Saturday, July 30, 2005

Vosges Haute Chocolate

I was introduced to Vosges by my cousin Todd Mussman, a.k.a. Muss of Muss & Turner's, where I got four different bars of Vosges Chocolate and the Aztec Elixir Cocoa. This is amazing stuff!

I gave Steph the Aztec Elixir for her birthday. We drank a cup after her birthday dinner, handily whipped up with my molinillo — a hand-made Oaxacan wooden chocolate mixer that whips the chocolate into a froth. We were hooked by the deep chocolate flavors that coated our mouths at the first sip.

In Caesar's Palace Forum Shops there is a Vosges retail store where I picked up a box of the Collection Italiano. Clearly, I must be turning into a chocolate fanatic. You wouldn't catch me dead spending $37+ on a box of 9 truffles from Godiva, but I knew this would be worth the price. We each had a Rooster — Italian taleggio cheese, organic walnuts, Tahitian vanilla beans and bittersweet dark chocolate — this is the only chocolate truffle I have ever seen that comes with eating instructions! Steph and I sat in stunned silence after eating one of these apiece last night. Every day should be filled with that much bliss... and chocolate!

So now I have a new favorite chocolatier. Well, not really. If I want classic chocolates, Mary Chocolatier in Brussels is the place to go. Ordering online is a rip-off, since the $10 I spent on a pound of chocolate when I was in Brussels would cost over $100 delivered... perhaps for a special occassion that might be nice. However, if I want unique, modern chocolates, I'll head to Vosges every time. I won't turn away Godiva, but you won't catch me spending any money there in the future. And I still love a Snickers bar... but that's not going to fill my chocolate cravings.

Friday, July 29, 2005

America West Airlines Sucks.

I'm sitting at the airport in Vegas — the video poker machines are annoying as hell when you're tired and cranky — and tried to get information on my flight from a gate agent. After confirming the gate info I asked if the flight was on time. I was told "I'm too busy to answer that, go to your gate and ask an agent over there." At my gate the agents were trying to board another flight and they had a huge line. *sigh* Customer service at its finest.

This is another crappy airline to add to the list of airlines that I should avoid flying if at all possible.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Thinking...

I'm on my way to Las Vegas now and I have some updates for the previous post.

1) I'm not flying through Salt Lake City, I never was.
2) I accepted $400 in travel vouchers from America West to be bumped from my flight to Vegas via Phoenix.
3) I accepted a flight on Delta, leaving 30 minutes after my original flight. The flight is direct to Las Vegas, so I arrive 2 hours before I planned. w00t.

So, I haven't even arrived in Vegas and I am already up $400! I'm pretty good at this gambling stuff. ;-) We'll see how I fare at the BlackJack table tonight. Hopefully I'll do as well as my coworker Amol, who put a coin in a slot machine and won $350. Lucky bastard is up $500 already — he spent the weekend in Vegas — and we don't leave until Thursday!

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Sitting here in the airport...

I began to think about the places I have been around the US and the world. So here's a map of the places I have been to or been through (e.g. a layover in Timbuktu counts).

States in the U.S.A. (I may have been to Maine as a kid, I don't recall).



Next week I will add Utah and Nevada to the list. I'm passing through Salt Lake City on the way to Las Vegas for BlackHat 2005.

Countries



Not a terribly impressive list. It's hard to see the Carribean countries I have visited (U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico) and the European Countries (France, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary). Clearly I need to travel more around the world, although I feel pretty worldly compared to most people I know... Looking at this reminds me how much I want to visit South America.

(Yes, I know the maps look squished. Blame www.world66.com, its their map.)

Friday, July 22, 2005

Aloha!



Diamondhead
Oahu, Hawaii
I've been in Hawaii for the past 44 hours, give or take a few, and I'm waiting for my flight back to Atlanta. Oahu was beautiful! I stayed in Waikiki, but unfortunately this was a work trip so it left little time for sightseeing. Work was great, this is a fun place to do business and the people are so incredibly nice. I just wish I had more time to explore the island. In fact, I didn't even get to the beach, my bathing suit is still in my suitcase, as clean as when I left. This is as close as I got to the ocean in the past two days.

Unfortunately, its time to head back to Atlanta. Let's do the math:

47 hours in Hawaii.

24 hours travel time.

I will spend a little more than a third of this trip in the air or waiting in airports. Ugh! The life of a road warrior isn't all its cracked up to be sometimes.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Miles' Bris



Miles & Uncle Dean
Yesterday was Miles' biggest adventure yet, his bris! (Ouch!) Both sets of grandparents, his great-grandparents, Uncle Dean, Aunt Stephanie and friends were there to celebrate this day.



Miles & Aunt Stephanie

Miles & Great-Grandma




Miles

Miles & Mom




Miles, Mom & Dad

Great-Grandpa