The Wanderer in Albany and Olean NY's blog: "Driving Thoughts of a Road Warrior"

I am a frequent guest at the Hampton Inn Hotel Chain. One of the reasons I enjoy staying at the Hamptons, is becuase of the Cookies. For thoses of you who do not know, every night between 6pm and 9pm they put fresh baked cookies out for the guests. Usually an assortment of choclate chip, peanut butter and macadamia nut. Tonight, I went to the lobby at 5:55, because I like to be there when they come out of the oven. The good news was that the staff was efficient as always and had the cookies out before 6pm. The bad news...I passed a guy in the hall with a plate of cookies. They were heaping to the point it was all he could do to keep them on the plate. I should mention that this was not a desert plate, but a standard size dinner plate. Yes you guessed it, he had emptied the tray of cookies without any consideration for the other guests. As much as I travel I am constantly coming across people who either have no consideration for others. Or maybe they cant comprehend that a world exists outside of their personal space. Either way, I am off to the lobby...Hoping for some leftover crumbs...

Wow, technology has sure come a long way. Since I do not work in an office, all of my meetings are done over a cell phone. It did not take me long to realize that I can do things during these calls, because 9 times out of 10 I am not the one talking. So, during these meetings I have found myself eating supper, doing a crossword puzzle, and yes even playing video games. Today I took the meeting to a whole new level, and I must admit it was probably a lower level. The call was at that special time early in the morning. I set my alarm an hour early, so I could gather my notes and make some of that wonderful "Hotel Room Coffee." I had enough time for 2 cups and a morning smoke. Then it was time to dial in, for the meeting. As usual the first 10 min was rather slow, and my mind started to wander. It was then that I realized that the morning Caffine and Nicotine combination was working on my bodily functions. There was no way I was going to make it to the end of the meeting. Face it when you have to go, you have to go. I could not leave the meeting because the system announces when we sign off and on. After about 5 min of should or shouldnt I, I decided I had no choice. So I muted my phone and headed for the restroom. I almost got away with it too, until the inevitible happened. Right in the middle of dropping a duece, my boss said.."What do you think Todd??" I realized that I had to say something. The good news was that I was paying attention. However, I had not finished the task at hand. After a pregnant pause, I took a deep breath and unmuted my phone. I proceeded to respond, and was able to continue the conversation. I then went back to listening mode and finished up the paper work. As I said, I would have gotten away with it to. Except it was not until after I flushed that I realized I forgot to put the phone back on mute. And you can probably imagine, how quickly that meeting ended

I have to admit that when I heard ANS had passed away, I was not all that shocked. I am sure the conspiricy theories will start to fly in the next few weeks. There is one thing that is making me shake my head and go HUH? I heard on the news that men are lining up to take a paternity test to prove they have fathered her daughter. This goes against everything that I have learned from watching Maury and Jerry. For years I have watched men come on daytime talk shows for the testing, but usually it is to prove they are not the father. Often they accuse the woman of sleeping with multiple men. They say they only slept with her once (which if done right once is enough) Or they say that they never slept with her in the first place. But, in this case they are lining up to prove paternity. I guess I should not be suprised, with the potential windfall the lucky daddy could get. And I am sure that if this were on Maury, the men would be saying Yes she slept with a lot of men, but I am the father. Or Yes I only slept with her once ,but I am the father. hmmm. Well, I can honestly say I did not sleep with her, but if asked to take the test....Yes I would. I am getting tired of playing the lottery anyway. The latest I had heard was that Zsa Zsa's husband is lining up to take the test. That is not so absurd is it. She would have been his type...Blonde and Big Breasted. And he was her type ...At least 20 years older than her and a man of power. And some added parody..picture if you will a certain former president giving a press conference saying " I did have sex with that women" So when Saturday Night Live or MAD TV do the skit...none of you will be suprised

Well, Feronia and Hermes, have turned their heads on me. It looks like I will be Stuck in SC for the weekend. I am not complaining, I am sure that this is better than home right now, were it is cold and snowing. The problem is I am in a Rural area of SC. I have yet to find a bar to have a drink in. I dont really want to drive to Florence to find a bar. My only hope is that the weather will be nice down here so I can at least explore the area. Get intoxicated on nature so to speak. Oh I fogot to put humor here. We all know who Ghandi was. A Mystic He walked every where so his feet usually had a lot of Callouses. Since he ate very specific things he was also very skinny. Finally he believed that Onions were very healthy and ate them all the time. From this information I draw the conclusion Ghandi was a Supercallousedfragilmysticwithextrahallitosis Trust me it is funnier when you hear it

Oddly enough this is also the beer I drink. Anybody want to share a pint?

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

While I was traveling across I-95 between NC and SC, I had another experience of Mean People Suck. I was doing a little more than the posted speed limit, when I came up behind a car doing considerably less than the posted speed limit. When I passed him he got up behind me and stayed right on my back bumper with his high beams on. he followed me into SC and then proceeded to give me the one fingered salute as I was getting off my Exit. I should say that it was at night and the highway had virtually no traffic. I also gave him plenty of room, so I could not have cut him off in anyway. All of this got me thinking. Have we as a population gotten so wrapped up in ourselves that we do not realize there are other people around? I am used to seeing this kind of action in Metro areas, but I must admit experiencing it on a Interstate in the middle of nowhere, did suprise me. Another thought....to bad there was not a place to post the Plate numbers of these rude people. Like the local grocery store hanging up the checks that have bounced. On a positive note I have been here 1 day of a 14 day stretch and have already experienced some of the southern hospitality that I have heard so much about.

Last night I arrived at my hotel early and decided to watch some TV before going to bed. During the show, I happened to notice the clock in a particular scene. The time on the clock was 9:27. I don't know about other people, but when I see a clock I have to know what time it is. So I checked the time on my cell phone, and it was also 9:27. I wonder if this was just a coincidence or, was this something staged? Chances are it is staged, but I did notice that the camera started at the top of the set and panned slowly down past the clock. I got the feeling that the director wanted to focus attention on the clock. As I sit here and think about it I am starting to realize something else. To sit and think about something small like that probably means I have way to much time on my hands.

Well now that I created the blog, I have nothing really to write right at the moment. I did have something that I wanted to say, but it has slipped my mind. For those of you that came here to read my first blog....I am sorry I wasted your time. Please understand that sometimes my mind sort of goes away to its happy place before I am done with it. I will contribute something soon. Have a wonderful day