Travelin' Man

I've been on the road a lot lately with my new job, which gives me plenty of opportunities to try the local restaurants. Sometimes you find a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican or Thai place that has some of the best food around. Then you have the other places. I found Tony's Spunky Steer in Redlands, CA, and was tempted to give it a shot. Almost. I'm assuming it's a steak place, but I was a little concerned about how tasty a "spunky steer" would be and chickened out. Unfortunately, I ended up at Long John Silver's instead. Probably not a good call. Any restaurant that serves deep-fried lobster "bites" is a little suspect, and the chicken/fish/whatever all taste the same. My hotel in Redlands is right across the street from Larry Flint's Hustler Club, where I've heard that the $6 steak is only $2 on Tuesday and you get a free lunch with any drink purchase during the week. Looks like I might have to try that next time instead of the Spunky Steer.

AT&T Sucks

So I'm pretty sure I only have myself to blame, but I decided to switch from Earthlink to AT&T DSL a couple of months ago. I'd been paying double what AT&T said they'd charge me, and it wasn't that difficult to let the 8 people who email me know I'd changed my address, so I was easily swayed by the sales pitch when THEY FRIGGIN' CALLED ME! I was promised a free DSL modem (with rebate) and no start-up fee. Sounded good. Fast-forward to last Friday. I get a notice in the mail that says I have to pay $108 or they're going to disconnect my phone. WTF? First of all, we pay everything electronically, so our bank sends out a payment as soon as it's due. Kind of hard to not pay your bills when they're friggin' AUTOMATIC, but it turns out they never even sent a bill for October. The only bill we got (via email, which is how AT&T sends bills to us every month) came the day before the mailed disconnect notice. You may notice all the bolded and italicized caps in this post. That's because I have been on hold with AT&T for ONE HOUR AND FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES AND COUNTING to try to figure out how they screwed up my bill so badly. I would have hung up roughly one hour and fifty minutes ago, but I'm so friggin' pissed at them that I want to talk to somebody. That and I'm curious how long they'll actually leave me on hold before they come back.

Updates to follow.

Happy Halloween?

I met up with Ken at the Powerhouse Pub in Folsom for Monday Night Football (Note: It still doesn't seem right to have MNF on ESPN, but maybe I'm just old school). There is usually just one "Powerhouse Princess" to host the half-time putting contest, but this week we had a cornucopia of hot(ish) chicks in bikinis. Instead of the one (1) scantily-clad chick, there were three (3) young ladies wearing nothging but a bikini and a smile. And about 40 leering pervs, but that's another story. This was our first trip for MNF since the regular season started and we were a little disappointed that none of the regulars seemed to be there. Ted McGinley, The 3 Geeks, etc. I don't want to know what they call us. Don't really care.

I did see this sign on the way in/out. I especially like the "MUST BE LEGAL" disclaimer. Considering this bar is part of the same property where they have nude body-painting on a regular basis, I'm really curious about the costume contest. I'm trying to decide whether I should go as a drunk and shirtless David Hasselhoff (with my bag of Carl's Jr. burgers) or a drunk and shirtless Orangevale resident. Not really a costume per se, more of a life-style choice. Depends on how hungry I am.

One of the things I really like about my new job is that I am spending a lot of time in San Diego. Being away from home a lot isn't the greatest, but there are worse places to be. My old job had me in Texas and Oklahoma on a regular basis. I could find at least one nice thing to say about both places, but there weren't a lot of places to surf. Not that I actually "surf", but I've always thought it would be fun and I (in theory) could take it up. I bet I'd be a really good surfer, too. I wonder if they have wet-suits in "Extra Fat"? Probably not a good idea for me to be seen in something skin-tight. I've seen my skin. There seems to be lots more of it than there used to be.

One of my nieces is working on a school project based on the book "Flat Stanley". I'm not 100% sure what the whole plot of the book is, but it seems to be about a kid (named "Stanley") who is actually just a piece of paper (I don't know if he actually is paper or if he's just as flat as paper, but I don't think it matters much. At least not to me.) Anyway, my tie-in to the whole thing is Hannah's class had to make their own Flat Stanley and get pictures of them having "adventures". Since I travel a fair amount, I was asked to take Flat Hannah on my trips and get some pictures of her in exotic locales. So far, Flat Hannah has been to the beach, Petco Park (Go Padres!), Las Vegas and Tijuana. At first I felt a little uncomfortable taking pictures of a paper doll in public, but I was taking Flat Hannah on a photo-shoot in Vegas and a woman stopped and said, "Is that a Flat Stanley?" So, apparently, Flat Stanley is something of a celebrity in the soccer-mom circles. I'm not so sure the waitresses at Taco Bell - Tijuana really understood why I was taking pictures of Flat Hannah, but I guarantee they've seen stranger things on an average Friday/Saturday night in TJ. I've been told that the picture of Flat Hannah drinking a Pacifico probably won't make it into the school project. (Not flat) Hannah was actually worried that I'd taken Flat Hannah out of the country. She didn't know if that was against the rules. It's probably OK.

Interesting New Product

I was at Walgreen's this morning looking for birthday cards for my sister (3 days late) and my mom (still got a couple weeks) when Rachelle wanders on over with this product. My intitial thought was, "Why does she think I'd be interested in a product called Bald Guyz?" Then I remembered. I'm a bald guy. I was too offended to buy them while we were there, but I'm reconsidering. After visiting their web-site, I'm actually somewhat intrigued. Not only do they have the head wipes ("Cleans and Freshens"), but they also have sunscreen gel ("highly sweat resistant") and moisture gel ( with "Green Tea and Grape Seed extracts". They also have t-shirts for ladies who love the baldies ("Bald Guyz are Sexy!"). Might have to order a couple of those for Rachelle. I'll be giving a complete product review soon.

"Labor" Day

We didn't do a whole lot of "laboring", but Rachelle and I went to Monterey/Carmel for the weekend. We had actually planned on going to Vegas to meet one of her friends for the 3-day weekend. Unfortunately, we waited too long to book the flights and ended up not being able to use my Southwest Rapid Rewards (i.e., "free") tickets. Bummer. Anyway, to make it up to Rachelle, I booked a hotel in Monterey to get away from the un-godly nasty heat of Sacramento in August. Turned out to be a beautiful weekend on the coast. Sunny and 70's the entire trip. Rachelle was able to get discounted tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium through work, so we decided to give that a shot. Big mistake. Unless you are 6 years old and/or have several children roughly that age, the aquarium ain't for you. We really would have enjoyed all the exhibits and animals (and fish) if it hadn't been so jam-packed crowded with families and their strollers. What is it about people with multiple kids that they find it perfectly acceptable to let one or more of them run free with the stroller, running over anybody in their way? I personally like kids, have several nieces and nephews, and think the aquarium would be a great learning experience. My problem is with the parents who don't monitor what their kids are doing. My suggestion to the aquarium folk would be to have an "adult" night at least once a month. With beer and/or wine. Or not. Whatever. As long as there were no kids.

We made the trip to Carmel and Big Sur, but the whole thing was fairly relaxing. I hadn't had a bad meal until the last night we were there. Rachelle made the mistake of saying "you haven't had a bad meal since we got here" the last night we were there. Cue the bad meal. If you've seen any of the pictures of me on this blog, you know that I'm not exactly "dainty". I haven't met many meals that I couldn't at least eat. Found one in Monterey. If you ever get to town and are looking for a decent brew-pub, stay FAR, FAR AWAY from Peter B's. The brew was only so-so, and the food was literally inedible. I have probably sent zero meals back in 12 years of business travel. This is the first time I have ever told a waitress to take my meal back. Friggin'-all hungry and I didn't eat my fish and chips because it was so nasty. And this from a man who recently had to upgrade his belt due to circumstances beyond his control. Also, you might want to steer clear of the Padre Oaks Inn. Hotel was pleasant enough, but the bed was so uncomfortable I ended up in my car the last night because it made my back hurt too bad to sleep in the room. On the flip side, I learned how freakin' comfortable a 4Runner can be.

Old Style Me, ASAP?

Rachelle and I went to my cousin's wedding outside of Chicago last week. Nice Catholic wedding, nice location, etc., but the mass itself made me feel just a little uncomfortable. Having not been to mass (other than weddings and funerals) for quite some time, I don't really know if it was way out of the ordinary or if the standard wedding mass now involves a lot of very conservative political preaching. On the one hand, it takes a little bit of the pressure off knowing my marriage is doomed to fail because:

a) We weren't married in a Catholic church (although the chapel at Treasure Island was very nice); and

b) There isn't a "third person" in my marriage (I had always heard that having extra people in the marriage was a problem, but it turns out the priest was talking about "Jesus", not the "Pool-boy/Cocktail Waitress"-type extra person)

On the other hand, I now have extra incentive to make my marriage work just to spite Father Fronek. At least we were in good company. It looked like the highest concentration of sinners was on the groom's side of the church. If I'm going to burn in hell for eternity, at least the rest of my family will be there with me. And it looks as if they might serve Old Style there, too.

The Chicago portion of our trip was a lot of fun, too. We met Rachelle's cousin for dinner our first night in town and she took us to Tavern at the Park, a new restaurant right next to Millennium Park. If you're in Chicago and are looking for the most decadent, evil, rich desert, hit the Tavern. We had a fondue of melted white-chocolate and crumbled up Oreo's that we dipped crispy-treats, pretzel-sticks, marshmallows and fruit into. I dug it and I don't eat much desert. If you're not as much into the whole "desert" thing, hit the bar for a variety of martinis. Trust me on the martinis.

We also did a lot of the touristy things the second day. This picture was taken from the ladies room of the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the Hancock building. My bathroom had a view of a urinal. Rachelle gets this. Another example of how life ain't fair. Anyway, you can either pay $9/person to visit the observatory, or you can go to the lounge for free. Easy choice. I still spent $20+ at the lounge, but we got a better view and a couple good drinks. And Rachelle got a bitchin' view from the bathroom. One word of advice: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE MULTIPLE CHILDREN, STAY FAR, FAR, FAR AWAY FROM NAVY PIER. We hit the Pier with my dad and his wife. Big mistake. Took us 30 minutes to make it to the parking garage because ALL THE FRIGGIN' FAMILIES WERE DROPPING THEIR KIDS OFF AND IT TOOK FRIGGIN' FOREVER. Enough ranting about the Pier. Just a suggestion to avoid it.

Back From Hiatus

I've been really busy since I started my new job and haven't had much time to update my blog, but something happened at breakfast this weekend that made me really feel like writing something. Rachelle and I were leaving Annie's Breakfast & Steaks (there for the breakfasts, not the steaks) and a guy stopped me and said, "I know this is going to sound weird, but I've read your blog". I was personally happy that somebody other than me and (occasionally) Rachelle actually reads the thing. I don't think Rachelle was quite as "happy". More like "embarassed". Anyway, if you were at Annie's this Saturday morning and are reading this; Thanks!

On to what's been happening since I took the new gig back in June. I've been on the road a little more than I was with MOO, but it's all California travel, which is really nice. I don't really miss all the Oklahoma/Texas travel. Not at all. Anyway, Rachelle and I hit the river for a little kayaking on Sunday. The American River is one reason I don't see myself re-locating to San Diego anytime soon. That and the $800k house prices. We paddled on up to the warning wire strung across the water. It's kind of hard to tell from this picture, but it says, "FOLSOM PRISON - NO TRESPASSING". Sweet! And that's about as close to prison as I ever want to get.

Hotel Del

This is the view from the balcony of room 3279 at the Hotel Del Coronado, where my new company's "annual event" is being held this year. Beautiful old hotel and great location. I got a room with a courtyard view, but the beach and ocean are right out the back door of the hotel. Tonight was the initial get-together dinner and they had a guest speaker for afterward. The husband of one of the women who works here is a Navy S.E.A.L. They were seated at my table. I am a pathetic, fat, lazy loser. Not just compared to the S.E.A.L., but he didn't make it any easier for me to ignore. Anyway, he was a good speaker and he had some interesting stories during the Q&A. Enough for tonight. I'm thinking about getting up early and going to the fitness center. I probably won't, but thinking about it is more than I've done lately. It's a start. Kind of.

New Job: Day 1

So today was my first day at the new gig. I show up at a little before 9:00 this morning (after a 6:05am flight) and find out I'm just in time for the weekly Director's meeting. Great. Nothing like sitting front and center at an important meeting your first 5 minutes on the job. Especially after on 3+ hours sleep. At least nobody asked me anything. I'm still waiting for my laptop and BlackBerry, but I should have both by the end of the week. It's is amazing how disconnected you feel when you don't have a work e-mail or laptop. I'm sure I'll be as annoyed by the e-mails eventually, but I miss being connected.

I'm in San Marcos, CA, for the next couple of days learning more about the company and what they're going to expect of me. Probably will expect more than MoO, but it's all sounding good so far. The one down-side of San Diego is the difference in climate from Sacramento. I'm used to dry heat and sunshine. Went out to dinner tonight and felt a little cold sitting on the patio. Fortunately, I found a place right next to the fire pit. Toasty warm! There's a section of town here called "Restaurant Row" where there are 20-30 restaurants in one big area. Makes it really convenient when you're not sure what you are in the mood for. I actually went to find a sports-bar and thought this looked better. Mostly because of the fire pit. I might have more tomorrow, but I brought the good camera down to get pictures from the Hotel Del Mar on Wednesday and Thursday. Bitchin' hotel, from everything I've seen. Definite updates from there.

D.Q.: Orangevale-Style

So Rachelle and I stopped at the D.Q. for a little soft-serve on the way home from dinner tonight and I had to use the bathroom. "Why would you ever use the bathroom at the Orangevale D.Q." you might ask yourself. Good question! Probably had something to do with the 22oz Sierra Nevada at the Outback, but that's a whole different issue. Anyway, I'm in the bathroom and I notice they have the toilet-paper padlocked to the wall. Definitely the sign of a classy joint. Makes you wonder how many rolls of toilet-paper got lifted before they decided to drop $5 on a Master Lock.

(Ex) Employee #57935

Today marks the end of an era. After 17+ years, multiple job titles and one trans-continental transfer, I am no longer a Mutual of Omaha-Medicare employee. It was a really good run and I liked most of my co-workers over the years, but it was time for a move. I start my new job for a much smaller company tomorrow and expect all sorts of weirdness to come out of that. I've worked for a large corporation for so long that the little things that I take for granted aren't going to be the same. And some of that is a GOOD thing. I'll be posting more as I learn a little more about what I'll be doing and what they expect of me, but the one really cool thing is I'll be spending my first week at the annual company event at the Hotel Del Coronado. A hotel I've never been able to stay in because I am poor. Not "poor" poor, but definitely to "poor" to spend $400/night for a hotel. I plan on taking lots of pictures. And all of the soap.

Little Dog, Big Dog, Horse...

We took Lucy to the dog park to play with Sophie the boxer, and they found another friend to play with. Winston the mastiff made Lucy look delicate and petite. She's not, but Winston is a beast. He looked like a pony. An hour of play-time seems to have wiped her out. She hasn't moved in hours. Too bad she wasn't quite so sleepy at 6:30 this morning. I'm tempted to wake her up like she does me every morning, but that would just be petty and spiteful. Still tempted, though.

Cocktails First. Questions Later.

I took my brother Chris to Las Vegas for his 21st birthday this past weekend. Looking at the picture, you might not immediately notice the family resemblance, but he's been my brother since he was a couple weeks old and he's now 21. Geez, I'm old. If you can't tell, I'm the fat, bald white dude on the left. He's the one who actually looks 21. The showgirl was Eastern European of an undetermined age and hotter than the picture shows. Anyway, Chris had never been to Vegas and what better place is there to celebrate your 21st birthday? My 21st birtday was spent in a dive in Omaha, NE drinking $4.25 pitchers of whatever cheap beer was on tap. He spent his 21st birthday drinking a mojito at the Bellagio. $18 + tip. Damn! On the other hand, he had a total of four (4) drinks the entire weekend. One of which (martini) he didn't like and I had to finish. OK, I didn't "have" to finish it, but it was $10 worth of Kettle One and I hate to see a good martini go to waste. Turns out he didn't really want a "martini". What he thought he was ordering was a "margarita". Hell of a difference. I bought him a margarita at the Casino Royale ("$1 Michelob and/or Margarita") and he liked that much better. Said it tasted like a slushy. So, the 3+ drinks he had the entire weekend were probably the same number of drinks I had my first (legal) 15 minutes in a bar. And at least he got a good story to go with his 21st. I was the only one of my loser friends with a "job" when I turned 21, so I was doing all the "buying". Bastards. But that's 17 years of water under the bridge. I'm not bitter.

Sacramento Brewfest

Rachelle and I attended the Sacramento Brewfest this afternoon. We took light-rail downtown so we wouldn't have to worry about driving home. Good call, considering the large amounts of beer available. Technically, we were only supposed to get 10 drink coupons with our admission. Technically. We hadn't even gotten to the gate when a guy walking out asked if we were heading in. When we told him "hells, yeah!", he gave us his left-over drink coupons. Score! Add those extra coupons to the vendors who didn't actually "collect" the drink coupons when they gave us our beers and you've got one helluva beer fest. Anyway, the picture I've attached is of me and one of the "Sac City Rollers". Turns out Sacramento has a roller-derby team. Again, SCORE! Next derby is scheduled for May 19th, with a beer garden set up by Sacramento City Brewing Company. Might want to see if Ken's interested in a trip to Davis. Hey, it's only $17 at the door. FYI, this chick is wearing red fish-net stockings and roller skates. HOT! OK, not really "HOT", but pretty cool.

Civic Duty/New Gig

I've just spent the better part of the past two weeks doing my civic duty serving on a jury. Man, I would've thought all those hours watching "The People's Court" and "Judge Judy" would have given me an edge on deciding who was trustworthy and who was a lying weasel. Not so much. And Judge Ronald wasn't nearly as entertaining as Judge Judy. Lots less yelling at people. Anyway, not much exciting about the case. Sounded really juicy when we were going through the jury selection ("Assault with a Deadly Weapon"), but didn't turn out to be much. At least not much that we got to see. There were only a total of six witnesses, one of the victims didn't even show up and the one that did was only partially believable. All in all, four felony charges turned into three "not-guilty's" and one "guilty". Now I just need to figure out what to do with my $60 in juror pay (plus the $0.34/mile one way mileage). The $60 might be enough to fill the tank in my 4Runner. Maybe.

In other news, I gave my 21-day notice at work (it was going to be a full month, but I got stuck on a jury). I've been at the same company for 17 years this month, but it's time to move on. Mostly because they're closing my office, and if I don't "move on" the new tenants of our office space may not be too happy. The office isn't actually closing until February(ish), but I got an offer that I didn't want to turn down. The job is with a much smaller company that handles things in a much less corporate way. No real number of sick days, you keep track of your own vacation, actual I.T. support, etc. I don't even think I get a company I.D. badge or anything. The company's based in the San Diego area, but I'm not going to move. Rachelle still likes her job up here and we can actually afford to own a home in Orangevale. I guess I'll see how much I like travelling to SoCal on a fairly frequent basis.

New Pet?

Rachelle won't let me bring him/her/it inside, but we now have an 8-inch lizard living under our palm tree. Rachelle seemed very concerned when she opened the front door and saw Larry waiting to be let in. It would probably work out better for everybody if he never made it past the door. I hate to think what Lucy would do with a new "squeaky toy" that actually ran from her. And I hate to think of how much KILZ I'd need to cover everything up before Rachelle got home. Also, I'm pretty sure the existence of Larry spells the end of any yard-work help I was hoping for from Rachelle this summer. I hope to hell she doesn't see any lizards in the back.

MPG Me, ASAP!

Damn, Rachelle's new car rocks! It's not as manly (and ruggedly handsome) as my new 4Runner, but it get friggin' great mileage. I had to fill my car up this weekend and it ran me just under $65. For about 330 miles. Rachelle had to fill up yesterday and it cost her $29 for 405 miles. Ouch. She was nice enough to beam me this picture of her drive home when she was averaging 60+ MPG (picture taken as she was stopped at a light). On the plus side, I have a sunroof. FYI, there should be some law against dealerships in warm-weather states selling any car with a sunroof or rag-top to a 35+ year old dude. Bound to be some crispy scalps. Anyway, we both took a bunch of crap from people who said "you'll never get your money back out of the gas savings". Screw that. We're getting double the mileage of anybody I know (except Shelley who also drives a Prius), and the cheapest gas I've seen in the area is running about $3.20/gallon. We might not make all our money back on getting better mileage, but Rachelle gets to drive a car she likes and she only has to fill up every 3 weeks. I'm pretty sure that was only the third time she's had to put gas in since she bought the car on March 8th. Not bad. Of course, I've only put gas in twice since I brought the 4Runner home on March 17th, but I've been out of town a lot.

Moving on to a different topic, Southwest still hasn't found my luggage, but they did send a nice letter last week telling me they were still looking for it. They also included a $200 travel voucher and told me that they were sending a check for my losses within 7-10 business days. Nice. I'd much rather have my crap back (meaning I didn't have to go shopping for all new crap), but I'll take the money. I've already used the $200 voucher for a ticket to take my brother Chris to Vegas for his 21st birthday. Hard to believe he's actually turning 21. Makes me feel really, really (really) old. Fortunately, my 17 years of post-21 drinking experience give me a really good idea of what drinks will leave him with the worst hang-over. My conundrum as an older brother is whether to use that knowledge for good or evil. Should I take good care of my little bro', or should I order him a multitude of Jaeger-based shots? Decisions, decisions. Another tough call: strip club or no strip club? Maybe I'll just take $40 in singles and let nature take its course.

Shrinkage/Stage-Fright

Rachelle and I spent the weekend in San Diego at the Hotel Salomar in the Gaslamp District. It's a Kimpton hotel, so it's got a lot of quirky, "not your average Holiday Inn" touches. One of the "quirky" touches can be found in the men's bathroom at the JBar. Got to tell you, it was really strange using this urinal. Talk about a little stage-fright. But I really, really had to go. Staying in the Gaslamp let us hit one of our favorite restaurants. The Gaslamp Strip Club is a place where you pay a lot of money for a steak that you have to cook yourself on a communal grill. On the down-side, you're cooking your own meal. On the up-side, you get the steak just like you want it. And the sides rock. Oh, and the martinis rock, too. Tried several different types of martinis. Maybe that's why the meal seemed so good.

Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Today is Lucy's first birthday. Hard to believe she's only one. Even harder to believe this is the same 7lb. dog we brought home 10 1/2 months ago. We took her to the lake today to look at the geese and play in the water. What more could you ask for? Oh, and she got peanut butter mixed in with her dry food. Happy birthday, little girl.

First "Craigslist" Post

After roughly a year and a half taking up space in my garage, I finally decided to see if I could get rid of the last two left-over boxes of bamboo flooring. Two boxes is approximately 48 square feet, and I also offered (out of the goodness of my heart) the left-over scrap pieces, too. Not having the slightest idea what I actually paid per box, I posted it in the "free stuff" section. People apparently just troll the "free stuff" section, because I had three requests within the first ten minutes of posting it. I'm going to have to keep an eye on that section for some good "free stuff" that I want. I'll update this if somebody actually shows up to get it.

Here's an update on my recent screed against Folsom Lake Toyota. They sent me a "Customer Satisfaction Survey" this weekend to see how my experience was. First mistake. Second mistake was they gave me an e-mail address of somebody to contact. Bet they were happy to check their e-mail this morning. Anyway, I got home today to a message from said e-mail contact apologizing for the problem and assuring me it was an isolated incident. To make up for my lost time (which is very valuable), they were sending me a certificate for a free lube, oil and filter change for both the Prius and 4Runner. Nice. I'm not really sure I want to go back there for a lube, but it's free. We'll see how things go this time around.

Folsom Lake Toyota Sucks

So I ended up buying two cars from Folsom Lake Toyota last month and had been pretty happy with the whole experience. Minimal haggling, decent price on both cars, didn't try to up-sell us on the "invisible under-coat". In and out with new cars in a couple hours. All that good will went down the drain yesterday. When I bought the 4Runner they couldn't find one of the three keys. Not a big deal. I really only needed two, but apparently one was the "special" valet key. So I get a call last week saying they could fit me in at noon yesterday to get my key calibrated with the computer. What the hell the key has to do with the computer is waaaay beyond me (I'm pretty sure you can start my Ford Ranger with a coat hanger and a gum wrapper), but I'm cool with getting my key. They told me it would take about 30 minutes to get the key made and synched. Easy enough. I had a bunch of paper-work to catch up on at work, so I figured I could work from home and run down to the dealership during lunch. Showed up at the service department and checked my car in at 11:53am. Went to the customer lounge and waited for somebody to come tell me my car was ready. I had taken some work with me, so I had something to keep me busy for a while. After about an hour and a half I start getting a little bored and start to wonder where my car is. I figure it must be a really complicated process and decide to give them another few minutes before I check on how long it's going to take. Go to the service counter at 1:46pm. Chick at the counter makes a few clicks on the computer and says my car is ready. Weird that nobody's come to get me, but whatever. She sends the guy to get my car and has me sign off on the receipt. I look at the receipt and see that the car was actually DONE AT 12:30PM! Now's when I start to get truly annoyed. I'd been sitting in the customer lounge for an hour and a half AFTER my car was done because (turns out) the chick who checked my car in went to lunch and forgot to tell somebody to let me know when my car was done. REMEMBER: They called me to set up the noon appointment. SLACK-ASSES! I called the service department manager as soon as I got home and (calmly) explained what had happened, told him I would never buy another car from Folsom Lake Toyota, would never take my cars there for service and would never recommend them to ANYBODY. After politely listening to my rant/complaint, he apologized and said he hoped my next experience would be better. HA! It might be better, it might be worse, but the one thing I can tell you is it won't be THERE. Enough ranting for now. I've got a cold beer waiting for me.

Kelly Goes to White Castle

I'm in Nashville this weekend for my annual "Guys Weekend" and I had to make an early morning (11:00am) run to the White Castle down from the hotel. Nothing like a little grease to take the edge off a long night. And you can eat a ton o' slyders for $5.00. So far, my Nashville experience would have to rate an A-. Weather is great, good night-life, friendly people. Only thing I've found that I don't like is the complicated (and friggin' expensive) cab fare system. $3.00 base charge, additional $1.00 per person and $2.00 per mile. You jam seven guys in a cab and your fare is $10.00 before you leave the curb. Anyway, time to head down to the lobby for my Fantasy Baseball draft. Should be good.

Lost Luggage: Day 13

Two weeks ago, Southwest Airlines somehow managed to lose my luggage on a flight that never actually went anywhere. I checked my bag in San Antonio, got on a plane to Houston, plane took off, plane came back to San Antonio because of "weather". So far, so good (Houston isn't exactly my favorite place anyway, and I don't really mind San Antonio). Things went downhill from there. I re-booked myself on a flight back to Sacramento and the gate-agent sent somebody to pull my luggage off the plane. Ooops! Said plane was pulling away from the gate to go "somewhere". Not a huge deal. I've been flying Southwest for 12 years and they hadn't failed me before. Bastards. I finally get back to Sac'to (sans luggage) and I go to baggage claim to make a report. Chick in baggage claim says she can't take a report because my bag was checked to Houston and we were in Sacramento. I tried to explain that I never actually went to Houston, but she didn't seem convinced. Finally, she called Houston to see if they could help me. Turns out nobody was answering the phone in Houszton, so she told me to call back the next day to see if my luggage had "caught up" with me. Ha! No luggage and nobody seemed willing to take a report. Multiple phone calls later (Sacramento, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, etc.), somebody finally took a "courtesy" report for me. To their credit, Southwest was very good about calling me at 6:30am for the next five days to tell me they still hadn't found my bag. On the fifth day I was finally told it had been turned over to "central baggage" in Dallas. Great. Anyway, 13 days after my original flight and I still don't have my stuff. Moral of the story? Stay the hell outta Texas!

Goin' "Green"

Rachelle got a new car yesterday. We actually went to the Toyota dealership looking for a car for me, but we came home with a new Prius for Rachelle. Possibly the coolest car I've ever driven. So many electronic gadgets, storage compartments, flashing lights and gizmos! There isn't even a real "key" to get in or start it. You just have this little hunk of plastic that has to be close to the car when you reach for the handle and it opens, and as long as the "key" is somewhere inside the car, you start it by pushing the "POWER" button. Too friggin' cool! That said, it did take about 5 minutes to figure out how to put it in PARK after the test-drive (HINT: PUSH THE BUTTON MARKED "PARK"). Makes perfect sense, but who would've thought there would be a button for that? I've driven dozens of different cars as an owner, renter or "borrower", and not one had a "POWER" or "PARK" button. I might find things I don't like about it after we've had it for a while, but I'd definitely have to recommend the Prius to anybody looking for a mid-sized, mid-priced car. Lots of bang for your buck. Anyway, we ran up to the wineries up above Placerville today, just to see how it handled on the freeway. A surprising amount of power for a little 4-cylinder. The xA really struggles up the hills and this thing just cranked right on up. Rachelle might not want to let me drive it too much, though. It's got a fancy display that tells you how much gas you're using, whether the electric motor or the engine is actually driving the car, battery charge, etc. It's entirely possible I'll wrap it around a pole while I'm giggling about the 87.6 mpg I'm getting.

I've been told that I will also be getting a car this month, but I'll believe that when I have the keys in my grubby little hands. It's going to seem a little strange to have two nice-ish cars, but I guess that's the payback for driving cheap, crappy cars for a couple years. Having a paid for car to trade takes some of the bite out of a decent car, especially if you can get something on the trade. Needless to say, we're not going to be trading in the Ranger. Paid for? Check. Low miles? Check. Vinyl seats, 5-speed stick and crank windows? Unfortunately, check. We'd get about $100 for it.

Hmmmm...Which Meeting Am I Here For?

I'm freshly back from Las Vegas, and as anybody who has ever spent a week in Vegas can tell you, three days in Vegas is plenty. Rachelle was with me those first couple of nights so it wasn't too bad, but I scheduled my meetings in a hotel that wasn't on or near the Strip. Kind of limited my options for the rest of the week. On the plus side, the Irish bartender at the hotel bar knew my drink of choice by the third night. One really good thing about the non-touristy hotels, i.e., "dumps", is that the good beers are $2.00 ($1.50 at happy hour), and there isn't an appetizer over $2.99. My hotel wasn't actually a dump. The first couple of nights were better because my room was in the Courtyard section, which is entirely non-smoking. I was SHOCKED to find a hotel in Vegas with several hundred rooms set aside in a completely separate location for non-smokers. (FYI - Restaurants in Vegas recently went to a completely non-smoking environment. There is some trouble with the actual enforcement, but a great move in my opinion.) The real problem came when I had to change rooms on Wednesday from my non-smoking room in the non-smoking courtyard to a "hospitality suite" down the hall from the Narcotics Anonymous meeting. The people attending the NA meetings were really friendly, but they all smoked like a '72 Buick with a broken exhaust. Wussy Californian that I now am, I had to sleep with a wet towel by the door-crack to keep the smoke out. Anyway, I'm home now and all is peaceful and smoke-free. Life is probably better for me this weekend than all the people at my meeting who had to fly home to Omaha (14+ inches of snow), Florida (tornados & thunderstorms), Kansas City (cold & snow) and Chicago (snow/ice/wind). Sacramento is supposed to be upper 60's and sunny. Makes the high cost of living seem almost worth it.

Vegas, Baby!

Just got back from the "Bodies" exhibit at the Tropicana. Creepy shit. Not sure I really agree with the whole skinning of dead bodies and putting them on display, but it was REALLY interesting. And REALLY creepy. But we had a coupon. This is a work trip for me, but Rachelle came along for a couple days. Being in Vegas for work isn't usually that different for me than being in Burleson, Texas for work. More restaurant choices in Vegas, but I generally spend a lot of time hanging out in my hotel room watching basic cable. With Rachelle here, I actually go out at night. With her. Lots more fun than hanging out in my hotel room alone, but only one of us has to be in a conference room at 7:00 am. And it ain't her. Makes for a very long and sleepy day. Anyway, she's leaving again tonight and I'll be left alone with my TV. Might even treat myself to some Spectra-Vision and a 64oz beer. Or two.

Livin' Large @ the Holiday Inn

Just wrapping up my second-to-last visit to Houston and I'm actually going to miss it. Kind of. I found a restaurant that I can't find one bad thing to say about. Seriously. I'm sitting in the bar (shockng, I know) and the guy brings out my free chips and salsa. I was expecting the usual boring chips and salsa. What I got was a mix of regular tortilla chips, blue corn chips, chips dusted with cinnamon and chili powder (rocks) and sweet-potato chips (also rocks). There was also some sort of orange/brown tortilla chip that I couldn't identify, but I ate a crap-ton of those, too. And don't even get me started on the food I actually paid for (think "chicken-fried tuna steak"). So if you're ever in Houston and hungry for some Southwestern grub, make sure you check out the Canyon Cafe. Happy Hour looks pretty sweet, too.

Enough about the good part of my trip. Let's go back to my 6:00am flight out of SMF. I had to leave home at 4:00ish. AM. Lots of other people had to leave home really friggin' early, too. Everybody except the one family they held the flight for because they were "stuck in the security line". Yeah, that's what happens when you don't get to the airport EARLY ENOUGH TO CLEAR SECURITY! Dumb-asses. Didn't help any that the young dad looked like a K-Fed wannabe. Mom looked OK enough, but you wanted to smack the dude upside his backward-turned, tag-still-on-it ball cap.

Goin' Back to Cali...

I've been watching reports of the nasty weather in the rest of the country and it makes me really happy that I no longer live there. Yeah, we've had some rain this month, but this entire weekend was sunny and mid 70's. Shorts and t-shirt weather. Of course that also means "yard-work weather", but I'll take a little mowing and weed-whacking over shovelling any day. Anyway, since it was so nice out, Rachelle and I decided to take Lucy for a walk along the American River. That's where we found this little bit of Northern California weirdness. As you can see, even Lucy is confused as to why there would be a large oil painting leaning up against a bush in the middle of a field. A little surreal. Whatever. The walk was nice and it tired Lucy out. Always a good thing.

My co-worker in the Sacramento office is "leaving to pursue other opportunities" next week, so I will be getting my original West Coast territory back. No more Texas/Oklahoma. I am so sad. I've got to finish out what I've got scheduled, hence the 6:00am flight to Houston later this week, but I won't be scheduling anymore trips there. Good thing I hadn't picked out a new belt-buckle and boots. At least I got a chance to visit the Oklahoma National Stockyards. Scratch that one off the list. It was actually kind of cool. Oklahoma really isn't that bad. I had some time to kill before my flight back to Cali, so I decided to check out a western wear store. Now, I've been to "western wear" stores in Nebraska and California, but they take their western wear seriously in Oklahoma. I had no friggin' idea you could spend $800+ for a pair of regular leather boots. No exotic critter skin, no fancy stiching, just boots. I didn't pay $800 for my first car. Hell, I don't think I've paid $800 for anything I could wear. Anyway, I walked into Tener's Western Outfitters and I immediately knew they could tell I wasn't from around there. They might have been tipped off by the black suit and wingtips, but I'm not 100% sure that was it. A guy came up to me and introduced himself as "Dwight" and said to let him know if I had any questions. My only question was "why do boots cost so friggin' much?", but I didn't think that would be polite. So if you're ever in Oklahoma City and you're in the market for some serious western wear, check out Tener's and ask for Dwight. He'll take good care of you.

"Howdy, Pilgrim!"

I had to fly to Orange County this morning. One of the things I like about coming to the 'O.C.' is John Wayne airport. The place is clean, rental cars are on-site and the lounge has decent beer. And it's not LAX. Whatever. So I'm sitting in the lounge and start thinking the deep thoughts that come along with the two Sam Adams drafts. Do people who fly once or twice a year actually look forward to the whole airport/airplane experience? Pontificating from the depths of the lounge, I tried to pick out anybody who looked like they were actually going someplace for "fun". All I saw were different versions of me. Lots of suits, laptops and briefcases. And not a happy looking face to be found. Bummer.

Anyway, the reason I was in L.A. was I had a meeting at a hospital at 9:00. Lucky for me, I stopped for a soda on the way and was running a little late. One of the "patients" took his shoes off in the lobby and the smell made two employees vomit. I can't imagine what kind of stench could cause two seasoned hospital employees (who are used to some nasty things) to get sick. Just REALLY glad I wasn't there. I caught the tail end and it was a tad funky. Thinking of the doctor who actually had to treat the dude put my whole professional world in perspective. Probably 200 people taking their shoes off near me on the way through security, and nobody was foul enough to cause a mass case of the heebie-jeebies. Also, I have yet to visit a hospital that has a decent bar.

Movie Review: "Smokin' Aces"

Just got back from checking out "Smokin' Aces". Pretty good story, lots of great actors, LOTS of blood and gore. Well done blood and gore, but LOTS of it. And just a dash of gratuitous nudity. (Sidenote: Is cinematic nudity ever truly "gratuitous"? I could find a way to justify nudity in a movie about nuns in a leper colony. Nuns come home after a long day helping the sick, need a hot bath, possibly a massage. Maybe some flash-back sequences to when the really hot, young nun was working as a stripper to pay the bills. You know, before she found god, became a nun, moved to the leper colony. I see this as a Russ Meyer movie, but he's dead. Too bad. He could make this work. Think "Mondo Topless" meets "Supervixens" meets "The Flying Nun".) Anyway, I mostly enjoyed the movie, but would not recommend it to anybody who's the least bit squeamish about blood, shootings, stabbings, etc. Tarantino fan, this might work for you. "Apple Dumpling Gang" fan, not so much.

Bo & Lucy go to Costco...

OK, so they don't actually know they went to Costco, but I don't think they care. All they know is they got to go for a ride and there were treats for everybody. I was looking at this picture and I couldn't believe how big Lucy has gotten. I seem to remember bringing home a little puppy who would hide from Bo under the end table. Now she can't even fit her head under the end table to get her Kong. Still thinks she's a lap-dog, though. I can guaran-freakin'-tee you that La-Z-Boy won't honor their warranty if my chair breaks and they find out a 200-ish pound dude was sitting with his 80-ish pound dog in his lap. Shhhhhh!

Several fancy downtown restaurants are offering a special deal this week, so Rachelle and I decided to load up the xA and give Mason's a shot. Good place, but a very strange crowd/atmoshpere. And I knew I was WAY out of my league when the waiter asked if we wanted water and gave us four choices. I didn't know there were four different types of water. I know "tap" and "bottled". What the hell else is there? I'd have to give the restaurant 4 stars out of 5, but Rachelle said the dessert was the best she'd ever had. Some sort of chocolate volcano cake with ice cream on top. A little too rich for me, but she loved it. Anyway, the only reason I'm mentioning this place is the bathroom. The men's and women's rooms are separated by a floor-to-ceiling glass wall. It's only by the sinks, but it's really distracting. You're standing there washing your hands and you're face-to-face with some chick on the other side. I guarantee that dudes are much more diligent in their hand washing when they know women are watching them. Lots more soap usage than I normally see in the men's room. I'm not 100% sure I'm comfortable with the whole set-up, but I'm sure it gets a lot more interesting as the night goes on. We left around 10:00pm and the fake tits and injected lips were out in full force. Shocking!

Big Girl & Scrappy Dude

So Lucy turned 38 weeks today. Based on my sketchy math, that is actually about 9 1/2 months. Woof. She's 75+ pounds and I can scratch her ears without bending down. Good God, I hope she stops growing soon. I'm not sure Rachelle knew what she was getting into when she said, "So you've got some extra great dane/chocolate lab puppies? Sure, I'd love to take one home!" At least Lucy was the "smallest". FYI, I don't know that I'd recommend a great dane mix for anybody living in a small home. Hell, the lab part ain't so great, either. We went out for New Year's Eve and came home to find Lucy had torn her bed to shreds. Again. We've gone through more beds in the past nine months than we did in Bo's first five years. Speaking of which, January 1st was the fifth anniversary of Bo's adoption. Five years ago last Monday, we drove to the parking lot at the Folsom Petco and slipped Irmgard a check for $100 and took Bo home. It was like a drug deal, but with more fur and slobber. And barking. Life has been nothing but happiness and roses ever since. Ha! OK, so it's been mostly happy, but a lot less "clean" than the pre-pet days.

So Rachelle and I met up with Ken for "Pint Night" at Yager's tonight. $5 for the first pint and you get to keep the glass. Pretty sure it's $3 per pint after that, but I'm a little fuzzy on the true "Pint Night" rules. Regardless, you get a raffle ticket for each pint you drink and you get entered in a drawing for beer-related prizes. Until Ken showed up, Rachelle and I were the only ticket holders and were basically a 100% lock for said beer-related prizes. Bastard! Anyway, worked out OK since I won both an XL Lagunitas Brewing Company t-shirt and two (2) Lagunitas pint glasses. Just what I needed! Too bad Christmas is already over. I smell re-gift!