Rejoining the Land of the Living

After 2 1/2 years of living like a vampire and rising in the night's shadows, I'm finally working a better shuft at work. Even though I'll be working til 10:30 everynight, I get to go out and enjoy the rest of my 20's!! Wow! I don't have to go to bed at 7:00! Really! Plus, I have some real responsibility and people actually listen to me. This is truly a breakthrough.
I better go take a shower.

Oh...

In less than two weeks, the 3rd season of Lost will FINALLY be available on DVD!!! Although I already have all the episodes via iTunes, I'm super excited to listen to the commentaries and see what kind of extras they've included. Plus, the countdown is also on for Season 4 to begin- in February. Still, it's getting closer!!! And it should be AMAZING!

Prepare Yourself... it's... BLACK FRIDAY

Just when the whole country is fightin' mad over the war, the economy, gas prices and anything the President does... they still find time to stand in line overnight to buy a $900 Plasma TV. Maybe a priority check here? While mny other people got to spend this Friday after Thanksgiving enjoying a day off, I had to arrive at work at 4am, like every other day, to help brodcast the news... yet the only thing my station, along with the other Phoenix TV stations, decided to talk about was maniacal shoppers. Black Friday is very important to our economy, since businesses need to get in the black before the end of the year, but it really is insane. Many of the shoppers we featured on this morning's news slept in line over night, THANKSGIVING night, instead of spending time with family, to buy unnecessary crap... not only for their family and friends, but mostly for themselves! Gas prices didn't deter moms from driving between malls and other stores to find that $249 Wii for little Jimmy. The next time I hear anyone bitching about the above mentioned topics, I'll urge them to look at their own behavior and think about the hypocrisy of it all. But that's the beauty of living in a free country, you can be as selfish as you want regardless of political affiliation.

Tuesday...

Tuesdays are generally not very notable... the 2nd day of the week, yet much better than Monday. Well, this morning, I found out that today's my 2nd to last morning that I have to work! Yes, that's right, I'm finally going to nights. I'll be working from Sunday to Thursday, making a pretty darn nice weekend for myself.
This day is a little better than the rest... so far! Daybreak hasn't even started yet!

The Reservations!

So it's been set! I've secured my days off from work. Booked the flight on US Airways for $0 courtesy my father :) the business traveller (who's accumulated a ridiculous amount of frequent flyer miles).
I'm not sure I'm prepared for the 15+ hour flight from Phoenix TO Paris. I have 1 connecting flight in Philadelphia, but at least that lets me get out of the pane and stretch out a bit. I'll bring a book, my iPod, bien sur, plenty of magazines, Sudoku, etc. And earplugs. Luckily, I got to pick a pretty good seat on the plane on an aisle. If I can't strectch out, I may lose it!
Most importantly, I've booked my hotel! I took advantage of TripAdvisor.com and Budget Travel for expert and regular old travellers' reccomendations. I wanted to stay away from the chain hotels. The one I experienced in Paris, Ibis, on my tour in '97, was TERRIBLE. Really. It was worse than my freshman dormroom, yet very similar, too. The room was tiny, with cheap plastic modular furniture, including a bunk bed. My friends and I were extremely disappointed to see that room after the long flight.
I found a plethora of affordable, family-run hotels in France, all with user-friendly, well-designed websites. I decided on Grand Hotel Leveque in the 7th Arrondissement. It's a small hotel that's said to be cozy, but nice, with all the modern conveniences, like bathroom w/ shower (not always a guarantee in Europe), flat screen TV, 24 hr computer/ printer and in room internet connection. But how long will I actually stay in the room? Not too long, right? So, the best part of Leveque is its location on Rue Cler. Travel expert Rick Steves has called this street one of the best markets in Paris, with a number of lovely cafes and shops, butcher, bakery, florist, post office, grocery store, drug store, right there. But of all, the area's frequented by normal Parisians who go about their daily routine.
The neighborhood of Rue Cler is situated near a subway station and is within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower, the best-known Parisian monument.

Laissez les idees commencer!

About a month ago, I visited a website for a magazine that I love, BudgetTravel.com, for Budget Travel Magazine. The site is an excellent resource for those of us who love to go on adventures, but may be on a tight budget. As a broadcast production professional, I fit into that category :) But as a Sagittarius, I definitely have the need to go on adventures. So as I was on the website, I checked out this section called "Thr Real Deals", where their travel experts sift through the best specials on airfare, hotels and excellent packages. I like looking through ther lists of deals to get an idea of what a vacation should cost. I started to look into mini vacations in France- they started out at around $749 for 5 days with hotel and airfare- not too bad, I thought! But as I looked into the hotels, they seemed to be located in random places and weren't necessarily that nice. That's when I decided to start from scratch- find my own hotel, something nice but not outrageously priced, in a good arrondissement (neighborhoods in Paris), and book my own flight.