Where did that Finish Line go?

Well the decision was made for me whether to stay or go. I got out early enough to go home early but the cost to change the airfare was over double the cost of staying the night.

So I guess the plan now is:

-Kick back, relax and enjoy the motel room tonight
-Have a nice dinner
-Go home bright and early tomorrow

It could be far worse. It could be snowing and cold like January.

I can see the finish line

I’m winding down my week in the Hamilton/Toronto area today. This week has flown by. I never seemed to know what day it was all week though. Generally we don’t fly to work on a Sunday so I’ve been a day off ever since I got here. Monday seemed like Tuesday; Tuesday like Wednesday and so forth.

The agenda today goes through noon. I didn’t realize that when I booked my travel to go home tomorrow morning. There are flights out this evening that I might be able to catch that would get me home tonight. That’s providing we finish on time with the agenda. I decided not to make that decision until this afternoon so I would not feel rushed. Hamilton is not that far from Toronto but the traffic can be a huge factor.

I have mixed feelings about heading home tonight. I want to be there, but I never get the chance to enjoy the nice motel rooms when I’m on the road. They are simply a place to sleep, shower and get ready for work. The thought of kicking back at the Hilton, having a nice dinner and taking it easy tonight sounds like a very good option.

The other issue with making a change like this and making last minute travel arrangements is the special security they put you through. Generally it will make you a selectee for additional screening. I battle with whether or not it’s worth it to have them do a special check on my bags, give me the ever so gentle frisk, etc..

I know my nature and I’m sure I’ll rush around and try to catch that earlier flight home.

At home today Stefan is having carpet put down in the new bedroom he built. So we will be able to move the bedroom from the old room to the new room and start the remodel on that room. I will be so excited to see a room in the basement that is clean and useable.

Tomorrow the appraiser comes. I had a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) and they sent me a letter stating the house values had dropped so they were reducing the credit line. Least to say they do not have all the improvements included in the valuation they performed with the Magic 8 ball they used. So to keep my line of credit where I want it they said get the house appraised and if it comes in high enough they will pay for the appraisal and re-instate my line of credit. I don’t have to have the line of credit, but I just like to know it’s there if I need it.

So even though I’m never home there’s always a whirlwind of activity there.

It’s been a good week and I’m glad to be to Hump Day. It seems more like the end of the week. Too bad it’s not I could use a 4 day weekend.

Here in Hamilton, ON

Well I made it to Toronto last night with no problems. I flew in on USAirways instead of Delta. They come in to a different terminal and it’s huge. All the immigration folks were wearing masks over their faces. So I guess they are taking the swine flu very serious here, that was strange to see. Funny Hertz had my car and I never had to stop.

I found my place here in Hamilton and already scoped out the food… The Keg Steakhouse is just up the street, the Swiss Chalet is the other direction and Tim Hortons coffee is next door. So I have found all my necessities for the trip. Now I just have to find the client site.

North Myrtle Beach Fire Update

I have had several people write to check on me the past few days with the fires burning in North Myrtle Beach. The fires are still burning and as of this morning they say the fires are 85% contained. The 15% that is not contained is on the NE corner which unfortunately is the direction I live from the fires.

The house is about 7-8 miles from the fires so I would hope they get them contained before they reach my area. When I flew home on Friday I was on the wrong side of the airplane to see the fires. They had my typical route home closed off (Hwy 31) and I had to take the route right through town (Hwy 17). It’s slower but about the same distance. I didn’t see or smell any of the smoke.

Yesterday I was able to sit on the patio and work for a few hours. I did see a helicopter with the water bags under it flying down the waterway. I assume they were heading to the fires. This morning on the way to the airport the smoke was very heavy starting at Main Street in North Myrtle Beach for about 7-8 miles. Then it cleared up.

The local newspaper has some good maps and photos of the damage here. There are 70+ homes destroyed and another 30+ that are not structurally sound enough to live in.

http://www.thesunnews.com/

Maps of the fire with pictures and video can be found at:
http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/872218.html

Some people have had problems getting to the Sun News website so I have included a map so you can see how close it is.

Beck this post is for you… Beaches!

Well I told you I was going to go eat at your favorite place in Vancouver, WA this week. And that I did. It was a great suggestion and I’ll give you the blow by blow you wanted.

For those of you not familiar with this area there is a Restaurant called Beaches that sits right on the Columbia River. You can watch the boats going up and down the river as you are having your dinner. It’s a beautiful setting and the food is good too.

I walked in wearing my snazzy outfit with my PINK tie. Of course the hostess was right on that telling me how nice it looked. I reminded her it takes a real man to wear pink and pull it off. She assured me I did it. Least to say she won me over right there.

They sat me on the window where I had a beautiful view of the river. I guess I should have taken my camera in with me. Oh well I was not going to go back to the car and get it.

The waitress came to my table and the conversation went like this… Hey my name is Alisha what’s your name? I replied it was Bennie. From that point on she called me by name like a long lost friend.

I could not make up my mind what to eat so Alisha asked the types of food I liked. I told her anything that didn’t swim. Her suggestion was a Greek Chicken and a few other things. I picked the chicken and it was a really good pick. The sides were spaghetti squash with carrots and zucchini and garlic mashed potatoes. I was very pleased with the meal – Beck you were right it was great.

As I was eating the place got busy and the table next to me had a kid about 7ish. They brought him a kids meal in a sand bucket like you would have on the beach. The bucket was filled with toys to entertain him until his meal came. It was fun to watch his face light up and it worked he played quietly until his meal was delivered.

At the end of the meal Alisha delivered my check in a notebook. She asked me to write any comments in her notebook. She left this notebook with many customers and I read a few of the comments. It was something I have never seen done before but what a nice way to get feedback. Of course all of it was positive, so someday she will get to look back at these nuts that wrote in her book.

So Beck… That’s the blow by blow for you! Great suggestion too.

What’s in the iPod? – Here you come again…

OK, OK… I’m not really listening to this right now but it is somewhere on my iPod. I think the Canadian Immigrations should be singing this to me when I show up next week. I found out late last night that I am heading back to Ontario, Canada. A different place but I’ll be using the Toronto airport again. This trip I’ll be in a city at the end of the lake… Hamilton, Ontario.

Pray that I have good weather… No Snow, No Snow, Please No Snow.

You would know that I did a good job and spent all my Canadian money last trip. So I’ll have to stop and get cash again. I guess next time I should just keep it instead of trying to spend it all.

Home away from home...

I can already tell this is going to be a great week. The weather here in the Portland area is Sunny Skies mid to upper 70's. The trees and flowers are all in bloom. Hertz upgraded me to a Cadillac DTS and Hilton put me in my standing room (549).

Here are some pictures I took today. The tree below was at the hospital and greeted me when I drove in the parking lot.


When I checked in at the Hilton the kids were all playing in the water in the park across the street. All you can hear are joyous laughs and screams from excited kids.



Another picture of the park.

I love looking out at these trees from my room. Everyone is in the park today on blankets, reading books, having picnics. Seeing this you know that Spring is officially here.

The flowers in the park were stunning in the sunlight. I so love the tulips, and they have already faded at home. It was nice to see them again.

It may be a boring post... But it's so nice to see spring...

Weekend Update

My computer appears to be fixed. Dell came out on Friday and replaced the motherboard. I am crossing my fingers still. I am really hoping it is fixed, that whole penmanship practice thing didn't happen this weekend.

The weekend was a busy one. I read some paperwork from work and prepared for my trip to Vancouver, WA this week. The weekends always seem so short compared to the work week. And 3AM came awful early this morning (seemed much earlier than usual).

Stefan has completed the new deck railing off the bedroom. It will need painted but we need to let the treated wood dry some before we paint it. I can’t believe the designs he comes up with, it looks so great. Here are pictures of the view from my deck and the new railing he built this weekend.

Technical Difficulties…

It’s been a fun week so far. The techie person is having technical difficulties with his laptop. I think it’s a power supply going bad. Who knows… I’m not the hardware guy, I’m the propeller head that works with the software.

It started on Monday when my laptop just shut off on its own. So I take it as a fluke and turn it back on and keep working. Tuesday when I started my computer again it ran for a few hours and shut off again. Now it’s not looking as much like a fluke as a problem. Well after it happened the third time I gave up and called the help desk and submitted a trouble ticket. By this time the computer would not turn on at all.

I was quick enough to get all my files off my computer to an external hard-drive. Ran a virus scan and scanned for spyware just incase there were gremlins that made it into my computer. Both scans came up clean which is not a surprise to me since I never go anywhere iffy on the internet.

Wednesday morning I get a call from the help desk telling me they have sent the ticket to a local technician and I should hear from him in the next hour or so. They didn’t realize that I was a remote employee and not in the office. So once that was added on I was given a phone number and name.

My computer ran all day yesterday until the end of the day when it started shutting down again. I have yet to hear from the technician and I have left several messages on his voice mail. I’m hoping they have not assigned it to someone on vacation. That would be my luck.

Next week I am on the road to Oregon again. If I don’t have my laptop I’ll be stuck with the old fashioned way of working (Pen and Paper). A friend of mine told me to practice my penmanship. Little does she know I haven’t practiced that in 25 years. I just hope I can read my notes if I have to take that route.

It’s funny how dependant we have become on technology. I haven’t traveled without a laptop in 10 years except when I was on vacations overseas or on a cruise. So it will be strange if I don’t have one.

The good part is I will be able to access my e-mails using web mail from other peoples computers. I just have to find computers I can hijack while I’m on the road.

Rotten Reservation Week…

As much as I travel I am lucky that I rarely have issues with my travel reservations. I find when I have troubles traveling it’s all or nothing that week. Last week was one of those weeks.

My trip took me from Myrtle Beach, SC to Santa Ana, CA. The week was a shorter week than normal with me flying home on Thursday. My site visit was 50 miles northeast of the airport I arrived at. To prevent any traffic related issues I stayed in Riverside at the Marriott the first two nights then the last night returned to Santa Ana to spend the night at the Hilton next to the airport.

Sounds simple right?
- A flight
- A car rental
- Two motel reservations

This should not be too complicated for a frequent traveler to pull off. I guess this was not my week. It was my turn to have the travel week that falls apart at the seams.

I got to the Marriott and my reservation was not in the system. So I dig out my confirmation number and they look it up. For some reason it was in the master Marriott system but not at the local facility. So about 20 minutes later they got me checked in to a room. Generally it takes just a few minutes to check in. It also happened to two other co-workers of mine that checked in after me. So I write it off to the local hotel.

I move down to the Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport to find my reservation is not in the system. Again I pull out my confirmation number to find out my reservation was for the 04/06/09 instead of 04/09/09. They are sold out and have no rooms. They forced the system to get me a “conference room” that had a fold out couch. Least to say the room was huge with a table that seated eight people, a kitchen and bar area. The TV was a flat panel about 50” and I had two bathrooms.

If you don’t show up for your reservation you get hit with a charge for a “no-show”. All the years I’ve traveled I don’t think I’ve ever had a “no-show” charge. At least not one that was caused by me… I’ve had times when my flight did not get me to my destination and I’d call and cancel. But to never let the hotel chain know is just out of character for me.

So I do the best thing I can and handwrite a note to the Hotel Manager begging forgiveness and asking them to bend the rules and credit me the no-show charge. In my note I plead my case and noted that I would call her when I get home and find out the result.

I got home and the next day I was called by the manager who told me that they would not waive the no-show charge for me. I was really surprised with as much business as I give the Hilton chain that they would be so harsh in the reply. She explained that I cost them revenue by not showing up. I find it highly unlikely that they left that room vacant after a certain time but I don’t have any way to confirm that suspicion.

Considering the no-show charge was $175 I just couldn’t let go that easily. I really felt they could have worked with me to negotiate a lower rate or something. I decided to call the Hilton corporate line and ask them. I didn’t hide the fact that I had tried to take it up with the local facility when I was explaining the situation to them. The lady I spoke to was very helpful and told me the local facility is who makes these decisions and that she would write the District Manager on my behalf and ask them to re-consider the charge based on my 10 year history with the Hilton chain.

Over the weekend I get a call from the same lady at the local facility telling me the same thing. Not going to happen, I cost them money.

So I replied back to the corporate office and explained the reply I got from the local facility. The corporate office told me they will make the one time exception and with proof of payment for the room they will send me a check for the $175.

I have to say I was not impressed with the local facility and will not stay there again unless it’s the very last option. Hilton corporate certainly made me feel good about how they handled the situation. They very well could have lost a good customer, but they did the right thing.

I’m glad I got my bad travel week out of the way. The last one I had that was all out of sorts was about 2 years back going to Reno, NV. That trip must have had the build-up of several years for all the things that went wrong on that trip. I’ll write about it sometime.

Good thing I’m home this week… Maybe I should double check my reservations for next while I’m home. You can bet I’ll add a new check to be sure I don’t transpose my dates in the future.

It’s a small world…

I really never think about Canada being its own country. I know it... But I just never really think of them being another country because there are so many similarities. When your there you feel like you are in the US except when they get on politics and start talking Prime Ministers and all that.

I did notice a few differences of the words they use. I’m a horrible speller and when I catch a word that’s misspelled you know something is wrong. This week I was reading documents with some obvious spelling differences:

Favourite –vs- Favorite
Centre –vs- Center
Chequing –vs- Checking

These were just a few of the differences I noticed. They also have a much more polite way to refer to the toilet calling it the “Wash Room”. Doesn’t that sound really nice? Much better than the English version of Loo.

One of the things that impressed me the most last week was the variety of people from around the world. It’s really amazing how small the world is there in Toronto. It’s truly a melting pot with people from every corner of the earth.

To give you some idea there were four people I worked with last week that have family around the world. One has two daughters in England, another has a husband from South Africa, another has a child in college in Australia and another has a wife in India waiting to come to Canada.

Conference calls can be a challenge at times when you have a heavy Indian accent talking to someone who primary language is Canadian French and a southern fella trying to keep up. Thank god I have co-workers to bail me out here and there.

My meals last week included American, Indian, Chinese, Italian and Cajun food. I didn’t have time to eat my way all the way around the world... But I gave it a darn good shot. Of course you know my favorite meal was a nice steak and twice baked potato at the Keg Restaurant.

The type of food I found missing was Mexican Restaurants (one of my favorite – or should I say favourite meals). I’m sure they are there but I just didn’t see them on every corner like at home.

I find it truly refreshing to meet people from around the globe. We all have a story to tell from our lives. That’s the beauty of the blogs I’ve started reading this year. We are all telling our stories from different viewpoints from all over the world.

This past week there were several blogs I read that made me smile, laugh, choke up and even a tear come to my eyes. I read about: a crazy co-worker (we all have them, but I think this one takes the prize); a special child who gave hair to Locks of Love; a company lay-off; a remodel project going on in Mexico (which had a funny, funny picture of a Cat sprawled out taking a nap with a Doberman); pictures from New England and another teaser that is telling me about a friends trip to Norway.

The jet age and the internet have shrunk our world. We can read things instantly from any corner of the globe, and there are not too many places over an 18 hour flight. I’ve memorized international phone numbers of friends (who knew I'd ever have to do that).

When I was 20 I would have never believed what I see and take for granted today. Who knows what the children of today will see in their lifetime.

Spring Fever Continues

I thought I’d share a few photos of what the South looks like this time of year. When I first moved here 14 years back I was so amazed at the trees and flowers that bloomed in the spring. Over the years I have not been as appreciative of the beauty here as I was my first few years. I guess my trip to Toronto when it was so cold this year made me appreciate home that much more.

The tree below is a Cherry tree near my mailbox. It’s so beautiful when the sunlight is on all the blooms. And it doesn't hurt to have the "Carolina Blue" skies in the background either.


The azalea below is in my front yard to the right of my stairs. It’s starting to be crowded out by another bush. I think this year I may need to do some pruning to make sure it does better next year. The bright red blooms on this bush are wonderful.

This little dogwood started growing in my dirt driveway a few years back. I have this love for the dogwood trees here and I couldn’t just dig it up and let it die. The dogwood has passed its prime for the blooming but it’s still great to see a small twig I planted in the ground make it into a real tree.

I have enjoyed my short weekend home. I got in around 8PM on Friday and I head out to the airport at 5AM tomorrow. It’s off to California again. I am flying into John Wayne Airport (Santa Ana). This is a great little airport and you don’t have to deal with the hustle and bustle of the LAX airport.

My Last Full Day in Toronto

I ended up working much later than I planned today so I didn’t make it to downtown before the sun was going down. But I forced myself to go even though I knew it would be getting dark when I got there.

I went to the top of the CN Tower. The first level of the tower is 114 stories where there are three levels. The bottom level has a glass floor in a section where you can see all the way to the ground. I really wasn’t sure if I could walk on it, but I was actually able to do it. Considering I can’t climb a ladder or walk on a roof without freaking out I thought I did quite well.

I took the extra elevator up to the Sky Pod which is 1465 feet or 147 stories up. This is much higher than the Sears Tower where they take you to the 103 floor. And it’s higher than the World Trade Towers were in NYC. I’ve been to the top of both of those and neither were quite this high. Too bad I didn’t get there before the sun went down. They say you can see the curvature of the earth from up there. All I saw was a city that went on and on in the distance.

I took several pictures of the downtown area from the top of the tower. The one below is the best of what I got. Maybe someday I'll learn how to take good pictures after dark.

Once I got out of the tower I headed back to where I am staying up in the Richmond Hill area and had a nice dinner. I’ll write more about the trip over the weekend or next week. I have had several ideas of things to write about from up here and just have not had time to write them.

This Weeks Daily Drive…

I am still in the Toronto area and I have not made it downtown to the CN Tower yet. I doubt I’ll make it tonight since I’m tired. Last night I worked until 9:30 PM and started again this morning at 7:30 AM. I hope to get downtown tomorrow and see this building. I hear they have a glass floor at the top and you can see to the ground. Not sure I could handle walking on that floor with my fear of heights. But I am able to fly, stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and take a Hot Air Balloon ride. So maybe I can.

I don’t have anything really interesting to tell everyone. So I decided I’d take a picture of a Cathedral that I pass everyday on my way to work. It’s called “Cathedral Town” and it’s located on the 404 North between Richmond Hill and New Market Ontario.



This building is quite imressive to see on the side of the road. And to think this is NEW construction that has not opened yet.