Visiting Jacksonville during Thanksgiving Day

Took some time to visit family in Jacksonville during the holiday Thanksgiving weekend.  I was surprised to find out that Greyhound bus station was running on Thanksgiving day.  and it was almost $30 cheaper to travel on that particular day.  So I booked it for the 27th of November.  and I arrived in Jacksonville Florida in the afternoon, had time to shop with my mother and sister Hilda before having dinner.  The trip on the way to Jacksonville was smooth sailing.  But had problems heading back.

So I book my ticket going back while I was in Jacksonville.  I booked it on my cell phone.  Which was not connected to the printer, so I had to use the "CALL IN TICKET" option.  This will allow you to pick up your ticket an hour prior to boarding.  I got the confirm email and transaction online seems to have went through smoothly.  But when I arrived at the station and use the Kiosk to print my ticket, even the Greyhound associate didn't notice that the ticket was not for that day.  It was scheduled for the next day.  Another associate noticed and immediately requested the manager for his assistance.  The manager said I just had to pay $20 bucks more or come back the next day.  I was furious.  I knew I booked the ticket on the right day.  I scrambled for my cellphone, browsed my emails and found the confirmation, but the confirmation email didn't have no information regarding my purchased ticket other than the confirmation number.  

here's a snapshot of the email greyhound sent me.

as you can see, the TRAVEL INFORMATION area is mumbo-jumbo.  

frankly, I think they did this on purpose, to take advantage of travelers during this season.  

But that was my holiday travel extravaganza.  

I was still thankful for the experience.  

and to add to my dismay:

The transfer from Savannah to Macon, the  bus was super late.  The associates called the passengers to line up on schedule just to realized that the buses that we were waiting for were so late.  about an hour, so our 45 minute layover became 2 hours.

But I still love to travel, even with Greyhound bus.

THE GOOD PART:

I am impressed at Greyhound buses.  They are clean, roomy, and comfortable.  Not stuffy at all, unlike other buses I've experience. 

and they have plugs and free wifi.  

I had so much fun with my mom and sis that taking photos was the last thing on my mind.  

But I had an hour before the boarding time, so I decided to put my luggage in the locker for $3 bucks and took a walk to Jacksonville Landing. 

The Landing was a bit empty. I'm pretty sure because of Game Day, Jaguars football.  So I just snapped some photos of my favorite spot at the Landing.  Even when I was younger, this was always one of my favorite spot.  You can walk across that bridge, which I often did along with my daughter Jamie.  

I snapped more photos of high rise buildings downtown, on my way back to the bus station.  We don't have these in Macon, not really.

I was shocked to see city buses running on Thanksgiving Day in Jacksonville Florida.  

I love this city!  because there's no way in hell Macon Georgia city buses would run on Sunday much less on Thanksgiving DAy!  lol!

Cox Cable in Macon - Review

So, I got a telemarketing call on my cell phone few days ago and it was Cox.  and because I am already a customer, I decided to entertain the call.  They offer a $24.95 deal for Cable TV this price is only good for 6 months and after six months it doubles.

The Deal:
$24.95 for six months
75 channel
and one receiver of HD

But what he failed to tell me is, without a HD receiver, you don't get all the channels.  Even though your tv is a smart tv and cable ready.  I was so disappointed and felt dupe.  OK, maybe I haven't had cable in a while.  But from what I can remember, if you're paying for cable, it doesn't matter how many tv you have in the house, as long as they are cable ready, you can plug the cable and you get what you paid for.  But apparently not any more.

The irritating factor:
More than half of the channels are not showing and will not show without the receiver.   and here is the most annoying part, when you are channel surfing, the tv no longer skips those channels, it goes through all the channels that you can't watch, by showing grainy and noisy page after page or I should say channel after channel.

Another irritating part, the tv with the HD receiver, when you channel surf, all the channels that you didn't get with the basic package, like HGTV, TLC, Discovery, oh yes, you do not get HGTV with basic package, it gives you a page that tells you to call customer service if you want this channel.  Talk about subliminal seduction.  If you keep seeing that message, you'll eventually call and spend more money.

More complaints.
What happened?... why is there such a long lag when channel surfing.  I just don't remember this issue.  It takes forever to go from one channel to another.

The good:
I can log in on abc.com, and other tv networks online, and watch episode I missed.  Usually I have to wait one week to watch the latest posted episode of my favorite shows.  with with cox cable tv, you can log in with your username and password and have instant access.  But is that worth it???

How to loose 10lbs in 3 days safely

Somehow I ran into this on Youtube.  It's called the military diet.  It suppose to have you loose 10lbs in 3 days by eating 3 times a day.  Because it's safe and 10lbs in 3 days, who could say no to that.  I'm giving it a try and will post my progress here.  I am extremely over weight.  I mean 220 lbs at 5.7 height.  My waist is embarrassing to measure.  So I am in desperate mode right now and holidays are right around the corner and hate for my family and friends see me this huge.

Here is my day one.  
My weight before eating is about 220.
and I woke up late and ate my breakfast around 10 am.
I had my lunch at 12:40 pm.

Breakfast is a cup of tea, toast with 2tsp of peanut butter, and half of a grapefruit.

Lunch is 1 can of tune 4oz, toast, and cup of hot green tea.