Score!

Can it really be? A total of 11 days has passed since my last duty day - I spent a total of six days off and five sick days fight this stupid swine flu, or whatever it really was. Sheesh. Once the fever broke, I spent a couple days absolutely exhausted and fell asleep at the drop of a hat! Incredible.

But some good things happened during these 11 days at home...I was able to nursemaid my hubby when he had his hand surgery this past Tuesday. He didn't really need me, but I wanted to be there for moral support and to show him that I love him. But the sick boy managed to convince the surgeon to let him stay awake and WATCH the surgery. OMG. How did I ever manage to get hooked up with this guy?

Anyway, he's been spending the past several days sitting at the kitchen island reading magazines - dental journals, R/C magazines and Smithsonian magazines. Read, read, read. I'm not used to having him around where I can see him. But he's going absolutely stir crazy. His cast comes off on Monday and unfortunately, I won't be able to be there...but I already know he'll be back in his workshop and on the computer before we know it!

Finally, on Friday I managed to stay awake the entire day! Woo hoo! So I did not call in sick for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. And what do you think happened? Crew Scheduling called, of course! At 8:30PM on Friday night, they called to assign me to a trip with a showtime of 0707. All they told me was it was a turn to SLC, an MCO overnight, a LAS overnight and then a MKE turn on Monday. Score! An MCO overnight?!? Unheard of!

It turns out that we were bringing our newest Airbus 320 to Orlando and the DirecTV factory to turn on the TV screens. We'll fly back tomorrow on a smaller plane after a new crew brings it in from DEN - that crew will get to be our passengers! Lucky!

Since we were working on the 320, we had four flight attendants, and I felt like the "odd man out" for sure. Also, my horrendous cough kind of kept others away from me, too! Oh well. We have a 21 hour layover here in MCO, but all I wanted to do when I got to the hotel room was find a microwave and heat up my food, eat it, and watch the final couple episodes of Season One of "Six Feet Under." Now that I've done that, I'm seriously thinking about going to sleep!

Tomorrow, if the weather is good (it is storming outside right now), I hope to sit outside at the pool and relax. Maybe take a few pictures. Or maybe stay in bed until we have to leave to go back to the airport at 3:30PM! Who knows? It's nice not having to do anything...

On that note...I think I will sign off for the night. My eyelids are getting heavy, and I'm realizing just how tired I really am. I definitely do not want to relapse, so I had better get my beauty sleep.

Swine Flu

My four days off (which I originally planned on spending in Maryland with my Mom and sister, Diane, but cancelled when I couldn't figure how to fly back in time to go back to work) ended up as one day of play and three days of fighting the Swine Flu. Lovely. I am now "on sick leave" for my two duty days of Saturday and Sunday.

Today is day four of this piggy foolishness, and I'm feeling a lot better - more alert mentally and not as tired. But the low-grade fever is still draining me. I went to the doctor yesterday (only because their front desk people told me to come in when I called)...but there's nothing they can do at this point - I have to be dying or unable to breathe.

I have this incredible urge to take a mud bath, and I'm really not in the mood to eat any bacon.

A Mango "Blast" - No Joke...

Before I left ATL yesterday, I stopped at the Smoothie shop next door to the gate and bought a "Mango Blast" smoothie...it was only 90 calories (made from Splenda). Delicious! But...it was also fairly fast acting. By the time we got up into the air, my gut was cramping and filling with gas! I needed to get into that lav, and fast! I won't go into detail, but I would say that my body does not like Splenda. The entire flight was rather uncomfortable...as was the drive home. But at least I was going home. All's well today. Word to the wise...watch out for Splenda. It can be NASTY.

I got my hair cut today, picked up and dropped off some dry cleaning, had my jeweler look at some "broken" jewelry, and got a new cell phone (a very easy one - nothing fancy for me!!!). And just now, I went out to check the mail, and these guys were hanging out a few doors up the street...

Fun and Games on Planes

Before I get into today's topic, here's a picture of an item I found at "Unusual Jack's" at the mall in Canton, OH. It is a life-sized Betty Boop umbrella stand - wouldn't it look awesome in Jen's apartment in NYC?!?!?!

I continue to have fun with the crew...CPT Bob and FO Dusty are laid-back and relaxed, and lots of fun to work with, as are the two flight attendants, Bill and Lynda. But on last night's flight to ATL, CPT Bob's true colors started showing...

During his boarding announcement, he told the passengers that "our airline has some of the best flight attendants in the business, but that unfortunately, none of them could be on this flight." Then he went on to introduce "Bob in the front, Lynda in the middle of the aircraft, and for reasons that will soon be apparent, we keep Susan in the back." Hmmm. Revenge consumed me for the rest of the flight. I told the CPT and FO to be sure to listen in after we landed.

As payback, after we landed and after Bill made his landing announcement, I told the passengers that "CPT Bob and FO Dusty had been selected as the "Flight Deck of the Month" for the month of August." I also said that it "was a very important award, and that we hoped that we'd have them with us for many, many years to come." Lastly, I asked them to "congratulate these guys on their way off the plane." When I finished my announcement, the entire cabin broke out into a round of applause!

I later found out that CPT Bob and FO Dusty did not listen in to my announcement and didn't hear the round of applause, so they were a bit confused as passenger after passenger stopped to congratulate them and pat them on the back as they left the aircraft! I think Bill and Lynda let them in on the joke - but the guys didn't seem to mind. In fact, they seemed to really eat it up! What was even funnier is that as we were walking down the airport concourse, we ran into a couple of passengers from our flight - and the guy was so excited!!! He ran up to FO Dusty and patted him on the back, and then he stood back and clapped as we walked by.

We will soon be leaving the hotel to fly back to DEN. That is where my adventure with this crew ends, because I have the next four days off. It's always sad when I've had a lot of fun and I have to leave the trip for whatever reason...I wonder if CPT Bob and FO Dusty have any farewell activities planned for me on this flight back to Denver?

Chillaxin' in Canton/Akron

Yesterday, I was assigned a three-day trip! My first trip in 10 days...I was beginning to wonder if crew scheduling had forgotten about me. I think I had accumulated a lot of hours very quickly, and they were catching everyone else up - that's why I got an unexpected "vacation" at home (if you can call it that - which, if you have ever been on reserve, know that you can't).

Anyway, I got the call at 8AM to be at DIA at 11:35AM. Now THAT'S my kind of short-call. Lots of time to eat breakfast, read the paper, shower, dress, and drive to Denver in a leisurely manner. The crew is a very fun one, and it's a very high-seniority type trip, so I was confused as to why it became available...it turns out that the flight attendant who had it, John Bramley, went missing on Thursday night. He never returned home after a hike on Longs' Peak. A body was found at the bottom of the Peak on Friday morning, and the assumption is that it is his...I will never, ever again jump to conclusions when I receive an assignment.

Back to the trip - we did a turn to Dallas and then an overnight to Canton/Akron (I have no idea why the airport has two city names...). I like his hotel because it is right behind a large Target strip mall and across the street from a large indoor mall. I had a birthday gift card from my Mom for Macy's - and I bought a nice pair of gold/silver earrings (thanks, Mom!) and I went to Sears and got three Lands' End summer tops for a TOTAL of $9. I love end of season sales!

Walking back to the hotel, I decided that Ohio men are blind...I got wolf-whistled at in the parking lot of the mall! Sheesh. Or maybe I should be honored?

Gotta go - time to shower and dress for my flight back to Denver. Then it's on to Atlanta for the night...

Adam to the Rescue!

Today is the 8th anniversary of my nephew Adam's death (motorcycle accident). I spoke with his Dad (my brother Larry) and his Stepmom (Brenda) this morning, and they told me how they plan on honoring Adam's memory today.

Apparently, they have recently been visiting the local ASPCA to try and find a new dog for a patient who recently lost his. In the process, they found a new dog for themselves (no surprise there) and they found a rescue organization near Charlottesville, VA that will take two of the dogs that are on the ASPCA's "death row!" The only problem is, is that the rescue has no way to transport the dogs from the ASPCA to their facility in Charlottesville.

That's where Adam comes in...in honor of how much he loved dogs, Larry and Brenda will be transporting the two dogs to their new life and home.I think Adam would be very pleased to be remembered in this way!

Old Photos

During one of my trips to Chicago, my cousin Randy gave me some photos that he found in his parents' home - here are two of them...

My beautiful Mom.

My beautiful Mom on her wedding day. Her bridesmaid is Pat Seaman, and her two flower girls are my cousins, Jackie Rickman and Pat Routh.

And just for the fun of it, here's a picture I found of me and Greg.

This was taken in the late 80's at a German gasthaus during an outing with other dentists from Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany.

It's amazing that we will be celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary in less than two months!

I'm Not Leaving on a Jet Plane...

In less than two hours, I will have completed four days of 24/7 duty. And what did I do during those four days? Not a whole heck of a lot.

On Saturday, the first day, I sat the B shift on the couch (Noon until 6PM). That's it. I never got called on Sunday, Monday or today. And trust me...I am not complaining. I actually got to go to Church on Sunday!! Granted, I clutched my phone (which was on vibrate) during the entire service, and I had all my bags packed and stowed in my car, and my uniform in a hanging bag, all ready to drive to Denver.

However, it is rather hard to do things around the house when you're on call. I don't want to work in the yard and work up a sweat because I wouldn't have enough time to shower, dress and get to the airport if they call. Same goes for taking a long walk or a bike ride...just can't be done when you're tied to your home base.

But I finally did focus on getting Greg's corporate taxes ready to take to the CPA, and I actually delivered the information to her this afternoon. What a great feeling of relief!

I have tomorrow off, and then I'm back on for four days. I have a feeling that I'll be sent out this time around...I have worked 16 hours so far this month, and I know lots of reserves have probably exceeded that amount by now.

Rumor has it that the furloughed flight attendants have been given notice that they will be invited back soon - that'd be awesome! Then all we need is to have a few new hire classes and I can climb right up that seniority list! Yahoo! I can hardly wait to know in advance where I'm going and how long I'll be gone! And to be able to drop, pickup and trade trips...that is going to be so awesome! I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

While sorting through tons and tons of paperwork today, I came across a couple old photos Greg, Jen and me! Enjoy!

Jen in Lucerne, Switzerland

Jen taking a walk in the Marktplatz outside our apartment building.

Jen in Colorado, sitting in the chair given to her

by my good friends, Rick and Paula.

Jen's Halloween costume - my jeans,

and her "western" clothes made a cute cowgirl!

The three of us visiting my brother at his former home on the Chesapeake Bay.

It was taken in my skinnier days...

Weirdest Assignment to Date

There I was on Wednesday, keeping a low profile at home, hoping that my cell phone would stay quiet and still. No such luck...at 3:11PM, crew scheduling calls to assign me to a trip for that night. During the minute or two it took to give me the details, all I heard were A320, position D, stand-up, Omaha, new crew on the return. Huh? I'm not usually incoherent at 3 in the afternoon, but I had to ask him to repeat himself because none of this made any sense.

We don't usually fly Airbus 320s to Omaha. We don't usually do stand-ups to Omaha. And usually the entire crew does the stand-up, not just one person. But I got all three. I met my outbound crew at 6:55PM in Denver - our flight was delayed until 8:20PM, which is not good news for me, because that's cutting into my sleeping time! I knew two of the flight attendants from previous flights - Glenn and Sara, and we all got along well. It was a really short flight (1 hour - all stand-ups should be like that), and we got to the hotel at around 11PM. While the rest of the crew made plans to meet up in the bar, I did a "slam, click" after I got to my room.

By the time I turned off the light, it was 11:30PM and I had to be downstairs for the van back to the airport at 4:45AM. SHORT NIGHT. Yuck. But I am woman. I am Super Suzie Stewardess. And I did it. On the way back, one of my classmates, Nancy, worked the front of the plane and I also got to work with Josie and Susan - a great bunch of ladies for so early in the morning!!! I got back into Denver at 6:30AM and got released for the rest of the day!!! AND I was off today anyway!

BUT...after driving home (and eating something the entire way - that helps to keep me fat and awake), I realized how exhausted I was. So I laid down on the chaise lounge by the stream in the backyard, and with only a few interruptions (like Kodi sticking his nose in my eye to see if I was still alive, and Kodi running away with my cell phone charger), I slept for three hours. Nice.

I'm back on duty starting tomorrow for four days. There were four four-day trips on the board for tomorrow, but two have disappeared. I guess I will have to see what I get from crew scheduling later on today...

A Quiet Day at Home? Hahahahahaha!

Silly me. To think that I'd have a nice quiet duty day at home...NOT! At 7:11AM my cell phone rang. The caller ID said "Unknown," otherwise known as Crew Scheduling. Arrrrrggggghhhhh. I really wanted to stay at home and work on Greg's office books. Oh well. I was told by the crew scheduler that I had a two-hour short call, and that I had a 9:15AM show time for a turn to Orlando. Lovely. I was polite and cordial, and then hung up the phone.

Let's just say that I started throwing on clothes (I was in my jammies) and threw a little fit when I got upstairs. I am ashamed of the unladylike things I said to Greg. I did call him on the way to DIA and I apologized for my outburst. My tirade was not directed at him...but I was so disappointed that I had to go back in to work. I love my job, but it was the first day of the new "month" for us and I'm at the bottom of the list...I thought there would be no way that I would be picked.

Oh well. I sucked it up and smiled when I introduced myself to CPT Jim and FO Cheryl. I was in the A position, and decided to enjoy my passengers. On the way to Orlando, I walked by a passenger, a nice elderly gentleman, and he had drawn a cartoon character on the back of our napkin. I stopped and told him how much I liked it, and he gave it to me!

I sure wish that I could draw like this! I hung it up in my galley for the rest of that flight and it stayed there on my return flight to Denver after spending 45 minutes in Orlando.

On the way back, my Row 1 was full...they were a fun-loving bunch - three women on one side, and a family with a toddler and an infant on the other side. By the end of the flight back to Denver, I had handed out my smiley face pins to each and every person in Row 1. They put on their pins and wore them proudly! I thanked them for making my flight so enjoyable.

I am off today, but my mind if all befuddled. Again, I'm hoping that crew scheduling forgets all about me during my next two duty days...but I have a sneaking feeling that they know where I live!