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Monday, March 29, 2010

Wachovia New ATM

I went to put some expense checks into the ATM this morning, and I was confused. Where did the envelopes go? What did they do with them? I was slightly annoyed thinking that I would have to come back later when they were open. Then, I saw, "Envelope-free Deposits" across the bottom. Interesting....

It says right on the ATM that you could deposit up to 30 at a time. I had 5, so that was cool. I stuck them in, and it sucked them in. It was pretty funny because I was a bit nervous. What if it ate them? What if it didn't associate with my account? How will this work? Next thing you know, it spits one of them back out. I notice as it spits it that it said to put the numbers on the right and the check face up. DOH...I didn't pay attention to that. Here comes another one! Then, three of the checks appear on the screen in mini versions of themselves. It tells me how much it thinks each check is and shows a deposit total that needs confirming. It also has another option to add more checks. So, I stick one of the rejects back in with the numbers to the right. It adds its cute picture to the screen and updates the total. HOT!

I decide to save one check so that I can do it again (I know, I am a geek). So, then, it gives the option to print a summary receipt or one with images. Sounds need, so I pick summary. The receipt lists all 4 checks with the amount of each and then the total. I deposit the other check and pick the image option. It is too cool. A mini version of the check is on it. I am in love with the ATM, and my brain is wondering what we could do with that technology in EMRs. Love it.

Now, I want to deposit more checks. :) Oh yeah, it also said that you get instant credit for cash now, and that the check deposit time is later now - 8pm!

Nice job Wachovia!!!

Incredible Customer Service

Today, I was amazed by my customer service experience. My daughter's kindle had a problem, and the screen was very dark. I went to the website, and it had an option for phone or email. I figured I would try email. It said that you would get a response within 12 hours. About 2 hours later, I received an email. It said that my particular problem needed a phone call, but it advised me to click a link for someone to call me. I entered my phone number, and my phone rang! It said that the wait time was approx 1 minute, and the next thing I knew there was a person asking me for my email!! COOL!

I gave her my email, and she immediately had the information I had filled out from email. WOW! No repeating what I had already entered. She apologized for my trouble, and then she said that this type of problem required replacing it. She verified my address from my Amazon account, and she said that they would have me a new one that shipped and that it would arrive TOMORROW morning. She also said that it would have the same device name as the original and that all of the books would be loaded on it. I have 30 days to send the other one back, and it comes with labels to change out on the box. TOO COOL. Then, I recieved an email to track it.

Now, that is what I call service. Amazon ROCKS!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie

Today, the kids wanted to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was pretty cute, but I was somewhat disappointed. There were some funny pieces, but I didn't really care for the ending. The kids liked it though.

The Ironman Store had its Grand Opening in Wesley Chapel today. It is my new favorite store. Man, I could spend some serious dough in that place. Incredible. :) I did get a new seat for my bike and a wet suit. I hope that this wet suit fits for a LONG time as I don't ever want to go through that trying on process again.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Michael's Orchestra Concert

Michael is the first chair and principal in the beginner orchestra at his school For those of you who may not be in the know (I wasn't), the principal means you are a leader and a soloist. I knew the first chair bit, but I didn't know the principal part. He did a fine job! I really enjoyed the concert.

After the concert, we all went to dinner at Outback. I hadn't been there in a long time now that Morgan prefers the longhorn place. I LOVE that wedge salad. YUM.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Travel Fun Continues

I got up at 5, and I got into the cab at 5:30. The line at Southwest was VERY long. I finally made it through, and they said the flgith was 10 minutes delayed. Lovely...here we go again. We make it to Chicago, and then I find out that my 10 am flight is delayed to 11:30. Then to 12:00. Then to 12:50. FUN... I finally landed in Tampa at 4:30. I rushed to get Morgan from tumbling, and then Mark, Morgan, and I went to dinner at Carraba's. I hadn't been to Carraba's in a long time. It was really great. It is so nice to be home after such a long week and icky travel problems.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Omaha

Today, I got the joy of putting back on the same clothes as yesterday. No sign of my bag. :( Thankfully, I had some supplies from Walmart. I did realize that I didn't get any make up, and I didn't get a tooth brush or tooth paste. Interesting. I went to the gym and ran 4 miles. There was a woman running next to me who looked like a runner in a movie. I want to be her one day. )

My cheap Walmart shoes held up ok, but my pants were HOT (temperature - not cool factor). I was burning up. I got my toothbrush from the front desk, and I went upstairs to get ready. We had a really great day working at the client. I love geting to see clients use our products. Very cool.

We ate at Jams in Omaha. It was really good. I had hallibut. YUM. The rolls were also to die for. Of course, the evil Doubeltree had to give us one of those million calorie cookies at the hotel. :) The good news is that my luggage was waiting when I got there!!! YIPEE!

I was so tired that I couldn't even hang with Krishan. I was falling asleep sitting there. Bummer. I had to get up at 5, so we called it a nght.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Trip to Omaha

Since my trip to Minneapolis was cancelled, I rebooked to go from Tampa to Atlanta and Atlanta to Omaha on Delta. I am Platinum on Delta, so I am pretty used to that experience. Before I say much more, I have been really lucky with Delta travel, and I have had very minimal delays over the last year.

The Tampa flight was supposed to leave at 1:30 from Tampa, but it was delayed by the time I arrived. It was only a 20 minute delay which would have given me 35 minutes in Atlanta. I have done that before without problem, so I didn't even worry. When we were about to land, the air traffic control had us circling. That went on for about 45 minutes. If you can do any math at all, you have realized that my other flight time has passed. I am assuming that it will also be delayed since it is a weather event. WRONG! When I got off the plane, the status screen still said 4:05. I looked at my watch and it isaid 4:18. Hmmm.... So, this Delta representative took me to the "Missed flight, scan here" machine. It says I should got to A26, and that I should RUN as I only have 3 minutes. So, I am thankful that I have become a runner, and I take off RUNNING down the A concourse. My backpack is HEAVY, and my purse is bouncing against me with every step. Of course, I am in my "airport flats" which are not very comfy to run it. Thankfully, I am not wearing heels. :)

I am a little out of breath (ok, a lot) when I get to the gate, and I see it says Minneapolis. The lady at the gate asks if I am going to Minneapolis. I tell her that I am not sure what is going on but that my last flight was delayed and that the rebook machine sent me to this gate. I hand her the printout that has my name and flight info AND the flight info for the plane at her gate. She is VERY rude and tells me that she has to help people who are booked for that flight first and that I should step aside. Then, she prints out the boarding pass for my old flight that has ALREADY LEFT and tells me to go the C10 or whatever C gate it was. I look at her like she is crazy and ask if the plane is still there because I thought I missed it. She then tells me that "she is not customer service." Wow. She is definitely not GOOD at customer service for sure. FINALLY, this other lady, Nancy, is kind and looks for me. She says that I was rebooked through Minneapolis and then from Minneapolis to Omaha. She is nice enough to print out the info for me so I know what I am doing. Whew. Thankfully she was there beacuse I was about to go postal on the other lady - Jules was her name.

I land in Minneapolis and look for a Sky Club nearby. I don't see one, so I sit down and start working on email. I don't have too long, but then they announce a slight delay of 20 minutes. No biggie. I get on the plane, and they close the door. THEN, they tell us that some t named part is broken (something that gets radar in bad weather). So, we wait for another hour and FINALLY leave. I land in Omaha only to find out that my luggage is lost. The fun of a rotten travel day. Krishan is there waiting for me, and he is kind enough to drive me through Arby's. I inhale a roast beef sandwich. Then, we go to Walmart, and I get workout shorts, pants, shirt, tennis shoes, a hairbursh, etc. I was SO happy to get into my new comfy digs to go to sleep.

I did stay in a Hilton property. Grrr... I stayed in a Doubletree as it was either that or a Hampton - both Hilton. I have to say that the Doubletree was very nice. It apparently used to be an Embassy Suites. I wish Hilton would do the right thing as I do like their hotels. :) Until then, I guess I will just avoid them as much as possible.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Trip Cancelled

My trip to Minneapolist was cancelled for today, so I got to spend an extra day at HOME. Ahh...I have been gone a lot lately - some due to work and some due to the half marathon and cheer competitions. It was really nice to have an extra day to relax with Morgan, and to get laundry done, etc. Morgan and I got all caught up on the Biggest Loser, so I can continue on now. :) I love that show. It is simply amazing to see the results that those people get. Some of them have lost more than I have lost in 10 months, and they have done it in 8 weeks!!!!

The kids have FCAT this week, so it is a bit of a different week. Good luck Chris, Katie, Michael, and Morgan!

Monday, March 8, 2010

National Champions! Go Wildcats!


































Room 220 Being Silly

Me ready for dinner!

When running
This is the bridge I ran across

This is while running the bridge. :)

We went to Washington DC over the weekend for the Florida Wilcats to compete in a cheer competition. Both the Juniors and the Seniors won first place for a National Championship! Way to go Wilcats! We had a fantastic time, and the girls really performed well. They rocked DC!

The girls stayed with chaperones, so the cheer moms got to spend some mom time out! Friday night, we went to the club at the Gaylord where we were staying. It was fun dancing and hanging wiht the moms. :)

Saturday morning, I got up and went for a run. I was so amazed that I had so much fun. I ran around the National Harbor, up the bridge at the Potomac River, over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, into Alexandria, down the main street of shops, and then I went back. It was an AMAZING 8 mile run. I absolutely LOVED it. What a great way to see a city. It was kind of cold across the bridge, but otherwise it was great. It was 35 degrees. Brr....

Courtney, Benjamin, and Andrew came to see Morgan perform. It was SO great to see them, and it was SO nice of them to come. Morgan was thrilled that they came. THANKS for coming!

Saturday afternoon in between performances, we went into DC to see the white house, the capital, and the washington monument/washington mall. At dinner, we went to Cashion's Eat Place. It was fantastic. I had crab and scallops that were to die for. We also had great wine and great company. Denise, Tobey, Cathey, Tom, and Rebecca were great company for a great meal.

Sunday, we watched the teams do amazing, and then Morgan and I shopped at the Peeps store and the Godiva store. Morgan was in heaven. :) We ate at the Italian buffet at the Gaylord. Morgan loved the pizza. I loved the salad (who am I?).

Monday, we got up a little early to tour around a bit in a stretch limo on the way to the airport. It was AWESOME! We got more pictures in front of many sites, and the girls had a blast in the limo.
All pictures can be found here

Thursday, March 4, 2010

HIMSS

HIMSS HIStalk 2009




HIMSS HIStalk Reception 2010 (70 lbs later)






WOW, HIMSS was awesome this year. I had a really great trip. I went up Monday morning because we finished the race in Tampa on Sunday. Heather and I were on the same flight, and we couldn't get checked into the hotel due to the LONG lines. I had to break my boycott of Hilton as that is where the company had rooms. Oh well.. :)

The booth was amazing. Marketing really did a great job of changing it. Monday night, I went to the HIStalk reception at Max Lagers. I was So excited for many reasons. One, it is my absolute favorite part of HIMSS. Two, I had been waiting all year to have a new picture made as it was the nasty picture of me from last year that really stuck with me over the last year as I was losing weight. Three, I get to wear a sash, and I love them! :) My sash this year was "Interim Final Inga" modeled after the "Interim Final Rule" of the ARRA HITECH stimulus program. Very, very clever Inga! There was also an "Interim Final Mr. H", and he was also an ex-Misys guy. How funny is that. I enjoyed talked to everyone. It is amazing how that reception draws so many smart people every year. Not only are there smart people, but there are FUN people too!

Dr. Alexander kicked off the festivities and did an awesome job. It was so great to see him again. Jonathan Bush was hysterical again in presenting the awards. After the awards, I got to get my new pictures. I need to get some from cameras, but at least I have these until then. :) What a difference a year and 70lbs makes!

After the HIStalk reception, I was pretty happy due to the fantastic beer at Max Lager. The service was so great that I enjoyed the beer a LOT. I had not had beer in quite some time. It was YUM. The Eclipsys party had the B52's. I absolutely LOVE the B52's, so it was fantastic to see them in person again. I have seen them a few times in concert, and they don't ever disappoint. It was a fantastic party!

Tuesday, we met up with some Cisco guys for dinner. My brother Mike's fraternity brother was one of them. It is such a small world. Matt and Mike were really fun, and we enjoyed Two Urban Licks restaurant. I highly recommend it.

Wednesday, we ate at the Hilton hotel at Nikolai's Roof. It was a multi-course meal, and it was very good. The wait staff was great, and we had a great time telling stories and relaxing after HIMSS.

Thursday, I traveled home to get ready for my Washington, DC trip! Another HIMSS done!