The GPS is somtimes wrong...but most of the time it's right.

This is an email I sent to my fellow consultants the other day telling of my trials and fights that I have with my Garmin GPS...I love the thing and MOST of the time it takes me in the right direction...but sometimes...MAN IS IT WRONG! The ending is a work related thing since we get 55 cents a mile...I believe if my calculations were right that is 3114 miles time .55 equals...$1712.70 that would have been a nice chunk of change...LOL and I can't seem to get the screen shot right...bah

"For all you who use a GPS here is my most recent story of trying to avoid the tolls of New Jersey/New York…of which there are many, esp in my parts:
I decided to set the feature on my GPS to “no tolls” while coming back into NYC from New Jersey, just to see where it would take me and see if I could avoid paying an 8 dollar toll to cross a bridge. If any of you have been across the Hudson River from NJ to NY there is NO way of avoiding paying a toll, all bridges and tunnels have a toll. So I was driving and usually these thing will put you just over a bridge with a toll…not this time, this time the GPS took me past the George Washington Bridge…and told me to keep going. Curious as to where the GPS was taking me I pulled into the Parkway gas station that came up and clicked through the directions to see the “toll free, fastest route” and here is the approximation of the rt…give or take:

Palisades Parkway north (until you hit 84)
Take i-84 to Scranton, PA follow until I-76 to I-70, this will take me to Columbus, OH, which eventually will take me to Indianapolis, IN
The you follow I-65 up to I-80 which takes me to Des Moines
I get onto I-35 to Minneapolis, MN and then to Duluth, MN
After this I follow the road along Lake Superior (I forget what this rd was called) and eventually end up going through customs in Canada (I didn’t even have my passport) Go along to Ottawa, Montreal, and eventually come to I-91 in VT where I head south through VT, Mass, and CT end up on the Merritt/Hutchinson Parkway between CT and NY, and I am home…honestly I guess it was better I paid the 8 dollar toll then to waste gas and get the mileage for that, I could only image the reaction for the Mileage report on my expense sheet…"

A funny thing happend on the way to Atlantic City...not really

Hey all readers. Jeremy and I decided we were going to be spontaneous, I have really wanted to go to Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, or Atlantic City. So we decided...at the last minute I might add...we decided to take a cold trip to Atlantic City. I mean the beach in the Northeast in January is not the best place to take a mini-vacation. Well the good thing about it is that it is not crowded and the prices are cheap! So we leave and are faced with the usual Friday night Cross-Bronx traffic and take a different stupid way by going through Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, but I had never been over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge...so it was nice...and expensive...damn tolls. So we stayed at the Days Inn, on the Boardwalk. Not so bad, clean, cheap, and between two casinos, PERFECT! Time to Gamble. We head over to the Tropicana and try our luck at some slots. We aren't big gamblers so slots are perfect. We went over and the Tropicana isn't so bad. Its not the nicest but it's nice for me. We went over to the Hilton too, but yah that one was not so great...imagine your grandma's casino...blah NO THANKS. So back to the Tropicana for some slots and Hooters Wings...that's right we went to Hooters...and their wings suck...The next day, we did a little more gambling, walked around the beach, found some shells, walked down the beach, saw some hobos (is that PC?? probably not), and went to the pier mall, you know a nice mall with lots of stores I would not shop at or I have not heard of,
but hey there was a store with my name...accent and all. SO now I guess I can't make a store named after me for very wealthy females...darn...oh well there was a dancing water show, those are always fun! The greatest part was the sign that said it was experiencing technical difficulties...looked fine to me. The best part of Atlantic City I would say are the little signs every block going down the Boardwalk that looked like Monopoly Deed Properties. After a while I started wonder and then I figured out not all of the are from the game! oh well here are a few
They actually had fun little factoids on them too. So we took a walk down "Boardwalk" passed "Park Place" and ended up at the Taj Mahal...that one doesn't work. We rounded out our tour of Atlantic City with some more gambling at the various Video Poker Machines and walking around the outlet shopping. We also had one of the DELICIOUS...yah...Buffets...yah...I can see why some of the are free...yah and the signs that say what is in the buffet...man talk about FALSE advertising, I am glad I a limited in what I can eat now. Oh well over all a pretty neat weekend, I am glad we went so when I go in May for a convention I will know where to and where not to gamble.

First post of the New Year

Well here is it another year has come and gone and what happened in 2008, too much to blog about, what with the economy in the toilet, some of the highest gas prices EVER, and lots of other stuff. I just really don't care to blog about things that everyone else is blogging about. I am sure you can go around to Google and search and read tons of blogs about the sagging economy, the crappy music on the radio, the price of oil (first its too high, now its getting too low), the election, Obama's picks for his cabinet, and any other number of news related items, but you know what I am not going to blog about anything like that. My blog is different and I have said that. It is about ME ME ME, like the title says, my life in general. SO I will go through quickly 2008 in my life and see what happened. Let's see, not so much excitement happened in 2008 to me, except what i have been blogging about already, quick recap lets see how long this list can be, and they are in no particular order:
1. Had a crappy commute at a job I didn't really like for about 10 months.
2. Quit said job I didn't like for a better job, no commute.
3. Earned a MSEd from Simmons College (now I am more in Debt!)
4. Got a job in my field of study (how many people can say THAT this past year)
5. Went Gay camping (that was an experience to say the least)
6. Started a Blog
7. Had a computer crash on me, only to get it fixed bigger and badder (in a good way)
8. Ran 7 miles in one day.
9. Playing in the Gay/Lesbian Band for a few rehearsals...but I will go back...eventually
10. Passed a drug test with flying colors.
11. Stopped eating Gluten.
12. Found room in our tiny apartment for an office.
13. Paid off Credit cards.
14. Boosted my credit score.
15. Saved over $4000 then spent it (see #13)
16. Celebrated and learned about new Holidays.
17. Met lots of new and interesting people.
18. Visited a state I have never been to before, twice, within two months.
19. Visited a new country I have never been to before.
20. Added a new country to my list of "Countries where I have peed outside"
21. Had a High School reunion...and enjoyed it.
22. Got stuck at an airport for 6 hours...without even leaving the airport.
23. Got an LL Bean CC HA FREE SHIPPING!
24. Caught up with long lost friends after 10 years
25. Became an Uncle...again.
26. Got closer with some friends and family.
27. Adopted 2 awesome (sometimes) kitties.
28. Learned the nuances of driving in NJ.
29. Learned I like lots of different types of beers, becoming ALMOST a Beer snob then lost it all (see #11)
30. Learned I like Scotch...again, bad idea.
31. Rented my first car.
32. Got a company credit card
33. Got business cards (see #2)
34. Read two books about food...well I guess three books about food, two about mundane food items...interesting too I must say
35. Decided I liked Paula Deen...but slowly her recipes are getting more and more ridiculous.
36. Decided I didn't care too much to Rachel Ray...her recipes are just crazy.
37. Got a tooth pulled (finally)
38. Drove to the end of Long Island and sat and drank a Sparks.
39. Potentially was struck by lightning at an outdoor rock concert.
40. Found out Bourbon + Pickle Juice = DELIGHTFUL!
41. Saw REM in concert (see #39...and past blog)
42. Went to one of my favorite places in the world (Smalls Falls, ME)
43. Lived in NYC for a year...and counting!
44. Had a weekly evening dinner and scrabble with my cousin...for a few months anyways
45. Went on the train pretty much across Germany.
46. Drank German beer in Austria, throw up and went on a train...and threw up again.
47. Walked my last sister to get married down the aisle.
48. Went on the Sound of Music tour, danced in the garden where Julie Andrews danced, touched the Gazebo from the movie, walked down the aisle of the church in the Sound of Music, and maybe climbed one of the trees...maybe not.
49. Voted for the first African American president in history.
50. Played in a Tuba Christmas!
51. Went to the top of the Empire State Building at Midnight
52. Saw the Macy's Day parade...live
53. Ran a 5k without training.
54. Went to 3 out of the 5 Ikeas in the tri-state area
55. Played tour guide for my Mom on the HOTTEST day of the year.



Okay so it came out to 50 things, and I was grabbing at straws the last few. I must say that 2008 was pretty much a cool year, having not been THAT affected by the economy...job-loss, house-loss, etc...I am pretty fortunate to have great friends, supportive family and such a great time doing everything, just looking on the bright side of things and trying to keep my chin up....man I am starting to want to kick my own ass...and just being the best person I can be. Life is pretty good and I am trying to make the best of it until something rough happens (which you never know) and then I will say "Life...stop, I was good to you, be good to me." Well I suppose that is my first blog post of the new year...in a nut shell.