Well since Lima Peru it's been a hard road for me. While we were there I had food poisoning twice, one of which left me with a parasite which I brought home with me.
I went to the doctor's and they put me on the Nuclear option when it comes to antibiotics for this kind of thing. It was three BIG pills a day for five days. Having done this I felt that we had defeated the bug and I could get on with life. The only problem was I kept having the effects an amoeba can give you when you have it living in your gut. It was not pleasant but I thought that maybe the antibiotics had killed all the good stuff in my stomach and that it was just taking a while for it to get better. I keep up this pretense until the day we were getting ready to go to London for New Year's Eve. I bit the bullet and went to the doctor's again. This time they put me on another antibiotic, seems depending on the bug you get tells the doctor what meds to take. One size does not fit all.
I also had a head cold which had traveled to my chest. By the time I went to the doctor's that last time it felt like it was mostly gone. I think because I had the gut infection it lowered my immune system quite a bit. After the fact I don't think it was gone at all.
The really funny thing is I had my physical during this period which was scheduled a long time ago. All the results came back and I'm healthy as a horse. Doesn't feel like it though.
So I get the new meds but decided not to take them until after I got back from London for NYE. You can't drink on these meds and god knows I was going to when I was in London. So we go to London and to make a long story short I partied like it was 1999.
Which looking back on it wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. My poor body just couldn't keep up, especially have being compromised for a month by the parasite. I ended up getting the most god awful cough, sore throat and I lost my voice. It was one of the worst chest colds/flu I've ever had. I would cough and cough and nothing would come up, I coughed so much I thought I was going to start coughing blood. I think what happened is on NYE I smoked way too many cigarettes and burned my voice box and lungs. I've not had my voice for 12 days now. Feels like it's getting better but it's taking way too long for my impatient self.
So we get back from London and I go to the doctor's again the day I get back mainly because of my voice and the dry hacking cough I've developed. I tell him everything that's gone on and he kind just scratches his head. I don't have a fever, my limp nodes are not swollen and I don't look bad. So he puts me on a different antibiotic for chest stuff, codeine cough medicines for the cough which was quite painful and cortisone to help the voice box shrink back down to the normal size it should be. So now I'm taking an antibiotic for my gut, one for my chest, cortisone for my throat, codeine cough syrup to sooth my throat and my high blood pressure meds and high cholesterol meds. In other words I'm a fricking walking pharmacy.
Cut to six days into the treatment. I can't eat because any food in my stomach starts an uncontrollable bout of hiccups. The hiccups happened anyway but as soon as I ate they really started. I think I hiccupped day and night for about three and a half days straight. Every time I took the meds they made me feel like I was going to puke. This was horrible because I knew I was supposed to keep them down so I would just rock back and forth in bed hoping that the "I'm going to puke" feeling would go away only to puke anyway. I finally got to the point where I told Dave I was not taking them anymore and called the doctor to let him know that. He called back, asked how the parasite thing was going, I told him I thought it was done and he told me to stop taking the meds. THANK GOD!
Also, yesterday the whole left side of my face started hurting. It's kind of like having your nerves on the outside of your skin. Just brushing up against it hurts. I can also feel the tube that connects the ear to your throat for drainage. Every so often it just shoots a sharp shooting pain into my head where the middle ear is. I'm not sure that's happening there. It could be a virus that's taken advantage of my weakened immune system. I'll call the doctor later about all this.
So here I am today. My stomach is almost back to normal, I have my hunger back and I can eat without hiccupping now. I feel much better except I still have no voice. The dry hacking cough is still there and my voice can work but I'm straining it and it's still sore so I try not to use it. There is a good side to the whole thing. I've lost 22lbs and can now fit into clothes that I had given up on. But that's about the only good thing I can say about it.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Well my blood is now boiling.
A little background first. Recently my favorite aunt passed away from a massive brain hemorrhage. She was 62 years old and I consider that to be way too young for that kind of thing. After thinking about family history my sister and myself decided it was time to go in and get checked out. My grandmother and aunt died of strokes, my grandfather and uncle had heart problems. My other grandmother died of brain cancer and my brother had a brain tumor\cancer that was successfully treated.
Looks like my family covers all the bases when it comes to illnesses.
I made an appointment with my primary care physician for a physical. I'm almost 44 years old and it seemed like it was time. The physical happened today and went well so that's not really what I'm writing about. I'm writing about my health insurance, or my "changing because it was purchased by a mega-insurance company" insurance.
There are two different PPOs that you can choose from, the basic plan and the choice plan. I had been using the choice plan which lets you use out of network doctors more readily without having to pay as much to do so. The deductible is the same ($250) as the basic but it's pays %90 for the bill after that.
The I talked to the HR person who asked me why I was doing that when my doctor was in our network and would still be covered by the basic plan. The basic plan is 1/2 the cost of the choice plan. I thought about it and decided I would change to the basic plan. We knew that Cigna had purchased Great West but we had been told that Great West would be run as a subsidy and it wouldn't affect us.
Well today I found out that was not true.
I was pulled aside by the person who works with the insurance companies at my doctor's office and was told that after January the 1st I would no longer be in network because they stopped taking Cigna ten years ago. Looks like Cigna is just taking over all the accounts that Great West had but not running Great West as a subsidy but closing the brand.
What does that mean for me? $250 deductible before they even think of paying only %60 of the bill if I choose to still use my doctor, who by the way has been my doctor for the last ten years. This is compared to a $20 co-pay that I had to pay for office visits before.
Now this just pisses me off to no end. Not just for the out of pocket cost for me but for the insurance industry and health care in general. How much more can it go up and how much more can we be expected to pay? And how come the heads of the health care cost cutting companies are making multi-millions of dollars.
One more quick example of raising cost. I had a stomach bug at the beginning of the week. Went to the doctor and got three prescriptions for it. One of the prescriptions was for twelve pills and my co-pay was $50. The co-pays on the other two were $25 each!!!. I was expecting about $40 for all of it and when the pharmacist said $108 I had to ask twice to make sure I heard right.
Health Care should not be a for profit business. Period!!!!
Ok, steam now blown off.
P.S. HR person came and talked to me. Said that this was the first she had heard about it and would be contacting the insurance company to figure out what was going on. Stay tuned.
Looks like my family covers all the bases when it comes to illnesses.
I made an appointment with my primary care physician for a physical. I'm almost 44 years old and it seemed like it was time. The physical happened today and went well so that's not really what I'm writing about. I'm writing about my health insurance, or my "changing because it was purchased by a mega-insurance company" insurance.
There are two different PPOs that you can choose from, the basic plan and the choice plan. I had been using the choice plan which lets you use out of network doctors more readily without having to pay as much to do so. The deductible is the same ($250) as the basic but it's pays %90 for the bill after that.
The I talked to the HR person who asked me why I was doing that when my doctor was in our network and would still be covered by the basic plan. The basic plan is 1/2 the cost of the choice plan. I thought about it and decided I would change to the basic plan. We knew that Cigna had purchased Great West but we had been told that Great West would be run as a subsidy and it wouldn't affect us.
Well today I found out that was not true.
I was pulled aside by the person who works with the insurance companies at my doctor's office and was told that after January the 1st I would no longer be in network because they stopped taking Cigna ten years ago. Looks like Cigna is just taking over all the accounts that Great West had but not running Great West as a subsidy but closing the brand.
What does that mean for me? $250 deductible before they even think of paying only %60 of the bill if I choose to still use my doctor, who by the way has been my doctor for the last ten years. This is compared to a $20 co-pay that I had to pay for office visits before.
Now this just pisses me off to no end. Not just for the out of pocket cost for me but for the insurance industry and health care in general. How much more can it go up and how much more can we be expected to pay? And how come the heads of the health care cost cutting companies are making multi-millions of dollars.
One more quick example of raising cost. I had a stomach bug at the beginning of the week. Went to the doctor and got three prescriptions for it. One of the prescriptions was for twelve pills and my co-pay was $50. The co-pays on the other two were $25 each!!!. I was expecting about $40 for all of it and when the pharmacist said $108 I had to ask twice to make sure I heard right.
Health Care should not be a for profit business. Period!!!!
Ok, steam now blown off.
P.S. HR person came and talked to me. Said that this was the first she had heard about it and would be contacting the insurance company to figure out what was going on. Stay tuned.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Baby, it's cold outside.
Well it's finally gotten cold. I guess it should be doing that right around now being as it's December the 2nd and all. This brings up the thoughts of Christmas and all the things that go with it. We've only been back from Peru for three days and the list of things to do is just a little daunting. We have nothing to eat in the house really. Dave has a meeting at his rental condo association meeting tonight and I'm going to go to Safeway. I know, exciting right? All the mundane things have just been waiting for us to come home from our holiday.
This weekend we will be getting the Christmas tree. We figured we don't really have anything planned this weekend and the next couple will be crazy so we better do it.
I've got a physical on the 9th of this month. I know, another exciting thing but it really needs to be done. My Aunt died recently of a hemorrhage to the brain at the young age of 62. This seems to run in the family so I will be bringing this up with my doctor. I will need to make a list of other things I want to discuss. Back pain, lethargy, sleeping pills for travel, and other basic health issues a 44yo needs to discuss.
We'll be having a lot of the family over to Christmas. I mom gets in on the 25th and stays until the 28th. We'll have my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, their two kids, her mother and guest, my mom, friends from the UK and us for boxing day dinner. This means I'll be sending Dave out to pick mom up. It also means that we'll have to play Christmas music which will give Dave a twitch but it's not for long.
While my mom is here we'll be seeing my uncle who lives near us. Looks like he might be the next one to pop-his-clogs of my mother's brothers and sisters. So far it was the youngest, the second youngest and my mother is the third in line but I think the healthiest of them all. Mom wants to see my nearby uncle while here so we'll go. He's not one of my favorite people but hey, what do you do?
On the 28th we take mom to National airport for her plane back to Charlotte and we head out to Dulles for our flight to London. We'll be staying for about five nights. I'm looking forward to NYE in London. I think It should be an experience.
So that's the plans so far for the holiday. As they firm up I'll likely be writing more about them and the holiday experience here. We never know what the days will bring.
This weekend we will be getting the Christmas tree. We figured we don't really have anything planned this weekend and the next couple will be crazy so we better do it.
I've got a physical on the 9th of this month. I know, another exciting thing but it really needs to be done. My Aunt died recently of a hemorrhage to the brain at the young age of 62. This seems to run in the family so I will be bringing this up with my doctor. I will need to make a list of other things I want to discuss. Back pain, lethargy, sleeping pills for travel, and other basic health issues a 44yo needs to discuss.
We'll be having a lot of the family over to Christmas. I mom gets in on the 25th and stays until the 28th. We'll have my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, their two kids, her mother and guest, my mom, friends from the UK and us for boxing day dinner. This means I'll be sending Dave out to pick mom up. It also means that we'll have to play Christmas music which will give Dave a twitch but it's not for long.
While my mom is here we'll be seeing my uncle who lives near us. Looks like he might be the next one to pop-his-clogs of my mother's brothers and sisters. So far it was the youngest, the second youngest and my mother is the third in line but I think the healthiest of them all. Mom wants to see my nearby uncle while here so we'll go. He's not one of my favorite people but hey, what do you do?
On the 28th we take mom to National airport for her plane back to Charlotte and we head out to Dulles for our flight to London. We'll be staying for about five nights. I'm looking forward to NYE in London. I think It should be an experience.
So that's the plans so far for the holiday. As they firm up I'll likely be writing more about them and the holiday experience here. We never know what the days will bring.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Copa Airlines and our trip to Lima.
Awhile back some friends of ours asked if we would like to go to Lima, Peru over the Thanksgiving holiday this year. As we have never been before we started giving it serious thought. I even found $500 tickets on Copa Air during that time. We've never flow Copa air and thought we would give it a try. The only bit we didn't like when booking was the transfer in Panama but thought it shouldn't be too bad.
Now I'm platinum elite in the Onepass program so I purchased the tickets under one record locator so that I can get my partner (who has no status on Copa ) a chance to be upgraded with me. This in turn made me do some research on the whole upgrade process for Copa Air, and by default Continental, on flyertalk. I found that I needed to split the record locator into two to make sure that I would get the upgrade four days out and that it would be a lottery at the airport as to whether we got my partner upgraded.
So the day of our trip out to Peru we show up at Dulles at 4:30 am to get him put on the "list" as my guest. We ask the agent to make sure he's on the list on the connection from Panama to Lima. She says that yes she has done this but somehow I don't think she did. I want to add that a 5:55am flight out of Dulles is an evil thing. We're getting ready to board and there is no indication that my partner will get the upgrade. I then go to the ticket counter and ask. The guy looks at me and asks if I'm Platinum and I pull out the card and show him. Va-voom, my partner is in the business class cabin. Two very happy people at this point.
We make it to Panama with only an hour between flights. We get off the plane and then realize we will be getting on the same plane for the leg to Lima. I got to the gate agent and asked about the upgrade for my partner. Business is checked in Full at this point and it stayed that way. So for the last 3 1/2 hour leg he had to sit in back. Which wasn't horrible. The only thing is I'm really sure the agent in Dulles didn't bother to add him to the upgrade list on the second let at the time of check-in at Dulles.
I also have to say that flying a 737-700 for 8+ hours is not my idea of fun, even if you are in the front of the bus. The seats barely recline, there are no foot rests so it’s not that much easier to get any sleep up front then it is in back and after getting up at 3am to catch the first flight sleep is what I wanted. I ended up reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" instead.
As for the food on the flights I can say it was actually good. I'm amazed at what they can get out of that small galley. It was tiny and yet they were able to get out drinks and nuts first, then appetizers, mains (a choice of two) and a dessert cart. The wine was good and they had a decent brandy. The only time they failed in my opinion was with the coming around for refills of wine and such. It wasn't automatic like most other airlines I've flown. Not really a problem. You just asked for more if you wanted it and they would have no problem getting it for you.
Entertainment was just a joke. Bring your own iPad or Kendle if you want to be entertained. The small screens that came down from the ceiling could barely be seen, my jack for the headsets didn't seem to fit the plugs to the head sets they had given me. The purser tried to fix it too and couldn't. It was fine because there really wasn't anything on that I wanted to watch. I ended up finishing my book and then purchasing the last in the series "The Girl who kicked a hornet's nest" which I read on the flight back.
Immigration is easy and took next to no time to get through. We had the hotel's car service pick us up for a rush hour trip to Meraflores the Thunderbird hotel Belevista.
We stayed in Lima for two days before going to Cuzco. The highlight was eating at Astrid y Gaston, a chief Guston restaurant. We had found it by just walking around the night before to get our bearings and knew some of our friends highly recommended it. It was an amazing 3 1/2 hour, 14 course dining experience and we loved every minute of it. Two bottle of wine later we stumbled back to the hotel so that we can get up and go back to the airport for a 6am flight to Cuzco.
I'm really going to have to stop these morning flights. They are evil.
We arrive in Cuzco to 10,000 feet up. I think that something I ate had made me sick and then I couldn't breathe either. I ended up going back to the hotel and spending the day in bed while everyone else went sightseeing. The thing is we were going to Manchu Picchu the next day and there was no way I was going to miss that. I had dreamed of seeing those ruins for years and never thought I would actually have the chance. I had chills and a fever but the best thing that I could have done was stay in bed all day. And it worked, I was fine for the trip the next day.
Manchu Picchu, there is no description. You've seen the photographs but it doesn’t prepare you for actually being there.
We end up taking a taxi to the train station. We decided, along with our posse, to take the high-end Orient Express Hiram Bingham to Manchu Picchu. It was amazing. We had pre-departure Champaign to start with at the train station. As we got settled into our dinning booth we noticed the dancing on the platform. They had indigenous people doing a local dance for us. It involved incents and a human skull. It was fascinating. After watching for a while we went back to the dinner car and sat down and the train started its four hour journey. We had announcements and then they came and took our order for brunch. We were then sent back to the bar car to be entertained and wined until we got to Manchu Picchu.
The journey went quickly and the next thing we knew we were there. This part of the tip will need to be seen in person. It's too hard to try to describe it and give it justice.
At around 6am we headed back to the train for the dinner trip back to Cuzco. Once again it was about the same as the way to Manchu Picchu but with dinner being served. After dinner we went to the bar car and proceeded to get somewhat drunk on Peruvian wine, beer and Pisco sours. By the time we got to the hotel it was definitely time for a good sleep and I was actually able to breathe again.
We stayed in Cuzco for another day in a half sightseeing. We found another Gaston restaurant in Cuzco and proceeded to have a fantastic lunch there. We also got to have an amazing dinner at an old Converted Monastery that was run by the same people who ran the Orient Express train operation.
The next day we head back to Lima on a flight that doesn’t leave at 6am in the morning. Thank God. We used Peruvian airlines for these flights and they were easy and cheap. The main difference between US local carriers and other counties' local carriers is that you still get service on flights internally. This flight was just about an hour and they had a drink service (with booze) and served food. Impressed me a little bit.
Once we went back to Lima we checked into the same hotel we were in the first few nights. In fact we were able to leave our big suitcases there so we didn't have to take them to Cuzco with us which made it much easier on our travel. The room was big, clean and the staff very friendly.
Now in lima we did a few things with the family of the friends we went with. We had a drinks party one night at their house, we had Chinese food one night, we went to an award's ceremony where my friend's father got a medal and then went to a cocktail party on the top of one of the nicest hotels in Lima for a book launch party and hobnobbing with the local who's who of lima. The vice president of Peru was even there.
Then on Saturday we went out to the country house to celebrate the father's 76th birthday. This house and country side were absolutely amazing. It was situated out in the dessert in the middle of a poor area where all they had was dust and brown everywhere. You drove down a dirt road and then came to a gate. Once they opened the gate there was a sea of green. On the inside of the wall of the compound it was a completely different experience. Lush green, a pool, three houses, a wine cellar. Truly amazing the whole thing. It had been set up with tables and a tent, there was a dance area and full bar service. We arrived at 1pm and didn't leave until around 1am. The food was traditional Peruvian stews of all kinds with rice. We had Peruvian doughnuts for dessert served with honey. This was another highlight of our trip.
The next day was the Bull Fight.
I tried to get out of this one. Watching something die for other's entertainment just isn't really my thing. We ended up going because the hosts had gotten us box seats and it seemed rude not to.
I will forever have the images of the fights (how do they call it that?) etched into my brain. The first bulls death traumatized me. I had to watch, kind of like a car wreck. I can still close my eyes and see in vivid detail something I will not discuss here.
Am I glad I went, yes for the cultural experience. Will I ever do it again, no.
The next day we headed back to Washington.
This time our flight left Lima at 2 something in the afternoon so we could sleep a bit. I had already been upgraded four days before. We get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The traffic was just bad and not horrific like usual so it didn't take nearly as long to get to the airport as we thought it would. We check-in at the Elite Access desk and I immediately get Dave put on the upgrade list. The woman takes a while doing it but she gets Dave wait listed on the first flight and on the connecting flight. I'm impressed because I was sure that didn’t happen on the way day.
Now at this point I ask for lounge access. The person says that I can go in but Dave can't. They only let the one with the Elite Access in but not with a guest. This makes the privilege practically worthless in my opinion. We do get to pay our airport departure fee at check-in and don’t' have to go through to another queue to pay it. Security was relatively painless. I tried once more to get us both into the lounge but it was a no go. Dave is a Star Alliance gold card member which gets him lounge access in most cases if he's flying on a Star Alliance flight on the same day. Well Copa air is a strange animal, they use Continental's Onepass program for their mileage program but they are not officially a Star Alliance member yet like Continental. This means that Dave can't use his gold status to get him into the lounge in Lima. We shrug our shoulders and heard to the gate.
We ask about his upgrade there and we're told that the front had checked in full, sorry. Ok, fine. I'll just get him to board at the same time as me. They call for the Elite Access to board and I have him in tow. The gate agent will not let him board with me, only Elite Access. Not guest or spouses or children. The agent will not bend. So I get out of line with Dave just long enough to get his bag so that I can put it above his seat. And then get my seat. Not a very pleasant experience.
Once on the plane I proceed to have this man sit next to me. But before he could actually sit down he had to get a grill, a pink Barbie bag full of god knows what, and another bag (just a bag, almost looked like a garbage bag) stowed. While doing this he has stopped anyone from passing him so they can go to their seats in the back. He finally gives them a little room by standing almost directly on me with his ass in my face. As this point I've put down my book and am actively giving him an evil eye that could melt diamonds. He finally sits down only to get up by way of tap-pushing my legs out of the way. I am not happy with him at all now. Who was this guy and how did he get in first class and not my Dave? Grrrrrr.
A little while later a girl comes in and takes the last seat in business class across the aisle from me. I'm not even sure she was supposed to be there but she sat there anyway. I was getting ready to try and get the seat for Dave when she jumped into it. She and the guy sitting next to me then decided to have a very loud conversation in Spanish across me.
Ok, I've had enough at this point and make the girl change places with me so she can sit next to her friend and talk all flight long if they want. I finally got some peace and quiet and could work on my book which had gotten my attention big time at this point.
The service was about the same as on the way down so nothing new to report here.
Once we got to Panama we went straight to the departing gate for our Panama-Washington flight to make sure Dave was on the upgrade list after a little floundering we see that he has been put on the list and is the first on it but that business class has checked in full again. At this point he's given up hope on the upgrade but I still have hope in the back of my head. Just because people have checked-in doesn't mean they will actually get on the plane.
I then proceed to take him to the actual Presidents Club there in Panama after we try to use the public bathroom and it has a line down the corridor to use it. This time the agent looks at my boarding pass and doesn't have a problem at all letting Dave in too. Seems the other lounge is contracted out so there are different rules. We get in and sit down for a little while, go to the bathroom and then I visit to the bar. I ask for a glass of red and a glass of white to take back to Dave. Sorry, we don't have red wine. How about a beer, sorry we don't have that either. Solamente vino blanco. Ok then two white wines please. There was some booze but didn't want that. Took it back to Dave and at this point he started making a tag line for Copa air, you get what you pay for. Made me laugh out loud.
After finishing our wine we go down to the gate again. Now I forget this is a plane going to the US so now you have to get your bags checked-searched at the gate. Also at this point any semblance of an Elite line is gone so it's everyone for themselves. In Latin America that can be daunting. We finally get through having our stuff searched and having my water taken away (I got it at the airport, I mean really!) and we make it to our seats. Dave is in row 14, I'm in 2.
I'm watching things carefully now. I watch as what seems to be the last people get on, and then a couple of more get on, this happens about five times. I then see the gate agent come in and tell the crew that boarding has finished. I look and see one open seat upfront. I got up and asked the purser about it, he looks at his papers and David's name to see that his seat is now 4b. I go back and grab Dave to come up. He didn't know what I was saying at first because he was resigned to be in the back. Anyway he soon got it and grabbed his stuff and came on up.
As before the inflight experience was the same as the trip down.
Once we got to Dulles we hopped off the plane pretty fast. Dave and I have GOES which is the finger print USA entry system so when everyone else goes left to stand in line we go right and are through boarder control in three minutes. Which is great if you only have a roll aboard. We ended up waiting an hour+ for our luggage. At this point it's 1am and I'm getting tired and cranky. We finally get our luggage and get the heck out of Dulles. I ended up getting to sleep at around 3am so I came into the office just a little bit late this morning.
In conclusion. Would I fly Copa again, probably. Will I like it, probably not. Nine hours of flying on a small plane is a little bit tiring. So this is my trip on Copa Airlines to Peru this last Thanksgiving.
Now I'm platinum elite in the Onepass program so I purchased the tickets under one record locator so that I can get my partner (who has no status on Copa ) a chance to be upgraded with me. This in turn made me do some research on the whole upgrade process for Copa Air, and by default Continental, on flyertalk. I found that I needed to split the record locator into two to make sure that I would get the upgrade four days out and that it would be a lottery at the airport as to whether we got my partner upgraded.
So the day of our trip out to Peru we show up at Dulles at 4:30 am to get him put on the "list" as my guest. We ask the agent to make sure he's on the list on the connection from Panama to Lima. She says that yes she has done this but somehow I don't think she did. I want to add that a 5:55am flight out of Dulles is an evil thing. We're getting ready to board and there is no indication that my partner will get the upgrade. I then go to the ticket counter and ask. The guy looks at me and asks if I'm Platinum and I pull out the card and show him. Va-voom, my partner is in the business class cabin. Two very happy people at this point.
We make it to Panama with only an hour between flights. We get off the plane and then realize we will be getting on the same plane for the leg to Lima. I got to the gate agent and asked about the upgrade for my partner. Business is checked in Full at this point and it stayed that way. So for the last 3 1/2 hour leg he had to sit in back. Which wasn't horrible. The only thing is I'm really sure the agent in Dulles didn't bother to add him to the upgrade list on the second let at the time of check-in at Dulles.
I also have to say that flying a 737-700 for 8+ hours is not my idea of fun, even if you are in the front of the bus. The seats barely recline, there are no foot rests so it’s not that much easier to get any sleep up front then it is in back and after getting up at 3am to catch the first flight sleep is what I wanted. I ended up reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" instead.
As for the food on the flights I can say it was actually good. I'm amazed at what they can get out of that small galley. It was tiny and yet they were able to get out drinks and nuts first, then appetizers, mains (a choice of two) and a dessert cart. The wine was good and they had a decent brandy. The only time they failed in my opinion was with the coming around for refills of wine and such. It wasn't automatic like most other airlines I've flown. Not really a problem. You just asked for more if you wanted it and they would have no problem getting it for you.
Entertainment was just a joke. Bring your own iPad or Kendle if you want to be entertained. The small screens that came down from the ceiling could barely be seen, my jack for the headsets didn't seem to fit the plugs to the head sets they had given me. The purser tried to fix it too and couldn't. It was fine because there really wasn't anything on that I wanted to watch. I ended up finishing my book and then purchasing the last in the series "The Girl who kicked a hornet's nest" which I read on the flight back.
Immigration is easy and took next to no time to get through. We had the hotel's car service pick us up for a rush hour trip to Meraflores the Thunderbird hotel Belevista.
We stayed in Lima for two days before going to Cuzco. The highlight was eating at Astrid y Gaston, a chief Guston restaurant. We had found it by just walking around the night before to get our bearings and knew some of our friends highly recommended it. It was an amazing 3 1/2 hour, 14 course dining experience and we loved every minute of it. Two bottle of wine later we stumbled back to the hotel so that we can get up and go back to the airport for a 6am flight to Cuzco.
I'm really going to have to stop these morning flights. They are evil.
We arrive in Cuzco to 10,000 feet up. I think that something I ate had made me sick and then I couldn't breathe either. I ended up going back to the hotel and spending the day in bed while everyone else went sightseeing. The thing is we were going to Manchu Picchu the next day and there was no way I was going to miss that. I had dreamed of seeing those ruins for years and never thought I would actually have the chance. I had chills and a fever but the best thing that I could have done was stay in bed all day. And it worked, I was fine for the trip the next day.
Manchu Picchu, there is no description. You've seen the photographs but it doesn’t prepare you for actually being there.
We end up taking a taxi to the train station. We decided, along with our posse, to take the high-end Orient Express Hiram Bingham to Manchu Picchu. It was amazing. We had pre-departure Champaign to start with at the train station. As we got settled into our dinning booth we noticed the dancing on the platform. They had indigenous people doing a local dance for us. It involved incents and a human skull. It was fascinating. After watching for a while we went back to the dinner car and sat down and the train started its four hour journey. We had announcements and then they came and took our order for brunch. We were then sent back to the bar car to be entertained and wined until we got to Manchu Picchu.
The journey went quickly and the next thing we knew we were there. This part of the tip will need to be seen in person. It's too hard to try to describe it and give it justice.
At around 6am we headed back to the train for the dinner trip back to Cuzco. Once again it was about the same as the way to Manchu Picchu but with dinner being served. After dinner we went to the bar car and proceeded to get somewhat drunk on Peruvian wine, beer and Pisco sours. By the time we got to the hotel it was definitely time for a good sleep and I was actually able to breathe again.
We stayed in Cuzco for another day in a half sightseeing. We found another Gaston restaurant in Cuzco and proceeded to have a fantastic lunch there. We also got to have an amazing dinner at an old Converted Monastery that was run by the same people who ran the Orient Express train operation.
The next day we head back to Lima on a flight that doesn’t leave at 6am in the morning. Thank God. We used Peruvian airlines for these flights and they were easy and cheap. The main difference between US local carriers and other counties' local carriers is that you still get service on flights internally. This flight was just about an hour and they had a drink service (with booze) and served food. Impressed me a little bit.
Once we went back to Lima we checked into the same hotel we were in the first few nights. In fact we were able to leave our big suitcases there so we didn't have to take them to Cuzco with us which made it much easier on our travel. The room was big, clean and the staff very friendly.
Now in lima we did a few things with the family of the friends we went with. We had a drinks party one night at their house, we had Chinese food one night, we went to an award's ceremony where my friend's father got a medal and then went to a cocktail party on the top of one of the nicest hotels in Lima for a book launch party and hobnobbing with the local who's who of lima. The vice president of Peru was even there.
Then on Saturday we went out to the country house to celebrate the father's 76th birthday. This house and country side were absolutely amazing. It was situated out in the dessert in the middle of a poor area where all they had was dust and brown everywhere. You drove down a dirt road and then came to a gate. Once they opened the gate there was a sea of green. On the inside of the wall of the compound it was a completely different experience. Lush green, a pool, three houses, a wine cellar. Truly amazing the whole thing. It had been set up with tables and a tent, there was a dance area and full bar service. We arrived at 1pm and didn't leave until around 1am. The food was traditional Peruvian stews of all kinds with rice. We had Peruvian doughnuts for dessert served with honey. This was another highlight of our trip.
The next day was the Bull Fight.
I tried to get out of this one. Watching something die for other's entertainment just isn't really my thing. We ended up going because the hosts had gotten us box seats and it seemed rude not to.
I will forever have the images of the fights (how do they call it that?) etched into my brain. The first bulls death traumatized me. I had to watch, kind of like a car wreck. I can still close my eyes and see in vivid detail something I will not discuss here.
Am I glad I went, yes for the cultural experience. Will I ever do it again, no.
The next day we headed back to Washington.
This time our flight left Lima at 2 something in the afternoon so we could sleep a bit. I had already been upgraded four days before. We get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The traffic was just bad and not horrific like usual so it didn't take nearly as long to get to the airport as we thought it would. We check-in at the Elite Access desk and I immediately get Dave put on the upgrade list. The woman takes a while doing it but she gets Dave wait listed on the first flight and on the connecting flight. I'm impressed because I was sure that didn’t happen on the way day.
Now at this point I ask for lounge access. The person says that I can go in but Dave can't. They only let the one with the Elite Access in but not with a guest. This makes the privilege practically worthless in my opinion. We do get to pay our airport departure fee at check-in and don’t' have to go through to another queue to pay it. Security was relatively painless. I tried once more to get us both into the lounge but it was a no go. Dave is a Star Alliance gold card member which gets him lounge access in most cases if he's flying on a Star Alliance flight on the same day. Well Copa air is a strange animal, they use Continental's Onepass program for their mileage program but they are not officially a Star Alliance member yet like Continental. This means that Dave can't use his gold status to get him into the lounge in Lima. We shrug our shoulders and heard to the gate.
We ask about his upgrade there and we're told that the front had checked in full, sorry. Ok, fine. I'll just get him to board at the same time as me. They call for the Elite Access to board and I have him in tow. The gate agent will not let him board with me, only Elite Access. Not guest or spouses or children. The agent will not bend. So I get out of line with Dave just long enough to get his bag so that I can put it above his seat. And then get my seat. Not a very pleasant experience.
Once on the plane I proceed to have this man sit next to me. But before he could actually sit down he had to get a grill, a pink Barbie bag full of god knows what, and another bag (just a bag, almost looked like a garbage bag) stowed. While doing this he has stopped anyone from passing him so they can go to their seats in the back. He finally gives them a little room by standing almost directly on me with his ass in my face. As this point I've put down my book and am actively giving him an evil eye that could melt diamonds. He finally sits down only to get up by way of tap-pushing my legs out of the way. I am not happy with him at all now. Who was this guy and how did he get in first class and not my Dave? Grrrrrr.
A little while later a girl comes in and takes the last seat in business class across the aisle from me. I'm not even sure she was supposed to be there but she sat there anyway. I was getting ready to try and get the seat for Dave when she jumped into it. She and the guy sitting next to me then decided to have a very loud conversation in Spanish across me.
Ok, I've had enough at this point and make the girl change places with me so she can sit next to her friend and talk all flight long if they want. I finally got some peace and quiet and could work on my book which had gotten my attention big time at this point.
The service was about the same as on the way down so nothing new to report here.
Once we got to Panama we went straight to the departing gate for our Panama-Washington flight to make sure Dave was on the upgrade list after a little floundering we see that he has been put on the list and is the first on it but that business class has checked in full again. At this point he's given up hope on the upgrade but I still have hope in the back of my head. Just because people have checked-in doesn't mean they will actually get on the plane.
I then proceed to take him to the actual Presidents Club there in Panama after we try to use the public bathroom and it has a line down the corridor to use it. This time the agent looks at my boarding pass and doesn't have a problem at all letting Dave in too. Seems the other lounge is contracted out so there are different rules. We get in and sit down for a little while, go to the bathroom and then I visit to the bar. I ask for a glass of red and a glass of white to take back to Dave. Sorry, we don't have red wine. How about a beer, sorry we don't have that either. Solamente vino blanco. Ok then two white wines please. There was some booze but didn't want that. Took it back to Dave and at this point he started making a tag line for Copa air, you get what you pay for. Made me laugh out loud.
After finishing our wine we go down to the gate again. Now I forget this is a plane going to the US so now you have to get your bags checked-searched at the gate. Also at this point any semblance of an Elite line is gone so it's everyone for themselves. In Latin America that can be daunting. We finally get through having our stuff searched and having my water taken away (I got it at the airport, I mean really!) and we make it to our seats. Dave is in row 14, I'm in 2.
I'm watching things carefully now. I watch as what seems to be the last people get on, and then a couple of more get on, this happens about five times. I then see the gate agent come in and tell the crew that boarding has finished. I look and see one open seat upfront. I got up and asked the purser about it, he looks at his papers and David's name to see that his seat is now 4b. I go back and grab Dave to come up. He didn't know what I was saying at first because he was resigned to be in the back. Anyway he soon got it and grabbed his stuff and came on up.
As before the inflight experience was the same as the trip down.
Once we got to Dulles we hopped off the plane pretty fast. Dave and I have GOES which is the finger print USA entry system so when everyone else goes left to stand in line we go right and are through boarder control in three minutes. Which is great if you only have a roll aboard. We ended up waiting an hour+ for our luggage. At this point it's 1am and I'm getting tired and cranky. We finally get our luggage and get the heck out of Dulles. I ended up getting to sleep at around 3am so I came into the office just a little bit late this morning.
In conclusion. Would I fly Copa again, probably. Will I like it, probably not. Nine hours of flying on a small plane is a little bit tiring. So this is my trip on Copa Airlines to Peru this last Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
It's about time to come back
I will be going to Lima soon and will write about it when I get back, maybe on the way down too.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
WallGreen's hell
This is a compliant email that i sent to corporate. I'm still amazed i had to go through this.
Dear Sirs,
I’m writing this with one hand as I have recently had hand reconstruction surgery. Here is the story and the reason for this letter of complaint.
On March the 9th I go into the George Washington University Hospital for my hand surgery to fix what had been broken the week before in a fall on the ice.
All goes well with the surgery except they had to do a lot more to piece the bone back together. I get out much later then I though I would be. There was more damage then they thought and took them much more time to fix I have a friend take me home and then send him to fill my pain medicine prescription.
Your Walgreen's on 21st an M streets in NW Washington DC is two blocks away from where I live and is also between me and the ER at the hospital so I used them last week to fill my prescription from the initial ER visit.
This time I send my friend to fill the prescription because I’m just coming out of general anesthesia and should not be walking about. He calls me to tell me that the pharmacist will not fill it until she verifies the prescription with the hospital and that she can’t do it that night because it had closed.
The hospital is open 24/7.
At this point I get my discharge papers and walk there myself. I’ve just had major surgery and was not going to go without pain medicine, or so I though. I get there and show her my bandaged hand along with my discharge papers and give her a phone number to call. She still will not fill the prescription. The phone doesn’t pick-up and I leave in frustration hoping that the meds from the surgery will last the night.
They did not and I was up all night in extreme pain. I get to the store the next day at 8am when it opens. The same pharmacist is there and she’s calling the hospital. I’m shaking in pain at this point. She finds out that yes I did have surgery the day before (but didn't believe me) but still will not fill the prescription until she can verify the amount. And she has to do this by fax.
By this point I’m on the verge of tears with pain and frustration. I’m luck in that my doctor’s office is walking distance from home and your store to me. Same as the hospital. I first walk to the hospital thinking they would help and they send me to my doctor’s office.
Once I get there I tell them this story and as I tell it you can see the disbelief in their eyes. The doctor calls the pharmacy in the bottom of their building to see if they had the meds and then wrote me another prescription for that pharmacy.
I go down and try to fill it but my insurance refuses because it says it’s too soon. Your pharmacist had filled it (or put it in the system anyway) and still didn’t give it to me. Luckily the new Pharmacist could back out what your person had done and I finally got my pain medicine.
I need to reiterate, YOU PHARMACIST DENIED ME PAIN MEDICINE AFTER MAJOR SURGERY!!!!!!!
I’m really trying to figure out what other actions to take against your origination. This was beyond neglect and on the verge of being just plain mean!
Dear Sirs,
I’m writing this with one hand as I have recently had hand reconstruction surgery. Here is the story and the reason for this letter of complaint.
On March the 9th I go into the George Washington University Hospital for my hand surgery to fix what had been broken the week before in a fall on the ice.
All goes well with the surgery except they had to do a lot more to piece the bone back together. I get out much later then I though I would be. There was more damage then they thought and took them much more time to fix I have a friend take me home and then send him to fill my pain medicine prescription.
Your Walgreen's on 21st an M streets in NW Washington DC is two blocks away from where I live and is also between me and the ER at the hospital so I used them last week to fill my prescription from the initial ER visit.
This time I send my friend to fill the prescription because I’m just coming out of general anesthesia and should not be walking about. He calls me to tell me that the pharmacist will not fill it until she verifies the prescription with the hospital and that she can’t do it that night because it had closed.
The hospital is open 24/7.
At this point I get my discharge papers and walk there myself. I’ve just had major surgery and was not going to go without pain medicine, or so I though. I get there and show her my bandaged hand along with my discharge papers and give her a phone number to call. She still will not fill the prescription. The phone doesn’t pick-up and I leave in frustration hoping that the meds from the surgery will last the night.
They did not and I was up all night in extreme pain. I get to the store the next day at 8am when it opens. The same pharmacist is there and she’s calling the hospital. I’m shaking in pain at this point. She finds out that yes I did have surgery the day before (but didn't believe me) but still will not fill the prescription until she can verify the amount. And she has to do this by fax.
By this point I’m on the verge of tears with pain and frustration. I’m luck in that my doctor’s office is walking distance from home and your store to me. Same as the hospital. I first walk to the hospital thinking they would help and they send me to my doctor’s office.
Once I get there I tell them this story and as I tell it you can see the disbelief in their eyes. The doctor calls the pharmacy in the bottom of their building to see if they had the meds and then wrote me another prescription for that pharmacy.
I go down and try to fill it but my insurance refuses because it says it’s too soon. Your pharmacist had filled it (or put it in the system anyway) and still didn’t give it to me. Luckily the new Pharmacist could back out what your person had done and I finally got my pain medicine.
I need to reiterate, YOU PHARMACIST DENIED ME PAIN MEDICINE AFTER MAJOR SURGERY!!!!!!!
I’m really trying to figure out what other actions to take against your origination. This was beyond neglect and on the verge of being just plain mean!
Friday, November 14, 2008
London in Six days.
And I am crawling out of my skin. I’m ready to be there. Ughh.
Dave and I have gone on a crash weight loss problem and general being better fit routine. I’ve lost about ten pounds and have about another three to go before we go to London. We want to get dance floor ready. I have to say it’s really, really hard. Here’s what we’ve been doing.
No drinking.
Running in the morning.
Working out in the day.
Dave isn’t eating gluten right now, I haven’t gone that far.
No going out to dinner.
I’ve been bringing my lunch to work; I know what’s in it.
So far we’ve both done very well, the only problem is that we’re both a little bit light headed and short tempered. I’ve gone from 213 lbs to 203lbs and want to lose another three pounds before next Thursday. Dave is down to 162 lbs from over 170 lbs.
We look good and will hopefully stay that way unless we kill each other.
We’re looking at this as a life style change. When we come back from London we will be doing the same thing but not as aggressively. Our next big trip is Buenos Aries for Christmas and we want to look good there too.
So much work, so little time.
Dave and I have gone on a crash weight loss problem and general being better fit routine. I’ve lost about ten pounds and have about another three to go before we go to London. We want to get dance floor ready. I have to say it’s really, really hard. Here’s what we’ve been doing.
No drinking.
Running in the morning.
Working out in the day.
Dave isn’t eating gluten right now, I haven’t gone that far.
No going out to dinner.
I’ve been bringing my lunch to work; I know what’s in it.
So far we’ve both done very well, the only problem is that we’re both a little bit light headed and short tempered. I’ve gone from 213 lbs to 203lbs and want to lose another three pounds before next Thursday. Dave is down to 162 lbs from over 170 lbs.
We look good and will hopefully stay that way unless we kill each other.
We’re looking at this as a life style change. When we come back from London we will be doing the same thing but not as aggressively. Our next big trip is Buenos Aries for Christmas and we want to look good there too.
So much work, so little time.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Miami Trip Day One.
Well this started off well. I’m on my way to our annual fall meeting. I went to bed early and got up early for this. This time it’s in Miami. I usually fly United or USairways when I travel by air because I like my points. This trip I’ve had to go American airlines. Reason being is it was $200 compared to $400 on my preferred airlines. It’s also out of National airport which is much closer then Dulles.
Being the good boy that I am I got to the airport 2 hours before flight time, which was 12 noon. I checked in and was offered an upgrade for $90 bucks. For me that’s well worth sitting in the front of the bus for a two hour flight so I took it. I proceeded to check my bag in and go through security. I settled myself in at the RCC after a failed attempt to access the Admiral Club (American airlines lounge) and started surfing the net. I then get an alert saying the plane has been delayed. I’m in the Red Carpet Club which is very comfortable so I’m not too worried. I update my computer and then restart to check my email. The next thing I know the flight has been canceled.
WTF??
I call American and they put me on the next flight at 3:05pm. Not happy about that. I ask about my bags and the woman said that it would automatically be on the next flight. Now because I do not trust these people I go over to the American lounge and check. I saw that there was an earlier flight so I asked to be on it. The woman was quite nice and told me she would try but that I need to go pick my luggage up and recheck it.
WTF??
Recheck my baggage? United never made me do this. Seems that they do not have enough ground staff to figure out what to do when I flight is canceled so they just make you do it.
I then made a mad dash to the baggage claim and picked up my bag. Then ran back upstairs and went to the outside-curbside to recheck it. “Sir, it will not let me do it from here. You have to go back inside and do it”
WTF??
So inside I go and all of the sudden it’s really busy. Luckily the girl at the American lounge gave me priority access boarding pass which gets me in the first class line. Thank God! I’m sweating bullets at this point because I think I’m on standby for the earlier flight. I finally get my bag checked in and run back to the American lounge. The girl their confirms that I’m not on the earlier flight but that I’m confirmed on the 3:05 flight and she put me on the wait list for first (I’ve paid for it). She then tells me that if it doesn’t go through I will have to ask for a refund form at the gate.
WTF??
So now I’m at Friday’s having a 500 calorie meal and a beer writing this. And I haven’t even started my journey. I still have five days ahead of me. If this is the way the trip goes I will not be a happy camper.
At least I’m now staying at a place on the beach in Miami. That counts for something. I was supposed to be there for work tonight but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I will check-in and find a store nearby where I can get some breakfast supplies and fruit. I haven’t gotten to this weight by eating crap.
PS. I’m having the healthy meal at Friday’s, which is hard to do really. At Friday’s anyway.
Tomorrow I’ll fill in a little bit more about the trip. I’m not expecting great things to tell the truth.
Being the good boy that I am I got to the airport 2 hours before flight time, which was 12 noon. I checked in and was offered an upgrade for $90 bucks. For me that’s well worth sitting in the front of the bus for a two hour flight so I took it. I proceeded to check my bag in and go through security. I settled myself in at the RCC after a failed attempt to access the Admiral Club (American airlines lounge) and started surfing the net. I then get an alert saying the plane has been delayed. I’m in the Red Carpet Club which is very comfortable so I’m not too worried. I update my computer and then restart to check my email. The next thing I know the flight has been canceled.
WTF??
I call American and they put me on the next flight at 3:05pm. Not happy about that. I ask about my bags and the woman said that it would automatically be on the next flight. Now because I do not trust these people I go over to the American lounge and check. I saw that there was an earlier flight so I asked to be on it. The woman was quite nice and told me she would try but that I need to go pick my luggage up and recheck it.
WTF??
Recheck my baggage? United never made me do this. Seems that they do not have enough ground staff to figure out what to do when I flight is canceled so they just make you do it.
I then made a mad dash to the baggage claim and picked up my bag. Then ran back upstairs and went to the outside-curbside to recheck it. “Sir, it will not let me do it from here. You have to go back inside and do it”
WTF??
So inside I go and all of the sudden it’s really busy. Luckily the girl at the American lounge gave me priority access boarding pass which gets me in the first class line. Thank God! I’m sweating bullets at this point because I think I’m on standby for the earlier flight. I finally get my bag checked in and run back to the American lounge. The girl their confirms that I’m not on the earlier flight but that I’m confirmed on the 3:05 flight and she put me on the wait list for first (I’ve paid for it). She then tells me that if it doesn’t go through I will have to ask for a refund form at the gate.
WTF??
So now I’m at Friday’s having a 500 calorie meal and a beer writing this. And I haven’t even started my journey. I still have five days ahead of me. If this is the way the trip goes I will not be a happy camper.
At least I’m now staying at a place on the beach in Miami. That counts for something. I was supposed to be there for work tonight but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I will check-in and find a store nearby where I can get some breakfast supplies and fruit. I haven’t gotten to this weight by eating crap.
PS. I’m having the healthy meal at Friday’s, which is hard to do really. At Friday’s anyway.
Tomorrow I’ll fill in a little bit more about the trip. I’m not expecting great things to tell the truth.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
And he's back.
Well let’s see, have I been busy since the last time I wrote here?
The answer is a resounding, YES!
I just dropped my mom off from a weekend that was a great success. She got in on Friday night and we went to Café Trope for dinner. It was nice and we got to visist for a bit. I do have to say that driving to Baltimore international airport on a Friday going through the city is about as much fun as being racked in the neither regions. It took about an hour and thirty five minutes to get there. I’m glad I left at five thirty for a seven ten pickup. As it was, I didn’t have to pay for parking because I was there under thirty minutes. We ended up just eating and then going to bed. We had a big day planned for Saturday.
You see my mother wasn’t the only mom in town. Dave’s mom is here from England, this is the whole reason we had a dinner party on Saturday night. The party was for eight with another joining us for dessert after. Here’s is what we had.
Watermelon salad with feta cheese, fennel, Arugula, toasted hazel nuts and a balsamic dressing for the starter.
Chicken Marbella marinated from the night before in a prune, olive, caper brown sugar, white wine and balsamic vinegar mixture. This was served with fresh fettuccini with a garlic, shaved almond, and olive oil sauce topped with poppy seeds. We also had a little cream spinach I whipped up.
For dessert we had a flourless chocolate torte with a fresh raspberry sauce and whipping cream with vanilla beans.
It was a huge success. Mom and I ended up staying on the roof talking after everyone else took off. Dave had to take his mom back to the burbs and all the other guys went out to town (the club).
The next day we had brunch at the Beacon bar and grill. This time it was the whole family, brother and sister-in-law and the baby. Sunday just turned out very nicely as did the whole weekend.
I had to take mom back to BWI yesterday in the afternoon but that wasn’t bad at all. I went to work that morning and listened to a presentation on VMware on the desktop and then meet Dave and Mom for lunch. I then dropped her off, went back to work and actually found parking right outside the building. That never happens.
I was a bit sad to see mom go, we had such a good time together and she so enjoys it up here.
This week I’m having dinner with Kiat at the Saint Regis tomorrow, having dinner with our friends Rob and Carlos on Thursday. Friday there is something to do but it’s date night so I’m not sure we’ll do it. Saturday we have three parties to go to. I think Sunday will be a go see a movie in the afternoon unless of course one of our friends shows up from the UK, which happens.
On another note, I’m finally feeling close to 100%. I’ve had a throat blossom in the back of my throat where my right ear drains into my throat. Now it only bugged me every so often so I thought it was allergies. Well we ended up going to the doctor for another issue and he put us on antibiotics. The back of my throat has almost cleared up completely. Seems I’ve had this thing for two or three months and just felt down the whole time but being me refused to accept that and still worked out and hung out with friend. All I have to say and now I feel like my old self again. Next time I know what to do if it happens again.
Our next trip it the UK in November together, I might have to go to Miami for work in October. We will then go to Buenos Aires for Christmas and Cape Town in October. There might be a New Zealand trip in there somewhere, we’ll see.
I think that’s enough to write for my come back. I’ll write about the restaurant on Thursday.
The answer is a resounding, YES!
I just dropped my mom off from a weekend that was a great success. She got in on Friday night and we went to Café Trope for dinner. It was nice and we got to visist for a bit. I do have to say that driving to Baltimore international airport on a Friday going through the city is about as much fun as being racked in the neither regions. It took about an hour and thirty five minutes to get there. I’m glad I left at five thirty for a seven ten pickup. As it was, I didn’t have to pay for parking because I was there under thirty minutes. We ended up just eating and then going to bed. We had a big day planned for Saturday.
You see my mother wasn’t the only mom in town. Dave’s mom is here from England, this is the whole reason we had a dinner party on Saturday night. The party was for eight with another joining us for dessert after. Here’s is what we had.
Watermelon salad with feta cheese, fennel, Arugula, toasted hazel nuts and a balsamic dressing for the starter.
Chicken Marbella marinated from the night before in a prune, olive, caper brown sugar, white wine and balsamic vinegar mixture. This was served with fresh fettuccini with a garlic, shaved almond, and olive oil sauce topped with poppy seeds. We also had a little cream spinach I whipped up.
For dessert we had a flourless chocolate torte with a fresh raspberry sauce and whipping cream with vanilla beans.
It was a huge success. Mom and I ended up staying on the roof talking after everyone else took off. Dave had to take his mom back to the burbs and all the other guys went out to town (the club).
The next day we had brunch at the Beacon bar and grill. This time it was the whole family, brother and sister-in-law and the baby. Sunday just turned out very nicely as did the whole weekend.
I had to take mom back to BWI yesterday in the afternoon but that wasn’t bad at all. I went to work that morning and listened to a presentation on VMware on the desktop and then meet Dave and Mom for lunch. I then dropped her off, went back to work and actually found parking right outside the building. That never happens.
I was a bit sad to see mom go, we had such a good time together and she so enjoys it up here.
This week I’m having dinner with Kiat at the Saint Regis tomorrow, having dinner with our friends Rob and Carlos on Thursday. Friday there is something to do but it’s date night so I’m not sure we’ll do it. Saturday we have three parties to go to. I think Sunday will be a go see a movie in the afternoon unless of course one of our friends shows up from the UK, which happens.
On another note, I’m finally feeling close to 100%. I’ve had a throat blossom in the back of my throat where my right ear drains into my throat. Now it only bugged me every so often so I thought it was allergies. Well we ended up going to the doctor for another issue and he put us on antibiotics. The back of my throat has almost cleared up completely. Seems I’ve had this thing for two or three months and just felt down the whole time but being me refused to accept that and still worked out and hung out with friend. All I have to say and now I feel like my old self again. Next time I know what to do if it happens again.
Our next trip it the UK in November together, I might have to go to Miami for work in October. We will then go to Buenos Aires for Christmas and Cape Town in October. There might be a New Zealand trip in there somewhere, we’ll see.
I think that’s enough to write for my come back. I’ll write about the restaurant on Thursday.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Cape Town accommodations
Dave and I started looking for places to stay for our big trips this year. The first challenge was getting affordable plane tickets to Buenos Aries, our fist destination, in December for the Christmas holiday. We originally wanted to leave on December the 23rd and come back on the 4th. We looked at a United flight which is direct from Washington Dulles but the price was close to 3k for a coach class ticket. That is way out of our price range. So I stated looking at alternative offerings from other airlines in the star alliance (we like our points)
We found Air Canada out of Toronto for about 1k each. It would be a trip from Washington National to Toronto to Buenos Aires. The problem is we were not sure we wanted to go so we procrastinated.
We shouldn’t have done that. The prices went up to close to what united was charging for those dates. We made up our minds to stay at home and see what was being offered by way of an esaver the week before Christmas.
But I wouldn’t let it die and one day decided to look around some more.
I found that if you left on the 25th and came back on the 5th the price dropped from $2,900.00 to $947.00 each. I called Dave and told him about it. We got the tickets within thirty minutes of that conversation. Which is good because I looked again after that and the price had gone up again to $2,900.00 for those dates too.
So now we have the tickets to Buenos Aires but no place to stay. This mirrored the situation we were in for Cape Town South Africa for March. I got us free tickets on points, including my sister coming out of Charlotte NC but we didn’t have a place to stay.
Dave and I decided to spend the weekend looking for places to stay, my job was Cape Town and his was Buenos Aires.
Let me tell you, this is not an easy or fast job. There are way too many places to look at on the internet.
I looked and looked and looked and sent off inquiries to a bunch of places but was getting discouraged. You see we need a place for the whole month. We have a staggered schedule of Dave and his mom, then Dave and my sister, then Dave my sister and me and then Dave and me with maybe some friends coming to stay from Brazil and the UK. We were very fortunate in the last couple of visits to get places to stay in the $100 to $150 a day range.
I wasn’t finding anything like that this time, it was all $300 to $ 500 a day for something we wanted to stay in and $200 a day for something we didn’t want to stay in on the bad side of town. I finally asked someone about a place in Bantry Bay. It was rented but they had another suggestion if I didn’t mind looking at it, and they offered a monthly rate.
We looked at it and it looked interesting. It was a three bedroom (we were looking at two bedrooms) with a roof deck and it was in the right location. Here is the link to the description.
Now here is the good part, we were offered it for the whole month for 22, 500 Rand, or about 3k or about $98 a night. Now what you have to know is that it normally rents for three times that even in the slow season so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Seems that the girl mistook the monthly rate paid if you stay for a year with the monthly rate if you only stay for a month and she quoted us the yearly/monthly rate by mistake. And they are standing by the mistake!! We couldn’t be happier. It was looking like lodging was going to cost around 7k to 8k for something we wanted to stay in. Oh happy days.
So now we’re still looking for a place to stay Christmas in Buenos Aires. Dave has a few leads and we are just waiting to hear back from them. I think we've narrowed it down to two in the same building.
Somewhere in all this we have a life with work and friends happening too. Never a dull moment in our lives.
We found Air Canada out of Toronto for about 1k each. It would be a trip from Washington National to Toronto to Buenos Aires. The problem is we were not sure we wanted to go so we procrastinated.
We shouldn’t have done that. The prices went up to close to what united was charging for those dates. We made up our minds to stay at home and see what was being offered by way of an esaver the week before Christmas.
But I wouldn’t let it die and one day decided to look around some more.
I found that if you left on the 25th and came back on the 5th the price dropped from $2,900.00 to $947.00 each. I called Dave and told him about it. We got the tickets within thirty minutes of that conversation. Which is good because I looked again after that and the price had gone up again to $2,900.00 for those dates too.
So now we have the tickets to Buenos Aires but no place to stay. This mirrored the situation we were in for Cape Town South Africa for March. I got us free tickets on points, including my sister coming out of Charlotte NC but we didn’t have a place to stay.
Dave and I decided to spend the weekend looking for places to stay, my job was Cape Town and his was Buenos Aires.
Let me tell you, this is not an easy or fast job. There are way too many places to look at on the internet.
I looked and looked and looked and sent off inquiries to a bunch of places but was getting discouraged. You see we need a place for the whole month. We have a staggered schedule of Dave and his mom, then Dave and my sister, then Dave my sister and me and then Dave and me with maybe some friends coming to stay from Brazil and the UK. We were very fortunate in the last couple of visits to get places to stay in the $100 to $150 a day range.
I wasn’t finding anything like that this time, it was all $300 to $ 500 a day for something we wanted to stay in and $200 a day for something we didn’t want to stay in on the bad side of town. I finally asked someone about a place in Bantry Bay. It was rented but they had another suggestion if I didn’t mind looking at it, and they offered a monthly rate.
We looked at it and it looked interesting. It was a three bedroom (we were looking at two bedrooms) with a roof deck and it was in the right location. Here is the link to the description.
Now here is the good part, we were offered it for the whole month for 22, 500 Rand, or about 3k or about $98 a night. Now what you have to know is that it normally rents for three times that even in the slow season so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Seems that the girl mistook the monthly rate paid if you stay for a year with the monthly rate if you only stay for a month and she quoted us the yearly/monthly rate by mistake. And they are standing by the mistake!! We couldn’t be happier. It was looking like lodging was going to cost around 7k to 8k for something we wanted to stay in. Oh happy days.
So now we’re still looking for a place to stay Christmas in Buenos Aires. Dave has a few leads and we are just waiting to hear back from them. I think we've narrowed it down to two in the same building.
Somewhere in all this we have a life with work and friends happening too. Never a dull moment in our lives.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Playa Del Carmen
Rob over Christmas “We need to go to Playa Del Carmen”
Me, calling his bluff “Ok, how about over 4th of July”
Rob, calling my bluff “Fabulous! I’ll set it up”
Me in my mind “ Oh f*ck, now we really have to go”
Rob and Mikko have been telling us for years how great Playa was (We’ll call it Playa from now on to shorten things even if it does just mean beach in Spanish) for years. They have gone for New Years and other times of the year. We’ve done places like Rio over New Years. So finally we were nailed down on a time to go.
It was one of the best times we’ve had. And that was a huge surprise.
For some reason Dave and I had this notion that Mexico was not a destination that we wanted to visit. There are more exotic places in the world that we wanted to go to but a few things happened along the way over the last year that changed that thought.
The dollar SUCKS against most currencies!!
Fuel prices have driven plane tickets to the point of being ridiculous. I checked a ticket to CLT from DCA and it was $800. That’s an hour trip!!
So both of those reasons made going to Mexico much more attractive. We used points to get the plane tickets and the peso is still a good value so the room was cheap and everything else was cheapish too even though we were in tourist central.
The days consisted of getting up at 11ish and going to the beach to lounge around at the most amazing beach club until about 6 drinking bear and eating lunch. We would then go back and take a little nap before heading to dinner at around 9pm. Then it was time to go to the local gay bar called Playa 69. Funny great name I think. And we would stay there until the wee hours of the night go home and then do it again.
This happened every day except Monday when Playa 69 was closed so this forced us to get some sleep that night. I also went deep sea fishing on Thursday so I had a little bit of an early night on Wednesday because I had to be up and out of the house for the boat at around 7am.
This was pretty much the vacation and we enjoyed it greatly.
I especially liked the fishing even though I feed the fish coffee three times while we were on the very small boat out on the very rough sea. Ughhh!!!! Luckily I didn’t eat any solid food that morning. Still we caught 7 fish between the 8 of us, which was 7 more than what some of the other boats caught. We got a sail fish which I’ve never seen caught before. It was at least 4 feet long but we let it go (Bill fish are endangered) and we also caught a Mahi Mahi that was just as big. I caught a mackerel and a barracuda. When we caught the Mahi Mahi two other boats come over to see us pull it in and when we got to the beach 20 people showed up to look at it. Seems no one had caught a Mahi that big in six months. Everyone was so envious. I was so proud of my friends and their catches.
Also, as soon as I put my feet back on the ground my sea sickness went away. What a relief. I don’t remember feeling that bad and I hate throwing up.
That night we took half of the Mahi Mahi and a Barracuda back to the flat and proceeded to have a dinner party for 14 with plenty of fish. All in all a very good day.
Me to Rob “We are soooo coming back”
Rob to me “We knew you would”
So, that was our trip to Playa Del Carmen. I left out anything that was R rated or worse. Those are stories for in person.
Me, calling his bluff “Ok, how about over 4th of July”
Rob, calling my bluff “Fabulous! I’ll set it up”
Me in my mind “ Oh f*ck, now we really have to go”
Rob and Mikko have been telling us for years how great Playa was (We’ll call it Playa from now on to shorten things even if it does just mean beach in Spanish) for years. They have gone for New Years and other times of the year. We’ve done places like Rio over New Years. So finally we were nailed down on a time to go.
It was one of the best times we’ve had. And that was a huge surprise.
For some reason Dave and I had this notion that Mexico was not a destination that we wanted to visit. There are more exotic places in the world that we wanted to go to but a few things happened along the way over the last year that changed that thought.
The dollar SUCKS against most currencies!!
Fuel prices have driven plane tickets to the point of being ridiculous. I checked a ticket to CLT from DCA and it was $800. That’s an hour trip!!
So both of those reasons made going to Mexico much more attractive. We used points to get the plane tickets and the peso is still a good value so the room was cheap and everything else was cheapish too even though we were in tourist central.
The days consisted of getting up at 11ish and going to the beach to lounge around at the most amazing beach club until about 6 drinking bear and eating lunch. We would then go back and take a little nap before heading to dinner at around 9pm. Then it was time to go to the local gay bar called Playa 69. Funny great name I think. And we would stay there until the wee hours of the night go home and then do it again.
This happened every day except Monday when Playa 69 was closed so this forced us to get some sleep that night. I also went deep sea fishing on Thursday so I had a little bit of an early night on Wednesday because I had to be up and out of the house for the boat at around 7am.
This was pretty much the vacation and we enjoyed it greatly.
I especially liked the fishing even though I feed the fish coffee three times while we were on the very small boat out on the very rough sea. Ughhh!!!! Luckily I didn’t eat any solid food that morning. Still we caught 7 fish between the 8 of us, which was 7 more than what some of the other boats caught. We got a sail fish which I’ve never seen caught before. It was at least 4 feet long but we let it go (Bill fish are endangered) and we also caught a Mahi Mahi that was just as big. I caught a mackerel and a barracuda. When we caught the Mahi Mahi two other boats come over to see us pull it in and when we got to the beach 20 people showed up to look at it. Seems no one had caught a Mahi that big in six months. Everyone was so envious. I was so proud of my friends and their catches.
Also, as soon as I put my feet back on the ground my sea sickness went away. What a relief. I don’t remember feeling that bad and I hate throwing up.
That night we took half of the Mahi Mahi and a Barracuda back to the flat and proceeded to have a dinner party for 14 with plenty of fish. All in all a very good day.
Me to Rob “We are soooo coming back”
Rob to me “We knew you would”
So, that was our trip to Playa Del Carmen. I left out anything that was R rated or worse. Those are stories for in person.
Monday, June 16, 2008
I won!
Seems I’m going to be in Paris this weekend without a playmate. I entered a contest (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=834270 I’m ckc123) and, wonder of wonders, I won. I leave on Thursday night and come back on Sunday. I’m staying here: http://www.hotel-saintmerry.com/english.html
This is a great little get-a-way. I tried to get some people to meet me there but it happened so last minute that a ticket is now in the 5k price range because all of the coach seats are taken.
Last Thursday I read that flyertalk.com was having a give-a-way of 20 seats on a brand new luxury airlines called openskies.com. They are being started by British Airways. The new service starts on the 19th so I will be on the inaugural flight. I entered and then the next day found out I was one of the chosen to go. This gave me six days to get this prepared. So I have everything set up and I’m ready to go now. I’ve figured out where the hotel is and found a nice bistro that a friend recommended.
I’ll write about it when I get back.
This is a great little get-a-way. I tried to get some people to meet me there but it happened so last minute that a ticket is now in the 5k price range because all of the coach seats are taken.
Last Thursday I read that flyertalk.com was having a give-a-way of 20 seats on a brand new luxury airlines called openskies.com. They are being started by British Airways. The new service starts on the 19th so I will be on the inaugural flight. I entered and then the next day found out I was one of the chosen to go. This gave me six days to get this prepared. So I have everything set up and I’m ready to go now. I’ve figured out where the hotel is and found a nice bistro that a friend recommended.
I’ll write about it when I get back.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Woodstock and the Catskills. Fun in the New York countryside.
Well we got invited to visit some friends in Bearsville New York. They live in NYC but have a weekend house about two hours outside of the city in the Catskills. It was an amazing, relaxing weekend.
I got off of work a little bit early and met Dave at Union station for the train ride up to Pen Station in New York. I have to say that Amtrak really, really sucks but this trip wasn’t all that bad. We sat there and read while the country side went by. They even had someone pushing a cart up and down the aisles selling drinks and food so we had a glass of wine. We got to NYC and had about an hour to wait until we got the train out to Woodstock.
We’ve always heard of Poughkeepsie, Yonkers and Hoboken but they always seemed to be funny little names with no actual place to connect them to. Well the train was going to Poughkeepsie and we went through Yonkers and Hoboken, it’s cool to know that they exist and where they are now.
Once we got to the train stop and got off, one of our friends was there to pick us up. About twenty minutes later we were at the weekend house. What a lovely little house it was/is, it is on a couple of archers of land and has been recently renovated from the ground up from its original 1927 construction. It’s open and airy and you can’t be in the house anywhere without seeing the forest outside.
We had dinner waiting for us which was pretty amazing considering we got there so late. Lamb burgers in pita bread with yogurt sauce. It was really, really good. We stayed up a little bit and then went to bed for a nice sleep in the country side silence.
Saturday we got up to coffee and the French open on the TV. I haven’t watched tennis in so long I didn’t even know who the people were on the court. It was still fun to watch. We then went to brunch in a little town down the way that I can’t remember the name of. It was very nice and very country. The price was a bit steep I thought for the area but not too bad. We then headed for the village of Woodstock just to see it. It seems that the whole Woodstock legend is just that, legend. The festival had gotten so big that the original farm outside of Woodstock could no longer hold it so they had to move it forty three miles away to another farm that could near Bethel, NY. Things you never knew.
The village is still full of hippies and your hippie want-a-be’s.
We walked a little way after getting a great parking spot and went straight to a clothing store. The store is run by the neighbors of the friends that we stayed with so we socialized a bit and then started looking around.
This store is exactly what we want it DC. It had cool, funky, not found in DC clothes and Dave and I immediately feel in love with it. $250 dollars later and one pair of shorts and two shirts I was a very happy boy. Funky cool clothes to wear at the next party. Love it.
We then got some ice cream and walked around a little bit. There was this strange guy walking around that kind of seemed to be following us. It was a little bit spooky because everywhere we went he was there. We decided it was time to go back to the house and have a nap before dinner. But first we had to see some art by a friend of theirs in a showing at a gallery near their house.
It was amazing stuff and if we had an extra 30k lying around I’m sure we would have gotten three or four of the paintings. The problem is we need new windows before we need new paintings. Still, if we win the lottery we’ll be back to purchase some of it. Very abstract landscapes. Loved it.
After the nap it was cocktail time. Wine for me, I’ve kind of gone off vodka. The neighbors came over for drinks and chatting and socializing. They brought a whole picture of cosmos. Oh my! We sat on the screened porch for a good long time while a thunder storm went over head. The neighbors went home to cook and we started cooking too.
We had tender loin stuffed with mushrooms, asparagus (which was a little bit burned but interesting just the same) and some kind of starch that’s escaping me right now; I think it was couis couis. All with lots of lovely wine. It was a very relaxing evening just having dinner with friends and enjoying the tranquility of the country.
The next morning was brunch with some Campaign to fight off the little bit of a hangover we all had from the wine the night before. We then just read the New York Times and chilled on the porch again until it was time to head back to the city. We had a bus (yes you got that right, we rode a bus home!) that was leaving from Pen station at 8pm so we left the house to drive back around 3:30/4:00. It takes a little under 2 hours to get back to the city.
We ended up getting there a bit early and after saying good bye and thank you to the boys we decided to eat before getting on the bus. We stopped at this Irish pub across from the station thinking it might not be too expensive and that we could get some real food. One house salad, one ceaser salad, one fish dish, one chicken dish, one glass of wine and two pints of beer and forty five minutes later we were presented with a check for $100. Mind you the food was good and all but it was more like a $50 dinner, not $100. Oh well, it was mid town NYC.
We then decide that we should get to the bus a little bit early just in case it was full. Silly us, there was a rather large line to get on the bus when we got there. Once we finally got on board I think we got the last two seats together.
A few observations about the DC to NY bus.
1. They give you water, which is nice considering it only cost $20 for the whole trip.
2. They play movies, which sucks if you want to sleep.
3. You can only go number 1 in the bathroom. This was fine with me. Seems number 2 stinks up the whole back of the bus.
4. They will take a break in Delaware even though there was a vote that told them not to.
5. It takes a lot longer than the train. About four and a half hours to five hours.
6. It drops off at two places in DC, Eye Street and 14th and in Dupont Circle.
Once we got to Dupont Circle it was a matter of a five minute walk to our house. We finally got in the door around 12:30am and were completely tired because all the sleep we were supposed to get on the bus didn’t happen because of the movies. Around 1ish we finally started to wind down enough to get to sleep.
Monday sucked, I didn’t get to run that morning and showed up at the office at 9:30, I’m usually there around 7:45 so that was late for me. Fortunately I’ve was able to work out that afternoon and have been able to run every morning this week since.
I also had my performance review on Tuesday. It went well.
That’s all the excitement for now.
I got off of work a little bit early and met Dave at Union station for the train ride up to Pen Station in New York. I have to say that Amtrak really, really sucks but this trip wasn’t all that bad. We sat there and read while the country side went by. They even had someone pushing a cart up and down the aisles selling drinks and food so we had a glass of wine. We got to NYC and had about an hour to wait until we got the train out to Woodstock.
We’ve always heard of Poughkeepsie, Yonkers and Hoboken but they always seemed to be funny little names with no actual place to connect them to. Well the train was going to Poughkeepsie and we went through Yonkers and Hoboken, it’s cool to know that they exist and where they are now.
Once we got to the train stop and got off, one of our friends was there to pick us up. About twenty minutes later we were at the weekend house. What a lovely little house it was/is, it is on a couple of archers of land and has been recently renovated from the ground up from its original 1927 construction. It’s open and airy and you can’t be in the house anywhere without seeing the forest outside.
We had dinner waiting for us which was pretty amazing considering we got there so late. Lamb burgers in pita bread with yogurt sauce. It was really, really good. We stayed up a little bit and then went to bed for a nice sleep in the country side silence.
Saturday we got up to coffee and the French open on the TV. I haven’t watched tennis in so long I didn’t even know who the people were on the court. It was still fun to watch. We then went to brunch in a little town down the way that I can’t remember the name of. It was very nice and very country. The price was a bit steep I thought for the area but not too bad. We then headed for the village of Woodstock just to see it. It seems that the whole Woodstock legend is just that, legend. The festival had gotten so big that the original farm outside of Woodstock could no longer hold it so they had to move it forty three miles away to another farm that could near Bethel, NY. Things you never knew.
The village is still full of hippies and your hippie want-a-be’s.
We walked a little way after getting a great parking spot and went straight to a clothing store. The store is run by the neighbors of the friends that we stayed with so we socialized a bit and then started looking around.
This store is exactly what we want it DC. It had cool, funky, not found in DC clothes and Dave and I immediately feel in love with it. $250 dollars later and one pair of shorts and two shirts I was a very happy boy. Funky cool clothes to wear at the next party. Love it.
We then got some ice cream and walked around a little bit. There was this strange guy walking around that kind of seemed to be following us. It was a little bit spooky because everywhere we went he was there. We decided it was time to go back to the house and have a nap before dinner. But first we had to see some art by a friend of theirs in a showing at a gallery near their house.
It was amazing stuff and if we had an extra 30k lying around I’m sure we would have gotten three or four of the paintings. The problem is we need new windows before we need new paintings. Still, if we win the lottery we’ll be back to purchase some of it. Very abstract landscapes. Loved it.
After the nap it was cocktail time. Wine for me, I’ve kind of gone off vodka. The neighbors came over for drinks and chatting and socializing. They brought a whole picture of cosmos. Oh my! We sat on the screened porch for a good long time while a thunder storm went over head. The neighbors went home to cook and we started cooking too.
We had tender loin stuffed with mushrooms, asparagus (which was a little bit burned but interesting just the same) and some kind of starch that’s escaping me right now; I think it was couis couis. All with lots of lovely wine. It was a very relaxing evening just having dinner with friends and enjoying the tranquility of the country.
The next morning was brunch with some Campaign to fight off the little bit of a hangover we all had from the wine the night before. We then just read the New York Times and chilled on the porch again until it was time to head back to the city. We had a bus (yes you got that right, we rode a bus home!) that was leaving from Pen station at 8pm so we left the house to drive back around 3:30/4:00. It takes a little under 2 hours to get back to the city.
We ended up getting there a bit early and after saying good bye and thank you to the boys we decided to eat before getting on the bus. We stopped at this Irish pub across from the station thinking it might not be too expensive and that we could get some real food. One house salad, one ceaser salad, one fish dish, one chicken dish, one glass of wine and two pints of beer and forty five minutes later we were presented with a check for $100. Mind you the food was good and all but it was more like a $50 dinner, not $100. Oh well, it was mid town NYC.
We then decide that we should get to the bus a little bit early just in case it was full. Silly us, there was a rather large line to get on the bus when we got there. Once we finally got on board I think we got the last two seats together.
A few observations about the DC to NY bus.
1. They give you water, which is nice considering it only cost $20 for the whole trip.
2. They play movies, which sucks if you want to sleep.
3. You can only go number 1 in the bathroom. This was fine with me. Seems number 2 stinks up the whole back of the bus.
4. They will take a break in Delaware even though there was a vote that told them not to.
5. It takes a lot longer than the train. About four and a half hours to five hours.
6. It drops off at two places in DC, Eye Street and 14th and in Dupont Circle.
Once we got to Dupont Circle it was a matter of a five minute walk to our house. We finally got in the door around 12:30am and were completely tired because all the sleep we were supposed to get on the bus didn’t happen because of the movies. Around 1ish we finally started to wind down enough to get to sleep.
Monday sucked, I didn’t get to run that morning and showed up at the office at 9:30, I’m usually there around 7:45 so that was late for me. Fortunately I’ve was able to work out that afternoon and have been able to run every morning this week since.
I also had my performance review on Tuesday. It went well.
That’s all the excitement for now.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Bread, the other white meat.
Ok, so do you like bread? I mean really like bread. So much bread that you think there is something else with it but you’re really not sure. And do you like to spend a whole lot on bread? I mean just bread? If that’s the case you will love the restaurant that we just had Estella’s birthday lunch at. It’s a new tapas place in Georgetown on M Street called Bodega.
Not that it was bad, the bread they served as table bread was quite good with the olive oil. Not so much for the bread with the sandwiches, big hard baguettes. Mind you, I know it’s a tapas restaurant but we were there for lunch and needed something fast so we choose one of the lunch “specials” which consisted of all sandwiches.
When they arrived we all looked at them and the first thing someone said was “that’s a whole lot of bread”, and it was! The flavor was great but for $14 I want a little more middle in my sandwich.
We also got Sangria. I know its lunch and all but we decided since it was Estella’s birthday we would indulge. Not that we needed to worry because it was really like drinking cool aid. We all felt a bit ripped off at the end of the meal, where was the buzz? It was $24 for a pitcher between six of us. The pitcher, when it showed up, was about half the size of what we expected, it was refreshing but that was about it.
So all in all what I would call a very disappointing lunch. The people at the table where great but I don’t think any of us will be in a hurry to go back. If you want really good tapas go to Jaleo in downtown DC. Well worth it.
Not that it was bad, the bread they served as table bread was quite good with the olive oil. Not so much for the bread with the sandwiches, big hard baguettes. Mind you, I know it’s a tapas restaurant but we were there for lunch and needed something fast so we choose one of the lunch “specials” which consisted of all sandwiches.
When they arrived we all looked at them and the first thing someone said was “that’s a whole lot of bread”, and it was! The flavor was great but for $14 I want a little more middle in my sandwich.
We also got Sangria. I know its lunch and all but we decided since it was Estella’s birthday we would indulge. Not that we needed to worry because it was really like drinking cool aid. We all felt a bit ripped off at the end of the meal, where was the buzz? It was $24 for a pitcher between six of us. The pitcher, when it showed up, was about half the size of what we expected, it was refreshing but that was about it.
So all in all what I would call a very disappointing lunch. The people at the table where great but I don’t think any of us will be in a hurry to go back. If you want really good tapas go to Jaleo in downtown DC. Well worth it.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Midge Ure and the power of song
For awhile now I’ve liked Ultra Vox the group from the 80’s. There are a few songs that I remember from then and I liked them all. Then awhile back Dave played Midge Ure (lead singer) and the best of Ultra Vox. It brought back memories and I stated listening to Midge as if he were a new artist and with much interest especially his CD entitled Breath.
I like Breath so much that I’ve pretty much been listening to it to and from work for the last month. I do this every so often when a CD really hits a cord. This is the way my mind works.
There are a couple of reasons that I like this CD. The songs are absolutely amazing and at this point in my life they mean something profound.
You see I’m getting to the point in my life where I need a change. Now this change could take on many, many different aspects so I’m not sure exactly what the change could/should be. I did rule out one change after the last two weeks; Dave. I don’t want to change that at all, I would like to change with him though.
So, the title song is called Breath and it has me enthralled. The lyrics, the melody, the composition, they are just exactly what I need right now. Here are the lyrics;
With every waking breath I breathe
I see what life has dealt to me
With every sadness I deny
I feel a chance inside me die
Give me a taste of something new
To touch to hold to pull me through
Send me a guiding light that shines
Across this darkened life of mine
Breathe some soul in me
Breathe your gift of love to me
Breathe life to lay ¹fore me
Breathe to make me breathe
For every man who built a home
A paper promise for his own
He fights against an open flow
Of lies and failures, we all know
To those who have and who have not
How can you live with what you¹ve got?
Give me a touch of something sure
I could be happy evermore
Breathe some soul in me
Breathe your gift of love to me
Breathe life to lay ¹fore me
To see to make me breathe
Breathe your honesty
Breathe your innocence to me
Breathe your word and set me free
Breathe to make me breathe
This life prepares the strangest things
The dreams we dream of what life brings
The highest highs can turn around
To sow love¹s seeds on stony ground
Breathe
Breathe
Breathe some soul in me
Breathe your gift of love to me
Breathe life to lay ¹fore me
To see to make me breathe
Breathe your honesty
Breathe your innocence to me
Breathe your word and set me free
Breathe to make me breathe
For some reason this has gotten to me lately. I’m not sure if I’m having a mid-life crisis or what but it’s made me realize I need some change in my life.
Another song on the CD is called free and it’s had the same effect. It’s almost the feel of when you where a teenager and you knew you had your whole life ahead of you. You were free, I kind of feel like I want that too right now. I want to feel the way I did then. Here I would put the lyrics here but I can’t seem to find them using Google. (I thought you could find anything on Google!)
Luckily I’ve come to my senses of late and realized the changes I need all have to do with me and not the people around me. And I made one big change so far.
No more smoking, even on the weekends. I want to Breath and be Free!
This is the beginning of some changes in my life that I hope I can keep going forward with. Mainly I want to be healthier physically and mentally. The first one will be much easier than the second. I get a little bit screwy every so often and go out on my own tangent. It takes some pretty big shit to get me centered again. I’m getting tired of having to go through the shit to get better, so I’m going to try to not even get into that space anymore. This will be tough but it’s an effort that will be well worth it.
So that’s it for now, had a great time at Rehoboth beach last weekend but that’s another story all together.
I like Breath so much that I’ve pretty much been listening to it to and from work for the last month. I do this every so often when a CD really hits a cord. This is the way my mind works.
There are a couple of reasons that I like this CD. The songs are absolutely amazing and at this point in my life they mean something profound.
You see I’m getting to the point in my life where I need a change. Now this change could take on many, many different aspects so I’m not sure exactly what the change could/should be. I did rule out one change after the last two weeks; Dave. I don’t want to change that at all, I would like to change with him though.
So, the title song is called Breath and it has me enthralled. The lyrics, the melody, the composition, they are just exactly what I need right now. Here are the lyrics;
With every waking breath I breathe
I see what life has dealt to me
With every sadness I deny
I feel a chance inside me die
Give me a taste of something new
To touch to hold to pull me through
Send me a guiding light that shines
Across this darkened life of mine
Breathe some soul in me
Breathe your gift of love to me
Breathe life to lay ¹fore me
Breathe to make me breathe
For every man who built a home
A paper promise for his own
He fights against an open flow
Of lies and failures, we all know
To those who have and who have not
How can you live with what you¹ve got?
Give me a touch of something sure
I could be happy evermore
Breathe some soul in me
Breathe your gift of love to me
Breathe life to lay ¹fore me
To see to make me breathe
Breathe your honesty
Breathe your innocence to me
Breathe your word and set me free
Breathe to make me breathe
This life prepares the strangest things
The dreams we dream of what life brings
The highest highs can turn around
To sow love¹s seeds on stony ground
Breathe
Breathe
Breathe some soul in me
Breathe your gift of love to me
Breathe life to lay ¹fore me
To see to make me breathe
Breathe your honesty
Breathe your innocence to me
Breathe your word and set me free
Breathe to make me breathe
For some reason this has gotten to me lately. I’m not sure if I’m having a mid-life crisis or what but it’s made me realize I need some change in my life.
Another song on the CD is called free and it’s had the same effect. It’s almost the feel of when you where a teenager and you knew you had your whole life ahead of you. You were free, I kind of feel like I want that too right now. I want to feel the way I did then. Here I would put the lyrics here but I can’t seem to find them using Google. (I thought you could find anything on Google!)
Luckily I’ve come to my senses of late and realized the changes I need all have to do with me and not the people around me. And I made one big change so far.
No more smoking, even on the weekends. I want to Breath and be Free!
This is the beginning of some changes in my life that I hope I can keep going forward with. Mainly I want to be healthier physically and mentally. The first one will be much easier than the second. I get a little bit screwy every so often and go out on my own tangent. It takes some pretty big shit to get me centered again. I’m getting tired of having to go through the shit to get better, so I’m going to try to not even get into that space anymore. This will be tough but it’s an effort that will be well worth it.
So that’s it for now, had a great time at Rehoboth beach last weekend but that’s another story all together.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Carrie Bradshaw moment
Did you ever wonder how to screw up a good thing fast?
Here’s the recipe.
One part long weekend in an exotic location with people that drink more then you.
One part significant other who is stressed for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with you.
One part feeling ignored and uninterested in and feeling that the stress your significant other is feeling is ALL about you.
One part little things that have been nagging at you for awhile. Nothing really big, but that’s the stuff that gets you.
One part drinking too much in general.
Do you know what this recipe adds up too? Disaster.
What a fool one can make of themselves when the proceeding is true, and oh how I know it.
Why is it the person/people you love the most are the ones that get the brunt of your anger/insanity? This part of relationships I don’t understand.
Anyway, if the significant other reads this, this punter is really sorry.
Here’s the recipe.
One part long weekend in an exotic location with people that drink more then you.
One part significant other who is stressed for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with you.
One part feeling ignored and uninterested in and feeling that the stress your significant other is feeling is ALL about you.
One part little things that have been nagging at you for awhile. Nothing really big, but that’s the stuff that gets you.
One part drinking too much in general.
Do you know what this recipe adds up too? Disaster.
What a fool one can make of themselves when the proceeding is true, and oh how I know it.
Why is it the person/people you love the most are the ones that get the brunt of your anger/insanity? This part of relationships I don’t understand.
Anyway, if the significant other reads this, this punter is really sorry.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
London for 72 hours.
London was great, what can I say. I get there and the sun comes out
and pretty much stays out the whole time except at night when we
had a sprinkle or two.
I still find it amazing that I can go from our house in DC to our flat at
Old Compton Street in twelve hours door to door. I also find it
amazing that being in London no longer feels like I’m in a different
/foreign land. I get off the plane, go through immigration with my roll
aboard, go to the tube and an hour later I’m at Lester Square and five
minutes I’m at the flat. Not a big deal anymore.
All for about 72hours in London on my part, I left for an overnight
flight on Thursday night and leave on Monday on a daytime flight.
Everyone at work thinks I’m insane, and I think I might have to
agree to that assessment.
I get there around 12ish on Friday and we already have one friend
visiting. I take a quick shower and off to the box for lunch we go. We
sit there for a bit and watch the people come by when another friend
of ours comes by to say hello. We sit there until after five drinking
beer and coffee at which point we need to go to the flat to change so
we can go back and meet more friends at around 6:30.
We go to this other bar across the street from the box at seven dials
to meet yet another friend before going back to the box to get our
friend who we are taking to dinner. These guys are getting married
and we can’t make it so we decided to take them to a nice meal this
trip. This ended up being good because we went back to the flat and
stayed up until 4am talking and talking. We feel like we know them so
much better now.
The next day we really had no plans but to get up and eat. By the
end of the evening we had a drinks party with 13 people showing up
at our flat. We got whittled down to around four of and then went to
a newish club where one of the earlier people at the drinks party had
a friend that was DJing there. We went, we were not impressed. It
was kind of late, around two and the place really wasn’t that full. It
wastiny and the flyers they gave out to get people there in the
afternoonwere not being honored so we had to pay 5 pounds each.
We stayed for a bit and then Dave and I went home.
Now for Sunday, the whole reason we went (or I went for the
weekend) was to go see the Dame Edna Experience at the Royal
Voxhaw Tavern on a bank holiday weekend. We get there at two
in the afternoon only to have to wait an hour and ten minutes just
to get our wrist bands so we can get in later when the show starts.
We’re glad we got there when we did because we had other friends
who showed up at four and were turned away. Crazy, right?
We went and got something to eat at that point and then walked
back to have a pint or two until the show started. We ran into a
friend we hadn’t seen since Rio two years ago. He was looking really
good and we had a good long chat. Then later we meet up with more
friends that we knew from our last trip to Cape Town. Makes for a
very small gay world when that happens. We had a great time there
until about 9 that evening. At which point I told Dave I want to go
back and then go to Balan’s for something to eat. That was fun and
we got to watch the world go by from our perch in the window. We
stayed up a little bit late and then went to bed.
The next day I didn’t feel so good. I think I might be getting a little
bit of a sore throat. But we got up and packed and then went to Balan’s
for lunch. We had four bottles of Champaign left from the drinks party
and didn’t wantto leave it for the owner of the flat we rented so we
were not quite sure what to do with it. But as luck turns out on the
way back from lunch we spotted one of our friends from the first night
having coffee at costa coffee and asked him if he wanted it, and the
good thing was he did. So when weleft the flat we made a little care
package and dropped it off for him then got on the tube to go back to
Heathrow.
Twelve hours later we’re back in the good ole US of A.
Twelve hours after that I’m back at work. A little tired but none the
worse for wear.
We had fun, that’s what counts.
and pretty much stays out the whole time except at night when we
had a sprinkle or two.
I still find it amazing that I can go from our house in DC to our flat at
Old Compton Street in twelve hours door to door. I also find it
amazing that being in London no longer feels like I’m in a different
/foreign land. I get off the plane, go through immigration with my roll
aboard, go to the tube and an hour later I’m at Lester Square and five
minutes I’m at the flat. Not a big deal anymore.
All for about 72hours in London on my part, I left for an overnight
flight on Thursday night and leave on Monday on a daytime flight.
Everyone at work thinks I’m insane, and I think I might have to
agree to that assessment.
I get there around 12ish on Friday and we already have one friend
visiting. I take a quick shower and off to the box for lunch we go. We
sit there for a bit and watch the people come by when another friend
of ours comes by to say hello. We sit there until after five drinking
beer and coffee at which point we need to go to the flat to change so
we can go back and meet more friends at around 6:30.
We go to this other bar across the street from the box at seven dials
to meet yet another friend before going back to the box to get our
friend who we are taking to dinner. These guys are getting married
and we can’t make it so we decided to take them to a nice meal this
trip. This ended up being good because we went back to the flat and
stayed up until 4am talking and talking. We feel like we know them so
much better now.
The next day we really had no plans but to get up and eat. By the
end of the evening we had a drinks party with 13 people showing up
at our flat. We got whittled down to around four of and then went to
a newish club where one of the earlier people at the drinks party had
a friend that was DJing there. We went, we were not impressed. It
was kind of late, around two and the place really wasn’t that full. It
wastiny and the flyers they gave out to get people there in the
afternoonwere not being honored so we had to pay 5 pounds each.
We stayed for a bit and then Dave and I went home.
Now for Sunday, the whole reason we went (or I went for the
weekend) was to go see the Dame Edna Experience at the Royal
Voxhaw Tavern on a bank holiday weekend. We get there at two
in the afternoon only to have to wait an hour and ten minutes just
to get our wrist bands so we can get in later when the show starts.
We’re glad we got there when we did because we had other friends
who showed up at four and were turned away. Crazy, right?
We went and got something to eat at that point and then walked
back to have a pint or two until the show started. We ran into a
friend we hadn’t seen since Rio two years ago. He was looking really
good and we had a good long chat. Then later we meet up with more
friends that we knew from our last trip to Cape Town. Makes for a
very small gay world when that happens. We had a great time there
until about 9 that evening. At which point I told Dave I want to go
back and then go to Balan’s for something to eat. That was fun and
we got to watch the world go by from our perch in the window. We
stayed up a little bit late and then went to bed.
The next day I didn’t feel so good. I think I might be getting a little
bit of a sore throat. But we got up and packed and then went to Balan’s
for lunch. We had four bottles of Champaign left from the drinks party
and didn’t wantto leave it for the owner of the flat we rented so we
were not quite sure what to do with it. But as luck turns out on the
way back from lunch we spotted one of our friends from the first night
having coffee at costa coffee and asked him if he wanted it, and the
good thing was he did. So when weleft the flat we made a little care
package and dropped it off for him then got on the tube to go back to
Heathrow.
Twelve hours later we’re back in the good ole US of A.
Twelve hours after that I’m back at work. A little tired but none the
worse for wear.
We had fun, that’s what counts.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Wine tasting at our house, what fun!
Ok, so I’ve worked out today and ran three miles in the morning so if this doesn’t make that much sense it’s because I’m tired. This being healthy can really get to you.
We had a lovely party on Saturday night. We invited ten people to come over to our house for nibbles and a wine tasting. We decided since we had brought back some great wines from South Africa that we would have said wine tasting and invite some of our more mature, wine loving friends over to taste a couple of our bottles. Because we’re not too far gone in the smarts department we requested that our friends bring over a nice bottle of wine with a catch, there had to be a story to go with it.
We ended up with 14 bottle of wine for twelve people. The stories ranged from “I used to drink this with a girl friend who was a writer. She put me in her novel she was writing while we dated but unfortunately we ended up breaking up so in the book I die.” (Decent white wine with that story) to our friend SIP who is very interesting individual herself. She grew up in Iran but has lived here for a good long time. She owns a wine store and carries all kind of fabulous wines. She has one wine called SIP. Turns out that when she was a little girl she had smuggled some grape buds from Iran to California (It might have been France) and it might have been the other way around. It was getting fuzzy by that point. Anyway SIP now has ninety acres of grapes planted somewhere that she had smuggled in from somewhere else and now has a wine named after her. Cool huh? One of our other friends brought over some desert wines that actually where created from grapes from their vineyard. Now that is neat.
Names have been changed above to protect the innocent, errr, well, maybe not innocent but definitely so they can’t be identified from this blog.
We had a hard time at the beginning of the tasting squeezing out twelve tasting glasses of wine for everyone but we did it. By the time we got to the 10th bottle we had wine left over in the bottles. Seems that everyone just wanted smaller and smaller tastes as the night went on. After the tasting we ended up going to the roof deck drinking more wine and sat there until about 1:30 in the morning. I was a little bit worried about two of our friends who stayed till the last. They drove home and we really don’t think they should have, we had them call us when they got home so we could sleep that night knowing they were ok.
We got up the next day and didn’t feel all that horrible. I believe that a wine hangover is so much less damaging then a vodka one. In fact we felt good enough to go work out for two hours in the afternoon. At the end of the workout we just looked at each other amazed that we had done it. After that we meet up with some friends to see their house “project”. (More of a nightmare really) They purchased this house three years ago and slowly found out that the whole thing needed to be torn out and built out from the ground up.
Could you imagine?
They had to take out all of the innards. All the way down to the ground. The brick is so old that they can’t put in support beams so they had to go under and create footings in the basement in which to attach the main floor. Pretty much everything is brand new in the interior and only the shell is original but it will need some work too before they’re done. Supposedly it will be finished sometime in mid-summer but it was hard to see with only the skeleton of the rooms up at this point. I wish them luck.
We then went to another friend’s house for wine and then went to Duplex dinner for dinner. And shock of all shocks, home and to bed before 10. This is why I was able to get up and run this morning and why I’m tired right now too.
The next big event is taking Dave to the airport on Thursday for our London trip. I’ll be joining him the next week.
Merry ole England here we come!
We had a lovely party on Saturday night. We invited ten people to come over to our house for nibbles and a wine tasting. We decided since we had brought back some great wines from South Africa that we would have said wine tasting and invite some of our more mature, wine loving friends over to taste a couple of our bottles. Because we’re not too far gone in the smarts department we requested that our friends bring over a nice bottle of wine with a catch, there had to be a story to go with it.
We ended up with 14 bottle of wine for twelve people. The stories ranged from “I used to drink this with a girl friend who was a writer. She put me in her novel she was writing while we dated but unfortunately we ended up breaking up so in the book I die.” (Decent white wine with that story) to our friend SIP who is very interesting individual herself. She grew up in Iran but has lived here for a good long time. She owns a wine store and carries all kind of fabulous wines. She has one wine called SIP. Turns out that when she was a little girl she had smuggled some grape buds from Iran to California (It might have been France) and it might have been the other way around. It was getting fuzzy by that point. Anyway SIP now has ninety acres of grapes planted somewhere that she had smuggled in from somewhere else and now has a wine named after her. Cool huh? One of our other friends brought over some desert wines that actually where created from grapes from their vineyard. Now that is neat.
Names have been changed above to protect the innocent, errr, well, maybe not innocent but definitely so they can’t be identified from this blog.
We had a hard time at the beginning of the tasting squeezing out twelve tasting glasses of wine for everyone but we did it. By the time we got to the 10th bottle we had wine left over in the bottles. Seems that everyone just wanted smaller and smaller tastes as the night went on. After the tasting we ended up going to the roof deck drinking more wine and sat there until about 1:30 in the morning. I was a little bit worried about two of our friends who stayed till the last. They drove home and we really don’t think they should have, we had them call us when they got home so we could sleep that night knowing they were ok.
We got up the next day and didn’t feel all that horrible. I believe that a wine hangover is so much less damaging then a vodka one. In fact we felt good enough to go work out for two hours in the afternoon. At the end of the workout we just looked at each other amazed that we had done it. After that we meet up with some friends to see their house “project”. (More of a nightmare really) They purchased this house three years ago and slowly found out that the whole thing needed to be torn out and built out from the ground up.
Could you imagine?
They had to take out all of the innards. All the way down to the ground. The brick is so old that they can’t put in support beams so they had to go under and create footings in the basement in which to attach the main floor. Pretty much everything is brand new in the interior and only the shell is original but it will need some work too before they’re done. Supposedly it will be finished sometime in mid-summer but it was hard to see with only the skeleton of the rooms up at this point. I wish them luck.
We then went to another friend’s house for wine and then went to Duplex dinner for dinner. And shock of all shocks, home and to bed before 10. This is why I was able to get up and run this morning and why I’m tired right now too.
The next big event is taking Dave to the airport on Thursday for our London trip. I’ll be joining him the next week.
Merry ole England here we come!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
If you find my motivation, could you email it to me?
Boy oh boy oh boy has it been hard to get motivated this week. I’m really not sure what it is but all I want to do is sleep and stare outside. Could it be that I’ve got spring fever? Haven’t had that since I was in high school I don’t think.
I’m supposed to run this week but I just can’t get my ass out of bed. So, I’ve been doing 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym at work instead. I have gotten much done considering that I don’t have any motivation. I’ve moved servers over to our new virtual server scheme over the weekend. That worked but stressed me to no end. I worked the last two weekends doing this. Maybe working so much has to do with the motivation problem I’m having.
Tonight we have two friends coming over for dinner. That will be fun and may get me out of my funk. Thursday we have something going on that for the life of me I can’t remember but I think it’ll be fun. Friday we’re talking about staying in because on Saturday we’re having a little get together wine tasting at the house for around 11 people.
The next thing you know Dave is going to England and it’ll be the end of the month. Boy things go fast when you get older.
Did I tell you I’m having a motivation problem? We it just kicked in and it’s hard for me to write any more.
I’m supposed to run this week but I just can’t get my ass out of bed. So, I’ve been doing 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym at work instead. I have gotten much done considering that I don’t have any motivation. I’ve moved servers over to our new virtual server scheme over the weekend. That worked but stressed me to no end. I worked the last two weekends doing this. Maybe working so much has to do with the motivation problem I’m having.
Tonight we have two friends coming over for dinner. That will be fun and may get me out of my funk. Thursday we have something going on that for the life of me I can’t remember but I think it’ll be fun. Friday we’re talking about staying in because on Saturday we’re having a little get together wine tasting at the house for around 11 people.
The next thing you know Dave is going to England and it’ll be the end of the month. Boy things go fast when you get older.
Did I tell you I’m having a motivation problem? We it just kicked in and it’s hard for me to write any more.
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