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FEBRUARY 8, 2010
MY WEEKEND
So over the weekend, out of nowhere - I decided to meet up with an old friend. He was gonna be in Bristol, Rhode Island and getting there was no easy task. Read on to see how my determination beat my stupidity...
So yea, anyways...I purchased some tickets last Thursday via Priceline.com. For the last few trips or so that I've taken, my cheapass has been booking through them and I never found a problem...until now. The thing with Priceline is that it's a crapshoot of what time your flight will be (that's one of the reasons why it's so damn cheap). So when I booked my tickets, I came to find out that my arrival into RI would be 10:13PM (on Saturday). Keep in mind that my friend had something going on at 9PM. OH, SHIT!
I immediately called Priceline to change my flight, but it was no can do (I should've read the rules and regulations. Ugh.) That's when I decided to call Delta Airlines direct. They said they could change the fiight for me to a 6:10am flight. That was the only other option. I was happy with this time, hoping that by coming in early to RI, I could do some sight seeing and what not.
Then Delta tells me that the ONLY WAY to change my flight was to do it within 3 hours before the the flight I needed to be on took off. I was like..."Sure, no problemo."
I stayed up the entire Friday night working on a special project and packing my clothes so I was ZOMBIE DEAD TIRED. I left my house at like 4am to the airport to change my ticket. (Please excuse most of the photos in this post. They're pretty bad iPhone photos. Anyways...)
SUCCESS! I was able to change my flight to THE flight I needed! I had about an hour before boarding, so now I play the wating game...
...zzz...zzz...zzz...huh? Wha? F ! The waiting game turned into the sleeping game! I opened my eyes and everyone at the gate was gone! I rushed to the guy working the gate and he said..."I called your name 3 times on the intercom." And I was like..."WTF?! I was sleeping right before your eyes! Why didn't you wake my ass up?!" But he wasn't the one to blame. It was all my stupidity. I went to the check-in desk to change my flight again and all they could do was change my flight back to my original 10:13pm arrival time. Again, F! I checked my bag onto that 6:10am flight too! TRIPLE F! I can't believe this! I was right there!!!
Since my departing flight was now (back to) 4pm, there was no reason to stay at the airport any longer. So I drove home extremely mad at myself and cursing up a violent storm. By the time I got home, I was still mad / dissapointed. What really got to me was the fact that I stayed up the entire night working on that special project knowing that it's value had now plunged majorly. I was also embarassed to let my friend know that I'd be SUPER late (maybe not even make it at all) to his event. I went online to search for more flights. Nothing. I crept into my bed still mad at myself (and kinda laughing at myself too) for my idiotic goof up. I fell asleep within the next minute. Zzz...
All of a sudden I woke up and remembered a telephone conversation I had with my friend the day before. He told me that Rhode Island was about a 45 minute to 1 hour drive away from Boston. I then thought..."Hmmmm...maybe I can find a Dallas to Boston flight that comes in early." I checked the www and I did! I threw on my shoes, grabbed my bags, kissed the OG FFB bye and zoomed straight back to the airport! The flight was at 10:55am. It was 9:45am. I wasn't even sure if this flight was full or not, but you'll never know if you don't try...
SUCCESS! (I guess?) I was able to get the flight to Boston that I targeted. First, I had to connect to Atlanta and then arrive at Boston at 6pm. That gave me roughly 3 hours from the time I land in Boston to:
1) Get a taxi to TF Green Airport in Rhode Island.
2) Find / get my bag.
3) Pick up my car rental.
4) Figure out exactly where my friend's event was going to be at AND drive (through unfamiliar territory) to that location.
I wrote my game plan down while on the plane:
After connecting through Atlanta, I hopped on the flight to Boston. Constantly checking the time and nervously sweating while in the air, the pilot of the Boston flight came on the intercom and said that we'd be getting in 30 minutes early! And in the situation I was in, 30 minutes was EXTREMELY valuable!
I got to Boston at about 5:30pm and immediately hopped into a cab to get to TF Green Airport in Rhode Island...
I got to TF Green Airport like at 6:30pm, so I was making some pretty good time. After paying the taxi driver about abazillion dollars, I rushed into the airport to get my bag back! There it was in plain sight behind LOCKED glass doors! I got someone to call someone down to open the doors, but the wait wasted like 30 mintues!
After I got my bag, I picked up my rental Chevy Cobalt. The guys at the rental place were cool enough to look up the address of where I needed to be. I then just entered that address into the car's GPS and was off! At this point, I had about an hour and a half to my destination.
I FINALLY made it to where I needed to be, Roger Williams University! My friend's name is John Earle. He was lecturing about this T-shirt business he owns. It's called Johnny Cupcakes. Ever heard of it?
I've been to one of Johnny's lectures before and this one was just as good, maybe even better! The lecture was about 3 hours long and went over things like how / why Johnny got started, marketing, branding, design, packaging, risks, what to see in the future and much more! It was a good refresher and a good way to keep my drive and motivation intact.
After the lecture, I hung out and ate (we ate at the school eating area, or whatever it's called...cafeteria? I don't think so, shit man, I don't know....like I said, eating area!) with Johnny and his staff:
Arielle - The Intern. Arielle is one of the nicest / sweetest people I've ever met. Real cool and highly ambitious. We talked about what her major is, when she was graduating, how / why she got the interning gig and Chick-fil-a! And who doesn't like talking about Chick-fil-a?! WHO?!
Nick- The Bodyguard. Haha...Nick's not really the bodyguard. He's more like a man of many hats. At first I had no idea who he was, I just thought he was some dude ready to kick some ass for no reason! But I came to find out that Nick's a real cool guy whos down with sports. He told me..."You guys ain't going nowhere with Romo as your quarterback. That plus you guys spent too much money on that staduim. It's nice, but it's too expensive. You guys shouldv'e used that money to get a real quarterback." I was pretty out of it by this time, so I just said something kinda generic about Romo..."Yea. He's pretty erratic." I should've just said..."16 and 1." and left it at that.
Lindsay - Johnny's Sister / Coordinator. I guess I could say Kevin IS a bodyguard, cause he's Lindsay's FIANCE! Cool huh? Yea, I know. Anyways, Lindsay had no idea I was from Texas, let alone I've been out of college for the past 6 years now. She told me I had good genes. I said..."Thanks, I got them from Target. They're Mossimo." We also talked about the 80's sitcom, Small Wonder, that old doll Kid Sister (spin off doll of My Buddy) and the Nestle Quik rabbit. How he got brought up, I have no idea. Lindsay has this real heavy Boston accent which I found to be very cool. I should've made her say "car." DAMMIT! Why didn't I make her say car?!
Johnny - Johnny Cupcakes. C'mon now, don't act like you never heard or Johnny Cupcakes. Johnny has provided me with plenty of knowledge and guidance since I started Fur Face Boy. He let me know if anytime I needed help, to just give him an email or call. He gave me great ideas and more ways to help push my brand even further and I can't thank him enough! He told me that out of all the people he's lectured to...I (ME!) stand out far and above the rest in utilizing the tips that he shares with everyone. He also said that he was very happy to see my brand grow. Hearing that straight from Johnny himself meant ALOT to me. It fuels me to keep getting better and to keep doing things even bigger! I can say for a fact that I WILL. A determined me, can get ANYTHING I want accomplshed.
Anyways, Me and Johnny also talked about cool-mint blue monkey ballsack (he even showed me a picture) and "secret" shaving tips...for the more sensitive regions.
I also talked to Johnny about getting him down to my home city - Dallas, TX! Some of you may know that Johnny is doing his Suitcase Tour (read more here). I figured he'd get tons of emails from people inviting him down to their city, but I really wanted to stand apart from the rest so that's why I wanted to meet him to personally invite him down. Oh and as for that secret project I worked on? It's a booklet of some suggested hot spots around DFW that Johnny may think about hosting his Suitcase Tour at. The booklet is also accompanied by a music cd filled with musicians ALL AND ONLY from the DFW area. I'm 99.99% certain that Johnny's coming to Dallas! But that's just my opinion. So don't quote me.
So there you have it, another very spontaneous, very hectic, very memorable yet VERY FUN filled weekend in the life of Fur Face Boy. A BIG Thanks to Johnny and his cupcake staff on making all of the havoc worth it's while. THANKS GUYS! I hope to see you all again soon!
FUN FACT: Johnny Cupcakes doesn't like onions in his sandwiches. He likes onion rings though.
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