I spent a good part of the weekend working for the man. And the man's name is JoHnathan Lewis. Yes, he and Grace lured me to town to "hang out" which apparently translates to "move our stuff to storage" in Vietnamese. Not only did they make me do all the heavy lifting, but they withheld food ("We only have microwave popcorn and not enough to share") and, in what is surely recognized by the Geneva Convention as torture, only provided Miller Lite. It was hellish treatment.
Then again, I may exaggerate a bit.
I tend to be really negative on my job, but there is the one huge benefit that keeps me from searching for employment outside the airline industry. The ability to decide at 4 PM that I want to fly to Atlanta on the 6:05 flight. In all fairness, it doesn't always work out. I've planned ahead to make flights only to be left with 6 hours or airport appreciation time trying to get a seat. But, more often then not tit works out pretty well, and the idea of planning a trip and making a ticket purchase 21 days out to get a good price is totally foreign.
And riding the jumpseat can be pretty neat. Or frightening depending on the crew.
But I digress. Grace invited me down this past weekend. And I had a prior commitment here in Louisville, but I blew that off. So at 4:05 pm I left work, sped home and packed a bag. Then i sped back to the airport to try and catch the last flight to ATL that left at 6:05. I'm really impressed with myself since I actually made it with time to spare. Grace had found us a traditional Vietnamese place to dine, and we had some tasty pho, once we decided it was ok to put the random greenery piled on the table int he bowls.
This week as involved a lot of moving about of other peoples stuff. Monday I assisted the Mutt family in loading their house into a 25' truck. Again on Saturday, it was time to relocate the Lewii apartment to a storage area. Luckily, they did not require the 25' truck. I think we did pretty well with time, and was even able to catch a Brave's game afterward, mostly for free :-).
So, now with most of they're earthly belongings spread hither and yon across the south Metro area, the Lewii are spending their last week in he US before embarking on a grand adventure to the Mekong Delta. I'm really kind of jealous, thinking it'll be something really cool to experience, with moments of sheer fright at moving into a totally new culture. But that's part of the excitement. But, I'm still hoping I can win the powerball and maybe entice them with monetary rewards to stick around here.
SO, back to that Brave's game thing. Jersey and Genna were planning to go see a game, and invited us to come join. We finished the moving (after a quick trip to the Tanjoe Manor to drop off some items and rummage through the fridge and bedroom drawers since they weren't home) an headed back to the Ted. While we were standing in 45 minute line for tickets, a random guy walks up to me and asks how many people in our group. I almost just blew him off with a "we're not interested in buying" comment, but I went with "3". At which point he handed me 3 tickets, and turned and sped off. he was lost in the crowd before we could thank him. And they were $28 tickets.. outfield pavilion. There was concern voiced as to whether they were real tickets, but since we hadn't paid.. nothing lost but some time in line. They weren't fakes, and we went.
A blast was had at the Chophouse. There was a game in the background but mostly it was just hanging with good friends. After the game, the Lewii and I ended up at Verisano's for pizza and "whorey" martinis. After doing a little side work and flirting with the waitress, it was home to J's old apartment. Probably for the last time...
SO, that's the narrative for the weekend. This weekend should be more fun. Back to ATL for DragonCon and the bon voyage fun.
I just wrote a long social/political commentary here, but decided against it. Not the time for such seriousness.
This week will hopefully go pretty fast and painless. It's all midnight shifts which is kind of a drag, but I like them better than day shifts. I still feel like I'm behind in the world, like there's something I should be taking care of. Maybe its the cleaning I'm continually not doing or the money I feel like I'm missing. Since changing from one a month pay to weekly, it feels like I'm missing some pay. I know that there there's the matter of the 10%ish paycut i took this year (in the form or voluntary time off), but it should have balanced out with the latest raise. Somehow, it just isn't. Again, its nothing that a lottery win couldn't rectify :-)
I suppose that's it, look for DragonCon pics next week. Should be interesting and not for the faint of heart. Everyone in the ATL area should consider being at the Marriott Marquis atrium bar at about 7 PM Friday.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Eclectical Electrical Enigmas
The house I live in has issues. It's completely understandable really, given the place is just over 100 years old. So good you'll not look when 100 years you reach. Hell, I'm knocking on 34 and feel like I'm falling apart. Apparently my apartment and me have a similar wiring issue going on. Mine has to do with the sciatic nerve (which apparently is now being compressed against the bone by recent muscular developments and causing some discomfort... so my trainer thinks.) WebMD says I either have bone marrow cancer or the same sciatic issue. Let's go with option 2. The cure.. well, it'll go away on it's own eventually, and I should stretch more.
Now the house... last night I was about to cook me a nice chicken breast on my handy Foreman grill and alas.. no power. But the fridge is running and the lights are on. But the outlets in the kitchen were dead. So instead of dragging the grill and microwave (reheat some veggies) into the living room, i elected for a detour on the way to work and grab a grilled chicken and pesto sammich.
I've had electrical issues a in my new abode from time to time. I think the place was initially wired by Thomas Edison, who I can only guess became distracted by all the inventing he had to do and left the finishing work to Rube Goldberg, who worked of wiring diagrams drawn up by M.C. Escher.
After resetting all the GFI outlets, and flipping the breakers on box #1 in the attic, no luck. The attic breaker box has four breakers in it, two which seem to control nothing. The other two split the load equally between the refrigerator on one and everything else on the other. That seems fair and practical. Every now and then the A/C will trip the "everything else" breaker my place is plunged into darkness or, even worse, hotness. But the fridge still works.
OK, I get it, it's 100year old house and they had no idea in a century people were going to have giant insulted boxes for cooling food, smaller less insulted boxes for heating it back up, big metallic contraptions for washing and drying clothes (and the builders would probably pummel for bitching about how "doing laundry" sucks without the effort of a washboard, bucket, and clothes line), or a 42" flat screen HDTV with accompanying surround sound DVD/iPod/Stereo system. How some one building a house in 1908 didn't plan for this sort of thing just shows severe shortsightedness.
Anyways, back to the problem at hand... no power from the outlets. Today, when I woke up I texted my one of my landlords about the issue, who returned a call immediately. We went through the problems and what I had already done. He suggested I check the other 2 breaker boxes.... excuse me?? There's two more breaker boxes to my apartment?? Yes... one outside and one in the basement. Like I mentioned, M.C. Escher and Mr. Goldberg did a bang up job on the wiring. Mick (or Nick, 2 out of 3 of my landlords are identical twins and I'm never really sure which one I'm talking to) said he'd be over in a bit to check it out. About 3 minutes after the first call, Mick (or Nick) called back and suggested I check with the girls downstairs to see the basement fuse box. OK, well... this is going to require me to be at least partially presentable. And I had to the shower and get dressed.
As a result of 3 seasons of drum corps, I can be in and out of a shower in like 5 minutes and dressed ready to go. In that time, Mick (or Nick) had called back. Turns out he had just called the downstairs girls and they had indeed found a tripped breaker. Woohoo, I had microwave power back.
But I'm left confused about why one breaker in the Attic would control almost everything, but one in the basement would control kitchen outlets. And no doubt there's a few more breakers down there controlling something. Or hell, maybe not... maybe they just wired the kitchen outlets through the basement and everything else is on the upstairs cirtcuit, which is controlled via a relay on the outside breaker box.
It's fun little facts like this that make living in an old house both entertaining and annoying. Luckily, I have first time landlords who seem to be bending over backwards whenever I call with a problem. Mind you, this is only the second one I've ever called about, the last being a leaky roof. Turned out it was the furnace drain for condensation was frozen and the pan was overflowing. But Mick (or Nick) came rolling over at 10 PM to check it out (on cold January night) after I told them it could probably wait till the next day.
I was once told my place had character and personality... yeah that's it.
With all the personality in my house, you'd think I'd be really creative and write these literary masterpieces there. Turns out, not so much. I'm not sure if it's the intelligence sapping wall sized HDTV or the general air of clutter and messiness that stifles my creativity there. So, instead of cleaning and turning off the TV, I leave the place. It's a nice 1/2 mile walk to the corner coffee shop. It'd be nicer without the oppressive heat, but I just look forward to the large ice coffee and cold water. And here I sit looking around at the eclecticness of the little place. It's nice to live in a neighborhood where no one really seems to fit in. The cross section of people in here now vary form the "hippyesque" guy with the full scraggly beard and dreads to the almost yuppyish guys in khaki shorts and polos. Luckily no collars are popped. Mostly its just sandals, T-shirts, and tattoos all around. The majority of laptops on the tables were brought to you by Mr. Jobs and his folks in Cupertino (via China). Except for the girl in front of me who's stuck an Apple sticker on her PC netbook... poser!
In other news, the Austrian wrote today and told us he had accepted the job in the desert. So, it looks like I'm not packing my bags for a big move. I'm a little disappointed not only because I'm not setting of a grand Arabian adventure, but also not being informed by said company of the results. It's not unique to them, I've been through that before. Even asking to please let me know either way. Inconsiderate.
So, looks like it's a while longer living with bad wiring and draftiness in Kentucky. I spent this weekend here in town partly for a break in traveling (and the accompanying spending) and partly because I agreed to be on call to work Monday morning. I ended up picking up a shift for the injured roommate last night. In a departure from the usual viewing fare of Fox News or the Weather Channel (I'm not sure which one becomes more mind numbing after 8 hours, at least the Weather Channel just tells me the weather, and not what I should think about it) we were treated to a new version of Sherlock Holmes. It's a great show that will be appearing on PBS soon (we had bootlegged BBC DVD's), and too bad I was kind of pissed off at the suspenseful ending to the last episode since there's no plans at this time to keep producing more episodes.
So, next on the agenda... Labor Day weekend I'm making the trip to ATL for DragonCon and what I'm thinking may be the last time I see Gracathan before they ship off to the jungles of Vietnam. I'm also working on getting together a trip over to visit during the winter. It's sort of a pain to get to Saigon these days, probably because it's called Ho Chi Minh City now and for some reason there's not a lot of direct flights between here and there... some historical cultural differences I think. And I'm looking at planning a March jaunt to South America. The Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring looks like the guide of choice. For some reason when I tell people I'm thinking of bussing from Santiago to Ushuaia and back up to Buenos Aries (And telling them these places are indeed not in Texas or New Mexico) they always look at me like I'm growing a fourth foot out of my forehead (The third foot looks came when I told people I was thinking of moving to Dubai... well they thought I was nuts only after again explaining geography and where Dubai is located). Yeah, so maybe I'm a little crazy... keeps me from going insane.
Well, i think that's enough for today. I need to find some sustenance and wait for the call to work tomorrow. Later people.
Now the house... last night I was about to cook me a nice chicken breast on my handy Foreman grill and alas.. no power. But the fridge is running and the lights are on. But the outlets in the kitchen were dead. So instead of dragging the grill and microwave (reheat some veggies) into the living room, i elected for a detour on the way to work and grab a grilled chicken and pesto sammich.
I've had electrical issues a in my new abode from time to time. I think the place was initially wired by Thomas Edison, who I can only guess became distracted by all the inventing he had to do and left the finishing work to Rube Goldberg, who worked of wiring diagrams drawn up by M.C. Escher.
After resetting all the GFI outlets, and flipping the breakers on box #1 in the attic, no luck. The attic breaker box has four breakers in it, two which seem to control nothing. The other two split the load equally between the refrigerator on one and everything else on the other. That seems fair and practical. Every now and then the A/C will trip the "everything else" breaker my place is plunged into darkness or, even worse, hotness. But the fridge still works.
OK, I get it, it's 100year old house and they had no idea in a century people were going to have giant insulted boxes for cooling food, smaller less insulted boxes for heating it back up, big metallic contraptions for washing and drying clothes (and the builders would probably pummel for bitching about how "doing laundry" sucks without the effort of a washboard, bucket, and clothes line), or a 42" flat screen HDTV with accompanying surround sound DVD/iPod/Stereo system. How some one building a house in 1908 didn't plan for this sort of thing just shows severe shortsightedness.
Anyways, back to the problem at hand... no power from the outlets. Today, when I woke up I texted my one of my landlords about the issue, who returned a call immediately. We went through the problems and what I had already done. He suggested I check the other 2 breaker boxes.... excuse me?? There's two more breaker boxes to my apartment?? Yes... one outside and one in the basement. Like I mentioned, M.C. Escher and Mr. Goldberg did a bang up job on the wiring. Mick (or Nick, 2 out of 3 of my landlords are identical twins and I'm never really sure which one I'm talking to) said he'd be over in a bit to check it out. About 3 minutes after the first call, Mick (or Nick) called back and suggested I check with the girls downstairs to see the basement fuse box. OK, well... this is going to require me to be at least partially presentable. And I had to the shower and get dressed.
As a result of 3 seasons of drum corps, I can be in and out of a shower in like 5 minutes and dressed ready to go. In that time, Mick (or Nick) had called back. Turns out he had just called the downstairs girls and they had indeed found a tripped breaker. Woohoo, I had microwave power back.
But I'm left confused about why one breaker in the Attic would control almost everything, but one in the basement would control kitchen outlets. And no doubt there's a few more breakers down there controlling something. Or hell, maybe not... maybe they just wired the kitchen outlets through the basement and everything else is on the upstairs cirtcuit, which is controlled via a relay on the outside breaker box.
It's fun little facts like this that make living in an old house both entertaining and annoying. Luckily, I have first time landlords who seem to be bending over backwards whenever I call with a problem. Mind you, this is only the second one I've ever called about, the last being a leaky roof. Turned out it was the furnace drain for condensation was frozen and the pan was overflowing. But Mick (or Nick) came rolling over at 10 PM to check it out (on cold January night) after I told them it could probably wait till the next day.
I was once told my place had character and personality... yeah that's it.
With all the personality in my house, you'd think I'd be really creative and write these literary masterpieces there. Turns out, not so much. I'm not sure if it's the intelligence sapping wall sized HDTV or the general air of clutter and messiness that stifles my creativity there. So, instead of cleaning and turning off the TV, I leave the place. It's a nice 1/2 mile walk to the corner coffee shop. It'd be nicer without the oppressive heat, but I just look forward to the large ice coffee and cold water. And here I sit looking around at the eclecticness of the little place. It's nice to live in a neighborhood where no one really seems to fit in. The cross section of people in here now vary form the "hippyesque" guy with the full scraggly beard and dreads to the almost yuppyish guys in khaki shorts and polos. Luckily no collars are popped. Mostly its just sandals, T-shirts, and tattoos all around. The majority of laptops on the tables were brought to you by Mr. Jobs and his folks in Cupertino (via China). Except for the girl in front of me who's stuck an Apple sticker on her PC netbook... poser!
In other news, the Austrian wrote today and told us he had accepted the job in the desert. So, it looks like I'm not packing my bags for a big move. I'm a little disappointed not only because I'm not setting of a grand Arabian adventure, but also not being informed by said company of the results. It's not unique to them, I've been through that before. Even asking to please let me know either way. Inconsiderate.
So, looks like it's a while longer living with bad wiring and draftiness in Kentucky. I spent this weekend here in town partly for a break in traveling (and the accompanying spending) and partly because I agreed to be on call to work Monday morning. I ended up picking up a shift for the injured roommate last night. In a departure from the usual viewing fare of Fox News or the Weather Channel (I'm not sure which one becomes more mind numbing after 8 hours, at least the Weather Channel just tells me the weather, and not what I should think about it) we were treated to a new version of Sherlock Holmes. It's a great show that will be appearing on PBS soon (we had bootlegged BBC DVD's), and too bad I was kind of pissed off at the suspenseful ending to the last episode since there's no plans at this time to keep producing more episodes.
So, next on the agenda... Labor Day weekend I'm making the trip to ATL for DragonCon and what I'm thinking may be the last time I see Gracathan before they ship off to the jungles of Vietnam. I'm also working on getting together a trip over to visit during the winter. It's sort of a pain to get to Saigon these days, probably because it's called Ho Chi Minh City now and for some reason there's not a lot of direct flights between here and there... some historical cultural differences I think. And I'm looking at planning a March jaunt to South America. The Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring looks like the guide of choice. For some reason when I tell people I'm thinking of bussing from Santiago to Ushuaia and back up to Buenos Aries (And telling them these places are indeed not in Texas or New Mexico) they always look at me like I'm growing a fourth foot out of my forehead (The third foot looks came when I told people I was thinking of moving to Dubai... well they thought I was nuts only after again explaining geography and where Dubai is located). Yeah, so maybe I'm a little crazy... keeps me from going insane.
Well, i think that's enough for today. I need to find some sustenance and wait for the call to work tomorrow. Later people.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
If you want to be a passenger, climb aboard with me we're leaving now to step oustide and see another world
Seems a lot of people are getting married these days. I, being the rebel of our little group, am fighting the power and resisting becoming a follower. We'll go with that. But, I would like to throw a big congrats out to Grace and Jonathan (that's the only time you'll see me spell his full name out correctly). They took their vows this past Saturday amongst the scenery of the North Georgia mountains. And to be fair, Grace took a lot more vows than J :-).
I think this wedding will go down as the most amusing, most relaxed, and most unpredictable of all time. I apologize to anyone who may have been distracted by the snickering and laughter from the peanut gallery on the upstairs balcony, but it couldn't be helped. I now know that the secret to a long successful marriage is good.... genes. I do think that the ceremony was typical Grace and J, and wouldn't have been more perfect any other way.
The whole weekend was fantastic really. It started with my small altercation with the local TSA ("we need to confirm you have access, is there anyone we can call?", "Sure, here's the number"... they had no idea who they were calling...ugh). But I was soon aboard an airplane whisking my way south. In an unusual for me circumstance, I wasn't traveling completely exhausted, having slept the night before.
Thanx to some accumulated skymiles, I booked a room at the Westin Peachtree Plaza. Ever since I was young I always wanted to stay there. It's the former record holder for the worlds tallest hotel, and right in the center of downtown. For future reference, not that nice of a place anymore. It didn't suck, but it was no suite at the Aria. But for the price, I couldn't beat it. After check in I discovered two things; the T-Mobile service sucks ore than a foot form the windows (I think the building is made of lead with lead glass) and that Charity was hanging out across the street in a bank. Some call that "casing the joint", but she didn't rob it... yet.
I met up with her and spent some pool time with a coworker of hers. I'm amazed that when I meet Argyle Sillystring Argyle flight attendants through my friends, they are all gorgeous. But when I get on the planes, it's always some old guy or older lady. Is there a quota on cute flight attendants to Louisville, or is that some kind of weird senior trip???
Anyways, later we met up with Grace, J, his family, and some of his friends. This began the meeting of interesting and new people who's names I can't quite remember phase of the weekend. We all had dinner at Verisano's pizza, which was yummy. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for pizza done differently. After a some time at J's apartment embarrassing him with pictures from his youth (I'm still waiting to see the leather pants and eyeliner shots), Grace, Charity and I went out for some stress relief. Seems that this past weekend everyone was flying to Atlanta, making the transit of all the family into town a challenge. Christine and Scott's adventures in nonrevving have probably fixed them from trying that one again, but that's my life... you get used to it.
So, after a couple pitchers of margarita, we were calmed down and hopefully alleviated some of Grace's worrying. I'm always amazed how such a special fun day can become a huge ball of stress just waiting to explode. But it all worked out, almost everyone made it in time.
So, after sharing my room that night with a gorgeous brunette, the next day started the process of heading to my homeland. Well, sort of.
Grace found aplace in Dahlonega to get married. My mother's family is from that very area. I'm amazed how touristy the place is now, compared to the barely functioning town of my youth. Still, once you get beyond the scenic square and new Walmart, it's the name backwoods town it's always been. Tanya found us a fantasticly rustic cabin near town, the Yahoola lodge. Apparently people in the 1800's were much shorter than today judging by the door heights. i think everyone hit there heads on something at one point. But the 8 and 1/2 of us had a great time I think.
It shows a little that we're grown ups when it comes time to check out, and we pretty much manage to have the place cleaned, everything packed, and everyone ready an hour early. When I travel with my family we can't accomplish such a feat. Everyone was so helpful in cooking and cleaning and bartending (my specialty) for the weekend. Of course, not to think us too mature... we did put Brinley (the 1/2 person) up to things that responsible adults shouldn't do.
Then there was the whole reason we went. WHat a great night of dancing and company. I have the aches and pains still to prove it. I was so happy to see people I haven't seen in a long time and meet new and itneresting people. I'm hoping that the family's are looking at Grace's wedding crashing friends and thinking "OMG! Where did she meet these freaks!"
I really can't say how great of a weekend it was, and how fantastic the wedding went. Best ever! I think if I ever get married, I'm going to hire G to plan it... minus the buddy passes part :-)
In other news, nothing has officially come out of the desert people. I'm guessing that's that and I'm not going to live amongst the camels. I'm a little sad about it, but after last couple weekends I'm feeling better about being domestic. It's nice that so many people wanted me to go, but wanted me to stay more. Now, we just need to figure out a way to get J on with big D (and maybe Joe and I with him) and keep them in country.
So it's back in the ville with me for the foreseeable future. The next plans I have for travel are labor day weekend. If anyone is around, I strongly suggest.. no I demand you come check out the Marriott Marquis lobby bar for DragonCon. It's one of the most random best times you'll ever have. I've burned a vacation day on the schedule for a year just to go... and we all know that when i plan vacation days they usually go for something amazing (Thailand, Dubai, Hong Kong, Australia, and Vegas in the last year alone)... so you can see the worth of such an outing.
I need to start planning a vacation again. I'm trying to find the cheapest way to Vietnam, and then I still have the month of March to plan for. It's keeps me happy having such things to look forward to. Perhaps I am descended from gypsy's or explorers... but I'm always happier when moving around. I can settle down when I'm old :-).
Time to walk through blast furnace that seems to encompass my neighborhood and head back home. Then off to work. Later!
I think this wedding will go down as the most amusing, most relaxed, and most unpredictable of all time. I apologize to anyone who may have been distracted by the snickering and laughter from the peanut gallery on the upstairs balcony, but it couldn't be helped. I now know that the secret to a long successful marriage is good.... genes. I do think that the ceremony was typical Grace and J, and wouldn't have been more perfect any other way.
The whole weekend was fantastic really. It started with my small altercation with the local TSA ("we need to confirm you have access, is there anyone we can call?", "Sure, here's the number"... they had no idea who they were calling...ugh). But I was soon aboard an airplane whisking my way south. In an unusual for me circumstance, I wasn't traveling completely exhausted, having slept the night before.
Thanx to some accumulated skymiles, I booked a room at the Westin Peachtree Plaza. Ever since I was young I always wanted to stay there. It's the former record holder for the worlds tallest hotel, and right in the center of downtown. For future reference, not that nice of a place anymore. It didn't suck, but it was no suite at the Aria. But for the price, I couldn't beat it. After check in I discovered two things; the T-Mobile service sucks ore than a foot form the windows (I think the building is made of lead with lead glass) and that Charity was hanging out across the street in a bank. Some call that "casing the joint", but she didn't rob it... yet.
I met up with her and spent some pool time with a coworker of hers. I'm amazed that when I meet Argyle Sillystring Argyle flight attendants through my friends, they are all gorgeous. But when I get on the planes, it's always some old guy or older lady. Is there a quota on cute flight attendants to Louisville, or is that some kind of weird senior trip???
Anyways, later we met up with Grace, J, his family, and some of his friends. This began the meeting of interesting and new people who's names I can't quite remember phase of the weekend. We all had dinner at Verisano's pizza, which was yummy. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for pizza done differently. After a some time at J's apartment embarrassing him with pictures from his youth (I'm still waiting to see the leather pants and eyeliner shots), Grace, Charity and I went out for some stress relief. Seems that this past weekend everyone was flying to Atlanta, making the transit of all the family into town a challenge. Christine and Scott's adventures in nonrevving have probably fixed them from trying that one again, but that's my life... you get used to it.
So, after a couple pitchers of margarita, we were calmed down and hopefully alleviated some of Grace's worrying. I'm always amazed how such a special fun day can become a huge ball of stress just waiting to explode. But it all worked out, almost everyone made it in time.
So, after sharing my room that night with a gorgeous brunette, the next day started the process of heading to my homeland. Well, sort of.
Grace found aplace in Dahlonega to get married. My mother's family is from that very area. I'm amazed how touristy the place is now, compared to the barely functioning town of my youth. Still, once you get beyond the scenic square and new Walmart, it's the name backwoods town it's always been. Tanya found us a fantasticly rustic cabin near town, the Yahoola lodge. Apparently people in the 1800's were much shorter than today judging by the door heights. i think everyone hit there heads on something at one point. But the 8 and 1/2 of us had a great time I think.
It shows a little that we're grown ups when it comes time to check out, and we pretty much manage to have the place cleaned, everything packed, and everyone ready an hour early. When I travel with my family we can't accomplish such a feat. Everyone was so helpful in cooking and cleaning and bartending (my specialty) for the weekend. Of course, not to think us too mature... we did put Brinley (the 1/2 person) up to things that responsible adults shouldn't do.
Then there was the whole reason we went. WHat a great night of dancing and company. I have the aches and pains still to prove it. I was so happy to see people I haven't seen in a long time and meet new and itneresting people. I'm hoping that the family's are looking at Grace's wedding crashing friends and thinking "OMG! Where did she meet these freaks!"
I really can't say how great of a weekend it was, and how fantastic the wedding went. Best ever! I think if I ever get married, I'm going to hire G to plan it... minus the buddy passes part :-)
In other news, nothing has officially come out of the desert people. I'm guessing that's that and I'm not going to live amongst the camels. I'm a little sad about it, but after last couple weekends I'm feeling better about being domestic. It's nice that so many people wanted me to go, but wanted me to stay more. Now, we just need to figure out a way to get J on with big D (and maybe Joe and I with him) and keep them in country.
So it's back in the ville with me for the foreseeable future. The next plans I have for travel are labor day weekend. If anyone is around, I strongly suggest.. no I demand you come check out the Marriott Marquis lobby bar for DragonCon. It's one of the most random best times you'll ever have. I've burned a vacation day on the schedule for a year just to go... and we all know that when i plan vacation days they usually go for something amazing (Thailand, Dubai, Hong Kong, Australia, and Vegas in the last year alone)... so you can see the worth of such an outing.
I need to start planning a vacation again. I'm trying to find the cheapest way to Vietnam, and then I still have the month of March to plan for. It's keeps me happy having such things to look forward to. Perhaps I am descended from gypsy's or explorers... but I'm always happier when moving around. I can settle down when I'm old :-).
Time to walk through blast furnace that seems to encompass my neighborhood and head back home. Then off to work. Later!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Now and forever...
Inevitably this time of year, I look back to the summers spent marching around random grassy knolls carrying what is best described as the chrome bumper not good enough to actually make it in a career as a 1972 Cadillac bumper. So instead, the hunk survived on in the curved conical shape of G bugle. Not the best craftsmanship in musical instrumentation... Stradivarius it was not. But it was mine for the summer and always within visual range.
Back when it took real talent to make a beautiful noise... or a lot of practice. I fell into the "a lot of practice" category.
Why the nostalgia? Part of the past weeks fun included a visit to the Georgia Dome for the Drum Corps International Southeastern Championship. The trip was partially inspired by the love of the activity and wanting to see some quality music set to motion. More so, it was a chance to see some old friends who, though almost 20 years now (man I'm getting old), I've been keeping in touch with. Or at least trying to. I know there were more folks in the dome I didn't get to see, or maybe did but time has changed us beyond easy recognition. But when you do recognize some one and start talking, it's like we just got off that last bus ride home. It's the part of you that never really grew up, and every so often you think you could run back on the field and do it all again... an be famous :p
Yes that's me with my face so well covered by the other (thinner, though slightly less suave :-)) Jamie! Somewhere in the background of the picture, you may find Jamey Johnson, of country music fame.
So, I was able to spend some enjoyable time with Maggie (mello 94), Brian (Soprano, Contra 91, 94, 95????), Tommy (Cymbalist extraordinaire from 94 until...). We also ran into to Shelley (marching diva 93-97), Chad (all around good guy and Baritone player... and he's still at it), and Big Dave (the man who ran the place, played father to 100+ kids, made sure we were all fed, housed, transported in an occasionally timely manner, and kept us mostly out of trouble). And it's really embarrassing when you see some one you know is familiar, she's waving at you, and you just can't place them face. My bad Angela, but next time I'll know!
Of course the time was too short, and it always will be. For people you spend every waking, and sleeping moment, with for 3 months or so, you tend to miss them when they're not around. Even when you couldn't stand to look at their face at times.
While I was there, I was looking at the kids who were meandering about after they finished their performances and wondering if I looked that young. I mean tiny kids, in amazing physical shape and tan lines you'd never find anywhere else (i like the random white knee brace tan).
So maybe I did look that young. I almost started grabbing random kids to tell them to really live it up.. it'll be over before they know it. Jobs and kids will take over, but they'll always have this support group to fall back on. But I think they'd just look at me like some kind of delusional whacko... and they may be right :-)
I can without hesitation say those were some of the best times of my life, and thus far some of the most trying times. The challenges today are different, but being a "band geek" was the best preparation possible. I've been probably a million miles since then, and seen a lot of really cool things, done a lot of really fun stuff, and met some wonderful friends. But there's stilla fondness for the people I knew in my youth. And I hope to continue to see them for years to come, and I really want to do it more often... stupid real life getting in the way. That always seems to be a constant.
The last couple pictures... the brassline in 1994, and some of the reunited gang in 2007.
Back when it took real talent to make a beautiful noise... or a lot of practice. I fell into the "a lot of practice" category.Why the nostalgia? Part of the past weeks fun included a visit to the Georgia Dome for the Drum Corps International Southeastern Championship. The trip was partially inspired by the love of the activity and wanting to see some quality music set to motion. More so, it was a chance to see some old friends who, though almost 20 years now (man I'm getting old), I've been keeping in touch with. Or at least trying to. I know there were more folks in the dome I didn't get to see, or maybe did but time has changed us beyond easy recognition. But when you do recognize some one and start talking, it's like we just got off that last bus ride home. It's the part of you that never really grew up, and every so often you think you could run back on the field and do it all again... an be famous :p
Yes that's me with my face so well covered by the other (thinner, though slightly less suave :-)) Jamie! Somewhere in the background of the picture, you may find Jamey Johnson, of country music fame.
So, I was able to spend some enjoyable time with Maggie (mello 94), Brian (Soprano, Contra 91, 94, 95????), Tommy (Cymbalist extraordinaire from 94 until...). We also ran into to Shelley (marching diva 93-97), Chad (all around good guy and Baritone player... and he's still at it), and Big Dave (the man who ran the place, played father to 100+ kids, made sure we were all fed, housed, transported in an occasionally timely manner, and kept us mostly out of trouble). And it's really embarrassing when you see some one you know is familiar, she's waving at you, and you just can't place them face. My bad Angela, but next time I'll know!
Of course the time was too short, and it always will be. For people you spend every waking, and sleeping moment, with for 3 months or so, you tend to miss them when they're not around. Even when you couldn't stand to look at their face at times.
While I was there, I was looking at the kids who were meandering about after they finished their performances and wondering if I looked that young. I mean tiny kids, in amazing physical shape and tan lines you'd never find anywhere else (i like the random white knee brace tan).
So maybe I did look that young. I almost started grabbing random kids to tell them to really live it up.. it'll be over before they know it. Jobs and kids will take over, but they'll always have this support group to fall back on. But I think they'd just look at me like some kind of delusional whacko... and they may be right :-)
I can without hesitation say those were some of the best times of my life, and thus far some of the most trying times. The challenges today are different, but being a "band geek" was the best preparation possible. I've been probably a million miles since then, and seen a lot of really cool things, done a lot of really fun stuff, and met some wonderful friends. But there's stilla fondness for the people I knew in my youth. And I hope to continue to see them for years to come, and I really want to do it more often... stupid real life getting in the way. That always seems to be a constant.
The last couple pictures... the brassline in 1994, and some of the reunited gang in 2007.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The air is heavy, heavy as a truck We need the rain to wash away our bad luck
I suppose it's time for the rest of the story. I guess I'm running about a week behind with that but oh well. Where I last left off, I was back in Louisville after the whirlwind desert adventure.
And as I am when I'm happiest it seems, I was in motion yet again. Up to Chicago I went for some birthday/block party action. It's weird seeing the "little" cousins all grown up and responsible (mostly) adults. To summarize, there was much eating, drinking, and being merry. I do envy my cousins on one small front. I suppose the consolation for growing up in a place with dark figid winters is you have a lot of variety around. Their friends all seem to be from a melting pot of ethic backgrounds. Something that the 1980's didn't grace suburban (or even rural) Georgia with. It's a great thing to have such diversity in food, ideology, and language around. I hope they realize how much that rocks.
So, I'm back to real life. It sucks. This whole working thing needs to be done with. I'm still waiting for the call for a couple jobs. Mainly, I'm hoping my application for a lottery winner position comes through soon. I'm not real hopeful though, since I'm not filling out applications as often as most jobseekers are... ok so I never buy a ticket. I'm sure that's not improving the odds in my favor. But I'm most deserving I think.
The other job, well... no official word has come down. No messages, no emails, my status online still says "Under Review". After a supervisor offered to write an email espousing my virtues, he only got a return of "Thanks." (Long story short, he knows the hiring manager from industry conferences and workgroups... the dispatcher community has about 2 degrees of separation between every dispatcher in the world apparently).
Unofficially, I emailed the other two guys who interviewed to check on their news. Turns out, one has been offered a position (I'm working under the assumption that of the two openings, one was filled by the Emirati girl under "hire locals first" policy). However, he seemed less than enthused at the pay, not so sure that both he and his wife can live comfortably. Given our previous conversations about salary requirements, I'm apparently the high priced one.
As a coworker put it though, and I'm paraphrasing, "I've your getting a prostitute, do you want to gt the cheapest girl on the corner of do you want to spend the money for something more exclusive?" So, that makes me the a high dollar ho. But like a good high $$$ ho, I got hella skills and I'd rock their world. (Disclaimer, I really have no experience with cheap or expensive prostitutes beyond window browsing in Amsterdam and cannot make comparisons of their skill sets. But based on the looks, the expensive ones were way more impressive than the budget options).
Still, it's a little disappointing. I was really warming up to the idea of living outside the country. I mean its miserably hot and humid in Louisville at the moment, at least Dubai would have the "coolness" factor to make it more bearable. I know their are a lot of differences and quirks. I'm sure there's plenty I have no idea about, but thought it would be fun for a time. Mind you it's not over just yet, but my optimism has waned to the level of close to nil. I've been a little mopy about the whole thing the last couple days. It's amazing how many people have told me if they had the same option, they'd run. But are trapped by families and seniority with an employer they really don't much care for (to put it mildly).
So, I'm feeling a bit trapped in Louisville at the moment. I suppose it could be worse, I could be trapped in Hoboken. Add to that I seem to be broke, I guess the unplanned expenditure for a new suit and matching accoutrements for the interview . It would have been cheaper to have takent he trip to the south of Spain and Morocco. And imagine how much fun Spain would have been during the World Cup!!! If for no other reason I should be offered the Dubai job at my salary needs as a consolation prize.
Other than that, I'm off to DMB on Tuesday (yes again!!). They aways seem to put me in a good mood when I'm in a funk. It's a little bittersweet as this is my last date with premarriage Grace. My fake girlfriend becomes my fake... adulteress?? I'm not sure how that all works out. I am sure though that it'll be a fun wedding weekend in the mountains of Georgia. I may even drop in on some family while I'm there (and I know we talked about topshelf drinking supplies, but I may can find a supply of white lightning... if anyone wants to really feel bad the next morning.) I'm definitely looking forward to it.
I have this suspicious feeling about my laptop. Not like it's going to rise up in the night and strangle me, but the charging has been a bit erratic of late, and seems to be getting warmer and warmer during use these days. I'm really not i a position to buy a new one. This one has worked well for 3 years now (and I know that's better average than my last 3 or 4 computers) but I really don't need to go out buying new macbooks, but life with out a laptop would be impossible. Lets hope this one lasts a while more without issue.
That's about it for now, I'm working on the rest of the weeks schedule. I'm not sure yet if I'm gonna have next weekend off. I'll keep my loyal fans posted on my whereabouts ove the next couple weeks, and any changes in my employment status... as remote as it may be of happening.
Later.
And as I am when I'm happiest it seems, I was in motion yet again. Up to Chicago I went for some birthday/block party action. It's weird seeing the "little" cousins all grown up and responsible (mostly) adults. To summarize, there was much eating, drinking, and being merry. I do envy my cousins on one small front. I suppose the consolation for growing up in a place with dark figid winters is you have a lot of variety around. Their friends all seem to be from a melting pot of ethic backgrounds. Something that the 1980's didn't grace suburban (or even rural) Georgia with. It's a great thing to have such diversity in food, ideology, and language around. I hope they realize how much that rocks.
So, I'm back to real life. It sucks. This whole working thing needs to be done with. I'm still waiting for the call for a couple jobs. Mainly, I'm hoping my application for a lottery winner position comes through soon. I'm not real hopeful though, since I'm not filling out applications as often as most jobseekers are... ok so I never buy a ticket. I'm sure that's not improving the odds in my favor. But I'm most deserving I think.
The other job, well... no official word has come down. No messages, no emails, my status online still says "Under Review". After a supervisor offered to write an email espousing my virtues, he only got a return of "Thanks." (Long story short, he knows the hiring manager from industry conferences and workgroups... the dispatcher community has about 2 degrees of separation between every dispatcher in the world apparently).
Unofficially, I emailed the other two guys who interviewed to check on their news. Turns out, one has been offered a position (I'm working under the assumption that of the two openings, one was filled by the Emirati girl under "hire locals first" policy). However, he seemed less than enthused at the pay, not so sure that both he and his wife can live comfortably. Given our previous conversations about salary requirements, I'm apparently the high priced one.
As a coworker put it though, and I'm paraphrasing, "I've your getting a prostitute, do you want to gt the cheapest girl on the corner of do you want to spend the money for something more exclusive?" So, that makes me the a high dollar ho. But like a good high $$$ ho, I got hella skills and I'd rock their world. (Disclaimer, I really have no experience with cheap or expensive prostitutes beyond window browsing in Amsterdam and cannot make comparisons of their skill sets. But based on the looks, the expensive ones were way more impressive than the budget options).
Still, it's a little disappointing. I was really warming up to the idea of living outside the country. I mean its miserably hot and humid in Louisville at the moment, at least Dubai would have the "coolness" factor to make it more bearable. I know their are a lot of differences and quirks. I'm sure there's plenty I have no idea about, but thought it would be fun for a time. Mind you it's not over just yet, but my optimism has waned to the level of close to nil. I've been a little mopy about the whole thing the last couple days. It's amazing how many people have told me if they had the same option, they'd run. But are trapped by families and seniority with an employer they really don't much care for (to put it mildly).
So, I'm feeling a bit trapped in Louisville at the moment. I suppose it could be worse, I could be trapped in Hoboken. Add to that I seem to be broke, I guess the unplanned expenditure for a new suit and matching accoutrements for the interview . It would have been cheaper to have takent he trip to the south of Spain and Morocco. And imagine how much fun Spain would have been during the World Cup!!! If for no other reason I should be offered the Dubai job at my salary needs as a consolation prize.
Other than that, I'm off to DMB on Tuesday (yes again!!). They aways seem to put me in a good mood when I'm in a funk. It's a little bittersweet as this is my last date with premarriage Grace. My fake girlfriend becomes my fake... adulteress?? I'm not sure how that all works out. I am sure though that it'll be a fun wedding weekend in the mountains of Georgia. I may even drop in on some family while I'm there (and I know we talked about topshelf drinking supplies, but I may can find a supply of white lightning... if anyone wants to really feel bad the next morning.) I'm definitely looking forward to it.
I have this suspicious feeling about my laptop. Not like it's going to rise up in the night and strangle me, but the charging has been a bit erratic of late, and seems to be getting warmer and warmer during use these days. I'm really not i a position to buy a new one. This one has worked well for 3 years now (and I know that's better average than my last 3 or 4 computers) but I really don't need to go out buying new macbooks, but life with out a laptop would be impossible. Lets hope this one lasts a while more without issue.
That's about it for now, I'm working on the rest of the weeks schedule. I'm not sure yet if I'm gonna have next weekend off. I'll keep my loyal fans posted on my whereabouts ove the next couple weeks, and any changes in my employment status... as remote as it may be of happening.
Later.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars
(note: this one is long, it's late, and I'm not bothering to even attempt to proofread)
I'm approaching 3 weeks or so since I last pontificated. It seems like so long ago. Yet, nothing too much has changed in my world. Well, not yet. So, a little update on what's been going on.
I ended up having a nice long span of time off, and took to the road to head south. I spent the first part of my vacation back home. It amazes me how much money I can spend on a simple trip home. I think I can better money manage on a vacation to Europe. Mostly because I use mass transit, stay in hostels, and don't have the need to buy a suit, ties, and shirts. There is the other issue that I roll like a straight up baller when I'm in the ATL. I spent time with almost everyone I hoped to, though it can be elusive to meet up with everyone. And Jersey was once again a gracious hot to my shenanigans, and we had lots of nice conversations. There were too many nights out till 3 or 4 in the morning... well, not really. And of course the time spent with Tanjoe's enjoying soccer and beer, dinner outings with Brian and ET, dates to Brick Store and Front Page news in midtown with hotties (different ones at that!), some adult time (ie no child in tow) with Mags, and of course a little wedding planning with Gracie. It was a great time!
And then I took off.
I spent the Fourth of July in transit. I headed out that morning to hop a jumpseat to Houston. The flights looked a little fullish so I went earlier to make sure I could make the connection, the 6:55pm nonstop to Dubai. I spent some quality airport appreciation time at IAH, and then headed down to check in. I was pleasantly surprised when they stuck a "Business Priority" tag on my bag and handed me a boarding pass for seat 8K. That's business class beotches! And then the spoiling began.
The next 15 hours or so i spent in a seat roughly the size of my first apartment, and way better furnished. From my lie flat window I could chose any number of entertainment options from the onboard system, form the houndreds (literally) of movies to the hundreds of TV shows (including the 20 episodes of Friends!!!) to the almost endless musical selections. ALl displayed on a 21 inch or so screen. Oh and then there's the flight monitoring system and the live video cams the point forward and down. Dinner was served by a lovely blonde Australian, and started with canapes (which as best I can tel are various olives), followed by an appetizer of smoked salmon tartare. For an entree I chose the beef filet topped with beef jus and served with creamy spinach, baby carrots, and red skinned mashed potatoes (among the other choices were roasted chicken breast, seared cod fillet, or broccoli and gorgonzola ravioli ). All accompanied by seemingly never empty glass of Chateau Larrivet Haut Brion 2003 and a selection of fresh breads. For dessert, I steered away from the sweets (though both the Cherry and apple pie and the lemon curd torte looked amazing), I instead selected a choice of cheeses and washed it down with a glass of Quinta do Noval 2004 port. After dinner was finished, somewhere over the Canadian Maritimes, I took 2 tylenol PMs, adjusted the seat to full recline and zonked out. During diner, the lights in the cabin gradually dimmed though some pleasing shades of purples and pinks untill it was dark, and only individual reading lights and the "starlight" shining from the ceiling provided the only illumination.
I woke up just past Bucharest and groggily settled in for a crossing of the Black Sea into Turkey. I watched a few episodes of Friends. I was feeling a little disappointed that I missed the "midnight snack" choices of assorted sandwiches (which included beef and horseradish in a crispy roll, smoked salmon and cucumber, chicken Caesar wrap, and cheese and pickle rolls) or the hto selections of crawfish gumbo, alfredo tagliatella (with veggies), or chicken dopiaza. If you haven't figured it out by now I kept the menus :-)
Somewhere over Turkey breakfast was served. Can you tell there's a lot of food involved here??? So I had a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs with fresh chives ans sauteed mushrooms, hash browns, and chicken sausage. For those interested, the other choices included waffles or masala omelette. All served with fresh fruit and yogurt. The breakfast concluded as we passed through Iranian airspace and crossed the Persian Gulf. After hours aloft, we arrived in DUbai at about 1800 local time (the day after we left). After quickly clearing immigration (yay I got a passport stamp for once) and getting to the baggage claim just in time to see my bag come out first onto the carousel.
When i stepped out of the spotless terminal, it hit me. The heat. I'd guess it was about 100 degrees out and 80% humidity or so. I found my hotel shuttle and headed to the arranged accommodations. The company had arranged for a room, complete with meals provided, at a small hotel near the airport. I settled in, and went back to sleep. I woke early (jetlag le blows) for my 6 AM breakfast and 6:30 shuttle to headquarters. I thought I'd be the only suit clad individual in the breakfast line, but turns out ton of pilots are there for interviews. Ive never seen such a well dressed breakfast crowd. We all piled on the bus, and severel suggestions of ways to approach the interview (and even the sim checkride haha) were offered. We headed into the recruitment area, then subsequently given visitor badges and taken for the psychometrics. After another test of shapes and patterns (some sort of logic crap), we were given a time to return for our results and conversation with the psychologists. It's about this time I met the other three interviewees.
There was a Austrian gentleman from DHL, and Dutchman from KLM, and a young Emirati lady who had recently finished her dispatch course. The guys and I adjourned for coffee and to chat before our appointments, mine being first. Over coffee we got a feel of each others backgrounds and both the guys seemed very nice. While waiting around (and the other guys going outside to smoke.. I swear they didn't use lighters, just held the cigarettes in the sun and they lit), the Manager of Flight dispatch found us and offered a tour of the facility.
He was very nice and very knowledgeable, and showed us around the 7th floor operations center (with a view of DXB) and the crew checkin/briefing areas. After th manager bought me another cup of cappuccino, I headed to my psycho interview (a slight bit wired on caffeine). The dispatch manager was nice enough to give us a sort of preview to the rest of the process.
After my talk with the psychologist, I was done for the day and headed back to the hotel. I met up with one of the other candidates (the Austrian) for a beer and food. And by 7 pm I was back in my room asleep. I woke up about 1 AM and couldn't get back to sleep and pretty much whittled away the night (listening to the jet engines firing up across the street)before I headed for breakfast and my 9 AM interview.
The interview went so so. I felt I could have done better and was a little disappointed in some of the results. But I may have just spent too much time dwelling on the parts I could have done better on the 16 hour flight home. After I was done, I walked out and ran into the Dutchman, who had been told to report at 10 in error. SO we talked about the interviews and the day before. While we chatted, the Austrian came out... looking a bit distressed himself. We talked about the interviews some more then headed back to the hotel. After a change of clothes we met up and headed into town. He had ever been to Dubai before, so we went to a couple of malls (which individually were the size of the town I grew up in), checked out the Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building), the indoor ski slopes, down to the Marina area, and back to the hotel.
Did I mention it was hot?? 114 that day.
After returning to the hotel, I crashed again.. but this time I woke up and headed down to the bar to sheer Espana on against Deuschland! Had a few beers and dinner, and the a short sleep again before catching a bus to the airport for a 9 AM flight. I checked in online on the lobby computers and was happy to see I was in business class on the 16 hour flight back. After dooing some browsing in the ridiculous duty free area at the aiport, I went to climb into my cocoon for the trip back. I was met at my seat by a lovely Asian woman who offered up a glass of OJ, apple juice of champagne. So.. 9 AM goes well with a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut. After take off, we headed north towards Kuwait and into Iraq. Breakfast was served, this time a choice of scrambled eggs with grilled chicken and pepper cubes, roesti potatoes and turkey bacon; Masala omelette; or ricotta french toast. Once again I had the eggs... though the ricotta french toast was tempting. Again, fresh fruit, yogurt, and fresh breads and croissants were accompanying.
After watching a movie (Green Zone) and an episode of Friends (it's scary how excited I got over the Friends option!) I reclined and napped for a few hours. Somewhere over Central Europe, I had the midnight snack of sandwiches. As we coasted out of the British isles, I decided to check their supply of Jack Daniels for quality. As I watched another movie (Up in the Air) munching on assorted nuts (from a small bowl, no bags here), I double checked the Jack Daniels. I was also impressed that the flight attendants always referred to me as Mr Dees. I know, it's my name.. but they knew it! After the movie, I took another nap and woke up in time to freshen up before the dinner was served. Again, canapes were served, then an appetizer of lobster and crab timbale (chosen instead of the Arabic mezze). The main course this time was pepper spiced chicken, an Indian dish with cumin flavored rice and fresh veggies. The other options: blackened beef, cream cheese capellini, or grilled salmon. Anyone who wants the full descriptions can email me. The meal was washed down with an 2007 Erioca Riesling. This time I let my sweet tooth choose the dessert, and it chose well. The cappuccino brownie dome with lightly spiced chocolate sauce beat out the wild berry and orange frangipane.
Again, through the flight the lighting as adjusted to full darkness (with stars) and gradually brought up with orange and yellow shades to make it feel like dawn had come. We landed in Houston, and the most unpleasant part of the trip began... US customs. After standing in line for an hour, I claimed by bag and headed to find a way back to ATL. Continental was kind enough to provide with a me ride back home, and a deadheading captain was kind enough to take his confirmed coach seat and give me the cockpit jumpseat. (He originally had vlunteered to take the jumpseat to give up his seat for a nonrev). Back in Atlanta, back to Jerseys and I was out. I woke up Friday morning, met Maggie (and her small miracle Jack) for coffee and gifted him his first international souvenir.
Then i was off to Louisville. Not a bad drive until Nashville traffic snarled me, only to be followe by interstate closures in Kentucky for accidents. The detour wasn't moving much quciker, but thanx to Steve Jobs and the iPhone I navigated through some middle of nowhere places and made it back home in 8.5 hours.
After a quick trip that weekend to Chicago for a couple birthdays and block party (nmore on that later) I made it back to Louisville.
I'm still not feeling optimistic about the whole job thing. I'm not sure if the money is going to meet my requirements, or even if I did well enough to get offered the job. I occasionally am waffling on if it's somehting I really want to do, but the not knowing the option is driving me nuts. As of last report, I haven't heard from the other 2 guys that they have been made an offer (we exchanged email addresses, it's always good to know people at other airlines around the world). So here I wait... I do know I'm ready to move on from here, for various reasons... the least of which is I think the furlough monster will rear it's head again in a few months.
SO, we'll see. That's about it for tonight, this has gone on long enough. No ig trips planned for the near future. I do have DMB in Atlanta coming up, and then the Gracathon wedding spectacle... which I'm very much looking forward!!!
I'm approaching 3 weeks or so since I last pontificated. It seems like so long ago. Yet, nothing too much has changed in my world. Well, not yet. So, a little update on what's been going on.
I ended up having a nice long span of time off, and took to the road to head south. I spent the first part of my vacation back home. It amazes me how much money I can spend on a simple trip home. I think I can better money manage on a vacation to Europe. Mostly because I use mass transit, stay in hostels, and don't have the need to buy a suit, ties, and shirts. There is the other issue that I roll like a straight up baller when I'm in the ATL. I spent time with almost everyone I hoped to, though it can be elusive to meet up with everyone. And Jersey was once again a gracious hot to my shenanigans, and we had lots of nice conversations. There were too many nights out till 3 or 4 in the morning... well, not really. And of course the time spent with Tanjoe's enjoying soccer and beer, dinner outings with Brian and ET, dates to Brick Store and Front Page news in midtown with hotties (different ones at that!), some adult time (ie no child in tow) with Mags, and of course a little wedding planning with Gracie. It was a great time!
And then I took off.
I spent the Fourth of July in transit. I headed out that morning to hop a jumpseat to Houston. The flights looked a little fullish so I went earlier to make sure I could make the connection, the 6:55pm nonstop to Dubai. I spent some quality airport appreciation time at IAH, and then headed down to check in. I was pleasantly surprised when they stuck a "Business Priority" tag on my bag and handed me a boarding pass for seat 8K. That's business class beotches! And then the spoiling began.
The next 15 hours or so i spent in a seat roughly the size of my first apartment, and way better furnished. From my lie flat window I could chose any number of entertainment options from the onboard system, form the houndreds (literally) of movies to the hundreds of TV shows (including the 20 episodes of Friends!!!) to the almost endless musical selections. ALl displayed on a 21 inch or so screen. Oh and then there's the flight monitoring system and the live video cams the point forward and down. Dinner was served by a lovely blonde Australian, and started with canapes (which as best I can tel are various olives), followed by an appetizer of smoked salmon tartare. For an entree I chose the beef filet topped with beef jus and served with creamy spinach, baby carrots, and red skinned mashed potatoes (among the other choices were roasted chicken breast, seared cod fillet, or broccoli and gorgonzola ravioli ). All accompanied by seemingly never empty glass of Chateau Larrivet Haut Brion 2003 and a selection of fresh breads. For dessert, I steered away from the sweets (though both the Cherry and apple pie and the lemon curd torte looked amazing), I instead selected a choice of cheeses and washed it down with a glass of Quinta do Noval 2004 port. After dinner was finished, somewhere over the Canadian Maritimes, I took 2 tylenol PMs, adjusted the seat to full recline and zonked out. During diner, the lights in the cabin gradually dimmed though some pleasing shades of purples and pinks untill it was dark, and only individual reading lights and the "starlight" shining from the ceiling provided the only illumination.
I woke up just past Bucharest and groggily settled in for a crossing of the Black Sea into Turkey. I watched a few episodes of Friends. I was feeling a little disappointed that I missed the "midnight snack" choices of assorted sandwiches (which included beef and horseradish in a crispy roll, smoked salmon and cucumber, chicken Caesar wrap, and cheese and pickle rolls) or the hto selections of crawfish gumbo, alfredo tagliatella (with veggies), or chicken dopiaza. If you haven't figured it out by now I kept the menus :-)
Somewhere over Turkey breakfast was served. Can you tell there's a lot of food involved here??? So I had a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs with fresh chives ans sauteed mushrooms, hash browns, and chicken sausage. For those interested, the other choices included waffles or masala omelette. All served with fresh fruit and yogurt. The breakfast concluded as we passed through Iranian airspace and crossed the Persian Gulf. After hours aloft, we arrived in DUbai at about 1800 local time (the day after we left). After quickly clearing immigration (yay I got a passport stamp for once) and getting to the baggage claim just in time to see my bag come out first onto the carousel.
When i stepped out of the spotless terminal, it hit me. The heat. I'd guess it was about 100 degrees out and 80% humidity or so. I found my hotel shuttle and headed to the arranged accommodations. The company had arranged for a room, complete with meals provided, at a small hotel near the airport. I settled in, and went back to sleep. I woke early (jetlag le blows) for my 6 AM breakfast and 6:30 shuttle to headquarters. I thought I'd be the only suit clad individual in the breakfast line, but turns out ton of pilots are there for interviews. Ive never seen such a well dressed breakfast crowd. We all piled on the bus, and severel suggestions of ways to approach the interview (and even the sim checkride haha) were offered. We headed into the recruitment area, then subsequently given visitor badges and taken for the psychometrics. After another test of shapes and patterns (some sort of logic crap), we were given a time to return for our results and conversation with the psychologists. It's about this time I met the other three interviewees.
There was a Austrian gentleman from DHL, and Dutchman from KLM, and a young Emirati lady who had recently finished her dispatch course. The guys and I adjourned for coffee and to chat before our appointments, mine being first. Over coffee we got a feel of each others backgrounds and both the guys seemed very nice. While waiting around (and the other guys going outside to smoke.. I swear they didn't use lighters, just held the cigarettes in the sun and they lit), the Manager of Flight dispatch found us and offered a tour of the facility.
He was very nice and very knowledgeable, and showed us around the 7th floor operations center (with a view of DXB) and the crew checkin/briefing areas. After th manager bought me another cup of cappuccino, I headed to my psycho interview (a slight bit wired on caffeine). The dispatch manager was nice enough to give us a sort of preview to the rest of the process.
After my talk with the psychologist, I was done for the day and headed back to the hotel. I met up with one of the other candidates (the Austrian) for a beer and food. And by 7 pm I was back in my room asleep. I woke up about 1 AM and couldn't get back to sleep and pretty much whittled away the night (listening to the jet engines firing up across the street)before I headed for breakfast and my 9 AM interview.
The interview went so so. I felt I could have done better and was a little disappointed in some of the results. But I may have just spent too much time dwelling on the parts I could have done better on the 16 hour flight home. After I was done, I walked out and ran into the Dutchman, who had been told to report at 10 in error. SO we talked about the interviews and the day before. While we chatted, the Austrian came out... looking a bit distressed himself. We talked about the interviews some more then headed back to the hotel. After a change of clothes we met up and headed into town. He had ever been to Dubai before, so we went to a couple of malls (which individually were the size of the town I grew up in), checked out the Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building), the indoor ski slopes, down to the Marina area, and back to the hotel.
Did I mention it was hot?? 114 that day.
After returning to the hotel, I crashed again.. but this time I woke up and headed down to the bar to sheer Espana on against Deuschland! Had a few beers and dinner, and the a short sleep again before catching a bus to the airport for a 9 AM flight. I checked in online on the lobby computers and was happy to see I was in business class on the 16 hour flight back. After dooing some browsing in the ridiculous duty free area at the aiport, I went to climb into my cocoon for the trip back. I was met at my seat by a lovely Asian woman who offered up a glass of OJ, apple juice of champagne. So.. 9 AM goes well with a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut. After take off, we headed north towards Kuwait and into Iraq. Breakfast was served, this time a choice of scrambled eggs with grilled chicken and pepper cubes, roesti potatoes and turkey bacon; Masala omelette; or ricotta french toast. Once again I had the eggs... though the ricotta french toast was tempting. Again, fresh fruit, yogurt, and fresh breads and croissants were accompanying.
After watching a movie (Green Zone) and an episode of Friends (it's scary how excited I got over the Friends option!) I reclined and napped for a few hours. Somewhere over Central Europe, I had the midnight snack of sandwiches. As we coasted out of the British isles, I decided to check their supply of Jack Daniels for quality. As I watched another movie (Up in the Air) munching on assorted nuts (from a small bowl, no bags here), I double checked the Jack Daniels. I was also impressed that the flight attendants always referred to me as Mr Dees. I know, it's my name.. but they knew it! After the movie, I took another nap and woke up in time to freshen up before the dinner was served. Again, canapes were served, then an appetizer of lobster and crab timbale (chosen instead of the Arabic mezze). The main course this time was pepper spiced chicken, an Indian dish with cumin flavored rice and fresh veggies. The other options: blackened beef, cream cheese capellini, or grilled salmon. Anyone who wants the full descriptions can email me. The meal was washed down with an 2007 Erioca Riesling. This time I let my sweet tooth choose the dessert, and it chose well. The cappuccino brownie dome with lightly spiced chocolate sauce beat out the wild berry and orange frangipane.
Again, through the flight the lighting as adjusted to full darkness (with stars) and gradually brought up with orange and yellow shades to make it feel like dawn had come. We landed in Houston, and the most unpleasant part of the trip began... US customs. After standing in line for an hour, I claimed by bag and headed to find a way back to ATL. Continental was kind enough to provide with a me ride back home, and a deadheading captain was kind enough to take his confirmed coach seat and give me the cockpit jumpseat. (He originally had vlunteered to take the jumpseat to give up his seat for a nonrev). Back in Atlanta, back to Jerseys and I was out. I woke up Friday morning, met Maggie (and her small miracle Jack) for coffee and gifted him his first international souvenir.
Then i was off to Louisville. Not a bad drive until Nashville traffic snarled me, only to be followe by interstate closures in Kentucky for accidents. The detour wasn't moving much quciker, but thanx to Steve Jobs and the iPhone I navigated through some middle of nowhere places and made it back home in 8.5 hours.
After a quick trip that weekend to Chicago for a couple birthdays and block party (nmore on that later) I made it back to Louisville.
I'm still not feeling optimistic about the whole job thing. I'm not sure if the money is going to meet my requirements, or even if I did well enough to get offered the job. I occasionally am waffling on if it's somehting I really want to do, but the not knowing the option is driving me nuts. As of last report, I haven't heard from the other 2 guys that they have been made an offer (we exchanged email addresses, it's always good to know people at other airlines around the world). So here I wait... I do know I'm ready to move on from here, for various reasons... the least of which is I think the furlough monster will rear it's head again in a few months.
SO, we'll see. That's about it for tonight, this has gone on long enough. No ig trips planned for the near future. I do have DMB in Atlanta coming up, and then the Gracathon wedding spectacle... which I'm very much looking forward!!!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Oh, my life is changing everyday, in every possible way
I'm apparently not clinically insane. Or maybe I am and that's what "they" are looking for. I received my confirmed ticket, so I guess we'll see what happens next. But first...
BIG CONGRATS!!!!! to Grace and Jonathan. It seems that along with a move to Vietnam they've decided to get married. I don't know when yet, but this allegedly happening very soon. Just some more of the storm of change that seems to be sweeping through my world. I have a feeling they're going to be insufferably happy and lovey for a long long time. :-)
Now, the big question on my mind, do I need to find a new fake girlfriend??? Grace has been my long time fake girlfriend, and I've made the resolution to not date married women anymore (I know, seems like something one wouldn't need to have a resolution for, but it happens). And I'm not sure if fake dating is covered. Of course there is the fact that Grace is going to be in Vietnam for a year or so.
So, at least on a temporary basis, I'm accepting applications for "fake girlfriend". The job is pretty tough. You have to be available for random concerts, live within the local area (in this case, "local" means within a 2 hour plane ride, though exceptions can be made if applicant can show reason to expand the "local" area). There also have to be random days shopping, fashion consulting, and general "arm charm" duties. No salary is included, but there are several perks to the job, which may include but are not limited to: free meals, all expense paid outings, the occasional bottle of premium alcohol, and Christmas and birthday gifts. Please contact the author of this blog to relay your interest.
Now, the complication to this is my life is currently in flux. I suppose I should lift the veil on the big mystery. Most everyone knows anyways, but I will ask no one mention this to my current employer or (more importantly) my mother. Seems I've been shortlisted for a position with an airline in Dubai. I fly over for an interview (and assessments... two days worth apparently) on the 4th of July. Honestly I was sort of luke warm about the idea when I first applied, but the more I've thought about it the more interesting it sounds. Plus there's the tax free salary, housing allowance, and flight benefits to place US carriers can't even spell. All money will need to be negotiated, and we'll see how the whole thing goes. It's all a bit exciting...
And overwhelming. The idea of up and moving to another country and setting up shop is a pretty big undertaking. I've been checking out places online, and reading internet message board posts by current employees. I'm trying to get a feel for the pitfalls as well as the pluses. Unfortunately most the input on the internet is from pilots. And man do they whine a lot. I was sort of taken back by a lot of their issues. Almost to the point of being discouraged from even pushing forward. But then I sat back and thought... they have the same complaints as pilots from my current airline... and few others.. for the most part. There are some more specific issues, but mostly boil down to not being able to afford the lifestyle they had hoped. Keep in mind though, they are there with a family and paying for schools and what not. I'm not planning for that to be an issue. I also have had some correspondence with some non pilot types, and they seem to be saying that for a single guy, it's easily doable and can be a real experience. But they have also been very helpful in pointing out some things that can get you in trouble... nothing unmanagable.
On top of that, I was made aware of another employment opportunity that may be out there in the next couple weeks. It wouldn't require as long of a move, but the location is sketchier by most accounts. Elvis lived there, so it can't be all bad. We'll see what happens with that, and if the rumors are true.
No for some "what I had for lunch" blogging, I spent last weekend in the Washington DC area. I felt it was a good idea to get out of town ans see some friends, and the long time adopted little sister formerly known as Jennie Mills graciously hosted me. It was nice to get out, and just relax. It was a very laid back weekend, and I thank Jennie and Aaron for being such great hosts, considering they've had little time without guests of late.
I had the time to venture into Washington for some sight seeing. It's a great town and there's so much you can do for free. I of course hit the Air & Space museum on the mall, being the aerosexual I am. Much of what's there hasn't changed since I first went as a child, but there are some new and interesting exhibits. Interesting to me anyways. I do love my airplanes. After that, I strolled across the mall to the National Gallery of Art. I did a quick walk through, mainly for the air conditioning. I would like to get back and see more in the future, but I wanted to check out the National Archives.
So much is said about this or that being "unconstitutional" and how the founding fathers would be so disheartened at the course the country has taken. While I believe there may be some credence some of that (and not to pick on anyone one side, both political parties are, in my opinion, F'ed up). Anyway, I stood in a 45 minute line to check out the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It's impressive to think of what these documents have spurred. And even more impressive that they're still being used as a basis for our government. Consider that England is still working on a "constitution" of it's own, and several countries tend to rewrite there's as often as they change regimes. SO yes, the founding fathers got something right... they created a very fluid document that can change with the times. I recommend you check it out... and i recommend you read them before telling me what things are "unconstitutional".
We also took a trip to Baltimore and meandered around the harbour for a short time, mainly to get my HRC pin. But it was nice to just hang out with Jennie. She's still awesome after all these years, and looks the same. I saw a quote yesterday, "Friendship is when people know all about you but still like you anyway." Luckily, I have a lot of those. And they let me stay at their houses on short notice :-).
And now I'm back in Louisville, and thanx to a displacement call this morning I'm off work until the 12th of July. Should be a busy couple weeks though. I'm looking forward to it... except I come back and work 13 of the next 15 days. I guess you gotta pay for the playing. Later
BIG CONGRATS!!!!! to Grace and Jonathan. It seems that along with a move to Vietnam they've decided to get married. I don't know when yet, but this allegedly happening very soon. Just some more of the storm of change that seems to be sweeping through my world. I have a feeling they're going to be insufferably happy and lovey for a long long time. :-)
Now, the big question on my mind, do I need to find a new fake girlfriend??? Grace has been my long time fake girlfriend, and I've made the resolution to not date married women anymore (I know, seems like something one wouldn't need to have a resolution for, but it happens). And I'm not sure if fake dating is covered. Of course there is the fact that Grace is going to be in Vietnam for a year or so.
So, at least on a temporary basis, I'm accepting applications for "fake girlfriend". The job is pretty tough. You have to be available for random concerts, live within the local area (in this case, "local" means within a 2 hour plane ride, though exceptions can be made if applicant can show reason to expand the "local" area). There also have to be random days shopping, fashion consulting, and general "arm charm" duties. No salary is included, but there are several perks to the job, which may include but are not limited to: free meals, all expense paid outings, the occasional bottle of premium alcohol, and Christmas and birthday gifts. Please contact the author of this blog to relay your interest.
Now, the complication to this is my life is currently in flux. I suppose I should lift the veil on the big mystery. Most everyone knows anyways, but I will ask no one mention this to my current employer or (more importantly) my mother. Seems I've been shortlisted for a position with an airline in Dubai. I fly over for an interview (and assessments... two days worth apparently) on the 4th of July. Honestly I was sort of luke warm about the idea when I first applied, but the more I've thought about it the more interesting it sounds. Plus there's the tax free salary, housing allowance, and flight benefits to place US carriers can't even spell. All money will need to be negotiated, and we'll see how the whole thing goes. It's all a bit exciting...
And overwhelming. The idea of up and moving to another country and setting up shop is a pretty big undertaking. I've been checking out places online, and reading internet message board posts by current employees. I'm trying to get a feel for the pitfalls as well as the pluses. Unfortunately most the input on the internet is from pilots. And man do they whine a lot. I was sort of taken back by a lot of their issues. Almost to the point of being discouraged from even pushing forward. But then I sat back and thought... they have the same complaints as pilots from my current airline... and few others.. for the most part. There are some more specific issues, but mostly boil down to not being able to afford the lifestyle they had hoped. Keep in mind though, they are there with a family and paying for schools and what not. I'm not planning for that to be an issue. I also have had some correspondence with some non pilot types, and they seem to be saying that for a single guy, it's easily doable and can be a real experience. But they have also been very helpful in pointing out some things that can get you in trouble... nothing unmanagable.
On top of that, I was made aware of another employment opportunity that may be out there in the next couple weeks. It wouldn't require as long of a move, but the location is sketchier by most accounts. Elvis lived there, so it can't be all bad. We'll see what happens with that, and if the rumors are true.
No for some "what I had for lunch" blogging, I spent last weekend in the Washington DC area. I felt it was a good idea to get out of town ans see some friends, and the long time adopted little sister formerly known as Jennie Mills graciously hosted me. It was nice to get out, and just relax. It was a very laid back weekend, and I thank Jennie and Aaron for being such great hosts, considering they've had little time without guests of late.
I had the time to venture into Washington for some sight seeing. It's a great town and there's so much you can do for free. I of course hit the Air & Space museum on the mall, being the aerosexual I am. Much of what's there hasn't changed since I first went as a child, but there are some new and interesting exhibits. Interesting to me anyways. I do love my airplanes. After that, I strolled across the mall to the National Gallery of Art. I did a quick walk through, mainly for the air conditioning. I would like to get back and see more in the future, but I wanted to check out the National Archives.
So much is said about this or that being "unconstitutional" and how the founding fathers would be so disheartened at the course the country has taken. While I believe there may be some credence some of that (and not to pick on anyone one side, both political parties are, in my opinion, F'ed up). Anyway, I stood in a 45 minute line to check out the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It's impressive to think of what these documents have spurred. And even more impressive that they're still being used as a basis for our government. Consider that England is still working on a "constitution" of it's own, and several countries tend to rewrite there's as often as they change regimes. SO yes, the founding fathers got something right... they created a very fluid document that can change with the times. I recommend you check it out... and i recommend you read them before telling me what things are "unconstitutional".
We also took a trip to Baltimore and meandered around the harbour for a short time, mainly to get my HRC pin. But it was nice to just hang out with Jennie. She's still awesome after all these years, and looks the same. I saw a quote yesterday, "Friendship is when people know all about you but still like you anyway." Luckily, I have a lot of those. And they let me stay at their houses on short notice :-).
And now I'm back in Louisville, and thanx to a displacement call this morning I'm off work until the 12th of July. Should be a busy couple weeks though. I'm looking forward to it... except I come back and work 13 of the next 15 days. I guess you gotta pay for the playing. Later
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