sunsets, sailing, Duval street, Oh my!!!

We're enjoying a week off,  in sunny Key West, Florida. The familiar names were all way points on the drive South and West...Key Largo, Islamorado, Marathon and then Key West. All spaced comfortably along highway 1 as we made our way past Florida City, the last outpost on the peninsula of Florida. About 120 miles of two-lane highway and 45 MPH speed limits!!

We arrived Sunday, mid-afternoon to sunny skies and warm breezes. We were directed to our room, Ocean front, King Bed...home for the week. As we entered, we thought we smelled, cigarette smoke, even the bellman noticed it. We  let it slide, though we did discuss talking to management. We dismissed the idea, un-packed and we on a stroll. When we returned, we smelled it again, called the front desk and asked for a manager to come smell for themselves. The gal at the front desk said somebody would be right up...after a 20 minute wait I walked to the front desk and repeated my plea. After consultation with a manager, they agreed to move us a very nice suite. Wasn't ocean front, but 2 bedrooms, living room, 2 baths and huge entry which we dubbed the sports closet. Life is good at the Westin!!

Sunday night we missed the sunset as we were "moving"...the front  desk that was to send the bellman to move our things, never showed!! Hard to get good help in Key West I guess. We dined at the hotel...The Lobster Quesadilla I had as an appetizer was to die for...

Monday morning was a walk to Starbucks for 2 triple venti non fat light foam latte's and a newspaper. We had brought cereal and milk, cheapskates that we are...Focused on spending our money on dinner and wine!! We also made a publix run for lunch fixens, wine, and essentials. Monday night was a seafood restaurant "The Commodore" at the harbor. Very nice views with good food. Tuesday night we went to 915, on Duval at 915...excellent tapas restaurant in the two block section that hosts the "drag  shows" and other alternative lifestyle portion of Key West. 

On Tuesday I went to see if we could extend our stay until Saturday as we'd only scheduled till Friday...more focused on the stay 4 nights get 1 free promo that starwood had. The front desk could do nothing, they said they showed vacancies, but we needed to make a new reservation on the 800 number. Calling the 800 number was no use as they showed the hotel was booked solid. You see the Today Show is coming to Key West, staying at our resort and broadcasting the show from the sunset promenade...in front of the hotel. -- I retreated, defeated...knowing we'd have to depart on Friday as planned. 

Wednesday night we signed up for a "wind and wine" sunset cruise on a small two masted schooner that hosts about 20 guests with a captain and crew of two. It was fantastic!!  They had about 10 different wines ranging from Champagne to pinot gris to a hearty  Malbac (Argentina red)...the crew was a blast, the sailing comfortable and the sunset views spectacular!! That night we ate back at the hotel and feasted on Lobster Quesadilla's (again) and Cesar salad...yumm!

Thursday we were scheduled for a snorkel trip to the reef...The 3rd largest barrier reef in the world behind the great barrier in Australia and the reef along Belize. After our morning walk to 'bucks and reading the newspaper, Lisa noticed that the Today show postponed their trip due to the "Swine Flu epidemic"...yours truly, jumped on the Starwood website and found us a room for Friday night...I walked down to the front desk, confirmation number in hand and got us the added night and we don't have to move!! -- The snorkel trip was a bit of a bust, lumpy seas, a cattle car boat and nothing much to see. We also noticed the ocean salinity is much greater than Maui!! 

That's it for now, I'll write more about Duval street and the Mallory Square street performers in my next post. I have a sunset to catch!...

The times they are a changing...

Oracle to Buy Sun Microsystems for $9.50/share!!

It's been all over the business news! It's all the talk in the office. We've had numerous "all-hands" calls, with another tomorrow. Big changes are coming! -- I've been at Sun for 20 years, grew up in this company and have loved almost every minute. It's created a great career. Allowed me to travel all over the globe. Met my wife here and numerous other friends. Most of my social network is Sun related. -- Maybe I should diversify -- but why? it's served me well for 20 years, but it'll soon be over. I don't know what the future holds, nobody does, but there has never been a better company for me. 

I was very worried during the IBM rumors and a little less so with Oracle. With IBM I would guarantee I would not have a role. With Oracle I think the odds are 40/60...there's a chance, but I think it's slim. -- only time will tell!!

If things don't work out...It'll be time for "Dave2.0  the next chapter" -- That could be fun too! Maybe everybody needs to re-start at 50!!

When did the music business change?

Why is it so hard to buy a cd of music anymore? When did that all change? It's tough to find a place to just search for music. The joy of combing through the racks. Searching for that long ago album that you really want. It used to be going to the record store was akin to a treasure hunt. Now the hunt is finding the store and then it's probably no treasure. 

I wanted to get the new "Counting Crows" after I heard them on Palladium (HD on Comcast).  I had to settle for a "Barnes and Noble" and then I got the last disk...there was only one. I also wanted to pick up Darius Rucker...of "Hootie and the Blowfish" fame. He'd done a country cd...of course it was mis filed...and of course there was only one. -- Lisa threw in the new Springsteen for good measure.

While I was one of the last people to get an iPod, I have not bought any music from the iTunes store. I don't buy a song at a time. If I like an artist, I want to go deep in their catelog and find some gems. That's increasingly hard to do. -- I don't want to search for music at Amazon either. I want to go to a store, spend some time, find what I want and leave. Pop the cd in on the ride home and enjoy my new music!! -- I think only buying "a" song...popular or not, is not what the artist or the record company intended. 

I have also converted a lot of my cd collection to my iPod...song for song...not just some. I want the entire album on my iPod not just the hits...I also don't let my iPod delete the duplicate songs, I want the albums as the artist intended. Who cares if I have 5 versions of "yellow" from Cold Play?

Call me old fashioned, but storage is cheap and people are missing some great music if they only buy a song at a time or don't capture the entirety of the album.

Bring back my "Tower Records" or Rocky Mountain Records or "-----" insert your favorite here!

Tax Day 2009

Well we got our taxes filed yesterday!! -- I don't usually file on the 2nd to last day, but the logistics of living in Florida and having them prepared in Colorado created some unintended latency in the process. We're getting a small refund by our historical standards, but it beats paying!! -- The thing that apparently saved us, was the excess FICA Sun deducted, when I changed payrolls in July...I grumbled when that happened, but it seemed to have been worth it.

I'm not sure how many folks still do there own taxes, given the complexity any more, it seems daunting. I sleep better knowing the person who's done them for the last 10 years is doing them again. I did a quick estimate in March and was expecting a big tax hit. Having alerted Lisa, (which did not go over very well) we had an unexpected surprise!! I really need to work on my "delivering bad news" technique. I need to change my withholding a little so as not to have a surprise next year. We like to neither get a large refund or owe anything. Florida has not state income tax, which helps our paycheck today, but that also makes our tax deduction smaller. Couple that with our recent refinance of our primary residence in Westminster, (which is in actuality a 2nd residence...huh?!) we'll also have a lower interest deduction. See how complicated this has become? -- Then don't get me started an the AMT!!

The Long Flight home...

My time in Buenos Aires was great. The weather was awesome! I got a lot done at the office, though my timing could have been better. You see Easter is an important holiday across Latin America. Most countries had Friday off, while Argentina had Thursday off as well. I did go to the office as most of my staff was in, but Friday I worked from the hotel. They treated me very well (yet again) and gave me a late checkout (5 pm).

The ride to the airport was a quick 25 minutes as there was very little traffic. The airport was also uncrowded, or seemingly so. Previous trips had me standing in long lines with crowds. As it's now Autmn, the kids are back in school and probably less travel over all. I saw no cruise ships this trip. I've also figured out the airport and have a few secrets for my next trip.  I had checked AA.com before heading to the airport and expected to have my status updated but no such luck. I was still in Group 3, which I worry about given I was carrying on my luggage. I should qualify for priority access, as I crossed the 25,000 mile mark on the way down, but my status was not yet updated in the local systems.  I made my way to the Admirals club for free wine (booze too) and snacks. 

At the appointed time I wandered to gate 8 (always leave from gate 8)  and milled about,  with all the others. The flight was full...I tried to board with Group 2, but was denied..."We haven't called group 3" the woman said. ($%#!) -- I found my seat 34C, plenty of room in the over head for both bags as I placed  magazines, ipod, headphones and arranged them for convienent access in my seat pocket.  A family of 3 joined my row, parents and what looked like a 2 year old boy. We settled in for what would be a long night. We left on time and slowly gained altitude to our cruising height of 39,000 feet. The 2 year old was not happy and he let us all know about it.  He had a friend a few rows back that also joined in with the crying. The headphones were soon on, but even the noise canceling feature could not block out the stereo sounds of two whiny and crying kids. I settled in to the latest Tom Cruise film "Valkyrie" and tried to ignore the crying.

The 777 had individual entertainment, with  a variety of TV shows, Movies, Music and GPS Navigational data, so you can plot our seemingly slow progress. I rallyed about 1:30  am and watched the "Yes Man" with Drew Carrie. A bit of a romantic comedy and it helped pass the time. 4:30 and landing could not come soon enough!!  As we started our descent, again with the sreaming kids,  as the change in airpressure was impacting their ears. Soon we were at our gate, on time and de-boarding. Then it was a race to passport control (modest line) and customs. My driver was waiting (Yeah!!!) as I would not dare ask Lisa to pick me up at this un-godly hour.

It was a silent drive back to Boca after the long flight home. 

Argentina...

I'm spending most of the week in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have a number of employess here and it's quarter end. We have a bunch of activities to accomplish and I'm hosting an all-hands meeting for my 20 or so employees. The flight down was uneventfull and the plane was packed!! There was no lines at immegration and customs was a breeze; my driver was waiting (not like last time) and being Sunday morning it was a quick 25 minutes to the hotel. 

Gonzalo my controller had organized a "sailing expedition" - The weather was perfect, winds about 15-18 knots, flat seas and a racing boat. We went out for a few hours then we were done. We helped fold the sails and put stuff away and he delivered me back to the hotel.

We're all waiting for tomorrow to see if there's a "Big Announcement"...till then...