McNulty Live

I Would NOT Buy This….again…

Now I would never tell anyone not to buy a product….o.k. maybe I would…

I definitely would not recommend using the “MicroMemo” by XtremeMac.

I thought this would be a great product to use with my 30gb Ipod, so I bought it for some work applications. I used it ONCE & it seemed to work great for recording to my Ipod. Well, after that one time use, no computer I tried connecting my Ipod would recognize it. It would not recognize it as a Ipod or as a hard drive.

Trying to resolve this with XtremeMac was a joke. They kept wanting to blame Apple & the Ipod. I was told it was just a coincidence that the Ipod stopped working at the same time I used their product.  The Apple Store where I had gotten my Ipod was also useless. They wanted me to ship it to Apple & have them fix it – but since I didn’t have an Apple warranty it would cost me…

So now I have an Ipod with 3000 songs on it & some videos, but I cannot add, erase or making any changes to what I have on it. This is discouraging since I bought this Ipod for watching movies when I’d fly. I learned a tough lesson on 3rd party products & taking chances.

I’ve tried a bunch of fixes with no luck….Pdxsurreal has a quick entry on switching Ipod to disk mode – LINK - but this did not work for me.

So….If you want to keep your Ipod fully functional, I’d steer clear of this product.

I’m always amazed at who has to sit next to who on a plane….As I sit and watch everyone board, my thoughts are “I hope he doesn’t sit next to me….No not her, not that one….Whoooaa hope the hottie sits next to me!” etc…To be perfectly honest it can suck big time – especially on long, long flights. I have had to sit next to people that stunk of B.O. or disgusting cigarette smells or talked your ear off or snored or were just plain annoying. On my last flight a kid was kicking my seat and jumping around.

I’m not sure if it’s karma or just pure bad luck. If I had to guess I’d say about 70% of the time you sit next someone that bugs you in some huge way. I should be careful since people probably hate sitting next to me.

This picture is great – pdxsurreal (an atheist) get seated right next to an Amish type gal carrying a big old bible. I wonder who was more shocked. My guess is her – since he past out a sleep and was practically drooling and snoring all over her. I’m not sure he showered because it was a pretty early flight & knowing him he had a big old dip of chew in too.

It was quite ironic….

Swimming With The Stingray

I thought swimming with the Stingrays was cool – Now with the Crocodile Hunter & this story below it kind of makes you wonder…

Swimming with them in the Cayman Islands was an incredible experience, but not sure if I’d try it again. It was a big draw when we were there, but I’m guessing people may be hesitate to try it now.

AP Story:

Stingray Kills Woman on Boat in Fla.
Mar 20, 4:28 PM (ET)

MARATHON, Fla. (AP) – A 75-pound stingray killed a Michigan woman Thursday when it flew out of the water and struck her in the face as she rode in a boat in the Florida Keys, officials said.

Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in a boat going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The 57-year-old woman’s father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said.

“He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously,” Pino said.

The impact likely killed the woman, but it was not immediately clear if she had any puncture wounds from the ray’s barb, Pino said. An autopsy will determine an official cause of death, Pino said.

Spotted eagle rays can weigh up to 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail as a defense mechanism.

The rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming on the water’s surface.

“Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites,” said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. “They do not attack people.”

Travel Day From Hell!

Where to start….Hmmmmm – Well how about the beginning? We were suppose to have a routine flight today from Portland, OR to Raleigh, NC. It all started when pdssurreal picked me up at my house at 6:30am…Immediately traffic on our 40 minute drive to the airport was horrendous (not usually the case at 6:30am)….Once we got there & tried to check-in, the flight was packed & I didn’t get my preferred aisle seats – I got one window & one center seat – window to Dallas & middle seat to Raleigh.

It was American Airlines (not my favorite, but at least a partner with Alaska Air – my frequent flyer program). Well we got on the flight without a hitch & once everyone was onboard the pilot told us because of bad weather in Dallas we would be sitting there for at least an hour before we could take off…He said you could get off the plane but you’d have to take all your stuff & if we got clearance we’d leave without you. Well 2+ hours later we were told the flight was cancelled & we were all to get off the plane. Everyone scrambled off to get new connections, but since American Airlines cancelled four flights, it was a zoo to get anything else. We ended up getting on a United flight to Chicago. 1. Not a partner with Alaska Air & 2. Expensive and not one of my favorite (the flight was $800 more for each of us & Northwest would have been $500 more than that – so not much choice).

The plane had a little delay, but we got onboard just in time to find out Chicago had bad weather too. So, we sat on the runway for 1 ½ hours before we were able to take off. Just my luck I was seated in a middle seat, in the back of the plane between a pretty weird guy & a very large guy & a very loud kicking 3 year-old behind me whose mom could not control him, And, the FREE movie was “Alvin & The Chipmunks” – Horrendous Movie!!! It was a long, long flight.

We arrived in Chicago & luckily our connecting flight was a little delayed so we did not miss it. The little delay ended up being a 2 ½ hour delay. A beer would be nice, but the airport bar near our gate was jammed packed – no room for us. It took 45 minutes to get our luggage!! Well, we finally arrived in Raleigh and found out when they changed our flights, they canceled our hotel room & the hotel was overbooked so we lost our rooms…And, this hotel shared a parking lot with where we needed to be the next day (convenient)….Now we are staying at a different hotel next to the airport. They had us in SMOKING rooms – after a long check-in process, the GREAT front desk gal got us non-smoking rooms. Now tomorrow we either have to get a rental car, a taxi or grab a ride….

We finally got to our rooms – almost seven hours later than we were scheduled to arrive. You gotta love traveling these days – Never a dull moment!

photo courtesy of pdxsurreal

The Shamrock Run – Portland, OR….March 16, 2008:

Well As stated earlier in my blog I started training to run the 2008 Portland Marathon. I’ve been eating healthy, I’ve been running several times a week and I’ve been telling everyone I’m going to do it (so I now have to do it). After a few weeks of training, my first big run was this weekend. The Shamrock Run! And everything was perfect – the weather was cool & rain free, I had my new “New Balance” shoes, I had a great post race evening dinner, I got a great night’s sleep, I got up in time to have a little breakfast, I got a great parking spot, I got down to the race in plenty of time AND I felt awesome….Just one hick-up – my little buddy Graham wanted to run with me instead of his mom….Huh – that came out of nowhere…I had planned on running it a week ago with my 10 year-old, but his mom had vetoed that (she actually said the race was inappropriate for kids – she told him that it is too close to St. Patrick’s Day & that a lot of drunk people run it – WHATEVER!!! – No wonder we are divorced).

So with the other 16,000 attendees (A Record Crowd)….We started the 5k run…Graham thought he could run any pace I wanted, but it looked like after ¼ mile he was puffing wind & looked like he would not make it…So, I gave him a pep tale & told the little guy he had to kick it up a notch. We ended up passing the 1^st mile marker at an 8:30 pace (not too bad)….and we rounded the 2^nd mile mark about 9 minutes later and then the hill showed up…Running up Broadway was a tough hill for the little guy, but once we rounded the corner it was all down hill from there (literally)….

We finished up sprinting in (I had told Graham the most important part of a race is take off fast & finish strong – that’s where most the crowd is so you look cool! – he thought that was funny)! We finished the race in 26 minutes & 35 seconds – I was so impressed with how well he did….He did AMAZING for his age – we saw no one younger than him ahead of us & we passed a lot of people older than him!

It was one of my favorite races because I ran with a friend…

I learned some valuable lessons this weekend… 1. Don’t drink & go to auctions & 2. Don’t be so fast with your bidding paddle… So I went to an auction to raise money for a school.

It sure does get exciting to bid on things….Too exciting – I now am the proud owner of a Reggie Bush autographed football…. Sounds cool, but for $400 – wow, I’ll have to cherish this one forever… Thank goodness it was for a good cause. I also won a couple of the silent auction items – The Irish Basket full of Irish stuff & beer was a great win…. (More beer – I better drink it before the next auction arrives).

The press conference today was tough to hear….Favre will be missed

I have been a HUGE drudgereport.com fan for many years (even before the “Blue Dress” scoop)… And today when I saw Brett Favre on the front page I was ecstatic (story link)...Well I was ecstatic until I realized the story was about Favre retiring. What a bummer… It does come with some bittersweet – I’m glad he is retiring on the heels of an amazing record breaking season, but he still looked like he has what it takes to make a run for the Super Bowl again. I did go to the Super Bowl this year, but the main reason I was going was to see the Packers (too bad they barely missed being there).

I was hoping Favre would take the Packers to the Super Bowl, beat the Patriots & retire as the MVP (what an amazing finish that would have been)…. When they got so close this year I started thinking “maybe next year.” I felt the Packers began to gel this year & they were a young team (obviously not Favre – but he sure acts like a young one) so maybe they’d be great again next year. I guess we’ll now never know “what might have happened.”

I’m so proud to be from Wisconsin & so proud to be a HUGE Packer fan & so lucky to have been able to see Favre play in person on a bunch of occasions & so happy for him walking away after a such an AMAZING season. The records he has broken will last a long time if not forever!

The Packer Fans were lucky to have such a great ride since he arrived in Green Bay. Not only was he a great quarterback, but a regular guy & a class act. Not just Packer fans – ALL football fans are lucky to have had Brett Favre suit up each week. I’m sure people will argue forever, but in my book Brett Favre is the BEST quarterback to have ever played in the NFL.

Thank You Brett!

Starbucks Training Link

Kind of funny…I took this photo because I thought it was cool they were doing all these recent things to be better for the customer & the employee yelled at me for taking a photo – yelled at me big time…. My boss had actually given a presentation last week on how important training is and how to treat customers. I took the photo to send to him to reinforce the good things Starbucks was doing.

The worst part, was the guy yelled at me in front of a group of people & I was embarrassed as hell….he could have just asked me. I didn’t realize Starbucks had a “no picture taking” policy.

I wonder if that was a part of all this recent training….