Friday, November 30, 2007

Thanksgiving Weekend

finally recooping from a long Thanksgiving weekend....

T day was spent at cousin Mikes house, as it has been for the last 30 plus years... It was a fine time. It was great to see Danika, ms. ASU sorority girl, back for the holiday.

The following day, I like to take the kids to the parade in Seattle. Well, this year they boycotted, choosing sleep over a parade.. oh well, it was really cold that morning.

The kids went to a movie with their mother and she dropped them off that afternoon. We goofed around for a bit. Then Jessica decided she wanted to see a late movie with her friend. I couldn't get any info out of her, except that the movie ends around 11:15. She insisted she could walk home alone, its only a block. But I wouldn't let her. She asked her friends mom to drive her home. I stayed up to make sure there were non shenanigans. There weren't.

Saturday, Kelsey and I went for breakfast while Jess slept. We wanted to try the bbq breakfast buffet, but is was too pricey, so we went to Docs where once again, I had a spectacular breakfast.

Saturday night we went to the Nutcracker in Poulsbo. It was put on by the Liberty Bay Dance Studio. Jessicas friend was playing the part of Clara. It was good, but a little long. We didn't get home til 10:30.

Sunday was football day! my kids try to not watch games, or be around me during games, but due to the fact it was a 10 am game, they were stuck with me!

They actually got into the first quarter, asking questions and such. Then they played in their room until 4th quarter. We watched the final quarter. On the last play, with the Rams on the goal line down by 5... I was really freaking out. It was 4th down. I told them what was happening, that this next play was the game.. They were still not prepared for me to fly out of my chair at the speed of light and then proceed to dance and scream for 3 - 5 minutes after the Rams fumbled the ball on the goal line! Seahawks win!

all in all, it was a good holiday weekend.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Denver! November 2007

Its been a while, in fact a few weeks before I started this blog, but I was sent back to Denver for meetings with my clients.

The flight there sucked, in fact, I will take this opportunity right now to do a comparison of my flight to Denver and flight home.

Flight to Denver: United Airlines 737-300.
I had an aisle seat and found I could barely get my laptop bag under the seat. I noticed that the aisle seats are narrower than the middle and window seat... crazy.

The flight attendants came through the cabin about 15 minutes after take off. I ordered a beer and handed her a 10. Beers cost 5 dollars and I told her just keeep the change and bring me another beer. She came back5 minutes later with my change. That was the last I ever saw of her the rest of the 2.75 hours of flight.

There was only ONE bathroom on the plane... there was a line of 5 - 10 people the entire flight. Perhaps this is why beverage service ended as quick as it began.

My checked bag had been smashed, my sunglasses were broken...

The flight from Denver back to Seattle.
Alaska Airline 737-700

I got stuck in a middle seat, but it was so much roomier than previous flight.
The flight attendants worked the entire flight, coming through 3 times with beverage service and another time with water.

It was a nice flight, much better than United.

Ok, back to Denver.

I arrived on Sunday late afternoon. I had a quiet evening, a nice dinner at Steubens in uptown. Then I went to my favorite watering hole "Williams", also in Uptown. the place was packed. I asked someone where I could just get a six pack and go back to my room. Nope, there are no to go alcohol sales in Colorado on Sundays.. This is why Sunday was the busiest night I encountered.

Monday we had an afternoon staff meeting, followed by a presentation on the corporate redesign. I was invited to a staff dinner of my clients. We walked down to the Chop House, which apparently is owned by Rock Bottom Brewery.

There where at least 20 people there, of whom I knew 4...

Dinner was good, and after dinner I was on a mission to watch the Seahawks in Monday Night football. My immediate clients joined me and we had a good time watching the game.

Tuesday was more meetings all day.

Tuesday night I went out with the three employees in our company. We walked down the street to Shelbys. The night quickly got out of hand. See picts:






Wednesday was the last night in town. That meant I had to get to the Samba room, my favorite Denver restaurant. After dinner I went home and slept.

Thursday I hopped the light rail to Littleton to meet other clients. Light rail is cool, I can't wait till Seattle has the light rail.

That concluded my trip. I will be back in a few months for more fun...