yet?"

"No, I'm at the grocery store."

"What!!! It's been almost 24 hours since she's been out, get over there now!"

"I'm almost done here. I'll be over there shortly."

There is it again, the baby syndrome, no sense of urgency whatsoever. Been dealing with that crap my whole life...

Finally we get the call we've been waiting for, but not the right attitude.

"Your bed is shit-free."

That attitude really set me off and I started to lay into her.

"Do you think this is a joke because it's not. blah blah blah "

"Fine, I won't watch her anymore"

"You've got that right, you won't be watching her again."

The discussion turns at that point, and I express that I was angry because I was worried. Sorry about the confusion, we just need to be assured that our kids our going to be taken care of. Just let Daisy out in the morning and we'll take over from there.

The rest of the night at the reception, people were coming up to us and saying that they had heard about our dog and asked if everything was all right. It's funny how quickly a story like that draws out all the animal lovers.

It could have been worse, the dog of another couple there ate the dogsitter's cellphone...

The Sunshine State

2006-06-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

Home, sweet home, it's definitely good to be back. I got my fill of vacation last week and was anxious to get going on something productive again.

Last time I left you, we were on our way to visit the Flagler museum in Palm Beach at Whitehall, which was Flagler's winter home. For those of you that have not heard of Henry Flagler, he was basically responsible for developing Florida as we know it today. He extended the railroad all the way to the Florida Keys and built a number of resorts where the rich could vacation.

Last Train to Paradise is an excellent book that gives an in-depth history of Flagler and his efforts to extend to railroad to Key West. It's a great read for anyone interested in the history of Florida or who has been to the Keys.

The museum was excellent with a number of exhibits describing the Gilded Age of America and the life of Henry Flagler. They even had Flagler's private railcar on display.

We also spent a day each at Universal Studios and Epcot. The in-laws had left for Florida at the same time as us, but headed to a different part of the state. We joined back up in Orlando for a couple of days of amusement park "fun". I'm not a big fan of amusement parks in general. I hate lines, and if I'm traveling in another part of the country, I would much rather soak up the history and culture of the area, although Orlando really doesn't have either.

Universal turned out to be a fun day, but I wasn't too impressed with Epcot. It seemed like another Vegas in the respect that it was full of fake cities and places. It didn't help that the Test Track ride was down all day either.

From Orlando, we headed toward Bradenton, just south of Tampa, for Julie's cousin's wedding, the original purpose of the trip.

It was our 5 year anniversary and it was nice to get away for a little bit. On the way, we stopped in St Petersburg where Julie and I enjoyed a nice long lunch at a restaurant on the beach. We kicked back and downed a few beers and she surprised me with a new ring. My original ring is stored somewhere in our yard. Stored, not lost, it can't be lost if it's on our own property! Evidently she thought I had gone long enough without one so I am once again sporting a weddding ring.

The wedding was scheduled to be on the beach, and as we drove there, we feared that it was going to be a washout. The sky was black and the winds were throwing up so much sand that it was hard to see the road at times. Luckily the weather blew over quickly and left us with a beautiful evening.

As soon as the ceremony was over, Darren picked up his bride and promptly carried her into the ocean, wedding dress and all! Unbelieveable! I feared we were going to witness the world shortest marriage, but she started laughing with him. They showered off under one of those beach showers and continued the festivities.

On Sunday, we just got out of Florida before they started canceling flights because of the approaching tropical storm, Alberto. It's good to be back home!

Checking in

2006-06-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

Our vacation has been anything but uneventful to date. Here's a sampling of what we've encountered so far:

The person behind us in line at airport security had a gun in his bag. No idea what the outcome was as they ushered him away.

Girl behind us threw up on the plane. We were hit with bits splashing off the floor.

We went on a canoe trip down a small river in Jupiter, FL. Not even five minutes after launching from shore, we encountered our first alligator swimming towards us in the channel. The whole trip brought to mind scenes from bad horror movies. One group gets separated from the others and before you know it, they're gone for good. We saw several gators, but they didn't care about us. Pretty cool stuff, just leave them alone and they leave you alone (hopefully!).

We went deep-sea fishing yesterday and Julie caught us dinner. She reeled in a nice sized kingfish that we took to a local restaurant for them to prepare. My only catch was a yellow tail that I managed to drop back in as I was dealing with tangled lines. Regardless, it was a great time.

We're going to visit the Flagler museum in West Palm Beach today and bum around a bit. Hope things are well in STL.

I need to start packing earplugs

2006-06-02T06:19:00.000-05:00

I rolled out of bed and hopped in a taxi at 5:30 this morning for a ride to the airport. The last thing I was interested in was conversation, but I had to pull quite the talkative cab driver from the Austin pool.

Some excerpts from her conversation -

I can't eat apples anymore, they hurt my stomach. I know they're so good for you but they hurt me.

I had a government job in Houston and then I moved here and no one would touch me because I was a union steward.

I'm an independent contractor. There's got to be some kind of adjustment or one day we'll rise up and shut the whole city down. We'll pick a day and just start picketing. We're not going to take it forever.

I can't stand those lady doctors. They tried to kill my mom. It's really bad when you have to figure out what's wrong. They had her so overmedicated that her eyes turned brown.

That plant stinks, they should really move it. I pulled my kid out of that high school because of the smell.

Have a good day, I enjoyed our conversation! (how ironic since I probably spoke 10 words)

Next time, I'll just walk...

Huh???

2006-06-01T23:19:00.000-05:00

Have you ever rented a car from Hertz and used Never Lost? It's a GPS-based guidance system that makes it easy to get anywhere. Well, to mix it up a little bit, I changed the language to Dutch and then Japanese. Pretty funny stuff hearing the directions relayed in the different languages although it didn't do much for the actual navigation.

Time to set the alarm and head home in the morning. Friday promises to be an actual packed day.