life as a dog…

Better day.

I was getting a headache yesterday, so I tried to go to bed early. I often say I’m going to try to get to bed early, but it never actually happens. For once, I succeeded…and how! After dinner at the Outback (that helped, but only a little) I went back to the hotel and changed into the pajamas. Grabbed a soda and hopped in bed. I fell asleep almost immediately…it must have been around 7:30. I woke up thinking it was morning…but it wasn’t. It was midnight. Fell back asleep and woke to the alarm at 5:30am. Lots of sleep…and felt great when I woke up. I need to do that more often. Sleeping late in the morning just doesn’t seem to have the same effect as going to bed early in the evening. I wonder why that is.

Ouch ouch ouch!

If there is one thing that can be pretty much counted on without fail, it is the sand paper hotels pass off as towels. I mean, come on people…you are charging me $200 a night. Get some decent towels. If it’s such a hassle, charge me an extra $10 and get new towels every day. $10 towels are luxury compared to that thing you have now. Don’t let me get started on the toilet paper…

A pleasant surprise.

One thing that has actually surprised me this trip is TSA. In preparation for this trip, I had to buy airline tickets from DC to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis to Providence and from Providence to DC. Instead of going with one trip, I got three one-ways…and they were purchased less than 2 weeks ahead of the trip. Usually, these are sure bets to get the dreaded “SSSSSS” on my tickets. But no…I didn’t get them. Not one. I was sure, especially since the report a couple weeks ago of the GAO getting contraband through the security zone, that I would get pulled aside. If you saw what was in my bags (cameras, cables, lights), you would have agreed.

Not me!

Speaking of TSA, I have been pretty lucky going through. Everyone has to take their laptops out (why, I’m not sure…a cloth bag isn’t going to hide anything from the xray). But supposedly, you are supposed to take any cameras out as well. Everytime I’ve travelled with people, and two of us have cameras, the other person has been pulled aside. This happened to one of my past coworkers enough that he ALWAYS took cameras out. I never had the problem. To this day, I leave the cameras in the bag. I’ll even tell the TSA agents before it goes through that there are cameras in there. Only once have I been pulled aside to do the “extra” sweep. Once in well over 100 trips…I’ll keep the cameras in the bag. Of course, now that I’ve mentioned it, I’m sure my next trip will be hell at the security zone – I’ll probably have to deal with body cavity searches!

Today’s post

This post is going to be a little short.  The work day was very short (about 5 hours) and I’ve got a headache building up.  Not a whole lot to talk about today.  Tomorrow will be a long day (about 7am to 9pm), so a posting won’t happen until late.  Then I’ll post a “post trip” post.  (Interesting…using “post” three times in a sentence and each use is a different part of speech – verb, adjective, noun.)

Accommodation Trade-offs

In my old job, I travelled.  Often.  Not road warrior often…but often.  I’d guess I averaged 2 trips a month.  You get to see a LOT of hotel rooms doing that.  Great (a B&B in San Antonio), good (Marriott), bad (Ramada Inn at Newark Airport) and the worst (America’s Best Value Inn in Las Vegas).  Right now I’m in a room I’d place in between the good column.  Springhill Suites (Marriott) in Waterford, CT.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the price/quality of a hotel is inversely proportionate to its amenities.  What do I mean by that?  Not that high priced hotels don’t have amenities…they do…and how.  I supposed I should correct that and say the price/quality is inversely proportionate to the *included* amenities.  You know…the freebies.  I have yet to stay in a decent hotel that has much for channels on the TV.  But stay in a dump…and you’ll have the full satellite available.  How about internet access?  Go to a decent hotel, and they want $10 a day to access it.  But stay in a dump…it’s usually free wireless.

I once thought of taking a picture of each room I stayed in (and each rental car as well), but never did do it.  Maybe I should start doing that.

Say what?!

So I’m sitting in the Minneapolis Airport watching CNN.  There is “breaking news” about a boat that capsized in New Jersey.  There were three people on board.  What makes this national news?  The newswoman was interviewing someone from the coast guard.  She actually asked, “is this normal?”  Um…

Interesting signage

There were a couple signs that I wanted to get pictures of in Minnesota, but didn’t have time.  One section of the highway was sponsored by…Minnesota Athiests.  Now there’s a sign I guarantee you won’t see in many places.  The more amusing sign was at a furniture store.  On the side of the building was a huge sign that read, “we sell Amish.”  I wouldn’t mind having a couple Amish around…they could do all my heavy lifting.  Apparently, nobody told the owners that slavery was so yesterday.

O’Hare…O’HUGE.

This airport is way too big…or at least, built in such a helter skelter way that it seems too big.  Atlanta is enormous.  But it’s easy to get around – five concourses, all in a row.  One train to take you between them.  Not O’Hare.  It’s just this big old spider layout.  Just to make it even more annoying is the airlines’ sick sense of humor.  Any time I’ve had a layover at any airport, my connections have always been at the two gates that are about as far apart as you can get at the airport.  In Atlanta, I once had to go from gate A3 to gate E32.  That’s right…five terminals, and one end to the other.  Of course, it happened at O’Hare, too.  Glad I had two hours to get there.

At least Chicago was not as cold as Minnesota.  Of course, I was only  at the airport for two hours.  I haven’t been to Chicago for about 7 years.  In high school, I was considering going to Loyola.  (In hindsight, that’s where I should have gone.)  But at the time, I didn’t like Chicago.  I was under the impression everything closed up at 5:00.  I only learned to appreciate it later.  I really wouldn’t mind living there.  I guess part of that is my midwest roots coming through.

boingo…sucko.

Pretty much all airports now boast having wireless available.  But most of them…have crappy wireless.  Rather, they charge for the connection.  Boingo is the provider at Minneapolis and Chicago.  Why do these asses charge?  It’d go a LONG way toward customer satisfaction if they didn’t.  Here’s an interesting little tidbit.  Boingo has a monthly rate (21.95) and a pay-as-you-go rate.  But there is nothing uniform about it.  They are the provider at both O’Hare and Minneapolis.  But to gain access in Minneapolis…$7.95.  At O’Hare?  $6.95.  Go figure.  Why don’t airports follow the lead of places like Las Vegas?  FREE access…throughout the entire of the airport?

I’d rather push a Hyundai than drive a Dodge.

OK, not really.  I don’t want to push ANY car.  But the rental car I have now – a Hyundai Santa Fe – is SO much nicer than that Durango.  It drives smoother, it feels like a better built car, and I have no doubt it gets MUCH better gas mileage.

Day 3 is complete.  It was entirely a travel day..12 hours of travel.  I am now at a Best Western in Cape Cod.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day, too.

It’s HOW cold?

OK, nobody warned us it was going to be as cold as it was this morning. All the forecasts said a low of about 15. Yeah…cold. But not what it turned out to be. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and turned on the news. It was… 2 degrees. TWO! With a windchill of about 15 below. WTF? We drove across the Mississippi (it’s maybe 50 yards across here) several times – and it’s just a big iceflo.  Good thing I packed all the warm stuff. I did, didn’t I?

D’oh!

No…I didn’t pack all the warm stuff. Most of it. But I missed one thing that I thought I had packed…my glomitts. What are glomitts? Combo glove-mittens. Perfect for shooters. The fingers are open with a mitten flap to pull over your fingers when you don’t need them free. Yep…forgot ‘em. I had gloves with three fingers open. Also perfect for shooting. But not in sub zero temperatures. Maybe 20s. NOT 2.

And I only had to say it once!

One of the things I really dislike these days is going to fast food restaurants. It’s getting extremely rare to be able to order and understand the person working behind the counter. This isn’t some rant against immigrants…it’s simply fact. I’m in Little Falls. It’s a small town (population 8,000). So as you can imagine, it’s not had the influx of immigrants cities like Washington, DC have had. I was able to walk into Quizno’s, give my order and be done with it. I didn’t have to repeat myself, and I completely understood the girl behind the counter. Contrast that to this occurance at McDonald’s in Falls Church: I ordered, they got it wrong a couple times. I got ticked and asked to see a manager. What did they say when I said, “I want to see the manager?” They actually said, “mayonnaise?” I kid you not. It was nice to be able to quickly order and not worry about it.

But they sure are friendly!

Another clear difference between Washington DC and here are the people. As a general rule, I don’t like people in DC. They are too self-centered. They aren’t friendly. I’ve been there long enough that when I come back to the midwest, it is a little shocking how friendly people are. Small talk is the norm. People say “hi” to each other – even if they don’t know them. When you walk down the street, you don’t look down when passing someone. You say “hi” or at least give them a nod of the head. That’s one thing I really do miss from the midwest.

So day 2 is complete.  Tomorrow we drive back to Minneapolis and fly to Providence, then drive to Bourne.

Rental Car Companies Suck.

Today was a long day of travelling. 3 hour flight, 2.5 hour drive. And about 45 minutes at the rental car counter.

Why is it that getting a rental car always takes forever? How many keys do they really need to punch in? It’s like that SNL (or was it Kids in the Hall?) skit at the airline ticket counter. Punching 50 million keys to see if there is a window seat available. But this is at the rental car counter. And of course, on top of that…their computer was down. This seems to happen to rental car companies a LOT. But that’s not all! Of course, I have the luck of picking the rental car company that has 5 people in line…while all the others (7 or 8 of them) have NOBODY in line. You read that right. At least I got upgraded….or did I? I reserved a compact. I got an SUV. OK, so I have lots more room. But my gas costs probably just tripled. I never realized how cheap Dodge Durango’s seemed. Completely plastic inside – and when the door closed, it just “sounded” plastic…if that makes any sense. If you are wondering what rental car company I am referring to…let’s just put it this way…you might see their ads, but in real life, cars NEVER drive around wrapped in plain brown paper.

Sun Country Airlines – just another airline.

This was the first time I flew on Sun Country. Newer small airline. Low prices (a nonstop from Dulles to Minneapolis was only $198 – less than 14 days advance purchase). But nothing stands out. Yes, it was a newer plane (they boast of their fleet’s age – average 3 years). Yes, the seats were leather (I’ve never seen where this is such a big deal…especially on an aircraft). I’d put them in between JetBlue and Southwest. They aren’t so bad as cattle call Southwest. But they aren’t anywhere close to JetBlue. Put some TV’s in the seats and give some variety in your snacks…and you’ll be up there.  I miss Independence Air.

Welcome to Minnesooooootah!

We all know the jokes about how people in Minnesota talk. But it’s more than a stereotype. At least in Little Falls it is. Every person I’ve run into…ALL of them…have that accent. I can see Frances McDormand walking down the street making a comment and finishing it with “dontchaknow.”

It’s pretty cold up here now. And it’s gonna get colder. Right now, it’s about 28 degrees…supposed to drop to 14 tonight (and very windy as the front passes through). BRRRRRRRR. Tonight we may also get an inch of snow. I went back and forth on bringing my winter coat. I have long underwear and a hoodie…so if I didn’t bring the winter coat, I would still have many layers – t-shirt, long underwear, regular shirt, hoodie, wool jacket. Five layers.

I brought the winter coat…and Columbia boots just in case.

So there you go. Day 1 is complete. Tomorrow begins at 7:15am. It’s time to go plop down on my hotpad – my back is killing me.