First Class+Kids=Finlandia

Ok, let me explain to you the most horrible situation that can ever happen during a cross country flight. Well, at least that was how it felt. We were flying US Airways to San Francisco. A cross country flight connecting through Charlotte. (great airport by the way) Via phone there were no first class seats available but when we checked in they were available, so we upgraded to first class. Long flight, long day, so this was well worth the money. The hour and six minute flight to Charlotte was great. First class was half full, good service, etc. Then came the flight to San Francisco. We boarded the plane and the first thing that we saw was that the row in front of us, both directly and across the aisle had 2 adults (parents), 2 BABIES 14 months old and a 3 year old. Wonderful, just f**king wonderful. This was originally going to be a 6 hour flight, which ended up being a 7 hour flight due to heavy traffic with weather. We tried headphones with both music and watching a movie. (with the volume up as much as our ears could handle) This could not drown out these kids. The were crying, screaming, fussing, throwing things, the parents were changes the stinky s**tty diapers right there in the seat, it was completely nerve racking. It actually drove me to have a cocktail for the FIRST TIME EVER in my flying history on the plane. The stewardess - oh excuse me - FLIGHT ATTENDANT, brought me not one but two bottles on Finlandia vodka, sympathizing with the situation. And the parents, oh my, if I heard "oh, it's ok" one more time I was going to SCREAM. Horrible parenting. Horrible. These parents needed to be... well I could say several things, non of which are appropriate, unless I was at an NRA convention... anyway all of this leads me to these questions:

1. Why are kids under a certain age even allowed to be in first class?
2. I wouldn't even THINK of sujecting other passengers who paid extra, a lot of extra money for comfort, to my screaming kids.
3. Was it wrong to sneak liquor into their "sippy cups" that they kept throwing on the floor into our row? Just kidding - calm down.

I could not even believe that this was happening. It was truly one of the worst flying experiences that I, we, have ever had.

Bottom line: Kids should NOT BE ALLOWED IN FIRST CLASS. Be aware, US Airways allows this. I would have rather been squished between Sheneequa and Bubba in the middle seat for 7 hours - IN COACH.

K.P.

Still Down With the Sickness

I am hoping for a miraculous recovery over the next couple of days with having to leave tomorrow to embark on another conference adventure. The exciting thing for the week though is 2 NFL games at 2 different stadiums in a week. We got lucky with them coinciding with the cities that we are going to be in and falling on days that aren't reserved for business. That will be great, giving that we can breathe and all.

We are sitting here working right now and my honey has gotten sick in the last couple of days. Definitely not good. I at least am on day 7, he is only on day 2. Lots of soup, sleep, and relaxing. Traveling AGAIN, I am hoping will not make things worse for either of us. This scheduling of conferences 2 weeks apart is not helping things at all, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

K.P.

Sexiest Gadgets

Here you go guys. The Top 10 Sexiest Gadgets.

We only have two of the ten however, but I think that number 10 on the list doesn't count. So we have 2 of the 9. I will have to get working on that. ;-)

K.P.

Amanda Congdon Should Be Doing This

I really think that Amanda Congdon should be doing THIS rather than THAT. Just my opinion. But hey, that's what blogs are for.

I enjoyed watching her on Rocketboom and was disappointed when she left, but no need to bring all of "that" up again.

K.P.

Best Deal of the Day

My honey and I have been going to this site for months now. Woot.com each day has 1 tech/electronics item available for a GREAT price!!! From plasmas to Bluetooth headphones, they have it all. Everyone that I have sent to their site, keeps going back. Try it, you might like it!!!

K.P.

10 Signs You Are A Fantasy Football Addict

This is a sad morning. I have lost my second fantasy football game in a row. I was 12th pick in the draft, so I am having to do with my team what I can. Tom Brady not doing s**t the last 2 weeks has not helped. Having a decent QB on any other of my players teams would truly help. Unfortunately they need glasses, binoculars, a new arm, a brain, something. Good news though, my honey has won both weeks. He won by a LANDSLIDE this week. I think it should be a submission for high score. He has a great team this year. Speaking of fantasy football, I was emailed this article titled 10 Signs You Are A Fantasy Football Addict if anyone is interested.

Bowing to the Fantasy Football God . . .(and begging for help)

K.P.

Travel Causes Sickness

As you know we just returned from California after attending a conference. I am so sick it isn't even funny. I am taking Sudafed, Dayquil, Robitussin and Halls. 4 flights in 5 days, totally different climates and a massive time change (sleep is off) I believe are the causes. I haven't had a cold like this in years. I am forcing him to take vitamin c so he doesn't get sick prior to the next trip that we are taking on the 23rd. Yes, back to California to do it all over again, but then some r & r afterwards so hopefully it won't be too bad. This is the first year that he hasn't gotten sick prior to the conference that we just attended. I think that it is stress mixed with the travel for him however. We have found this great stuff called Airborne. It seems to really help. Massive dose of vitamins. Tastes good too. He starts taking 1 or 2 a day prior to a trip and then takes at least one a day during travel. It did the trick for him as it has done many times in the past. I unfortunately, did not take any. Yes, he told me so. Let me say it again. YES, HE TOLD ME SO. I however do not have a problem with him being right. The whole learn from my mistakes thing. Not that I make many, but anyway . . . great stuff to take when traveling!!!

Horray for soup and over the counter drugs!!!

K.P.

Back, Busy and Bodies Confused

Well, we are back from the DIDW conference that was held in Santa Clara, CA this past week. We arrived at 11:10 p.m. eastern time last night. We of course felt as if it was only 8:10 p.m. due to the fact that we were adjusted to pacific time. We ended up stopping for a cocktail on the way home, as it was good to see everybody. This turned into a longer than expected adventure, once again due to the fact that we felt like it was actually 3 hours earlier. We woke up this morning to the phone ringing at 8:00 a.m., again feeling like it was 5 a.m. It is so hard to make the coast to coast trips. A 4 day stay there takes a full 7 days to get through with travel days a time changes involved. Yikes. We have to go back to San Fran on the 24th of this month, and aren't exactly looking forward to the body confusion again. Once you get there, it is to early to go to bed because it is only 7 p.m. and if you do, you wake up wide awake at 2 or 3 in the a.m. and have a fully scheduled day ahead of you until 8 p.m.

Needless to say were are exhausted today. He is on the phone as I am typing this post and has been for over an hour. What a trooper!!!

I think I am now getting a cold form being on the germs tubes in the air for 10 hours yesterday, not to mention the trip out on the 9th. I am fully loaded with Robitussin, Sudafed and Halls. Yummy. I am just trying to make sure that he doesn't get sick. I already completed all of my incidental reports, reimbursement sheets, etc. and am almost ready for a nap. But wait - it is only noon in my mind, and if I nap now I will end up being up all night.

Gotta love travel!!!!

K.P.

Catching Up!

We have been at the DIDW conference in Santa Clara all of this week. It has been busy and I haven't had a chance to post anything. This is my "catching up" post.

The conference has been great! The socializing has been great. Last night we were with all of the guys from Ping Identity, Microsoft, IDG World Expo, etc. This conference in particular is always great because everyone is here and everyone gets to spend some social time together. Good stuff! It was great for him to see Andre Durand from Ping Identity, Kim Cameron from Microsoft, John Fontana from Network World, Jamie Lewis from Burton Group, Dick Hardt from SXIP Identity and of course Doc Searls. This is his face to face "catching up" time as well as a ton of work. He LOVES this event.

I have to tell you something though, and he is so cute. As you know, we work from home. This means working ALL DAY in shorts and no shoes. When we travel for business he all of a sudden has to get back into the "business wear" and it is kind of funny. I get the first text message about 2 hours after he has to put on pants and wingtips for the first time in 2 months. It goes something like this- "my feet hurt and my thighs are chaffed." This means going down and purchasing bandaids for the feet. Double layering the socks. Stuffing them with cotton balls and giving him my moisturizer for his legs. Truly the cutest thing I think I have ever seen, up until about hour 10, in which he has been on his feet and walking around all day. Then it gets serious. :-) And of course, then begins day two. I think you get the picture.

Anyway, the talk of the day is, as usual, Doc Searls keynote. Always informative, always entertaining. The conference ends following that.

Tomorrow brings another dreaded day of travel back to the east coast. I am especially looking forward to it after hearing all of the news regarding guys trying to open exit doors during flights, people leaving blackberries unclaimed, people leaving back packs unclaimed - all of this b.s. The 12-14 hour door to door day will begin at 10:30 a.m. pacific time. This of course puts us in late and I can look forward to a drained guy on Friday. :-)

We have to board our dog when we travel, and as you know from previous posts, this is a very busy month. Our poor baby. She is in a GREAT boarding facility though, and the bonus is that we are friends with one of the staff members, so that always helps! Looking forward to seeing our baby girl. She is an AKA registered Doberman Pinscher. She comes from 7 generations of champions, she is absolutely WONDERFUL. (and I miss her, can you tell?) (Picture at top)

K.P.

Not That I Am Political Or Anything

Joke. I received this joke from my father this morning and it is CLASSIC. Well, at least I think that it is. Thought all could use a laugh on this Thursday morning!!!

The Iranian Ambassador went to the UN and had just finished giving a speech. He walked out into the lobby where he met President Bush. They shook hands, and as they walked the Iranian said, "You know, I have just one question about what I have seen in America . President Bush said, "Well, anything I can do to help you, I will." The Iranian whispered "My son watches this show 'Star Trek' and in it there is Chekhov who is Russian, Scotty who is Scottish, and Sulu who is Chinese. My son is very upset and doesn't understand why there aren't any Iranians on Star Trek." President Bush laughed, leaned toward the
Iranian ambassador, and whispered back..... "It's because it takes place in the future."

K.P.

Declaring War on the Telephone

I am telling you, I am close . . . about this (.....) close to declaring war on the phone in the house. Let me just say this... when we first relocated to where we are now and we found our local hang out, I had to by a new phone for the house because the ringer on their phone (hang out) was the same as the house phone. Getting out of the house (which we work from) to relax was totally blown to bits everytime their phone rang. I kept wanting to jump up and answer it "This is . . . " Needless to say, our phone rings a ton. As we approach the busy month ahead (that I have mentioned several times) the phone has gone CRAZY. So crazy that it is now making it's own little noises sitting in the cradle to recharge. I think it is sick. Teleflu or something. I seriously want to kill it and just put it out of it's misery. I don't think that would go over so well however. At least there is this: Every time the house phone rings I count to 10, thank the cell tower gods and just realize how glad I am that our cells get ZERO signal where we live. We don't even want to THINK about how many rings would be happening then, it would be like music all of the time. Still though, I believe that war is coming. I just want him to answer the phone starting with the number call that it is for the day, just to make his point. Something like this - "86, can I help you?"

Pre-strike may happen in about a half and hour.

K.P.

Laptop vs. Flight Bookings

It took me over 2 HOURS this morning to book a multi city flight through Orbitz. Understanding that it is the airlines fault, not Orbitz, it still took everything out of me not to throw my laptop.

When this year started, we had no problems getting direct flights to the majority of destinations that we travel to. A few months ago this all changed and has done nothing but gotten worse. My honey needs to be on the west coast by 4 p.m. PT and I have almost NO choices without either a 4 hour lay over, getting up at 3:00 a.m. or making 2 stops. Absolutely ridiculous. I understand that they are combining flights due to fuel charges or their monetary "standings", but come on. Any decent time of morning flight came with a LONG lay over. Even changing it to the previous day to get him there by 4 p.m. then puts us in at 11:00 p.m. By the time you get your car service, check in, your not getting to bed until at the earliest 1 a.m. Oh yes, there are red eye flights. Tried this, several times, but it seems that every child under the age of 2 traveling with the most irresponsible parents are ALWAYS on those flights. Sitting behind you, in front of you and next to you. Forget sleep. All you are doing the whole time trying not to suggest to the parents that Jack Daniels would help shut their kids up. You then get off of the plane with the appearance of thinning hair since you have been pulling it out for 6 hours. Ok, back to the topic, it is just not easy to get decent flights anymore. Our multi city ticket from A to B, B to C then C to A is absolutely nuts. There is a stop between each. Not a stop on "the way", a stop that has gone an hour past your destination and turned around to drop you off. Who designs this S**T? Just curious. Oh wait, that's right, they are the ones who get to get on whatever flight they want for free, anytime of day, to any destination. Taking away our upgrade chances most likely.


K.P.

Fantasize This!

Ok, so the fantasy draft is over and this will be the last post regarding fantasy football for awhile. Last night, my honey got the 2nd pick and I got the 12th. (Note: I am the only woman in the league, what a coincidence) :-) Geez......Yikes. My wonderful dreams of having a great team flew out the window. Bye Bye. See Ya. Running backs were in high demand during the first round last night, higher than in previous years. On my first pick I had to choose a RB of course, after 11 higher ranked running backs were already chosen. With so many injuries and questions regarding players this year, it made it tough. All in all though, I think I just may have a good enough team to do some damage. History has shown good numbers for these guys. It was a great draft and a great time!

Cheers Guys!!!!

K.P.