A Day (or Two) in the Life of Scott Hanno

Sunday morning here, or should I say afternoon by the time that I get this posted and guess that it's been a while since I last wrote anything. Not too much going on on this end other than it's been a beautiful weekend, it's suppose to rain starting today but so far both Saturday and Sunday have been bright and sunny and in the 70's :) I didn't do all that much yesterday either other than to pick up my dry cleaning and finally hit up Office Depot and spent my gift card that I received when I left Bay Point last May. I ended up getting a UPS battery backup thing for my computer that looks like this so just in case the power goes out I will still be covered. I also bought a cool Plantronics cordless phone & headset but after I brought it home and tried it out it I didn't like the headset and the reception wasn't all that great. So last night I took that back and got a cordless phone for my living room and a modem for my Palm but the more that I thought about that the less I thought that I'd use it - so I plan on taking that back next weekend and just getting a printer cartridge for my printer and some paper, at least it's something that I'll be sure to use.

And last week was definitely a strange week as my Wyndhams have all gone away now and I'm trying to pick up a Hilton in Tampa and a Marriott in Texas along with continuing to assist the hotel that I went and visited in Atlanta. It's been rather difficult getting started though and I just hope that things improve in the near future. I plan on doing more with the Hilton this coming week and then start the Texas Marriott the week after full time and the more I think about it the better the plan comes together in my head. It's been a slow start though - guess that after all these years I'm still not very good dealing with change :(

I guess that's about it - just wanted to give you a heads up and to let you know that I'm still alive, nothing new and doing ok. Oh, and if you didn't notice I finished putting up the captions on my cruise pics so if you haven't seen them yet just be sure to click here! Have a GREAT week ahead and I'll talk with you again sometime soon. I'm out.

posted by Scott @ 1:02 PM

Ahhh, home again at last and dang glad to be here - bet that I sleep like a rock tonight! I got home late this afternoon and pretty much spent most of my time since messing around on the computer, 50 e-mails here and 50 there and I haven't even checked my work address yet - bet there are another couple of hundred there :( All is well at the house though and Monto was waiting for me, the girl that watched him for me dropped him off before she went to work which worked out pretty well. I guess that he did fine over the last five days without me, but she said that he didn't sleep at all each night and I'm not sure what was up with that - but he's been definitely catching up on some zzzz's since I got home a while ago.

I ended up posting my blogs that I wrote each day while I was away and also added some cruise pics to my photo gallery and those are about the only one's that I have. I do need to do a recap of the trip as I've been thinking about what I would do again and what I wouldn't and it would probably help to put it down in words - but that's not going to happen tonight but I should try to do it sometime soon. The trip home was pretty uneventful although I've never been through Customs and it took forever getting 2500 people through one door of the boat but the bus took us to the airport and then we were off from there. The USAir plane from Tampa to here really sucks as it's like a 12 seater with two seats per aisle and it took close to an hour and a half which seems like a long time.

I am still off tomorrow so I think that I'll pretty much kick back and sleep in and enjoy one last day before things are back to normal next week and I think that I am going to be off with a boom as I've got alot of projects that I need to get to. Otherwise I really don't have too many plans for tomorrow but I'm sure that I can find stuff to do, but if not I can always start on weeding through my in-box, that'll be a lot of fun. Not too much else to report other than that though, at least it was in the mid-60's today when I got home so it felt pretty darn good. I'm not even sure what the weather is suppose to be this weekend - I kind of feel like I've been living under a rock or on another planet for the last five days. I sure did miss my computer though and also my sweet little fat puppy dog too! And now I guess that I'll kick back and watch ER and then I guess I'll call it a night ....... my nice firm mattress is calling to me (after sleeping on this really soft twin bed all week)! Good night, TGIF and I'll talk with you again on another day.

posted by Scott @ 10:33 PM

Sensation Cruise Log – Day #05, Wednesday, January 14th, 2004

Well, the five day trip is just about done, one more formal dinner in about an hour and a half and then it’s pack your bags before bedtime and we’ll see them at the pier once we get off. Yesterday Cozumel was pretty neat, did the horseback riding trip which took about four hours but dang if galloping isn’t a killer, had to keep my little horsey walking a little slower as it was a killer on my butt! Plus I had my camera around my neck so it was a little hard keeping hold of that and also the reigns, but it was a fun afternoon and they even gave us all the Corona’s we could drink once we got back. Here's a picture of me and my trusty horse .........

I thought about taking a taxi into town once I got back but it was around 4pm and I wasn’t really into doing any shopping so I came back to the ship and then hung out on deck and soaked up a few rays. It’s been really windy every day since we got on here and partly cloudy so when the sun is behind the clouds it gets a might bit chilly out there. I then came back to my room and took a nap for a while, then got ready for dinner and then watched us take off from the dock while sipping on a few more Corona beers on deck. I haven’t really done much of the entertainment that they have each night though and I probably should have, but I guess that I have been more into just relaxing and doing nothing more than feeling like I’ve got to attend everything that they have to offer.

Today I got up and ate a good breakfast, then laid out in the sun for a few hours and then ate lunch, then took a nap and went and worked out …… and now it’s almost time to eat once again. Last night’s dinner was awesome as usual, I had château breean and baked Alaska for desert, hmmm, hmmm – the food has been great! Not too sure about tonight’s dinner but I’m sure that they will try to top all that they’ve done all ready so we’ll see what’s in store for us once again. I also think that it’s going to start to get colder now that we are getting closer to Tampa as I guess that we are now about 12 hours away – I’m not sure what the weather is like and I surely do miss my internet. At least we have the major networks on tv but the channels are kind of strange as one is NYC and one is Nashville and other is somewhere in Pennsylvania – not sure how they choose what channels they receive. They also offer movies that run over and over again – and if I have to watch Pirates of the Caribbean again I think that I am going to scream!

That’s about it for this Wednesday, kind of looking forward to getting home tomorrow and returning back to my normal life again ……. I miss my puppy dog big time too! Talk with you later, take care and stay warm until then.

posted by Scott @ 7:45 PM

Sensation Cruise Log – Day #04, Tuesday, January 13th, 2004

Tuesday morning here (I think) and I was up at 7am and out on deck just in time to watch a beautiful sunrise from behind us, it was this bright orange ball that just poked it’s head out from the water amidst a couple of clouds and within five minutes it was fully awake – looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day! Here is a shot of one of the pictures that I took ......

There are only a few fluffy cloud balls in the sky and we should be in Cozumel in a few hours, suppose to arrive at 10am and then I’ll hopefully be horseback riding by 11am. We have 12 hours in this port which is much longer than the 7 hours that we were in Grand Cayman, and they were saying that the sun doesn’t set until after 10pm so who knows, I might even be able to get some photos of that too to go along with my sunrise.

I’m a little sunburn after hanging at the pools yesterday so I hope I don’t get much redder, mostly my face got most of it yesterday so I guess that I need to try and add a little more sun block. And once I get back from my tour I hope to do the beach or something like that – guess that I’ll figure out what my options are once I get back here. And I guess that I should be moving along as it’s just about 8am, need to hit the showers and then start eating again.

posted by Scott @ 8:45 AM

Sensation Cruise Log – Day #03, Monday, January 12th, 2004

Monday is just about done and it was definitely an early morning kind of day, you could tell when we hit the port with all of the motors and anchors and things that got us all out of bed. And we have dinner at 8:30pm which is in about an hour from now, the good news is that the sun finally came out and I am red in the face after sitting by the pool soaking up some sun for about three hours this afternoon. The bad news is that once we got to port in Grand Cayman the winds were blowing too strongly for any of the water activities so I never did get to go snubaing, all of the tours were cancelled with an automatic refund. So, myself and another guy David from my dinner table walked around the town and hit up the souvenir shops, didn’t buy anything cuz there was nothing that interested me and then we went for daiquiris at one of the local bars. I did end up buying an underwater camera before I got off the boat this morning and I was looking forward to getting some cool shots from below but I guess that’s not going to happen now as tomorrow is more of a land activity day. And here is one of the shots of Grand Cayman that I took while sitting on the second floor balcony sipping my strawberry daiquiris' ......

For sure the best thing about this trip is the food, every meal that I eat has been different and just as awesome, and as soon as you finish one meal it’s time for the next to begin. Even lunch today was great and we had this roast beef thing and some chicken, fresh veggies and ice cream cones to round out the meal. They also have a drink special each day too, and they’ve been pretty potent where you don’t want to have more than a couple or it will put you right to bed. So far I’ve been doing pretty good booze wise, the first night was one big ole party but than after that everyone settled down and just started to hang out.

I’m still also trying to get the lay of the ship but it gets a little easier each day, I guess that I kind of stick to my comfort zone more with the places that I know where they are at but I’ve also been experimenting a little more each day. I’m also doing much better with the shower too, haven’t flooded the bathroom again since day number one. I guess that’s about it for now, it surely doesn’t seem like a Monday today no more than tomorrow will feel like a Tuesday but I guess that is ok too.

posted by Scott @ 11:10 PM

Sensation Cruise Log – Day #02, Sunday, January 11th, 2004

Well, it’s Sunday here and I’m just about ready to call it a day – just got back from dinner a short time ago where we had some awesome shrimp cocktail and lobster tails. All of the food has been great and there is so much of it, first you eat omlettes cooked to order for breakfast and then it’s time to have some lunch. But the weather hasn’t improved all that much yet, the sun was in and out of clouds all day today so it wasn’t a great day to be working on the tan – but at least it is getting warmer out there. I think that at best it got up to 70’ today but once the sun went away it was still a tad bit chilly out there. I got up at about 7:30 and slept ok – woke up a few times during the night and you can definitely tell that you are on a ship. The shower takes a little getting used to too as yesterday I ended up getting the entire bathroom soaked as the pressure is so great that it just blew the shower hose off the holder and it was like a fire hose gone wild. Today I did much better though so I think that I am getting the hang of it. And speaking of hang of it – it takes you like at least the first day to figure out where everything is and how it’s all layed out – and dang if this isn’t one long boat to walk from one end to the other. It’s pretty cool though as my room is in the middle of the boat almost in the back – and there are stairs right outside my room that if you go up two flights you are at the Seaview Restaurant which is where breakfast and lunch is served (well, one of the places along with 24 hour pizza!). And right down from that is the main pool and bars, so it’s pretty convenient for me to get where I want to go.

I didn’t do all too much today but that’s ok, I decided that I wasn’t going to make myself think that I had to be doing something all of the time and just to kick back and relax a little bit. I did eat like four times today and walked around with my camera, took some shots but it’s still not the best sunny day picture taking day yet. I am having an issue connecting my camera to my laptop to download the ones that I’ve taken, so I hope that I don’t fill it up too quickly or I don’t think that I’ll be able to take any more. Who would have thought that it wouldn’t be plug & play with Win 2K, stupid thing I might add and no matter how much I messed with it I still couldn’t get it to work. I then had my massage at 2pm which was an hour of heaven although it was a little too deep in places – but I think that she did get most of the major knots out of my shoulders and I’m feeling pretty good tonight. I then hung out for a little while, ironed a shirt for our formal Captain’s Dinner night and then went and worked out for an hour – and they’ve got a pretty decent gym on there too.

Tomorrow we arrive at Grand Cayman at like 7am and I have my snuba’ing tour at 10:30, so I’ll have to get up pretty early and do breakfast and then we take “tenders” to the island as I guess that there is no place for the ship to dock. I guess that we aren’t there very long though as the last tender back is at 1:15pm and then we leave again at 2pm headed for Mexico on Tuesday. Not too sure what else I’ll do besides snorkeling in town, might walk around the shops as I guess there are a lot of them. Then hopefully I can come back and actually hang in the sun by one of the pools – but today they were pretty darn packed with mostly white pale folks from the Northeast. My dinner group is pretty cool too – we are stuck with each other all week but I’ll have to tell you about them again on another day as this is all ready too long. And I’m all worn out and just about ready to call it a day – it’s close to 11pm and I need to get up kind of early. So, more later – at least I sure do hope. Good night.

posted by Scott @ 11:45 PM

Sensation Cruise Log - Day #01, Saturday, January 10th, 2004

Well, we are off from Tampa on a five day cruise, quite a trip from PCB on a little prop plane that flew a 15 minute flight to Fort Walton Beach and then an hour and 20 minute flight to Tampa. We met quite a bit off traffic going through downtown Tampa due to some event that was going on and what should have taken us 20 minutes to get to the ship took us like 45 minutes - you would have thought someone would have told the bus driver prior. But we got all checked in and it was a little confusing deciding where to go, walked in and there are BARS all over the place - I think that's actually how they make all of their money on this thing.

And the weather hasn't been great yet - left this morning wearing shorts and it was 44', thought that Tampa was gonna be better but it was still wicked cold and cloudy and had to put on a sweatshirt once I got to the boat. There really haven't been any great photo op's yet but I brought my digital camera and hope to get some good shots. I guess that once we move south and get away from Tampa and out of the bay the weather should be getting better so I am hoping to see some sunshine sometime tomorrow. Here is a photo of Tampa right before we were leaving town and guess that is the arena or something:

I also signed up for my Shore Excursions and I'm glad that I had a chance to review them prior to getting here as you sign up right as you board the boat and don't really have a chance to think about it. Snuba'ing and horseback riding it is - we'll see how things turn out. I also signed up for a deep tissue massage for tomorrow (Sunday) as I've been looking forward to that for all too long too. I think that's my day tomorrow, hopefully hanging out in the sun and then a massage, hit the hot tub and then a massive dinner - you sure can eat around here as it's open all of the time and it's free!!! Well, it's now going on 7:30 now and I need a shower before my 8:30 dinner appointment and can't wait until I see what they have for dinner tonight. So, I guess that I'll be talking with you again on another day.

posted by Scott @ 8:30 PM

TGIF everyone and I hope that all is well in your world. It's been a very short week this week it seems as I had to go up to Atlanta on Monday and returned on Wednesday to help out with some turnover at one of our Marriott's and it's really messed up my schedule this week. And it was definitely a short trip, seemed like as soon as I got there I turned around and headed home again. I even celebrated my birthday by travelling that day ........ well, I don't really celebrate birthdays as I don't see them as any big thing. It was the big one this year though but I don't feel any different, still look the same as I did on Sunday and heck, age is all in the state of your mind anyway and I'm thinking that I still feel like I'm 32 ........ or is it 27 ....... or 15 some days :)

Not much going on other than me being swamped, I've still got 52 new e-mails in my In-Box that I haven't even read yet. And today is also pretty much my last day working for my Wyndhams as half of them go away tomorrow and the other half next Saturday so I've got to get as caught up as I can today and then turn over what I didn't get to someone who I don't even know who's going to be doing them. It's also kind of sad and a little frustrating having to just walk away and leave my hotels to fend for themselves, but I also guess that I shouldn't take it personally as it's business but I do feel kind of bad for all these people that I've come to know. I know that things will be ok, it'll just be a challenging next couple of months ahead for them.

It's been mighty cold down here too, rained yesterday and the rain is still here but I think that it's suppose to be out of here in time for the weekend. The second night that I was in Atlanta it got down to like 17 degrees and I froze my butt off (well actually I stayed inside for most of my time). Monday was really weird weather too as it was 79' when I left Panama City and by the time I got to ATL it was like 33 with one heck of an artic breeze a-blowing - guess that I probably should have worn more than shorts as that was what the weather man was saying was going to happen. My flight was also delayed by 2 hours leaving here and that's always the case - so my one hour flight more turned into a 7 hour trip, I could have drove and been there in less time.

Well, it's time to start my day as I've got tons to do so I've gotta run but just wanted to wish everyone an early start to your weekend. And I hope that things are back to normal for you after the past couple of holiday weeks - things are certainly busy on my end. Talk with you later - stay warm and have a GREAT day!!!

posted by Scott @ 7:59 AM

Another Sunday on this end and I guess that all of the holidays are over, and I guess the most depressing part of it is that it'll be Memorial Day before we get another paid day off :( But it'll also be kind of nice to get back to a normal schedule as having Thursdays off the last couple of weeks has really thrown off my schedule. I didn't do all too much over the latest holiday, I've been walking Mr. B's three dogs while he and the family went to Orlando - they left on Wednesday and came home again last evening. I had been going over there three times a day and they were a handful, kind of glad that that job is over.

We've been having beautiful weather here too and it's been in the 70's for a while now and I took advantage of it on Thursday and went out and took down my Christmas lights that were on the house, then raked up the rest of the leaves in the backyard as my trees are pretty much bare at this point. Other than that I've just been running back and forth between here and Panama City and think that Montie was getting a little suspicious that I might have been having an affair on him :)

I worked all day on Friday but went out and bought a new cell phone, I got a Motorola V60i - you can click here to take a look at it. The problem was that they couldn't get it to register at the store and guess they were having technical difficulties with their system so I ended up messing around with them on the phone Friday night for more than an hour and then also again on Saturday - and the thing still isn't set up right as I can't log on to their website to check my account like I used to, plus the time on the phone is still showing East Coast time. I hope by tomorrow to have all the bugs worked out, I am really getting tired of being transferred time and time again.

Oh, and if I hadn't mentioned it Bay Point Marriott was sold last Monday and you can read about it here - the link wouldn't work so I had to copy it in ........

Bay Point sold for $34 million

Destin-based Flautt Cornerstone Inc. buys property that includes two golf courses, hotel

By Dwayne Hartnett

News Herald Business Editor

The sale of Bay Point Leisure Properties, specifically two golf courses and the Marriott Hotel, was completed Monday. The Bay Point Marina and adjoining shopping complex were not part of the transaction. However, in a separate transaction, the 30 Degree Blue restaurant was leased. The purchase price was an estimated $34 million, which included $15.2 million for the golf courses.

The buyer for the property is Destin-based Flautt Cornerstone Inc., headed by Frank Flautt. Other principals are Buddy Runnels and John McNeil. Bill Spann, managing part- ner for Bay Point Leisure Properties, represented the sellers in the transaction that has been in the works for several months. "My partners and I decided a couple of years ago that we needed to make a significant investment in the property to improve it the way we wanted to, or we needed to find an investor that would do what we thought needed to be done," Spann said. "That’s what we did. We are pleased with it."

Spann and partners Hal McCormick and Bill Sharp were the sellers of record for the golf courses, with the Alabama Farm Credit Bureau, headed by Kevin Ketzler, the seller for the Marriott. Carter & Associates, an Atlanta-based brokerage firm, negotiated the sale for Spann’s group and the Alabama Farm Credit Bureau. Spann said that he was pleased that the new owners were Florida-based businessmen. "These are people who have made good investments in North Florida and have made similar investments in similar resort properties as Bay Point," he said.

"They have a great deal of experience in operations like Bay Point, and they bring a great amount of enthusiasm to the negotiating table. "I think it was a good day for the Bay Point community." Spann, who for 21 years has been associated with the resort and country club community surrounded by the waters of St. Andrew Bay and Grand Lagoon, admitted that the sale was bittersweet. "I’ve spent 21 years doing what I love to do, and how many people can say that? " Spann said soon after the main part of the transaction was completed. "I won’t speak for the details involving the hotel, but there’s nothing left to prevent new owners from taking over Jan. 1. "There are some little things that will be competed in the next day or two, but it’s a done deal."

The latter statement was in response to a lawsuit filed by a second bidder for the property, Magnum Capital. The lawsuit claimed that the broker did not take into account that Magnum’s offer topped the one made by Cornerstone. "They lost in court, appealed and lost again," Spann said of the lawsuit, which was mostly directed at Carter & Associates. The leasing of 30 Degree Blue, opened by Spann, especially hit close to home. "I just think that the restaurant should be run by the same people running the country club and hotel," he said. Spann, however, said the 30 Degree Blue staff headed by Shelley Cooper, executive chef, Marco Morosini, manager, and Larkin Weathers, beverage manager, would remain with the restaurant. The upscale casual restaurant founded by Spann in 1990 has been honored as one of the top eateries in North America. It received the 2004 Distinguished Restaurants of America (DiRoNA) Award, and the Wine Spectator Award twice.

Spann said the transaction would not negatively impact the popular Bay Point Billfish Invitational. "Hopefully this will make it bigger and better," he said of the 20-year-old event. Spann said that there are indications the new owners will significantly upgrade the hotel and the golf courses. "We spent upwards to $60 million getting this resort where it is today, and it’s my understanding that the new owners plan to make significant investments in the property," he said. Spann said he plans to devote more time to the marina and his consulting business. "I’m not retiring, I can tell you that," he said.

And I guess that last Friday was blacker than normal as a lot of people at the Marriott found out that they no longer had jobs, some of them had been there for like 20 years and now they have nothing. I know that half of my old department was let go, plus a number of people in Sales and I really don't understand it as they should be gearing up for Spring Break and not cutting back. I also haven't gotten too far with any of my new hotels but hope to this week, I know that half of my Wyndhams go away a week from tomorrow and the other half the week after that - so by the time I get back from my vacation they will most likely all be gone. Life sure is going to be interesting the next couple of weeks, at least things will be anything but the same ole.

I guess that's about it for another day, hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and now you are ready to get back to normal and back to work! Take it easy otherwise, and I'll talk with you again sometime real soon. Night - have a GREAT week.

posted by Scott @ 10:24 PM