Howl-O-Scream

I had meetings all day today, and I worked from home. Tonight, Morgan, Krishan, Mona, Krishan's Dad, and I went to Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. Mike and the kids didn't want to go, so they did trick-or-treating stuff. Personally, I believe that kids should stop trick-or-treating when they hit double digits, so I am happy to be done with that. It is fun when they are small, but it gets crazy as they get older.

We went to the Fright Feast first. You get dinner and a show (the dinner was really good - surprisingly enough and it even had veggie options!). The show was corny and had "I kissed a girl" and "When I grow up" in it.

After dinner, you get to go to the haunted houses 30 minutes before it opens to the public. We went to the 3 main ones before they opened the main gates. Then, Morgan and I rode Montu twice in the front row. Morgan was so excited to have "two firsts" of riding the first row AND riding it at night. Then, we went through a scare zone and hit the other 3 haunted houses and one other scare zone. We never could find the 3rd scare zone, but the haunted woods one was great. The best was when a person dropped down from the ceiling right in front of Mona.

It was great fun. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Back Home

Today, I had meetings all day (met downstairs at 6:45am - You know how I love the mornings), and then I flew back home in the tiny plane to Tampa. This flight was like a dream compared to the last one. VERY smooth, relaxing flight. I was so tired I slept the whole way.

I got home in time to make it to the gym to see the last part of Morgan's practice. Her team is getting excited about their first competition on 11/23. They got their uniforms tonight. Exciting stuff.

Glad to be home. Night Night.

ALL day meetings

I was in meetings ALL day today - from 8am until almost midnight. I heard the Rays lost. Bummer. At least they made it to the finale. I hope they are proud of that. I ended up working in my room until 3 am to prepare for the meeting the next day. Thanks to Krishan who came to my rescue at midnight.

Off to Miami

Today, I left for Miami for work. I planned to leave the office early as I had a conference call to do from the airport. Then, there was talk that it might be cancelled. As I was finishing a meeting, I didn't leave as early as I liked. I rush through McDonald's (first time I have been there without Morgan requesting it in a LONG time) while talking to Phil on the phone. I make it to the airport (have to love how they change the side you exit for the parking every few months just for fun). I get to the Continental check-in, and the person recommends that I take my bag to the plane as I won't have to pay the $15 baggage fee if it is gate checked. Ok. Sounds like a plan.

I arrive at the first checkpoint where you show your ID and boarding pass, and the rude lady says that I have three items and cannot come through until I have 2. I tell her that the backback zips onto the suitcase but that I have it unzipped for ease of getting through security. I show her where it zips. She says that she doesn't care and that it is still 3 items. So, me being the patient and tolerant person I am, plop my butt down right in front of her podium and start zipping the backpack back onto the suitcase. Proud of myself, I start to go past her. She then tells me that it doesn't count as I have just attached them together and that I still have three items. I cannot believe it. Is she smoking crack?? So, I pick it up and show that it moves all as one piece. I put it down and show that it is all one piece. I lie it on its side and show that it is one piece. She is still not happy and says that I need to put my purse inside one of the bags. Finally, her boss said that it was fine and let me go. Oh my aching head....

At this time, I am trying to be on the conference call, but it is not going so well as you can imagine. We finally decide that they will get me a list and we will talk later. Probably a smart move on their part. :)

When I booked the flight, I knew it was a small plane. I did NOT realize it was a TINY plane. What I also didn't know was that it was very windy today. OH MY GOD...this was the craziest flight. We went up and down and tilted left and tilted right. My stomach dropped so many times that I really thought I might need a barf bag. I kept thinking of Mike and the Pilot Buddy since there was no restroom on board. Glad I went at the airport! Thankfully, it got a little smoother in the middle of the flight. The view was amazing though. Since we couldn't go above the clouds, we could see everything. I was in the exit seat (Yes, I said seat as there wasn't even an exit row - just one seat).

After landing, I get in a cab because I have another call coming up in 40 min. The hotel is supposed to be 20 min away. WRONG. It ended up being 45 minutes and $65. Gotta love it.

We ate at a Cuban restaurant that night. I had Paella. It was ok, but it wasn't as good as Papa's.

At the office

I shocked everyone by showing up in the office again. I do love having Krishan as an office mate, but I miss the Dev lab. For those of you who never had the pleasure, the Dev lab was a room with no windows and a very shoddy table that lined the rooms (it served as a desk but it was very fragile). It also had whiteboards at each end. In this room, we had 7 people as we kept adding to the room as time went on. When I first started at Bond, there were only 4 people there. To me, the Dev lab symbolizes the beginning of the Bond era, and I really enjoyed the camaraderie and team feeling it had. I truly believe that the team atmosphere and sharing information increased our time to market and reduced inefficiencies. We could quickly have meetings, easily hear what was happening with other projects, and generally gain a better understanding of the product without leaving our desks. Now, the dev lab minus me is in the bowling alley until the office closes at the end of the year. It is going to be very weird having everyone be virtual. In some ways, I think it will be nice as I won't spend 1.5 hours of my day in a car for no reason. On the other hand, I think we will have to work hard to keep the comaraderie going. I am still in denial that Krishan is moving, and I refuse to believe it. :)

Poor Rays

It has been so fun to watch the Tampa area get SO jazzed up about the Rays. They have such a great story to tell after being the worst team in baseball. They have a very young team, and their determination has been infectious this year. I am so sad that they are struggling so against the Phillies. I am having flashbacks as I was raised on the Atlanta Braves. After watching many heartbreaking years, they finally did well. I remember them losing to the evil Phillies as well. I hope that the Rays have a few more upsets in them. It would be so incredible to have them make it back to Tampa.

Chin up Rays, Tampa loves you. I can hear the cowbells now. :)

On another note, I finally got my updated voter's reg card, so I can now vote where I am supposed to vote. I keep seeing all of the lines for early voting. That just isn't the same to me unless you aren't going to be around for the real day. I love election day and the electricity in the air. I like going to vote ON election day. I am glad they have the flexibility though. I am sure all of these people going early can only help election day traffic.

Kids

This is my rant of the month. I have been traveling a lot lately, so we thought it would be a nice thing to take the kids on a quick cruise that goes out of Tampa to Cozumel. We have been excited planning it until Mike talked to Dana. She of course has to take her miserable life out on the kids. She tells us that they kids are working on perfect attendence and that they can't go. Unbelievable. I cannot believe that she would deprive her kids of a great and fun opportunity (not to mention good family bonding time) because she is miserable. What kind of a parent does that? What ever happened to giving your kids the best?