Vacation Part 4

I didn't intend for my vacation tales to take over the blog. Since a lot of this is blurring together I'm going to do some highlights (which is probably what I should have been doing to begin with).

My sister operates an in-home daycare. My nieces all attend this daycare. Guess where I was almost everyday? Yep, daycare. I know most of the kids there and they almost all know me so this works out pretty well. The bonus was that I could take my nieces and do fun things in the afternoon. I obviously can't talk about the daycare kids here, so I'll limit the stories to our afternoon adventures.

One of the first days I was at my mom's house I was stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol. I was out running and a border patrol guy stopped me (he was parked along the trail). He asked for ID, which I had (DL), and than started asking about when I had last left the country. He wanted to know where I had been, did I have a valid VISA to be there for that long, etc. Then he wanted to see my passport. Yeah, who carries their passport when they are running? For pete's sake, was I running so fast that he thought I was making a break for Canada? I asked him what the problem was and why he needed to see my passport. I am an American citizen. I entered the country legally through Puerto Rico. I was no where near the border. He was willing to follow me back to my mom's house to get my passport. Nope, sorry not without a valid reason. He couldn't give me a valid reason or even a stupid reason. He ended up running my name through his computer and than let me go, but seriously who gets stopped by the border patrol?

I think the first afternoon adventure (that wasn't shopping) was a trip to the splash park. It was a nice enough day out but that water was pretty cold. I didn't play in the water but the girls did. Princess (the 4 year old) ran off on me though. It seems to be a theme with her though. She's a runner. And when she is running she can not hear your voice. She took off to the nearby park with another little girl that was at the splash park. I was watching her, glanced away to check the big girls, and then she was gone. The other little girl was gone too. I looked over at the park and low and behold there she was. After we had a little talk and a timeout we all went to the park together.

The next day we had a picnic in the park (different park). That was pretty fun. The girls helped make the sandwiches. We had lots of yummy fruit (mmm, strawberries) because the groceries stores there actually have fresh fruit that doesn't cost a fortune. After lunch we all played at the park. It's a huge park with lots to do so everyone had fun. Princess had an accident which forced us to leave but that's ok.

Next up was the trip to the lake. We'll start there tomorrow.

How annoying

Small interruption in the vacation tales. My car was broken into today. It happened between 3 am (when I was out there rolling up the windows) and noon (when I woke up). I don't think anything was stolen, but I don't know how many footballs were in our trunk. There's only one now. Everything was thrown into the yard/driveway. The doors were left open.

I'm pretty sure that it was just someone trying to be an asshole. It worked. Whoever did it was definitely an asshole. Way to go. Now, seriously get life. I don't want to pick all that crap up again.

Vacation Part 3

I think I left off with getting ready for the Twins game. No, there was no paint involved. Just regular old T-shirts. It was hat day though, so we both got a free Twins hat. The Twins lost but it was still fun to watch. There were five 18 boys sitting behind us. They had painted their chests. Yes, they were those people. Loud and mostly amusing (until one of them spilled blue sno-cone on me). Because of those boys, my dad and I ended up on TV. Apparently, not once but twice. The first time was just before the game started and the cameras were just showing shots of the fans. The second time was because some announcer guy named Burt has this thing where he circles the fans. So people bring huge signs that say things like "Circle Me Burt" and other more clever things like that. The boys had these signs. I guess Burt circled them. But we were in that circle too! IT was funny.

On Sunday I returned the rental car and than we headed downtown again to see the progress of the bridge. It's amazing to me that they have come so far in such a short time. We also went down to see the new Twins stadium that is being built. Than we started the long drive north.

When we finally got there, my sisters, BIL, and nieces all came over to my mom's house to see me. Nothing to exciting, just a lot of chit chat.

I'll pick up there tomorrow.

Changes

Nope you are not hallucinating. I made some changes. You'll notice the picture at the top has been changed. It's all pictures of the island and a few cat pictures.

The other change that you'll notice is the slide show on the right. A good friend of mine has started a scrapbooking business. Very cute stuff. I know she's great to work with so if you have something in mind, I'd be willing to bet she can make it happen! There's link to her website, so go check it out.

Vacation Part 2

I could have slept for an eternity but I had things to do. I woke up early on Thursday morning and had breakfast (free at the hotel, which I don't know if I mentioned it, but it was a much nicer hotel than I was suppose to be at). Then it was off to Target. I love Target. It's clean, shiny, and smells good. The shelves are well stocked. The employees are friendly. Maybe they just sense my love of Target. It must radiate from me. I buy the things I need and meander through the store for a good hour.

Back to the hotel to get properly ready for the day. Once that happens, I set off to Planned Parenthood. To make plans to NOT get pregnant. They have awesome walk in clinics and discounted birth control. Got what I needed from them and then I was off to the running store. Yep, seriously. I talked to some guy there that was really into running. Told him what my issues are (shin pain) and he asked a bunch of questions, looked at my old running shoes and then asked what my budget was. I told him I needed to go as cheap as possible. He recommended a shoe that was $135 or so. Not what I wanted to pay and to be completely honest, it didn't feel comfortable. Not enough arch support or something. I told him I'd think about it.

After that I went to Foot Locker and bought the same shoe for about $40 less. Still not sure that it fit right, but the running guy said it was what I needed. I went back to the hotel to try them out (hotel had a fitness room). Yeah, not helping the excruciating shin pain. Whatever. Shower again and then head out to meet up with friends.

I meet them at work (we all used to work together). We hang out there for a while because that place is like a blackhole. It's really hard to get out of there. But eventually they can call it a day. We head out to an old favorite just in time for happy hour. Gotta love two for ones. It was just so much fun. Probably had a little too much to drink and then started drunk dialing. Hilarious. One of them had to leave (she drove us there) but we talked 'grandma' into coming out with us. She picked us up at the bar and took us to get food. We hung out there for quite a while. Again, just so much fun. I miss them already. It was a really fun night.

Friday was fun too. I went to the zoo I used to work at. They have a new exhibit that I was dying to see. It's amazing. Beautifully done. I, of course, walked around the entire zoo and saw all the up dates they had done. The whole place looks great. And the weather was just beautiful.

After the zoo I went to the mall. Did some window shopping. You forget just how big that place is. It was bordering overwhelming. Since it was getting late anyway I left. I called an old friend of mine (not that she's old, we've been friends since grade school) and then went to her house. It was fun. I haven't seen her in a long time so we had some catching up to do. It was a late night.

I went running again on Saturday morning. Shoes still sucked. Then I went shopping. Looked at cameras. I realized just how much mine sucks when I was at the zoo. The cameras I had 'picked out' online didn't really live up to my expectations. They were confusing to me. I'm sure I could learn but I wanted something nicer than what I have and simple to use. Instead of getting a new camera I got my foot stomped on. I'm sure it was accident but seriously, it broke the skin. So there I am bleeding in Best Buy. I had had enough. I went outside and called my dad, who was meeting up with me. He was already in Minneapolis, waiting at the hotel I was suppose to be at. I gave him directions to the new hotel and told him I'd meet him there.

After he got his stuff up to the room we went back to the mall. He was looking for a birthday gift for my oldest sister. We couldn't find what he was looking for. So we went to lunch instead. Lunch was delicious. I ate way too much. After lunch we went back to the hotel so we could get ready for the Twins game.

I'll pick up there tomorrow.

Vacation Part 1

I think I've almost recovered from my vacation. Don't get me wrong, I still have some unpacking to do. There is still laundry to do as well. But I'll get to that stuff later. Since Itchy is currently on vacation I have even more free time then usual.

As if you haven't heard enough about American Airlines sucking, let's start with my series of flights (all with AA) back to Minnesota. My first flight of the day was delayed because of rain. Not the heavy rain that you can't fly in. This was a moderate downpour but nothing that should have delayed us. The problem was that to board the plane (which is tiny) you have to walk from the airport out to the plane. The locals did not want to walk out to the plane and risk getting wet. They stood outside under the overhang and waited until the rain stopped. The brave few that risked melting in the rain screamed about it while we boarded. One in particular was especially begging to be punched in the face. She happened to be right behind me. Screaming at me to move faster because she was getting wet. God forbid. I was standing outside too. With no umbrella. Huge surprise here, but I was getting wet too. I couldn't move any faster because the people ahead of me weren't moving. Shut the hell up lady. I purposely walked up the stairs as slowly as I could. After all, they were wet and I needed to be careful. Wouldn't want to slip. After the rain stopped and every was finally in their seats we were able to take off 20 minutes late.

We land in Puerto Rico (you all know how I feel about Puerto Rico). It's nearly 9 am. My next flight isn't until 1:45 pm. This is a dreadfully long time to spend in any airport but in Puerto Rico it's almost an eternity. Nothing fun happened. I read a book, played some Nintendo, and people watched. Around 1:00 pm I notice that my flight has been delayed until 2pm. Then at 1:40 when we are suppose to start boarding it gets delayed again. Take off is now scheduled for 2:45 pm. Fine. Whatever. It's finally time to board the plane. This takes forever because it's a bunch of Puerto Ricans. We pull away from the gate at 3 pm. Then at 3:30 pm we pull back up to our gate because the plane has a small computer problem. It's going to be a ten minute fix. We are to remain seated with our seat belts fastened.

We sat there for almost 2 hours. We were not offered any type of explanation at all. We were, however, reminded several times to remain seated with seatbelts fastened and our chairs in an upright position. You know, since we could take off at any time. With no warning. From the gate.

We were suppose to land in Miami at 4:30 pm. We landed closer to 7 pm. At least the pilot had tried to make up some time, we did arrive earlier than expected. But because of that they didn't have a gate for us. So we circled the airport at a ridiculously slow pace until there was a gate ready. I didn't get off the plane until 7:40 pm. I had to get all the away across the airport to get on my next flight, which was already boarding and scheduled to leave at 8:15 pm. I had to run. Like an idiot. Every single one of the departure boards was saying that my flight was boarding. I got to the gate at just after 8pm. No one was boarding. They were all sitting, reading, eating, etc. But there was no boarding. It crosses my mind that I missed my flight. These people must be on the next flight leaving from this gate. I go ask the man behind the desk. Nope, I didn't miss my flight. It's been delayed for an hour due to the weather. He had JUST updated the departure boards. I ran for nothing. Bastards.

I called Itchy to vent and let me know that I was finally in America. I tried to call the car rental place but there was no answer. I called the hotel to let them know I'd be late. Then I wait.

The weather clears up and we take off. I get to Minneapolis at midnight. I've been up since 5 am. I'm really tired. I collect my luggage and head off to the rental car place. That was easy enough except, I really didn't need or care to be asked 20 times if I wanted to upgrade. Can I please just have the car I reserved? I reserved a small car because I wanted a small car. Granted, I hated the car I got (it didn't have power windows, call me lazy, but I like power windows) but that was my decision.

I drive off in search of my hotel. Finally find it, but they really should make a bigger sign. I walk in, tell the guy I have a reservation. He enters my name and then tries to push me over the edge. Tells me I have no reservation. I am late. They were overbooked. They had to give my room away. I don't think I even said anything to him. Just stared at him waiting for him to say that he was joking. When it became clear that he wasn't, I explained that I had called and told some lady (I actually had her name, but can't remember it now) that I would be late. He goes back to the computer and types for a while. He doesn't look happy. I can't blame him. I wasn't very happy either. He comes back and says that he has secured a room at a different hotel for me and that they would honor the price I had booked through Priceline. Big sigh of relief. His direction to the new hotel were crappy (take a right and then look for the tall building, not sure if this guy had ever left that particular hotel before, but there are many tall buildings in Minneapolis) so it took a while to find it. But I did. Got checked in and up to my room at around 2:30 am. I dropped dead at that point.

To be continued...

A little financial advice for American Airlines

Dear American Airlines,

I just thought that I would give you a little friendly advice. I am no financial expert but I have taken one semester of microeconomics. Apparently, this has provided me with more financial wisdom than all of the people in your company. Particularly your employees in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Allow me to give you an example of the stupidity that goes on in Puerto Rico.

Let's say that you have a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) scheduled to arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) at 6:55pm on Tuesday, August 19th. Now for the sake of this example, pretend that there are at least 12 people on that flight that are flying to SJU to connect to a flight to The Island. We'll also add in a hypothetical flight from Miami to SJU, also scheduled to land at around 7pm. There will be another 12 or so hypothetical people on this flight that are on the connecting flight to The Island.

Now, let's say that the flight from DFW takes off about 30 minutes late because of a last minute gate change. The flight from Miami will take off 15 minutes late because of the chaos that you call boarding.

Both of these flights land in SJU between 7:20pm and 7:30 pm. Approximately 24 people are scheduled to be on the flight to The Island. Not 2. Not 4. Twenty-four people. I mean, twenty-four hypothetical people.

At no fault of their own, 24 people are stuck in Puerto Rico until 7:40 pm the next day. You are kind enough to provide vouchers to each and everyone of these people for lodging, food, taxi services between the airport and hotel, and rebook everyone on the next flight the following day.
Let's say that each person was given meal vouchers totaling $22 (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), a hotel voucher for a hotel that costs $350/night, and taxi vouchers for $20. We'll pretend that people were traveling in pairs (since most people were, I mean most people do). Just a little bit of simple math tells us that you've now spent $4968 on vouchers. For the people missing one flight. I can't imagine that this was the only time that flights were delayed forcing people to miss their connections.

Explain to me how this is financially responsible. Please. I do not understand. If you had delayed the flight to The Island by just one hour you would have saved nearly FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

I know people hate when flights are delayed. I know that you hate listening to customers complain. In fact, you hate it so much that you just flat out ignore it. Perhaps if you would start making better financial decisions (like delaying a flight or 2 to save thousands of dollars) you could offer more reasonable prices on your flights. Has it crossed your mind that people would complain less if they haven't paid an arm and a leg for their tickets. Maybe you could talk to the people at Jetblue. They have much lower prices than you. Ask them how many complaints they receive.

I am so tired of you crying poverty at the end of every financial quarter. You've raised your prices. You've started charging for basic services (like luggage, who doesn't travel with luggage?). What's next? No more free water? Why not use some common sense?

If their is anything else I can help you with just let me know. I'm happy to help.

Vacation

Is it still a vacation when I don't have a "job"? And live on a tropical island? Probably not. Whatever, I'm calling it a vacation.

I'm vacationing in the States. Minnesota/North Dakota to be more specific. I'll be here for another week or so before heading back to the island. The stories will be fun but they'll have to wait until I get back. I'm busy trying to cram in some quality time with my 3 adorable, brilliant, and getting-too-big-too-fast nieces while I'm here. Since we don't get to spend that much time together, we try to make the time we can spend together fun. Princess is turning 4 tomorrow! I can't believe it. Happy Birthday Princess!

Oh I need some advice/help from all of you. I am the proud new owner of a Webkinz. I have no idea what I'm doing. By the time I'm back on the island I'll have two. Any advice? How do I make the most money?