There are times in this life where tough choices have to be made. I had one such occasion tonight: What to make for dinner? You know those times when you stair blankly into the fridge, and survey the options. Some eggs, some noodles you made last week, some hot dogs, and some deli meat. nothing inspiring so far. Let's check the freezer. some unidentifiable frozen delights, some shredded hashbrowns, some skinless chicken breasts, and ice cream.... hmmm, nothing really jumping out at me. Then I get an idea. What if I made hashbrowns and eggs, but with an Asian twist? Could be good... Could also be very bad, but what's life if you don't take some chances, right?
So I grab the hashbrowns and chicken from the freezer, and the eggs from the fridge. Now in terms of full disclosure, when I said I had an idea, it really was an idea in its most basic form. In other words... I was winging it. I heat some olive oil in the Wok and throw in two chicken breasts. added some garlic salt, pepper, vinegar, and soy sauce, and let the chicken simmer. added some sriracha hot sauce for a little kick. Once the chicken was done I set it aside on a cutting board to rest and let the juices settle into the meat. I threw the hashbrowns into the wok and let them start working with the marinade from the chicken. Once the hashbrowns were cooked I put them on a plate. I added a little more vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha to the wok and brought it to a simmer. I added some rosemary leaves and ginger. After slicing up the chicken I returned it to the wok. Then I threw in an egg to boil. I removed the chicken and the cooked egg, and placed it on top of the hashbrowns.
I'm not going to lie, it seems really weird, but it was super good.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Kid Gives Speech After Learning To Ride A Bike
This is Awesome!! he sounds like Data from "Goonies"... so so awesome!
Friday, May 20, 2011
BLT- hold the Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomtato
I attended "Breakthrough Leadership Training" this past Tuesday. Marriott has asked a few Franklin Covey advisers to facilitate this training, based on the "4 disciplines of Execution". It was a great seminar, with a lot of good information. It was also interesting that one of the videos had "Waterfall" by John Schmidt as part of the soundtrack...fantastic.
Naturally, when you have any type of leadership training, there are going to be a lot inspirational quotes, or witty sayings and turn-of-phrase. Well this particular training did not disappoint. There were several that I enjoyed and would like to pass along.
"Amateurs practice until they get it right. Pro's practice until they can't get it wrong"
and
"If you're not keeping score, you're just practicing"
Then, today, I was doing some preliminary work on a friend's engagement video and I walked past one of my sister's picture frames, that has a quote from a french poet. I've walked past this quote a thousand times, not really paying that much attention (mainly because it's in a foreign language), but this time, probably because I was thinking of different "love" quotes I could stick in this video, it stuck out to me.
In English, it roughly translates
"To Love, is not to look at one another, it is to look together, in the same direction"
I know that's what it means, not because my french has improved in the previous 10 years, but because I looked it up on wikiquotes.
It was written by Antoine de Saint Exupery in his work entitled Terre des Hommes in 1939. As I read more of his quotes, there was one that brought me back to the Leadership Training earlier this week.
Also from Terre des Hommes, he says
"It seems perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to remove"
I think that goes hand in hand with the Pro's vs. Amateurs quotation. I think it has marvelous applications, not only to leading a team or organization, but also to an eternal pursuit of perfection. Oftentimes I think of what traits I can add to my personality to be more interesting or a better friend, leader, and person overall (i.e. selflessness, good listener, musical ability, athleticism, to name a few). But perhaps even more important, and even less looked at are the traits or habits that I can remove-that would also have the same affect. If I want to add more selflessness, perhaps I should try to remove selfishness. If I want to add "good listener" to the traits people list when they think of me, perhaps I can remove "incessant talker" from my current repertoire.... Now lets not get crazy with the last one, I mean you got to eat the elephant one bite at a time. but you get my point.
Basically it boils down to the fact that for me, I want to be a professional, not an Amateur. Not a professional Athlete or Musician, but rather a "Professional Liver of Life"
and to raise myself from the "Amateur Liver of Life" ranks, I'm going to have to practice until I can't get it wrong. And, instead of focusing entirely on what I need to add to my life in order to "not get it wrong", I've got to focus also on what I can remove that's causing me to get it wrong. And then at that point, I can start keeping score.
See what I did there? I combined all three of the quotations I learned this week... pretty clever how that came full circle huh? I thought so!
Ciao,
Naturally, when you have any type of leadership training, there are going to be a lot inspirational quotes, or witty sayings and turn-of-phrase. Well this particular training did not disappoint. There were several that I enjoyed and would like to pass along.
"Amateurs practice until they get it right. Pro's practice until they can't get it wrong"
and
"If you're not keeping score, you're just practicing"
Then, today, I was doing some preliminary work on a friend's engagement video and I walked past one of my sister's picture frames, that has a quote from a french poet. I've walked past this quote a thousand times, not really paying that much attention (mainly because it's in a foreign language), but this time, probably because I was thinking of different "love" quotes I could stick in this video, it stuck out to me.
In English, it roughly translates
"To Love, is not to look at one another, it is to look together, in the same direction"
I know that's what it means, not because my french has improved in the previous 10 years, but because I looked it up on wikiquotes.
It was written by Antoine de Saint Exupery in his work entitled Terre des Hommes in 1939. As I read more of his quotes, there was one that brought me back to the Leadership Training earlier this week.
Also from Terre des Hommes, he says
"It seems perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to remove"
I think that goes hand in hand with the Pro's vs. Amateurs quotation. I think it has marvelous applications, not only to leading a team or organization, but also to an eternal pursuit of perfection. Oftentimes I think of what traits I can add to my personality to be more interesting or a better friend, leader, and person overall (i.e. selflessness, good listener, musical ability, athleticism, to name a few). But perhaps even more important, and even less looked at are the traits or habits that I can remove-that would also have the same affect. If I want to add more selflessness, perhaps I should try to remove selfishness. If I want to add "good listener" to the traits people list when they think of me, perhaps I can remove "incessant talker" from my current repertoire.... Now lets not get crazy with the last one, I mean you got to eat the elephant one bite at a time. but you get my point.
Basically it boils down to the fact that for me, I want to be a professional, not an Amateur. Not a professional Athlete or Musician, but rather a "Professional Liver of Life"
and to raise myself from the "Amateur Liver of Life" ranks, I'm going to have to practice until I can't get it wrong. And, instead of focusing entirely on what I need to add to my life in order to "not get it wrong", I've got to focus also on what I can remove that's causing me to get it wrong. And then at that point, I can start keeping score.
See what I did there? I combined all three of the quotations I learned this week... pretty clever how that came full circle huh? I thought so!
Ciao,
Saturday, May 7, 2011
My Journey to Canada...
Trip to Canada: Arrival Experience
This is the first part in a 3 part series on my 17 day adventure in Eastern Canada. It is almost entirely true. Some fictional aspects have been added here and there for entertainment value…but for the most part, the following actually happened. This is going to be in a running diary format.
4/19/11- 12pm
Flying from Phoenix to Chicago… Sitting on the aisle with an empty seat between myself and an older woman at the window, which is a fortuitous start to the journey. The woman next to me struggles to find her seat belt, I wait a few minutes as she wonders aloud to no one in particular where her seat belt has gone, before mentioning that I think it is hiding underneath her bottom. She was indeed sitting on it. 1st mystery solved. This United flight had a video presentation on the safety features of the plane, which I thought was quite lazy on their part. I mean the flight attendants were just sitting there as the video was going on, so it’s not like they were being more efficient by playing it while they did something else…
During the flight, an episode of the Office is shown. It’s the one where Andy is in the play. The same play that Michael auditioned for but didn’t get a part in. It was great, but I felt awkward laughing, as everyone that was watching was wearing headphones, and anyone not wearing headphones, clearly didn’t care how funny it was.
Next feature was the movie the Tourist. “Seat Belt Lady” loves The Tourist. She has it on DVD at home. For an “in flight” movie, I didn’t have issue with it, but I just kept thinking back to the Golden Globes commentary by Ricky Gervais…he didn’t like it.
Following The Tourist, they started to show an episode of Parks and Rec, but it got turned off in the middle as we were preparing to make our descent. Seat Belt Lady didn’t like the teaser one bit.
A few rows ahead of me, the flight attendant was giving a passenger a few huffs on a portable oxygen tank. Then the announcement came over the PA that once we landed we would have to wait for the EMT crew to board the plane before anyone was allowed to get off. After the announcement, there were audible groans coming from the other passengers. Really?? Someone is clearly in need of medical attention and you’re upset, because their health situation may cause you to miss your starbucks run prior to your next flight?? Amazing.
I hear a conversation a few rows behind me, where a girl is talking to a couple who is worried about missing their connecting flight (which is still an hour away). The girl tries to calm them by telling a story of one of her friends who had to catch a connecting flight right away, and the crew let them use the emergency inflatable slide to get off the plane and on to her connection. She said maybe they would let them do that in this case as well. First off, in my mind I immediately call BS, because I’m sorry to say, this girl’s “friend” is a complete liar. What airline lets passengers just open the emergency exit, pull the chord for the slide, and jump down it, just so they can make their connection?? But that doesn’t seem to stop the girl from stopping the flight attendant and saying “hey, they have a connecting flight in an hour, is there any way they can get off the plane now? The flight attendant replied with a “No, I’m sorry, no one can deplane until the EMTs give us clearance.” You could tell she wanted to say “didn’t you hear??-An Ambulance is on its way. No one can leave until they save this person’s life. Sorry it’s an inconvenience for you, would you like some more peanuts to get you by until you can go on with your self-absorbed life?” amazing.
After about 15 minutes, the Ambulance arrives, and takes the passenger off. I have an hour and a half until my connecting flight to Halifax, so I start to play some pga tour on my phone. I’m playing a PGA tour event at St. Andrews, and it’s a tough field…
5:30pm, waiting for some lightning to clear before take-off. Tiny Tiny plane. Packed, I’ve got a Mom traveling with a toddler in front of me, and a Couple traveling with a toddler behind me. Should be an interesting flight. 2 hours, later, still sitting in the airplane waiting to take-off. Captain lets us know that Canadian Customs is not going to wait for us, so our flight is cancelled. Everyone gets off the plane and goes to stand in line with the passengers from the 70 other flights that had been cancelled. The line is 300 yards long-no lie.
9:45pm-
I finally reach a customer service agent, who has clearly been through the ringer a few times. People were understandably very perturbed at the cancellation, but honestly, what good does it do to take it out on some stranger sitting at a computer. Yvonne was pleasantly surprised that I was not yelling at her. I joked with her for a few minutes while she found me a new flight. This one would go through Boston tomorrow, putting me into Halifax at 8:30pm. Not ideal, but nothing else I could do, so I took my ticket and went to find sleeping arrangements. I booked a Courtyard 8 miles from the Airport. I walked outside to meet a Taxi and for the first time felt the Chicago Air on my face…it was 34 degrees…And I was in shorts and a t-shirt. The airline wouldn’t let me get my bags back, so I was kind of stuck with what was on my back.
4/20- 11am
Security line at O’Hare was moving at a snail’s pace. Went through the line that required the full body scan with the puffs of air… Then a TSA agent called me over to frisk me. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was wearing the same set of clothes for the second day in a row, or the notion that I didn’t look suspicious, because she was kind enough to waive me on without the full cavity search-thankfully!
12:45pm
Fly to Boston without incident. I slept part of the way, and listened to my ipod for the rest of the way.
After arriving in Boston, I had to go from one end of the airport to the other it seemed. After getting lost and passing the same airport chapel 3 times, I asked someone for directions. They literally gave me an 8 step tutorial to get to the Air Canada terminal. No simple, make a left down the hall, take the escalator up to the 3rd floor, hang a right. You’ll see it on the left. Nope, this was something like, “Go past the first set of stairs, hang a right, take the escalator down to the 1st floor, pass the construction zone, go up two flights of stairs, take a right, walk to the 2nd Starbucks kiosk, look for a guy named Swenson, give him a high five with your left hand, turn 196 degrees, follow the path to Terminal B-once there, go up one more set of stairs, cross through the parking garage, and you’ll see it on the right.”
Since getting to the Air Canada terminal required me to seemingly leave the city of Boston, I had to go through security yet again…awesome. By this time, I’m starting to feel a little congested and I have a sore throat. Not a good sign. Air Canada’s terminal is tiny at Logan International Airport. I find an uninhabited corner and curl up with my laptop, while I try to charge my phone and not sneeze or cough on anyone.
6:18pm (supposed boarding time)-
Announcement comes over the PA that our plane has not yet arrived, but we anticipate boarding in 30 minutes. An hour later, we are boarding. I’m exhausted, once airborne; I turn on my ipod and sink into my chair. Thankfully, there is no one beside me on this leg of the trip. I stretch my legs into the adjoining side and stare out the window. Here are some of the songs that the shuffle playlist had in store for me while in the air. “Alone by Heart” “Here I go Again by Whitesnake” “Home by Michael Buble” and “I’ll make love to you by Boys II Men” (not really fitting for my current situation, but B2M is amazing).
As we start to make our descent, I look out the window. We start to come down through the clouds and it’s raining. The rain hits the wing and starts to freeze a little as it runs down the side...that’s interesting, I think to myself. I start to gather my things and notice my left foot is kind of wet, as is my backpack…what is that??? Turns out the lady in front of me (who was 8 months pregnant) happened to have her water break as we were making our descent…fantastic news!
We land and taxi up to the jetway. The captain comes on to say that they just need to find the piece that allows us to hook on to the jetway and we’ll be able to get off. That’s reassuring…we’re missing a piece of the plane?
After 20 minutes of waiting, they finally are able to get us off the plane.
It’s 9:45pm local time, I’m tired, but happy that I made it safely.
There were 3 customs agents still working, and I got the cranky one. She was not nice at all. I gave her my customs declaration card and she inquired as to the reason for my trip. “I’m working for 2 weeks”
“You’ll have to be more specific” she snaps at me
“I work for Marriott, I’m coming to work at the Harbourfront Hotel”
“More SPECIFIC! What are you doing at this hotel?”
“I don’t know yet, they haven’t told me.”
She just stares at me this time.
“I am going to be managing the front desk of this hotel for 2 weeks”
“You’ll have to speak with Immigration. Go down that hallway, it’s on the right.”
So as everyone else went on their merry way, I made my way to the Immigration office. The lady at the desk was wearing a full on bullet proof vest and looked about as happy as the lady I just spoke to. She finished with the guy in front of me, and I approached her window.
“don’t approach the window yet. Please back up!”
I look around me, there’s no one but me and her, but I follow her direction and take two steps back. She goes back to typing something.
A nice gentleman finally comes out and helps me. “Do you have your work orders?”
“Nope, didn’t know I needed any. Can I email them to you?”
“No, we can’t accept an email, but you can fax it to us.”
So I go sit back down, pull out my laptop, pray that they have free wifi (which they do :) and pull up my emails. I call the hotel, ask if they can fax back this email I’m about to send them, so I can be allowed to enter the country.
30 minutes and $150 CAD later (I had to purchase a 2 week work permit), I was allowed to enter Canadian soil. The only problem is, my bags have not entered Canadian soil yet. The baggage guy tells me my luggage should be arriving from Chicago in the next hour or so, and that he will bring it to the hotel.
I go outside, get my cab, and head to the hotel to check in. I had arrived. What was supposed to be 12 hours of total travel time turned into 30…but I was there.
Hello Canada, Prepare to have your dreams come true!
This is the first part in a 3 part series on my 17 day adventure in Eastern Canada. It is almost entirely true. Some fictional aspects have been added here and there for entertainment value…but for the most part, the following actually happened. This is going to be in a running diary format.
4/19/11- 12pm
Flying from Phoenix to Chicago… Sitting on the aisle with an empty seat between myself and an older woman at the window, which is a fortuitous start to the journey. The woman next to me struggles to find her seat belt, I wait a few minutes as she wonders aloud to no one in particular where her seat belt has gone, before mentioning that I think it is hiding underneath her bottom. She was indeed sitting on it. 1st mystery solved. This United flight had a video presentation on the safety features of the plane, which I thought was quite lazy on their part. I mean the flight attendants were just sitting there as the video was going on, so it’s not like they were being more efficient by playing it while they did something else…
During the flight, an episode of the Office is shown. It’s the one where Andy is in the play. The same play that Michael auditioned for but didn’t get a part in. It was great, but I felt awkward laughing, as everyone that was watching was wearing headphones, and anyone not wearing headphones, clearly didn’t care how funny it was.
Next feature was the movie the Tourist. “Seat Belt Lady” loves The Tourist. She has it on DVD at home. For an “in flight” movie, I didn’t have issue with it, but I just kept thinking back to the Golden Globes commentary by Ricky Gervais…he didn’t like it.
Following The Tourist, they started to show an episode of Parks and Rec, but it got turned off in the middle as we were preparing to make our descent. Seat Belt Lady didn’t like the teaser one bit.
A few rows ahead of me, the flight attendant was giving a passenger a few huffs on a portable oxygen tank. Then the announcement came over the PA that once we landed we would have to wait for the EMT crew to board the plane before anyone was allowed to get off. After the announcement, there were audible groans coming from the other passengers. Really?? Someone is clearly in need of medical attention and you’re upset, because their health situation may cause you to miss your starbucks run prior to your next flight?? Amazing.
I hear a conversation a few rows behind me, where a girl is talking to a couple who is worried about missing their connecting flight (which is still an hour away). The girl tries to calm them by telling a story of one of her friends who had to catch a connecting flight right away, and the crew let them use the emergency inflatable slide to get off the plane and on to her connection. She said maybe they would let them do that in this case as well. First off, in my mind I immediately call BS, because I’m sorry to say, this girl’s “friend” is a complete liar. What airline lets passengers just open the emergency exit, pull the chord for the slide, and jump down it, just so they can make their connection?? But that doesn’t seem to stop the girl from stopping the flight attendant and saying “hey, they have a connecting flight in an hour, is there any way they can get off the plane now? The flight attendant replied with a “No, I’m sorry, no one can deplane until the EMTs give us clearance.” You could tell she wanted to say “didn’t you hear??-An Ambulance is on its way. No one can leave until they save this person’s life. Sorry it’s an inconvenience for you, would you like some more peanuts to get you by until you can go on with your self-absorbed life?” amazing.
After about 15 minutes, the Ambulance arrives, and takes the passenger off. I have an hour and a half until my connecting flight to Halifax, so I start to play some pga tour on my phone. I’m playing a PGA tour event at St. Andrews, and it’s a tough field…
5:30pm, waiting for some lightning to clear before take-off. Tiny Tiny plane. Packed, I’ve got a Mom traveling with a toddler in front of me, and a Couple traveling with a toddler behind me. Should be an interesting flight. 2 hours, later, still sitting in the airplane waiting to take-off. Captain lets us know that Canadian Customs is not going to wait for us, so our flight is cancelled. Everyone gets off the plane and goes to stand in line with the passengers from the 70 other flights that had been cancelled. The line is 300 yards long-no lie.
9:45pm-
I finally reach a customer service agent, who has clearly been through the ringer a few times. People were understandably very perturbed at the cancellation, but honestly, what good does it do to take it out on some stranger sitting at a computer. Yvonne was pleasantly surprised that I was not yelling at her. I joked with her for a few minutes while she found me a new flight. This one would go through Boston tomorrow, putting me into Halifax at 8:30pm. Not ideal, but nothing else I could do, so I took my ticket and went to find sleeping arrangements. I booked a Courtyard 8 miles from the Airport. I walked outside to meet a Taxi and for the first time felt the Chicago Air on my face…it was 34 degrees…And I was in shorts and a t-shirt. The airline wouldn’t let me get my bags back, so I was kind of stuck with what was on my back.
4/20- 11am
Security line at O’Hare was moving at a snail’s pace. Went through the line that required the full body scan with the puffs of air… Then a TSA agent called me over to frisk me. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was wearing the same set of clothes for the second day in a row, or the notion that I didn’t look suspicious, because she was kind enough to waive me on without the full cavity search-thankfully!
12:45pm
Fly to Boston without incident. I slept part of the way, and listened to my ipod for the rest of the way.
After arriving in Boston, I had to go from one end of the airport to the other it seemed. After getting lost and passing the same airport chapel 3 times, I asked someone for directions. They literally gave me an 8 step tutorial to get to the Air Canada terminal. No simple, make a left down the hall, take the escalator up to the 3rd floor, hang a right. You’ll see it on the left. Nope, this was something like, “Go past the first set of stairs, hang a right, take the escalator down to the 1st floor, pass the construction zone, go up two flights of stairs, take a right, walk to the 2nd Starbucks kiosk, look for a guy named Swenson, give him a high five with your left hand, turn 196 degrees, follow the path to Terminal B-once there, go up one more set of stairs, cross through the parking garage, and you’ll see it on the right.”
Since getting to the Air Canada terminal required me to seemingly leave the city of Boston, I had to go through security yet again…awesome. By this time, I’m starting to feel a little congested and I have a sore throat. Not a good sign. Air Canada’s terminal is tiny at Logan International Airport. I find an uninhabited corner and curl up with my laptop, while I try to charge my phone and not sneeze or cough on anyone.
6:18pm (supposed boarding time)-
Announcement comes over the PA that our plane has not yet arrived, but we anticipate boarding in 30 minutes. An hour later, we are boarding. I’m exhausted, once airborne; I turn on my ipod and sink into my chair. Thankfully, there is no one beside me on this leg of the trip. I stretch my legs into the adjoining side and stare out the window. Here are some of the songs that the shuffle playlist had in store for me while in the air. “Alone by Heart” “Here I go Again by Whitesnake” “Home by Michael Buble” and “I’ll make love to you by Boys II Men” (not really fitting for my current situation, but B2M is amazing).
As we start to make our descent, I look out the window. We start to come down through the clouds and it’s raining. The rain hits the wing and starts to freeze a little as it runs down the side...that’s interesting, I think to myself. I start to gather my things and notice my left foot is kind of wet, as is my backpack…what is that??? Turns out the lady in front of me (who was 8 months pregnant) happened to have her water break as we were making our descent…fantastic news!
We land and taxi up to the jetway. The captain comes on to say that they just need to find the piece that allows us to hook on to the jetway and we’ll be able to get off. That’s reassuring…we’re missing a piece of the plane?
After 20 minutes of waiting, they finally are able to get us off the plane.
It’s 9:45pm local time, I’m tired, but happy that I made it safely.
There were 3 customs agents still working, and I got the cranky one. She was not nice at all. I gave her my customs declaration card and she inquired as to the reason for my trip. “I’m working for 2 weeks”
“You’ll have to be more specific” she snaps at me
“I work for Marriott, I’m coming to work at the Harbourfront Hotel”
“More SPECIFIC! What are you doing at this hotel?”
“I don’t know yet, they haven’t told me.”
She just stares at me this time.
“I am going to be managing the front desk of this hotel for 2 weeks”
“You’ll have to speak with Immigration. Go down that hallway, it’s on the right.”
So as everyone else went on their merry way, I made my way to the Immigration office. The lady at the desk was wearing a full on bullet proof vest and looked about as happy as the lady I just spoke to. She finished with the guy in front of me, and I approached her window.
“don’t approach the window yet. Please back up!”
I look around me, there’s no one but me and her, but I follow her direction and take two steps back. She goes back to typing something.
A nice gentleman finally comes out and helps me. “Do you have your work orders?”
“Nope, didn’t know I needed any. Can I email them to you?”
“No, we can’t accept an email, but you can fax it to us.”
So I go sit back down, pull out my laptop, pray that they have free wifi (which they do :) and pull up my emails. I call the hotel, ask if they can fax back this email I’m about to send them, so I can be allowed to enter the country.
30 minutes and $150 CAD later (I had to purchase a 2 week work permit), I was allowed to enter Canadian soil. The only problem is, my bags have not entered Canadian soil yet. The baggage guy tells me my luggage should be arriving from Chicago in the next hour or so, and that he will bring it to the hotel.
I go outside, get my cab, and head to the hotel to check in. I had arrived. What was supposed to be 12 hours of total travel time turned into 30…but I was there.
Hello Canada, Prepare to have your dreams come true!
Thanks for all your hard work, here's a coupon
In any gratuity heavy industry, there are bound to be weird tips. Who can forget Home Alone 2, where Rob Schneider gets tipped in a piece of Wrigley's chewing gum? When I got to my hotel room in Canada, the houseman was kind enough to bring me some toiletry items, as my bags had not arrived with me. I asked him to hold on, grabbed my cash, then realized I hadn't exchanged my money yet. And the US Dollar is not doing quite as well as the Canadian Dollar. I apologized and told him I only had American money, and gave him 5 bucks. he said it was fine of course, but after he took that to the bank to exchange it, he probably netted $2 after the exchange rate and transaction fees took place. I don't think I saw that houseman again for the entire 2 weeks I was there. Then today, my first day back at work, one of my Desk Agents told me about her husband, who is a bellman at another resort nearby. He checked someone in, took them to the room and helped them with their bags. The woman asked him to hold on, while she fumbled through her clutch. "here you go. thanks for your help." It was a coupon for free butter!!!
Can you believe that?? Butter!? Not even a coupon for an entree item, or something of substance, but instead, butter. I forgot to ask, but I wonder how that went down when they pooled their tips that evening. "ok, we got $336 and a butter coupon. Who wants the butter coupon?? anyone?"
I told my desk agent, I was going to try that out as a joke the next time I travel. I get diaper and formula coupons from Safeway all the time. I just want to see the look on the person's face when I tip them in a coupon, instead of cash... then laugh, and give them cash afterwards for being a good sport.
People are funny...
Maybe it's a sign...
Every time I open my wallet, I see the same thing... well besides the lack of Benjamin Franklins that is... I have a wager ticket from Wynn Las Vegas. That ticket is worth $75. I won it on a 3 team parlay. The nice thing about placing bets at a well run establishment like the Wynn, is they let you mail in your winning tickets, and they will mail you back the cash. I have yet to do this however. Part of me is worried that if I mail in this ticket, I will never see it, nor the cash again. Like the foolish men who hid their treasures, only to never find them again. So I'm waiting until I pass through Las Vegas again to collect my winnings. The ticket is good for 122 days, I placed the wager on the 4th of March. I'm driving to Utah on the 5th of July. Cutting it close, but I think I'll make it. Although I'm driving to Utah with Blake. That could be an interesting romp through the Wynn with a soon to be 3 year old. I wonder if they will valet my 01 Buick Century....
These are the things that cross my mind when I open my wallet...followed by "hey, where did that stack of Benjamins go??"
These are the things that cross my mind when I open my wallet...followed by "hey, where did that stack of Benjamins go??"
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
"It's too hot for April," he said in jest, as many of his friends in Utah freeze
So it was crazy hot last week, we even broached 100 degrees, which is ridiculous. Thankfully, it's cooled down to a blissful 84 the past couple of days. I recently got an iPhone and I have to say, one of my favorite apps is the weather one. I have my two destinations as Scottsdale, so I can see what to expect at the hotel, weather-wise, and secondly: Springville. Since it was so hot last week, I didn't check my weather app all that often, for fear of seeing a possible temp increase...but that also means I hadn't checked Springville either, and it wasn't until I caught a glimpse of the Conference Center, and there were what appeared to be frozen particles of some hydrogen and oxygen based matter floating down to the ground. My sister saw it as well, and called my parents (who are back in Utah for a couple weeks doing doctor's visits). "Yes, we got 6 inches at our place." they said...It's such an interesting phenomenon that 700 miles away, it is 60 degrees cooler or warmer, depending on the direction the crow is flying....If that doesn't prove God has a sense of humor, I don't know what does. Even now, as I am typing this, it is currently 39 degrees in Springville, with a high of 61 tomorrow; while, at the same time, it is 71 degrees outside, and quite pleasant. I just returned from the drive in theater, and it was wonderfully balmy outside. Now, I know what some are thinking as they are reading this... "Ben, why are you rubbing this in? Don't you know that everywhere else in this blessed country is going through what seems to be the longest winter in history?!" and the answer is, Yes. I do realize that. I'm not writing it to rub it in, I just think it interesting. But to be fair, you all can blog about the lovely Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons where you are, while we go through the Hot, Hotter, and Not Quite as Hot, but Monsoonie, seasons down here. Give and Take, I say. But I'm happy to report I may get to see some good old fashioned winter yet... I'm going to Nova Scotia for 2 weeks at the end of the month, and their current 10 day forecast has a high of 52 degrees and thunderstorms...ahhh, the memories.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
"Blake, Let me tell you about my high school French Courses"
Tonight, as Blake was getting ready for bed, I told him to go grab a book. (quick side note, this "story time" was already doomed since I was watching the Duke/UNC game in the background...but that's neither here nor there). Blake scampered off and returned with Disney's Tarzan. He climbed up on my lap and, together, we turned to the first page. He doesn't usually wait for the actual story, preferring instead to point and yell out the objects he finds in the pictures. "Monkey, BIG Monkey, Baby!" Then I look at the words and suddenly, I appreciate that he didn't wait for me to read the story. The whole story was completely in French!? Not totally understanding where my sister picked up a french version of a Disney classic turned children's book, I decided to turn the pages and get through the pictures as fast as possible so we could choose another book in a language I was fluent in....namely, English. So I turned the page and he continued to identify the pictures: "BIG Monkey! BIG Monkey! little Monkey! Baby! Hey, where's the Baby's pants daddy?", we turn the page again, and after he identifies Jane, her dad, the bad guy and Tarzan, he asks me to read the pages. "Read Daddy, Read!" he says, as he points to the words. "Read the letters Daddy!" Now, the next part of the story is kind of hard to explain, but anyone with young kids can probably relate. You see, when it's just you and your kid alone in the house, sometimes you try to carry on an adult conversation, even though you know everything is going over their head. Keep that in mind when you read the next part. "Read the story Daddy!" "Blake, the story is in French." "Read it Daddy, Read Tarzan". "Blake, I haven't read French for 10 years, I'm not sure it would sound very good. You see, I had some, what you would call, authoritative altercations with my two French Teachers. One was upset that I asked a fluent french speaker to help me conjugate a few irregular verbs, and the other...well, the other didn't have the best sense of humor when it came to lighters in the shape of a small firearm." it was at about this point in my explanation of why I can't read Blake this story, that he seemed to lose interest in the book entirely and ran off to get another book. at which point, I must admit I was a little offended. I don't feel he really understands that, although I would love to read him the story of Tarzan in francais, I unfortunately am not able to do it. 70% because I was a complete screw off in class and 30% because my two teachers were certifiably insane! I even drew Blake a pie chart to demonstrate this, but he just took it and colored all over the statistics.
Some day I'm sure we'll have a deep, philosophically meaningful conversation about the joys of speaking multiple languages. But until then...we'll stick to children's books in English.
Some day I'm sure we'll have a deep, philosophically meaningful conversation about the joys of speaking multiple languages. But until then...we'll stick to children's books in English.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Man up Blake!
When I picked Blake up yesterday morning, I noticed something in his hair. When I asked him what it was, Dalisa said "Hair Gel" and then Blake said, "Ya, it's Cute!"...While I couldn't disagree that my kid is hugely adorable, I think he's spending way too much time around girls and not enough time around Desert Storm Veterans. He's also gotten in the habit of crying about every little thing that hurts him...Some may argue, "well Ben, he is only 2 1/2 years old, that's what they do", but I seem to remember having a full time job by the time I was 3, so he's got 6 months to toughen up. Lack of toughness notwithstanding, He still is a freaking cute kid. He gets into a LOT of trouble and pushes his boundaries as far as he can, but at the end of the day, he cuddles up to me, and all the grief he put me through that day seems to drift away. His time outs have been coming more frequently lately, and being that he hangs out with older kids at the babysitter, he has picked up some new words that aren't exactly pleasant to hear. However, every time I discipline him, I visualize him turning to me, and saying "Daddy, now that you have reproved me with sharpness, don't you think now would be a good time to show an increase of love?" And then I just think, 'wow, for someone who can't use the potty yet, he has an incredible understanding of the Doctrine and Covenants!"
Anyway, we've got a long way to go before he listens to every word I say, but I'm sure we'll get there....after all, I was a perfect kid right, so why wouldn't I expect the same from him?? ;)
Anyway, we've got a long way to go before he listens to every word I say, but I'm sure we'll get there....after all, I was a perfect kid right, so why wouldn't I expect the same from him?? ;)
Tourism at its best!
With the BCS National Championship now over, you would think life around the Valley of the Sun would die down a bit. But alas, the 70 degree weather this time of year continues to bring visitors from far and wide. And while we continue to be busy at the Inn, our celebrity sightings have dropped significantly- which I'm ok with actually. It's always fun to talk with people that you recognize from TV or various websites. But I always get a little nervous they are going to write something less than perfect about our resort. I scoured espn.com the few days after Auburn beat Oregon (still think Oregon would have been smarter to let Auburn score a TD when there was still 1:59 on the clock, but that's another story) to make sure none of the analysts staying with us had anything negative to say about their accommodations. Thankfully, no such publications have been found thus far...rest can come easily now...until the next star-studded event at least.
I still think a future project could include making an "Office" type spin off of the Hotel Lifestyle. We have such a collection of great characters here at my resort. And when I have a weekend of celebrity check ins, I sometimes wish I could act like Michael Scott while checking them in-without fear that my actions would result in termination. For instance, a few former stars from both the Collegiate and NFL level checked in, and I had the brief notion to hand them their room keys and then spear them to the ground- random thought of violence aside, I think it would have been hilarious! We also had a few former coaches check in, and I would have loved to pass them a play written on a cocktail napkin (with the title "The Annexation of Puerto Rico") and ask them to give it to a current coach to implement into their playbook.
While I lack the stones to actually say any of these things, in the event I win Publishers Clearing-House, I already have an exit strategy in mind for my last day-similar to the Airline attendant who went crazy on the passenger and then pulled the emergency exit lever and dove down the slide onto the tarmac. It's going to be epic. You should all be crossing your fingers for that PCH fortune to come to me, just so you can then read about how it goes down!
Stay Tuned!
I still think a future project could include making an "Office" type spin off of the Hotel Lifestyle. We have such a collection of great characters here at my resort. And when I have a weekend of celebrity check ins, I sometimes wish I could act like Michael Scott while checking them in-without fear that my actions would result in termination. For instance, a few former stars from both the Collegiate and NFL level checked in, and I had the brief notion to hand them their room keys and then spear them to the ground- random thought of violence aside, I think it would have been hilarious! We also had a few former coaches check in, and I would have loved to pass them a play written on a cocktail napkin (with the title "The Annexation of Puerto Rico") and ask them to give it to a current coach to implement into their playbook.
While I lack the stones to actually say any of these things, in the event I win Publishers Clearing-House, I already have an exit strategy in mind for my last day-similar to the Airline attendant who went crazy on the passenger and then pulled the emergency exit lever and dove down the slide onto the tarmac. It's going to be epic. You should all be crossing your fingers for that PCH fortune to come to me, just so you can then read about how it goes down!
Stay Tuned!
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