Saturday, April 12, 2008

Ford Mustang

Nothing like a black Ford Mustang and 80 degree weather. That's what I had in Dallas this week. I've had a Mustang before and they are so fun to drive. Ya just have to crank the radio to classic rock and zip down the highway.

The ride on this one was smoother than my previous experiences. There really isn't anything fancy about the interior of this vehicle. Simple dash with simple gauges but press the gas and makes your blood flow.

They muffler and tail pipes are tuned to sound like a muscle car. Definitely worth a rental.

Poor robin

Hobbling back from my leg workout, I go by this poor robin huddled on the ground watching the snow falling and being beaten on by the wind. It was as sad and sorry site for a Spring day.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Nightmare avoided

I suppose everyone has heard about the problems with American Airlines this week. That is the airline I fly between Minneapolis and Dallas.

My 8:20pm flight tonight (Thursday) from Dallas to Minneapolis was canceled early this morning. I called AA to see what they could do for me. The reservations person said he could put me on the 4pm flight. I happen to know that thr 4pm flight is an MD80 - the aircraft that has been grounded. I asked him if he could guarantee that it wouldn't be canceled. He said no.

I knew there was a Sun Country flight available. He said he couldn't switch me to them because AA doesn't have an agreement with them. He then hung up on me!!!

I called American Express Travel which handles all are travel arrangements. They got me on the AA 12:40pm flight. The AA reservations guy didn't even offer that flight to me. The 12:40pm flight is the only one between MSP and DFW that is not an MD80.

The other side of the story is that the weather in Minneapolis was to get really bad by late evening. This morning the weather folks were calling for 8-10 inches of snow! If I hadn't been able to get on the early afternoon flight, it was going to be a long day.

But I'm home and comfortable. And have to go back to Dallas next week!!!!

Uptown with Rachel

Rachel Druker, a friend from Minneapolis, is in Dallas this week. She works for the American Heart Association and travels here frequently, too.

We finally connected for dinner last night. She has done more wondering around than I have and knows how to get around. She picked me up at my hotel and we went over to the Uptown area of Dallas. It is a trendy area with lots of restaurants.

We dodged the rain storms and went to an Italian restaurant. It was okay but not spectacular.

It was great to spend some time with a friend and away from the IBM project and to see a new part of town. I forgot to take a self-portrait with Rachel...my apologies to her for not being able to feature her.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

What's with Dallas weather forecasters?

How come all the TV weather folks in Dallas only forecast the weather for the Dallas - Fort Worth area, which they call the Metroplex? I've watched every station and they all just have maps of North Texas. They don't even show the weather for Houston or San Antonio.

At least in Minneapolis they show pretty much the whole country with weather coming in from Pacific coast and down from Canada or Alaska.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Fitness update

Been working with the personal trainers at Fitness Together for 7 months now. Had my fifth fitness evaluation yesterday. Here are some of the results.

My weight has gone from 196.8 to 193.2. Not much of a change but it has been as low as 190. But the big difference and better indicator is lean (muscle) weight versus fat weight.

My lean weight has gone from 168.6 to 172.2, almost 4 lbs of muscle. The fat weight has gone from 28.2 to 21 lbs., over 7 lbs of lost fat. This gives me a bodyfat percentage of 10.9% where a value of 16.3 is considered well above average. I would like to get the bodyfat into the single digits.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Pontiac G6 - again

Nothing new to report really except the key fob didn't work this week. Amazing how you get dependent on locking and unlocking your doors with that thing.

I thought when I locked the driver door with the key, all the other doors would lock. Turns out that wasn't happening and I didn't find out until the last day. No big deal. Nothing happened to the car. But if you click the door lock button inside the vehicle then close the door, all the doors lock on their own and the car honked its horn?! Go figure.