I’ve spent the past week in Jacksonville, FL. At first glance, that seems like a nice vacation. But, alas, it not vacation; it is work. Amy was really wanting to go to this trip but I found out kinda last minute and there was no way we could afford the price of that plane ticket. I really wanted both of them (Iliana and Amy) to go, but turns out, it’s good that they didn’t. You see, they wanted to go to the beach, which is only a few miles away from here. So, Amy was really jealous that I was going to be this close to the beach without her. I told her that it was no need to worry because I was going to be working all the time. Anyway, it has rained all week, so even if I had time and wanted to, I couldn’t go to the beach. And now, as we wrap up and are waiting to go to the airport, I’m looking out the window to a beautiful sunny day. Typical.
So, hopefully the flight back will go just fine. We fly out from Jacksonville to Atlanta and then to Little Rock.
Okay, so, here come the food reviews for Dustin. Lunch was provided each day at the office, so, once again, nothing to write home about.
Monday Night
Sticky Fingers - Great barbecue. I had a Half Slab & Half Pulled Pork. One word: Delicious. I’d have to give that meal a 8 out of 10 rating. The ribs were so tender that I could just pull the bones out of the meat. I topped them off with a Carolina Sweet Barbecue Sauce. A-MAZ-ING! I also tried a new beer called Yuengling. Really nice smooth beer.
Tuesday Night
Sneakers - This restaurant was right next to our hotel. Actually, it was the restaurant that provided room service for the hotel. I got a Smothered Burger (at least that’s what I think it was called) and Onion Rings. It was delicious. Or as Backpack on Dora the Explorer says, “Delicioso!” This night I tried out the Sam Adams Seasonal Summer Ale. Good smooth beer.
Wednesday Night
Sneakers - Went back to Sneakers and got the Western Burger with Onion Rings. Once again, a great burger. I went back to the Yuengling beer this night. Great place to go and watch the Olympics. Since it was a sports bar, there were TVs and projection screens everywhere.
Thursday Night
River City Brewing Company - On this night, we had our company outing to celebrate the end of our 3 week Discovery Workshop. This restaurant was awesome! They really took care of us. They brought out a great appetizer tray that was full of broiled shrimp, coconut shrimp, crap cakes, breads, and some chicken. They had a their own brewery there (obviously) and I tried the Jack Light. It was really good. As you can tell, I’m more of a light beer kind of person. It sounds like I drink a lot, but the only reason I drank any was because I didn’t have to drive anywhere and it was an interesting beer. I usually only drink twice a year. Anyway, I ordered a House Salad to start with followed by the Prime Rib. Both were great. I finished it up with a scrumptious Bread Pudding. I was in pain by the end of the night.
Well, it’s Friday and I can’t wait to get back home. So, I’m about to pack it up and head out. See ya later.
You may have seen my note that I was in Boston last week. I flew in on Monday with 6 co-workers to train on a new admin system that we are purchasing. I have to admit, I was pretty pumped to go. I have always wanted to go to Boston because of all the history in that city. But, I was also a little upset because I couldn’t take Amy with me. She has probably wanted to go to Boston more than me. I was planning on taking her, but we didn’t find out until the last minute that I was definitely going. So that made booking a flight for Amy nearly impossible. So, I was very sad for a week.
Monday - 4:30 am
Got up early so that I could get to the airport an hour before my 7:30 flight. Boarded a little “puddle jumper” bound for Cleveland. Flying into Cleveland was educational. I didn’t realize that Cleveland was on the “coast.” That being the coastline of Lake Erie. Once we landed, we were only in the terminal long enough to get to our connection before we had to board again.
This is something I can’t figure out. That’s a lie, I have a pretty good idea why they do it, but we took a little “puddle jumper” from Little Rock to Cleveland and then a big 737 from Cleveland to Boston. What’s up with that? I believe that Continental Airlines are just a bunch of sadistic freaks.
We arrived in Boston around 1:00 and, after filing a missing bag claim by one of my co-workers, we were off to the hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Boston/Natick. It was really convenient because it was right across the street from the company office that we were training at. It was also located right across from the Natick Mall, which was a really nice mall.
Well, once we got situated, we decided to all meet for lunch and ended up going to the mall and we ate at a cafe in Nordstrom’s called Cafe Bistro. Which brought 2 questions to mind:
“Have I ever eaten in a department store cafe before?” to which the answer is “No.” The closest that I have come to that is eating in the food court of a mall or McDonalds in Wal-Mart.
And the second was:
“Isn’t that name a bit redundant? I mean isn’t a Bistro just another word for Cafe?” Yeah, this is the mind of Dusty.
Anyway, and this is for Dustin, the food was really good. I had the Honey Chipotle Steak Sandwich. This is the description:
seared sliced steak, caramelized onions, roasted sweet peppers, baby spinach, spicy cumin aioli on toasted ciabatta
And yes…it was as good as it sounds.
After lunch, the ladies wanted to go shopping…which I wanted no part of. So, I set off in search of a movie theater that I had heard was in the area. I walked all through the mall and out the other side and couldn’t find it. So, I decided to duck into a store and ask directions. So, the closest thing was a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store. I didn’t even know it was a franchise. I mean, I knew about the ice cream, but I didn’t know it was a chain like Baskin Robins.
On the way in, I decided it was time to start having fun with these “Yankees.” Let me explain. My stepdad’s brother lives in Boston. When my mom, stepdad, and sister would go visit, everyone from Boston would try to keep my sister talking because she has this thick southern drawl. So, they got a kick out of it. Well, now it’s my turn. I mosey (yes. I said mosey. I had to get in character) up to the counter and in a nice southern drawl, I address the girl at the counter:
“Skuze me, ma’am. Eye’m lukin’ fer the A.M.C moovie the-ater. Kin you point me in the rite die-rection?”
As soon as I started talking, her eyes got real big and she grinned from ear to ear. Northerns…it’s almost too easy. Anyway, she starts telling me where to go and asked if I’m parked in their parking lot and I say,
“No ma’am. Eye’m akshoe-ly walkin’. Eye’m stayin’ at a ho-tel over by the mall and fig-ured eye’d git out fer a walk.”
(More grinning on her part.)
Long story short, I get the directions and am on my way. Good times at Ben & Jerry’s.
I decided to do a double feature and watched Hancock followed by Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Both films were okay, but would have been just as good on DVD.
Tuesday
Tuesday through Friday were all pretty much the same. From 8 to 5, we had training classes across the street at SunGard. Once again, this next part is for Dustin. The lunch menu each day was nothing to write home about, but he dinners were pretty good.
Tuesday night
Joe’s American Bar & Grill - Pretty good food. By the end of the first training day, we were all beat and ready to eat. We just got a bunch of appetizers and munched on them. I think we had the Spinach and Artichoke dip, the Chicken Quesadillas, and the Chicken Nachos. It was a bit more upscale than, say a Chili’s, so I expected a bit better service. We sat there for about 10 minutes before I had to go to the hostess to ask for a server. Worked out in the end because she comped a couple of desserts for us.
Wednesday night
Legal Sea Foods - This was a bit of a sore spot for me. You see, Monday night before I split off from the ladies, I made the comment that I at least wanted some good seafood before I left the Boston area. To which they replied, “Legal Sea Foods.” So, I thought, cool, we’ll go some night. Well, when the rest of our group from the Jacksonville, FL office got in later that afternoon, they all went to Legal Sea Food. Where was I? Either finishing up Hancock or just starting Hellboy 2. I was a little peeved, but I quickly got over it. So, on Wednesday night, I decided I was just going to walk down to Legal’s.
Side note: Everybody thought I was crazy for walking everywhere. They’re all telling me to take the hotel shuttle. To which I respond, “It’s only a little over a mile. That’s nothing.” City folk. Go figure.
Anyway, a couple of the other girls met me there and I ordered the Lobster Roll. Not too impressed with lobster. Everything else was pretty good though.
Thursday night
Duck Tour and Legal Sea Foods - This was the night I was really looking forward to. SunGard organized a company outing. We went into Boston for a Duck Tour and then on to another Legal Sea Foods for dinner. (I guess I was making up for missing the first night.) The Duck Tour was really neat. Our driver was Captain Mack. Really neat guy. Boston is so full of history, I was running on information overload and was loving every minute of it. I didn’t get a lot of really good pictures because I was toting a disposable camera. I had left the digital one with Amy back home. But, I’ll try to remember to post some later.
Once the Duck Tour was finished, we walked over to Legal in downtown Boston. They had a nice menu prepared for us. We had a choice of a few different items, but I went with the New England Clam Chowder, Grilled Salmon, and everyone got the Boston Cream Pie for dessert. I had never had clam chowder before and I must say I was a little hesitant. But it was AWESOME! Loved it! The salmon, of course was delicious and the Boston Cream Pie was out of this world. If you go to Boston, go to Legal and try to order that exact same menu. You will be glad you did.
Friday
Friday started out like the others. But we only had class until noon. Then we all split up until about 2:30 where we met for the shuttle back to the airport for our 4:30 flight. So, this is where the trip got “fun.” We got to the checkin counter and found out that we had been bumped to the 3:30 flight to Newark. Which was great. Currently, we were on track to get home at 10:00 pm. So, an hour earlier would be great. Then they tell us that the 3:30 flight is an hour delayed. So, now we’re back to 4:30. Oh well, we have time to kill. So, where do we go? We went to Legal’s Test Kitchen. That is the Legal Sea Foods airport restaurant. I actually had a burger this time. And it was really good.
Well, we thought we were going to have to get our food to go because they started boarding our plane. But, it was a false alarm. Anyway, we got on the plane, and, wouldn’t you know it, get seated in the back across from the bathroom. Sucktastic. The pilot comes over the intercom and says that we are going to be a little delayed in taking off because of traffic in Newark. So, I’m thinking, “I hope we don’t miss our connection. There aren’t that many flights from Newark to Little Rock.” We ended up sitting in the plane, on the runway, waiting to take off for 2 hours. We landed in Newark at about 7:25. Our connecting flight was scheduled for a 7:30 take off. We had 2 people on the phone talking to the airline trying to get them to hold the flight. They didn’t hold it. What was stupid was that about 15 people missed that flight. The plane holds, at the max, about 50 people. I found it odd that the only flight that wasn’t delayed at Newark was our flight to Little Rock.
So, now we’re off to the Continental Customer Service desk. Long story short, we have 2 options:
1) Wait for the next flight to Little Rock, which would be the next day sometime.
2) Catch a flight to Houston in an hour and then take a 7 am flight to Little Rock the next day.
We go with the flight to Houston. At least we’re getting further south and it’s in a bigger plane. Which means a bit more comfortable ride than the puddle jumper. Also, we get our bags re-routed so that they’ll meet us in Little Rock since they didn’t make it on the last Little Rock flight. So, now we have about an hour to kill because the 8:15 flight to Houston is … surprise, surprise… delayed. We finally board and someone else is in my seat but at this point I’m beyond caring and just sit down in a seat somewhere. I end up sitting next to this couple from New York that are on their way to Houston for a friend’s wedding. We had some good conversations. They were really nice. It’s funny though, because I’m starting to think that all Northerners secretly want to be Southerners. A few of people that I met told me the same things or asked me the same questions:
I love grits. Especially cheese grits.
I love sweet tea.
Do you guys have Waffle House in the South.
I started laughing at the last one. Please. Do we have Waffle House? Where do you think it got started. Anyway, we had some fun conversations.
Saturday
We landed in Houston at midnight. The airport was like a ghost town. We had decided not to get a hotel because by the time we got checked in and in bed, we would only be able to sleep for 3 hours before we would have to be back at the airport. So, we made our way to the B terminal which was where our flight was scheduled to depart from. We didn’t know what gate our flight was scheduled to depart from and evidently neither did the departure monitors. We just made a guess and decided to set up camp in one of the four corners. You see, the B terminal at George Bush International, is set up like a big X, the gates are at the top corners and the food and security area was in the middle. We camped out in the top right corner of the X. Little did we know that our flight was going to depart from the lower left corner. Anyway, we were wondering what the best place to sleep would be: floor, chairs, possible sofa? Luckily, we planned ahead and “borrowed” some pillows and blankets from the previous flight. We get to the “camp grounds” and look around. Not a lot of options. A couple of people slept on the floor, a couple of people slept in the chairs, and a couple of the ladies slept on top of the chairs. That was a real sight to see. Here’s what the seats look like:
Notice the metal armrest. Can’t lay down on them. The people that slept in the chairs just balled up in the chairs. The ladies that slept on the top of the chairs just laid down across the top like they were on display at a funeral wake. It was weird. I have yet to say where I slept. Well, I wanted to make sure everyone was situated before I went down and I was also surveying the situation. I tried lining up a couple of chairs from a restaurant table, but that didn’t work. Then I remembered passing by a few massage chairs on the way in. Those turned out not to be as comfortable as one would think. You see, the cushion is cut out in the middle of the back so you sit down and you’re all hunchbacked. So, right across from me is one of those airport carts. You know, the golf carts that are always running around the airport. Well, I figure I can curl up on one of those seats and I finally got a little sleep.
I woke up around 5:15 and wandered back down to the rest of my group. We were all feeling pretty rough. We collected everyone and everything and wandered to the other side of the terminal to await our flight. Everything else went off without a hitch. I never thought I’d be so happy to see downtown Little Rock from the air. The trip was finally over. All I had to do was collect my bag and it was off to Greers Ferry Lake to meet Amy and Iliana. So we stand around the baggage carousel and start to wonder where our bags are. Remember, we had them re-routed. Well, I head off to the Continental ticket counter to see what’s up. Evidently, they didn’t go to Houston with us. They were still, more than likely, in Newark waiting on the next Little Rock flight. And I say “more than likely” because the Continental clerk really had no idea.
By the way, Continental customer service sucks. Just thought I’d throw that out there. If anyone that works for Continental Airlines ever reads this, your company sucks. Every part of it. Suck-a-riffic. I mean, you guys excel at sucking. If sucking were an Olympic sport, you would not only medal, but you would get the Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
I decide to file a claim and leave for the lake. And that sums up my trip to Boston.
I really enjoyed Boston, just not the traveling part. I found out yesterday that I have to go to Jacksonville, FL in 2 weeks. If I can’t figure a way to take Amy on that one she’ll probably divorce me.:) I’m going to try to talk my company into just letting me drive down and pay for my gas. That way, I can take Amy and Iliana and we will have a car while we are down there. Amy and Iliana can go to the beach during the day while I’m at work. It’s only about 20 miles from Jacksonville. Oh well, we’ll see.
Anyway, thanks for staying with me for this long. I know it was a bit wordy. If you know me, you know I’m wordy. So…here ya do.
Interesting week. Been in Boston for the past few days. Will write more when I get a chance.
Here’s the video for the race we did last weekend:
Find more videos like this on Marathon Makeover
Still tired. Must … keep … going. That’s what I was thinking at about mile 11 of the half marathon I ran this past weekend. To say that the course had a couple hills is like saying the Battle of Gettysburg had a few deaths. Holy Smack! That course was hillier than Little Rock. There wasn’t a time that I wasn’t going up or down a hill. There were very few flat spots. Anyway, the folks over at Marathon Makeover put together a real first class event. This was their first organized race. You could tell that everyone worked really hard and it was great to see the city of Ridgeland, MS really pull out all of the stops to host the event.
There were 820 registered runners, but according to the official results, only 743 competed. I came in at 335th place with a time of 2:20:45. My only goal was to improve upon my Little Rock Half Marathon time, which I did by about 1 minute. I’ll take that considering the hills didn’t even start in LR until about mile 8 or 9. In the Renaissance at Colony Park Half Marathon, the hills started at about mile 1.3. So, I got worn out a bit quicker in MS than AR. I hit the wall around mile 10 or 10.5. From there on out it was just me trying to push as much as I could and let one leg fall in front of the other. You would be surprised at how much hills really can take it out of you. Chicago was all flat, and aside from running out of water early on, it was pretty easy (as courses go). The Renaissance kicked my tail. If they do it again next year, I’ll probably go, but I’ll know what to expect.
Here’s the course:
Up next: Maybe a half marathon in Conway later this year.
Well, it looks like my truck is going to get fixed. The insurance company called earlier and they are going to give me the money to repair my truck. What’s wrong you may ask? Well, let me back up a little.
A few weeks ago, I let a friend borrow my truck. He was going to get some mulch for his mom’s yard. I had no problem with it. He had done it before and I knew that he was a responsible guy, so I was happy to let him borrow it. Amy, Iliana, and I went to the lake in the mean time.
About 1:00 in the afternoon, I got a call from my friend. Actually, it was a voice mail that said, “Hey, it’s me. Give me a call as soon as you get this.” So, I call and ask him how he’s doing. He said, “I’m doing pretty good, but your truck isn’t doing so good.” My first thought was, “I hope everyone is okay. Please don’t let anyone be hurt.” Then he told me what happened, which looking back on it, is kinda funny. While he was at the lawn and garden place having the mulch loaded into the back of the truck, the bucket of the front end loader fell off of the tractor and landed on my truck. No one was hurt, and luckily, my friend wasn’t in it when it happened.
Long story short, I’ve been haggling with the insurance company of Total Lawn and Garden for the past 3 weeks. (I’d link to Total Lawn and Garden if I could, but they don’t have a website.) I have been stressing out as to what was going to happen. I didn’t think my truck was worth a whole lot financially, but it is worth a lot logistically. It may not be the best, but it gets the job done. So, I figured they were going to total it out. Which would suck because the amount that I was anticipating wouldn’t have gotten me much in the area of a replacement vehicle. And to top it off, I will have my truck paid off in about 2 months.
So, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking for another vehicle. A fuel efficient, decent condition, not to old car that has low miles. This is a hard item to find. Well, that’s not true. You can find that but not in the price range I was looking for. So, I’ve been looking for a 2007 Nissan Sentra or Versa. Both are highly recommended cars for their class. And they also get really good mileage. Evidently, the only place to find these cars at a decent price is in the Mesa, Arizona area. I’m talking about $4,000 to $5,000 cheaper. So, I got no problem dropping about $400 to fly out there and drive one back. The only problem is, I would have to do it, like, tomorrow. I’m out of town next weekend at a half marathon and the following weekend is 4th of July weekend. AND the weekend after that, I may have to be preparing to go to Boston for a week. And during this whole time, I still don’t know what the insurance company is going to do or how much money they are going to give me. So, what to do.
Well, about an hour ago, I got a call from the insurance adjuster and they said they were going to pay to repair my truck. Evidently my truck was worth more than I thought and they decided that repairing it would be cheaper than totaling it out. The only thing is that the adjuster disagreed with a few items on the original estimate. So, the adjuster estimate and the body shop estimate is about $700 off. I now have to try to go back to that body shop or find another one that will do the repairs for the price the adjuster gave.
Amy and I both feel that this is a blessing because 1) I didn’t really want to start up another car loan and 2) It allows me to get my truck fixed and possibly sell it at a higher value than originally anticipated. So, it’s good in the long run, I think.
Anyway, that’s about all that’s been going on. Good to finally get it settled…for now. Got that half marathon coming up in Jackson, MS next weekend, so that’ll be fun.
See ya.
I just found my new favorite blog:
Stuff Christians Like
Read it. Now. Seriously, click on the link. You’ll be glad you did.
TIP: Start from the beginning and read them in order.
Well, so far, so good. I really like the new office. Everyone here is super friendly. Maybe that’s because they haven’t asked me to do anything yet, who knows. A few new people start this week. They pretty much tripled the size of their team with this round of hirings. Thursday we had a meeting that basically outlined our projects that we would be working on. Looks exciting. I work in the PMO, Project Management Office. Our job is to coordinate, implement, and track any changes to systems and processes in the company. I’m pretty excited about it. I’d be really excited if they sent me down to the Florida office for about a week for some “training.”
Oh, and for Dustin, the move to downtown Little Rock coupled with the fact that I’m carpooling now results in me visiting in some really tasty restaurants. My company doesn’t offer paid parking and there are only so many spots on the parking deck, which are for upper management and people with more seniority than me. So, the guys I ride with are management. We use their spots when I drive, but I have to have them to get in and out of the deck. So, when they drive, I’m stuck here. When I drive, I’m stuck here. I said all of that to say that if I don’t bring my lunch, I have to walk to somewhere to eat. This, so far, has turned out pretty good. And this brings me to my first review:
If you like country cooking, you’ll like this place. You get to choose what size plate you want: Veggies, 1 meat and 1 veggie, 1 meat 2 veggies, and so forth up to All You Can Eat. Some of the choices for meat were Meatloaf, Fried Catfish and a couple of other thing. The veggies are the basic southern veggies. I got the Fried Catfish and Twice Baked Potato. Food was really good and lived up to it’s name. My only problem was the price. My total came to $7.50, that included the plate, a roll, and a drink. A little pricey for the amount of food that I got. Other than that, it was great.
So, there you go.
Well, today is my last day at PBSI. I’ve just about got everything boxed up and ready to go. I’m kinda scared and nervous and excited all at the same time.
I just took my replacement to a few of the areas that I visit and work with on a regular basis and was totally caught off guard by their responses. A lot of the users that I work with are great people and some of the managers and users were actually mad to see me go. Mad in a good way. I felt really bad for my replacement because these people were going on and on about how nice I was and how easy I was to work with and how I always had a smile on my face. I never realized that these people thought that, so I was a little embarrassed. I felt really bad for Joey (my replacement) because a few people looked directly at her and said, “You’ve got some big shoes to fill.” Joey said she new this was coming, but I wasn’t even prepared for statements like that. It was nice to be appreciated, but that really caught me off guard.
So, tomorrow is my orientation for my new job at Life and Specialty Venture. I’ll be doing a lot of what I currently do. I’ve heard great things about this company and look forward to working with them.
Okay, I gotta finish packing. Just wanted to take a break and jot down a quick note. Please continue to pray for me that I might have a painless (at least semi-painless) transition to my new job.
And by the way, I was able to get into the carpool that I wanted. So, that was another blessing from God.
It has been quite a week. I got a job offer this week and accepted. Good news is that it allows us to have Amy home full time. Most people are more excited about that than the fact that I got a new job. Seems like a really great company to work for. It’s called Life and Specialty Venture. They own USAble Life Insurance. I would basically be doing the same thing that I’m doing right now. Still, it’s pretty exciting.
Also, Amy and I have been trying to sell some land for the past 2 years. Well, we sold it and closed on Friday! Praise God! God is definitely good. He has really blessed us and we deserve none of it.
So, May 27th is supposed to be my last day at PBSI and May 28th is my first day at LSV. The only downside is that I was hoping to keep my 7:00 to 3:30 schedule, but the earliest shift that LSV has is a 7:30 to 4:00 shift. So no carpool. That was one of the main reasons that I wanted this new job since gas prices are so high. I am looking at another possible carpool that I think goes at that time, so I’ll keep you updated.
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