Interview with Jeffrey Hattrick

Here is the video of our interview with Jeffrey Hattrick, the Tea Sommelier at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix.

Midlife and Resolutions

So it’s the time of year when bloggers everywhere begin making suggestions for resolutions guaranteed to make my life better in the new year. Here are the top recurring themes I’m seeing in the blogs.

1.  diet and exercise
2.  quit drinking and smoking
3.  spend more time with family
4.  get out of debt
5.  get organized

Screw all of that. I’m in the middle of my midlife crisis.  I don’t wanna diet. I don’t wanna exercise. I don’t wanna quit drinking - especially if I have to spend more time with family. I’d have to start smoking in order to quit smoking. I would feel totally un-American if I were out of debt. And dang it, I have A.D.D. so getting organized is a medical impossibility.

The ultimate purpose of resolutions is to make your life better, right? BUT, statistics show that most resolutions are broken sometimes between Superbowl Sunday and Fat Tuesday. A broken resolution is tantamount to personal failure.

Personal failure leads to low-self-esteem WHICH erodes productivity and diminishes the quality of life, THUS having the EXACT OPPOSITE effect of what what the resolutions were intended to do in the first place. All of that to say… I ain’t gonna make no resolutions this year.*


*Note to my northern friends who got their thongs in a thistle over my use of the words “ain’t” and “no” in the same sentence constituting a “double negative"... blah... blah... blah.  Please be advised that I type in fluent Southern where the first negative adds emphasis to the second negative rather than negating it.

Coconut Villas

As a part of the Midlife Road Trip cast I have the opportunity to travel all over the country. I don’t normally intend to blog about the places we stay unless I have a humorous story about it.

I’ve stayed at five star resorts and at dumps that make a Motel 6 seem like a five star resort. I once stayed in a dump just outside of New Orleans that came with a complimentary crack pipe and a can of Raid.

Earlier this month our cast and crew assembled in Dunedin, FL for a planning retreat. I really wish we hadn’t stayed at the Coconut Villas because now I am spoiled. The Villas are immaculately landscaped and give the feeling of being in a tropical paradise. The Villas are located conveniently located to shopping and restaurants, yet the area isn't "touristy" at all, making the Villas perfect for work & relaxation.

I loved the wireless internet. It's not every day that you can surf the web while watching Dolphins play just a few yards from the back porch. It was also neat to have a crane (I guess it was a crane - it was a big white sea bird with along neck) walk right up to the back door. In fact, one day when we left the door open, the bird walked inside for a visit. Of course we took lots of pictures.

The only negative thing that I would have to say would be that some of the adjacent properties looked rather dumpy in comparison to the Villas. I hope our producers will book us for the Coconut Villas next time we're in the area. I am hereby awarding Coconut Villas of Dunedin the Midlife Road Trip Seal of Satisfaction.

DISCLAIMER:
Though we shamelessly attempt to get free products, services, accommodations and whatnot along our midlife journey, cast members only award the MLRT Seal of Satisfaction if we believe in it and LOVE it.

We’ll be glad to try anything you send us, just be advised that if we don’t like it, we won’t mention it, and if it doesn’t ROCK OUR WORLD, it won’t get our Seal of Satisfaction. Our fans know that our endorsements mean something.