This Is Madness

Finally!!!

Brackets I understand! I can't wait to start playing this one. Unfortunately some of favorites will be knocked out, like C-3PO losing to R2-D2.

I'm going to guess for the semi-finals it will be Yoda and Han Solo against Darth Vader and Darth Maul. If I'm 'forced' to choose now, I'll say Yoda against Darth Vader and Yoda wins.

Click the link below to be directed to the Star Wars website and more details.

http://starwars.com/this-is-madness/index.html#bracket

Resistance Is Wearing Thin

And here I was doing so well: avoiding eye contact, not caving to the pressures of the toothy, and sometimes toothless smiles, the rationale of helping out a worth-while organization. But then the annual call that I try to resist happened. I had to buy Girl Scout cookies.

One of my super nice coworkers' daughters is selling temptation in a box, so I felt I should help out the cute little youngling. My friend, Jill, told me, "You purchased the cookies to benefit the Girl Scouting organization. As a consequence, your good intentions cancel out the calorie content of the cookies."  I love Jill. Bet my doctor doesn't.

I should just listen to the Borg earlier in the month: Resistance is futile.

Isn't That Tweet?

I think we've already established that it's all about me.

Today, I'm going to be training a group of Minnesota school business officials on the benefits of using Twitter for their organization. I get to teach them all about @, #, 140 and more. Since social media is a passion of mine, this is both easy and fun.

Getting ready for the presentation, I had to Tweet a picture of me so I have an example of posting pictures to Twitter. Below is the masterpiece.

Now, how did I start out this blog post?

A Good Kind of Ticket

The poor dear. She can't find her car. She needed to grab the reminder slip. She doesn't know if she parked in Green, Gold, Blue, and on which level. From the size of that suitcase, she probably doesn't want to schlep it around the parking garage.  Lesson to those who use the Lindbergh Terminal to park your car.

My tip: park over at Humphrey Terminal and take the free Lightrail over to Lindbergh.

If you can't find your car, this may as well be Wonka's Golden Ticket. I grabbed a few extra as a joke to put on friend's cars who always can't remember where they've parked.

More Snow and Ice

Time to head back to the airport.  There wasn't a lot of snow on the roads, and even less once I got to Denver, but you can tell the mountains were hit hard. It's difficult to see, but this view of Pike's Peak at 7:00 AM was stunning.

This time around, the icy roads made for a longer drive. But who knew Colorado was filled with so many important people? Pay no attention to all the cars in the ditches or the warning signs. They aren't meant to warn you, oh so important speeder.

Emergency Alert Text

Great. The past four trips to/from Denver, I've had some type of delay. It's either due to mechanical problems or weather. Sometimes I'm blessed that it's both.

Today, my flight was delayed almost two hours because they couldn't find a part for a door that needed to be fixed. Seriously. Does Delta not fix their planes until they are parked at the gate?

I finally make it to Denver, and as I'm driving to Colorado Springs, I hear a sharp, piercing noise I haven't heard before. Thinking it was something with my rental car, I slow down and am about to pull over on I-25 when I realize it's actually my phone making this horrendous noise.

Turns out that what received is an alert that will be part of a national weather alert service. It didn't bother me receiving this in the afternoon, but later on the news I heard that many people received this alert at 4:30 AM. I, too, would not have been a happy camper.

Well, that means I probably have to leave super early again on Sunday to catch my flight. Hopefully they won't delay it, mechanical or weather related.

Follow up: (April 17, 2013)

Looks like Minnesota is finally getting into the game!

https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/hsem/weather-awareness-preparedness/Pages/alerts-warnings-personal-alerts.aspx

Vive L'Amour!

Sure, some think Valentine's Day is just another commercial holiday. Others look forward to the one day that it's okay to express your undying commitment to the one who holds your heart. Men just run from February 14th as if it were the Plague.

But one of our annual work seminars is always held the second week of February in the Wisconsin Dells. Sadly, we have to come here a couple times per year since it's somewhat mid-way for our offices. Yes, I'd rather be tortured than have to vacation in this tourist trap, but I digress. 

I'm not a total Scrooge, but being shy of the camera, I allowed myself this one photo opportunity with two of my coworkers.

And remember: don't just dedicate one day to the one you love!