Rose Bowl Commemorative Football

Just a quick update to yesterday's posting. Here is the football that the winner of our contest will receive.

It only costs $1 to enter, however you can enter as many times as you like and at the end of the day, all proceeds go to the Pasadena Humane Society.

We promise you that you'll not find another football like this one.

Good luck!

Rose Parade, Rose Bowl & BCS Championship

January is set to be a very busy month in Pasadena, CA. And that's just taking into account the first 7 days of the month. The annual Tournament of Roses Parade will take place on schedule at 8am on January 1st with the Rose Bowl taking place in the early afternoon. Everyone is super excited to have Captain Sullenberger in town as our Grand Marshal of the parade, and this year's theme, 'A Cut Above'. And then to have Ohio State and Oregon in town, should cap off a wonderful day.

To make sure we stay grounded at the hotel, we're making sure that we keep an emphasis on our hometown of Pasadena and getting things off to a good start in the new year. We will be offering a commemorative football for the Rose Bowl and the two teams playing that is decorated with pictures of Pasadena that will hopefully be a wonderful keepsake of this year's Rose Bowl. To enter, they simply need to donate a dollar to the Pasadena Humane Society, and they'll be all set. They can even enter multiple times to increase their chances.

We'll post a picture of the ball soon to hopefully help get the word out.

As far as the homeowner front, I'm afraid I've been slacking. With posting blogs that is. I finished up the wooden gate, but didn't have the before and after pictures, so as far as everyone knows, I could have been taking a picture of a neighbor's gate; I wouldn't want to risk any scandal with this. Also, I had my first stab at roofing this past weekend and trying to fix a leak that is coming in over my skylight. Its really a never-ending process, but so far as I keep learning, and can keep fixing things, I guess it must be okay. I'm not sure what the next project is going to be, however if we can get some money raised for the Humane Society, then that will be a good enough start to the new year. That and my roof not leaking any more.

Until next time...

Training, training and more training

Training...
This has been the be all, end all, trav-all and learn all for the month of November. I've been trained up one side and twice down the other, but I've made it through. For anyone who is under the assumption that hotels simply hire personnel, give a little OJT and then let them go, please be assured that nothing could be further from the truth. Now that theory does hold true with my home improvement projects, but we take out hotels a little more seriously.

The first training took place in Seattle Washington and surprisingly enough, in pretty good weather. I learned everything there is to know about Courtyard and Marriott hotels and if you thought bacon being accompanied by eggs is just an old adage passed down through time, its not. Marriott came up with that. Okay, maybe not, however when you come to breakfast, dinner or even get a snack out of the market, all of these things occur according to a very specific plan. A place for everything and everything in its place.

The second training took place in Washington, DC. President Obama wanted to get together to go over some of these policies and standards, however really, who has the time. I apologized very graciously and continued on with my training. This section went over all kinds of great things that go into making the team that is at the hotel as successful as possible. And in hotels, the happier our team members are, the more successful they are. I had a severe case of jet lag, a sinus infection and was on the verge of information overload, however when they put you in a room, blindfold you and tell you to figure out what parts are missing from a puzzle you and your class are holding, you can't help but be interested. And you learn the value of communication.

So at the end of this, I'm a little smarter and hopefully will perform my job a little better. The next thing is to see if it will help with the next home improvement project. That will consist of replacing a chain link fence with a new wooden fence. I'll have pictures shortly.

Thanks for reading.

U2 and the Happy Cat

Its Monday morning in Pasadena at our hotel, the Courtyard Old Pasadena. The sun is taking a little while to get up and going, but the weather outside is nice and cool, so we'll take it for now, as I'm sure the sun will be out shortly.

We had a good busy weekend with our Cal Berkeley and UCLA fans in over the weekend. There's nothing like being in an area that hosts college football games on a regular basis. Our hotel is super convenient as we're just across the street from one of the overflow parking lots for the Rose Bowl, so our guests literally walk across the street and down a block and jump on the shuttle.

With the last UCLA home game for October past us, we move on to the big U2 concert this weekend. We are still in disbelief of the fan following that U2 has. The Rose Bowl concert is their only stop in Southern California and it shows. We are on track for one of our busiest weekends other than the Rose Bowl game itself, so it should be very exciting. For those of you who haven't heard, the concert is next Sunday, Oct 25th, and I believe the Black Eyed Peas are the opening act. It should be a great show.

The homefront saw the completion of my project, the cat tree. I can't tell you how exciting I know all of this sounds after writing about college football, a U2 concert and now on to....a cat tree. For those of you with cats, you'll know that the first two topics are of no interest, but the last is an endless source of relaxation and entertainment.

I started working on the carpet around 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon; I was done by 8 o'clock. I'd never worked with a hot glue gun before, but now am fairly experienced. I also have a couple of scars where the glue kept coming when I had it over a hand or arm; but nothing that will last.

I've not decided on what will be the next project, but its looking like a wooden gate to replace a chain link one at the house. And no, the leak hasn't been fixed yet from the skylight. I'm hoping to gain the assistance of our Chief Engineer with that one.

An any homeowner will say, your work is never ever ever done.

The rain is gone and here come the Cal Bears

The rains have finished, the air is clean and everything is green. And we are all set for a warm weekend and more UCLA football. They are facing the Cal Berkeley Bears this Saturday at noon. If you plan on tailgating and have nothing to do on Saturday morning, Texas is playing Oklahoma at 9am, but you'll have to catch that one on TV. Being from the east coast and naturally an early-riser, I can't tell you how much I love morning football; the earlier the better.

We are all set for a busy weekend here at the hotel. Our staff knows exactly when the games occur and start asking at the beginning of the week. A full hotel is a happy hotel.

On the homeowner side, I discovered a leak in my skylight with the recent rain. Unfortunately, this is not one of those projects that can be placed on the backburner, so I'll have to get it taken care of this weekend or early next week. These things happen, but on to the project at hand.

The structure for the cat tree is all complete and ready for the carpet to be put on . And as I mentioned, this thing could probably hold up a Buick, so its very structurally sound. Everything was designed 'playing it by ear', utilizing some scrap wood and things that I had around the house from other projects; some that were finished and others that were not. I've put 3 shelves on the structure and reinforced with 2 x 4's EVERYWHERE. I've not had the pleasure of working with carpet or a hot glue gun, but that project is set for this Saturday, where hopefully I'll have it all complete, and post a picture of the finished project.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the weekend.

Rain can't slow us down...

Its Tuesday morning and SoCal is getting its first rain of the season. The hotel is running well, with all of our guests grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading out into the weather. Most likely, a good part of our guests are prepared, however we do lend out umbrellas at our Front Desk on the honor system. In other words, if you don't return it, we honor you by coming by your room in the evening to collect our umbrella. Just kidding. We're a little nicer than that.

On the homeowner side, one thing I've found is that there is always something to do. While I was an apartment dweller, there was no yard work, roofing repairs or walls to paint. I never even thought of those things. Since moving into a house, I can't get a break. Every time I look around, I see something else I want to do...something I want to improve. Normally, though, its the regular routine maintenance that takes up time. But that's changing. And I'm bringing this blog along with me. You'll get to experience all of my home improvements from the before to the after. I will include pictures and progress reports. The only thing you won't have access to are all of the bad words that come with me trying to do home improvements.

My first one that I'm working on isn't even a home improvement, but more a practice run at wood working. My wife's sister has this crazy cat that I've offered to build a cat tree for. For those of you who do not know, a cat tree is basically a skeleton of wood and parts that is then covered with carpet that creates a resort area for the kitty. There are two advantages to this first project of mine. Number one is that its giving me good practice with sawing, drilling and nailing wood pieces together, along with working with a hot glue gun. Number two, is that since I'm a beginner and this thing may turn out to not be structurally sound, that crazy cat might finally get what's coming to him.
That last part is a joke, as that cat weighs about 8 pounds and this structure I'm building can probably hold a Buick. So we're safe.
I'll post the before pictures and keep a running count of bad words until we get to the after.

Have a great rainy Tuesday and be careful driving.

UCLA Football to Long Beach Marathon-LA has it all

The weather has turned cool here in Southern California and Pasadena; perfect for everything outdoors. It was perfect for some cycling on Saturday morning and as I was headed down to the Rose Bowl for a few laps, I noticed all of the blockades for the football game. Oregon was in town for a noon game and didn't go away disappointed. Home games at the Rose Bowl always put an extra air of excitement into the normal relaxed hum of Pasadena. People who aren't fortunate enough to have their team play here don't realize what they are missing. To have Old Town Pasadena so close to such a great sporting institution like the Rose Bowl makes for a really great combination; so much to do before, during and after the game.

Home games, however, do not make the best environment for doing laps around the Rose Bowl. I said a quick hello and good-bye to one of the friendly officers helping with traffic, and I was on my way towards east Pasadena. It took me a couple of moments to get my sense of direction back, but in just a few moments I was back on track on Orange Grove Blvd and headed towards the little town of Sierra Madre. Its pretty flat getting out there so not too tiring, however as I was passed up by a more experienced cyclist and I tried to keep up, my legs grew a little tired any way.

After Sierra Madre, I turned it around to Altadena Dr and started the long climb back up the mountain to home. I love living in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, however no matter where I go cycling, I always end it by going uphill to home.

This was a great Saturday morning and the next day would have me going to the city of Long Beach for the marathon; not to run it, of course, but to support a friend who'd spent the last 5 months training for it.