Back from the Burgh!

My trip to the Burgh was successful. We left Philadelphia and (after a monsoon that morning)  it was extremely warm for January, about 60 degrees. We touched down in Pittsburgh and it was snowing *sigh*. At least I got to see my man Franco in the airport.

My future Pittsburgh jaunts will probably take place once a month as I have several accounts and hotels in the area. This trip was taken with two other co-workers and for the record, some co-workers are easier to travel with than others.

As a new unit, we are awaiting our corporate cards. One of my co-workers already had hers from her previous position and was able to transfer it due it being the same business unit. Before we left Philly, she offered to pick up all the charges for this trip so neither of us would have to expense anything on our personal cards. Cool, right?

Well, the flight was due to leave around 5pm….at 4pm, sitting in the airport, she *allegedly* got an email from corporate finance letting her know that she never paid off her $2,000 bill from her old corporate account before she transferred to this job. Therefore, they are shutting her card down until the situation is rectified. Homie doesn’t mention anything to us until we land in Pittsburgh and head to pick up our rental car.

Now between my other co-worker and I, we ended up picking up everything. The rental car, meals for three people for two days, parking, etc. Needless to say, we were not pleased. Did I also mention she’s a sister girl? *sigh*

When we returned from our trip, each one of us had a “rap” scheduled with our boss. She asked about the trip and I never dimed out the co-worker. I spoke about my appointments, the city, what I did…etc.

Best believe that my other co-worker dimed her out. She told the boss everything and that she was ticked off about the expense situation.

In my mind, it was inconvenient and yes, what if we didn’t have that amount available on our cards? We would have been azzed out. However, we did. We also are able to expense everything. My expense report is already out and approved. Money due back shortly.

We are three weeks in as a new team. I will give the girl another chance. I wouldn’t want to taint her in front of the bosses already. Now, if it happened again? Hell yeah…then it would be a habit. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Yes, she inconvenienced us but hell, the trip is still free.

What are your thoughts?

Monday strikes again…

I am supposed to be in Pittsburgh for the next two days visiting hotels and customers. I woke up to a monsoon in Philadelphia. Sure enough, I get a call from my airline to let me know my early afternoon flight has been cancelled and rescheduled for later this evening. UGH.

At least that gave me a little time to breathe. I was up late watching football. Woke up, logged in and went downstairs to make breakfast. I made an asparagus and swiss omelette. Delish! A pot of coffee is brewing. Ahh….life is good.

Great games yesterday. All four teams were fighting for it. Congrats to the Colts and the Saints. Should be a great matchup as they were the two best teams this year. I am already planning the superbowl menu in my head cause you know….there will be men aplenty at my house.

The Saints are the Underdogs so I have to root for them (and Darren Sharper) and the city of New Orleans. However…..two words….PEYTON.MANNING.  Can’t wait.

How was everyone’s weekend? I will be sure to take pictures in Pittsburgh and be on the lookout for some interesting stories.  Happy Monday.

Under Renovation/The Hotel Chronicles

Winter gives me the blahs and despite being in absolute LOVE with my Brooklyn header…I grew weary of the icy blue facade. I need some green in my life!!!!

Let’s see how we like this header for a while, shall we?

If you are anything like me, you are in withdrawal for a good Hotel story. Turns out, I have one!

I stopped by my old hotel downtown today for a meeting (gotta love popping in for a meeting and then heading right back home to a warm pair of sweats).

Last night a woman called security to say she was locked out of her room. They go up and find her and a small child both in pajamas standing outside the door. Security opened the door and let her in and they told her she would need to show them some ID for the room. She walked in and quickly slammed the door on them. They called for backup and then opened the door again. She refused to exit the room for a good ten minutes and could not produce any ID.

When they finally got her out in the hallway, she took off running (without her child) and ran up the staircase to the roof. On her way, she pulled the fire alarm. *sigh*

They caught her, called the police and turned her nuttyasafruitcake azz over to the authorities. Five minutes later, they had two fire engines at the entrance and had to reassure all guests that it was a false alarm.

The moral of this story? God Bless the Night Shift at a Hotel. They have seen it ALL!

Things I just don’t understand…

1) The return of old school Pepsi made with (wait for it) REAL SUGAR!

What? The High fructose corn syrup wasn’t doing it’s job? How is this better?

2) The overwhelming popularity of Snooki….

*sigh* why won’t MTV/VH1/BET let my tv be great?

3) How a team can have both Reggie Bush AND Darren Sharper.

That makes no damn sense. No wonder the Saints games are selling out.

4) How the JETS keep winning?

Now I am not a Jet fan but hey, I gotta root for the home team. Besides….Mark Sanchez is nothing to sneeze at either.

5) Why Suri is still not wearing a coat?!?

Rule of thumb….if you’re cold enough to put on a jacket….your child might need a damn jacket too.

6) How the “muslim” Wu-Tangs can still have Christmas decorations on their lawn including a miniature whyte baby Jesus that lights up??????????? WHAT THE FUDGE?

Open Letter to Suri Cruise

Miss Suri..if I may be so familiar, you young lady are the shyt. Honestly, I have never seen a toddler running things like you do. You are the real life Stewie Griffin.

I first noticed you when it seemed to me that you walked around the frigid streets of New York without a coat. Both of your confused, overwhelmed parents were often seen bundled up in wool, leather, scarves and hats….but not you little minx! Oh no, you were too Diva for a coat that would cover up your $500 party dresses.

When you finally allowed those fools to cover your greatness, even the local newspapers sat up and took notice!

Recently, I have seen you fashion trailblazing in something new….HEELS.

Who would ever think a three year old would troll the city sidewalks in heels? You are so edgy and current. I bet you are the posterchild for Podiatrists and Pediatricians everywhere. Who cares about your foot development when the heels are so adorable?

You are the Samantha of the toddler set. Please let me know the next time you are on the East Coast. You can ditch those fools you call parents, throw on your best sundress in January, leave your coat and grab your best heels as we do lunch. Cocktails are on me!

The Randomness

I am praying for my fellow Caribbean nation of Haiti, it’s sister island, the Dominican Republic and everyone affected by the earthquake. This poor island nation has gone so long without any aid or assistance. Unfortunately, this may have been the wake up call the world needed to take a look and see how it can help these people. Saying prayers for everyone waiting to hear from friends and family.

I log on to Facebook this morning and some dude I friended (who I now can’t even remember how I know) has all of this “Negro hating the Whyte Man” crap on his statuses. He’s had that type of rhetoric for the last three updates. Uh yeah….I’m gonna have to delete and block you dude. He must have missed the memo that it’s 2010 and most folks have moved on. He must have also missed the notice that employers can check your Facebook pages. DUMBAZZ

Last night we were at the dinner table and the boys were telling jokes. At one point Tali 1 asked…”What has no hair and is red all over?” I said “Daddy!” The boys busted out laughing and all of a sudden Tali 2 says “Daddy…you got served!” I swear I almost choked on my food. Where do they get this stuff?

I have one other black person on my team. Very nice lady. However, I feel a dire need to pull her aside and let her know how rude it is to be on her Blackberry when someone is giving  a presentation or speaking to the group. Do I say something? Hell, I’m not her boss but I want to look out for her.

I saw Avatar and thought the movie was visually stunning. Did you know that L.az Alon.zo was in it? Good come up for him after getting his behind beat with baby oil in the Christmas movie.

Oh yeah….My eyebrows are back to normal.

The Nerd Lives On!

I think I confessed to being highly competitive before. If I haven’t, then consider this an update. I love to win.

For my 6th grade science fair, I built a projector and had three cellophane slides that inserted into it. One was red, one was yellow and one was blue. When you inserted each slide…the light became whatever color was shown. When you inserted all of the slides at once, the light came out white. ROY G. BIV for you ninjas that don’t know….google it. Anyway, that started me down the path of competitiveness.

The same year I competed and came in 5th place in the D.ai.ly Ne.ws spelling bee. Never question the depths of my nerditry.

These days, I stick to football pools, personal goals at the gym and the occassional game of scrabble to feed my competitive streak. Lo and behold, I have discovered a way to help my child while WINNING. The Winter Project!

Tali 1 gets a huge winter project every year. His Kindergarten project won a contest and was displayed at the Philadelphia Art Museum in their kids and math exhibit. Last year’s project was selected by the Principal to hang in the school display outside of her office.

This year, the assignment was to come up  with and name your own country. They had to write a report describing the people, the environment etc and then create a picture of their favorite part of their country.

Tali 1 decided his country would be an island. He wrote a lovely essay about this magical island. When I asked him what his favorite part of the island was….he replied “the beach”. While everyone in his class turned in a poster on oaktag paper with cut out magazine pictures and pictures of tall buildings…My budding genius turned in this:

Needless to say, his diorama of the beach was well received and I he won an award. He actually did most of the work. I was merely the creative director and producer. As long as I’m in the credits…he can accept the award on Monday. He just has to remember to thank his mama in his acceptance speech.

The Randomness

I just realized that since I am no longer “in” a hotel….I may never have another Hotel Chronicle. *pours out a little coffee for my homies*

Jo.hn L.e.gen.d annoys the hell out of me sometimes but his music is perfect background music for my home office. Very soothing and non-confrontational. Kind of like…John. Hmm.

I think my husband likes me working from home too. He showed up in the middle of the day and brought me lunch yesterday. LOL

I am trying to make sure I workout at least four days a week now that I have a more flexible day. So far so good. You will be happy to know that somehow, I continue to use my “old man magnetism” at the gym. I swear, if you are over 60 and breathe? You too will feel the need to talk to me at random about your life while I am wheezing on the treadmill. Beware.

Ever do laundry and realize that your entire pile of clothes is all tshirts, fleece tops and yoga/workout bottoms and socks? I swear that must be all I wear in the winter…Damn.

My eyebrows look like this right now:

I called to place Tali 2 on the open house invite list for Kindergarten yesterday. You know I am going to be a mess when he goes to his first day of school in September right? No more babies in our house. Just men.

Why am I picturing his little arrogant self in his new school uniform on the first day? You know he’s gonna walk around like he’s the ish right? LOL

Guns at work? Never a good look. For anyone. It makes bosses nervous for some reason.

They passed the law in Philadelphia that forces chain restaurants to publish the caloric content for all of their foods. Starbucks would be eye opening for some of you. One slice of lemon pound cake is about 480 calories. A Venti anything is well over 600 calories. Why is this news? Cause the average person should consume about 2,000-2,500 calories a day. Less if you are trying to lose weight or maintain a weight. What if you drink two of those beverages a day? I will stick to my iced coffee with splenda and a splash of cream. Only about 80 calories. If you are having the occassional macchiato…..make sure it’s a day you are working out hard! Nothing wrong with a treat. I love coffee as much as anyone else but damn….I’d rather eat those calories than waste them with a drink. Think about it. Be informed and make better choices. I am loving this law.

Pausing for a Real Life Update…

Day three in my home office and I am loving life right now.  No waking up and figuring out what to wear. No commuting in the cold. No hustle and bustle.

We have already been assigned a boatload of projects and I have been extremely productive so far (with the exception of a blogging break and a quick trip out for coffee). I haven’t turned on the tv once. I have managed to stay in my office and not start working from the couch. I am finally organized and yep, it’s safe to say…I love it.

The tali boys LOVE walking in the house and dinner is ready and mommy is home. That makes it all worthwhile. I will be starting to go out on calls soon enough. There will be significant travel throughout the state and east coast but it’s when I want to schedule it.

I feel so blessed and am truly grateful for this opportunity. Truly!

Just wanted to thank all of you for praying for me to get this job and your support. Now if you could all start praying for me to hit the lottery….we’d be straight. LOL

The definition of gully

I know someone that recently graduated from college and is job hunting. Her parents are divorced and she is currently living at home with her mom who raised her since the divorce. Both parents are college educated folks and both of their children are college graduates. Your typical middle class family.

The young lady’s mom advised her to apply for her first credit card now that she has graduated and is job hunting. Upon applying for the card, her application gets denied. Why? Because someone has a light bill and electricity bill on her credit report, under her name and both accounts are in default.

It turns out, her estranged father is the culprit. Her mother gets her to call the father and he rushes over to the house and pays the balance due on both accounts but her credit has still been affected and she is now, extremely upset with her Dad.

When I learned about this, I was pissed beyond belief. Who does this to their child? If your financial situation is effed up that’s one thing. Why would you want to harm your child’s future like that? What if they want to purchase a car? What if their potential employer does a credit check (as many employers do)?

I don’t understand how anyone can be this selfish, sneaky and underhanded. I heard about it a week ago and I am still upset.

Her mother is torn. Part of her wanted to have the cops lock him up for identity theft but he’s still her child’s father. What effect would that have on her daughter…knowing her own mother turned her father in and sent him to jail?

All I know is….this is more gangster than anything I have heard of in a long time and it makes my heart hurt. Weigh in….