Has it really been almost a month since I last blogged?  Wow?  Well, let's see . . . As usual, it's been a busy couple of weeks!  

KJ's lax season is winding down but volleyball is in full swing.  It feels like this travel volleyball season has gone on FOREVER.  We were supposed to participated in a tournament at the U of Delaware last weekend but at the last minute the team decided to do a tournament closer to home and the girls ended up winning it all.  KJ, like T, has had a difficult time juggling the two sports (T had to juggle dance team and lax in high school).  Actually, I shouldn't say that.  She's been very clear on what she needs to do to be a contributing member of each squad and has to make some tough decisions.  I think she's done a great job (especially maintaining her grades!  Honor Roll again baby!!!).  It's been her coaches who have had a harder time.  She's had to miss some lax for volleyball and vice versa.  The weekend they won the volleyball tournament she had to miss a lax game and her lax coach was a little upset with her.  On the flip side, she's had to miss volleyball for lax.  Fortunately, she's playing great on both both squads and has had two lax goals this season so far and numerous assists!  Big Daddy is SO proud!!!

Easter in Dallas was a ton of fun and we had such a great time at Six Flags with T-bone and Pony Boy!  Johnny Frat-Boy had never been on extreme roller coasters before and I think he had a thrilling time!  We had a wonderful brunch at the Westin and after T and Fratty headed back to Oxford, KJ, Cosmo and I spent the afternoon exploring downtown and did the tour at the Book Depository at Dealy Square.  Fascinating exhibit and the history nerd in me loved it!  We also walked around the campus SMU.  Monday, while Cosmo was at the office, KJ did some shopping at Grapevine Mills and had a fun lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and walked around the quaint town of Grapevine.  We fond the new Steel City Pops and chilled with some pops and had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant before KJ and I flew back to Baltimore.  Cosmo likes the Dallas branch and his apartment is very cool, kinda feels like an upscale New York loft -- HUGE bathroom, granite counters, chef's kitchen, etc.

Cosmo flew home this weekend and my parents were also here for a few days on their way back to PA from wintering in FL.  It was a nice, low-key weekend.  The weather was nice, but only in the low 60's w/ lots of sunshine,  We had Jimmie Cone for the first time this season on our way to dropping Cosmo off at the airport.

Gotta busy week coming up -- lots of landscaping going on and we're going to open the pool soon.  KJ has lax and volleyball this week and I've got to get my car registered in Maryland since my Alabama registration is about to expire.

Rules of the Road

I have lived in several different states.  I have driven in several different cities each with their own particular brand of commuter hell.  I have driven under different and often severe conditions -- heavy, heavy traffic, construction, extreme weather (rain, sleet, snow, freezing rain, limited visibility, etc.).

My current situation has me on the road anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour each way to the office.  So, on a bad day, I've been in my car 2+ hours.  I think I'm a pretty damn good driver.  I'm considerate of my fellow Road Warriors.  I follow the minimum speed limit, I only use the left lane for passing and I follow the rules of merging.  And I don't use my phone while driving (which is Primary Offense in the state of Maryland:  http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/2013/12/18/4099575/)

During my daily drive I see all sorts of crazy, crazy stuff.  I see vehicles in the left lane doing anywhere from 10 to 15 mph UNDER the posted speed limit.  I see people texting.  I see people blatantly talking on their cell phones.  I see horribly aggressive drivers.  I see people who haven't secured the crap in the back of their pick-up trucks and now that stuff is flying all over the highway.

My daily commute has me merging onto several different major highways, minor highways and secondary roads.  Merging is probably one of the most common causes of driving accidents and I've seen the stupidity first hand.  People, let's follow a couple of basic rules and we can all merge together into one big, happy road trippin' family:

• don't merge too early (you know who you are -- you're the driver who thinks he's cool and guns it and jerks the wheel to the left to get in the lane before everyone else.  Don't merge on the single white line; you should never cross a solid white line -- Driver 101).  
• don't merge too late (you know who you are -- you're the driver who guns it and tries to get ahead of your fellow mergers; almost as if to say "haha!  look at all you suckers who did the right thing and merged properly!  I'm too cool for that!  I don't have to wait to merge!  I drive a big ass Suburban and can make my own rules!).  
• if you have the opportunity to move over a lane and allow merging cars easier entry to the highway, please be a pal!  
• remember the Zipper rule when in a merging situation -- it's every other car.  

• don't be an ass.  If someone doesn't follow the Zipper rule, say a little prayer for them.  They are stupid and don't know any better.  Don't ride their ass the rest of your commute, don't honk at them, don't give them the finger.  

While we're at it, let's just remember a couple of safe driving tips that will help you get to your destination in one piece:  

• No cell phones!
• Use your blinkers / directionals, whatever you want to call it.  Just use it for God's sake.  Most of us are not mind readers.
• Stay the hell out of the left lane if you are incapable of driving the Minimum speed.  This particularly applies to drivers who:
• are over the age of 70
• can't see over the steering wheel
• are driving a Smart Car or any one of those other Clown Cars
• are hauling shit -- a camper, a boat, a horse trailer, landscaping equipment, etc.  
• who are intimidated by the 18-wheeler in the right lane next to them and are afraid to pass

Thank you and have a nice day!  Happy Driving!!!

Lax Life / Laxer for Life

Yay!  Yay!  Yay!!  KJ finally had an official high school lacrosse game!  They lost by 1 but considering our girls have only been on the field two or three times, I'd say it was a success!  The weather has been so horrible and has totally wrecked the fields so they've mostly been in the gym conditioning and working on stick stills.  Some of the new girls were unsure about the hash marks, marking-up, etc.  KJ is definitely one of, if not the most, aggressive player on the team (shocker!) and definitely has great stick skills.  She still has a lot to learn but she really did great yesterday.  She had a couple of shots on goal, didn't score, but still took the shot nevertheless.  She played a little attack, she played a little defense as well.  She likes attack better.

I love the girls' uniforms and naturally my child has to coordinate her cleats and shoelaces.  She said they looked like a bunch of highlighters running around out there.

Unfortunately, Coach Stone couldn't be at the first game due to a family scheduling conflict but she asked Champ to help on the sidelines.  He warmed up the goalie and helped the assistant coach run the lines and was very vocal from the sidelines (shocker!).  I know it was killing him to keep quiet for most of the game and defer to the assistant coach but he did point out (rather loudly) to the ref that he awarded the ball to the wrong team.  Ref acknowledged he made a mistake, gave the ball to us and game on.

Being a little sassy and giving a lot of attitude on the field.  

Weak Week Coming Up

So this is my last week at the hotel and it's starting off kind of weird.  The last week is always hard -- trying to wrap things up, saying good-bye to co-workers, not being included in next week's stuff / schedule / etc.  I like my job very much but the commute is killing me and it has become not really worth it.  I've told KJ I'm going to be Super Mom and make her lunch every morning and drive her to school each day.  :-)

Cosmo had a busy weekend in Rockland.  He drove up to help clean out his mom's house and brought home a box of memories -- lots of photos and fun stuff.  On Sunday there was a mass for his mom which was nice and he got to spend some time with the twins.  And Fuji.

KJ's game Friday was cancelled due to weather and has been rescheduled for next week.  This week she has two lax games and a tailgate party and three nights worth of volleyball as well as a one-day tournament on Saturday.  She's going to be exhausted.

This weekend I started watching the new original series on Netflix, "Bloodlines."  I really liked it.  A lot of people on the internet said it was very slow moving and they couldn't get past episode 1 but I thought it was a lot like HBO's "True Detectives" in that it was a slow build.  And, of course, who doesn't love watching Kyle Chandler AKA Coach Taylor???

So Happy It's Friday

So, So Happy It's Friday!  It's been a lllloooooonnnnngggg week. KJ is supposed to have her very first official high school lax game today but it looks like this freaky Spring storm may cancel it.  They had a great scrimmage Tuesday afternoon and I know she's really looking forward to getting the season underway!  She played great -- a little attack, a little defense (she likes attack better) and, of course, Daddy's been warming up the goalie for the team.  I knew he couldn't stay away.  Lacrosse, to him, is like the Mafia.  It pulls him back in.  It's like crack.

Really looking forward to the weekend -- we have absolutely nothing to do!  No where to be, no games to sit at, no commitments.  Unfortunately, KJ does have a viewing to attend at some point this weekend.  One of the girls from her volleyball team's father passed away suddenly Wednesday night.  Very nice family and my heart just breaks for Jenna.  She's a very sweet, very quiet young lady and her parents were at every game, every event and always held hands.

I think it's time for Cosmo to stary looking for a new car.  He has my old Lexus (which has 250K+ miles on it!).  It's time to say good bye.  I loved driving the Lexus and hope he gets something similar.  We definitely need some type of SUV for our "stuff."  The Lexus got great gas mileage and I don't think we need to get a big rig or anything like that.  We're down to one kid so it's not like we're carpooling and doing a bunch of stuff like that.  We're beyond that.

Easter is fast approaching and I'm so glad the four of us (possibly 5 of us!) will all be together!  Last year T flew home but because of the limited number of direct flights from BWI to Memphis, she had to fly out early in the morning and didn't even have Easter dinner with us.  Matt and Kristen came for dinner so that was nice.  This year I think we're going to have brunch at the Gaylord or something.  IDK.  Cosmo is handling it.  Although I don't mind cooking, it will be nice to have someone else doing it.  And cleaning up!  :-)

We received some additional info about our cruise to Europe and couldn't be more excited!  Rome, Florence/Pisa, Cannes, Barcelona and Naples.  Whoop!  Whoop!  T and I have been to Rome, Florence and Pisa but I am SO looking forward to experiencing those cities with Cosmo!  This will be a different trip -- definitely more romantic than when I traveled with my high school freshman!

Hospitality

I love being in the Hospitality Industry.  I really do.  I love meeting new people, I love helping people and I love that every day is different -- it's not a typical 9 to 5 job.

When you work at a hotel, you see all types of people -- you see families traveling on vacation, you see people who rarely travel and have no idea how to handle reservations, you see professional men and women who travel for a living and barely make a blip on the radar.  They pack lightly, they check in early evening and are usually gone by breakfast.  They don't ask for much and don't require much hand-holding.  I did, however, have a client at a previous property who insisted she be personally walked to her guest room no matter what time she checked in (4 AM or 4 PM).  She also had other issues which we commonly refer to as Power Tripping.  Power Trippers like to use phrases such as "do you know how much my company spends here a year??" or "do you know who I am??"   Female Power Trippers are the worst.  Female guests are horribly nasty to female front desk associates.

Then, there are the people that are not nice no matter the situation.  Even if that situation is a result of their own actions or inability to prepare properly.  Today I had a client walk into the Sales Office at 8 AM and ask if she there was somewhere she could charge her phone.  Of course!  So I directed her to the Business Center which has a row outlets.  Turns out she didn't have the actual charger.  I then directed her to the Front Desk to see if we had any iPhone 5 chargers in the lost and found box.  We did not.  She carried on like a crazy lady and "could not believe that this hotel does not have spare iPhone 5 chargers."  Seriously?  It's a hotel.  Not an Apple store (which, by the way, is across the street at the mall.  Within walking distance).  She then went on to say that it is now 8:15 AM and the shuttle service was supposed to take her to the local office at 8 AM.  Which shuttle service?  Our van here at the hotel or an outside company?  She said it was the same company that dropped her off last night.  Okkkaaaaayyyy???  I offered to contact the shuttle service for her and find out where they were.  She did not know what the name of the shuttle company was, she did not know where she was going for her morning meeting and when I offered to call her contact at her local office, she did not even have a name.  When I asked her for her name, turns out she was a doctor of some type.  Seriously lady?  Who dresses you in the morning?

Lax Season is Upon Us !!!

Excited for lacrosse season to officially begin!  Tomorrow KJ has her first scrimmage as a Damascus Hornet.  It's supposed to rain but that's OK.  Between Cosmo coaching and the both girls, I've sat through hundreds of rainy games -- lax, soccer, softball and even half-time at football game.when T danced.

The lax team had a fundraiser the other night at one of the local restaurants we had never been to before.  Cosmo was out of town but I went and had a great sandwich and then took her to volleyball practice.  The poor thing is just exhausted this week but she's been a trooper.  She's had lax practice every day this week after school until 5 PM and she's had volleyball practice from 8 to 10 PM three nights this week.  The nights she's had volleyball we don't walk in the door until 10:30 PM or so but she's gotten up pretty good every morning this week.  She takes after me -- the girl needs her sleep and likes her naps!

T had a successful Spring Break despite not leaving Oxford.  At the last minute she decided to forgo a trip to the beach so she could work with the local Boys & Girls club.  She said she had a lot of fun and the kids were pretty great!  One day she had little kids (pre-schoolers), the next was a little older (maybe 1st or 2nd grade) and they made cards to be delivered to the local veterans.  A couple of the kids made cards for T instead and they were so sweet!  The last day the kids were a little older (10-12).  Yesterday she spent the day in Amory with her pageant director and this weekend she and Pony Boy are heading to his hometown and then to the beach for a few days.