Personal

Manditory Tipping?

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I saw this article today and I got a little ticked off. When did the percentage of tipping go up? I try to stick to double the tax or about 15%. That varies based on the service provided to me at the restaurant. I don’t know where someone thinks a mandatory 20% is fare. So you can provide really bad service and still automatically add 20%? I don’t know what pissed me off more about this, article. The mandatory part, or the fact that the amount they want to tack on is 5% more than what I have always thought as a fair tip. If you are concerned with cost of living adjustments, the tip goes up whenever the price of the meal goes up, so the percentage doesn’t have to change.

I am not being cheap. I regularly tip 20-25% if I get good service. Especially if I am traveling by myself and get good service I have given really big tips. I just get aggravated by people expecting more and then not providing good service. I don’t care what the article says about statistics of how people tip. If I get bad service you get a bad tip, and vice versa. About half the time I go out to eat in the city I get bad service, I am not going to reward someone for that. That is not saying everyone is bad, I also get some great service, but I should be able to dictate when I tip well or not so well based on the level of service I get. That is the whole idea of a gratuity, deal with it!

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Amenities Mishap

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One of the things I like about the building I live in is the dry cleaners in the basement. I usually drop off a bunch of laundry and dry cleaning once a week so I can maintain my lazy lifestyle and not do laundry. Laundry is like prison time for me. Dates back to when I was like 11 and my Mom started making me do the laundry. Since she was into all that keeping the apartment clean stuff, I had to wash and fold everything in the laundry room in our building. Man was it hot in the summer and cold in the winter down there. So now when I think of doing laundry I relate it to really bad conditions. Well that is the story I tell myself when I fork over $15 a week to have my stuff washed and folded for me.

This week I had a bit of an issue with my laundry. I picked it up Tuesday night and never started to unpack it until late that night. When I did, I realized that it wasn’t my laundry. I had just switched to a new generic white mess laundry bag and all my stuff was in it encased in a plastic garbage bad. Someone else also had a mesh bag and the laundry got them mixed up. Man was I pissed, but at least I had clothes and towels for the next day.

I went back on Wednesday and thankfully right as I walked in the lady stated that she bet I had the wrong laundry. In 2 minutes I had my stuff and was off. It was a close call. It could have gone allot worse. That was my brush with craziness on Tuesday.

Labor Day

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Today is Labor Day.¬† I don’t have anything special scheduled.¬† I am just happy that it is a Monday and I am not at work.¬† I am thinking about going to the beer garden with Jayson and Gretchen.¬† The weather is perfect for it.¬† They have to do some shopping first.¬† I need to clean up my apartment, so hopefully we will meet up later and go.¬† Other than that, hopefully it will be a restful day.

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August Recap

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So where have I been?  I kind of took the month of August off from writing.  Not sure why.  I did think about writing something.  I even had a few good post ideas, but I never brought myself to sit in front of the computer and write.  There was of course sitting in front of the computer.  Just not any blog entries.

So what happened to me in August?¬† On personal front, not a whole lot.¬† It was dam hot in NYC last month, so I neglected to do more bike riding, but when it is 90 and you are a person who likes it at 65 you tend to avoid outside activity like riding around for miles.¬† I did take a sick day early in the month.¬† I had a bad cold, but Cold-Eeze works like magic.¬† I am not sure why I don’t use that stuff more often.

On the work front allot went on.¬† it wasn’t as bad as the months leading up to our move in July but it is hectic with a¬† big project due date coming up so my team and I need to be ready to assist with it.¬† We also have our own projects going on.¬† I will talk about some of the cool technology stuff in other posts, but Jayson, Rob, and I had to go to our other office for a few days mid month to get a roll out of some new software underway.¬† Then there was the usual problems and some not so usual issues going on throughout the month that keep the stress level high.

I am going to try and make an effort to continue to write something every day or so.  I want to, and I truely like writing before I go to bed.  it helps me unwind.

Sleepy Sunday

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I was going to goto the Beer Garden today but felt like I was getting a migraine so I passed on the opportunity. Glad that I did. I crashed around 4PM and slept for a few hours. I felt like crap when I woke up so I did what I normally don’t do when I am home and getting a head ache. I medicated. I feel better now but I know it is only the prescription talking. I am hoping to be sleepy enough to goto bed soon and get a good night sleep.

The rest of the weekend I did some DVD and DVR watching. This week I was into The Wire. I watched season 2 and now I am on clearing out season 3 from my DVR. Man that is a good show.

Reminds me of Homicide Life on the Street. Back to the work grind tomorrow!

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The Non Event Saturday

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I laid low today. I got a hair cut today and tried to do some shopping, but ended up getting nothing. I did get stuck on the 6 train for like 20 minutes after someone pulled the emergency brake. The consensus of everyone in my car was if we found out who thought it was funny to pull the brake they wouldn’t find the body of the person that did it. The only upside was the AC ran while we stood crammed in there for that long. It was too hot to do some bike riding. I hope to get a ride in tomorrow or during the week.

Dinner After Dinner

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Last night we went to Spago at Caesars. The food was good, but it wasn’t enough for any of us. First there was no “normal” food. Now I understand it is supposed to be upscale, but you should have one normal dish that I can identify by reading its description on it. The portions where really small also. I ended up back at the Pizza Hut at my hotel about a hour after we ate to get a mini pie since I was still so hungry. Everyone else had show tickets so I walked around the shops at Caesars for a while before heading back to the hotel on the monorail.

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Really Good Steak

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Last night Joe, Karen and I went to a steakhouse in Ceasers called Nero or I think that is what it was called. Man do they make great steak. My friends had a nice bottle of wine (i don’t drink wine) and we enjoyed a really nice steak. I honestly can’t remember what else I did yesterday except have that awesome steak.

On the business front, the convention is very informative so far. I am finding tons of useful stuff out.

Bite

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Last night we went to the show Bite at the Stratosphere. Joe did nothing but talk about this show for months before we came to Vegas. He was all into the fact that there was topless dancing, but in a tasteful way. So we all decided to give the show a try. It was interesting. It was a vampire theme thing, and there was allot of topless dancing and biting. The songs they danced to where really good and the dancers where great so the show overall turned out to be really good.

The only down side was the really long walk from the monorail station to the Stratosphere. We ended up taking a cab back to the hotel after the show because we didn’t want to walk that trip again at 1AM.

I was just glad that I made the show at all. I got a migraine from sitting in the sun all day, and ended up skipping the buffet dinner everyone else went to. I took a Butabital and went back to the hotel room to rest for a while before the show. Thankfully the medication kicked in and I was fine for the show.

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Sunday Resting

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The convention doesn’t really start until tomorrow, so today is resting. We headed over to Joe’s hotel (Flamingo Grand Vacation something or other) to hang in his pool. We relaxed and hung out. I got really hot and tried to nap in the nice shade area with the misting system. Man those things rock. Not much went on today besides lying at the pool. It is nice to relax before the hectic week of juggling conferences and staying on top of work at the office begins.

Jayson and Gretchen also moved into their own room for most of the remaining week. We share a room again on Friday when the convention is over for one more night! At least I don’t have to wait for the bathroom for a few more days!

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