Monday, December 24, 2007

The gypsy flies from coast to coast; Knowing many, loving one, bearing sorrow, havin’ fun

So this is Christmas, and what have we done?

I've done alot it seems the last couple days. I spent Saturday and Sunday in Montgomery with my lovely girlfriend, who can occasionally, on rare occasions, be a bitch but I love her regardless. And before you guys and girls jump down my throat, you should know those are her exact words and even she suggested I make it the subject line! I thought that a bit much, and besides the bitch part is not true.

I would like to take the time to tell the good people of the Coweta County Roads Department they suck. And fix that car swallowing hole in front of the QT on highway 34, it nearly got me. I'm not completely convinced parts of my transmission are still littering the road to PTC from an encounter with said gaping void.

Now, to more festive things, It's technically Christmas Eve now, and I'm feeling quite festive. I have the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on TV (does anyone know if you have to be Mormon to be in the choir?), and I have a cold glass of Sweetwater Festivus Ale! And my stocking is hung by the chimney with care.

I have already received wondeful gifts from Susan, the best of which was seein her face when she opened hers. That makes me happy that she approved.

So, for now its laundry and productive things before mom's big breakfast on Christmas morn and the dreaded drive to Louisville that afternoon. ANd for the first time in years, I have no shopping that needs to be done on Christmas Eve! I may go to a mall just to watch the flock of men meandering in such foreign territory looking for that perfect, or just adequate, gift for their wives and the chaos that ensues.

And nwo that 2007 is coming to close, its almost that time we reflect on the past year plan for the one ahead. Don't worry, I'm going to do that now. I have a lot of down time in Kentuckiana to do that later. But I think it may be the time to launch my presidential bid for the 2012 campaign. Apparently it's never to early to start such things. And possibly plan for what resolutions I'm going to make, then totally fail to achieve. I have yet to touch foot on Africa or learn to play the guitar. But those are both candidates for 08. If not Africa, jsut some traveling, and I'm damn well getting Susan a passport and dragging her with me. If its only to Canada but she's leaving the country!

So, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and hope for everyone to stay safe while traveling. I've seen an above average number of wrecks on the roads this year and reminds me how much we risk just driving. Everyone please careful.

I also know that the subject line is not the exact words from the song, but I changed one to make it more appropriate to me.

Friday, December 21, 2007

First, the airing of grievances

First, the airing of grievances
Current mood: ninja
It's 4 days to Christmas and I'm almost completely done shopping. One more item to picj up, and then after that.. wrap it up! 'm bck home in beautiful Metropolitan Peachtree City, and once again squeezing a ton of activites into a short period.

This morning I did my great good Christmas deed, Rushing Grace to the airport to make her flight. Everyone seems to be leaving town today. I go tomorrow, always a littl behind as usual. But yes, after her stressful morning, We got Grace sent off.

I also tried to get Jersey sent off, but as of the last report her plane was delayed because the mechanice wasn't signing something. Good times!


Other than that, not much happening, I discovers yesterday my brother and I are giving mom the same gift fo christmas. So she has 2 of them. At least its an item one can have two of and not be too strange. I guess great minds do think alike, or we both arrived at the same conclusion that mom has almost everything so theres a very limited selection of gifts.

I have just finished wrapping most all the gifts, and noticed that all the items currently wrapped up are for females. Susan, Grace, and the nieces. Guys just don't tend to buy things fr otehr guys. Well, not completely true, I did pick up a couple items for the roommates. I think I may have grown up a little. I remember being a child and thinking it was so great tog et all the free toys. Now, ost my enjoyment comes from getting things for the people around me, and hopefully bringing a smile to their faces. So i suppose I've come around to beleiving that it is better to give than receive.

However, I don't want anyone to get the impression I don't enjoy receiving Christmas presents!!!

Other than that, I want everyone to have a safe season on the airways and highways.

And for those people out there who are bent on the political correctness, I want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakuh (though its over), Joyous Kwanzaa, and a Happy Festivus!

Later Kids!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Yes, if my friends jumped off a bridge, I would do it to.

I tend to watch a lot of Seinfield and Friends episodes these days. Which I find amusing since I never watched Seinfield when it was on network TV during the first run episodes, And Friends was sporadic a best due to my job at the time But I do enjoy those episodes. After this past weekend's shopping expedition and following extravaganza at the TanJoe Manor, I kind of felt I was living in some bizarre mix of these two shows, only without having crammed days worth of time into 30 minutes. Not that we didn't try.

A lot of the things that we end up doing either gravitate around chilling around one persons apartment or result from a random phone call, or more often text message, that beings "Hey, whatcha doing?" And from there it can either be a 5 person shopping trip, for what I still don't know, or being made to pretend I'm Santa Claus in the hopes of inspiring good behavior in 1st graders.

So, I wonder if I'm the only one in the world who gets to be part of a odd and eclectic group of people like I have accumulated as friends. We all seem to have some minor neurosis and odd behavioral quirks, and how we don't break down into fights and/or tears more often I don't know. But I do know I have a hell of a lot of fun with them. Even if it's only proving I have masterful knowledge of useless stuff in an obviously biased battle of the sexes trivia game, though I must acknowledge Kats incredible wealth of useless information.

UNfortunately, this period of my life will end, and I'll grow further form this group, as with other groups of miscreants i once associated with, hopefully only to join another group of random people who for some reason just seem to click in that time and place. Luckily we have Myspace and email to keep people apprised of whats happening in our lives long after our group has been spread in the wind to the 4 corners of the earth. And we can occasionally reminisce with each other over the distnce about the random events and adventures that we may have shared... trekking the streets of Allentown PA looking for a liquor store (at the age of 16) and skunk encounters, trips to PI with Jose Cuervo, playing randomly invented card games in steerage, french fry fights in the living room, playing catch in the back of an empty MD-11 while cruising over the North Atlantic, and seriously, who drinks the Gold Rush out of Corona's???

So, if the the writers of those sitcoms we tend to hover around had ever hung out with me, we'd have a hell of a show in production. ANd I could not work chasing down phone numbers for fire fighters in Madras, India or trying to determine the difference between a RAIL and SFL. I plan to keep in touch no matter where we all end up, to the best of my abilities.

On a more mundane note, for the first time in a long while, I flew into some really crappy weather coming home last night. Low clouds and about 3/4 mile visibility. After a 45 minute wait to get the paperwork to say the dent in the wing was OK, we experienced an airborne tour of Southern Indiana for 25 minutes, not that it mattered, we couldn't see through the clouds. Only to burst out of said clouds 300 feet or so about the ground in rain and mist. And the most interesting part, it was one of the smoothest landing I've ever experienced. Of course, that could have been because the pilots didn't touch controls (figuratively speaking, their hands were on them but they weren't manipulating them) but let the plane do the landing all by itself.

If you've never watched a plane fly itself, its kewl... I recommend it. I've also started Christmas shopping, yes I know.. way early. And I got my mom's gift, which is usually the hardest thing to come up with. This year's challenge... Susan.

And just so its clear Susan, I love you more!

Time to find track down some dinner.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Oh the weather outside is frightful..

Oh the weather outside is frightful..
OK, so I think Grace has a valid point, when have I ever kept a new years resolution. And unlike the past airlines I've worked for, brown isn't going to only serve South America for a month or so then give it up. Not a true "fly-by-night" company I'm used to working for. So, looks like PTC for the weekend.

But only because I can drag Grace out christmas shopping with me :-D.

So I normally don't rseort to Christmas tunes for subject lines, but since it is actuall snowing outside right now, I thought it appropriate. And I'm feeling very winterish with my peppermint mocha and snowy weather... and b snowy I really mean some flurry action. Still, thats more snow then I saw all last year.

Other things that are amusing me right now.. theres a guy 3 tables down with an HP laptop and an Apple sticker on it. I think he's confused. And some (catholic?) schoolgirls just walked out, complete with the plaid skirts. The funny part is, they had sweat pans on under them. That sorta defeats the point of the uniform. Maybe it's time for the Catholic church to recognize short pleated skirts on teenage girls is 1) feeding a perversion and 2) ridiculous to expect when its 30 degrees outside.

Thats all I got for today.

Should I stay or should I go now!

I have found myself with a long weekend ahead of me, and I've sort of been kinda down about it, mainly due to not seeing Susan. It'll be 3 weeks separation, and thats the longest we've been apart and it sucks (sorry for my lack of eloquence). I've managed to arrange transportation for the weekend in the metro PTC area, and then I started thinking at work. I had a lot of downtime tonight and my mind was running rampant with random thoughts. And then it came to me...

I had one real resolution for 2007. As the year is running out, I've managed to not complete said resolution. For those of you who don;t remember, go back about 100 blogs and find the January ones. Or I'll just tell you.

There are 7 continents on this planet. Six of them are readily accessible, Antarctica being the odd one that doesn't really have a booming tourist economy or regularly scheduled air service. Of the 6 remaining, I have set foot on 4. My goal was to hit th other two. I have not.

So, the opportunity to at least complete 50% of the gal is lying ahead of me. I could jump out after work and head south, Ecuador or Colombia are real possibilities. The big hold up currently is finances. And that I don't get to hit Buenos Aires like I wanted, and would settle for Guyaquil or Bogota. Bogota has a current advantage as there's a Hard Rock Cafe there, with a pin to add to the collection.

SO my loyal readers, any ideas. Run up some credit card bills on hotels and venture to the equator or head home for Taco Mac and Tanya's Birthday. Such Choices...