It's been quite some time since I last posted a blog entry, and really quite a bit has happened over the last few months.
Start with my house:
Late last summer, while mowing, I noticed some shingle fragments laying on the ground behind my house. I took a couple of steps back and noticed that several shingles had come off the edge of the roof. I was able to get a recommendation from my nephew's girlfriend for a reputable roofing company and started work on getting some repairs done. Not only did I have the damage to the roof, but they also found damage to the siding. The entire story of the repairs is probably one most of you have already heard in person, but bottom line is that, after some time I was able to get my entire roof, including the decking, replaced, as well as all of the siding on my house. While I was at it, I was able to get the roofing company to remove the old, non-working, insert AC unit from the side of the house and patch the hole that it filled, and also put new porch lights and mailbox on the house for me. I am so much happier with the way my house looks now (at least on the outside).
In February I was scheduled to run the Mercedes Benz Birmingham Half Marathon. That would also be the race where I would meet my IRUN4 buddy for the first time. Unfortunately, I woke up to a lot of snow in Columbus, which led to my flight being cancelled and having to scrap the weekend. While there was some disappointment in missing out on the weekend, and an out of state race, it ended up working out for the best. I did lose some money on the hotel room (because I cancelled with less than 72 hours notice) and on the race registration, Brett's mom ended up not feeling great and some illness went through the family that weekend, so travelling for them would not have been a great experience. One other thing I learned from that experience was to stick with the Hilton brand of hotels. I had decided to get a room at one of the "host" hotels for the Birmingham race. Now I understood when I reserved the room that there was a 72 hour requirement to cancel the reservation without losing the cost of the hotel room for the evening. However, when I called to cancel I was told by Sheraton that "some of the Sheraton properties were giving an exception to the 72 hour rule due to the weather conditions around the country cancelling travel." Apparently the Sheraton property where I was planning to stay was NOT one of those properties, so I lost the cost of the hotel room for the night. Again, I knew that going in, but I've found that Hilton is much more considerate of "special circumstances" and doing what they can to keep their customers happy (more on that later). Over the past year I have traveled quite a bit, mostly staying at Hilton brand properties. In one case I stayed at a Marriott property. While that hotel (Fairfield Inn) was fine, the employees were not what I would consider "friendly". The other non-Hilton situation was the Sheraton in Birmingham. Lesson learned....stick with what works.
In March I did get the opportunity to meet my IRUN4 buddy Brett and his family. I traveled to Atlanta for the Publix Georgia Half Marathon. I had heard some scary things about the traffic in Atlanta and was honestly a little bit concerned. I considered cancelling my rental car and using my feet and a taxi for anything I did while in Atlanta, and maybe only renting a car one day. I was glad I decided to go ahead and keep the rental though. Fortunately I did not experience many problems with the traffic. I always happened to be travelling in the right direction at the right time of the day to avoid heavy traffic.
I arrived in Atlanta on a Wednesday evening. If you've never traveled to Atlanta, let me tell you something...the airport is huge! Nice long walk from the gate to baggage claim. And because I walked instead of taking the train across, I almost had a luggage issue. My bag was the last on the belt when I arrived and was being removed by an employee as I walked up. Fortunately I saw him grabbing my bag and was able to get it before it went to a "lost luggage" office somewhere. I got to the rental car area with no problem, and thanks to "self-service kiosks" was able to by-pass standing and waiting in line while rental car employees did sold customers on extra insurance and GPS units on their cars.
Traffic from the airport to the hotel was light and I made it there with minimal issues. When I arrived at the hotel I was surprised to find that, despite using the early bird check-in on line, there was not a room available for me at the Embassy Suites. However, they had made arrangements for me to stay at the hotel across the street for the first evening. In exchange for the inconvenience, Embassy Suites paid for my hotel room the first night and my breakfast the following morning. The next day I went back to Embassy Suites to try and check in early. They informed me that my room was not ready yet, but I could leave my luggage and it would be in my room when I returned. More on that later.
I headed out to Douglasville where I finally met the Smith family. Brett showed me his lego village that was set up in his bedroom. Emma showed me her Elsa dress. We all played a game of Yahtzee. Then we went bowling. I haven't bowled in a long time and I will say this.....I SUCK at bowling. But we had a good time. After bowling the Smith's took me out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Most of had a good dinner, although Emma's home health care person must have gotten some bad chicken wings, because she apparently woke up sick later that evening. We had a nice evening though, and by the time we finished dinner, all of the traffic was now trying to get out of Atlanta, while I was driving back in to Atlanta.
When I returned to my hotel I was informed that my room had been upgraded to make up for the inconvenience of not having a room that first night. I went from Embassy's basic two room suite to the "King Executive Suite". Although my luggage was not in my room when I got there, it was delivered shortly after my arrival, along with a large plate of fresh fruit and a note from the manager apologizing for the inconvenience the first night. Also in the envelope was a $25 voucher for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. As I posted on Facebook....THIS is why I remain a loyal Hilton customer. I didn't fuss, I didn't yell, I didn't complain, when the issue happened. I wonder now if maybe that had something to do with the nice treatment. Is it possible that the manager who checked me in was so relieved that I took the issue in stride and even joked with her, that she did more to make up for the issue than she would have? Or did she do the same she would have done with any other guest in the same circumstances? Or would she have done even more had a caused a fuss? I don't know, but what I do know is that my stay was more pleasant than it would have been otherwise, and complaining about a situation that I really couldn't have changed, would have started my trip out on the wrong foot.
On Friday I was able to find my way to the race expo. It was pretty much the same as most other race expos I've been to. It didn't take me too long to pick up my race packet and check out some of the vendors. I was able to pick up a couple quick items that I would need for race day, then I headed back out to Douglasville to the Smith family home again.
This evening they took me out to dinner again. Because Brett and I both like crab legs, we did a seafood restaurant. A place called the Marietta Fish Market. We kind of lucked out pulling in to a packed parking lot on Friday evening, to find two empty parking spots right near the front. We expected a wait...probably a lengthy one, which told me this place must be pretty good. Well, again we got lucky, maybe due to the size of our party, but a table opened up fairly quickly. Again, a very good dinner!! And once again, I headed back in to Atlanta at a time when most people were heading out of Atlanta.
On Saturday we all met at the Atlanta Zoo. It was one of first really nice weekends in Atlanta, so the zoo was pretty busy. It seemed like Emma was enjoying things a little less at the zoo, maybe more because it was difficult for her to see some of the animals while she was in her wheelchair and a lot of kids would move in front of her and block her view. But, I also found that Emma and her mom are frequent visitors to the zoo in Atlanta and to the zoo website, so they keep up on the animals in the zoo, the babies that have been born, and I could see that Emma got more excited when she was able to see some of the animals that she'd been hearing about from the website.
After the zoo we made our way to lunch at Johnny Rockets. Any time I've been to a Johnny Rockets they are usually pretty busy, and rightfully so. A 50's style hamburger joint that serves up good burgers and root beer floats! After lunch we headed over the World of Coke. A whole museum dedicated to Coke. For me, the best part of the World of Coke was the tasting room. Although it was crowded and there were a lot of people pushing their way in front of others, it was interesting to try different Coke products from different parts of the world.
Sunday morning was race morning. One of the nice things about where I was staying was that I was able to literally walk out the front door of my hotel and directly in to my starting corral for the race. This allowed me to sleep in a little later than I would for most races, especially those that are as big as this one. It did rain for most of the 13.1 miles. It was a steady rain though, not storming, so it ends up not being too big of a problem. As a matter of fact, it is sometimes nice to have some rain falling to keep from getting too hot. Brett and his mom were at Mile 13 to cheer me in to the finish. I was really great to have someone there cheering me in to finish. It's been a while since I was fortunate enough to have that experience. People are usually at the finish line and cheering in all the runners. But to have someone specifically cheering for me, holding up a sign with my name on it, is a great motivator! The fact that they stood out there for me, especially in the rain, meant a lot!
I ended the weekend heading back to Columbus. Again, avoiding too much traffic by leaving a little bit early. I made it through security fairly quickly, again avoiding the large rush that typically comes with Monday mornings in an airport as big as Atlanta.
On Monday morning I arrived back in Columbus, and while still waiting for my luggage, got a call from work. Someone had called off sick and coverage was needed....so back to work I went, relaxed from a nice long weekend away.
Start with my house:
Late last summer, while mowing, I noticed some shingle fragments laying on the ground behind my house. I took a couple of steps back and noticed that several shingles had come off the edge of the roof. I was able to get a recommendation from my nephew's girlfriend for a reputable roofing company and started work on getting some repairs done. Not only did I have the damage to the roof, but they also found damage to the siding. The entire story of the repairs is probably one most of you have already heard in person, but bottom line is that, after some time I was able to get my entire roof, including the decking, replaced, as well as all of the siding on my house. While I was at it, I was able to get the roofing company to remove the old, non-working, insert AC unit from the side of the house and patch the hole that it filled, and also put new porch lights and mailbox on the house for me. I am so much happier with the way my house looks now (at least on the outside).
In February I was scheduled to run the Mercedes Benz Birmingham Half Marathon. That would also be the race where I would meet my IRUN4 buddy for the first time. Unfortunately, I woke up to a lot of snow in Columbus, which led to my flight being cancelled and having to scrap the weekend. While there was some disappointment in missing out on the weekend, and an out of state race, it ended up working out for the best. I did lose some money on the hotel room (because I cancelled with less than 72 hours notice) and on the race registration, Brett's mom ended up not feeling great and some illness went through the family that weekend, so travelling for them would not have been a great experience. One other thing I learned from that experience was to stick with the Hilton brand of hotels. I had decided to get a room at one of the "host" hotels for the Birmingham race. Now I understood when I reserved the room that there was a 72 hour requirement to cancel the reservation without losing the cost of the hotel room for the evening. However, when I called to cancel I was told by Sheraton that "some of the Sheraton properties were giving an exception to the 72 hour rule due to the weather conditions around the country cancelling travel." Apparently the Sheraton property where I was planning to stay was NOT one of those properties, so I lost the cost of the hotel room for the night. Again, I knew that going in, but I've found that Hilton is much more considerate of "special circumstances" and doing what they can to keep their customers happy (more on that later). Over the past year I have traveled quite a bit, mostly staying at Hilton brand properties. In one case I stayed at a Marriott property. While that hotel (Fairfield Inn) was fine, the employees were not what I would consider "friendly". The other non-Hilton situation was the Sheraton in Birmingham. Lesson learned....stick with what works.
In March I did get the opportunity to meet my IRUN4 buddy Brett and his family. I traveled to Atlanta for the Publix Georgia Half Marathon. I had heard some scary things about the traffic in Atlanta and was honestly a little bit concerned. I considered cancelling my rental car and using my feet and a taxi for anything I did while in Atlanta, and maybe only renting a car one day. I was glad I decided to go ahead and keep the rental though. Fortunately I did not experience many problems with the traffic. I always happened to be travelling in the right direction at the right time of the day to avoid heavy traffic.
I arrived in Atlanta on a Wednesday evening. If you've never traveled to Atlanta, let me tell you something...the airport is huge! Nice long walk from the gate to baggage claim. And because I walked instead of taking the train across, I almost had a luggage issue. My bag was the last on the belt when I arrived and was being removed by an employee as I walked up. Fortunately I saw him grabbing my bag and was able to get it before it went to a "lost luggage" office somewhere. I got to the rental car area with no problem, and thanks to "self-service kiosks" was able to by-pass standing and waiting in line while rental car employees did sold customers on extra insurance and GPS units on their cars.
Traffic from the airport to the hotel was light and I made it there with minimal issues. When I arrived at the hotel I was surprised to find that, despite using the early bird check-in on line, there was not a room available for me at the Embassy Suites. However, they had made arrangements for me to stay at the hotel across the street for the first evening. In exchange for the inconvenience, Embassy Suites paid for my hotel room the first night and my breakfast the following morning. The next day I went back to Embassy Suites to try and check in early. They informed me that my room was not ready yet, but I could leave my luggage and it would be in my room when I returned. More on that later.
I headed out to Douglasville where I finally met the Smith family. Brett showed me his lego village that was set up in his bedroom. Emma showed me her Elsa dress. We all played a game of Yahtzee. Then we went bowling. I haven't bowled in a long time and I will say this.....I SUCK at bowling. But we had a good time. After bowling the Smith's took me out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Most of had a good dinner, although Emma's home health care person must have gotten some bad chicken wings, because she apparently woke up sick later that evening. We had a nice evening though, and by the time we finished dinner, all of the traffic was now trying to get out of Atlanta, while I was driving back in to Atlanta.
When I returned to my hotel I was informed that my room had been upgraded to make up for the inconvenience of not having a room that first night. I went from Embassy's basic two room suite to the "King Executive Suite". Although my luggage was not in my room when I got there, it was delivered shortly after my arrival, along with a large plate of fresh fruit and a note from the manager apologizing for the inconvenience the first night. Also in the envelope was a $25 voucher for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. As I posted on Facebook....THIS is why I remain a loyal Hilton customer. I didn't fuss, I didn't yell, I didn't complain, when the issue happened. I wonder now if maybe that had something to do with the nice treatment. Is it possible that the manager who checked me in was so relieved that I took the issue in stride and even joked with her, that she did more to make up for the issue than she would have? Or did she do the same she would have done with any other guest in the same circumstances? Or would she have done even more had a caused a fuss? I don't know, but what I do know is that my stay was more pleasant than it would have been otherwise, and complaining about a situation that I really couldn't have changed, would have started my trip out on the wrong foot.
On Friday I was able to find my way to the race expo. It was pretty much the same as most other race expos I've been to. It didn't take me too long to pick up my race packet and check out some of the vendors. I was able to pick up a couple quick items that I would need for race day, then I headed back out to Douglasville to the Smith family home again.
This evening they took me out to dinner again. Because Brett and I both like crab legs, we did a seafood restaurant. A place called the Marietta Fish Market. We kind of lucked out pulling in to a packed parking lot on Friday evening, to find two empty parking spots right near the front. We expected a wait...probably a lengthy one, which told me this place must be pretty good. Well, again we got lucky, maybe due to the size of our party, but a table opened up fairly quickly. Again, a very good dinner!! And once again, I headed back in to Atlanta at a time when most people were heading out of Atlanta.
On Saturday we all met at the Atlanta Zoo. It was one of first really nice weekends in Atlanta, so the zoo was pretty busy. It seemed like Emma was enjoying things a little less at the zoo, maybe more because it was difficult for her to see some of the animals while she was in her wheelchair and a lot of kids would move in front of her and block her view. But, I also found that Emma and her mom are frequent visitors to the zoo in Atlanta and to the zoo website, so they keep up on the animals in the zoo, the babies that have been born, and I could see that Emma got more excited when she was able to see some of the animals that she'd been hearing about from the website.
After the zoo we made our way to lunch at Johnny Rockets. Any time I've been to a Johnny Rockets they are usually pretty busy, and rightfully so. A 50's style hamburger joint that serves up good burgers and root beer floats! After lunch we headed over the World of Coke. A whole museum dedicated to Coke. For me, the best part of the World of Coke was the tasting room. Although it was crowded and there were a lot of people pushing their way in front of others, it was interesting to try different Coke products from different parts of the world.
Sunday morning was race morning. One of the nice things about where I was staying was that I was able to literally walk out the front door of my hotel and directly in to my starting corral for the race. This allowed me to sleep in a little later than I would for most races, especially those that are as big as this one. It did rain for most of the 13.1 miles. It was a steady rain though, not storming, so it ends up not being too big of a problem. As a matter of fact, it is sometimes nice to have some rain falling to keep from getting too hot. Brett and his mom were at Mile 13 to cheer me in to the finish. I was really great to have someone there cheering me in to finish. It's been a while since I was fortunate enough to have that experience. People are usually at the finish line and cheering in all the runners. But to have someone specifically cheering for me, holding up a sign with my name on it, is a great motivator! The fact that they stood out there for me, especially in the rain, meant a lot!
I ended the weekend heading back to Columbus. Again, avoiding too much traffic by leaving a little bit early. I made it through security fairly quickly, again avoiding the large rush that typically comes with Monday mornings in an airport as big as Atlanta.
On Monday morning I arrived back in Columbus, and while still waiting for my luggage, got a call from work. Someone had called off sick and coverage was needed....so back to work I went, relaxed from a nice long weekend away.
