A Night on the town

Now that I finally have weekends off and going along with my need to break out of my little rut, we have been going doing different things each weekend.

This weeked we went to dinner and then a movie. Not exactly wild and crazy, however we made up for it the night before, St Patricks Day. As soon as blogger allows me to post a stupid picture I will tell you about the evening. The story really wont do any justice without the picture.

So anyway, back to today. Our company has an employee sponsored club. For $1 a paycheck, which equals out to $26 for the year, you can be a member of the employee club. Basically the club was designed to get employees together outside of work for some team bonding. What that means, if you have an event with at least three employee club members the club will refund up to $25 per person to help fund the event. There are some rules, like the club will not pay for any alcohol nor will it cover any non-employee members like spouses and children. Even though it is a pretty good deal.

So we decided to use the employee club to fund dinner. We try to pick a different resturant each time and typically it ends up being random people that decide to come with us. We usually do something in addition to the dinner however, we get the most bang for our buck when we do submit the dinner.

All in all it is a pretty good deal. I figure I am about even with the club. The first 4 years I didnt really do any events - this past year I have been pretty active.

Great way to fund a social life and it is pretty cool because you get to expand your circle of friends.

So anyway, after dinner like I said we ended up going to a movie. Failure to launch. I thought it was good. The other people I was with were less than impressed, I am not really surprised considering they are guys.

Not exactly an exciting post but I am tired and need to go to sleep... Yawn....

Peach Out!

Workaholic

If you were to look in the dictionary for the definition of the word "workaholic" you would definitely find my picture there. I often wonder if it my fatal flaw or my best quality.

I love to have a purpose and I am so extremely competitive that I do what ever is necessary to get the job done, even if that means working a gazillion hours a week or sacrificing a social life.

This new job is definitely a good fit for me. I am control freak and overly organized which is something this department has been lacking for a long period of time. When I moved into my cubicle, there is a 5 drawer filing cabinet behind me. I tossed everything in that filing cabinet. I found things from when I was hired 6 years ago. I found things in there with the company's address that didn't even exist any more. Heck, I found the manual to a typewriter. I haven't seen a typewriter in years.

Yeah, Yeah - I know I need to get a life....

Out of the box

Okay, so I broke my streak.

I am trying to step outside of my tight little box. I am bored. I want to get out and do different things. Experience life to it's fullest. I tend to get into big ruts, trying to climb the walls to get out but getting nowhere.

This last month I have been making progress, doing different things. Last Thursday I went to my first real concert. Bon Jovi. An awesome time, being there watching him shake his booty up on the big screen while people screamed their heads off and sang with him was an amazing experience. It reminded me of my childhood, Bon Jovi is one of the first singers I can truly remember loving. We would watch tapes of his concerts when the babysitter came over dancing in front of the tv, lip singing with a hair brush.

Yesterday I happened to score some tickets to the local hockey team. I really only went because they were tickets for the company suite at the local arena. Let me tell you, the suite tickets were sweet. I was like a little kid in a candy store. Definitely a great experience.

I am keeping my eye open for different things to do. I think this weekend we are going bowling. I haven't been bowling in at least 5 years.

Once Spring Break is over I will look for more traveling options. I hear Seattle has a museum of flight. Maybe I will fly up there and spend a day at the museum. I'll keep you posted.

3 for 3

Three posts in three days... Go me!

Today was my own personal spring cleaning. I started in the bedroom and whipped through the house like a hurricane. What an exciting weekend. It was good though, my house really needed it and it was getting to the point that I was washing one outfit each day. It is quite the novel idea to have all of your clothes clean and hanging in the closet.

The only place left to clean is the fish bowl. At least he has water, it was getting pretty bad there for awhile.

After all of my cleaning, I took a break and saw a movie with a friend. We saw Date Movie. It was cute, I like those spoof movies pioneered by Leslie Nielsen in Airplane.

Now, I am off to bed - 6am comes pretty fast.

Tuna Out!

Rainy Days

You see that green blob over AZ? Yeah, that's where I live. We haven't had rain in over 4 months and today we woke up to the glorious sound of rain drops on the roof.

AZ is one of the few places in the world, that the population rejoices over a bit of rain. It was even the top headline on the local paper and all over the news.

Dont let the fact that I live in the desert confuse you. I absolutely love the rain!! I would definitely be very happy living in Seattle or a rain forest for that fact. My mom thinks I am crazy.

There is definitely nothing better than wrapping yourself up in a warm fuzzy blanket, doing absolutely nothing but watching tv. Hmm.....

Here's to your next rainy day =)

Long time...

Wow, it has been a long time since I sat on my couch trying to think of something to share with the blogger world.

I never really disappeared from the blog world, I just stopped contributing. I was more of a leech reading other's sites. However, I was motivated to write myself by a comment left on someone else's site asking where I have been all this time. So to who ever you were Thank you.

So, my life has changed pretty drastically over the last six months, which is part of the reason I haven't been sharing my "secrets" with the world.

In September I moved into my own apartment, which was a huge step for me. My roommate and I figured it was time to part ways, all on good terms. However, I was unsure of the financial strain the move would place on my checking account so I had to terminate my internet account.

On the plus side, I changed positions in my company and took a promotion which allowed me a few extra cents for which I decided it was time to get reconnected to the information super highway. Never mind the fact that I was going to take an internet class this semester and I did not really want to spend my extra moments sitting in a crowded computer center. I would rather sit on the couch in my pj's while eating french toast. =)

On top of everything my new position while completely rewarding, has been extremely demanding of my time. I am working more than I am sleeping which is a big change for me. Things have finally calmed down and everything is starting to fall into place.

Missed me didn't you?

I am back with stories of far off lands and a wonderful vacation.
I figured I would post the trip in parts because there is so much to talk about, so stay tuned for each port we visited.

(I would post some pictures but Blogger is being a jerk and not playing nice, so until I have more energy to post the pics inline)

To start we left on Sunday July3 - we had a wonderful flight to Amsterdam where we met up with my Dad and Step-mom. There seemed to be a bit of weather issues in Amsterdam so our connecting flight was delayed about an hour, a little more since SAS doesn't have any concept of a quick turn (a quick turn is the process we call when we try to send a late plane back out as quick as possible) . Despite the delay we arrived in Cophenhagen around 1pm and began our journey to the ship. We had to take a train and then walk the rest of the way to the pier. After getting off the train we could see the ship, an absolute amazing site. The ship was huge, it towered over the rest of the buildings in the area and was as long as 3 city blocks. Simply amazing that this thing floated on water.

After a pretty smooth check in process we walked on board our home for the next 10 days. Our room was nice considering it was an inside cabin with no windows but it had mirrors that made the room appear large. It was clean and laid out nicely. After we finally received our bags and took showers we headed out to check out the ship.

I expected the ship to be flashy, gaudy and overdone but was pleasantly surprised. It was absolutely beautiful with light woods and subtle colors. After a little wondering around we decided to have something to eat and take a nap since we had been traveling for over 24 hours and we figured since our next day would be at sea we would have plenty of time to see the rest of the ship.

Let me tell you if you are deciding to take a cruise, I would suggest Princess. Everyone on board was wonderful. The cruise director was extremely knowledgeable about the ports we were visiting, giving very through talks about the ports and his talks were not directed for the passenger traveling on the ships tours. The entertainment staff was great, putting on some excellent productions and their on-board activities directors were energetic and very friendly.

All in all it was a great ship with great staff.

I will write tomorrow on our first port - Tallin, Estonia.

Vacation Mode

I am so in vacation mode. As you can see my countdown is doing it's thing and as the numbers fall I am getting so excited.

I have been so busy these past couple of days, working and shopping. I have had to find a "formal" dress to wear for this cruise.

Unfortunately with my body type it is difficult to find something that hides all of my parts but is not a freaking tent. After visiting a million stores in the 200 degree weather I finally found the dress I was looking for.

Now we just have to figure out how we are going to get to Copenhagen. Even though we are flying standby the tickets are freaking expensive due to the European taxes. We are looking at taking $100 tickets and turning them into $250 tickets because of taxes. It is just ridiculous. The hurdle we come across is we are flying over 4th of July weekend. Flying stand-by sucks when you are flying over any holiday. You never know if you are going to get on the flights, talk about stress.

Anyhow, I better go I have to do some laundry and get ready for work. Just wanted to drop a note letting you know I am still alive and breathing.

Phoenix Monsoon

Last night we had a monsoon. Monsoons in Phoenix are an awesome event. You can see some other pretty good pictures over at PHX Monsoon (that's where I got this one)
I remember the first time I had heard about the monsoon, I didn't quite understand the big deal about monsoons. I had seen some pretty good storms, including a hurricane. So I thought, "How bad could a monsoon be?"

I learned about the power of a monsoon real quick. It rolled in fast, starting out with a dust storm, only to finish up with some amazing down pours and an awe inspiring thunder and lightning show.

One of the most powerful monsoons I have seen was about 2 years ago. I was working at the airport that night and we had been having warnings about the storms for a couple of hours. The dust storm came in thick and fast. We could barely see across the concourse to the other side of the airport. Next came high winds and lightning. It was amazing. The winds were so strong they moved a 757 (our biggest plane) off the gate by about 20 feet. It tour the jetway apart and did a bit of aircraft damage.

Then within 1 hour it was gone, like it had never happened. Amazing.

A little desert humor

Adding to the drama

So my little brother called me today and said that he was thinking about going to school out here in Phoenix.

He is 19 and is currently living in South Carolina with his girlfriend. He graduated a military high school last year, where he did really well academically. Unfortunately, his first year of real freedom didnt go so well and he flunked out of college. My dad (his cash cow) was really pissed so now he has to get himself out of this mess.

I was kinda surprised that he would move all the way out here away from his girlfriend who has him whipped but she is starting college this year and I am sure he is wondering where he fits into the equation.

It may be a pretty good thing because it would solve my roommate problems and he could focus on school.

Well have to wait and see what happens.

Still Breathing

I am still around and unfortunately my blog is being totally neglected. I am still in hyper work mode, just finished up working 5 16 hour double shifts over 6 days. My current mantra is that it will all be worth it when I am cruiseing on the Baltic sea. I am expecting one whopping big paycheck next week. I better not be disappointed.

In other news my roommate has not been home for about 2 weeks. She has been spending all of her time at her boyfriends house. I am happy for her but sad in other ways. It seems that our roommate relationship will be coming to an end soon. September will mark our 5 year anniversary. We met during orientation for the airline. During those 4 weeks we found that we had a lot in common. At the time we both were living with our uncles in the same part of town, our families lived thousands of miles away and were very similar in a dysfunctional kind of way. We decided that we could try the roommate thing and see what happens. I remember when we were signing the lease we opted for a shorter one to make sure that we would get along. Five years later we are still together.

I haven't quite figured out what I am going to do when it is over. I pretty much only have 3 options. I can get my own apartment, which on one hand would be nice but very lonely as well as very expensive. I could try to find another roommate but I think I am getting to old to deal with living with someone I don't know or Cowboy and I talked about getting an apartment together. Unfortunately Cowboy comes with a lot of baggage. His brother is moving to town in August and he has a roommate. I am not sure if I am ready to share a place with 3 guys varying in age from 25 to 50. It would be interesting though and I know damn well that I would have to have my own bathroom.

I guess I am just going to play it by ear, I have never lived with a guy that I was not sleeping with so it would be interesting. Well, see what happens.

I am off to get some running around done, the library sent me an email telling me my books were due and I have been craving Chinese food like you would not believe.

TTFN (ta, ta for now)

Strange Friends in Life

I find that as I go through life I tend to become friends with the strangest people.

My friend Cowboy is a tall, skinny thing. He is about 6'1, stick legs and arms, no rear and a little beer belly. This will matter later.

So, Cowboy and I are walking back to the office after having a cigarette and he is telling me about his recent trip home to the back mountains of some northern state. He tells me that him and his family were discussing the sizes of their beer bellies and how he was so proud that he was catching up to some of them. As we are walking I am just laughing at him because he is proud of it. So I tell him, that having a beer belly is not something to be proud of, that he should try to put some of that beer belly in his rear, the rest of the conversation goes like this....

Cowboy: "There is nothing wrong with being proud of my beer belly"
Me: "Why?"
Cowboy: "Because it is more fuel for the Love Machine"
Me: (Laughing Hysterically) "I cant believe you just said that, no wonder you are single"

So, ladies if you are looking for a man with fuel for the Love Machine, let me know...

Finally...

Well, as of 10pm tonight, I finished my 10 day stretch of working and I get to "relax" tomorrow, after I do all of my running around. Which, includes a freaking dentist visit. Sounds like fun.

Of course a fitting end to my day I sat talking with a customer who had misconnected due to ATC/weather issues. He didnt believe the fact that there was an ATC/weather problem. As an airline employee that is probrably one of the most frustrating parts of the job. Imagine going to work everyday and all of the people you come in contact with dont believe what you are telling them. This is probrably one of the reasons most people want to leave the passenger service part of the airline. I am not going to say that I have never lied because that would just not be true. However, I would say about 99% of time I am truthful in my work, especially when I have to tell people things I know they dont know want to hear. I would love to tell everyone what they want to hear, it makes my job a lot easier but that is just not practical.

I do love my job though.. I can not imagine doing anything else. I love working with the customers because heck they are what my job is all about, when they stop flying, I stop getting a pay check. You can meet so many interesting people, visit interesting places and see wonderful things. Everyday I marvel at the fact that they actually pay me for doing my job. I would have never guessed 10 years ago that I would be doing this.

I suppose I am one of the lucky ones to say that I truly like my job. :)

Day 9

I'm on my ninth straight day at work. So far, I have worked 88 hours in 9 days. That averages out to about 9.8 hours a day without a day off. I can see the end of my stretch since I have Monday off, then back to work for another two days filled with 32 hours of work.

It is hard to blog when I am working this much, especially since I really cant blog while at work.

On the bright side I really love my new position with the Company. If I had known the grass was this green, I would have become a fat cow munchin on the green grass a long time ago.

However, all of this hard work will be so worth it while I am loungin on my 10 day Scandinavian/Russian cruise. All these hours will equal one really "phat" paycheck that is only to be used for my cruising pleasure. Oh yeah and it will be even better because the company shorted me 16 hours on this paycheck and they owe me some back money to the tune of $180 from my status change (long story). All of these monies will be available to me on my next already fat paycheck. Yeah baby!

Of course all would be even better if I was independently wealthy and I wouldn't have to work at all. In my current state all that is, is wishful thinking.

Truth in Advertising

So true, So true

Dreams

I dont know whether it is the heat or the moon cycle but I have been having the craziest dreams lately. They range from getting married, my sister being on trial to beer being thrown in my brand new car. I have no idea where these night-time mini movies are coming from but I like it, it makes the night more entertaining :)

Like a Dog

My posts around here are going to be sporadic over the next couple of weeks. I am working a few extra hours to pay for my upcoming vacation. Like in the next two weeks I am working an extra 7 days. Yeah, you heard me right 7 days! I will all be worth it when I am sitting on the flight heading off to my cruise. I cant wait.

Well, I am off to hop in the shower for work. Ugh!

No Secret

JJ over at Picadilly asked me how I "created" my banner.

Well, there is no real secret to it. When I was in California last month we were at the beach and I love to write stuff in the sand, but you can only write your name so many times so I got the idea to use my other "identity" and took a picture with the intention of using it for a banner.

I was really happy when it came out the way I pictured it in my mind.

Vacation Plans

I have been wanting to go on a real vacation for a while now, but is seems like nothing ever works out, whether it be money or time or both our plans always seem to fall apart.

Well, yesterday we finalized our plans for our vacation this summer. We decided we are going to take a Northern European cruise. I am so freaking excited, I can hardly wait.

On top of everything the cruise was a smoking deal. It is aboard the Star Princess on the Princess cruise line. Our ports include Copenhagen, Denmark - Stockholm, Sweden - Helsinki, Finland - Tallin, Estonia - Gdansk, Poland - St. Petersburg, Russia and Berlin, Germany. All for less than $1000 per person. It comes out to like $60 dollars a night. Absolutely amazing.

It is about time!