Oh what a sad day....

If you haven't yet guessed it UNC lost but they shouldn't have.  It was a very exciting game though and even though they lost you could feel the excitement in the air because it was a close game.

I was glad I wouldn't have to pay another $10 for parking the next day.  Without Lawson though it was iffy that they would win a game that was close, he really is a staple in their game.  That's ok though, they need to let him rest up for the BIG tournament so I'll forgive this lose if they do well there. :)  We went back tot he hotel we were at yesterday and got our faces painted and hair sprayed then we found out that UNC was staying there and while we were there we got to see the team off onto the bus to the game.  The band was in the lobby playing a nice send off. It figures that I didn't bring the good camera, I left it in the car cause I figured we wouldn't need it until the game, damn it.  I got so pictures but they weren't that great.

Now I will sit patiently to see how they are ranked in their bracket (really not patiently) and who they may be up against.

More to come ....

And the response to my USAirways question when a fare goes down after purchase ....

Dear Ms. 

Thank you for visiting usairways.com.

When a new lower fare becomes available after a ticket has been 
purchased, customers are entitled to a lower fare guarantee refund 
within the following guidelines. The difference in fares needs to be 
more than the change fee of $150.00.  The change fee will be deducted 
from the difference and the residual amount will be issued in the form 
of a US transportation voucher for future travel.  Additional rules and 
restrictions may apply. 

The lower fare is available for the exact itinerary previously 
purchased.
No portion of the reservation has been flown.
Lower fare guarantee refunds are not available for online ticket 
exchanges. Certain promotional fares may be excluded.

For domestic reservations please call 1-800-428-4322, for international 
reservations please call 1-800-622-1015 to seek a lower fare guarantee.
    
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to reply
or call our Internet Support Desk at (800) 327-7810.  We know that you 
have many choices and we thank you for choosing US Airways. 

Sincerely,

Karilyn Smith
Internet Support Specialist
US Airways

I can't believe

That I didn't write about this before but it just popped into my head.

I finally bought our tickets to Germany.

Now to how that came about.

I check usairways.com almost 4 or 5 times or more a day (yes I am compulsive but damn it I want a good deal).  I am using them only because of the credit they issued me from a prior trip mentioned in a prior post.  For the 3 months or so, the prices haven't really varied, the majority was $1300 or so a piece. DAMN that would be about $2600 just to get there forget spending money. But then one day the prices were $1089 or so. So now I'm think hmmm do I wait longer or jump on the deal.  I figure wait longer, if I get desperate I can always got to priceline.com

Then more time passes and the price drops to $898, now we're talking because plus taxes we're about at $2100 for both.  But still, and I wait.  I'm getting a little nervous but decide to wait anyway.

I have read several articles on the net that always discuss when the best time to check for deals is.  What they say is check between Tuesday and Wednesday.  Also they suggest certain days of the week to fly which will have cheaper tickets.  They specifically mention don't check weekends because that's when everyone else does and you are less likely to find deals.

On e saturday morning i'm about to leave the house in an hour or so and decided just for the fun of it to check prices.  I also chose the flexible date option and after plugging in my usually dates (which were the ones I was getting the cheapest price for), low and behold, if I traveled the day before, my ticket is only $487.  What, i jump on this start to make the only purchase and realize that I have to call yo use my vouchers.  I'm rushing around the house trying to get everything together because you never know how long the deals will last.  I finally get through on the phone and get the tickets and in the end each ticket cost $510.35.  Not to shabby huh.

I am very pleased at this point.

Now for the bad part, I just went back to the website and saw that the tickets came down again.

Now my ticket is $447 and the ones on my original day have come down to $758.  Maybe I should have waited longer but overall it was still a good deal.  I can't complain too much.  I saved a grand what a couple more bucks (could have been put toward the hot tub fund but we wont go there).

Lesson learned don't go back a check prices after you have purchased your tickets.  You may end up getting upset and there is nothing you can do about it.

(PS I just finished writing USAirways asking them if I could get a refund for the $40 difference, I'll let you know what they say, it doesn't hurt to ask right.)

First day at the ACC tournament

The trip was uneventful, thank goodness but because I was being lazy with our departure we arrive a little late for the 1st game.  It's all good though, it's not like it was UNC playing because we would have been way early for that.

No snow which is always good.

So we get to the 1st game after paying $10 for parking which I thought was ok until I found out there were no in and out privileges. This is not exactly good when you have a 6 year old in tow and there are 4 games and you know eventually you will have to leave for a bit and come back.

Don't even get me started on the over priced food either.  Oh and I just wanted a nice hot tea and even that was going for $4.

In the first game I wanted Miami to win as UNC had trouble beating Virginia tech but of course Virginia Tech won 65-47.  Damn it #1

Second game Clemson vs Gerogia Tech, didn't really have someone I wanted to win in that one, but decided I didn't want Georgia Tech to win just because i"m not liking it down here. SO of course they won 86-81.

Third game (yes there were a lot of games) Maryland vs NC State.  I no likey MD at all.  There was no way I wanted them to win.  Of course they do 74-69 but it was a really good game and close up until about the last 15 minutes of the second half.

The fourth game was Boston College vs Virginia. Another team I didn't want to win, Boston College as they were one of the few teams that beat UNC this season. Obviously you must see the trend by now meaning they won 76-63.  This too was a pretty good game so no complaints.  We left just before the 1st half ended as it was getting late, it was already past 2200hrs and K was getting sleepy.  He did pretty well today except for a minor infraction at the first game.  After much talking things went much better the last two games.

Well it's getting late and I want to make sure we're up bright and early.  Tomorrow is the big day, UNC vs Virginia Tech at noon.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

GO HEELS!!!!!!

ACC tournament countdown

That's right, it's that time of year again. March Madness has begun and just like any other college basketball fan, i'm in full swing of it except this year, I get to go to the ACC Tournament.

As a recap, I love UNC and all other teams suck. They just won their conference by beating out the ....,I'll keep it nice, Duke. What a wonderful day for us UNC fans, they beat them both times this season.

Let's not for get many kuddos out to UNC's player, Ty Lawson for being named ACC player of the Year. (thank goodness he is a junior, one more year with him let's hope)

Hopefully our trip to ATL will not include snow again.

Stay tuned for more of my musings.

So below is the schedule for the Tournament:

Opening Round: Thursday, March 12

#8 Virginia Tech vs. #9 Miami Noon

#5 Clemson vs. #12 Georgia Tech 2 p.m.

#7 Maryland vs. #10 NC State 7 p.m.

#6 Boston College vs. #11 Virginia 9 p.m.

Quarterfinals: Friday, March 13

#1 North Carolina vs. Winner Game 1 Noon

#4 Florida State vs. Winner Game 2 2 p.m.

#2 Wake Forest vs. Winner Game 3 7 p.m.

#3 Duke vs. Winner Game 4 9 p.m.

Semifinals: Saturday, March 14

ACC Semifinal 1
1:30 p.m.

ACC Semifinal 2
3:30 p.m.

Championship: Sunday, March 15
ACC Championship Game
1 p.m.

The New Kitchen

Below is the old kitchen to the right is the new:

Below old kitchen right new:

Below old view from living room right new:

So the renovations to my kitchen are more or less done. I just need to have the counter redone but it's not too obvious so I decided to post pictures. I really like what the guy did, he did a great job and this has really opened up the kitchen and the rest of the house too. It's not as dark anymore which I really like, I love the light:)

I just found out though that the counter top will probably not be as cheap as I expected it to be which is not good at all. Not that it was cheap to begin with but now it's getting ridiculous to have one piece replaced.

Snow, Cirque De Soleil, Snow, Drive, Snow, snow snow

Do you see a pattern? Last I checked I live in the South, you know, like Georgia. Also upon closer review of my calender it seems that it says 1 Mar so pretty close to spring right. So why is it that it snowed ALL DAY and not just a wee bit, A LOT. We were trying to enjoy the Cirque De Soleil but the snow made it a wee bit harder. It was snowy and COLD. This show is in a big tent but the toilets and other things are unheated under a flimsy tent. Even the big tent wasn't that warm I think it was more the body heat of everyone there. The show was ok but not worth the mucho dollars spent. It was very loud so of course my son was not pleased. I think if the music had not been so loud it would have been more enjoyable. I think I will stick to watching it on TV. After the show we stopped for ice cream (yes it was still snowing and it was still cold) and then finally headed on the road.
This was not a fun trip. The snow did not subside and the roads got worse and of course because this is the south, they don't know how to drive in the snow. Eventually we came to a dead stop for almost an hour and a half to two hours. After abot 5h hours we finally made it home. The snow finally became rain about twenty minutes out. So we didn't get to enjoy the snow once we were safely snuggled into our home.
I think I'd rather be somewhere with all four seasons on a consitance basis instead of this, it's suppose to be warm most of the time but sometimes we have freak weather thing.

First road trip to ATL

Our drive to ATl was uneventful.  It started out with rain pouring down in increments and then finally tapered off to some nice roads but still very cloudy.  As long as the roads were drive I didn't care what what the sky looked like.

We arrived too early to check in so we went right to the mall.  Finally a real mall, but we didn't stay too long.  I hit the Aveda shop where I could finally exchange the things I've been trying to exchange forever. (We don't have an Aveda store where we live only Spa/Salons that wont take exchanges unless you purchased it from their store). I was so glad to be able to get the things I actually not that there is anything wrong with that I had, they just weren't my preference.  (It was my bad though because I am the one who was in a rush and purchased the wrong ones to begin with).  Oops, I forget to say we stopped at Gap kids first as we found that one first, and I of course bought some clothes for the little one.  I only went in there to get some gray sweatpants to replace the last pair but he saw some Star Wars t-shirts he really wanted so who was I to say no :) OK yeah I could have but I had a little spare cash so why not.  The only problem was that the t-shirts cost more than the sweat pants, are you serious..  Amazing what you pay for a logo.  After this short trip to the mall we checked into the hotel and stayed there about 2 seconds.  I decided to go everywhere I wanted today so we could enjoy Cirque De Soleil tomorrow properly.  On the way to the hotel I saw a Container Store (where i got some really nice containers in Arlington VA) and i was so happy I could pick them up here instead of having to pay their ridiculous shipping costs. After check in we headed there for me to pick up some more containers I like that have lids and flip up handles.  OK I can't explain it well so see picture below:

After that our usually thing when we're on a trip is that K gets Mac Donald's so we set out for the closest one (or so I thought).

I have  a Pioneer Z2 (I think) in the car and the navigation system in that thing sucks.  First off even though I bought it last year, the map is from 2001 (WHAT) and when I tried to get a new map the first thing it says is you need the newer firmware.  Well guess what my piece of junk system wont do, read the firmware disk so even if I had the $130 up-grade disk I couldn't install it because the software is not the right stuff.  My point is, I started down the street I thought I was suppose to be on but then the nav tells me to go right so I go right then it tells me to go right again so I do and then it says take another right which lands me right back where I just was.  Stupid stupid thing. we get to McDees which is only .9 miles away once we are on the right road again.

Now K is enjoying his food and I decide what a perfect time to head to CostCo (not so much I find out once i get there).  The place was packed so much so that I couldn't even get a cart.  I grabbed the only thing I can carry which is what I hope are the Tortilla chips I like and can only get at CostCo.  They are the same brand but not the same shape and I don't have the patience to see if the description is the same as the ones I like.  I grab three bags and head to the cashier because the place is just to packed to look at anything else.

Back to the hotel next but we see a Toys R Us and a TJ Maxx as we head towards the hotel and decide to of course pull in to check things out.  I end up getting a new black purse and K gets some new Ben 10 toys.  Now back to the hotel but we stay only for a few minutes as I am starving (but of course K isn't).  

I am to the point of not caring, so I text a friend and get the down low on a good Japanese restaurant and we head back out.  We end up at this place called Nakato Japanese Restaurant.  This one was not the same as Fujiyama's where we go all the time back home but it had its good and bad points.  I ordered only for me except for some extra steamed rice for the little one.  We were in luck to, the other people at the table hadn't know they could ask for only onions so the chef ended up with a lot of extra veggies which were passed on to K (nice). They even had mushrooms in it which he loves.  The place back home charges extra for mushrooms so this was a good thing.  He even ate all of the veggies and some of my chicken which shocked me as I thought he would still be full.  I also liked the noodles better here and the service was pretty good too (although most of the time the service at Fujiyama's is outstanding).

One thing I can definitely say though is that Fujiyama's clear soup is WAY BETTER than the restaurant we went to here in ATL.  The bill wasn't too bad either especially since my child was able to eat veggies for free :)

Well after my son has been playing with his new Ben 10 toys for a bit he tells me that one of them isn't doing what it is suppose to.  He has a Ben 10 watch and when you put the figures on it, it is suppose to say the name of the figure that is on it.  Well one of them was saying the wrong name. After we get back to the hotel and ready for bed, my son decides that this is unacceptable and he wants to go back to Toys R Us and exchange it.  We head back out and I ended up buying two additional ones besides the exchanged one.  I figured some of the ones we saw there we hadn't seen back home so they may be hard to get later and I don't want to have to pay ridiculous shipping if it comes to that.  We checked all of them immediately when we got back to the hotel and all were good to go.

That's it for now, much more than I expected to write but you never know what will flow from your fingers once you get started.

I'll update tomorrow once we get back home.

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

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