Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Indy Radio
I found this cool radio tool for your computer. Indy Radio plays music, and then according to your ratings, hones in on music that you'll like. Besides being free, you can learn about indy artists out there.
A (Hot) Midsummer Night's Dream
Last night I was exhausted and fell asleep around 10:00. (I usually go to bed somewhere around 11 or 12.) I was so happy to finally get a good night's sleep, especially after the crappy day I had yesterday.** I woke up about 1am, really hot and sweaty. This is strange because we leave the air conditioner on at night (especially lately because the humidity has been so high). I also heard a strange noise, kind of like a gurgling wheeze, coming from the closet where part of our unit is housed. I got up and looked at the controls...it was 84 degrees in our house! The fan wasn't even running. So I turned the unit off, opened up all the windows and went back to bed. Unfortunately, it wasn't much cooler outside than it was inside. After 2 hours of very fretful and hot sleeping (or should I say dozing?), Ian finally got up and tried the air conditioner once again. The unit made a really loud noise, but started up, thankfully.
So, here's to hoping that it's still running when we get home. I need some sleep!
**First, I spilled olive oil on my skirt, 5 minutes before I had to leave for work and a meeting with the city manager. Then I lost a computer file that had taken me days to create (and no hard-copy backup). I also found out that the piece of paper that Honda sent me to let the DMV know that I've paid my car off so they can release the title to me is worthless in the state of Kentucky.
So, here's to hoping that it's still running when we get home. I need some sleep!
**First, I spilled olive oil on my skirt, 5 minutes before I had to leave for work and a meeting with the city manager. Then I lost a computer file that had taken me days to create (and no hard-copy backup). I also found out that the piece of paper that Honda sent me to let the DMV know that I've paid my car off so they can release the title to me is worthless in the state of Kentucky.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Reading Harry Potter
I have to tell you that reading Harry Potter is frustrating. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love the books. (I even own a t-shirt that I bought about 4 years ago in the boys section of JC Penny's!) I've read the first 4 books about 4 times, and I'll read the entire series again when the last book is about to come out.
Anyways, on with my point. The book came out a little over a week ago. I finished it a week to the day that I got it (and that's with a couple of days of being sick and no reading allowed). The problem is that now I have to wait another 2 years for the next one to come out! And no one I know has finished reading this one yet. So not only do I have to wait to read the last book in this amazing series, I can't even have a discussion about the current one. Too many spoilers. I can't even write my questions here because I don't want to be the source of ruining someone else's experience!
So, if any of you have read the book (and have my phone number), give me a call so we can discuss!
Anyways, on with my point. The book came out a little over a week ago. I finished it a week to the day that I got it (and that's with a couple of days of being sick and no reading allowed). The problem is that now I have to wait another 2 years for the next one to come out! And no one I know has finished reading this one yet. So not only do I have to wait to read the last book in this amazing series, I can't even have a discussion about the current one. Too many spoilers. I can't even write my questions here because I don't want to be the source of ruining someone else's experience!
So, if any of you have read the book (and have my phone number), give me a call so we can discuss!
Niagara and Toronto Pictures
So, I've finally looked through my pics from a month ago. That means that you'll have Berlin and Krakow pictures in about a month! I'm so bad with organizing pictures...I need my old roomie, Ericka, around to whip me into shape!
Niagara falls from the Maid of the Mist launching area.
Just a picture I liked from above the falls. I didn't realize how much force there was in the river before the water hit the falls. The strange thing in the middle is an old rusted boat.
A view of the falls with the Mist peeking out.
Heather and I in our bad-ass ponchos. I was laughing so hard because we got so wet that I almost peed my pants. Fun times.
Heather and I at a concert on Toronto Island.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
The Beginnings of a Trip...
There's nothing like a stressful beginning to a trip to make you enjoy that trip even more. Ian was in Chicago up until 2 days before we were supposed to leave for Berlin. He was returning on Friday night, and we were to leave on Sunday afternoon for Europe. Because we were trying to be frugal, we booked him on a flight that would give him a layover in Charlotte, NC. Not the most logical thing in the world, but hey, what can you say to cheap tickets??? (I suggest you say, "No!")
Anyways, he called me from Chicago to say that his flight was going to leave late and that he wasn't sure if he'd make his connection in Charlotte. I left for Louisville (where he was flying to), but 10 minutes into my drive, he called to say that they had just landed in Charlotte and it didn't look like he would make his connection. His plane was waiting for a gate, and he only had 10 minutes till the next one took off. It turns out that he got to his gate, and the plane was still there, but they wouldn't let any of the people from his plane onto it!
He had to stand in line for about an hour to figure out what to do next since they had booked him on the next available flight...on Monday morning! It turns out that his flight from Charlotte was the only one ontime from that airport because of some storms earlier. So now many people were trying to get out of Charlotte. When Ian got to a service agent, he told them that he had to get home that night because he was leaving the next day for Europe. (A little white lie, but we had to do his laundry on Saturday!) The best they could do was fly him to Knoxville, TN (3 hours from us). He jumped at it, and I started driving right away to get to Knoxville. It was about 10pm when I started that drive.
All throughout the drive, Ian would call me to let me know that their plane was delayed yet again. I didn't know until I had already arrived at Knoxville's airport that his plane had taken off at 1:00am! Luckily, my mom is in a different time zone, so I talked to her during the hour wait to keep me awake. He finally landed at 2:00am, but his luggage didn't come with him. After filing the report and stressing to them how important it was that we got the luggage the next day because we had to do the laundry for our Europe trip (otherwise, little Ian would have to go naked around Germany...a pasttime that is approved at beach resorts only!). We finally started driving home about 2:30 and got home safe and sound at 5:00am. Needless to say, we were exhausted, but hopeful the luggage would be on our doorstep when we woke up.
Wrong. Ian got up and called the automated number they gave us, and it said that the luggage couldn't be found. He tried talking to a real person, but the guy just kept rerouting his call to the same number. When Ian asked to speak to the man's supervisor, the guy refused, giving the excuse that all of the supervisors were in a meeting together at the moment. Finally, I decided to call the baggage claims at both Knoxville and Louisville to see if they happened to have it there. No answer at Knoxville. And no phone number for Louisville. I called a rental car agency at the airport (because conveniently, although there was no useful number listed for the airport itself, there were numbers galore for rental agencies). The woman there gave me the extension to the baggage claim. When I told the woman that I was looking for Ian's luggage, she said, "It's right here...we have it." So why didn't you scan it into the computer or send it to us already???!!! I asked her when it would be sent to us, and she said that it would be at least 3 hours. It was already almost 2pm by this point, so I asked her to hold it and we'd pick it up. So once more, we packed ourselves into the car and drove the 1 1/2 hours each way to pick up Ian's luggage.
Finally, we were able to do laundry at 6pm the night before we were to leave for Berlin!
By the time we got on that plane the next day, we were so happy to be in one place, that the flight wasn't torture! And we learned our lesson: cheaper tickets aren't always better and never, never fly US Air if you can help it!
Anyways, he called me from Chicago to say that his flight was going to leave late and that he wasn't sure if he'd make his connection in Charlotte. I left for Louisville (where he was flying to), but 10 minutes into my drive, he called to say that they had just landed in Charlotte and it didn't look like he would make his connection. His plane was waiting for a gate, and he only had 10 minutes till the next one took off. It turns out that he got to his gate, and the plane was still there, but they wouldn't let any of the people from his plane onto it!
He had to stand in line for about an hour to figure out what to do next since they had booked him on the next available flight...on Monday morning! It turns out that his flight from Charlotte was the only one ontime from that airport because of some storms earlier. So now many people were trying to get out of Charlotte. When Ian got to a service agent, he told them that he had to get home that night because he was leaving the next day for Europe. (A little white lie, but we had to do his laundry on Saturday!) The best they could do was fly him to Knoxville, TN (3 hours from us). He jumped at it, and I started driving right away to get to Knoxville. It was about 10pm when I started that drive.
All throughout the drive, Ian would call me to let me know that their plane was delayed yet again. I didn't know until I had already arrived at Knoxville's airport that his plane had taken off at 1:00am! Luckily, my mom is in a different time zone, so I talked to her during the hour wait to keep me awake. He finally landed at 2:00am, but his luggage didn't come with him. After filing the report and stressing to them how important it was that we got the luggage the next day because we had to do the laundry for our Europe trip (otherwise, little Ian would have to go naked around Germany...a pasttime that is approved at beach resorts only!). We finally started driving home about 2:30 and got home safe and sound at 5:00am. Needless to say, we were exhausted, but hopeful the luggage would be on our doorstep when we woke up.
Wrong. Ian got up and called the automated number they gave us, and it said that the luggage couldn't be found. He tried talking to a real person, but the guy just kept rerouting his call to the same number. When Ian asked to speak to the man's supervisor, the guy refused, giving the excuse that all of the supervisors were in a meeting together at the moment. Finally, I decided to call the baggage claims at both Knoxville and Louisville to see if they happened to have it there. No answer at Knoxville. And no phone number for Louisville. I called a rental car agency at the airport (because conveniently, although there was no useful number listed for the airport itself, there were numbers galore for rental agencies). The woman there gave me the extension to the baggage claim. When I told the woman that I was looking for Ian's luggage, she said, "It's right here...we have it." So why didn't you scan it into the computer or send it to us already???!!! I asked her when it would be sent to us, and she said that it would be at least 3 hours. It was already almost 2pm by this point, so I asked her to hold it and we'd pick it up. So once more, we packed ourselves into the car and drove the 1 1/2 hours each way to pick up Ian's luggage.
Finally, we were able to do laundry at 6pm the night before we were to leave for Berlin!
By the time we got on that plane the next day, we were so happy to be in one place, that the flight wasn't torture! And we learned our lesson: cheaper tickets aren't always better and never, never fly US Air if you can help it!
Monday, July 18, 2005
Home and Harry Potter
Well, we made it home late Saturday night. Yesterday consisted of lounging, eating and watching TV. Today at work I've been too busy catching up to really blog, so I haven't even attempted it until now. I'm about to go home and snuggle up to the new Harry Potter, so you'll just have to wait for our tales of adventure until tomorrow!
Friday, July 01, 2005
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