David "Now With a 15% Chance of 1 & 2 Star Reviews" K.'s Profile

I think they do they best they can with their circumstances. Overall, I think we can all agree that Chicago O'Hare is a grossly inefficient airport. Their rental car process is one of the best examples of the worst design practices.

The shuttle buses are large and transverse areas that weren't designed for vehicles that size. They're diesel and replacing them with smaller, more efficient ones would probably make everyone's lives more enjoyable.

Anyway, they haul you to the offsite rental car area where two shacks are set-up in the middle of a sea of cars. The companies are separated by a washing bay that seems like something they should hide instead of driving customers past it, but I digress...

Everyone unloads and the office is suddenly packed. There are two self-service kiosks at the front. They're in an area without any signage indicating that they're for everyone and not priority customers, so everyone stands in line making things even slower.

I'm not afraid to step out of the crowd and I'd probably still be there if not for my sense of entitlement - I don't wait in line to get handed keys to a car I've already paid to drive.

They have a larger variety of vehicles in each car class than I expected. I reserved a full size and had my pick of several Impalas, a Malibu, and a Camry. There was a Maxima, but the people ahead of me claimed it before I could. I ended up with the Camry and did my best to do an exterior inspection. Unfortunately, that's nearly impossible in the dark. Luckily it all turned out fine. It was all good despite the feeling that they forgot to clean the interior between customers.

Accidents can be fun sometimes. No, I didn't crash the rental this weekend. I was cutting through to get back to The Loop and saw a line of people inexplicably waiting outside in the rain. Upon closer inspection I saw they were standing in front of a doughnut shop.

My desparate need to not feel left out compelled me to circle the block and join the line. By the way, I didn't plan for my weekend very well and I only had on a t-shirt and jeans... in the cold, rainy weather.

The line moved relatively quickly. I paid for an hour of parking as a precaution and probably only used 20 minutes.

Service is quick and they make great use of a space the size of my mother's walk-in closet. Glad I accidentally detoured through here. I scored a box full of goodness before they ran out (and discovered this place before most of my Atlanta friends).

Super nomz! I love that they let you mix their sauces. If I'm in a lemon pepper/teriyaki kinda mood, they've got me. More than likely I'm in a honey BBQ/medium kinda mood. Mmmm...

The only other place that has a similar flavor is Wing Factory in Marietta. That's actually where I got my inspiration for this delicious concoction (in case you were thinking to yourself about how I'm a genius chef).

I appreciate their quick lunch orders. My office is a few miles away and I can call it in and pick up a box of hot, steamy wings in about 15 minutes.

SLUSH PUPPIES! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!

Not just any Slush Puppies, but the original kind where you squirt the flavoring into the sugary ice pellet water. Mmmmm... reminds me of being a kid.

You can't take any pictures here, which makes me a little suspicious. I asked about the policy and I was told something along the lines of "the owner is a genius and she doesn't want people stealing her ideas." Um, sure girl. I mean, this is a cute store and all. I'm not sure I'd be afraid anyone would steal the idea that she obviously stole from every other candy store I've ever seen.

I'll give them props for doing a few things differently. This is the first place I've ever seen an entire wall of every possible gummy bear flavor you could imagine. They're not all true Harbo brand, but there's a bin full of those in case you're a purist like me.

My father gave me a $25 gift card that he got from someone at work. There's a Shula's in Atlanta, but it's not really near anywhere we normally go and it's not enough of a draw to bring me that far away from home.

On one of my recent visits to Houston I decided to finally make use of this thoughtful re-gift and brought my boyfriend here for dinner.

First, let's all admit that this is a hotel restaurant with a nice brand. Until coming here I don't think I'd even heard of Don Shula. Now I know just a little bit more. Judging from the giant football they placed at our table with the steak menu written on it, he must have had something to do with the NFL.

We ordered steak as an appetizer and more steak for dinner. It was all really good and surprisingly well cooked considering we were probably seated about 30-45 minutes before they closed. The staff was really attentive. I'm just not sure I enjoy eating in hotel lobbies when I'm not staying at the hotel.

Kudos to them for having an amazingly effective marketing program. I live a block from the Midtown MARTA station and taking the train is by far the cheapest and most efficient way for me to get to the airport. Why would I want to pay for airport parking when I can tap my Breeze Card and leave the driving to them?

"FREE AIRPORT PARKING"

That'll do it every time. This was my first experience with off-airport parking and it wasn't bad. It wasn't enough for me to do that instead of using the ATL park and ride lots.

Anyway, I went online after seeing their TV commercial and tried to reserve a space. All of the free, outdoor spaces were booked, but it gave me the option to park inside at a discount. Plus my first day was free. I think we can all agree that this was a truly good deal.

I parked. The lot was easy to find (the indoor lot is past the first one on the left). A shuttle greeted me immediately and promptly took me to Hartsfield-Jackson.

Coming back was easy and the bus was in the space printed right on the ticket. There are two spaces with the same number, but that's obviously not their problem. As I loaded my suitcase I noticed that parts of the ceiling were coming down. I took pictures and posted them, but Yelp HQ deleted them. I assume the owners at least have the sense to use Yelp for Business Owners.

They advertise a free drive-thru car wash. I asked about it as I left and it's apparently in the outdoor lot. That was a little frustrating because it seems like the people paying more should get more perks. Maybe I'm just an elitist. The cashier told me she would call down to the other lot so I could get in for free. Even though I had to drive by it to get to the Interstate, I declined while doing an internal eye-roll.

Coming home to a water leak is never a pleasant experience. I've had to go through that a lot over the years as a property manager. I'd like to think that I already had compassion and empathy for my residents whenever this would occur. Now that I've gone through it I definitely have an extra soft spot in my heart for what they go through.

ServiceMaster by Bailey probably wouldn't have been my top choice for remedying this problem. ServiceMaster has a great reputation for cleaning fire damage, flood issues, and mold problems. They're also known for being expensive. You truly do pay for the expertise (and for the employees).

Our property manager called them (this is a condo, not an apartment, so that makes a difference because we're the ones paying) to expedite a resolution. Two techs came out after the vice-president of something evaluated the damage wearing a very expensive suit. That's the first sign that this isn't going to be cheap.

Subsequent evaluations had them recommending two dehumidifiers and about ten blowers. The dehumidifiers cost $101/day and the blowers $27/day. They estimated that it would take about 3 days to dry everything.

I didn't think all of that was necessary and recommended that they pull out all the wet carpet padding to speed up the drying process.

Flash forward 12 hours later. One dehumidifier was placed in the room with the wet carpet along with three blowers. Two more blowers were in the living room drying the hardwoods. What's the result? The carpet and padding is still sopping wet and they never removed it.

They're coming back today to evaluate and I'm sure their recommendation will be to add more equipment. What they need to do is take out the wet padding and blow air under the carpet. It will dry in just a few hours.

I hope I'll be able to update this with a 5-star review. Check back in a few days to see how things go.

My best advice is to not come here hungry. Otherwise you'll end up spending $28 on brownies and cupcakes like I did last week.

I really only came because I had a brownie craving. I left with 6 of their death by chocolate and four cupcakes. I don't remember which ones... they were all uniquely colorful, but otherwise run-of-the-mill and mostly just preservatives and lots of sugar. I actually had leftovers for 3-4 days and even after that time the cupcake was still exceptionally moist. That made me both happy and scared (McDonald's seems to pride itself on food that is almost impossible to become spoiled).

If you're going to charge that much for pastries there needs to be more emphasis on the presentation. After dropping that much cash I left with four cupcakes squeezed into a plastic hot dog tray stuffed sideways into a generic convenience store plastic bag.

CamiCakes, for example, carefully places all of their treats into cute pink boxes that are sealed with a logo printed sticker.  I'm not saying they should copy this idea, but the white plastic bag nearly sent me over the edge.

Oh, and while we're on the topic of high-end customers... most probably have an American Express card. Unfortunately, they don't accept them here. Total #YuppieFail.

Seeing all of the billboards, bus ads, and commercials for 511 over the past few months makes me feel like a true trendsetter. I've been telling people about this service since 2008 and I knew it was the next hot thing.

Hot or not, 511 is a huge disappointment. It's promoted as a one of the GDOT's traffic congestion solutions... You know, since they do so much to alleviate traffic... NOT! How's that new HOT lane working out Gwinnett?? In their defense, the state tollway authority deserves most of the blame for that, but I digress...

Today, being the good citizen that I am, called 511 to report a disabled vehicle on Peachtree Industrial Blvd right before the I-285 bridge. Truth-be-told, I had no real concern for the driver. I wanted to make sure this relatively minor issue didn't turn into a Friday afternoon traffic nightmare (coincidentally, it was Friday the 13th).

Before I could even finish my first few sentences the operator cut me off and said something about the police and Interstates. I told her I wasn't on the Interstate. I was on GA Hwy 141 (I thought acknowledging that it was a state-owned road would make a difference). She told me to call the police because they only assist motorists on Interstates.

I can't blame her, although I really wanted to yell at someone. Instead I'll reserve that for our state government. This is another example of the state cutting back on services and then forcing them upon local governments. That's a whole 'nother topic, so I'll conclude this by saying I'm disappointed. Extremely disappointing. If the DOT were truly concerned with solving our traffic problems they would take reports of disabled vehicles everywhere (regardless of whether or not their employees came to aid the motorist or it was another agency) to ensure that things are reported. There's a giant electronic billboard a few miles back that could have been updated to warn people of the upcoming problem, thus preventing an even worse back-up.

Gah! I should be running the Department of Transportation. Is that an elected position? LOL

I know I posted an update earlier this month, so you're probably wondering what could possibly be that important at the damn post office.

Well, it's something so simple it's almost mind blowing. They now have an employee out front assisting the people in line. I've seen this on my past two visits and they just go up to each person and ask what they're doing. Most times it's obvious (i.e. I'm carrying a box and I need to ship it ), but more times than not even the basic transactions get complicated - especially when the person hasn't written an address or correctly or has no idea how to fill out a certified mail return request form. Now all of that gets resolved BEFORE the person goes to the counter, saving time and enhancing everyone's experience.

No more waiting in line because the person ahead is trying to ship something in a re-used UPS box with old labels still attached. The idiot who doesn't know where to put the Delivery Confirmation sticker isn't holding up a line of people desperately trying not to waste their hour lunch break.

Kudos to this Postmaster (or whoever made this decision). This simple change is making a tremendous positive impact.