Snerkology
snerk (n): An utterance which suggests amusement/disgust/derision/disbelief.

Archive: April 2012

Broken Arrow Trail, Sedona

This is the best trail we’ve Jeep’ed yet, I think. On Saturday Bill, Amanda and I headed up to Sedona to drive the Broken Arrow Trail. It was rated a seven (on a scale of 10) due to one particularly gnarly incline that we DEclined to traverse. But for that area, the rest of the trail is considered a six. The Pink Jeep tours routinely run these trails for visiting tourists. We were able to drive up and park right up on the red rocks, from which we caught some spectacular views. Even though it was pretty much straight up noon, I think the circular polarizing filter I used compensated pretty well for the incredibly harsh light.

We’re definitely going back, hopefully closer to sunset next time.

It was a fantastic day.

(Also, thank goodness Flickr increased their maximum file size!)

Click any to embiggen, and view the whole Jeep Adventures set here.

Too many photos to load on one page, so… - Read More -

How I Have Lived

The epitaph on my mother’s headstone reads, “Tell me about it.”

I don’t really know the story of why they went with that particular choice of eternal commemoration. I think it’s just something she said a lot in conversation, an embellishment after shock and awe has been garnered. I don’t know. I have the impression that my mother was something of a social butterfly and entertained her friends with some lively stories.

It has always struck me as humorously morbid. Morbidly humorous? As in addressing her ghost, “Well gee, Carol, you’re dead!” “Yeah, tell me about it.” Or bellying up to her headstone, like a patron to a bartender, ready to spill all their woes. That my elder family members would choose to put this phrase on her grave just speaks to the prevailing sense of humor that is, apparently, genetic. A perfect lack of overt sentiment that just serves to underscore the potency of their loss.

Occasionally I entertain the concept of my own epitaph (haven’t we all? Just me? Okay…). Something to carve decoratively into a squat marble edifice (obviously nothing less than a tomb will do for MY eternal rest), or more likely engrave on an urn that lives on the mantle (Bill wants to still be able to talk to me). No flowery biblical sentiments for me, no sir! I want an inside joke, a phrase that encompasses how I have lived, and what I mean to the people who love me. I want the very first reaction to be, “Oh, that is SO HER.” Followed by a quick tear and quicker smile.

It seems rather self-serving to write my own (NOT that I’m preparing for my imminent demise, mind you). Those who love me and know me best will have to rely on their own creativity. A whole life, summarized. A hundred years from now when someone wanders past my grave (or finds my urn in a garage sale… yurg) I want them to read it and say, “Huh!” Then stand and reflect upon the kind of person who inspired such words.

———-

This post went in a very unexpected direction. I was going to talk about how fulfilling my life has been, how much I’ve accomplished, the places I’ve traveled, the friends I’ve gathered, the experiences I’ve had. But for some reason that stuff up there is what came out instead. I think it has to do with the topic we’ve been discussing in school – we kicked it off by watching the Frontline video Facing Death. The subject is a well-known trigger for me.

Then, while digging for change at lunch, I came across the dollar coin that I received in change at the Field Museum during last May’s trip to Chicago, which made me think of Larry. Then THAT made me think of Simone. Which in turn made me think to ask my sister to put flowers on Grandma’s grave the next time she was in town. Which is right next to my mother’s, but putting flowers on her grave was a secondary thought. Which made me feel guilty. Which made me wonder if someone who remembers her better is tending to her grave. Which prompted, “The epitaph on my mother’s headstone reads, “Tell me about it.”"

It’s fascinating, the way my mind works.

Scammed by Orangewood Suites in Austin, Texas – No Formula One for us.

There. That ought to hit some search engines.

Waaaay back in June of last year, when it was first announced that there would be a Formula One track built in Austin Texas (the Circuit of the Americas), Bill and I jumped on making plans right away. There were two tentative dates that the race would be held in 2012 – one in June and one in November. To be safe, I wanted to make hotel reservations for BOTH dates, since I knew that demand on hotel rooms in the area far exceeds the supply, and that rates would skyrocket once dates were solidified. I did some research and found that Orangewood Suites in Austin, Texas had the room rates and location that we wanted for our trip. Our total for a two bedroom/two bathroom loft for four nights was $420. I called the hotel directly. The front desk person told me they don’t make phone reservations that far in advance, but that I was welcome to make on-line reservations. So, I did, through their website. I got e-mail confirmations right away for the room I wanted, the rate I wanted, and knew I could keep one and cancel the other once the race dates were confirmed.

At the beginning of the year, the date for the race was confirmed for November. On March 1st, I went on-line and canceled the June reservation, and immediately received an e-mail confirmation of the cancellation. I then actually called the hotel in person, just to absolutely confirm that the November reservation was still untouched, confirmed on the books. I was told we were all set.

Ten days later, on March 11th, I received an e-mail that my November reservation was CANCELED.

Obviously, I had not canceled the reservations myself. I hadn’t even been on-line in their reservation tool since making the June cancellation, for which I immediately received a confirmation, ten days before. So I immediately, like two minutes after getting the cancellation email, called Orangewood Suites to tell them that some mistake had been made.

Thus began an epic saga.

The front desk representative couldn’t reinstate a reservation, since it was made on-line by a separate system, to which they didn’t have access. So I asked for a manager. I was told that she was out, and had “flexible hours”, but I was welcome to leave a voicemail message. So I did.

I didn’t hear anything back for several days, so I called again. Same story. Another voicemail. A few days later, I called AGAIN. This time I asked for an e-mail address before I was sent to voicemail again. The manager finally responded to the email, and said that the reservation couldn’t be reinstated, because it was not made “at the Property level”. I called her right away (she had her cell number in her email signature) – I insisted that I didn’t cancel the reservations, and that there must have been some issue with their system. She said would investigate the issue.

A few days later I sent another email to follow up, and was told, “We do not have a designated person in charge of GDS (on-line) Bookings. Once the rates and inventory are loaded for the entire year everything else is automatically controlled. We have no control on GDS Bookings.” Which told me nothing. There HAS TO be someone in charge of these “GDS bookings” and I was getting stonewalled. I called the manager again, and she said there was nothing she could do, she’d escalated as far as she could and was told there was no issue with their system that would have caused the cancellation. She would not reinstate my reservation but I was welcome to re-book.

Yeah. Sure. To the tune of OVER SIX TIMES the room rate ($662.50 PER NIGHT, as opposed to $420 total for FOUR NIGHTS). I was not able to re-book at the room rates I’d originally had. As you can imagine, I very vehemently protested, and insisted that I speak to someone higher up the management chain. She refused to give me any contact information – outright REFUSED – and told me she would give my information to another guy, who would “be in touch”.

That was back on March 28th.

Since then I have sent several more e-mails, and left several more voicemail messages, and have gotten absolutely no response.

It’s obvious to me that Orangewood Suites did not want to honor their original, AFFORDABLE rate, and decided to scam us out of our room so they could charge six times the amount and take advantage of the supply/demand situation they find themselves in for the Formula One race. I am absolutely disgusted, and am now warning all of you guys, and anyone else who (hopefully) comes across this post, to NOT support Orangewood Suites with your business.

http://www.orangewoodsuites.com/

935 La Posada Drive
Austin, Texas 78752
(512) 459-3335

I’m going to contact the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, and even see what I can do to get their AAA rating removed or reduced.

You’d better believe I’m going to tag and SEO the HELL out of this entry. Hotels that aren’t already booked solid are charging exorbidant rates. So, we’re not going to Formula One after all. And we’re mightily disappointed, especially considering how much effort we put in to be over-prepared for the trip.

What the hell ever happened to Customer Service? Why can’t people just do the right thing???

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