Earthquakes and Hurricanes, oh my!

Gosh, it seems like Fairbanks was so long ago! I had my week's vacation after that...I don't remember what I did! During those days, though, I celebrated my birthday! Oh wait, I DO REMEMBER part of what I did! I went to VEGAS! Over 1 1/2 years ago, I purchased tickets to see Celine Dion in Vegas before she ended her summer run. Jen and James met me there and we had a wonderful weekend! It was VERY HOT. And while we were there, it RAINED! And boy, when it rains, IT RAINS. Very heavy, for about 10 minutes or so, and then it was gone. Unfortunately, it causes flash floods in some areas, but nonetheless, the locals all ran outside and were so happy!

While we were in Vegas, some major family drama erupted. Very damaging family drama. I'm feeling destroyed by this. Very nasty things were put into writing that were directed at me and Jen, and it is so very hurtful. But, as usual, we're being told to "turn the other cheek" and just move on. I have no cheeks left (face or butt...well, I WISH I didn't have as large of butt cheeks as I do... but that's a whole 'nother story). Anyway, I am not a believer of "cutting all ties" or "never talking to someone" ever again, but I'm feeling that's what's happening to me. The sad thing is, is that NO ONE will stand up for me. NO ONE. Status quo, unfortunately.

The following weekend, I had a layover in NYC and was able to meet Jen and James for brunch in their city! We went to an "upscale" Mexican restaurant, and it was delicious! After a short visit, it was time for me to go back and hit the skies again. My next night was in SLC, and I did a whole lotta nothing while I was there.

When I got back home on 8/22, I couldn't go to sleep right away. So I stayed downstairs playing on the computer. At approximately 11:45PM I heard a very weird noise and a weird shaking or "rolling." It turns out that there was a 5.3 earthquake centered near Trinidad, CO. Wow! The next morning I did a "walkabout" around the house to see if there was any damage to the house, and I found that our garage floor is now cracked. Lovely. I will have to call the insurance company (yes...we've had earthquake insurance ever since we bought this house).

With the earthquake behind me, we prepared for the hurricane - I was scheduled to fly in/out of DCA and LGA during the hurricane. Hmmmm. I wasn't too thrilled about that. First, however, I had an overnight in DCA. Fortunately, we were a day or two ahead of the storm, so I was able to enjoy a nice visit with Greg's parents and one of my longtime girlfriends, Kathy. It was so good to catch up! We visited for awhile, went out to lunch at the Olive Garden, and then it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready to fly back to Milwaukee and then on to LGA.

We (the crew) were not happy about the pending LGA trip. Mainly because, the city of New York was shutting down the entire MTA (subway and bus) system at noon on Saturday. I was really bummed - I had planned on another brunch with Jen and James, and we were going to meet up with my sister, Nancy and a longtime family friend, Sister Barbara. They were going to be in town to have lunch and see "Jersey Boys" - but everyone's plans got changed. Broadway canceled all its shows for Sat/Sun, Nancy and Sister Barbara canceled their day trip to NYC, and since the MTA was shut down, I had no way to get to see Jen and James. Our return flight was scheduled to leave at 5:49PM on Saturday night, and then the flight got canceled because the City was closing the airport at noon. Fortunately, our company put us on a flight out of NYC at 11:59AM - thank goodness! We had over 20 crew members that were being "evacuated." We were originally scheduled to go to Denver, but we eventually got there via Milwaukee! I had already decided to stay at a friend's condo north of Denver - because I was starting another 3-day trip the next day. So I got to settle in for a quiet evening with a much shorter drive.

I was so glad that this 3-day ended. It started out just fine, and then little-by-little, things started going wrong. The other two flight attendants were "picking" on me. I'm not sure what I did to tick them off, but they thought that having me do all the work was funny. One of the flight attendants fit the stereotype of a flight attendant - she was inseparable from another crew member, and she let passengers know when she thought they were attractive. A little bit of flirting is fine, but practically throwing yourself at someone is a bit harder to take. I even asked her if she wanted me to leave (she was flirting pretty heavily with the passenger in seat 1D, and yes...he was cute, but she was over-the-top), as we were getting ready to take off! Sheesh. Talk about feeling like a third wheel.

Today's trip will be with two of my classmates, so hopefully it will be much better because we'll all work well together. I just wonder who our Captain and First Officer will be. My fingers are crossed.

I am very happy that no one that I know was injured or lost any property due to either the earthquake or the flood. Let's hope that the natural disasters stop for awhile!