my kind of town

*post written 9/13*

just got back from my first trip ever to las vegas. had so much fun with my boyfriend and best friend while i was there. we went to celebrate my 25th birthday and did it in style. went during the week, which i highly recommend because it isn't as super crowded. not sure how we planned it so well but we went on the one week in september that wasn't super hot- weather was actually quite pleasant. we stayed at the mgm grand which is a very nice hotel but massive. so many places to get lost. we visited other hotels like: new york new york, excalibur, luxor, the stratosphere, ceasar's palace, and (my favorite) the bellagio. so many places to shop, things to see, and great restaurants. the best one by far was wolfgang puck's restaurant at the mgm grand. i think we ate there like 3 times during our trip. the best buffet was for sure at the bellagio where (tip) if you go at 10:30AM you can get both breakfast and lunch foods! the fountains at the bellagio were my favorite sight-seeing thing while i was there. and james and i even got to go to see a cirque du soleil show "o" while in vegas (thanks to my dad). it was mind-blowing and the best show i have ever seen for sure.

you know when i had planned to go to vegas i had people tell me all kinds of things. i was a bit worried before i went that i wasn't going to like it, it would be too touristy, and that it would be dirty and gross. but i was pleasantly surprised. such a wonderful vacation that i will never forget.

on to the next

so after living a year and a half of my life as a road warrior, i have decided to stray to the road less traveled so to speak. i have chosen to leave my job with Micros to pursue a job that will give me weekends off (during football season no less!). it was a fun time and i learned an immense amount. but i am very excited to see where my next job will lead me and how my journey in life will continue on...

so now i will be living a "normal" life and i could not be more excited about it. i look forward to having to fight traffic on the way to work, having a cup of coffee on sunday mornings and clipping coupons out of the newspaper, being able to cook dinner at home during the week, and packing lunch for work. being able to go to pub crawls in orlando on a friday night, joining friends for football games at UCF on a saturday, and so much more. a normal 8-5 job will never be more appreciated by anyone, ever. i promise.

my next traveling adventure won't be too far off however. i am planning a trip to las vegas for my birthday this year. it sure will be a different experience traveling for pleasure / a vacation rather than for business. i've never been to las vegas so this should be a fun trip. i figure going while i'm young is the best time to go so i can enjoy it.

i've decided to keep this blog up, in case i find exciting things to comment on through out my journey of what life has to offer to me. so even though i've changed my path, i'm still heading towards the future...

"available for purchase"

so i recently few out to bakersfield, ca and back for a short work trip. here is my current rantings about this trip:
i'm not sure what has happened to the airline industry, or why some airlines can operate with a profit by NOT charging for bags and by giving certain amenities away and others have to nickel and dime you for everything. i recently flew on united airlines, which i have absolutely no status on- or in other words, i never fly on them so they don't really care about me. my flight out was from orlando to denver. i figured since it is a 3.5 hour flight that i would at least get a blanket and pillow, but no of course not. on the way back home i had a direct flight from san francisco to orlando. on this 5.5 hour flight i was CERTAIN that there must be some kind of in flight meal provided. oh boy was i wrong again. they did however have certain meal snacks "available for purchase". $6 for a cheese tray with 4 crackers. i don't understand. i mean i paid over $1000 round trip for the ticket and the airline will definitely go under if they provide a snack box for free that probably costs them $2-3 at most?! i doubt it.
i've flown on southwest which doesn't charge for bags but isn't going bankrupt, i've flown on continental where i got a free lunch on a flight from houston to orlando and they aren't going bankrupt, so why can't all airlines provide some sort of amenities or conveniences? some things i may never know...

from the bottom to the top

so two days ago i was in el paso, tx on the mexico/us border. today i am in malone, ny which is awfully close to the canada/us border. my job has literally taken me from one side of the country to the other. from almost as far south as you can get in the contiguous us to almost as far north as you can get.

had a crazy travel day today. note: my first time on jetblue. plane was nice, individual tv's are a plus, terra veggie chips are also a plus, super delayed flight = not so much. had to rush around the boston airport: which, please note, is NOT a fun one when you have to change terminals. my grandma can surely tell you her story of her cape air escapade. i felt her pain today. shockingly, i made it on my connecting flight, after having to be escorted by a us air employee through the security check-point. when flying out, i forgot how pretty boston actually is. it had been quite some time since i've been there. thought i was going to have to spend the night there-- and i'm a little bummed i didn't get to.

i got to drive 1 hour here from the airport. its very rural here, but pretty. i was instructed upon picking up my rental car: to watch out for deer and that my gps won't work here. no cell service and lots of "wind farms" which are a bit eerie looking at 9pm. listening to canadian radio stations the whole way here and in case you ever wondered where maple syrup came from- this is it. just wish i hadn't misplaced my passport otherwise i'd go to canada. i'm only 15 minutes from the border and 1 hour from montreal. oh well, maybe next time. the one thing i am CRAZY thankful for is the fact that it is july. i can't imagine how this place looks in february. the only thing i know is i never would have made the drive if it was.

around the world

sparked by my last post...

current mileage totals:
american - 25,251
delta - 23,911
us air - 14,643
southwest - 9 CREDITS (if you equivalent this out to 500 miles / average flight then it equals 4,500 miles)
continental- 2,848
airtrain - 2 CREDITS (if you equivalent this out to 500 miles / average flight then it equals 1,000 miles)

total mileage: 72,153 (and the year is only half over!!)

autobiography

so i finally saw the movie "up in the air"- and let me just say that it may not be my autobiography but i can certainly relate to it. getting the most frequent flyer miles, being enrolled in every loyalty club under the sun, and being in a different city each week is definitely how i live my life.

i have come to the realization that with over 25,000 miles flown on delta this year and over 25,000 miles flown on american airlines this year also that i have the potential to be a 100,000 mile flyer over the course of one year. i know i travel a lot but that number is astronomical. that's the equivalent of flying around the globe over 4 times around (the equator). all i can hope for in the future is a few more free upgrades to first class...

up in the air

while most people are terrified of flying i get a sense of peace from it. something about being up in the air, so far from the ground, gives everything in my life a bit of perspective. when you can see so many miles and all of the clouds in the sky, a little bit of paperwork at the office doesn't seem like such a concern. i'm also sure it has something to do with the fact that once i get off of the plane that all of the stress from being at work truly hits me. so much to do, so many long shifts, all of the deadlines and hectic days. while looking out the window at 35,000 feet those things seem so much less important. the world seems so small and life so full of possibilities.

puddle jumper

dear st. louis, i am sure that you are probably a great city. your airport, however, sucks. a 4 hour layover included a whole bunch of nothing followed by boredom. minimal shopping and dining was also included. you should seriously step your game up. suggestion: a pedicure would have been nice. sincerely, travelingal

today i had the privilege of flying Cape Air. to those of you who have been to martha's vineyard before (via air)- this story may be a bit familiar. at the ticket counter i had to tell the agent how much i weigh so that the plane could be balanced. then while at the gate we simply filed out the door to board the cessna 12 seater plane. i was then instructed that i could not take my carry-on bag aboard, so instead i had to stow it in the wing of the plane. next i crawled through the tiny entrance door and up the mini aisle (about the size of an aisle of a minivan) to the seat directly behind the pilot. he then turned around and shouted to the passengers "thanks for flying cape air. turn your cell phones off now and buckle up, we'll be leavin in a minute" while the baggage handlers shoved our checked luggage into the nose of the plane. we were then notified that the emergency exits are the door we just entered through and the tiny window next to the pilot. "i know what window i'm jumping out of!" i thought to myself. my knees are now firmly in the back of the pilot's seat and i am overlooking all of the flight instruments. i am, for all intensive purposes, IN the cockpit. luckily i had ear plugs (which made every other passenger insanely jealous of me) which were quite handy indeed. took off during the sunset which was very pretty. flew at only about 5,000 feet and arrived in cape girardeau, mo 45 minutes later. by far the smallest airport i've ever seen. apparently they are having an air show (which is a big deal around here) this weekend. i'm a bit worried since my flight out of here is at 2pm on saturday and it seems like all 35,000 inhabitants of this city will be at that air show. will be interesting.

boo

things i learned today: working from home sucks- but not as much as having strep throat, barely being able to talk, having glands the size of golf balls, being groggy from lots of pain medication, AND having to work from home is. my boss is a slave driver and thats only because her boss is coming down on her big time so she is making us do tons of things that aren't our jobs. its not like other departments help us out when we have to fly back-to-back between sites because we are busy!

its the final countdown

i am sooooooo looking forward to my VERY well deserved beach vacation in captiva. this is always my favorite time of year and favorite place, probably in the entire world. since i went last year, i've been to a lot of other places in this country and i feel like i can definitely say that i will appreciate it more now. i have been to some not so great places and i have worked really, really hard. i NEED this time off to relax and recharge my batteries. i'm only going to be able to be there for 4 days but i wish it was going to be much longer.

white sandy beaches, lounging poolside reading a book, going on bike rides under oak tree canopies, walking barefoot on the beach at sunset, going on a day-long boat outing with my family- i mean could it get any better??

you will note that i've added a countdown timer to this blog post. yes that is exactly how excited i am.

hooray??

so all of my hard work is finally paying off: my boss called me today to tell me that they are giving me a raise because i am way underpaid. finally they realize what i've been trying to get them to see for quite some time. i am very happy with the raise, although i won't see it for a few paychecks. yet i am still unhappy with my job.

but since i can't complain, i'll let others do it for me:

reviews about working for Micros- from those who have worked at Micros
http://www.jobvent.com/micros-systems-inc--job-reviews-C9486?PageNum=1
**disclaimer** the reviews on this site are BRUTAL and sometimes explicit.

great sites

about poorly designed boarding passes- and provides solutions:
http://passfail.squarespace.com/

about poorly designed airline websites- and provides solutions:
http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html

i hear things like this each time i fly:
http://www.clarksys.com/blog/2008/03/27/american-airlines-sucks/

people watching

as i sat in the atlanta airport for my two and a half hour layover (that i wasn't really thrilled about) i started people watching. mainly because they do NOT have free wifi in that airport. things i noticed:
- i saw two separate women walking through the airport with bouquets in their hands. its a sunday so i'm assuming they are brides going on their honeymoons. but neither had a husband with them and both had some CRAZY looking hair. guess they had a good wedding night LOL
- i saw a bunch of people walking through the airport with headphones AND sunglasses on. i understand the headphones- it says to people: don't even talk to me because i'm not interested in hearing it. but the sunglasses?? what does that say? i don't want to look at you? or its too bright inside this building? heck if i know.
- if your hoodie says that you are "so hood" you probably aren't. if you have to take you "bling bling" off to go through security, i think everyone would appreciate it if you didn't go through the "expert traveler" lane at the airport.

guilty pleasures

since i don't have cable tv at home (yes times are tough and it is a pretty easy expense to cut- although i never thought a tv junkie like me would ever say that) i find myself watching some odd tv when i am away from home. tv is a nice company in a lonely hotel room. some of the weird stuff i've been watching is:
- to catch a predator: which is not a good idea when the hotel you are staying in is in a seedy part of town.
- wedding shows: NO clue why i keep watching these but all of the friends and family in them always makes me miss home.
- 16 and pregnant, intervention, hoarders: these shows just make me feel better about my own life. i mean as long as you AREN'T on this show then you must be doing something right.
- a documentary on air force one: i think i watched this simply because i fly in airplanes too much and the idea of flying on one that nice enticed me.

heee hawww

posted by popular demand:

i am currently in columbia, tennessee. the home of.... wait for it.... MULE DAY. yes that's right, ladies and gentlemen, mule day. a weekend in which 10,000 mules come to the city (so i'm sure it leaves a nice smell in the air). there are events such as: mule sale, mule driving show, mule pulling, knife auction, draft mule show, and of course the mule and donkey seminar. and the grand marshall is naomi judd. the most exciting thing, i think, seems to be the worlds largest mule. he holds the guiness world record standing at 6 feet 6 inches to his shoulders and his name is shorty. this is by far the most unique event out of anywhere i've ever traveled before.

for more information go to: www.muleday.net

i'm just really glad that it isn't for another week or two and i'm leaving on tuesday.

the king of wishful thinking

so i got a call on wednesday from the ops manager at a hotel in the florida keys. i had applied for a front desk manager position there. so lucky i even got a call! recently all the employers have been skipping over my resume because i don't have technical hotel experience on there. although at my current job thats all that i do! i run the front desk! so anyways i chatted with him about the hotel which used to be a great resort but now is a bit run down. its where the drink the rum runner was invented (so obviously i'll get along with the vibe) but it doesn't seem as if the rooms have been updated at all since that time. and in the mean time, the rooms have seen one too many spring breakers if you know what i mean.

so apparently i impressed the ops manager enough to get a call from the general manager on friday. nailed the phone interview. the manager knows about rosen and asked tons of qualifying questions. basically he was asking me why should i give you the job if you don't have that much experience? among other things i said "if you give me the chance, i will not disappoint you". well i guess he bought it because i have a meeting with him on wednesday. luckily he will be in st. petersburg so i will only have to drive 2 hours there instead of 5.5 to the keys.

still not sure if this job is going to be right for me. pro: florida keys is a nice place to be. con: not in august. pro: once i have this job on my resume, it will be much easier to get any other jobs in a hotel. con: i will be the only manager so i will have to work insane hours- if anyone calls out sick, i will have to work that shift. pro: it would be a little bit of a raise. con: not sure what the living situation is like in they keys (looked on craigslist and saw a ton of trailers for rent- gross). to get a nice place will probably be a bit of money. pro: i will be working at a resort- which looks great on your resume. con: this place is a dump! and i will have to deal with disgruntled guests constantly.

so i haven't made any decisions yet and surely haven't been offered the position yet either. hopefully during this meeting on wednesday i can impress the manager enough. even if i decide not to take this job, he might know other managers or have other positions at other properties that would be right for me.

here's to wishful thinking...

trying not to hold my breath

so i got a call yesterday from one of the MILLIONS of job posting i've submitted online. this one is for an activities director (in other words i'd plan events) an an "active adult" homes community. this would be a great job to put on my resume and could really get me started on my event planning career path. plus the salary range is exactly what i'm looking for, so that doesn't hurt much either.

i chatted with one of the interviewers on the phone today and am quite hopeful i may get called in for an interview. luckily she gave me a deadline date- so if i don't hear back by next wednesday, then i didn't get the job.

i'm just so grateful that #1 i actually got a call or response from one of the jobs i've applied for, #2 that i talked to a human being on the phone and it wasn't some sort of scam (you'd be surprised how many of those online job postings are scams), #3 i have been given a deadline date. most recruiters just say "thank you for your time and we'll get back to you" and they never do.

i'm trying not to get too excited about it because i know if i do i'll just be even more disappointed if i don't get the job.

please pray that i at least get an interview out of this- because i know if i can get my foot in the door that i can prove to these people that i am a hard-working individual who deserves this job!

standing room only

So how many seats / chairs do they provide at each gate at an airport? And who decides how many seats are enough? Because it seems to me that there are never enough and people end up just having to stand around or sit with their backs up against the wall. Then when we go to board the flight its like fighting a mob of people just to get to the gate door. I know different size planes with different capacities fly into these gates but there never seems to be enough seats for half the people on the flight.

I think this would be an interesting study to do. The average percentage of seating provided versus the average number of passengers on each flight.

exhaustion is an expectation

what is so difficult to understand about a "do not disturb" sign? when one sees this on the door and then continues to try to open the door and sees that it not only is locked but the door will not open due to the deadbolt, what makes them keep trying to shove the door open?? OBVIOUSLY IT IS OCCUPIED!!! ugh- and i was trying to sleep because i have to work the 12 hour night shift tonight. oh well. exhaustion is an expectation by this point.

on the hunt

in my desperation to no longer be a road warrior- i applied for jobs online today. 17 to be specific. all around the state of florida. everything ranging from conference & sales manager to administrative assistant, from front office manager to assistant general manager. i'm just praying that one of them works out... just one. keep your fingers crossed for me.

aggravating

list of aggravating things that have happened today:

- got the schedule that says i will have 2 days off in the next 6 weeks.

- got an e-mail from my boss stating that during those 2 days off, if it is a weekday, then i have to call in to the office at 8AM to see if there is any additional work that i could be completing. (even though its not like my boss EVER helps me with ANYTHING if it is a weekend despite the fact that i still have to work)

- the next place i'm going to is dallas to work the night shift. i have one day off between now (working day shifts) and then to try to switch my body's clock so that i can stay up all night. so i get my airline ticket (for when i'm flying out to dallas) and not only am i connect through charlotte (which my brain can't even fathom) but my flight departs at 8:45AM. just what i needed to help me stay up all night- a flight in which i'm going to have to get up at 6:30AM. joy.

fed up

so i got the schedule today and it says that from 2/11/10 - 3/26/10 i will be having a grand total of 2 days off.
needless to say i am not very happy about this. in fact i am quite livid considering i just sent my boss an e-mail 2 weeks ago asking for more time off in between sites because doing back-to-backs (as we call them) are grueling and overly exhausting. she said that it wouldn't be a problem and that she would make sure i at least get 2-4 days off between sites... yeah.... and then this happens. sounds a lot like when they said you'll be getting a raise once you've been employed for a year and then once i've been employed for 10 months they say that they aren't giving out raises anymore. i'm starting not to believe a word out of corporate america's mouth.

i guess this would be a great time to be using some of my sick or vacation time. because if i don't, i'm really worried i'm going to just get super fed up one day and quit.

priority #1

so since i've had a few days off of work, i've had some time to think...

and i've decided that starting right now i am going to put my life, health, and happiness above all.

so in other words, if it makes me happy and goes towards my overall well-being, then i'm going to do it. if that ends up bothering someone else, well then too bad. i'm sick of focusing on what others will think, do, say, how they will feel, etc.

my time is now and i am an important priority. this may all sound really selfish but if i don't put myself first, who will?

hooray!

best upcoming schedule ever!!! check it out.

i'm so worried that i like it so much i'm sure it is bound to change. but a girl can hope...

click here to search

so i've been looking online for a new job- one that would hopefully not have me working over 80 hours per week and would give me more than 2-3 days off per month, and one that would be central to the orlando area.

i have found more job searching websites than i thought ever possible. its dizzying. some job postings are on all websites, some are only on some, and some are only on one. and with how many i've actually applied for, its hard to keep track of which ones and when.

i've also come to learn that copying and pasting resume information from a word document to a webpage full of text fields is mundane and highly repetitive. and filling out cover letters is EXHAUSTING. if i wasn't already so aware of how important they are, i would totally blow it off.

it aggravates me how the words "minimum 2-5 years experience" seems to appear on every job that pays well. how are you supposed to get the experience in the first place?? and aren't there always exceptions to the rules? and i hope that in 5 years from now i'm not getting offered that low paying of a position anyways.oh and i obviously chose the wrong college degree. because all of these position would have been just fine with a h.s. diploma or a 2 year a.a. degree.

i really hope that someone would give me a chance and just let me interview. i know that i could prove to them that i am qualified and willing to learn anything. the job market is HORRIBLE right now, i know, i'm just praying that all of my work eventually pays off.

slave labor

here's a little math for ya...

my last site started on 12/29/09
since then, i have had 1 day off
in the next 59 days i'm scheduled to have 2 more days off
thats a running total of 3 days off in a 75 day period
so i work 96% of the time (as a comparison, a 5 day work week corresponds to working 71% of the time)
of those days, i work an average of 11 hours per day
so thats a total of 792 hours in 75 days (or 10.7 weeks)
so in 10.7 weeks i work the amount of hours most people do in 19.8 weeks
... and get paid so little for it.

if you take my income per week and divide it by the average number of hours i work in a week, i earn $7.80 for each hour i work.
sounds like slave labor to me.

worst travel day ever

short itinerary of the worst travel day ever (brought to you by american airlines)

wake up 4am.
get to airport and wait 45 minutes in line at the americans airlines counter to check my bags.
was denied upgrade to first class request.
boarded flight at 6am.
sat on runway until 8:50am (could not take off due to FOG).
went back to gate to refuel but was NOT allowed off of the plane.
9:30am went back onto the runway.
10:00am finally took off.
3:15pm landed in dallas. was rescheduled on a 4:20pm flight. discussed with airline attendant who stated that my luggage WOULD be on my flight.
3:40pm gate change, must go half way around the airport.
start boarding plane at 4:45pm (late). then the flight crew instructs us that there will be a delay because there is too much fuel on this plane.
5:15pm plane departs for orlando.
arrive in orlando at 8:45pm.
my bags do not arrive.
wait in line at the baggage counter for 45 mins. they have NO clue where my bags are but suggest that i wait around until the rest of the flights get in tonight and see if it got put on another plane!

all in all really a GREAT day! but i'm optimistic: there's no way today could get any worse than yesterday so i'm going to enjoy it while i can!

the black plague

so i've been sick since i got here. i had to talk for 8 hours a day teaching classes when i had a super sore throat and then consequently no voice. and now that i'm working 12 hour shifts each day, i have a cough that keeps me from sleeping at night. and with all of the stress of work a major headache is coming on...

all i need is just to get some good rest- but when is that supposed to be? according to my current schedule i have a grand total of 3 days off this month. at this rate i'll never get better...

any suggestions? i've tried an herbal tea called "throat coat", ricola cough drops, chloraseptic, and robitussin dm- none of which are helping too much.