The Walls Come Tumblin' Down.

I worked at the Radisson, and while I had a lot of good times there, and met some wonderful people (actually technically that's where I met Blake...or at least where the computer I met him on resided)I am glad to see the destruction of the South Tower beginning.
Ever since Mr. Ed Lewis passed away the hotel had become a joke, no longer worthy of the 4 star rating it still somehow managed to get every year.
Trust me, I know.
And yes Im also a bit biased, since when I was "The Reservations Office" I was fired for following the in structions of a sales manager that almost caused a million dollar expo to be pulled from the hotel. Yay for taking the fall!

Im hoping for something better for that spot in Monroeville.

You could fit a Sonic over where the old PNC is.

Just sayin'.

Fly the unfriendly skies.

What should have been:
New Orleans to Charlotte, departing @ 630pm Sunday.
Charlotte to Pittsburgh departing @ 10something Sunday
Arrive home in Pittsburgh around 1130pm


What is:
New Orleans to Charlotte, departing @ 630 pm Sunday.
Diverted from Charlotte to Raliegh because the runway was shut down, and we needed gas after being in a holding pattern for an hour.
Land in Raliegh, but they wont honor transfers or connections.
TAKE OFF FROM RALIEGH AND GO BACK TO CHARLOTTE.
Holding pattern because ANOTHER RUNWAY HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN.
Land @ Charlotte 1230AM Monday.
US Airways counter closed till 4am.
Wait.
Wait. Wait
Wait.

835am to Pitt canceled.
905am to Pitt on standby list
1130am to Pitt on standby list
100PM to Greensboro, connecting in NY (LaGuardia), Connecting to Pitt, CONFIRMED.

Im tired, dont feel well, hungry, pissed off, wondering if my luggage will be in Pitt when I get there, and how damaged it will be, very short on money or would have just gotten hotel and flown out tuesday, want Blake, want cigarette, want book thats in missing luggage.
Want very badly to choke a bitch. Any bitch will do.


UPDATE:
Thank the sweet baby Jesus I got onto the 905am flight and landed in Pitt at 11am. I was home and snuggled with my cat on my couch by 1230p.
I consider it Karma repaying me for helping some 90 year old woman with the BlackBerry her son bought her at around 230am. She had no idea how to use it.

To sum up. I boarded an airplane at 600pm sunday and finally landed in Pittsburgh at 11am monday.

You do the math.

Oh, yeah.
My luggage was there when I landed, so they at least did that right.

Do you want Catch-up with them fries?

I'm back.
I knew if I bitched about my power cord that it would show up sooner.
This Christmas...Sucked.
Seriously.
Hard Core and Big Bad. Im glad it's over and it's just another reason for me to hate the holiday.
New Year's...Can't wait.
Heading out to Dormont to hang with Matt, Natalie Janelle and not sure who else. Going to go to the Apple Inn, then back to Nat and Matts place for fun and eventual passing out.
Sunday night we took the girls to see the windows downtown at Macy's. Pictures are forthcoming.

Fuck you very much

So yesterday I had a note in the mail that there was a certified letter waiting for me at the post office.
The sender line simply said "tax"
I thought it would be from the IRS, since I e-filed and they had to send me something to sign and send back to them for an official signature.
I simply thought that maybe something happened and they didn't get/lost the signed letter I sent back to them.
Oh no.
It's better than that.

I had a letter waiting for me stating that the Borough of Plum is going to garnish my wages to pay for taxes dating back to 2001.
With fees, interest, the actual tax ($10.00 I think) and penalties added in this equals almost $1,700.

I have paid this tax every year since I started working.
Its one of the first things I do when tax season rolls around.
I have been on the phone, been to the Borough office, argued with five million people and almost torn all of my hair out over this.

THEY HAVE NO RECORD OF ME PAYIING THIS TAX SINCE 2001!

And they won't budge on it.

So.

I'm fucked. My bank has not gotten back to me yet. And when this all started (2001) I was with a different bank, so I don't have any record from them yet.
The letter states they have to inform me 15 days before they start garnishing my wages ( which, since I am a huge loser with no car who needs to work very close to home, are shit (seriously, my paychecks every two weeks are under $400.00 add in bills and paying my mom for stuff, that leaves me very little to play with) means I don't make much in the first place) but the letter is dated ten! days ago. So that leaves me with 5 days to come up with $1,700 in full to pay off this bullshit means I'm fucked.
Fucked.
So possibly there goes seeing Blake during Mardi Gras, doing anything resembling a social life, all Christmas presents, and could also ruin my plans for summer.

So thank you Borough of Plum
Thank you so very much for failing one of your citizens.

And you wonder why people keep moving to Westmorland County.

Even a BLIND MAN could see that was a touchdown!!!

From ESPN.com

PITTSBURGH -- The first 11-10 game in NFL history shouldn't have ended that way, referee Scott Green said after a last-minute touchdown was errantly taken away from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

The officiating mistake didn't affect the outcome since the Steelers still would have won, but the touchdown would have changed the score to 17-10 -- or, more likely, 18-10, since the teams were lined up for an extra-point try that was never attempted.

On first-and-10 from San Diego's 21 with five seconds remaining, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw a short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson over the middle for 3 yards. Tomlinson turned and made a handoff-type lateral to wide receiver Chris Chambers, who attempted to pitch the ball to a teammate only to have safety Troy Polamalu scoop it up and score from the 12.

Both teams left the field on what looked to be a game-ending play but were called back by the officials for the extra-point attempt. At that point, the replay official called for a review.

After watching the play, Green initially announced the ruling on the field was upheld and the touchdown counted. But the officiating crew huddled again before the extra-point attempt and changed the call, deciding that an illegal forward pass should have ended the play.

Green, in a postgame interview with a pool reporter, said that call was errant -- even though his explanation for the confusion was almost as confusing as the play itself.

"We should have let the play go through in the end, yes," Green said. "It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through."

Green said the confusion occurred because there was a misunderstanding about which lateral was in question.

"The first pass was the one that was illegal, but it only kills the play if it hits the ground," Green said. "That was incorrect to have killed it at that point. The ruling should have let the play go on. That's just the way that it played out. We believe the second pass was legal."

Green was asked why, since the ball didn't hit the ground during any of the tossing, the officials decided after huddling that the play should have ended.

"We didn't kill it on the field," Green said. "After [the] discussion we decided ... there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground and therefore we killed the play there."

However, the officials realized afterward they erred.

"I know," Green said. "The rule was misinterpreted."

In an interview Monday on SportsCenter, Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, said the league would look at "tweaking" its replay system, possibly before the playoffs, to allow officials to go back to replay a second time if an error is made. In the current system, officials cannot return to the monitor for a second look at a play if there is confusion about rules interpretation.

That the Steelers preserved their victory "doesn't make us feel any better about the call," Pereira said.

The score made a difference in the wallets of a lot of bettors on the Las Vegas Strip.

"Anyone who had a bet on the Pittsburgh side and thought they had won weren't too happy," said John Avello, director of the race and sports book at the Wynn resort.

Avello said there might have been $10 million bet on the game statewide and many times more than that in illegal bets around the country and in offshore Internet betting sites. There was more money bet on Pittsburgh, he said, especially in parlay bets.

Though the officials later said they made a mistake in calling back the touchdown, the official score remains 11-10, and even if the NFL changes it, Nevada sports books paid off on the final score from Sunday.

Asked about the officiating -- the Steelers drew 115 yards in penalties to the Chargers' 5 -- Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin declined to comment.

"No, I have never seen a game ended with 13-to-1 in penalties [the official tally was 13 against the Steelers, two against the Chargers], but I am not answering questions about the officiating," Tomlin said.

The call affected betting on the game since the Steelers were either a 4½- or five-point favorite and would have covered if the touchdown counted.

"It was weird," Steelers receiver Hines Ward said, " ... but this game is about wins and losses, and we won."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

In other news....