Computer Crazy!!

I have spent more time on the phone with Dell Computers and Centurylink (our phone company and internet) the last couple of weeks than I care to admit!! I have tried to be nice - I have tried to be patient - the key word there is TRIED!!!!

Our new computer at Glenn's work started doing strange things - after the 3rd time, it was time to get Robby involved and after checking it out, determined that a cable is loose inside (it's one of those "all in one" computers). So I called Dell and after an extremely lengthy conversation, the tech told me he would have to take the computer down to its original settings when we received it - of course Robby had already warned me of this and said absolutely not do you allow that to happen!!! Well my other choice was to PAY another Dell tech to save all my info and remove the "infection" - even though it's NOT an infection!!!

Fast forward - Robby did a 3 way call between him, Dell and me - mostly it was between Dell and Robby because I had no idea what they were talking about - and VERY soon the conversation got quite heated - and then worse - and then even worse than that!!!! Robby knows how to talk to those people and after Dell kept telling him there was NO cable involved (several times I might add) the Dell tech finally relented and said they would send someone out!! HOORAY - that is what we wanted!!

So that night, Dell calls me at home and tells me that the cable has been back ordered and won't arrive for a few days so the tech coming out will be delayed. The WHAT has been back ordered????? The cable that is NOT in the computer according to Dell????? How funny!!

The computer has gotten so bad that Robby said to shut it down and leave it down - and luckily he had programmed my laptop to work at the office so I'm all set until the situation has been taken care of!!

Now the home computer - we've been dealing with SLOW speeds FOREVER!!! I have called and called and called - and when Robby was down, he thoroughly checked everything out and said it was all good. After being on the phone for hours it seemed with Centurylink, they finally said they would send a phone guy out - he came - nothing changed - they sent us a new modem - I spent hours on the phone with them trying to get it to work but to no avail - they sent ANOTHER phone guy out - he called us and even went into our house and checked EVERYTHING out - there was no problem!!! The speed is Ok during the day when no one in the area is around - but when you get home from work and the entire neighborhood is online, that's when it slows down to an ungodly slow speed!!!

So I called them AGAIN last night and told them I was done - no more testing - no more sending out new modems - no more of ANYTHING - I would just keep the old modem and deal with the slow speed - I just couldn't take anymore..........

And that's the story of my computer issues!!!

An Addition To Our Showroom!

I LOVE the new addition to our showroom!!! It's a custom made island from the Tim Kulin Cabinetry shop and they brought it over on Friday!!

After it was set it place, the guys put the granite top on - a beautiful piece of stone called Juperano Wildfire! Glenn had the guys do 4 different edges all the way around so we can show our clients what they have to choose from!!

The white vanity to the left of the picture will soon be taken out also and Tim is going to bring over a couple of his pieces to showcase in our showroom! SOME day we'll have it finished!!

It's Our 27th Wedding Anniversary!!

A big anniversary wish to my hubby on our 27th year of marriage!! To celebrate, we'll be heading down to Carrabba's for our favorite steak dinner and then do a little shopping - I know, not too exciting but at least we're celebrating!!

The weather is supposed to be fantastic here today - a lot of sun and nice warm temps!! Maybe it's time to bring my tennis shoes in and start walking on lunch hour - but as soon as I do that, we'll have a blizzard so maybe I better wait!!

Happy Anniversary Glenn - may we celebrate MANY more wonderful years together!!

Ice Castles

Looks like a frozen wonderland, doesn't it? But the weekend didn't go quite as expected...... I woke up early Saturday morning with a mad dash to the bathroom thinking oh no, my stomach CAN'T be upset today - but it was........

Determined to go ahead anyway with our weekend plans, I didn't eat any breakfast and packed the sprite and saltine crackers, just in case!! We picked up Martin and Joleen and were on our way for our 2 hour trip to Silverthorne to see the Ice Castles!!

The weather was HORRIBLE once we got out onto the flats - the wind was gusting like crazy and the snow was blowing around - we ran into several ground blizzards and had to be careful of the black ice!! We stopped in Breckenridge, having made it over Hoosier Pass , for coffee - the wind wasn't much better there and I envied the other 3, drinking their coffee while I just watched. My stomach wasn't doing any better!!

Even though the wind had died down a little bit, it was still bitter cold out when we reached the Ice Castles!! But they were amazing!! The structures are made entirely of ice with no additives to the water and no supporting sub-structure within or underneath! The castle creations were created by artistic minds and lots of hands-on work!!

I'm actually sitting on an ice chair here or should I say perching? It was DARN cold on the seat!

We loved just wandering around inside and out of these castles.

There were little tunnels to go through and I know the kids that were there were enjoying it as much as the adults!!

Out back of the ice castles is an icicle farm where they grow 3000 to 5000 icicles each day which are planted or fused to the existing ice! The icicles are then watered at night! As of Dec. 16th, they had used 70,000 icicles with an additional 20,000 per week!! Very interesting!!

Our tickets were good for all day but of course we didn't stay till evening - but it would have been neat as there are lights throughout the ice and I can just imagine what they would have looked like at night, all lit up!!

What a neat experience, only I wish I would have been feeling better!!! We headed back towards home and stopped in Frisco where we ate at a cute little German restaurant - I should say THEY ate, I just sipped a little bit of coke!!

And then it was back on the road again, heading back to Fairplay for our nights' stay!! I was feeling really tough by this time going back up the pass and soon had to tell Glenn to stop to rid my stomach of the 2 soda crackers and the little bit of soft drink I had drank - NOT FUN leaning over outside in the cold...........

Everyone offered to just go on home and cancel our nights' stay but I was determined to hang in there!! A little while later, Martin told Glenn to stop as he had to pee - again the wind was howling like crazy!!! So Martin just stood by the car and of course Glenn proceeded to pull forward (aren't the guys ALWAYS doing that to us????) and Martin yelled - I rolled down my window and yes, Glenn had RUN over his foot!!! Martin had braced his foot in front of the tire and Glenn had pulled forward - yikes!!! Luckily he was Ok!!

So we stop at the Valiton Hotel, a restored turn of the century hotel!! The wind was so bad that I didn't think we were even going to make it inside!!! I was feeling so tough I didn't even appreciate the old-fashioned lobby or the cute bar that had a roaring fire going in the huge fireplace!! I just wanted to lie down!!

The hallways were SO COLD as I'm sure they're not heated!! We climbed up the neat staircase and found our room and it was COLD, VERY COLD!!! The wind was so bad that the hotel could not keep up with the heat - they had placed a small electric heater in our room so Glenn moved it right by me and I crawled into bed, clothes and all!!! I think I shivered and had goose bumps for the next 3 hours!!!

And of course the management had told Glenn that the electric heaters would blow the circuits so several times he had to go trip the fuse at the box - what a riot!!!

Glenn, Martin and Joleen spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening having cocktails and enjoying their meal in front of the fireplace while I spent the rest of the day in bed.......what a bummer!!

We DID stay warm though during the night!! But the wind was VERY loud and we were glad to get up the next morning and head on home!! One of the main roads out of Fairplay was closed and several people had to stay at the hotel as they couldn't get home!! Luckily the rest of the way home wasn't too bad and I was glad to be home, crawling into my OWN bed for the rest of the day!!

Computers and Kids

Parker and I got along just fine last Saturday because his mom wasn't around!! And I took the cutest pictures of him while I was savoring him all to myself!!

Robby, Jill and the kids came down late Friday night and Aleah spent her first night upstairs with Glenn and I, sleeping on the princess mattress - and she did great!!

They had a birthday party to attend late Sat. morning but it was during Parker's nap - and since Glenn had an appt., I got to babysit for a little while!! After he woke up from his nap, I fed him and we played a little bit - I sure enjoyed all the smiles I received!!

And then I strapped him in his car seat and headed to the party where I exchanged Parker for Robby!! My FAVORITE computer tech was going to install a NEW computer and printer at Glenn's business!!! HOORAY!!! The old computer was not only slow, but had such a small screen and the printer???? It was something from the dark ages I believe!! Anyway, we headed to the office and Robby started in!! Jill and the kids stopped later to see the place and I headed back to our house with her since Robby was going to be a while!

Robby definitely got his workout at our house later - Glenn and him worked quite a while on the fax machine which wasn't working properly and then he hooked up our new Blu Ray DVD player and checked out our speaker system! Yes, I had a list for Robby as he doesn't get down too often and I SO appreciated all he did for us!!

The DVD player works great, I LOVE the new computer at Glenn's office and I got to play with the grandkids for a day - what a great Saturday!!

One Last Look At Manzanillo!

Is vacation really over? Is it time to go back to the cold weather and snow? Unfortunately, yes! But not before I snap a few more pictures!!

Here's the view from the buffet where we always ate breakfast!

And here's the view from our balcony!

Because I forgot to take any pictures of the food from the "Premium Club" place, I borrowed one of Patty's - THANKS PATTY!! I can almost taste that yummy fruit..........

And thanks again to Patty for this picture of the Mexican Restaurant - apparently I didn't take one of this either and this restaurant was our favorite!

A couple of last pictures of the resort!

And then we headed to the lobby for our driver to take us to the airport! Since we were there plenty early and the terminal is VERY small, we had time to shop!! True, there weren't many shops but I DID find what I wanted - an ornament and my white jacket!! Whoo Hoo!!!

A couple of camera men and 3 models came in shortly after us and hung around for a while - apparently they were shooting a western commercial as the models were dressed like cowboys and we enjoyed watching them for a while!

Unfortunately, our flight out of Manzanillo was delayed - air traffic control called from Mexico City (our next layover) and said not to take off yet. After about a 45 minute delay, the guy tagged our carry-on luggage with gate check-in tags since the airplane was small and we were finally off!

Next stop - Mexico City - we arrived at a smaller terminal so were bussed into the main terminal and we were to pick up our "carry-on" luggage inside. Well guess what - my one carry-on bag did NOT come into the main terminal!! Since the other 4 did NOT have boarding passes and we were late already, they chose to go ahead while we waited around. Finally the guy taking the carry-on bag slips was finished and we approached him - he didn't speak English but we finally figured out that he was telling us that the bag would be shipped all the way to Denver since it was NOW with the checked luggage! I knew better than that - there were NO tags on the bag to show WHICH airline it needed to go to, let alone which destination.......sigh......we had to choice but to move on!!

We got into the main terminal and it was a ZOO!! It is NOT marked well at all and it was tough trying to find someone who spoke English - we finally found someone and he told us where to go -we went there and stood in line, only to be told that was INCORRECT and to go to another gate - all the way back across to another gate, only to be told AGAIN it was incorrect and try another gate - by this time the clock is ticking away and I'm positive we are going to miss the next flight!! FINALLY we figured out - we were in the wrong terminal - so off to the tram which took another 5 minutes to arrive - then race off it and through ANOTHER security check! After that we started running - it was quite a ways to the gate and NOTHING was marked very well at all in this section either!

Needless to say the plane was still there but the doors had been closed and they wouldn't let us on! While they were re booking us to Houston and Denver, I thought to ask about Leonard, Patty, Jim and Brenda and guess what - they didn't make it either!!

We started walking to our gate when we saw the other 4 headed our way - they had the same problem - couldn't find where they needed to go either so we all missed the plane!!

But we did get on the next flight to Houston - all of us!! And because Glenn and I were in the "extra legroom" seats, we were close to the front and hopped right out to get through customs as we didn't have a long layover before our flight to Denver. Customs was MUCH longer than in Manzanillo of course and we could see the other 4 in line but couldn't wait to tell them goodbye! We found our next flight and boarded within 5 minutes for our flight to Denver!

Once again, we had the extra legroom seats so that was nice - plenty of room to stretch out and relax, even though we were starved because we had missed lunch and dinner - at least I had some snacks in the computer bag! After a VERY bumpy flight, we landed in Denver where Glenn insisted on eating a hamburger before we headed down to file a lost baggage claim - try telling the service rep that you lost your carry-on luggage - I think she thought I was nuts!!

But I have to admit Continental did an EXCELLENT job of finding my bag - they called the next morning and said it was located in Mexico City (exactly where I KNEW it would be), verified the contents and my address and said they would call once it arrived in Denver! And sure enough, Friday morning they called and said it would be delivered that day - wow - I was expecting it to be shipped to us via Fed Ex but someone actually delivered it to our home address, all intact!

All in all, one FANTASTIC RELAXING vacation, except for the trip home. We would definitely go back to Manzanillo again but have decided the Mexico City airport is not for us - not until I learn some Spanish that is!!!

Manzanillo -#5

After a delicious breakfast from the buffet, Glenn and I headed to the lobby to meet our transport for our ATV tour which we had booked the day before! Marco met us with a van and took us to the commercial spot where we donned helmets, bandannas and water bottles to head out on our tour! Because Glenn and I were the ONLY two on this tour, we each rode an ATV - and since I had no idea how to shift these particular ATV's, Marco set it in gear for me so all I had to do was stop and go - and I did a fine job if I do say so myself!!

We crossed the highway and were soon on a lovely stretch of road lined with mango trees!! I had no idea how mangoes grew - but on a large tree, there can be about 2000 mangoes! Marco also told us that for 70# of mangoes, the farmer would get approximately $1.00 - now that's insane!!!

Mango trees are huge and of course the lower ones are easy to pick but the high ones require climbing the tree! I wouldn't be good at that job!

Next we drove by an exclusive golf course - private - and absolutely gorgeous with palm trees throughout the course!

After going through 2 gates, we ended up on a 6000 acre "ranch" that is privately owned but currently on the market to sell! It's a gorgeous jungle property with well maintained roads and paths, perfect for ATV's!!

We climbed up high to catch this spectacular view!!

There were the largest white butterflies flying around that I have ever seen!! I wished that one would land so I could have snapped a picture of it!

It was a great 2 hour tour on the ATV's - we saw a wild animal called a ditty and enjoyed seeing all the plants, vines and shrubs along the paths! This was our favorite spot - can't you just imagine sitting and having morning coffee on one of these sailboats?

We took Marco out for a taco lunch after our ride - he was a wealth of information and we learned a lot about the area from him!

Back to the resort for more sunbathing and reading and miami vices - our last full day at the resort!

We cleaned up early that evening - they had a photographer place where you could book a photo session and ours was set for 6:00 for the 6 of us. Our gal took us to a couple of different photo spots for pictures of not only the 6 of us, but also each couple! It was fun choosing our photos after the shoot and the prices were amazing so we each bought 4 pictures! Here's one of the spots she took pictures!

Our final evening was spent at the Italian specialty restaurant - I have to admit, it wasn't as good as the Mexican place but we still enjoyed our meal, especially our desserts!

Everyone was tired after our large meal so we talked in the lobby for a while and then decided we had all better go pack - vacation was coming to an end.........To Be Cont'd