Friday, April 17, 2009

Airline madness

Not sure how well blog and iPhone work together without an app, but with who knows how much time on my hands, why not try?

American airlines had cancelled all flights into SA this afternoon. After flying in from philly, I was planning for the worst. The turbulence on the first flight was by far the worst I have ever experienced. We were coming up out of our seats and banging around for the last 30 minutes of that flight. Some people got sick which caused others to get sick. It was simply awful. We landed and were then told we could not get off the plane due to severe lighting (which was very visable and loud)

We finally got off the plane and were told lots of flights had been cancelled. I ran over to baggage which directed me back to the ticketing counter. They told me I was not likely to get my bag in order to drive the last 4 hours home, but if I could run, they could get me on the last flight leaving for SA. I agreed and ran as fast as I could from c16 to the d terminal gate 34. I had to go back through security. They decided to confiscate my mini pink leatherman and without time to argue I decided not to attempt to argue with them.

I made it to d34 just as they were about to close the doors. I got to my seat only to hear the captain announce that when loading bags the mechanics had detected damage from the storm. So here we now wait on the plane. Waiting to see if the damage is reparable or if this flight will get cancelled like the rest. I am concerned about my luggage, but more concerned about making it home in one piece and before tomorrow.

SymEast was so great this week. I have to say this is the first bad thing to go wrong for me all week! Oh well. At least no one is vomiting and we are all safe and still :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Themed suites for SymEast


How do you top a trip to sun studios in Memphis, TN?

check out this link: fanatsy suites

The hotel has 20 "themed" rooms.

Some how the symeast group seems to have been placed in the majority of them.

I am in one of the 20 for the next 2 nights, switching to another theme on Thursday thanks to the front desk staff. Should make for an interesting week. I think we'll be doing room tours later so everyone can take a look at the 1970's themed decor.

I have a red jacuzzi that seats 4! LOL

One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead


Okay, so it was Monday and not Saturday, but I did finally make it to Zipperhead. Crash Bang Boom has actually been moved around the corner, but the signature zipper ants are still on South Street.

There was very little Dead Milkmen memorabilia, but I did pick up a few cute souvenirs.



One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead
I met a girl there and she almost knocked me dead

Punk rock girl
Please look at me
Punk rock girl
What do you see?
Let's travel round the world
Just you and me punk rock girl

The flight in was pretty non-eventful, sans the woman eating bell peppers as if they were apples fresh off the tree. This is not appropriate airline passenger behavior. What's next? Hey let's bring a pot of menudo on the plane or maybe some beef kidneys? What smelly food item can I eat in a closed confined area where it impedes the personal nasal space of the passengers around me?

Made it to the hotel in time for dinner, ran back up to my room to log in and work on some code reviews and email catch-ups. Then back to the bar to get a couple hours of socializing in. With SEC going virtual this year, I have lots of sym-socializing to fit in this week and in May. Networking in the community is one of the most valuable resources out there. I can't stress the benefits of user group attendance enough.

Woke up bright and early this morning, took a nice jog around valley forge national park, saw a few deer, and headed back to start my day.

On today's agenda is RepGen roundtable. Ray is stuck in Atlanta, so Ron is flying solo this morning - and doing a great job. So far the topics have been imaging, symform, PRN, and collection note creation. There's a great group attending the class this year. All levels of expertise and experience. Makes for a great discussion.