26 February 2009

The Hot Tub Story



I have been contemplating for a long time on which hot tub I should spend my 'First-Time Buyers' tax loan on. Thank goodness I found the website below to help me along without it I would have been lost. http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/spa-buyers-guide.htm

Even with this assistance it was a very hard choice and at the last minute funding became an issue so I had to scale back :( The one pictured below was to be the choice but ended up not. I am sad but really I did not need a 6 person tub, I will mostly be the one using it by myself whenever I possibly can. Hopefully once I get my actual choice together I will post a picture of it.


The winner is: Belize 1000LS Hot Tub Lounger Spa
















































25 February 2009

USAirways surprise

Here is the response I received within a week of writing them. I am a little impressed. This was a quick turn around and much better than the last time I had to deal with an issue.


Dear Ms. (me):

Thank you for contacting US Airways. We appreciate and welcome all inquiries, concerns, and compliments, as your feedback is important to us. Please accept my personal apology for any difficulties or inconvenience caused by the delay of your flight departing from Augusta . I realize you expected your flight to depart as scheduled; so did we. Any delay is costly, both financially and in customer satisfaction.

It is not our intent to create difficulties for our customers and realize that flight delays are very frustrating for everyone involved. We work hard to avoid these situations; however, safety considerations must remain our number one priority.

We are unable to offer reimbursement for expenses incurred as a result of flight interruptions. We are able to compensate only for the flight interruption itself and to convey our apologies we have authorized two Electronic Travel with Us Voucher (E-TUV) in the amount of $75.00 as a gesture of goodwill. We hope you will allow US Airways another opportunity to regain your confidence. Your E-TUV is valid toward the purchase of travel on US Airways. Please be advised the E-TUV is not valid with Internet bookings. The E-TUV must be redeemed one year from the date of this letter. In addition, please take a moment to read the terms and conditions listed below to receive the full benefit of this compensation. When you are ready to make your future travel arrangements, please call our Reservations Department at 800-428-4322 and provide the E-TUV code listed below.


Ms. (me), we know that you have many choices when it comes to traveling and we thank you for choosing US Airways.

Sincerely,
J. Pequeno
US Airways Customer Relations
Corporate Office

21 February 2009

Letter to USAirways in regards to my experience of a major delay

This letter was submitted on their website via email on Friday 20 February, 2009.

I really hope you are able to help with this. I had some serious delays on our last flight from AGS to SAT. On 14 Feb, early Saturday morning, we proceeded to the Augusta Airport at 0400 in the morning to catch our 0535am flight. Upon arrival, check in was fine and we proceeded to the gate. As the departure time approached, we were not boarding, after a while we were told due to maintenance issues our flight was delayed. Finally around 7am they say they have another flight coming from Charlotte, NC that will arrive by 0900am giving us enough time for our connecting flight San Antonio. Unfortunately that flight was delayed and we would now no longer make our connection. As there was only one counter agent to rebook many people on the flight I called USAirways to see if I could book a later flight out of Charlotte, NC. There were none available and the agent was able to book me on Delta flights leaving Augusta at around noon and finally arriving in San Antonio, TX at 7pm much later than planned. When I go to retrieve my luggage so I can check in with Delta there were more issues. I also asked if there was anyway I could maybe have some kind of food coupon so something we could use once we arrived in Atlanta, GA as we had been sitting in an airport now for almost 8 hours before going anywhere and the Augusta, GA airport has only a coffee stand. We also ended up missing our 3pm Barbecue our friends we were going to see had planned for us.



And now because USAirways booked us on Delta flights I have to jump through hoops to get our air miles for those flights.



I would really appreciate some form of compensation. Preferably in a travel voucher for the both of us or up-grades to first class on our next flight. We are planning to go somewhere in May and it would be nice to fly comfortably. Also if there is anyway you could get our airmiles on to our accounts, I would really appreciate it.

I really appreciate you taking the time to look into this matter.

Thank you



USAirways ridiculous travel delay from Augusta GA to San Antonio TX

It has taken me a few days to calm down before writing about my experience with USAirways on Valentine's day with what I thought would be a somewhat smooth trip (we were flying out on the first plane so who would think there would be issues right).
Boy was I wrong.

On top of everything else, as I am standing at the front ticketing counter (in other words I had left the boarding gate) trying to get my new tickets straight, on the of USAirways Agents says, I had better go back to those "(something not so nice). She was refering to the rest of the passengers I had just left who were in the same boat as myself, in other words missing our connections and needing to be rebooked.

18 February 2009

Tornado Watch

Oh what a great day to be back in GA. Today has greeted us with a tornado watch and now with a severe thunder storm watch. Hopefully all will go well for us. I can hear the rain coming down and the wind blowing but no thunder or lightning :( I love thunder storms. I haven't seen a good thunder storm since about 1999 when I stayed in the dorms at Langley AFB.

Oh yeah on a side note, San Antonio was so nice, I wish I would have had time to go to Lackland AFB to see my old basic training base. All though I didn't get to see that I did see many Airmen wandering the Riverwalk in their blues like we did back in the day.







Just one of the random pictures from basic training in San Antonio on the Riverwalk. Those were good days.

15 February 2009

San Antonio YEAH

So we finally made it.  By the time we got to the Atlanta airport I was so tired I up-graded us to first class for a price of $150 for the silly 2 to 3 hour trip.  It was nice but really not such a big deal, neither one of us is really that big so it's not like we really needed the extra room.  The free drinks and snacks was nice though, and drinking out of glass didn't hurt.
After we were picked up we were driven to the house and were able to enjoy yummy BBQ.  After that I could barely stay awake so I was asleep by 2200hrs.  I even slept in the next day which is amazing for me. Once we finally got ourselves together on Sunday morning we headed out to the Riverwalk.  First we ate at a Mexican restaurant by the Riverwalk, then we took the boat ride which was really interesting.  After that we headed to the Alamo which wasn't quiet what I expected but it's all good.
Then we headed off to Lowe's because my girl needed to return something and after that hopped on the highway to go to Wal-mart.  Before we went there we stopped for gas and her hubby's brand new 2009 Chevy truck decided it did not want to start WHAT.  So we had to wait on one of her friends to come get us and take us home while my girl's hubby waited on the tow truck.   
We finally made it home and chilled out.
Tomorrow we plan on going to the Safari Ride which looks like it will be fun.

13 February 2009

Trip to San Antonio

It's that time again.  We're off on another trip.  This time we are going to San Antonio to visit my son's girlfriend per se.  It's actually his old classmate who's mom PCSed (moved with the military) to San Antonio.  They use to live behind us and she was his best friend.  He cried all day the day she left and the only thing that would calm him down was to promise him a trip to see her. So now he will have a date on Valentine's day and I'll be chillin' manless again :)
It's all good though, the thing that makes me happiest is seeing my son happy and laughing. 
Back to the trip, when I booked our tickets I obviously didn't pay close attention to our itinerary as we have to be at the airport by 0430 to catch our 0535 flight out of there.  What the hell was I thinking, we have to get up at 0330.  Then once we arrive at the layover airport we get to sit there for 3 and a half hours and don't get me started about our trip back.
My girl has a lot planned for us this weekend and it sounds like a lot of fun.   
Stay tuned for the updates.

12 February 2009

Update on The House

Today was a very constructive day.  In between my doctor's appointments, I got a lot done.
I organized my son's legos so I could give them away, I went through some of  his other toys and found some I could give away.  I also returned some extra tile.  Speaking of which I had the tile guy come in today to do my backsplash and I must say it's looking good. I also had my two storm doors installed which also look good.  Both set of people did an outstanding job,  One set came from Lowe's install dept. and the other was a recommendation from a friend. 
I also found out to do what I want to do to my kitchen will cost me $1620 which is doable if installing the whirlpool tub doesn't got over $1500 to include the tub and all components required for the install including labor.  I am waiting on a call back to get someone to come out and look at it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I hope to have pictures up  of all three items soon.  It's getting dark so the pictures of the doors are out for now and the backsplash isn't quiet finished.

11 February 2009

ACC Tournament Decision

Here is my horsoscope for this week (it only applies when it is a good one):

You're riding a wave of romance, creative, speculative urges and pleasure. You're getting closer and closer to taking a big chance (if you haven't already, the last few weeks) - do so, for now risk pays off, in the heart and wallet! Don't waste your time, energy or charisma in social life. Instead, plunge into the moment, the person or private project that makes you feel good. Don't plan, just act! The weeks and months ahead could bring romance with a valid life mate. Take hint from entire Leo message.

Based on this and on a conversation with my good friend Krisitin (who has no issues spending other people's money)

I have decided that we are going to the ACC Tournament in ATL.
Now I have to cough up hotel money and spending money but I think it will be worth it. We'll have a good time. And yes I could drive back and forth everyday to see the games but what is priceline.com for, you can get decent hotels at good prices :)

Look for pictures in the future.

09 February 2009

Overstock update

OK not really but I figured I will talk about the stuff I bought at overstock.com  and hopefully in the near future I will actually post some pictures.  Once I post the pictures you will really see how addicted to overstock I am. (So I decided to post the pictures now)I'm not sure I should post all of them at once because then maybe you will really see I was not joking about my  overstock addiction.

The dining room set:


The Master Bedroom dresser #1:



The Master Bedroom dresser #2: 


The Master Bedroom new bed:


That is it for now as my patience has run out with the up-loading of these pictures.
But it is a start.