Mission failed

When Anna and I got back from Orlando, it was getting close to dinnertime. We decided that it would be fun to go to that awesome Thai place we went to on her birthday when my brother Andy and his girlfriend Sarah were in town. We got it punched into the GPS and made our way over. The road construction confused us and we took a few wrong turns but eventually made it there.


We pulled into the parking lot and there were no cars there. I checked the hours on the door and a small sign said they were closed for remodeling. Talk about a disappointment. We didn't really feel like trying to find another place to eat since we aren't all that familiar with Minneapolis so we just drove home.

It was nice to see our cats after being gone for 4 days and they were very happy to see us. We didn't really have any food in the house so we went to the best pizza place in the state, Pagliai's Pizza in Mankato. Amazing amazing pizza. And they did not disappoint.

Behold the power of the internet

Sorry for the rant, but since I've had a really bad experience with a company, I want to make it loud and clear how unhappy I am with it. Maybe it will prevent someone from giving them business.

I recently wrote about my bad experience in canceling my website hosting from 1&1 Internet. I finally got it cancelled and most of my money refunded. Now it could be my fault for not reading the hard to understand 15 page terms and conditions, but by cancelling my hosting, it also canceled the domain name I had registered: hyperchicken.com. I was unable to do anything with it now and in talking to their not-very-helpful tech support, I found that it is in some type of limbo. I can recover it by faxing them a form, calling a phone number, and paying them $40.

I'm sorry, but thats complete BS. Website hosting and having a domain name are two separate things, but they tie them together and are basically using extortion against me since I still wanted to keep that domain name.

It looks like I won't be able to use that domain name until it expires some time in 2009. So yeah, 1&1 Internet is a horrible company. Tell your friends and neighbors.

Photo Update

I have added more pictures to my photo gallery

Definitely check them out! i'll try and add more photos regularly. I suppose that means I should actually be taking more photos.

Orlando, the finale

On the 3rd day of our trip we decided to just take it easy, relax, and check out all the shops in the area. We first hit up some of the shops at the resort, which weren't really anything special. We headed over to Universal Studios first and checked out everything there again. I found the first souvenir, a Universal Studios Mardi Gras shot glass in the shape of a hurricane glass. I collect shot glasses from my travels, and this one is pretty unique.

We wandered around, stopped at a Ben & Jerry's icecream shop and had a delicious hot fudge sundae. Most of the shops there were also pretty lame, most of them having the same merchandise. We went back to the resort and changed into our swimming suits and headed to the pool. It was still a little too chilly in our opinion for the pool so we sat in the hot tub for a little while. It could have been a lot hotter, but it was still nice. We lounged on our chairs in the sun for a bit before heading back to the room to get changed.

We headed off to Islands of Adventure with the intent of visiting more shops and having dinner at a restaurant there, which according to the sign, was the top rated theme-park restaurant 5 years in a row. Of course by the time we made our way back there, we saw a sign in the window saying they were closed for that day already. bummer! Anna found a couple of very cool tshirts and I found a nice shot glass from the Hard Rock cafe.

It was no big loss that the award-winning restaurant was closed though, we ended up having a fabulous dinner and very good drinks at Margaritaville. They had a singer playing acoustic guitar which was really cool.

The Hard Rock cafe has a large piece of the Berlin Wall along the backside of the building. it really isn't called out or has signs pointing to it, but we knew it was there. It was pretty amazing to see and touch such a significant piece of history such as that.

The next morning we unfortunately had to leave for home. The flight was uneventful but pleasant. We arrived in Minneapolis on time to some dreary overcast weather. Welcome home, right?

It was a wonderful trip, expensive, but WELL WORTH IT. We needed to get away, have no responsibilities, and just have fun together. It was very liberating not carrying my cell phone the whole trip. If someone wanted to contact me, they would have to wait until I was back at the hotel room, where I left the phone the whole trip.

Thanks for reading the Orlando trip trilogy!

Orlando trip, part 2

After we'd checked in and got to the room, we rested for a bit and unpacked all our clothes to avoid nasty wrinkles from the suitcase. There is a very nice walking path from the resort to the parks. It is about a 10 minute walk and is surrounded by beautiful trees, flowers, plants, and follows a canal used by the water taxi boats the hotel also operates.

We walked the path since it was a beautiful day and it felt good to walk after being cooped up in the plane for 3 hours. We first stopped at Margaritaville, located in CitiWalk which is a large area of shops, clubs, and restaurants outside the parks, open to the public. We had lunch and then made our way to Universal Studios.

We had a great time sightseeing, enjoying the rides, and people watching. We had dinner at the bar&grill located at the resort and had an early bedtime. The next morning we hit up the breakfast buffet, got our daily caffeine intake, and then headed out to the parks again on foot. this time we went to Islands of Adventure, which is the thrill ride park. Lots of huge rollercoasters and other crazy rides.

We went back to the hotel around 4 or so to rest for a bit and get ready for the luau the resort does a few times a week. They have it outdoors in a very nice pavilion with a stage at the front. We got checked in and waited in line while the staff put the final touches on the luau including putting out several large space heaters since it was a chilly 55 degree Florida night.

Before we went in, a very cheerful Hawaiian woman came out giving everyone leis and taking pictures with the kids. We were shown to our table by a very friendly server who let us know he would be taking care of us that night. He showed us to the buffet and we were in awe of the spread they had. All sorts of delicious food from the South Pacific islands, and the traditional roast hog. Did I mention that Mai Tais were included? The service was fantastic, filling our glasses back up before they were even half empty.

A band played excellent Hawaiian music while we ate and chatted with our table-mates. Once everyone was done eating, the entertainment started. I honestly wasn't expecting much other than some cheesy hula dancing but it was actually very fun and exciting. They had 3 women and 2 men doing traditional dances from Hawaii, Tahiti, and Samoa. The most thrilling part of the night is when the men did the fire dancing. Our table was right up front by the stage, so we had a fantastic view.

The night unfortunately had come to an end, so we headed back up to the room, full and exhausted.

more to come....

A rant

I wanted to use the power of the internet to voice my opinion on a company that sucks.

I had my own website for several years but I haven't done anything with it. I pay something like $60/year for it to be hosted, which is a waste since I never use it. It was hosted by the 1&1 Internet company and I really didn't have any issues. I got a renewal notice that I was going to have my bi-annual charge to my credit card so I decided to cancel right away.

I went to the website they have for canceling, clicked the appropriate items and I was supposed to get an email I had to reply to for confirmation that I actually wanted to cancel my account. After half the day went by I didn't get the email so I logged back on and requested it to be resent. A few more hours, still no email. I emailed their tech support staff and never got a reply back that day either.

I called their phone number and selected the option for cancellation but a recording told me that cancellations could not be processed over the phone at this time and to go to the website. I was getting angry by now.

I decided to update my account information on their system and change my email address, just in case their system was having issues sending to my email provider. I did that, waited about an hour, and submitted a cancellation request again. This time I got the email and I clicked the link to confirm. I was directed to a webpage that said the cancellation request itself had been canceled and to try again, so I went through the procedure again.

This repeated itself again, and by this time it was Monday and I was on my laptop in the hotel room in Floriday, on vacation. I sent them another email explaining that their system will not let me cancel and they better not charge my credit card since I had been trying to cancel for 2 days.

I was finally able to get the cancellation thing to work, and I also got an email reply from them. It was one of those form letters that has nothing to do with me and it was obvious they didn't even read my email message. Oh and I checked my bank's website and they indeed did charge my credit card for the renewal.

I sent them back a rather nasty email basically telling them that they suck, their cancellation procedure sucks, and that I expect a refund on my credit card. I got back a very short email saying that I will get back a pro-rated refund within 14 days.

So that was fun. 1&1 Internet sucks, I would not recommend them just for this reason alone. But my account is canceled, I'm just waiting for that refund now. Oh yes, and 1&1 Internet sucks.

Vacation recap

I have so much to write about, I'm going to do this over the next few days.

Let me begin by saying that every single aspect of our vacation went perfectly. No hassles, bad service, let-downs, nothing. We arrived at the Minneapolis airport bright and early for our 8am flight to Orlando. We flew Sun Country airlines, which I've always had great experiences with, and this time was no different.

We were greeted by the very friendly agent at the ticket counter while we were still a good 15-20 feet away. She was genuinely happy and friendly and chatted with us for a bit as she processed our tickets and checked in our suitcase. The line to get through security went pretty quick, although I did set off the metal detector the first time. We figured it was either my cell phone case that has a magnetic flap to keep it closed, or my belt which has a large metal buckle and metal rivets. So we have to take off shoes and belts, whats next, pants?

We didn't really have to wait too long before we were able to board the plane. The flight was barely half full, lots of empty seats. The flight attendant noticed how tall I am and suggested that we move up a few rows to the Emergency Exit row which was empty. We did and had MUCH more leg room, I was very comfortable. We even got a breakfast sandwich on the flight, try getting that for free on Northwest Airlines.

Our flight landed right on time in Orlando, we grabbed our suitcase from the baggage claim and made our way to the transportation area. I had called the hotel before our flight and checked on the transportation options. There is a bus that runs to various hotels in the area or we could take a cab direct to the hotel. We opted for the cab even though it cost a little more than the bus. The driver was kind of crazy, weaving in and out of traffic. I wasn't too scared since I expect all cab drivers to be crazy but since they do this for a living, I trust that they aren't going to hit something.

Luckily we arrived safely at the Royal Pacific Resort and were promptly greeted at the door. She directed us to the lobby where we checked in with a very friendly woman at the counter. Check in usually isn't until later in the afternoon but our room was ready for us when we got there. It was in a perfect spot just off the lobby, a very short walk with no elevator trips required.

By this point, we are barely 5 hours into the vacation, and I'm already in awe at how good of an experience we've had so far. And this is before we've even done anything. Stay tuned for more updates.

In the meantime, click the picture to go to some of the photos we took during the trip. And I have no idea who the people in the picture are.