SPI MCI SAN PHX SEA PDX IND - Last 3 Weeks

I have to do a better job blogging since I have forgotten where I was three weeks ago. Then, thinking about it, nothing fabulous comes to mind other than - wow we have a new President! After the inauguration which my sister went to and got shut out of the Purple Zone Ticket area with thousands of other ticket holders, I was in Springfield, MO and Kansas City, MO. Most notable in Kansas City since it was a Friday (ughhh) was the fabulous old hotel Steve James and I stayed at called the President. Remodeled from it's original historic state, it was quite nice. It's now a Hilton property and I can highly recommend it! Most fun was the The Drum Room http://www.drumroomkc.com/history.html The "Rat Pack" actively enjoyed this now restored hotel and restaurant in days gone by.

Over the past couple weeks, it's been a tour de plane and hotel starting in San Diego for the annual sales meeting. We get to sit inside 12 to 14 hours a day and look outside if lucky at the fabulous scenes and sights in San Diego Harbor from the hallways of the San Diego Marriott. The BMW Oracle Race Sailboat was moored in the harbor - that was exiciting to see! (Not too many stories of unruly sales types luckily, except for one fabulous "jab" at Stevie Goodwin due to some silly football game that injured his pride - go Laura!)

From there, it was a quick overnight in Denver then on to Mom's 80th Birthday Bash in Mesa, Arizona. My parents live in a Park Model in the winter with all the other northerners. My sister and I flew in to celebrate not only Mom's birthday but the Superbowl coincidently. (Arizona Cardinals played a decent game - commercials this year were subpar but what can you expect with current economic conditions, even though a record $206million in ad sales?) We did brunch at the one and only Cheesecake Factory.

We drove to Saguaro Lake with gorgeous skies and weather, and motored on back to the TV for the Superbowl. The cousins and neighbors showed up non stop from the time we landed til we left. Lots of visiting. They are lucky to have so much fresh fruit in the park.

We enjoyed fresh grapefruit, oranges, kumquats, limes and lemons - amazing.

After that, it was on to Portland, OR for me for work, then Seattle, WA then Indianapolis, IN. Gotta love the temperature changes the past few days. I must say with all the snow and I mean alot of it on the ground in Indianapolis, the new terminal at the Indianapolis International Airport is simply fabulous! It's truly world class. When Dave Letterman flies home now, he might want to fly a regular airline instead of private, just to check it out! The airport website boasts Indianapolis as the 12th largest city. http://www.indianapolisairport.com/

I must get on with the rest of the weekend activities!

SEA, PDX - After the Deep Freeze...

Leaving Fargo on Monday was classic, probably more than classic than the movie. Planes were "on time" until I arrived at the airport after leaving the bank at 5:30pm. My 7pm plane to Minneapolis was cancelled as was anything else getting out of Fargo EXCEPT the Allegiant Air flight to Las Vegas. it was delayed til about 7:40pm. Our company recently changed travel agents, and after hours travel isn't what it used to be. Therefore, a girl desparate to get out of Fargo does what she needs to do. I booked a one way to Las Vegas (Allegiant does not take American Express, by the way but they did take Visa. I offered to get cash at the ATM even!). After getting through security, I got through to the after hours travel to book the next morning flight from Vegas to Seattle where I was supposed to be Monday night. Upon arrival in Vegas, I ran to the last Alaska flight where the plane door was shut but the ramp not moved back. LOVE Alaska air! They opened the door for me and poof - I landed in Seattle for Tuesday's adventures. Then it was on to Portland, OR for a short couple days and back to Denver Thursday.
Fargo is quite a lovely town - in August and September. If you haven't seen the movie, you really do need to check it out this winter! http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fargo/

In Denver, the weather is fit for both skiing in mountains and biking in town, thus I've been able to bike a day today and now ski tomorrow - gotta love it! Sarabeth turned 50 and we celebrated by doing a spa afternoon, which was fabulous and very relaxing! I also celebrated being in town a few days and acquired the long awaited HDTV, Wii and Wii Fit so we'll see how that plays out in the coming week. I'm trying to work on the economy and help out!

MAZ, FAR - Feliz Ano Nuevo, Blizzard Warnings and Slumdog ROCKS

Happy New Year! I will have to catch up to my camera which seems to be missing temporarily upon my return from my quick trip to Mazatlan. On December 31, 2008, last year, I flew to Mazatlan to celebrate New Year's Eve with 11 friends. I began 2009 in Mexico and might end it there this year too. We had a blast. Art, former chef 16 years, now Accountant rolling the dough....prepared a feast. Lobster Thermidore, Shirmp Scampi, Beef Wellington (yes, I had to pass on the beef.....), green beans, potatoes and "Summer Pudding" from the English folks next door. Art and Diana have a home just north of Mazatlan on the ocean. The lobster and shrimp were swimming around just the day before and no idea about the cow, however!

Art and Diana are about 300 yards south of the most "prestigious place" to rejuvenate in Sinaola, Mexico called Oceanica. http://www.oceanica.com.mx/ The pictures of the beach are real and the property. If you see the scrolling line at the bottom of the weblink, you'll recognize this as THE Betty Ford Clinic of Mexico...in fact, you'll notice an endorsement from Betty in the Mission Statement. Too many happy hours? We have just the spot to hang out!

I spent 7 quick days lounging, doing a "spa day"at AromaSpa in the historic district, celebrating the sunset with happy hour, buying shrimp again from the "shrimp ladies", and cheering on the Venados baseball team who are in their playoffs. Pictures forthcoming.... AromaSpa has their own unique Feng Shui going on as evidenced in the picture. It was very clean, but the "timber" hanging about in various rooms might punch out an eye, beware. http://www.aromaspa.ws/Home_Page.php

Upon return to the US and work, I stuck myself at the PC non stop for 3 days such that a massage was in order to work out the kinks! I did a little biking on the bike path at 45 degrees a couple days, avoiding the mountains for another week til all the tourists return to their homes. Saturday I went to see "The Reader" and "Gran Torino" - "make my day, Clint". Classic Clint, rough, heartwarming, and so very classic if you have grown up in the midwest and had a father or uncle who served in the Korean War - maybe a little too over the top, but yet I did get a little teary eyed at the end.

On The Reader, I did love it. It's a "see" on the list. I have to catch up and see Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road (on the fence) and Benjamin Button. I'm holding out on Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. I mean the guy can't even do a decent TV interview after winning the big award tonight - give me a break. He says he doesn't even watch his own films til about 5 years after they are out....ughh.

I arrived tonight in Fargo, ND (yes Sunday night...) and turned the TV on to cheer on Slumdog Millionaire and it's winnings at the Golden Globes tonight - YIPPEEE!!!!! After that glee moment was over, I turned to the Weather Channel with it's soothing Muzak music as I watched the Blizzard move slowly, repeat slowly west toward Fargo, scheduled to arrive about 2am with 30mph winds (yes, imagine the movie....) and continue through tomorrow. All I want to do is hope the bank shows up and I don't have to come back; then hope the storm stops by 3 to 4pm so my 7pm plane can leave and I can end up in Seattle tomorrow night!

DEN - MPS - Iowa: The Holiday Week

While most of the country suffered transportation shutdown due to snow, Denver didn't do so bad, and was just plain old rotten cold. Since last I posted, I've been to a preseason Mammoth Lacrosse game, scrambled to finish most holiday shopping, went to Iowa via Minneapolis and back for the Christmas holiday with family and now back after some delay (of course.....) at airport due to severe fog and "ice pellets" in Minneapolis.

The photo is from 1935. A relative helping unload Christmas trees from a rail car in Iowa.

My favorite news item this season in Iowa is the use of the 18,000 pounds of excess, outdated garlic salt for use on icy roads. This was supplied by Tone Brothers spices of Iowa. Officials mixed the garlic salt with the road salt since there is a shortage of road salt this winter. I think the moral of the story is still "don't eat the yellow garlic snow"! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/23/garlic-salt-de-icing-road_n_153072.html This might be a little known fact that Tone Brothers in Iowa produces well known spices you might use in the kitchen today. http://www.spiceadvice.com/corporate/about_us.html

My luck when I arrived in Denver, there was a Power Outage - why? who knows... The weather is cold and windy, but alas, the power outage impacted the shuttle between concourses. I landed in B concourse this morning and poof - no walking just waiting and yet another travel delay to round out my year - how appropriate!

I did go to see Doubt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/ and did enjoy it. I had to think about whether I "enjoyed it" for a couple days, but yes, I am glad I saw it. It was disturbing, felt like a boxing match at times in a good way, and provided tough questions on a difficult topic. Now for the lighter movies for the rest of the year starting tonight!

STL: Last Business Trip of the Year

What a trip to round out the year, here to St. Louis, MO on Frontier! I completed my minimum program status for Frontier, and rounded out three airline miles program achievements for 2009 (Hotel program status was met earlier in the 4th quarter for those of you tracking my revenue and booking numbers).

Concluding a good business meeting with Dave Robb here in St. Louis, we drove to the airport in rain. Dave got on his somewhat delayed flight to Atlanta and should be arriving about now at 10:25pm Atlanta time. I, on the otherhand, am still in lovely St. Louis, waiting for that LAST business flight of the year.

The 'one hour delayed due to snow in Denver" Frontier flight landed, and we were told "there's a mechanical issue and we'll keep you posted".....That was about 7:30pm Central. It's now 9:30pm Central as I watch the rain POUR outside at 30 degrees F, just about freezing.....Frontier is deadheading a plane here with parts from Denver. It is scheduled to land at 10:20pm Central with the "parts" for the other plane, and the flight crew will take the "good plane" and whisk us back to Denver yet tonight - in theory. Tomorrow and Saturday are "green days" and apparently all flights are booked with a big thank you to our troops as the various airlines are flying military folks all over the country (I assume my tax dollars are providing this free flight situation in some fashion -not really the airlines, right? How can they afford that? Lower gas prices or something?)

Of course, after sitting on hold with my work travel agency for well over 55 minutes, I booked one flight for a high dollar at noon tomorrow if everything doesn't work out tonight...... Maybe I can take a flight to somewhere WARM if I can't get to Denver.....

I was telling Dave over dinner last night about the blog and how I needed something bloggable from my trip. Wish Dave well and provide him happy thoughts next Tuesday as he's having his shoulder "done" under the scope. Here's to a speedy recovery for Dave and a hope that I will be in Denver sometime before sunrise!

DEN, ORD - Nutcracker, Milk, Jewels!

Over the weekend after arriving home from the weeks travels to Chicago and Portland, OR, I went to see the Moscow Ballet's Nutcracker at the Paramount Theater in Denver. http://www.nutcracker.com/ The performance was dazzling and very athletic. Full of color and humor and awe, the dancers performed on the stage of the old Paramount Theater in Denver. I highly recommend the show if in your area. http://www.paramountdenver.com/

The following night, keeping with old theater theme, I went to see MILK at the Mayan, another old theater, mayan revival style and restored. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayan_Revival MILK was a great film about the first gay activist, Harvey Milk. Sean Penn does a wonderful job in my opinion with the role, stretching his performances like Meryl Streep. I have to give "Milk" a big thumb's up - but wonder what awards it will take at the Oscars.

Arriving home from a quick but FREEZING cold trip to Chicago, I was thrilled to receive on my door step, some fabulous Belgium Chocolates Jewel Collection from a business partner! How glorious to open the box and enjoy the chocolates along with my new diamond, ruby and Rolex set! THANK YOU, you're fabulous :)

It's off to St. Louis and the Gateway Arch! This the last business trip of 2008 (let's hope) :)

FAR: Hotel Donaldson

One redeeming factor of flying into Fargo, ND on the Sunday after Thanksgiving is to be able to go to the Hotel Donaldson, in downtown Fargo for fabulous appetizers and dinner, and have coffee the next morning at the Atomic Coffee Shop. Oh - I guess that was two reasons :) Truly the website says it all - this will change your image of Fargo (mine too). Before the Hotel Donaldson, all I could think about was the movie Fargo and hoped I would not be living it while working there!

http://www.hoteldonaldson.com/

Sorry so short, but at least I posted, right :)