The misadventures of iGor the iPad

iGor was a happy, if not slightly battered, iPad who traveled frequently with his friend, ME. He got to go to exciting destinations like Alpharetta, Ga., Hershey, Penn., Ann Arbor, Mich, Chicago, Ill., and Cleveland, Ohio. Granted most of the trips involved long hours in cold ice rinks, but iGor passed his time playing Angry Birds, Words with Friends and posting witty status updates on Facebook.

And iGor had a bitchin' red leather jacket that made him look good.

But, alas, due to an owner with an exceedingly short attention span, in August 2012, iGor the iPad was mistakenly left in the seatback pocket of an airplane. ME left him behind when making a connection in Atlanta and didn't realize it until she was aboard the next flight.

A Delta flight attendant calmed the slightly hysterical ME, who was already experiencing the DTs from iPad withdrawal and gave her the 800# to call. ME got on the phone and called the Delta Lost and Found, gave them her flight number, gate number, seat number, a full description of iGor the iPad, specifically mentioning the bitchin' red leather jacket. She gave them her cell phone number, office number, email address, mother's maiden name, the name of the street she grew up on and the name of her first pet. 

She was told that they would contact her if they recovered her iPad. Standing nearby, the flight attendants rolled her eyes, wished ME luck and quietly whispered, "that iPad is gone for good."

Being a person of little faith, no patience, no ability to delay gratification and a borderline psychotic iPad withdrawal, ME waited one whole week (and payday) before venturing into Best Buy to buy a replacement for iGor. Determined to stay on budget, ME vowed that she didn't need a iPad 3, and would replace the lost one with a iPad 2 (exactly like iGor). However, ME also lacked impulse control at Best Buy. When she learned they had an open box iPad 3 that was only $50 more than the iPad 2, she gave in to temptation. iRene the iPad went home with ME.

Months went by and iGor was given up for forever lost. Then, in the early days of 2013, Shanna, the lone part-time employee who works in the Delta Lost and Found office, contacted ME to let her know that they believe they have her lost iPad. Shocked and feeling like she had been caught like a cheating spouse, ME carefully answered Shanna's questions.

"Was your iPad in a case?"
"Yes, a bitchin' red leather one."
"Was there anything else about the case?"
Being bitchin' red leather isn't enough?

"Does it have a white stripe on the case?"
"Yes," ME replied excitedly. "And a magnetic latch."

Shanna continued, "Now I need you to tell me what's on the iPad."
"Well, you'll first have to enter a six digit code."
"Oh, no. Your iPad is dead and needs to be recharged."
(Shocking that the battery didn't last five months.)

Shanna informs ME that she'll have to call her back when it's charged. As ME hangs up the phone, she is slightly stressed as she tries to remember what she was using for a code five months ago.

About an hour later, Shanna calls back with iGor the iPad fully charged. "Now, Miss Harty, I can see the pictures you have on the iPad, can you tell me what pictures are on here?"
Inside her head - "you're high Shanna - you can't see the pictures, you're just looking at the home screen."
Verbally, "Can't remember - but it should be asking you for a passcode."

"What is the code?"
"Um, I think it is 111111" (a hacker's dream)
"It worked! And it says it's Elizabeth's iPad." (And there was much rejoicing in the land.) 

"We'll ship it back to you. Do you have a UPS or Fed Ex account?"
Seriously? I'm a normal person. I don't have my own UPS or Fed Ex account.

"You'll have to set one up before I can ship it back to you." She gives ME an phone number to call to set up a Fed Ex account and tells that she would be calling her back in 15 minutes.

By the end of the night, ME had her own personal Fed Ex account and owned two iPads.

Hello? eBay?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Perfect (Outlook) Storm

It takes a certain amount of talent and plain old good luck to create the perfect storm of a work day. And I'm pleased as punch to shed my false demeanor of modesty and come right out and tell you that I've done it. Yep, me! It wasn't easy and, if I'm completely honest, it really took a village.

My calendar for Thursday is so solidly booked wall-to-wall that my annual August 1st nervous breakdown may have to be moved up to an earlier date.

I know, I know, you want to know how I did it.

First you have to talk one of your co-workers into going on a business trip on your behalf. Make sure that said co-worker is gone on a day that has a deadline for a publication that only a handful of people can assist with.

Add in another member of your team taking a well deserved vacation, so you don't have her as your back-up and overall cheerleader.

Mix in helping out another co-worker with a project that keeps you away from your desk all morning and then have your always reliable freelancer wanting to spend time with his new baby (rightly so!).

But wait! There's more!

Add in managing an email from leadership, shooting a rescheduled video interview, and sending the aforementioned publication out on specific computer (that is so old that it might be steam-powered) because it is the only computer that hasn't been upgraded to the new Windows which is not compatible with our email needs.

Throw on top of the fire saying yes to working on a new project that you're really excited about working on, but has caused an influx of emails so overwhelming, your soul is crushed.

And then there's the fact that if I live through Thursday, I still have to pack for an early Friday morning flight for a weekend training festival where I'll be presenting four times in two days (three slightly different presentations) and finding out yesterday that I need to pack something slightly formal to wear for the Friday night party.

Yep, creating a perfect storm like this takes talent and ingenuity that few people possess.

I'll try to post at least one more time before they increase my medications.

It's going to be strange

For the first time in about 15 years, I am not going to be attending the annual U.S. Figure Skating Governing Council. Think of it like a Shriner's Convention without the funny hats. And more short people. And mostly female.

My home club - the Burnsville-Minnesota Valley Figure Skating Club - has sent me to the meeting every year since 1996. And they would have sent me this time, too. Only I told them not to. 

Because of my move to Rochester, I'm changing clubs in July. I felt it would be disingenuous to have them send me when I'll only be a member for a few more months.

For the last five years, I've created a blog for Governing Council - here's the one from last year. And I was blunt and expressed my opinions. Not everyone agreed with me and certainly there are those that wish I wouldn't do it all, but I gotta be me. 

But technically, those who wish I wouldn't do the blog will get their way this year. 

I'm actually here in Myrtle Beach right now - which is where Governing Council is going to be in two days, but I'll be leaving for home as people are arriving. I'm only here for the club education seminar tomorrow where I'll be teaching social media to the skating clubs. 

The photo is the view from my hotel room. I've already taken a walk on the beach and I could feel my blood pressure dropping with each step. 

All the voting and politics will be happening on Friday and Saturday. If only I could get someone to stream it live as there are some big items to be decided this year. And I'm gonna miss hearing from the regulars who insist on speaking on every item. I'm really gonna miss the collective rolling of the eyes when the same speaker gets up for the 25th time.  

If you thought figure skating was only about jumps and spins, this is the meeting that highlights the jumps and spins that happen off-ice.

Free time, finally

I've noticed a trend in my blog posts when there has been HUGE gap in time since my last post. I'll apologize or make up excuses or blame my ADD.  It seems my ego has this idea that there are people out there just waiting for my next blog post. I really have to get over myself.

I love writing this blog, regardless of evidence that seems to contradict that statement. I love writing. I love telling stories. I love thinking that I live a fascinating life when the reality screams the contrary.

I hate having limited time to write. And that's what the last two months have been - limited. I over-committed myself to judging skating competitions without any thought to the calendar.  When I finally took the time to consult the calendar, I had already said yes to eight competitions in 9 weeks.

Starting with the first full weekend in January, I had competitions in Mankato (Minn.), Detroit, Chicago, Hershey, Penn., Rochester (Minn.), Detroit (again!), Cleveland and finally Worcester (Mass.) Unfortunately, for my friends and family, I was really whiney about it. And I got even whiner when I was traveling on crutches!

Although my plans started out with all these competitions, I ended up having to drop out of two of them for work commitments. I had to make the difficult decision of either making a second trip to Detroit in February or spend 8 days in Jacksonville, Florida. It was SUCH a tough decision, but being the trooper I am, I took one for the team.

The trip to Jacksonville had two assignments. The first was to cover the "26.2 with Donna: the marathon to finish breast cancer" for Mayo Clinic. The race started and ended at the Mayo campus. Unfortunately, Jacksonville had a cold snap about that time and the temperature at 4:30 am (when we had to be there for work) was a less-than-balmy 29 degrees with a wind chill factor of 19. I froze my patootie off. I hadn't packed for cold weather - no hat, no mittens and my "winter" coat was not a winter coat- it was a fall-type jacket that did not keep the cold out. 

Nevertheless, the race was fun, the runners enthusiastic and it raised money for a great cause.

The second assignment was to shoot video for the 2011 Mayo Clinic Annual Report.  It was awe-inspiring being able to interview Mayo Clinic patients and hear their stories. One was 40-something woman from Orlando who had a double lung transplant last spring. Her spirit was absolutely contagious as she referred to her new lungs as "her girls." (Her donor was a healthy young woman who had died from a gunshot to the head).

I talked to a young woman who had both of her hips replaced before she was 30. She talked about being in such pain prior to surgery that she would rather drag herself up stairs than walk them. The joy in her voice as she talked about the doctor who provided her with the answers she needed was obvious. She felt so much appreciation that she came to work for Mayo Clinic.

It made me appreciate my job, too.

I've been busy these last couple of months, but I've missed you all (my ego has returned - didn't leave for very long, did it?). I'm looking forward to getting back to telling stories and, hopefully, keeping you amused. 

Slip Sliding

Last Tuesday morning, I finally took my Christmas tree to the Olmsted County disposal/recycling area. There was this huge hill of Christmas trees waiting to be mulched. I took a photo of it and my plan was to write a post about it.

About 30 minutes after dropping off the tree, the entire plan went out the windows when I slipped and fell with my ankle taking the impact. I was in one of the Mayo subways, heading to my office. No one saw me fall, but two other Mayo staff members came upon me less than 10 seconds after I went down.

I knew that I had done something to my ankle, but figured I had only twisted it. The two saintly co-workers who happened upon me, asked if I could stand. I figured I should check out my ankle before trying to stand and what I saw just flabbergasted me. In less than a minute, this softball size "thing" had taken over my ankle. "No, I don't think I should stand on it."

If Mayo has one item in abundance, it is wheelchairs. Everywhere you go, everywhere. There are wheelchairs. One of the two grabbed a wheelchair and they got me to my office. <There must be something about pushing someone in a wheelchair that generates endorphins because everyone wanted to push me in the wheelchair that day.>

I couldn't get in for an X-ray until 2:30 and while that rather patubed me, I would guess that they got a better image after having me ice it for five hours.  (That's my ankle after five hours of icing) It was just a sprain, but the recommendation was to stay off my foot for about three to four weeks and that I should expect at least eight to ten week until full recovery.

"Here's your crutches and an aircast and a boatload of paperwork for the workman's comp claim. Good luck and have a nice day."

It didn't take me long to figure out I would not do well on crutches and that trying to hobble around the Mayo campus is just not practical. So I talked my way into a knee caddy, a glorified scooter with a wire basket. I know I look a bit funny, but at least I'm getting around campus. (and my scooter is nothing like my mom's walker, Cousin Allyson!)

To add to the fun, I'm traveling almost every weekend for skating. This past weekend was to snowy Chicago. The key to success was getting the wheelchair assistance right away.  I was flying Southwest Airlines that has open seating, but I qualified for pre-boarding seating. Front row to Chicago and back!

Absolutely nothing went off as planned for the trip down to Chicago. The flight was postponed, then they combined two flights to Midway together, but didn't bother to combine the luggage. I got into Midway at 11, waited one hour to learn that my luggage was still in MSP and wouldn't arrive until the next day, waited another 45 minutes to get a cab to take me to my hotel in deep, dark suburbia, and another 45 minutes to get me there.

I travel to Pennsylvania later this week and have to make a connection in Cincinnati, so I'm praying that everything goes better than this. At least the destination will make the trip worthwhile - Hershey, PA! Chocolate heals everything!

Cool Things!

As I write this post, I'm sitting at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport waiting for my flight to Cleveland that has been delayed for two hours. The good news is that the plane is here, so we just have to wait for the weekly blizzard to clear out of Cleveland.

The beauty of the MSP airport is that there is plenty to do (like shopping) and some great restaurants. I was thrilled to notice one of their newest additions - Surdyk's Flights. What a great name for a wine bar at an airport. And they really do have wine flights that range from $10 to $24. I'm about to enjoy lunch here - having the Minneapple Panini - roast turkey, brie, apples and lingonberry sauce - with a glass of Dutour "Le Roche" Pouilly Fuisse. All I can tell you is that it is a white wine and I like the flavor.  Oh, my sandwich is here...be right back. 

Surdyk's has deli sandwiches to go when you don't have time - made with quality meats and top notch cheese. Yum! My sandwich was delish!  Oh! Oh! Surdyk's also has electrical outlets at their tables!

I didn't need the outlets because I had charged my computer and broadband card on the drive up from Rochester. I was able to do that courtesy of a great gift my sister gave me this past Christmas. It's called the Coffee Cup Power Inverter. I just plugged it in to the car's DC outlet and the coffee cup changes the power to AC and you just plug in your devices. It has two outlets and a USB port. The ad says you can power three devices at one time, but only if none of the plugs are those monster plugs because they block the other plug-in.
You can get it at ThinkGeek. 

My other life saver this week is a little website called Dropbox.com. It's been a godsend for me because of all the different electronic devices I use. It's cloud computing and it rocks!

I have Dropbox on my iPhone and when I take a picture, I can drop it in to the Dropbox and voila! it's now accessible to me on my laptop or my work computer or home computer. Actually, anywhere I have an internet connection, you can access your files. AND IT'S FREE! Up to a point....If you want more you can purchase it or recommend other people and you both get more space up to 8 gigabytes (so if you want to join dropbox.com email me at meharty at usfamily dot net.

You get two gigabytes of memory which is plenty for most of us. If you need more than that,   I have about 30 documents (including large spreadsheets) and maybe 20 photos and I've only used 3.8% of my two gigabytes. AND you can share stuff! I had photos to send a friend and since most email accounts HATE large files, I gave him links to my public photos and he just downloaded them from there!

Two final items - if you go to Surdyk's, ask for Katie - she was a great waitress. And if you are delayed, spend time in the main concourse. They have much more comfortable chairs than at the gate.

So there is all my cool stuff for you.

I need a weekend

I need a weekend with nothing planned. 

A weekend without travel or skating or phone calls or work assignments or any other activity. 

It's not going to happen this weekend and none of my last three weekends have been quiet. I have had a February to die from. I've had skating related activities every weekend in February including two trips to exotic locations such as Albany and Cleveland. While most people think south at this time of year, my schedule has kept me firmly ensconced in the snowy and cold north. 

Granted, I do these activities by choice. I'll be invited to a competition and when I review my calendar, I'm generally only looking at that weekend - not the weekend before or the weekend after. It was December when I realized that I had managed to erase all my weekend from the month of February.

www.nataliedee.com

I am so excited that I have ABSOLUTELY nothing planned for my March weekends, I can hardly stand it. I want to sleep in on Saturday, maybe go shopping or have a massage. I want to work on the bazillion quilt projects for which I have bought the pattern and fabric, but haven't found the time to do. I want to go to the Dan Abraham Health Living Center and try to remember what it was like to be healthy and fit. What it was like to fit into my jeans...and my skirts...and my suits.

Wait a second...for wanting weekends where I have nothing to do, I sure am planning on doing alot. 

Dang! Foiled again!

My love/hate relationship with flying

I've been a bad blogger...

Can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month. I won't use the lame excuse that I've been so busy because the truth is, I just haven't had the inspiration to write. Happens to everyone. Might happen again.

But a blogger friend of mine recently said on her blog that she needs to get away from the "I must post something" attitude and realized that she only has to post when she has something to say.  Honestly, why should I waste people's time just because I think that I'm witty and amusing? 

----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----

Well, I'm back in the saddle and I've been flying more lately. I'm always excited to fly somewhere since I get to see friends or attend an event, but the reality is that flying can be exhausting when you have to worry about catching flights (not to mention catching germs) and getting up really, really early to catch morning flights.By the time I get home from a trip, I look like I was riding on the outside of the plane.

www.nataliedee.com

I had my first trip flying out of the Rochester International Airport and it was SO different from flying out of MSP.  Parking at the Rochester airport is $8.00 a day with the maximum of $48 weekly. My parking at MSP was $48 this past weekend.  Rochester has four gates and MSP has 117 gates. When I flew out of Rochester, my time from parking my car, walking into the building, checking in and then going through security and walking to my gate was almost ten minutes. It takes me ten minutes to find a place to park at MSP. I'm just sayin'...

On my flight in January, I learned a new term, "Lap Child." I guess Delta is trying to condense what they have to say. So instead of saying "if you are traveling with a child who sits on your lap.." they have taken to referring to a lap child. It just sounded strange. 

I also learned that when booking flights, be sure to give yourself enough time between flights if you're making a connection at someplace like, say, O'Hare! My return flight home from Detroit connected in Chicago and I had only 30 minutes between the flights. I got a bit panicked when I realized that there was a good chance that I would not make the connection and it was the last flight out of Chicago to Rochester. For my own mental health, I got an earlier flight.

This weekend on my United flight to Albany, NY via Chicago, I was thrilled to learn that United Airlines serves Coke products. When I asked for ice for my Diet Coke, I was informed, "we won't have any ice until we get to Chicago."  Really?  We just left Minneapolis with sub-zero temps and you couldn't get any ice there? 

I have one more flight this month to Cleveland. Hopefully, I won't have to worry about the lack of ice because I'm pretty sure it will be tough to get the ice through security.

Small World Indeed

I was feeling left behind...

First, my bestest friend Mary (who lives in Atlanta) told me about her planned Thanksgiving trip for her family to London. Very cool! Then another best friend Mary Jo (who live in Albert Lea) told me about her planned Thanksgiving trip to London to visit her son Chris (on a semester abroad) and while she invited me to go with her - the lack of vacation and funds were a big hurdle. 

Now, Mary and Mary Jo know each other and knew that the other one would be in London at the same time, but they didn't plan on meeting up. As Mary Jo said, we'll leave it up to God.  As it should happen, while visiting one of God's houses, Westminster Abbey, the two traveling groups ran into each other!  

Mary called me back in the states - "Guess who I'm standing next to at Westminster Abbey?" Since I had just seen the news about William and Kate planning their wedding at Westminster, I blurted out, "Will and the future Queen?"  Mary laughed and repeated what I said and I could hear laughter in the background. "Wait, no, you're there with Mary Jo!"  

They were surprised to run into each other - but I wasn't. 

   "I figured you'd see each other somewhere. It's not like it's that big of a town." 

Mary exclaimed, "It's a few million people!" 

   "Yes, but you were both doing the touristy things and that would reduce the number of possible locations by a lot!"

They both just laughed. I was touched that they would call me! (mixed in with my envy...)

NatalieDee.com

It reminded me of the only international call that I've ever made.  

I was in Paris in 2000 to celebrate my 40th birthday and to visit another best friend, Jessie. Jessie was studying in Paris and she had a cell phone that could call internationally. (This was WAY BEFORE Skype) We were standing on a high point of the Eiffel Tower and I immediately thought "I bet the cell phone reception up here is pretty good."  Jessie asked if I wanted to call someone. Sure! Figuring out the time difference, I decided to try to call my dear friend and choir director Teri - I suspected she would be in her office. 

When she picked up the phone, I asked her to guess where I was calling her from.  She remembered that I was in Paris, but where was I in Paris? 

   "Oh, hey, I'm calling you from the top of the Eiffel Tower, with a full moon, overlooking the lights of Paris." 

Her response?  "You suck."  I laughed out loud since it was a pretty sassy way to rub it in.  But it's still a story we both tell and I'm sure the call from Mary & Mary Jo will be one I will tell many times.

The 1st Golden Squirrel Award

This week was filled with travel to Chicago for a work conference, but I managed to squeeze some fun in the evenings. The weather was hot and humid - yuck! We did manage to wander onto the set of Transformers 3 that is being filmed in Chicago right now. Lots of trashed cars and Styrofoam rubble (see photo on the left) and production assistants telling you to keep moving. We perhaps dawdled  in order to snap some photos. I was using my iPhone and it wasn't until we were far away from the set that I remembered that I had my Flip video camera with me. UGH!

Now it's my vacation time and I thought I would jump the gun one day and announce the first winner of the Golden Squirrel award. (see my 7/23 blog post for a complete description of this prestigious award)

It's not a person this week, although it might technically be human. It's the one thing that has distracted me for almost as long as I can remember.

It's my hair. In the love/hate relationship that is "A Woman and Her Hair," this week has been mostly hate. The humidity in Chicago didn't help.

My hair has been nearly every possible natural color from blond to goth black.  It has been straight to curly (courtesy of smelly Lilt perms with its sponge wraps).

The worst was when I tried to highlight my hair in junior high school. Clairol had a new product for doing your own highlights; (Frost n' Tip) it was a cap with thousands of tiny little holes and, using a plastic crochet hook, you were supposed to pull your hair through the holes.  It's off the market now, but you can find it still being used in Gitmo for an alternative torture device.

We didn't give up the idea of "frosting" my hair, we just did it without the cap. Portion control was the issue with this - instead of thin strands, we grabbed chunks. It was awful! My 9th grade photo is the only proof I have and I keep the only copy of it locked up and hidden away. I suppose I should destroy the evidence.

I can link my ADD to my variety of hair styles. Unlike other parts of my life, I could control my hair and whenever I was bored with something, I would color or cut or torture it.

Right now my hair is long, but that could change. I colored it this morning and now it's very auburn. 
I picked up an over-priced hair style magazine at the airport yesterday and have started marking the pages. Not sure how short it will go, but it's going to be cut next week regardless.

Then I'll be able to stop being distracted by my hair.

At least for awhile...

Sunday at the MSP Airport

I'm sitting at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport waiting for my 3:20 pm re-booked flight to Chicago. I am surrounded by a sea of humanity. It is so crowded that people are actually sitting next to each other instead of the requisite one-seat spacing.

www.nataliedee.com

I didn't know that Summer Saturdays and Sundays at the airport are one very long line after another. I got to the airport the recommended 75 minutes before my flight and found the line to check my bag was very long and moving slow. In the 45 minutes that it took to snake through the rope lines, I had a great conversation with three ladies - two traveling for work and another traveling home to Detroit after attending her 25-year class reunion in Owatonna. When I finally made it to the check-in kiosk, I was informed that I had been bumped since it was under 30 minutes before my flight was leaving. 

Delta was horribly understaffed and the agent was cranky and not very helpful. Sorry, sorry, sorry, everything is booked to Chicago - you'll have to fly out tomorrow. What about O'Hara? Without even looking at her screen, "No, those are all full, too. You'll need to go down there (pointing without looking up) to re-book your flight."

I went down there and stood in behind a couple of families to rebook my flight. Only, it wasn't the right line. I hadn't gone far enough "down there." The re-booking line had one agent and about 30 people in front of me. 

While standing in line, a wandering Delta agent handed me a shiny card with an 800# to call for re-booking, telling me and the other hopeless ones that it might be faster to re-book via the phone. She wasn't kidding.

I was on-hold for about 90 seconds before an angel of mercy named Mary came on and was extremely helpful and told me that she could re-book me on a Delta flight to Chicago Midway at 3:20 and she even had a reserved seat for me!

Unfortunately, I had to get back into the check-in line that was still an out-of-control conga line. This time I had a great conversation with a Shattuck-St. Mary's grad who was on his way to Seattle. He was dragging two huge hockey bags and a bunch of sticks taped together, so my my large suitcase didn't seem out of proportion.

About my suitcase; I don't travel light. 

As a matter of fact, I have a suitcase so big I could smuggle a 10-year old in it. It didn't look that big at Macy's when I bought it. A huge bonus with the suitcase is that I can pack lots of winter clothes in it for traveling to skating competitions, but this is a trip to Chicago in July for work. I took it anyway since I might find time to shop. 

Checked the bag and headed to the TSA line. Not bad compared to the Delta line, but the business man in front of me, who hadn't stood in the Delta line since he had a carry-on, was complaining to the TSA folks that they should have more staff. He better not miss his plane or it would be their fault.  Considering my journey so far today, I wanted to knock across the back of his head and tell him to mind his manners and treat people with respect.

The gate area resembles a Mumbai marketplace with people everywhere - leaning against the wall, sitting on the floor, lines going every direction.

The gate agent announced that this flight is overbooked and you could get a $400 credit voucher if you would take a flight later today. I'm tempted since I can always use a flight voucher...

I just don't think I could take spending another four hours waiting in the airport.