When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you know why you came this way.

Back at work tonight, and I can't say how much I would rather be on Vacation. SO, I'll use this as a nice summary of events over the past couple weeks. I took a journey down under to Melbourne and Sydney. For the first time in I don't know when, I bought and paid for a plane ticket. Confirmed seat, and even though I tried to sweet talk my way into business class, I was relegated to seat 49F. Apparently, if I would have non-revved or was a jumpseater I would have most likely been moved up. Sad ain't it.

Also, being a plane person I feel I should describe the Boeing 777. Wasn't too horribly uncomfortable.. Well at least not for the first few hours. Being used to flying cargo planes and in the cockpits of RJ's, the touchscreen movie, TV, music, and games feature was a lot of fun. FYI, apparently they don't edit the movies on planes like they used to. I watched Caddyshack on the trip back and was surprised to see topless scenes left in. Nice!

Anyways, about six hours into the flight I popped a couple Tylenol PM, ate a sandwich, and crashed. I woke up in time to change clothes, enjoy the tasty breakfast (airline food is the same everywhere), and fill out the customs forms. Why they hand out customs forms an hour after departure and say not to lose them is a mystery… any idea how strewn about things can be after 14 hours on a plane? I do.

I wish I would have gotten the passenger next to me's email. He had just graduated with his masters in architecture and couldn’t find a job. Thus, he decided to take off and be unemployed in Australia for a year. I'm jealous a little. When I asked his plans, he had none other than 2 weeks of a hostel in Sydney reserved. Awesome!

After getting into Sydney, I stood in line for 2 hours or so to check in for my flight to Melbourne. I found it amusing how much more relaxed they are down there at the airports. None of this taking shoes off or interrogation at the checkpoints. Very smooth, very relaxed, barely a line. And amazingly the whole flying thing was a lot less stressful. Leaving Melbourne was even better.

So, I left Louisville at 4 pm on Wednesday, and I landed in Melbourne at about noon on Friday. Thursday didn't exist for me.

I made my way to my gracious host's apartment, and she had been very nice and gotten me a tram pass. Using the Melbourne tram system is an art, and I managed to only get on the wrong one a few times. They are great for of mass transit if you have no time deadlines, or really destination to get to. I would have killed for a pocket map of the routes. But alas, I muddled my way through. The time in Melbourne was nice. I made sure to go have a drink with Chloe on arrival…

A little background on Chloe. Apparently this painting of a young, nude girl was once hanging in a local art museum, until it was forced to be removed by those persons with strong Victorian (the time period, not the state) sensibilities had it removed from public display, to save the children's eyes from falling upon it. AT this time, a pub owner bought it and hung in the pub. I can only assume this happened around the end of the 19th century. Now, fast forward to 1999 and a young starry eyed southern boy was preparing for his first trip abroad, which was going to be Australia (later changed to Europe due to scheduling conflicts). I mentioned one day while getting a haircut to my barber that I was about to head down. And older gentleman waiting his turn for a haircut told me I should go find a pub there in Melbourne, where they had a huge painting of a naked woman on the wall (huge I guess is an art term for 6 feet tall). Apparently he had been there during his army days back during the Korean War or something. So I found her, and ever since I make a point to go have a couple there.

I spent the next couple days exploring Melbourne city and surrounds. Gaie and I took a nice wine tour up into the Yarra valley. I'm not a wine connoisseur by any means, but we were instructed on the process of sampling and what to look for. What I got out of this was mostly that the wine country outside Melbourne is beautiful and that you should drink the wines you like, not worrying what's proper for what meal. I apparently like Port, or similar fortified wines. I also like a few other ones. I seemed to like more and more as we went on… could be the large amount consumed. It was very educational and interesting. Not to mention nice to see the country side.

Other must see destinations in Melbourne… the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The MCG is apparently (and I learned this on the tour) the center of sport history and tradition of Australia. Also one of the largest stadiums in the world, dating back to 1853 when the original grounds were established, it can hold the capacity of the the Birds Nest Stadium and the Water Cube from the Beijing Olympics, and still have an entire upper level empty. It's a lot of people. It's a very nice stadium, and i walked on the "hallowed ground" on the field where they play Aussie Rules Football ( a game I don't get, it's like a violent padless form of US football with less rules), Rugby ( another game I don't exactly understand but seems to be ridiculously popular as the entire city of Sydney shut down to watch a game while I was up there), and Cricket (which is like "baseball with out the steriods… one match lasts 5 days and there may not even be a winner at the end").

Also, I love how Melbourne has what look like these little dark alleys where they've just set up cafes and bistros. You would think you might get mugged walking down the crevasses between the buildings, but there in the middle are tables and some really fine food establishments. Also take a walk by the river, more good dining options (though more expensive) and street performers. Seems the people of Melbourne like to eat.

Next it was off to Sydney for a couple days. I do love Sydney, there's something that just strikes you when you exit the train at Circular Quay and see the Opera house gleaming to the right and the Harbour Bridge reaching out on your left. I was feeling a little homesick and ready to get back until I got down to the rocks that night. I went down to the Mercantile Hotel (hotels are often just pubs), and sat down next to three gentlemen who I shortly discovered were the UPS crew on layover. You can spot pilots in public easily once you know what to look for, and being in a bar increases your chances… to paraphrase Brian from Family Guy " An airplane.. Where there's a plane there's an airport, and where there's an airport there are pilots, and where there's pilots there's a bar".

Next "hotel" down they had live music signs out. Everywhere seems to have people playing music there. I really dig that. While there, I met a couple of girls also visiting Sydney, Swanny from Germany and Erica from Minneapolis (via Vancouver). We ended up closing the place down that night and having a generally grand time. Of course more Americans showed up, and now I have new Facebook friends :-). It was a fun time… and really got the "this is why I travel" feeling. That and the great beer…

Oh I nearly forgot that… back in Melbourne I ventured out ti the Carlton & United brewery. That's where the Victoria Bitter comes from… and it is soooo yummy. I went on a work holiday, which they were nice enough to compensate me for with 2 extra schooners ( 12 Oz glass) of free beer. I tell you the Aussies know how to make you feel welcome.

Anyways, back to Sydney.. My last full day I took off to Manly for lunch and to head to the beach. Even though it was cool out (low 60's) there were still people swimming and surfing. Insane. This was the day I totally kicked my diet to the curb and had some fish and ships for lunch.. I spent the afternoon shopping for a few souvies, wandering around the Rocks (the original settlement of Sydney), and then back to repack for the early morning departure. A visit to the Kings Cross area ((which looks to have been cleaned up since last time I was there… no hookers or junkies bothered me this time), and then back to Scubar for some more music (and rugby) before settling in.

And not to leave Oz with out at least one lasting impression, one of my hostel roommates came stumbling in that night, and he brought a friend with. Well, I had set my alarm for 6 AM, but luckily the two of them decided to ensure I was awake by having not so quiet sex. At least she wasn't a screamer and I wasn't the guy in the top bunk. So, after the show was over, and all of us were awake (I'm not sure the others needed that wake up call either). The funniest thing was when one of the other guys in the room, a Korean guy, decided it was time for a bathroom visit right after amorous couple had completed their fun. He opened the door to go out, the light from the hallway flooded through the room to light up a young girl (cute too) sitting there in t-shirt pulled down to cover most of her while searching for her discarded pants. The look on the face is probably the most embarrassment I've ever seen. Being awake, I took off to the shower. Then off to the airport for the journey back.

At least the flight back was empty enough to have a vacant seat beside me. We were served lunch over Fiji, Snack just northwest of Christmas Island, and breakfast shortly before landing. This time though, I left Thursday morning at 9:25 (well 10 AM since we were late for a stupid Maintenance reason… spent 45 minutes trying to get permission to go without a portable oxygen bottle, found out they couldn't, and took another 20 minutes refilling it… why didn't you just refill it to begin with?). Anyways, We left at 10 AM and flew all day, through the night, and landed in Los Angeles at 7 am on Thursday. Again, it kind of messes with my head. The Delta agents were nice enough to push me to the front of the line in customs so I could have a shot at making my jumpseat. It didn't work, thanx to the baggage people. I did however barely manage to make the next flight, where I discovered the joys on inflight internet and onboard trivia games.

After about 18 hours aloft, I made it to Atlanta, met Grace while she waited for her next flight, got JoHnathans car and was at the Newnan Taco Mac by 7 with Jersey. I would like to thank Jersey for accommodating me and allowing me use of her house and JoHnathan for letting me drive his hot rod around. I was able to spend lots of fun time with jersey, get up to visit my family, see some other folks around the area, and add to my beer list at the Mac. However, I wasn't feeling well Friday and felt I was too ill to make it back for work Saturday night, a serious eye problem. So I was able to get the day covered and spent another night down south. For Jersey's early birthday, we checked out the Senoia nightlife with Grace, Tanjoe, and Charity. Who knew Senoia had a nightlife??? The band could have been better (and played something from my lifetime) but we had fun just getting together… or I did at least. We also learned that Tanjoe are haviing triplets.. So good for them!

I hopped a plane back to Louisville, drove home in my still ailing car. Going shopping this week for new wheels. I was slightly confused when I drove up to my house. The landlords had freshly painted the doors (now black instead of white), shutters, and front porch. I almost thought I was on the wrong street. I also learned the downstairs has been rented out to a girl who is "cute" and works at Churchill. I may have to make friends! I suppose I should get back to pretending to work. I think I'm going to start spending more time moving about these days, money permitting. It was a little refreshing to get out of the country again. Where to next?

Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone

Current mood:contemplative

Well, I't been a while since I've wrote anything on here. I seem to have a lot of things going on right now, and most them ae costing more than I want to pay. At least there's some fun time in the near future. Or that's the plan.

I've been on a bit of roll lately. Been to Vegas, Atlanta for a Braves game, and up ti Minneapolis to see Chandra. ALl had their high and low points, and it was good to see some old friends and hang out. I'm getting to be some what of a shut in up here, and for no apparent reason other than I'm either working or out of town. A trend I'm probablygoig to conitnue over the month of July, if everything goes well.

The latest problem to arise is my car. At just under 190,000 miles it needs some maintenance. And should I elect to fixe everything (mechanical) that's wrong with it, we're talking over $2000. That's not going to happen, at least right now. But focusing on the important items, such as the ones that keep the engine running smoothly, is going to cost be enough. On the other hand, it's cheaper than a new car.

I think next year i'll be in the new car market, as right now the money that I would pay for a new car with is allocated to improving my health. The whole excercise bit is gong well, and I'm really surprised where I'm at sometimes. And i didn't even have to order something of late night TV to do it. I guess the dieting and excercise thing really works. I have discovered that I have to go to the gym when I firt wake up in the afternoon, or I lose focus and say the hell with it.

ON the horizon, I'm leaving the country. I'm thinking about committing a crime first to make it a little more exciting at Customs. But I'm off to Melbourne and Sydney next week. So if you call me between the 9th and 17th of July, don't be surprised if I don't answer. That trip is already set up and mostly paid for. I'm having a moment of indecision about where to stay in Sydney. I'm leaning towards hostelling it for money reasons, but kind of feel like I'm getting to old for that stuff. ON the other hand, I'm not real big on growing up anyways. I'm thinking a little adventure will do me some good. ANd the Holiday Inn isn't what I call adventurous. The thing I'm dreading the most is the 15 hour non-stop flight fro LAX to SYD. I actually bought a ticket on Delta (I know, a payin passenger... i can where sweat pants and drink!!!) sine it was ridiculously cheap. CHeaper than a roud trip ticket on Delta from Louisville to Atlanta.

AFter that I'm tring to work out a trip to Prague while Ryan and woman are going to be there. That's proving a little more difficult to allocate funds for (due to unexpected car maintenance) but I think I can make it work out. Probably hostelling it there too. We'll see.

And after that, who knows what I'll do in August. probably stay home and eat ramen to repay the international forays.

I've gotten in the cleaning mood, maybe its in memorial to BIll Mays. It needed to be done. I was starting to see foot prints in the dust. Later this week I'll tackle my bedroom, the biggest disaster of them all.

I got a lot of other things on my mind, a lot of forward looking stuff. I guess you can say I'm setting goals and making plans. All I need to really make it all work out is some winning lotto numbers. Keep your fingers crossed.

I'll probably be writing more of these things, and I'm thinking of copying Grace and getting a blogspot sight and moving my random thoughts there. I don't spend much time on Myspace these days, as everyone has seemed to migrate to FaceBook.

On a side note, why does FB keep insisting I should be friends with A?

Oh, and work is going OK, had an "exciting" night a fews days back. Yes I know that sentence makes no sense. We had a massive thunderstrom roll slowly into Louisville about the time all the flights were due for taking off. A few brave souls made it out before it hit. And if you ever get the chance, watch a large jet take off with a massive storm a couple miles of the end of the runway. The planes were banking hard right before they got over the airport perimeter fence. Impressive. Good thing boxes don't frighten or vomit.

Well, back for a little more cleaning and then off to work. Later!

Some men like fishin, some men like fowlin, some like to hear a cannon ball roarin'

Current mood:energetic

Me, I like sleeping.

Sorry, couldn;t get the full subject the space provided.

It's been a long time since i've wrote anything here. I've kind of shunned MySpace for the world of Facebook. Not to say a lot hasn't happened, both in my little world in the great big one. Let's sit shiva and chat.

FIrst off, I would like to thank Fox News, the fair and balanced network for consrvative American values, for spending the pat week or so running Miss California strutting in a string bikini every five mnutes. And thank god for her expressing an opinion, or else we'd still be in the middle of a Swine Flu pandemic. WHatever happened to that?? Oh yeah it wasn't a big deal and was blown completely out of proportion by the major news networks.

So yes, some one of little influence on anyone expressed an opinion based on her religioud beleifs in a country based on freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Let's persecute! Whatever happened to the old pageants where they asked about world peace and other stuff they had no power to change? But at least there smore eye candy on the news, should be good for ratings.

Enough of that. So, I just pickd up an OT shift for next week, woohoo, cha-ching. MOr actully, mor bank time to use later for an extended weekend. There is talk about voyages to Eastern Europe... hrrmm. I'm defintiely getting the travel bug again. Next month will be 2 years without a new stamp in my passport. And accoridng to Tanjoy I have to hit three countries this year.

Speaking of TanJoe, I hosted the lovely couple for the Kentucky Derby. I had a lot of fun having them here, whether they enjoyed it or not. It wa sa long week, starting with a quick trip to Atlanta for a Brave's game, followed by Dave Matthews Band, and a visit to the Sweetwater Brewery. All were fun times and I wanna get back to do it all again. Thanx to Grace and JoHnathOn for putting me up and shuttling me about.. again! They do rock! That thursday, the Joe half of TanJoe flew back with me on a big brown plane, and we went to Oaks day on Friday.

Let's talk Derby for a second. FIrst of all, everyone needs to come for this, it's the kind of thing people should do once. It's a bg party with ridiculous hats and the town is just fun. Now, I'm willing to provide housing for a number of people. Second, while Derby is on Saturday, you should really plane to be here for Friday, which is the Kentucky Oaks race (among 10 other races) which is for the phillies. It's ike mini derby in that people dress up, big hats are worn, and theres a lot of fun. But the crowds a lower and grandstand seats are affordable.

Other than that, I've been here for the most part. WOrking, school, and gym. That's my life in Louisvlle. But summer is coming, and I'm looking forward to getting out, and having visitors... so come!

That's about it really, nothing else of much intrest to report. I think I'm off to go read a book, later!

Sulfer smoke up in the sky, pretty soon we learn to fly

Current mood:tired

I tired writing some stuff the last few ays, and it all pretty much came out crap. SO, let's try again:

Susan was up a couple weeks abck to celebrate her sping break. We had lots of fun in spite of me working a few of the days. It was nice to have a guest, and even better to have her here. We ventured out and explored some more of Kentuckiana, including Churchill Downs, the Four Roses Distillery (they give you 140 proof liquor to taste), and a Shaker village (sans Shakers).

Then she left and that sucked.

This blog might be bit disjointed, Coyote Ugly is on and distracting me.

So, back to work. the new schedule year starts April 1, and I official become a domestic dispatcher. Which blows, I'd much rather be an international guy but the stars aligned against me. Anyways, a lovel mountain up near Anchorage sarted spewing ash all over the place. Our world was thrown into chaos. But we had a plan.. the mountain had been rumbling for a while. But when it blew up, there was no plan to be found. So we worke dand made up our own plans.

Then the plan showd up, and things go worse. CLose ANC, reroute all the flights. Well, grand idea.. except all the pilots are in Anchorage. Ooops. But oh well, we muddled through, I relearned how to use the Pacific Organized Tracks (PACOTS), basically highways in the sky that are opened certain hours of the day depending on the direction you're going. The fun part is the re-route the road daily... and remember which way you can go at what time.

Basically, all the little "canned" routes we normally use are no good... so I actually had to do work. it was fun and tiring. And stressful since "they" kept changing things every few minutes. Good times

I"m still playing gym, and I started lcass last Wednesday. It's going ok, what with only one class done. We'll see how it works out.

Otherwise, life is fairly normal. And kind of boring. I'm opening my house for anyone who may be interested in coming to clean. let me know and I'll schedule a time.

Well, it's my Friday but I'm working 2 extra days this week, so I essentially have no Friday. That's sad.

OK, i'm going to tear myself away fom Coyote Ugly and get some sleep. Hope everyone is well! I've been really missing a lot of people and hope to see everyone soon

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

Current mood:awake

It's quiet, too quiet.

I was hoping to be back asleep by now, but no such luck. Instead I'm wide awake with a tinge of soreness and hint of restlessness. I need to the clean the kitchen and mop the floors. I have a very important guess coming tomorrow, but I really am enjoyig the warmth and comfort of my bed at the moment. And since I can type this from that warm cozy spot, I decided to catch up.

Let's see, what's been going on? Well, the economy is still faltering, people are panicked and worried. We're all going to lose our jobs. We're becoming socialists. Blah blah blah. It's not that bad. Yes, unemployment is up to 8% or so.. thats 92% still working. And 92% is an A. Home foreclosures are up towhat.. 5 or 6%. I guess the big deal is the stock market is way down. The economy is slowing or stalled. Which when I hear that the economy grew or shrank, I always wonder what the hell they are talking about. No one ever gives me a quantitative measure. It's just grew or shrank (shrunk?). Like the economy is some random blob of stuff that is just sitting around expanding and contracting... kind of like Oprah.

SOrry, I just wathed The Daily Show where Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer went at it... which really was more Jon lecturing to Jim. I like Jon Stewart, he makes me laugh and gts some seriouspoints across. I'm not a fan of Jim Cramersince I don't like people to be all "in your face" and yelling. Though I respect his knowledge. But, I still go back to something I was told years ago... the stock market is like Vegas, only with higher limits. And like me in Vegas, after drinking for free at the roulette table for a few hours... seems we bet it all on 13. Ooops, we lost. Luckily I only had $40. Not $4 Bajillion the bankers and financial wizards lost... but hey, it wasn't there money. I'd bet big with other people's money too.

I guess my mother is still smarter than 99% of the population... she put her retirement money in plain savings and stuff. And only works now to pay for the horses.

OK, enough serious crap, lets talk about me. I've been back and froth to BHM a couple times since last I wrote (or maybe not, I can't remember how long ago I last pontificated). But Susan is coming up here this weekend (woohoo!) and we're gonna party it up in an effort to exorcise the demons of her job. That and it's St. Pattie's day. Which presents a quandry.

I don't think massive quantities of beer are on my diet. Yes I said diet. Seems I've lost my mind an joined a gym and hired a personal trainer. He's actually pretty cool eventhough he would have made a great torturer. BUt there's a diet involved, which involves me eating alot. Seems counter intuitive, but they say it works. The problem is, healthy food doesn't have nearly the calories that the yummy crap I used to eat has and it's hard to make the goals.

SO, there is that. I am amused by the support of the friends, who seemed surprised I actually walked into the gym. Who knows, maybe next I'll join a church. More likely I'll start a cult.

So now, who knows the nutritional value of Guinness?? That's the important number I need. I'm pretty sure I have it online somewhere. SInce everything is online somewhere.

I seem to be moving my oepration more and more over to Facebook. And random people from my past seem to keep finding me there. Which is pretty cool to see what people are doign with themselves these days. TUurns out a girl I went to high school with worked at World right before I got there, and she's now married to a pilot. Small World (pun intended).

Yesterday seemed to be "Australia" day for me, I watched the movie "Austalia", and then turned on an episode of American Chopper (now in HD so you can seethe spit flying when they yell at each other) and they were down under. And lastly, I watched a s how on the World's Sexiest Beaches with one for the former Girls Next Door chicks, and she was gown by Surfer's Paradise. I thought it was amusing that while ths show was about sexy beaches, I never actually saw her on a beach. The were at a Koala Preserve (been there), there were snorkelling (done that), and then they weresliding down a massive sand hill (somehow I seemed to have missed that).

The result of all that was thinking back to the fun times I had down there, and I would like to get back. In reality, I'd like to get to any warm beach location at the moment. We had a tease of 60-70 degree weatehr here last week, but now it's back to the 30's. That sucks.

Well, I think that does it on the updates. Happy Friday the 13th!

Stay up and make some memories here with us now, to roll red carpet out with friends

Current mood:accomplished

What's up my homies? OK, maybe I'm too caucasian for that, but it's the best I could come up with. I'm back in Louisville after a quick trip down south. I'm always kinda sad when I come back north, this time it was doubly so. Add to that a slight tinge of anger, and you have the perfect attitude to go to work with.

I always feel like I'm slighting some one when I go to Atlanta. There's never enough time or matching schedules to get in the amount of socializing I need to do. And unfortunately the same people always seem the get the short end of time with Jamie. I'm really trying to be better, but all you "normal" people that work monday through friday don't help. I did enjoy all the time and friends I was able to see, and I wish I could have gotten together with more.

I'd like to thank Gracey for being a fabulous host, and J for doing the same. I arrived bright and early Tuesday morning in desparate need of a nap. I was whisked from the HJIA (which apparently is the preferred abbreviation since ATL is to well known and doesn't pay homage to all the people who have a name on the building) to J's high rise apartment where I crashed in a very comfortable bed with fantastic sheets and luxurious comforter (perhaps I need to turn off the Queer Eye and HGTV decorating shows). Who ever picked that stuff out has good taste. I spent the week just doing a lot of random nothing with lots of good friends. It was good to visit with Amie, both at the bar in her BF's building and at chic-fil-a while she watched her "child" sley dragons in the play ground.

I stuffed myself on La Parilla with Jersey and Grace, watched the tornadic weather out the windows at Taco Mac with Ed, Sheri, Grace, Tanya, and CHarity with beer accompaniment for good measure. Luckily Charity made it home through the fallen trees and blocked roads. I'm assuming Tanya made it no problem since she cancelled her trivia outing the next day to spend time with Joe. I wanted to spin time with Joe and that... woman is keeping him from me. I think she may be jealous of what we have together.

We did make a triumphant return to Thursday night trivia at the bar formerly known as B-52's. But woe, our triumph was short lived when the sports categor was announced. But it was a fine time. We even dragged Mr. Jones away from his "SHoot Em in the Face" game and let him be a social creature.

Friday, I jetted off on the long air journey from ATL to BHM. Yes I know, i was a masterful feat of aviation that allowed me to traverse such great distances. I made it safely, and was spared from riding in the oh so comfortable cockpit jumpseat of the CRJ900. I got the last seat in the back and we head off into the sunset. Well, it wasn't quite setting, but it was headed that way I'm sure.

Susan, rescued me from the airport, and we went off to run some errands, pick out a tie, and find sustenance. She found me a wonderfully stylish te to wear to her school gala. It was great seeing her on a weekend and not have to worry about the 6 AM wake up. Saturday night, we ventured to the Vestavia Hills COuntry Club for the 2009 Gala. And while we were ecrtainly not underdressed (Susan looked Faaabbbbbuuuulous), we were not nearly as pretentious as some that attended.

Here's the part where I tell you about the angry part. The gala included a silent auction of many different and random things, and the one that caught my eye was a 7 night stay at a home on Key Largo. IN a nice beach community with lots of fun aorund it, and a short drive to Key West. I want to visit Key West sometime for more than a few hours. It looks like a fun place to kick back and party one's posterior off. And the bid on this particular item was very reasonable. So I ponied up some money (it's for charity after all, gotta think about the children) and put in a high bid right as the auction was finishing up. I mean the lady was literally pulling the sheet from my hands. And at about $100 a night, I was stoked.

However, some one seems to have slightly more clout than I and was able to whisk my vacation away and drive my dreams into the ground with a spiked heel. I'll just say this. This person probably doesn't read my blog, but they know who they are, they know that what they did was dishonest and reeks of a lack of personal integrity, and that makes me sad for you.. It's not the losing the really aggrevates me, it's the disingenious way it happened. May you be inflicted with a very painful jelly fish sting with no one around who will pee on you.

OK, so moving on. I left Susan Sunday morning and was very sad. I hate leaving her, and it was made even worse that I had a great week and weekend before hand that was ending. BUt we did look nice all dressed up.

Other goings on, it seems I'm slated for another year of working weekends and midnight hours. That wasn't ideally what I wanted, but it beats the 24% pay cut. The other downer is I have to go back to domestic desks, which ar emuch more tedious and lack the challenge of the international desks. But oh well, being a weekend midnight shift means I should have lots of free time at work. What to do???

Well, I've decided it may be time to go back to school and work on a degree. So I applied to the local campus of (and this hurts to admit) Embry-Riddle. After so much time of making fun of riddlers, looks like I'll be joining their ranks. I'm waiting now for my transcripts to show up and see how much I have to take. I hopefull will be some reasonable hours transferred, on top of the 1 credits I get for having a dispatch license. And while not the most ideal degree, it is a degree and I'll have the "receipt". And then, maybe I'll do something else that seems like it may interst me. So, here goes nothing.

I was also alerted at work with the news that we get a killer discount at one of the local fitness places. It's basically the people who took over and modernized all the Gold's Gyms in the Louisville area. And for less than $10 a month, I figured what the hell. So I'm joining. I just need motivation, and thats where all you people come into play. Motivate me!

Membership doesn't start for a couple weeks, but I'm looking forward to feeling better. Not old and tired.

There's nothing much else to pontificate about. I'm looking forward to some upcoming events, and hoping that folks will come up for Derby. I think it will be a good time. Plus Susan i coming up for a few days soon :-). It's about time :-p

I'm off to Target for socks and pots. Later!

One I get you up there, where the air is rarified, we'll just glide, starry eyed

Current mood:okay

Hello world. It's 6 AM on the east coast and I'm feeling restless. So I thought I would pontificate. First off, let me say this... I've watched Hannity and Bill O'Rielly 3 times at work tonight. I'm sick of hearing about stimulus and porkbarrel and how we're all doomed to economic hell. So yes the US Government is spending $1 Trillion on stuff (with a T). Yes, some of said stuff is crap. But come on, our government has been spending ridiculous money on crap for my entire lifetime, both sides. And now the proof that the "stimulus" isn't going to work is the reaction on Wall Street. Yes, the same experts that drove oil sky high for no reason and who crashed the banking system in America (and maybe the world) is saying the "stimulus" isn't going to work. Forgive me if I'm skeptical.

Could said bill be better, most likely. WIll it work? Who knows?? I hope so. And really, high speed rail I think is a good idea, ask anyone who's been to Europe.

Ok, enough ranting, I took a snapshot of my flights tonight at the point I think I had the most flying. I'm allegedly working one particular region of the world, though I can't seem to figure out which particular region I'm assigned. But I do like variety. I'll try and attach said photo to said blog for reference, but I'm not sure if I can make it work.



I think it worked. Look Ryan, I really do play airline now!

I just returned from a quick visit to Susan's place. It always seems to be a quick visit these days. And I'll be back next weekend for her school Gala (which I'm informed is not pronounce gal-uh but Gay-luh) which I'm thinking will be much fun. We get to dress up and hobnob with the wealthy of Liberty Park. This past week I met some of her fellow teachers, all seemed very nice and I'm happy she has good people to work with.

Well, I can't think of anything else to ramble on about. Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!