So my week of not traveling has made me wonder something... where the heck is Spring?? I'm ready for it. Winter would be fine, if it would stay winter. But these occasional 'warm days' that we have are a complete tease and make me want to be rid of winter! Not to mention, they totally mess with my head (literally - my sinuses go berserk!).
This weekend coming up is a perfect example... it's supposed to be sunny and 50 on Sunday. But they're calling for snow next week. WTF!!??
Don't get me wrong, I like these nice days in the winter, but enough is enough, already! This winter has been a complete roller coaster of weather and temperatures! Everyone I know is sick (or has been sick), which makes the time even more miserable.
I just want spring to come and stay. I'm ready for the snow to completely melt, and the flowers and trees start to bloom. I need color back in my life. :P At least for the days that I am home.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
I forgot to tell you about last week!
I just realized I never told you of my 'fun' trip last week!! OMG - it was an experience!
It started out as what was supposed to be a simple, short one night trip for a couple of meetings. I left Indy on Wednesday morning, which to those in the area know was having a decent snowfall. But that wasn't a problem, other than having to get the plane de-iced. I was supposed to fly from Indy (IND), to Memphis (MEM), and finally into Ft. Lauderdale (FLL). Simple enough and since it was the first flight to MEM that morning, should've left on time. Well, welcome to the world of traveling... where nothing goes as it should go.
I didn't realize it at the gate, but I quickly caught on once I boarded. The gate agent was scurrying around before we boarded, mumbling about how 'something' was wrong, but she didn't know what. They still proceeded to board us. Once everyone was on board, the pilot got on the intercom and announced there would be about a 15 minute delay because of a fuel pump issue. Now I'm not going to argue that - it needs to be fixed. But why'd they insist on still boarding us 'on time'? No biggy - I've learned you just take things as they come. But I couldn't help but have that worry in the back of my mind - I only had a 39 minute layover in Memphis. That's short by normal standards. But I proceeded to be positive cause they can usually make up 15 minutes in the air.
Well, that 15 minutes quickly turned into 40 minutes. And we still had to de-ice. I had all but given up on being able to catch my connection. By the time we took off, we were leaving an hour behind schedule. At this point, I was plotting whether or not to try to get a flight into West Palm Beach (PBI), instead, since I was obviously going to not make it to FLL on my originally scheduled flight. Decisions, Decisions. And when the pilot got on the intercom again and told us our arrival time was now going to be 9:45am (20 minutes AFTER my connection was schedule to leave MEM), my only thought was "maybe this is the plane going to FLL and/or my FLL plane is seriously delayed..." Deep down, I knew better. But it was nice to give myself a glimmer of hope.
We land in MEM, and I'm one of the first off the plane, only to come into a chaotic mess of agents ready and waiting for us (which was nice to see instead of nobody giving a damn about us being so late). I did, indeed, miss my flight. No surprise. What DID surprise me, though, was the fact that they already booked me on another flight, a Delta flight (I HATE DELTA!!!) through Atlanta (ATL), which put me into FLL 3 hours after my original arrival time. I give them an "A" for effort in trying to still get me where I needed to go, or at least where they THOUGHT I needed to go. But I would've liked to have had to option to choose to take that flight or opt for another flight somewhere else. And now I had to go through ATL??? Ugh... Oh, and the best part - it was leaving in 15 minutes from the next terminal over! Good thing I wore comfortable clothing and shoes that day!
So I book it over the the next terminal, run up to the gate agent and ask for a seat assignment. I was booked on the flight, but not given a seat assignment, which if you know Delta, you know that means you're about to be screwed. (This is why I hate Delta) So here's your advice for the day... If you're ever booked on a Delta flight and not given an seat assignment for some unknown reason, CALL THEM and INSIST on getting a seat assignment! If you do not have a seat assignment, you're the first person to be bumped since Delta is NOTORIOUS for overbooking their flights! I learned that lesson the hard way about 3 years ago. So back to the story... I got my seat assignments and proceed to wait for my zone to be called (they had already started boarding when I came up to the gate). As I stand there, I call my co-worker and let him know what happened and let him know he's have to handle the meeting on his own. He's well capable of that, so I'm not worried. As I'm doing this, the Delta agent opens the flight up to Stand-By's, which there's maybe a half-dozen. Then the shit hit the fan.
Other Northwest passengers come up to the gate (remember, I was out of the plane first and probably at the Delta gate before the plane fully emptied). They ask for seat assignments, just as I had, and the gate agent tells them the flight is closed and that no more Northwest passengers could be accommodated!! Wow... glad I hauled ass over here. I watch, in disbelief. Maybe she's just waiting until it's boarded to be sure there are seats are available. In the meantime, they call the last zone my zone, and I board. All I could think was that really sucks. One of my row-mates boards after I do, and I tell her my ordeal and she says they Northwest passengers were getting even more irate when she came down the jetway. They even had to call security on one guy cause he starting cussing and threatening the gate attendant! Holy Crap! So they really did CLOSE the flight! I think I was one of the only Northwest passengers to make the flight! I can't believe Delta didn't even try to accommodate these people, knowing the plane had just landed! And this is who Northwest is selling out to (maybe)???
So I get to ATL, where I have about an hour to kill. They did give me a food voucher, so I used that and got a free lunch out of the ordeal. Still couldn't believe what had happened in MEM. The kicker was the flight to FLL from ATL was one of those huge 767's that seats 2-3-2 across, and it was half empty! Go Delta! Way to schedule efficiently. Why did you guys go bankrupt again??
So I finally made it to FLL around 3:30pm. Three hours late. Thank goodness I actually did a carry-on that day. I normally check my bag (stupid liquid rule!), but with it only being one night, and the fact that I had a tight schedule to make my meeting, I made the necessary adjustments to do a carry-on. Who know where my bag would've ended up otherwise!! I was only going down for one night, and I barely made the connection in MEM with the new itinerary. My bag never would've made it amidst the confusion of a new itinerary AND a new airline. Plus, I was driving to Orlando that night, so it's not like they could've dropped it at my hotel when/if it did come in - I would've been 4 hours away by the time it got to FLL and I don't think they could've caught it in time to re-route to Orlando (MCO). And I was flying out of MCO the next afternoon! So yeah... carry-on was a very good idea for this trip!
So there you go. My fun travels from last week. Through all of that, I didn't even get mad or upset. I was just a little disappointed. I think it could've been handled a little better overall. And I did convey that in an email to Northwest. We'll see what they come back with in return.
UPDATE: I got an email from Northwest this afternoon... they were generous enough to give me 15,000 worldperks miles. That's halfway to a free flight (essentially, they 'refunded' my one way trip via miles)
It started out as what was supposed to be a simple, short one night trip for a couple of meetings. I left Indy on Wednesday morning, which to those in the area know was having a decent snowfall. But that wasn't a problem, other than having to get the plane de-iced. I was supposed to fly from Indy (IND), to Memphis (MEM), and finally into Ft. Lauderdale (FLL). Simple enough and since it was the first flight to MEM that morning, should've left on time. Well, welcome to the world of traveling... where nothing goes as it should go.
I didn't realize it at the gate, but I quickly caught on once I boarded. The gate agent was scurrying around before we boarded, mumbling about how 'something' was wrong, but she didn't know what. They still proceeded to board us. Once everyone was on board, the pilot got on the intercom and announced there would be about a 15 minute delay because of a fuel pump issue. Now I'm not going to argue that - it needs to be fixed. But why'd they insist on still boarding us 'on time'? No biggy - I've learned you just take things as they come. But I couldn't help but have that worry in the back of my mind - I only had a 39 minute layover in Memphis. That's short by normal standards. But I proceeded to be positive cause they can usually make up 15 minutes in the air.
Well, that 15 minutes quickly turned into 40 minutes. And we still had to de-ice. I had all but given up on being able to catch my connection. By the time we took off, we were leaving an hour behind schedule. At this point, I was plotting whether or not to try to get a flight into West Palm Beach (PBI), instead, since I was obviously going to not make it to FLL on my originally scheduled flight. Decisions, Decisions. And when the pilot got on the intercom again and told us our arrival time was now going to be 9:45am (20 minutes AFTER my connection was schedule to leave MEM), my only thought was "maybe this is the plane going to FLL and/or my FLL plane is seriously delayed..." Deep down, I knew better. But it was nice to give myself a glimmer of hope.
We land in MEM, and I'm one of the first off the plane, only to come into a chaotic mess of agents ready and waiting for us (which was nice to see instead of nobody giving a damn about us being so late). I did, indeed, miss my flight. No surprise. What DID surprise me, though, was the fact that they already booked me on another flight, a Delta flight (I HATE DELTA!!!) through Atlanta (ATL), which put me into FLL 3 hours after my original arrival time. I give them an "A" for effort in trying to still get me where I needed to go, or at least where they THOUGHT I needed to go. But I would've liked to have had to option to choose to take that flight or opt for another flight somewhere else. And now I had to go through ATL??? Ugh... Oh, and the best part - it was leaving in 15 minutes from the next terminal over! Good thing I wore comfortable clothing and shoes that day!
So I book it over the the next terminal, run up to the gate agent and ask for a seat assignment. I was booked on the flight, but not given a seat assignment, which if you know Delta, you know that means you're about to be screwed. (This is why I hate Delta) So here's your advice for the day... If you're ever booked on a Delta flight and not given an seat assignment for some unknown reason, CALL THEM and INSIST on getting a seat assignment! If you do not have a seat assignment, you're the first person to be bumped since Delta is NOTORIOUS for overbooking their flights! I learned that lesson the hard way about 3 years ago. So back to the story... I got my seat assignments and proceed to wait for my zone to be called (they had already started boarding when I came up to the gate). As I stand there, I call my co-worker and let him know what happened and let him know he's have to handle the meeting on his own. He's well capable of that, so I'm not worried. As I'm doing this, the Delta agent opens the flight up to Stand-By's, which there's maybe a half-dozen. Then the shit hit the fan.
Other Northwest passengers come up to the gate (remember, I was out of the plane first and probably at the Delta gate before the plane fully emptied). They ask for seat assignments, just as I had, and the gate agent tells them the flight is closed and that no more Northwest passengers could be accommodated!! Wow... glad I hauled ass over here. I watch, in disbelief. Maybe she's just waiting until it's boarded to be sure there are seats are available. In the meantime, they call the last zone my zone, and I board. All I could think was that really sucks. One of my row-mates boards after I do, and I tell her my ordeal and she says they Northwest passengers were getting even more irate when she came down the jetway. They even had to call security on one guy cause he starting cussing and threatening the gate attendant! Holy Crap! So they really did CLOSE the flight! I think I was one of the only Northwest passengers to make the flight! I can't believe Delta didn't even try to accommodate these people, knowing the plane had just landed! And this is who Northwest is selling out to (maybe)???
So I get to ATL, where I have about an hour to kill. They did give me a food voucher, so I used that and got a free lunch out of the ordeal. Still couldn't believe what had happened in MEM. The kicker was the flight to FLL from ATL was one of those huge 767's that seats 2-3-2 across, and it was half empty! Go Delta! Way to schedule efficiently. Why did you guys go bankrupt again??
So I finally made it to FLL around 3:30pm. Three hours late. Thank goodness I actually did a carry-on that day. I normally check my bag (stupid liquid rule!), but with it only being one night, and the fact that I had a tight schedule to make my meeting, I made the necessary adjustments to do a carry-on. Who know where my bag would've ended up otherwise!! I was only going down for one night, and I barely made the connection in MEM with the new itinerary. My bag never would've made it amidst the confusion of a new itinerary AND a new airline. Plus, I was driving to Orlando that night, so it's not like they could've dropped it at my hotel when/if it did come in - I would've been 4 hours away by the time it got to FLL and I don't think they could've caught it in time to re-route to Orlando (MCO). And I was flying out of MCO the next afternoon! So yeah... carry-on was a very good idea for this trip!
So there you go. My fun travels from last week. Through all of that, I didn't even get mad or upset. I was just a little disappointed. I think it could've been handled a little better overall. And I did convey that in an email to Northwest. We'll see what they come back with in return.
UPDATE: I got an email from Northwest this afternoon... they were generous enough to give me 15,000 worldperks miles. That's halfway to a free flight (essentially, they 'refunded' my one way trip via miles)
A Week without Travel
So here's a crazy idea... I'm not traveling this week!! Crazy, I know. I'm trying to think when the last time was that I didn't travel... and I honestly can't remember. It's been that long.
Sadly, the only reason I'm NOT traveling is because I have to drive to Crawfordsville in the middle of the week to meet with the lovely people at INDOT. Joy. And since you have to meet when they can meet, and it this case, they only could meet Wednesday, I opted out of the travels to make this meeting work. But now I have to drive to Crawfordsville. That's traveling in a whole different form. :P It's definitely not Florida, that's for sure!
So I'm guessing come the middle of the week, I'm not going to know what to do with myself. It might even feel a little odd to be sleeping in my own bed for that many days straight. Might have to go stay at a hotel out of habit. j/k
Anyway... that's my exciting news of the moment. Hope everyone out there has a great week!
Sadly, the only reason I'm NOT traveling is because I have to drive to Crawfordsville in the middle of the week to meet with the lovely people at INDOT. Joy. And since you have to meet when they can meet, and it this case, they only could meet Wednesday, I opted out of the travels to make this meeting work. But now I have to drive to Crawfordsville. That's traveling in a whole different form. :P It's definitely not Florida, that's for sure!
So I'm guessing come the middle of the week, I'm not going to know what to do with myself. It might even feel a little odd to be sleeping in my own bed for that many days straight. Might have to go stay at a hotel out of habit. j/k
Anyway... that's my exciting news of the moment. Hope everyone out there has a great week!
Monday, February 18, 2008
So I got this crazy urge...
Actually, it wasn't too crazy. Or even too much of an urge. It was just me finally doing something I said I was going to do for way to long!
I painted my bathroom. Red. DEEP red. I had the paint chip wedged behind my light switch plate for what seems like forever. I just finally got fed up with 'white'. So blah... so not me.
So what do you think?
The picture in this one was my 'inspiration' for the color - there's a lot of glare in this picture, so the red doesn't look as deep as it really is...
Maybe it wasn't so much me putting it off as it was my subconcious making sure this 'red' wasn't just a phase. I've been into the deep 'oriental red' (or so Ilike to call it) for a few years now. There's splashes of it in my bedroom, and then I bought curtains last fall for my living room. And I love it all.
So I don't think it's a phase. I just like the deep red with almost the black sheen to it. Granted, you can't really get that in a wall paint, but you get the idea. :)
I painted my bathroom. Red. DEEP red. I had the paint chip wedged behind my light switch plate for what seems like forever. I just finally got fed up with 'white'. So blah... so not me.
So what do you think?
The picture in this one was my 'inspiration' for the color - there's a lot of glare in this picture, so the red doesn't look as deep as it really is...
Maybe it wasn't so much me putting it off as it was my subconcious making sure this 'red' wasn't just a phase. I've been into the deep 'oriental red' (or so Ilike to call it) for a few years now. There's splashes of it in my bedroom, and then I bought curtains last fall for my living room. And I love it all.
So I don't think it's a phase. I just like the deep red with almost the black sheen to it. Granted, you can't really get that in a wall paint, but you get the idea. :)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A Little Catch Up
I was kind of busy last week, so I didn't make it on here to post about LAST weekend, which was a good one. :)
Saturday night was Wendy's Birthday, so we all went out and celebrated. Wendy had a VERY good time, as we all did... but she had a REALLY good time. ;)
The night started out calmly enough...
Saturday night was Wendy's Birthday, so we all went out and celebrated. Wendy had a VERY good time, as we all did... but she had a REALLY good time. ;)
The night started out calmly enough...
We even were able to get a few good group shots.
But once we went to Ike and Jonesy's, things started getting crazy.
And we watched Wendy have a fun birthday...
A VERY good birthday...
Until finally, we had to convince Wendy it was time to leave (before the bouncers did it for us).
But it was worth it. We all had a good time. And we did, ultimately, keep Wendy out of any trouble. Well, at least as much as we could. Somehow, she kept getting more drinks... 'tis the life of a Birthday Girl!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
no pictures...
I noticed I haven't had any pictures in my blogs lately. I apologize for that. I haven't had much to take pictures of lately. It's the typical dreary, gray, Indiana winter, and there haven't been any good snowfalls to catch on film. I have no children to flaunt. And the trips I've taken don't allow pictures (like Wicked). So I apologize. Come spring/summer/fall, there will be plenty of pictures. Until then, they may be far and few between. It is winter, afterall... that means hybernation. ;)
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Wicked!
I'm sure many of you have heard about the Broadway Musical, Wicked. Well, I finally got to see it this weekend and it was great!!
It was kind of the cap off to my 'mental days off' from work. Friday afternoon, we took off for Chicago for that night's showing of Wicked. And it was well worth it! I read the book late last year because I had heard so much about it. It was one of those cases where I got stuck in an airport (go figure) due to a delay and hit one of the shops up. I saw the book and figured it'd be a good read, and it was.
But the kicker was how much different the play was verses the book. Nothing that really killed it for me - and nothing the person who hadn't read the book would even question... but it was there. I won't go into the details, but I guess it's the same when ever a book is taken to mainstream, whether it be movie or musical.
Regardless, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you go see Wicked. Just don't walk four city blocks of slush in 4 inch heals.
And then to cap off the weekend, we went shopping at Ikea. Man, that place can suck the day away!! Granted, we planned for that to happen, but man... it was smart of them to put a cafeteria in there for customers! I didn't wear 4 inch heals there, thank goodness! ;)
It was kind of the cap off to my 'mental days off' from work. Friday afternoon, we took off for Chicago for that night's showing of Wicked. And it was well worth it! I read the book late last year because I had heard so much about it. It was one of those cases where I got stuck in an airport (go figure) due to a delay and hit one of the shops up. I saw the book and figured it'd be a good read, and it was.
But the kicker was how much different the play was verses the book. Nothing that really killed it for me - and nothing the person who hadn't read the book would even question... but it was there. I won't go into the details, but I guess it's the same when ever a book is taken to mainstream, whether it be movie or musical.
Regardless, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you go see Wicked. Just don't walk four city blocks of slush in 4 inch heals.
And then to cap off the weekend, we went shopping at Ikea. Man, that place can suck the day away!! Granted, we planned for that to happen, but man... it was smart of them to put a cafeteria in there for customers! I didn't wear 4 inch heals there, thank goodness! ;)
Friday, February 1, 2008
We got Gypped!
The 'big storm' they had us all hyped up for didn't really happen. There isn't even enough on the ground that you have to shovel - maybe only if you're bored and want to get it off your driveway. But even someone in a lowrider could drive off without shovelling!
I'm actually a little bummed - I wanted to see some good snow!
I'm actually a little bummed - I wanted to see some good snow!
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