Confessions of a frequent flyer: Part II

Ooops, I did it again. I’m on another trip to Montana and I have found myself in the airport noticing the details of the journey.

Some of the latest details of my trip:

One of my biggest fears on this (and any) trip is the fact that the airplanes that I’m boarding are always scheduled to be boarded on the ground, outside and on a day like today, in the scorching heat. I always make sure to pay attention to whatever the flight attendants say as I’m walking down the outdoor jet ways, on the ground with multiple destination points. There are always several planes, several different lines of people waiting to board to various destinations around OR and WA and I’m just convinced that I’m going to wind up on the wrong plane. I am usually always able to get myself to my required destination and I do it following a mantra I’ve created over the last four visits I’ve made:

“Check, Re-check and Confirm”

Meaning to check at the gate as I depart outside, recheck the flight number as I’m walking through the gate to the actual airplane (leaving the covered walk way) and confirm with a flight attendant once I set foot on the actual aircraft. This is a foolproof plan I tell you. So much so, that I should patent it. Because today I got on my plane. Sat myself down (in a window seat, ugh!) and waited patiently for the person due in the aisle seat. He came, we exchanged the necessary “Would you like the window seat?” pleasantries (he did! Yay!) and then it happened:

A woman comes into the aisle. She’s fuming. “You’re in my seat” she exclaims to the gentleman who’s kindly taken my window seat. I calmly explain that it was my seat and he’s switched me. She again fumes, “I’m in 16A, that is my seat!” To which I ask if I may please see her ticket. She claims that “this always happens to me”…Upon my first glance at her ticket, she is indeed slated for my seat of 16A. I’m about to suggest that she seek the flight attendant and reach to pull out my ticket when I see it, plain as day- it is there: Flight 23XX. I don’t even need to see past the ‘3”. I reach down my for my ticket and see that this flight is 2026.

“Oh honey- you’ve got the wrong the flight! This is going to Seattle!”

She looks humiliated for the scene she’s just caused in the middle of the aircraft- “well how in the heck does a person get to Redmond!!!???”

She takes off sprinting for the exit and I can see it- the expression on everyone’s face is one of laughter and disbelief. How did this woman get here in the first place?? It doesn’t matter, everyone here is just glad it wasn’t them.

Right Now...

Right now my super awesome friend Shelley G is sitting in line at Powell's on Burnside anxiously awaiting a signed copy of Jen Lancaster's newest book, "Pretty in Plaid" by the fabulous Jen Lancaster herself.

I, of course, have missed this event due to my state of Montana-ness.

She is one of the best friends I have. I especially didn't know what to say when she sent me a photo from her iPhone.

Oh my freaking gosh- It's Bitter in Black- in the FLESH!

Look at those pearls!

Look at that Plaid!

FREAKING OUT!

Shelley- I owe you some cocktails when I return to the land of the awesome.

Beach Trip 2009!

On Wednesday of last week, Steven sent me a text message saying he was getting Friday off, which I had off too. I thought about it and suggested that we try to get a reservation at the beach for Friday night. That turned into a great deal that spanned Saturday night as well. We got up early on Friday and hit Fred's for some groceries, packed a cooler and hit the road. They had our room ready for us super early, so we were able to put all our stuff away in the fridge and set out to enjoy the beach at low capacity. It was awesome.
We walked to downtown and scoped out the shops and some of the scenery and Steven double checked the hours at Pig 'n Pancake, his favorite breakfast place! He has more groceries in his hand, turned out we had a pretty much full kitchen and decided to make our own dinner in on Saturday night and used the opportunity to eat out on Friday night.
Our favorite rock:
I love this picture so much. Its my new facebook profile photo. The sun was just right.
Saturday we decided to take a little road trip to Tillamook. We packed a picnic in our cooler with sandwiches and carrots and chips and chocolate and it turned out to be just right and pretty inexpensive. Plus we stopped at "Hug Point" to eat it and the people were entertaining and the scenery was great. We couldn't have picked a better 'off the beaten path' place.
I found this pretty tree after our big breakfast at Pig 'n Pancake.
Our photo ops, I love the cheese samples.
Steven liked the ice cream before lunch :)
It was an amazing weekend. We made it home around noon on Sunday and were able to take a walk to Albertsons for some groceries for the week and a little fun in the sun. Now we're back off to work and enjoying this amazing weather!

Easter 2009!

Here are a few of the Easter photos that Steven and I took from our celebration yesterday! In no particular order:

Colin enjoys his present from the Easter Bunny!I spent a few moments on my platter for the mini vanilla cupcakes making it extra special.
The little yellow chicks are cinnamon almond truffles- NOT peeps (yuck!):
My good friend Shelley G. told me that pink is the color du jour for spring, so here is my Easter outfit, pink-a-licious
What the Easter Bunny brought for Steven:
What the Easter Bunny left for me. I still haven't watched Marley and Me yet!
A special little bud vase with a cute bunny next to it. I pay attention to the details :)
One of the table-scapes:
Another table-scape:
My favorite new bunny platter (it has a matching dip bowl too!) and my new pink scarf that the Easter Bunny brought me!
Our dinner came out fantastic and the company was just as good. Looking forward to next year!

Things you need to be 10% smarter than...

Here is a snippet of an email conversation I had with the IT guy at work when I was in MT last week:

Dan,

Tried to connect to internet last night at hotel and my wireless card isn’t working. Thoughts?

Julie

Julie,

Is the wireless switch on the side of your laptop in the “on” position, or pulled towards you?

Dan

Dan,

I didn't even know that switch was there. So I guess it always helps to make sure it is “on”. Thanks for helping me out!

Julie

About 10 minutes after sending that last email my mind instantly went to this conversation from a few months ago....

J: "Hey Dan, I really hate how the icon pops up for the wireless connection on my laptop all the time, it is very irritating when I'm already hardwired into the network, is there anything I can do about that?"

D: "Oh yeah, you can just turn the switch off on your wireless card on the side of the computer."

J: "Really?"

D: "Yeah, just don't forget to turn it back on if you go anywhere."

J: "Oh totally, no problem, this is great!"

So I guess it either helps to be 10% smarter than most technological devices or to have a really great relationship with the IT guys at work.

Things you can do only in MT

I got up this morning and met the other two men who have flown in from my office. They are eating breakfast when I met up with them. Here is a snipet of a conversation with one of my coworkers:

J: Hey, do you need to run upstairs and grab your stuff to check out before we head in to the office?
C: Nah, I actually already put it in the car before I had breakfast. I'm all checked out and ready to go. We're just waiting on (another coworker).
J: Oh, well where's the car? I'll just run my stuff out too.
C: Its actually right here out front.
J: Oh, well do you have the keys? I'll run and put my stuff in the car if we're going to be waiting too long.
C: Actually, they're in the ignition and the car is running...
J: So, It's been going for about 15 minutes now???
C: Yeah, so it should be nice and warm.

Coworker (seeing the perplexed look on my face): Yeah, that's something you can only do in Montana.

See, you do learn something every day...

Confessions of a Frequent Flyer...

I have to admit...I don't usually get much notice before I'm going to be flying. So to make the trip a little more enjoyable I try to pick out funny things that are going on around me to make me laugh and lighten the mood, lets be honest, travelling these days can be quite stressful!

Here are some things that struck me as funny or odd from my flight out yesterday:

When I finally reached Seattle last night I was so wound up and just ready to be on the plane and landing at my destination that I found myself sitting in the waiting area talking to my Dad. This is a great way for me to kill time and destress, he always knows how to cheer me up. At some point during the conversation I reached back to touch my hair and I felt something weird and soft and oddly fuzzy. To be honest it felt like cat's hair. I turned around and realized that I had just touched this nasty old hippy dudes hair and it was soft and yucky! Immediatly, I used my hand sanitizer. Then decided that wasn't enough and got up to wash my hands properly. All I could do when I came back to sit down was laugh. The guy had no idea I'd even touched him.

Once I got on the plane, the crazy antics didn't stop. I was super excited when I got my seat reservations to see I was in 4D...this is great for two reasons, first, because it is an aisle seat and I HAVE to sit on the aisle or I'm not a nice person. Second, it was near the very front of the plane, which means I'll be the first one off the plane, which usually makes me really happy after a long flight. I sit down next to this kid who explains that he just lost his grandma and the family is going back to Montana for the services. I express my condolances and I'm tapped on the shoulder. The flight attendant tells me that I can scoot back one seat and have a whole row to myself! This is quickly shaping up to be the best flight EVAR! Before I know it, we've taken off and the ladies are serving free beverages. I look in front of me and the kid is furiously air banding in the seat in front of me. I mean he is SUPER DUPER going at the drums in the most awkward way. I look up and one of the stewardesses is making eyes at the other stewardess conveying a not so subtle message of "check out THAT guy!". At this point I can barely contain my laughter.