The Dobrindt Family

Article on Business Travel

While scanning CNN.com today I saw an article title ?What irritates business travelers.? Other than ?David Dobrindt gets the lead opposite Nicole Kidman in next Oliver Stone movie?, I don?t think any headline would have captured my attention more than the CNN one. So I read the article. The thing I have always said I hate more than traveling, the thing I fear more than anything including crashing, is not having a place to put my luggage overhead. People who bring on huge bags stuffed with crap and cram them in the overheads bug me more than the voice of Fran Dresher. The article starts with this?

<i>?When it comes to annoying business travelers, a number of topics top the list, including those who stuff oversized pieces of luggage into overhead lockers and the long lines for airport security.?</i>

I have never heard it called a locker mainly because it doesn?t lock but I get the point. For me, the security lines don?t really bother me. It?s kind of like getting angry at traffic. No use in wasting energy. It might be wrong, but you can?t fault stupid people. Security lines are what they are, and you just have to know to get there early and be patient. People do stupid, rude and inconsiderate things all the time when it comes to air travel, not just through security.

<i>?According to a new survey, these pet peeves have a greater impact on executive flyers than concerns about terrorism or flight delays.?</i>

I don?t think I am an ?Executive? flyer, but flight delays are certainly a concern of mine. But that is just me. I like to get to places on time.

<i>?Almost a third of business travelers get angry over hand luggage that should have been stowed in the hold, while crying babies were cited by 13 percent.? </i>

I am fine with crying babies because I bet the parent is more embarrassed than anyone else. If the parent is trying to keep the little brat quiet, then not much else you can ask for. It?s part of life. If the parent is letting the kid kick the seat in front and run amok, then both parent and kid should be forced to sit in the bathroom.

<i>?Temperatures also rise when executives find out that other passengers paid less for their tickets (19 percent).?</i>

This I don?t get because chances are if you are flying for business than every non business traveler is paying less. Usually a client is paying for travel or it is written off as a business expense so why worry.
<i>
?Twenty three percent of business travelers also said that being on the road had a negative impact on their work-life balance.? </i>

Only 23%. How is this possible? Is the sample pool used for this survey 23-year old single men with no home city or town? Unless you hate your house, how does traveling NOT have a negative impact?

<i>?The biggest irritation for Canadian business travelers were those who disturbed them by not letting them work, sleep or read on a trip.?</i>

Who cares about Canada? How about these stats? 78% of David Dobrindt hates zone seating. Or 93% of David Dobrindt wishes upgrades were more easily obtained. Or 100% of David Dobrindt wishes I had access to a corporate jet.

The article was ok but needs more anecdotal evidence like ?they should teach TSA workers not to look at each bag-scan monitor like they were studying an x-ray looking for a hairline fracture.? Jesus, train those people or write better scanning software to pick up objects that might be bad. There HAS to be a better way to get people through those security lines without making everyone take off their shoes, belts, earrings, watches, girdles, jackets, pocket protectors, tie clips, pants, glasses, hats, hearing aids, underwear and socks. And the agents should be allowed to overwrite the stupid zone so that if I get stuck in a shitty zone and I ask for my same seat but in a better zone, they could do it if they felt like it. And another thing, ticket agents and gate agents and flight attendants should realize that CUSTOMERS are the ones that keep their airline in business so they should TRY, as hard as a concept as it might appear, to act like they care.

But enough about me. How are you?

My sister Lori

Congrats to my sister Lori and her husband Craig for the birth of their second child, Jacob Lawrence Schmitt. He is the younger brother of Megan. 4 grandkids and counting.

Jacksonville

I?m in Jacksonville Florida this week for work. Last week I was home in Boston. Two weeks ago I was in Vegas. Jacksonville is nice enough but the water tastes bad. People are nice though. The Super Bowl is here in less than two weeks and the city is pretty excited. The city does not have enough hotel rooms and are bringing in 4 or 5 cruise ships to supply more rooms but are still way under. I guess Houston had 55 thousand rooms last year for the Super Bowl and Jacksonville has15 thousand. The stadium holds 83 thousand people so you can do the math. I tried to win tickets this morning by calling into a local TV news station but I was not caller 8 so I didn?t win. I would have sold two of the tickets to someone in Boston and used the other two with my wife. It would have been a great weekend but is only a creative memory now. Such is life.

So getting back to Jacksonville. It snowed a lot today in Boston so our neighbor Paul was nice enough to shovel out our property. He is one of those guys, about my father?s age, who helps out anybody in the neighborhood. He is a plumber/electrician/mechanic/carpenter/mason/landscaper and anything else I need to live my part-time blue collar life. If I do my job in Jacksonville the way that I am expected to, this one week trip to a new client will turn into a very large project and I get to come to Jacksonville every week and maybe I will eventually get used to the bad tasting water.

On another note, I am on a diet to lose weight for cousin Kara?s wedding in March. I wanted to avoid Patti?s relative?s asking who the fat guy was and why she didn?t bring David out with her.

Christmas Lights, Jan 25, Enough Already

If I ruled the world, I would have the following law:

?If outdoor holiday decorations were up on January 25 without a valid reason, it would be a fineable offense. If those decorations included lights, and the lights were actually on during the evening, the fine would double. Maybe triple?.

Personally, I take down all outdoor decorations one week after Christmas. It?s my New Year Day task. Take the roping, bows, wreath and all lights down. One week. That?s it. Christmas is over until next December. I can understand maybe two weeks. But no more. Enough. It?s over. Give it up. And if you are leaving them up because you are lazy, then shame on you. Take the things down and let the rest of us get on with our lives. By the third week of January my holiday season seems as far away as my 32 inch waistline and I want the decorations to come down. We put them up a month before Christmas because it?s like going on a date to get to the rumpa-rumpa, there?s expectation building and we like to build things up as long as possible ? remember the phrase ?Getting there is half the fun?. But like a lot of things, when the holidays are over, I, and others, need to move on. No use lingering. If it?s a valid reason like a family emergency, you had to travel unexpectedly or you got sick, then fine, you have more time. But if not, then cut the rope.

So to all those people who leave the decorations up for weeks and weeks after the holidays, and to only those who do it out of laziness, take them down please. It annoys me. And for the love of God do NOT turn the lights on at night.

Snow Storm 2005

Woke up this morning to a blizzard. Yep. A blizzard. I think it was my first official blizzard and would turn out to be the worst snow storm I have ever been in. Before it was over we had (I think) 34 inches of very dry snow and the winds were about 45 miles an hour. It is hard to tell exactly how much we got because of the winds. In some spots it was 4 feet, other spots it was 24 inches. On average I think it was around the 35 inch mark. The thing that really made it tough was the driving wind. But as long as you don?t have a sick child, snow is pretty fun. I spent the better part of the afternoon shoveling with the small snow blower I have. It saved my back but took a long time. Then when I was done my neighbor came home and brought out his large gas snow blower. I borrowed it for a while and did some touch up and plowed a path to the wood pile. I even went on the three season porch roof and shoveled out the snow in front of the kitchen window so we could see out. Overall it was fine.

I took the truck out to the store to get a newspaper. I ended up getting some other stuff and left my paper at the freakin store. I was so pissed. The guy who bagged it didn?t put it in a bag and I only picked up the stuff in the bags but it?s still my fault. My neighbor James picked one up for me when he was out. Nice guy. Our paper guy ended up delivering it around 7. Kind of surprised he finally made it. Good for him.

Blizzards are severe winter storms that pack a combination of blowing snow and wind resulting in very low visibility. Officially, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as large amounts of falling or blowing snow with winds in excess of 35 miles per hour and visibilities of less than ? mile for an extended period of time (greater than 3 hours).

While I?m giving out interesting weather info, 70% of ice or snow related deaths occur in automobiles. Males make up 75% of people who die related to exposure to cold. Hmm. Didn?t know.

Milk Man

We started getting milk delivered to our house yesterday morning. Home delivery of milk is a big thing in the towns around Boston. Not the cities or urban areas like we lived in before, but the suburban towns. I don?t remember it being something popular in NY but that might be because we didn?t have kids when we lived in NY and getting milk delivered was not something we would have looked into. But in our town there are at least three big milk delivery companies with obviously enough business to sustain all three. There are probably more but I have only seen trucks from three companies. There is one that has their headquarters nearby. I stopped by last month to get a price list and in front of the building ? a large old house really, it looks like a big house but around back I guess they have some of their trucks and stuff ? was a recycle box with a half gallon Hood milk container sticking out the top. It was pretty funny. Sort of like seeing an empty Miller beer bottle in the Budweiser bottling factor recyclable can. All of the companies delivery bread, cheese, yogurt, juice, bagels and other similar products with the milk so we are having other things delivered as well. The way it works is probably very similar to when it was really popular 50 or more years ago. We leave a container out at the top of the driveway or in the breezeway, we place our order through the phone, email, by leaving next week?s order in the container or by establishing a standing order, the guy drops off the stuff early in the morning, we leave a check payment, and that is that. I really want to buy a metal container like my neighbor has, but we have so many small coolers that it doesn?t make sense to shell out 30 bucks just because it makes me feel like I live in the 30s. I went out yesterday morning to meet the milk man. Ha, ?milk man?. So many jokes that have been made about the milkman. Our guy?s name is Dave and he is very nice. It was like 2 degrees out yesterday and he wasn?t wearing any kind of hat or cap which I thought was strange but maybe he has warm ears.

The Apprentice - Series 3, Episode 1

The third version of the Apprentice starts tonight. It seems like the second one only ended a few days ago. To be honest, I was not really into it and if something else interesting were on, I probably would have skipped it. I?ll watch Survivor until they just shoot contestants to the surface of the sun and see who burns up first. But the second season of You?re Fired was boring and an exact replica of the first season. This one is being promoted as the book smart people against the street smart which is a joke and mute point because college or no college, the people on the show are exactly the same. They are type A backstabbing moron media whores who display very little of what it really takes to succeed in the real world. But I am going to watch it anyway. It?ll give me something to write about.

Comments during the show

- Wait, aren?t these the same people as the last two years. No? My mistake.

- Predictable comments from the arrogant stereotypical testosterone meat heads. Same with the uncomfortably aggressive and overly stuck-up chicks.

- Just saw Carolyn. I like her. George is good too. Too bad Donald Trump ruined the scene.

- Oh boy, he fooled EVERYONE by bringing up splitting the group into men and women. Boy oh boy I was fooled. What a ruse. Good for you DonALD.

- My friend Pete has no college degree and he has more money than I?ll make in 5 lifetimes. College. Means. Nothing. This coming from someone with an MBA.

- Yeah yeah yeah. We know the freakin rules Trumpy.

- I wish the cute girls would stop doing the nose crinkle eye squint smile to look attractive to an aging ugly albino like Trump. It makes me want to throw up in my mouth.

- Dream kitchen?? My dream kitchen has Emeril Lagasse making gumbo and my wife in a tight tube top pouring a beer.

- I think the girl who usually answers the phone in the boardroom waiting room is on the show. It?s either her or her long lost twin. I gave up drinking to lose weight for a wedding in March, but might break that in about 1 minute.

- No, this room is not about ?attitude and experience?. And stop quoting Donald Trump from his overpriced books. You?re not impressing anyone.

- Stop making threats Al Capone. And what chin straps are you talking about? Am I wearing a helmet??

- Chief Morale Officer? How about Chief Imma D**khead.

- Why does the college team seem to have ugly people? Did the casting folks working for Mark Burnett put their beer goggles on during the selection process?

- I have a name for your team? State-School-Was-A-Bad-Choice. Or how about I-Drank-My-Dads-Money-In-School-And-Now-Regret-It.

- How many times can you say ?Brass Balls? in 10 seconds? Oh wait, there is one more. And one more. Oops, one more. And that is one. And another. One more.

- I LOVE that silver retro phone. LOVE IT. I WANT IT SO BAD.

- All the songs in the world will not make you more attractive to the hotties that made fun of you in high school. Sorry. Someone had to tell you.

- The black girls is kind of pretty. One out of 16 is not bad.

- Oh no!! No!! Not fast food. Please. Not that. I hate fast food. Please anything but make these people do something stupid with fast food. And for the love of God, not Burger King. Why not Bennigans or Friday?s. Why.

- I am sick of the high school versus college and the show is only 22 minutes along. I don?t think I can take this.

- Doesn?t John know that by saying you are an expert in the industry that the challenge is in is a SURE sign you will fail. And fail miserably.

- Did he just say ?Chef? and ?Burger King? in the same sentence? No he didn?t?? No? Laughing too hard! Must stop! Stomach hurts, eyes watering, gunna pee my Underoos.

- Getting people in the door?? To a Burger King? Look around you. Read Fast Food Nation?? Your challenge will be to get those slobs OUT of the feeding trough.

- Not sure if I can make it much longer without clawing my eyes out. I must try.

- Ooh, the western burger does look good. Damn IT. I hate fast food. It?s so delicious.

- The college kids are definitely geekier.

- ?Smile is good. Friendliness is good. Can you change your face?? No, I mean get rid of your face ? eyes, nose, ears, chin. The whole thing. Your ugly.?

- Good for you little boy. You got a Vikings hat. You are a special little boy who is special in your special Viking hat.

- How is the circus dull?? I love the circus, and so does almost every kid.

- Why the dial tone when Danny hung up the cell phone?? I have never heard a dial tone on a cell phone?? Hmm? Your audience, Trumpy, is not as dumb as we look.

- $201 for a ticket to Vegas? They are getting rooked. Watch TV, they advertise tickets for 49 each way.

- Hey, grease boy. Wash your hair. And stop using the term ?out of the box?, it?s dated.

- Todd, the project manager, I hate. He is so disingenuous. And did they just do the perfect cheer without Danny. It was his idea as Chief Moron Officer. That is not fair to Danny. Do it again when he gets out of the karaoke bar.

- Commercials for a boxing reality show with Sylvester Stallone called The Contender. There?s another stupid reality show I can?t wait to not watch.

- Ha, look at the minimum wage employees at Burger King look at whitey like he is drunk.

- Hahahahaha. Throw a ping pong ball into a box with a hole cut out. This is great. You can?t write better TV. I hope someone pushes the guy with the guitar. Then kicks him in the special spot.

- I think my daughter is taller than that short guy in the cowboy outfit. Not joking. At the very least the same height. And he has the same expression Emily makes when we won?t let her eat chocolate cake at 7 in the morning.

- How in the world did NBC let a McDonald?s commercial slip in there while the show is about Burger King? Some dime store assistant producer is going to lose his job for that gaff.

- Time for the boardroom already?? My, how time flies when you are having fun. It only seems like 400 hours ago this show started.

- Books smarts, street smarts? Ugh.

- As project manager if your team loses next week you will be exempt?? I didn?t know. I don?t think I heard it two minutes ago when you said it.

- While you are in the vaults of the 21 Club, please have someone beat you and leave you to die with the rats and moldy brick walls. Please.

- Ooh, Melania. Bring her around more often. Rrrraaarrr.

- Sweet MOTHER OF GOD, do not put the camera so close to Trump?s face. I am not going to be able to sleep tonight. Or tomorrow night either.

- That story is so NOT TRUE. The deed to the house? No way. I don?t believe it. It was probably a single-wide that cost Trump less than he pays for his hair stylist?s lunch tab in a month.

- Please get rid of Danny. Please. Do what you have to, but throw him so far under the bus he bleeds engine oil and brake fluid. Do NOT let him leave that board room unless he is carrying his Bee Gees knapsack and heading to the cab stand. I am not even joking.

- They only lost by like 4 bucks. And the other team shelled out money for plane tickets. Doesn?t that mean anything? It?s not like it was a good old fashion ass-whoopin.

- If that girl is crying already, she is going to cave by week three. I have 20 bucks on it. Any takers?? Too rich for your blood? Maybe you should not be watching a show with Mr. I-Own-NY.

- Danny looks terrible. Nice suit and scarf. This is not American Idol.

- Go get them George. Tell them the bid-ness. And Danny, do not piss off George. He looks like he can handle himself.

- Horrific?? Hmm. Good adjective. Mild for this crew, but good.

- I agree you have to wear the right clothes for work. For example, the other day I wore a Speedo banana hammock, eye shadow, a tuxedo shirt, body paint and scuba fins to work for a meeting with a Japanese company. It worked well. I got arrested.

- Who?s that blond girl talking? Was she in this episode? She didn?t give the right producer some rumpa-rumpa for face time. Fire her.

- THERE is the Burger King cross promotional commercial I have been waiting all night for. Why did it take them so long to blatantly treat me like a drooling idiot?

- Why do they all have to sit on the teeny little couch? It looks awkward. But strangely exciting.

- That guy is a lawyer? He needs to argue better. And Todd looks like Kurt Russell. Snake Plissken.

- Ha. Danny is a disaster. I like that phrase.

- Oh good Lord. He fired Snake. I have to deal with Danny for another week. Well, Kurt should have been fired for doing Breakdown anyway. And he packed 16 weeks of stuff into an overhead compartment suitcase? And stop pitching yourself for a job. Try Burger King, you know how to sell the triple cheese double delight combo griller. You tool.

- Well, I am a dumber person for watching tonight?s episode. See you next week for episode 2.

Interview with Emily

Right now Emily, who is 3 and a ½, loves to be with Patti and me. She loves going places with us and being around us all the time. For the most part it’s fun. She also likes to pretend to help out with domestic tasks like folding clothes, sweeping and cleaning up. People tell us this will all end, especially the part about her wanting to be with us, when she is about to become a teenager. So I decided to videotape her promising certain things so I can play it back some day. It went something like this.

Me: Emily, come here and sit on the couch. Your mother and I want to ask you some things.

Emily: Ok daddy, coming.

(Emily leaps off the kitchen chair where she was drawing and comes running into the living room)

Me: Go ahead and have a seat on the couch…no, not there…sit right in the middle…nice and straight…look forward.

(Emily starts to smile and over does it a little, thinks she is making us proud by doing exactly as she is told. She is sly like that, sly like a fox. Sometimes she will not listen to a word we say, the other 10% of the time she is as obedient as a trained horse)

Me: I am going to turn the video camera on and your mother and I would like to ask you some questions. Ok?

Emily: Can I watch Lazy Town?

Me: No.

Emily: Can I watch Charlie and Lola?

Patti: No. We are going to ask you some questions.

Emily: Can I watch Cinderella?

Me: Stop asking, no.

Emily: Can I see the video camera?

Me: No.

(I sit down in a chair a few feet in front of the couch Emily is sitting in and turn on the video camera. It’s the kind that burns right to a mini-DVD disc. It’s great)

Me: Ok, let’s start with some basic questions. What is your name?

Emily: Emily Dobrindt.

Me: Where do you live?

Emily: In Milton Massachusetts.

Me: How old are you?

Emily: Three and a half.

Me: What is your social security number?

Emily: I don’t know!

Me: Ok, so we’ve established the basics. I am going to ask you some questions and want you to answer truthfully and honestly.

Emily: I made a duck today at school.

Me: We’ll talk about that later. Ok, when you are a teenager, will you still want to spend time with us, your parents?

Emily: YES!

Me: When you are a teenager, will you still want to be seen in public with us, your parents?

Emily: YES?

Me: When you are a teenager, will you still do your chores without problem?

Emily: YES?

Me: Do you know what “chores” are?

Emily: NO!

Me: Ok, when you get older, will you still clean up around the house, put your clothes away and keep your room clean?

Emily: YES!

Me: How old will you be when you leave home?

Emily: 7:30!

Me: No, at what age will you be when you leave us?

Emily: 8!

Me: We hope it’s more like 30, but close enough.

Emily: 30!

Me: Great. One more thing, will you also be nice to your siblings?

Emily: What’s siblings?

Me: Your brother. Will you always be nice to your brother? And sister? Or brothers. Whichever it may be.

Emily: Sometimes he takes my toys or knocks down my lego tower I built. That makes me frustrated. And he sometimes has a stinky butt. But he is just a baby.

Me: I’ll take that as a yes.

Emily: YES!

Me: Ok Emily, you have been a good participant and we will bring this video out in about 10 or 12 years. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Just thought I’d share.

Typical Night With Kids

I had a really hard time sleeping last night. Finally, at about 3:30 or 4, when I knew sleep was not coming back, I got up with Ethan instead of Patti getting up with him, which she does every other night. I think he had already but up once or twice, but at 3:30 he was definitely not looking to eat and fall back asleep. It was like he just woke up in the middle of the day. He was smiling and giggling and just wanted to play. I stayed with him in his room for a while and turned the TV on. Aside from the 4AM thing, it was actually kind of nice. Just him and I playing, I got to watch some news, and the rest of the world slept. There is something kind of comforting about doing an activity in the middle of the night. Something, I don?t know, relaxing. It?s hard to explain. I am not sure when he will start sleeping through the night but hopefully soon. Emily started sleeping through the night at 2 months and aside from periods when her teeth were coming in or she was sick, has always slept well. We started giving him rice cereal hoping that he will not be hungry, but so far he is still waking up to feed. Except when I got up with him, he was not hungry and just wanted some attention. Emily came into our room during the night at some point so at one time, I think around 5, we were all up. Patti ended up taking Ethan up back to bed later in the morning but at that point Emily was up. Then later while Ethan was sleeping Patti and I tried to get some sleep but Emily would have none of it. She played on the bed and watched TV but not quietly enough to allow us to sleep. I finally got up and shoveled about 4 inches of snow that fell last night, cleaned the cars off, showered, dressed and went to work. It was a crazy night but nothing too out of the ordinary. Having kids is wonderful.

US Air

Not sure if I ever posted this exchange with US Air.

I got so fed up the other day trying to take care of something over the phone with US Air that the following exchange took place (after about 15 minutes of haggling).

Me: Look, I understand your policies, but I also know they can be bent with manager approval. Why don?t you get your manager on the horn and let?s see if we can get my refund processed.

Airline: Sir, I am not going to ask my manager to do something I know is against the rules.

Me: Just ask. Please. For me. Ask.

Airline: Sorry but can?t do it.

Me: I am about to start a project and can use US Air or American, every week, for the next 2 years This might sway my choice.

Airline: Can?t do it.

Me: Just do it please. Just ask. Can?t hurt to ask.

Airline: Sir, you are not even silver status. If you were gold or platinum, I might consider it, but?

Me: Gold!!??!! Platinum!!??!! I?m kryptonite mother fu?.

Airline: [click].