Seg Whore Update, Turtle Town & San Diego Bay Parade of Lights

Seg Whore Wins! For those of you wondering, yes, I made it! Today was my 100th segment on United, thus 1K Status for 2008 complete! Thank you Marjorie for making it happen! (And I did make Alaska Gold and Frontier's program too....in case you were wondering...) I'm around 185 or 190 segs this year, and I only have 7 more segments left to fly this year, the countdown is on! As for hotel programs, I have made my "goal" on those as well this year, except for the fabulous WeHo location of the Hotel Careyfornia. Alas, my status might be dropped to DIRT next year if I cannot get the hotel program to extend my 2008 qualifications through 6/30/2008. (I'm sure if I write the hotel a letter, they will certainly extend my Platinum Status (was hoping for Emerald again this year, oh well). The customer service department must understand the trials and tribulations of the business traveler. Stay Tuned...)

As for Turtle Town, it's in the grand lobby of The Embassy Suites San Diego Bay, San Diego, CA. (Located across the street from the Grand Hyatt). I have never seen a Turtle Town in any Embassy Suites I have stayed in. Quite amazing, especially now that the turtles (6 of them seen tonight) have a green light in their Turtle Cave in honor of the holiday season. They must have a 1/4 mile of water canal for the turtles to swim in as well! All decorated in festive holiday colors. I assume some of my fans have seen this sight and considered it to be a stop on the agenda for our annual convention of course.

Other area attractions in San Diego were delightfully colored in the Holiday Spirit. The "wrenches" were green and red, the ship was decorated with red, white and green lighting, and many other popular spots were decked out in the season's color. I had a late dinner outside on the deck, at The Fish Market, http://www.thefishmarket.com/locations.aspx?id=6, a popular spot in the Harbor . While there, I was fortunate enough to see the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights in it's final hour from 7:45pm to conclusion. Yo Ho HO was the theme for 2007. I might have to make this an annual event! http://www.sdparadeoflights.org/

And this picture, way in the background, are the "wrenches" in green and red for the holidays! My friend Carey called to offer some consulting on my pictures and picture placement. It's something I'll research more after the holiday. Thanks for the blogsulting, Carey! Of course, if I were Carey, I would have raced to the top of the Grand Hyatt for a much more fabulous view of the picture, used a real camera (instead of my cell phone), and zoomed in and photoshopped it or something - alas, I didn't :)

Blossom of Lights Denver

Friday night 8 of us gathered for the 19th Annual Blossom of Lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens for an evening tour of lights, followed by dinner at Racine's in Denver. (Temperature at 6pm, was 18 degrees for the tour, now at 10pm for 8.8 degrees.) The Blossom of Lights presents over 1 million lights on various trees and bushes in the walking tour of the garden. We got one pair of 3D glasses for $1 to be shared by 8 people, and it was the best $1 spent! The glasses made snowmen out of the lights, and the snowmen actually danced (the faster you moved your head, body :) A waxing crescent moon was present as the snow falling over past 24 hours was clearing out tonight.

Musical holiday sounds heard while strolling through the gardens included "Ye Wanton Wenches" and Accordian Accompanist, Ron Tomocik. This is not a joke, very true, and what more could one ask to complete the workweek :)

http://www.botanicgardens.org/pageinpage/blossomsoflight.cfm The pictures show a number of bundled up friends enjoying the cold evening festivities.

If you are still reading, what I really do not understand is how to display the pictures where I want to display them, as opposed to where blogger.com wants to display them. Back to the blogger.com home page to search! Happy Holidays!

Tappahannock, VA & B Movie Quality Starbucks

You know you are in trouble when the nearest Starbucks is the one in the Target in Mechanicsville, VA, but it is the only Starbucks in the "reasonable to get to area" on your way to Tappahannock, VA to a presentation. Target Starbucks are truly the "B Grade Movie" of Starbucks. It's just not satisfying, even the coffee they get must be B Grade .... Had there been more time and not so much work, I imagine the campus at I'll be nice and stop here, it is the "season"!

For those following my breakfast story this week, a bright side to the breakfast morning today was that the nice young man at the hotel restaurant said "well, Miss (he did not use "Ma'am" thought I feared he might....), I can get you just an egg and toast for less than the buffet price (buffet has been out since 6:30am and it's 9:45am....). I had simply asked "can I order off the menu" and not asked for a "discount". So I ordered an omelet with mushroom and LOTS of Cheddar cheese (not touched by human fingers in my presence), over 1 piece of whole wheat toast. The young waiter charged me $1.84, and I started laughing.......Needless to say he got a big tip this morning :) And THAT was the highlight of my 24 hours in Richmond to Tappahannock :)


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DoubleTree Richmond, VA & Glass of Wine

No, there is really no reason to make this a stop on your tour in this area. I have confirmed this :) Perhaps downtown Richmond is much more interesting, but when you fly into an airport late at night, I might consider driving a bit "next time" :) The bar "Wings" was open, and after asking the waitress about a wine list, she recited in her best English with Croatian accent the wine list. Finally I asked, 'what is the best, priciest glass of red wine you have?' I got an $8 glass of Kendall Jackson Cab.....................and a fruit fly or two :) Wherewillibetomorrow!

Room Service Seattle Hotel Monaco

While in Seattle this week, Monday morning, I ordered room service for breakfast. This particular hotel served "between 7 and 7:30am" earliest order time. I needed to be in lobby at 7:30am to meet business associates. At 6:50am, I called the front desk to inquire if my breakfast might be there closer to 7am than 7:30, and got "no problem Ms. Fitz". At 7:07am, Isaac called to advise they were out of vegetarian sausage and wheat bread, so what else would I like. I indicated "bagel, 2 pieces of cheddar cheese, eggs" and that would be fine. At 7:17am, Andy showed up with the room service order. As Andy is walking out the door, I say "Andy, where is the cheddar cheese?". Andy says, "Oh. I will be right back in 3 minutes with the cheese". I don't threaten him, but I do strongly suggest that I am leaving the room at 7:28am to meet my business associates in the lobby so hurrying would be really good. Yes I already tipped him :) At 7:24am, Andy races to my door, knocks. I open the door. My jaw drops with a horrified look on my face. Andy has a huge smile on his face, and personally has selected in his two ungloved fingers 2 pieces of cheddar cheese, and presents them to me, very proudly. In the other hand, he has a small white place with lace paper dollie the cheese was sitting on, all uncovered on it's ride from the basement kitchen to the 7th floor through the public elevators where Andy pushed the elevator button, and knocked on my door and who knows what else with those hands............ There are many things I should have said, but I was so shocked, I simply said "I cannot believe you are handing me 2 pieces of cheese with your bare ungloved hands and the cheese isn't covered. Take the cheese and go" - something like that.

I call the front desk, where Claire is shocked as well. Claire calls someone and someone else calls someone after I indicate "I am NOT paying for the breakfast". What did Andy's mother teach him??????

Later that night, after my arrival in my room, Anthony the Senior Staff member, knocks on my door with bottle of wine and macaroons with appologies about Andy. (I actually hoped Andy was not fired that day but ....). Come to find out, Andy is 20, just got the job, very excited, must have been thinking about whatever 20 year olds think about at 7:24am in the morning, and saw himself in slow motion as he was giving me the cheese with his bare hands that this was not the right thing to do..................I told Anthony thank you, and that I hoped Andy learned something from this experience in life to take with him for his future :)

Disco Ball Tree & Seattle

Spotted near the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), dining at the Wild Orchid Restaurant, then gazing at the Disco Ball Holiday Tree at the Hotel Monaco, were these fabulous stars (Kimberly King and Chris Allen) and Disco Ball Holiday Tree Ornaments. http://www.monaco-seattle.com/ A few of the ornament pictures are here below. I found myself looking for John Travolta in a white suit! Pictures from this Motorola Q - no doubt a reason to update to a new cell phone sooner rather than later :) No, the blog from phone thing isn't happening yet, Carey, but I have tried!

The Tour of Trees Passport annual event is not to be missed. Certainly worth a 2 minute stop in the lobby of the Hotel Monaco, especially during the wine tasting from 5 to 6pm in the evening.
The disco ball spins and calls for a rendition of Disco Inferno as you gaze at the tree!

Last sighting, since Obama is in Seattle tomorrow, was the person driving this car making a statement about Mitt? Was the person thinking he/she is the only one in Washington ever to go to MIT? or what?

Saltimbanco, TPA and other Exotic places

What a week, I'm not a real blogger as I cannot do this daily :) Here are the highlights that I remember from where I was yesterday and the day before and the days before that...






Saturday, Sarabeth and I went to Saltimbanco, the oldest touring Cirque du Soleil show, and it was fabulous! Great front row seats and what a view to see the performers expressions so close. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/saltimbanco/intro/intro.htm


Monday it was off to Tampa, FL to stay at the Westin Harbour Island (oh and work with Stevie G. the sales person in that territory. I got in quite late, took a walk and wandered the streets with the warm weather at the newly remodeled and up and coming downtown area of Tampa, FL. Harbour Island is a "must go back" stop. The Westin, Marriott, Embassy Suites all within yards of each other, water views though the harbor, sea kayaks, sports arena, convention center, huge muscle yacht boats, a nice private gym, and what more can a girl want? Starbucks!

Steve Gaglio, the Italian Romeo Stallion, Steve Goodwin and I had dinner, shared jokes and stories, and watched the hockey game. Earlier Tuesday, I had seen the hockey players when they stayed at The Westin and finally figured out they were the hockey team due to all the people in line wanting autographs.





Speaking of other exotic places, name this airport with these picture clues below! Where can you get a Mojito when you get off the plane at the gate, a cuban coffee and Chivas ads of size?







Ok - I gotta figure out the picture thing. These pictures were all from my cell phone camera emailed to me to post to the blog.....amateur!