Clouds or Snow?

The clouds look like a fresh blanket of fallen snow. They cover the sky like a frozen lake surrounded by a graceful belt of mountains. The sun rays touch their puffy peaks, casting shadows along the veins that run through them.
Beautiful is this place of perfect peace.

Disconnect notice? A first for us.

I was afraid of this.

I used to have it down pat. A routine for which bills to pay and when. I know there is this wonderful thing called, automatic bill pay, but I haven't signed up for it yet. However, I do pay most of my bills online.

In my absence at home, this one slipped through the cracks. It's my home phone bill. Oops.

Yesterday I got to come home. My brother and his family have been driving all over the country and planned on being at our house by the 27th. Our timing was perfect. We called each other and realized that we were only 10 minutes apart on the same freeway heading toward my house. He pulled over and waited for me to catch up. Then he followed me the rest of the way down the canyon and into Cool.

We had a nice visit. I love my bro!!!

MB fired up the BBQ and made some huge steaks. I enjoyed the corn most of all. It's really good when you soak it in water all day and BBQ it with the husks on, wrapped in tin foil.

This morning I made breakfast and they loaded back up the van and waved good-bye. They have a long trip back to Minnesota. Actually, today they just want to get to Utah. However, there are some really BIG wildfires in Nevada that threaten to close their route. I hope they can get through Elko.

As for me...I'm going back to bed. Just a little more rest and I'll be good as new.

It's all I can think about...

Flying.

That's it.

Not much else.

I am busy with flying. Can someone please give me something else to think about?? PLEASE!!

A Long Trip

Today I got a day off.

At 1:00pm yesterday, I ended a very long 4 day trip. The problem?...My captain. Our personalities clashed!

Oh, we got along okay, because when I don't like someone...I simply smile anyway. I tried to keep things positive, but Captain Swenson is a negative person. I made him sick with my "you choose to be happy" attitude.

Ah, but that is history now. A good thing did happen yesterday while I was sitting in L.A. waiting for my next plane to arrive...MB decided to take a couple days off and come visit me. He was planning on driving, but instead I got him listed on a couple flights and when I got back to Fresno, I only had to wait a couple hours for him to arrive at the airport. I spent those hours sitting in the crew lounge watching my new DVD's...the first season of HOUSE.

Today we went to a nice water park. It was a crazy 107 degrees! The slides were fun. After a while we got tired of the hot sun and decided to go walk around in Target. It never fails...I ALWAYS find something to spend a hundred dollars on. By then it was time to head back to the airport. We were early for his flight, but for some reason the customer service agent was rushing us. She said we had better hurry up if we wanted to make the flight. I was confused.

We hurried anyway. Luckily I have the ability to cut through the line for security screening.

As we approached the gate, the agent called out our last name to us and pointed to the stairs. I finally figured it out. There was an earlier flight leaving for S.F. right then. They bumped up his ticket. Cool. However, once he got to S.F. the flights were full and I just found out that he made it onto the second one for Sacramento. Uhhhh!!! Flying stand by can be difficult, but hey...it's free.

Tomorrow I start another 4 day trip. This will be the toughest trip yet as far as the schedule goes. 8 legs the first day, 4 the second, 8 on the third and 4 on the last. By the 27th, I will have worked 12 out of the last 15 days. But I am determined that not even one passenger is ever going to know it. I want to offer the same quality service on every flight.

I smile; wishing everyone a pleasant day...and I mean it.

Lucky me! I have an overnight in Modesto tomorrow and MB is bringing the kids down to see me. I miss them so VERY much! Also my brother and his lovely family will be coming to visit on the 27th. After I finish my trip I will drive home. I wonder who will make it there first?

Gotta go now...the brownies I baked for my crew tomorrow are done and I need to get my uniform pressed for an early 8am show.

See ya fly girl!

Nice Day in the Mojave Desert

The pool was nice. China Lake's Weapons, Technology and Systems Testing Facility was very interesting. I learned all about various missiles (of course I already had some knowledge of this) and SNORT (a 2 mile long testing track).
I spent 2 hours walking around and reading about the beginnings of this Naval Base that created the first nuclear bomb.
Then I went in the gift shop and bought a t-shirt for MB.
I really like this place. The desert is beautiful. I don't know if I could live here though. It's just too hot. The ac runs all the time. However, I do lean more towards warm then cold. So far this is my favorite overnight.




It's about 108 degrees. I'll be flying back here tomorrow night. I hope the turbulence will be just like last night...MILD. I got really freaked out yesterday when my captain told me how bad it would be. He said the tubulence at Inyokern is always bad.

How bad? I asked.

He explained how the desert heat rises ( I know...) and causes unstable air. There is always a rolling swirl of rough air over the mountains just before you land at the Inyokern airport. His exact words were..."The plane is almost out of control."

WHAT!!??@@**&^^^%#@^&*

One thing you never want to hear from a pilot, knowing you have to get on that plane. He had me so freaked out that even the passengers were trying to calm me down.

I had a great day yesterday, don't get me wrong...but this is a flight were most of the passengers are pros. They fly it all the time, back and forth to work. I had never done it, and was nervous. The passengers would smile and say it's like going on a roller coaster ride everyday! They told me not to worry about trying to do the beverage service. One guy said that most flight attendants never make it through it.

Then they started on their stories..."One guy got his wings sheered right off from the g forces! A plane can only withstand so much ya know."

YIKES! I was smiling on the outside, but sick inside. We did have some bumps, but even the captain told me it was nothing...and I was lucky that time. I just smiled and said "God calmed the storm for me".

BTW- I did serve a beverage, a snack and collected the trash in record time. Oh yeah...I'm good!

Pictures I Promised

I just got done working out and now I'm headed for the pool. First I'll post some of those pictures I promised. For more pictures visit my photos blog "Kodak Moments".
San Diego...



L.A...

Been wondering about me?

It's not like me to go a whole week without posting, is it?

Let's play catch up.

I went on a 4 day trip last week (pictures coming soon). To tell you all the places I flew into would have you quickly screaming..."I don't care, geez!"
Therefore I will just tell you the places I stayed the night. First night was Albuquerque, New Mexico. I wasn't there very long. The next night was San Diego, Ca. Not as nice as I expected and WAY overpriced, but I had a good time anyway. I spent 3 hours walking around the downtown and harbor. I ate dinner at "Anthony's" and bought a shirt for MB that says "Save our coastline."
The third night was the absolute worst overnight and I hope to NEVER go back!!

Where? Loser Los Angeles, that's where! Sorry to all you southern Ca. lovers out there...but I don't like you city. It's loud, stinky, rude, dangerous and the place is so saturated with people that I can't even carry on a 2 minute conversation without getting my call dropped. It's terrible! Plus that fact that the big fancy hotel I stayed in (with it's fancy smancy sleep number bed mattress) didn't have computers for crew members to use to get online and there wasn't a microwave in the room. I tell ya...I'm getting spoiled.

Right now I'm in Inyokern. It's in Death Valley, Ca.

Everyone told me it would be terrible here...but I love it! It's out in the desert. I'm looking forward to getting on the navel base tomorrow and checking out a very special museum that exits there.
Since I brought my laptop on this trip, I can even spend some time writing Annie. I do also plan on spending an hour or so out by the pool. They say it got up to 109 degrees here today. Oh boy!

SFO

If you've ever flown into the San Francisco airport, you know it's surrounded by water. This is what it looks like from the side. See the little plane underneath the big one? That's what I fly in. The brasilia is small and seats 30 passengers. I actually like it! However, if you fly on this plane, please pack light. We have weight restrictions and unfortunately it does happen that passengers get bumped to meet this requirement.
I took this shot inside a mexican restaurant while waiting for my strawberry margarita and chicken fajatias. Yum!

In Bakersfield

Hi there,

I'm in Bakersfield right now on a layover. This is the third day of a 4 day trip. Some interesting things to tell you...

Today I had a family on my flight that are neighbors of Charlie Battles. Charlie is the 2nd cousin of my father in law. Charlie was married to Reba McEntire and was her first manager. However, I don't usually talk about this because Charlie apparently wasn't very good to her. I don't know...small world.

I only had 2 flights today. Sweet.

This has been a pretty good trip so far. I've had to get up early everyday, but no big deal. I got to spend some time with my dad yesterday. That was fun. Me, my dad and my crew went to Tin Tin for dinner. YUMMY Chinese buffet!!!

BTW- I met another flight attendant (Randy) who was on my flight and stayed in our hotel in Medford who told me that Tin Tin means a bad word in his language. Randy is Filipino. I asked him what it meant and he whispered it under his breath.
Of course I'm not shy (haha) and I repeated it loudly...PENIS!! I'm going to PENIS for dinner?

He laughed. I told him I was going to tell everyone I know. Except my kids...I'm not kidding either.

The first night of this trip we stayed in San Fran and went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I just thought I'd throw that in for the heck of it.

Now I'm going to go swimming since the fitness center here is closed (just for today...my luck). I did go running yesterday in Medford with my Captain. I didn't have any music to listen to because my ipod had been erased. I guess I must have did something wrong the last time I hooked it up to my computer. I usually use the Dell to update since that's where most of my music is. However, I just wanted to charge it, so I hooked it up to my apple and accidentally reset it. Opps. O'well...we ran about 4 miles anyway.

I found her!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but last year I signed up on classmates.com hoping to find Teresa, a good friend from high school that I lost touch with.

I saw her name listed and sent a couple emails. That was last summer. I never got a response.

Recently, I paid the big bucks (haha) and became a "gold member". I hadn't planned on renewing, but once they have your credit card, they just keep charging you until you call in and cancel.

Well, as fate would have it...I forgot to call in and I got charged another 20 bucks on my credit card.

I love when your mistakes turn into blessings. 2 days ago I got an email from my friend.

It has been GREAT corresponding with Teresa again. I remember the first time I met her. It was the summer before our senior year and she had driven up to Susanville from Elk Grove just to try out for the cheerleading squad. Of course she made the team. She was awesome!

I think she was a little shocked with the fact that our school was predominately white. I liked her instantly. She was everything I wasn't, but tried to be. Outgoing, brave and funny; she smiled ALL the time. Most of the girls at my school were of the backstabbing variety and I struggled with making friends.
Teresa made me laugh and taught me how to be strong. Even though we only spent 1 year as buds...it was a friendship I treasured...and missed.

I have thought of her often in the last 17 years and wondered how her life turned out. Now I know. She is doing well, living in Sourthern Cali, has 2 beautiful children and owns her own recording label.
You can check it out here... www.10xplatinum.com. This doesn't surprise me one bit as I recall many trips to McDonalds at lunch time listening to her sing along with music I had never heard before. Her powerful voice kept me thinking...who is this? Whitney Houston?

Now that I can fly pretty much anywhere I want to for free...I plan on getting together with her soon so we can talk about old memories (if we can remember them) and exchange all of our life altering crazy adventures.

I love my friends!

Our newest family member, Valena

World, meet Valena. She is part lab, part boarder collie. Isn't she adorable! We took her home from a fella at Walmart.

My holiday is now

So most of you got a nice long weekend for memorial day, right?

I worked it, so now I have my time off. Pool side days are here again! Or lake side in this case. Yes friends...I'm leaving right now for a weekend at the cabin.

We are hoping our friends who also own a cabin up there, but live in Redwood City, will also be there. Nick and Claudia are super fun!

It's great being home with my family. It will also be nice to be in a place that I KNOW crew support can not call me! They don't have the number for the cabin. The other night I got a call from them at 2am. They offered me time and a half to come in a work my days off. I declined. I can say no because I'm not on reserve right now. Ahhhh

Sand castles....ice tea....ping pong....BBQ steaks.....stupid gossip about famous people in magazines.....long paddleboat rides around the waters edge....

yeah, it's gonna be a nice 2 days at the cabin.

Something Gerald Said...

So I was sitting in SFO airport eating soup, when my F/O (first officier) said, "We don't really need government."

"Huh?" I replied.

"Well, except for defense and police...we don't 'em."

I agree when it comes to many programs and welfare...the system is broken. We could come up with our own way of helping people and saving money for retirement...in fact, we already have! But to not need a government? I can't quite wrap my head around that one.

What do you think?