Travel IQ Test

I am surprised each time I travel by how much someone's IQ drops when they are boarding a plane.

Why is it necessary to be talking on your cell phone while BOARDING the plane? And I mean holding the phone, dragging two carry on bags and having a full blown conversation with someone. Those 5 minutes on the phone are not going to save the world, get off!

Why bring a full size pillow on the plane. I would consider leaving this one alone if we were going to, say, EUROPE on a 14 hour flight. But we're not. We are flying 2 flippin' hours, in the middle of the day. I think you can live without your slobber stained pillow for that short duration.

Do not get mad at the stewardess when she tells you that you cannot hold your kid in your lap in the exit row. I swear, if your kid gets in the way of me exiting the plane when plummeting to our death.... Stop arguing and pass the kid up to the woman that couldn't keep her legs closed 2 years ago. A matter of fact, why aren't you sitting up there with her? Go help the woman out. You obviously weren't scared to be next to her 2 years ago.

When in a large group, it is not a contest to see who got closest to the 50lb checked bag limit without going over. After your bag has been tagged, do not proceed to put your bag back up on the scale to see your score.

I'm cool with there being 1st class...I have no problems with that. I've never sat in first class, but I really don't care. I don't even care that they board first even though they are at the front of the plane. But can we wait to serve them drinks until everyone boards or before all the coach people board. This is why flights are always delayed. It takes forever to board because the stewardess' are in the aisle pouring drinks for everyone in first class while we seek our seat from the distance.

And finally....to those that think if they run to the baggage carousel will get their luggage first....Guess What??? Our baggage all flew over on the same fricken plane! And for running me over when hurdling to the baggage terminal...I hope your luggage is still at your departure city, in a whole other city, or at least the last fricken bag that had water steadily leaking on it.

AOL

I hate AOL with a fucking passion! I wouldn't use AOL if it were the last ISP on Earth! I am addicted to the internet and can't go a day without using it and if AOL was the only way I could access the internet, I would quit cold turkey. I would rather stick pins under my fingernails then talk to one of their ignorant, non-English speaking, shit-for-brains agents. If AOL was a country, I would say bomb them. If they were a bug, exterminate them. But they are a company and I will be sure to never, ever use them for as long as I, my spawn and theirs, shall live.

5 years go, I did use AOL. That's when AIM was cool, AOL was cheap and easy. I quit after a few months, while still in my free trial. Sissy2124 has ALWAYS been my screen name. For 8 years now, that's what I have used.

So, a couple of years later, I download AIM because that's all one of my friends would use. A few months later, I receive a bill for $14.95, urging that I pay immediately or they will come for my organs. Of course, there is no phone number on the bill to call. So, I go to www.aol.com to find a few numbers. After 45 minutes of calling different numbers, I get some bucket head that seems to think that I should pay them $15 a month to use my screenname. Fuck that! I promptly told him he could shove the screenname up his ass and that would be the last $14.95 they would get from me!

Fast forward a few more years to today. My mom is receiving my mail right now and she tells me I have something from a collection agency. WHAT?!? I am in the process of buying a house and am watching my credit report like a hawk! I ask her to open it and she says it's for $14.95 for AOL; no date, no explanation, just $14.95. Now, I have refreshed my credit report twice in the past 5 days and there has been no mention of AOL or $14.95.

So she gives me the phone number, and I call. And a recording says for better service, to call another number. So I do. And it rings....but a weird ring like when calling overseas. Then, it sounds like an alarm going off and after about 2 minutes, it just hangs up. I call the first number again to make sure I wrote down the 2nd number correctly. I call the 2nd number where Ha-fucking-beeb answers. I tell him about the letter and he looks it up. He says I had an account from 2001-2004 and I owed $14.95. It took everything I had right there not to put my hand through the phone and strangle the ever loving life out of him. He asks if I would like to make the payment.

I said no. I don't think I owe it. But I will, because I don't want you all trying to put that shit on my report. So I give him my card number where he repeats it back wrong 3 times. He finally gets it and asks if a certain address is my address. No, it's my moms. Which, I'm not sure how he got because I only have my stuff forwarded there, but haven't changed my address to that address. I start to spell out my new address. I kid you not, this takes 10 minutes. He would think I said "D" after a "T" and weird crap like that. Finally I told him to stop and listen and spelled it out with an example of each letter. He still got it wrong.

We finally get it finished and he says he is going to charge $14.95 plus a $5 payment fee to my card. You've got to be fucking kidding me! He then transfers me to his supervisor who also repeats my card number and address to be sure it is correct and lets me know of the $14.95 plus $5 that will be charged to my card.

It took 30 minutes to make this payment, that I didn't even fucking owe...and that was with no hold time!

And I'm a little paranoid, which is unlike me. They asked for my 3 digit security number on the back of my card. Now, I know online they will often ask for that, but I have never been asked for it over the phone. To be safe, I have transferred all of that money to a different account because I am in fact, paranoid of the AOL Nazis.

And that is just one reason why, not even if my life depended on it, I would not ever use AOL.

Work Quotes

Just thought I'd share....

"As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks."

"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them."

Happy Birthday Napster

Today is my dear friend, Napster's birthday!

I feel kinda guilty because Spurs and Napster celebrated my birthday for about 10 days!! So, I guess I must do the same...

...bring on the vodka!! :-)

Happy Birthday Napster! I hope you have an absolutely wonderful day full of Lynkin pooping outside, Spurs keeping the gas to a minimum and plenty of beer in the fridge!

Meet the Parents

Today, Morrigan gets to meet my fam; at least half of them.

Dad, stepmom and sis #2 are coming down to help go house hunting and to get dad's seal of approval on my final choices.

It's been 3 years since anyone in my family has driven to come see me rather than me make the drive!!

So Morrigan is one of the few that gets the opportunity meet 'em. The wrath of my retired Marine, anal-retentive, big teddy bear of a father, my social, to the point, glue that holds it all together stepmom, and my drama queen, talkative, 90 miles an hour adorable sister. How much trauma can they cause during dinner? We'll find out....

Lessons in ATL

Now, it's only been 2 weeks since I moved here to Atlanta, but a week of that was in Kansas City.

So, in a week of being in Atlanta, I have learned:

Go to the bathroom before getting into traffic.

There is a 24 Hour Bowling Alley Downtown.

But the Target is only open until 10pm.

On the roads, you are automatically a loser if you have out of state tags. The further the state, the more of a loser you are. You are judged by your plates!

The parking people at the Airport do not know what state AZ is.

The shopping in the Atlanta Airport is better than most town's malls.

People don't like it too much when you drive the wrong way up one-way streets.

I'm sure I'll learn more in the next coming weeks...

Just Laugh

I've determined that I've pissed someone off in a former life...that's the only explanation for it all.

So I made it through the evening at the ghetto hotel safely. I arrived to the airport in one piece. However, my flight was delayed an hour and a half. Now let me remind you, this is my first trip to KC after being hired and I'm already a day late.

The flight was luckily uneventful. My luggage was sitting there from the night before where I promptly grabbed it, headed for the restroom and changed into clothes that I had not slept in and that did not reek of smoke. I set up a little corner of the sink and tried to make myself look as presentable as possible. Eck!

My reservation for my car rental had been canceled due to my delay, despite the fact that I called them. Luckily, they still had cars available.

Although I typed the address of the office on my phone, the place it was taking me, the street was not there. I had to call the office and get directions. I started to follow their directions and things just weren't making sense. I turned around to go the other direction and about 5 minutes later, I get a call from the office telling me they told me the wrong way and to meet them at the restaurant for lunch. So now I am late, I feel gross, and I'm keeping them from food! lol, not a good combo!

Of course the day would not be complete without my meal being wrong (I'm not sure what people don't understand about "no dressing please") However, I was the big laugh at lunch, good or bad!

It got to the point today that whenever something went wrong...small or big...I just had to laugh...and I've been laughing a lot today.

Probably out of pity, my boss tells me to go ahead and check into my hotel and relax at 3pm. I arrive to a packed hotel (but a hell of a lot better than the one last night), and walk into a handicapped room. I'm not sure if it was because of the drain in the middle of the bathroom, the missing tub and everything being a couple of feet lower, or the irony of me being issued a handicapped room....but it was freakin' funny.

Let me tell you, I got to my room, fell to the bed, and I fell asleep within 10 minutes. So far, the roof hasn't fallen in; I haven't set the place on fire. However, I did almost have stroke when I logged into the internet and saw that they would charge me $2.95 for 15 minutes and then 25 cents a minute after that. I found alternate methods...

I'm looking forward to a good night of sleep and smooth sailing from here on out.

Better Days...

When I came up with "And What Next..." for the title of this blog, it was for a reason. My life is never dull, for good or for bad. There is always something happening right around the corner.

A year ago today, I was traveling back from Denver, into Atlanta. Today, I am in Atlanta, trying to fly out...

...but let me go back a little.

As mentioned earlier, Saturday started the birthday weekend a little rough between taking the wrong route and my speeding ticket for 17 over.

The plan was to leave Monday morning at 9am in time to drop off my truck at the dealership to get the AC fixed and then take a taxi to the airport.

Last night, after making a few changes, my computer is giving me blue screens. Not good! Nothing is backed up and I have to have this laptop for school. So, now that my sister works for Best Buy, we decide to bring my laptop in at 9 am for the Geek Squad to save the day.

I then go to pack all my stuff in the new luggage I got for my birthday. I start unpacking each suitcase from the larger to notice 1 piece was missing from my 5 piece set. So, no packing tonight.

So the plan has gone now from leaving at 9am to leaving at 11am. To make a long story short, we are out a piece of luggage, my computer is saved and I didn't leave until 1pm.

It takes me about 45 minutes to find parking...but hey, that's the airport.

I check-in, get to my gate with time to spare. I paid the $9.99 to use the airport Wi-Fi for 45 minutes and hear multiple announcements about how busy the flight is. Then they make a few announcements that some may have to take the 8:30 flight to KC.

I then feel the roast beef sandwich I had at lunch not sitting right and I make a mad dash for the restroom. Nothing like puking your guts out in the airport bathroom!

By the time I get back, they need a volunteer from the group that was going to leave at 8:30 to leave in the morning. Thinking that it would be a good idea for me to not fly at that moment, I agree. They board the plane about 15 minutes later and the lady at the counter asks me to wait until she gets back for my vouchers...

...an hour later she is back, drenched in sweat. Seems that they couldn't turn on the air in the plane and they were having some serious issues. She gives me my airport meal vouchers, my hotel voucher and a $400 voucher for Delta. Fine, not biggy. I've done this many times before.

Then, she tells me she went ahead and sent my luggage to KC. That would be my luggage with my clothes, my pajamas, my toiletries, my make up, my tooth brush, my brush....all of that stuff!

So I fight the crowds and make the haul to ground transportation and wait for a shuttle that says Holiday Inn. Luckily, the shuttle only has 3 people, I get a good seat, and we are on our way. I am minutes away from a drink and a bed!

I go to check in at the holiday inn, hand them my voucher, and they tell me I'm at the wrong holiday inn. I took the shuttle to the south holiday inn and should have taken the one for the north.

So...I take the shuttle back to the airport and wait for the correct shuttle. Before the driver is even able to put the shuttle in park, a huge group of people are already climbing aboard. I am able to squeeze on, standing room only. The shuttle has 18 seats and there are 28 people on there. I assume the man next to me must have had his luggage sent ahead also as that was the worst case of BO ever.

I make it to the hotel. I walk in and it smells like my grandma's old abandoned trailer. In this hotel, you take the elevator to a hallway that leads outside, as all of the rooms are outside. The only light is from the street lights and I'm busy checking corners and looking around me. As I get in my room and flip the light switch, no lights come on. I reach to the lamp, it won't come on either. The room is pitch dark and the outside isn't much better. At that moment, I quickly debate whether it's better to leave the door open and find a working light or close the door and find a working light. Neither felt safe. So I make the haul back down to the lobby, wait in line at the front desk for 15 minutes and then waited an additional 30 minutes until I could get someone to come check things out.

Maybe we should have left the lights off. Obviously this was a room for those that cannot read as there was a sign that said non-smoking, but it sure as hell didn't smell that way. The marks on the wall, the hair in the tub...I don't think I need to say more.... I asked the employee if I could have an extra 2 blankets. I just didn't feel good about this place.

I make the trip downstairs one more time to grab a bite. However, the restaurant has a 30 minute wait and does not allow you do bring it back to your room. Bleh! So I make it over to the ghetto little gift shop where I grab a bag of Fritos and a diet coke. Now that's a birthday dinner if I've ever seen one! Behind the counter are the usual essentials and I decide to grab a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. What’s funny is, my total came to $17.77. (My birthday being 7/17)

I’ve got the door triple locked, 3 alarms set, and now I’m going to brave the shower. Here’s to better luck getting to KC tomorrow and the rest of my time as 25 being better than this weekend. I don’t think it’ll be that hard… 

Bits Missing from my Brain

I come from a game family. We still play lots of games. Just today, I got my ass kicked in Texas Hold 'Em. Last weekend when I was at my dad's, we played Rummikub, pool and darts.

Board games often come out too, such as monopoly, trivia games, etc.

How is it that I made it through 25 years without playing Life?

While at Morrigan's with Bou and her boys, we started a game of Life. I didn't know how to play. I had an idea of the concept, but had no clue as to strategy or directions. But for the record, when I left....I was a doctor with $100,000 salary.

During the game, someone brought up the 50 Nifty States song. I never learned it. Heard it, but never learned it. They started teaching it in 5th grade, but I moved twice that year and they weren't doing the same thing at my other school.

Another thing I never learned? Cursive. To this day, I still cannot write in cursive. My signature is a cursive S with some squiggles and a regular R with some squiggles. I cannot remember the year we started to learn cursive, but I'm assuming it was sometime between 2nd grade and 5th grade. Considering I went to 7 different schools during that time....I learned bits and pieces of cursive, but was never able to put it together.

Some time ago, I bought one of those educational learning books for things like math and writing. I obviously bought the cursive one. I worked through it, and did fine. But by the time I was trying to actually use cursive in homework, letters or anything else, I couldn't put it together. It took too long and was just a pain.

But then again, sometimes I would already know something when I moved to a new school that they were just learning. Maybe that's why I'm so bad with history and sciences. (at least that is what I would like to blame it on) :-)

That's Going to Sting a Little

I have a friend who's husband is a police officer after putting in 20 years in the Marine Corps. One of the things he told his wife was if she was to get pulled over, to roll down the window, turn off the engine and put both hands on the top of the wheel. This way, you look less threatening and shows respect.

There have been 2-3 times I've had to use this before, and it has worked...

...until today.

Now remember, I have 15000 miles on my truck just in the past 5 months and put similar mileage on my old truck. I drive...all the time. And I speed...all the time. I'm cautious, careful and impatient.

I just drove 2500 miles across country without getting pulled over. How is it during a short 300 mile drive today I get pulled over in some podunk town by some redneck police officer.

I have no idea where this guy came from either. I was on the phone with my dad talking about creating a new budget if I'm going to purchase a house, so on and so forth....and then I see freakin' lights in my rear view.

He clocked me at 87 in a 70. What pisses me off is:

There were 3-4 cars in front of me going just as fast or faster. But of course, I was the only one with plates from Arizona!

I wasn't even supposed to be on that road. On the way out, I forgot where I was going and took the interstate that would have taken me to my old home in SC, not to my parents home.

The guy said a total of 15 words to me. He gave me absolutely no pitty time.

So needless to say, I'm a little scared how much that ticket is going to be. I can call anytime after Thursday to find out.

When I called my dad back, he said I may want to put that in my budget too...

...smart ass!

I'm Here...

but my brain is still traveling!

I am officially in Atlanta and have officially started my new job. It's looking good so far, for many reasons.

I'm fascinated with working in the city. I'm not sure if it's the people watching, the tall buildings, or getting high off the car fumes...but it's fascinating.

The people are good, really good...so far. It looks like I'll have a pretty good team and will get to meet some cool people. It's about damn time!

I'm currently staying in a hotel right next door to where I work. I'm not sure it's really clicked in yet that I'm permanently here. I still fill like I'm on a trip...like a business trip or something.

I'm trying to decided between renting a condo near where I work, something I've always wanted to do (live in a condo in the city) or buying a house a little outside the city. Both have tons of pros and cons. So far, outside the city is winning....but I'm going to wear this decision out.

I feel like a zombie. I have not been able to catch up on my sleep yet. I usually have no problem sleeping in hotels, but I am now. Even the $12 box of Nyquil from the vending machine isn't helping much. I think it's a mix of still popping up, thinking I'm driving, nervous that I'll sleep in the next day, so many things on my mind or I haven't consumed enough alcoholic beverages!

And the traveling isn't done yet. Saturday I drive 4 hours to my mom's and drive back Monday where I will then fly to Kansas City and then return Friday.

Piece of advice:

Don't burn popcorn in the hotel. No, it wasn't me...but I about shit myself when the fire alarms went off!

Happy Birthday T1G

T1G is one of my favorite dudes and he's having a birthday today!

The celebration is here, but I left his gift below.

Happy Birthday T1G!

Hurry with her....I have to get her back before Vince notices she's missing!

Dared!

What happens when you don't post!

Another Update

The trip has been smooth after the 1st day. I spent a couple of days with Spurs & Napster, them spoiling me with many beverages and great food! We had a blast!

I then spent 4th of July with a friend in Austin on the lake, watching fireworks and drinking more adult beverages!

I am now at my parents in Kentucky. Good, quality time!

Today, I went with my dad and stepmom to a home owners association "meeting" (more like a gathering outside with hot dogs and kids running around).

As my dad was introducing me to his neighborhood, I then realized exactly how proud he was. He introduced me as his oldest daughter who is moving from Arizona and got a great job in Atlanta. He names the companies and what position I'm taking. He made sure everyone knew.

My dad is very hard to impress. He's worked hard all his life and continues to do so.

But as we went for a drive in the new car I purchased by myself and he praised the quality of the vehicle, and as he introduced me to all of these people who could care less what I was going to be doing....I realized just how proud he really is.

So, for every stupid mistake I have made, better decision that there could have been, or not doing things traditionally, there are still some things that I am doing right.

It's a relief!

So Sunday night I make the drive to Atlanta. The first week is packed full as I'm coming in during some dinners/meetings. (Great!). I then drive to my mothers for the weekend before my birthday, and then fly to Kansas City for a week with my new team.

I can't wait for things to settle...

Too Young for Grey Hair

Things have been a little stressful the past 3 months, to say the least. But maybe more stressful than I thought.

My hair has been falling out more than normal. Ridiculous clumps of hair, it's a pain! In the shower...ah, just gross!

And then I have these baby hairs that are sprouting up.

So I went to get my hair done, and the lady asks, "Have you been stressed lately?"

Um, yes, just a little bit. She said, "Wow, I can tell, look at all these baby hairs from where your hair has been falling out."

After we finished coloring my hair, she says, "So how long have you had grey hairs?"

WHAT?!? I turn 25 in 2 weeks, I do not have freakin' grey hairs!

According to her...I did. According to her, stress has wrecked havoc on my hair.

Eh, I'm scared!

Official Notice

I got the official offer letter on Friday. I was pleased with the offer, it has been accepted and I start on the 10th. A little sooner than I wanted, but I can live with that!

So the next few weeks will be a little chaotic while getting settled, but I'm overall pleased that I am getting back to the east coast, closer to family & friends while starting a new job in a new direction!

Day 1 of Drive

A trip cross country could not go smoothly, right?

The last time I went to Lubbock, I took the southern route. It was alright although there were some mountains and tight curvy roads. It took about 10 hours...not so bad.

After talking to mom, I decided to go the northern route, taking the 40 across.

As I drove out, I noticed my navigation system was showing I was going the wrong way. Something wasn't hooked up right. So I drove it to the installer, had them fix it, so I didn't get on the road until 10:30 am.

Taking the northern route was a big mistake! 4th of July weekend through Phoenix and Flagstaff....dumb!!

About 6 hours into my trip, my AC stopped working. Now, I just purchased my vehicle new in Feb, and it does have almost 12,000 miles on it...but the AC shouldn't stop working!

After fooling with the knob, the only thing I can get out of it is heat! Eck! I am in Arizona!!

It's 4pm and I am rushing to search for the nearest Ford Dealership. There is one in Winslow, AZ, that I passed 10 miles ago. So I turn around, get them on the phone and they say there is nothing they can do for me, they are booked. I explained that it just felt like the knob wasn't catching, and he said the AC is a complicated system and they wouldn't have time. I asked him what he suggested I do and he said get to Albuquerque and try and get in Saturday morning.

While drenched in sweat, I call the dealership in Albuquerque and they say that they can try to get me in Saturday, but there would be no guarantee. I am already on a serious time crunch, each day planned across the way.

So while I'm driving down the road, I tear off my dash and start feeling behind the AC knob to see if I can figure out what's wrong. I finally pull over, look behind and the teeth on the knob aren't touching the teeth that control the temperature. I couldn't get the teeth to connect again, but I could manually turn the temperature knob. So now, I have off, or freakin' cold! And I'm okay with that.

My dad has a good dealership I can go to when I get to Kentucky.

I'm starting to feel worn out, pissed that I'm running late, so I figured I'll stop in Albuquerque for the night and head out in the morning for Lubbock. Early in the morning as I had a hair appointment at 11am.

Once I reach Albuquerque, I do not feel like stopping...so I keep going. 300 miles to Lubbock and I did not want to stop! About an hour out of Lubbock, I got stopped at a sobriety check point where the guy wanted to have a freaking conversation about my navigation system, if it actually worked, did it cost me monthly, etc. He had no idea I had been driving for 12 hours and was ready to go!

I finally get into Lubbock at around 2:15 am. I've been here a few times before. Spurs & Napster's address is too new to be recognized by the navigation, so luckily I had my printed directions.

The problem is, they have these stupid loops in Texas that don't make any sense! My map says to go north/south, the loop says east/west. What the hell?

After driving around parts of Lubbock I have never seen before, through farm land, downtown, construction and new territory.

Finally, I get to their house at 3am. I barely remember saying hello to Napster as I came in and went straight to bed.

So there's day 1 of the trip! Tomorrow I head to Austin to spend 4th of July on my friend's boat. Only a 360 mile drive...not so bad.

Here's to the rest of the drive going just a little more smoothly!