Sunday  - morning

My goodness, it's been a minute since I've posted. I haven't even posted the details of the little trip we took. 

I took the kids to Dallas, got into this really nice hotel and we spent the afternoon in the swimming pool and the hot tub. Indoor, of course.  Played some video games and ate at a restaurant connected to the hotel.  Not bad, a bit pricey.  

The next day, I realized the place we were going doesn't open until noon.  So, we played video games and went out to eat.  IHOP to be precise. We were just enjoying ourselves. Back to the hotel, it started raining pretty heavy. The venue is indoors so that didn't matter too much excepting getting into the facility in the ice cold rain. 

We got in there and you enter the facility through an actual Boeing 737.  The shell of one of course, it was pretty cool but they actually made you go through a real metal detector.  The tickets were pricey, I spent I think around $250 for the 3 of us.  You know, I always forget to check the reviews before going to a place like this and I really should.  There are enough negative reviews on this place that are pretty much in alignment with each other that I would have had a second thought about paying that much for the experience. 

Basically, this place is a mini city with all kinds of businesses along actual rock paved streets, well some of it is asphalt or appears to be anyway.  The kids go into these businesses and they get a somewhat hands on experience what it would be like to choose a career in that profession.  I had some reservations right off the bat, the ad says up to 14 years old.  Most of the businesses were all closed and after I checked the reviews, many people complained that a lot of the stuff wasn't open and for the price of the tickets? That is unacceptable.

There are a couple of things that would be interesting to older kids, most of it is really designed for toddlers up to maaaaybe age 5.  It was really disappointing to be honest. I mean, from the ads, you'd think this place is rocking and has fun activities going constantly all over the place which is complete and absolute fabricated lie.  The oldest boy liked the thing where you go around a map up in the air with a harness on.  It's a thing where you're holding onto whatever is around you and you are trying to walk across a cable, stuff like that. I got pics and video of him, he was visibly afraid but, that's what makes life interesting sometimes.

Another attraction which looked really cool was only opened up a couple of times while we were there and only allowed 4 people at a time.  It was a sort of rock wall climbing thing and it went up really high. We never got to go on it, we waited and then found out it only accommodates a few kids.  That was really lame.  Another popular attraction the kids waited for quite a while only to have other kids cut in line in front of them.  They had their version of fast passes - which we couldn't get because it was sold it when I went to buy them - so they just got to cut us. 

Many of the facility workers were unhappy people who couldn't crack a smile if their lives depended on it.  Not all of them of course, but enough so that it was also mentioned in some of the reviews of this place.  I'm glad I didn't buy the fast passes tho, they wouldn't have been worth it.  You know where they spent the most time in this place? At our end of this "tour" where we found a room with a sand box and toys laying around. Not a structured business place like the rest, the kids played in the sand box for a long time.  

Oh, they did have a snow globe building thing. You actually build your own snow globe. The kids liked that but it was a $15 per person fee.  Anyway, after the sandbox they had had enough and wanted to leave. I couldn't blame them so we did.  I offered to take them somewhere else but they insisted they just wanted to go swimming again and get into the hot tub. Okay! We spent another afternoon in the hotel pool room and they loved that.  

That was Valentine's day and we went to the hotel's other restaurant for dinner. Very ritzy establishment with a pricey menu. Plain ole' steak? $57!  We didn't order steak lol.  People were all dressed up - we were not lolol.  They escorted us to a table in the bar area, very nice area I wondered why they hadn't taken us to a regular table but didn't ask.  The food was excellent even if high priced.  The Japanese style noodle soup - like what you'd see Naruto eating - was very good. I'd go back to that place just for that.  It was a HUGE bowl of it, too.  

After dinner, we spent the evening doing what else? Playing more video games.  That was it, we went home the next morning and went about normal Sunday activities. 

I never did get sick. I'm referencing the fact that the kids got very ill and then after they were almost better, mom got ill as well.  It never touched me thankfully.  

I also haven't seen hide nor hair of that other driver that was continually butting in front of me.  The washout people said the other day that "we haven't seen him in a while". I don't know if he quit or got reassigned.  Work has been a mix.  Several days ago, I was at the loading plant. There was a truck already there, not one of ours, parked in a loading bay that is right in front of ours. It was a bit ridiculous, for it was over 2 hours before they got it loaded. During that time, a giant crane came in and planted itself right smack dab in the middle of the driveway.  Another truck also came in to get loaded, which they did while I was still waiting.  

I was getting annoyed. They always  make excuses but I don't believe any of it.  They schedule trucks to all come in at once on some days and it's the luck of the draw. If you happen to get there first,  you get loaded first.  I did not and I ended up waiting over 3 HOURS before they even started loading me. It was 4 plus hours before I was out of there.  My manager had contacted the rep for us there at that plant, he said they were "loading me now". Uhhh, nooooo, they aren't doing any such thing, I don't even see them anywhere.  That was after the truck got out of the way and the crane finally was done.  It's funny that they would schedule a crane to install equipment at the same time as they have a bunch of trucks scheduled all at once to get loaded.  

That's poor management but they don't give a hoot.  

2 days ago, I was back in there and I still had to wait an hour and 40 minutes to get loaded.  Why? Because they were offloading another truck at another bay nearby and for whatever reason, were in some elongated conversation about whatever.  It made no sense, for the loader guy could have come over and started loading me.  That was confirmed after I asked him about it. "Ohhh, we were just discussing specs of the product"..which was already being unloaded! Why did he have to waste my time over there talking about it? If it's being unloaded already, it must be within specs or they wouldn't be unloading it in the first place. 

Yesterday was uneventful. No one butted in front of me in Gurdon and I got it done quickly, unlike other days such as 2 times ago when the loading plant didn't get the hatch on correctly and it was leaking air pressure. I spent 2-1/2 hours unloading because I couldn't get the pressure up above 25 psi.  

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Many hours later and tired, I'm going to bed.  We went to church, did our Applebee's ritual, went to the coffee shop to get the lady of the house something, home, got on my new bike and road around the block. I'd say it's about half a mile.  The first part, easy. Second part, easy. Third part? Up this long, steepish hill. I was totally winded by the time I got to the top of it an admittedly stopped once.  I am way out of shape but I knew that long before getting on that bike.  The kids want me to go bike riding with them and it's a perfect opportunity for cardiovascular workouts along with fat burning.  I'll just do the around the block thing until I don't feel so winded from it and expand from there.  

No work tomorrow, it's still early tonight but I"m sleepy and getting offa here.  

s