Me, I want a Hoola Hoop!

It's been a while since I've had anything worthwhile to say. I don't know if this really qualifies either though. What's been going on? I've been going to the chiropractor every week or two. I think the massages are really helping and my back is getting better!

Thanksgiving was good. It was nice to see the family and eat pumpkin pie. In case you didn't know, that is my favorite. And Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite. My uncle's friend and wife joined us. They brought an Indonesian dessert. Different, but I liked it!

Been enjoying the holiday travelers and wintry weather. I was in Vancouver for an hour and a half to deice the other week. That sucked. Recently, I've seen a guy with no shoes on, a bald guy with the rest of his hair spiked, and I had a drunk woman removed before a flight. She shouldn't have told me she was drunk when she got on, maybe then I wouldn't have noticed her slurred speech, and she wouldn't have been taken off the last flight of the night. I felt bad.

Tasha emailed today and said that she saw that work poster that I'm on in the employment office at Goodwill. Something like that. Wherever it is, it's no longer just in company buildings. I could live with it then. Now I'm not so happy about it. If you don't know what I'm talking about look for the "Poster Girl" entry. I hope people start recognizing me on the street. SIKE.

Anna and I went to Danny's Christmas party last week and decided to get some ugly Christmas sweaters to wear. Value Village had a big selection (Goodwill where we went first to donate stuff too, did not). But instead of sweaters we found these matching vests and of course had to get them. We were the coolest kids at the party. Can you see the front and back? Nice, huh?

And the other day I made Randy go downtown with me to witness the beginning of Santa Con. It's a bunch of weird Portlanders dressing up like Santa, or their version of "Santa" and then they go bar hopping for like 12 hours. I read about it in a book about Portland by the guy that wrote Fight Club. It sounded pretty funny to me. So I did some research and went to have a little looksy. It was entertaining, it probably would've been more entertaining when they were all drunk, but then my life might've been in danger. Here's a pic of some of them.

On the bottom left you can see "Pope Santa", to the right is a group of elves protesting with signs like "Where are our milk and cookies?" Good ol' weird Portland. Also, some Santas gave us presents!

This week, I'm going to Tasha's Christmas party, and to the Nutcracker with my mom - hopefully I'll actually be able to make it this year! I'm looking forward to it. I'm enjoying the Christmas season this year, but only after Dec. 1st. Not after Halloween. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

No title!

Yesterday when I left my house there were people digging holes and working and whatnot. When I came home a few hours later there were stoplights installed at my intersection! They weren't hooked up yet, but that's pretty crazy, yeah? Hopefully they'll work out pretty good. It gets bad at rush hour, but I hope the left turn signal doesn't take forever to change when I come home at 11 pm.

The leaves are absolutely beautiful right now aren't they!? They seem to be extra great this year for some reason. I love to look at the hillsides from the plane. Also, when I wear my sunglasses they are more vibrant. Isn't the world supposed to look better through rose-colored lenses though?

2 days ago I went to a chiropractor for the first time in my life. He's also a LMT. I figured that was a good combo. He didn't do a whole lot to me I didn't think. A few adjustments, tried to loosen up a few muscles with a few pressure points. I think that's all. But, today and yesterday, I am soo sore! Yikes. I am going back on Tuesday. Hopefully I will be getting better. It would be nice to have a pain free back!

I'm working a Frontier JetExpress trip this week. So I get to go to exciting places like Little Rock (where I am now) and Tulsa!! Wow!

Windy City

I have a travel bug. It's a bad one. I want to see something new...preferrably in Europe at the moment. It's a little tough to just go there though. So, I went to Chicago last week! Suzie, who lives 2 hours away in Lafayette, came to meet me there. When I got in, we first went to Giordanno's for some Chicago-style pizza. It was pretty good, I'd eat it again. Not as good as Naples pizza though. Then it was off to the Hancock tower to the Signature Lounge on the 95th floor! It was either go there for free, or pay to go to the observation deck. Great views of the city, it was night, so everything was lit up. We could see the Sears Tower across the town.

The next morning we went to the Field Museum where we saw the world's largest and most complete T-Rex, Sue. Not as big as I thought it would be. There were lots of other prehistoric animals and dinosaurs there. That was pretty exciting, I'd never seen dinosaurs before! Very interesting, a good museum. I wasn't quite sure how to process it all, or how to line it up with what I think, or think I know. Probably time to do some reading.

We had lunch and walked down the Magnificent Mile. Stopped in a few shops, but was not inspired to buy anything. Then we went to find Julius Meinl. A cafe, very big in Vienna. The only one in the US is in Chicago, near Wrigley Field. We had some hot cocoa and dessert. Yummy! It made me very very happy to go. And I did find a few things to buy there. After than we drove to Indiana to Suzie's house.

The next day Suzie showed me around Purdue, I met some of her friends and my fellow bridesmaids. There isn't a whole lot to see in Lafayette. A lot of corn fields. I had my first frozen custard. It's pretty much like ice cream. A little different.

The fourth day it was back to Chicago. We went to Navy Pier, just a touristy place. We went to the Art Institue of Chicago Museum. I heard they had one of the largest impressionist collections in the country. I'm kind of a fan of impressionism. I thought that I had seen some of the pictures in other museums. I know that some have many similar versions. Monet made tons of waterlilly paintings. But just now I looked through some of my pictures and found a picture of Van Gogh's bedroom in Chicago and Paris. They're slightly different though. Glad I figured it out. We also stopped in Millenium Park to see the Bean. A very cool piece of modern art. We had fun taking pictures there!

I just made my flight home because traffic was sooo terrible. Then on Saturday (I stayed at my parents.) I went to do the most awesome cache. It was started as a publicity thing for the planet of the apes remake. It's very popular, but the coolest thing about it is that you have to go through a 2.5 mile tunnel to get to it. I went with a group of 6 and we rode bikes. I borrowed a bike my dad got off of Craiglist for free. It had the most uncomfortable seat in the whole world. It was torture. I think we did about 10 miles roundtrip. It was a lot of fun. And I got to wear a headlamp through a dark long tunnel that occassionally dripped water on me.

I want one of those!

Let me update you on the most exciting things in my life lately:

Not exciting really....but I lost a lot of hours last month with all the flight cancellations. You don't work, you don't get paid, doesn't matter why. Dumb.

Um, did a little geocaching in WA 2 weekends ago with my mom and Holly. We took a little boat out on Lakes Morton and Meridian to get to them! It was fun. I went up there to go to the fair. I haven't done the Puyallup in a while! It was a good time. I ate a lot of junk. Played a few games, looked at stuff. You know how it is. We didn't go on any rides, but who really needs em? You can do it at a trot....you can do it at a gallop.

Last weekend I went home again this time to see the Red Bull Soapbox Derby Races. They went down Fremont Ave. in Seattle. It was great! There were a lot of people there. We didn't watch all of them, but people were really creative in their designs! It made me really like Seattle for the day. Not that I have ever disliked Seattle. The race was good entertainment. Each "vehicle's" crew had to do a little skit before they started down the course. When we got there all I saw was guys dancing in their underwear. I didn't know what was going on! There were some crashes, which were fun to watch. DJ No Name bit it big time at the very beginning of the course.

The other super fun thing is that my dad bought 2 puppies last week!! The black one is going to my grandpa after she is trained a little more. The white one is technically Justin's. They are sooo cute! They're pretty well behaved and I want a puppy so bad now! Puppies are always cute and fun to play with, but I want one to keep! Beside the fact that it would be neglected with my job... Their new names are Pepper and Misty - you can probably figure out which is which. They are West Highland - Cairn terrier mixes - - sisters. They'll probably be really sad when we separate them, but I'm sure they'll get to visit each other quite often. Our cat does not like them. At all. I played with them and petted their bellies (they roll right over) and got kisses from them the whole time I was there. And...I want a puppy.

P.S. I am badly wanting to take a fun trip somewhere. i.e. Europe (not gonna happen for now), New York (close 2nd), Boston, WA DC. I just need someone to take some days off of their regular job to go with me! I am seriously considering (as I have before) going by myself to see the Grand Canyon. I think I could handle that. But you still have to drive really far from nearby airports/cities. Also, it's more fun with a friend. I need some real friends with flight benefits....yeah right.

Carry on

The other day a plane landed in Denmark and the right gear collapsed (everyone was fine). Wanna watch it?: http://blog.flightstory.net/290/video-sas-dash-8-crashed-at-landing/ (Yikes!) It was the second incident within 3 days involving the landing gear on that type of plane. My company flies 33 of those planes. It was recommended that we ground and inspect any of those planes with more than 10,000 landings. That was 19 of them. So, we had to cancel a lot of flights. Later it was decided to ground all of them until they were inspected. Crippling. Today is the 3rd day we've cancelled over 100 flights. I got an extra day off because all of my flights were cancelled. I'm not getting paid, but I was glad to have another day off. I'm also glad that I got home instead of being stuck somewhere.

Maybe you've heard about some of Mother Teresa's personal letters being published. I read an article about it in Time magazine. It was interesting to find out that for the majority of her life she did not feel the presence of God. From about the time her ministry started to work out and take off she felt that God left her. There was about 1 week that this was not the case. For decades she felt she was in the dark. Before her ministry started she says Christ spoke to her. I wonder if once you hear God's voice and then you don't hear it again if you will be left feeling that God is far from you. I wonder if her perception of God's closeness was a little skewed? I think she had such a strong desire for God that she felt she never had enough. I don't know.

The article says that she was only interested in sharing the passion of Christ. But it says that she never would've imagined that the way that desire would've been answered would be the moment on the cross when he cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" as God's presence leaves him. She lived that moment for years. After she finally found someone to help her see her predicament in this way she was able to accept it. Some of the agony left her. She saw that she was indeed living out Christ's suffering.

What is most amazing to me is that inspite of her constant "darkness," her doubts, and wondering why God would not draw close to her she still became one of the most well known servants. She still lived one of the greatest lives of faith in our time. She inspired so many people. And I find even now, knowing what she dealt with, she still inspires. To know that such a humble and great woman experienced the same doubts and questions that so many of us deal with and yet persevered through it gives me comfort. Obviously people will respond to this in different ways, but that's my take on it.

It's been 10 years since she died. 10 years for Diana too. Both women were well loved. I think they both continue to be as well. They both were doing good things in the world. May their lives continue to inspire us to do good works! (There is one life that should cause greater inspiration.)

Also, today is my dad's birthday, 2 days ago was my grandpa's, yesterday would've been my grandma's. I miss her. I think about her a lot. The blanket she made me is currently my most valued possession.

Time Won't Let Me Go

It's September already!?! Where has the year gone? It's flying by. Some of the leaves are already changing! This is the perfect time in Portland. The sun is out. It's capris and t-shirt weather. Not too hot, not cold. It's great to be outside. And soon Autumn will be here and I can wear sweaters!

Today I was watching the UW / BSU game for a moment and I saw an advertisement by my company! I've never seen one on TV before. Yesterday I flew from Boise and the plane was 90% full of BSU fans on the way to the game. Everyone was wearing blue and orange. This guy onboard was a former UW quarterback and he said he'd give the FA a buck if she shouted, "Go Huskies!" So she did. Everyone booed. And they drank all of the beer.

We were on the 25th anniversary plane. Often referred to as the party plane, the flying pinata, or skittles. We had a party on the party plane. Colorful? Ain't it? It's ok, you can be honest. You won't hurt my feelings.

Busy Bee

In 23 days I have been home for 9 nights. One of those was unscheduled too. I should've been in Montana, but we broke our plane and had to come back to Portland. In those 23 days I have only been home for a whole day (2 nights in a row) 3 times. I have a lot of laundry to do... And I counted the next 3 days of work in that count. I only have one day off this week, so I don't have much time to get anything done. And this weekend I have to take off again! So where have I been!? Well let me tell you!

First of all, work, of course. But I had vacation last week, and I had many places to go! I went to my parents house straight from work for a couple of days to visit them and some friends there. Then I came home for a couple nights then off to South Carolina for Tasha's wedding!

I kind of felt like going to SC by myself would be really grown up of me. Forget the fact that I live 150 miles from my parents, pay my own bills, and work...taking a trip makes me grown up! haha! I flew out by myself, arriving Wednesday. I spent Wednesday mostly on my own. I had to take care of the hotel and car and entertaining myself and finding my own way around. Suzie arrived Thursday. We went to the beach, did some shopping, went to the "rehearsal" dinner and of course wedding. The reception was really fun! Here are Tasha and Isaiah jumping their broom!

I have never been to the east coast before, the furthest east I had been previously was Oklahoma. It's different than the Northwest for sure, but not so different that you feel you're in another country or anything. It's nice to experience differences. But it was so hot and humid that I'm sure I could never live there! Here is me standing in the Atlantic for the first time at believe it or not: sunrise. A disappointing and uneventful one. It was kinda hazy the whole time.

Flying standby, it took me a long time to get home. I got stuck in Charlotte for 8 hours. Everything was oversold! Finally, I told them I didn't care what city I got to, so I ended up flying into San Francisco and then getting on Alaska to get home. I was up for 23 hours! Yuck.

After that I spent 1 day at home and then flew back to San Francisco to spend 1 night there with Anna. She was there for a conference and stayed an extra day. So of course I would go down to hang out! We stayed in a hostel (by a bunch of strip joints), and went to the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park, down to the wharf for a chili sourdough bread bowl (heaven!), and to H&M (though I didn't find anything there, sad!!!). We walked through Little Italy, China Town, and up to Telegraph Hill. We have San Francisco's public transportation down! I think I took more buses there than I have anywhere!

Then it was home for a night and back to work, now I'm on my one day off before going back to work again....and then sometime this weekend back to Seattle for a reception and possibly a family reunion. Sheesh. I am such a jetsetter. I know everyone is super jealous of my life.....

It's the time and the season

for loving! To quote the Zombies. Well, at least for many of my friends! Everyone's getting married! Elana's wedding was Saturday, Tasha's is next Friday. Suzie and Laura are getting married next summer!! Knock it off everyone! I'm kidding, I'm happy for all of you! I better start saving up for my (always a) Bridesmaid (never a bride) dresses and my cats.

Suzie was out for Elana's wedding it was really great to see her, and I'm glad that I get to see her again next week at Tasha's! After Elana's wedding many of my best friends had a sleep over in my living room. Randy always jokes about having a slumber party, but Suzie really thought we should, so 6 of us slept in the living room! So we pushed back the couch found a bunch of extra blankets and sleeping bags and made each of us an uncomfortable "bed" of sorts. Aye, my back aches.

The next morning after we had made breakfast my dad showed up (he came down just for this:) with my new 37" LCD flat planel TV!! It's huge! He was slightly overwhelmed, I think, to find my living room full of 25 year old guys and girls though I did warn him. It's so nice compared to my last TV that the remote didn't work on, is about 22" (?), and had a very dark screen. We even have some HD channels! It's soooo clear! He got it just because. I have a great dad.

Next week I'm off to Myrtle Beach, SC for Tasha's wedding. I'm pretty excited! The furthest east I've ever been was to Oklahoma. I've always heard the beaches there are beautiful, I hope it's true. I'm excited to watch the sunrise...hello...on the east coast...over the ocean!! I'll be able to add the Atlantic Ocean to oceans/seas I've been in. I'm flying standby of course...I have to decide if I want to go out and arrive on Wednesday or Thursday. The wedding is Friday and I'm hoping to leave Saturday. If I go on Wednesday I'll have more time to look around and be dying in the heat and vacationy...but I'll be on my own pretty much. That and I'll have to pay for another night of a hotel stay and car rental. So...hmmm....what to do?

OH YES....Harry Potter was super! I think it was the best one yet. I read it within 50 hours. One guy on a flight called it a masterpiece. Really, everything came together beautifully! And I'm looking forward to reading it again. That way I'll have read them all twice. (I'm kind of OCD about things like that.) I highly recommend them all.

I love you tomorrow

In continuing with the theme of late: Harry Potter! Tomorrow's the big day! We find out everything. What will happen? I can't watch the news or look at papers because everyone is trying to ruin the book. How rude!

I'll be in Billings tomorrow. There is nothing around my hotel. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get the book. I can't remember if there are bookstores at the airport there or not. I want it before my 2 hour flight. So much time to read. I know that some places in SeaTac are giving out free gifts when you buy it! I totally want one. But getting it sooner is more important I suppose.

So exciting!

Today's random thoughts

Things I Do Not Like:

• Super hot days
• Not having air conditioning
• A sore back
• Noisy neighbors
• Shaving
• Being bored at home while everyone's at work
• Feeling lonesome
• Stupid useless technicalities that mess up my vacation time
• The fact that the wireless router won't work

Things I Do Like:

• Otter pops
• Sunshine
• A cool breeze
• Spending time with friends
• Laughing
• Chacos
• Finding a geocache
• Thunder and lightning storms
• "Planet Earth", and the fact that we haven't completely screwed the whole thing up yet
• Harry Potter (I admit I'm a bit obsessed)

(Finished rereading Order of the Phoenix yesterday. Saw the movie today. I think they did a fair job cramming that huge book into a film. Kudos. Now it's on to the Half Blood Prince for the next few days....and then.....The Deathly Hallows!)

What are your random likes and dislikes of the moment? And thoughts on new HP movie?

Do something!

Well, I just got home from a week counseling at Delano Bay, and a few days of work. Camp was good, and I had fun. The theme of the week was "GO." The text for the week was all of Luke 10. We talked about how belonging to God and being a new creation changes us. We talked about listening to God, going where He sends us, and being a disciple. We talked about selflessness, the talents God has given us and using those to serve, and looking at the world as God does. We talked about God being the center of our lives, and how that will change us. I thought it was a good theme and something we all needed to hear. There is so much to be done in the world, and it was a reminder to get out there and start working on something!

One day we left camp to go out and do some nice things for other people. It was really simple things - like washing car windows and getting some food and donations for a food bank. I was at a window washing station. I was surprised at how thankful people were just to have their windows washed. A lot of people expected us to ask for money, but we weren't taking any. It was something so small, but people appreciated it and I think some small seeds may have even been planted.

So, find your thing. Figure out what you can do to help others, and help make the world the way God wants it to be. The way it was meant to be. It doesn't have to be anything big. Small adds up. Just get out there and do something. Go.

Being at camp was good for me. It was like meeting an old friend there. (Jesus!) It was just nice to be around encouraging people who have similar beliefs and to be in an environment that is spiritual. My soul feels renewed.

One more thing: I almost died! Ok, maybe I wasn't that close to dying, but for a minute it certainly felt like it! I went rafting down the Wenatchee River for the 9th time this year. I fell out of the raft for the first time. Ok, maybe I got pushed out. We were going through our last rapid, the biggest one. The kind that bends the boat in half. A big wave came over us and I saw it coming so I leaned into the boat. I also had my feet shoved under the thwarts, but I still went over, despite my efforts to stay in. The waves pushed me way under the water, and I was TERRIFIED. I seriously thought that I would be stuck under the water because it would continually push me down and that I was going to drown. So I just kicked my little feet and swam with my little arms - which probably didn't do anything, but I popped back up. I was probably under the water 5 seconds, maybe 10. But it felt like a looong time, and I couldn't breathe. I came up behind the raft, totally bewildered. Then I remembered that my feet were supposed to be downstream to bounce off obstacles, but for a moment I wasn't sure which way that was. I turned around and there was the raft not too far way and they were waiting to save me. They pulled me back in and I coughed for a while cause I swallowed an awful lot of water. I hit my shoulder on something, maybe the raft? and I had an instant bruise. What an adventure! I'd prefer not to do that again.

Why!?

First, I saw my first trailer for Harry Potter last night. Woohoo! Who's going to go see it with me?

I had the distinct pleasure of pulling a barf bag out of a seat pocket the other day. Come on! Why on earth would you do that? As we were taxiing in, I saw this little girl had the bag to her mother and that her mother was wiping her off with some napkins, and I just knew she was going to put it in the seat pocket.

As I was going through to pick up trash after the flight (because we don't have cleaners - though that would still be incredibly disgusting for anyone!!) I put on my gloves and sure enough there it was. So I pulled it out and threw it away and went, "eaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!" as I did it. Now there has been puke in the seat pocket where someone else is about to put their hands. Don't worry I disinfected it.

I understand that you can't get up to go somewhere to throw up while we're landing, but don't put the bag in the seatpocket! Set it on the floor, apologize on the way out, or notify at the least!

Other fun things that people leave in seat pockets: dirty diapers, apple cores, bottles/cups of chew spit, gum, and more!

The only other place that I can think of where people act like that (just leaving their crap around) is at the movie theater. Why? Why? Why? Do you do that when you go on the bus? Do you do that when you go into someone else's work place? Do you act like that at home? Take some responsibility.

Not cool!!!

So, just right now for some stupid reason I was looking for a list of spells from the Harry Potter books. And I ended up on this page called mugglenet. It's huge. Don't go there if you like HP. So I was reading through some of them, and I read something that has not been revealed in any book that's out. How angry am I!?! I can't know if it's correct since J.K. Rowling really guards her script, but the book is in publishing/printing by now so I'm sure stuff is getting leaked out. I don't want to know anything, and I'm gonna be real pissed if that stupid website just told me a secret!!

I saw on the news today that a Harry Potter theme park will be opening in Orlando sometime in 2009. That's messed up. And I might want to go.

43 days till the next movie!! 51 days until The Deathly Hallows!!

Has anyone seen Pirates 3 yet? Oh I saw it opening night. (not the night before opening night...why do they do that?) I was super excited! All I want to say is that I am not so happy with it. But when you're really excited aren't you often bound to be let down? Maybe it will grow on me after a while. But parts of it were pretty cheesy...and who wrote this plot? Come on!

POSTER GIRL

That's right... I am the company poster girl. For your benefit and definitely not my own I present you with the picture that is on the poster that is at probably every station company wide (please note that I have blacked out my employer's name).

The poster lists my employer's 5 core values, and there are 3 pictures on it, mine being in the center. The other 2 people are a ramp worker and a gate agent. The poster is a series of 3 - I haven't really paid too much attention to what are on the other 2. I'm too busy being horrified that this picture is everywhere (not anywhere customers can see it thank goodness).

I remember the day it was taken. I believe I got up at 4 am, maybe a little earlier? I have basically no make up on and you can see that I did not do my hair (I never do my hair because I don't know how, and you don't waste time with stuff like that at such ungodly hours) -- it's coming out of the bun or pony tail that it's in!! Anyway my crew and I saw the company photographer guy walking by and my CA waved him down from inside the flightdeck. So he came over and my CA told him that I wanted my picture taken. I did not want my picture taken because I was quite aware that I looked like crap. Although I said no picture please the guy believed the CA, I guess....or just wanted to amuse him, so he took my picture. Now other employees are recognizing me as the girl on the poster. Fabulous. No one asked me if they could use my picture for a poster. I didn't even know about it until the crew I was working with told me my picture was on the wall. No it's not. Yes, it is, come look! Oh no....

Well now you can all see the inside of the little plane I've been working on most often lately. The other 2 types we have are about twice that size. So much bigger, I know.

Other work news this week: Guess who got a phone number from a passenger? That's right, me! Now who wants to guess how old the guy was who gave it to me? At least old enough to be my father, maybe even around 50? EYW!! He said that he was madly in love. I don't know what with...but sorry dude, sometimes age is a little more than a number. Not to mention that's just creepy and gross.

To Thine Own Self

I think I am constantly disillusioned by friendship. Maybe I expect too much of friendship. It's probably my own fault. I realize friends come and go. It's all part of the circle of life (see graph). Still, you want to continue friendships although they are ending. Or perhaps you are trying to make a bigger investment in a friendship than is being returned. "He's just not that into you." So you make your effort, and continue to make an effort, and one isn't given back...so the relationship dies. In time you move on and you find someone else to fill that gap in the number of relationships that you can balance at one time. I know it's not possible or realistic to be friends with everyone you meet or for others to continue when their time is up. I still get disappointed at this occurence though. It's more frustrating when someone you'd like to be better friends with or whatever doesn't seem to feel the same way you do. But what can you do? It's nice that there are some people that no matter what time or space is between you, you are able to start again, even where you left off. It's good to have. I guess it comes down to deciding what's important and what you value and how much - and making an effort to sustain those things. Maybe that will be returned and maybe it won't. Maybe it's just time to accept that you have to move on to something else. And maybe some relationships don't need all this fuss because you know they'll always be there, no matter what happens even if you are far away and can't always catch up with each other. Anyway...this is just based on 25 years of experiences and observations - not directed at anyone specific at all. I'm blessed to have the friends that I do have and I love them very much.

Something I wanted to mention was how I was appreciative of the boldness of Governor Tim Kaine's (Virginia) and even the President's remarks at the memorial service for the Virginia Tech victims. They referred to scripture and God and finding comfort there, or even questioning and being angry. It's nice to see someone being true to who they are and what they believe even if they are a public person and in politics especially. Our nation doesn't generally want people like that in such positions - if it means bringing God into the picture. I believe that the governor used to be a church leader of some sort. It surprises me that he was even elected to his position. Maybe that area is more receptive to faith, I know it wouldn't go over too well in this part of the country.

Spring Break '07

Maybe you're thinking, "Jamie, you're not in school, you don't have a spring break." WRONG! I took a few extra days off work last week and went to Sin City, with my parents....

It was a party, let me tell you. Ok - my parents drove me absolutely insane a few times, but I didn't have to pay for a thing which is the greatest thing about traveling with your parents.

I did get to go to dinner with Laura and Patrick so that was nice. The weather was not so nice. I just wanted some sun! It was pretty nice overall though. I think my parents had a good time. It was the first time my dad has flown in 7 years. About time too. I gambled my mother's money and lost it all. My mom had much better luck than I did, but I think she just about broke even.

My mom kept mentioning how I should go on the New York New York roller coaster and I kept saying that I wouldn't go by myself. I never expected my dad to say that he would go with me. I would've been glad not to go at all. He doesn't even like rides. But we went. He was pretty nervous. Sweating while we were standing in line. He used a few choice words during the ride. Haha. It was the worst roller coaster I have ever been on. I generally enjoy a good coaster ride. But this one was so jerky and uncomfortable!! I kept hitting my head on the shoulder restraints and it was just a bad experience! I do not recommend it.

25/25

I always thought it would be super cool to turn 25 on the 25th, just as I did the other day. It was a good birthday. The actual day not too exciting, but nice still. My most wonderful friend, Anna, took me to a tour of the Shanghai Tunnels (underground Portland) on Friday night.

I thought it was great! We got upgraded to the "ghost tour" somehow. Supposedly this is one of the most haunted places in the states. Anyway, we went down under the buildings and streets, and learned about how people were captured and held and sold to crew ships back in the day -- and the weird things that happen down there. The picture there is an opium den that was found under there. There is no direct path all the way to the waterfront anymore, the passageways were filled up and bricked off - and owned by all sorts of different people/organizations. It's a work in progress to restore them, I think it may be getting more attention....it's kind of historic.

On my actual birthday Anna and I went to Sonic, finally! It's been open in Portland for a few months, but it took us a while to get there. MMM, strawberry limeade!! It's crazy there, they have someone directing traffic, and you have to wait in line to drive in. We also went to what we'd been told is the biggest Costco, and got some free samples. Then that evening some of my friends and I went to dinner at some pasta place, it was tasty.

Now that I'm 25 I can rent a car without paying the underage fee.

That's like the last good thing that happens at a birthday. It's all downhill from here.

I feel like 25 is supposed to be a good and exciting year. I think I said that last year too. 24 was a pretty good year, maybe this one will be better. But that will mean I'll have to do some travelling. That makes life good for me. I need more vacation time...

The Big Day

For my brother at least. The wedding was nice. I think everything went well. There were a lot of people there that I knew and had to say hi to. That kept me busy the whole time!

There was a lot of work to do and decorating and all that junk in the days before. I believe in minimal decorating - everyone says to elope, they're not lying. All that work for a mere 20 minutes it's pretty ridiculous. Who's really paying attention to it all anyway?

Aren't my brothers so handsome when they're all dressed up? Too bad my mom can't take a proper picture.

Lightning Does Strike Twice...

and so does: Duffy!! I had him on my flight for the second time this week. He was pretty polite both times. He's the only celebrity I've ever seen. His hair was long, not super long, but kinda gross.

And when I say lightning strikes twice, I just mean...by hitting any plane that I am in. I am fortunate enough to have had that experience twice now when most people have not even had it happen at all. Lucky me! Since it was not pouring rain and the wind was way under 50 miles an hour this time when we landed I got to go out and look at where it had hit us. It left a few marks along the side where it entered, kinda brownish marks, like it had been hot you know. The maintenance guy said it went out the tail and melted the lightning rod there.

IN OTHER NEWS!

I went the the original geocache, outside portland a few weekends ago, and ended up falling down a muddy hill. Oops. I was with some friends that were in town for the weekend, I had to go back to their hotel with them - a nice hotel downtown - with mud all over myself. I had a change of clothes, so don't worry!

Speaking of falling down, I fell down the stairs at my hotel last week and sprained my ankle. I could barely walk the next day. My ankle was swollen and bruised. Good job me!

My little brother is getting married next Friday. I can't really imagine him being a husband. It's a weird idea. I'm glad he's happy, and being around him and Megan a little more I can see that they're pretty functional together. I know he's looking forward to it. I can't see him wearing a ring though.

Isn't it Ironic?

It's like meeting the man of your dreams, and then meeting his beautiful wife.

Heh. I don't know if he was actually "the man of my dreams," but my Seinfeld powers to find something wrong with everyone - you know the obscure things that don't really matter - yeah, they didn't find anything.

Christian, gentleman, friendly, nicest ever, great manners, oh...and beautiful, one of God's finer creations...if you know what I mean.

And he got married last month...dang it! I jest, I jest... And I didn't actually meet his wife, I just saw her, she's cute. They're cute.

So, where are the good single ones??


Hopefully you don't think I'm too serious...I'm happily single.

This is the first picture that comes up when I google ironic. I don't know what Ironic Flirty is.

eyw

So, last night my last flight home (it's always the last one before you get to go home) was delayed almost an hour because some of the carpet in the plane had to be replaced.

Why, you ask?

Because on the previous flight (thank goodness I was not on it!) someone threw up so much that it soaked through the carpet and into the floor and through the floor boards of the plane, and smelled horrendous.

Is that even possible!!!?

The cool thing was that I got to look under the floor boards of the plane. It was kinda empty, there were some computers and wires. I thought there would be more stuff in there, a lot more wires I guess.

Good times at work

Had a few slips of the tongue over the last few weeks. I accidentally said:
"Please make sure your carry on bags are stoned....stowed." Heh, I was doing pretty good and not laughing at myself, but these two business men in the front row could not stop laughing. It was the funniest thing they ever heard! About a sentence later, I started laughing and then dropped the PA phone.
"Once the engines are on we'll get it warmer up in here." I don't know where the "up" came from, but I thought it was funny. I don't know if anyone else noticed.

Two weeks ago, I told my pilots that I thought it was be more interesting if they would say "Prepare for lift-off" or "blast-off" instead of "departure." Well I was flying with the same guys this week and apparently they remembered because before one flight I heard. "Jamie please prepare for blast-off." It made me the most happy, and the passengers at least noticed, or some did.

Passenger of the week: Some crazy guy gets on my plane and tells me that he's a retired 747 captain. Then he continues to say something along the lines of: But the drug dealers were getting to my managers and attacking them so I got out of it. Uh....what?? Smile and nod. So I don't know if he was ever a CA and is now just crazy, or just plain crazy. He's sitting in row 2. His wife is with him, but pretty much ignores him. Before we leave he asks who makes our plane. I tell him, then he asks if they have any relation to another manufacturer. They do, so he at least knows something. During pushback he goes, "We're in reverse! What a great idea!" Anyone who ever flew a plane should know they don't have reverse...
During taxi he is shouting questions at me over the people in between us. It's usually really hard for me to hear people because I'm sitting by the door, but I can hear him pretty well, which means probably everyone else can too. "Are you having fun? You have to have fun at this job. I always made sure my girls had fun, all 19 of them (that's about 7 too many by the way). You should smile, you're having fun!" Oh My....leave me alone! I don't just sit there and smile at work, constantly. I'll think about starting though.
He got off the plane without his briefcase, shook my hand on the way out. His wife left without him. People were telling me that he forgot his stuff. It took a minute to get his attention. I said, "Maybe he'll realize in a minute." Someone responds, "Probably not..."
Drug dealers???

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

I don't really have anything to say. I was looking through people's blogs and what not and some of my old ones. I'm an idiot! I like to share what I think are the more interesting things going on with me....it's one way people I don't see so often can keep up. Actually I share the only interesting things in my life. :-)
Anyway, I look at things other people write about and compare it with myself and reflect on what I'm doing. It's almost constantly on my mind lately what I'm doing and where I am. I just don't know if I'm happy with everything. I'm not unhappy necessarily. I'm in a grey area, on the fence, eating vanilla ice cream, mediocre. I still enjoy my job, but I'm starting to think about moving on to something else. I want my benefits for a little longer though! I may start looking for something else in the company, but I think I'll miss flying. I think I may stick with it for another year tops. We'll see.
I don't feel like I'm doing much with myself. Don't do much at work. Come home and stay in bed too long and stay up too late (same when I'm work, but working until 12 am doesn't help that!). I've been working on running or doing some other type of physical activity every day. That's good. I'm glad I've taken up geocaching. It gives me something to do. But it's more fun if I have someone to go with! I haven't done too many yet. It's so cold! But I like it.
It's hard to get into things with my constantly changing schedule, and when I'm only home a couple days a week. But I feel the need for some kind of fellowship with some God lovin' people. I haven't had the chance to go to church for a while, but even when I do I don't have any connection with the people there. I don't know any of them. I need an outlet for service in some way or another. Again kind of intimidating by yourself with strangers. I'd be ok with just doing something once in a while. It doesn' t have to be every week or anything. But I need to start looking into something. Ideas?
I think doing something like that would help me with the way that I feel about my relationship with God. Still feel it's just stagnant - over 2 years that this has been going on. I realize things aren't always rainbows and bubblegum in relationships. It's been a pretty long desert time though! Granted, not forty years or anything. It doesn't help that it seems I have a problem with my discipline in improving in areas that I feel like need improvement (which are many right now). I try to work on things, but then I'm not so good at it. This is why we need community. It's tough on your own! On top of that, my thoughts on some things have been changing. Or at least I have questions about them. Examining previous beliefs over a variety of things - a lot of it is still up in the air. I don't know if I'll get a solid answer on some of them ever! When you're not sure what you think about things that just puts you into another place. But I'm confident that growth will spring from this - sometime, someway.
Going back to the beginning of this post. I write about stupid things. It's still nice to tell people what's going on and what I'm doing. But I think that I leave out more important and deep things too often. Maybe because I don't feel like sharing that kind of stuff with whoever reads this. But sometimes it's gotta be good for you, right? I don't often write about God or my faith, and that's an important part of my life. I fear offending people. I hardly think I'm a Christian "freak" or overbearing or pushy or anything along those lines. I don't want people to think I'm like that because those people are annoying. I don't want to turn anyone off to God by something that I do. But it wouldn't hurt to talk about something that is important to me once in a while. Can you handle it?
Well here I am on blogspot now! Woo! I've got to go to bed! My sleep schedule is royally screwed up! (I wish I had a reading/watching/listening thing!)