Thursday, January 31, 2008

A Lady of Leisure...

After a three-day hospital stay, two surgeries, numerous injections and blood tests, and assorted aches and pains...I AM READY TO GO BACK TO WORK!

But I have been using my free time wisely...I invited a cartoonist to come to my home and draw me while I have been on medical leave, and this is what he created:

Friday, January 25, 2008

Now Complete with Pictures!

To my loyal blog readers...I have gone through and added photos to this blog!

I started at the beginning of the blog, and have used an assortment of photos - ones I've taken with my camera phone while traveling (and I finally figured out how to transfer them to my computer), ones taken by classmates during training, and others that I've taken with my own film camera.

One of these days I will figure out my digital camera and all its workings and will use that to document my fun in the skies!

Biting at the Bit

I continue to be on sick leave while my doctors regulate my medication...my poor arms, hands and tummy are all bruised from being poked and prodded with needles and such.

I will probably stay on sick leave until after my doctor's appointment next Tuesday. We've got an "issue" to discuss, and I need a solution before I will feel comfortable flying again. As I said earlier, my inflight manager has been a doll and wants me to take the time that I need to get better...

In the meantime, I am dying to get back up in the air! The spontaneity of it all is something that I really miss, not to mention all the crazy people that I work with. But I don't want to rush things and go back too soon. Where's the miracle of modern medicine when you need it?!?!

More Pictures from Costa Rica


Our lunchtime entertainment


Tortuga Island beach



Tara, Mark, Grant & Weston - Missoula, MT


Me and Suzanne chilling on the beach...


Nice sandy beach


The boat we took to Tortuga Island


The wounded eel (Travis) and Weston


Suzanne, Burt, and Travis all partied out
A happy family not ready to return to reality...


Beautiful end to a beautiful day.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Expect the Unexpected


Greg taking my purse home while I was in the hospital. Looks good on him, don't you think? He was holding Kikko's leash - they let Kikko come to visit me. As far as hospitals go, it was the best!


Amazing shrimp scampi that I had one of the days I was in the hospital!

It has been an interesting several days...I am out of the hospital now, everything seems to be under control.

I visited with my Inflight Manager this morning, and HE ROCKS! He arranged for me to have the rest of the week off to get things regulated, and then he'll arrange for me to take any further medical days necessary that I may need.

I fretted and worried that my company would no longer want me to fly, but that was not the case AT ALL! As he put it, the recruiters in the company saw something in me that they wanted for our company, and it is his job to make sure that they don't lose me!!!

What a relief. I worried all weekend for nothing...

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Photos from Costa Rica


The view from my hotel room balcony...


On a Calypso Cruise boat heading to Tortuga Island


Passing "Sea Bird Poop" islands


A javelina (wild pig) decided to join our BBQ


Lots of two foot long iguanas were nearby (yuck!)


The pina coladas were delicious!


Suzanne (FA), Weston, Travis (FO), Grant, Burt (FA)


The end of a beautiful day...

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We had to leave Costa Rica this morning...darn. Most of the passengers were pleasant, though a few could not be pleased no matter how hard we tried. Oh well.

I have five days off starting tomorrow, and originally I planned on flying to DCA to visit family, but I've got a couple medical issues that I need to clear up, and I don't have any other days off in the near future. Bummer, I know, but I've got to do what I've got to do.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Feel Sorry for Me...I Get Paid to Do This

Oh my gosh...I cannot begin to describe my day today. It was so much fun...

We started out at around 6:30AM and were picked up by the bus from the tour company. We stopped at a few more hotels and then we were on our way. Breakfast was served at a restaurant that had a "mini-rainforest" out the backdoor, complete with a toucan! A couple hours after we started, we arrived at the boat dock. We sprayed/applied our SPFs and boarded our ship.

The rest of the crew stayed out in the sun, but I (for once) used my head and sat up top on the captain's bridge...there were several seats in the open-air, but shaded from the sun. I met a family from Missoula, MT - Mark, Tara, Grant & Weston - lots of fun to talk to, and I later introduced them to the entire crew.

It took at least an hour and a half to get to the island...they had a great set-up. We rented snorkel equipment and were taken out to a reef. WOW. We saw all kinds of colorful fish, a starfish the size of my hand, angelfish, clown fish, etc. I am going to have to look at a chart of Central American fish to determine what exactly I saw.

After about an hour, they called us back to the boat and took us to the island where lunch was being served. We had a delicious fish appetizer, salad, and a main course of chicken. There was a three-piece "band" playing calypso music - it was SO NICE. After lunch, we lounged on the beach, swam in the water, talked, etc. until it was time to board the boat and go back home...but before we did, we got to see a "javelina" (wild pig)! It was about the size of Kikko, but it's teeth were many and SHARP. Then we walked a few feet away and saw at least three iguanas, each about 2 feet long! They were chasing each other only a couple feet away! It was wild.

I enjoyed the sunset ride back to the dock - I visited with the MT folks again, and their two boys hung out with the crew. Ah...to be young again!

It has been an incredible trip...I am so lucky that I was picked for this trip!!!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Hola! Donde Esta Susana?

What a great day! We had a redeye flight from DEN to San Jose, Costa Rica last night - we arrived at around 6:30AM and headed to the hotel. After several hours sleep, the crew met in the lobby and walked to the grocery store next door to enjoy an amazingly cheap lunch at their cafe! Then we made a decision where four of the five of us are going to go on an all day excursion tomorrow...it's gonna be a blast!

We spent the rest of the afternoon poolside, and then went our separate ways until Happy Hour at the hotel bar - they served all kinds of FREE drinks for an hour...and then all of us, except Suzanne the other female flight attendant, took a cab into San Jose to an Asian restaurant that was amazing! Afterwards, we got into a cab to head back to the hotel, but then two of the guys decided they wanted to hang out a little longer...so the cabbie dropped them off at a bar of questionable reputation, and the male flight attendant and I headed back to the hotel. What a night!

It's hard to say much about Costa Rica, just because I haven't seen much yet. But tomorrow's trip will take us to the Pacific coast via a bus, and then onto a boat. So I'll be able to see a bit more of the country! I will be spending most of the day on the beach...

As I said earlier...I am doing this for my company! It's a tough burden to bear, but I'll survive.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

It's a Tough Job

To my faithful blog readers...

I just received a call from Crew Scheduling, and they said I had to report to DIA at 2310 (11:10PM), cause they're sending me on a 4-day trip to COSTA RICA! Ai-yi-yi-yi! Yeeehaaa! We have a 47 hour layover...I cannot believe it!

So now I have to repack my suitcase - take out the sweaters and put in some lightweight clothing and suntan lotion. Unfortunately, the beach is 2 hours away, but the two other flight attendants are more senior and may know what there is to do and may already be planning to rent a car. If not, I'll just hang out poolside for two days.

It's a DIRTY JOB, but someone has to do it! I'll suck it up for my company.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Home Sweet Home

I had another fun flight on the way home...the passengers and crew was great! We had a couple young boys that peeked into the cockpit on their way on board, and the CPT invited them into the cockpit. Both boys took turns sitting in the pilot's seat, and the CPT urged the parent to take a picture! Then the other boy took his turn. Since we don't have wings to hand out anymore, I gave each boy a smiley face pin as a momento of sitting in the cockpit.

During my safety demonstration, the man sitting in 1C was busy talking to the woman in 1A. Not only was it distracting to me, it was just downright rude. So I leaned over midway and told the guy that there'd be a quiz at the end of the demo, complete with prizes. That shut him up! When I was done, I asked the first question..."What is my name?" Neither of them could answer. They guessed and guessed and finally got it. I awarded 1C one of my lovely smiley face pins!

When we landed, I called crew scheduling and guess what? They released me to my day off! Yippee! I hightailed it to the shuttle bus to the employee parking lot before anyone could change their mind...

Daytime TV

Did you know that the "Steve Wilkos" show is outrageous? But it is addicting...you have to hang on until the end to hear "the truth" (usually the results of a lie detector test). Awful, awful, awful.

I am exhausted today - staying up late two nights in a row is taking its toll on me. So I'm just hanging out in the room, doing projects on the computer, text messaging Jen, and gradually making my way to the shower.

Crew scheduling has already told me that I'll be released to my day off when I return - I have only one day off (tomorrow) this time, and then I go back on for four days. All this is anticipation of FIVE DAYS OFF from 1/17-1/21 - I am going to attempt to non-rev to DCA and spend some time with my Mom, my sister and her family.

Remember the Alamo!

Today (or should I say yesterday) started out uneventfully... after Maury Povich identified whether or not several guys were the fathers of several kids... I headed out to take a walk around Indianapolis. What a nice city! I found a "high-rise" mall and wandered around it for awhile. I even found some $40 sweaters for only $8!!! Yippee!

As we were taking the shuttle from the hotel to the airport, I could hear my phone ringing in my tote bag...it was crew scheduling, calling me to tell me that after I returned to DEN I'd be heading to San Antonio for an overnight. But first, I needed to return to Denver!

I had my first experience with a "bossy" flight attendant on this trip... a classmate warned me ahead of time that she would walk all over me if I let her, so I was ready! There were little things during the first day of the trip that were my duties, but she "beat me to them." So today I was ready...I jumped in and did them before she could! How silly, huh? I did experience a "first" on this flight - as I was doing the final check to make sure seat backs and tray tables were up, we hit a bit of turbulence, and I almost ended up on the lap of a male passenger. As he later exited the planes, he mentioned to me that he didn't realize that Frontier provided lap dances for its passengers...

My flight to San Antonio was fun! We had only 35 or so on board, so I chatted with the passengers sitting in the front...when it was time for the safety demonstration, I told them to pay attention because there would be a test with prizes after I was finished. Sure enough, when I was done, I started asking questions..."What is my name?" "How many oxygen masks are located in the passenger unit above your seats?" "What is our flight time?" etc. etc. etc. As prizes, I gave out my little smiley face pins to the lucky winners! We had a great time!

Once at the hotel, the crew decided to join a group of gate agents who had flown out with us - they were all heading to the bar. I wasn't really in the mood to hang out in a smoky room, but to be social I joined them for an hour or so. But now I'm snug as a bug in a rug in my room, watching the evening news...it's going to be 70 degrees tomorrow!

Our shuttle bus takes us back to the airport at 2pm, so I have some free time tomorrow to sleep in, relax, and maybe go to the shopping mall across the street... But first it is time for bed!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Unexpected Surprise

Well...I flew the couch today from Noon until 6PM...when one of my coworkers called in at 6pm to be released from duty she was told that we were taking a trip! That was the last thing that I expected.

I had spoken with a classmate who had just driven in from Colorado Springs, and he said the roads between there and Denver were horrid...so this trip turned out to be a blessing!

Where did I go? I am sitting in a Sheraton Hotel in downtown Indianapolis! I am looking out my window at Monument Circle at 2AM...it is gorgeous.


This picture was taken the next morning...this was pretty much the view outside my hotel window!

I went with the crew to a "cigar bar" but couldn't handle the smoke and noise (I'm turning into an old fuddy duddy, I fear). I stayed about an hour, and when they started doing shots I decided it was time to go.

Fortunately, there is a visitor's guide in the room, so I will browse through it real quick to see if there's anything that I should go see before we have to meet our shuttle van back to the airport tomorrow at 2:25pm.

See? Didn't I say that I wanted to work on the spontaneity in my life? This is not at all where I expected to be on a Wednesday night in January...I had planned on being home watching the latest episode of Project Runway!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

No Fun in the Sun for Me!

Today is my last day off, and I agressively bid for a three-day trip leaving tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) to MCO (Orlando) and then continuing on to JAX (Jacksonville), arriving around midnight. Then there was an ALL DAY Thursday layover, and an early morning flight on Friday back to Denver...but I didn't get it! Bummer.

Instead, I'm flying the couch tomorrow from Noon until 6PM. And I am hearing on the news that another snowstorm is expected tomorrow...it could be a very interesting day!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

A Test in Spontaneity

As expected, I flew in to Denver early on Saturday morning. We had two teenaged girls on the flight who had just been in an ATV accident the previous day, and one had a broken right leg and the other had a broken left leg. During the flight I noticed that the right leg girl was not looking so good - I ended up reseating her so that she had two seats...one for her and one for her leg to be propped up. I fashioned ice packs out of plastic ziploc bags and pillowcases, and tried to keep both of them as comfortable as possible.

My two classmates, who had been with me on the Jacksonville, FL overnight trip, called in to crew scheduling first. One had the rest of the morning off, but had an overnight trip scheduled to Louisville, KY. The other got released from duty to her days off...but had to stay by her phone until 1pm.

And then I called. Let's just say that being released is not what I heard! I was told that I was going to DCA (Washington, DC) and that I was leaving immediately! So off I go to the gate...the plane was already loaded with passengers, there was a ready reserve flight attendant holding my place, and the rest of the crew was in place and ready to go! I quickly stowed my luggage, did my security briefs, and tried to get into "the swing of things."

It took me a little while to relax and figure out what the heck I was doing...I'm not yet good at that spontaneity thing! I tried to convince the Captain to release me off the plane in DCA so that I could spend the night with my Mom, but he wasn't falling for it. So when we landed in DCA we had about 50 minutes...I called my Mom to say "Hi!" and prepared the cabin for our return flight.

The other two attendants were both pretty high in seniority, and they were actually fun gals! They both had great attitudes about their jobs, fully agreeing with me that we can't believe that we get paid to do this job! We had a great time discussing the "events of the day" according to US Weekly, People and OK magazines! Girls after my own hearts! It was fun...

When I got back to DIA, I again called crew scheduling. This time I heard those magic words "We are releasing you to your days off!" Yippee! Three days of rest, lunch with friends, and time to take down the Christmas decorations!!!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Back in The Saddle Again

After spending a few days in bed, I finally got on top of the germs that were bugging me (no pun intended) and conquered them! I was off on New Year's Day and was able to take Jen to the Colorado Springs airport for her flight back to NYC. She was ready to go back. And I realized that I was ready to go back to work.

I got to "fly the couch" from noon until 6pm on Wednesday, and saw many of my classmates. I even saw Joe, the only person I hadn't yet run into. I aggressively bid for a trip and was awarded the Jacksonville, FL redeye for Thursday night! Though after I won it, I found out that the south has a cold snap! Bummer! It had been in the low 60s in Colorado, and now I was going to Florida where it was supposed to be in the 40s! What a crazy, crazy world.

On Thursday I ran a bunch of my errands, finished up a couple projects, took a short nap or two, and then made my way to the airport by 11pm. The flight left at midnight, and was pretty much full. The fun thing is that I got to fly with two of my classmates - Kelly and Taryn!

I was the flight attendant for the main part of the cabin, and had a good time passing out pillows, blankets and headsets. After the first beverage service and the warm cookie service, most everyone went to sleep, with a few exceptions. I experienced a first - the guy in 12E was one of the only ones still awake with his light on...cause he was reading a hardcore porno magazine! As I walked down the aisle, I had to do a doubletake to believe what I was seeing. Let's just say he wasn't reading the mag for it's articles...there were very few, if any, words on the page. I still can't believe that he did that. To each his own. After that, the flight really did seem to go quickly.

At the hotel, I turned my light off to go to sleep at 6am, and before you knew it, I was waking up at 2pm! How did that happen? I made some oatmeal, ate a banana, took a quick shower and then hit the road. I walked south down Hendricks to the little town of San Marco, stopping at FiFi's consignment store along the way. I browsed in several shops, had a cup of soup and a salad at Panera Bread, and then walked back to the hotel and sat along the Riverwalk while the sun set.

I guess I'm a bit pooped after having been sick for so long - that, and the fact that the bed I'm in is HEAVENLY! I'm looking forward to going to sleep again tonight, which I'll be doing soon since we have to be in the hotel lobby at 4:30am tomorrow for our flight back to Denver.

We'll arrive around 8AM, and I'll be on call until midnight. If I'm lucky, they'll release me to my days off - Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If I'm not as lucky, they'll have me fly the couch or even do a turn. The last time I came in that early they sent me to Mexico and back...whatever will be will be!