Gosh, where to begin. It’s been 4 months since i’ve posted and a lot has happened. I’m just in no mood to write anything down. Perhaps tomorrow.
So many things to discuss.
Nov 10
Big Brother… YAY!!!
Jul 16
Finally it’s here… I’m so excited that another season of Big Brother is around here… This time, it’s like being back in High School… 4 Teams, the Athletes, the Brains, the Popular, and the Offbeats…
Interesting twist… I don’t really have a favorite yet, but one guy that I hate is Jessie… And what made me even more mad, was that he was wearing a USF shirt…
Dear Tourists…
Jul 16
I’m fortunate that I have a client in Honolulu that I get the opportunity to visit every year or so… I get to stay at a great hotel right on Waikiki Beach. It’s great and all, but Waikiki is quite the tourist trap… On Kalakaua Avenue, there is shopping wherever you turn, and multiple locations as well… Coach, Fendi, Burberry, Ferrari, Hermes, Bvlgari, Tiffany & Co., Kate Spade, and the list goes and on for blocks… You’ll also find 3 locations of Quiksilver, 4 Crazy Shirts, 4 Honolua Surf Companies, a Macy’s, and as many ABC Stores as you can count on your fingers and toes. I don’t necessarily mind all the stores. If I want to get away from the madness, I can just drive 20 minutes east of Honolulu and find myself in Hawaii Kai, where there is a great restaurant (Blu Water Grille), and a nice bar out back where you can sit and watch people paddle boats by…
The hotel is huge, there are over 1600 rooms here, so you can imagine just how many people that are bustling in and out of the hotel at any given time of the day… Also, being in Hawaii, there are lots of Japanese Tourists here, that it’s crazy. All of the restaurants have Japanese menus. by no means do I not like the Japanese, it’s great that they still have disposable income to spend, and keep the tourism industry alive… But what I hate is that they have no concept of personal space.
All I’m asking for is that If I’m trying to get out of the elevator, please let me get out before you get in… and if you are behind me in line to get in an elevator (after letting the people get out), don’t try to walk around me and enter the elevator, before the people get out…
Please?
Thanks…
Where were you when…
Jul 7
There have been 12,025 days in my life. I don’t remember where I was for most of them, let alone what I was doing. There are only about 5 days where I remember where I was when something momentous in the world happened. 2 of them were great days, and 4 of them were tragic days. The 2 good days were when President Clinton, and President Obama won their respective elections. I remember where I was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after takeoff in 1986. I remember what I was doing when Princess Diana died in 1997. I hope everyone remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. And I remember what I was doing when I found out of Michael Jackson’s death a couple of weeks ago.
I was sitting in my office, working like I always do on a Thursday afternoon, when one of my co-workers walks into my office and says, “Go to tmz.com, Michael Jackson is dead!”. I stopped working on an SQL report and immediately check out the website, and then switch over to cnn.com, where they were saying that he was in rushed to a hospital. As the minutes passed, the news comes out that he is gone. I had left work earlier than normal to go get a haircut, and the radio station I was listening to, was playing Michael Jackson. I got to Rudy’s, and they too had Michael playing in the background. It really was a surreal day that day, coming home and watching the news. Everyone was talking about Michael’s death.
Hearing about Michael constantly for the following days, talking about the possible addiction, talking about the child molestation cases, all of the negative really made me start to get sick of Michael. Like, why are we even talking about the guy. I too was on the side of thepeople who were thinking of why are we giving this guy the attention? After all, he was a weirdo, he was a freak, blah blah blah.
He’s not even relevant anymore.
I started to realize after that moment that there were so many GOOD things that Michael did for us as a society. He singlehandedly revolutionized the entertainment business as we know it. He made good musicfor an era that stands the test of time. Every time i hear “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Billie Jean”, or any other song from the MJ catalog, there are so many good memories that come out of it. Seeing the Moonwalk dance move. The video for “Thriller”, or “Black or White”. Simply amazing. Whether we know it or not, or choose to admit it or not, everything he did changed the way any of us appreciate music, or even in a broader sense, choose to be entertained.
Truth of the matter is, he’s still relevant.
While I only saw highlights on the late night news, today’s memorial service in LA was a fiting way to say goodbye. I was completely awestruck when I saw just how many people around the world stopped to watch the spectatle that unfolded at STAPLES Center today. Listening to parts of Brooke Shields speech, to hearing Jermaine sing “Smile”, it was all very moving. But then hearing Paris Katherine speak up and say what she said, that’s when it clicked. Despite how much money they have, how lavish their lifestyles may be, they are no different than you or I. We are all human, and brothers and sisters in this world. It’s not fair to judge Michael on his plastic surgeries, his quirkiness, and the list goes on.
Thanks Michael for your music, and your positive contributions to our society. I hope that everyone will now leave you alone, so you may rest in peace.
Photography 101…
Jun 24
So it’s been awhile…
Jun 24
Yah, it’s been a couple of months since i’ve last said anything… but there is good reason. I’ll post about that in a little bit…
I’m on a plane flying from Tampa to Phoenix, then to Portland for a couple of days of work before I head back to Ballard. I’m one of the first on the plane, as I’m in the back of the plane, and as I’m getting comfortable, a young teenage boy (12 or 13 is my guess) sits in the middle seat in the row in front of me and introduces himself.
“Hi, I’m Mike.”
“Hi.”
“This is my first flight ever”
“Your first flight ever? Or your first flight alone?”
“Ever. Do you fly lots?”
“Yah, I fly all the time for work.”
“Are you a pilot?”
Right about now I’m thinking of how I can get out of this conversation.
“No, I just have to fly around a lot.”
“Are you from Tampa?”
Now I’m really praying that someone comes into that row to take his attention away from me.
“I used to live here, but now I live in Seattle.”
Crap, I just opened up a whole new conversation. But thankfully someone came down and sat next to him.
I sit back and read the Tampa Tribune as I’m waiting for the plane to take off. I read through the sports page, since it’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball. As we’re taking off and climbing altitude to get to the point where I can put on the iPod, I pick up the SkyMall catalog, and start to peruse through it. There is some definitely interesting things in there for purchase. I’ve often wondered who in their right mind would buy something from the catalog. Like who needs a marshmallow shooter? Or the adjustable feline scratching platform? The description reads that the platform can be positioned at an angle or flat so that felines can satisfy their instinctual urge to claw in their preffered posture. Um, ok.
So about halfway through the flight, Mike turns around and introduces himself to the two people next to me, a brother and sister roughly the same age as Mike. I didn’t really pay attention to the conversation, as I was still looking for the one thing in the SkyMall catalog that I could possibly want or need (the Japanese style bridge for the backyard wasn’t cutting it).
Later on in the flight, I see the girl reaches into her book bag and takes out a piece of loose leaf paper and hands it to Mike. About 5 minutes later, he hands her a folded piece of paper with Sarah written on it. She opens it, reads it, writes something back, and then folds it back up and hands it back to Mike. This goes on for a good hour. I tried to see what he was writing on there, and what she was writing back, but all I could make of the chicken scratch was “What do you do for fun?” “I like to ride horses, and dance jazz and ballet.” After the flight had landed, I had hoped to listen in to what the conversation was after, but the flight was late getting in and I had to run to catch the connection to Portland.
I had an appreciation for Mike’s flirtatious ways with Sarah, as it reminded me of the days of old when notes would get passed between boys and girls in grade school. The whole rite of passing notes and asking a girl to the dance, or out to a movie came back to me. Made me think of my first girlfriend in Jr. High…
There was a girl in my class named Toni-Maria Roccia (as Italian as you can get). She was a year younger than me, so we never had the same class. But her friends would come up to my friends and tell them that she liked me, and back and forth, so I decided to write her a note.
“We’re going to the mall after school. Want to meet me there?”
I handed her the note in between classes as we passed each other through the hallway. At lunch her friend came to the lunch table where I sat and handed me the note.
“Yes!” And the dot on the exclamation point was replaced with a heart…
So we met at the mall, and we hung out, and made plans to go to a movie in a couple of weeks.
We ended up going to the movies, and then a school dance. We broke up a couple of months later because she didn’t like me anymore. I felt the same way, but didn’t know how to break up with her.
My friend Matt officiated a wedding of someone who married her elementary school boyfriend. She had kept the note that he wrote her some 25 years ago to ask her out. It was the cover of the wedding invitation, complete with the yes, no, maybe checkboxes for her to fill. I never saw the invitation, but how cool is that?
I wonder if kids now a days pass notes, or do they just text or email one another.
Such a lost art, the note.
How many products are out there with the ‘i’ in front of it?
There’s the original, the iPod. But does every freaking company have to put the ‘i’ in front of their product to make it hip and cool to the masses?
I get the fact that Apple put the I in front of their phone, so I accept that. But what’s with iLike, iHome, iStation, iWear, and the iKeg (seriously, an iKeg?)
I get that the ‘i’ signifies personal (the iKeg must be for an alcoholic that doesn’t want to share), but can’t companies that create these products be a little more creative, or stick to the original name of the product. Instead of the iHome, call it the iPod/radio/alarm clock. Or call the iKeg just a keg of beer. It is what it is, no? No sense in getting all ifancy.
This coming from someone that is considering purchasing an iHome, and is a member of iLike. I will stay away from the iKeg though.
I’m here in Tampa for the next few days helping my parents with PhilFest, a yearly festival where I have been the hired (volunteered) help for the past few years. It’s always the first weekend of April, and since moving out to the Northwest, I’ve flown in each year to help my parents.
I fly a lot for work, and I have had flown Alaska Airlines at every opportunity I can. If not Alaska, I go for any airline where I can bank frequent flyer miles on the Mileage Plan, usually Northwest, Delta, or American. Because of this, over the last 2 years, I’ve maintained MVP status, where I get upgrades to first class when available, priority boarding, and 1.5 miles for every mile flown (instead of the typical 1:1 ratio).
Since my Mom and Dad were willing to pay for my flight, they booked me a flight last month cheapest route that they could get me (no complaints). They put me on a flight on American Airlines to come back to Seattle on Tuesday. About 2 weeks later, I find out that I have to be in Portland on Tuesday for some work meetings. So I call my corporate travel agent, and they end up putting me on a flight to Tampa then to Portland on Monday night, then back to Seattle on Thursday (I decided to work from the Portland office that week). The flight home from Portland to Seattle is on Alaska, so no big deal. but then the only way I could keep the change fees rather low was to take a flight on US Airways. It wouldn’t have been my choice, but now I didn’t have much of a choice.
So I realized that I had about 20,000 miles on my US Airways Frequent Flyer card, so I pop in my number to collect more miles. I log in to the website, and find out that they took away my miles due to inactivity. GRRRR. But if I paid 100.00, I could get them all back. Double GRRRR. Instead I put the miles on my United mileage plan. I say to myself that I’ll never fly US Air again.
I get to the airport around 930 for a 1030 flight, check my bags for $15.00, and then get through security. Easy. We then start the boarding process, and I’m in zone 2, because there is no floor storage in my exit row. I get to my seat, and there is this big burly man in an expensive suit standing there, seething at the first class flight attendant (my guess is that he didnt get upgraded to first, and he’s pissed he is in coach). So I sit down and say hello, and he turns towards me, snarls, and then goes back to seething the attendant. Ok, whatever. So as the flight gets ready to leave the gate, the attendant walks up to he and I, and gives us the spiel about agreeing to help out. We have to verbally answer yes, and so I answer yes, and then the attendant waits for the suit man to answer and waits and waits…
“Sir, I need you to to say yes, otherwise you can’t sit here…”
“I’m Platinum status, I can sit here if I want to.”
“No, not unless you say ‘yes’”
“Yes”
“Thank you”
After that exchange, I think that the attendant decided to be an ass towards him.
“Sir you’ll have to stow away your water bottle underneath your seat behind the metal bar, or in overhead storage.”
“How am I supposed to drink it during take off”
“Sir, you need to put the bottle under the seat, or in the overhead.”
“Fine, whatever.”
We take off, and the man falls asleep. He starts snoring. Loudly. He snored so heavily that the people across the aisle were staring at him. Yikes.
During cabin service, I ask for a glass of water. He hands it to me, and I ask the flight attendant for a pillow and blanket. He hands me a packet and says, “That’ll be $7.00. Exact change is preferred”
“$7.00 for a water?”
“No sir, it’s for the pillow and blanket.”
I hand the packet back to him and tell him “Thanks, but no thanks.”
During the gas crisis last summer, I get how airlines would charge the $15.00 for a 2nd checked bag, or raise the price of alcohol from $5.00 to $7.00. Of course an airline would never go back on making the extra buck on stuff to save money. But to turn around and charge $7.00 for a blanket and pillow? Come on.
So in the middle of the flight while i’m sleeping, I feel something on my shoulder. I open my eyes and turn to look and find that my shoulder is the arm rest for the guy next to me. I tap him on the arm to wake him up to get him to move his arm. He rudely says
“Why did you wake me up?”
“Your arm was on my shoulder”
“So?”
“I don’t want to be an arm rest for you”
It just wasn’t a good night for me to fly.
On the connecting flight from Charlotte to Tampa, we go through some bad turbulence to get up to crusing altitude. It was so bad that the woman next to me got sick, and filled up 2 barf bags, which made a woman in front of her sick, and I was feeling nauseous because of the smell.
I never want to fly US Airways again.
Laundromat Blues… Part deux…
Mar 30
So it’s a Monday Night, and I’ve decided to spend it at the laundromat. I realize that it’s around dinner time, so I decide to stop off at the Wendy’s and grab the new Premium Fish Sandwich… So I’m in the drive-thru, and he hands me the sack of food. And I ask for some ketchup. and he says…
“Well, we’re actually out of ketchup…”
“You’re out of ketchup.”
“Yes sir, no more ketchup”
“You don’t have ketchup packs? or you’re completely out of ketchup?”
“I’m sorry sir, we’re out of ketchup…”
I was so dumb founded, that I didn’t know what to say after that, so I left. French fries just aren’t the same without ketchup. It was not a very good dinner.
Don’t you think that the shift manager would realize at some point in the last day or two, that they are running out of ketchup packs, maybe they should order some?
Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s is probably rolling in his grave.
It’s not even worth talking about the laundromat. Truth be told that the lack of ketchup at Wendy’s was more intriguing than the Laundromat.
