Friday, December 19, 2008

FastPark Miami kicks ass

If you travel as much as I do, you know that parking at MIA not only sucks but its expensive as hell. At $15 a day, your travel expenses can add up quick. Well, the people at FastPark want to help rid you of your parking woes. Located just across Lejeune Rd, FastPark offers a $8 rate with a $1 discount if you have AAA. They also have a frequent parker program that gets you a free day of parking for every 8 days that you park there. Not bad considering pretty much every lot just has its way with you and then doesnt even bother to call...

Another thing thats great about the FastPark is that their shuttles are always ready for the minute you enter the lot. They meet you at your car, help load your baggage, then give you a ticket that indicates what spot you parked in. From there, its about 5 minutes to the airport terminal. Ive really cut it close a few times and these shuttles have hustled so I made my flight. When you get back you just hand them the ticket the gave you and they drive you right to your parked car. When you leave you can grab a free bottled water out of the cooler right before the pay station, then pay and be on your way.

How can one parking lot be so awesome? They just are. Its one of the few places in Miami that actually provides a great service at a great price. Thats what makes you want to park there regardless of how long your trip is supposed to be.

Well, today the guys at FastPark went the extra mile. I went to the airport today to catch a flight to the Northeast. Of course, Ma Nature decided to send a snowstorm that way so my flight was postponed and then canceled. I wasted 5 hours of life at MIA. I walked outside and flagged down a FastPark shuttle right away. I grabbed my free water and went to pay as I'd been there for 5 hours so I was expecting to have to pay the $8 day fee. The guy at the gate recognized me and I told him Id be back the following morning. He asked if I had a receipt for my flight and I handed him my ticket. To my surprise, he credited my stay and let me go for free! Shit like this never happens in Miami, so I was pretty surprised and happy. Maybe it was the holiday spirit or something but I think no. The people at FastPark are just plain kickass people. Courteous, prompt, and they actually give a crap about retaining customers.

I am a frequent parker member at FastPark and I encourage anyone to use them for all of your trips out of MIA. Ive recommended this lot to many people, including some who are extremely picky and some who usually take a limo or towncar and everyone loves it.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Back on the course

Well, after months of not playing, I finally made it out to the course again. The last time I played was in the SFDB Classic with Rick (from SFDB), Steve Owen (formerly of Owenized), and the king of one-liners, Nonee Moose. So, it only seemed fitting that I play with this motley crew on my return to the course. With the exception of Nonee, who had matters to attend to at the Hall of Justice, we were all confirmed for a 10:10am tee time.

That was the plan anyways...

I show up at the course around 930am and find Rick sitting on the sidewalk. He hops in and asks if I got his email, which I didnt because I didnt check. He's hungover and says he cant play but came to give us the discount pass. Nice gesture, eh? I, of course, had to make sure I gave him a hard time for just about every second that I could. He didnt look too bad. In fact, I snapped a pic of Rick with my trusty new iPhone that Ive posted to the right of this paragraph. I mean, he was a little blue but he had 3-way leak protection!

So, Steve-O arrived and we hit a few balls before heading out to play. I had duffed just about every ball I hit at the range so I was expecting it to be a very long day. Little did we know that Rick's absence would be a blessing in disguise... The starter told us that we were to be paired up with another twosome ahead, Mr. Kimora. We drove up to the 1st tee and made our introductions. Yuke and Taku work for Casio and moved here from Tokyo 2 years ago. Their English was really good but it was their Japanese spirit that made the round so awesome. After we all hit crappy drives, I decide to hit another and smoked it. From the moment of contact, Taku and Yuke let out a, "AAWWWWWWWW!", followed by some laughter. It was like it was the best shot theyd ever seen in their lives and, I gotta tell ya, it made me feel like the best damn golfer on the planet. It was hilarious.

The Japanese guys werent too bad, either. They probably shot about 120 each but they were quick and pretty much laughed no matter what happened. Good shot - laughter. Bad shot - laughter. Another thing I thought was hilarious was Steve-O talking to these guys and using different American figures of speech, etc. I dont think they understood any of them but he kept using them and it was pretty amusing. Taku hit one in the woods and Steve-O says, "well, you gotta play the whole course", followed by silence. LOL

The best part of the day was on the 15th whole when I received the highest honor from Taku after hitting a BOMB off the tee. "That shot was beddy beautiful", he said. "It went row to high. Good shot." It was awesome. I ended up shooting a 91 and edged out Steve-O by a few strokes. It was an inconsistent day for both of us considering I had a 45 on the front with 4 pars, 4 doubles, and 1 bogey. Steve-O made 3 birdies on the day which not only got him compliments, but rounds of applause from our new Japanese friends.

All in all it was a good round, weather was perfect, and the Japanese guys made the round a ton of fun. Now I rest before heading to see Cirque du Soliel tonite downtown. First time going so Im looking forward to it!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Blogging woes...

I have to admit the obvious - I suck at blogging. There has been at least a dozen times in the past 3 weeks or so where I had something incredibly awesome happen or I got an idea for a post but I failed to type it up and share it.

The main reason for this? Its simple. Im lazy. Sub-reasons could include my love for TV (NFL and NBA are eating up a lot of my time lately), my tendency to overdose on surfing the internet for answers and amusement, dining out and drinking thus getting too tired, and my short attention span. Here's a little of what has transpired in the past weeks that I shouldve posted:

- Finished off a long northwest trip with a 6-day jaunt in Vegas. Got killed at the tables but got to see a hot blonde and had the chance to pop off a few rounds at makeshift shooting gallery in the Vegas desert.

- A few less than amusing experiences at MIA which I no longer consider part of the USA.

- EPIC WEEKEND. This weekend consisted of being enabled by my cousin to go to the Bahamas, followed by a 36 hour major gambling binge with scattered hilarity mixed in between, and culminating with an early AM flight back to Miami to tailgate and catch the Patriots dismantle the Doll Fans live.

I guess travel having slowed for me could be playing a part in my lack of posting too. Im going to work on getting more frequent with my posting. My buddy Dave at Monkey Bingo is pretty solid at posting almost daily. Thats inspiring.