Day 210

Its only Thursday of what has been a long week for me. So as you know, this was a big travel week for me. This blog entry is written on my flight out to the sunny west coast. Los Angeles is where I am headed for a short visit. I’ve got a big sales meeting and dinner out here and come right back tomorrow morning, which turns into traveling all day to get back east due to the time zones. Monday night and into Tuesday morning in C-Town there was a snow storm and I was scheduled to leave for Toronto on a 7:45 am flight. Due to hitting snooze too many times and bad road conditions that time of the morning, I arrived at the airport a solid 25 minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off. I ran to check in and had to beg my way to get my boarding pass as you are supposed to check in an hour before for any international flight. I played the weather card and got through. I now had about 20 minutes to get through security and to the gate, for Cleveland, it’s not usually a problem. I got right through and discovered I once again was in the D concourse. For those familiar with the Cleveland airport, walking to the D concourse is like walking to China. They built it so poorly that you literally have to walk in a giant square and under the runways to get out there. I pulled an OJ (no, not killing my wife) and I ran to the gate with my bag. About half way there, the out of shape man I am, pulled up lame and had to walk the rest of the way. I made it as they were boarding, so now I’m all good right? Wrong. I get on the plane about 7:40 and we sit there. We pull away from the gate and they tell us they need to de-ice the plane and we are 5^th in line. Should be a half hour. 30 minutes go by. Nothing. Another 30 minutes go by and they tell us that while we were in line to get de-iced, the de-icing machine broke and they only had two available. Nobody in our line had been de-iced. Another 30 minutes go by, still nothing. You know Mr. Patient was handling it pretty well. Actually for once, I was relaxed. But after almost three hours without moving and already missing my first appointment, I was a tad perturbed. We ended up taking off 2 hours and 24 minutes after we were scheduled. How solid is that?

In the meantime, Toronto was great. I had several productive calls made and Tuesday night attended my first ever Canadian Hockey experience. My broker and I went to the Air Canada Center and saw the Maple Leafs play the Atlanta Thrashers. I was taken aback by several things. First off, the arena, I think about 3 years old or so, was the nicest I had ever been in. Unlike most of the newer arenas, this held 20,000 people but felt cozy. The concourse was like walking through a mall. They had stores, a brewery, three different sponsored bars, and held their studio show from right there. I think I saw more jerseys of the home team Maple Leafs than any other sporting event I have ever attended. Men and Woman, boys and girls, everyone had a jersey on it seemed. I expected a rowdy, beer drinking crowd. I got the beer drinking part right. I cannot even imagine how many beers were sold at this game. Everyone had a cold Molson Canadian in their hand, including myself. John, my broker, told me before the game that in the first period, the crowd is quiet, the second period they perk up a little, and the third they are loud. Sure enough, during the first period, you could hear a pin drop in there. My brother told me that Canadian hockey fans just want to watch their game. He wasn’t kidding. The second period was also pretty quiet except for a couple of times when the crowd started the lame “Go Leafs Go” chant, which I found odd. The third period may have been a little louder, but overall from an enthusiasm standpoint, I give the crowd a D+. I’ve heard louder crowds at high school basketball games. As for the game, Hockey really is a different game in person. The speed and puck-handling is pretty amazing. That all said I just couldn’t really get into it. I know guys like my boy Beej in LA are die-hard hockey fans, but give me college hoops, football, and baseball all day.

That brings us to today. We were delayed by an hour because of snow and de-icing (I know, again), but I’m in the air and eagerly anticipating 75 and sunny. Good thing two weeks ago it was 60. Last week it was in the 30’s, now we are in the 20’s and I’m headed to LA. Between the weather changes and Leah’s brutal cold that she cannot seem to shake (she can’t take medicine because of the pregnancy), I am such a lock to get sick. The movie on the plane is Pirates of The Caribbean 2. I’ve chosen to pass. Why is it that 90% of the time you get a movie on the plane it is lame? On the way home it’s the Lake House? Come on with that.

Browns/Steelers tonight. Good thing I probably won’t see any of the game thanks to the bogus NFL Network which nobody carries and the fact that my sales meeting ends at 6 and the game starts at 5 PST. Lets see how QB Derek Anderson responds to the 4 quarters of blitzing by the Steelers. I think we get smoked. 21-3 Steelers.

This is the last week of our fantasy football regular season. I haven’t mentioned it much because I’m sure you don’t care. But I have locked up the #2 seed in my division and the playoffs start for me next week. The good news is that the power team in my league, winners of 9 in a row and a record of 12-1 is in my division and the way things work, we can’t meet until the Super Bowl. So keep your eyes on my key guys – Larry Johnson, Shaun Alexander, Carson Palmer, and Torry Holt over the next few weeks. Winner gets $2000 in my league and this year more than any, I could use the money. That can cover a month of my Chicago mortgage that I still pay!

Speaking of which, my policy is not to talk about the condo until something happens. Well, we haven’t sold it unfortunately, but we fired our real estate agent and hired a guy with great success in selling our neighborhood, and our building in particular. We met with him last weekend and he is sharp, focused, and has a plan, unlike our last realtors who did nothing but get us no offers and come back with a lot of excuses.

I know I mentioned this a while back, but I am still reading the Barack Obama book, The Audacity of Hope. I pretty much only read when I travel and this book is taking longer than any book I’ve ever read. But it is just so interesting. Mark P was right when he said you find yourself re-reading paragraphs to make sure you understand what he is putting across. I’ve got about 120 pages left. That should take me another month at this pace. Hahahaha.

The Tribe in their never ending quest to sign old/injured pitchers or cheap position players, has strengthened their bullpen over the last week by signing RHP Roberto Hernandez, LHP Aaron Fultz, and Closer Joe Borowski. Combined, these guys are about 120 years old. Seriously, the only reason we were able to sign Borowski was because he failed his physical with Philadelphia due to shoulder damage. Classic Tribe signing right there – risk vs. reward. But the way things are in baseball, we have no choice but to do things on the cheap. My favorite was in the paper this morning it said we were very interested in another reliever coming off elbow surgery, Octavio Dotel. It said the Devil Rays and Royals are interested in him as well. Tells you all you need to know.

Song of the Day: “Los Angeles Times” by Xzibit