Monday, May 14, 2007
Painting blunders
In my haste to complete the house painting before my friends arrived for the weekend I did not notice the fine folks from Home Depot screwed up my paint order. I actually painted different parts of the wall with two different paint colors. The lids match but the paint does not. Arggg!
Bachelor Party Festivities
Wow. That's just about all I can say about this past weekend. 7 of my best friends, including my little brother, flew in to Chicago from all over the country; North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and one from the UK. These fine gentlemen treated me to the best damn bachelor party any groom-to-be would die for.
It started on Wednesday evening last week when I picked up my little brother from the airport. First thing on Thursday morning we packed up the dirtbikes and cruised out to Ottawa to Buffalo Range Riding Park; 2 dirtbike tracks and 400+ acres of trails. We got the weekend started with some adrenaline pumping riding and we didn't even crash!
Thursday afternoon and most of the evening was spent at the Hilton Chicago right at the O'hare airport while everyone arrived from their flights. It was amazing to watch each person find their way down to the bar and meet us. It was a cavalcade of best friends from college and my childhood. I was thrilled.
Friday, my best man, Charlie, rented out an entire paintball park for ourselves. No, not just a little private group, but the entire park! I rented a minivan from Enterprise to get us all there and spend some time together catching up on old stories. 8000 rounds of paintball later, a dozen bleeding welts, paint covered pants and thoroughly exhausted, we began the trek back home.
We stopped on the way home to get some things to grill out. "Some things" turned into $329 worth of groceries! We had a massive and killer grill out at the townhouse and a few of my local friends joined in the festivities. After scarfing down hand-made burgers, sausages, potato salad, kabobs, chips, salsa, melon, cookies and having some drinks we rolled out to a local bar for some added fun.
Saturday brought some much needed rest in the morning because Saturday night was fit to be a long one. Just before 6pm a 24-passenger stretch hummer with 3 axles (6 tires) from Exotic Coach rolled into my neighborhood!! I knew Charlie likes to go over the top, but holy crap...this was over the top!
We started at the original Morton's Steak House and had the most amazing time. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. We were all sober, enjoying a fantastic meal and great drinks, great conversation and a great staff. Our waitress was a sweetheart, my 4 pound lobster was to die for and we drank Cristal and Veuve! I even got to keep the bottle stopper for memorabilia. Oh, and Charlie ate a fistful of wasabi for $80! haha!!
Then, off to Coyote Ugly, Buzz night club, a few random stops, a short stint at the gentleman's club and back to the hotel for a night cap. Most everyone rolled out throughout the day on Sunday and I took Charlie to the airport today.
Wow. What a great weekend! I can't wait to see them all again at the wedding! Only 13 more days!
It started on Wednesday evening last week when I picked up my little brother from the airport. First thing on Thursday morning we packed up the dirtbikes and cruised out to Ottawa to Buffalo Range Riding Park; 2 dirtbike tracks and 400+ acres of trails. We got the weekend started with some adrenaline pumping riding and we didn't even crash!
Thursday afternoon and most of the evening was spent at the Hilton Chicago right at the O'hare airport while everyone arrived from their flights. It was amazing to watch each person find their way down to the bar and meet us. It was a cavalcade of best friends from college and my childhood. I was thrilled.
Friday, my best man, Charlie, rented out an entire paintball park for ourselves. No, not just a little private group, but the entire park! I rented a minivan from Enterprise to get us all there and spend some time together catching up on old stories. 8000 rounds of paintball later, a dozen bleeding welts, paint covered pants and thoroughly exhausted, we began the trek back home.
We stopped on the way home to get some things to grill out. "Some things" turned into $329 worth of groceries! We had a massive and killer grill out at the townhouse and a few of my local friends joined in the festivities. After scarfing down hand-made burgers, sausages, potato salad, kabobs, chips, salsa, melon, cookies and having some drinks we rolled out to a local bar for some added fun.
Saturday brought some much needed rest in the morning because Saturday night was fit to be a long one. Just before 6pm a 24-passenger stretch hummer with 3 axles (6 tires) from Exotic Coach rolled into my neighborhood!! I knew Charlie likes to go over the top, but holy crap...this was over the top!
We started at the original Morton's Steak House and had the most amazing time. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. We were all sober, enjoying a fantastic meal and great drinks, great conversation and a great staff. Our waitress was a sweetheart, my 4 pound lobster was to die for and we drank Cristal and Veuve! I even got to keep the bottle stopper for memorabilia. Oh, and Charlie ate a fistful of wasabi for $80! haha!!
Then, off to Coyote Ugly, Buzz night club, a few random stops, a short stint at the gentleman's club and back to the hotel for a night cap. Most everyone rolled out throughout the day on Sunday and I took Charlie to the airport today.
Wow. What a great weekend! I can't wait to see them all again at the wedding! Only 13 more days!
Monday, May 7, 2007
Stressed Out? Or Burned out?
My brother sent me an interesting article about the different types of stress associated with cycles of success. The article uses CEO's as examples but that be easily substituted for any worker bee out there busting his butt. The short and skinny of the article is to continually challenge yourself; refuse to sit on your laurels and bore yourself. The five ways the author suggests for challenging yourself include diversifying your skills, teaching, planning your succession, networking and renewing your passion.
It also discusses the most common ailments of those facing burnout and how to spot the trend of negative burn out. The author cites the "Four A's" as a result of denying the severity of burnout and the self-destructive patterns that emerge: aloneness, arrogance, adventure seeking, and adultery.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960301/1586.html
I can relate in some ways to those cycles. I can see the "eustress" of the building phase and I hope I never see the complacent stage of success that bores me to death!
It also discusses the most common ailments of those facing burnout and how to spot the trend of negative burn out. The author cites the "Four A's" as a result of denying the severity of burnout and the self-destructive patterns that emerge: aloneness, arrogance, adventure seeking, and adultery.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960301/1586.html
I can relate in some ways to those cycles. I can see the "eustress" of the building phase and I hope I never see the complacent stage of success that bores me to death!
Last minute dash to ORD
Friday was a nightmare. Waking at 6am to travel halfway to the city for a job interview, rushing back, packing, eating and finishing errands before bolting to pick up Adri from work and get to the airport on time. Luckily, we didn't have any mishaps at the airport and we arrived on time in Charlotte about 6:45pm.
So, by now, the day is starting to look up. We catch a cab to meet our friends at the local Hooters and of course, the cabbie gets lost and takes us to the wrong place. My patience for non-english speaking cab drivers is very low. After explaining to the gentleman that we are from Chicago and have NO idea where the bar is and that's why we hired him...we were able to reach our friends on the phone and have them guide us in. What's the point of driving a cab if you don't know your way around the city? Arg!
Then, as I was saying, things started looking up. We met our friends that we haven't seen in months and all is grand. We slam a few wings and commence drinking. Lucky for me, my friends are so understanding of my newly developed low tolerance, they resort to force-feeding me shots. Between the exhaustion and the drinks I was completely wiped out. Sometime just after midnight at the second bar, I could no longer function. I promptly took a seat in the corner, rested my head against the wall and pouted until we left.
So, by now, the day is starting to look up. We catch a cab to meet our friends at the local Hooters and of course, the cabbie gets lost and takes us to the wrong place. My patience for non-english speaking cab drivers is very low. After explaining to the gentleman that we are from Chicago and have NO idea where the bar is and that's why we hired him...we were able to reach our friends on the phone and have them guide us in. What's the point of driving a cab if you don't know your way around the city? Arg!
Then, as I was saying, things started looking up. We met our friends that we haven't seen in months and all is grand. We slam a few wings and commence drinking. Lucky for me, my friends are so understanding of my newly developed low tolerance, they resort to force-feeding me shots. Between the exhaustion and the drinks I was completely wiped out. Sometime just after midnight at the second bar, I could no longer function. I promptly took a seat in the corner, rested my head against the wall and pouted until we left.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Adrienne Desmedt - The Future Mrs. Rocci!
Adrienne's maid of Honor, Tricia, has made our prenuptial madness quite a bit of fun. She sends little notes and gifts that have been really uplifting. Ash and Charlie sent us an early wedding gift, too. We are blessed to have such great friends. Eww, I just said blessed.
Anyway, here is the latest of maid of honor brilliance:
For more fun details about the upcoming rocci wedding you should surf on over to our blog @ http://rocciwedding.com.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Does your mechanic actually do the work?
Maybe I'm jaded by the dateline investigation series or the many other undercover operations but I never feel confident my mechanic is doing what he's supposed to be doing. If you believe the hype, these reports usually underscore isolated incidents...or does it shed light on a much larger problem? How do you know which mechanic to trust? At Jiffy Lube they change the oil in front of you. You can watch through the window in the lobby as the oil spits out.
But what about the horror stories you hear time and again. How does a regular Joe know if he is getting what he paid for? My suspicion is even higher when I use a coupon. You can always tell when the person taking your order is disappointed you bargain shopped for a deal or downloaded coupons from their websites. How many of these places work on commission?
As a seasoned salesperson myself, I can appreciate the guy trying to upsell a service but there is a distinct line when it comes to doing it with integrity or tricking your customers. Even at NTB, the guy presented 3 oil change options that were "add-ons" to the basic oil change - it was presented in a fashion that most people would not understand they didn't have to buy it at all.
I wish I could say that I blindly trust the services provided by chain-store mechanics. How do you guarantee you are getting what you pay for without doing it yourself?
But what about the horror stories you hear time and again. How does a regular Joe know if he is getting what he paid for? My suspicion is even higher when I use a coupon. You can always tell when the person taking your order is disappointed you bargain shopped for a deal or downloaded coupons from their websites. How many of these places work on commission?
As a seasoned salesperson myself, I can appreciate the guy trying to upsell a service but there is a distinct line when it comes to doing it with integrity or tricking your customers. Even at NTB, the guy presented 3 oil change options that were "add-ons" to the basic oil change - it was presented in a fashion that most people would not understand they didn't have to buy it at all.
I wish I could say that I blindly trust the services provided by chain-store mechanics. How do you guarantee you are getting what you pay for without doing it yourself?
Just Strap it to the Roof!
The post about our Hooky Day reminded me about the funny trip to pickup the storm door. It was Sunday evening and we had just left our friends house after grilling out some steaks and visiting. So out of the clear blue sky I remember the sale on storm doors ended on Sunday. We rush down to the Menards where they have already taken down the "sale" signs... but, they are still honoring the sale. Phew!
We get through the checkout line and out to the car and realize what a moron I am. We are in our little acura and not the truck. Now how the heck am I going to get a 75 pound door that is 36 inches wide by seven or eight feet tall into this car. The back seats don't fold down, the truck is out of the question and even if I left both rear doors open I still could not stuff the door into that car!
It was getting dark so we had to move. Adri ran to get some twine from inside the store and we tried strapping it to the roof. We got it fairly secured and then it started to rain. Jeez oh Pete, what else could go wrong?
So here we are, driving down the road with one arm hanging out of my window to ensure the front of the door doesn't get caught in a draft, rip the twine and end up in the street. It's raining and gusting wind, the inside of the car is getting soaked and people are honking all around me for going 30mph! I pulled one of the ropes into the window and Adri was hanging on to it for dear life.
All in all, we got the door home and it did not blow off the roof. Although, hindsight being 20/20, after all the crap of putting it up, I kinda wish the dang thing had blown off and broke into a zillion pieces!
We get through the checkout line and out to the car and realize what a moron I am. We are in our little acura and not the truck. Now how the heck am I going to get a 75 pound door that is 36 inches wide by seven or eight feet tall into this car. The back seats don't fold down, the truck is out of the question and even if I left both rear doors open I still could not stuff the door into that car!
It was getting dark so we had to move. Adri ran to get some twine from inside the store and we tried strapping it to the roof. We got it fairly secured and then it started to rain. Jeez oh Pete, what else could go wrong?
So here we are, driving down the road with one arm hanging out of my window to ensure the front of the door doesn't get caught in a draft, rip the twine and end up in the street. It's raining and gusting wind, the inside of the car is getting soaked and people are honking all around me for going 30mph! I pulled one of the ropes into the window and Adri was hanging on to it for dear life.
All in all, we got the door home and it did not blow off the roof. Although, hindsight being 20/20, after all the crap of putting it up, I kinda wish the dang thing had blown off and broke into a zillion pieces!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Hooky Day
Today began with the potential to be a fantastically wonderful day (mid 70's, bright sun shining, crisp breeze...you get the picture!). I started by trying to convince my fiance that she should call in sick so we could lounge around in the sun, read books, go for a bike ride and maybe start to tackle some of our spring projects since the next five weekends will be out of town or preoccupied. She was unmoved by my earlier persuasions but something struck a cord; half-way to work my fiance called her boss to let her know that she "had too much going on" and needed a personal day.
Why on earth she couldn't simply call in sick when we started this charade is beyond me. We spent 30 minutes cultivating an approach and/or an excuse to taking a hooky day and finally decides to play along after the day is already half over. Not to mention she has already showered, done her hair and makeup, changed twice and driven half-way to work!
Anyway, we got the oil changed on both of our vehicles, had a decent lunch and then split up. She went shopping (like, no duh!) and I went to the office to take care of some outstanding issues (real surprise there). I took off to get a jump start installing our new storm door from Menards.
This, my friends, turned out to be the hardest simple project I've ever tried to do. Nothing seemed to fit where it was supposed to, the door was freaking heavy and awkward and the directions seemed written for a different door. Nothing made any sense! Arrg!
What is your go-to excuse for taking a personal day?
Why on earth she couldn't simply call in sick when we started this charade is beyond me. We spent 30 minutes cultivating an approach and/or an excuse to taking a hooky day and finally decides to play along after the day is already half over. Not to mention she has already showered, done her hair and makeup, changed twice and driven half-way to work!
Anyway, we got the oil changed on both of our vehicles, had a decent lunch and then split up. She went shopping (like, no duh!) and I went to the office to take care of some outstanding issues (real surprise there). I took off to get a jump start installing our new storm door from Menards.
This, my friends, turned out to be the hardest simple project I've ever tried to do. Nothing seemed to fit where it was supposed to, the door was freaking heavy and awkward and the directions seemed written for a different door. Nothing made any sense! Arrg!
What is your go-to excuse for taking a personal day?
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