Richfield Ohio, LA Zoo, Oceans 13

It has been a while since my last post. Life has been a little hectic. Basically traveling every week for the past 3 weeks turned me into a vegetable.

Last week I was in Richfield Ohio for Client Loyalty Training. Richfield is 30 minutes outside Cleveland. I left Wednesday 5/30 at 11 am and did not get to my hotel till about 11pm at night. Beat after a day of traveling, getting to Richfield at 11pm at night was not the best thing especially since I did not know where I was going and I turned the wrong way on Highway 21. I was well on my way to Akron before I realized I was going the wrong way.

On the upside I was driving a red Mitsubishi eclipse. I get to the Avis counter and ask for the car I rented online a sensible 4 door intermediate car. When I get there the friendly lady at the counter jokes about not having a car -- she probably sees how far my face has fallen and laughs it off. Then she asks me if I want to pay $2 more a day and get a large car. No thank you, I just want the car I rented. She then says they don't have the car I rented so for no further charge I can get an Eclipse. Who am I to say no. What I fully resent it the fact they try to get you to give them more money first then give you the car for free anyway. Humph!

When I got to the toll booth on Highway 80 the lady was admiring the car. I must admit I felt like a hot mama in a red sporty car. She was clearly appreciative of a thing of beauty. It was bloody hot in Ohio! Normally my arms are frightful sights but I did not care and took off my jacket. I was also thanking my lucky stars that I had not done this trip when my colleagues came in the dead of winter. I hear the winters are dreadful in Richfield.

There wasn't much to Ohio especially since I spent most of my time in classroom with a number of A personalities so I had to shed my timid demeanor and give back as good as I took. You all would be proud.

On the way back home I made sure I had more than ample time twice the time I needed to get to the Cleveland airport and wouldn't you know there was a smash -- I used the word smash because John uses it and I tell him the word sounds so benign for a car crash (must be an English thing. That crash which blocked 3-4 lanes of traffic, thank God no one was hurt, ate up all the extra time I had built in so I and my heart were racing to the airport. At that point everything takes so bloody long, getting to the car rental agency just about tried my patience because there were the most convoluted directions I have ever had to take -- you know, the take 2 rights then a left and drive till you see the building that has a yellow chicken on top then take another left and drive for 3 miles till you see Paul Bunyan and you are there. On top of that I had to get gas. In the end it was all fine with a little time to spare but not before playing havoc with my blood pressure. I never ever sweat, except of course during exercise, but you guessed it I was sweating by the time I got to the airport. Yuck!

Anyway, I am back at home for a few days then I am off to SF for work again Tuesday this week and back home again on Friday. So crazy!

Today we had a late breakfast at Side Street cafe and since I did not want to go home and Maude was obliging I declared we were going to the LA Zoo. Well we got there at 4 pm and the zoo was closing so much for seeing the wild life. We decided to head back home and still not in the mood to go home we went to the cinema. We decided to see Oceans 13 at 8:40pm. Unfortunately the line at Kabuki Japanese restaurant was too long so we decided to go to the guest services desk and ask them to exchange our tickets for a show an hour earlier. It worked! We watched the movie Oceans 13 and it was really funny and delightful -- highly recommended. After the show we went to Kabuki and the sushi dinner was great as well.