Quick Travel Stats as of today for the year

This isn't quite complete yet, but...

Flight Distances		Flight Time		Flights
In Miles 79,947 In Kilometer 128,663 Earth Circumnavigation 3.21 x Distance to the Moon 0.335 x Distance to the Sun 0.0009 x		Hours 198:03 Days 8.3 Weeks 1.2 Months 0.28 Years 0.023		All 71 Domestic 71 Intra-Continental 0 Intercontinental 0 Other flights 0

Booking classes:	Economy	20		Business	1		First	42
Seat:	Window	35		Middle	0		Aisle	7

My Nemisis: Keys

For those that don't know- I lose keys a lot. (or temporarily misplace them)

The stories are many- in college, an staff member threatened to put attach a 1" tape reel to them to help me know where they were. The thinking was that it'd be hard to lose them with that large ring attached to them. There is the story (twice now) where I left the keys to the rental car inside the truck, and it wasn't realized until the side of the truck was in, and all packed up. Someone (not me) locked the doors to the rental car with the keys in it. Luckily, the small window in the back of the car was broken somehow, and we were able to unlock the door from there.

I was just reminded tonight of perhaps the best story however happened last year over Thanksgiving. We were in Dallas and had a leisurely lunch at a lovely steakhouse. As we went to leave, I couldn't find the keys. I asked around, and sure enough no one had the keys. We looked all around the booth we were sitting at, and they were no where to be found. We thought maybe they fell out of my pocket when exiting the car. We walk back to the car, and TG just starts laughing. Somehow, when I parked the car, I managed to NEVER TURN IT OFF. The car was sitting in the parking lot for a 90 minute lunch outside of Dallas unlocked and running the entire time.

Tonight we went back to the steakhouse, and I got a bunch of ribbing, but I had the keys in my possession the entire time.

Slingbox, oh how I love you.

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I honestly don't know how we've gotten along with out it for so long. For those of you who don't know what a slingbox is go here for details. The basics- it lets me control and watch anything I can on my home TV on my laptop when I'm on the road. Why would you ever need that you're asking. Well, for starters, when the hotel that you're staying in only has 12 channels, and there really truly is nothing on TV. This allows me to have all of the channels I pay for at home with my in my hotel room. Granted, You do have to watch them on your computer, but It is pretty damn cool. A second benefit- If there's a show coming on that I want to record, I can control the DVR from my computer. I can also watch the shows that I have on my DVR while on the road. If I'm in say Kansas City, but really care about what is going on at home, I can watch the local news from home this way.

This device is currently for a niche market, but I predict it will take off.

The Mac and Cheese Secret

Since the Macaroni and Cheese was received so well tonight by the Lady in Red, I thought I'd share the ingredients to it so others may share in my Mac and Cheese. I never said it was healthy, but damn is it good.

8oz Macaroni- I prefer DeCecco Pasta, but this is up to you.
1/2 stick butter
4 TBSP Flour
1 Cup Milk (I go with skim)
1 Cup Cream (the reason I go with skim milk)
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar cheese- Buy good cheese in a block and shred it yourself
1/2 Cup Bread crumbs.

Heat the over to 400

Cook the pasta as usual.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter, and then add all the dry ingredients except the bread crumbs.

Stir in the milk and cream a little at a time, making sure you are always stirring.

It is very important to always be stirring the pot with this.

Let this cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. If you don't stir constantly, you won't be happy with the results.

Add the shredded cheese a little at a time, allowing it to melt before adding more cheese.

When all the cheese is melted and after the pasta is drained, pour the pasta into the saucepan with the cheesey goodness. Make sure to stir/toss to get them all covered.

Take the Macaroni mixture and put it into a baking dish.

Cover the top of the macaroni with the breadcrumbs and cook for 20-25 minutes. The top will be a golden brown when it's done.

What happened to me

I just realized when I was getting undressed at the hotel that I've become an Under Armour person. EVERYTHING I had on today except for my shoes and gloves bore the Under Armour logo. My underwear (the 6" inseam Boxer Jock), my leggings (the ColdGear 1.0 Base Layer), my shorts, my snow pants, my t-shirt, my fleece, my jacket, and yes even my socks. I had an Under Armour Beanie on as well.

All of these products fit me well and are very comfortable to wear. They are practical for me to be outside working in as they allow movement and warmth, but don't allow me to overheat. I'm ok with this, but I can't believe that this is what has happened to me.

Cabo vs. Mac and Cheese

I'm a firm believer everything happens for a reason.

I was planning a trip to Cabo for a few days this week after some meetings. I would have Wednesday-Friday available to go to Cabo. I had no one to go with. I would have traveled in on Wednesday, and I would have had to travel back out on Friday afternoon, so I only would have been there for one full day. My office already booked me a flight home on Tuesday night and back out on Friday. I couldn't get a reservation with all of my accumulated points at the hotel that I wanted to. I was leaning towards not going.

I'm chatting with The Lady In Red, and we're talking that things were progressing nicely between us. In our earlier conversations I mentioned that I made damn good mac and cheese. She and I were conversing and if I don't go to Cabo, we're both free on Wednesday. We mentioned that we should definately meet up again, and I'm thinking this is the reason that everything is conspiring against me. Obviously The Lady in Red needs macaroni and cheese.

Full Size

On Friday when I went to pick up my rental car, imagine my shock when my Full Size SUV waiting for me was a Ford Freestyle. It was started and getting warm for me, but as soon as I saw it I went to the service counter to see what my other options were since this was clearly not going to be large enough for me and my colleagues. It doesn't help matters that the rate was 89.99 a day. Even though it's not my money, I'm not going to pay 89.99/day to drive a Freestyle. (My apologies to those who drive Freestyles, but they're not for me) The gentleman behind the counter was very nice, and realized the sham that was being pulled on me. They didn't have any SUV's cleaned, and had the Freestyle, a 4x4 clean and ready. They were thinking that I wanted a 4x4, not necessarily an SUV because of the predicted bad weather here. I explained to him that I needed to fit 4 people my size and luggage in this vehicle, so I needed a Trailblazer or Explorer, and I'd even pay the upgrade fee for an Expedition (knowing they would probably just give it to me). They offered me a few other small 4x4 cars, all of which I turned down, as well as a Hummer. Yes I turned down a Hummer. Actually it was an H-3, and believe me, they're small. After telling them I wasn't in a hurry and I'd wait for a little bit for them to clean an Explorer, I drove off the lot 15 minutes later in a Ford Explorer.

Unfortunately this is a growing trend. Somehow, rental car companies are now considering a Chrysler Pacifica, a Montero, an Escape etc as full sized SUV's. They consider a Ford Taurus, a Ford Focus and a Honda Accord a Full Size car. I think that in their efforts to be more environmentally friendly, they're trying to steer people to smaller cars. Perhaps they're looking out for me and trying to help me save money on fuel. They don't understand that I NEED the larger vehicle. I don't care about the fuel expense. If we get a larger car, we can save on the number of cars that we get, which in the end, saves money.