Oooo...look no wires!

You've seen this guy right? He's the "new" CEO of Sprint. Apparently, he's been living under a rock for the last several years. He's just amazed at how you can text, surf the Internet and even update your Facebook page. Seriously?!?! You're the CEO of a wireless company! I yell at the TV everytime I accidentally stop short fast-forwarding a TV show and catch these commercials by mistake: "Shut the F up!" I don't know why he annoys me so much. And we wonder why the economy is in the tank.

Big Chunk O' Change

Here's a tip for travelers: Don't upgrade to first class when you're used to flying coach. The price may seem attractive and it may be a killer deal, but once you taste it, you can't go back. It's like eating cheap chocolate all your life and then trying premium chocolate like Frans. That chocolate you loved all your life now tastes like poo.

On our last trip to Hawaii we upgraded. Now that I'm planning our spring trip, I'd been looking for business class fares to Europe and even with the drop in oil prices and economic collapse, prices for business class fares are still in the $6-8,000 range for two. So I figured biz class was out until I found openskies.

Openskies is a subsidiary of British Airways that only flies between New York City, in the US, and Paris and Amsterdam in Europe. All seats are either business class or premium plus (which is like business class or first class on domestic flights). The reason why they caught my eye is that premium plus is just $300 more roundtrip vs. economy.

So in order to fly these guys, we needed to add a stop in NYC, which is fine since we've always wanted to go there. Even with the added airfare to NYC, it's still cheaper than flying business out of Seattle. It just takes a bit more planning now to coordinate the flights, hotels, etc.

I was really hesitant and had a lot of anxiety about booking the flights because of falling prices and the economy. Will it get cheaper? Will openskies be around in May? I finally answered those questions last night and made the buy. I could get cheaper, but it's a great deal right now so why get too greedy? Openskies is owned by British Airways so even if they do collapse, I'm banking on being acommodated on a BA flight out of JFK.

Flight to NYC, hotels and ground transportation next.

The Office Tour

Rearing

I walked out of the Wasilla conference room and who do I see rearing his head?


And yes, that wall is actually painted camouflage (I don't know why).

Disturbia

When we were in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago, I saw this poster in a surf shop and the disclaimer caught my attention:

Jeezus. But dang if it doesn't look like a lot of fun. There are a lot of creepy stories in Hawaii that have been passed down from generation to generation and the ones tied to the history of the islands are usually the scariest.

There's this legend of the night marchers, where ancient Hawaiian warriors are known to walk the nights throughout Hawaii and if you make eye contact with them, you will simply disappear and never be heard from again. I remember a time where we were hiking in the mountains late and night and we started to hear a conch shell being blown. A bit after that we stumbled across an enormous rock blocking what appeared to be a cave. Then we noticed that there were several bundles of rocks wrapped in Ti leaves all around the area. Needless to say, we booked it out of there.

Haunted Plantation 2008 "Real Stories"

My office is in, what appears to be, an abandoned part of the hospital. I'm thinking it would make a great haunted house since it used to be dorms for the residents. I could grab a few of the "locals" pushing carts around the hospital to be the actors and they could be strapped down while experiments are conducted on them. Of course, I'd give a portion of the profits to some worthy cause.

Can you see Russia?

The answer is: Not yet, but perhaps soon. Next to my new office is a new conference room aptly named Wasilla since it's located in the middle of nowhere and is near another department. Whenever I'm in this conference room, I know everything I need to know about facilities planning.

Must see TV

You must watch this show. Don't start watching with season two because it won't make sense. Go buy the season one DVD or rent it on Netflix, but do it. Do it now. It's not just a very creative show, but the kind of show we need now--Uplifting, spiritual and funny. We need something other than negative political ads, economic melt down and war.

You can read about what this show is about here, but in short it's about a lawyer who has visions that start off with George Michael singing in his living room. Each vision in linked to a case and the episodes revolve around the trial, but there's also an overarching story of why he's having these visions in the first place.

It's the perfect 42 minute escape. Trust me on this one.

New Digs II

After a little over six months, I got booted from my office and got this new one. The view of the courtyard is a bit better and I have zero neighbors. I'm in the Siberia (or Wasilla) of the building. My only companion is a squirrel:



I can't complain at all. It's bigger [that's what she said] and I can have meetings in here without fighting for a room. I even have a backup meeting room next door albeit a makeshift one with a buffet table, podium and mismatched chairs. The office has new carpet, but it smelled like synthetic poo, which was remedied with a Method vanilla apple aroma ring. It now smells like a little girl's room.

Now I just need a plant and a TV and I'm set.

Hawaii Costco

No real Hawaii vacation is complete without a visit to the local Costco. We needed something for dinner and my sister needed a new hard drive so we had the perfect excuse to go yesterday. We were not disappointed with our discoveries! The first, and arguably the best, find was Spam hot dogs. Hawaii residents consume the most Spam per capita than anyplace else in the U.S.

Depending on what your preferences are, the next find could also be classified as a best find. Since there are no state controlled liquor store, you can by hard liquor pretty much anywhere in Hawaii. The big difference at Costco is that you get the Costco sizes--a liter of Kirkland Vodka! Melissa thought a huge light green bottle was mojito mix when in fact, it was Bacardi Mojito, ready to drink.
The next couple of finds were local favorites: Kalua pork and lomi lomi. Delicious.

Obama Mamas

On Monday, we went to Punahou with my nephew, Rylan, who was attending a special workshop at this place called the Gates Learning Center. Yes, this is the same Punahou School Barrack Obama attended. The Palin element has all but convinced me to vote Obama-Biden, but damn if this place doesn't have the "elitist" feel.

First of all, they hire county sheriffs directing traffic in the mornings and afternoons to make it easier for parents to drop off and pick up their kids. Not too elitist there, but they also have armed sheriff's officers patrolling and watching the kids during the day.

They have what appears to be a strict dress code, but it was obviously not enforced, especially the part about footwear. There was a really funny moment when of the the student teachers (they get the high school students to interact with the lower grades in activities) ask the kindergartners what color was the dome atop one of the main buildings on campus. To me, it looks like yellow and blue. But if you're a Punahou student, you say it's "Buff n' Blue"!

I see what the almost $17,000 a year tuition pays for in terms of facilities and the quality of education. We never did what these kids were doing in kindergarten. They'll all eventually get MacBooks in fourth grade as part of their tuition. When the kids were all done with their activities, the teacher tested them on everything they learned that morning. All the kindergartners got it right, which led to the teacher saying, "Wow you guys are smart. You must all go to Punahou!". The kids responded by saying, "We ARE in Punhahou!".

On a side note, on the way to the workshop we found the Case Middle School, which was almost completely funded by a donation from Steve Case.