Almost home

I'm spending my last night at a hotel outside of LAX, ready to head home in the morning. It has been a good trip, got all my warehouses counted, spent a few days walking rail yards and a little time with Marcy. I think she is going to want to do this more often, whenever we can. I guess having a few days to do what you want, when you want, without having to make 3 PB&J's and answer questions from your husband, was a welcome break. She is anxious to get home to the boys, so the length of the stay was probably just right. I loved having her with me. The nights when I travel are usually boring, since I don't really want to go out and "party." The hotel in Dana Point was great, really helpful and treat you they way you want to be treated. Marcy even received a call from the bellboy, asking if her stay was going well. I had to ask her about that, seemed a little friendly to me:)

The news while we were out here was filled with people from my childhood, dieing. Ed McMahon was the best straight man ever. I woke up at 4 am, 6 am at home, and heard the news. One of the clips they were showing was the funniest thing I ever saw between them. Johnny Carson was looking at a cat of some kind in a cage, it turned and swiped at him and growled. Johnny turned and ran and jumped into Ed's arms. The look on Johnny's face was perfect and Ed played right along. Makes me laugh just thinking about it. Then Farrah. Oh how I loved her as a child. I was a Jacklyn Smith fan, but I had Farrah on my wall and on my mind for a few years. Then today, Michael Jackson. I'm torn on him. I loved his music, still do, but everything that he was accused of was a bit of a downer for me. I know he was found innocent, but so was OJ Simpson and I'm not in agreement with that decision either. The evidence I heard against MJ was pretty compelling, but I certainly didn't hear it all. Regardless, I remember running home to see the Thriller video, day after day. Sounds gay, but it was awesome, still is. Whenever I think of him singing, I also see Weird Al Yancovic as well. His songs were hilarious. The main networks here in LA are all on the MJ story, and nothing else. I hope that changes before prime time, there are just so many interviews with people on the street that I can watch. I swear they find the dumbest people, ask them the simplest question, and wait to hear the dumbest answer. I'm baffled by the crowds at the hospital. Why go and stand on the sidewalk with a bunch of people? Maybe it's like group therapy, not sure, but there are pockets of people all over the city. They gathered on 2 spots at the hospital, on his star on the walk of fame and in front of his house. I'm guessing there is a group at the old ranch he owned and in Gary, IN, where he is from. I think I'll drown my sorrows in my hotel room, with a steak.

Hello from CA!

A quick post before I hit the hay. We are having a good time in Dana Point. Marcy and I got here yesterday morning and made it to Dana Point in time for lunch. We spent several hours walking on the waterfront, very nice, and even drove to Laguna Beach. The area is great, I think I could live here. Tonight, after dinner at a table over looking the water, we watched a few seals swim around. One decided that a large fishing boat looked like a good place to hop up on for a snooze. We couldn't get a shot of him on the back of the boat, but I have a shot of him in the water, but you can barely see him, so hardly worth a post. I had some Mahi-Mahi for dinner, it was excellent, then we walked the waterfront again. The 119 steps from the water to the hotel is hard to do after a big dinner, I don't recommend it so soon after the belly fill up. Today, Marcy was able to walk on the beach, do some shopping and worked out in the fitness center. I'm glad she is able to relax and re-charge. The boys are having a great time. Kay is keeping them busy with activities and of course, the pool has been a huge hit since I put it up. I jumped in on Sunday after I mowed the grass, it was a good cool down, seeing as the water temp feels like the single digits.

In the morning, I head back to my warehouse and count railcars. The weather should be upper 70's, which is awesome. The temps here at the beach are almost cold, I love it.

Good news!

As you might remember, when I planned the surprise trip to Hawaii for Marcy, my excuse for her to pack warm was to tell her that we were going to Southern California, where I would work at one of my warehouses and she could relax at the hotel and beach. I went there last June, but had her convinced that I needed to go back in Jan., then pulled the old switcheroo and took her to paradise instead. Now, I have to go back to LA at the end of the month, so I asked her to go with me again. We were able to find a sitter for the kids, so we are off to LA for a few days. I sent her the link to where we are staying, she should be able to find things to do to fill her day. There is shopping, the pool or the beach. I'd be happy with those options. The best thing is, my trip is paid for and we are staying in a hotel that we couldn't afford on our own. Maybe I will have the Sea Bass again, it was yummy.

One crappy day!

So my trip back from LA was the nightmare I hear so many people talk about. To start my day, the shuttle driver, who is from LA, went the wrong way after he picked me up and had to turn around, bad sign. We made it to the airport and the lady in front of me at security complained about just about everything in our 30 minute wait. She found a little bag of pills that was obviously lost from a bag that was being scanned and insisted the security lady figure out whose they were, out of the thousands that had been through that morning. Seemed a bit of a challenge that Mrs. Security wasn't about to attempt, which pissed off Mrs. Optimistic. How she figured the owner could be located, I don't know. My plane that was to take me to St. Louis, was 2 1/2 hours late from Dallas into LAX, which meant I would miss my connection to Des Moines. I tried to get someone who "worked" for American airlines to help me figure out if I could get home. They have a little area that says "Customer Service," which I mistakenly believed would be a good place to get some service. I waited in front of the desk for about 5 minutes until an American employee told me that this little booth wasn't manned and I would be waiting until a certain place froze over. They suggested I ask an employee at a gate to help, which I tried next. They told me I needed to ask a gate person at the gate I would be leaving from, but since that was still 4 hours away, there wasn't anyone at the gate. I decided to call the 800 number, who proceeded to tell me that they could book me on the morning flight from LA to DSM if I wanted. I told him that I could make the flight to St. Louis that day and wasn't going to put my trip in their hands in hopes that they could complete the same trip I missed today, tomorrow. I wanted to fly to St. Louis and see what I could do from there. They booked me on the morning flight from STL to DSM, so I had that lined up if I needed it. They tried to get me on another airline and different cities, no go. I hung up and called our corporate travel agent and she looked for me. She found me a flight on Northwest that left at noon that would get me home, but I would have to either go without my suitcase or try to get it, leave the terminal, find the Northwest terminal, go through security again and get to my gate in 15 minutes. Didn't even entertain that as a possibility. I had her rent me a car, which I could drive from STL to DSM in about 6 hours. You might ask why I would subject myself to such a trip, well, I had been out of the office for 4 days and Friday was my only day in the office for 2 more weeks, since I leave for NC on Monday. I landed in STL, requested my bag, got it pretty quickly actually, rented my car and headed for home. The route I took home was flooded out just days earlier. I know this because I drove down a highway that had a sandbag levee that came right up to the solid yellow line on my right, making my lane quite narrow. I drove through Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, home of my inlaws, and was tempted to stop and sleep, but was feeling pretty good, so I figured I could make it home. Just north of Mt. Pleasant, I almost got to see my father-in-law, but not by choice. He drives an ambulance and a large deer jumped in front of me, causing me to stomp the brakes, which caused the SUV I was driving to fishtail a little. I released the brake and turned to go behind the deer, which took me a bit off the road, but remembered that you should go to where the deer is, staying on the road. Leaving the road not only is more dangerous for you, but if you wreck without hitting the deer, you have no evidence there was a deer. They say it is better to hit the deer than crash your car in the ditch, even though that deer is going to mess your car up. I kept it on the road and missed her ass by about a foot. That woke me up pretty good, had me ready for the 2 1/2 hours left in the drive. I made it home at 3am, got some sleep and was able to get to work well before I would have if I had waited for the morning flight that was supposed to get me home at 11am. I've always been very lucky with my travel, when I've had flights canceled, I've always been able to get other flights to get me home on the same day. I guess the thing that sticks out to me the most, was the lack of help I received at the airport. There didn't seem to be anyone that would help. The money saving cost cuts have put the people that are there in a bind should something go wrong. Of all of the people that I tried to get help from, the lady at the STL airport and the people in the customer service area, even thought they we're telling me they could help, we're the nicest and most helpful. The rest of them need to find jobs in the garbage industry, so they don't have to work directly with people. Now we are packing and getting ready for our trip to the beach. The boys are REALLY excited and I'm getting a little excited myself. The trip out should be fun, I'll post when and where I can.

I forgot to mention

Oh, I forgot, I saw a dog lift his leg and then poop on a concrete post. That was a first for me.

New things learned

I learned some new things today:

1. My son may be able to read the word bitch, so I shouldn't use it on my blog. (SHIT, I did it again) (Dammit, that was worse)

2. The temperature can go from 76 degrees on the beach to 101 degrees at the warehouse that I got to spend 2 hours outside banging on the sides of railcars. The warehouse is in Chino, which is an hour north east of Dana Point. It was a little sweaty today.

3. I know there are 114 steps from the street by the harbor to the hotel grounds, straight up. I was a bit winded when I got to the top.

4. I now know the guy I'm here with is very hairy. I saw him at the pool and thought it was a bear. Turns out it was John, so I called the front desk and called off animal control.

Here are a few shots I took, not very good though.

Then I saw this little guy.

My phone doesn't take very good pictures, but since I was all ready hauling a computer, Ipod and GPS, I didn't want to have another thing to carry in my backpack. I realized that I usually end up giving you a menu of what I eat, and that probably doesn't excite you. Then I remembered that since my memory is fading, this will help me recall things that might get squeezed out of my brain with that pesky work stuff. Last night, I had my first Chilean Sea bass, which I had always heard good things about, but never wanted to spend the money. I was told by John last night, that I WAS getting the Sea bass, and who am I to argue. WOW, that was good stuff. That was the most tender fish I have ever eaten, really glad he twisted my arm. The Mahi-Mahi was good the night before, but this might have topped it. We ate at a local pizza place at the harbor for lunch and I had a pizza that had chicken, carrots, bean sprouts, peanuts and cilantro. They could have left all of that off except the cilantro and I would have been happy, but it was really good. It reminds me of a Thai chicken pizza I've had somewhere in DSM. When I asked John what he was getting, he said "a regular pizza." I had no idea what that was, so a little later I tried again, but he just said regular again. When he told it to the waiter, he didn't act like he thought John was crazy, he just said "cheese." You notice there was no question mark at the end of that, so I guess that meant he knew what John was talking about. Hey Joe, is that how New Yorkers order a cheese pizza? I've never heard of that before, but maybe it's a NY thing. Tonight is my last night in CA, it will be a long day tomorrow getting home. I have a shuttle picking me up at 6:30am, I hope I don't over sleep.

THAT BITCH!!!!!!!!

So I'm hanging out in beautiful California and have been quite impressed with the weather, the friendly people here at the Marriott and how well the traffic has moved along, despite the horror stories I have heard. I will say that the motorcycle riders are nuts here. They fly down the highway and squeeze in between cars, riding on the painted lines in between lanes. If one car decides to change lanes, they are toast. It's a little scary to have a motorcycle 2 inches from your side view mirror, while going 70 mph. Speaking of side view mirrors, I was informed by my wife that a car drove up on our lawn and hit my mailbox, which just happens to be a 4x4 post, cemented 3 feet into the ground. This little move cost her a side view mirror that the WDM Police are now in possession of. A few of my neighbors saw her hit it and leave the scene, so they called the cops. Now my mailbox is laying in a pile on my lawn, which means I won't receive any mail until I get it fix, which is difficult to do from LA. I asked Marcy to run to Lowes and get the cheapest mailbox they have to put into the ground until we get back from vacation and I can do it properly. I'm not looking forward to digging that concrete ball out of my lawn, but the good news is, I'll all ready have a hole in which to place the new post. The best thing about this is, she did a hell of a lot more damage to her car than to my mailbox, expense wise, so I'm not too pissed. Plus, if my neighbors see the car, and they think she lives in the area, I'm confident they will follow her and get her address and turn it over to the police. Why she didn't just stop and offer to pay for it, I have no idea. Now she has the police involved and I can only hope they drag her from her car and beat her unconscious. Ooopps, that's not nice, I forgive her. I did eat at an In and Out burger yesterday. Our minister always talks about them, they are his favorites. I'll say that, for fast food, they are really good. I'm a B-Bops fan, but these might be a little better. They also cut their own fries, so they are fresh and good as well. I'm off to dinner, later!

I love LA (Randy Neuman)

My travels to LA were fairly uneventful. My flight out of Des Moines was delayed, so I had to run in Dallas to my next flight. I was one of the last people on board, but then we had to wait for 45 minutes for a mechanic to do something. It wasn’t that it took him 45 minutes to fix what ever was broken; it took him that long to get there and 1 minute to fix it. I was able to get to my rental car, they told me my car was in M16, but when I got to the exit gate, they said I had the wrong car. I see the customer service in LA is the same as in Iowa. How can you not park the right car in the right spot? Seems like that would be day 1 of your on the job training. The drive to my hotel was a little over an hour, but the GPS I bought awhile back worked perfectly. If you don’t have one of these, and you travel at all, get one. I paid a little over $100 and it was worth every penny. I’ll be using it on our trip to NC in a week or so; hopefully it works just as well. I got to my room around 8pm CA time and ordered some supper. Since I did my OJ Simpson impression in Dallas, I didn’t get to eat and the sandwich they were selling on the plane, although tempting, got the pass. I never saw a place to exit the highway to get something to eat. I was afraid that any exit would be followed by the inability to re-enter the highway and I wasn’t going to put my faith in the GPS, since I wasn’t sure how it was working. I didn’t know that until it actually got me to the hotel. I had a room service BBQ pizza that was either really good, or I was so hungry that it wouldn’t have mattered. I decided to go to sleep at 10pm, 12pm Iowa time, but unfortunately got up at 4:30 CA time, which was actually sleeping in at home, 6:30am. I have a pretty good view of a marina off my balcony, but it was so foggy this morning, you couldn’t really see much. I have a great view of the pool, but that is of little use to me. Unless it heats up some, I won’t be in the pool anytime soon. My boys would be all over it, even though the temps are in the 70’s, but that is still a little cold for me. I spent most of the day running around in 2 huge buildings looking for inventory that doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason as to why its in its current location. You would think that you would keep all of the like material together, but this theory has bypassed the people in my CA warehouse. They have the same material spread out between 2 buildings and 5 different locations. It makes counting so much more difficult. Tomorrow, I get to bang on the sides of railcars to see if they are full or empty, jealous? I’m here with an Inventory guy from CT, same guy I was in Houston with. We went to an oceanfront restaurant for dinner and I had a very good piece of Mahi-Mahi. Now I’m working on trying to figure out what I just spent 8 hours counting. Here is a pretty crappy picture off my balcony.

That is the ocean, way at the top, and just short of that is the marina, but you can't tell from my phone picture.