A memorable Memorial Weekend

It was a busy weekend starting with Friday evening.

Marlin, Christine and Jan dropped by for beer in the backyard.  It was a hot evening but sitting out on the back patio was pleasant.

Christine, Jan and I walked over to "It's Greek To Me" restaurant to meet Kay for dinner.  Ate on their back patio which was very very pleasant.  We all walked back to my place and sat in the back yard for a bit until the mosiquitos started to eat me alive.

Saturday morning had breakfast with Marlin.  We decided to look for a new place and ended up at Glacier Cafe in the Mural Building.
The menu was limited but the food was fantastic and so was the Ethiopian coffee.
The mural is Mayan inspired and magnificent.

Following my my regular noon workout, I picked up Christine and we went to get the grill's propane tank refilled. We then went to Menards to get the lumber for the new step project in the backyard. I've wanted to make steps coming off the back of the porch and into the backyard. Picked up the stringers and lumber.

Saturday evening I started work on the steps. It was mostly just assembly because the stringers are pre-made and I got boards for the steps that were already the correct length.

But it turned out three of the seven stringers were not correct. They had been cut to a different (wrong) rise. I was too tired to return them right then.

Sunday I met Christine for coffee at Isles Bun and Coffee. Then I returned the wrong stringers and got three that were the correct size.

Martha was having a Memorial gathering at her place in North Minneapolis at noon. I was the first to arrive. It was a real family affair with Tree and Dan and their two children, Lisa and Andreas and there four children; Kelly and her son, Elliot, and her boyfriend, Fritz. Also, Brian and Becky were there and Martha's friend, Mae.

There was a wonderful spread of Greek food. I brought yogurt with blue berries and raspberries -- the red, white and blue dessert.

Martha lives a block from Victory Memorial Parkway. I didn't know that there are plaques along the parkway that are memorials to veterans who served in WW II. Marth wrote down names and ranks of several. We returned to Martha's house and she had the kids read the names of the fallen service men before we had dessert. It was very very nice.

Sunday evening I picked Christine, Jan and Allison to go downtown and see the movie "Prince of Persia." It was a lot of fun. From the movie we drove back to Uptown and stopped at Roat Oasha Thai restaurant for a nighcap. The Twins game was on and Allison is a big Twins fans. John, a neighbor of Allison, was there and we all watched the Twins beat the Texas Rangers.

Monday I finihsed the step project.

Monday evening Kelly and Fritz threw their annual Memorial Day rib cookout. Marlin and Martha came over to my place. I wanted to be sure that Martha got to see the Miss America peony before it was over.

Got to meet with Kelly and Fritz's friends most of which I had met last year. It is always fantastic food and fun. I made rhubarb cake.

The whole three-day weekend was fun and fulfilling.

Made it home but not without more travel drama

The flight to San Francisco was delayed by about 45 minutes.  I didn't get upgraded but at least I didn't have a middle seat.

When I got to the hotel...a new one for me...it turned out I had messed up my reservation.  I had reserved a room for the previous night!  I'm going to blame it on our company travel website but obviously I need to triple check myself.

The hotel clerk was very nice and simply moved my reservation to that night AND upgraded me to a suite.  The hotel was the Westin Saint Francis on Union Square.  An extremely beautiful old hotel.  Unfortunately when I arrive in San Francisco it is late and I have to get up early for work so I don't do anything.  I'm lame.

My revised flying schedule on Thursday was to catch the 4:20pm flight to Dallas.  Early in the day I got a text to let me know the flight was already delayed.  As the day went on, I got more text messages letting me know the flight was more and more delayed until finally at about 1:30 it was canceled!  No big surprise to be honest.

I called American. Thank goodness I'm Executive Platinum because they generally answer very quickly and are extremely, extremely helpful.  Turned out all the flights to Dallas were delayed by hours.  So I got put on the 2:20 flight which was now scheduled to depart at 4:10.  There was an outside chance I could get to the airport in time.

My co-workers flight was also delayed and I was getting a ride from them.  They dropped me off at the terminal at about 3:50.  Meanwhile I'd gotten another text that my new flight was now delayed to 4:20pm.  All I had to do was get my boarding ticket and get through security.  This was not a done deal.

The auto-checkin would not accept me.  I had to go to an attendant.  The gentlemen in the first class line graciously let me jump ahead.  I got the seat assignment from the clerk with a "good luck" from her and the guys in line.

Zipped through security and dashed down the terminal.  Boarding had started but being Priority Access I jumped to the head of the line.  The plane was a 757 and was going to be full.  I had been assigned a middle seat but my row mates wanted to seat together and gave me the window.

We landed in Dallas about 10pm.  I had to reserve a hotel and car for the night.  I was staying at a hotel close to the airport because it was cheap and convenient.  I thought it was one I had stayed at before and knew where it was.  I couldn't find it.  I called....they didn't answer until about the tenth time.  Turns out I was not at the hotel I thought but a different one of the same brand.  It wasn't very far but could more have gone wrong with this week's travels?!

Morning mullings

Staying at a new hotel in Dallas this week.  The Omni in Farmers Market.  There is no farmers market in Farmers Market.  No breakfast with my hotel stay so I got to go IHOP!  Big Big Breakfast.

Driving to client office I saw two canadian geese....with chicks!  I guess that couple decided not to travel all the way to Canada.  Gonna be spending a hot summer in Texas.

I really really screwed up my travel this week.  I'm going to San Francisco this evening to be on site for another client on Thursday.  However, I mistakenly made my return flight for Thursday red-eye instead of Friday red-eye.  That basically made my San Francisco trip a 4 hour visit to the airport.

It is costing $150 to change the flight; $80 for a hotel on Thursday night now; and $40 to rent a car to and from airport on Thursday night.  Hoepfully, I won't get into too much trouble.

So now my flight from San Francisco is early evening on Thursday so not so much time at client/work.  About the only good thing was I got upgraded to first class on the flight from SFO to DFW.

Another week of long travel

Heading to Dallas for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  San Francisco Wednesday evening.  Back to Dallas Friday morning at 12:40am to catch 7:30am flight to Minneapolis.

Last week I was very very lucky and got the Presidential Suite at the Hilton Financial District.  Not a clue how I got that but it was beautiful though a short stay.

View from the 27th floor.  Coit Tower and Alcatraz to the left out in the bay.

The suite had a large living room with a big flat screen TV.  There was a wet bar in the entry.

Two balconies.  Large one off the living room and smaller one in the bedroom.  The bedroom had another large LCD TV.  Also, in the bedroom area was a large soaker jacuzzi tub and glass-enclosed shower with a rain shower head.  The double sinks were in a separate room.  And the toilet was in yet another separate room.  One could get very spoiled.

Home but whipped

Made it home about 10:30 this morning.  The red-eye from San Francisco to Dallas was late leaving.  So instead of taking off at 12:40am, it was more like 1:15am.

I didn't get upgraded to first class.  The wait list for upgrades was probably 15 deep.  And to add insult to injury I had a middle seat!  I took two Tylenol with sleep aid.  The flight is less than 3 hours when heading to Dallas.  I actually slept some but it some very awkward and uncomfortable positions.

We landed about 6am local time in Dallas.  My flight to Minneapolis was taking off at 7:35am.  It left on time and I was in first class.  I was asleep before the rest of the passengers got on.  When I woke up I thought we were still taxing to the runway.  Turned out we were already in the air.

Had breakfast on flight and we landed pretty much on time.  I'm very glad to be home but not looking forward to the same travel arrangements already set for next week.

Car Rental Fees - craziness

Those are the fees added to my car rental at Dallas-Fort Worth airport.  The car rental charges are $97.50.  An additional 50+% is added to the cost in fees.  That's crazy.

And by the way, do not rent from Hertz at DFW.  The cars are filthy.  I had stopped renting there last year for the same reason.  I gave them another try.  Actuall a few more tries in the past weeks.  The cars are still filthy.

Last week I had a Ford Escort on Monday.  The seats were gross.  On Tuesday when I was in Cincinnati, I rented from Hertz.  Got a nice new Nissan Versa.  It even had a sun roof which is rare in a rental.  Back to Dallas on Wednesday.  Got a Toyota Corolla....filthy.  The speedometer had been wiped with a dirty rag and the seats were nasty.  I returned it to the desk.  I did get a new, and clean, Jeep Commander.  But I have had it with DFW Hertz.

A lot of travel

A busy weekend followed by another busy travel week.

I performed a wedding on Saturday and Sunday was the MN AIDS Walk.  It was a beautiful for weekend for an outdoor wedding and a 10K walk.  Both raised money for the Minnesota AIDS Project.

This week I'm back in Dallas on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Wednesday night I fly to San Francisco to meet with another new client.  Thursday night/Friday morning I fly home through Dallas-Fort Worth International.  I get home around 10am Friday morning.

2010 MN AIDS Walk

A beautiful day for a Walk.

Huge "thanks" and "congratulations" to Rose Block for organizing the team that bears her name, Rosie's Art Ensemble.  We are a ragtag group from various backgrounds but we all love and adore Rose.

Nels even found time to knit along the way.

You'll notice Amy in the wheelchair.  She had a really bad fall a few weeks ago.  She broke her ankle AND her elbow.
She was able to walk part of the way but spent most the Walk rolling being pushed.

Here's the whole team enjoying their Whole Foods popsicle.

The team raised almost $10,000!

Many thanks to all who contributed.  There's still time to give if you want to push the team over the $10,000 mark.

To visit my fundraising page, please visit: Click here to visit my Web page

Ducks or Pigeons

This morning I looked out from my second floor bathroom window to the roof of the house next door.  And what did I see but Mr. and Mrs. Duck on the roof!

I ran downstairs to get my camera.  When I'd come back up, Mr Duck was standing and Mrs. Duck was still lying down.  She soon got up and they both flew off.

What are ducks doing on the roof of a three story building?! 

Texas Rangers Stadium

Got a chance to go to a Texas Rangers baseball game last night.  Would not pass up that kind of event.

The stadium is enormous.  Which is what you would expect in Texas.  It was built in 1994 but still looks new.

It is also right next to the new Dallas Cowboys $1 billion stadium.  The Cowboys stadium is quite the site.

The Rangers Stadium is open-air and seats a ba-zillion people.  We had seats way up but a great view of the entire field.  We were directly down the first base line.

It was $1 hot dog night.  Lots of people.  Lots of hotdogs.  The wind really kicked in late in the game and the hotdog wrappers were flying all over the place.

The Rangers won big with lots of homeruns.  It was lots of fun.

P.S.  My apologies to Twins fans but I was a Rangers fan for one night.

A busy week of travel

Catching the early flight to Dallas today.  Then this evening flying from Dallas to Cincinnati.

In Cincinnati on Tuesday.  Back to Dallas Tuesday evening.  Then home late on Thursday.  I hear there is rain expected in Minnesota this week.  I just hope the weather doesn't catch up with me and interfere with travel.

From 90 degrees to a chance of snow

It was almost 90 degrees when I left Dallas yesterday.  And this evening there is a threat of snow in Minneapolis.  We've had a cold, rainy day today.  I took the bus downtown for a meeting and was shivering at the bus stop.

But this evening I'm enjoying my new fireplace.

Kay at the grassy knoll

My friend, Kay, is in Dallas for a convention.  I picked her up at her hotel and we went on a little sightseeing tour.  Of course, the first place we stopped was the sight of the JFK assassination.

That's us with the former Dallas School Book Repository building in the background.  The square window at the top of the picture is where Lee Harvey Oswald "allegedly" shot John F. Kennedy.

There were several tourists, including us, walking around the area with the many conspiracy theorist tour guides.

From here we drove through downtown, through the arts district, through uptown to Cosmic Cafe for dinner.  Cosmic Cafe is a vegetarian spot decorated in a sort of Indian theme.  I've been wanting to go for a long time but wanted a veggie expert.  Kay happens to be a vegetarian so it was perfect.

Life on the familiar road

The one great thing about traveling by same old Minneapolis to Dallas-Fort Worth route is running into all the familiar faces.

There was Tom at the American Airlines gate in Minneapolis.  We chatted about the United - Continental merger and mostly about flying small regional jets.

Rita from Iowa walked up to take the same Dallas flight.  I usually see her on Thursdays on the return trip.  This was the first time I'd seen her on a Monday morning.  We got caught up on travel stories.  We rode the rental car bus together in Dallas and did some more catching up on work stuff.

I contacted Aneela at the Hilton Anatole.  She invited me out for drinks at the new Media Bar in the hotel.  There were some other Hilton clients with her so I got to meet new people.  Aneela picked up the tab for all of us including dinner.  She is so incredibly nice.  We all laughed and told stories.  I was able to burn off some steam about work.  It was great.

And this morning I got to see Donna and Soledad in the 25th floor Executive Lounge for breakfast.  They are always so friendly and helpful.  Donna commented on my new glasses.

Life on the road that is frequently traveled does have its advantages.  Seeing familiar faces and hearing stories.

You had to figure this was going to happen...

Heading back to Dallas, Texas for the week. Same client but slightly different project.

It is actually nice to go back to familiar territory.  Both work-wise and city-wise.  Friend Kay is also in Dallas this week for work.  I'm hope we can get together one evening.