I think it's funny how you slowly become like your parents without realizing it. For instance as I waitied in line to get coffee at McDonalds today, I remembered as a kid being out with my dad in the morning and he always stopping at McDonalds to get coffee. I thought it was cool back then so I got some one time too and YUCK! it was horrible. Well, now I go almost daily to get coffee and love it.
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Here is a riddle for you from a wedding Leigh and I went to on Saturday:
Groom: Bill Earl Smith IV
Best Man: John Cappy Smith Jr. (brother of the groom)
How are two brothers with the same last name a "Jr. and a "the IV"?
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Leigh got scratched in the face by a cat Saturday at work. Amy told me to ask her is she got cat scratch fever. I didn't, because that joke is lame.
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This new Gehry designed IAC building is pretty cool looking, but what is even more interesting to me is the design of the foundation and support structure. It looks as if the building has been hit by a earthquake with all the leaning support beams. Check out the interactive site too, there are a lot of pretty cool pieces to the building that make it sound like it would be nice to work in.
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I haven't decided about the song yet, but this new Chemical Brothers video is very strange.
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If you are in or around Wilmington I suggest you go check out the premier of the surf film "Baggage" tonight at Hollywood East Cinema Grill. It was put together by none other than Nate Lee (my cousin) and looks to be pretty rad.
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I am starting to feel better today, thanks in part to Claritin - the kind you have to go to the pharmacy for and give them your license, etc. Also thanks in part to a lot of sleep over the last couple days and just taking things easy. I am going to go to my soccer game tonight and try to ease back into physical activity.
This weekend we have another wedding to go to, this time one of Leigh's co-workers. I don't know the person nor will I know anyone there, so it will be interesting. Outisde of that, I look forward to just being home for a while and hanging out. Chances are I will be in Charlotte at least one day next week, but maybe I can hold off for a couple weeks for any other trips. Leigh and I did confirm plans for an Aruba trip in June so that will be fun.
Nothing new too say really. I am confused by LOST - the biggest mystery to me right now is why does Richard not age? and why does he take orders from Ben? Is Jacob real? Who is he? If all the Dharma people are dead, why do they still get food drops? If the Losties are getting the food drops, where do the Others get their food from? Is there more than one drop?
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I'm sick. It sucks. That is all.
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This guy is ridiculously cute.
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I am currently in our good old hometown of Wingate where we spent the last couple days preparing for, an ultimately having, my sister (OK, she is technically my sister-in-law but I can't imagine anyone feeling more like my sister than Connie does) Connie's wedding. I spent a lot of time in the last week or so gathering music for the reception, planning out the sequence of it all, making sure I had thee stereo gear and proper setup for both the wedding itself and the reception, etc. It has been stressful, especially since I have been in and out of town a lot in the last two weeks, but it all went great and the wedding was beautiful. I couldn't be happier for Connie and her husband Derick and I am really happy she found such a great guy.
Now we attempt to decompress a little bit and spend some time with family for Mother's Day. I will worry about all the stuff I missed at work and the new projects I am involved in (like managing the redesign of our Retail websites) when I get back on Monday.
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I spent the first part of this week in Miami. It was OK. Impressions:
Miami had a weird mix of really new/fancy, run down (or really just not maintained), and construction. For every one of the twenty or so skyscrapers in the skyline, there was another brand new building being build right beside it. That combined with all the road work gave the impression of the whole city being under construction. You would think it was a brand new city, except for the fact that a lot of the buildings and places that had been there a while were poorly maintained - neon lettering burnt out on the top of a 40 story building, faded houses and shops in fancy downtown areas, etc.
The other thing that bugged me was the lack of bike/run/walk friendly roads. Being at the beach and built on a bay, the city could be the perfect model of a biker/walker friendly city (much like San Diego), but they completely blow it by constructing the roads in a way that it feels dangerous to be on the few streets that did have sidewalks. I hate seeing a city with such potential screw it up. With that said, there were some nice parks along the waterfront, but they were all pretty small and to run 11 miles I had to run through some pretty sketchy territory and over a 1/2 mile long bridge onto the island where all the cruise ships port. Oh and Miami Beach was also a interesting highlight - definitely worth visiting if you are ever down that way.
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I was in Richmond for work last week.
Impression:
Cool city, but seems sorta old. There didn't seem to be a lot of newer development. It may just be that I didn't find it, but overall I felt it was lacking something to really be an exciting city.
I spent the weekend working in the yard and putting together music for Connie's wedding that is coming up this week. Busy days.
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You know how on MTV Cribs or any of those diary shows they always show the rapper or whoever looking at their clothes and they say they never wear a pair of socks twice or never wear a t-shirt twice? Well, while that is extremely wasteful (at least be like Michael Jordan who only wears a pair of shoes once and then donates them to charity), I also see the appeal. You can't beat the feeling of a fresh shirt or pair of socks - and once you wash them, it's gone.
Coming soon, Scott the rapper who only wears his shirts and socks once before donating them to needy mini-Scotts everywhere.
I'm in Richmond for work...much cooler than Roanoke where I was a couple weeks ago. It seems I am on a capitol cities tour - Raleigh, Austin, Denver, Richmond....if only I was going to Tallahassee instead of Miami, FL next week. Work is busy.
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Leigh and I had a great time this weekend at our High School reunion. We saw a lot of friends who we are still in touch with, we saw a some friends who we hadn't seen in a long time but were great to reconnect with, and we saw a lot of other poeple who I hadn't really thought about but were still great to see and hear what they were up to. The best part was probably that after we left the reunion, the majority of our old crew (minus Kim who didn't show, Robby who is still in Japan, and Michael who couldn't make it) went back to Grant's and sata round talking about the good old days. I guess the only thing that sucked is a lot of the people we hung out with in High School were in different classes; people like Jeremy, Derrick, Darren, and that whole crew. We need a "Good Old Days" reuion where we get everyone together from back then, regardless of year they graduated.
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Trent and I have joined a local soccer league and we had out first game Wednesday night. We won 6-0 and seem to have a pretty decent team so hopefully it will be a successful season. It feels good to play again and will be something I look forward to every week.
This weekend Leigh and I are heading home to go to out 10 year high school reunion. I have been interested from the start because of the off chance that a few people I was good friends with but have been unable to reconnect with since high school will be there. There is sure to be lots of other people there as well, but the truth is I had a lot of fun in High School and got along with everyone, so there isn't anyone that I just don't want to see.
I was going to ride my bike to work today, but the weather forecast is Strong Thunder Storms -I'm not that hardcore just yet.
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Letter From Hilton Property Hotel Regarding Negative Feedback I Left Them:
Dear Scot,
My name is Tony Thornhill and I'm the General Manager at the Hampton Inn/Roanoke Hollins in Roanoke VA. I'm also the person who handled your checkout on the day of April 9th at approx, 4:30pm on the day you departed. I have just received your correspondence that you sent to the Hampton Inn Guest Assistance Dept as to why you were being charged for a 2 night stay during your visit.
I'm going to try to cut through some of what I believe to be a "communication breakdown" between what you were trying to do and what you may have been told by one of us at the hotel.
In your letter it says "On the morning of the 9th I notified the Front
Desk that I wasn't sure if I would need the reservation for the night of the 9th. They told me that as long as I checked-out and canceled before the 5pm cut-off I would be fine in canceling the second night".
That has so many confusing bits of dialogue in it I don't know if I even know where to begin, but here goes.
If you have already checked into the hotel (in your case on the 8th for 2 nights) and you need to get rid of the 2nd night after the point of check-in, you are not "canceling a reservation", what you are doing is asking about an early departure. If on the 2nd day you are uncertain as to whether that stay will be necessary you would have to checkout (vacate) the room, and then make a new reservation that is due to arrive on the 9th that could then be canceled by 6pm on that day if necessary.
The way that I understand what you're saying in your letter is that you thought that you could occupy the same room that you checked into on the 8th and just simply extend your checkout time to 5:00pm free of any charges. It doesn't work that way. You yourself even said something to that effect during your checkout. It was something like " Is it possible to consider this a late checkout and not be billed the full 2 nights".
That would suggest to me that you were aware that you were checking out of the hotel sometime after the designated checkout time. If you say you talked to the desk person on the morning of the 9th about canceling a reservation, and they told you "as long as you checked out, and canceled before the 6pm "cut off" then that would be absolutely correct. You must vacate the room by check-out time first, then have the hotel create a new reservation that is due to arrive on the 9th that could then be canceled at 6pm if you didn't require it.
Now, I know I'm using a lot of "hotel lingo" that most travelers just
don't have at their immediate disposal when asking these questions, but I also see in your letter where you mention that you have "many stays at Hilton properties." I don't know what Hampton Inn property is out there advertising a 5pm checkout at no additional charge, but I have to assume that if they are giving 5pm checkouts for free, then that's a hotel that's doing something very wrong, not to mention they are loosing an incredible amount of money. I would fire that General Manger immediately. Once you have occupied the guestroom past 11am (check-out time) and then as in your particular case even past 3pm (which is our check-in time) and then depart at 4:30pm, at that point the room justbecomes a partially used dirty room which the hotel can not clean and have available for re-sell that night. I mean think about it, it's almost equivalent to going to a restaurant and ordering a steak dinner, and then eating half of it, and then saying to the waiter "well I only ate half of the steak so just charge me half the price". As though the restaurant is going to be able to sell a partially eaten piece of a steak to someone else. I mean who does that? By what you're explaining it should then also be possible to check into a hotel at 3pm, and then leave at 9:00pm on the same day and be charged only for a half a day rate because they didn't stay overnight. It doesn't work that way. What that means at that point is that we would then be charging by the hour, which of course we are not, we're charging by usage of the room not by time spent in the room. If you occupy that room past the designated check-out time, or check out before the designated check out time of the next day and that hotel is not able to perform housekeeping services and get that room ready for re-sell, then those full charges apply and is strictly at the hotels discretion as to whether they choose to waive those charges.
So just say for example if you had arrived on the 8th, and then checked out at 12 noon or 1:00pm or 2:00pm on the 9th, and at that time I've still got housekeeping staff on duty who can prep that room for re-sell that night,..then fine, I can handle that and I'll be more than happy to waive those charges because now I still have a room that can be cleaned and re-sold to someone else that night. At 4:30pm that room is useless to me, what am I going to do with that partially used room? I mean, who's going to want a half eaten steak? I know some of what I'm saying must be kind of confusing, but still if you travel as often as you say you do this can't be something you're totally unfamiliar with. If in the future you're traveling for 2 nights, and the 2nd night is uncertain, what you need to do is book for 1 night, then check out the next day, then make a new reservation due to arrive for 1 night that can then be canceled by 6pm on that day if it's not going to be needed.
So in short what I'm trying to say is, there will almost always be a full night's charge for a 4:30pm checkout (which is what you did) But there is NOT a charge for 6:00pm cancellation.
I hope this helps and clears up some of the confusion as to what a cancellation is, and what an early departure is and what a late checkout is. They each have their own meaning and each carry a different procedure as it applies to charges.
And just as a side note, I'll mention that if your 2nd night charge here causes you to stay with a competing hotel as you mentioned in your letter, my advice is to not checkout at 4:30pm, because I've got a feeling you'll be looking for another competing hotel after them. Because I feel as though they will do the exact same thing I did.
Feel free to write back with any questions that you may have.
Thank you,
Tony Thornhill, General Mgr.
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My reply:
Mr. Thornhill,
First off, thank you for your reply. I wasn't expecting to hear from both the employee who checked me out and the manager of the hotel, so it is pretty convenient that you are one in the same. Unfortunately I think this also is what led to your reply sounding defensive and at times confrontational. I would expect that as manager of the hotel you would explain the policies to me as you have, but without questioning me with statements like "but still if you travel as often as you say you do", etc. and making analogies and claims that fall completely outside of what I described as the situation (eating half a steak dinner, checking in for several hours in the middle of the afternoon, etc). I will agree with you that there was obviously a communication breakdown between myself, the morning desk employee, and you. However, you also seem to illustrate in your email below that exactly what I was asking for is possible.
Facts:
The morning of the second day an employee told me that it is possible to have a late check-out and that if I canceled (and I use the term loosely here because I am not sure the exact word used was 'canceled') the second night before 6pm then it shouldn't be a problem only being billed for one night. He did not indicate that I needed to first check-out of the hotel that morning.
I attempted to check out of the hotel around 4:30 on the second day thinking I was in the window of being able to 'cancel' (again used loosely) the second night and that I would possibly have to pay a fee for a late checkout (as I mentioned to you that day and as you referenced below).
During the checkout process when I asked about doing this you simply said no, and refused to provide further explanation. You did not describe the situation as you have below, and you did not go into any more detail. Had you been willing to explain it to me then, perhaps we could have either resolved the issue or at least helped me understand the reason it was not possible, and have avoided this whole exchange of emails and the nasty review.
Now, what I find interesting is the following statements in your email below:
"If you occupy that room past the designated check-out time, or check out before the designated check out time of the next day and that hotel is not able to perform housekeeping services and get that room ready for re-sell, then those full charges apply and is strictly at the hotels discretion as to whether they choose to waive those charges."
In the statement above you say that it "is strictly at the hotels discretion as to whether they choose to waive those charges." By saying that you indicate that it is possible for charges to be waived, but is at the hotel's discretion. So by your own admittance you say it is possible, yet you spent two paragraphs making and analogy about how doing that would be like eating half a dinner and then returning it. I never claimed that it was your hotel or any other hotel's common policy to allow check-outs at 4:30pm and cancellation of the second night. I simply asked if it could be done given my situation: what had been explained to me that morning by the desk clerk, given that I was a frequent Hilton property visitor, and given that my employer frequently booked rooms at the hotel. I was asking for an exception to be made.
"So in short what I'm trying to say is, there will almost always be a full night's charge for a 4:30pm checkout (which is what you did) But there is NOT a charge for 6:00pm cancellation."
You say "there will almost always be a full night's charge for a 4:30pm checkout". Why "almost always" and not "always"? Here again you seem to indicate that there are possible exceptions.
I am not trying to nit pick your email, but as I said, you clearly feel defensive about the situation and interjected a confrontational tone in your email. If you had just explained the details of the policy at any of the 3 different points of interaction (the morning desk clerk, you personally when I checked out, or in the email below) I would not be writing a 3-page email back to you. I do not have to personally pay for the room and the feedback I provided nor this email are about the money. The point is that I felt like I was treated rudely, that I was told something was possible and then was told it was not - without clear explanation as to why, and that I would think Hilton as a company would do what they could to help their frequent guests and important corporate customers - even if (as you say) that means not having a room to re-sale for a given night. The idea being that the $100 you lose from the re-sale of that room (assuming the hotel was booked to capacity and you were having to turn people away) would be worth having a customer who felt like you went out of your way to take care of them. Believe it or not, some companies do put more emphasis on customer satisfaction, and even some other Hilton properties. Clearly the 100% customer satisfaction policy you advertise proudly all over the hotel is more a marketing plan than a true policy.
Sincerely,
Scott
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Leigh and I worked pretty hard this past Saturday - me cutting the grass, pulling out 10 garbage bags of weeds to clean up in front of the hosue, etc. and Leigh cleaning the inside of the house since our Housekeeper is on vacation and missed her cleaning. It was all worth it when we spent Sunday at the beach for a really beautiful day.
While at the beach we were talking about how awesome it is living within 2 hours of a beautiful beach. What would it be like living in the middle of the country were the ocean was always a plane flight away? Would you even know what you were missing if you had always lived somewhere like that? Good questions.
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For the past 2 years I have been using a product called Sovle 360 for my email. It is basically just a fancy web based email system with additional features like file sotrage, a calendar, contact manager, and other goodies. So sorta like a web based Thunderbird. The reason I started using it is because I needed to be able to get to my personal / Silent Uproar email and files wherever I was - work, home, school (at the time), vacation, out of town, etc. With the service I get 10 GB worth of email storage and...anyway, I know you don't care about all that, but the point is I love it. I just had to renew my plan and I noticed that it marks the 2 year anniversary of using it. Along with that comes some stats:
Emails Received: 81,762
SPAM Email: 43,804
Legitimate Email: 37,958
Emails Saved: 1,522
Emails Sent: 8,134
Emails Sent to Michael: 978
Emails Sent to Robbie: 1,132
Michael and Robbie, together you account for 26% of all emails I sent in the last 2 years. Scary.
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Can a plane really do that?
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Check out this article about a 1400 year old business. I guess the sad part is that it was just forced to shut down.
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Well after talking about it (to myself) for a couple months and making every excuse in the world not to, I finally rode my bike to work today (start laughing now Trent). Today was a little rough because I hadn't planned ahead and as a result had to bring my laptop, a change of clothes and shoes, a towel and toiletries for the shower, and some other work items with me. It was definitely too much to carry and prevented me from being able to stand up when going up long hills, etc. I will also say that it is a bit scary riding down a 4-lane road and trusting that no one is going to hit you. Fortunately the roads are a little wider and about 2 miles of the 9 mile trip has a bike lane.
All in all I am pretty happy about it and hope to make this a more regular thing. Of course I say that before I have biked all the way home.
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Denver was a blast and many thanks to Jeremy and Heidi for hosting me and keeping me entertained. I was really impressed with Denver and all the city had to offer. There looked to be lots of great independent coffe shops, restaraunts, stores, etc and I don't see that a lot here. Plus, the fact that the city seems to revolve around the outdoors and all the things you can do (hike, mtn bike, ski, raft, canoe, etc, etc) outside has a lot of appeal to me. We ate 3 times a day and every single meal I ate was not only great, but was in a really cool place (well OK, lunch at Wendy's was the one exception). While I could probably provide the same eating experience for someone in Raleigh, it would involve exhausting all the cool options after 3 days or so; however, it felt liked we barely scratched the surface in Denver.
So, it was obviosuly a great trip and I look forward to going back with Leigh again sometime soon. While I miss Jeremy quite a bit, it is cool having friends in other cities because it provides a great reason to visit them and also allows you to get the insider perspective about all the cool spots.
Look for some pictures and snowboarding videos as soon as I can get them off my camera.
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This week has really flown by, seems like it was just Monday. Well in an hour or so I am off to see the wizard - that is if the wizard is Jeremy in Denver. It looks to be a cold snowy weekend in Denver and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Julie, send me an email and maybe we can meet for breakfast on Sunday or something.
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I drove to Roanoke, VA yesterday for work and returned home today. I had this whole paragraph planned about all the odd things I saw along the way (like a group a people in their yard in a big circle crumping), but what takes the cake happened on the way home.
After driving for 3+ hours on Virgina two-lane back roads with names like Hwy 7823, I had been stuck behind a guy going about 50 for a good 30 mins or so when I finally got the chance to pass him. I did so and was probably a bit excessive with the speed I used to pass him due to my general annoyance at that point. Problem is that when I got back in my lane a state trooper rounded the hill and clocked my speed as he drove past me. The damage? 83 in a 55. While I have faith that some well greased lawyer palms will get this reduced to something that doesn't sound quite so bad, it is going to cost me a pretty penny to do so and means a trip back to VA in June. Oh, the officer also gave me another ticker because the address on my driver's license wasn't up to date and another one because my inspection expired last month. Good times.
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I randomly got an email this morning asking if I would interview Perry Farrell today at noon about his new project Satellite Party. I can remember sitting at the beach with my friend Daniel when I was in high school and watching a Porno for Pyros video on MTV and how great it was. I never could have imaged that 13 years later I would be talking to the singer of that band on a random Friday afternoon.
I have done quite a few interviews over the last 7 years for SU and sometimes I forget how amazing it is that I am talking to people like Perry Farrell, Ken Andrews, Pete Yorn, Matt Mahaffey, Page Hamilton, Jimmy Chamberlin, Reverend Run and bands I have been a huge fan of like Toadies, 311, Doves, Secret Machines, Helmet, System of a Down, Cursive, and Silverchair. I know a lot of those bands won't mean much to some of you, but regardless of your musical tastes, being able to talk to bands and musicians that are huge to you is pretty amazing.
All-time dream interview list of people I still haven't talked to? Bjork, Tori Amos, Beck, Tool, and Regurgitator.
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I am feeling rather on top of my life right now. I have gotten a lot of things out of the way and while normally I have a backlog of work to do at the office, at home, with SU, and personally, that list has gotten very small and it's a nice feeling. Yay team Scott.
Speaking of team Scott, Padillal get a Flickr account already so I can see your new house!
Speaking of new houses - I really like our house and despite the amount of work we still need to do, I really don't want to move anytime soon. I keep looking at some job opportunities in Charlotte and could technically move tomorrow and have a great higher-paying job there, but I really like living in Raleigh and am having a hard time convincing myself that it would be good to leave. Leigh is also really happy with her job situation here so that adds another item to the Pros list for staying in Raleigh. Now we just need to get countertops installed, the house painted, crown molding put in, our stove fixed, our bathrooms remodeled, and our yard properly landscaped. Then we will be all set (10 years later).
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I went for a quick little run around the neighborhood tonight (OK, an hour and a half isn't exactly quick), and as I was running as hard as I could to finish my 10th mile in 6:45, I realized that I finally feel like a runner.
I have been running off and on in some capacity since I was a kid - I ran the 2 miler in track in high school and have run some ever since. However, it isn't until the last 6 months or so that I have felt like I can call myself "a runner". What changed? Well to start with I had knee surgery last year to fix a 10 year old soccer injury that tore cartilage in my knee. Once I had the surgery I no longer had an excuse for not running and pushing myself. From there it was all uphill. So why do I finally think I can call myself a runner? Well to me what makes someone a runner is really more of a mental thing than a physical one.
Running is the most primal 'sport' and despite the fancy GPS watch, iPod, expensive shoes and clothes I usually run with, all you need to run is you and open land. Anyone can run and billions of people do all over the world; however, something separates the average Joe jogging around the neighborhood from the runner. I realized tonight that at some point I made the transition from running just for exercise to running to push myself physically. With that comes the understanding and acceptance that running often equals pain and this is part of why you run. You see, the mental ability to tell your body that it doesn't matter if it hurts - if your legs feel like rocks, if your joints feel like they are going to explode, or if your heart is beating out of control - but, to keep going and to run harder - that is what makes someone a runner.
When training for my first marathon last year there were points on the long runs where I was actually talking to my body, telling it that it is nothing compared to what my mind kind achieve and that it was far inferior - out loud. While that is a bit silly, it was what I needed at the time to mentally convince my body to keep going and ignore all the pain I was feeling. While the amount of convincing needed varies depending on the length, distance, and pace of the run, it is always there and if there isn't some since of discomfort and mental toughness to my run then I don't feel like it was much of an effort.
That my friends is why I finally feel like a runner. Thanks to people like Dean Karnazes and Jeremy for being inspiration. Seriously Jeremy.
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Somtimes it is nice to just chill over the weekend, and sometimes it is nice to feel like you actually accompished something. This weekend I feel like I got a lot done. I spent Saturday helping Trent and family build a fence in Trent's back yard. I have never built one like that from scratch (all my fence building growing up was just post with barb wite or electric wire running between it) so now I know how to do it if I ever need to. Sunday I did a lot of work around our house, did some SU work, and spent 2 hours at Target trying to buy groceries only to ultimately leave with nothing because their computers kept crashing. Damn IT people.
It looks like I might go for a record and actually stay in town for two straight weeks. This week looks to be shaping up nicely.
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The second part of this video gives me chills. It makes me remember how amazing the Arcade Fire show I saw was and how powerful that song is live.
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My arm is on fire from all the nice poison ivy I got from working in my yard this weekend. I can't stop scratching!!
I made my way to work this morning only to get there and then feel absolutely horrible. I tried to stick it out, but had a monster headache, felt really dizzy and had an upset stomach so I went home and went to bed. I am feeling better now, but not sure what hit me this morning and hoping whatever it was has passed.
Leigh brought me a frosty for dinner...yum!
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"Nice Tuxedo....To Die In!"
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I don't know what happened to the last week, here I sit and it is Sunday night. I will say I had to go to Charlotte (no surprise there), but I also have some changes coming at work that were set in motion last week. For one thing I did some interviews to hire a new person who will act as a project administrator for me. This will make my life much less stressful. However, there is also other things going on that I will just have to wait and see how they play out.
Outside of work, Silent Uproar is throwing another Royal Flush party this Friday at Kings. That means this week will be spend putting up flyers, hopefully getting on the radio to promote the show, and just hyping it up as much as possible in general. I think this will be a good one so if you can come out you should.
I think I will be staying here in town this week. That is a reward in and of itself.
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Here is the full list of band's I saw play at SXSW:
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I'm back home and it was a pretty amazing week. So much music, so much free BBQ and drinks, so much walking. I will post a more real update tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to say I'm home safe and sound.
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Robozo is the personal blog of a pretty normal (boring) guy living in Concord, NC.
