Up North (& Out There doing it)

What you measure, does improve

I'm in a Fitbit challenge with a friend of mine for the month of June. Best day, best week and overall month. Loser buys lunch at Breslin.

Went to a wedding this past weekend and realized at the reception that I'd left the fitbit in the hotel room. Receptions are just step machines, so no way was I losing out on all of those steps.

I get down to Atlantis on Friday morning, which is the same day as the wedding I'm attending. Being up
at 4 in the AM and attending a wedding in the same day -- I'm thinking it's going to be a *huge* @fitbit day.  After carefully taking it off when hopping in the pool, etc., I manage to leave it behind when we get dressed to go down to the ceremony on the beach.

Have you ever been to Atlantis? It's casino + resort + beach, so the layout I think is casino style and confusing as hell. We are taken from hotel to the beach as a group and then from the beach back up to this killer room in a different hotel, with one whole wall as a fish tank, etc. Totally $$, but once I know where we'll be, I quickly decide to jump back to my room, take everyone's sunglasses back as well, and pick up the fitbit.

Not being 100% sure the best way to get back to our hotel room, I decide to take the long way back to the room. On the way there, I figure out I certainly should be able to take a shorter way back. Quick stop in the room, @fitbit on, glasses back in the room, buy some spare batteries for the guy who brought the only camera to the wedding but has dead batteries in it (I manage to get behind a classic UWS NYer Mom type in line at the Sundries shop who is complaining, I am not kidding you, about an extra $0.50 stamp she bought because they told her that it was needed to send a postcard back to the US, when in fact she had enough postage, and then proceeded to yell at the girl behind the counter talking to her manager on the phone that 'she wasn't the crazy one. She was giving the wrong information which is why they must take it back. Tell her! Tell her! Here, let me speak with her.' -- Forget the fact that this woman's family probably is burning a $1,000/day -- good thing she's not letting them take her for one more quarter!)

Anyways,  I'm on my way back to the wedding reception the short way and I'm getting close but I can't find it. I find the reception that I saw was next to ours, but I'm walking around and walking around. Finally, I'm getting too darn sweaty to keep walking so I ask the concierge where the 'TMAC wedding reception is'

'Oh, let me look. Oh, I'm sorry sir, it's two hotels away -- it's kind of far.'

Now at this point, I know that has to be wrong, but after 15 minutes of looking, I'm desperate and why wouldn't a full service place concierge like this know, so I figure I just must have gotten really turned around so head along my way. When I get there, of course, there isn't anything going on there so now I'm like  -- well, I have to just go back to our hotel (which was in the middle of where I was and where I really wanted to be) and just retrace my original long way around steps.

Which I do and get right to where I wanted to be. Turns out, when I was tramping all over Timbuk2, I was just a floor above where I was looking for and didn't realize it. I finally get back, make a joke of it (one of the first big get togethers with this crew and where I met S was in Kingston when we all lived in DC.   One car took significantly longer than the rest of us and we asked them what happened and they started by saying 'Well, I just went over the Woodrow Wilson bridge...' --- right there, we all knew that those clowns had started a very long trip by going the wrong way around the beltway on DC) and proceed to have a great night.

Anyways, as it turned out, another wedding was scheduled to have this room, but the groom 'didn't show', even though the bridge and guests from both sides had already traveled down to the island!  Crazy!  So my buddy got a big upgrade and moved into this room.  Turns out, that wasn't 100% correct (upgrade yes, backstory no). Late night the next night, the day after the wedding, we end up eating at a late night place at 2AM next to the niece and nephew of the bride who's groom was a no show. It wasn't quite that bad -- the groom got cold feet 4 days before and everyone knew that there wasn't going to be a wedding but they all had booked their stuff and decided to just come celebrate with the bride and support her (they had been  dating for 9 years).

So, the day ended up only being 24,226 steps -- I would have thought more, but a great story none the less.

3 more days with the @fitbit challenge to go!

 

Wheels Up to TMAC's Wedding

Off to the Bahamas for TMAC's wedding.

I'm sitting next to a 'typical' NY family. The Mom is just yipping/yapping/kevetching.

The Dad isn't paying attention. The single Uncle chatting with the kids.

Then they get looking at the weather report -- and start complaining about that.

The Mom -- 'Can you go in the water if it's thundering and lightening?' (Not unless you don't want to live).

The Grandparents are all worried about getting their travel vouchers all being signed (for transport to the hotel after the 3 hour flight and another 45 minutes of waiting).

The Grandma is asking the Grandkid if the plane is here and the Mom steps in and says 'Yes, right over there' -- Um Mom -- the question wasn't for you.

I always say 'never say never' but I never want to be this family.

Had no idea

Had to go to a mtg in the City today. Had no idea it was even raining back home.

That's the understatement of the day. Can't wait to see what train wrecks await at home.

Trips home w/out our spouse

Trips home without your spouse are always a kind of strange and unusual trip that typically doesn't happen.  But when they do, I'm reminded that they are good for everyone involved.

Your spouse gets some time to themselves and you get some alone time with your parents, that even if you have a great spouse -- In-Law relationship just isn't something that happen that often.

This trip, I took the Boys with me and we've been having a great old time (and don't worry about S -- she's been having 'Girls Weekend' in Austin, TX -- ed note: Don't feel sorry for me either -- I'm leaving for Atlantis on Friday).

It's been an amazing time and definitely worth all of the effort that it took in order to get here by myself.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Great movie. But clearly they missed one!

My kind of ride!

Nice. Open back on a rainy day with not one but two car seats! Strong!

Running Every Day

So running every day.  Was going great for 149 days and then all of the sudden, the wheels seem to be falling off (and I'm not pumped about it). I was just about to email out to everyone 'Hey, check me out -- I'm running every day this year, this is why I am just mentioning it and oh yeah, I'm raising money for this chartiy' yada yada, when 'the injury' started acting up mildly.

Really mildly, but acting up none the less and didn't want to pull a Day 1 'Look at me', Day 2 'Nothing to see here' so I've been in a holding patter for the past 11 days. And it's pissing me off. Walking on pins and needles isn't what I like about this and grinding through the effort isn't fun either.

Looking at what I've been doing, it would appear that the introduction of the 'Vibram Five Fingers' coincides (coincidentally or not) to 'the injury' reappearing so I'm putting a 4 week ban on the shoes (walking included).

Hope that does the trick.

Cut back on the Internet for a couple of days...

And things like this happen! Zoolander is moving to Belgium.

Another amazing adventure is heading their way.

 

Predictably Irrational.

Just finished another great book. Predictably Irrational. Really would recommend it.

Always impressive

Full ads that still look to be painted on the sides of builders are amazing.