Grazing Rites

So after Mindi looked over the files for the Top 5 we have successfully narrowed things down to a Top 3.

Vertigo: Stylish, HDTV with HD channels, somewhat centrally located.
Columbus Motor Inn: Practical, spacious, great location.
Hilton Garden Inn: Luxury by the airport with pools.

I think we’ll leave it at a Top 3 for now. HOW to book still remains to be seen, with my personal finances currently in a bad way after paying for concert tickets and car repairs I probably won’t be in a position to pre-pay if needed for at least another week and a half and right now the Canadian dollar is sitting at $0.86 which is not ideal for making international payments.

But whatever will I occupy my mind with if not trying to untie the Gordian knot that is San Francisco accommodations? Well the idea occurred to me about perhaps extending the trip by 1 day and driving back along the Oregon coast with a stop for some dune buggy action. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about the coastal area so much research is required before rendering judgment on this idea.

Alright so after a bit of a false start with the Trip Advisor forums and a couple substitutions I have narrowed the Top 10 down to a Top 5: 4 in the city, 1 by the airport. In creating some more detailed files on these 5 properties I think I may have an inkling of what the Top 3 will end up looking like…

Grant Hotel
Cheapest of the Top 5 with a great location are both positives but the lack of air conditioning and their treatment towards people with disabilities are both leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

Hotel Vertigo
The more I look into this the more I discover that this hotel is apparently a direct reference to an Alfred Hitchcock film that I’ve never seen and at present have no interest in seeing. I do like how stylish it looks with the HDTVs with HD channels but it does appear the hip look comes at a cost of space. It also sounds like it may be located in a bad part of town.

Columbus Motor Inn
The darling of Trip Advisor with glowing reviews this was accidentally left off of the Top 10 because it isn’t listed on aggregate sites like expedia. I’m not thrilled by the name but what’s in a name? This could turn out to be the Flic Flac of San Francisco. The Triple Diamond rating is a comfort and it looks like this may be the one property in San Francisco that has spacious rooms in our price range but the name and the appearance doesn’t really scream luxury to me.

The Wharf Inn
It’s right on the Wharf which is a huge plus but it apparently has very thin walls…it’s also the most expensive of the Top 5 but doesn’t really look it on the outside. Less than a kilometer from the Hard Rock though is very tempting.

Hilton Garden Inn
This is the sole remaining property on the list from outside the city as well as the last property with a pool. It’s the only property that really says luxury to me but it comes at the price of being outside the city and transit shuts down at midnight so that’s a factor. Also Triple Diamond rated.

So I’d say right now each hotel represents something different.

Grant Hotel – Location and value
Hotel Vertigo – Style and slight indulgence
Columbus Motor Inn – Highly recommended and practical
The Wharf Inn – Right on the Wharf in the middle of the action
Hilton Garden Inn – Luxury indulgence outside the city

The more I think about it the harder narrowing this down to a Top 3 might actually be; perhaps it’s time to turn the reigns over to my partner in crime for this particular mission.

So I’ve narrowed down the list of hotels for San Francisco down to a Top 10: 3 near the airport, 7 in the city.

Near The Airport…
(listed from lowest to higher price)

Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco
This is probably my current front runner for two reasons: It has both an indoor pool and a whirlpool and it has a Triple Diamond rating which means “These establishments appeal to the traveler with comprehensive needs. Properties are multifaceted with a distinguished style, including marked upgrades in the quality of physical attributes, amenities, and level of comfort provided.” To me this sounds like a guarantee of a certain degree of luxury. As I understand it the AAA Diamond standards are much higher than your run-of-the-mill star rating system because properties have to meet 27 essential requirements based on cleanliness, comfort, security, and safety before they can even apply to be evaluated. Triple Diamond is the level at which they stop paying attention to price (for more information on the AAA Diamond standard, watch Ocean’s 13). Free WiFi everywhere which is more important outside the city I should think since in the city WiFi will likely be flying about all over the place.

Hampton Inn San Francisco Airport
This is like my backup to the Hilton; it only has an indoor pool but also offers free drinks. Good reviews on Trip Advisor and although few pictures have been posted, those that have look very nice. Free WiFi only in the lobby.

Larkspur Landing San Francisco
This is Mindi’s first choice largely because of their pillow menu but since we’re driving she can just bring her pillow from home. No pool but good reviews, rated #1 near the airport by Trip Advisor reviewers. Free WiFi only in the lobby.

In The City…
(listed from lowest to higher price)

Travelodge Golden Gate
By far the cheapest option, no pool, free parking which is rare, not particularly centrally located for the attractions we’re interested in but it’s near an IHOP and every room has a fridge.

Travelodge By The Bay
A little more expensive by more usefully located for our needs, more of that impossible to find free parking, has very responsive management on Trip Advisor.

Grant Hotel
No pool, no parking of any kind free or otherwise, but perfectly located for our needs. Looks nice, has positive reviews, but the computer in the lobby for internet access is a Mac – this is a far darker mark against the property in my mind than it probably should be…dirty Mac.

Hotel Vertigo
This is probably the city-located frontrunner for me but unfairly that’s probably because it just looks cool. No pool, expensive parking, HDTV channels, glowing reviews, and very hip. Also this is the last of the city hotels cheaper than the top 3 airport options.

Galleria Park Hotel
Has a whirlpool, competition for which I would expect to be a pain. Looks pretty good, reasonably well located.

Wharf Inn
This is probably my frontrunner for properties at Fisherman’s Wharf, largely because of their free parking. It’s just a fantastic location.

Radisson Hotel Fisherman’s Wharf
Has an outdoor pool, very centrally located for our interests, looks very nice, incredibly pricey when you factor in parking.

And for a bonus there’s still the spectre of the dark horse, the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman’s Wharf which I may just forgive for charging $41/day for parking if a spot on the list opens up but I’m trying to narrow this Top 10 down to a Top 5 so that doesn’t really help with that goal. It is also pretty expensive and…oh no wait, no pool. Screw ‘em.

So there you have it, the Top 10.

So what do YOU think?

With a little luck and perhaps some feedback I hope to have this down to a Top 5 early next week. I probably won’t be ready to book for a couple weeks anyways because my finances aren’t the greatest at the moment and our dollar isn’t doing too hot either, currently sitting at $0.87. I think I’ll try to wait for it to hit at least $0.90 before I move on this.

So wanting to continue making progress on planning for the September road trip I thought I would look at our first stop which I had previously decided would be in Salem.

I had my eye on this one place that seemed to offer an impossible price of $35 per night. It was an extended stay place so I figure it’s a slow time of year or they’re suffering in the recession but I was more than willing to take advantage of that. So the room will have a kitchenette, big deal. Yea well I begin to look at this option in depth with the goal of booking it perhaps even today when problems began to crop up.

For one thing there were reports that the front desk shut down at either 10:30pm or 11pm and if you came after that you were just SOL, end of story. Now the driving time would have been approximately 6 hours and I hope to be on the road after dropping off the kid by 10am so assuming an hour long stop for lunch and another hour for border wait we’d ideally be checking in around 6pm, hopefully shortly before going to diner at Red Lobster or wherever, and being delayed by an additional 4 or more hours is incredibly unlikely I still wasn’t thrilled with the specter of potential disaster this raised. What if the border wait is insane? What if we hit heavy traffic? What if there’s an accident on the I-5 resulting in some painful reroute? What if we want to go shopping? Although for the price it might be worth risking it.

So digging deeper still I notice the actual property charges far more than expedia. They mention on Trip Advisor how they offer crazy discounts through their online partners that they cannot offer directly for whatever reason. Alright, I found a deal – yay me, right?

So I go to expedia with the intent of booking the room when I check the room options everything falls apart. For anything more than 1 double bed the price nearly doubles. They have rooms with 1 double, 2 doubles, or 2 queens. Wait a minute, a hotel with no rooms with single queens or kings? Really? That’s just nuts. Nuts, sucks to that option.

So a little looking and I discover a Travelodge offering rooms at $47 per night. Alright, I say to myself, you roll the dice with Travelodge but sometimes you win big so why not? I go to their website, get ready to book a room only to discover the $47 is for a disabled person. Now there’s nothing stopping me from booking it, it has a single queen non-smoking with WiFi and they don’t limit it to physically challenged guests but why discount that room? Wouldn’t that just encourage able-bodied cheapskates like myself to book it up so when someone comes along who actually needs it they’re SOL? Something about this just didn’t make me feel very good about myself.

Alright, it was time for a completely different approach. A new philosophy needed to be brought to the search. For one thing, why should I pay more for some dodgy room in Salem than I am for a perfectly located well-reviewed place within freaking walking distance of the Six Flags? Shouldn’t the midpoint stops be cheaper? Maybe my mistake was choosing small towns without much tourism. I checked Portland and discovered it to be more expensive so that wasn’t it; so much for economies of scale.

So back to the Motel 6 website I went. Thinking fondly of the location on Military Road south of Seattle Jon and I stayed at once. It was awkwardly located but dirt cheap and plenty fine as I recall.

Ever heard of a place called Tigard? Well neither have I but it seems to be between Portland and Salem and the price a very reasonable $45, located right off the I-5 and near a lake. Trip Advisor ranked it at 3.5 out of 5. The previous places I looked at ranked 2.5 and 3 respectively. And they have a pool. Save a boatload of money with a reliable brand by staying off the beaten path? Well now THAT sounds like me.

So the final cost of Blaster’s repairs was about $315 which was less than we expected although not by much but that’s not even the best part. The best part is they made it so the heat shield would stop making the noise that started this whole adventure – for free!

So I’d say Blaster is at 99% and good to go for the trip. Emboldened by this recent development I booked our hotel in Vallejo for the trip. We’ll be staying at the Motel 6 Six Flags East for 2 nights – TripAdvisor has no serious complaints to worry about and it’s actually ranked the 9th best hotel in the city so I’d call that a win.

Now if only San Francisco could be so easy (not to mention cheap!). We’re paying $91 USD for two nights before tax – even under the worst tax scenario that would be $103 USD (or $119 CDN at today’s rate) total. So that works out to $60 Canadian per night after taxes within walking distance of Six Flags with no serious complaints on Trip Advisor? I’ll take it!

It feels good to shake off the shackles of the uncertain fate of my vehicle; I’ve felt like I’ve been on pause the last week and half with a sword of Damocles hanging over my head. Now I can go back to looking forward to and planning for my vacation 86 days hence.

I also built the Attraction file for Six Flags including pictures of rides I want to do and a couple pictures from 2002 just for fun. I’ve identified 9 rides I want to hit. Of course with all the pictures the file is 3.5 MB which is huge for a Word document but you know my saying, “Superior information makes for a superior experience”. Even if you don’t hit every place you research or have information on you’ll be able to make better, more well-informed choices. Roadtrips are not about planning every moment, spontaneity is the rule not the exception – it has to be when border waits and traffic are incalculable factors.

I also discovered Six Flags has a Thomas Town themed area…with two Thomas-themed rides. So, um, if we got our pictures taken with Thomas would my kid think we’re gods or the biggest jerks ever? I felt a little bad when I discovered that but I DO plan on taking the family to Disneyland in 2012 so it’s not like he’ll suffer long and besides he’ll be better able to appreciate (and remember) such things later. Although his recent adventure in Playland made it pretty apparent that he’s ready to enjoy rides, on his own no less. But will he be ready for a transatlantic flight in September 2010? Flight and expense would be the only reasons not to consider bringing him; pretty much everything I want to do in London should be kid-friendly/accessible. Taking my kid to London at age 3, that would be quite the coup but I’m not married to the idea if it becomes a logistical nightmare.

But one vacation at a time.

There is still so much to be done. Booking hotels in San Francisco, Eugene, and Salem, buying tickets for Six Flags, making CDs for the trip…unquestionably San Francisco accommodations is going to be the biggest hurdle; everything else will be fun by comparison. Trip Advisor reviews would seem to indicate the biggest possibility for pitfalls, and by that I mean expensive mistakes, lay here. But having a car in good condition does make certain things available that might not otherwise be options – like staying in South San Francisco by the airport where your dollar goes a lot further and when it comes to parking, no dollars are required. If we stay outside the city we’ll probably want to BART our way in, which seems at first blush to be a rather complicated system. If we stay in the city we have more of the city at our fingertips with less travel time so we could do more with our time possibly. Outside the city we could enjoy luxury – or rather what I more commonly think of luxury (I don’t give a crap about the artwork in a hotel room) – in our accommodations. If the BART isn’t too inconvenient I’m currently leaning towards out of city accommodations but if that doesn’t pan out there is a property right a Fisherman’s Wharf I’ve been thinking about. Frankly part of me wishes someone else could just decide and figure this part out. Oh well, as problems go this is a decent one to have.

Well that was quite the rollercoaster but it looks like Blaster’s going to be okay.

And Minit-tune can suck my nuts. We’ll get Blaster up to nearly 100% for less than Minit-tune quoted just for parts. Their prognosis of a bad engine mount was apparently way off. The real problem was a sub frame mount. Minit-tune estimated the engine mount part at $370 but Fred’s, clearly the best place in town for repairs, actually took a serious look at the car and discovered the problem was the sub frame mount which would cost $285 to fix including parts and labour but before tax and any environmental fees so we’re probably looking at getting the whole thing done for less than Minit-tune wanted to charge us for the wrong part.

But that’s not the kicker. The real kicker is, the sound is completely unrelated to the problem and what’s causing the sound is essentially cosmetic and completely unimportant – their best guess is a cracked heat shield but either way it’s not worth addressing apparently.

So while I’m still less than thrilled at having to shell out $320+ it’s also incredibly good news because at first blush they thought the entire sub frame might need to be replaced, a cost not even worth contemplating unless heart attacks are something you enjoy. Plus flights to San Francisco aren’t cheap – the cheapest provider on Expedia is Air Canada so that should tell you all you need to know about that cost. So in the long run this will save us money versus flying to San Francisco and in hopefully improved fuel economy. To say nothing of the substantial drop in blood pressure I’m expecting once all this is behind me.

The funny thing is throwing an oil change on top of the repairs would have been $50. Minit-tune does an oil change, filter replacement, tire rotation, and more for $33. So what have we learned? Leave the fluids to the fluid experts and leave the repairs to the repair experts – bundling may make sense in some areas like telecommunications but clearly not when it comes to automotive stuff. But judging from the experience thus far Fred’s Automotive on Fraser in Vancouver has earned some brand loyalty out of me while Minit-tune has injured theirs.

So I think my current plan is to find a cheap place for an oil change now and then perhaps some light maintenance in September prior to the trip - maybe Automatic Transmission Flush, autumn maintenance package, or whatever our expert friends recommend to keep Blaster at the top of his game - and then perhaps look into getting that heat shield addressed in a year or so.

So I’ve learnt a lot about owning a car over the last half-year, which is a big part of what owning your first car is all about.

I think once the kid’s out of daycare I may consider getting a new vehicle like an Accent sedan or perhaps new Taurus as it seems pretty feature-friendly but that is an insanely long way off to even bother thinking about. But long-range planning with regards to savings might be worth a thought.

Here’s an interesting little fact – something that increases by 7% per year will double in a decade. At current prices if I had double my current savings I could buy an Accent outright. If I try to grow my savings at a rate of 7% per year plus inflation I could buy an Accent straight up in a decade. Now that’s not at all the way I see things playing out, frankly I hope an electrical vehicle will be a solid option by then and I question the time frame as well. Still, there are some interesting thoughts to ponder.

But in the meantime I look forward to getting Blaster back today or tomorrow and continuing to enjoy his relative awesomeness for some time to come. Now, when I can reschedule Cultus for…?

Drums

Easy
Interpol – PDA
Modest Mouse – Float On
The Go-Go’s – We Got The Beat

Medium
Billy Idol – White Wedding
Blondie - One Way Or Another
Cheap Trick - Hello There
Devo – Uncontrollable Urge
Dinosaur Jr. – Feel The Pain
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Guns N’ Roses – Shackler’s Revenge
Jane’s Addiction – Mountain Song
Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
Journey – Any Way You Want It [x4]
L7 – Pretend We’re Dead
Lit – My Own Worst Enemy [x1]
Lush - De-Luxe
Nirvana – Polly [x3]
Rage Against The Machine – Testify
Ratt - Round & Round
Smashing Pumpkins – Today
Speck – Conventional Lover [x2]
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
The Donnas - New Kid In School
The Main Drag - A Jagged Gorgeous Winter
The Offspring – Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated) [x3]
The Who - Pinball Wizard [x2]
Journey – Don’t Stop Believing
Panic At The Disco – Nine In The Afternoon
The Replacements – Alex Chilton [x1]
Nirvana – Drain You

Vocals

Easy
L7 – Pretend We’re Dead
Oasis – Wonderwall [x3]
R.E.M. – Losing My Religion [x2]
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf
Social Distortion - I Was Wrong

Guitar

Easy
Modest Mouse – Float On
Duran Duran – Girls On Film

So with Blaster taken out of non-essential service while awaiting repairs I’m back to taking the bus to and from work.

The biggest downsides to this are the extra time it takes to get home, the time spent waiting for the bus, and stupid people on the bus.

Now I find myself getting home around 6:15pm to 6:30pm but thinking back that wasn’t that uncommon when we had the car, the difference being we would possibly stop for fast food or shopping along the way which makes me think we’re actually saving money on more than just gas right now.

The time spent waiting for the bus isn’t too bad if I can find some WiFi although it can be physically draining on warmer days.

Stupid people are an intermittent problem. Day before last I had to argue with a woman to allow me to sit in an unoccupied window seat next to her that she was blocking when the bus was completely full and leaving people behind at stops.

“You know if you let someone sit in that completely empty seat next to you then more people can fit on the bus” I said.

She just stared at me as if I were some annoyance.

“Do you feel good about the people you’re forcing the bus driver to leave behind for no good reason?” I asked, “The hard working people trying to get home and have dinner, the parents like me just trying to get home to their children? Does it make you feel good to screw these people over just because you’re too damned lazy or stupid to move over or slide your legs over so one of us weary masses can sit down and make room for someone else?”

She eventually let me sit down, glaring at me the whole time. The rest of the bus made unhappy sounds at her for being such a cow and seemed to enjoy my little lecture.

I mean really, what advantage does she get by denying herself (and everyone else) a window seat? She doesn’t have to slide that extra half meter to get out of the bus later? What’s the point?

Anyways, as frustrating as that was, yesterday there were no problems and I was able to enjoy some NewsRadio.

That’s one thing taking the bus more makes me more appreciative of, my PDA. The time on the bus once I get a seat just whizzes by as I watch me some NewsRadio. The episode immediately after Phil Hartman’s death is coming up soon though so that will be a little sad.

Also I’ve noticed attitudes towards my PDA have changed a little over the last year. I get far fewer looks of shock when people realize I’m watching a TV show on the bus. Although the over-the-shoulder viewers are about the same the cachet of the whole thing seems to have worn off a bit. I guess I can blame Apple for that but its fine with me.

So Jon’s most recent visit confirmed some suspicions I’d had about some noises the car had been making intermittently. We took the car to the Minit-Tune that made a good impression on Mindi some time ago and I was hoping for a simple, inexpensive, quick repair but far too pragmatic and frankly too much of a worry-wart to expect it to be that easy.

“All right. Cover your receptors Perceptor.” - Blaster

Things started off on the wrong foot for a variety of reasons but what really sent me over the top was how coy the guy was about pricing. He basically said “there’s a problem and we don’t have the part to fix it but we can order it, you’ll have to pay shipping for that though” and then stared at me.

I asked about cost. “It’s a big one” was all he said.

Is this normal? Is this customer service? How about providing some details on the cost or some information as to the time frame or suggesting an alternative or at least giving us an estimate on the remaining lifespan on the car if it isn’t fixed?

I freely admit I know next to nothing about cars and the stupid games people play about them. Buying one was a hell of a dance; apparently repair work has completely different steps.

Growing frustrated as everyone just stood there I turned to Mindi and asked “I’m sorry, is there a decision to be made here? Has he presented us with some options to choose from?” If he had, I missed it.

She asked what the part would cost; I guess maybe thinking he was leery about quoting a final price including labour. He got back on the phone to find out and kept saying things like “Really?!” and “Wow!” or “That’s crazy!” He eventually came back and said they did have the part after all and that it would cost $370 just for the part.

By now this guy already had several things going against him. For one, why was the answer to every question a phone call? He had a computer. Don’t you need a computer to fix any late-model cars anyways? Shouldn’t he have some kind of inventory database or at the very list a price list somewhere to consult? Who exactly was he phoning, a manager who made up prices on the spot or some supplier?

He didn’t think to get a price the first time he called? Did he not think that pertinent information? Did he think we wouldn’t care? Don’t get me wrong, I love our car, but it’s not the kind of car you look at and think money is no object to the owner.

He was vague, reluctant, and frankly non-responsive. He even pointedly challenged my knowledge at one point by asking me if I knew the condition of the part that he claimed needed replacing. What was he expecting me to say? “Well golly, geez you caught me – I already knew what was wrong and came down all this way just for the fun of finding out if you knew”? He was just being suddenly and needlessly confrontational.

And if that wasn’t enough he had either just lied to us or whoever was on the other end of the phone had made a mistake earlier. So being vague, coy on price, and already making a mistake before even beginning the repair process? I was ready to walk but I knew we needed more information like repair time. He said the job would take several hours. We asked when that could happen, he said in a couple of days. If you wanted a question answered you had to be direct and not expect him to volunteer anything. We thanked him for his time and left.

“No way, two can play” - Blaster

We checked some of the things out with another source, the price he quoted for the part was slightly above the retail value but if you factor in a modest profit margin it was forgivable but he either out-and-out lied or was grossly misinformed with regards to the repair time. There is a guide for car repair places to follow when quoting a repair time, and that guide says for this kind of repair for our specific model and year of car that it should only take 36 minutes. He more than quadrupled that. I love Scotty but I wouldn’t trust him to repair anything if I had to pay him by the hour.

I was so disgusted with the whole affair I was literally sick to my stomach.

So this other source of ours recommended a reputable alternative, Fred’s Automotive ltd., to take our business to, a little googling showed us this place has won multiple awards and been frequently ranked #1 in customer service however they are a victim of their own success so we have to wait a week before they have time to look at our car but frankly I would be happy to wait the week and perhaps even pay a little bit more just to be treated with some respect and not have to question the competence or veracity of who I was dealing with. Having to get your car repaired is traumatic enough with having to play stupid games with people. And assuming the assessment of the Minit-Tune guy was accurate we may actually save over $100 just by not paying for 4 times the actual repair time. So instead of well over $500 we’re more likely looking at a little over $400. But that’s assuming the first jerk was correct about what’s wrong, it’s entirely possible that he was not.

Let’s just hope it’s not far worse and therefore far more expensive than we think, hopefully Blaster held together fairly well these last few months.

“Let’s hope so, ’cause if I didn’t we’re all gonna look like burnt out toaster ovens.” - Blaster

I am very much looking forward to this whole process just being over and done with, I’m clearly out of my depth and the stress is a killer.

“We’re really taking a pounding. Don’t know how much longer we can hold out.” - Blaster

However in the meantime we’re limiting the usage of the car which has thus far resulted in cancelling plans to go to Cultus Lake and pretty much putting the kybosh on any Father’s Day plans but hopefully everything will be fixed in time for Mindi’s Birthday. In the meantime I’m left taking the bus or walking pretty much everywhere. In the long run this could actually be a benefit as the repairs should improve fuel efficiency and limiting the use of the car for a week or more obviously cuts down on the fuel usage and therefore expenditure.

All these Blaster quotes are fun but personally I’m hoping Blaster can harness his inner Springer this time…

“I’ve got better things to do tonight than die.” -Springer

I’m taking care of a couple things on the To Do list on one of my last days off before the 60-day storm as they call it at work. Finally got around to watching my Summer Camp With Trucks DVD on the new TV with upconverting. It looks good but not great, I was hoping for great but that’s alright. I mean, it is essentially a home video from, holy crap, 14 years ago. It was originally shot for VHS release, which I of course bought, and then was re-released on DVD in 2000.

How many people don’t know what I’m talking about? Show of hands please.

Wow, that’s a lot of hands.

“Consistency, it’s a good thing in life”

“7 strokes of deodorant under each arm; never more, never less”

“Can you throw a Snapple on that?”

“A man’s gotta shower by hisself, so a man can feel like a man”

“That’s right, boo louder”

“Where my clothesed be?”

“I love the mall; I actually have money to spend now”

Christ.

Go karts and rollercoasters?

I am so alone.

No, eclectic, that’s it. I have eclectic tastes. I’ve frequently taken advantage of going left when everyone else goes right for something like 15 years now.

Anyways, since I first watched this video I knew exactly what I would say to any member of Hootie & The Blowfish if I ever met them – I would ask them to professionally record a cover of What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, And Understanding? Although I’d probably now add a request to release their stuff on Rock Band as well.

What the hell am I going to say to the Pet Shop Boys when I meet them? “Although we’re in San Francisco right now thank you for coming to Vancouver a few days ago”? That wouldn’t make me seem crazy at all. “I’ve been a fan since before I was a teenager”? Yea, who wouldn’t want to hear that? Like Kirk being told about people reading about his missions in grade school. “I know there’s a strict no photography rule but for the love of god, please?”

This question’s probably been in the furthest of backburners in my mind since I figured out what I would say to any member of Hootie given half a chance…at least I have 3 more months to figure it out.

So in honour of Summer Camp With Trucks I have created my guitar soloist band in Rock Band: Digby Fairweather.

I’m beginning to see a pattern with my vacation planning…

Stage 1: Pipe Dream
80% of vacation ideas never make it out of this stage.

Stage 2: Form A Team
See who’s available, when, what they can afford, and what they want. Another 15% of ideas die here. Hawaii is mired in this stage at present.

Stage 3: Divine Musical Sanction
Sign from above, usually in the form of scheduling serendipity with a treasured musical act, is provided.

Stage 4: Booking
This is where we’re at right now for San Francisco - I love this stage.

Stage 5: Realization
Actually going on the trip - also fun.

Stage 6: Post- Production
Editing of videos, posting of pictures.

To be honest at first I didn’t want to see this film, Will Farrell seems to miss far more often than he hits for me…but then I saw the trailer with Matt Lauer and I was sold. Leonard Nimoy’s vocal cameo was a delightful surprise. The movie will make you laugh and cringe but the laughs are stronger and more frequent so I guess you can call it a win.

This movie is a refreshing change from the recent trend of epic flashy superhero movies - don’t get me wrong those movies have their place but it’s nice to have a break. This is less sterile, grittier. Stylistically it’s much more reminiscent of Highlander than say Spiderman, which makes it feel more organic. There was the odd trite bit like Logan’s Klingon death howl but such instances were rare.

CGI was a little over-used in my opinion but that was only a minor distraction. It’s a rare thing to see a film shot in BC as BC which was nice. I have no complaints on the acting front; the primaries do their usual first-rate job. Ryan Reynolds was a particularly bright beacon of enjoyment which made his character arc all the more tragic.

Overall it’s a movie with a story to tell and it focused on that successfully.

No, I’m not planning on attacking Hawaii…well, not literally…could be a serviceable metaphor though…yea, let’s go with that.

So Jon’s interview went well and he puts his likelihood at being accepted into their program at 95%. The thing is, the program begins in October and runs for months. Why is this important? Well it puts the plan of going to Hawaii in early December in serious jeopardy. I’m okay with that, I do want to go but I’m in no particular rush so I’m going to clear some space and dust a small shelf to put that plan on if the need arises. Going in the future will be just as awesome as going in the near future.

So 95% chance of being accepted leaves a 5% chance of being rejected – Hawaii would be a hell of a consolation prize though eh? Talk about your win-win scenario. I’ll add another 1% chance that the program will let him off or happen to have some kind of reading break or something right around when it would work for us to go. So that would put my estimate of an attack on Hawaii at 6%.

See why I play so many horses in the race?

San Francisco is pretty much a go and with Hawaii pretty much sidelined I can focus my efforts and not feel so bad about splurging a little. I don’t think there was any way I was going to get to Hawaii for less than $1,100 Canadian and even that’s a pretty conservative estimate. After the incredibly expensive concert tickets and the plan to stay somewhere very nice in San Francisco this trip is edging towards that total as well. Taking 2 trips of that cost in one year is a little crazy, taking one is much more reasonable especially when that amount represents two people rather than Hawaii when it just represented my cost.

Plus this will hopefully make London 2010 easier to pull off. Jon’s pretty excited about going to London.

Alternatively I put the NIE for the San Francisco trip at 100%.

You may have noticed the nature of my blog can be a little hard to pin down. Last year it was a political blog, this year it seems to be a travel blog. Well like anything it’s a property of the time it lives in. Last year with the exciting primary season and Obama’s meteoric, historic, and transformative race to the White House it was a natural thing for someone of my background and values to focus on.

This year I turn 29 which means 30 is just around the corner and I suppose in my mind that’s a bit of a game changer. I want a nice destination birthday (is that phrase catching on yet?). My hair loss will hopefully go from “tragic and unexpected” to “natural and normal“. My RRSP will go from “very impressive for your age” to just “good“. My use of transit will go from “environmental” to “sad“.

The mulligans of my 20s will be gone.

All my recent discussion about various vacations lead me to start thinking that 2012 could be the perfect year to take the family to Disneyland. Then I remembered a conversation Jon and I had around the time Julian was born about taking our sons to Disneyland when my son would be 5 years old.

That would be 2012.

I think its ideal for 5 reasons.

1. He’ll be old enough to appreciate it and form long-term memories of the experience.

2. It will be a nice treat before he starts school.

3. Shortly after he’ll start school which would mean a significant drop in daycare expense so rebuilding the savings should be easy.

4. It’s when my current set of pie-in-the-sky vacation dreams end.

5. It gives Mindi’s brother a bit more time to keep his promise of taking his sister to Disneyland before I sweep in and get the job done.

And the kid’s behaviour that trip will probably be a major factor in 2013 planning. Will it be Toronto, Orlando, Hawaii…?

So, um, that ceiling I was talking about the other day…I almost hit it like the top of a turbo shaft after firing the rockets on a pair of gravity boots…almost.

Well, it depends on how you look at it. If you accept that I was talking in American dollars than I’m fine – if you thought I was speaking about Canadian currency I’m probably in trouble.

Final tally on two tickets with VIP packages including backstage passes and all the trimmings? $383 USD - or about $430 Canadian at yesterdays’ exchange rate. Although as I write this the dollar is up nearly 2 cents over yesterday so depending on when they process the charge it may improve…or worsen I suppose.

I wish I could say I’m surprised that I was willing to go quite that high but I’m not. What’s really surprising is that no one’s told me I’m out of my mind yet. I mean, it’s a matter of time I’m sure. This very blog entry will probably make it happen but thus far I’ve been met with enthusiasm and jealousy which, let’s face facts, was exactly what I was going for.

Seriously, I’ve been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys for well over half my life. Half my life - what have you held an interest in for half your life? No seriously, I’m curious.

Actually, now that I think about it, it could be more like two-thirds of my life. Wow. I’m old.

Let me share some fond Pet Shop Boys memories with you… (It’s my blog, I can do what I like)…

·         Listening to Actually with my sister and her boyfriend at the time, a drummer who read Tintin books to me – the height of cool to 9 year old kid.

·         Doing chores like laundry at age 11 listening to It’s A Sin on my walkman until the batteries died, then getting fresh batteries

·         Buying my first CD at age 12 – Behaviour, still probably my favorite album of all time

·         Listening to Behaviour while reading The Siege for the first time and discovering the sheer awesomeness of Peter David, and novels for that matter

·         My favorite gift from my friends at my 13^th birthday being a CD of Please

·         Listening to Very playing Final Fantasy II with my mom

·         Using my influence on Dance Council to get Go West played at a school dance with special laser effects

·         Paying over $30 for the Alternative double-album at HMV, that was probably the day I realized I’d pay just about anything to see them live, much less meet them

·         Listing to Alternative playing Final Fantasy III with my mom

·         Listening to A New Life on my way home from late night ushering shifts

·         Integrating clips from Bilingual onto my website

·         Aborting a date to pick up Release and listen to it right away – the date wasn’t going well anyways

·         Making girlfriends sit through the PopArt DVD – both with and without commentary

·         Listening to Fundamental nonstop for weeks in my office while I worked

·         The Seattle concert in 2006

And now I get to meet the people responsible for all that. Try and tell that 9, 11, 12, 13 year old kid it isn’t worth it.

“I react when I hear people ask

Was it worth it?

Yes, it’s worth living for

Was it worth it?

Yes, it’s worth giving for

If I’d had my way

This would have happened much sooner”

 –Pet Shop Boys ‘Was It Worth It?’

It’s all coming together, yesterday Mindi’s folks agreed to watch the kid and tickets for the concert go on sale today at 1pm – that’s the point of no return. We have decided to stick to the original plan with the one added concert – actually Mindi decided because my brain suffered a failure after the deluge of too many options.

Of course there are still numerous decisions to be made, things to be done, and information to be obtained. But once the tickets for the concert are bought, much like Vegas in ’06 and ’08, then the rest can begin. In fact once those tickets are bought I can theoretically…
-book the time off work
-book the Vallejo hotel
-book the San Francisco hotel (assuming I can find one I like)
-buy the Six Flags tickets

We’re going to take the car in for some regular maintenance (got to treat Blaster right, he’s my first car) and get her checked out over the weekend – I want to see that report before I book anything in Oregon because if there’s some issue with the car that raises a variety of questions. I’m optimistic of course but you know me, prepare for the worst. Well maybe not absolute worst case – were I to give in to such things I suppose something critical and expensive is found wrong that prohibits us from even driving it home, THAT I see as highly improbable. So eliminating that then I suppose the worst case would be they don’t recommend we take it on long trips, despite Blaster having done just fine over the minibreak, and then I would be faced with 3 options: repair, rent, or fly. That’s a whole other ball of wax that I’m not even going to bother pondering in detail at this point.

But difficult choices could present themselves very shortly. Looking at some of the other dates and locations a VIP ticket to the concert is likely to run anywhere from $115 to $220…so we’re talking $230 to $440 for the pair. That’s pretty insane. But it’s also Pet Shop Boys. Meet & Greet even. Autograph. Seriously, a chance to meet the Pet Shop Boys and get their autograph? How could I put a price on that? Well, I’m just too much of a cheap pragmatist not to. Regular tickets would run anywhere from $35 to $105 or $70 to $210 for the pair.

Where do I draw the line? I mean, it’s freaking Pet Shop Boys. Could I really live with myself knowing I had a chance to meet them and didn’t take it? Am I prepared to live with that kind or regret?

Not bloody likely.

But I need to have a plan. There has to be a bridge too far. Willing to pay any price for something is in violation of at least a dozen Rules of Acquisition.

There does seem to be two price points fairly often…so I could get the cheaper of the Meet & Greet options if there’s two, that’s a relatively easy choice. Okay, I think I can’t let myself spend $200 or more per ticket as that would be certifiably insane. Okay, so that’s my ceiling.

Must be strong.

Of course it doesn’t help that we’re probably seeing them in one of the two cities in which they could probably charge just about any price.

I don’t know where to begin.

Okay, so you know how I’ve been putting all this work into pre-planning a trip to San Francisco in September? Check out this little monkey wrench…

The Pet Shop Boys just announced their North American tour dates and locations:

Sept 19 Vancouver, BC Vancouver Centre of Performing Arts
Sept 20 Seattle, WA Moore
Sept 22 San Francisco, CA Warfield
Sept 23 San Francisco, CA Warfield
Sept 24 Los Angeles, CA Greek
Sept 26 Las Vegas, NV Joint

This is what, in the political world, they would call a game-changer.

Well holy F, what am I going to do now?

Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be more freaking excited that they’re coming to Vancouver. I mean, my god, have they ever come here before? PET SHOP BOYS – IN MY TOWN!!!

I’m going to need a moment here.

OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG.

Okay, I might need a couple more go’s like that.

This changes freaking everything.

I could, like, follow them. I mean for god’s sake they’re going where I’m going!

If the dates were only slightly different I would seriously, and I mean SERIOUSLY, be suspecting divine intervention. I mean it. Had it been Vancouver on the 17th and Seattle on the 18th this would have conclusively proven to me beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is in fact a God. Perhaps several. As it is, holy crap, this is pretty damn convincing.

PET SHOP BOYS ARE COMING TO FREAKING VANCOUVER!!!

I could almost cry.

Like I said, a couple more go’s.

Holy F!

You know the expression ‘beside yourself’? I’m so beside myself with shock and joy I could form an army and quell Afghanistan right about now.
PET SHOP BOYS VACATION….PART TWO!!!

You know all that karma I’ve been saving up? Holy crap did that pay off.

I need to celebrate. I need to plan. I need to get it together over here.

I mean, the first question that needs to be asked is, do I follow them? I mean really. I’m not kidding around here. You how crazy groupies follow bands around and stuff? I could do that. There’s nothing stopping me. Not a damned thing. I don’t care if I have to mortgage Hawaii – I’m sorry Jon, you know I love you man but JESUS FREAKING CHRIST!!!!

When we went on the first Pet Shop Boys Vacation (I can’t believe I get to call it that now!) it was the first time they had come to Seattle and I really hoped that our support and enthusiasm would show them their fan base in the Pacific Northwest and encourage them to return. And now it has more than I would have dared thought possible.

I mean, this is one of those things that you’d maybe dare dream about for a second and then scold yourself afterwards for being bat-poo crazy for even thinking it. But it’s happening.

Oh if this turns out to be a dream I’m going to kill someone.

You know, I was listening to If Love Were All and It’s Alright on my Bose ear buds on the way to work today and remembering how at different times they were both favorite songs of mine. What an omen.

I might just move heaven and earth to make this one of the best vacations ever!

What a birthday present – although they don’t perform on my birthday. Man, it’s going to be hard for 30 to top this.

Of course going to ALL those concerts would be way too much. For one thing the set list likely wouldn’t change.

Of course I could just keep the original plan and catch them in San Francisco on the 22nd…

Tickets go on sale Monday though so I need to have some kind of plan by then. But not seeing them when they come to my city? What kind of bunk is that?

Well one thing’s for certain, I’m seeing the Pet Shop Boys live in September. That automatically makes for a good day.

Since Salem and Eugene are both apparently as boring as the rest of Oregon I figured split the difference and spend one night in each, find out the true story about each that way.

On the way down Salem makes sense because it’s still closer to our destination than Portland was in 2002 and by staying in Vallejo the end of that day of travel is closer as well. In 2002 the journey from Portland to San Francisco was too long to be sure but not by a large order of magnitude so this should work nicely. It also adds a little more flexibility in case we encounter significant border or other delays trying to leave home.

After checking out photos of the property I decided on yesterday for Vallejo I think we should spend two nights there for both convenience and economy.

I’m still working on finding a hotel to stay at in San Francisco; I want to strike a balance between slight indulgence and convenience. There are a couple places on my radar at the moment – one is a quaint older location the pictures of which remind me of the place I stayed at in Paris but the Trip Advisor user pictures of the rooms show cramped bathrooms, things we don’t need like large closets and a kitchen, and a mix of excellent and poor quality. There’s another property that has a dodgy name but is very favorably reviewed online. Do we want to go for classic or modern? Personally I think modern suit my personality better and would like be more enjoyable. The jury’s still out on this.

On the way back Eugene is the only logical choice and so it shall be.

So I still need to figure out 3 more hotels but I think I’ve come up with a pretty good dinner plan…

Friday September 18th: Red Lobster
Saturday September 19th: Togo’s
Sunday September 20th: Six Flags
Monday September 21st: Hard Rock Café
Tuesday September 22nd: Mindi’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives place
Wednesday September 23rd: Izzy’s

This is of course just a rough idea, I don’t want to over-plan to the point of killing spontaneity but it’s also nice to have something to fall back on so you don’t waste time on the I-dunno-what-do-you-want back-and-forth.

Oh, that Diners, Drive-ins and Dives thing? It’s a show Mindi watches, one of those that keep BOTF alive and well on my computer. She wants to go to a place she saw on that show. I tried to find the place online today but apparently they’ve showcased 5 different dining locations in San Francisco so I’ll have to get her to point out which one specifically to me.

If anyone has any recommendations for Hotels in Salem, San Francisco, and Eugene I’m all ears.

So as plans are starting to come together and begin to gel the next steps would be to:
1) Find babysitting
2) Get the car checked out
3) Book time off work
4) Make reservations
If this is going to happen we’ve got 3.5 months to take care of this list.

Okay, it’s not a winter’s day but I did go for walks…close enough…

So I decided to knuckle down and bang out some details for the potential San Francisco road trip in September. I started off by looking up hotels in Eugene, narrowed the choices down to 6, and then thought I’d work on the Navigator’s Clipboard to see what hotels were closest to the things I wanted to do.

Remember the 4 things I mentioned in ‘Cashing in on Some Karma’? Yea, all four of them went bust – hard and fast.

The Air and Space Museum I mentioned? They close at 4pm every day and all they have is some airplanes sitting around.

The Public Market closes at 7pm and doesn’t seem to have a single shop I would be interested in.

The Hot Springs are not actually in Eugene – they’re 54 miles east of Eugene in point of fact.

And Theatre Sports, that which I was most excited about that I took as a blessing from above that this was the right trip to take and the right city to stop in? If it ever existed it must have been in 2005 but even then I can find almost no evidence that it ever existed beyond a couple advertisements placed that year.

Sigh.

So I regrouped and thought maybe Salem would have something worthwhile. Nope. Salem makes Eugene look like a party town.

Experience has taught me Portland’s a dead fish. The only thing not completely embarrassing to happen to me in Portland was to buy a used book and get a haircut - glorious, no? It’s a pretty city, nice people, dick all to do.

So completely frustrated with Oregon I felt I needed a pick-me-up and decided to move on to California.

First stop, Vallejo - pay dirt.

Vallejo’s on the list for one reason and one reason only: Six Flags Discovery Cove…er, Kingdom…I’ll get that down eventually. This makes life much easier to plan: find a cost effective place near the only destination. Not only did I find exactly what I was looking for, it’s practically within walking distance – a little closer than Universal Studios was to the place we stayed at in Orlando in fact.

As if that wasn’t enough, it’s the cheapest place to show up on my radar in ages. Too good to be true I thought, so I ran to Trip Advisor to make sure it wasn’t a hole. The most recent reviews (Dec ‘08, May ‘08, July ‘07) were all fairly complimentary, the last negative reviews were from April ’07 and Aug ’05 and were somewhat crazy (lots of yelling, complaining about silly things like wrinkled sheets) and came from questionable sources (one anonymous and the other only posted 3 reviews ever and all on the same day).

So then I thought, “as I recall San Francisco is one of the most expensive places for hotels, I wonder what the price would be for a second night?” The answer: 8 dollars less. I haven’t begun to seriously look into San Francisco proper but if we go with Mindi’s go-budget-except-one-night option this could be the place for the bulk of our trip! Sure, it’s outside the city but so was the cancer-giving place Jon and I stayed at near the airport in 2002 so that’d be nothing new…except, you know, hopefully sans cancer.

It might be time to start seriously thinking about pinning down some dates so I can lock down this excellent price. Note that I’m not telling you where it is exactly until I’ve done so – don’t need the competition. But I will say I’ve wondered about staying at this place since I first saw it 7 years ago.

I know I just did this for April but with the month having just ended it seemed like a perfect time plus you got to keep your eye on the ball – if I want 2 vacations this year and one of them possibly to Hawaii I need to watch the finances carefully.

For those of you who don’t know the game: open an excel file and put down every debit and credit card charge and group them into categories, total them and see where your money is going! The format below is category: % of monthly spending (change from last month).

Rent/Daycare/Medical: 38% (exactly the same)
Entertainment: 16% (up slightly)
Fast Food: 15% (wow, up by a third!)
Groceries: 12% (down by almost half!)
Transit & Politics: 5% (down slightly)
Dining Out: 5% (up slightly)
Gas & Gifts: 5% (down slightly)
Merchandise: 4% (complete increase)

So since my last challenge I wanted to cut down on grocery spending (and by that I mean not quantity but rather make sure I’m always getting a fair price) and fast food spending. Now granted I only had 4 days (or 13% of the month) to make any impact on that. Groceries dropped significantly both in percentage and dollars spent so at least I don’t feel quite so ripped off in that category however I let the side down on Fast Food. Fast Food saw a 50% increase in percentage, going from 10% last month to 15% this month as a percentage of total spending. Now I can explain some of this in that with Star Trek being in theatres I was eating at the movie theatre quite a bit more than average and that stuff isn’t cheap. Also it was the end of pizza Mondays and I decided to go out with a bit of a bang – Panago with extra cheese on everything. So Pizza Mondays are over for this year so that should make a significant impact on my Fast Food spending. As for eating at the movies that will probably stay up as Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen comes out this month and I still haven’t seen Terminator.

Entertainment is up slightly because of Star Trek being in theatres and The Original Series season one coming out on blu-ray and my susceptibility to peer pressure. Gas & Gifts may be down slightly but don’t let that mislead you, gas is most definitely up – it was the gift spending that dropped; we can probably expect this category to skyrocket this month due to gift giving and the seasonal increase in fuel prices. As for the Merchandise category, I bought myself new work shoes – they were on sale and are an essential even though I don’t quite need them yet I will eventually so better to buy them on sale as the shoes I require (Rockport, 8 wide) aren’t cheap.

So the big goal for June would be to cut down on the fast food spending primarily. I plan to achieve this by getting the cheaper subs at Subway for lunch (i.e. Roast Beef rather than Roasted Chicken), trying not to give in to the lazy convenience of fast food as often and make more meals at home, and I hope to get some major help by the end of Pizza Mondays. I suppose I should also make a small effort to curtail Entertainment spending but that shouldn’t be too hard – I have a free movie coming to me from my Scene points, there’s only one book out this month I want and it should cost about half that of the book I bought last month since it’s a regular paperback, and I’ve found recent blu-ray selection to be less than inspiring – so this category really should take care of itself.