KirstenL4W

Last year, due to all the upheaval in my life, I didn’t really do much for the holidays beyond handing out a few presents. I didn’t decorate, play holiday music, or do much of anything else holiday related. This year, I’m ready to make up for it. I have the advent calendars ready to go (chocolate filled, of course), my cube at work is partially decorated and even has a coordinated scent, and I’m just itching to drag out my holiday decorations. I’ve been making Boyfriend watch all sorts of holiday specials, and the music will start very soon - it’s already on my car stereo, and will be in the house shortly. Some gifts are purchased, the list is made, and I can’t wait to hit the mall.

Having Boyfriend makes the holidays even more enjoyable. It’s one thing to mail gifts to my family back East, but I never really get to see them open them, so it’s a bit of a letdown. I love giving gifts, so Christmas gets really fun for me. I get all excited when I find that perfect gift. No cheese and sausage baskets from me, no way. So combining my love of gift giving with Boyfriend, and I’m gonna have a blast this Christmas. Now I just need to contain my excitement enough to keep people from wanting to kill me.

I had intended for this post to be longer, but I am really distracted by online Christmas shopping right now, so I’ll leave you to your own devices for now.

…and not a moment to rest. I’ve barely had time to read most of your blogs, but I’ve skimmed them over to keep my reader from reaching the 100s. I’ll post more when I have some time, but for now, I must hurry and get in the shower and get my butt (along with the rest of me) to work.

Last night I got the the airport fully expecting a major hassle in trying to get a boarding pass for the correct flight. I was 2nd in line when I went in, and when it was my turn it took all of 1 minute. I didn’t even get to tell my story! I just got the boarding pass for the correct flight, and was wished a happy thanksgiving by the ticket agent. Then I proceeded to the security checkpoint. There was no line, and except for the minor inconvenience of having to remove my sterling silver necklace, security was a breeze. My flight was on time, and despite boarding in zone 9, I was able to find ample overhead space for my bag, and it was even near my seat! There were at least a half dozen children on the flight, but you would never have known it, because it was so quiet except for the sound of the engines. People were polite, introducing themselves to each other. I had a middle seat but my seatmates were not oversized, and they were both well aware of what constitutes good hygiene. Except for a bit of turbulence, it was a very pleasant flight.

I got into Atlanta on time, waited for the shops to open so I could get a bottle of water and something to eat, waited for my flight, which left on time and landed in Ft. Myers on time. Except for my sister reading the boards wrong and going to the wrong concourse, all went extremely well.

I do have one thought, specifically on airplane boarding procedures. For years, airlines would board from the back to the front, which resulted in a huge bottleneck. Now they do this zone based boarding, which is allegedly totally random (I think it’s alphabetical, because I never get anything earlier than zone 7). I think they should board window seats first, then middle, then aisle. That way no one has to get up once they’ve settled into their seats.

Mia is a little doll. Sis sent some pictures awhile back, but I have no idea who that kid was because the pics do not look like Mia at all. She’s adorable! We went to Perkins for breakfast, and Mia had everyone charmed. All the waitstaff had to come over and coo at her, the manager kept coming over, even the customers around us were waving hi to her. She’s such an attention whore.

Sis is starting to cook for tomorrow, and I have a cake to cook. People are supposed to start arriving around 6:30 to help with prep for tomorrow and just hang out, bit it’s now 7:20. Is this aloha time? Wait a sec, I’m in Florida. Oh well. It’s still 4:20 by my clock. Off to cook…

But this really takes the cake.

First off, on the FAA website, the whole country is yellow, which is 16-45 minute delays. Not too bad, assuming I get on the flight I want to be on - you know, the one I booked that will leave me a long enough connection to actually make my flight to Ft Meyers. We shall see where, if anywhere at all, Delta plans on sending me this evening.

My sister didn’t pay her phone bill in time, so I couldn’t get in touch with her all morning. Figures. Nothing like that to make me even more stressed out. Under normal circumstances, I don’t mind not being able to get in touch with her, but at this critical time? Yeah, sure.

The copiers at work were working against me today. I was going to finish up the last of what was on my desk, but the machines were not having any of it. Whatever. I’ll stuff them full of Thanksgiving turkey and see how they like that. Maybe then they’ll learn to like the papers I’m feeding them.

And speaking of work, I just knew I’d get bombarded today. I knew it. I tried to prevent it, but that wasn’t happening. At least I got the majority of it done today, so I won’t have too much catching up to do.

That’s all for now. I’m going to go out to a nice relaxing dinner before I head to the airport for my flight to the looney bin Atlanta then Ft Myers. I’ll let you all know how it goes as soon as I can get to a computer.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

• This morning I got an email from Orbitz reminding me of my flight tomorrow. The flight numbers and times were all correct, so when I go online to check in we’ll see exactly how correct they are.
• Boyfriend had to drive to Reno today to do a 20 minute appointment. His territory is all of Nevada, and even though his company is trying to save money, they still think that because he has a lighter workload than other territories, it’s more prudent to have him drive 7-8 hours to take care of this tiny little thing, rather than having someone from the Sacramento office (2 hour drive) do it. Not only that, because his workload is allegedly lighter than the surrounding territories, he also gets to go to Kingman and Bullhead City, AZ a lot more than he would care for. This company recruited him for his brain. He’s hoping another company will recruit him for his common sense.
• My sister is starting to drive me beserk with Thanksgiving plans. She called me on Saturday to ask me if a 15lb turkey is enough for 10 people. Then she called me yesterday to ask how to cook the darn thing, because she doesn’t think that what Mom told her was quite right. What I don’t get is Sis is supposed to have cooked Turkey Day dinner before. So why does she not know this now?
• Also, I’ve been trying to plan a get together with Cousin T while I’m in Florida. T is willing to meet halfway, since she’s a 2 hour drive from Sis’ house, and another 1/2 hour to go the 2 miles past the mall on Black Friday. At first Sis said Bradenton was too far, way more than halfway, and can’t T meet us closer? Then when I suggested the Cracker Barrel in Bradenton, all of sudden that was good enough. I gave Sis and T each other’s phone numbers so I don’t have to spend my whole workday calling them and relaying what the other one said.
• I still need to pack - but I’m pretty organized about it. I won’t forget any socks, underwear, or jammies. I’ll probably end up forgetting my camera (for pictures of Mia), my cell phone charger, or the presents for Mia.
• I have a full day at work tomorrow, and will likely work late. Luckily, working late means working until 5 instead of 4, and my flight isn’t until 10:55pm. But I have a feeling that despite my warnings of not being in on Wednesday and not being able to scan until Tuesday because I’ll be covering mail for Frank (Hi Frank! How’s hi-speed internet treating you? Got whiplash yet?), I’ll get swamped with stuff at 3pm that absolutely must be scanned before the holiday. Yeah, like anyone will be in over the weekend to try and look for it, right?

I’m going to start packing now, watch Ham on the Street, cook something so Boyfriend has dinner, and relax for goodness sake. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and from there it’s a rapid slide into the new year. The ladies magazines usually start the holiday scheduling with their September issues, but with so much happening in such a short amount of time, it’s easy to feel the rush.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be spending Thanksgiving with my sister in the Ft Myers, Florida area. It’s a crazy travel time because everyone in the country, or so it seems, must travel somewhere for the holiday. It was nice when I lived in the same town as the rest of my family - traveling to Gram’s house meant getting in the car and driving a half mile. Now I’m on the other side of the country from the rest of my family. I did travel home once, choosing a Wednesday-night red eye flight to arrive on Thanksgiving morning. Despite it being a heavy travel weekend, it seems that few people want to arrive at their destinations, at least by air, on Thanksgiving Day. Mom my happened to live very close to the airport that day, so she sent my stepdad out “to the store” for some milk. No one else knew that I was coming, so it was nice to surprise everyone.

This time I am also taking a red-eye, but everyone knows I’m coming. My sister and I have never really done the holidays with each other as grown-ups, with one of us hosting the other, so it will be a bit of a new experience. I’m also looking forward to seeing my niece Mia, who is doing well after her early arrival. She has a silly little laugh, and I get to hear her slobber on the phone until she decides to press buttons and hang up on me. It will be fun to see her, my sister, and my cousin in the Tampa Bay area. I always make it a point to try and see her too, and her son is 2 1/2, which will make for a fun visit. Funny, though - my sister lives 2 hours away from Cousin, whereas I live clear across the country, and Sis never sees Cousin unless I am in town.

As I was writing this blog post tonite, I went back and re-read my posts from a year ago - November 2006 - when I started on my trip back with my new car, took a detour to Florida when Mia was born, and came home to Vegas, got my cast off, and got a new job. I didn’t write as often as I wanted to, but in reading them over, I feel a bit like I was a better writer then, a better blogger. I don’t know. On the one hand, I miss being able to blog every day and dedicate many hours per week to my blog and blogging hobby, but on the other hand, I wouldn’t give up what I have now for anything, even if I am a WoW widow.

On Sunday night, Boyfriend and I went to see Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine in concert. For those who don’t know, Richard Cheese is a lounge singer, very much in the style of Bill Murray’s SNL character Nick the Lounge Singer, but this is different in that you actually want to watch it. The show was awesome! Schmaltzy, swanky, hip, and of course there was Dick! If you ever get the chance to see Richard Cheese perform such classics as Smack My Bitch Up, the Clorox 2 jingle, Another Brick in the Wall, and of course Christmas in Las Vegas, then you must get thee to a Dick Cheese concert asap, because they won’t be touring much longer.

And, the long awaited mix. Ok, for me at least. This is the first of two theme mixes that I’ve signed up for, and let me tell you, my fellow exchangers are very clever! I was originally going to do a theme of Rain, which is one I actually have wanted to make for a long time, and that mix came out really, really good, IMHO. But I received a mix on Water, and not sure if it’s the same group, but also a mix on Weather, so Rain got shelved for a bit. That being said, I decided to do my mix about traveling music.

Road Trip USA

• Road Trippin’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers BUY
• Please Come to Boston by Dave Loggins BUY
• Long Island Shores by Mindy Smith BUY
• Buffalo by Brown, Karaugh BUY
• Cleveland by Jewel BUY
• Allentown by Billy Joel BUY
• Raining in Baltimore by Counting Crows BUY
• Tennessee Waltz by Patsy Cline BUY
• Carolina in My Mind by James Taylor BUY
• Angel from Montgomery by Susan Tedeschi BUY
• Pensacola by Joan Osborne BUY
• Mississippi by Sheryl Crow BUY
• Stephenville, TX by Jewel BUY
• Wichita Skyline by Shawn Colvin BUY
• Omaha by Counting Crows BUY
• Don’t Make Me Come to Vegas by Tori Amos BUY
• Malibu by Hole BUY
• Anchorage by Michelle Shocked BUY
• Last Stop: This Town by Eels BUY

I broke a rule I have by including more than one song by the same artist (actually, I did this twice). But there were some pretty good songs, and it seems that some singers like road music, so what the heck. It all flows pretty darn good.

So there ya go, my latest musical adventures. Go enjoy yourself some music, will ya?

The Beeb

Boyfriend has been spending a lot of time with his new girlfriend, Beeb. How strange it is to find a native Californian, with no concept of a holiday like we have in New England, eating weird foods like sushi and avocado, and yet he has such a fine appreciation for Jolly Olde England. His only caveat about watching it so much is that he is tempted more and more to just sell everything and move there. Now, I’ve been to the UK - 3 times, in fact. I love it there - LOVE it. And I don’t think I would hesitate too much if that ever became a reality. I’d just end up overthinking it - the logistics of moving overseas, the logistics of being American in a foreign country, etc. And that sort of overthinking would stress me out to no end. But it would be a good kind of stress. So, (insert British accent here) dear Boyfriend, keep spending time with Beeb, sweetie darling.

The Post Office

The post office, like all government offices, was closed today for Veteran’s Day. When I have to work, as does everyone I know, on these so-called “floater” holidays (aka bank holidays, aka if you’re lucky you get one or two of these off per year in addition to the big holidays), we tend to forget that things like the post office are closed. I had my latest mix CD to mail out for the exchange, and considering what a procrastinator I can be, I wanted to mail these out the minute I was done with them rather than let them languish in my car for a month. So after work I stopped in at the post office, and for a second I was relieved that it wasn’t crowded. Until I realized that the main post office in all of Las Vegas would never be that deserted unless it was closed. Have no fear, they have an automated postage machine that’s available 24 hours. It’s like an actual clerk without the human. I had 11 packages and no complicated questions, and I was paying with a debit or credit card, so I figured that this would be easy. Until it decides that each individual package is a separate transaction. After swiping my card, entering my pin, and taking a receipt 4 times, I decided to just buy the stamps, since I knew exactly how much they were. This nifty machine lets you buy stamps in any denomination you want. I needed 7 more stamps for $1.14 each. BUT this silly little machine only has the ability to do 5 at a time. Two more transactions later and I was done. I took my 6 receipts, stuck my postage on the packages, and dumped them in the parcel drop. Phew! Next time the post office decides to take one of their bi-weekly holidays, I’ll plan ahead and NOT TRY TO MAIL SOMETHING.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Boyfriend decided after dinner that he wanted dessert. Since we haven’t been shopping yet, we didn’t have anything dessert-like in the house. Boyfriend was asking for cookies, so I went to the store to get the rest of the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, since as far as cookies go, they are the easiest as far as I’m concerned. Now, I do realize that we’ve been trying to eat healthier by shopping at non-crap stores like Trader Joe’s, there’s only one recipe I was considering for chocolate chip cookies: the recipe found on the back of a Butter Flavor Crisco can. Oh yeah, not just lard - butter flavored lard! I just hope the darn things last until I get home from work tomorrow.

Delta Airlines & Orbitz

Waaaay back in February, I booked a ticked to Southwest Florida International Airport so that I can spend time with my sister and my newest niece, Mia, for Thanksgiving. I did my homework and instead of choosing the absolute cheapest flight I found, I took my sister’s schedule into consideration and picked a flight that would arrive and leave at times that were convenient for her, so no late night arrivals or early morning departures. In fact, I’m not even coming or going during Mia’s nap time. I was also watching the connection times. There is no such thing as a non-stop flight from Las Vegas to Ft Myers, so I knew I’d have a connection. On such a busy traveling weekend, I did not want a tight connection, so I picked an itinerary with a 3 hour connection in Atlanta. Not my first choice of airports, but whatever. 3 hours should allow for a delay and still get my on my connection.

Back in June, I got an email from Orbitz telling me that the airline has made a change to my itinerary. I looked over the email, and the new itinerary and old one were exactly the same, so I did nothing, as advised by Orbitz if all was acceptable. Well, today I decided to log into Orbitz to check things over, and there was a change - a big one. They changed not just the time of my flight, but my entire flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta, leaving me with - get this - a 34 minute connection. Totally unacceptable, even if I was connecting in a teeny tiny 1-room airport during the slowest of travel times. So I called Delta India, spent 20 minutes explaining to the guy why a 34 minute connection was unacceptable and I wanted to be back on the original flight I booked, put up with him as he tried to fly me out of Vegas on Wednesday night (to make my connection Wednesday morning in Atlanta), put up with him as he changed my Atlanta to Fort Myers flight, then finally got it right by putting me back on my original flight. Grrr. He emailed me a new copy of the itinerary, and I have a printout of the original flight change email, “new” itinerary, and the email from Delta India with my old new itinerary. I’m not checking any luggage, and I don’t plan on getting all pissed off, I just want to get to Ft Myers. I’ll get there early and with plenty of smiles to make sure I get on the flights I booked. Something tells me I’ll be ok getting to Florida, since most people don’t all fly on the same day going to their Thanksgiving destination. However, they all absolutely must fly home on that Sunday, so something tells me I’ll have issues while connecting in Cincinnati on my way home. I’ll let you know.

So that’s all for now. Time to start composing my post for Tuesday, in which I reveal my latest mix exchange CD.

I was invited by Mimi to join the BlogBlast for Peace. I eagerly signed up, but then wasn’t sure what to write. I know I’m supposed to write about peace, but world peace, like my peace globe, seems to be such an abstract, untouchable thought. It’s too big.

Instead, I want to talk about that old saying about peace starting at home. Think globally, act locally. It sounds hokey, but it’s true. How can we expect entire countries and cultures to get along if we can’t get along with our next door neighbors, or our sisters, brothers, spouses, etc? In the grand scheme of things, is it really worth getting all out of sorts because someone cut you off in traffic? It’s hard on most days, but if we make an effort to not let the little things get to us and try being nicer to people in our daily lives, if we start small and affect people by being pleasant rather than pissy, we can do our small part to make the world a nicer place. Not the world at large, but our immediate world.

I keep thinking of the movie What About Bob? Bob is a psychiatric patient who goes through shrinks the way most people go through under. His latest doc, Dr. Leo Marvin, has just published a book called Baby Steps. The premise of the book is that anyone can cure their ills with baby steps. Bob takes this book as gospel and baby steps his way to cure is many neuroses. “Baby steps on the bus, baby steps on the bus.” It’s an essential part to the hilarious plot in this movie, but there’s a lot of validity to it. It’s the little things we do that make the world a better place.