Philadelphia, PA

I have now seen the most ridiculous video game in history. At the Dave & Buster's in Philly, I personally witnessed a handful of people spend upwards of two hours in front of a horse breeding game called Derby Owners Club. Not a horse racing game, or even a horse betting game, it's a horse breeding and training game. You have to make key decisions such as "Should I feed my horse camembert cheese or fodder with green tea today?" (that's an actual game decision)

The most ridiculous part of the game: you can save your horse on a memory card, then the next time you play, you can pick up right where you left off! Or, you can save yourself the time, and buy one of the pre-bred horses that this guy's selling on his website.

Needless to say, this blogger accidentally killed his horse by drowning him during a "water training" session. I knew I should have fed him the camembert.....

New York, NY

Flying home from Charlotte tonight, the guy next to me tore through almost an entire pack of Orbit. Now that's a 90-minute flight from Charlotte to Newark. With 12 pieces of gum in the pack, that's a new piece every ten minutes. Damn.

Charlotte, NC

The struggle with Foreverlost continues

My experiences with Foreverlost have hit a new low. As I'm driving around Charlotte in my rental Volvo, I quickly discover that any time there's a bump in the road, my Foreverlost reboots. It turns off and on, and doesn't remember where I was driving to.

And even better, on the way back to the hotel, it actually showed the error message "FATAL ERROR: Unable to open Xfiles". No kidding. Now I'd love to watch Gillian Anderson while I drive, but I'd settle for a map to my location. No luck on either this time.

Charlotte, NC

If you get a hankering for Chicago deep dish pizza, but find yourself in the wrong part of the country, try Pizzeria Uno. You can order online, and pick it up in 15 minutes. In Charlotte, it's right downtown at the corner of College and 2nd.

New York, NY

I just flew* Des Moines to Milwaukee to New York on Midwest Airlines. The first leg was on "Midwest Connect", which runs their smaller commuter routes. Therefore,

Three Signs That The Airplane is Too Small
1. The co-pilot shuts the airplane door and does the safety demonstration.
2. Either Coldplay has hired a digeridoo player for their live recordings, or the propeller noise is really messing with your iPod music.
3. You're on Midwest Airlines, and you don't even get the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.

* I'll spare you the "boy are my arms tired" joke.

Des Moines, IA

Des Moines is French for "tiny airport". There is a business center there, and you can probably tell from the picture how comprehensive it is.

If you're stuck in downtown Des Moines and feel that deep down urge for Starbucks, head to Tenth & Locust. It's a quick from walk from anywhere downtown. Actually, anywhere downtown is a quick walk from anywhere else downtown.

Houston, TX

And the Better Business Travel Award* in the category "Worst Toll Road Signage" goes to Houston. You will not know how much you need to pay until you get right up to the toll booth. Rule of thumb: stay to the far right to pay cash and get a receipt. Tolls range from $0.75 to $1.25.

If you're too cheap to pay $2.00 in tolls, and you have Foreverlost, you can generally head south and west and get downtown from Bush International Airport.

* Honorable mention in this category goes to the entire state of New Jersey.