Fleetmack.com - April 2006 News

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"I need a bitch with a beeper, a full-time tramp. She can't suck dick like she's lickin' a stamp." --Too $hort

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April 2006 News Archives

April 06 April 07 April 10 April 11 April 12 April 13 April 14 April 16 April 19 April 20 April 24 April 25 April 26 April 28

What I am listening to as I type this: Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 28, 2006

Am I the only one who thinks the faux-hawk looks extremely silly and utterly ridiculous? Normally I'd say I must be getting old and just don't understand kids' styles these days, however, people my age and older are doing this on a quite regular basis. I'd rather drink a cup of HIV period blood than be seen with that hairstyle.

Anyone notice the Bush-Leaves-Office countdown dipped below 1000 days on Tuesday? We're at mile 20 of the marathon and someone just handed me some power gel and a sip of Gatorade. We may make it after all.

One last piece of news. The best concert since Slipknot/Chimaira has been announced, although we don't know the venue yet. I will list the main three bands in order of their "headline superiority" level, which I think the #1 and #3 act should be reversed, but whatever:
Co-Headline: Korn
Co-Headline: Deftones
Opening Act: Stone Sour
An outdoor festival with Stone Sour and Deftones (with Korn and Flyleaf as well). God is good. Oh yes, my friends, God is good.

What I am listening to as I type this: "at Just Brakes we really doooooo ... CARE!"
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 26, 2006

Did you see that Avalanche game last night?! I have to sum it up with two words: HOLY SHIT!! I was lucky enough to be in attendance as Nick hooked me up with free tickets ... 19 rows behind the goalie on the lower level ... $117 tickets ... man that guy is awesome ... I had all but written us off ... then, with a minute or so left, we get a power play, pull the goalie, it's suddenly 6 on 4, Andrew Brunette hits the money shot ... OT!! Overtime ... we win it in a minute ... you should have seen and heard the Pepsi Center erupt, man it was awesome. Best hockey game I've ever been to, easily. Avalanche 3, Stars 0 ... Stanley Cup fever is here, along with my playoff beard.

I had a dream last night ...

So work has completely sucked ass this week. Between Vegas withdrawl and Microsoft's patch MS06-015 completely destroying our network, I have gotten nothing done except "fixing" things ... with minimal success. It's quite frustrating.

10 free Chipotle burritos yesterday ... not satisfied ... $117 Avs playoff tickets for free ... still not satisfied ... I was going for the big one, an all-inclusive trip for two to Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. Caller 106 on 'BPI wins, so I call in, it rings ... Willie B answers ... I get somewhat excited but remain calm. I'm on the radio, they start asking me if I want to go to Mexico, what I'd do if I won, who I'd bring, if I love sitting on the beach, etc. etc. etc. My hopes are insanely high, I hear myself on the radio, and they start laughing at me; I was caller 105. So close, yet so distant from the likes of a free plane ride, drinks, lodging, and entertainment. I deserved it, it seems like forever since I've been on vacation. Since it's been upwards of 4 days since I took a vacation (and before that it was 3 weeks since vacation! Ridiculous!), I've decided to treat myself to a trip to Kansas City in three weeks. Josh and Andy will also go, and several Iowans, Nebraskans, Kansasans, Missourians, and Illinoisans will join me. We will attend a Royals/Cardinals game, and party in Westport. I promise to bring at least two strings of piano wire.

A conscious decision was made by me that I never want to work again and I just want a few million dollars and I'll spend my life snowboarding, golfing, and mountain climbing. At least I don't set unreachable goals.

Speaking of golf, I shot a 94 my first time out this year (two weeks ago), and that was with a my new putter. I three and four putted the first three holes, so the outlook of my Odyssey 2-ball was looking dismal. To see if I'd just lost my putting-edge (which is stellar), I whipped out my old Ping that I've had since 8th grade graduation, and promptly sank a 15 footer immediately. This made me realize I was still a good putter, I just needed to adjust to my new club. I was better by the end of the round, and was still able to pull off a 94. I am led to believe that I should be back in the mid-80's by the end of the year if I can get my putting back to normal and get the beginning-of-the-season bugs out of my system. Giggidy giggidy giggidy.

I have absolutely no idea why I wrote that last paragraph. In fact, I have no idea why I have written anything on this site for 5 years. Caller 10 at 303-713-ROCK wins Tool tickets right now, gotta jet.

What I am listening to as I type this: Queensryche - Jet City Woman
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 25, 2006

Oops! Gotta watch that puck better in OT there, Turco! Avs lead the opening series 2-0 ... the Cup is as good as ours!

I was in another focus group last night ... look for a seasonal Christmas beer created by Blue Moon this winter. Should be pretty good, I liked the one that tasted like gingerbread cookies the best.

I was listening to Nevermind on the way to work this morning. I forgot just how phenomenal that album is. Lounge Act, Lithium, and Drain You are easily my three favorites on the CD (in that order) ... but I can't sell short classics such as Polly, Come As You Are, and Smells Like Teen Spirit. What a solid album, wow.

I still haven't unpacked a single item from my bag from Vegas. Ok, I lied. I took out my antibiotics, toothbrush, deoderant, and camera. Other than that, the only things I took out of my bag are half of the other things. I'm half-unpacked, come to think of it. But I don't feel like I am.

I do not approve of this much snow and cold weather after they've closed 4/5 of my ski resorts for the season.

Cherry Creek Sneak is Sunday, I'm just hoping to finish without walking this season. I suck at running now and it greatly disturbs me. Perhaps I will just take up choking hookers with piano wire from now on. That seems like a better hobby. Either that or I could play Lacrosse at Duke.

The price of these Tool tickets is getting a bit ridiculous. Well over $200/ticket. They sold out in 40 seconds or something like that, crazy! I hate scalpers.

I hate Microsoft Patch MS06-015. It's really pissing me off.

Vegas pictures are still up, you know where to find them. Leave me feedback telling me what you think of the new pictures page, I'm curious to know. (It's obviously far from being customized, I just don't want to put the work into it if people don't like/use it ... will anyone use the comments feature? I guess I need pictures worthy of comments before I can expect a comment, eh?)

What I am listening to as I type this: Korn - Keep Holding On (I have no idea if that's the real title to the song or not)
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 24, 2006

I'm back. Vegas was mean to me. I had a f**king blast, but it was mean to me in every way possible. I had one of my worst photo-taking trips of all time, but pictures are up anyways. I put a feature on that now where you can leave comments on the pictures ... you don't even have to register to do so (which I'm sure I'll take that option away after the first spam message gets posted, so you may as well just register). I still have MAJOR upgrades to do in the area of photo-software customization, but I'll do it someday when I get time.

Focus group tonight, fixing friend's computer tomorrow night, won 10 free burritos from Chipotle this morning as they drew my business card, then I get paid Friday.... yup yup.

What I am listening to as I type this: Phil Collins - Only You Know And I Know
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 20, 2006

Out to Vegas here in about 12 hours, can't wait, I'm going to use my winnings to buy a new house ... in ca$h. And if I don't win too much in Vegas, I'm just going to sell all of my Barry Bonds Rookie cards.

What I am listening to as I type this: The Black Crows - Hard to Handle
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 19, 2006

This must be the week of the cyst. I had one removed yesterday, Jessica did 2 days ago, Bob goes in to check out his this weekend, and Linda's daughter Sami has one as well. What the hell is going on?! I blame it on Rocky Flats.

So yesterday was chill, I just layed on my stomach all day, watched TV, and FINALLY got some sleep. I watched The Bourne Supremacy and Batman Begins. Both were excellent. I love those Bourne movies. I used to be a fan of Tom Cruise for my favorite non-DeNiro actor, but since he's so damn weird now, I think I've adopted Matt Damon as my favorite. Every movie he's been in has been good (well, I haven't watched Good Will Hunting as I won't watch any movie with Robin Williams in it). As for Batman Begins, excellent. Loved it. The only Batman movie that's better is the original (with Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger), but this was a very close second. I didn't like how all the technology was better than the other movies, yet it's supposed to happen before.

Went to the doctor again this morning, he said everything looks fantastic, so I'm done with that ordeal with 30ish Vicodin remaining just chillin' at my house. Where was that when I broke my ankle?! I have antibiotics for the next 9er days, but I see no issues with that. Giggidy giggidy giggidy.

"Bryaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, Bryaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, come here!"

Do you hear that? It's Vegas just calling my name .....

I'm in the process of ripping and adding all of Juan's CDs to my collection. He has a ton I didn't have. This should push me well over 2000 CDs ripped (along with anything I've downloaded.)

TOOL CONCERT!! Tool is coming to Denver May 10th, tickets go on sale at 10am on Saturday. I will be attending (assuming I get tickets taken care of), they're playing a tiny venue as well (The Buell ... same place where Blue Comedy Tour Rides Again DVD was filmed (I went to that show with Scandrett in July 2004))

Anyways, back to work for a 1 1/2 days, then I'm outta here ...

What I am listening to as I type this: (watching) 2 minute drill on ESPN
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 18, 2006

I am not at work today, had a perinal cyst removed this morning. I had slept about 3 total hours since Saturday morning when I woke up due to the extreme pain I'd experience when sitting or lying down (regardless if it was on my back, side, or stomach). If you don't know what a perinal cyst is, and you want to be greatly disturbed, go look up pictures. Basically it's an infected cyst where my ass crack meets my lower back, it was the size of a golf ball. I am all hopped up on vicodin right now, should be back at work tomorrow (have to lay on my stomach all day today) and should be just fine in time to go to Vegas on Thursday night. Anyways, thought I'd let you know why I haven't updated the site (I'm tapping into my neighbor's wireless connection right now.)

What I am listening to as I type this: Staind - Outside
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 14, 2006

TGIF - and a payday at that. But not just any payday, it feels like a raise today. My eye surgery (flex plan) is officially paid off and my checks went up. I did throw more into my 403(b), though, so I put 18% in that beast now. I better be retired by about 57 years old.

Jessica closed on her house yesterday, congrats to my girl! In similar yet completely opposite news, I'm nowhere close to being able to afford a house.

No snowboarding this weekend as a sinkhole has I70 restricted to 1 lane through Sunday. Traffic is terrible enough the way it is, let alone with only one lane in both directions. I think Andy, Colby and I will just golf instead, good enough.

Easter Sunday will be spent with Jess and her friends & family ... that holiday is a big deal to her. I care about the religious aspect of it, but could care less about the whole "holiday" part of it, and quite frankly - I detest Spring ... the moderate weather, not quite green and everything is still dead. Water and mud everywhere. I want to live somewhere that has 2 seasons: Winter and Summer.

I've had a perfect week of eating and working out thusfar. 2 rounds of weights in. 15+ miles run. Eating less than normal, and what I do eat has been 100% healthy. I feel really good about myself after this week, seriously.

Productivity is my enemy today.

Uhmm, have a nice weekend - for the simple fact that I can't think of anything else to say. And remember, Disney trip pix are up on the trip pix page. Have a good one.

What I am listening to as I type this: Alice In Chains - I Stay Away
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 13, 2006

So they say gas is going to be over $3 this summer. That's understandable, seeing how the supply and demand is the exact same. It's pretty much the standard across the work force to give INTERNS SIGNING BONUSES isn't it? If you can justify this without saying the oil companies are ripping us off, you are officially the most ignorant person on Earth. But just try, just try to explain this one to me.

Thanks to Dorf for the software idea. I installed Gallery on my server last night and am going to give it a test run. I haven't customized it, but put up my Disney pictures, so you can check them out now on the Trip Pix page. Let me know what you think of the new style of pix page. I'll obviously customize the hell out of it when I get some time, and if I like it, I may convert all my pix pages over to this style, we shall see.

I'm doing fantastic in my perfect week of eating and working out. By Thursday morning I had run 12 miles and lifted a full round of weights. I've kept my daily food intake around 1600 calories and all of it has been 100% healthy. Even on burrito day I had a chicken bowl with little rice, asked her for extra chicken and she piled some in there. Giggidy.

Vegas is a mere 7 days away, and I've got my craps skills getting better, can't wait.

Jessica is supposed to close on her house today after a delayed closing and a week of bullshit she had to deal with. I'm very happy for her, but if she closes today, she's moving in less than 2 months :-(

What I am listening to as I type this: Opie & Anthony
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 12, 2006

I spent about 2 hours last night getting Disney pictures prepped for the site and had a major SNAFU, so I'm not putting them up today or maybe at all as I'm pissed and it takes too long. I really need to find some kind of plug-in service that posts pictures for me, doing it manually is way too much work. If anyone knows of a tool I can use, let me know. Thanks ya.

What I am listening to as I type this: Opie & Anthony
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 11, 2006

The rumor I heard this weekend is true, the old B52's (where Riki used to work) is now going to be the home of the new Real World season being filmed downtown ... next door to LoDo's, and just around the corner from the Giggling Grizzly. Wooderson's new bar (The Uptown Tavern, formerly known as the Soiled Dove) is right across the street too, and it's also right across the street from Coors Field. Pretty cool, huh? Let me just tell you that my chances of watching this show are at a whopping 0%. Maybe if they converted it to a cartoon and renamed it Family Guy, I'd watch it. Or if it was about 45 people stuck on a mysterious island, I'd watch it. Or if it were about a dysfunctional family with a father in jail, I might watch it. However, I know first-hand what the real world is like in Denver, and I don't want to watch a tarnished version of it. I don't want to see how they portray my city, becuase I know how it is portrayed in my mind and I don't want to get angry at how MTV will warp this image.

On the way to work this morning, I was thinking about the movie Big, starring Tom Hanks. Do you remember when he got his first paycheck? Josh Baskin was sitting next to Jon Lovitz's character, and when Josh got his paycheck, he exclaimed, "$187!!!" He was very excited that his weekly paycheck was $187 .... in New York City. So what did he do with this money? Well, he went out and rented a 1000+ square foot highrise loft, fully furnished and filled with a trampoline and video games. He apparently bought a tuxedo and several good work clothes. Now I don't know where you live, but I want to go someplace where you can get all of this for the price of my monthly DirecTV service + car insurance. Let's not even mention that he was 12 working his way up the corporate ladder with a job where he played with toys.

Backwards update, as now I'll tell you what's up in my life. Last night I got off work and went and lifted for roughly 2 hours (chest, triceps, legs, abs). Then I came home and made steak fajitas. Then I tried to go for a run, but the treadmills at the gym were taken and, despite the weather, I didn't feel like running outside. I talked to Jessie for awhile, watched some SNL, and went to bed. Got up at 5:45 this morning, ran 5K outside in the 55 degree morning weather, ate breakfast (Honey Bunches of Oats cereal), came to work, here I am. For lunch today I have some leftover chicken chili I made last week. I plan on lifting back, biceps, and shoulders over lunch/after work, eating leftover steak fajitas tonight, and going to bed early as I'm tired as hell. Also - I'm in the middle of reading Friday Night Lights and am in the homestretch of my "scanning pictures" project. Basically, I'm trying to destroy my list of goals for 2006 by the time summer starts. Point: I've been busy.

Disney pictures are still not ready, sorry. I promise you they're pretty cool, though!

What I am listening to as I type this: Ron & Fez
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 10, 2006

Had a great weekend. The snow was awesome at Beaver Creek on Saturday and there was nobody there. On top of that it was abotu 65 degrees on the mountain, and it was mid-70's back in Denver. Yesterday I went to the park and went putt-putting with Jess and 2 of the miniatures, just awesome weather. That may be the end of the snowboarding season for me as this weekend is Easter (which I will spend with Jess & family vs. snowboarding for reasons that are beyond me), then I'm out to Vegas the next weekend, and when I get back all the resorts (except A-"slush-in-May"-Basin) will be closed. Only got up 14 times this year, that's a horrible number, I'm shooting for at least 25 next year.

I want to learn to play craps in the next 2 weeks, anyone have any tips or good sites that let you play for free?

I'm too busy to put up Disney pix yet as there's a couple hundered of them and it'll take awhile. Got a ton of stuff to do at home and the gym this week, I'm so far behind with everything - I guess vacation will do that to a guy.

Wow, am I glad I picked up John Papelbon in both of my fantasy leagues before the season started - good call, Mr. Simmons.

Oh - got 2 tickets to NIN at Red Rocks in May (thanks Mule!), so that should be pretty cool. So my next month+ or so looks like this:

weekend of April 15: Easter
weekend of April 22: Vegas
weekend of April 29: run Cherry Creek Sneak
weekend of May 6: perhaps snowboard at A-Basin?
weekend of May 13: no plans
weekend of May 20: go to Kansas City for the Royals/Cardinals game
weekend of May 27: run Bolder-Boulder, NIN concert

....then it'll be summer and time to start with the 14ers ... so this next 1 1/2 months will go fast.

I'm excited for Friday as my checks go up $85 ... my eye surgery is officially paid off with my flex-plan, so that money will make it feel like I got a raise. So what did I do? Yup, put some more into the 403(b) plan, I am now up to 18% of my check going to retirement, and I officially maxed out my Roth IRA for 2005 on Friday. Lookin' good, lookin' good.

What I am listening to as I type this: STP - Plush (acoustic)
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 07, 2006

Lots to say, we'll start with a would-be happy birthday to Ryan.

So the last 2 weeks of my life has been quite chaotic. I was in the mountains at around 7am Sunday morning when I found out my Grandmother passed away. I was alone and there was nothing I could do, and it was snowing hard, so I decided to ride my board at Keystone anyways. I left Keystone early (1-ish) as I had to make arrangements to get back to Iowa, and then get arrangements to get to Florida, all while taking care of Jessie's accomodations as everything was in my name (so I could meet her in Florida). This was a complicated task. I was flying United so step 1 was to call them and cancel my flight to Florida and get a few new flights booked. I call United and explain my situation, and some non-English speaking bitch of a woman tells me "You booked through Orbitz, we can't help you, you have to call them." Whatever. I call Orbitz. Non-English speaking woman says "Ok, step 1 is to cancel flight to Orlando from Denver. There's a $100 service fee to us for that, and a $30 service fee to United for that. But then you'll get credit for your flight (which would have been about $170.)" That's fine. She puts me on hold and comes back and says "That'll be $600 extra fees in airfare as well." Wait, wait, wait. $600 extra? So $600 + $100 + $30 = $730? You're going to charge me $730 to cancel my flight? How in the FUCKING WORLD does this make sense?! "Well sir, the way it works is we have to cancel your whole trip and then re-book it. So we have to cancel your Orlando to Denver return flight and rebook it, but the airfare has gone up $600 on that flight." WHAT?! I respond with, "Take a step back and just look at what you're telling me. You're saying in order for me to use 1/2 of my trip, instead of the whole thing, I have to pay you $730." She says, "Yes sir, you do want the flight credit, don't you?" NO!! Why would I pay $730 to get a $170 credit when I can just not use the ticket (and not cancel it) and pay nothing? She says (in broken English) "That is true, you should just not use the ticket." Stupid bitch.

So then I call about 100 airlines trying to find tickets, everything is booked because of Spring Break. Normally I'd drive back to Iowa, but I can't as I need to fly back to Denver from Orlando and I can't leave my car in Iowa (and wouldn't have time to drive back from Iowa to Denver as I had to meet Jessica). I pretty much broke down. I was disgusted that I couldn't get anyone who spoke English on the phone, nobody was sympathetic to my situation, and there was virtually no flights available on Monday, and just a select few available on Tuesday. I almost considered flying to Chicago and driving back with my brother or sister (about 7 hours in a car, yes, I was to the point where buying a flight for $300 and driving 7 hours was my only choice). I finally found a one-way flight to Omaha and a one-way flight out of Des Moines to Orlando, but the times weren't the most convienent, but it was all I could do. From here I had to call all my hotels and give Jessica authorization to get in (as she was getting to Orlando roughly a day before me), cancel my rental car as I don't want Jessie driving alone in an unfamiliar city, arrange new transportation for Jessica and I in Orlando, and arrange about 300 other things as well. Haven't even had a second to think about my Grandma at this point.

I ended up catching a flight Tuesday morning from Denver to Omaha. Long story short, we allotted plenty of time for me to get to the airport, who would have though of the traffic issues we would have at 6am on a Tuesday. I ended up getting to the airport at 7:12am for my 7:40 flight that I could not miss. I begged the lady at the desk to check me in, and she willingly did. Not sure how she did that as they've told me in the past the computers won't let them check people in if they aren't there 45 minutes early. I sprint to security and budge through the long line. I hop on the tram and get to my concourse. As will might have it, I was at gate A60 ... the last one. During my sprint on the third moving sidewalk (still had to go down an escalador and go across one more moving sidewalk) I hear "Paging passenger Bryan Mack, the door will be closing after this message") I take sprinting to a new level (while wearing a full suit) at this point and somehow get on my puddle-jumper plane. Bullet 1 dodged.

Mom was waiting for me in the airport, where we promptly discover my bag is destroyed. It enters the baggage claim through the curtain with 0 handles left on it and the zipper is wide open. I go to the airline and show them, they tell me "Straps and wheels are not covered, only the bag." Well shithead, the bag is pretty useless if you can't carry it! Anyways, I've got much more important things to worry about at this point. I ended up buying a new bag in Corning (couldn't believe they had one) and giving my suit to my sister, to give to her friend, to give to her brother-in-law, and I'll go pick it up from him in Lakewood next week. (I'm getting good at emergency arrangements!) Anyways, Mom and I drive to Corning and get to Grandpa's place. We do the whole funeral thing, which is never remotely close to fun.

I was very pleased with the turnout at the services, which made us feel better. It's almost a blessing to my Grandma. You see, a few weeks ago she was diagnosed with Level 3 malignant cancer in her bladder. They gave her 3 choices: A) live it out B) Chemo C) Surgery (afterwhich, she'd need a catheter for life). She wasn't going to live it out, and certainly didn't want to go the chemo route, so after long consideration, she chose to have the surgery. The surgery was successful for what they wanted to do, however, they discovered during the procedure that the cancer had spread. During Grandma's recovery, she was slowly being able to eat and walk again: slowly. They moved her back to Corning from Omaha and she seemed to be doing ok in the recovery process. Then on Sunday the 26th at around 5:30a.m., she had a heart attack and passed away. As I said, it may be a blessing. She never had to suffer through the years of treatment a lot of people have to go through. She was able to go peacefully to heaven. It was nice seeing all the people come to wish her farewell.

After the luncheon, Mom drove me to Des Moines where I got on a flight to Memphis. This went relatively smoothly, which was good. When I got to Memphis, everything also went smoothly, but I had no idea how large that airport was, wow! Then I boarded a plane a few hours later to take me to Orlando, smooth. Got to Orlando and took my prepaid shuttle to the Radisson, smooth. Why is everything working so smoothly right now? Karma helping me back on the turn-around? I find my room, find Jessie, and am ready to just lay the fuck down and rest. Finally.

Jessica and I went to the Magic Kingdom on Thursday. As I told a few people, I basically went to the theme parks for Jessica, I really didn't care one way or the other, I just wanted to make her happy. But I'll be damned if I didn't think it was funner than shit. I'd been to Disney in California and Disney in Orlando before, so I knew what to expect, and it still blew me away. Fun as shit. I'll discuss details of it more on the pictures page when I get that prepped (next week), but wow. Sea World was on Friday. Went out with my cousin Kristi and her friends on Friday night. Saturday morning we transferred hotels and just relaxed by the pool all day, went to Downtown Disney that night and did the shopping and eating thing. Sunday was the best day of the trip, we utilized the hopper pass to the full extent of it. We got extremely lucky and (major thanks to the best Disney employee on Earth) got invited to the character breakfast at Animal Kingdom, where we ate a full breakfast buffet with Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck. You have no idea how thrilled Jessica was at this time, her smiles were unreal! We went on all the major rides at Animal Kingdom, then went to MGM, hit all the major rides there, went to Epcot, hit the rides there, went to Pleasure Island and had dinner, then went to the Magic Kingdom for the lights parade and fireworks show. It was just amazing. As I said, I'll discuss details further on the pictures page when I get it ready, until now all I've got is a picture from that first Thursday at the Magic Kingdom as the picture of the day.

Jessica left early Monday morning and I started my conference. The conference was really good, and our annual event this year was at the Animal Kingdom. They closed it down for us, we had all the rides open, free beer (every 50 feet or so there was a beer stand), free food buffet (tables were everywhere), free characture drawings, virtually no lines, and it was just a blast, really fun (I finally met Chip & Dale afterwards ... who are by FAR the coolest Disney characters). Conference got done about nooner on Wednesday and my flight didn't leave until 6, so I sat at the pool all afternoon, then, just like that, the magic luck vanished.

Get to the airport (after not being able to get my boarding pass at the hotel like everyone else) and find out they cancelled my flight home as I didn't use the first leg of the ticket. Ticket desk lady says, "Sir, you need to call to cancel the flight with us or we cancel your return ticket, you'll have to buy a new ticket." WHAT?! I DID CALL YOU!! I called you and called Orbitz and Oribtiz tried charging me $730 to cancel the flight. She says, "Well you need to call us, not Orbitz." WHAT!? I'm livid at this point, and for the second time I can recall in the past year (first being the parking ticket lady in Downtown Denver, who still hasn't been paid and is single-handedly destroying my stellar credit score as I refuse to pay a $120 ticket for something I didn't do) ... I am just screaming at this lady making a huge scene. "I CALLED YOUR FUCKING INDIAN-SPEAKING FOREIGN CALL CENTER TO CANCEL MY FLIGHT AND THEY TOLD ME TO CALL ORBITZ BECAUSE THEY COUDLN'T DO ANYTHING FOR ME SINCE I BOOKED THROUGH THEM!! So on YOUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT'S ADVICE, I called Orbitz, their gook service rep told me "$730 or sit on the ticket", and that sitting on the ticket was my best bet. UNITED WOULDN'T EVEN TAKE MY CALL." Well sir, she says, you should have called us, you violated your contract, and you'll have to buy a new ticket. "Lady, there is no fucking way I'm buying a ticket. My grandma dies, I have to buy 2 new flights already, then because YOUR REP told me I couldn't cancel the flight through them, Orbitz tries charging me $730 to cancel, and now you're telling me your foreign fucking idiot service rep told me wrong advice - and now I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT!?" Yes, sir. "Get your supervisor out here right now. I can't believe you're trying to capitalize on my Grandmother's death moreso than you already have." I explain the same stuff to the supervisor, and she gives me a ticket. Needless to say, I will never be flying United again or using Orbitz again. I can't believe the incompetence of these people. Just ridiculous. Ridiculous.

Anyways, I'm back. Have a nice weekened.

What I am listening to as I type this: Alice In Chains - Sea of Sorrow
Most Recent DVD Burned: Kill Bill vol. 2 (I already have it, burning a copy for a friend)

April 06, 2006

I'm back ... but I'm way too busy reading all the Bill Simmons articles I missed while I was gone, so I'll update tomorrow.

I just want to say thanks to the tremendous outpouring of support I got in the form of emails and such from you all, I really appreciate it, and I'm sure my Grandma is in heaven smiling down on all of you.

Expect a huge update with a few hundred (literally) pictures, many stories, and a rant on why I now despise Orbitz, and how all the airlines should be nuked.