"Who Would Jesus Furlough" on Undercover Boss

So I usually watch this show, but I watched the show this week more closely than normal, after all it was an airline (Republic/Frontier/could go on and on) CEO. It starts as they usually do by showing the CEO, his house, and family. The house in this case was more than "big" and bordered on mansion, indoor basketball court and all. So it turns out he has 8 kids and clearly doesn't believe in birth control.

Another soap box for me to get on but let me climb up. So apparently CEO is very religious (as evidenced by 8 or so kids) this happens to be my problem with religious people and religion in general (not the kid part, but the hypociate part), so here we have Mr. CEO who clearly does not live in the slums and can well afford his 8 kids and indoor basketball court. Meanwhile, he acquires airlines lays off pilots and ground personal of those he acquires, and the ones he doesn't fire have make so many concessions that their pay may or may not put them below the poverty line and qualify them for food stamps, this includes the pilots they don't make as much as you thinkg! That's right I know of many pilots who qualify for food stamps.

This aside he's sitting there going "praise god" and clearly his employers are not reaping any benefits from his views or his managing style. Which leads me to a few things...again not a religious person...so in my book, especially in this case "Religion = Hypocrite" Also I found on one of the pilot forums it begs the question "Who Would Jesus Furlough?" I thought that this was funny as hell!!!

Crazy Busy!!

The last couple weeks have been crazy busy!! John's been in and out a couple of times, I've been working about 4 days a week, and my parents came for Balloon Fiesta! So between everything going on, and the fact that I had to pry the computer from dad's hands I haven't had time to do much of anything online. I haven't made it to Balloon Fiesta this year, but my mom did, and I went to the "Balloon Glow" last years.

"Everything is Fine"

Why is it that the last 2 days John has had big tests that the animals have all gotten sick? Last week the day before his systems test Hokus got really sick, I even called the vet! He was out of town and I got everything under control without him, but still, when I talked to John I said "Everything is fine" I figured I didn't need him worrying about anything the night before his test. This time its one of our older dogs, he was acting a little strange when I went out to feed the horses, and when I came in he was floundering on the floor, couldn't get up and his gums were white and cold. Fantastic...of course it was after 6 too so no vet (at least without emergency fee's). So I got him up he went outside on the deck and laid down for a while, I gave him 2 anti-inflammatory and say with him for a while. He looks a little better now, can get up better, gums are a normal color, but he's still going to the vet tomorrow. Too bad I have to work tomorrow since I'll be up all night checking on him! So of course tonight when I talked to John "Everything is fine." Hopefully one of these time's I'll actually be able to say it and believe it! BTW if anyone reads this before tomorrow...don't tell John!

I quit......

Those are the words I texted John yesterday...since I actually talk to him less than 5minutes a day while he's in training now. Yesterday was just one of those pain in the ass days that nothing really went wrong...but nothing went right. I tried to pick up bag (twice) from the airport but no one was there. Alas my bag did not make it with me when I came back on Monday, which was ok....until I couldn't get it. Johns friend called while I was on my way to work and said "I'm in AZ lets do dinner." Which was great but the house wasn't clean and I had to go (try) and get my bag again...blah blah blah ran around in circles! Then I have John whining for the 2min that I talked to him because we can't go to EZE (buenos aires) flights are oversold and I have to work. If you wanted me to be at your beck and call, you shouldn't have told me to get a job!! So yesterday wasn't awful, but just........

So yesterday decided to continue onto today....I get up and tell Floppy to get off the bed and go outside....(mind you I don't have my glasses or contacts in) Floppy looks kind of lopsided to me and staggers a bit....So of course I call him again..this time (even not being able to see) it looks like he's moving but so is the whole bed....Shit...Floppys collar got stuck on John's foo foo comforter. So there's a few thin threads....and I went and bought a cheapo comforter and we'll just use the nice one when John comes home....But on the plus side I didn't have to work today~!!

Friends don't let friends buddy pass, and other Nonrev hell.

I swear if one more person says "Oh its great you can fly anywhere you want for free" I'm going deck them, tie them up, AND sentence them to Nonreving (which means non revenue and lowest of low on the standby list though not as low as a buddy pass) and see how they like it. Clearly I am just one of those people who is at odds with universe, at least the non-rev universe. I am also convinced that bars in airports were put there for nonrevs. I often hear stories of people who can nonrev all the time, get where they are going, and hardly ever miss a flight......this is not me. I hear the word nonrev and I start to panic looking frantically for the cheapest ticket I can find and hope that having a real seat justifies the price, for those curious sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. With John being out of work this hasn't been an issue as I have only nonreved a handful of times (with permission) in the last 2 years. The last time I did this, because of the loads here in ABQ I DROVE to Amarillo in order to have any prayer of making it to IAH, which I did because of a wonderfully nice gate agent, who was probably pissed that someone showed up 10min late and after the door had closed. BTW don't kid yourself (at least at John's airline) just because the door is closed doesn't mean you are safe, I have seen them drag the jetway back out and open the door, just to throw someone else on, or yank a nonrevoff.

My first nonreving experience was not bad by my standards of luck, I missed about 5 flights before I finally got on one, which then resulted in me running through IAH to make a connection and meet up with John (boyfriend at the time) where he then had to "burn a vacation pass" to get me on the next flight with him. My next time after this was not quite as good...John (still boyfriend) promised me that I would get on the afternoon flight to IAH (as we were going to a concert that night and I had job interview the next day) after missing 2 flights I headed toward the bar, the next flight that left would get me there way to late to make the concert...What better way to drown my sorrow (especially since I had paid for the tickets) than with a margarita. I am happily drinking my strawberry margarita when John calls I answer the phone and all he says is "Run." Not so helpful to me as I was hesitant to leave my half drank margarita and I still had to pay. I did manage to throw some money at the waitress and I was off. For those of you familiar with ORD its a monster of an airport and CAL and UAL not anywhere near each other (at the time). John had apparently cashed in his miles and got me a seat on a flight that left in 10 min. This was with out a doubt the fastest I have ever run in an airport, also bear in mind this is when there was still a dress code for nonreving read = I had heels on. I run up there as they are doing "last call" fling myself on the plane only to find the guy next to me had sprawled out all over my seat. He looked at me confused and said "They said no one was sitting next to me." Yeah there wasn't till 10min ago!

After that my nonrev experiences got better...though in reality there aren't alot of people going in droves to exciting destinations such as Killeen Texas. And other than Johns folly of taking me to LAS over Superbowl weekend (in which we missed flights and I had to call in sick to work) the few trips I went on, went well.

Then there was BNA (Nashville) I should have never gotten there I only went to the airport to humor John and of course for the Margaritas. I managed to make the flight (miracle of bad weather and missed connections as it was oversold by 5). I make friends with the FA, he's super cool and has no problem with me following them to the hotel as John had been in Nashville since early afternoon. Just as I am about to board the crew van to the hotel the FO looks at me and says "If he was here earlier he is at the long overnight hotel downtown." Fantastic....its close to 7:30pm by this time the terminal is empty and by the looks of it downtown is a ways a way. I call John less than happy, he manages to get me a ride to the hotel...via every other hotel in the city. I make it to the hotel and we all (the whole crew) goes to dinner, which was the highlight of this trip!

We get up the next morning get ready to head for the airport, go downstairs to print my boarding pass......the printer eats it...shit...but not the end of the world I can get one at the airport right? WRONG the computers are down! And no one at the counter can do anything because it says I'm already checked in. At this point John is running late and bolts through security to find the rest of the crew. So.....the nice people at the ticket counter write me a ticket. Thats right...in this post 9/11 world they had write me a ticket (everyone at BNA was super helpful!) this was great of them....until I get to security can anyone guess what TSA thought of my hand written ticket?? You guessed correctly if you said "Pull her aside and seach her." So they were not so thrilled with the handwritten ticket. So back to the ticket counter I go WITH the TSA manager, finally he is convinced I am not a terrorist and I get through security in time to find out AA (American airlines) has cancelled a flight to DFW. And while I am going to IAH this may not seem like a problem, until they reroute everyone through IAH to get to DFW, and of course without the computers up this is a nightmare. I mange to see John before he takes off for EWR and with a few choice words for him he's gone. Leaving me at BNA for what turns out to be the better part of 12 hours. I manage to hook up with some other nonrevs and we sit around all day together and eat lunch. At least she was a more experienced nonrev than I (bear in mind all this is before we got married) and knew how to get an illusive (to me) id90 on Southwest, which would at least get us to Houston. We decided to wait until the last flight out in case (by some miracle) we got on. So about 20min before push I wander up to the gate agent, by this time we are good friends (no matter how bad the day ALWAYS be nice to these people!!!) to inquire on my chances of getting on. He looks and me and my new friend and says "Everything is so screwed up with computer being down, here are two tickets get on now." God bless this gate agent as I am sure he helped us out.

This is the reason my blood runs cold when it is suggested I nonrev someplace, though I am much better about it now than I was (I can also look up loads now to which is helpful) I hate the uncertainty that comes with it and the fact that bad luck seems to follow me around. So to those of you who say "fly free anywhere" I will happily give you a buddy pass (which by the way is about as expensive as a ticket now) and meet you in the bar!

So wish me luck this weekend!!

Tropical Storm Hermine......

So I'm having a wonderful weekend with my hubby being home and today was his last day here before having to leave tomorrow. I get a call from my mom about noon...looks like there's a tropical storm going to hit Texas...What?! I completely missed this! This stinks....it means that John went back to IAH today instead of tomorrow. This blows as it means I got one day less with John than I had planned. Stupid tropical storm!

Video for Hubby!

I finally got this done!!! Don't know why it says Alaska but...one pic is from Alaska...

Barrel of Monkeys

Ok so this pic is a little out of focus but I love it! We both look so happy in it.....good thing to remember since John has been gone since Saturday morning and I'm not sure when I'll see him again. He was told he would be positive spaced to and from training, which would make sense as they positive spaced him to IAH to do the drug test and background paperwork. Only to find out TODAY (in an email none the less) that because his base is still IAH they won't positive space him, even though they said they would...and they did last week.

This pretty much sucks, not to mention John is asleep and I can't talk to him about it! We are having 2 get togethers this weekend and John was supposed to be back on Saturday night BUT since they won't positive space him...maybe not...he can jumpseat...so says the girl that apparently didn't know he couldn't be ps. But I know John and he won't want to take the chance of not getting to school so my guess is if he does come home at all it means a) buying a ticket.. ahhh and its last minute now...crap...or b)taking a chance and jumpseating which means he would probably go back Monday night instead of Tuesday night. It also means there is NO WAY he is going to be home the 2 weekends after that! Also he doesn't have to wear the uniform to jumpseat but he usually does (tends to make it easier) and his uniform is (of course) not with him, it is at his cousins house about 1 1/2 away from the training center...... Pretty much this can be summed up with one word..crappy.....So far this whole "going back to school" hasn't been a Barrel of Monkeys....maybe that would be a good name for wine...since clearly I am going to be buying stock in some kind of alcholol before this is over!

Back to Work....

Whoo hooo...who thought this day would never come? Be honest......ok me.....I wasn't so sure John would ever go back to work after all the surgeries and therapy BUT he starts training on Monday!! A big part of that is in thanks to one of my (new) good friends whose husband works for the same company as John and is also coming off ltd and starting...Monday! I found out about the class from her, and John just kept asking (nicely) that he be put in that class, and the background check came through this morning so it worked perfectly! But now it will be weird...John's been off (this time) since July 2007.....and was off for a 6 months before that. I'll have to get used to being on my own again, of course this means I won't have to make the bed every morning, and I will go around frantically cleaning the day he comes home :)


His training schedule is actually quite good though, he will be gone 7 days now (and it wouldn't even be that many if he wasn't driving to IAH). Then he will be home for 3 1/2 and after that he has school for 4 off for 2 or 3 until the end of October he'll do his final check so he should hit the line Nov 1!!!

Back to IAH

One word (Fail) sums up John's first attempt to get to IAH, via positive spacing. There is nothing better than getting up at 3am for a 6:30am flight and NOT making it because its oversold. Clearly the word Fail is the word of the day. By the time I came back from dropping John off at ABQ (5:30ish) one would have thought that at least McDonald's would be open for breakfast....but no such luck...then I almost had a jackass hit me in the McDonald's parking lot (later when they were open) because he blew a stop sign...he was in such a hurry to get to the gas station and wait...Then I go through the drive thru and this dumbass....different than the jackass... places her order...drives around...stops her car at the window....gets out...gets her purse out of the backseat...(up to this point I would have forgiven her) WALKS up to the window.....then (my favorite part) tries to use McDonald's like an ATM. She asks the guy if she can get cash back if she uses her debit card.....WTF?! I don't think I'm going outside again until I have to pick up John tonight....

Airline Death

The dates on this are wrong, as this headstone was originally for branded flying BUT I thought that given the current situation..............Anyways not too much on the merger front other than a few of us have discovered that ASA health insurance SUCKS! This sucks for us, given how much we have used it over the last 3-4 years. John is going back to work on Monday to do paperwork and background check, once that clears he will get a schedule, so the sooner the better :)

Mergers...Airlines...and where to live....

I found this picture and thought it was hilarious!

So of course now that John is almost (he still has to get released from his neurosurgeon) ready to go back to work...SURPRISE it's merger time with XJT and ASA (in all fairness not a super big surprise to those in the know). Since I had, thankfully, convinced John to based trade to ORD (promising him he could get an Ipad as a reward) he will at least be able to hold a line and hopefully fly ALOT before they merger the seniority lists.

Since he's going to fly as much as possible once he goes back, this begs the question of...(since both our parents live there) should I go back with him for a while...about 8 months or so. At first it would seem like a good idea, I would actually get to see him, though with as much as he's going to be flying..it still wouldn't be a lot. I would be closer to my parents and a few of my friends that still live there.......However our entire herd cannot stay at my parents (they have an apartment) and while we could probably stay at John's in the basement..fully furnished walk out basement...I'm not sure that would be the best choice either.....and with either choice we would have to board the horse....thats some money...boarding 3 horses in Chicago area...eeek. Plus I would have to try and find at least a part time job, well I wouldn't have to but I would want to.

So then that bring us to me staying here.....well I won't see John much maybe twice a month, which sucks! But I also am pretty sure I could have a part time job here, and I have quite a few friends here as well. Plus we wouldn't have to pay to board the horses because they live here! I am hopeful that my mom will come stay out here with me for a few weeks that would be fun, plus she could animal sit so I could go see John!

Either way it's a crappy deal. Stay here and don't see him, but have job and friends and horses or go to ORD and not see him alot, no job, but family and friends and pay for horses. It's going to stink for a while no matter how you spin it....

Welcome to the wonderful world of airline mergers....and this one hasn't hardly started yet!!!

Expressjet and Skywest

So its official, we are now going to be part of the Skywest family, via ASA since they are ALPA and we aren't. We are just praying that dh stays a CA until he can get his 1000 hours and get out. Also it seems ASA's insurance isn't as good as XJT's, so there is another potential pitfall. And now dh's company will be based in ATL which is a long ass ways away from here! So I guess we will just wait and see......

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100804-712443.html

Happy Hokus or "Spy Vs Spy"

So we made it back home from Houston to ABQ last week, then I spent a few days in Denver with my grandparents. Today I decided to hop on Hokus and ride a little, he was such a good trooper :) Got some fantastic pictures, thanks to Johns new camera.

Food makes a good bed....

Well we are back in Houston...this time for John, something about a bulging disk in his back, which is great fun for me, as he is kind of a baby about pain. But there are some really good things about Texas, no one here seems to much (at all) care about the horses, its great! Also best food around! Lots of good restraunts and such. As you can see from the picture the horses are quite happy, Hokus decided that the remaining roundbale would make a nice bed for a while :)

New Year!

Since I am truly horrible and keeping up this blog, and apparently haven't posted anything since August. I figured I'd recap a little. In October we went to Oktoberfest in Ruidoso NM. Nothing like the real one in Germany I am assuming but still a lot of fun!
Then it was off the Las Vegas for the U2 concert which was great! So much fun and U2 was fantastic! This was the stage in Vegas for the concert.
We went on a wonderful transatlantic cruise that started in Barcelona and ended in San Juan. With many stops in Spain, we even got to go to Agadir (Morocco) and the Canary Islands! (Picture is above...I'm not good enough to actually place the pic's where I want them!)

We have decided to rent our old "apartment" in Texas (near Houston) as Dh is going to have to have surgery again sometime this spring and if he ever goes back to work it is a perfect crash pad. I also have 2 jobs there so it works out well.