sNoW

so, today, after a visit to fargo, north dakota and bend, oregon with no snow, i finally got to see some snow, woohoo. it snowed like crazy in newark, new jersey. my first flight got cancelled, and my next flight was delayed. i had to wait on the plane to be de-iced, that was a first. i wish i was still there, playing in the snow, but i am not. here is my snowball i made, of the snow that formed off my rental car. ok, so it is a baby snowball, i was in a hurry to get to the airport, haha. now, i am in richmond, virginia, all rain here, bummer.

there are some strange people out there

so, i've been kind of absent lately on posting things, but i'm back to traveling lots, so i'll be back to updating this thing. so today, i left out at 9AM for conyers, georgia for a visit. i get to the site, and the coordinator informs me that he has already been trained on the system i am there to train him on, so he basically cuts me off. i tried, but it was hopeless. i pack up my stuff after about 45 minutes, and head back to the airport to fly to newark, new jersey for my visit tomorrow morning. so this is where i encounter some very strange people. while i am sitting in the airport terminal, i smell this foul smell. it is this couple sitting close by me. i had to get up and move. i'm sure many of you are already laughing, as you know how i am about dirty people... i don't do "dirty smells" or body odor. so as the flight is delayed, i thought i'd seen the last of the smelly couple, but you guessed it, i had not.

i am boarding the plane, and looking for my seat, and see the smelly couple sitting on row 20 (they have the middle seat and aisle seat) and yours truly has the window seat. i thought i was going to die. i forgot to mention in the above paragraph that both the man and woman were also very large, so there was no way i was escaping the fumes. so, i get to my little seat, and the lady didn't have the arm rest down, i put it down, and she acts like that is a problem. well, basically it just makes us all uncomfortable... she is spilling out all over the place. i am so crowded, and did i mention the smell is overpowering... i tried to put my coat over my mouth and nose to cover it, but that wasn't helping. the bottom line is, they should have purchased that third seat, as they were almost too big for the two seats - and they should be considerate enough to shower or take a bath before getting on a plane. you know, if someone can afford a plane ticket, they can probably afford soap - so i don't think i am being rude. i pray that doesn't happen to any of you.

another lady i encountered today was an elderly lady who was mad that she had to fly a connection. apparently she is used to direct flights to her destinations with continental. first they booked her in a window seat, which she wasn't having, then she finally got an aisle seat, and it was near the bathroom - well you should have heard this woman and her choice of words in line. she was so mad. she kept saying, this is horrible, this is the worst trip ever... all because they put her in an aisle seat near the bathroom. she was cussing and everything - she was totally pissed, it almost made me laugh.

random story: i parallel parked my rental car tonight in a downtown area. i was going to eat at qdoba. so i was backing the car up, trying to get in the parking space, and i tapped the car behind me, oops... no worries though, no damage to my car or the car behind me. in my defense, i was not in my car (i was in an impala) and it was raining and dark.

alright, more stories tomorrow, probably - i travel to richmond, virginia. have a great tuesday everyone.

random stories

so i love kids, most people who know me, know that i could get married tomorrow and have kids like the next day and be ok with that, but i haven't quite found mr. right... haha. anyway, tonight i had a very unpleasant experience at target. i can handle throw up - for people i know and kids i know - but tonight as i am walking out of target, this poor little girl is so sick in the store. so had just thrown up, and then as i am walking by (probably 5-6 feet away) she "goes" again... she just leans over the shopping cart and goes all over the floor. it was horribly disgusting. i mean, i know there was nothing the parents could do, but it was not pleasant, eww.

my car. so many of you may remember the blown out tire story a few months back. i had gotten a new tire from a discount tire store in the charlotte area, but it was pulling so i took it to a mechanic a few weeks afterwards to get that problem fixed. well tonight, after a month or so of my car making lots of noises, i realized that the "mechanic" i took it to was an idiot. basically they forgot to put all the lug nuts on the wheels, so my tire is going to fall off, so annoying. so, tomorrow i will wake up and take it back to the "mechanic" and have him correct this problem.

my foot. i got the walking boot off yesterday. i don't think my foot is all that strong, but i am trying to be extremely careful. today, i was putting a purse up in the closet, and hand to be on my tip toes, and i turned my ankle over...the bad one...i cried like a baby. i bought a small ankle brace at target tonight, so pray that it continues to heal and that the physical therapy i start soon will help.

tomorrow is my birthday, my favorite day of the year. i am going to my favorite place to eat in the world - texas roadhouse with my family and crystal and holly, woohoo!!! i love all the cards i have already gotten - it is the one day out of the year that i get cards - it is amazing!!!

have a great day!

tackiness 101

so i thought that most gay men had taste in decorating, didn't you? i mean in sex and the city, stanford has a sense of style, haha. well a few weeks ago, i met my gay neighbors, they are very nice. well this week they decided to put up their christmas decor, outside, and it is so not cute. i have a new builder/supervisor to follow up with, because d.r. horton has cut some jobs, so my "cute" builder that i've been talking about is now gone. my new builder is also cute. his name is robert. robert stopped by this week, and was like, "what is up with the wreaths on the end unit?" i immediately started laughing, as even a straight guy noticed how tacky they were. so, i've posted a picture of the tackiness for all of you to enjoy.

also, i thought i would add that my mom and i went to walmart today to purchase some twisty ties to hang my garland on my staircase, and we couldn't find any. we went back to the craft section in an attempt to find something else that would suffice to keep the garland from falling - and there was a gentleman in the craft section, get ready for this... making/sewing a pillow for his dog. now many of you know, that i got a sewing machine last year for christmas, and would love to learn more about it, but this guy knew more about sewing than i could ever imagine. he was talking to the craft salesclerk - and it was pure entertainment for me. my mom and i then got a chance to ask the lady about what we could use to tie the garland up, and this man immediately says, "fuzzy sticks." my mom and i just look at it each other like, what? he then explained himself a little more and he was talking about pipe cleaners. so we bought the "fuzzy sticks," and i have you know that it worked wonderfully. i'd say that this guy saved the day. i don't want to make judgements about this man, and it doesn't matter to me either way, but i'm guessing that no straight man would know about "fuzzy stix." so, in this case, the gay man saved the day.

alright, well i hope you got a little laugh out of my blog post. enjoy the picture. please remember that this is not my house, haha.

the theme is cold

so, i just home today after being gone all week. i've been in chicago since thursday. the wind chill was in the single digits most days, can we say freezing. i love it, but i won't lie... it was very very cold.

i almost missed my flight on thursday, as i have been so disoriented from all my travels to the different time zones this week. luckily, i'd like to say, by the grace of god, i woke up on thursday at 5:37 for a 7:30 AM flight. i made it to the airport, and got to chicago in enough time to take a shower and make it to my meeting.

we were in meetings half a day on thursday and then all day on friday. last night i went out with two of my study coordinators in downtown chicago, they do not allow smoking inside at the two bars we went to, it was wonderful. my clothes did smell like smoke this morning. i don't know if all bars are like that in chicago, but these two were, it was wonderful. we had so much fun, i was home by 12ish and enjoyed hanging out with them.

the food at the investigator's meeting wasn't too bad. it is always interesting for this picky eater to go to these type of meetings though because the meals are buffet style, but it is typically a lot of items that i have never heard of or would never it. they do not typically have items like, chicken pamasean, fillet mignion, or lasagna. they have very strange names for things. for example, last night they had, what i would call macaroni and cheese, but they called it, "penne pasta and white cheddar." i managed to eat enough, but had to rely on the safe options and not the sushi type items they had. they also had some sort of flank steak, but it was so pink, i couldn't barely put it on my plate.

i'm glad to be home for a few days, i have one visit next week to fargo, north dakota and then i'll be home free for thanksgiving. i'll be excited about that!

hope everyone is doing well and has a great thanksgiving.

us airways has lost their mind

so, it has been brought to my attention that us airways will now start charging passengers for pillows and blankets as of december 1, 2008 - what the heck. they already charge $2 for sodas, water, tea, coffee, and juice. $7 for beer, wine, and cocktails - that is ridiculous. i have no idea how much they are going to charge for pillows and blankets, but that is the most insane thing i have ever heard of. i mean, it isn't like they are giving you some nice, comfy pillow.... that pillow, if you can even call it that, is so not comfortable. it is worse than a hospital pillow. the blankets are so thin, you need like 3 to keep warm. i mean, isn't the $1000 ticket enough to cover some cheap little pillow and a glass of water. case and point, next week i fly to fargo, north dakota for the day, and my ticket is $1500 - and they have the nerve to charge me for a glass of water. craziness. i just needed to vent.

oregon trail

so, monday morning around 7:45am i left my house for my adventures to oregon. i boarded my plane about 9AM from charlotte to san francisco and 4.5 hours later, we arrived. i'm not used to this long of a flight, and after sleeping for two hours, finishing a book, talking to the man invading my personal space, and listening to the screaming child... i was so ready to get off the plane. i even tried to stay up until 3:30 am on sunday night in hopes that it would help me sleep on the plane on monday, but i failed miserably. back to the screaming child for a minute, i know children are going to scream on planes, and get upset, it happens. i love children, i'm not usually one to complain about children, but this was hardly a child at an age where crying was acceptable, this child was pushing three if not four, not young enough for this to be an excuse. this child should have been old enough to tell his parents what the freaking problem was, but instead the "terror" just screamed. the parents just kept saying, "shhhhhh." i know my parents would have taken me to the bathroom and spanked my butt, and that would have been the end of that, crisis averted.

i then get on my next flight from san francisco to redmond/bend, oregon - this was a much shorter flight, but still another 1.5 hours, which was torture knowing i'd already flown for 4.5 that day. i managed, slept a little more, and then arrived at the tiny little airport that looked like a log cabin out in the woods with bears on the walls, yikes. so, i have navigation on my phone, and i head to my hotel. i arrive at my hotel, and get all settled in, and then go eat dinner at an IHOP. i tried making myself stay up later last night, in hopes that i wouldn't wake up at the crack of dawn this morning, but what was i thinking, as long as i have a bed, i have no problem sleeping. i didn't wake up til 8 pacific coast time, which is like 11 AM east coast time, i felt well rested to say the least.

so, off to the site i go this morning. the visit went well. after my visit, i decide to go on a little adventure to find something to eat. i see this little japanese restaurant, and think, i'll try that. note to self: i should not try places that are not recommended by the locals. i go in and should have run for the door when i didn't see my usual on the menu, no hibaichi chicken. i ask the waitress and she has no idea what i am talking about. so, instead of looking like a total fool and being totally rude, i settle for the most plain thing on the menu, and order the fried rice and chicken - it says just that on the menu, so i think how wrong can you go. i then ask for my shrimp sauce or white sauce, and she says, i have no idea what that is either. at this point, i am flipping out. i am like, this place is wacko...what kind of japanese place doesn't have shrimp sauce, this is like a staple if you ask me. so, i'm not a happy camper. so, i sit there, kind of worried about how they are going to mess up my fried rice and plain chicken --- and oh my they did.... i think there were more vegetables than rice in my rice and it was absolutely disgusting. the chicken, was not chicken, we will just leave it at that. it also had mushrooms with it, gross. overall, the bottom line was, i couldn't eat it. so, i had no choice but to go over to the local mcdonald's and get a chicken sandwich and fries to eat so i wouldn't starve. so $15 later, i was full. note to self and others, don't try a place in a strange location that you don't know anything about, you'll end up wasting your money.

next i head out on my oregon trail, to get back to the airport. while i may not have had a child with cholera or missing ox, i did see a random lama on the side of the road - no lie. i couldn't believe my eyes. there was a field, and a lama was in the field, then the next field was full of cows, then the next field had horses, and then the next field had billy goats. i felt like i was in the game for real at this point, haha.

so then i finally make it back to the airport, board my flight, make it to san francisco, all for the lady at the united ticket counter to be completely rude, not cool. i have to walk all the way out of security to get my us airways ticket to charlotte, she says, "you are not signed up for a wheelchair." i say, "i don't want one. i just want to know how to get to the airtrain, so i don't have to walk 3 miles in a walking cast." so i walk away from the "meanie" trying not to use a bad word, and ask someone else and find my way... now i sit here, typing this blog message. we are about to board, it is nearly 10 pm in california, i'll be home at 6 AM wednesday morning, and i can't wait, i am tired. good night or good morning to most of you reading this!