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

Hey and what's up on this fine day? I don't really have much time to write but figured that I'd at least let you know that I was alive and all is going well on this end of the world. It's been a nice mini-vacation having the last four days off and guess that it seems like it's been a week but it's back to work in the morning and guess that we've got four full weeks before we get to do it all over again.

I went to my neighbor's sisters house again for the big day which was fun and different and a good time had by all. Other than that I didn't do anything on Thursday, just kind of kicked back and did nothing the whole day. Friday I ended up painting the big wall in the upstairs hallway that's needed it since I moved in and it looks beautiful now, I even replaced the smoke detector that should have been hard wired into the outlet but wasn't even hooked up ....... plus the one that was up there was older than the hills. I also ended up painting the frame around my french doors that hadn't been done since they were put up and I also painted my new closet doors that were primed but not even white. They look beautiful now as well. That's about all that I did on Friday I think.

Yesterday I had to take my car in for the 6,000 mile oil change which I guess was the 10,000 checkup and while I waited I went to IHop and had an awesome breakfast ...... eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and these awesome NY style cheesecake pancakes and I was so stuffed I couldn't even eat the whole thing. It amazes me how busy they always are, I'd open one up if I could ..... actually you could make a killing if someone were to open up a Denny's as there isn't one for 30 miles around.

Other than that today it was back to normal, I cleaned the house and did laundry and went to the grocery store and that was about all he wrote, and now the weekend is over and it's back to work in the morning. Oh, I also put up my holiday lights outside yesterday as well even though it was mighty chilly and I was surprised that not all too many of my neighbors have theirs up yet as they are usually so into the holiday spirit. Mighty chilly around here too and think that it was 26' on Friday night ..... and barely makes it out of the 40's each day.

That's about it, happy shopping to you and may the holidays treat you well. Take care and I'll talk with you later.

posted by Scott @ 9:32 PM

Happy Sunday here we are once again. Not too much going on here but Fall is definitely here and has been in the 30's at night and got to maybe 50' yesterday but don't think that today got out of the 40's all day. I ended up getting the carpets shampooed yesterday and that went well and turned out great and for some reason they feel so soft now and lighter in color than I last remembered. After they had come and gone I ended up going out and mowing and bagging all of the leaves on the entire lawn and it's actually looking nice and green these days but that probably won't last for long. I haven't mowed it in close to a month so it was due for that ....... and might be my last one until Spring comes around.

Last week flew right by as I was in Los Angeles Tuesday through Thursday visiting another one of our new hotels, well it's not actually ours yet but should be by the end of the month. It is located right in downtown LA in Little Tokyo and is a big hotel with more than 400 rooms and 19 stories tall. The place is going to keep me busy as I get to set up the reservation systems as we are changing brands so a lot of what I've been doing is data entry typing in all of the descriptions and hotel information and it's actually getting a little boring. But most of that is done now so now I'm loading rates and getting the website built and all in all I'm making progress and hope to be ready by the time it comes to convert.

I love LA but never did get used to the time change, I left here at 7am Tuesday morning and got there at 9:30am (their time) and went directly to the hotel. It just seems like it gets dark there at 4pm and I never did end up getting to bed much before 11pm (PST) and then up at 5am but that was the easy part as it was actually 8am my time. We had dinner the first night at the hotel in a Bennihana's type place where they grill the stuff right in front of you, and then the second night we went and did a comp set tour and ate at the Omni as sat outdoors which was great. And the weather was totally awesome and on Thursday when I left it was 87' and almost hot, and then I got home at 8:30pm and it was back into the 40's ....... quite the adjustment for sure. I could get used to living out there and I'm sure that I'll be back but it certainly does take quite a bit out of you doing it all in just a couple of days.

Patches went and stayed with his dog walker lady (Ilsa) and guess that he does ok, he was there for two days last week while I was in Houston and back again last week so hopefully he might be getting used to it. At least I plan on being home for the next few weeks and I am off on T-Day and also taking Friday off so it'll be a nice long weekend and he should enjoy himself too.

Oh, and I built a fire in the fireplace on Friday night - the first one that I've started since I moved here and I didn't even burn the place down. It is quite a bit of work though as I ended up having to clean it out Saturday morning, plus it seemed like my house smelled like a camp fire ever since ...... but at least it's better today I think. It was kind of nice having a fire as it's cool to look at but I was reading about the heating efficiency of them and think that you actually loose more heat out the chimney than you do helping to warm the house.

I guess that's about all that he wrote for this day, all is well on this end and getting ready for another new ....... and short week! Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

posted by Scott @ 8:54 PM

Evening to you and what is up with you today? Not much of anything going on in these parts and the weekend came and went and I really didn't do anything, at least the house is clean and the clothes are washed so I guess that's a start. Yesterday was a cloudy and cold and wet day which was great for just hanging around the house, napping a little and overall doing nothing. I did get a little work done but all in all it was a weekend of nothing.

I did end up going to for a massage around 5pm as I saw an ad in the newspaper for this Touch of Asia place and thought that I'd give it a try and see if they could do anything with the stress in my neck. I ended up doing the Thai type which was different than anything I've ever tried before and they have you lay on a mattress on the floor and then they stretch and twist you into a pretzel. I swear at on point I think the chick was walking on my back and she spent a lot of time trying to work out the knots in my back which was rather painful, I don't think that she completely cured me but I think that I am on the right track. I woke up this morning and my back was kind of painful but after I was up and running I think that I felt much better. I might give it another try in a month but guess that we'll see.

I also found a carpet cleaning company in the same paper and called them and made an appointment to clean the upstairs carpets next Saturday. I had used Stanley Steamer in the past but I swear their prices are outrageous now and wanted over $300 to do two bedrooms, a hall and the stairs which I couldn't see happening. The guy that I called yesterday is going to charge $100 but we'll have to see how he does before I can tell if he was worth it. It is long overdue too as I try and do it at least once a year and had the carpets installed in the beginning of October last year and I've been looking for an alternative forever so hopefully it will all work out ok.

I was also in Houston last week and went on Tuesday and came home on Thursday and went to visit our hotel (The Hotel Derek) which is a cool hotel located at the Galleria. I didn't see much of the town other than on the way from and to the airport but I liked the hotel just the same. It was all and all a pretty uneventful trip and got there and back with no delays and flew AirTran and they did just fine ....... other than I had a layover in ATL both ways and that is always a great time. I am also headed to Los Angeles this week for three days which really is a nice way to break up the week, and I've really only got Monday and Friday that I'll be in the office ....... almost makes the traffic bearable too.

Other than that I think that we are done with our five budget meetings that we've had each and every day for the last two weeks straight - I was kind of glad to get out of town for a few days just so that I could miss some. And I was thinking that Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away ....... that just doesn't seem possible. Not sure yet what I am doing for the big feast but I'm sure that I'll figure something out along the way. I could use a vacation sometime in the near future and need to start planning that.

But that's about it for another day I guess, I hope that things are going well with you and I will talk with you on another day. Have a great week!

posted by Scott @ 8:50 PM

Good evening to you once again and what is new in your world today? How did the Halloweeners treat you and hopefully they were all treaters and not a trickster in the bunch. I had probably 30-40 kids show up and every time the doorbell rang Patches went crazy and I ended up tieing him up to the stair banister so that he didn't end up freaking anyone out ....... or escaping in the process. And I think that I'm ok with the time change thing although I'll probably never see day light again ........ at least not for the next six months but spring will be here before you know it. I just can't believe that it's all ready the second week of November all ready and the holidays are going to be here before we know it.

Not too much happening here really and the weather has been very fall like and in the 60's during the day and down into the 30's and 40's at night ....... great weather actually! The biggest news that I've got to share is that my granite guy came yesterday and installed my kitchen counters and I'm really liking them - it's like night and day from the laminate that I had before. I wasn't too sure if they were going to show up so I didn't really say anything but then they arrived right on schedule and had everything done in about four hours. They even ended up replacing my kitchen sink with a stainless steel one as the guy originally quoted me an under-counter installed one and said that my white sink would work ....... but then I guess that didn't work so they gave me the sink for free. But when the plumber showed up he wasn't too thrilled with my garbage disposal which must have been twenty years old and he couldn't mount it and asked me to go and get a new one ...... which I did. Here are a few before and after's of the counter ...... but these pictures don't really do it justice -

I actually had another idea of adding a splash wall thing around the stove area and I saw a sample of one at Lowes last night that I think would look beautiful. The stone tiles that I am looking at are like stream stones that are small and colorful but kind of earth tones and I can tile the wall and grout it and think that it would be a great addition. But that will be a project for another day ....... but I think that I will end up doing it some day.

Work last week was a little crazy with budget meetings going on every two hours each and every day and that leaves me no time other than to get ready for the next one. And this week is the same thing and then we are done, but I am off to Houston for a couple of days to check out our new hotel so at least that should break up the week. Other than that I've got a ton of things going on and a very long to do list and I haven't been getting anything done too quickly at that. I actually have some more homework to do tonight once I get done here, I was working on redoing a budget for one of our hotels this weekend but that's about all that I got done.

So I think that I'm going to run and get to my other stuff, I hope that all is well with you and I will talk with you on another day.

posted by Scott @ 8:57 PM