UMTravels

Next time… shower. That will be the motto. I was up at 5:30am to have breakfast… in anticipation of getting in early to Los Angeles. Decided to nap after breakfast rather than shower. Bad decision. On the upside? There was a little lounge at Union Station in Los Angeles with coffee and juice for the […]

It was a lazy day around the casa this morning — really all that I was waiting for was to leave. I’m Jonezing for train ride — or probably more Jonezing for some anonymity, the lovely joy of being able to close your compartment door and ignore the world… until they call you for dinner. […]

More eggs and toast for breakfast, more leftovers for lunch… but I have a plan to get rid of two more containers from the fridge: the sweet potatoes and the whipped cream. Pie Time! There was also a rolled up pie crust in the fridge, so this is easy. Beat up the sweet potatoes and […]

I think the above says it all about what the day after Thanksgiving is about — unless you are a sports fan, then you need to add Football and Basketball. The morning run out of the house was a liquor run with my father — yes, the one who was kvetching last night about people […]

If it’s Thanksgiving, that must mean that it’s time to order some more shoes. What? Every Thanksgiving for the last several years, Vans has sent out coupons for use on Thanksgiving Day only. The last two years it was 25% off and Free Shipping bringing a pair of custom shoes to $45 each. This year […]

As it is with all holidays — it’s the push in the last couple of days before said holiday so that you can hopefully not do anything (other than Google Alerts so you don’t come back to 400 of them) for a long holiday weekend. Tomorrow the influx of people begins…. Michele is coming up […]

Another early day on this adventure. Now up at 4:30 to make the 6:06am Amtrak train to Lamy — which besides being the rail stop for Santa Fe is a mere 10 minutes from my parents house in Eldorado. Basically about 40 people got off the train and about the same amount got on the […]

Up at 7am for a “continental” breakfast. I don’t know what continent, maybe Antarctica. Cold and/or stale. Back to bed to make up for tossing, turning, and cover grabbing. Got all the necessary work stuff done and off my plate while awaiting answers. My big item for the day today is a tour of the […]

You know the rant… I hate morning flights. And this mornings was particularly brutal. Up at 3:30am, headed to the airport at 4, probably should have left at 4:30, oh well. The Board Room doesn’t even open til 5am. Loading was on-time… unfortunately that’s where it started going down hill… maximum 30 minute mechanical delay […]

Basically it was a lazy Saturday… got the work that needed doing out of the way early (had to get it done as I’m leaving town tomorrow) so that I could spend the rest of the day lounging around and getting ready for dinner tonight with friends from Portland — Tony and Elsa. So — […]

It’s weird how I feel more productive on the road — is it less distractions at the house (laundry, dishes, mail)? Maybe I’m just more focused. Here is a shot of morning from the condo — man  love this view: That is looking northeast up Hornby in the direction of our Vancouver office with the […]

A quite morning around the condo — a couple of over easy eggs before the one o’clock meet and greet with the Vancouver office. Well, meet and greet was what I had planned — with no appointments scheduled for the sales staff it turned into more of a “bull-pen” session on how to get more […]

Off to Vancouver, British Columbia at noon, after a couple of hours of work in the morning. Made good time… arrived at The Canadian at 3pm — three hours! This included a snack stop, a stop at duty-free, and, of course, a stop at the border — with no Nexus line and a wave through […]

Where in the world is Uncle Markie? Nov. 18-20 = Vancouver, British Columbia Dinners with Solus, Hummingbird and BamBam Work Nov. 22-Dec. 1 = Flagstaff, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico Dinner with Curt’s friend Kyle (hopefully) Train to Santa Fe Relatives for Turkey Day Train home to Seattle in a sleeper Dec. 4-7 = Juneau, […]

Maybe I should just get a room at the Oakland Airport with as much time as I spend there. The usual Monday morning stuff, blogs, billing, black coffee. Uneventful flight back home from the sun of Berkeley to the unrelenting rain that seems to be Seattle these days. Maybe Vancouver later this week will be […]

It seems this week has all been about black corduroy pants. Early in the week I was thinking of shopping for some The flight tuesday had a hot guy in the back of the plane wearing some Thursday I went to Ross to look for some for myself And at yesterday’s dinner, Justin was wearing […]

Another gorgeous day in Berkeley. When I pulled the weather before this trip it was supposed to be partly cloudy on low 60’s the entire time. Haven’t seen much of those clouds, which I’m not complaining about. Lots of errand running today. Off to see Margo and Alicia at M. Lowe and Company, who are […]

T3 was about running around town doing errands, looking for booze, corduroys, iphone chargers, bitters, and other oddities. Luckily it was all in one parking lot called Powell Square – home to Ross, Trader Joes, and BevMo (and the AAA, but I didn’t use them this trip). Should I have need IKEA, it’s basically just […]

I love mid-day flights. No rush to get up in the morning. Just about the time I usually think about having food — there is food in the form of bagels and cream cheese. And now that I’ve achieved MVP Gold status it means no long waits in line even if I’m not sitting up […]

The only real news today has to do with meat. Lots of meat. Well, there’s work stuff too, but meat is more fun to talk about. Four steaks for the three of us for dinner (Jonathan, Raf, myself). Plus a large salad, fresh bread, a little wine for Jonathan and I (Raf is back on […]