Money Well Spent

It may look like it, but this device is not actually a Russian Soyuz for cats. It’s a Litter Robot, which is essentially the best litter box ever invented. Period. I travel a lot and having to come home to several smelly dirty traditional litter boxes that have been sitting there for days is not something I enjoy. Now I always have a clean litter box. I’m happy and my cats are happy.

Find out more about the genius device here: http://www.litter-robot.com/. It will seriously change your life. My only complaint is that my cats make a serious mess with the clumping litter but that’s their fault, not the Litter Robot’s.

Edited: April 21st, 2010

How do you say… Eyjafjallajoekull

I’m not sure if Iceland was going for the “Most Difficult to Pronounce Volcano” award when they came up with the name Eyjafjallajoekull, but they are sure in the lead for the win. I still have no idea how to pronounce it, but this volcano is seriously screwing up a lot of travel. Airports all over Europe have been completely shutdown and most flights from the US have been cancelled costing airlines billions of dollars and leaving thousands of travellers stranded.

Many of the travellers in Moscow for our meetings have been stuck here since Saturday and are finally supposed to get home on Thursday pending that planes continue to fly. Sunday and Monday many airports opened back up again and lots of airlines have been flying (many have even added additional flights) but I read today that the volcano is acting up again which could cause more problems for travellers. Hopefully Eyjafjallajoekull will get its act together before my flight from Moscow to Houston on the 27th.

Edited: April 20th, 2010

Puerto Rico!

Tomorrow afternoon I will be here…

At the Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico! It’s sort of a spontaneous family vacation, one of the last few probably since Ryan and I both still unmarried (but finally both over 21 — yay beer). Most everything this family does seems to be out of the blue and exciting though. Ryan and I definitely inherited the spontaneity gene from our parents — something I love about the Acklin family. One day it’s seeking out the best scoop of ice cream the city has to offer (it’s Hank’s by the way — check out the Banana Pudding ice cream and you’ll never want anything else) the next it’s a trip to San Juan.

Of course that’s tomorrow. Today I am stuck at work waiting out the day until my vacation starts – dreaming of drinks with rum in them and hot sand between my toes.

Here’s the list of things I plan to do in San Juan:

1. Snorkel. Apparently there is some good snorkeling to be had and I’m down. The coolest underwater creature I’ve seen snorkeling to date was an eel.
2. Check out the rain forest. Why? Because it’s a rain forest.
3. Kayak in the ocean. I figure since I haven’t actually ever been, maybe it will give me the motivation to finally take mine out.
4. Work on my tan while trying to avoid bathing suit strap lines. I couldn’t find my cute 50′s pin-up girl swimsuit since I didn’t start looking until the end of the season so the one I’ll be using has straps.
5. Find the bar that supposedly invited the Pina Colada and try it.
6. Drink lots of drinks filled with sugary PR rum. I was told by a Puerto Rican that the best rum comes from PR and I would like to find out if that’s true.
7. Try some local beer.
8. Work on my Spanish. I can read a menu at least and get by with some simple phrases, so maybe I can bump it up a notch.
9. Pack a cute PR man in my suitcase and bring him back home… oh I think that one was supposed to be thought and not typed. I do like those Hispanic men though.
10. Relax. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately but this vacation will definitely be the most relaxing.

Edited: July 8th, 2009