Things That Go Bump in The Night...

It has been an interesting couple of days...

Yesterday, I drove to our cabin in Breckenridge for a tiny bit of R&R. I took a nap in a swinging chair on our deck, watched a movie, ate a nice dinner, and was getting ready for bed when my phone rang.

It was Jen. And she was upset because she had just killed a bedbug. It seems that NYC is having an infestation, and they've finally found Jen's little apartment. I looked online and found a 24-hour pest control service and spoke with Ron (who just happened to be in Vegas). He did a quick run through of everything that'll need to be done before they can come in and "do their thing."

Seeing as how Jen is in the middle of finals and has a full schedule of work, I decided to be "SUPER MOMMY" and fly in a day or two earlier than I had originally planned so that we can get this show on the road. I packed up what little I had brought to the cabin, took down the dog fencing, reset the thermostats, and hit the road at around 12:30AM.

I wasn't even close to being tired...the thought of bedbugs crawling all over me was enough to keep me awake. Also, as I was heading out of Breckenridge it started snowing (but not sticking on the roads - it had been in the 50s all day), and I was behind two pick-em-up trucks who were scared...at the top of Hoosier Pass they pulled over, allowing me to go on my merry way. But you have to be careful coming down that side...there are a lot of turns with no guardrails and steep drop-offs, and the snow was still coming down.

The snow stopped before I reached Alma, but the speed limit there is 30 mph...so I creeped through town without a soul in sight. At the other end, I started speeding up - since the limit increases to 65 mph. Somewhere between there and the next town of Fairplay, I saw an elk up ahead on the left...I started slowing down...and then BAM BAM BAM!!! I was being hit by elk from both sides!!! Body parts and fur were flying - I'm guessing I was going around 40 mph by that time. I went into kind of a dream state. Was this really happening?

The car still drove fine, it was about 1AM in the middle of nowhere, so I kept on going. I called Greg to let him know and to get his advice, and he said to call the police so that they could make sure the road was clear. But before I could do that, Jen texted me an update about her bedbug issue, and I let her know that I had just hit a herd of elk. (Not a good thing to tell your daughter!) I called the cops, let them know about the carnage (someone else had already told them) and continued on my way home.

Here are a few pics - I left out the close-ups that show the bits and pieces of fur...I have a feeling that this is gonna be a bit on the pricey side.

Bumper seems to be okay, but hood and light are smooshed.

Thank God nothing flew through the windshield!

Half the windscreen is gone, and the damage on the other side...

Side mirror and windshield totaled.

Cinco de Mayo

This is not my favorite day.

I never know how I will react to it. For those of you who don't already know, I had a son named Christopher on this day 17 years ago. He was 38 weeks along, was born via an emergency c-section, and lived until the following day. His heart rate was the same as mine when I went for my 38 week check-up. The autopsy results listed the cause of death as asphyixiation, though the cord was not wrapped around his neck. We'll never know the true reason.

Anyway, on 5/5 each year I brace myself. This year, "it" hit me on the evening of 5/4. I was headed to a monthly Church potluck dinner. Had the baked casserole in my car, was starting to drive out of the neighborhood, and ended up turning around and going home. I just couldn't do it. Instead, I went outside and pulled weeds for an hour or so. Then poured a glass of wine and stayed quiet for the rest of the evening.

Today, I just laid in bed a little longer than normal. I just felt an incredible weight of sadness. I got an email from my sister-in-law & brother, telling me that they were thinking of me - and that made me cry. But in a good way.

I could not focus on anything. Finally took a shower, ate lunch, and decided to walk around a couple stores just to kill time. But while I was in the stores, I started feeling absolutely exhausted. So I turned around and went back home. I changed my Facebook status so that the world knew why I was so sad today, and promptly fell asleep for about an hour on the sofa.

Then a special friend, who lost a baby a year after me, called to see how I was doing (we talk once or twice a year - just as a reminder that "we're in this together"), and after the call I could feel the "gloom and doom" slowly slipping away. My pity party had ended.

I now have energy, hopefulness, and happiness. Another year has passed.

It's COLA Time Again!

My turn to Milwaukee yesterday went well. I had flown with one of the flight attendants before, and I remembered that she wasn't one of my favorites...she's not a real positive person. I overheard her on the crew bus telling a CPT that she needs to "just snap out of it!" on the way to the airport yesterday. The other flight attendant was nice, but she kept answering the phone when it rang (which was my duty), so I didn't know what was going on. Including right before we took off...the B flight attendant had a passenger who didn't feel well, and the two of them called the CPT right as he was ready to take off. Normally, I'd be the one to make the call, but I was usurped. Oh well.

But everything turned out okay. The passenger was fine and the CPT and I talked about what had transpired, and he said everything was handled the way that it should have been. He was a very good communicator when it came to discussing procedures.

Our return flight was a lot of fun. We had two guys in the exit row who were a hoot. One was getting married and the other was his best man - they were heading to Vegas for his "bachelor party." I chatted with them a little at their seat, and then one came up and talked with me for quite awhile. His fiance is a dentist in Milwaukee! Small world, huh? We mainly talked about places to travel to, as well as skiing in Colorado - he's skiied there since he was 10 years old.

There were two guys in the front row aisle seats that were traveling together. One slept for most of the flight, but the other worked on his computer after take-off. But before then, he would just sit there and stare. His eyes were intriguing...so it was good when I had duties to focus on and forget that he was sitting there staring. I don't think it was anything out of the ordinary, but his eyes were very light-colored...not very common.

As expected, I was released to my COLA after I was done. Woo hoo! But the drive home was so so slow...there was a military convoy in the right lane and the cars in the left lane didn't want to drive faster than 60 mph. Huh? Didn't they know that I wanted to get home?!?!

I've got lots of plans for May...

A Stand-up Stand-up!

After experiencing a so-so two-day trip, I had picked up a stand-up trip for Wednesday night to San Jose, CA. (A stand-up is a trip that has a very short layover and then turning around and going back early the next morning.) I picked up this trip earlier in the month to help cover my insurance expenses for the months that I take a COLA. But I had started to regret picking it up the closer that the trip came...after sitting at home or on the couch for most of the month, I had gotten flown five of the past six days and I was tired! But it was too late to drop the trip.

And what an awesome trip it was! The crew was so nice and friendly, I was the A flight attendant so I had lots of passenger interaction. It was good. Both of the flight attendants were great - one of them is #12 on the seniority list and she was just as nice as she could be. It turns out that the couple of flight attendants that I have issues with are also ones that she has issues with...that was refreshing to hear (it validates for me that I'm not imaging things). There was a definite "plan" for me to be on this trip to receive that validation.

After we returned to Denver, I ran into one of my flying buddies on the employee van to the parking lot, and she invited me to join her at a local Starbucks...it was fun to just sit and talk for awhile before driving back home to COS.

Today is my last day on duty for a month - and crew scheduling just called. I get to do a turn to Milwaukee this afternoon! Woo hoo! I'll be back in Denver at around 8:30PM - just in time to drive my tired little self back to COS and my own little bed.

Another Long Day

The flight back to DEN was uneventful, as were the flights to/from Portland. Our return flight from Portland had only 40 passengers, so it was really easy work. I snuck into my house at around 1:15AM and had to "wind down" before I could fall asleep.

I was thinking a lot as to why this trip wasn't as much fun as the previous one, and as I mentioned earlier, when the other two flight attendants "buddy-bid" it's tough to fit in. You're pretty much a "third-wheel." And then a few things went on that shouldn't have, and I don't like being in the position of "should I say something or should I keep quiet?" It was pretty uncomfortable.

One of the things that really ticked me off was that SOMEONE broke the seal to one of my beverage carts before I got on the plane (catering had just come and the seal was sitting on the counter, and the rest of the crew was already on board) and took a bottle of alcohol. When I asked the other ladies about it, they had nothing to say. The last time I had this issue was when I was working with a flight attendant that disliked me, and at the end of service I was missing 5 bottles of alcohol. Hmmmm. And people wonder why their meals get stolen from the freezer in the crewroom.

But I am happy to say, this "uncomfortable" feeling doesn't happen often. What I think a big part of it is, is that I've been position B during the last two trips...and that's the position with the least interaction with the passengers. I think that's what I really thrive on, and even if I have a "not-so-friendly" crew, I can make up for it by goofing off with the passengers. So...lesson learned.

Technically, I am off duty today and tomorrow, but I "picked up" a trip for tonight - a stand-up to San Jose, which will get me home tomorrow before noon. I'm trying to make a little extra money to help pay for my insurances when I take a month off. This isn't going to be the best trip, because I'll have around 6 hours in the hotel before we return to the airport. But it's a quick way to pick up a few bucks.

Well, it's almost 4PM and I'm still in my jammies...

People Watching...

I had a nice day off, even though I didn't get home until close to 2AM - and slept in until 11:30AM (a new world's record for me). I guess I was tired!

On my first day back on, Crew Scheduling called at 9AM to assign me to a 2-day trip with a showtime of 2:20PM. So I wrapped up my bill paying, card sending, etc. and headed to DIA. I looked for my crew in the crewroom, they were not there. So I headed to the plane, and there they were. It was obvious that they had flown together before...'nuf said. I was the B flight attendant again, so I had my own little world to take care of and got to deal with the passengers in the back of the plane.

There was a true cowboy on board my flight from DEN to Chicago. Tall, cute, Wrangler jeans, beautiful eyes and a nice smile. He also talked like a cowboy. But he came complete with two kids, a wife and a mother-in-law. Too bad. He was pretty to look at.

On my flight from Chicago back to DEN, there was another guy on board who we couldn't take our eyes off of...a large man, long grey hair pulled back with a scrunchie, a tight beige women's top with cap sleeves and a v-neck, very hairy chest/arms/legs, large man-boobs and a bra, women's nylon shorts, and a big ole mustache. Go figure. Real nice guy, offered to buy me a drink. It figures.

Our MDW - DEN flight had some sort of mechanical problem, so we were delayed by two hours. We had hoped that operations would pull us off our SLC overnight, but they didn't. The passengers on both the DEN and SLC flights were antsy, and we tried to pacify them with free TV...but some of the DEN passengers had connecting flights that they were going to miss. All we could do was to tell them to go to the Customer Service Desk once we landed in DEN. That's the hard thing about this job - having people get mad at you about things over which you have no control. Handling that is another of the life-skills that I am learning...

We got to the hotel in Salt Lake City at around 1AM or so...and I was exhausted. I have to be honest that this trip isn't as fun as my last one. This crew is a lot younger, there are a lot of "inside jokes," and the A and C flight attendants "buddy bid" together, so they hung out for practically the entire trip. If/when I get to the point that I can buddy bid, I hope I remember that there is a third person on the team...

Our van will leave the hotel in a couple hours...and then back to DEN we go! We then have a turn to Portland, OR, which will bring us back to DEN around midnight. I'll be sneaking into my house again in the wee hours of the morning!!!

On a Long Day...You Can Fly Forever!

Whew. Yesterday was a very long day. Flying back to Denver from Indianapolis was a bit over 2 hours. Then flying to San Francisco was a bit over 2 hours, and I have no clue how long it took to get back to Denver from San Fran...I never asked and I didn't pay attention to the clock.

It was a good ending to a good trip. The First Officer didn't do the victory lap with us (the final turn)...and he didn't say goodbye, either. Bummer. His loss.

The people on the flight to San Francisco were a tad on the needy side...I had people getting up while we were in turbulence, I had a sorority girl scoff and roll her eyes at me when I gave her only a sip of water as we were getting ready to taxi (I later explained it to her that I was supposed to be doing my safety duties and not serving beverages...), and another sorority girl who I caught stealing a can of soda from the aft galley as I was exiting the lavatory. Sheesh! I would have given it to her had she asked.

We also had SIX dogs in the cargo hold and TWO cats! Rumor had it that their cages were right next to each other...that must have been interesting.

On this trip, I was the B flight attendant - the one at the aft of the aircraft. I am responsible for the boarding announcements, safety demo and preparation for landing announcements. One thing that I have learned, is that it's best if I read the announcements (in a very animated way, of course). I do that for a reason. If I try to wing it, and I get distracted, I have no clue what I was saying and where I left off! That's a big no-no. There are things we HAVE to say per FAA regulations, and I just don't want to mess that up.

I say that, because there are lots of interruptions that happen as you're trying to make the announcements - someone only a row or two from you cannot get their bag to fit in the overhead. So I'm thinking how I can go help when I am making my announcement, and then I lose my train of thought and don't know what I'm saying! This actually happened two days ago. When I finally finished my announcement, I went to the offending bag, pulled it partway out of the overhead, and shoved it back in with "a bit" of force. The overhead door would now close, much to the amazement and enjoyment of the nearby passengers.

Yesterday, we had a pair of middle-aged women watching us serve beverages...we'd do something, and one would poke the other with her elbow and lean over and whisper. I would love to know what they were saying...probably something along the lines of how old we were! Did you know that the average age of flight attendants at our airline is 47?

I had a lot of fun with Karen and Esther on this trip! I do hope that I get to travel with them again real soon.

30,000 Firemen

When we arrived last night, our van driver told us that the Firemen's Convention was coming to a close today and that there are 30,000 firemen in town. I immediately got visions of various firemen calendars and my mind started racing. I watched out the windows as we drove the downtown streets - sure enough, Steak & Bake was packed with firemen! Groups more were heading in that direction...but seeing as how it was already after midnight AND that I'm a happily married woman, I decided to wait and do my sightseeing in the morning.

So this morning I headed out towards the Circle Centre mall. It's a beautiful, but windy, day here in Indianapolis, IN. Nice temps, just a few clouds, gorgeous. I walked all over trying to spy some firemen. Ah..there's a gaggle of them! But not quite calendar material. There's another school of them...but again, just ordinary kind of guys. So I went into the mall. Quite a few guys were at Cinnabon...but not the calendar-type. I know! How about Abercrombie & Fitch - I just saw a bunch of guys wearing firemen t-shirts walking into the store...finally, I was going to see some eye candy! I waited outside the store. A few minutes later, out they come in their blue t-shirts. But...they were heading to Cinnabon. Where the heck were all my firemen calendar guys?

Defeated, I decided to go back to my room and make lunch. Seeing as how there are 30,000 firemen in town, I figured it was safe to try out the new cooking tip that my brother, Larry, sent me via email this week. If anything went wrong, I knew help (preferably calendar-type guys) was nearby!

To do this, I needed my Flight Attendant Manual - which I opened up and then popped open the binder rings. Then I got the iron from my room and put it upside-down and wedged it into the binder rings. Then I turned the iron on.

I am currently on a "eating plan" that has all its food prepackaged. So I took my pork, veggies and BBQ sauce packets and lay them on the base of the iron. Then I covered the items with a towel. Every once in awhile I peeked to make sure that the iron wasn't melting the plastic (it wasn't). It was cool to see my pork heating through and its juices bubbling!

After several minutes of moving things around and heating through, I removed the packets, cut them open and there you have it, the perfect meal:

I'd like to thank my brother for sending me that idea. It's one that works really well. In the past, I've put my packets in the coffee pot and used its hot water but the pot is usually too small. So I sometimes use the bathroom sink and fill it with hot water and supplement with hot water from the coffee pot. And I've also used the ice bucket, filled with hot water. But none of these heated my food as nicely as the iron did!

On the Road Again!

It is amazing how "out of shape" a person can get when it comes to traveling... and I don't mean "being physically out of shape." What I mean is your tolerance level for traveling. "Back in the day," I could do a 3-day with no issues whatsoever. But last night, I was EXHAUSTED by the time we got to the hotel in Orange County. I was fighting to stay awake on the way here, and I barely got myself into bed before I fell asleep. Very strange, indeed.

My turn to San Antonio went well - I was in the B position, so I didn't have much interaction with the passengers, unfortunately. There were several screaming toddlers on our way back to DEN...one was a little girl who was just precious looking. But she had a set of lungs on her...and she didn't want her seatbelt fastened. But by the end of the flight, I was praising her for being such a big girl and wearing a big girl seatbelt! She was on my next flight to Orange County, and I didn't even know it!

We had a great crew on the first turn, and kept everyone except for the C position - I've flown with her before, and she's a fun-loving gal, but has toned down some since the last time we flew - is on for the rest of the trip. The new C is a really nice gal - friendly, hard worker. All three of us make a good team, which, as I've said before, can make or break a trip...

Our CPT had been to our OC hotel before, and knew that the "good rooms" were in the next building over - there's a microwave and fridge, as well as a JETTED BATHTUB. Wow. So he called ahead, and requested rooms in the "upgraded building" and we got 'em! It's a nice room. And in looking around, it'd make a nice studio apartment!

We're here until 2PM, and then it's time to go back to the airport and fly back to DEN. More later!

My Lucky Red, Red Robin was Bob-Bob-Bobbing!

This morning as I was getting the newspaper, an adorable chubby red robin was actually bob-bob-bobbing right in front of me! He was so cute, and of course, I've been singing his song all morning.

And he brought me luck! I got called for a 3-day trip...unheard of. It's been very slow "at the office" and to get a multi-day trip is a real SCORE! Especially this one - I have a show time of 2PM at DIA and will do a quick turn to San Antonio, TX. Then afterwards, we'll go to Orange County, CA for the night - nice! We'll leave there around 2PM on Friday and go back to Denver. Next, we'll do an overnight in Indianapolis, IN - another nice layover! We'll leave there at around 3PM on Saturday, fly back to Denver and then do a San Francisco victory lap before getting into Denver at around 11:30PM. Whew.

I'll be in the B position, which is in the back of the plane, and I'll make all the announcements - it's also a position that keeps busy! Yippee! The only thing I don't like is that there isn't as much interaction with the passengers...but I'll just have to get my butt out of the galley and mingle, mingle, mingle!

This is a GREAT trip, and I am so glad that it was awarded to me, except for one thing...I'm gonna miss Mr. Bud's memorial service on Saturday. That breaks my heart. But he knows how much he meant to me and my family...and I've told his family many stories, so they know, too. Besides, I'll be closer to him up in the skies!

Watch this blog...I actually may have a few stories to share with you from this trip!