The saddest day of my life

I was informed this morning by my favorite barista that Starbucks is discontinuing the Valencia flavor at their stores. This means that I can no longer have my all-time favorite coffee drink -- Grande Cafe Mocha Valencia. I don't know how I will go on. I'm working on a grassroots campaign to keep the Valencia flowing while sipping my delicious coffee beverage.

 

Thanks Dan for suggesting this drink to me last year. You changed my life forever.

I miss you...

I miss you so much.

You just don't know how much.

Checking out the Midwest with Southwest

Last weekend, I flew from Dallas to Long Island, New York for the weekend using a free ticket I had on Southwest Airlines. Getting there wasn't a big deal (Dallas - Little Rock - Long Island) but coming back was a mess.

I flew from Long Island to Chicago. In Chicago, my flight was delayed because of bad weather in Houston which messed up a lot of flights. I only had a one hour connection that became two hours. My next stop was Kansas City where I would fly direct to Dallas. Because of all the delays, I missed the last flight from Kansas City and they sent me to Oklahoma City then Houston then (finally) Dallas. It was a LONG day and a crappy way to end a great weekend.

My father asked me why I didn't complain to get some kind of payback from SWA. I figured since I was flying on a non-revenue ticket they probably wouldn't have much sympathy. Next time, I'll use my free ticket to go to somewhere that requires fewer connections.

The good (and pretty amazing) news was that my luggage made it home with me. You can't say SWA sucks because they got my bag routed around with me even with tons of last minute re-routing. I LUV them.

Exploring my favorite urban jungle

I just got back from New York City on Monday night (almost Tuesday morning). Later I'll tell you about my flight back which required me to visit New York, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

While I was in the city, I had a great time! Here's a recap:

Day 1: Get to airport. Ride Long Island Rail Road into Penn Station. I checked into my hotel. They were so accomodating (thanks Collette). I got a corner room (which is always bigger). We had dinner in Chelsea and then checked out some bars nearby.

Day 2 and 3: Lots of exploring, shopping, and eating.

Day 4: Ride trains, planes, and buses to get home.

The point of the trip was to go to the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS flesh fest Broadway Bares 16. It was freakin' awesome (even if it was super crowded). We got to see several celebrities perform including Cyndi Lauper, Fran Drescher, Alan Cummings, Mario Cantone, Rita Wilson and Sandra Bernhard. The music and dancing was fun and very risque. I think this will be a yearly event for me.

I also got to see Chicago with Rita Wilson. I didn't care much about her before this weekend but now I LOVE HER. She is so cute and did a great job as Roxie Hart. She was also having tons of fun at Broadway Bares.

The other highlight of the trip was our dinner at Garage in Greenwich Village. They had live jazz in the restaurant. The quartet that was performing was really great. I'd love to go to a place like that in Dallas. They had delicious martinis (of which I had perhaps one too many) and pretty good food. My filet was a little overcooked for medium but it was still delicious.

In the end, the trip was great and the Big Apple didn't disappoint (as usual).

Shaking head from side to side slowly

The Rangers lost today against the White Sox. We could have won.

The game started at 6:05 p.m. I got there late. We lost and it wasn't even $1 hot dog night. So disappointing.

I want to fly to Vegas or Chicago or Seattle

Nice piece of meat

Friday night, I went back to one of my favorite places to eat in Dallas (and pretty much anywhere). Perry's Restaurant has the greatest cuts of meat (read: steaks, keep it clean people). They know how to make a damn good steak. My 12 oz. filet with jumbo prawns and a diver scallop was amazing. It was very tender, nicely seasoned, and paired up beautifully with the seafood.

Along with the steak was a great baked potato with all the fixings and creamed spinach that I shared with my dinner guest. As a starter, I had the tomato and artichoke bisque. It was great! My only beef (sorry it was too easy) was dessert. My pecan pie wasn't warm enough and it didn't have enough pecans. The cinammon ice cream though was a nice touch. I could have just done with a big bowl of the ice cream.

Don't worry though, I'll be back! Oh yeah, big props to Ahmad Rashad who sat at the table behind us. He is undoubtedly in town for the NBA finals. He enjoyed some surf and turf also plus hot tea and carrot cake. The carrot cake looked delicious.

I know what you are thinking

I am pretty sure I have ESP. Here's how I know.

Last week, I was in DC at my hotel and I decided to take a nap before I went out for dinner and drinks. While I lied in bed, I thought it would be weird if there were a fire in my hotel. This thought was probably triggered by the fact that directly above me was a fire alarm light and speaker. I slept for a couple of hours and then got up to get ready to go out. I was about to lather up with shaving cream when the alarm went off and the light started flashing. The voice on the speaker said an emergency had been reported and to report to the nearest exit.

It was a weird moment. I thought: "Wow! I can predict the future." I grabbed my room key and cell phone. I also randomly felt the need to shutdown my laptop. I glanced around the room to make sure there was nothing else I had to leave with, and booked it to the stairs. There wasn't anybody in the stairs which made me think that I took to long (I shouldn't have shutdown the laptop).

I got to the bottom floor and the bellman didn't even know the alarm had gone off. It turns out it was a false alarm. I'm glad it happened though otherwise I wouldn't have known about my new super power. Now I have to go to Starbucks and see if I can figure out what people are thinking about. I'm kinda bored with your thoughts.

AA sucks (but not anymore)

Wednesday morning I was flying out of DFW to Reagan National Aiport in Washington, DC. My flight on American Airlines was at 6:35 am (don't ask me what I was thinking booking such an early flight). I left the house a few minutes late and ended up at the terminal at 6:00 am. I was relieved since that would be plenty of time to spare to get to the gate and through security (at least I thought).

When I went to check-in I was informed that I couldn't check-in 40 minutes prior to a flight and had to take a later flight. I was fuming but luckily the next flight was 90 minutes later and I wasn't in a big rush to get to DC since my first meeting wasn't until late that afternoon. The part that sucked was that I checked my bag and passed security and got to my original gate while they were still boarding groups 4, 5 and 6. I could have easily made the flight.

Well, AA redeemed themselves today when I was flying back home. I got to Reagan really early because I took the Metro and it didn't take that long to get there. I figured I'd buy a day pass at the Admiral's Club and relax for a couple of hours before my flight. The lady at the Admiral's Club let me hang out without a pass and changed my seat to an aisle exit seat. I had tons of room the whole way home plus relaxed in style in the club. So I'm not that ticked off anymore with AA.

Coming attraction: Find out about my ESP and the fire alarm at my hotel this weekend.