On April 24th I left home at 10:30AM to go to Gaithersburg, MD on business to assist in doing a disaster recovery test for one of my clients. This became an adventure.
The limo came to my house and picked me up for the first leg of the journey which took me to Newark International Airport (EWR) to catch a Continental flight to Dulles Airport. Boarding the plane started 15 minutes late but in spite of that our departure happened on time. This is where things got interesting.
We took off from EWR and immediately upon takeoff the plane rolled to the right wobbled a lot and scared the living hell out of me. I am used to flying so it wasn't the sort of fear that a newbie gets when flying for the first time. This was the kind of scared someone who knows what's going on gets when they feel things are going wrong. After a minute or two the plane righted itself shakily and started climbing out to its cruising altitude. At this point I thought.. "OK this is a aberration" and relaxed, plugged into my MP3 player (once they said it was OK to do so) and decided to just enjoy the rest of the flight.
Almost as soon as the stewardess (I know there's a more politically correct term, to hell with political correctness!) got done passing out the in-flight refreshments (Diet Coke and stale pretzels) the captain announced we were ready to make our descent into Dulles. As we got lower and lower in altitude I started paying attention more to what was happening in terms of the flight itself.
As we got lower (and at some point they told us to put our electronic toys away) the flight started getting rougher again. Now, I understand fully that at lower altitudes jet aircraft (and aircraft in general) don't always stay very steady so some of that I was willing to overlook. What alarmed me was the fact that the plane started yawing (swinging right and left accross the horizontal axis) wildly. That didn't seem right to me and concerned me greatly.
As we approached the end of the runway my instincts told me we were falling short. As that thought crossed my mind all of a suddend the pilot put on power, yanked the nose of the plane up and retracted the landing gear. The right wing dropped again and another hard starboard turn and we climbed out again.
The captain came on the air and announced that there was an aircraft on the runway when he was about to land and they were going around for another landing attempt. Now, in this day of ATC and being as Dulles is a major international airport, I'm not so sure I buy the "aircraft on the runway" story given my instincts screaming at me that we were short of the runway.
Never-the-less, the second approach went a little better with less nose swinging this time. We touched down and taxied for what seemed to be an hour. Once we docked with the jetway and they let us know we could get off I wasted no team getting off the aircraft. After walking from the jetway to what seemed like the other end of the airport I arrived at baggage claim. About 30 minutes later my one piece of checked in luggage appeared on the luggage carousel and off I went to find the shuttle to my rent-a-car.
Seeing multiple shuttles for every company but the one I had reserved a car from for about 40 minutes did nothing to brighten my already fairly dark mood at this point. Finally the shuttle arrives and I am whisked (?) to the car rental center to get my car.
My reservation was with Enterprise. Just as an aside, I prefer Enterprise because the founder of the company is a WW-II veteran who was stationed on the USS Enterprise. The USS Enterprise was involved in battles with virtually every element of the Japanese Navy and was involved in the sinking of every carrier involved in Perl Harbor. The founder named his company after the ship he served aboard. I just have to respect all that.
The greeting I got at the car rental facility did a lot to brighten my mood. I was greeted by a very attractive young lady who wouldn't take "no" for an answer when she grabbed my bag and brought it into the office for me. She hands me a bottle of spring water which was just the ticket, since I always end up feeling very dry when I step off an airplane.
I ended up with a Nissan Rogue as my rental. I like renting cars as I find that gives me a chance to do an extended test drive of vehicles I might consider for future purchase. Even though my predilection is to buy Ford and Dodge products I don't mind test driving other products just to see what's new in the automotive industry as a whole.
The drive from the airport to my hotel was a nightmare. My average speed was around 30 miles an hour the whole stretch and about an hour later (should have been 30 minutes I'm told) I arrived at the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg. The hotel is strategically located such that it is "just across the street" from the DR test center. This is a beautiful thing as far as I'm concerned.
I went down to the sports bar attached to the hotel for a snack knowing that supper was going to be very late. Off the menu I selected some hot wings done in a chipotle Tabasco sauce. This should have been just the thing, but I was quite disappointed when I got my wings. They were overcooked to the point that the meat on the bones was like leather. Chewey as hell but at least the sauce was good. through no fault of the cook I'm sure.
At around 7:30PM that night I met a portion of the disaster recovery test team and we made plans to go out to supper. As a group we went to a place called "O'Donnells" which turned out to be a really great seafood place. I had a meal of Rockfish that was stuffed with crab meat, scallops and shrimp. Just simply awesome.
But that was just the first meal in town.
I get up the next morning knowing that I didn't need to be in the DR center until around 4:30PM that afternoon. I head downstairs to the in-house restaurant for breakfast. I am seated at a table that the placemat was still dirty from the last person who sat there, no napkins, no silverware and by a waitress who acted like I was a bother just being there. Not a good start. I am asked if I want to do the buffet. OK... fine.. I'll do the buffet. To say that it was substandard is putting it mildly. The sausage was dried out, the eggs were cold and if it weren't for the sausage gravy (bland!) to warm them up they'd have been truly abysmal. But what got to me the most was the facts that a) the buffet sets you back $11 and b) the service was so horrible. I've gotten better service and food on a Navy destroyer and that's a sad thing to say.
Later in the day I went off to explore. I found this village of shops around Market Street in Gaithersburg. There was a wide variety of thngs to see there and if my wife had been with me I'm sure she would have had a ball with this place. So, with the wide variety of restaurants to choose from I decided on a place called "Moby Dick's, The Kabob Place."
I figured that since I love Middle Eastern food there was no way this was going to be a bad experience. How wrong I was. The lunch special (set me back $10) consisted of a plate of rice that was dry as a bone (not in a good way) and had this crunch almost inedible crust on it, along with this stuff in a bowl, a mixture of green stuff (spinach?), kidney beans, beef cubes and an oily broth. Along with a Nan bread that while it was freshly made right before your eyes was overdone to the point of almost being the consistency of a matzo cracker. The beef was actually dry even though it was cooked in a broth. Can't figure out how they did that. Needless to say I wasn't pleased.
Off the to the DR site. Due to a miscommunication I arrived there 90 minutes later than anybody else, which was OK since my stuff was supposed to start later than anybody else as well. I returned to the hotel at around 9PM to get supper.
I went back to the sport's bar (glutton for punishment I suppose) and ordered a Rib Eye steak. I figured "nobody can screw that up" and felt comfortable with my decision. Well, my comfort level was misplaced. My early warning was when the steak was presented to me and it was hidden under a pile of mushrooms, sauce and onion rings to the point that I had trouble finding my steak.
Once I ate my way down to the steak and started curring I found a steak that lacked in flavor and was amazingly stringy for a rib eye steak. Disappointed once again I went back the the DR center to finish the evening's activities.
Getting to bed at 2AM and getting up at 7AM I went off the next morning and decided to go find breakfast. I found a Bob Evan's in Germantown MD and thought to myself "it's a chain.. should be at least predictable." Please note: if I had found a mom and pop greasy spoon at this point I would have tried it. Germantown MD seems to have had all the local color gentrified right out of it and I ddn't so much as see a diner or road house in my travels.
I ordered a stack of pancakes with a side of sausage. The pancakes were so wet they fell apart and the sausage patties had the life cooked right out of them. Another disappointment. The highlight of the meal was my waitress who had such a warm smile and positive attitude I left her a very large tip. Afterwards I'll admit I wondered if she even saw it as I'll be the bus boys gather all the tips and put them in a jar somewhere to divvy up later. So much for rewarding good service.
Later in the day I went off to a Boston Market for lunch, which was the saving grace of the day. I began to have hope for Gaithersburg MD even if the counter boy was a snotty bastard. I can overlook that as most fast food counter help is minimum wage and can't stand what they are doing so I'll let that go. At least the food was good. I am puzzled though, how did my order for 1/4 chicken dark result in my getting two thighs and a leg? Hmmm...
I went back to my hotel room and decided to work from there instead of the disaster recovery center. This turned out to be a good thing since I was able to squeeze in a nap at one point while listening to Native American flute music on my MP3 player.
After spending some time on conference calls, internal company chat sessions and just being me at work I felt the familiar pangs of hunger around 7:45PM and set out once again on an exploration of Gaithersburg MD and the surrounding area looking for something to eat. I stumbled upon a Vietnamese Pho place and brought back some Pho to my room. I probably should have eaten it there but I felt a need to get close as possible to my phone and laptop and keep tabs on what was going on at work.
The Pho turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. It was good, it was hot, it was authentic and came with these killer hot peppers that I enjoyed immensely. Score another one for Germantown. That with two Belgian Ales to wash it down I fell asleep in my chair while listening in on the conference call at around 11:45PM, got off the call and went to bed.
Out of expediency I ate in the hotel restaurant for breakfast the next morning. At least there was some improvement in the service (different crew?) and at least the sausage wasn't tough this time. The eggs were just as bad as on Friday (this being Sunday) but it filled a hole and I had to get to work.
More about this trip later....
The limo came to my house and picked me up for the first leg of the journey which took me to Newark International Airport (EWR) to catch a Continental flight to Dulles Airport. Boarding the plane started 15 minutes late but in spite of that our departure happened on time. This is where things got interesting.
We took off from EWR and immediately upon takeoff the plane rolled to the right wobbled a lot and scared the living hell out of me. I am used to flying so it wasn't the sort of fear that a newbie gets when flying for the first time. This was the kind of scared someone who knows what's going on gets when they feel things are going wrong. After a minute or two the plane righted itself shakily and started climbing out to its cruising altitude. At this point I thought.. "OK this is a aberration" and relaxed, plugged into my MP3 player (once they said it was OK to do so) and decided to just enjoy the rest of the flight.
Almost as soon as the stewardess (I know there's a more politically correct term, to hell with political correctness!) got done passing out the in-flight refreshments (Diet Coke and stale pretzels) the captain announced we were ready to make our descent into Dulles. As we got lower and lower in altitude I started paying attention more to what was happening in terms of the flight itself.
As we got lower (and at some point they told us to put our electronic toys away) the flight started getting rougher again. Now, I understand fully that at lower altitudes jet aircraft (and aircraft in general) don't always stay very steady so some of that I was willing to overlook. What alarmed me was the fact that the plane started yawing (swinging right and left accross the horizontal axis) wildly. That didn't seem right to me and concerned me greatly.
As we approached the end of the runway my instincts told me we were falling short. As that thought crossed my mind all of a suddend the pilot put on power, yanked the nose of the plane up and retracted the landing gear. The right wing dropped again and another hard starboard turn and we climbed out again.
The captain came on the air and announced that there was an aircraft on the runway when he was about to land and they were going around for another landing attempt. Now, in this day of ATC and being as Dulles is a major international airport, I'm not so sure I buy the "aircraft on the runway" story given my instincts screaming at me that we were short of the runway.
Never-the-less, the second approach went a little better with less nose swinging this time. We touched down and taxied for what seemed to be an hour. Once we docked with the jetway and they let us know we could get off I wasted no team getting off the aircraft. After walking from the jetway to what seemed like the other end of the airport I arrived at baggage claim. About 30 minutes later my one piece of checked in luggage appeared on the luggage carousel and off I went to find the shuttle to my rent-a-car.
Seeing multiple shuttles for every company but the one I had reserved a car from for about 40 minutes did nothing to brighten my already fairly dark mood at this point. Finally the shuttle arrives and I am whisked (?) to the car rental center to get my car.
My reservation was with Enterprise. Just as an aside, I prefer Enterprise because the founder of the company is a WW-II veteran who was stationed on the USS Enterprise. The USS Enterprise was involved in battles with virtually every element of the Japanese Navy and was involved in the sinking of every carrier involved in Perl Harbor. The founder named his company after the ship he served aboard. I just have to respect all that.
The greeting I got at the car rental facility did a lot to brighten my mood. I was greeted by a very attractive young lady who wouldn't take "no" for an answer when she grabbed my bag and brought it into the office for me. She hands me a bottle of spring water which was just the ticket, since I always end up feeling very dry when I step off an airplane.
I ended up with a Nissan Rogue as my rental. I like renting cars as I find that gives me a chance to do an extended test drive of vehicles I might consider for future purchase. Even though my predilection is to buy Ford and Dodge products I don't mind test driving other products just to see what's new in the automotive industry as a whole.
The drive from the airport to my hotel was a nightmare. My average speed was around 30 miles an hour the whole stretch and about an hour later (should have been 30 minutes I'm told) I arrived at the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg. The hotel is strategically located such that it is "just across the street" from the DR test center. This is a beautiful thing as far as I'm concerned.
I went down to the sports bar attached to the hotel for a snack knowing that supper was going to be very late. Off the menu I selected some hot wings done in a chipotle Tabasco sauce. This should have been just the thing, but I was quite disappointed when I got my wings. They were overcooked to the point that the meat on the bones was like leather. Chewey as hell but at least the sauce was good. through no fault of the cook I'm sure.
At around 7:30PM that night I met a portion of the disaster recovery test team and we made plans to go out to supper. As a group we went to a place called "O'Donnells" which turned out to be a really great seafood place. I had a meal of Rockfish that was stuffed with crab meat, scallops and shrimp. Just simply awesome.
But that was just the first meal in town.
I get up the next morning knowing that I didn't need to be in the DR center until around 4:30PM that afternoon. I head downstairs to the in-house restaurant for breakfast. I am seated at a table that the placemat was still dirty from the last person who sat there, no napkins, no silverware and by a waitress who acted like I was a bother just being there. Not a good start. I am asked if I want to do the buffet. OK... fine.. I'll do the buffet. To say that it was substandard is putting it mildly. The sausage was dried out, the eggs were cold and if it weren't for the sausage gravy (bland!) to warm them up they'd have been truly abysmal. But what got to me the most was the facts that a) the buffet sets you back $11 and b) the service was so horrible. I've gotten better service and food on a Navy destroyer and that's a sad thing to say.
Later in the day I went off to explore. I found this village of shops around Market Street in Gaithersburg. There was a wide variety of thngs to see there and if my wife had been with me I'm sure she would have had a ball with this place. So, with the wide variety of restaurants to choose from I decided on a place called "Moby Dick's, The Kabob Place."
I figured that since I love Middle Eastern food there was no way this was going to be a bad experience. How wrong I was. The lunch special (set me back $10) consisted of a plate of rice that was dry as a bone (not in a good way) and had this crunch almost inedible crust on it, along with this stuff in a bowl, a mixture of green stuff (spinach?), kidney beans, beef cubes and an oily broth. Along with a Nan bread that while it was freshly made right before your eyes was overdone to the point of almost being the consistency of a matzo cracker. The beef was actually dry even though it was cooked in a broth. Can't figure out how they did that. Needless to say I wasn't pleased.
Off the to the DR site. Due to a miscommunication I arrived there 90 minutes later than anybody else, which was OK since my stuff was supposed to start later than anybody else as well. I returned to the hotel at around 9PM to get supper.
I went back to the sport's bar (glutton for punishment I suppose) and ordered a Rib Eye steak. I figured "nobody can screw that up" and felt comfortable with my decision. Well, my comfort level was misplaced. My early warning was when the steak was presented to me and it was hidden under a pile of mushrooms, sauce and onion rings to the point that I had trouble finding my steak.
Once I ate my way down to the steak and started curring I found a steak that lacked in flavor and was amazingly stringy for a rib eye steak. Disappointed once again I went back the the DR center to finish the evening's activities.
Getting to bed at 2AM and getting up at 7AM I went off the next morning and decided to go find breakfast. I found a Bob Evan's in Germantown MD and thought to myself "it's a chain.. should be at least predictable." Please note: if I had found a mom and pop greasy spoon at this point I would have tried it. Germantown MD seems to have had all the local color gentrified right out of it and I ddn't so much as see a diner or road house in my travels.
I ordered a stack of pancakes with a side of sausage. The pancakes were so wet they fell apart and the sausage patties had the life cooked right out of them. Another disappointment. The highlight of the meal was my waitress who had such a warm smile and positive attitude I left her a very large tip. Afterwards I'll admit I wondered if she even saw it as I'll be the bus boys gather all the tips and put them in a jar somewhere to divvy up later. So much for rewarding good service.
Later in the day I went off to a Boston Market for lunch, which was the saving grace of the day. I began to have hope for Gaithersburg MD even if the counter boy was a snotty bastard. I can overlook that as most fast food counter help is minimum wage and can't stand what they are doing so I'll let that go. At least the food was good. I am puzzled though, how did my order for 1/4 chicken dark result in my getting two thighs and a leg? Hmmm...
I went back to my hotel room and decided to work from there instead of the disaster recovery center. This turned out to be a good thing since I was able to squeeze in a nap at one point while listening to Native American flute music on my MP3 player.
After spending some time on conference calls, internal company chat sessions and just being me at work I felt the familiar pangs of hunger around 7:45PM and set out once again on an exploration of Gaithersburg MD and the surrounding area looking for something to eat. I stumbled upon a Vietnamese Pho place and brought back some Pho to my room. I probably should have eaten it there but I felt a need to get close as possible to my phone and laptop and keep tabs on what was going on at work.
The Pho turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. It was good, it was hot, it was authentic and came with these killer hot peppers that I enjoyed immensely. Score another one for Germantown. That with two Belgian Ales to wash it down I fell asleep in my chair while listening in on the conference call at around 11:45PM, got off the call and went to bed.
Out of expediency I ate in the hotel restaurant for breakfast the next morning. At least there was some improvement in the service (different crew?) and at least the sausage wasn't tough this time. The eggs were just as bad as on Friday (this being Sunday) but it filled a hole and I had to get to work.
More about this trip later....
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