Northwest-KLM was my preferred airline... until they decided this morning to marry me off!

This morning, I received an email update from Northwest-KLM airlines. The email was addressed to Mrs. <my name>. I thought about NWA email server or processing on the blink, so I decided to check out my profile on NWA. On the site, the profile said Miss, but all other account displays should Mrs. How weird? How odd? How pathetic? How annoying? I am furious!

So, I call Northwest-KLM airline desk. After jumping through several hoops and on hold and transfers and going through the dopey automated voice line for the 'n' time, I got through to a human on the other end. Here is our conversation:

Barbara: "Hi I am Barbara..... blah blah..... <general crap of thank you for calling and how can I help>."
Me:
(At this point, I am really annoyed and getting furious by the minute. I stopped short of yelling on the phone. I paused and thought;
a) Barbara has done nothing wrong, it was the system than needs to be updated in all relevant places and I did not know all the relevant places.
b) I think, I was a tad miffed that the email and site did not recognize my 'Miss' status, but I really annoyed with the system that could not update my status and more over the automated voice help is just dopey.)

Me (with that brief pause): "Hi, I received an email from you regards my flights and awards and it all looks great, but, Northwest has decided to marry me off. I am a Miss, yet, the email and site profile says Mrs. And I am tad offended!"
Barbara: "Oh, ok, that wouldn't do let me make changes."
Me (thinking): This seems to be a nice person.
Me (aloud while Barbara is updating my profile): "I really don't mind the status change if you can let me know a) Who is the guy I am married off to and b) Do I get a free world vacations package for the celebration?"
Barbara: "What.... haa ha haa haa hee hee hee hee ho ho ho!"
Me: "Ha ha ha"

At this point both us are laughing our heads off.

Barbara (after she has caught her breath): "Thank you for having such a good sense of humor about it all, and thank you because I needed the early morning laugh too."
Barbara (continues): "Now, it has been updated back to Miss, the divorce is final!"

Again, the two of us cannot stop laughing.

Me: "Awesome, if I am ever going to need a divorce, I am calling you. It is so quick to get one."
Barbara: "Absolutely, do you get to keep it all?"

Me: "I am on Northwest-KLM, of course, I get to keep it all and then some."

Laugh.... laugh... laugh

Finally, we say our goodbyes and best of lucks for the next go around!

So, until next time, I was briefly married and now back to square one. :)

All, I am back from gallivanting around in Spain!

It has been a fantastic trip.

I have so many stories and pictures to share, that I am afraid I will run out of server space. I did take around 750+ photographs (What can I say, I am a camera junkie). In the next few days, I will sort through them and post them. I am also in the process of writing up from my notes my encounters and hopefully that turns into a nice coffee table book complete with pictures and all.

The trip (in very very brief):

April 15th-April 16th: Flight from Boston to Amsterdam to Barcelona.

April 16th: Visitied the La Sagrada Familia and the walked the Modernista Route. Met with the team from IHI and BMJ for dinner. This team was going to be working together for the next few days for the International Forum.

April 17th-April 20th: Work and work and more work. For the first time worked the Main Auditorium, organizing the primary speakers, their presentations, organizing and co-ordinating the Audio-Visual team, the film crew and live translation team. Whew! it was hard work with multiple media and multiple people, but it was very gratifying.

April 21st: I took a train from Barcelona to Haro, La Rioja. The heart of the famous Spanish Wine and Wineries.

April 22nd: Wandered around different wineries, sampling great Tapas food and of course the local wines from Ramon Bilbao Winery, Dinastica Vivianco, Muga, and many others. Visited Dinastica Vivianco Museum, one of the biggest collections of cork-screws in southern Europe.

April 23rd: Visited Muga Winery and Santiago Wineries with complete wine tours, and sample and their cellars, 3-4 storey deep underground. Sampling was the best part! (Hic! hic!) Continued wandering around Haro and eating more wine and Tapas. From Haro, took a bus to Logrono. Wandered around Logrono till midnight.

April 24th (wee early hours of the morning): Took an overnight train back to Barcelona.

April 24th: Wandered around Barcelona with focus on Parc Guell (Antoni Gaudi's architectural gems) in the morning and Montjuic later in the afternoon. Of course continued experimenting with delicious Tapas, and CAVA! (Spain's answer to French Champagne) Yumm!

April 25th: Wandered around Barcelona with focus on the old town (Barri Gotic) with its cathedrals and Piccasso Museum and La Ramblas (according to me: a Vagabonds Extravaganza). The eating & drinking continues.

April 26th: Best day spent with a guided tour to Montserrat Monastary and trip to the Cava Cellars of Cordoniu and Freixnet.  Needless to say continued to have great Tapas and Paella and Cava.

April 27th: A very-content-in-all-the-five-senses-me boarded flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam and back home to Arlignton Heights.

This dopey summary does not even start to convey the experience. And perhaps if you really like... ask me and I will share with you my coffee table book.

I am off to sunny Spain and will be back on April 29th..... and will post thereafter.

In five days I am going to Spain!

Whee! Five days from today, I will be flying out to Barcelona, Spain for my companys' International Forum. This is a event co-presented by my company and the BMJ (British Medical Journal, London) and every year there are a few people from each company that get to go and staff these meetings. I was not scheduled to go, but at the last minute another member dropped out and I was elected to take her place.

Barcelona will be my main port and I will be there for the first week, working the forum, hob-nobbing with colleagues, and making connections with the representatives from BMJ group. During these initial days, we may go around and see some of Barcelona, but I believe most of the time will be at the convention center for the forum, and then hob-nobbing at dinner with the group. After the forum, like most of the people from this side of the pond, I will stay on for an additional week. During this week, I am going to get out of Barcelona for 2-3 days. A train journey from Barcelona, via Zaragosa, through Logrono will bring me to Haro. Haro lies in the La Rioja region, or more popularly the wine region of Spain. After having wandered around in the La Rioja region, I will be back in Barcelona and take short day or half day trips to Montserrat/Cava region.

This is so exciting. I am ready, but my bag is not. I hope in the next few days, I will have squared away all the little details that need to happen, and then enjoy my very first European Vacation!

(Note: I may or may not be able to post (I think) whilst in Spain, but since the traffic to this site is so low, it hardly matters)

Few weeks back I sent out an email to a bunch of folks to post/email/phone in their advice on how I should spend my $2000 tax refund.

Thanks so very much for emailing me. Did you know that you can post directly at the website? There is a link at the bottom of each blog, to allow for comments. So, you are more than welcome to email or phone me, and you can post comments right next to the blog. (NOTE: This website does not store any personal information and encodes email you use to log the blog).

Anyways, some stats:

1. Number of people asked for advice: 38
2. Number of people responded via phone: 0
3. Number of people responded via direct posts: 1
4. Number of people responded via email: 3
5. Number of people responding at first email: 3 and 1 for second email reminder.

What are the conclusions? I know plenty of 'acquaintances' and have very few 'friends'. I do believe quite a bit (or most of it) is my fault, as I lead a very busy, tight and enjoyable (to me at least) schedule.

Anyways, this blog is all about the Winners of the Contest. And the winners are...... drum roll..... drum roll.....

EVERYONE!!

I guess and why not. I need to do everything that was suggested.

• I need to spend some on furnishing a bedroom. (Yep, I have three bedrooms and none are furnished).
• I am going to Spain and then possibly Montreal (in May)..... and I am simply going to increase the budgets for both the trips. A little more padding to the bottom line will definitely work. And,
• With all the wines that I am collecting... I am definitely in the need to getting a wine cellar/cooler (I already have my eye on a Haier 42 bottle 2 temp zone one) 

The plan for spending will follow the standard house 40-20-40 plan: This means the first 40% goes straight for investing for the future, 20% for entertainment and travel and 40% towards home (furnishing, wine cellar and garden).

Now what happens next? I will send out emails to all the winners (that is pretty much everyone who responded).... and arrange for the movie tickets to be sent to them. These are premium Loews tickets that can be used _any day_ and _any time_ for _any movie_. There are no blackouts, no waiting no nothing. :)

Thanks ALL.

It is great sometimes to take an early day off from work and spend some time at the Boston Symphony's  Chamber Orchestra. A friend from work and I decided to do precisely that on this perfect Friday afternoon.

The weather was warm and sunny with cool breeze. We left work just past one in the afternoon, rode the public transportation from Harvard to Symphony Hall. It has been indeed too long since I wandered around my ole' neck of the woods (I graduated from Northeastern University). The next hour  (hour and half) we ate some sweet and savory crumpets, sipped coffee, hob-nob-ed with some oldy-goldies in attendance and listened to Latin and Celtic combinations in Violin. What a perfect lazy afternoon.

So Tranquil, So Content

This was taken in the Garden Conservatory of the Gaylord Opryland (Nashville, TN). I felt compelled to just sit down and relax. Peace is such a good thing

Y'all, I am back from Nashville. It was a quick trip with mostly work and some play. I did not stay back couple more days (as I usually do when I am in a new place). I was going to write more, but then decided that pictures are worth a thousand words. So, here are some highlights from the trip.

	With 85+ degree temperatures in Nashville, spring has already arrived in Nashville. One of the few times when we got out of the hotel, we wandered around in the neighborhood. Right outside the hotel is the Grand Ole Opry (Nah! Not a country music fan) and next to it is a huge mall. This shows the spring blossoms in front of the Grand Ole Opry.
	The Gaylord Opryland is an extraordinary hotel. It feels like being in a terrarium. There are multiple buildings/sections called the Cascades, Magnolia, Delta, Convention Center and the Garden conservatory. All these buildings have roof covers which allow plenty of day light, but keeps the outside at bay. Under these covered sections, the hotel has developed the Epcot like Southern architecture buildings and moat, complete with boat rides and an entire garden conservatory with palm trees and waterfalls, pathways, orchids and dining around the conversatory. This picture shows the Epcot like town re-creation.
	... continuing in the Delta section is the moat and waterways.
	... and the garden conservatory..
.... More pictures on their website.