(no subject)
Alright... it's been a long damn time since I've written...
Back in time...
So the week of January 21-27 I was in Little Rock for work...here's the run-down.
Sunday, Jan 21: Woke up and had a bowl of cereal, then got all of my stuff around to head to the airport. Flight was supposed to leave AVP at 1250, we left at 1510. Arrived at CVG at 1630, when my flight to LIT was supposed to leave. I left the plane and BOOKED IT to the departures board at the center of the terminal. Breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing my flight had been delayed to 1740. Took my time getting over to terminal A. Made my way to gate A6 where my flight was supposed to leave from and asked the booking agent there what the status was. I hand her my boarding pass as I told her what my flight number was. She says "oh, no, honey, that flight already left." "But it said in Terminal C that it was delayed until 1740!!" At this point some panicked Muslim woman runs up asking them to call her gate and have them hold the plane. After the booking agent was done with her, she got back to looking at mine. I thought I was going to have to re-book on a later flight (only other flight to LIT was at 2045), but she finally stopped being dyslexic and typed in the right flight number. It was then that it was confirmed that my flight was delayed to 1740 and moved to gate A30. I headed down there where I found an LCD TV hanging from the ceiling with a football game on. I sat there for a while watching the game and relaxing. They announced the flight being delayed to 1815. I got up to pee and when I came back I saw that it had been changed to 1830. I figured I better go get something to eat. I grabbed a sub from Quizno's and headed back to the football game. Our flight crew finally arrived and readied the plane for takeoff (yes, the plane was there and loaded for the entire duration. The crew was on a plane coming from Fort Wayne, IN). We finally loaded and got in the air around 1915. Arrived at LIT at 1945 (hour and a half flight with a 1-hour time change), got my rental car, situated my driving directions and whatnot and headed out for the hotel.
So I arrive at the Courtyard Marriott Little Rock Downtown. I try to check in, the lady doesn't have my name on the list. I go back to the car to get my reservation number. I get accosted by a homeless guy trying to get booze money from me under the ruse of being a vietnam vet (didn't look quite old enough for that) and want a couple cans of pork and beans. I ignored him. He asked if I knew where he could do some work and get paid on the spot. I told him I wasn't from the area and didn't know of any place like that. Then he pulls the "I'm a christian and blah blah blah" to try and get some money out of me and that's when I said "Maybe you shouldn't assume everyone is a christian?" and got in my car. I drive out to the hotel parking lot in back and when I pull out the paper, I see that the booking info for my hotel says "Courtyard Marriott Little Rock West." Some fucking tool in corporate travel booked me in the wrong hotel. I had specifically requested the Courtyard Downtown since that was what the managers I was going to see told me to ask for. Oh well. I got directions to the other hotel and headed out. 10 minutes later, I'm checking in and getting my room keys. I go in, get settled down and relax. Passed out around midnight.
Monday, Jan 22: Go to work all day, then out to dinner afterwards. Headed down to the Flying Saucer for dinner and drinks with some guys from the Maximum-Suzuki message boards. Good food, great beer, good company and AMAZING scenery if you know what I mean. ;-) Went back to the hotel and chilled for a while before I hit the sack.
Tuesday, Jan 23: Went to work all day, then out to dinner with one of the guys from the office and his girlfriend. She was a sweetheart and he was a fun guy. Had some awesome pizza, kick-ass salad and tossed back a few brews. During the dinner convo, I mentioned looking for a place to buy SawIII since I hadn't seen it yet and really wanted to watch it. Coincidentally, they had just rented it. He invited me over to their place to watch it with them. He had a really nice little condo right by the office. Big LCD and surround sound and a PS3. Right after we got there, his g/f put her pajamas on and I was a little distracted from the movie. ;-) The movie was good, though. Went back to the hotel and crashed.
Wednesday, Jan 24: Work all day, then back to the hotel to listen to the little Pens online. After the 3rd period started, I got hungry and headed out to forage for food. Ended up hitting up IHOP and having some of the nastiest fucking coffee ever consumed by humans. Went to Wal-Mart and grabbed a case of Brisk and then headed back to the hotel. Chatted online for a while before hitting the sack.
Thursday, Jan 25: Work all day again, followed by dinner at The Villa. Nice little Italian place. Had what they call The Michelangelo. It was veal with a whole mess of stuff on top of it. This meal was obviously made for about 4 people to share. Glad I wasn't paying for all that wasted food. :-\ It was OK, but there was something nasty on top of it that no amount of scraping could get rid of. That was mildly disappointing. Again, back to the hotel, chatting online, then bed.
Friday, Jan 26: Work all day yet again. Apparently I was the only tech to be there for the entire week. That's dedication right there! ;-) Some of the guys from the office were going to the Flying Saucer after work, so I decided to join them. I liked the food and scenery there on Monday, so I figured going back would be a good time. Man, what a crowd there! Good times. Had more good food, more kickass beers and hung out with some cool guys. Had to cut out early to go back to the hotel and pack and get ready for my early flight (otherwise I probably could have gone home with or taken a girl back to the hotel. Girl was flirting with me something fierce. Had a thing for big guys).
Saturday, Jan 27: Time to go home. Woke up at some ridiculous hour (430?) and hopped in the shower. Packed up the car, checked out and headed to the airport. Returned the rental car, checked my bags and headed to the gate. Had a guy from work on the same flights back home, so I talked to him at the terminals to pass time. Eventless flights home other than the indian woman behind me with her kids, on of whom I'm sure was wearing a shitty diaper. Kept getting a whiff of it. Glad she wasn't on my second flight. Landed and taxied to the gate and de-planed. Walked out into the terminal and my dad is standing at the window watching intently. I walked up behind him and said "See anything interesting out there?" He asked when we landed. "About 2 minutes ago." "I've been here 10 minutes and this dual-prop here is the only thing that's landed!" "You missed something, then!" Went down and grabbed my suitcase and headed to the car. Got home and passed out for a little while, then headed out to dinner with a few friends.
And now since that, I've looked at 7 houses. Only 1 that I'm interested in, but I'm not feeling terribly confident about it. It's been hard trying to get back in there to look at it again and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb and the realtor had me check to be sure my financier would be willing to finance a house that doesn't have a furnace (primary heat source is a propane fireplace). He said it just has to have a primary source of heat capable of heating the entire house. He said it's up to the inspector and appraiser. That makes me just a little nervous. If I can't get that house, the only thing left to look at is down in the city where I really don't want to be. Ugh.
I was supposed to go look at the house Wednesday at 1330 with my dad and the realtor, but it's not looking too promising considering we're getting in the neighborhood of 2 feet of snow in the next 24 hours or so. Should be fun. I'm working from home.
And with that, I need to get to bed... I really need to write in here more often!
-JB
Back in time...
So the week of January 21-27 I was in Little Rock for work...here's the run-down.
Sunday, Jan 21: Woke up and had a bowl of cereal, then got all of my stuff around to head to the airport. Flight was supposed to leave AVP at 1250, we left at 1510. Arrived at CVG at 1630, when my flight to LIT was supposed to leave. I left the plane and BOOKED IT to the departures board at the center of the terminal. Breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing my flight had been delayed to 1740. Took my time getting over to terminal A. Made my way to gate A6 where my flight was supposed to leave from and asked the booking agent there what the status was. I hand her my boarding pass as I told her what my flight number was. She says "oh, no, honey, that flight already left." "But it said in Terminal C that it was delayed until 1740!!" At this point some panicked Muslim woman runs up asking them to call her gate and have them hold the plane. After the booking agent was done with her, she got back to looking at mine. I thought I was going to have to re-book on a later flight (only other flight to LIT was at 2045), but she finally stopped being dyslexic and typed in the right flight number. It was then that it was confirmed that my flight was delayed to 1740 and moved to gate A30. I headed down there where I found an LCD TV hanging from the ceiling with a football game on. I sat there for a while watching the game and relaxing. They announced the flight being delayed to 1815. I got up to pee and when I came back I saw that it had been changed to 1830. I figured I better go get something to eat. I grabbed a sub from Quizno's and headed back to the football game. Our flight crew finally arrived and readied the plane for takeoff (yes, the plane was there and loaded for the entire duration. The crew was on a plane coming from Fort Wayne, IN). We finally loaded and got in the air around 1915. Arrived at LIT at 1945 (hour and a half flight with a 1-hour time change), got my rental car, situated my driving directions and whatnot and headed out for the hotel.
So I arrive at the Courtyard Marriott Little Rock Downtown. I try to check in, the lady doesn't have my name on the list. I go back to the car to get my reservation number. I get accosted by a homeless guy trying to get booze money from me under the ruse of being a vietnam vet (didn't look quite old enough for that) and want a couple cans of pork and beans. I ignored him. He asked if I knew where he could do some work and get paid on the spot. I told him I wasn't from the area and didn't know of any place like that. Then he pulls the "I'm a christian and blah blah blah" to try and get some money out of me and that's when I said "Maybe you shouldn't assume everyone is a christian?" and got in my car. I drive out to the hotel parking lot in back and when I pull out the paper, I see that the booking info for my hotel says "Courtyard Marriott Little Rock West." Some fucking tool in corporate travel booked me in the wrong hotel. I had specifically requested the Courtyard Downtown since that was what the managers I was going to see told me to ask for. Oh well. I got directions to the other hotel and headed out. 10 minutes later, I'm checking in and getting my room keys. I go in, get settled down and relax. Passed out around midnight.
Monday, Jan 22: Go to work all day, then out to dinner afterwards. Headed down to the Flying Saucer for dinner and drinks with some guys from the Maximum-Suzuki message boards. Good food, great beer, good company and AMAZING scenery if you know what I mean. ;-) Went back to the hotel and chilled for a while before I hit the sack.
Tuesday, Jan 23: Went to work all day, then out to dinner with one of the guys from the office and his girlfriend. She was a sweetheart and he was a fun guy. Had some awesome pizza, kick-ass salad and tossed back a few brews. During the dinner convo, I mentioned looking for a place to buy SawIII since I hadn't seen it yet and really wanted to watch it. Coincidentally, they had just rented it. He invited me over to their place to watch it with them. He had a really nice little condo right by the office. Big LCD and surround sound and a PS3. Right after we got there, his g/f put her pajamas on and I was a little distracted from the movie. ;-) The movie was good, though. Went back to the hotel and crashed.
Wednesday, Jan 24: Work all day, then back to the hotel to listen to the little Pens online. After the 3rd period started, I got hungry and headed out to forage for food. Ended up hitting up IHOP and having some of the nastiest fucking coffee ever consumed by humans. Went to Wal-Mart and grabbed a case of Brisk and then headed back to the hotel. Chatted online for a while before hitting the sack.
Thursday, Jan 25: Work all day again, followed by dinner at The Villa. Nice little Italian place. Had what they call The Michelangelo. It was veal with a whole mess of stuff on top of it. This meal was obviously made for about 4 people to share. Glad I wasn't paying for all that wasted food. :-\ It was OK, but there was something nasty on top of it that no amount of scraping could get rid of. That was mildly disappointing. Again, back to the hotel, chatting online, then bed.
Friday, Jan 26: Work all day yet again. Apparently I was the only tech to be there for the entire week. That's dedication right there! ;-) Some of the guys from the office were going to the Flying Saucer after work, so I decided to join them. I liked the food and scenery there on Monday, so I figured going back would be a good time. Man, what a crowd there! Good times. Had more good food, more kickass beers and hung out with some cool guys. Had to cut out early to go back to the hotel and pack and get ready for my early flight (otherwise I probably could have gone home with or taken a girl back to the hotel. Girl was flirting with me something fierce. Had a thing for big guys).
Saturday, Jan 27: Time to go home. Woke up at some ridiculous hour (430?) and hopped in the shower. Packed up the car, checked out and headed to the airport. Returned the rental car, checked my bags and headed to the gate. Had a guy from work on the same flights back home, so I talked to him at the terminals to pass time. Eventless flights home other than the indian woman behind me with her kids, on of whom I'm sure was wearing a shitty diaper. Kept getting a whiff of it. Glad she wasn't on my second flight. Landed and taxied to the gate and de-planed. Walked out into the terminal and my dad is standing at the window watching intently. I walked up behind him and said "See anything interesting out there?" He asked when we landed. "About 2 minutes ago." "I've been here 10 minutes and this dual-prop here is the only thing that's landed!" "You missed something, then!" Went down and grabbed my suitcase and headed to the car. Got home and passed out for a little while, then headed out to dinner with a few friends.
And now since that, I've looked at 7 houses. Only 1 that I'm interested in, but I'm not feeling terribly confident about it. It's been hard trying to get back in there to look at it again and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb and the realtor had me check to be sure my financier would be willing to finance a house that doesn't have a furnace (primary heat source is a propane fireplace). He said it just has to have a primary source of heat capable of heating the entire house. He said it's up to the inspector and appraiser. That makes me just a little nervous. If I can't get that house, the only thing left to look at is down in the city where I really don't want to be. Ugh.
I was supposed to go look at the house Wednesday at 1330 with my dad and the realtor, but it's not looking too promising considering we're getting in the neighborhood of 2 feet of snow in the next 24 hours or so. Should be fun. I'm working from home.
And with that, I need to get to bed... I really need to write in here more often!
-JB