Hmm where to begin. I don’t know… I guess my flight from Anchorage to Houston, which is already a 7 hour flight… gets to Houston airspace, and because of air traffic backup, has to circle the airport for an hour before landing. Ok sweet I say, just less time for my first 2:40 layover, taking off from Houston to Memphis! Wrong. Flight delayed 2 hours before boarding, then sit on the tarmack for two hours, waiting in line to take off. Apparently there was a back log of people taking off and landing from previous storms that rolled through in the morning. Yay.
Land in Memphis. I’m only an hour and 45 minutes late for my connecting flight. No problem!!! I even had a two hour layover, to allow plenty of time. In Memphis, reschedule for 7:40pm flight (keep in mind I should be landing at my destination at 4pm.). Ok I think, I’ll walk around, grab something to eat. I pass the flight arrival/departure display… 9:09PM!!!!! Currently my flight is schedule to leave at 9:37pm, everytime I look it’s later.
I’ll get a cart I say… not that I have a lot of stuff, but after carting it around since 10:40pm YESTERDAY, i’m sick of it, and I want to explore. $3.00!!! Extortion. But whatever. Do you think the damn cart machine will work for me? No. Won’t take dollars, won’t take coins. Carts, sitting there mocking me. Well hey, at least I only had to pay $7.95 for my wifi! You’d think they’d offer it for free.
Oh, and as a side note to all this crap…. I always arrive, and leave, at the farthest possible gates. I’m talking… A36, to C65. Everytime. I’m at the end of the terminal. Concrete wall, no where else to go. End of line. Taking off tonight (supposedly) from A1. See what I mean? Endless!
Wish me luck…
Laura
**UPDATE** Flight was put off until 10pm, and then cancelled, spent an hour in line to get a re-route, which won’t happen until tomorrow. Car rental, five hours one way, and huge expense to pick up at one airport, return at another. Northwest was kind enough (cough cough) to put me up in a hotel, and give me two meal vouchers, one for $13 one for $7. Uhhh, you can get a bagel at the airport for $7! Oh well, that’s probably what I’ll get, because guess what! I get to wake up at 4:30am, to catch the 5am shuttle, to catch my re-routed DELTA flight to CHICAGO, then into Springfield. I just hope there’s no bad weather, which was part of the problem today. Flight delays, which backed up air traffic, and also caused the pilots to have logged too many hours, so they were short pilots. Sweet. Anyway… i’m so exhausted. Going to hit the hay, and hit it again tomorrow. I *should* get into Springfield just before 11am. Geez… I’m even afraid to say that, I might jinx myself. Sorry for the long entry today!! ~Laura
So this picture is my contribution to Christmas lights. I actually might have a couple more, but we’ll see if they make it through photoshop this weekend. Which will depend completely on my lazyness.
I’ve also wanted to redo my Entrecard “card”. I’m really not happy with the drab moose picture. I thew it together really quickly when I started, and i’m ready for something new. If i’m not mistaken, when I first jumped on board with Entrecard, you couldn’t change the picture. Now you can. I also spend a good deal of time this morning, Entrecarding… so we’ll see how that effect my visits.
So my favorite new blog right now, is Everything-Everywhere. Go check out his journeys.
Luckily I logged into my bank account today. I don’t normally, unless I’m cutting it pretty close, and trying to keep an eye on things. There was a charge for $950.20 from Dell. Uhhhhhh…. I also have a charge for $1.50 from a company I’ve never heard of.
Now I’m not one of those people that has zillions of dollars in my account, so of course this overdrew my account. Not to mention, I still have checks floating around (yeah I actually still write checks). I flipped out. I called my bank (accolades to Key Bank today!). They reverse the charges. I call Dell. Get India. I don’t think the guy understands that a transaction has gone through, that has rendered me utterly destitute. He says someone will call me back. So I wait a couple of hours, nothing. I call again. This time, I get someone who understands the gravity of the situation. I actually get one of those annoying emails with a 9 digit “Case” number. And another reversal on the charge. Woo Hoo, now I’m rich (until midnight anyway, when the second reversal drops off).
So my choices of course are to freeze the account, report the card lost/stolen, or do nothing. I do nothing (today). WHY you say? First choice, freeze the account. I have transactions that I KNOW are going through today. Freeze=Nightmare. The obvious choice, reporting it lost/stolen, and getting a replacement card, also a nightmare… especially since I’m travelling on Christmas day, and there is no way they could get a replacement card to me in time. No card = No rental car. Not all of us have an array of credit cards to choose from. If this had even happened Monday of this week, I would’ve taken the chance, and hoped that I could have gotten a replacement card. But today, no dice. I will get a replacement card when I’m done traveling.
The $1.50 charge? Someone apparently purchased a horse racing program from a website based in Kentucky.
Moral of the story, check your account. I’m now obsessively compulsively checking mine!
PS (if anyone wants to order something from Dell, just let me know, I have a credit card number to give you!)
Imagine how horrific it would be if you had to have your leg amputated below the knee. Now imagine that if you were a drummer. I don’t know what I would do. Mark Habercost is an oustanding dummer, who recently lost his leg due to complication of diabetes. Please see the information below about his benefit. He’s trying to raise money for his prothetic leg.
Mark has one of the best attitudes I’ve ever seen. Please help if you can. Here’s Mark aka “The Crusher’s” myspace page.
THE DATE OF THE BENEFIT FOR THE CRUSHER HAS BEEN CHANGED DUE TO FOOTBALL - THE NEW DATE IS SUNDAY, JANUARY 27TH, 2008 FROM 3:00 P.M. UNTIL ???THE FOLLOWING BANDS WILL BE PLAYING (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER):
RIVERDOWN
EXCESS
USHER, WEST & BATTLE
MIGHTY QUINN
DIRTY SOUTH
ZEN “PHEONIX”
OTHERS TBA
As I get up and going this morning, it’s -8F on my porch. The car didn’t want to start, but did. While waiting, waking up, checking email. I came across the biggest pieces of garbage ever written.
HUCKABEE and GIULIANI TIED? Come on. Ron Paul is mentioned basically in passing as the looser at the end of the pack. I guess that’s why he had the single biggest fund raising day in history this past Sunday. 6.6 Million (look for the news spins on this though, downplaying it). Surpassing even John Kerry. But he’s at 4%?? With a “margin of error” of 4.8%. Wow, I love statistics. I didn’t learn much in my college statistics class. I got a C. In fact, the only thing I really learned, was that numbers can be manipulated, in any way you want them to be. 10 isn’t 10, 10 14.8 with a margin of error at 4.8%. But the casual reader never sees the TRUE number. Only the 14.8. Likewise, with a headline that reads, Huckabee and Giuliani TIED, that’s all they will see. I have to leave for work… seething this morning. Not because my guy is “losing”, because I don’t believe he is…. but because we’re so brainwashed in the country, that we read the headlines, and jump on the band wagon for the supposed winner. Because “everyone else is”. I’ll leave with some links to other stories of interest regarding this:
From time to time I have insomnia. Although I guess it’s not really insomnia this morning, more like a case of me not getting out of bed this afternoon until 3pm. No, I’m not sick, or otherwise impaired. I just love to sleep on the weekends. Actually, I just love to sleep. This morning, I’m doing my usual multitasking, uploading, downloading, emailing, surfing… and also listening to my roommate/ friend play keyboards and sing.
For anyone that knows me, you already know how talented my friend Sean is. He’s a multi-instrumentalist. Vocals, keyboards, guitar, harp, bass, and lastly drums. He’s also a very talented producer, and all around studio guru. He’s an outstanding vocalist. He’s my best friend.
Under discussion this evening was his upcoming trip to Europe to gig. He’s never been, and it’s a great opportunity. The money is pretty decent for sure. He’ll be gone for 12 weeks, traveling and playing in Copenhagen, Denmark, and St. Moritz, Switzerland. This is where I get all mushy and talk about how much I’ll miss him. I’m so privileged to have him in my life on a daily basis… to take advantage of the times I can hear him play. Like right now, sitting in the loft, Sean playing Rocket Man. I am one lucky bitch. Now Daniel.
What will I do with myself when he’s gone? Become a crazy old cat lady? A shut in? A gym rat… running three hours a day? will I eat correctly? Will I fall into a bottle of whiskey? Most of those scenarios are extreme. I’ll probably end up in the middle of them… bouncing around. If you or anyone you know lives in these areas, please find out where he’s playing, and stop in. I’ll continue to update this site as I get the information in. Also Sean is going to start his own blogging site for his travel adventures.
Hopefully this coming year there will be an opportunity for me to go over for a few weeks, and see some sites. Ride the Eurorail. I’ve always wanted too.
On December 16th, 1773, American colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest an oppressive tax. This December 16th, American citizens will dump millions of dollars into the Ron Paul presidential campaign to protest the oppressive and unconstitutional inflation tax.
If you’re never checked out, tuned in, or heard of wholewheatradio.org, then here’s your chance. If you want to hear an Alaska singer/songwriter without leaving your chair, here’s your opportunity. This life house concert is taking place in 40 minutes!
Daylight Anchorage, AK 12-14-2007 : 10:08 a.m. - 3:40 p.m
Just a quick post tonight, might have another one late night.
We’re into the single digits for the temperature, and with that comes the splintering of windshields. When I lived in Missouri, you had to have your car inspected every year, a safety inspection before you could get it licensed. One of the things that had to be crack free, was your windshield. So it was surprising to me, after moving to Alaska, that 9 out of 10 windshields, have cracks or chips. The 1 out of 10 without cracks or chips? Probably new cars still on the sales floor.
The best part of it is, no one really seems to care. Everyone that I know, lets their windshield go, until it’s actually a hazzard to try and see through. Or maybe they just have a few hudred dollars burning a hole in their pockets.
I will keep this one short, I’m sleepy, and don’t want to ramble on and on.
The basics. Last week I started working out at the gym I’ve been PAYING for every month, but PUTTING off everyday since March.
So I go. It’s a very basic gym, and is the upper portion of a larger metal building where all the gymnastics, cheering etc is held. So during any given time of my workout, there are usually between 30-200 kids, between the ages of 3-20, working out on the different gymnastics elements. The “gym” portion of the building is upstairs. The treadmills are facing towards the gymnastics floors and apparatus, which are below. So think of racquetball, you’re usually watching from up above, looking over the edge, or a balcony. This is how the gym is set up.
So I get on the treadmill, trudge along, working my way to an astonishing 2.8mph. Look down at all the kids, flipping around, jumping, climbing, stretching…. wow… #1 Realization, they’re good. #2 Realization, I’m weak and fat! I guess watching them day after day will encourage me to “stay the course” and continue to go. Try to walk off my junk in the trunk.
If this had even happened Monday of this week, I would’ve taken the chance, and hoped that I could have gotten a replacement card. But today, no dice. I will get a replacement card when I’m done traveling.
