UMTravels

Well, the flight was late, the luggage was REALLY late (50 minutes), and because of the snow there were no limos available (usually less than $10 more than cab), and the cab lines were 20 deep. Went back across the sky bridge and took the bus to the apartment for $1.25 and a 30 minute [...]

Well, the good times in Tucson are coming to a close. Was up at 6am to put the top of on the car — had gotten up for a bathroom break when I heard the sprinkles on the skylight.
Today is filled with work, leftover ribs, and a chef salad for lunch. My flight isn’t until [...]

From the New York Times comes a wonderful “ode to Rye”.

All but Lost, Rye Is Revived as the Next Boutique Find
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: November 29, 2006
LET me get straight to the point. Rye whiskey is the world’s great forgotten spirit, distinctive, complex and delicious. It offers a tactile pleasure unlike any other whiskey in the [...]

Today’s mission is to visit the Titan Missile Museum which is about 25 miles south of Tucson. This the the only Titan Missile silo still in existence that still houses a (deactivated) missile. At least one of the others has been converted into a house with the very deep basement. Event though the “crew tour” [...]

Sharing Joe and Nikia’s house with two dogs and a cat. The dogs are greyhound or similar bred from the Arizona Greyhound Rescue in Tucson and SOS Galgos in Spain. The dogs are great — nice and calm. The cat skittish which is good since I’m allergic.
Today’s agenda. Coffee, laundry, work, muffin, shopping for dinner, [...]

The end of our stay has come, parent’s are out the door at 7am after a hug from me (before I go back to bed until 8:30).
Got packed up while drinking coffee, cleaned the kitchen a bit, set the laptop up for GPS and headed to Arcosanti, which is an hour north of Phoenix. Arcosanti [...]

Well, today is sightseeing with Kennan and Emily, and chauffeured by Mom.
Today’s sight? Taliesin West — the winter studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and still operating as an architecture school. We went for the 90 minute guided tour and I was surprised Emily made it through without getting bored and mouthy — she might have [...]

Sun keeps popping in and out, in the 70s rather than the low 80s and the household has firmly settled into a routine of lounging around in the morning reading whatever papers we can find. USAToday (McNews) is delivered to the doorstep, Dad walks up to the gift shop to get the New York Times, [...]

No Japanese slot machine in my future. For the last couple of days I’ve been looking at one in the gift shop here. Finally decided it just too damn noisy, though it would look good in the city apartment.
Errand running during the day, including picking up the $99 Thanksgiving Meal in a box at Whole [...]

A lazy day at the former McCormick Ranch — McCormick for the farm implement manufacturer on one side and Rockefeller on the other.
Newspapers and coffee, computer work, toast for breakfast or wait for lunch. Wait for lunch. Mom has the plan. Delux Burgers. DAMN GOOD. I had the Ahi Fish Burger and mom had the [...]

Alarm set to go off at 5am — so nervous after the last early morning run to the airport that I don’t sleep well — just say the hell with it and get out of bed at 4:45. Thank god this is the last trip for awhile.
Finish packing with the clothes out of the drier [...]

Up early for me - 7:30. Ready to get the day going with cornmeal encrusted back bacon and French Toast (from the leftover bread from the weekend — no waste here!)
A morning of relaxing and reading the New Yorker.
A late lunch with Tom and his boyfriend — a salad with tandorri chicken breasts sliced over [...]

Off to Vancouver — hoping for the 1pm ferry from Swartz Bay since the next is at 3pm (no 2pm ferries this time of year). Groceries and leftovers are packed for the trip — two 1.5 liter bottles of wine, a couple of half 750ies, salad, stew, bread, more stuff than I can remember at [...]

I love that breakfast magically appears each morning. I could get spoiled by this — only thing missing is the champagne. Rich is the breakfast cook most mornings.
Some work, but mostly play. Using Curt’s laptop to log on since he and Chris bought the three day internet access package (and I didn’t). It works great, [...]

Well, it’s poker tonight after a day of work, work, work on the computer. Two ads for Creative Loafing, one for Magnet Mag, and three business card ideas for ThinkAct in Seattle. Makes me feel like I’m working full-time, which apparently I am. But as for a place to work, it’s great — watching the [...]

Didn’t pack last night, too knackered. Just means up earlier, and crankier.
Our route this morning:

All I can say about this morning is “cluster fuck”. If it could go wrong it did. Leaving at 9am… but Chris was still in the office at 9:15. Came back with a “postage due” tag from the post office…. the [...]

Breakfast at the Chatterbox where soldiers in uniform eat free. I’m not a soldier, and not in uniform, but I didn’t pay — Dan did.
Off to the airport at 10:30 for a 12:30 flight to Cincinnati, then on to Seattle, avoiding the tornadoes troubling Atlanta this morning.
First flight on time, second flight an hour late [...]

Work all day, play in the evening. Dolce Vita for breakfast, Gilley’s BBQ for lunch. Nice to be able to stroll to nice places to eat. See previous St. Pete entries for links.
Dinner is a condo preview 14 blocks from the store. Mirabella on Central (Sophistication and the City). Nice spread of hors d’oeuvres and [...]

It sounded like a good idea… the redeeye to Florida. Makes it much easier for Dan and Lisa to pick me up at the airport, but oh what a price on my sanity. At least the trip started off nice, with a couple of drinks in Delta’s Crown Room — which they let me in [...]

A morning of computer work, lunching downstairs at Uwajimaya, and cleaning the apartment. Any housecleaners out there need another small gig? We sure could use one.
The plan is dinner at 5pm, since I have a 10:30pm flight to Tampa/St. Pete — get in mid-morning tomorrow. Need to be to the airport around 9pm since it’s [...]