My family and I recently went on a trip to Las Vegas during what was my winter break from teaching.  The vacation was fun, despite our frustrations of actually getting to Las Vegas due to annoyances with Southwest Airlines.  I will be talking about what you can do on your vacation and what we frustrations we ran into while vacationing.  This list is in no particular order.

The Bellagio- The Bellagio was one of the cleanest, most awesome casinos I have ever been in.  The Bellagio didn’t have the smoke smell, the drink service was quick, but the Long Island Ice Teas had a little too much sugar for my liking.  The best part of the Bellagio is the amazing free water fountain shows that are outside.  It was very interesting to see the show during the day and again at night.  I could have stayed there all night watching the shows every 15 minutes.

Caesars Palace- Caesars Palace has the best entrance of any of the Las Vegas Casinos.  You take this giant escalator-ramp into the casino, and are greeted with beautiful architectural detail.  There wasn’t the smoke smell, and the drink service here was good.  I wish we had time to see a show here, I’d love t see how large the hall was.  The Forum Shops were okay, but the Atlantis show wasn’t worth seeing. 

The Venetian- The best part of the Venetian is the gondola rides, both inside and outside.  We took a trip outside, and the guides sing you authentic Italian songs.  The inside is pretty amazing, as you are able walk along the indoor “river” that has the gondola ride down the center.  The casino was very clean, and the drinks here were the strongest.  The wait for drinks was a little long.

Circus Circus- I wouldn’t recommend this casino, it smells like a combination of stale popcorn and old smoke.  The shows were all boring- jugglers and the like.  We didn’t stick around to experience the drink service.

MGM Grand Hotel and Casino- We were really excited to go see the live lion habitat.  Little did we realize, the lion habitat was closed down and will never return.  It was a typical casino, nothing really special.

New York New York- This is one of the coolest facades in Las Vegas, and allows you to take some unique pictures.  I wasn’t feeling well when we were there, and didn’t go on the roller coaster, which looked like a ton of fun.  Look out for the New York neighborhood- there’s a lot of good eateries and it brings you back “to the good old days.”

Luxor- Great photo opportunities, but otherwise nothing really special.  Drink service was pretty quick.

The Flamingo- great nightlife spot, we had a great drink waitress who checked in every 7 or so minutes.  We found some great multi-machines and played for a good time here.  This is the place where I won back around $35 dollars, and proceeded to lose it over the next couple of days.  They have the outdoor habitat, which was simply amazing.  I really liked to see the Flamingos and other exotic birds.

Imperial Palace- This is where we stayed.  The price was right, the rooms were a little dated.  The Dealertrainers were pretty cool.  The Dealertrainers, for those who aren’t aware, are celebrity look-alike (and soundalike) dealers, who will get up on stage and sing. 

Mandalay Bay- We were under the impression that the aquarium is free to the public, but it wasn’t.  This would have been awesome if it were true, but I wouldn’t go to Mandalay Bay unless I had a family, which would be expensive.

Bill’s Gambling Hall- Very smoky, I felt like years were coming off of my life.  There looked to be cheap tables here, so you could probably due pretty well if you’re a cheapskate like me.

Excalibur- Not much special, not a very memorable place.

Harrah’s- We found an awesome oyster bar on the first floor in the corner.  The food was amazing.  Otherwise, I don’t remember much about this place.

Treasure Island- We saw Mystere, a Cirque du Soleil show.  We gambled a bit before and after the show.  The atmosphere was nice, it was difficult to find the cage.  The drink service was good.  I noticed a lot of smokers here (and tried to avoid them.)

The Mirage- I had a great time at the Mirage- it has an indoor habitat complete with running water, as well as dolphin exhibit (we didn’t go as it was too expensive for our liking.)  The Mirage has an awesome outdoor show, which at night simulates a volcano.  It was a lot of fun to watch.

I will be doing a post on the food of Las Vegas very soon, keep reading.  Have you had different experiences in Las Vegas?  Post them in the comments!

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Today has looked a lot like the picture I posted above- we’ve been in the airport for most of it.  Our originally plane was set to leave Manchester, NH at 6:20 am this morning, and we had planned to wake up around 3 am to drive to the airport.  We were again using Southwest Airlines Vacations, which we had luck with when we went to Disney World last year.  The phone rang this morning and it was Southwest Airlines saying our flight was delayed due to mechanical difficulties.  Our flight would be postponed until 11:20 am this morning, which would mean that we would miss the connection flight from Chicago Midway to Las Vegas.  On the phone, the Southwest Airlines representative assured us that they had already figured out new flights to get us to Las Vegas on time.

We took their word, but then realized that Southwest Airlines may be promising something unrealistic.  We called the in-flight helpline- who tried to figure out and finally found us new flights.  We were initially scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas 12:30 pm local time.  Our new flights place us in Las Vegas at 10:55 pm, many hours later.  I’m writing this from the Chicago Midway airport, which we’ve been sitting at for the last 6 and a half hours.  On top of it all, we have another layover in Denver, CO.

Southwest Airlines frustrates me with some of their policies.  It’s frustrating that we are not instantly credited- we paid a premium to get a 1 layover flight.  It is certainly not my fault that your plane malfunctioned- and that it was promised that my itinerary would be fixed when it wasn’t.  It’s not my fault we took off 5 hours later than we needed to.  But now I am the one that has to sit in the airport for 7 and a half hours because of your incompetence.

We were looking forward to spending the day in Las Vegas, not in Chicago, sitting in the airport waiting around.

The following Southwest Airline’s Policies don’t make sense-

Loading the Plane- It’s cool and all that you have free seating, I can dig that.  But it’s ridiculous to have those who get in the plane first sit at the front, and those of us at the end have to walk the length of the plane to find overhead storage and seats.

Preboarding- I know that when I have a family, this will be a perk.  I get that people have disabilities and need extra time boarding.  But there are also people that chronically abuse the system.  The rule should be that if you need extra time, you need to be the last ones off the place.  I mean obviously you’re going to need more time each way, so don’t waste my time getting off the plane if you’re getting the perk of being able to board ahead of me.

Credits- When something is Southwest Airline’s fault, credit me immediately.  You drive a hard bargain if I were to be running late, and tell people that they are out of luck.  Why doesn’t Southwest Airlines instantly credit me back the purchase amount because it is your fault.

I hope we are able to enjoy the rest of our vacation, which was cut short due to Southwest Airline’s lack of planning ahead.

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After doing all of my research last weekend and trying to get my best price on Hyundai Elantras from different dealerships here in Western Massachusetts, I finally decided to buy a car.  If you remember, I was looking for a 2012 Hyundai Elantra Limited in Red Allure with the technology package.  I had been dealing with Brian Houser at Balise Hyundai in West Springfield, who ended up being a real sleazebag.

I decided that I would see if I could match the price that I had from Balise Hyundai.  So I sent out emails on Monday morning.  I didn’t hear back from Hyundai of Keene (their communication had turned out to be poor), nor did I head back from Ford of Greenfield in a timely fashion.  I figured I could stop in at Country Hyundai, test-drive one of the cars I was interested in, and go from there.

I worked with Chris, and we went through the typical process of buying a car.  I test drove the car and very much liked it.  We couldn’t initially agree on a price that I was comfortable with, so I ended up leaving.  On the way home, I realized that no on at Country Hyundai had asked if I was a recent grad, so I called them up and asked if we could reach the price I was looking to pay.

Mike Paquette, the manager I was working with, was able to give me a great deal, similar to the deal I was looking at from Balise.  Mike told me to come back and we could fill out the paperwork.  I went back to Country Hyundai in Greenfield and we filled out all of the paperwork to get the buying process started.

Because I was looking for a specific car, Country Hyundai didn’t have it in stock.  They told me they’d locate the specific Hyundai Elantra I was looking for.  On Tuesday evening I was alerted that the car I was looking for would be at the dealership on Wednesday afternoon.

I stopped by Wednesday afternoon, test-drove the car, and did the rest of the paperwork with Ryan Fluet, the finance manager.  We went through all of the required steps, and I was told to stop back on Thursday to pick the car up.  My roommate dropped me off on Thursday night, I picked up the car, and everything worked great!  Chris helped go through all of the options before I took it off the lot.

I cannot explain how helpful Country Hyundai was in helping me purchase my car, and how they are probably one of the best secrets here in the Pioneer Valley.  It was a great experience, and every aspect went faster than I could have hoped for.  If you’re in the market for a new car, absolutely go check out the Hyundai Elantra, and let Country Hyundai help you out.

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I’m sure like many people (173 million people estimated to view), you watched the Superbowl tonight, if only for the advertisements.  The big game was exciting towards the end, and I was excited the the Giants won (or was it that the Patriots lost?)  But the real losers this year were the advertisments.

Advertisements were attempting to be social, but still haven’t got there yet.  We saw some hashtags added as an afterthought, but there wasn’t an impressive outcome as I had imagined.  Hashtags have to be incorporated to the beginning of a commercial to stay in people’s minds.

One of the most interesting things that I noticed during the game was #capecodchipparty was trending on Twitter.  This trend was absolutely not fueled by a commercial; it was solely trending for some other reason.  I am proud of Cape Cod Chips to get a trending topic without having to use a commercial as the cause.

Many of the commercials were for cars, and did NOTHING to tell us of any features of the car or benefits of buying that particular car brand.  There were also a few funny Doritos commercials.  We were unimpressed by both the Pepsi (Elton John) and Coca Cola (Polarbear) commercials.  The Bridgestone commercials were equally dull.  It’s hard to think that many of these brands paid millions of dollars on these lame commercials.

What am I most excited for in Social Media?  The fact that The Voice is back on NBC.  The Voice has the best social media of any television show I’ve seen thus far.

Oh, and I guess it’s interesting that Riot Videos of UMass Amherst caused by the 2012 Superbowl have already reached Youtube…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAoaFMShBWU

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“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” is another of George N. Parks great quotes to get you thinking about life in a very broad sense. It really does make sense that if you react positively, good things will happen to you.  If you respond negatively, bad things will happen to you.  We as people need to be more positive, to respond positively so that more people are able to achieve positivity.

It’s a short post today because I’m super exhausted to responding to life all day.

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I’ve been looking at Hyundai Elantras and getting an idea of what I’m looking for and what I’m willing to pay.  The most interesting part so far has been feeling out the dealerships to see who has the best people.   I’ve contacted multiple dealerships and had some really great experiences over the past couple of days.  I’ve had positive interactions with many dealerships from New Hampshire to New Jersey.  Some of the best local (Western MA) dealerships that I’ve done well at are Gary Rome Hyundai, Country Hyundai, and Hyundai of Keene.

There has been one dealership where I have had particularly negative experiences, Balise Hyundai in Springfield, MA.  I started by inquiring about a 2012 Hyundai Elantra in Red Allure with technology package.  I initially heard back from “Frank Lewis,” who seemed to be just a typical car dealership employee.  But I noticed that the emails were written in very poor grammar and didn’t even include a greeting or a signature.  I mean, if you are the internet sales manager, shouldn’t you be expected to properly craft an email?  I mean, we’re all busy people, but you can’t take the time to put my name or sign your email?

Frank ended up going dark and not responding for a day or two, so I received an email from “Brian Houser.”  Brian initially used flattery and said that I must be a “smart guy” and that he would give me the out the door price.  The breakdown wasn’t as good as I had received from other places.  Well, that’s good and fine, I tried to negotiate lower.  Then Brian decided to do that whole time crunch thing.  He said, “If you come down today, we can do such and such a price.”  It’s such a crappy tactic, our whole lives don’t revolve around running around to dealerships to get a price. 

Here’s where it gets strange…Brian starts calling me “Jason” despite my email address containing my name as well as my signature in my emails containing my name.  Brian at least tried to be formal with the “Hey Jasun,” better than Frank.  But as it kept going, Brian demanded I tell him where I got the better price from and became very pushy, emailing me a couple times an hour to find out who had a better price.

The grammar in the emails towards the end became just as poor as Frank’s emails were.  If you’re asking a question, use a question mark.  Use complete sentences in your responses.  Proofread your email before sending it.  I finally got sick of him calling me “Jasun” and responded

Hi Brian,

I am not sure what’s more offensive to me.  The improper use of punctuation- How are you. (statement) or How are you? (question), or the fact that this is the second email you are calling me "Jasun."  I thought the first time you had made a typo, but clearly that was a wrong assumption on my part.

Keep an eye out on my blog…I’ll have to make a special post about the "service" that I’ve received from you thus far, and maybe my opinion on Balise after your emails.

Best,

Jason DeFuria

Okay, I figure I’ll get an email apologizing about calling me the wrong name and moving on.  But no, Brian gets more pushy, and doesn’t even acknowledge his mistake.  His response (after calling and leaving me a voicemail) included the following:

 

We are just trying to sell you a vehicle and follow up. If you have purchased the car, “Congrats”. If this is offensive to you then you should go to website and write a new blog about growing up.

Okay, there’s that.  I cannot believe that a car salesman would say that to a potential customer.  I also still can’t believe he didn’t take the time to proofread that email.  What became clear to me is the fact that Balise must not take time to train their employees on appropriate email etiquette.  What’s sad (but might be true)- maybe this type of human is the only kind that Balise can attract.

I highly recommend that you skip any dealings with Balise Hyundai and move straight to any of the other dealers I mentioned before.  The two better Hyundai Dealers here in Western Massachusetts are Gary Rome Hyundai and Hyundai of Keene.  Country Hyundai has been slow getting back to me. 

Balise, I was hoping more from you based on your reputation online and your commercials on television.  I like when bullies get caught.  Maybe he “wwebsites as on the internet.”

Do you think it was just the people that I deal with, or have you had equally negative experiences with the Balise Auto Group?  Or maybe you think the whole car buying system is engineered to be frustrating.  Let me know in the comments.

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This is going to be a big year for social media and the Superbowl.  There are going to be many people updating statuses about the game, using Twitter and Facebook (and maybe Google+).  Even bigger will be people’s responses to commercials and brands. 

Smart companies will use hashtags on their commercials, to encourage a directed conversation via social media.  Good companies will also encourage sharing on Facebook.  I would think about revealing commercials at the same time on Youtube and share it via all social channels that I had available.  But the most important aspect is to create buzz in the community and have the community want to share your commercial.

Ultimately, the prevalence of smartphones will lead to a lot of social talk about the big game.  I am excited to see all of the comments as an outlet to tracking the game through another means.  Maybe we’ll even set up a television that is just for tweets. 

What do you plan on sharing on Super Bowl Sunday?  Your recipes?  Your views on the playcalling in the game?

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I always look forward to the Super Bowl, for a variety of reasons.  While I sometimes enjoy the game (and look forward to a New England Patriots Defeat), I like the gathering of friends, the commercials, and the food. 

The Hangar is always crazy, and you have to order Wings ahead of time.  We decided that the following are choices for what we can have during the big game.

Jalapeno Poppers- I think I might try to make my own Jalapeno Poppers from scratch, to start out our viewing pleasure.  Maybe this will be served during the Puppy Bowl.

Lauren’s Dip, Other Dips, and Chips- Lauren makes a delicious dip out of cream cheese, chili, and shredded cheese.  This will be an appetizer along with other dips to be served with chips before the game.

Shawn’s Chicken Pot Pie- Shawn says he has a killer recipe for Chicken Pot Pie.  This will be the main dish for the Super Bowl.  I’ll let you know the actual recipe when I find it out.

My Wings- I am going to make some hot wings as well as some honey mustard wings.  I usually make these by marinating them for 12 hours, and cooking in a pot on the stove.

Pigs in a Blanket- This will be the “side dish,” with traditional hot dogs in crescent rolls.

What are you going to be eating during the Super Bowl?  Any ideas of what else we could add to this list?

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It has become a norm of society to post exactly what we feel and exactly what we are thinking as our Facebook, Twitter, or other social media websites.  While many of these thoughts are generally okay to post, it might not be in your best interest to post your disappointments online, as it makes you look like a negative individual, and makes people less likely to take your side in the future.

I learned this lesson from one of my mentors, George. N. Parks.  Mr. Parks always preached that we should be be positive about life.  Social media has led to complicated paradigm of people oversharing every aspect of their lives.  We need to remember what it means to be a good person; what it means to be a respectful part of the community.

I am seeing via social media that people are posting their disappointment not getting a position for which they applied.  These upset individuals realize that other individuals that they know received the position, and for whatever reason the upset individuals feel they were picked over in seniority or leadership capabilities.

Maybe the reason that these upset individuals were not picked was for the qualities they are now showing.  We all have disappointments in life, but all you do is hurt the community that you are a part of when you negatively post about “unfairness” or make allusions to it.  As Mr. Parks would say “Being a leader is to do the uncomfortable thing.”  We should all strive to be leaders, and keep thoughts that may hurt individuals or a group out of social media. 

The best thing you can probably do is write a letter to yourself, and remind yourself why you were interested in the position or group in the first place.

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I have been thinking about habits versus routines, and how long a good estimate when it comes to a habit versus a routine.  Specifically, I have started going to the gym again regularly, and have tried to determine what stage I am in in regards to a habit or a routine.

I think a habit is when something is completed 5 consecutive days.  Therefore the gym is now a habit for me, because I’ve gone 5 times.  A habit is the beginning of a routine, and is indicative that you are going to continue your habit until it becomes a routine.

I believe a routine to be when something occurs for 4 consecutive weeks.  There is a long way to go between a habit and a routine.  Once you hit the 4 week mark, you absolutely are going to stick to that behavior for a long time. 

People tend to fall out of habits because it becomes too repetitive, and many of our goals don’t have short term rewards.  Just like going to the gym, the payoffs happen over the long run, and people lose focus that you aren’t going to drop 20 lbs a week. 

Do you have different visions for what makes a habit and what makes a routine?  Write it in the comments to start a discussion!

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