Fun and Games Dept

So Earl, Jamie and I are sitting on UA 54 on our way home from San Francisco. I just waved out the window at our friends Tim and Gordon in Cheyenne, Wyo. It helps to be a road/map geek. I can sometimes spot a city from the air. The map on the monitor in front of me helps a bit.

According to the rotating display in front of me, the air temperature is currently -57ºF. For some reason this doesn’t seem right to me. That’s damn cold. But, I’ve never been outside of an aircraft at this altitude so perhaps it is that chilly.

I have been watching the passengers mill about the cabin for the distancia recorrida of 1585 Km. There is one particular woman who became cranky when the flight attendant wanted to get around her as she just stood in the aisle. The cranky woman wasn’t going anywhere in particular, she was just standing there. Perhaps she was looking for an ATM or a bus or something. She didn’t head to the wash room and she didn’t look to concerned about being seated, she just kind of hung out and looked crabby. I took a picture of the back of her head and posted it on Instagram (actually, it will post to Instagram when we have wifi again) because I think it’s rude to post a person’s face unless they’re hot and she’s not hot.

For a while I watched another United plane fly alongside us, about four miles off our wing and probably 2000 feet lower in altitude. It then veered under us and headed off somewhere else.

We are flying on a Boeing 757. While our flight to San Francisco had DirecTV available, this plane does not. We have touch screens that have movies on demand. I’m declining the offer, opting to listen to music and answer emails and write blog entries instead. Jamie is napping and Earl is watching a movie. I don’t know what he is watching. Since we have our own “family row” on this trip, I’ve spread out a little bit and am enjoying typing on the keyboard I brought along for the trip. It’s much easier than trying to type on an iPad keyboard.

San Francisco was absolutely lovely. We made new friends, met a few that were online only friends but unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to meet everyone we wanted to meet. I think we need a couple more weeks in San Francisco to meet everyone we wanted to touch base with. We’ll have to go back soon.

Cranky ugly sat down with a haughty huff. It was hard to discern the haughtiness through the puckered facial expressions, but when you’re a people watcher, you get better at these things. I hope she’s more pleasant at home. It would suck to go through life in a constant cranky state.

I’m starting to fall victim to that growing trend of microblogging instead of just writing things down in my blog like I have normally done in the past. When I then start to write the intended blog entry, I start thinking that what I’m writing is repetitive and that it might offend anyone that may have read the contents of said blog entry in a different context via a different channel (Google+, Twitter or Facebook) but then I decide that I don’t care. Here is where I am my most expressive.

I’m complicated like that.

Anyways, yesterday was touring day. Our first stop was the Union Square Shopping District because I lost my mind Wednesday morning and packed only a few t-shirts and nothing with longer sleeves. I was relieved to find that I had remembered jeans and underwear and socks, so I had at least some of my wits about me. While at Union Square we went to places like Macy’s, the Apple Store and the Art of Shaving, where I made a purchase, didn’t make a purchase and made a purchase, in that order. We did take the obligatory photograph at the Apple store, using a 13-inch MacBook Air.

After Union Square we made a pass through the Golden Gate Park Area and then headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge. The visitor’s center on the San Francisco side of the bridge was a madhouse, so we crossed the bridge a parked in the lookout area on that side. Earl and Jamie busied themselves a bit while I went for a walk across the bridge.

View from the lookout area.

Starting the walk across.

There were a number of signs letting folks that might be feeling despondent know that life was worth living and that jumping from the bridge would be a fatal and tragic event, for themselves and for others. I’ve seen these types of signs before but I think this is the first time I’ve seen two clergy-type people stationed on a bridge. At least they looked clergy-like with flowing robes and an important book in their hand. They appeared to be pleasant.

After I returned from my walk across the bridge and back, we drove up to one of the higher lookout points to take a couple of photos.

We then crossed back into San Francisco and enjoyed a little down time before heading to Fisherman’s Wharf for supper. We were going to take a Cable Car, but all hell broke loose when a large tourist group came by and took up the whole Cable Car, so we decided to take a taxi. It was cheaper and less stressful.

We ate at No. 9 Fisherman’s Grotto where we had a pleasant view.

Earl looks sophisticated while perusing the menu.

Cub makes his choices quickly and then uses his iPhone.

I’m not a huge lover of seafood but I found my supper to be tasty. I don’t know what I ate but there was a butter sauce involved.

After dinner we walked around Fisherman’s Wharf for a while and tried to not be like the other tourists that were milling about. I guess we’re snobby like that. After a bit we hopped a cap back to our hotel where we relaxed and then decided to call us a night. This Pacific Time Zone thing is kind of hard.

So far I really like San Francisco, though I don’t really find it to be a place that I would want to live, though I know I would enjoy visiting it on a regular basis. I guess I’m a country boy at heart and find it a little crowded. I love the vibe of the city though.

Him: “Turn right on Folsom.”
Me: “I can’t turn right on Folsom. It’s a one way the other way.”
Him: “Take the next right and go around.”

I do as he suggests. Ten minutes later we’ve crossed a very large bridge, apparently the start of Interstate 80, and have completely left the city of San Francisco. I expect to be in Wyoming soon.

Me: “Where are we?”
Him: “I don’t know.”

I take the next exit. It’s labeled in a traditional CalTrans manner with a dark green sign and reflective letters. The sign was installed in 1955. There was a mention of a marina. I pull over to the side of the road.

I grab my iPhone and jump into the maps app. I plunk at the keyboard and enter the address of the hotel we’re staying at. We’re 15 miles away. All I wanted to do was turn right on Folsom.

Me: “Please read me this list of directions so we can get back to where we are staying.”
Him: “Do a U Turn and get on the road that goes to the 580”

The sign says “No U Turn” but I say fuck it and do it anyways.

The sign says “I-80 West San Francisco”. Below it, a suggestion of something about 580 and maybe Stockton but there’s a big chunk of sign missing, perhaps where they should be an arrow or something. I think 580 is in the other direction.

Him: “Turn left!”

I zoom up the ramp and notice that it comes to a merge point where there is heavy traffic merging. I do the reasonable thing and yield to the traffic on the freeway. All of a sudden there’s horns blaring from cars behind me and cars on the freeway. Apparently in California I’m just suppose to cut out in front of everyone and say “fuck it”. So I do.

Him: “Get off at Exit 1B. It’s like the Exit 354A we got off earlier!”
Me: “I don’t know what that means!”
Him: “Take Mission Street!”

The exclamation points are intentional.

I get to Mission Street exit, which is labeled Exit 354A.

Him: “I don’t know the rest of the way. Something happened to the app and the directions are gone.”

He has apparently switched to Yelp, which located a McDonalds.

Me: “Double click and hit maps!”
Me: “Hit Resume!! Hit it!”

Jamie flings himself over the seat and makes shaking motions with my phone.

“Turn left on VanNess.”

Back on track.

And that’s how married people drive through San Francisco.

So I am sitting on United flight 71, en route from Newark to San Francisco. We paid the extra fee to sit in a exit row, because one should always do their part in keeping fellow human beings safe and there’s extra leg room in this row. Of course, we can’t recline the seat in this row, as we are on a 737 and there’s an exit row behind us and our reclined seats would block the exit row behind us in the event of an emergency. And if such a thing happened, we wouldn’t be doing a very good job at keeping our fellow passengers safe by blocking the exit row with our reclined seat. So we sit upright but can stretch forward. There is a very nice woman sitting to my right.

The flight has been smooth thus far. I bought noise canceling headphones for the trip. I have watched one episode of “The Bionic Woman” (the real one, not the horrible reimagining) and I watched the pilot episode of “Charmed”, but that was the second version of the pilot with Alyssa Milano as Phoebe, not Lori Rom.

Earl is playing Bejeweled. A quick glance out the window indicates we are somewhere over the Midwest, judging by the grid like patterned the roads. The clouds are fluffy and somewhat sparse.

Jamie is meeting us in San Francisco tonight; he’s been doing tour stuff in Southern California and will be on a bus longer than we’ve been on a plane today. Scott is flying in as well. He lands later tonight.

The flight attendant on our flight from Syracuse to Newark was very nice. Her name was Angie and I called her by name, but only when I said goodbye. I’m not overly needy like tourist types. The flight attendants on this flight seem pleasant as well. The only one that has mentioned his name is John. He’s a scruffy cub type that wears white Sally Jesse-Rafael glasses. He is not unpleasant. The other FAs are keeping busy by making flapping motions at the coach passengers that keep trying to use the first class rest room. Perhaps they need to close the limp blue curtain the separates the 1% from the other 99%. I told Earl that I’d like to try first class just once in my life. I can fake a haughty, entitled air about myself if I so desire.

Earl and I opted to eat food on the flight. I had a Thai chicken wrap and Earl had Asian noodles. Both were good and I haven’t had to have a flight attendant make flapping motions at me, so I guess it agreed with my system just fine.

I was stunned to find our flights relatively on time. I didn’t think that happened much these days. Our flight from Syracuse was late for departure but we took the less scenic route, apparently, and landed right on time. I was a little concerned that we would have a maintenance delay due to a black puddle of stuff that had dripped out of the right side engine of the plane but apparently it wasn’t important. The co-pilot touched it and smelled it but he didn’t taste it. A woman dressed in the spirit of Endora came out to look at the puddle too, but she didn’t make any magical motions or anything. Perhaps her charms are more of the silent variety.

Last year at this time we flew to Denver on a flight populated with rich, snobby kids who terrorized the plane, demanded alcohol (at 15 years old) and acted haughty with an air of entitlement about them. I don’t miss them on this flight.

Earl has switched to Doodle Jump.

So Earl and I are on our way to San Francisco. I’m writing this quick little entry from Newark, which is definitely not San Francisco. It’s Newark.

We have never been to San Francisco. It should be an investing extra long weekend. We’ll probably have a few pictures to share and I’m hoping to run into a few bloggers I’ve never met in person.

It should be a fun time.

So it’s kind of funny how schedules work out. We were invited to my cousin’s daughter’s graduation party on Friday evening. We really wanted to attend but work wouldn’t cooperate, especially since the party was in Buffalo (about 200 miles away from the Manor). So we didn’t make it to Buffalo.

Until Saturday.

We ended up driving to Buffalo on Saturday night so that we could attend Earl’s company picnic for his Buffalo crew on Sunday afternoon. I had met one or two folks from that office, so for the most part this would be a new experience being the “boss’ wife” with a new crew. Earl also gave me a tour of the Buffalo plant and his office there. I think I may have been beaming with pride.

The gathering was very enjoyable.

I like Buffalo. Saturday night we went to Duff’s in Depew for wings and Beef On Weck. I commented that on the eighth day, Beef On Weck was created. Because it is damn good. We then went for a drive through some of the lively areas of the city before calling it a night and getting some rest. It was good to be in a city where there was actually something going on after sundown.

We should go to Buffalo more often.

It’s the second day of the “Click To Add Text” presentation at work. Only half of the attendees have joined the coast to coast broadcast this time around. I’m one of them. I’m crazy like that.

The Centrally located decided that lunch would be at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. And the lunch break would only be 30 minutes.

This makes me somewhat cranky but I’ll get over it.

There is a different staff on at the Dunkin’ Donuts closest to my office today. Maybe they change after the lunch shift. No one knew what I ordered. Perhaps they forgot about me due to my telecommuting ways.

Whoops, the bell will ring shortly and I must get back to the “Click To Add Text” presentation. Ain’t it a gas.

Sending photos back and forth with your husband?

Priceless.

It is another warm day here in lovely Central New York. We got some rain yesterday, just enough to put a damper on my bike riding plans, but it wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of rain. The lawns are still looking quite brown. This is sometimes how it goes.

The coveted spot in the shade was taken by some younger guys in a modified Honda Civic. They looked kind of smug. I decided to park in my routine spot. There is enough breeze to keep the Jeep somewhat cool. If the sweat starts to drip on my keyboard I’ll have to go for a ride sooner than expected.

I was hit with a round of exhaustion around 10:30 this morning so I went for a walk around the parking lot. The exercise and fresh air were both helpful. I normally go for a walk with co-workers in the morning and afternoon, but when you have back-to-back-to-back conference calls, it’s hard to plan these things accordingly.

The week is off to a good start and this makes me happy. I’m ready for the next adventure.

So the secret destination for my birthday weekend was lovely Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The little city is about two hours to the east of us and actually not that far from where I work (when I go to the office). The weather was lovely, the downtown area was bustling with people and we had a very relaxing time.

We had a balcony and everything because Earl is a “Diamond Club” member. He spends a lot of time in hotel rooms.

We walked around Congress Park in the afternoon. I was the only one that dared to drink some water from one of the mineral springs. The water was naturally cold and had a tinge of sulfur in the taste. It reminded me of growing up but without the addition of Kool-Aid to the sulfur water.

Some ducks did a synchronized swim routine for us. I don’t think they’re paid to do that for the tourists or anything, they just kind of did it on their own.

After the duck show we posed for a family photo. My new bathing suit is in the Eddie Bauer bag to my left.

After trying some of the other spring water offerings (that didn’t have that sulfur taste), we relaxed in the air conditioned comfort of our suite at the new Hampton Inn for a bit until evening time. I took the opportunity to put on my new bathing suit and go for a swim. Earl watched to make sure I didn’t drown.

When we ventured out again we were approached by a 30-ish attractive looking bear of a guy who asked if we knew any good dining spots. Downtown Saratoga Springs has a lot of them so we recommended a couple and then we had a nice conversation with him for about 15 minutes. His name is Dan and he was in from Middletown for a School Bus Convention. I think he approached us because of our bearish ways and before you know it we were talking life stories and ended up inviting him to join us for dinner since he was in town alone. He decided not to join us but he wished me a happy birthday. I think we have a new friend in Dan. At first I thought he was Kevin from Danbury (they could be brothers) but he was Dan.

We ended up eating at Wheatfield’s at one of the sidewalk tables. It was a delicious meal, though the seating was a little crowded. It became extra crowded when a passerby decided to chat with the folks at the table next to us. To accomplish this he hung over the little fence between the dining area and the rest of the sidewalk. I thought Earl was going to offer him a bite of his pasta but he didn’t feel that cordial.

After the nice dinner we walked around downtown again and then headed back to the hotel for some cupcakes from Bettie’s Cakes before calling it a night.

This morning we headed home by back roads for a bit before jumping on the Thruway and reaching the Manor around 1:30. We have been relaxing ever since.

I did snap a photo of these very old looking power line towers that seem to have a unique flair.

My batteries are recharged. This next ride around the sun is off to a good start.