Not a story I really want to tell...

Because it's embarrassing!!

But I figured - I talk about the good, I might as well talk about the bad.

This morning was an all around fail. First of all I was up at 5:15am - that's always a fail. I tried to get cash out of the ATM in my building but it wasn't working and wouldn't read my card. I tried to print my boarding pass and could not get the business center printers to work. I thought my luck was turning around when I got the airport just fine, through security with no problems (and no AIT or pat down) and safely to Boston. But that was not the case...

When I got to Hertz I found my name right away on the #1 Club Gold board and my car was (seemingly) right in front of me. I was excited to get a Nissan Morano because I like to drive bigger cars but rarely get to.  It wasn't until I got to the exit that I realized...it wasn't my car! There was a different name on the paperwork. At first I just thought someone made a mistake and put the wrong car in my spot. I even confirmed that my name was still scrolling on the marquee above the car. Unfortunately that spot already had a new car in it and I had to go inside to figure out what happened...

Apparently, what happened was I took the wrong car! The sign between 5 & 7 was sort of in between the 2 stalls and I picked the wrong one.

But I figured I was back on track and not too worried because I had over 3 hours to drive 2 hours.

Almost immediately after leaving the parking lot I came up to the toll. And not just any toll but a $3.25 toll. Usually I get an EZ Pass type product and the tolls just show up on my credit card. Unfortunately this time I didn't (what they call) a PlatePass this time. I had to roll up to the toll both and explain I had no cash. Apparently you can get an envelope and mail the toll in.

Ok - fine. I'm back on the road. Won't have to pay a fine as long as I get my toll in the mail in the next 2 weeks. Still have plenty of time to get to the hospital....

Until...I miss my exit! And start heading into Boston instead of away from it. To correct my mistake I had to go through (and not pay) another toll. Fortunately at this point I was able to stop a gas station and get cash, take a breath and get going on my way (for good this time).

This experience did not do anything to help my dislike of driving.

Back to the Grind

Thanksgiving break was great, I'm already looking forward to Christmas Break (19 days)! I took the train to my Mom's family last weekend and we spent Saturday there and had crabs which are always a treat! Sunday we went back home to New Jersey where I spent the remainder of my week off.

I went back to my old high school which was a trip! It does not feel like it has been 10 years since I started high school. We went shopping a few times, there was lots of food throughout the week, quite a bit of sleeping in (which for me means 9:30) and very little working out.  I had a great time and it was really nice to see some people both from high school as well as my home town that I have not seen in quite a while.

Thanksgiving day was especially fun. I think I played 4 different card games and scrabble with the family. And of course - more eating.

The next few weeks are going to be packed. I'm headed off to New Hampshire for 2 days tomorrow and I've already reset my alarm from 9am to 5am - an incredibly painful task. I also have trips to Atlantic City, Des Moines, IA, Grand Rapids, MN, Dunn, NC and probably Suffern, NY planned. Not to mention celebrating my sister's (21st) birthday (both in AC and DC!), Christmas gift shopping, Christmas card sending, Holiday Party dress buying, etc.  But I love this time of year!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well!

Not what I expected New Hampshire...

What a difference a week makes! Last week was pretty busy on my end with trips to North Carolina and New Hampshire. This week I have no plans at all (other than a haircut today) and I'm ok with that!

Thursday I flew to New Hampshire for my first meeting with a new client.  I had never been to New Hampshire. I don't think I realized it would be quite as rural as it was. I flew into Manchester which is a fairly small airport and has very few direct flights from DCA. The hospital I was meeting with was actually in New London, NH, about an hour away but there are no major chain hotels near the hospital so I elected to stay in Manchester at the Four Points by Sheraton. The hotel was in the middle of a bunch of big box stores. The GPS said "I had arrived" when I was outside Sam's Club and across the street from Walmart. But a quick call to the hotel informed me I just had to drive up next to the Harley Davidson dealership and I would see it.

There wasn't a ton in the area to eat so I ended up at the hotel bar. I find that I prefer to eat the bar rather than the hotel restaurant. The menu is usually the same and it's slightly less awkward to sit alone at the bar than alone a table. Plus the bar usually has better people watching...especially this bar!

There was no one in the bar or restaurant when I arrived but shortly after I ordered my meal a woman walked in and ordered a glass of Chardonnay and sat down with a stack of scratch-offs. She was quite chatty and I quickly learned she waiting for her son to finish hockey practice. She drives a bus for a retirement home and never finished college, her husband is a botanist with a PhD. She has a son whose birthday is February 14th. They had his birthday at the hotel this year in the in-door pool. You can rent the pool for $25/hour and get pizza's for $10/pizza. They did the whole party for less than $200 last year!  When the manager came in she started chatting with him about having the party there next year and kept chatting with him like they were old friends and she knew a lot about him. She said things like "How many hours do you sleep a night?" "How many hours do you drive a day?" "How late do you work?" "Last time I was here you were dating anyone"..."actually I was"..."oh, well my friend was slipping you her number"..."I know, I still have it"...Did I mention the bartender was a creeper? Other topics of the night included male PMS and if they should hire a male bartender.  After a second glass of wine (and no food) my new friend left to go pick up her son.

The next morning I had to get up early to drive from Manchester to my meeting in New London. I was planning to meet my colleague at 7:45 (our meeting was at 8:15) as he was coming from another hospital in NH. The ride was easy and picturesque. I especially enjoyed all of the signs for the NH State Liquor Store and Rest Stop. One would think those two things shouldn't be housed together...but apparently one would be wrong...

 (*The larger building is the liquor store, the smaller one the rest stop)
As I neared the hospital it started snow. It was just enough snow to be pretty and not enough to actually stick, which I consider to be the perfect amount of snow. Although apparently the hospital is near some ski resorts and I'm hoping to work that into a future trip, so I'm sure I'll be hoping for some snow then.  I arrived early (naturally) only to hear from my colleague that the road he was driving on had been closed. As he had been driving down the road a pickup truck in front of him stopped, turn around and flagged him down, letting him know the road was closed. Unsure if this was just something a random person decided my colleague pressed for more info. Apparently there was an accident and the road was in fact closed. Unfortunately, said random person, did not know where New London was! So my colleague meandered through the state hoping to arrive in time for our meetings (and fortunately, he did)!

Following our meetings I drove to Boston for my flight out. Initially I was planning to fly out of Manchester but I wouldn't have been able to leave until after 5pm. Fortunately I was able to drive the 2 hours to Boston and still get out earlier, landing in DCA at 4:30. I will be flying in and out of BOS next week when I go back for meetings on Monday and Tuesday.  Hopefully the driving remains fairly uneventful!

My Opinion on the New Advanced Imaging Technology in Airports

I went through the new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) this week and, for what it's worth, I wanted to weigh in on the debate on their use.

To be completely honest, I don't love them. While I have read the TSA information on their safety and privacy I am not entirely convinced. Pilot and flight attendant organizations have spoken out against their use due to concerns over radiation doses. While the radiation doses for passengers being screen is below the dose limits specified by the American National Standards Institute (http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/ait/safety.shtm) there are concerns from the pilot and flight attendant organization over their repeated exposure to these machines. While I will not pass through AIT as often as a pilot or flight attendant, I will pass through more often than the occasional traveler.

The privacy piece concerns me as well. TSA has taken measures to ensure the privacy of passengers such as "the officer who assists the passenger never sees the image the technology produces. The officer who views the image is remotely located in a secure resolution room and never sees the passenger" (http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/ait/privacy.shtm).  Additionally, according to the website, these officers are not allowed to bring photo-enabled devices into the resolution room.  However I don't trust people to abide be these rules. There have already been issues of machines storing these images (http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20012583-281.html) some of which were recently published online (http://gizmodo.com/5690749/these-are-the-first-100-leaked-body-scans).  Additionally there have already been instances of screeners acknowledging and teasing over (in this case colleagues) these images (http://politifi.com/news/Airport-security-screener-arrested-for-retaliating-over-penis-size-jokes-719517.html).

So with all of that said hopefully you can see why I don't necessarily love the AIT. However I also don't love: limiting my liquids, needing to pack my liquids in a separate bag, taking my shoes off and walking barefoot through the security gate, taking my laptop out of my bag, (getting stuck behind someone who doesn't realize all of these things are mandatory), etc. On the other hand I recognize the importance of those security measures, including the AIT. As times, technology and terrorists change our security systems need to change as well. As evidenced by the so called "underwear" bomber last Christmas, metal detectors are simply not enough to prevent an attempted attack. I'm willing to walk through the AIT if it means having some level of safety on my flight.

I understand that there are those who do not want to be subjected to the AIT or "enhanced" pat-downs for personal, religious or privacy reasons and I respect their decisions. However I don't feel there should be any allowances made in security. If passengers are uncomfortable with these new (and well publicized) security measures there are other modes of transportation available.

So those are my thoughts. What are yours?

What's worse?

I have two trips coming up this week and neither is going to have ideal weather. I'm trying to decide which one is worse...

North Carolina

• Temperature: High of 70
• Precipitation: 80%
• Cloudy

New Hampshire

• Temperature: High of 41
• Precipitation: 0%
• Sunny

What would you prefer?Warm and rainy? Cold and Sunny?

UPDATED: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Next week is going to be a busy one! I'm headed back to a hospital in NC on Tuesday. Usually we do it as an overnight but we're trying to do it all in one day this time around. And Friday I'm headed to NH for my first meeting with a new client. We will be back there November 29th and 30th but I'm taking the week off between for Thanksgiving! As always I'm excited to see my family. I'm taking the train up to my mom's family Saturday morning. We're spending a day or 2 there and then I'll drive home with my family. I'm headed back to DC on the train November 27th. You couldn't pay me to drive to or from NJ around Thanksgiving ever again!

UPDATED: I wanted to go ahead and add my schedule for the week after next...because I'm really excited about it. It pretty much consists of being on vacation. Oh, and getting my haircut...while I'm on vacation. Very exciting stuff folks. Other than being on vacation my plans include:

• Visiting my old high school (and trying not to embarrass my brother who is currently a student there)
• Going outlet shopping (and trying not to embarrass my sister who is currently employed there)
• Visiting my dad's office to play with his new EMR system (because I'm a health care consultant/nerd)
• Eating (a lot)

I'm pretty sure I'll throw some sleeping into the mix as well. Any other ideas for how to spend my week off would be greatly appreciated.

I want a puppy...

I'm not going to get one. I can't get one. But if I could...I would. In fact I would probably get 2!

At least once a year I call my mom and ask her to explain to me again why I can't get a dog.  I had another rush of puppy desire this morning while at bootcamp. Two beautiful huskies walked by and it turns out they were the dogs of the person I was working out next to. They were 3 and 4 years old and both were rescues.

I know I can't get one, it wouldn't be fair to the dog. Firstly, I work long hours, no puppy should be left alone for as long as I would be away during the day. Secondly, I travel! It's not fair to the dog if I'm boarding it a few times a week. Thirdly dogs are expensive (especially if I was boarding it multiple times a week)!!  And finally, the building where I live doesn't allow dogs. That's actually a really good thing. At my previous apartment it felt like everyone who lived around me had puppies and I was the odd man out!

But...

they are...

 so CUTE!

I will probably need to be reminded of the 4 reasons mentioned above shortly...

(*pictured puppies are family dogs and yet another reason why I'm looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving!)

Upgrades!

I had my first taste of upgraded travel this week and I want more! My company has worked with Hertz to have the fee for Hertz #1 Club Gold program waived. For some reason I had trouble accessing this program initially and therefore had to actually wait in line to pick up my rental car (the horror)!  However my membership finally kicked in on this last trip to New York.

Words cannot describe the delight I experienced when I saw my name in lights on the board as you walk into Hertz indicating where I could find my paperwork and car. Mere moments later I was in my (baby blue Nissan Versa) car and on the road. But not before I snapped a picture of my name on the scrolling marquee above my car. An hour or so later I arrived at the Mahwah Sheraton to discover I had been upgraded there as well! Ok - so the only difference I noticed was a nicer couch, but still - I'll take it!

This past year I didn't take the upgrades situation too seriously, for most of the year I wasn't traveling that much.. Sure - I tried to be consistent in the airlines I was flying and the hotels I was staying in, but I probably could have been better. So now I'm taking it much more seriously and I have the tracker to back it up. I"ll be monitoring my progress towards various status levels on a recurring basis. And attempting to be much more consistent with the airlines and hotels I book with.

I'm close to reaching the first level of status with United and should hit it by year's end. I've been told I can call and explain that I've started a job where I will be traveling multiple times as week and ask for them to bump me up. But I sort of feel like that's cheating! Although ask me in a few months and I have might have changed my mind about that...

Weekend Highlights & Lowlights

A quick recap of my weekend's memorable moments:

Highlights:

1. Family Dinner Sunday night: My cousin and sister came over for dinner, I made fresh pasta, my sister made the sauce and my cousin brought the wine. It's been a while since we've done that and I feel like we need to do it more often!
2. Finding my face wash in travel size bottles: This was a huge moment for me this weekend. I've been looking for travel size face wash everywhere (CVS, Target, every airport I've ever been in, etc). I finally found face wash and facial lotion at Bed Bath and Beyond. 
3. My sparkly stove top: I finally cleaned my stove top and it really needed. It was probably one of the more productive things I did this weekend. 

Lowlights:

1. I had to actually use my stove top and it is now no longer so sparkly. 
2. Needing to purchase (and then wear this morning) cold weather work out gear for my morning boot camps. It's so cold!
3. Purchasing a 2011 calendar. I'm not ready for 2011! I'm not even really mentally prepared for the holiday season!

Getting Vetted.

My only travel this week was a quick trip to NY/NJ. I was able to fly into Newark and drove to Mahwah where I stayed in a Sheraton. The hospital I was visiting was actually in NY and I drove the 3 miles there the next day.

I struggled with the logistics for this trip. Our meeting was at 10am and there was a flight into EWR (yes, I now talk in airport acronyms) that was supposed to land at 8am. It was only about an hour from the airport to the hospital, but I would need to deplane and pick up the car before I could get on the road. I also didn't know what the traffic situation would be at 8:30am between Newark and Suffern, NY. (Plus the flight left at 6:50am, which would have meant an early morning for me!) So I erred on the side of caution and arrived the night before.

I got into the hotel at 8pm. Had a quick dinner at the hotel bar (tilapia that was over sauteed spinach and topped with essentially salsa that they called "tapenade"). I tried to get together with some friends in the area for dinner but it turns out they were not around. It looks like I'll be going back on a regular basis so hopefully we'll be in the same place at the same time at some point! Working time in with friends to business travel is definitely one of the perks of this job!  Other than that it was a pretty boring night.

We were scheduled to meet with folks at this hospital system between 10am to 12:30pm. I arrived at the hospital around 9:45 and drove around for 5 minutes or so looking for parking (there were approximately 3 rows of parking available) to no avail. I was stressing about being on time so I took my rental car to the $2 (!) valet parking. I was probably in the hospital by 9:52. Meanwhile my colleague took a red eye from LAX to JFK and was still driving! He arrived with seconds to spare.

The 2 1/2 hour meeting was designed for me to meet various folks at this system and for them to "vet" me to determine if I'm appropriate to do some analyst work for them over the next few months. That was shortened to about an hour and half and I was back on the road.

Back at EWR I returned my car, took the train to the terminal and was through security  (behind a woman with a gallon sized bag of liquids) with seconds to spare before a conference call. I took 2 conference calls from the airport, grabbed some lunch, and hung out with my new friend.

Fortunately I was back in DC just before 5pm and was able to get into Georgetown from DCA by 5:30 and join my cousins, aunt and uncle for dinner! After dinner my cousin and I met some friends at bar to watch the election results come in (only in dc!).  While I'm loving this job it can definitely have repercussions for one's social life so I'm always happy when I can successfully manage both my work and my life in one day.

Consulting, it's a dangerous job...

but someone's got to do it...

I burnt my finger on the iron this morning....fortunately the rest of the day went better!

In case you were wondering...

you cannot, in fact, carry-on snowglobes on a flight

Do people really travel with snowglobes??