Spring Break 2013

What a road trip! I flew into Las Vegas, drove to Palm Springs for a couple of days, and then drove out to Anaheim, before driving back to Las Vegas to catch a red eye.  Of course it was worth it! 

Here are some of the trip's highlights.

What trip could be finer than by starting and ending with In-N-Out Burgers? This one is near the Rio off of Dean Martin Drive. They got more of my money than the slots did!

These next two shots are in Palm Springs. It was great seeing such pretty flowers again, so I'm hopeful Spring will return soon. As for Marilyn, I was lucky to see her last year in Chicago, and now I was able to visit her again here in the desert.

In my opinion, the Crab Cooker has some of the best clam chowder around. I waited as long to have this as I did to have my Double Double again, but it was so worth it. I love that they catch their fish fresh daily. You can tell the difference.

 Did you really think I would be able to go to California without visiting my Laughin' Place? No trip to California is complete without visiting The Happiest Place on Earth. Not only was I able to see a few friends, but I also squeezed in a couple of character visits to see my big, cuddly friends. And I got some Dole Whip to boot!

I'd rather pay for a good meal than gamble, but when I found two different Star Wars slot machines at the Las Vegas airport while waiting for my 1:00 AM flight, I had to indulge. While the Force was with me in winning $20.00, I really lost $10.00. And that was totally acceptable as $10.00 is usually my limit.

Because I was going to do a lot of driving, I wanted to make sure I caught some rays. I paid the price by burning my head. I guess I have to admit I need to start wearing a hat to protect my melon.











To view the entire photo album, please click here.

Drink Up Me Hearties, Yo Ho!

My room come with a bottle and a Jacuzzi. What kind of business trip is this? It's funny because I have stayed in the exact same room three times in a row here at Le St-Germain Suite Hotel. But let me assure you: I have never used that germ-infested Jacuzzi. I was tempted to open that bottle, but not at hotel prices.

A Mad Tea Party!

I'm at a conference, and they've recently remodeled the hotel. I saw some new chairs, and my first thought was 'Mad Tea Party'! I asked my friend to take a picture of me, which I posted on Facebook. Another friend, who loves to Photoshop as much as I do, paid me back for some of my pranks. What do you think of his handiwork below? I'm simply MAD about it!

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