KirstenL4W

Not that kind of high. You people should know I don’t do that. No, I’m talking about flying in an airplane.

Mister and I just got back from a vacation to New England to visit my family. Being so far away, the only practical way to get there was to fly. I looked over the fares available and found a really decent fare on Virgin America. I flew Virgin Atlantic when I went to Europe way too long ago now, and I was eager to fly them when I went back east for Grandma’s funeral last year. Their low fares didn’t hurt either.

Virgin America doesn’t have the stuffy attitude that the other carriers have. None of that “you’re gonna sit in a cramped metal tube, get charged way too much for everything, and like it, dammit!” attitude that the legacy carriers seem to have. They’re hip, with it, and have a pretty good sense of humor. They also have rocking customer service. All their planes have regular electrical plugs in every row, and their headphone jack is standard, so you can use your regular headphones instead of typical sucky airline headphones. There’s also an in-flight entertainment system on the back of every seat that offers satellite tv, movies on demand, music, video games, seat to seat texting, and you can order meals and drinks through it as well. They deliver meals really fast too, and if they’re out of something, they take it off the menu so you don’t try to order something that’s in someone else’s stomach. Overall, I give Virgin America a huge thumbs up.

But I have a BUT. Virgin America is based out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO), so they have quite a few more gates there than at other airports. My biggest issue is that when we landed at SFO, no one could tell us what the gate assignment was for our connecting flight. For example, on the way home, we landed at SFO nearly an hour late, leaving us only an hour until our next flight was scheduled to board. You’d think that at this point in time, someone would know which gate we can hang out at. But no, that was not the case. We were directed to a customer service desk on the other end of the terminal that was unmanned. We sat there for awhile, got a snack, and no one even came near the desk. Finally, I went to a nearby gate and finally found out that our flight would be leaving from… the gate we came in at. Now mind you, all this running back and forth was a huge ordeal because [insert confidential reason here]. I just thought that it was really unorganized of them to not know gate assignments. It happened as we connected through SFO on our way to Boston as well, but we sat tight and ended up not having to move then. That part of it was probably the worst part of the whole experience.

When we did finally get back to the now-known correct gate, we were entertained with an open Q&A session by the pilot of the flight leaving the gate before ours. Even though it wasn’t our pilot, it was really nice to see that the pilot cared about his passenger’s flight experience. I wanted to ask him why he was answering questions instead of doing preflight checks, but Mister wouldn’t let me. I did, however, get a few opportunities to enjoy Virgin’s adorable safety video.

All in all, I highly recommend Virgin America. Their fares are extremely reasonable, and their customer service kicks ass. Now if they could just get their act together on the gate assignment issue at SFO.

Note: I was not paid to do this review. I paid good money to fly on Virgin, and like I do with other stuff I really like, I wanted to tell the world. Consider yourself told!

What is it about the inexpensive, off-brand, dollar store adhesive bandages that makes the manufacturers think they need industrial strength glue?  I got a small cut on my thumb at work today and asked for a bandage since I didn’t wan to bleed on the mail, and of course they don’t buy a certain brand name that we all know so well.  Nope, I got the cheap ones.  I mean, I shouldn’t knock them because they won’t come off, no matter how many times I have to wash my hands.

But that’s the thing.

They don’t come off.

After I got home this evening, I figured it was safe to take the bandage off because my wound wasn’t bleeding any more and sitting here at my computer, my hands will stay a lot cleaner than at work.  So I started peeling the damn thing off.  It stuck pretty good, and felt like it was taking a layer of skin with it as it came off.  But when it was all done, I was stuck with a super sticky layer of adhesive.

I went into the bathroom and washed my hands, hoping that the soap would get rid of it.  No dice.  After drying my hands, I now had towel fuzz on my thumb.  Then I tried rubbing alcohol.  That works when I have stuff stuck to glass, so I figured it would work here.  No dice.  Not only did it refuse to remove the adhesive, it also dripped into my wound and burned.  It hurt more than when I cut myself in the first place.  Now my thumb burned, and was still covered in adhesive and towel fuzz.

I went and showed my wound to Mister, because he wants to make sure that I’m not mortally wounded, and tried to think of what would get this sticky stuff off.  I might have been tempted to give up the effort, but this is the thumb of my right hand. I can’t go around getting stuff stuck to my thumb all night long.  I thought and thought.

Then it came to me.

WD-40.

The Holy Grail of adhesive removers.

It would definitely work on the adhesive, but how would it fare with my wound? I decided to chance it.  We have one of those fancy WD-40 pens that allow for a fairly precise application, so I knew I wouldn’t end up spraying the stuff all over my hand and whatever part of the house was nearby.

I went into the kitchen and removed the pen from the utility drawer.  I removed the cap and dabbed a bit onto my thumb.  Then I rubbed it in and removed it with a paper towel.  I checked the area I just treated, and lo and behold the adhesive was gone!  And get this - my wound didn’t burn, either (though I wouldn’t recommend using large amounts of this near larger wounds.  I was trying to be very careful not to get any in my wound.)  I finished removing the adhesive from my thumb and nail, and replaced the WD-40.  I was happy, and my thumb was no longer covered in adhesive or towel fuzz.

As far as adhesive removers go, WD-40 is the best stuff I have ever tried.  I’ve used other brands - the ones that have OFF or GONE in their names, but they just don’t work as well as this stuff you can find in a blue and yellow can in the automotive aisle.  All hail WD-40!

Oh, and try to avoid the off brand adhesive bandages.  Unless you really don’t want them to come off.

Have any of you been to Trader Joe’s? I’ve been in a few times, when I was shopping for 1, and usually would pick up a little something here and there, usually frozen foods. TJ’s is usually lumped in the same category as Wild Oats and Whole Foods, since they tend not to carry the same varieties of processed foods that conventional supermarkets do (no sugar puffs cereal, no foods in neon colors, etc). The other stores, however, cost a lot. They don’t call it “Whole Paycheck” for nothing. But if you shop at the other stores, they start to look like conventional stores dressed up in natural clothing. Not that Trader Joe’s is 100% all natural and all organic - I’m sure if you start looking hard enough you’ll find a preservative or something on one of their labels.

The thing that surprises most people once they start shopping there is that TJ’s is less expensive than a traditional supermarket. Yep, that’s right. Boyfriend was shocked at how little we spent, and we even got a giant piece of salmon for dinner. Now forget about your local Wally World megalomania mart - they may have better prices on regular stuff than the regular stores do, but come on now. Shopping there is a chore. Shopping at TJ’s is fun. The food looks great, yummy, delicious, even when it’s sitting in the frozen food cases. I’m inspired to cook when I’m there, and trust me, that ain’t an easy thing for me to feel.

Boyfriend did have a few criticisms. One, they’re not open 24 hours. In Vegas, all supermarkets are open 24 hours (except for the wild and whole ones). So closing at 9pm like they do puts a serious crimp in the last minute plans to go get some frozen taquitos. Boyfriend also said the the selection was a bit slim. Now, the stores are small - really small, like the tiny supermarket my extended family shops at when they’re spending time at the summer home at Lake Ossipee, NH. But when you go there and really look at the selection, you’ll see that they really don’t lack anything. Everything you need to make a decent meal - not even a health freak meal, I’m talking about a regular decent meal - is there. Besides, who really needs the toaster pastries with purple frosting?

I love roasted garlic. And now everyone in the office knows it. I just had some Chicken Crostina from the Olive Garden that I originally had the other night - “Potato-parmesan crusted chicken breasts sautéed with roma tomatoes and roasted garlic. Served with linguine tossed in a creamy garlic-butter sauce.” - and it was absolutely delish. But after the salad, breadsticks, and Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip, it was all I could do to get the rest of my dinner down without exploding. So, to-go box it was and to-work it went.

I’m also reminded of another one of my favorite Italian restaurants - Vinny T’s. At Vinny’s, the bread basket is nothing short of spectacular. The bread itself is focaccia bread, but it’s the way it’s served that makes it what it is. They give you - get this - a whole head of roasted garlic to spread on your bread and taste the garlicky goodness! Oh yes! It’s worth it to go there just for that.

I myself am a bit lazy to roast garlic, since I spent most of my adult years cooking for 1. I usually keep a jar of the minced, roasted garlic in my fridge, and it’s great to just plop some on some pasta with garlic-infused olive oil. That, some fresh asparagus and fresh grated Parmesan cheese are a wonderful meal that combines the best of yummy flavors and comfort foods. These days I cook for Boyfriend as well as myself, and lucky for me he likes roasted garlic as much as I do. I even spied a garlic roaster in his kitchen, which will have to get dusted off and used one of these days. One thing’s for sure - he doesn’t mind kissing me when I have roasted garlicky breath!

Ok, those of you not from New England probably don’t know what a Fluffernutter is. It’s one of the best sandwiches ever. Marshmallow Fluff and Peanut Butter, preferably on white bread. Simple. Yummy. Find out more here.

I’ve mentioned before that finding all the yummy foods I grew up with is not easy now that I am 2700 miles away from home. Marshmallow Fluff is one of those indispensable ingredients that I was craving. And no, that Jet-Puff crap is no substitute. Anyway, I was shopping at my local supermarket when lo and behold, I saw it - the beautiful white jar with its red cap and vintage label. Oh, yeah. Into my basket it went. Now I am enjoying one of my favorite sandwiches, to be followed with some cookies. It’s good to have some easy yummy comfort food.

Photo courtesy internet search 

I must sing the praises of these tissues. Of course, with my cold right now I can’t sing, unless I want to believe that I have a sexy singing voice like in the TV show Friends when Phoebe got a cold and thought it made her singing voice sexier. Anyway, back to the tissues. I love these things. I can’t imagine having to go through a cold or other upper respiratory illness without them. Back in 1993, as the second semester of my freshman year of college was starting, I came down with mono, the great kissing disease. I also had the nastiest upper resp infection ever at the same time. I was going through an entire box of tissues every day. Were it not for this miracle product seen before you today, I would have worn the nose right off my face after two weeks of this. Yes, I love this product.

Disclaimer: I am not one of those annoying PPP bloggers, and I am not receiving any money for this post. I hab a code, and these tissues have saved the skin on my nose many, many times. I’m just here blogging about stuff I love. I’m sure you prefer that over my other choice, which is blogging in great detail about what this wonderful tissue is helping me expel. Didn’t think so. Just don’t use Puffs to clean your glasses or shades, since it will leave lotiony smears on your lenses.

Photo courtesy internet search