To celebrate my youngest cousin’s high school graduation, Yeni and I headed to Albany to join the celebration. Instead of flying, we packed very lightly and took the Harley 650 miles east from Ann Arbor to Albany, mostly following I-90 (we were going to go through Canada, but that’s a different story).
The trip to Albany was amazing and covered parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Cities included Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Normally, when traveling on the Interstate, you really don’t get to see much, and with this trip, we set that as our expectation. Gladly, we were wrong. I had never been West of Albany (yes, I’m one of those type of New Yorker’s) and You know you want to keep reading »
Yeni and I just got back from a quick trip to Chicago… visiting her brother as well as celebrating our first month of married life.
It was a short drive (few hours) from Michigan to Chicago, and figuring the parking in Chicago would be interesting, we chose to take the Versa instead of the Expedition. Although, if we hadn’t have needed the trunk space, taking the Harley would have been much more fun. The more highway driving I do, the less I love Michigan roads. It’s funny too, as the second we hit Indiana, the road just smoothed out and we just smiled. Then, when you hit Chicago, well… welcome back “holes in the floor.”
Coming up this week… some Twitter coding, more Asterisk work, and if all goes well, a motorcycle ride up the east coast of Michigan with the wife (We have a new bluetooth headset to test as well as a trip to Albany to prepare for)
As a boy, I loved going to the airport. I remember being fascinated by the TWA terminal at JFK, awed by the escalator down from LAX, and excited to see the ocean immediately after take off from Fort Lauderdale. Airports also meant seeing family, visiting new places, and let’s not forget all the cool planes. I associated air travel with very positive emotions.
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Detroit…
Today’s world finds me loathing any experience with airports, airlines, or at this point just air travel. For the third time in a year, US Airways cancelled my flight. I like numbers, so let’s look at it this way… I’ve taken 3 trips on US Airways since April 2008. Each of the three have had a cancelled flight, and, two of the three delayed overnight; requiring a hotel stay. So, in percentage… 100% of trips on US Airways have a cancelled flight and 67% delay arrival by a day or more.
So, last night Michael and I caught up over a few Bourbon’s at a TGI Friday’s down the road. The last time Mike and I visited Friday’s together? 1989. Anyway… as the evening wore on, the window showed us something I thought I wouldn’t be seeing again for a while — snow. And we’re not talking “oh just a little white powder” here, we are talking big, huge, white flakes. Big ones. Coming down like the ground was Macy’s and it was a 90% off sale.
The snow continued throughout the night leaving 4 – 7 inches on the ground (depending on which paper you believe). All I know is that Yeni had to break out the winter boots (She said, “Oh, Winter Boots I thought I would not see you again… but here you are.”) and I got to de-snow the cars yet another time this year.
I will say this though… Looking at snow is nice. Dealing with it, not so much. There’s more pictures below… You know you want to keep reading »
I have a new phone on my desk (or as Yeni calls it, the mesk). Why mesk? Combines messy and desk… but I digress (as usual).
As I was saying, I recently purchased a Polycom Soundpoint IP 450 phone. The phone is great — small foot print, clean, great speakerphone, and enables HD Voice. HD Voice is going to change the way we think of how phone calls sound. I admit, I was reluctant at first, but then I got to know Michael Graves; and after listening to him praise the benefits of HD Voice for many, many months, I decided it was time to embrace the technology.
Let me say this — HD Voice is amazing. I won’t say too much more, because I’m planning to write about it big time on VoIP Tech Chat and Team Forrest; but bottom line: HD Voice = amazing.
So the other nice thing about the phone? It has a little micro-mini browser. Which means what you ask? It means that know whenever Yeni asks me the weather… I can answer. A nice little Perl script checks the local Ann Arbor weather and gives me the temp (in F and C), current condition, and quick day’s forecast. The phone reads the website every 5 minutes and constantly displays the results. It’s nice.
Over 1,000 pictures were taken in December, 2008 — perhaps due to the re-purchase of my favorite lens that died or maybe the addition of a new (fancy schmancy) flash. Regardless, many pictures were taken and as always, I like to share.
I’ve selected a few and put them on the Picasa site. I think I may go to Flickr one day, but for now, I have to say I’m pretty happy with Picasa for my needs.
Anyway, please let me know what you think of the photos so far…
I learned that Colombian tradition places a lot of emphasis on Christmas Eve.
Last night, after eating tamales and playing Wii at Michael’s, Yeni’s family and I returned to the house, ate more tamales with friends, and then opened presents. I received some excellent presents this year, including Spider-man trinkets and a new Harley outfit for the bear.
We crashed very late and woke up to find much of Ann Arbor closed. The snow had let up and the roads, although icy, were mostly clear — so Yeni and I loaded up the family in the truck and headed outside the house.
Earlier in the year, Yeni and I stumbled upon a great little area called Chelsea (during one of the Harley rides we could take before riding the Harley would result in severe frost pain). We thought it would be great to show everyone this quaint little town and took the very long way through some Michigan side roads. After detouring through Saline and Montgomery, we arrived in Chelsea. We played in the snow for a while, looked at the Jiffy Mix factory, and headed back to Ann Arbor.
Yeni playing Wii
Back in town, I introduced Yeni’s family to my family’s Christmas traditions — and headed to Great Lakes Chinese Restaurant. We sat at the last available table and it was standing room only for those unlucky soles who arrived just minutes after us. The place was packed, and after finishing our delicious meal, we headed back to Michael’s for some more Wii action.
Today is Yeni’s birthday… so Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
So drop her a line, send her a tweet, or just think special thoughts. Today she is 25 years old (per her choice).
I love you sweetheart!
Today we are planning food, coconut shrimp, food, and maybe even shopping!!!!
Feliz Cumpleaños!
Again… we are selecting 25 for this year’s birthday. Next year: also 25.
In 2025, Yeni will turn 26.
Update
So, today for Yeni’s birthday we went to Outback Steakhouse in some nice, strong, big-flaked snow. Why Outback? Two words: Coconut Shrimp.
We enjoyed a great dinner (a little too much enjoyment… lots of food) and then came home for our dessert. Yeni is very into Ace of Cakes, so in the spirit of the show, we made and decorated our own cake. Ok, so I probably set expectations too high there, but the bottom line is the cake was homemade and decorated with the things that I thought would show her how much she’s loved… such as princess and Pooh candles.
Some family came over and we shared cake and laughs. A good night.
Yesterday, we woke up at 5am and headed through the snow to take me to the airport. Even after spending 5 hours on the tarmac (and being de-iced from a de-icer named Fred), I still have to say I love American Airlines.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not like flying. I hate almost everything about it… From taking off your shoes to the airline reps behind the counter (has anyone ever had a positive experience with a gate agent??), from flight attendants to busy crowds, flying today for me is a last option. I’d much rather drive than fly on any given day, and, if time isn’t a factor (like Thanksgiving), it’s exactly what I do. I remember once being excited about flying and loving going to Airports, flying in airplanes, and just traveling by air. Loved it. Much like my hair, those days are gone.
But, I digress. So, if I have to fly, I like American Airlines. Let’s put it this way. When I’ve missed connecting flights from other airlines, getting a new flight was a hassle. Hassle and drama, drama, drama. With American, by the time I got off the plane, they had already reserved me a seat on one flight and put me on standby for another. (I ended up getting the standby ).
Anyway, I made it to San Francisco and had a great dinner with my sister, Scott, my parents, Tovah, David, and Scott’s mother and father. We were celebrating Scott’s graduation from college and was a great reason to see so many people that I love.
On plan for today? Dim Sum with the family and then throwing a duck into the ocean in remembrance of Forrest (today’s the 2nd anniversary). Also, it’s the first anniversary of Shadow’s passing.
No much to report on a very busy mid-week. We received a big snowfall last night, which found myself prepping Yeni’s car for work this morning. Can’t say I’m enjoying the though of repeating that action for the next several months. It was c-o-l-d, cold. Oh, and snowy. Last time I was near that much snow, Mom made me a cup of cocoa with little marshmallows — of course they were real marshmallows added to the cup… not the pre-mixed yucky ones.
Things of interest today:
This mom from Gainesville has to get some sort of Mother of the Year award.
It’s Monday morning and the smell of coffee surrounds the home — courtesy of Yeni, who made a fresh pot on her way to work this morning. Her family has arrived in Ann Arbor and will be staying with us for a few weeks to celebrate the Holidays and a few birthdays.
Yesterday was Yeni’s father’s birthday which was celebrated with a “Day of Buffet.” First, we enjoyed the Bob’s Big Boy Brunch Buffet followed by joining Mike, Becky, Tina, and the kids for the dinner buffet (at the local Buffet house). We then continued to stuff ourselves at Michael’s house with a celebratory birthday dessert and song (Christopher knows Happy Birthday in both English and Español).
Now it’s off to a fun filled week of work and travel…
On Friday, I’m headed to San Francisco for a quick weekend visit (my sister’s fiance Scott is graduating) and when I return, Yeni’s brother will be joining us.
Yeni and I just came back from Lowe’s… where we not only purchased a new Carbon Monoxide detector — we purchased a new Carbon Monoxide detector on sale. That’s right, our local Lowe’s price beat Amazon dot com. Go gators.
The new detector is fancy schmancy. It not only had ac power with battery backup, it also displays the carbon monoxide levels within the area monitored. This means that we can monitor even low level exposure. The built in AC adapter even expands so you can place the unit on a desk, on the wall, or like we have… directly within the outlet.
Two detectors are better than 1 and we feel really comfortable with this added safety tool. Current level? 0. Nice…
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