McNulty Live

Originally uploaded by pdxmac

I gave up soda awhile ago & now caffeine seems to go right to my head… In Mexico a few years ago I was in the sauna at the spa and ran into a farmer from Nebraska (I think). He was probably about 60 and told me his health use to be horrendous. He had many ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure, allergies, etc. and was taking bunches of medications.

Finally he tried doing away with his Diet Coke habit and started eating more organic foods. He told me about all the crap in diet soda and everything he read on the internet decrying the the drinking of diet soda. He said it cured him of everything. And now he takes no medication.

Since I have never been a coffee drinker (probably the only guy in the Northwest that hates coffee), I had always loved my Diet Mt. Dew, not just for the taste, but also for the large doses of caffeine. After talking with Farmer, I slowed down a bit. About 1 1/2 years ago I really stopped the soda intake. Dana completely swears off soda and her chiropractor told her it’s the worst stuff you could drink. I also have been watching the “Biggest Loser” and they constantly are saying how bad soda and especially diet soda is for you.

Since stopping soda, I have not had to take one Claritin or Zyrtec for my horrible allergies ~ I was using the stuff daily. All my allergies (except for the occasional stuffiness) have disappeared.
In the past two weeks I have added the “Lose It” app to my iTouch and been watching calories and eating way healthier. I also bought the “Eat this, Not That” books. I can really tell a difference. I just started trying the Honest Teas this week. I’m bouncing off the walls today & this stuff really does not have that much caffeine in it. It says “1/4 the caffeine of coffee” ~ but I feel like I’m flying high today!

Back to bouncing!

So, I got talked into buying a big old fancy TAG watch several years ago. At the time I didn’t like spending so much, but I have really become happy with the decision… That was until recently when it started to lose time and then all of a sudden it stopped! I had figured it was a self-winding watch and really didn’t think it had a battery. Once I found out all I needed was a battery, I was ecstatic! Especially since when I bought the watch I was told – “This is a TAG” – “It will last you forever” – “TAG dealers will treat you fantastic.”  I was under the impression, that only a few select places are “TAG Authorized” and they will treat you great!

Well….It is true, there are only a few places to buy & get a TAG serviced. So, I went to the one I could find Ben Bridge. I first went to the closest one to me at the Lloyd Center in Portland, OR. The gal was not the friendliest, but what bothered me was the exchange:

Saleswoman: “We can put a new battery in it, but we cannot guarantee it will be waterproof.”
Me: “What do you mean you cannot guarantee.”
Her: “That water won’t get into it.”
Me: “I understand what waterproof means, I just don’t understand why you don’t guarantee your work.”

She proceeded to tell me that if I wanted to guarantee it would be waterproof, I needed to have the battery installed by their guy downtown. No problem, I’ll take it there!

A few days later, I put up with the hassles of driving & parking downtown at lunchtime to get a new battery. I walk into the downtown Portland location (which was pretty empty – more salespeople than the 2 customers) & a woman walks up to me and I pull out my watch and say I wanted to get a battery for my TAG. She responds with only “That’s $35!” – looking at me like I cannot afford a $35 battery. I say no problem. She takes my watch to the battery guy who looks at me and says to her “Did you tell him it’s $35?.” She says “yes.”

I start to think is my business casual outfit today too casual (Khaki’s & polo shirt). Nobody else talks to me, I don’t know if they are putting battery in now or if I have to come back or whatever???? The woman never says another word to me. After about 15 minutes the guy comes from the back and says “Is this your watch” – I’m thinking WTF I’m the only one here and we already went through all this… I say “Yes,” to which he replies “that’s $35!”

I give him my credit card to which he says “I need to see an ID.” I have bought a lot of things….INCLUDING THIS EXPENSIVE watch without ever being asked for my ID.  I paid the $35 & left…. I hope this battery last a long time!

Originally uploaded by pdxmac

A semi-truck slammed into our building today…It was quite the interesting event. Luckily nobody was hurt. Driver (big guy) crawled out of the crushed cab with a cigarette in his mouth.

He ran over the curb, sidewalk and across our parking lot (probably close to 75 yards) and struck our building. Luckily his flatbed was empty because if he had more weight behind him, who know how far he would have gone!

He also took out our natural gas line which caused a need for evacuating the building. We now have a big hole in the back of the warehouse & no heat.

I was amazed at how fast they got it towed out & gone. It was obviously a pretty eventful Monday here!
TRUCK CRASH VIDEO HERE

This is probably the single biggest thing that bothers me the most at nice resorts!

I created a new word “Chairfing” for the goofs who get up between 4:00am – 6:00am to put crap on all the chairs to save them for the day. They save chairs for themselves & their 20 best friends. It really pisses me off to go down at 7:00am to lounge by the pool & no chairs are available. And most the jerks don’t show up until 11:00, 12:00 or never… On this day we got chairs around 11:00am when two guys came down as we were walking by & picked up their stuff & left. They reserved the chairs all morning & changed plans and never used them.

Check out the book on the chair “I’m Not Really Here” by Tim Allen ~ pretty ironic, the slug who reserved this chair came down around 11:00 and started reading this book!

Not the best All-Inclusive place I have been to… The letter I just sent them regarding our stay. The only reason I even sent them a message was I felt bad for our cab driver. I have not received a response.

The email:
I just wanted to inform you that I was VERY disappointed with my recent stay at your property.

My main issues…

1. Most of the staff was very unfriendly. I cannot think of one person on your staff that wow’d me.
2. The service was extremely INCONSISTENT….Some days our room would get cleaned w/towels others it would not.
3. The food was very mediocre. Worst orange juice of any place I have ever stayed. We did not have one better than average meal the entire time.
4. Not enough pool chairs…pool was dirty.
5. Bartenders slow & not real friendly. It took forever to get our watered down bad drinks ~ and we were tipping???
6. All of the pool chairs had books & towels on them by 6:00am & some were never used all day. Practically impossible to get a chair by the pool. Plus many couples took 2 chairs & the accompanying cabana’s.
7. We take groups all over & we brought a large group there.

And the very last impression I had of your property was your bell staff ripping me off…
Our transfer to the airport did not show & your concierge informed us it was a $30 cab ride to the airport.
When we asked the bell man to contact our transfer, he said he could not…but he’d call us a cab…
A cab arrived that he would not let us get in…he made us wait for the one he called. When the cab arrived, the driver gave the bellman $5.

When we got in the cab driver told us the fee was $35. When we told him we were told it was $30 by the concierge, He told us that the bell man make him give him $5 more so he had to charge more. The cab driver was very nice and was going to only charge us $30…I felt sorry for him since it sounds like your bell staff strong-arms the cabs there. He said your staff there is THE WORST for taking advantage of the guests.

I get to travel to many places & take groups all over & I’d have to say this was probably one of the most disappointing experiences from a property that was voted one of the Conde Nast Traveler’s top 100 Hotels…

Thanks!

Dana & I went to this Starbucks in Cancun across the street from the RIU Palace. We had a very interesting experience there…
Message I sent to Starbucks:
“I went into the Starbucks in the Cancun Mall across from the RIU Palace Las Americana. I had a blueberry muffin. While eating it I bit on something very hard. Baked inside the muffin was a Mexican coin. It hurt & was disgusting. When I approached the workers, they were very apathetic about it. They showed no concern. They took the coin & threw it in the trash. I thought I should inform you so that you know. ”
My teeth hurt for a bit & the metal taste in my mouth was disgusting. I definitely have not had a craving for blueberry muffins since. I did get a call from someone @ Starbucks in Cancun telling me they were sorry & were going to send me some Starbucks coupons. No coupons yet

It’s Back…. The blog was down for a bit, but my stupid ramblings must come back! I shut it down because my girlfriend was not happy that she had not made it on this ridiculous site that almost nobody views – so I took it down. She must not realize most my posts were beer induced! You’d think she’d be happy she didn’t make one of my crazy rambles or be included in one of my goofy rants. I guess, me be head-over-heels for her & having some of my big bucket-list (great things I’ve done) moments be with her was not enough. What can I say, I’m a guy & she knows I’m goofy (continues to call me that all the time – thinks I’m a little kid) and guys don’t think right sometimes (most times). I figured, why would she want to read about things that she experienced with me.

I would have never thought it’d be a big deal. At least on my Facebook I had included that I was in a relationship – something she failed to mention on hers – maybe I should get mad. Guess it’s a double standard, but hey who am I to complain.

She is awesome, but she may regret being included on this site….only time will tell!